In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.
Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries.
Between the city and the countryside, the subtle and modern forms of slavery unfold. A girl waits for the pick-up truck that will transport her to the city. Once there, amidst a never-ending row of walls and fences, she peeks into the entrance to a school. Lined up and in uniform, those girls are not the ones Carmen will join.
A short day in the life of a child living in poverty.
A lottery win of $5,000 forever changes the lives of a miner turned dentist and his wife.
Set in Red Hook, a Brooklyn neighborhood on the verge of gentrification, GOOD FUNK follows three generations of citizens whose lives intersect through acts of kindness both big and small.
Man leaves his factory job and sells everything to buy an earth mover and start his own business, travelling from place to place with his wife and child. There is not enough work and he is eventually forced to emigrate after many hardships.
This animated version of the classic Charles Dickens book faithfully follows the adventures of the young orphan Oliver Twist.
Simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.
In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.
Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.
The microcosmic world of a street market on the outskirts of Zagreb: traders, thieves, prostitutes, self-appointed security guards and other lost souls, each with their own unique ideas, passion or mania. We follow the tragicomic, mutually intertwined mini dramas of each character, as they fight to save the marketplace itself, when city planners threaten to raze it to the ground and replace it with a skyscraper.
After getting out of jail, where she learned to care for the sick, Alma, an albino woman, is determined to recover at any cost something much more important than her own freedom. In order to do so, Alma must spend her nights taking care of Clemente, a hypochondriac compulsively obsessed with avoiding sudden death. Their relationship moves through suspicion, fear and compassion to tenderness and love.
The Beggar's Christmas
In 2059, in a broken-down world, silicon has become the most precious material on the planet. A man and a girl barter transistors and microchips for a few larvae and some water. Their routine will be broken by the discovery of a forgotten heirloom, something that the man will not want to part with.
A man fails to acknowledge the teenagers he mistreated when they were small children.
Born a lower-caste girl in rural India's patriarchal society, "married" at 11, repeatedly raped and brutalized, Phooland Devi finds freedom only as an avenging warrior, the eponymous Bandit Queen. Devi becomes a kind a bloody Robin Hood; this extraordinary biographical film offers both a vivid portrait of a driven woman and a savage critique of the society that made her.
Rome, 1957. A woman, Cabiria, is robbed and left to drown by her boyfriend, Giorgio. Rescued, she resumes her life and tries her best to find happiness in a cynical world. Even when she thinks her struggles are over and she has found happiness and contentment, things may not be what they seem.
Spain, 1932. Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel travels to the region of Las Hurdes, in Extremadura, where he shoots his third film, a very critical and later controversial documentary about the living conditions of the poor peasants, abandoned and forgotten by the national authorities.