Secret Ceremony

In this third installment of the "Olga" series, our heroine adds jewel smuggling to her repertoire of dope pushing and white slavery. As the vicious Olga (Audrey Campbell) expands her criminal empire, she also encounters more resistance as a string of once-trusted partners turn traitor in an effort to steal the successful racket out from under her. The result is exactly what fans of the series expect, a barrage of torture scenes featuring soldering irons, floggings, spankings, and even an electric chair. As with its predecessors, Olga's House of Shame is a silent black and white film with narration to explain the action, but even with direct commentary it's difficult to keep track of the characters and Campbell (who is occasionally caught laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all) has all the menace of a kindergarten teacher, even when wielding a machete.

This last gasp of the grindhouse "Olga" series is a tossed off shrug of a movie that nonetheless entertains in a tacky, surreal style. Audrey Campbell no longer stars as the sinister femme fatale Olga, and her replacement retains none of her clumsy menace. Instead she languidly lounges about the flimsy sets smoking cigarettes and looking pale and sweaty. This new Olga is apparently too bored by the proceedings to even torture her white slaves. Instead the dirty work is handled by her partner Nick (Larry Hunter), a slimy, weasel faced man who lures innocent housewives into prostitution by offering them jobs as "dance instructors" in Olga's dance hall. Group sex, nude dancing and pretty ladies wrestling in their underwear are the results, along with several long, seemingly impromptu scenes where the characters talk endlessly and in circles.

The Undressing

Maryam, a rebel leader in an archaic world governed by ruthless religion, is set to prove that the god hovering in the sky is a lie. But she is stopped by a holy warrior that turns out to be her lost father. Soon their lives change as they are about to find out a secret only a god can keep.

Sergeant Boyd's police search to find a sniper who has been shooting hookers.

Ricky is a young man who takes care of his sick mother. His father hovers at the edge of the picture, so Ricky provides for himself and his mom through prostitution, running errands, and acting as a caregiver for a blind man. Through the course of the film, Ricky befriends Janey, a young woman he finds beaten by her ex-boyfriend, and Trenn, a mysterious young man in trouble with the law. The three of them navigate a dark and confusing world. It uses many of the actors who have come to constitute the Dar A Luz company, including Tony Torn, Tom Fitzpatrick, Juliana Francis, and Tom Pearl. It will disappoint those who approach it looking for a film analogue of the “faster and louder” aesthetic that critics have used to characterize much of Abdoh’s stage work. The Blind Owl does use a variety of techniques reminiscent of his stage direction, giving it an unusual theatricality.

Champagner für Zimmer 17

On vacation at a remote lake house, a mother and her two young daughters must fight for survival after falling into a terrifying and bizarre nightmare conceived by a psychopath.

Paul is 16 years old and earns his pocket money working the streets. But there is something special about Paul. He has made a pact with some ants, which questions the strict patterns of our reality.

Sankara Shastri is a devout and famous classical singer who finds a fan in Tulasi, a prostitute's daughter. She wants to devote herself to his service, but her mother wants her to become a prostitute.

To escape from a lack of perspective in Kosovo, Hana decides to resort to the services of Emir, an illegal smuggler in Serbia that will drive her to Hungary. On the way, complications arise as Emir's unscrupulous associates try to take advantage of Hana's vulnerability. In the midst of the frozen winter, Hana's courage and determination and Emir's principles and beliefs will be put to the test.

A retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu and his family live in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. He lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. Soon, each of the daughters encounter new men in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes.

OSTKREUZ tells the episodic story of 15-year-old Elfie, who literally and metaphorically inhabits a no-man’s-land between the two Germanies shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The film deploys a neorealist aesthetic to reinforce the difficulties confronting the girl, and by inference, Germany.

When Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper Corrina Washington, who coaxes Molly out of her shell and shows father and daughter a whole new way of life. Manny and Corrina's friendship delights Molly and enrages the other townspeople.

After his daughter died of cancer, former French foreign legionnaire "Straight Shooter" alias Volker Bretz threatens those who financed, built, favoured and now work the nuclear power plant Atar II to kill one of them each day until the plant is shut down. His former drill sergeant, Frank Hector, who now owns several night clubs and brothels, is the only one who might be able to stop the maniac killing specialist. Frank is flown in instantly, but soon has to find out that his former comrade's actions might be a result from an event long ago.

The story about the age gap between a scientist father, Philipe Le Tallec, and his newly discovered teen aged daughter, Eglantine.

When underappreciated video specialist Joe Scheffer is brutally humiliated by office bully Mark McKinney in front of his daughter, Joe begins a quest for personal redemption. He proceeds by enduring a personal makeover and takes martial arts lessons from a B-action star. As news spreads of his rematch with Mark, Joe suddenly finds himself the center of attention, ascending the corporate ladder and growing in popularity.

A man moves his two daughters to Italy after their mother dies in a car accident, in order to revitalize their lives. Genoa changes all three of them as the youngest daughter starts to see the ghost of her mother, while the older one discovers her sexuality.

Malchow, German Democratic Republic, 1980. 20-year-old Anne is hiding Juri, a deserter of the Red Army. The two fall in love with each other. But their love is threatened: there is an arrest warrant and possibly a death sentence waiting for Juri. The two leave the country and flee to the West, leaving Anne’s six-month-old daughter Inga behind. Inga grows up with her grandparents and thinks that her mother died during a swimming accident. 25 years later she meets the literature professor Robert, who sends her on the trail of her past. He met Inga’s mother Anne during one of his seminars. At first Inga is resistant, but then she asks for Robert’s help. Together they take off on a journey through Germany, in search of Inga’s mother Anne...

A couple goes to dangerous lengths to find a lung donor for their daughter.