Off Beat

Jack is the fastidious manager of a local supermarket. The harmless but disruptive actions of his customers frequently give him headaches, which he remedies by holding a can of frozen juice against his forehead. At home, however, Jack is consistently kind, loving, and patient with his wife and daughter. One day the child brings home a stray dog, and his life is turned upside down.

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

Spain, 1953. Pedro Zaragoza, mayor of the city of Benidorm, in the province of Alicante, by the Mediterranean Sea, visits the Palacio del Pardo, General Franco's residence in Madrid, to ask him for help, in the hope of solving a very delicate problem.

A dark, surreal comedy about a local man who becomes convinced that a vast conspiracy is behind the impossibly rapid gentrification in his London area. But is it all in his head, or is the truth even darker than he imagines? Cla'am is the debut short from Nathaniel Martello-White, one of the UK's leading young playwrights.

A young cockfighter and sports memorabilia reseller prepares for the unexpected release of his incarcerated father.

Blind man and apple pie connoisseur Walter Cookeventures to his neighborhood corner store to buy milk and apples. When mafia thugs try to shake down the storeowner, Walter shows them what a blind martial artist is capable of!

A woman introduces her Chinese dad to her American Jewish boyfriend and manipulates their language barrier to keep everyone happy.

500 years into the future, the earth is a dry wasteland destroyed by humans. Doctor Alma, a fluffy, brilliant Vulkeet (a cross between a parakeet and vulture) who drives a Vespa, must cure the only creatures left who can save the world by bringing back the rain - the bizarre and loveable Homeys who have fallen ill with a mysterious sickness.

Two old tars, retired from service, live alone in a cottage by the sea. They sail along on an even keel, until a buxom and comely widow projects herself on the scene when one old tar breaks one of their unwritten laws and falls in love with her. The other old fellow objects strenuously.

After losing her long-time job at Classical FM, radio show host Ethel Jenny interviews for a new gig at Hip Hop Nation.

A sex toy mishap leads to a night in the emergency room, where a freshly broken-up couple are forced to confront their issues on love and relationships.

Tara is denied electricity bill support by Social Services, who tells her to simply get a free grill instead - a task that leads Tara into uncomfortable situations. Inspired by true events, "Grill" offers a satirical look at how a rich country in Scandinavia deals with poverty.

The unlikely friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse traveling together in the boy's search for home.

A group of tenants facing eviction due to a city renovation unite to fight back, but as they clash with the landlord and his ruthless attorney, they each transform into the opposite of who they once were.

Tania and Cocteau, a cat that comes from the not too distant future, tell the story of the passage of animals through the world and their relationship with humans.

Newlyweds Nick and Suzanne decide to move to the suburbs to provide a better life for their two kids. But their idea of a dream home is disturbed by a contractor with a bizarre approach to business.

On the surface, this collection of shorts by up-and-coming African American filmmakers arrived at a perfect time. The cutting-edge products of the New Black Cinema of the early '90s had disappeared, giving way to embarrassingly stereotypical, scatological fare such as Booty Call and Next Friday. This feature-packed compilation (which includes production notes, interviews with all of the filmmakers, and audio commentary by four) attempts to prove that African American cinema is intent on moving past the lowbrow humor, as six of the seven shorts steer clear of any comedy.

In the vestibule of a hospital room, a young boy waits to see his dying mother. The clamor and spiralling movements of bodies around him intensify, forming a grotesque circus—a cacophonous circle that pushes the child back, depriving him of one final touch of his mother's hand. Using rotoscoped drawings suggestive of charcoal sketches, as well as 3D and object animation techniques, The Circus compels viewing with its unsettling realism. Colour is employed metaphorically to subtly express the promise and the memory of maternal affection. Nicolas Brault's highly personal film, suffused with poetic modesty, casts a poignantly sincere gaze on the heartbreak of a child facing the fearful, mysterious experience of his mother's death.

Tracks an unknown man’s life as he sifts through memories of his youth in Bulgaria through to his increasingly rootless and melancholic adulthood in Canada.

Two young insurance corporation employees try to pretend that their murdered employer is alive by puppeteering his dead body, leading a hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.