Speech Day

Lorna is a young Albanian woman in a marriage of convenience with Claudy, a heroin addict. Just as Lorna is about to be granted Belgian citizenship, Claudy finds the strength to detox; this presents a problem not only for Lorna, but for the criminal who brokered the deal.

Angie is a working class woman. After being fired, she decides to set up a recruitment agency of her own, running it from her kitchen with her friend, Rose. Taking advantage of the desperation of immigrants, Angie builds a successful business extremely quickly.

A middle aged carpenter, who requires state welfare after injuring himself, is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.

Ricky and his family have been fighting an uphill struggle against debt since the 2008 financial crash. An opportunity to wrestle back some independence appears with a shiny new van and the chance to run a franchise as a self-employed delivery driver. It's hard work, and his wife's job as a carer is no easier. The family unit is strong but when both are pulled in different directions everything comes to breaking point.

A young woman working as a rider is forced to make a dangerous delivery that will put her life at risk during a night filled with urgent personal problems that she must solve through phone calls. Millions of people make a living as riders around the world, Fio’s story of redemtion is but one of them.

Young, impulsive Rosetta lives a hard and stressful life as she struggles to support herself and her alcoholic mother. Refusing all charity, she is desperate to maintain a dignified job.

After the suicide of a childhood friend, Connor and Liam are reunited by the difficult task of choosing their friends burial clothes.

Shun and Nagisa first meet and fall in love during their first year of high school. While Shun is graduating from university, Nagisa tells him that he doesn't see a future for them. Despite Shun's strong feelings, they go their separate ways. Years later, Shun is now a store owner, living alone in a rural area. Out of the blue, Nagisa arrives with his six-year-old daughter, Sora. Spending time together, Shun realizes he still harbors feelings for Nagisa. Can Nagisa reconcile with his feelings for Shun, which have been there all along?

Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa gets Maya a job as a janitor: a non-union janitorial service has the contract, the foul-mouthed supervisor can fire workers on a whim, and the service-workers' union has assigned organizer Sam Shapiro to bring its "justice for janitors" campaign to the building. Sam finds Maya a willing listener, she's also attracted to him. Rosa resists, she has an ailing husband to consider. The workers try for public support; management intimidates workers to divide and conquer. Rosa and Maya as well as workers and management may be set to collide.

Sonia and Arturo live in a house that appears safe but is too large and silent. One night, three armed men violently break into the couple's property. Arturo manages to escape and capture the youngest and most inexperienced of the thieves, deciding to kidnap him and discipline him in the basement of the house. Gradually, the anger dissipates, and strange familial ties emerge that Arturo and Sonia believed were long gone. "Salvajes" is a violent portrayal of a divided society, in an unequal social fabric where the boundaries between victim and perpetrator become blurred.

Based on real stories, using both actors and non-actors, and filmed on location in Dublin, A Week in the Life of Martin Cluxton (1971) is a rare example of Irish social realism. After years in an industrial school, Martin Cluxton (Derek King) returns home to Dublin but finds considerable prejudice and little opportunity. Broadcast on RTÉ, it was directed by Brian MacLochlainn, co-written by Caoimhín Ó Marcaigh and MacLochlainn, with music by jazz great Louis Stewart.

Under the neon lights of the prostitution area in Ostend's Hazegras district, local residents struggle with their small and big problems. Loneliness overtakes them every now and then. Yet they appear to be more connected then they think.

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.

Aster and Sidney

An arthouse debut feature follows a grizzled ex-con's first day of freedom as he struggles to reconnect with his conflicted son.

A day in the life of photo model Liv. But it's no ordinary day. She breaks up with her fiance, father and her own empty life as a model, and has to find a new place to live. But is it that easy to make a clean break?

Zoë is a single mother who lives with her four children in Dartford. She is poor and can't afford to buy food. One day her old flame drives by and asks her to go on a date with him. Scared that he doesn't want to go out with her, she lies and tells him that she is just babysitting the kids. This will be her first date in years.

In South Yorkshire, a small group of railway maintenance men discover that because of privatization, their lives will never be the same. When the trusty British Rail sign is replaced by one reading East Midland Infrastructure, it is clear that there will be the inevitable winners and losers as downsizing and efficiency become the new buzzwords.

Claudio is a construction worker living in the outskirts of Rome. He's happily married and his wife is pregnant with their third child. However, a dramatic event comes to upset this simple and happy life.

Using verite conventions, a young couple with a baby and a child are worn away by the monotony of their lives.