A story about a divorce.
A depressed wife and mother whose reality is starting to fracture into fantasy, drives her children to the beach. On the return journey she stops at a service station to fill up with petrol. Four mechanics eye her off and, as one of them walks towards her car, a full-blown erotic fantasy develops.
A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.
Paloma is a serious and highly articulate but deeply bored 11-year-old who has decided to kill herself on her 12th birthday. Fascinated by art and philosophy, she questions and documents her life and immediate circle, drawing trenchant and often hilarious observations on the world around her. But as her appointment with death approaches, Paloma finally meets some kindred spirits in her building's grumpy janitor and an enigmatic, elegant neighbor, both of whom inspire Paloma to question her rather pessimistic outlook on life.
The son of a Vietnam War Veteran must deal with neighborhood bullies as well as his dad's post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up in the deep south in the 1970's.
Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.
When Tyler Davidson brings his college buddy Chase home for the summer holidays a secret is revealed that threatens to tear his perfect family apart.
A divorcee has a passionate affair with a much younger surfing instructor in Hawaii.
On Christmas Eve, Dejair, a former resistance fighter against the military dictatorship, gathers with his family in the backyard. During a Secret Santa game, the contrast between appearances and private truths emerges. A water gun gift leads Dejair to denounce the absurdity of giving a child a weapon.
Warner lives in a cramped townhouse with his wife, Claire, and their two children. While buying a house in Calgary's competitive real estate market, he learns his job isn't as secure as he'd like, and when he asks Claire to reconsider, they fight. On the same afternoon, Claire is attacked; Warner emerges as the prime suspect.
Two young brothers are abandoned by their mother during summer of 1948, they run into the forest and survive there for seven years.
15-year old Klaus Kambor, called Kurbel, is living in a village in Lusatia and already thinks of himself as an adult. He can hold a lot of rhubarb wine and has already kissed a girl. But with his new method of lawn mowing, which he thinks is brilliant, Klaus makes a big mistake: He causes a wild fire in the forest. Then he does not react adult-like at all, but shirks the responsibility, which leads to the break-up with his girlfriend Daniela. Furthermore, Klaus does not realize that several of the places he likes the most in his environment are now going to be sacrificed to mining. When Klaus becomes friends with the teacher Konzak and with the construction worker Jule, he feels understood for the first time and starts to take more responsibility.
Vincent, a reckless French boy, travels to Hungary to liquidate the home of a relative he has never seen. In an apartment cluttered with dusty objects and furniture, he is confronted not only with the past of others, but also with his own present.
Kai Wodar is the son of a German-Yugoslav couple in Vienna. His father works as Milan coach in professional football and has at the time in Austria a commitment. But Kai, the name his friends Fips, his mother can hardly know, they killed in a traffic accident. For several years he brings to a boarding school before his father, now married to the Yugoslav Gordana, brings him back to himself. For Fips begin restless years; Milan Wodar constantly changes clubs.
An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
A rising music producer lands a career-defining record deal with everything on the line — but as the deadline looms, so does the risk of losing his family. Caught between chasing his dreams and the chaos at home, he must choose what matters most before it all falls apart.
Six year old Max has an important mission: find some frogspawn for his older brother. Together with his neighbour girlfriend Jesse he makes an adventurous and touching journey along fields, farms, animals and a forest which eventually leads to his grandma's home. There he's welcomed by his grandma, her pancakes and the desired frogspawn . On his overwhelming journey through nature he's accompanied by cheerful childrens songs.
A man kidnaps his little girl to protect her from an abusive mother, then becomes the first man to enter a woman's underground movement.
A story about a dysfunctional father and son who are still coping with a loss, the other with a highly-stigmatized illness who are compelled to talk to one another to make ends meet and heal the wounds of their relationship.
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.