Ambrosia

The basic story in Love under the Crucifix is about Ogin, daughter of a tea master, who are both Christians in feudal Japan. Ogin falls in love with a feudal prince, also a Christian who is already married, and that creates problems. Further, when the Shogun bans Christianity, the situation worsens.

A small group of friends battle to survive in the middle of the forests and fjords of Norway. The story is based on Norwegian legend thought to be innocent folklore.

Lisa, an aspiring songwriter, whose farming family has suffered foreclosure is forced to work at a new, 'urban farm' where she meets Dalia. Her casual racism leads her to be fired but the women end up drawn into a passionate affair.

A married woman in 1890s Louisiana meets a handsome Creole, reawakening her sexual desires, and is tempted into an affair with the man.

Barcelona hasn’t turned out to be the romantic dreamland fledgling translator Cassandra thought it would be. But just when she’s about to return to America, the mysterious Frankie offers her a large sum of money to track down her missing lover.

After a fight with her husband, Lucy runs out of the house, and into a night of terror. She heads for the local cinema, and in doing so, becomes the only eyewitness to a couple of crooks, who are robbing the cinema's safe. In her haste to escape the thieves, she is knocked down by a passing bus, and is taken to the local hospital. The two crooks follow, and wait for a chance to finish her off, and thus eliminate the only person who can tie them to the robbery.

Xiaoma, a young woman who has recently moved to Beijing, finds an apartment in an old courtyard apartment complex owned by Grandma, an elderly woman. Xiaoma and Grandma’s relationship almost immediately becomes strained. After trying to tidy up the courtyard, Grandma insists that Xiaoma turn over her share of the profits. Tightfisted, the elderly landlady resists even allowing Xiaoma to install a telephone. At the same time the older woman becomes increasingly interested in Xiaoma’s personal (and romantic) life. Grandma, for example, tries to pass off her grandson to the younger woman. Annoyed, Xiaoma nevertheless is flattered at the older woman’s concern. Over the course of four seasons, Xiaoma begins to learn from her landlady of the old world that the modern city of Beijing has left behind, while Grandma begins to enjoy the youth and vitality of her tenant. The two women become closer and eventually develop a deep friendship.

A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.

21st Century Girl is an omnibus feature that is of the girls, by the girls and for the girls. The work of 15 women directors under the age of 30, each of whom contributed an 8-minute film, the package highlights a range of genres, visions and thematic concerns.

Grieving her mother’s death and her own failing marriage, Lexi boards a plane from London to Los Angeles in search of the estranged father who abandoned her when she was three years old. Based out of a seedy Hollywood motel, she follows a tenuous trail of breadcrumbs, collecting numbers and addresses in the hopes that one will lead to her father, while establishing unexpected connections along the way.

Steven Bassem spends his evenings at an upscale restaurant among the nouveau riche elite. But he's not there to dine; he's there to park cars. An all-but-invisible valet, Steven is acutely aware of his dead-end situation and begins to act out erratically.

At 17 Leigh-Anne Williams has a six month old baby to look after, with only the help of three teenage squatters who flog stolen gear to make ends meet. A neighbour (actually from Turkey) across the street becomes target to her growing paranoia that Social Services are going to take her daughter, Rebecca, away from her. Her behaviour becoming increasingly desperate as her delusions over her neighbour grow.

The story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone including her rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson.

Based upon the life of activist and trade unionist (and later MP) Sonja Davies. The film covers her life up to 1956, when, at age 33, she was elected to the Nelson Hospital Board. During this period she develops strong socialist beliefs, marries and divorces, at age 17 trains as a nurse, has a romance (and a child) with an American marine who is killed in WWII action. She battles tuberculosis and marries a former boyfriend when he returns from the war. She becomes part of a women's ill-fated campaign to save the Nelson railway line from closure and begins to be elected to political bodies.

Two young people learn about love as politics turn their world upside down in this drama from director Ana Diez. After a long and successful career as a soccer player, Xavi retires from the game and moves to Spain, where one day to his surprise he happens upon Rosana, a friend from his childhood in Uruguay. As Xavi and Rosana catch up on what has happened to them over the past thirty years, they flash back to 1973, when young Xavi and his father Manuel, a shoemaker, lived down the street from Rosana.

Scatterbrained Polly gets a job as a secretary in Gabrielle's art gallery. Polly aspires to be a professional photographer, and idolizes Gabrielle for her artistic ability. When Gabrielle rekindles an old romantic relationship with the younger painter Mary, Polly becomes jealous, and discovers Gabrielle isn’t exactly who she claims to be.

Takuji Kameoka is a 37-year-old bachelor whose occupation is a “miscellaneous actor”. His only interest is drinking. One day he falls in love and his boring life begins to change. The film is based on the book “Actor, Takuji Kameoka” by Akito Inui, a five-time nominee for Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize. Satoko Yokohama, a much-admired up-and-coming newcomer, directs the film and we can immediately tell that she is a special talent, with a unique understanding that flows through to her actors and crew.

Djata is a care-free 12-year-old growing up in a brutal dictatorship shut off from the outside world. When the government imprisons his father, Peter, and Djata and his mother Hannah are labeled traitors, the boy will not rest until he sees his father again.

In a small town where tradition has reigned, adolescents are rounded up and tested in an ultimate deviation. In their twentieth year, the youth are brought to forbidden territory and in one night will be overcome by the darkness of sin.

Childhood friends Tracy, Chloe and Alice share an apartment over the summer. They live close together, meet guys and sell their company as well as sex. With a romantic imagery and sometimes provocative theme the female debutant director Luk Yee-sum give the audience a playful story about sexuality, desire and friendship.