The Cotton Wool War

A man remembers forty-eight crucial hours in his life when, as a child, he visited his mother, the favorite woman of an important politician, in a bordello owned by him, right before some important political changes in 1937 Brazil. In those hours, he discovers his own sexuality.

In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1950. In the conservative home of the Gusmão family, Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters who support each other. While Guida can share with her younger sister the details of her romantic adventures, Eurídice finds in her older sister the encouragement she needs to pursue her dream of becoming a professional pianist.

Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window, hoping to assist the police. After months of recording suspicious activities, her initiative attracts the attention of a journalist, who approaches Nina and offers to support her in her mission.

In a small village, a lonely fisherman yearning for a son is drawn to an ethereal light that links him to others and their long-buried secrets.

The film tells the story of the energetic and pulsating singer Elis Regina since her arrival in Rio de Janeiro at age 19 until her tragic and early death. Despite all the difficulties, success comes fulminant and the life of Elis Regina gained national and international recognition, becoming undoubtedly considered today the greatest Brazilian singer of all time.

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.

In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.

Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self.

Theo is living the good life in an upscale Brazilian neighborhood. He’s a hardworking doctor, husband, and father. However, Theo has chosen his career over his family, and little by little he discovers that his world is crumbling around him. His beloved mentor and surrogate father is dying, and his wife announces that she wants a divorce. Yet nothing prepares him for the day when he comes home to discover that his 15-year-old son, Pedro, has disappeared. Theo takes to the road in search of his son. In a journey that leads him throughout Brazil, Theo discovers what really matters to him. Searching for his missing son, Theo finds himself.

Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.

Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

The lives of a macho butcher, his wife, a lonely waitress, a sadist and a flophouse manager intersect in Recife, Brazil.

Rory is an ambitious entrepreneur who brings his American wife and kids to his native country, England, to explore new business opportunities. After abandoning the sanctuary of their safe American suburban surroundings, the family is plunged into the despair of an archaic '80s Britain and their unaffordable new life in an English manor house threatens to destroy the family.

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.

A disillusioned psychologist tries to commit suicide until he strikes up a friendship with an unlikely saviour who teaches him a new way of living.

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.

American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.

A mother and daughter returning from their vacation experience car trouble forcing them to pull over and seek help. Luckily near by is a farm where the inhabitants offer them assistance. Unfortunately repair to the car takes longer then expected and the mother and her daughter remain as guests. As a result the peace and tranquility of the household becomes tested as the farmers traditions and principles come under question almost ending in tragedy.

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

As the host of a literary TV show, Georges begins receiving anonymously filmed videos of his family alongside cryptic, disturbing drawings, but as the tapes become increasingly intimate, they reveal a stalker who has known him for a very long time.

The wind carries an aspiring healer into a chaotic, virulent parallel world. Paralyzed by a familiar universe that is gradually becoming distorted, she discovers she has the power to stop time.

The 43rd edition screens Neighbors, with five segments about the theme “neighbors”: not only about physical proximity, but also about relationships. In Brazil, Olga is a 90-year-old black woman who lost her husband one year ago; her neighbors, who come from different parts of the world, interrupt her grief. In Russia, an employee tries so hard to please his boss that he becomes inconvenient. An Indian woman, with the help of her male friend, decides to learn how to drive, an uncommon practice for women in the country. In China, an elderly, owner of an old and decadent barbershop, argues with his son, who wants to change the business. In South Africa, a group of homeless fights for the right to housing.

On an ordinary Moscow street, a family lives together in an unremarkable house: a mother and four children. But one "fine" day in this family there is a violent conflict over the furniture with which the apartment is packed. However, furniture is just an excuse. In fact, two worldviews collide, different ideas about life values...

Hélène, a woman living alone in a suburban house in 1976, is confronted by her past when her husband suddenly reappears after going away for a year and a half to write a novel.

A short indie film

For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.

Based on true events, several stories about disempowerment of women, are closely intertwined, affecting to each other's, unfolding against the background of the traditional, patriarchal society of modern-day Kyrgyzstan ultimately result in a series of tragic outcomes. The realities of modern-day Kyrgyzstan, despite the status of a "secular state", are violence, hypocrisy, and widespread infringement of the rights of women who are stay a socially unprotected part of the population. Under the conditions of aggressive propaganda of both patriarchal and radical, religious ideology, the ideas of feminism in Kyrgyzstan are equated with the popularization of LGBTQ communities, are openly criticized and the justice system, in most cases, takes the side of murderers and rapists.

Two sisters in their early thirties find themselves isolated in the Aegean summer cottage of their childhood, as they must deal with their uneasy sibling relationship and confront their devastating recent past past.

A film student from Long Island, who cut his dying father’s cough out of the home movies at thirteen, spends four years filming everyone but himself — until one festival slot, a rival’s film, and the footage he’s been cutting force him to choose between the safe version and the true one.

Sanda spends all her time working in a plastic factory, raising her two small children and catering to an indifferent husband, leaving little room for herself. A chance encounter with another man may offer her an escape from her daily chores.

Brad and Kate have made something of an art form out of avoiding their families during the holidays, but this year their foolproof plan is about go bust -- big time. Stuck at the city airport after all departing flights are canceled, the couple is embarrassed to see their ruse exposed to the world by an overzealous television reporter. Now, Brad and Kate are left with precious little choice other than to swallow their pride and suffer the rounds.

After watching a film, Jane, a young woman, finds herself trapped within the theater, under the haunting gaze of the man who resides there. During her time at the cinema, she discovers the truth of reality - that women face a predatory gaze throughout the course of their lives, and The Gaze captures Jane's journey trying to escape that harsh reality.

Surrealist short film

While on a holiday, Raja meets and falls in love with Rani but breaks off the relationship due to family compulsions. Later, when he has all but given up hope of seeing her again, he gets a surprise.

Ms Norris meets with students, goes a little batty, has dinner with her boyfriend, and revelations ensue.

In a Copenhagen suburb the 19-year-old Per is found unconscious after having been badly beaten up. He is taken to hospital in a coma. The police have no clues, but the air is thick with suspicion. His mother struggles to maintain her faith in his survival. His younger sister, Mie, begins to pick up rumors. Her boyfriend, Shadi, suspects that his elder brother is behind the assault but he cannot tell anyone. Many well-meaning people find themselves at sea in a fable about emotions leading us astray.