23 Blast (2014)

A Cantonese street cook and his chief rival, a French-trained Michelin-starred chef, discover they have a lot in common as they prepare for a world-famous culinary competition. An international culinary competition becomes a battleground between rival cooks, but their rivalry takes an unexpected turn when they discover a common foe and combine their skills in a fusion of East and West.

A sled dog struggles for survival in the wilds of the Yukon.

Vicenta lives with Laura, her 19-year-old daughter, who suffers from a developmental delay. Laura is pregnant, the product of rape by a family member. She is legally allowed to have an abortion, but the system will put all kinds of obstacles to make sure this doesn't happen.—Mar del Plata International Film Festival

In Spain in 1966, an English teacher picks up two hitchhikers on his quest to meet John Lennon.

The story of Seyolo Zantoko, who as a freshly graduated doctor of Congolese descent in France, struggled with his family to integrate in a small rural village, and ended up being considered as one of the most respected doctors in the area.

The cover model of an East German fashion magazine is tempted by a photographer she falls in love with, to flee to to the West.

Paris, 1927. After the death of her father, Madeleine Péricourt should have inherited his financial empire but she fell prey to a conspiracy leading her to ruin. Now she will have her vengeance.

Harry Holland is a wealthy divorce lawyer with no moral compass. Following a heart transplant he investigates his donor's life to understand why he feels so different.

Esperanza and Tristeza both have to get to Cuenca. However, by an unlucky turn of events, the bus they are on gets delayed due to a worker strike. Taking their journey into their own hands, they decide to hitchhike to Cuenca. Along the way they meet interesting characters who help them re-evaluate the purpose of their journey.—Anonymous

The story of Roger Sharpe, the young midwesterner who overturned New York City's 35 year-old ban on pinball machines.

Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.

After his wife's death, Fernando becomes a quiet and introspective man who raises his son, Daniel by himself. Every night, while the boy sleeps, Fernando "revives" his wife by touching her clothes and organizing her personal belongings.

Piuma is the story of Ferro and Cate, your average couple. All of a sudden, an unexpected pregnancy turns their world upside down. Hesitant and tentative, the two main characters navigate the most exciting and complicated nine months of their lives, trying not to lose their purity and unique poetic air.

Yusuf is a young university graduate suffering discrimination, lack of opportunity and is raging against injustice. He slowly becomes seduced by extremist thought, which leaves his family powerless to dissuade him. His Uncle Salim, the only father figure in his life, is helpless in the face of his nephew's ideology. When Salim discovers his new next-door neighbors is actually his long lost childhood friend, Jack, he is delighted. But Jack has become a policeman, a job which in a City increasingly divided by religion and tribe and simmering with violence, places a seemingly unbridgeable gulf between them. Yusuf, Jack and Salim's lives become fatally and irrevocably entwined as Salim struggles to hold his friendship, family and community together. But Yusuf's sister has another plan. Knowing that the communities of Mombasa may have the solution, she takes her story to the streets. As the film morphs into a documentary, we see real people in Mombasa assume the roles of Yusuf's mother, sister and uncle, taking the story into their own hands to determine a new ending and in doing so give voice to the majority Muslim community of coastal Kenya drowned out by extremists on the one side and Government repression on the other. Can the citizens of Mombasa change the tragic outcome of this story?—WATATU (Three People)

A young spirited woman, Zelma, is determined to conform to the pressures of singing Mythology Sirens in order to be loved, but more she conforms, the more her body resists. A story of inner female rebellion.

The journey of Christian Lafayette, a French soldier who, in the aftermath of a murderous ambush in Afghanistan, has returned to France. Soon mixed up in trafficking opium with Mounir, his brother-in-arms who was wounded in the ambush, Lafayette, a foster child, and tormented war hero, chooses a new family and life - a criminal's life. To escape this vicious circle of violence, Christian has to learn how to love.

Sara and her nanny Yarisa have a relationship that seems to transcend their class conditions: they are the closest thing to a daughter-mother, but an accident will test their intimate loyalty and the innocent illusion that nothing can separate them.—Ulla Prida, Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra

Loretta McLaughlin was the reporter who first connected the murders and broke the story of the Boston Strangler. She and Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city's most notorious serial killer.

In this time-jumping dramedy, a workaholic who's always in a rush now wants life to slow down when he finds himself leaping ahead a year every few hours.

In Minas Gerais hinterland Bastú has just lost her husband Feliciano. Without crying, she seeks shelter in everyday life and in her memories. But it is in the freedom of dreams and the news brought by her grandchildren that she makes her own transformation. Mary carries on her drum the joy and strength of her people. Its drumming echoes the sounds of other places and marks the presence of what cannot die.—diego-uk

Adele's attempt to recover from a devastating breakup leads to surprisingly hilarious results as she bounces from one lover to the next, but can't escape the vision of her ex. France. Official Selection - Locarno Int'l FF.

A priest struggling with his beliefs encounters and sympathetically listens to the stories of downtrodden locals.

An old couple living in the Colombian countryside has been planing a trip to sea for years in order to break the monotony of their life. He just wants to live the routine, she wants to see the world and is not able to keep waiting.

Summer 1998, Kabul in ruins is occupied by the Taliban. In love despite the daily violence and misery, Mohsen and Zunaira want to believe in the future. But a senseless act by Mohsen will upset their lives forever.

A teenager stands trial for murdering her best friend.

Milena travels to a remote opal mining community to see her estranged, ill father. Lost and alone, she falls into his bewildering world, where men escape society and share ideals of freedom. Soon, he doesn't want her to leave.

Chela and Chiquita are both descended from wealthy families in Asunción and have been together for over 30 years. But recently, their financial situation has worsened and they begin selling off their inherited possessions. But when their debts lead to Chiquita being imprisoned on fraud charges, Chela is forced to face a new reality. Driving for the first time in years, she begins to provide a local taxi service to a group of elderly wealthy ladies. As Chela settles into her new life, she encounters the much younger Angy, forging a fresh and invigorating new connection. Chela finally begins to break out of her shell and engage with the world, embarking on her own personal, intimate revolution.

Set in Brazil's southern city of Porto Alegre, the film focuses on a socially repressed young man who only comes out of his shell during chatroom performances, when he strips and smears neon paints on his lithe body.

17-year-old Mariano finds a gun in his house and, in a thoughtless impulse, shoots himself twice. But he survives.

A documentary of uncompromising, outlaw, cult underground filmmaker Jim Vanbebber, covering his life from 2010-2015 while he tries to make a comeback and make a new exploitation film after years of struggling to work.

Ruza left Belgrade for Switzerland as a young woman full of hope for a new, better life. 25 years later she appears to have achieved everything: She owns a canteen in Zurich, which she manages with a firm grip and financial success. Ruza values her meticulously-structured daily routine, both in her professional and private life. Ruzas's orderly world shifts when 22-year-old Ana from Sarajevo enters the scene. She feels threatened by Ana's direct, impulsive manner while at the same time she is intrigued by her zest for life. Slowly a friendship develops between these two self-willed women. However, a certain distance between them remains: Ruza's afraid to open herself up completely, and Ana has a secret too difficult to reveal.

To withstand the psychological torture of the Gestapo, a lawyer imprisoned by the Nazis finds refuge in the world of chess.

After spending 8 years in prison for an unfortunate accident, heavy-weight boxer Joey Nardone returns to a solitary life in Philadelphia. His time in prison and the opportunity to reflect has changed him. Feeling like a stranger in his own neighborhood and searching for some semblance of normalcy, he takes a job at the boxing gym where he used to work-out. Joey finds comfort in the familiarity of his old friends. But his buddies notice a change in Joey Nardone. Where is the spark and zest for life, once inherent in their pal Joey? Joey, struggling to find meaning in life, meets a 14 yr. old Puerto Rican kid named Jesus, who is repeatedly beaten up by the neighborhood bully. The kid, not used to kindness from strangers, has no time for Joey. Life is hard for Jesus, a scrawny boy, who is not only dealing with his peers picking on him at school, but he also has an alcoholic, abusive father to contend with at home. The chemistry between these two unlikely friends; Joey, an over-the-hill over weight ex-boxer and Jesus a target for bullies, is pure synergistic "magic." They begin a relationship that gives them both a new and inspired life with a purpose: to only "fight for the right." the life lessons the old boxer teaches the kid are golden. This heartwarming story of two lost souls finding each other on the streets and boxing arenas of Philadelphia, will capture your heart. Because in life SOME THINGS ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR.The Nail is a story forgiveness, hope and second chances—James Quattrochi

Two sisters, aged 5 and 8, hang out alone at home in the middle of the countryside. Elsa, the youngest, swallows three grains of coarse salt. Judith announces to her that she's doomed to a death by desiccation, and she only has a few hours to live. The mother returns, behaving ardently and feverishly, and turns the family's destiny upside down.

Focusing on the removal and subsequent replications of a colossal pre-Hispanic rain deity taken from a small Mexican town to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, this film explores struggles over heritage and artifacts, contrasting diverse perspectives within the contemporary debate about cultural property and the stewardship of the past.—Anonymous