Sarajevo Film Festival

Sarajevo in the twentieth month of its besiegement. The situation is critical, but the city chooses to organise an international film festival. Dutch filmmakers Johan van der Keuken and Frank Vellenga present Van der Keuken's documentaries Face Value and Brass Unbound there, and one of the festival organisers asks a festival visitor: "What is the significance of film in war?" In Sarajevo Film Festival Film, a reflection on film, war and daily life, fictional images are juxtaposed in a disconcerting way with the gruesome reality of the life of a festival visitor.

La prima volta

A young man catches the eye of another in a public park. The dance begins, the public toilets beckon. For one of them, this is one of many such encounters. For the other, it's the first time.

Bortom

Eva and David have a complicated mother-son relationship. They try to reach each other but do not quite know how. One problem is the language barrier, as David is deaf and Eva is not very good at sign language. After moving back to her country of birth, Eva comes to Sweden on a short visit, where she discovers what so many parents do throughout the lives of their offspring - your children never cease to surprise you.

Höllenritt

A boys first weekend with the father after the divorce of his parents. Together with his friends, he makes a plan to turn that weekend into a horror trip, to punish his father. But then everything changes

Praiano

AYOR

In 1970, during the annual Dutch national commemoration of those fallen in World War II, two men try to make a statement against gay discrimination. In the moments before and after the incident, their doubt, fear and firm belief becomes clear.

Et gensyn

In this tale of second chances, two ex-lovers run into each other in a restaurant. Both are with new partners. Both are unhappy. Both are still in love with the other. Dormant feelings rush to the surface and the opportunity to rekindle the past presents itself. Will the outcome be different?

Dronning for en dag

In Sara's class, the popular kids, also known as the kings and queens, are subjected to daily humiliations, which include having their pants pulled down or water thrown on them, but this is only a sign of their elevated status. Sara is the only blond and blue-eyed girl in her class, and she is completely overlooked by the kings and queens who do not have blond hair and blue eyes. She has a secret crush on one of the kings, who is way out of her league, and she doesn't have any friends either, but would like to become friends with Karen, also an outsider who aspires to a better status. One day, Sara eyes an opportunity to boost her popularity by humiliating herself and thereby become queen. Karen instantly becomes her friend, she seems to catch the eye of her kingly crush and popularity appears within her reach. However, her happiness is short-lived, and in the end she learns a far more valuable lesson than how to be queen for a day.

Alice Rose

A damsel in distress agrees to run away with her wealthy lover in order to escape from her abusive husband. But all is not as it seems in this 1940s film noir.

En lille død

Christian (12) and his best friend have been invited over to an older boy from school. There, he enters a mysterious world. It becomes an overwhelming experience - an essential step towards puberty.

Iola's Promise

Iola, the little Indian girl, is held captive by a gang of cutthroats but is soon rescued by Jack Harper, a prospector. She is truly grateful to Jack, and regards him as something different from other white people. Jack's sweetheart and her father are travellers in a wagon-train headed for this place, and, not having much luck so far, he is somewhat gloomy. Iola learns the reason, and promises to help him find gold. "Will you?" he says, "Yes." "Cross your heart?" This cross-your-heart action mystifies Iola. She thinks it is a sort of tribe insignia and tells her people that "Crossheart" people are all right. Iola surely pays her debt of gratitude, not only in finding gold, but in giving her life to protect Jack's sweetheart from her own people.

Ruega por nosotros

In a desolate supermarket, a religious woman's peaceful evening is interrupted by the sudden arrival of three punks, who are running away from the police and hiding something much more valuable than money.

Black Cat in a Dark Room

After years of helping euthanize the terminally ill, a "hospice" worker begins to question the ethics of her job.

Joseph's Reel

An elderly man, upon dying, is given the opportunity to relive one day of his life.

Rastres

Rita is a little 9-year-old girl who lives immersed in her own little world, full of illusions and innocence. After secretly hearing her parents say that they may have to leave their home behind forever, without really understanding the situation, Rita will find herself in the need to defend and protect her little world to prevent what she has heard from happening.

12/14/1996

Portraying the events leading up to "12/15/1996", delving a little deeper into the relationships and motives of our anti-heroes.

Lulu

The circus dancer Lulu is a thoroughly liberal being. Although she loves her former savior, the clown Alfredo, she begins a relationship with the noble Henri von Reithofen. Henri kills himself ruined by the horrendous expenses for Lulu. She however is fishing for the next rich patron, the much older Baron Waldheim. His son knows Lulu and warns his father that she will also hurt him. Waldheim succumbs to Lulus's insinuations and punishes his son.

Home Shopper

In a loveless marriage, Penny finds solace in the hypnotic escape of the home shopping channel. When things take an unexpected turn with her husband, the channel proves to be her saving grace... or was it the problem all along?

Caught

Jamie, an aspiring photographer and clumsy romantic, falls for his friend William, a pre-med student who's involved in a long-term relationship with an older man. Shared dance lessons and shared wine lead to shared beds. William wants Jamie but won't leave his partner. Confronting William and confronted by William's partner, Jamie begins to sort out the difference between being lonely and being alone