20 Fingers (2004)
Genre : Drama
Runtime : 1H 14M
Director : Mania Akbari
Synopsis
The subject of the film is male-female relationships. Composed of 7 vignettes, "20 Fingers" features Mania Akbari and Bijan Daneshmand as a contemporary Iranian couple. The film is an intense, bumpy series of conversations and sometimes quarrels reflecting the problems facing Iranian men and women and the struggle between modernism and tradition, liberalism and conservatism.
Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.
College student Danielle must cover her tracks when she unexpectedly runs into her sugar daddy at a shiva - with her parents, ex-girlfriend and family friends also in attendance.
A young female intern at a small magazine company becomes involved with a drug-addicted lesbian photographer, both of whom seek to exploit each other for their respective careers, while slowly falling in love with each other.
A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house.
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling “same sex attraction.” Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance.
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Alice, a young innocent Catholic girl, is tempted into masturbating after an AOL chat suddenly turns sexual, however is conflicted as the act would be considered a sin.
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Ava, 13, is spending the summer on the Atlantic coast when she learns that she will lose her sight sooner than expected. Her mother decides to act as if everything were normal so as to spend their best summer ever. Ava confronts the problem in her own way. She steals a big black dog that belongs to a young man on the run...
Two high school girls are best friends until one dates the other's older brother, who is totally his sister's nemesis.
In 1971, a young woman moves from the French countryside to Paris and begins a passionate love affair with a feminist leader.
Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.
15-year-old Mia faces an overwhelming transformation which puts her entire existence into question. Her body is changing radically, and despite desperate attempts to halt the process, Mia is soon forced to accept that nature is far more powerful than she is.
A young woman's plans to propose to her girlfriend while at her family's annual holiday party are upended when she discovers her partner hasn't yet come out to her conservative parents.
Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, lives with nosey parents who don't understand her, an annoying three year old sister and has to wear a beret to school. She would, however, rather be blonde, have a smaller nose and a boyfriend. Revolving around her hilarious journal entries, prepare to be engulfed in the world of the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager.
A 17-year old Missouri teen discovers she has gotten pregnant, a development that threatens to end her dreams of matriculating at an Ivy League college, and the career that could follow.
Despite her sheltered upbringing, Jenny is a teen with a bright future; she's smart, pretty, and has aspirations of attending Oxford University. When David, a charming but much older suitor, motors into her life in a shiny automobile, Jenny gets a taste of adult life that she won't soon forget.
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
Bilike has never seen a ping-pong ball before. He and his family live without electricity and running water in a solitary tent home among the vast steppe grasslands. The magnificent landscape here has changed little since the days of Genghis Kahn. But life in the middle of nowhere can be exciting for a young boy. The smallest of details become big events for curious Bilike and his best friends Erguotou and Dawa. The mystery of the small white ball floating in the creek leads to questions about the world around them, as well as innocent mischief.
A female election agent and a gun-toting soldier try to collect votes among the local islanders with mixed success.
On December 31st 1999, destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.
A young man is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison. There he forms a close relationship with his cellmate. Upon his release his wife is concerned as to how prison has changed the man she married.
Henry Kesdi is a silenced classical composer and a survivor of the Holocaust. He is coaxed out from retirement by an inspired musicologist, Stefan, who convinces him to compose a complex symphony on his neglected piano. As a help Kesdi gets his new musical secretary. His loyal wife reluctantly accepts her as his young lover.
In 1999, Argentina's peso craters. Ariel, a young man from Buenos Aires' Jewish community, deals with his mother's fatal illness, finds a job as a night shift surveillance camera monitor, and wonders when he'll discover sex. Santamaria, middle aged, loses his bank job and is dismissed by his wife; he finds stolen wallets in dumpsters to return to their owners. Ariel tells Santamaria's story to a TV reporter who profiles lives on the street. She's Laura, in a relationship with another woman, but perhaps available. Ariel desires Laura, while Santamaria courts Elsa, a washroom attendant who's husband is in prison. Christmas and Hanukkah approach; can anyone connect?
Ferding, Santos and Willy only drink in despair. One day, a Canadian woman’s visit changes everything.
The story of Toña and Paquita, the housekeepers for the aristocratic González-Dubois family. These domestic employees have been mistreated for quite some time and they are tired of their situation. So when the family plans a shopping trip to Miami, the maids have a plan of their own; to take control of the mansion. Unexpectedly, they will also discover a family secret.
Joy is a fable about courage and youth. It tells the story of Luiza, 16 year old girl, who can not stand to hear about the end of the world… On a Christmas night, his cousin John is mysteriously shot in a street in the Lowlands and disappears into the night. Weeks later, while Luiza spends days alone in the apartment where he lives with his mother in Rio de Janeiro, a mysterious visitor comes knocking on your door: John, as a ghost, asking to hide there.
Ustanička ulica is a Serbian political thriller. Dušan Ilić (Gordan Kičić), employed at the Serbian state prosecutor's office, gets a top secret case to investigate a war crime committed by a disbanded paramilitary unit. He manages to find Mićun (Uliks Fehmiu) who's the only surviving witness.
In a village on the northeastern coast of Brazil, Jusce, 17, scrapes a living by diving 30 meters, with rudimentary equipment, for lobster. His "prize" at the end of a long day of risky work is sitting close to Ana, who lives with her mother and young daughter, as she savors the drama of urban sophisticates on her favorite soap opera. Ana dreams of leaving the village to see the world. Jusce is content with the life he leads. The other fishermen, friends of Jusce's dead father, help him to buy and fit out his own fishing boat. One day an old friend, Rogério, returns from the big city to work giving dune buggy rides along the coast. The day Rogério gives Jusce a ride to Ana's place marks the beginning of their rivalry for Ana's attention. Jusce has to reinvent himself in order not to lose Ana to the adventurous life style of Rogério.
An island retreat. A man, his face bandaged, plays cards nonchalantly. His ex-wife arrives. Conversations happen. (Mubi)
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The film Soleil Ô, shot over four years with a very low budget, tells the story of a black immigrant who makes his way to Paris in search of “his Gaul ancestors”. This manifesto denounces a new form of slavery: The immigrants desperately seek work, a place to live, but find themselves face to face with indifference, rejection, humiliation…until the final call for uprising. “Soleil Ô” is the title of a West Indian song that tells of the pain of the black people from Dahomey (now Benin) who were taken to the Caribbean as slaves.
Former political activist receives compensation from the Brazilian government for the disappearance of her husband, victim of the repression triggered by the Brazilian military dictatorship. With the money, she can buy her an apartment and free herself from this dreadful condition she lived for decades. At the moment of moving to the new home, however, a visit arises that forces her to review her entire life.
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Juliano Mer Khamis' documentary on his mother, Arna, an activist against the Israeli occupation who founded an alternative education system for Palestinian children.