Barbs, Wastelands (2017)

Hearing the summons from an elderly man, a volunteer troop of middle-aged men gather to defend their country from dark foreign invaders.

Talk of living wages and religious observances upsets the delicate accord between the boss of a run-down truck yard and his workers in this visually arresting take on the French-Algerian immigrant experience.

Inspired on the true events of the Portuguese king Don Pedro (14th Century) which unburied his mistress to make her queen after dead. This film tells the story of Pedro, a man admitted to a psychiatric hospital for traveling by car with the corpse of his beloved, recalling simultaneously three different lives: one from the past, another from nowadays and another one from an distopic future.

A man tries to track down a potential love interest on a crowded train using a smartphone app.

A young woman escapes her father's house and goes to live in the city. There, she realises her father may still be controlling her life through the people she meets.

Ivan has tested positive for perfection, but sadly in this world it's illegal and the law states he must attend a private clinic to be made imperfect.

An American insurance executive, who sees his wife and children die when a plane crashes into their vacation cottage on the Irish coast, uncovers a series of suspicious clues indicating that it was no accident after a pretty financial reporter who resembles his dead wife turns up.

Adolfo Arrieta’s third feature film stars famed French transsexual and founding member of the FHAR (Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action), Marie-France, and is widely regarded as the first Parisian underground film. The loose plot revolves around the ex-wife of a famous sculptor who convinces her lover to remove a work by her ex-husband and replace it with a live model.

Based on a story by Vietnam veteran Paul Staples, the film concerns six American Green Berets, held for 17 years in a Vietnamese POW camp. They are finally released in secret, during a delicate trade-talk session between Vietnam and the United States. Captain Tom Watkins, the ex-prisoners' CO, begins to suspect that government-man Adam Roth, who is in charge of the debriefing, may be pursuing a hidden agenda that will result in the early deaths of Watkins and the five men under his command.

A young photographer has fallen in love with his girlfriend's sister. Nobody knows quite what to do. A stylish variation on the problems of triolism made with striking stability of style and a great feeling for mise-en-scène.

A portrayal of a hidden enclave of auto shops and junkyards fated for demolition in the shadow of a new baseball stadium in Queens. The film observes this vibrant community of immigrants – where wrecks, refuse, and recycling form a thriving commerce – as it struggles for daily survival and contests New York City's development scheme.

Elmer Butts is a contestant in a radio amateur hour show hoping to win the first price -- by dancing and juggling!

A deceptively simple set-up: the director and his father watch a 1988 football match which the father refereed, their commentary accompanying the original television images in real time. A Bucharest derby between the country’s leading teams, Dinamo and Steaua, taking place in heavy snow, one year before the revolution that toppled Ceaușescu.

In 1988, after much cunning political maneuvering, Loïk Le Floch-Prigent and Alfred Sirven become the chief executives at Elf. They discover a company that runs on kickbacks: in exchange for the oil rights, Elf makes handsome but discreet payoffs to the leaders of African nations. With the tacit complicity of President Mitterrand, and with eventual political and personal interests in mind, the new management takes charge of the slush fund. Within months, Sirven, Le Floch-Prigent and his wife Fatima Belaïd fill their pockets with more than they could ever have imagined.

Adrenaline junkie Roger Gilbert leads an otherwise ordinary life until one day he rides to where no man had ridden before.... the planet Stardust 420.

The personal stories of the people from all around the world waiting for a decision in an asylum-seekers centre in one of most restrictive countries in the world, Switzerland.

A rollicking compendium of the greatest hits of silent-cinema chase sequences

In Bucharest on a winter’s morning, a couple make love. Adina wants to move in with her boyfriend Radu as soon as possible. He, on the other hand, is slightly more reluctant but appears to simply tolerate her plans. Today is New Year’s Eve and Radu and Adina have a lot to do: the two have planned a visit to Adina’s parents followed by a party with friends. While buying last-minute gifts at the supermarket, Radu thinks he spots ex-girlfriend Nadja, who he has never forgotten. In one small moment, Radu’s insecurities about Adina come bubbling to the surface. No sooner have the corks begin to pop, the relationship comes to an abrupt end. This is followed by the perfectly timed offer from Radu’s friend Alex to hit the town with him and his friends. Radu accepts the offer in the hope that Nadja is also out. Director Paul Negogescu draws a portrait of Radu with precision and subtle irony – and captures the atmosphere of a New Year’s evening with great authenticity.

An ice-cream seller lusts after the female employees in his shop.

“Once upon a time, before people came along, all the creatures were free and able to be with one another”, narrates the voiceover. “All the animals danced together and were immeasurably happy. There was only one who wasn’t invited to the celebration – the frog. In his rage about the injustice, he committed suicide.” Something Romani and frogs have in common is that they will never be unseen, or stay unnoticed. In her film, young director Leonor Teles weaves the life circumstance of Romani in Portugal today with the recollections of a yesterday. Anything but a passive observer, Teles consciously decides to participate and take up position. As a third pillar, she establishes an active applied performance art that becomes integrated in the cinematic narrative. Thereby transforming “once upon a time” into “there is”. “Afterwards, nothing will be as it was and the melody of life will have changed”, explains a voice off-camera. Golden Bear for Best Short Film 2016