The Gambler (2013)

A convict is forced to hide within a model of a hammer and sickle. Here a tragic romance ensues between the convict and woman worker; which is spoilt by the woman's jealous young son. The convict is then forced to undergo a tragic bid for freedom which ends with the beauty of swans contrasted with the imprisoned convicts and the hopeful but ultimately tragic wait by the woman for her lover.

As far as can be determined, Goha was Tunisia's first entry in the Cannes Film Festival. Omar Sharif stars as a naïve young man who is taken for granted by friends and family. Little do they know that he has more intelligence, tenacity and imagination than all of them put together. The story takes an unexpectedly dramatic turn when the man falls in love with the young wife of his village's elderly "wise man". Based on an ancient Tunisian folk tale, Goha boasts impressive production values and sure-handed direction (by Jacques Baratier).

Antoine is an accountant, uptight and withdrawn, married to Edith, who picks out his clothes and shoes. He's assigned to a fitness gymnasium for a month to straighten out their books. The owner, M. Roland, encourages Antoine to use the facilities, including the massages, so Antoine goes to Dominique, a muscular African. In these sessions, Antoine discovers that the pain is comforting, and Dominique finds the accountant ideal for his own sadism. When Dominique breaks Antoine's arm and then goes to the hospital to take Antoine away, Antoine confesses his fascination with and fear of death. With Dominique's help, the accountant breaks all earthly ties to confront his fear.

In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. At that time, one school (Shingon) offered extensive training in complex and very demanding practices which might eventually bring about spiritual purification and realization. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation. Yet another school (Tendai) emphasized complex metaphysics and the study of philosophical systems. Basically, all of them were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation, such as scholars and noblemen. In this historical and biographical drama, this is the situation that the young Shinran (1173-1263) discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.

Angi Vera, as a promising young woman, gets invited to a Communist training center to undergo the next level of indoctrination into Party life. She begins to realize how people get ahead in the Party: by saying things they don't mean but think are politically correct; by becoming friends with Party dignitaries, even if you don't like them; by being seen as a dedicated worker (as opposed to actually being a dedicated worker).

Az Életbe táncoltatott leány is a 1964 Hungarian film directed by Tamás Banovich. It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival where it won a Technical Prize

The story follows Oshino, a geisha who is trying to start a new life with a lover who is a painter. However, her past filled with debts and pimps catches up to her.

Promotional film (70mm) from 1967 made by John Fernhout. The film shows the characteristic Dutch landscape that was portrayed and made famous by the great 17th century Dutch painters.

At a festival, a chorus of women sing and dance as two stories unfold. In a village, a young women with a jealous husband gives him something to be jealous about when his younger brother visits from the city.

Venturing into some of the roughest slums of St. Louis, Jesuit priest Rev. Charles Dismas Clark dedicates himself to helping young ex-convicts who are struggling to rejoin a society that fears and rejects them. An especially wrenching case for the Reverend is Billy Lee Jackson, a troubled thief whose personal demons constantly tempt him back to a life of crime — and may ultimately make him pay the highest price for a few desperate decisions.

Wealthy landlord Sarkar decides to direct all waste into the village to make space for his real estate project. However, the poor villagers agitate against his plan and the protest is led by Balraj.

The film is the story of girl Cveta who was abducted by the Ottoman bey and taken away in his harem. Bey is trying to embrace Islam, but its persistence, and its neighbors led beloved Spasa, and beloved local priest, assisted by diplomats of the great powers manage to free themselves. On the day of her wedding comes Bey with his army to try to get it back. Cveta dies, Spasa killing Bey and and goes to the committees.

A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jasny is divided into four separate segments. In the first skit, a young child's impressions are observed as his newborn baby sister becomes a part of the family. In the second, a young woman falls in love for the first time one summer, and in the third, a tough, older peasant woman battles against the farming cooperatives. Finally, in the last segment, everything comes full circle as a woman who is about to become a grandmother dies while her daughter-in-law has not yet given birth.

This puzzling experimental film is written and directed by Raymond Rouleau, who uses effects like changing color tones and masks to put across a drama within a dance drama. The set is a sound stage and the actors in this film are dancers on the stage, performing a mime-ballet derived from one particular legend. Both the enacted legend and the actual events affecting the dancers are parallel. The lead dancer Isa (Ludmila Tcherina) is still nursing her wounds after her first love left her to stand alone at the altar. Now one of the dancers wants to expand his relationship with Isa -- and soon after, the cad who jilted her suddenly shows up again. Tragedy follows closely behind.

A Greek-Irish sailor becomes friends with a 10-year-old sampan girl while his freighter is docked in Hong Kong.

Seaside takes place in a small coastal town on the Bay of Somme. The year-round inhabitants find ways to make their lives work; Paul, a lifeguard in the summer, works at the grocery all winter. His mother, Rose (Ogier) likes to play the slots just about anytime; his girlfriend Marie works in the local factory - the town's biggest business - but watching the summertime vacationers each year just makes her increasingly curious about what else might be out there. From these and several other stories, aided by close, revealing observations, we see a community perched between transition and stasis.

Three women travel to a distant place to do welfare work. They assist, listen, stay with the unprotected. An old hospital in ruins accommodates them. The imposed group life gets more complex as they start to know each other. The relationship with the others, the community, is also difficult. But, as days go by, they will start to melt into that human landscape surrounding them. To be part of the mystery of otherness.

A young man with an interest in ornithology arrives to study the work of falcons and their human trainers. The head falconer is a cold and heartless man who obstinately demands perfection from everyone around him. His work is his life, and he doesn't care if his girlfriend makes love to other men. The young man observes all he can before leaving behind the potentially inhuman situation for brighter horizons.

The beginning of the end of the apartheid era in South Africa is seen through the perspectives of three female friends: Sophie, who is of English descent; Aninka, who is an Afrikaner; and Thoko, who is black.

In war-ravaged Warsaw, five juvenile delinquents are given probation for stealing, to rehabilitate themselves, but remain under the influence of their profiteer-boss.