Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to drive his car. In between rides, secrets from the past and heartfelt confessions will be unveiled.
A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.
9th century China. 10-year-old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.
A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores and takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.
A monumental windstorm and an abused horse's refusal to work or eat signal the beginning of the end for a poor farmer and his daughter.
On a dark and rainy night, a historic and regal Taipei cinema sees its final film: 1967 martial arts feature "Dragon Inn". As the film plays, the lives of the theater's various employees and patrons intersect, and two ghostly actors arrive to mourn the passing of an era.
One day, Haru (25), who works as a bookstore clerk, reunites with Takeshi (45), whom she first met a few years prior, when she stopped him from jumping in front of a train. Takeshi offers Haru a job. Another day, Haru is worried about Yukiko (40) who is sitting on a bench in front of the station, and talks to her. This leads them on a small journey together. Haru takes along a cassette tape and recorder left behind by her mother Taeko, who died of illness when Haru was in primary school. Haru again faces regrets of not being able to help Taeko, which she had held for a long time.
Structured as a labyrinth-like game and inspired by Jorge Luis Borges, Aleph is a travelogue of experience, a dreamer's journey through the lives, experiences, stories and musings of protagonists spanning ten countries and five continents.
Amidst apocalyptic darkness and endless war, a young couple's mundane relationship is threatened by the arrival of a mysterious widow and a supernatural force that lurks in the forest around their cabin.
Shell-shocked Barbara must face up to the loss of a dear companion after a tragic accident. Her best friend Klara and husband Torsten devise a plan to thaw Barbara's heart, after she reminisces about the incident, the funeral, and happier times. Will she agree to the suggestions of her nearest and dearest? Can grief turn into hope?
A day in the life of a waitress/webcam model as she serves customers, deals with the world around her, and remembers why she does all of it in the first place.
When Benny's younger brother, Loren, suddenly reappears after being missing for months, the two are forced to reckon with the drastically different ways they have chosen to live their lives.
Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Make-up and perfume can no longer conceal his quickly decomposing body. Dismayed, he decides to withdraw from the world, whilst forming an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard.
Jean Bonnard, clean-cut industrialist and the only son of a widow, goes to visit his mother in the small village where she lives. However, early in the morning the police arrive to arrest him, accusing the man of having murdered the old banker who'd made advances towards his girlfriend. Jean's mother is eager to aid her son, whom she believes is innocent. Said Epstein of his film: "I shot small landscapes in Livilliers which seemed to me-- in their reality, I mean-- very large".
Five months after the maternal death of his partner, a man is at a crossroads with how to raise their baby.
After the earthquake; D. surrounds himself with nature, becoming a recluse. Both D. and the nature go through a transformation as the seasons change. Winds howl, waves soar and the crickets chirp no more. The storm wets the dried earth, healing its cracked surface and starting a new cycle of life. D. disappears and the summer house returns to its lonely existence.
One morning in the early 90s, florist Ádina performs domestic tasks after apparent disagreements with her husband, Ivo.
Set in the sparsely populated lobster fishing villages of southern Nova Scotia, Plains is a cinema vérité approach to documenting the curious lives of Jon and Cat, a young couple who are developing politically left-leaning virtual reality video games. Against the busy backdrop of their art practice, we sit in on their quiet rural life, which, in its proximity to nature and the vast green and oceanic spaces that surround, echoes the romanticism of a simpler time. As the decaying world of physical labour and the mechanical industry faces up to an expanding digital empire, Jon gradually retreats into the alternative realities of his own design.
Jack wants to know if Ollie “like likes” him. But Ollie is meditating. So, he asks a bird instead.