Cochlea (2018)

Earth and Ashes

Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.

Memoirs of a Strangler of Blondes

First film by Julio Bressane shot in exile, "Memoirs" is a film about a man who repeatedly kills the same type of woman in same places, the same way. Filmed on the streets of London.

154

The prototype [TEST TYPE • 154] is a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence, which is capable of autonomously acquiring notions from its surroundings and - eventually - developing autonomy of thought. Given the nearly human nature of its learning capabilities, the laboratory that programmed it hires a kindergarten teacher, asking him to instruct the machine as if it were a newborn child. The learning process - which spans 7 days - becomes increasingly insidious in the long run, posing a peculiar yet crucial problem: can there be a form of autonomous thinking that excludes emotions?

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Solange is seriously depressed, and her kindhearted husband, Raoul, makes it his mission to cure her doldrums. After many failed attempts to cheer her up, Raoul hits upon a possible solution: find his wife a lover. Unfortunately, his choice, Stéphane, proves to be just as ineffectual in restoring her flagging spirits. In the end, the gorgeous Solange finds her own, highly problematic tonic to her troubles in the form of a 13-year-old boy.

Macabre Metrics

A young, wannabe streetwear influencer dying to make an impact on the world gets a lot more than he bargained for when a shy but obsessive fan decides to help him become a star for his own gain at the expense of everyone else involved. Macabre Metrics is an almost feature-length, visually experimental exploration into the world of image culture set in Seoul. Shot entirely on iPhone with animated sequences.

Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film

God's story is unstoppable when it is in the heart language of a people group. Deaf Missions' Jesus Film uses native signers to bring the story of Jesus to life from a Deaf perspective for a Deaf audience.

Copying Beethoven

A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.

Children of a Lesser God

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

Tyngsboro

During his visit to a graveyard, a young man is suddenly projected into a dream-like realm. Empty and removed from time, the familiar landscape forces him to confront certain pains when blood suddenly effuses from his hands.

Fogos em mim

Experimental university short film inspired by grief, the passage of time and the filmmaking process

Dear Frankie

Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...

The Eye

Violinist Sydney Wells was accidentally blinded by her sister Helen when she was five years old. She submits to a cornea transplantation, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she is seeing dead people.

Chasing the Wind

A man reflects on his past through visions of a mysterious figure guiding him through different phases of his life.

The Story of Niggemeyer Michael F Part 1: A Man named Mano

The tale of Niggemeyer Michael F, a true tragedy. Prepare to embark on a journey never experienced before. A rise and a fall. A fall and a rise. Two friends, and what destroyed their friendship.

Years of Pilgrimage: The Wandering Soul of Franz Liszt / Fashionable Empire

YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE: Franz Liszt was a virtuoso pianist that took early nineteenth-century Europe by storm. He conquered the Parisian salons with passionate performances marked by excellent technique and handsome features that became the downfall of many women. But what was he truly after? The musical narrates the story of Liszt's early years, and his pilgrimage across Europe in an attempt to find a place where his soul could belong, focusing on the romance with the Countess Marie d'Agoult, and his greatest friend and rival, Chopin. FASHIONABLE EMPIRE: A revue that transforms the stage into the "Empire" where the pioneering fashionistas of our time gather. The stylish array of scenes will enchant the audience, at times with the cool atmosphere, and at times with the hot beats. While focusing on the sophisticated and metropolitan appeal of top star Yuzuka Rei this revue also shows off the unique, scintillating members of Flower Troupe through many groovy scenes.

Richer and Richer

Losing her lover, mother, and hope for tomorrow, Gisele, the daughter of a crime syndicate, is forced to confront its oppressive leader – her father.

Maestro

A journalist interviews a world-renowned conductor to lead her to more than just a story on paper. Available on Amazon Prime Video (USA)

Hebe

Hebe, in her journey from childhood to adulthood, finds herself compelled to explore the boundaries of the real and the illusory through her extrasensory perceptions. Endowed with a singular gift: glimpsing the past and future as an eternal present, Hebe defies temporal convention, questioning whether her premonitions are pre-written destinies or mere whispers of chance. Inspired by true events, Hebe invites us into the fabric of time to discover whether her gift can and should be controlled or whether she should surrender and succumb to it.

Linton Falls - A Study of the Force of Water

An experimental film documenting a river leading up to a waterfall, depicting both its natural beauty and its inherent danger.

Allegro non troppo

The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).

A Quiet Place

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

Eroica

British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones directs the BBC drama Eroica, starring Ian Hart as Ludwig van Beethoven. Shot on digital video, this TV film depicts the first performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony, June 9th, 1804, in Vienna, Austria. Prince Lobkowitz (Jack Davenport) has invited friends to listen to Beethoven conduct his new symphony for the first time. Among the aristocratic attendees are Count Dietrichstein (Tim Pigott-Smith), Countess Brunsvik (Claire Skinner), and composer Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay). The actual musical score is performed by the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.

Soft

A portrait of new found sobriety and love unravels as a young woman moves through the motions of melancholic life in seclusion.

Cala Mata

A woman goes to a cold and inhospitable abandoned cove to try to summon the spirit of her only son, who passed away during the war.

Cain Rose Up

Pigpen has a snore. Bailey has a lot of nerve. And Curt Garrish has a gun.

El Editor Versión Final

Marcos, an independent film and video editor, works editing late into the night. On a typical night at work, he has a seizure that causes him to lose consciousness. Upon waking up, he discovers that his way of perceiving life has changed in such a way that he now lives everything and sees it in the same way as a cinematographic montage.

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An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

Shall We Kiss?

When Gabriel and Emilie meet by chance, he offers her a ride, and they spend the evening talking, laughing and getting along famously. At the end of the night, Emilie declines Gabriel's offer of "a kiss without consequences". Emilie admonishes him that the kiss could have unexpected consequences, and tells him a story, unfolding in flashbacks, about the impossibility of indulging your desires without affecting someone else's life.

Practice

Trine refuses to fly. When the 18-year-old environmental activist and trumpet talent only has a few days to travel 1500 km from Lofoten to Oslo in order to reach a crucial audition at the Opera House, she is forced to hitchhike, despite great time pressure. Suddenly, her passion for music and environmental idealism is set against each other. Å ØVE (TO PRACTICE) is a film that explores resistance in passion, a deeply intimate encounter with music and the practice of listening to oneself.

PROLIX

A young woman watches TV with her cat in the room. A dying man explores what's left of his psyche.

Immortal Beloved

A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler, searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer's love letters as "immortal beloved." As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveal Beethoven's transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.

In the Company of Men

Two business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.

The Zurich Affair - Wagner's One and Only Love

Richard Wagner is working on his new opera "Tristan and Isolde". Mathilde Wesendonck and her husband, the silk-merchant Otto Wesendonck venerate Wagner. Mathilde is turning from a loving mother into a muse of the new music.

Opulence

Amidst the realm of her parents' upscale nightclub, a young woman embarks on a surreal odyssey to confront her identity, only to find herself inescapably mirroring her father.

The Life and Loves of Beethoven

Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

Louis van Beethoven

1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.

Four Minutes

Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again. When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.

What Makes the Ride Worthwhile

A short film shot on 16mm about memory, grieving, and siblinghood.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped

A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.

Beyond Silence

Beyond Silence is about a family and a young girl’s coming of age story. This German film looks into the lives of the deaf and at a story about the love for music. A girl who has always had to translate speech into sign language for her deaf parents yet when her love for playing music grows strong she must decide to continue doing something she cannot share with her parents.

Born In Summer

A filmmaker plays with diary-docu and fiction as his camera joins his ventures into a phone dating club. Bored to death, hormones running, and desperately wanting to talk to someone his own age (preferably a girl), he walks into a local phone dating club. Can he hook up with someone? Borrowing the form of a diary-movie, the director unfurls an unpredictable and imaginative look into his own persona. 8mm experimental film by Murakami Kenji, the film that made his name.

House of Ricordi

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.

Desire: The Short Films of Ohm

Collection of six short films from director Ohm Phanphiroj. Includes his acclaimed "Desire" trilogy (The Deaf Boy's Disease, The Space Between Us, and The Last Kiss) as well as three self-starring documentary films (Journey, The Meaning Of It All, and The First Conversation Between Frank And I).

Sit With Me and Do Nothing for a While

A woman meditates on her life in an 80-minute unbroken zoom shot.

Humoresque

A classical musician from a working class background is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy, neurotic socialite.