Pearls of Wisdom (2016)

Exposure

Camille, an assistant at an art gallery, hosts Masato Kimura, a Japanese video game designer who has come to France to promote his latest creation. Indifferent to his world, Camille finds the man inscrutable until Masato asks to use her face in his next game.

Custom Order

After a painful breakup, Aaron purchases a life-size doll to serve as a replacement for the companionship he has lost.

Missy’s Tale

Film highlighting the impact flooding can have on homes and families, from the perspective of Missy the cat

Marion

The short tracks the tense fifteen minutes before Marion's – France's only female bull jumper – first performance in a packed French arena. As she prepares, being the only woman in the team, the film explores her battle against misogyny and prejudiced attitudes. A journey of one woman through an all-male world – juggling motherhood and the contentious pursuit of her passion.

100 Apples

A Taiwanese art student seeks to understand his sexuality while coping with the imminent departure of a man who is his both his teacher and close friend.

17

A 17-year-old struggling to find intimacy at home or at school seeks it through a gay hookup app.

Sew Torn

A seamstress, her thread, and a deal gone bad - the short film that inspired the feature.

To Err

237 years after mankind's extinction, an android longs for a past it can never experience.

Late

Emil, a light-hearted 18-year-old, and his neurotic Mamá await a lunch guest. The guest is late. And the later it gets, the more anxious Mamá becomes.

Me + Her

Creating a universe between two small pieces of Cardboard. When Jack and Jill of Cardboard City are separated by Jill's torrid illness, Jack must think outside the box to assure they will be together again.

House of Usher

Convinced that his family is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hellbent on stopping his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the cursed Usher bloodline from expanding. When her fiancé Philip Winthrop arrives at the crumbling estate to claim his bride, Roderick goes to ruthless—even deadly—lengths to keep them apart.

Gypsy

Sebastian is a wealthy young man. He finds out he has a flat tire and ends up accepting help from a Gypsy passer by. In return Sebastian will have to give him a ride home - but they won't reach their expected destination.

Toyland

On a winter morning, a mother goes to waken her son Heinrich; his bed is empty. She leaves her flat to find him. The neighbors' door, with a Star of David painted on it, is ajar, the furnishings in disarray, the family gone. She asks passersby, runs to the police then on to the rail yard. Flashbacks show that Heinrich and the neighbors' son Paul are six years old and best friends. Paul's family's deportation is expected soon; Heinrich's mother tells her son that they're going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to go with them, has a bag packed, and listens for their departure. His mother realizes he's joined them, and her resolve becomes more urgent. Will she arrive in time to save Heinrich?

Franz Kafka

A fantasy biography of Franz Kafka, bringing to life the writer's diaries and photographs.

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

An animated short film based on the 1877 short story written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing to live for in the world, and is therefore determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl changes his mind.

The Secret Number

A psychiatrist is compelled by his patient, an obsessive mathematician, to consider the existence of a secret integer between three and four.

The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra

This short experimental film tells the story of a man who comes to Hollywood to become a star, only to fail and be dehumanized. He is identified by the number 9413 written on his forehead.

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"

Maggie must navigate an eventful first day in daycare. At the Ayn Rand School for Tots, Maggie is diagnosed with average intelligence. Barred from the gifted children, she longs to escape from her glue-guzzling classmates. But when a lonely caterpillar befriends her, she makes it her mission to save it from a ruthless butterfly smashing toddler.

Tune for Two

An assassin drags his victim into the middle of the snowy woods, digs a pit, positions him next to it and prepares to finish the job. His victim seems to want to go out singing though.

Break Up the Dance

Youths get ready for a party, decorating the dance floor, cleaning out the fountain of a pond. That evening, the party starts and guests arrive: everyone has a ticket, and a guy at the gate, wearing a formal shirt, tails, and shorts, makes sure only those with tickets gain entrance.

Pitch Black Heist

Liam and Michael are professional safe crackers who meet on a simple job to relieve an office safe from its contents. The catch is a light activated alarm system impelling the men to embark on a pitch black heist.

Boomerang

The story, written by former George Stransky former political prisoners and today's chairman Pen Club is situated to 50 years and uranium camp of political prisoners in Pribram, where after the fall of the Stalinist cult comes at the end of 1958 as a prisoner of the former Chief of Main Administration of correctional facilities Colonel Good. Former chief topic of coexistence, "a guard" and political prisoners in the Bolshevik camp served timeless makers to reflect on the possibility (or impossibility) of forgiveness and a sense of justice. The film, unfortunately, below expectations - mainly because of its rarity and lack syžetovou arching dramatic arc of the story, including natural gradation. Nice camera and vice versa are cast, formed literally myriad of top Czech actors. A representative of one of the main roles - Jiri Schmitzer in 1997 was awarded the Czech Lion.

Desistfilm

Four young men and a young woman sit in boredom. She smokes while one strums a lute, one looks at a magazine, and two fiddle with string. The door opens and in comes a young man, cigarette between his lips, a swagger on his face. The young woman laughs. As the four young men continue disconnected activities, the other two become a couple. When the four realize something has changed, first they stare at the couple who have kissed and now are dancing slowly. The four run from the house in a kind of frenzy and return to stare. The power of sex has unnerved them.

No One Will Play with Me

A darkly humorous short documentary about a preschool-age boy ostracised from interactions with his classmates until a girl who has become interested in his pet crow provides the link to social acceptance.

The Bread and Alley

After returning from an errand to get bread, a young boy encounters a dog that frightens him making the journey to get home more difficult than he could’ve imagined.

The Hero

In a subway station, a man watches a girl acting strange.

Our Man

O Nosso Homem (Our Man) is a short variation in the line of the trilogy Pedro Costa has devoted to the habitants of the Fontainhas quarter, which has been destroyed in the meantime. It can be considered as a sort of appendix to the third part, Juventude en Marcha (Colossal Youth), in which the hero, Ventura, reappears as one of the four characters of this dialogue of hopelessness.

Homophobia

An adolescent boy, who serves the military forces, experiences homosexual feelings towards one of his comrades. The suppressed conflict bubbles up during their last night at the border, socially isolated and armed with loaded weapons.

Dog Star Man: Part III

Sexual intimacy. Three kinds of images race past, superimposed on each other sometimes: two bodies, a man and a woman's, close up, nude - patches of skin, wisps of hair, glimpses of a face and genitalia; strips of celluloid with lines and squiggles scratched on them; and, close-up shots of what appear to be the insides of living bodies - a heart beating, muscle and sinew and tissue wet with fluids. The exterior and interior of desire.

Dog Star Man: Part IV

A man is supine on a mountain side. Images rush past of nature and a stained glass saint. An infant is born. We see a lactating nipple. Images include a mountain peak, farm buildings, a tree stump, a fire, a crawling baby, and the sun. The man falls and rolls. Then, later, he swings his ax.

Dainah the Mixed

After three weeks and a long, hot voyage across the Pacific, an ocean liner finally arrives at its destination, Ecuador. That evening, the event is marked by a masked ball and a magic show.

Bekas

Two homeless Kurdish brothers see Superman in the town's first movie theatre and decide they are going to live with him in the US. It's a long, dangerous road in the hands of ruthless human smugglers.

Eva

A series of 3 shortfilms, shot for Canal+ and broadcasted during Cannes Film Festival 2005, starring Eva Herzigova.

Old Fangs

A young wolf decides to confront his father, who he has not seen since he was a child.

A Movie

Bruce Conner's landmark experimental film consisting entirely of found footage edited to a new score.

Nero, or The Fall of Rome

Roman emperor Nero is used to getting what he wants. He has grown tired of his wife Octavia, and has become infatuated with Poppea. He succeeds in making Poppea the new empress, but soon he faces opposition from an outraged populace. Informed of the danger of an imminent popular uprising, Nero orders to set fire to the city, which he watches from a terrace, rejoicing and playing his lyra.

The Girl and Her Trust

A train-station telegraphist warns the next station of approaching bandits.

The City Tramp

A tramp finds a gun lying in the street.

Invention of Love

An inventor tries to impress the woman he loves. Will she love him back?

Glimpses of the Outskirts

In an alternate reality where the decline of nations has given rise to corporatist regimes, any trace of culture or tradition is suppressed by these new leaders to prevent the masses from reclaiming a national identity. However, rebel cells have emerged to counteract this agenda.

The Adventures of Billy

Little Billy, the bootblack, finding luck against him, decides to move to some other town. To do this he must walk, as he hasn’t the wherewithal for a railroad ticket. While trudging through the country, he falls into the hands of a couple of sinister-looking tramps, and they at once, by threats, force him to beg for them. A day or so later, the tramps hold up an old man, and while procuring his money throw him down with such force as to unintentionally kill him. Panic-stricken at their awful deed, they feel that the boy’s knowledge of the affair will prove disastrous for them, and so they decide to get rid of him. Through the sagacity of a dog the boy is saved and the tramps are captured.

The Winter's Tale

Sicilian king Leontes jealously accuses his wife Hermione of infidelity with his best friend, and while imprisoned, she delivers a child. Sent away, the child is raised by Bohemian shepherds. The Winter's Tale was the first of six Shakespeare adaptations from Thanhouser, and was the 13th or 14th title from the studio in its first nine weeks of releases.

The Actor's Children

When his play closes down, an actor returns home to find that his children are gone. He's then notified that a wealthy relative has died and left him a substantial amount of money. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Women in Film: BBC Introducing Arts

Cultural historian Janina Ramirez presents a collection of intriguing and exciting short films by emerging women directors and artists. Each film gives a female perspective on modern-day topics from body image and new love to grief and belonging. Expect honest and refreshing storytelling that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you think. In a Room Full of Sisters; Blood Stains; Bridging the Gap; Cake; Ding-Ding, Next; Fruity; In Perpetuum; Owulide; White Dwarf; Cosmic Domestic; The Dead Are Jewels to Me; The Presence of Absence

Catalina

Gus, Will, and Brian have been fast friends since middle school. Now in their mid-twenties, Gus is the only one to have left their hometown for New York City, immersing himself in the queer community and finally coming into his own. He returns home for a weekend camping with “the boys” on Catalina Island, and must find new common ground now that he has changed, while discovering how his friends have changed too.

Fili di memorie

Plot unavailable

The Selfish Giant

A hyperactive boy and his best friend, a slow-witted youth with an affinity for horses, start collecting scrap metal for a shady dealer.

Outliers

Living in a city is punishment for a nomad who moves freely across the land. Simply waiting at a stoplight is akin to being in a cage.

Under Your Fingers

The day of the cremation of her grand mother, Emilie, a young mixed-race Asian girl, buries herself into her grandmother memories. She discovers the Indochina of Hoa, her romantic encounter with Jacques (a French colon), the birth of Linh (Emilie's mother) and her tragic departure to France in 1956. She relives with Linh the arrival into the camp of Sainte-Livrade, the exploitation of the Indochinese women by the market gardeners of Lot-et-Garonne. Between memories, dance, anger and traditional rituals, Emilie learns to accept this heritage.