Turning Point 1977 (2009)

Farewell My Concubine

Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.

The Best of Youth

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lives of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family take different directions, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

Khadak

Set in the frozen steppes of Mongolia, a young nomad is confronted with his destiny after animals fall victim to a plague which threatens to eradicate nomadism.

Viva Cuba

The friendship between two children is threatened by their parents’ differences. Malú is from a family that was upper-class before the Revolution and remains well-to-do through remittances from relatives overseas, and her single mother (Larisa Vega Alamar) does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background coarse and commonplace. Jorgito’s mother (Luisa María Jiménez Rodríguez),

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

During the Cultural Revolution, two young men are sent to a remote mining village where they fall in love with the local tailor's beautiful granddaughter and discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western novels.

To Live

Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry. Addicted to gambling, Fugui loses everything. In the years that follow he is pressed into both the nationalist and communist armies, while Jiazhen is forced into menial work.

Youth

A group of performing art troupe members each face their own trials and tribulations in Chengdu; from escaping a family scandal to dealing with unrequited love, each experiences rejection that shapes their lives.

Platform

China's rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.

If Not Us, Who?

In the early 60s, Bernward Vesper and fellow university student Gudrun Ensslin begin a passionate love in the stifling atmosphere of provincial West Germany. Dedicated to the power of the written word, Bernward and Gudrun found a publishing house whose first publication is, paradoxically to many, a controversial past work of Bernward's ostracized father, an infamous Nazi author. Bernward defends his father's writing ability, even if he is haunted by his father's suspicious past.

100 Years

As the Communist Party of China celebrates its 100th anniversary, this documentary looks back at the party’s history, from the 1920’s, to the Civil War, the Great Leap Forward, the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution and the reforms by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Did the Great Famine cost more than 15 million lives? How does the Cultural Revolution continue to shape Chinese politics today? What was capitalism like after Mao’s death? Through rare and never-before-seen historical footage, expert interviews and eyewitness accounts of the Great Famine, Tiananmen incident, and the Cultural Revolution, get to know how one party has so profoundly shaped China.

The East Is Red

Pre-Cultural Revolution propaganda at its most lavish, this model opera depicts the history and evolution of the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong from its founding in July 1921 to the establishment of "New China" in 1949. Detailed in the musical are several key events in CPC history such as the Northern Expedition, the KMT-led Shanghai massacre of 1927, the Nanchang Uprising and formation of the People's Liberation Army, the Long March and the founding of the PRC on October 1, 1949.

Hibiscus Town

Based on a novel by the same name written by Gu Hua, a melodrama about the life and travails of a young woman who lives through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.

Colorful Cobblestones

The world was in a cold war in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After the Sino-Soviet Treasure Island conflict, Beijing teenager Qi Weizhi evacuated with his mother to Hanzhong City in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains, and experienced a pure juvenile sexual maturity out of touch with the political atmosphere of that era. Hanzhong was China's third-tier town during the Cold War. Mother Qi Xiuxuan deliberately concealed her husband's death because of her husband's emotional betrayal, and was quite indifferent to her son. Qi Weizhi's missing mother's love was rewarded by class teacher Zhou Wenyao, so he had a subtle affection for Zhou Wenyao.

In the Heat of the Sun

Beijing, 1970s. The Cultural Revolution has driven most adults to the provinces leaving 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery known as "girls."

Kekaiulu Hula Studio

Kekaiulu Hula Studio follows the Proclaimed Hula Halau of the same name, showcasing their twist on what the real reason for hula is and what life as a dancer in the halau is really like. Something previously unseen in the public eye.

Traitors

1975 on the south west border of China

Sight

Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.

The Barefoot Doctor

This documentary film recounts Dr. Sun Lizhe's remarkable experience as a barefoot doctor in rural China and offers a glimpse of China's healthcare condition during and shortly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Described as "Chinese Dr. Zhivago" in the film, Sun's distinguished life began from his decision to become a "barefoot doctor" when he was an 18-year-old educated youth from Beijing sent down to the countryside. He had since saved numerous lives by performing difficult surgery when emergency situations arose. For example, he once manually removed a placenta from a peasant women's uterus during her placental dystocia. In villages where medical resources were extremely limited, Sun devoted himself to the healthcare of peasants, performing more than 3000 operations in the cave dwellings of Shaanxi province. In 1974 he was selected by Chairman Mao as one of China's five model "educated youths."

Peking Opera Blues

In 1913 Beijing, three fierce women—disguised rebel Tsao Wan, jewel-seeking Sheung Hung, and opera heiress Pat Neil—embark on a daring quest filled with intrigue and betrayal, challenging societal norms amidst political turmoil and the vibrant world of Peking Opera.

Welcome to Babel

Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen's plans to create an epic work depicting his homeland's tumultuous recent history.

Morning Sun

The film Morning Sun attempts in the space of a two-hour documentary film to create an inner history of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (c.1964-1976). It provides a multi-perspective view of a tumultuous period as seen through the eyes—and reflected in the hearts and minds—of members of the high-school generation that was born around the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and that came of age in the 1960s. Others join them in creating in the film’s conversation about the period and the psycho-emotional topography of high-Maoist China, as well as the enduring legacy of that period.

How the Beatles Changed the World

The fascinating story of the cultural, social, spiritual, and musical revolution ignited by the coming of the Beatles. Tracing the impact that these four band members had, first in their native Britain and soon after worldwide, it reappraises the band and follows their path from young subversives to countercultural heroes. Featuring fresh, revealing interviews with key collaborators as well as a wealth of rarely-seen archival footage, this is a bold new take on the most significant band in the history of music and their enduring impact on popular culture.

Dead Souls

In Gansu Province, northwest China, lie the remains of countless prisoners abandoned in the Gobi Desert sixty years ago. Designated as ultra-rightists in the Communist Party’s Anti-Rightist campaign of 1957, they starved to death in the reeducation camps. The film invites us to meet the survivors of the camps to find out firsthand who these persons were, the hardships they were forced to endure and what became their destiny.

Heidi in China

In 1946, Heidi is entrusted to a Swiss family by her father. He will never come back for her. Today, François Yang questions his mother about her past. What follows is a journey to China, a quest to reconstruct memory. Through contact with her brothers and sister, Heidi measures the extent of the drama experienced by her family that remained in China, persecuted by the Communist Party.

Swallow Flying to the South

Spring 1976, 5-year-old Swallow is abandoned at a public boarding preschool in central Beijing. When the persimmons are ripe, Swallow masters how to cry, but doesn't forget how to fly.

Matrix génération

After the 1999 premiere of the first Matrix movie, it became a pop culture phenomenon. A special documentary about the Matrix saga and its prophetic aspects.

Oasis

A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.

Family Viewing

An emotionally constrained view of the displacement of human feelings in our video saturated society. Van regularly visits his grandmother in a run-down nursing home. His father depends on phone sex for guidance meanwhile erasing family homevideos of happier times with homemade pornography. Will Van rescue his grandmother and memories of his mother in time?

Between Something & Nothing

After being accepted into a prestigious New England art school, sexy small-town Joe and townie mastermind Jennifer quickly join forces. They are determined to succeed on a campus over-populated with jaded mega-rich kids awash in trust funds, abortions, and drugs galore.

Pretty Baby

Hattie, a New Orleans prostitute, meets a photographer named Bellocq at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet. When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.

Pulgasari

In feudal Korea, a group of starving villagers grow weary of the orders handed down to them by their controlling king and set out to use a deadly monster under their control to push his armies back.

Wit

A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.

Party Party

It's New Year's Eve. Larry's parents are at the vicarage dance leaving Larry in charge of the house. Big mistake, because Larry's a party animal and tonight he's going to go wild - with a little help from his friends!

Odds Against Tomorrow

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

The 12 Dogs of Christmas

This holiday tale has all the elements of a classic heartwarmer--cuddly dogs, small town spirit, and even a full-fledged Christmas pageant. Set during the meager years of the Great Depression, 12 DOGS OF CHRISTMAS follows the story of Emma, a 12-year-old who is sent to live in Doverville, a rural town, with her aunt. The town has, like the rest of the nation, fallen on lean times and seem to have lost all interest in celebrating. However, Emma manages to enlist the town's dogs into a colorful holiday pageant that reminds the inhabitants that even the Great Depression cannot ruin the spirit of Christmas.

The Perfect Holiday

Nancy Taylor, a divorced mother of three, feels especially lonely during the holidays. All she wants for Christmas is to meet a nice man - even just a nice compliment would make her day. Sensing her sadness, Nancy's little girl, Emily, has a plan to make her mom happy again. She shares her Mommy's wish with shopping mall Santa, Benjamin Armstrong. And Benjamin, who is also a struggling songwriter, knows exactly the right words to say.

Under My Skin

Set in Paris, Under My Skin stars John Garfield as a washed-up jockey who has stolen money from a crooked gambler (Luther Adler).

Bone

A thief breaks into the home of a wealthy, happily married Beverly Hills couple. He soon finds out, though, that the couple is neither as wealthy as he thought they were and are not as happily married as they appeared.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains

Corrine Burns retreats far into plans for her band, The Fabulous Stains, after her mother's death.

Australian Rules

Friends Gary Black (Nathan Phillips) and Dumby Red (Luke Carroll) are on the same football team in their coastal Australian town. But to local racists, they're a world apart: Gary is white and Dumby is an Aborigine. This becomes an issue when one of the team's Aboriginal players becomes involved in a crime. In response, Dumby is demoted even though he's the star player, and Gary is given his place. Will Gary have the courage to speak out before tragedy results?

Céline and Julie Go Boating

Julie, a daydreaming librarian, meets Céline, an enigmatic magician, and together they become the heroines of a time-warping adventure involving a haunted house, psychotropic candy, and a murder-mystery melodrama.

La Belle

On one gloomy rainy night, a writer encounters an unexpected visit paid by a woman of his past. Seeking solitude from her ex-lover, she finds solace in this gentleman and from that day on, they cherish every inch of each other's body and indulge in ecstasy until her forbidden past is gradually revealed.

The Nun's Story

After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.

The Earrings of Madame de...

In France of the late 19th century, the wife of a wealthy general, the Countess Louise, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off debts; she claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, & her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

Samurai Rebellion

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.

Desert Fury

The daughter of a Nevada casino owner gets involved with a racketeer, despite everyone's efforts to separate them.

I Walk Alone

Bootleggers on the lam Frankie and Noll split up to evade capture by the police. Frankie is caught and jailed, but Noll manages to escape and open a posh New York City nightclub. 14 years later, Frankie is released from the clink and visits Noll with the intention of collecting his half of the nightclub's profits. But Noll, who has no intention of being so equitable, uses his ex-girlfriend Kay to divert Frankie from his intended goal.

Together

A family of a father, a mother and their son is looking forward to go on vacation. On the way they experience an accident, and their lives are suddenly and unexpectedly turned upside down.

The Crimson Kimono

A Los Angeles detective and his Japanese partner woo an artist while solving a stripper's murder.

For a Lost Soldier

Separated from his family in the Dutch countryside, young boy Jeroen crosses paths with Walt, a Canadian soldier who takes him under his care.

Daybreak

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events the led him to the killing.

Bishonen

Jet is a gay hustler who one night spots a young man walking with a woman, and falls for him instantly. He does some research, and discovers that the man is called Sam, and is an apparently straight policeman.

Two Men in Manhattan

Two French journalists become embroiled in a criminal plot in New York City involving a disappeared United Nations diplomat.