Breathe (2014)

Skirt Day

A teacher, driven to exasperation from insults and insubordination, takes her class hostage.

Parisienne

18-year-old Lina arrives in Paris for her studies. She comes to look for what she has never found in Lebanon, her country of origin: a certain form of freedom. The survival instinct as the only baggage, she sails from one Paris to another to the rhythm of her romantic encounters.

Going Away

Two unlikely friends — a supply teacher and a lonely young boy suspended between two estranged parents — embark on a weekend motorcycle voyage full of surprises and unforeseen consequences in this surprisingly tough, unsentimental drama.

A Spot of Bother

Retired Englishman George Hall's hypochondria worsens and takes its toll on his family.

I Hate My Best Friends' Kids

A month of vacation with friends: difficult to bear the kids of his friends, especially when the methods of education differ and that some prove to be unbearable.

Pardonnez-moi

Expecting her first child, actress Violette decides to dive deep into her dysfunctional family's history by filming a documentary about them.

The Burden

A shopping center along a large highway is the scene of an apocalyptic musical. Animation with a strong sense of form set to auto-tuned music by Klungan. About liberation through great catastrophy.

Rocky VI

Not to be confused with any of the sequels to Sylvester Stallone's classic Oscar-winning Rocky, this short film from Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki is actually meant as a parody of the late Cold War-era Rocky IV, which saw Stallone's character taking on a juiced-up Russian fighter played by Dolph Lundgren. In this 1986 send-up, Rock'y, played by Silu Seppala, goes head to head with Soviet Igor (Sakari Kuosmanen) and loses.

Wild Life

The new film by French director Cédric Kahn focusses on Philippe Fournier, a man who lives with his 2 sons, having decided not to give them back to their mother after she won custody of the children. The children Okyesa and Tsali must grow up in the shadow, hunted by the police but always free and on the move.

Corniche Kennedy

Corniche Kennedy. In the blue of the Mediterranean, at the foot of luxurious villas, the young kids of Marseille defy the laws of gravity. Marco, Mehdi, Franck, Mélissa, Hamza, Mamaa, Julie : girls and boys dive, take flight, take risks to experience life to the fullest. Suzanne devours them with her eyes from inside her chic villa. Their free bodies, their excess. She wants to be part of them. She will be part of them.

It Happened in Saint-Tropez

Zef’s stormy relationship with his brother Roni is further aggravated when Roni marries his daughter just as he is attending to his wife’s funeral. The two brothers have never got on with each other. One is faithful to his religion, the other lives only for the present. Between London, Paris, Saint-Tropez and New York, a series of confrontations and betrayals threatens to drive the family further apart, but out of this confusion will come a great love story, perhaps even two...

Omar

The drama, the story of three childhood friends and a young woman who are torn apart in their fight for freedom, is billed as the first fully-financed film to come out of the Palestinian cinema industry.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 2: Ghost Whispers

Freed of her responsibilities with the 501 Organization, Motoko Kusanagi must now learn how to take orders from Aramaki. Someone hacks the Logicomas, and Batou enlists the help of former army intelligence officer Ishikawa and former air artillery expert Borma. Kusanagi also seeks to enlist ace sniper Saito and undercover cop Paz into the new Public Security Section 9.

Breaking & Exiting

Harry, a charming house thief, gets more than he bargains for during an attempted burglary when he stumbles upon Daisy and decides to save her from herself, sending both of them into a darkly comedic journey of self discovery and love.

Ride

Overbearing mom, Jackie, travels cross-country to be with her son, Angelo, after he drops out of college to become a surfer. She meets a surf instructor who convinces her to try to accept her son's wishes and allow him to follow his dreams.

Lying to Be Perfect

Nola Devlin is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. Though, when she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous advice columnist Belinda Apple. Nola’s friends, tired of being overworked and overweight, band together to create the Cinderella Pact, vowing to lose pounds by following the advice of Belinda Apple. When her secret identity is threatened, Nola is forced to take her own alter ego’s advice. But, as the group of friends drops dress sizes, their real issues are exposed, and better-than-expected life changes begin to blossom.

18 Years Old and Rising

Primo is an ordinary middle-class youngster studying for his baccalaureate, who gets side-tracked when he falls in love with a rich girl. They soon learn they have to deal with her condescending friends who look down upon this upstart.

Jappeloup

A true sports story that utterly defies the odds, Duguay’s film captures the wild ups and downs of the Olympics-bound career of legendary equine star Jappeloup and his troubled rider, locked in a tense relationship with his horseman father and forever uncertain of his own skills as an equestrian

The Ultimate Accessory

The story of Aleksandra and Cyrille, a prominent, trendy, and very well-off Parisian couple, whose life is not quite the same after seven-year-old Alekseï from Russia suddenly pops up in their 100% cashmere, childless home. Aleksandra soon realises that this little boy they have adopted is not quite what she had been hoping for...

A Town Called Panic

Cowboy and Indian's only wish was to come up with a brilliant idea for Mr Horse's birthday, but when their plan ends up in utter disaster, they'll need to travel the world and back to make things right again.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Two minor characters from the play "Hamlet" stumble around unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate from them.

A Mighty Team

Sadoun is France’s best soccer player whose extra-curriculum pleasures are damaging his play and new contract negotiations. Dispatched by his scheming agent to his home village, he ends up reconciling with his father, relating to his fatherless niece, who dotes on him, and training his local children’s team, whom he takes to championship glory.

The List of My Desires

When the little haberdasher Arras discovers she's won 18 million in the lottery and can now afford anything she wants, she has only one fear: losing the small joys of life made simple it cherishes above all. But fate is obstinate, and this is giving too long this good fortune will trigger it, despite herself, a hurricane that will change everything. Everything except her.

Lammbock

Stefan and Kai run a thriving business: a home-grown cannabis trade disguised as a pizza delivery service. For now they just have to fight aphids.

Gods

Set in communist Poland of the 80s the movie depicts early career of cardio surgeon Zbigniew Religa.

The Servant

Indolent aristocrat Tony employs competent Barrett as his manservant and all seems to be going well until Barrett persuades Tony to hire his sister as a live-in maid.

Predator: Dark Ages

Follows a group of war-torn Templar knights who are put to the test against a strange beast that stalks the lands of England. This battle is what Myths and Legends are made of. An independent fan film.

Heal the Living

The intersecting lives of teens on a surfing trip, a woman with a weak heart and two teams of doctors and medical experts.

So Happy Together

Famille : Groupe de personnes réunies par des liens de parenté et un fort sentiment de solidarité morale et matérielle. Quand Alain a épousé Nathalie, il ne savait pas qu'il épouserait aussi sa famille. Ce samedi, comme toutes les semaines, ils sont invités à dîner chez son beau-frère, Jean-Pierre à Créteil. C'est vrai, Alain en a marre de ces dîners familiaux, mais il ne sait pas encore ce qui l'attend véritablement ce soir-là... Ni les jours qui suivent

Welcome

Bilal is 17 years old, a Kurdish boy from Iraq. He sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe. He wants to get to England to see his love who lives there. Bilal finally reaches Calais, but how do you cover 32 kilometers of the English Channel when you can't swim? The boy soon discovers that his trip won't be as easy as he imagined... The community of struggling illegal aliens in Calais

17 Girls

When Camille accidentally becomes pregnant, she encourages her friends and fellow high school classmates to follow suit. It's only a matter of time, before seventeen girls in the high school are pregnant and the town is thrown into a world of chaos.

Nothing to Declare

During the elimination of the Belgian/French border in the 90s, a Belgian customs officer is forced to team up with one of his French counterparts.

Starry Eyes

A hopeful young starlet uncovers the ominous origins of the Hollywood elite and enters into a deadly agreement in exchange for fame and fortune.

I Am Love

Emma has left Russia to live with her husband in Italy. Now a member of a powerful industrial family, she is the respected mother of three, but feels unfulfilled. One day, Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend, makes her senses kindle.

Serena

North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However, once Serena discovers George’s hidden past and faces an unchangeable fate of her own, the Pemberton’s passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.

Tomorrow

Climate is changing. Instead of showing all the worst that can happen, this documentary focuses on the people suggesting solutions and their actions.

The Sense of Wonder

Louise, a widow with two children, almost crushes a stranger with her car. She takes care of him, even if he's not really wounded. It turns out that he has mental disorders and that they can help each other much more than they thought.

Juice

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

Brian Banks

An All-American football player's dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is falsely accused of rape and sent to prison.

Glasses

An overworked career woman leaves her life in the city for an island vacation only to encounter eccentric local inhabitants.

Kamome Diner

On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her.

Yoshino's Barber Shop

In a small town on the countryside, every young boy is forced to have the same bowl-head haircut known as the "Yoshino-gari" hairstyle. Then one day, a drastic change occurs when a transfer student with bleached hair comes from Tokyo.

One Last Dance

In the wake of tragedy, a renowed New York dance company is on the brink of collapse. After leaving the dance world for good, Travis, Chrissa, and Max are pulled in to resurrect the dance that shattered their careers. They have one last chance to save the company, re-connect with the passion and magic, and prove that miracles really can happen.

Treeless Mountain

A Korean woman leaves her two young daughters with her sister-in-law to search for their estranged father.

Post Grad

Ryden Malby has a master plan. Graduate college, get a great job, hang out with her best friend and find the perfect guy. But her plan spins hilariously out of control when she’s forced to move back home with her eccentric family.

Der Zauber des Regenbogens

A very skilful young architect from Berlin, Lea Winter, who has a promising career, is pregnant with Klaus Arnheim, her head of department, a long-time lover but married and father of a family. At the announcement of this unexpected pregnancy, of course, he only envisages abortion for Lea. However, the young woman hesitates. On the advice of her gynecologist, she decides to leave Ireland for a few days to think and make a decision without any pressure. She finds there a simple, authentic life and is confronted with another rhythm of life, with other values and with herself.

I Am Truly a Drop of Sun on Earth

April is released from prison after having been busted as an illegal sex worker. In the basement of a luxury hotel in Tbilisi where she works, she meets Dije, a young man who has left his native country Nigeria behind. Believing he is on his way to Georgia in the United States, he finds himself in a country that offers him no future. April herself is hiding and coming to terms with a lost love that is better not spoken of in Georgian society. Between longing and survival, in the searing heat of the capital, an extraordinary relationship develops between these two people who live on the margins of society.

Signature Move

A secret new romance with Alma forces Zaynab to confront her complicated relationship with her recently widowed mother. In this coming-of-age Muslim melodrama, Zaynab copes by taking up Lucha-style wrestling.

35 Shots of Rum

A widower and her daughter witness the retirement of a colleague of his and the closing of her department at her university.

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),

The Anniversary Party

While celebrating their reconciliation and six years of marriage, the American actress Sally Nash and the British novelist Joe Therrian receive their close friends, some colleagues and their next door neighbors in a party. Under the effect of Ecstasy, revelations are disclosed and relationships deteriorate among the group.

Prison Song

Elijah has been bounced from group home to group home throughout his turbulent young life. What has sustained him is his art. After a promised scholarship is taken away, Elijah ends up in a fight that result in the death of another boy. Now, sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years, the young man must find a way to keep his soul alive behind bars or turn into a hardened bitter criminal.

Effi Briest

Following her parents' wishes, spirited seventeen-year-old Effi Briest marries Baron von Innstetten – a former admirer of her mother – who is twenty years Effi's senior. This marriage of prudence heralds the beginning of a humdrum life, far from home, for Effi. Innstetten devotes himself entirely to his political career, and the sleepy small town of Kessin has very little to offer in terms of variety. But then, one day, Innstetten's old regimental comrade, Major Crampas – a charming womanizer – arrives on the scene.

Me Without You

During a long, hot summer in seventies London, young neighbors Holly and Marina make a childhood pact to be friends forever. For Marina, troubled, fiercely independent, determined to try everything, Holly stays the only constant in a life of divorcing parents, experimental drugs and fashionable self-destruction. But for Holly, a friendship that has never been equal gradually starts to feel like a trap.

Romance

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.

House of Others

Two families have physically survived the 'real' war, but are incapable of building a new life in peace. War continues in everyday life because the chaos is inside human beings.

Displaced Perssons

Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago. In Pakistan he fell in love and became the father of two daughters. Trouble starts when the girls grow up and the family decides to emigrate to Sweden. When they end up living in a caravan outside Hässleholm, all their expectations are dashed.

My Old Ass

An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self. But when Elliott’s "old ass" starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn't do, Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what's becoming a transformative summer.

Star

Three different persons, three different lives are connected in a mysterious way. 15 year old teenager suffering of misunderstanding, his glamorous and arrogant stepmother and the young untalented but full of optimism actress. Their destinies aren’t predetermined and their lives are very fragile.

Bound by Lies

When Detecive Max Garrett is assigned to protect the sultry photographer Laura Cross from a ruthless killer, he has no idea what he's in for. The more involved Garrett gets in the case, the more attracted he is to Cross, but as they get closer, so does the killer.

Housebound

A woman with a tragic past rents her bungalow to a man who loves cooking, but according to her distorted mind he uses his knives more than he should.

Nowhere Boy

The drama tells the story of John Lennon's teenage years in Liverpool and the start of his journey to becoming a successful musician. The story also examines the impact on his early life and personality of the two dominant females in his childhood.

Fool's Fire

A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester to a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love the jester plots a terrible revenge.

Innocence

At a peculiar all-girls academy, new arrivals, including Iris, are delivered in coffins. Guided by enigmatic teachers, the students dance through enchanted woods by day, while the night unveils sinister lessons that blur innocence and awakening.

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen

Based on the journal of Knud Rasmussen's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922 across arctic Canada. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. It tells the story of the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter; the shaman must decide whether to accept the Christian religion that is converting the Inuit across Greenland.

Radiance

The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.

Bare Essence of Life

Youjin is a quirky young man living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Yojin has a difficult time sitting still and can't focus on extended conversations. His life revolves around farming his grandmother's vegetable garden. Yojin experiences a new kind of feeling when he meets a pretty young lady named Machiko. The feelings are strong enough that he feels the need to be with her and gain her affection.

I'm Staying

Many people assume that life does not end after death. Not Dr. Tyrsa, practical and skeptical man, who never believed in this nonsense. However, thanks to the bowling accident, he finds himself in a desert land with people like him not belonging to this world yet not accepted into the other. Now Dr. Tyrsa realizes that the life he used to live was not so bad, and he's got something worth returning to.

Smooth Talk

Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family, finds her summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger.

The Cambridge Squatter

The Cambridge Squatter tells the story of refugees, recently arrived in Brazil who, together with a group of low-income workers, occupy an old abandoned building in downtown São Paulo. Daily dramas, comical situations and different views on the world commingle with the threat of impending eviction.

Autumn in New York

Autumn in New York follows the sexual exploits of Will Keane - New York restaurateur, infamous verging-on-50 playboy, master of the no-commitment seduction - until he runs into an unexpected dead end when he meets Charlotte Fielding. Charlotte is half Will's age and twice his match, a 21 year-old free spirit yearning to get out and taste the excitement of adult life.

Pay It Forward

Like some other kids, 12-year-old Trevor McKinney believed in the goodness of human nature. Like many other kids, he was determined to change the world for the better. Unlike most other kids, he succeeded.

The Taste of Others

Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux. During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.

Never Mind the Wall

Germany 1982: The country is divided into two parts. Nele, coming from West-Germany, travels to East-Germany where she meets Captain, singer of a band. They fall in love with each other, but the regime "takes care" of their relationship, meaning: They can not see each other again. Germany 1990: The country is reunited. Nele starts searching their lost love...

What a Girl Wants

An American girl, Daphne, heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her bohemian mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost dad is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.

In Between

Three flatmates share a luxury flat. A philandering hairdresser meets his match. A young stockbroker meets his boss's soon-to-be-ex-wife. A pregnant lady unsure over the identity of the baby's father.

The Colour of Your Lips

In an atmosphere grown suddenly impossible to breathe, a diver and a woman appear to be the only survivors. As their reserves of air run out, will they make love or war?

Big Girls Don't Cry

Kati and Steffi have been best friends since they were six. Now they're both 17 and enjoying the ups and downs of becoming adults together. While Kati's parents are religious and conservative, but argue constantly, Steffi comes from what appears to be a harmonious and liberal family. But the girls discover how quickly their attractive world can fall apart when, at a hip nightclub, they happen to see Steffi's father in the arms of another woman. Steffi is shocked, her trust in her small perfect world shaken to the core. She can only think of one thing: revenge.

July 96

July 1996, the beach, the sea, the sun. Sophie, 10, spends her summer vacations with her mother and her cousin Laurence. But Laurence has grown up and her mother's thoughts are elsewhere. While the whole country is still looking for two missing little girls, Sophie discovers that this will be her last summer as a child.

Starting Over Again

Ten years ago, Ginny, an Architecture student, and Marco, a History professor, began a one-of-a-kind and unpredictable love story. In the five years that they were together, they brought out the best in each other, which included Marco’s unrealized dream of becoming a chef. Together, they worked towards their dream of opening up a restaurant, but when Ginny realized her own pursuits were different from his, she rejected his wedding proposal and left the country for a Masters degree in Architecture. At present, Ginny co-owns a one-stop Architecture and Interior Design firm specializing in Restoration. She receives an email from Marco, which was written and sent after their break-up, meant to be read four years later. It makes her feel even more regretful of leaving the love of her life.

The Third Side of the River

Tensions rise when a doctor (Daniel Veronese) pressures his teenage son to follow in his footsteps.

And Then There Was You

Natalie and Joshua appear to be the picture-perfect couple, but looks can be deceiving. When Natalie discovers her husband has led a secret life, she is forced to deal with losing everything she loves. Newly divorced and soured on relationships, Natalie is picking up the pieces of her shattered world. In the process of healing, she meets a new man who challenges the boundaries of her trust and her ability to fall in love again.

Under Parallel Skies

A man struggling with a painful past tries to move forward, only to discover that the woman in his present life has an uncanny connection to his past.

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit

Jorge, bastard child of the infamous Red Light Bandit, decides himself to pursuit a life of crime after meeting with his father, who has been incarcerated for the last 30 years.

The First Date

Alexey and Valentina met in the tourist camp on Seliger, and after two weeks they celebrated their wedding. Returning to the family, the young couple faced the first difficulties. Both parents didn't like the willfulness of the young - and there were problems with housing. They started a constant quarrels. The young soon agreed that their wedding was premature ...

Little Accidents

In a small American coal town living in the shadow of a recent mining accident, the disappearance of a teenage boy draws three people together—a surviving miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive, and a local boy—in a web of secrets.

Laggies

Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig.

Insects in the Backyard

In the absence of their parents, Johnny and Jennifer are being brought up by their sister Tanya, an overdressed transvestite. Both kids mess up their pursuit of romance, and both look for ways to break away from the family home and become independent.

Happy 40th

A woman celebrates her 40th birthday by having her three best friends come and stay with her and her husband for a long weekend. This woman has been in a wheelchair for the past two years, and it has led her to isolate herself inside of her home. Her husband stands by her as he lives with the guilt of causing the car accident which put her in the wheelchair. Over the course of the three day celebration, it is revealed that everyone is struggling with their own lives and identities. When one best friend makes a terrible mistake and betrays the woman on her birthday, everyone is immediately and uncomfortably forced into looking at their own lives and their own limitations.

The Scandalous Four

Penelope is forced to marry Jonathan but there is no attraction between the two. As a matter of fact, Jonathan is more interested in spending time with the butler than with his wife. Penelope finds a way of reuniting with the love of her life and manages to hire him as the gardener. Two secret affairs in one household soon lead to major scandalous situations.

Angry

When Realtor Sandra visits a foreclosed property with her client, the former owner Danny attacks them.

My Town

A series of vignettes based upon an imaginative girl's unique outlook on her community.

Step Up All In

All-stars from the previous Step Up installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.

Out of Tune

Celebrity financier and jet-setter Markus Føns has been taken into custody. Following a brutal assault by a gang of bikers in connection with some of his more shady dealings, Markus opts for voluntary solitary confinement among the prison's weakest inmates; the rapists and the pedophiles. This ward has a prison choir, of which the inmate Niels is the unofficial and self-proclaimed leader. Markus decides to join the choir and before long has his sight set on reaching the top of its hierarchy. This battle is not fought with muscle, but with cunning, tyranny and canonical Danish songs!

Step Up

Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.

Lords of Dogtown

The radical true story behind three teenage surfers from Venice Beach, California, who took skateboarding to the extreme and changed the world of sports forever. Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams are the Z-Boys, a bunch of nobodies until they create a new style of skateboarding that becomes a worldwide phenomenon. But when their hobby becomes a business, the success shreds their friendship.

The Quiet

After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.

The Prince of Egypt

The strong bond between two brothers is challenged when their chosen responsibilities set them at odds, with extraordinary consequences.