Rifkin’s Festival (2020)

Heart Is Not a Service

Connections of people who have stopped believing in love, though in the depths of their hearts, are just waiting for such true love.

Playlist

Sophie, 28, just found out she landed that job at a famous Parisian publisher. Her dream? Not exactly: she would rather see her own graphic work printed… When she tells her boyfriend Jean she is pregnant, everything explodes. They break up and she must return to waiting tables like her friend Julia, an aspiring actress. How can one survive in the city under such conditions?

The Queen of the Lizards

A spaceship is about to come to pick up Javi, so him and Berta have to put an end to their summer love.

Music Hole

Francis, a little accountant officiating in a shady cabaret has marital concerns with his wife. After a violent argument, he wakes up to discover a surprise. It's the macabre and zany starting point of a burlesque thriller.

The Bad Poet

1936. Giovanni Comini, the youngest Federal in Fascist Italy, is summoned to Rome for a delicate mission: to surveil aging national poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, whose increasingly restless behavior Mussolini fears could damage his alliance with Nazi Germany. However, after spending time with D'Annunzio, Comini finds himself torn between loyalty to the Party and his fascination with the poet, who will put his burgeoning career at risk.

The Sunday Woman

Police commissioner Santamaria is investigating the murder of the ambiguous architect Mr. Garrone. The investigations soon drive him into the Torino's high society. Santamaria suspect Anna Carla and at the same time falls in love for her. Lello is the lover of Massimo, Anna Carla’s gay friend. He is following another direction in order to find out the truth, and his results are confusing the Policeman. But another murder happens...

Goodbye First Love

A 15-year-old discovers the joys and heartaches of first love with an older teen, but in the ensuing years, cannot seem to move past their breakup.

Hidden Away

The film tackles the life journey of Toni Ligabue, visionary naïf painter who used to draw tigers, lions and jaguars while living among the poplar trees of the boundless Po valley. A harsh life that is a fairy tale too, as a lonely and marginalized kid finds redemption in his art, and a way to express himself and be admired by the world.

Crime Wave

Leyre lives a quiet and comfortable life which ends abruptly when an act of rage of her teenage son leads her to protect him by any means necessary.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

As the city of Paris and the French people grow in consumer culture, a housewife living in a high-rise apartment with her husband and two children takes to prostitution to help pay the bills.

My Thoughts Are Silent

Twenty-five-year-old Vadym earns a living recording and selling all kinds of different sounds; nevertheless, he’d rather exchange his life in Kyiv for a better future in far-flung Canada. Thus, when he gets a generous job offer which might help him realise his dream, he jumps at the chance; he soon sets off to record the sounds of animals indigenous to Ukraine and also a rare bird native to the Carpathians. The situation proves somewhat more complicated when Vadym’s companion on the trip turns out to be his mother… To the sounds of a synthesized music score, debuting Ukrainian director Antonio Lukich unfolds a visually creative road movie, in which he demonstrates a highly unusual talent for constructing tragicomic situations.

Le vie del Signore sono finite

Set in Italy during the 1920s, a barber is in a wheelchair because of a psychosomatic illness after he lost the woman he loves.

Prizzi's Honor

Charley Partanna is a hitman who works for the Prizzis, one of the richest crime families in the US. When he sees Irene Walker, it's love at first sight. But he soon finds that she, too, is a killer for hire. Charley can overlook his suspicions, but he can't turn off his heart. And the couple must remember that even if they love each other, the Prizzis love only money.

I Am Cuba

Four vignettes on the lives of the Cuban people in the pre-revolutionary era. In Havana, Maria is ashamed when a man she loves discovers how she makes a living. Pedro, an old farmer, discovers that the land he cultivates is being sold to an American company. A student sees his friends attacked by the police while they distribute leaflets supporting Fidel Castro. Finally, a peasant family is threatened by Batista's army.

The Sure Thing

Gib, a beer-guzzling slob, and Alison, an uptight Ivy-Leaguer, are an unlikely duo stuck together on a cross-country trip during Christmas break. At first they get on each other's nerves but, as time passes, they find their divergent natures complement each other. Now they need to realize what they've already found before it's too late.

The People Upstairs

Julio and Ana have been together for more than fifteen years. They have become a couple who no longer look at nor touch one another, and who have made daily fighting the essence of their relationship. This evening, Ana has invited their upstairs neighbors to come round, Salva and Laura, a couple younger than them, pleasant and friendly, but whose noises are now an annoyance for Julio and Ana... or perhaps a stimulus? The upstairs neighbors will make them an unusual and surprising proposal which will turn the evening into an exaggerated and cathartic experience for all four.

A House on the Bayou

In an effort to reconnect and mend their relationship, a troubled couple and their preteen daughter seek an idyllic getaway to a remote mansion in rural Louisiana. But when unexpected visitors arrive, their facade of family unity starts to unravel, as terrifying secrets come to light.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

Deconstructing Harry

Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.

Roma

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens.

Our Father

Two young boys, Valerio and Christian, form a powerful friendship over the summer.

Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly

While crafting his Grammy-nominated album "Astroworld," Travis Scott juggles controversy, fatherhood and career highs in this intimate documentary.

Cat People

After years of separation, Irena Gallier and her minister brother, Paul, reunite in New Orleans. When zoologists capture a wild panther, Irena is drawn to the cat – and zoo curator Oliver to her. Soon, Paul will have to reveal the family secret: that when sexually aroused, they revert into predatory jungle cats.

Mr. Devil

In 1950s Italy, a government official arrives in a rural town to investigate a grisly child murder. The culprit is a young boy who claims to have acted in order to kill the Devil himself.

Harvey

The story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.

Scenes from a Marriage

Johan and Marianne are married and seem to have it all. Their happiness, however, is a façade for a troubled relationship, which becomes even rockier when Johan admits that he's having an affair. Before long, the spouses separate and move towards finalizing their divorce, but they make attempts at reconciling. Even as they pursue other relationships, Johan and Marianne realize that they have a significant bond, but also many issues that hinder that connection.

The Card Counter

William Tell just wants to play cards. His spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk, a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel. Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk. But keeping Cirk on the straight-and-narrow proves impossible, dragging Tell back into the darkness of his past.

Northanger Abbey

A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.

Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood

On July 19–21, 2001, over 200,000 people took to the streets of Genoa to protest against the ongoing G8 summit. Anti-globalization activists clashed with the police, with 23-year-old protester Carlo Giuliani shot dead after confronting a police vehicle. In the aftermath, the police organized a night raid on the Diaz high school, where around a hundred people between unarmed protesters—mostly students—and independent reporters who documented the police brutality during the protests had took shelter. What happened next was called by Amnesty International "the most serious breach of civil liberties in a democratic Western country since World War II."

Angry Annie

Annie becomes pregnant. Since she doesn't want to keep the child, she meets a movement that performs illegal abortions. But, in the seventies, Annie will encounter allies and opponents along the way.

Still Life

A council case worker looks for the relatives of those found dead and alone.

Masculin Féminin

Paul, a young idealist trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, takes a job interviewing people for a marketing research firm. He moves in with aspiring pop singer Madeleine. Paul, however, is disillusioned by the growing commercialism in society, while Madeleine just wants to be successful. The story is told in a series of 15 unrelated vignettes.

Mighty Aphrodite

When Lenny and his wife, Amanda, adopt a baby, Lenny realizes that his son is a genius and becomes obsessed with finding the boy's biological mother in hopes that she will be brilliant too. But when he learns that Max's mother is Linda Ash, a kindhearted prostitute and porn star, Lenny is determined to reform her immoral lifestyle. A Greek chorus chimes in to relate the plot to Greek mythology in this quirky comedy.

Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned

Days after her friends disappear during a trip to a mysterious cave, a girl is approached by a grown man claiming to be one of her missing pals.

I'm Your Man

Alma is a scientist coerced into participating in an extraordinary study in order to obtain research funds for her work. For three weeks, she has to live with a humanoid robot tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is designed to be the perfect life partner for her. Enter Tom, a machine in human form in a class of its own, created solely to make her happy.

Baggio: The Divine Ponytail

A chronicle biopic of the 22-year career of soccer star Roberto Baggio, including depictions of his difficult debut as a player, his deep rifts with some of his coaches, his triumph over injuries and personal discovery of Buddism.

Small Time Crooks

A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.

Pusher

A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.

Rebecca

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

Fit for a King

Newspaper reporter "Scoops" is sent out on assignment, to investigate the failed assassination attempts on Archduke Julio. Trying to get the story, he runs into Jane Hamilton who is really Princess Helen. He doesn't realize that she is the story: a princess in exile, in danger of assassination; and, falling in love with "Scoops", while engaged to a prince.

For You

Flowers, Animals, Grass, Sky, Loved ones, Like, Follow, Comment. View the forgotten and ruined memories that have been tainted by earworms, bad comedy and the far-right pipeline. Gaze upon the endless landscape, or gaze upon the endless thirst traps.

Loving Couples

Walter is a successful doctor, and so is his wife Evelyn. Wealthy and good-looking, they should be a happily married couple, but they're not. Walter is so caught up in his career that he fails to keep up with Evelyn. So when she falls for the charms of Greg, a real estate Romeo, it takes Walter by surprise. Even more so, because he finds out about it from Stephanie, Greg's deserted TV weather girl girlfriend.

Der Nikolaus im Haus

Plot unavailable

The Lovers on the Bridge

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

No Regrets

This teenage drama deals with the emotional chaos of a high school graduate at the beginning of a new period of his life. 19-year-old Daniel is frustrated: he wants his great love Luca to be the "first" woman in his life, but she seems to be unreachable, so he is still a virgin. During his community service as a male nurse, his boss Anna falls in love with him and they finally have sex. Suddenly Luca is interested in Daniel...

Earth Girls Are Easy

In this musical comedy, Valerie is dealing with her philandering fiancé, Ted, when she finds that a trio of aliens have crashed their spaceship into her swimming pool. Once the furry beings are shaved at her girlfriend's salon, the women discover three handsome men underneath. After absorbing the native culture via television, the spacemen are ready to hit the dating scene in 1980s Los Angeles.

The Legend of Paul and Paula

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.

Paris Je T'aime

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to chose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Big

When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big—he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.

Closer

A love story about chance meetings, instant attractions, and casual betrayals. Four strangers - with one thing in common: each other.

The Trio's Engagements

Three men vying for the same job end up chasing the same girl in this comedy-drama from noted Japanese director Yasujiro Shimazu.

Lust

A couple takes advantage of the fact that her parents are having sex in the room upstairs so they can do the same in the TV room.

Le Pion

Humiliated and down on his luck, a superintendent turns his life around when he decides to write a book.

Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Out of Africa

Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.

Month to Month

Broke and reeling from a recent breakup, an aimless young man wanders around the streets of Los Angeles in search of his stolen car.

Games of Love and Chance

A group of teenagers living in a housing project in the outskirts of Paris rehearse a scene from Marivaux's play of the same name. Krimo is determined not to take part, but after developing feelings for Lydia, he quickly assumes the main role and love interest in the play.

The Other Zoey

Highly intelligent computer major Zoey Miller is uninterested in romantic love, but her life is turned upside down when Zack, the school's soccer star, gets amnesia and mistakes Zoey for his girlfriend.

Beiimaan Love

A young and ambitious woman's life suddenly comes crashing down when she is betrayed in love. Determined to get revenge she reinvents herself as a successful businesswoman.

Tonight You're Sleeping with Me

Stuck in a passionless marriage, a journalist must choose between her distant but loving husband and a younger ex-boyfriend who has reentered her life

Anhelos

Two lovers runs a bus.

Too Many Wives

An heiress and a dog-catcher go searching for a priceless stamp.

Two on the Road

Mamdouh meets with Hanan on a ship heading to Greece, and a romance starts between them, so Mamdouh proposes to Hanan. To his surprise, Hanan returns suddenly to Egypt and asks him not to try to find her again. Mamdouh returns to Egypt to find that she is married to Ezzat Beik, a very powerful man, and a war ensues between Mamdouh and Ezzat.

The Holiday

Two women, one from the United States and one from the United Kingdom, swap homes at Christmas time after bad breakups with their boyfriends. Each woman finds romance with a local man but realizes that the imminent return home may end the relationship.

Day for Night

A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.

Walking Beside Me

Joey was at the age of twenty-two and she was an independent and cheerful girl. She worked in an advertising company and she met a boy named Chiu Kwok Chiao who had just returned from America. Chiu was at the age of twenty-four. He seemed childish, when he met Joey, he fell a victim to her beauty. After a period of time they were in a low spirit because Joey was more intelligent than Chiu. Lui Lai Ho was Joey's mother and she was forty years old.

Wild at Heart

After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune. Lula's mother, Marietta, desperate to keep them apart, hires a hitman to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru, an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet.

Notting Hill

William Thacker is a London bookstore owner whose humdrum existence is thrown into romantic turmoil when famous American actress Anna Scott appears in his shop. A chance encounter over spilled orange juice leads to a kiss that blossoms into a full-blown affair. As the average bloke and glamorous movie star draw closer and closer together, they struggle to reconcile their radically different lifestyles in the name of love.

A Splendid Movie

Plot unavailable

Loudspeaker

Gathered together in a country house, seven friends play an entertaining game, in which participants have to read aloud all of their incoming text messages, and can only answer their calls using loudspeaker mode. They can’t even imagine what stunning surprises about each other they will discover.

Anuraga Karikkin Vellam

The life of a father and son and their life experience when son tries to breakup with his lover.

According to Greta

Dumped on her grandparents for the summer by her indifferent mother, acerbic and self-destructive teenager Greta disrupts the elderly couple's staid life on the Jersey Shore. Eventually, a romance helps Greta face down her demons.

Dhakad Chhora

A fearless boy who falls in love with a Muslim girl who studies with him and does not want both of his family to be together.

Meeting Ms. Leigh

A young writer in desperate need of inspiration begins an affair with an enchanting, enigmatic older woman during a weekend in Santa Monica. True feelings emerge, and they must decide whether to continue their torrid romance or go their separate ways.

Tillie's Punctured Romance

A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.

The Girl in the Lift

Frank, a tenth grade student, falls in love with his classmate Regine. His father is a well-connected plant manager in the GDR; Regine's mother is a single parent with four children. Regine wants to become a kindergarten teacher, but her grades are poor and she is not allowed to apply for technical college. Frank champions her and seeks an open discussion about these rigid regulations. But his criticism is nipped in the bud.

Shout

A new music teacher in a 1955 West Texas home for wayward boys brings new vision and hope for many of the interned boys.

Just Swipe

Vanessa has always had trouble in the dating world, never mind now being confined to her home. She soon discovers just how much you can get away with dating via webcam, but is the love she feels true or only a distorted version of reality?

STAR DRIVER: The Movie

In the remote Southern Cross Island, a secret organization named The Glittering Crux plans to reactivate giant machines that have been sealed for ages. Known as Cybodies, they can only be controlled by pilots identified as Star Drivers. To unleash their full power, the mysterious group must break the seals of the four shrine maidens that reside in the isle. Recently arrived outsider Takuto Tsunashi vows to stop the Glittering Crux in order to protect Wako Agemaki, the girl who saved his life and is one of the four maidens. Wako is a lively young lady who has already been betrothed to Sugata Shindou, a rich and talented childhood friend. Despite being very close to Agemaki, Sugata quietly disapproves of this engagement since it was forced on them due to a family tradition. The melancholic couple becomes a radiant trio as Takuto becomes not only their friend but protector of the seals since he is none other than the Galactic Pretty Boy, gifted Star Driver of Tauburn, the 22nd Cybody.

The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater

Ava Moriarty, Art History PhD dropout-turned-dominatrix, wants OUT. But there's no safeword for golden handcuffs. When her mobster ex gives her 30 days to repay a massive loan, she's forced to agree to one last job--seducing and extorting "Father Dracula," a small town Episcopal priest. But Father Radovan Markovic brought his own secrets from Serbia, and moonlights as an MMA fighter while unwittingly hiding the world's greatest lost painting. Not to mention he's the one hot guy avoiding Ava like loose glitter. Certain he's embezzling a priceless art collection, will she win his heart only to destroy his life, or doom herself to a custom pair of concrete stilettos?

Couples Counseling

A seasoned couples therapist comes to realize she might need help with her own marriage after meeting a new pair of young clients.

Hail, Caesar!

When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.

Meinir's Tree

Plot unavailable

It's All True - A Visual Album

A visual album. A story of falling apart and putting yourself back together again as the world does the same. It is a story about personal death and rebirth, mental health, dealing with the tragedies of the world, queer love and finding community while featuring two of the most important places to the artist, MALINDA- Brooklyn and the west coast of Ireland.

Brief Encounter

Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.

Singin' in the Rain

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

Gone with the Wind

The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

With or Without You

Yeon-yi and Sun-jae are divorced and now just work together on writing a script. One day, Yeon-yi’s alumni and their spouse move in next door and their relationship takes a new turn. A warm story about the positivity of people.

High Fidelity

When record store owner and compulsive list-compiler Rob Gordon gets dumped by his long-time girlfriend, Laura, because he hasn't changed since they met, he revisits his top five breakups of all time in order to figure out what went wrong. As he examines his failed attempts at romance and happiness, the process finds him being dragged, kicking and screaming, into adulthood.

The War of the Roses

The Roses, Barbara and Oliver, live happily as a married couple. Then she starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver, and likes what she sees. Both want to stay in the house, and so they begin a campaign to force each other to leave. In the middle of the fighting is D'Amato, the divorce lawyer. He gets to see how far both will go to get rid of the other, and boy do they go far.

Two in Love

Sergei, an aspiring musician, accidentally meets a deaf-mute girl, Natasha, and falls in love with her. He has to change a lot to prepare himself for a new relationship with a different and very vulnerable person. Natasha is like an alien or an alieness with whom Sergei has to find a completely new language to speak. Natasha tries hard to understand his musical world. The problem is that Natasha lost her hearing during the war and associates sounds with fear and pain. Even a symphony concert is torture for her.

ainda amigos

Plot unavailable

Goodbye Again

Flirtatious mix-ups abound when a celebrated novelist tangles with an old flame and her suspicious husband. Will the author's savvy secretary, who's secretly in love with him, save his neck?

Absurdistan

An allegorical comedy centered on two childhood sweethearts who seem destined for one another until the women of their isolated village, angered by male indifference toward the water shortage, go on a sex strike that threatens the young couple's first night of love.

Little Treasure

Margo is an ex-stripper who meets her long, lost father in Mexico. She looks after him in the waning days of his life, with the help of a traveling projectionist. The father passes away, telling of the loot from a botched bank robbery that he buried years earlier. The two get jobs in town as their relationship grows and they search for the treasure on the weekends. But while the treasure seems to bring them together, it also seems to be tearing them apart.

Elizabethtown

Drew Baylor is fired after causing his shoe company to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. To make matters worse, he's also dumped by his girlfriend. On the verge of ending it all, Drew gets a new lease on life when he returns to his family's small Kentucky hometown after his father dies. Along the way, he meets a flight attendant with whom he falls in love.

Otto - The Movie

East Friesian Otto moves to the big city Hamburg. There he gets into trouble with a loan shark and needs to find a way to impress his love interest Silvia.

Igby Goes Down

Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the stifling world of old money privilege he was born into. With a schizophrenic father, a self-absorbed, distant mother, and a shark-like young Republican big brother, Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.

Kadhaveedu

Kadhaveedu' is a dedication to Malayalam being accorded the Shresthabhaasha (Malayalam has been declared a Classical language in 2013) status and presents, as a single entity, three different stories penned by the doyens of Malayalam literature - Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer, M T Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty. The film is an anthology with adaptations of stories written by renowned Malayalam fiction writers Basheer, M. T. Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty (Kamala Surayya).. The stories have been tweaked to fit in a modern setting and the script has been conceived by the director himself.