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.

Deeper!

A rather unlucky young theater director finds himself without work and means of subsistence. To somehow make ends meet, on the advice of a friend, he decides to become a director of pornographic films, using creativity and psychological aspects in his work.

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.

Picking Up the Pieces

A small New Mexican village discovers a severed hand that is considered a miracle of God, when it actually belongs to a murdered spouse with a husband in search of it.

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.

Wondrous Boccaccio

It's 1348. The plague has brutally hit Florence. A group of then young people, seven women and three men, rebel against the feeling of death that is about to swallow them. They flee the city and find refuge in an abandoned villa in the Tuscan hills. Here, between moral doubts and the tasks needed to survive, they kill time by telling each other stories until they will decide to return. The stories are varied - tragic, bizarre, funny or erotic - but common and central to all of them is the female presence.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mikado

Mikado and Laetitia lead an alternative lifestyle aboard a van with their homeschooled children Nuage and Zephir. One day, their van breaks down, forcing them to lead a somewhat 'normal' life over summer.

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.

My Brother, My Sister

When their father's will forces them to live together, siblings Nik and Tesla — and Tesla's kids — try to overcome their differences to become a family.

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.

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.

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.

Three Men and a Cradle

Three young men - Jacques, Pierre, and Michel - share an apartment in Paris, and have many girlfriends and parties. Once, during a party, a friend of Jacques' tells him he has a quite compromising package to deliver, and asks him if he can leave it discreetly at their place. Jacques agrees and, as he works as a steward, flies away for a one-month trip in Japan, telling Pierre and Michel about the package. Then, one of Jacques' former girlfriends drops a baby before their door, making Pierre and Michel believing it is the package they are waiting for. Their lives are then completely changed.

The White Sheik

In Italy, small-town newlyweds Wanda and Ivan Cavalli embark on their honeymoon in the big city of Rome. Ivan dutifully wants to keep appointments with family and church, but Wanda is only interested in meeting her favorite photo-strip star known as "The White Sheik". While Wanda impetuously sneaks away to locate the object of her affections, disconsolate Ivan tries his hardest to keep up appearances with the couple's relatives.

Take My Eyes

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"...

Roma

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

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.

Our Father

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

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.

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 he acted in order to kill the Devil itself.

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.

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."

Northanger Abbey

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

Still Life

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Place

The fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure who they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.

Band of Outsiders

Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.

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.

Ultras

An aging soccer fanatic faces down the reality of his past while struggling to give himself and a young follower very different futures.

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.

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 star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his paranoid screen partner struggle to make the difficult transition to talking pictures.

Witch Watch: Watch Party

Morihito Otogi, a high school student who comes from a lineage of ogres, enjoys a peaceful, ordinary life until his childhood friend, Nico, moves in with him. Nico is a witch-in-training, and chooses Morihito to be her familiar. While Nico is thrilled to reunite with her old friend and crush, Morihito is tasked with the perilous duty to protect her from a foretold calamity. Between the unpredictable chaos caused by Nico’s magic, and the awkwardness of sharing a home, their lives become a whirlwind of supernatural hijinks and threats. A special theatrical premiere event featuring the first three episodes and exclusive interviews.

Scarlet River

Unable to find open range near Hollywood, western actor Tom Baxter and his troop head to Judy Blake's ranch to shoot their film.

Bamy

One day, Fumiko Tashiro runs into Ryota Saeki - an old acquaintance from college - outside the municipal library where she works. Brought together by chance, they find themselves drawn to one another, and before long they are set to get married. They make their preparations for the wedding, envisioning their happy future together. But all the while, Ryota is troubled by his own secret ability to see the dead.

Heroine in Red

The two messengers, Hong Gu and Lushui, were assigned the task of secretly protecting the delivery team of the imperial court's disaster relief cash box. The junior sister Hong Gu was arrogant and did not understand why the messengers worked in the dark every time, as if they could not see the light. On the way, the cash box was robbed, but Hong Gu, who should have reported the letter in time, ignored Lu Shui's dissuasion and acted rashly and got involved in the fight. The man in black who robbed the silver box was highly skilled in martial arts, and the Yin-yin team was defeated. In the chaos, Aunt Hong caught a suspicious beggar and handed it over to Lu Shui to take care of her, while she went after the money box desperately. The beggar tore off the green water veil and fled, but accidentally left a jade pendant and fell to the ground...

My Name Is Loh Kiwan

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.

Pardon My French

A Boston school teacher fights with a group of impoverished Frenchmen for possession of an inherited château. Elizabeth Rockwell is indignant when she finds her château filled with squatters, a widower with five messy children, who have no regard for private property rights.

Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber

Katya Livingston, a self-centered, obnoxious and conceited 28-year-old ad sales exec, won't let anything or anyone stand in her way in getting to the top of the San Francisco social ladder. When tax inspectors question her claims Katya is forced to keep a financial diary and finds time to add details about her friends, enemies and lovers all from her unique point of view.

State and Main

A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.

Empathic Master

Chen Jun Fei runs a marriage counseling center. In order to complete the entrustment of a beautiful client named Shan Zhuo, Chen Jun Fei personally disguised himself as a fortune-telling master. Unexpectedly, one after another troubles followes them, and Chen Jun Fei, known as a master of empathy, found that the commission this time, it's definitely not that simple.

My Bestfriend's Girlfriend

Evo and Grace are from different worlds. Their paths cross serendipitously when Grace, a waitress in a girlie bar, agrees to fill in for a stripper friend on a bachelor party attended by Evo. His not-so gentlemanly behavior during the party doesn’t endear him with Grace, and unfortunately, neither with his girlfriend who instantly breaks-up with him. Wanting his girlfriend back, Evo arrives at a scheme upon discovering that Grace happens to be his bestfriend’s girlfriend.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

Myth

Lonely college student Alex encounters his favorite filmmaker, JP Smith, stalking around his sleepy town in upstate NY. Together they form a precarious relationship, with Alex becoming the star of JP’s latest flick.

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.

City of Rock

When his community's Rock Park is up for destruction for redevelopment, a young musician organizes a charity concert to save it.

A Hora Vagabunda

A day in the life of a young man who aspires to be a filmmaker in Belo Horizonte. He is aware that there are many obstacle to shooting and the city is just one of them. He is not giving up, at least not without rebelling...

Horror Hospital

Following his forced retirement from an appalling rock band, Jason decides to vacation at Brittlehouse Manor, a health farm run by the leather-gloved, ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Storm. Along the way, Jason meets Judy, also on her way to Brittlehouse Manor to visit her aunt, who married Dr. Storm some years ago. Once they arrive, the pair realise rather quickly that something is wrong, probably because the other guests have had their brains surgically removed, or all the blood pouring from the sink, or possibly just because the creepy midget keeps telling them to brush their teeth.

Mr. Handy

When a handsome small-town know-it-all meets a high-strung, big-city dentist, they're bound to grind each other’s gears, until sparks start to fly.

20 Centimeters

Colloquially-told story of a few days in the life of Marieta, who's saving money for the last operation in her change from man to woman. She works as a prostitute in Madrid and longs for a legitimate job. Whenever she builds up her savings, her housemate and best friend Tomás finds ways to spend, lose, or cost her those funds. She meets Raúl, whom she likes and who likes her; the trouble is he also likes that part of her she wants removed. If that's not enough, she also has narcolepsy, and when she conks out, she dreams of musical-theater numbers in which she's the singing and dancing star. Are these dreams always going to be 20 centimeters out of reach?

Something Blue

Lifelong friends Óscar and Eli find themselves in a messy situation after a drunken night leads to unexpected consequences. Forced to replace a ruined wedding dress, they embark on a chaotic journey filled with setbacks and awkward run-ins with their exes.

C(r)ook

A killer for the Russian Mafia in Vienna wants to retire and write a book about his passion - cooking. The mafia godfather suspects treason.

The Family Stone

An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.

Plus. Minus.

Told in reverse chronological order, an aspiring drag queen creates a world out of desolated motel rooms with the guy he met online.

The Wedding Singer

Robbie, a local rock star turned wedding singer, is dumped on the day of his wedding. Meanwhile, waitress Julia finally sets a wedding date with her fiancée Glenn. When Julia and Robbie meet and hit it off, they find that things are more complicated than anybody thought.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

Salta

Plot unavailable

Three to Tango

Oscar and Peter land a career-making opportunity when a Chicago tycoon chooses them to compete for the design of a cultural center. The tycoon mistakenly believes that Oscar is gay and has him spy on his mistress Amy. Oscar goes along with it and ends up falling in love with Amy.

George of the Jungle

Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George, the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rainforest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George's pals, the King of Swing swings into action.

You've Got Mail

Book superstore magnate Joe Fox and independent book shop owner Kathleen Kelly fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet—both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business.

All I Wish

A woman struggles to escape the clutches of her overbearing, co-dependent mother, while gradually falling for a sexy, sophisticated attorney.

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.

Bewitched

Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic show "Bewitched".

Wayne's World 2

A message from Jim Morrison in a dream prompts cable access TV stars Wayne and Garth to put on a rock concert, "Waynestock," with Aerosmith as headliners. But amid the preparations, Wayne frets that a record producer is putting the moves on his girlfriend, Cassandra, while Garth handles the advances of mega-babe Honey Hornée.

Cloud 9

A romantic drama about a woman who enters into an affair after 30 years of marriage.

Calm Yourself

A recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help clients solve their unusual and problematic situations.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones is still dating her new love, barrister Mark Darcy, for a perfect six weeks. However, while on assignment in Thailand with her disreputable ex, Daniel Cleaver, claiming to be reformed, Bridget questions if she has everything she's ever dreamed of having.

Party Quest

Party Quest is the coming-of-age story of a college student with Autism. The Narrator, who acts like the voice in his head, persuades him to get the girl of his dreams in an epic adventure: a party. It’s just as bad as he thinks it’s going to be, until maybe it isn’t.

Pehla Pehla Pyar

Sapna runs away from her aristocratic home, fed-up of the hatred and family politics. She meets with Raj, who she is attracted to. Raj, at first wants to get rid of her, then eventually falls in love with her. Then the two of them have to be on the run as her family find out where she is after they put up a reward for her whereabouts.

Melodrive

After separating from his wife due to an emotional affair, a homeward bound musician goes on a road trip, but after bumping into his high school sweetheart, his feelings become even more off balance.

Playing It Cool

A young man meets and instantly falls in love with an engaged woman.

Dragnet

LAPD Sgt. Joe Friday -- the equally straight-laced nephew of the famous police sergeant of the same name -- is paired up with a young, freewheeling detective named Pep Streebeck. After investigating some strange robberies at the local zoo and the theft of a stockpile of pornographic magazines, they uncover cult activity in the heart of the city and are hot on the case to figure out who's behind it all.

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 choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Closer

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

Le Pion

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

Home Sweet Home

Jules, a rebellious septuagenarian, foments a revolt in his home ruled by quasi-military rules. He and his twenty supporters will oppose the management, the firefighters and even the gendarmes.

Timeline

Tan is expected to be like his dad but he would rather escape the narrow confines of his mother's world. His dreams look like they are coming true when he meets June, a free spirit who knows what she wants from life.

The Girl from the Song

A young musician travels to Burning Man, a psychedelic festival in the middle of the Nevada desert, in an attempt to get the impetuous girl he has fallen in love with.

My Happy Marriage

An unhappy young woman from an abusive family is married off to a fearsome and chilly army commander. But the two learn more about each other, love may have a chance.

Die Schokoladenkönigin

After the death of his cancer-stricken wife, advertising photographer Michael Bender only cares about his nine-year-old daughter Sammy. However, since he had to plunge into debt to pay for her treatment, Michael has been in serious trouble. Because he has not yet been able to repay the money, he is now threatened with repossession. His plight is not helped by the fact that his daughter makes the acquaintance of Julia, a master confectioner. The two immediately fall in love and Michael is also enchanted by Julia's charm...

Sweetiee Weds NRI

Sweetiee Weds NRI is a Bollywood comedy movie, directed by Hasnain Hyderabadawala and Written by Creative Director Tariq Mohammad. The movie stars Himansh Kohli, Zoya Afroz, Darshan Jariwalla and Kiran Joneja in lead roles.

This Boy Caught a Merman

When Shima nearly drowns trying to retrieve a picture, he’s saved by a merman named Isaki. Despite their differences, they begin to bond, but love across species isn’t simple.