Butterfly and Flowers

Earth Crying

May 2002 •Thai

Set in Isaan, this is the story of a mother who struggles to lead her needy family through seemingly endless hardships and pressures. To help the family survive, the father endures greedy capitalists who heartlessly take advantage of him and his family, forcing him to slave at the harvest of an infertile field. That is until he loses both his arms. Then all the burdens fall on the mother: bread-winning, taking care of her crippled husband and raising the kids, all amid external pressures from drought to vile businessmen.

Fearless

January 2006 •Chinese

Huo Yuan Jia became the most famous martial arts fighter in all of China at the turn of the 20th Century. Huo faced personal tragedy but ultimately fought his way out of darkness, defining the true spirit of martial arts and also inspiring his nation. The son of a great fighter who didn't wish for his child to follow in his footsteps, Huo resolves to teach himself how to fight - and win.

Blood Diamond

December 2006 •English

An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed countrywide.

The Lark Farm

January 2007 •Italian

The Lark Farm is set in a small Turkish town in 1915. It deals with the genocide of Armenians, looking closely at the fortunes, or rather, misfortunes of one wealthy Armenian family.

Traffic

December 2000 •English

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

Greed

December 1924 •English

A lottery win of $5,000 forever changes the lives of a miner turned dentist and his wife.

Working But Poor - The Middle Class in Crisis

January 2023 •German

Citizens across Europe who used to belong to the lower middle class have fallen into poverty. An in-depth investigation into the precariat, a new social class of financially insecure citizens who, although they are employed, find it very difficult to make ends meet.

A Hero in His Slippers

November 1958 •Greek

A veteran general, living poorly but honestly with his wife and his daughter, is visited by his future son-in-law who informs him that he is going to immigrate to Australia. On the same day, his cousin Apostolos pays him a visit as well and tells him that the government intending to honor him has decided to construct his statue and place it at the small square in front of his house.

A Dream of Fortune

June 1961 •Korean

Son Hak-su (Kim Seung-ho) is a middle school teacher who barely gets by on his income because he's paying off a monthly mortgage for his welfare housing facility sold by the government. One day, Mr. Son and his wife make the acquaintance of a U.S. immigrant Charlie Hong (Heo Chang-kang) who is engaged in the smuggling business.

Wendy and Lucy

December 2008 •English

A near-penniless drifter's journey to Alaska in search of work is interrupted when she loses her dog while attempting to shoplift food for it.

My Father's Wings

July 2016 •Turkish

Set against the backdrop of construction activity promising to fill in the empty spaces of the urban landscape with entirely new neighborhoods, a story unfolds of an aging construction worker who, unlike his peers, has to drop all plans for the future after being diagnosed with a malignant tumor. This self-assured debut contemplates the dignity of the individual within the context of modern Turkish society.

The Narrow Corner

July 1933 •English

An Englishman sought for murder, tries to escape fate to South Seas island.

View from an Alley

June 1962 •Korean

One father finds life nearly impossible to live as he attempts to raise his nine children on a pitifully small salary.

The Airy Tomb

July 1963 •English

Can there be a bleaker portrait of a life half-lived? Cinematic treatment of poet R.S. Thomas's story of Twm, the "shy soul" who lives and dies alone in the "grim house nailed to the mountainside", oblivious to the interest shown in him by young girls in the village and to his own isolation as he scratches a living from the farm.

The Business

September 2005 •English

During the '80s, a young man named Frankie dreams of escaping London's South East region, and his mother's thug of a boyfriend gives him just the opportunity. After beating up the abusive beau, Frankie runs off to Spain, where he lands a job delivering a package to the dapper Playboy Charlie, a gangster who takes him under his wing. Working as Charlie's driver, Frankie is immersed in a world of fast cars and pretty women -- but all the excess could be his undoing.

Das Herz von St. Pauli

December 1957 •German

Docks of Hamburg

October 1928 •German

When Hamburg ship's mate Klaus Brandt catches a thief one night at the port, his downfall is pre-ordained. For the thief turns out to be a young, attractive woman and the otherwise upright sailor allows her to slip away. Jenny is the star of a local dive bar, with a side-line in smuggling.

The Kid

August 2014 •Spanish

Two youths, Niño and Compi, enter the world of drug smuggling in the Strait of Gibraltar; while two police officers, Jesús and Eva, try to eradicate the contraband.

Rosetta

September 1999 •French

Young, impulsive Rosetta lives a hard and stressful life as she struggles to support herself and her alcoholic mother. Refusing all charity, she is desperate to maintain a dignified job.

Quills

November 2000 •English

A nobleman with a literary flair, the Marquis de Sade lives in a madhouse where a beautiful laundry maid smuggles his erotic stories to a printer, defying orders from the asylum's resident priest. The titillating passages whip all of France into a sexual frenzy, until a fiercely conservative doctor tries to put an end to the fun.