Hairpin Bender

Hotel Belgrade

August 1998 •German

A couple makes love in a hotel. She lives in Switzerland, he lives in Belgrad. What’s been destroyed by war will be reborn in this hotel room.

Steven Banks: Home Entertainment Center

June 1989 •English

In this brilliant one-man show, the mild-mannered, thirty-something Steven Banks arrives home after a long day at his dead-end corporate job, still dreaming of being a rock star. Steven receives a message on his machine from his boss, Mr. Buttle, informing him that he never received an urgent speech Steven wrote for the board of directors. Steven must scramble to write a new one, but he has less than an hour to do it. Along the way, he continually procrastinates and distracts himself from the task at hand, playing with toys and various musical instruments, baking cookies, putting on costumes, leafing through an old high school yearbook and performing some hilarious original songs along the way. Meanwhile, he's got to deal with his grumpy landlord Mr. Mescue, his clingy girlfriend Phoebe and even a broken toilet. Will Steven ever finish his speech? Or does fate have something else in mind for him?

Beyond the Lights

November 2014 •English

Noni Jean is a hot new rising star. But not all is what it seems, and the pressure causes Noni to nearly fall apart - until she meets Kaz Nicol, a promising young cop and aspiring politician who's been assigned to her detail. Can Kaz's love give Noni the courage to find her own voice and break free to become the artist she was meant to be?

Amnesia

January 2014 •Norwegian

The couple Thomas and Kathrine are both writers, but she is in a violent relationship with a psychopath. During a weekend at a remote island they have a fight, which leads to Thomas having amnesia after hitting his head. Kathrine sees this as an opportunity to get out of the forced relationship, and hides anything that can help him understand who he is. Or could they have a new start? Or will Thomas gradually find out what's the case?

The Piano

May 1993 •English

When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.

My Life Without Me

March 2003 •English

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

Open Hearts

September 2002 •Danish

Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

Italian for Beginners

December 2000 •Danish

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

The Secret Life of Words

December 2005 •English

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

Killer Coach

June 2016 •English

After a one-night stand with her coach, a pressured swimming phenom finds the lives of herself and her loved ones in danger.

Schönes Wochenende

January 2006 •German

Dearest Sister

September 2016 •Lao

A village girl travels to the Lao capital, Vientiane, to care for her rich cousin who has lost her sight and gained the ability to communicate with the dead.

Hanna's Journey

January 2014 •German

A German girl travels to Israel to help people with disabilities, where she learns a lot about the role of her grandparents in WWII and meets a man who wants to move to Berlin.

Andy Parsons: Slacktivist

November 2013 •English

Politicians complain of a left-wing media bias but there are plenty of rightwing comedians it just seems that most of them are being investigated by Operation Yewtree. Maybe its a deliberate smokescreen given that politicians, rather than journalists or estate agents, are now the least respected and trusted of all professions. Boris Johnson is the only current politician in the country with a popularity above 1. Comedians have seen this and are standing to be politicians. Are you going to lie back and let the clowns take over? Are you going to stick your head under the duvet as Bozzer de Pfeffel Johnson rides his crazy zipwire into town? Mind you that duvet is warm and cosy, isnt it? And theres a cup of tea available. And a muffin. And a chocolate cupcake.

The Blue Island

June 2001 •French

France, 1940. German troops have just invaded the country, but in the rural idyll of the family chateau inhabited by 20-year-old Mellie with her impoverished aristocrat father Alexandre and adolescent cousin Robinson, the war still seems far away, apart from the fact that Mellie's rich and unpopular fiancé André has been drafted into the army. For Robinson and his friends the same age, including the temperamental Bertrand, the war is merely a game they play in the remoteness of the blue island in the lake.

Fragmentos de Uma Observação Participativa

March 2013 •Portuguese

While observing others, Paula is also, herself, observed. ' Know the difference between an old maid and a spinster? The old maid does not have a choice. '

Premature

February 2013 •English

A young man visits his parents in Norway with his pregnant Spanish wife. Expectations run high, but in the short ride from the airport, it becomes clear that this won't be the harmonious family occasion everyone hopes for.

Antonia's Line

September 1995 •Dutch

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Whale Rider

January 2003 •English

On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

June 2003 •Mongolian

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.