The Years of Decision

The Good German

December 2006 •English

An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

April 2005 •German

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Giovanni's Island

February 2014 •Japanese

In the aftermath of the most devastating conflict mankind had ever experienced, the tiny island of Shikotan became part of the Sakhalin Oblast... and on the unhealed border in this remote corner of the world, friendship among children from two different countries timidly blossomed, striving to overcome language barriers and the waves of history. Inspired by true events.

Requiem

February 1982 •Hungarian

When a young boy comes in to see a doctor abourt a red mark on his face, the doctor's wife welcomes him into the consulting room instead. As they talk, she offers him something to eat and then notes that his manner of eating is just like that of her previous husband, who died in prison many years earlier. It turns out that the young man had been his cell mate for a year, and he tells her the story of how her husband died. She then remembers (in flashbacks) how she had helped her first husband rid himself of his sexual repression, and how she had promised him she would marry her current husband if she were widowed. It seems her doctor-husband was a man who could remain untouched through any political climate, and was much admired by her first husband. Now that her memories have been awakened by the young man's account, she ignores the repeated phone calls of her current husband and decides to rid this young man of his own sexual repressions.

Germany, Year Zero

December 1948 •Italian

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

Tommy

March 1975 •English

After a series of traumatic childhood events, a psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.

Mudbound

November 2017 •English

In the post–World War II South, two families are pitted against a barbaric social hierarchy and an unrelenting landscape as they simultaneously fight the battle at home and the battle abroad.

Mona Lisa Smile

December 2003 •English

Katherine Watson is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students, including Betty and Joan, to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.

Little Peach

May 1958 •Japanese

Anzukko (Little Peach) is the daughter of a successful writer. She turns down each one of her suitors, until she marries a beginning writer named Ryokichi. Their life quickly sinks into despair.

The Idealist

April 1976 •Slovenian

The movie based upon the classical Slovene novel Martin Kačur, depicts the clash between the teacher Martin Kačur and his conservative environment. Due to his progressive ideas, he is transferred to a small town. The village environment is even more depressing than his former surroundings were, as the influence of both the secular and the Church authorities is even greater in the country. Even though Martin meets Tončka and the two of them get married, he gradually becomes a disillusioned and embittered man. In time, when society's strictures become somewhat milder, Martin is transferred to a more friendly environment, but all the injustices he has experienced have already bitten too deep. Unlike his wife, Martin finds it very difficult to accept changes. When his son dies, it seems as though he has lost all his elan and the will to live. Will he be able to go on bringing the light of knowledge to the ignorant masses, or will his ideals be buried forever like a man in a snowdrift?

Dark Years

February 1992 •Basque

Itziar is eight years old and lives in two very different worlds. On the one hand, the world of her disappointed Basque nationalist parents and, on the other, the religious school, which gives the girl a repressive and retrograde education. However, there is another kind of world, much nicer to Itziar, formed by the street and her friends.

Bon Appétit, La Vie!

September 2016 •Slovenian

A misplaced pregnancy test creates confusion in the minds of grown-up children. Eva returns to her home town, to unresolved things from her past. Max has a new love affair. Nataša goes crazy. Izi's mother finds a positive pregnancy test and panics. Izi doesn't give a damn about anything.

Knights of Swing

February 2023 •English

Set in 1947, Knights of Swing is a feature film that chronicles a group of young jazz musicians whose dream is to form a “really swingin’ Big Band”. Unfortunately, things prove much more complicated when the community objects to the diversity of the band. Alliances form, and lines are drawn. What follows is soul searching, uplifting, and through music, our story illuminates forgiveness, healing and unconditional love.

The Assault

February 1986 •Dutch

At the end of WWII the Dutch resistance kills a German officer in front of the house of a Dutch family. Years after the war the young boy who witnessed the killing runs into the members of the resistance who committed the killing.

Forbidden Games

May 1952 •French

Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.

Ashes and Diamonds

October 1958 •Polish

A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.

The Murderers Are Among Us

October 1946 •German

After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during WWII.

Сколько лет, сколько зим!

October 1966 •Russian

Red Wheat

December 1970 •Slovenian

An ex-partisan and current political activist sets out to Styria region in Slovenia to buy out the wheat from peasants and convince them to form the farming collective. His ostensible success (based on blackmailing rather than convincing), as well as his love defeat, make him disturbed and he kills an innocent man while performing a social mission.

Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll

September 2019 •Japanese

Isabella, the daughter of the noble York family, is enrolled in an all-girls academy to be groomed into a dame worthy of nobility. However, she has given up on her future, seeing the prestigious school as nothing more than a prison from the outside world. Her family notices her struggling in her lessons and decides to hire Violet Evergarden to personally tutor her under the guise of a handmaiden. At first, Isabella treats Violet coldly. Violet seems to be able to do everything perfectly, leading Isabella to assume that she was born with a silver spoon. After some time, Isabella begins to realize that Violet has had her own struggles and starts to open up to her. Isabella soon reveals that she has lost contact with her beloved younger sister, whom she yearns to see again. Having experienced the power of words through her past clientele, Violet asks if Isabella wishes to write a letter to Taylor. Will Violet be able to help Isabella convey her feelings to her long-lost sister?