Problems Higher Up

Brother of Sleep

September 1995 •German

In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.

License to Wed

July 2007 •English

Newly engaged, Ben and Sadie can't wait to start their life together and live happily ever after. However Sadie's family church's Reverend Frank won't bless their union until they pass his patented, "foolproof" marriage prep course consisting of outrageous classes, outlandish homework assignments and some outright invasion of privacy.

The Trial

December 1962 •English

Josef K wakes up in the morning and finds the police in his room. They tell him that he is on trial but nobody tells him what he is accused of. In order to find out about the reason for this accusation and to protest his innocence, he tries to look behind the façade of the judicial system. But since this remains fruitless, there seems to be no chance for him to escape from this nightmare.

Secret Sunshine

May 2007 •Korean

Shin-ae moves to her recently late husband’s hometown. Despite her efforts to settle in this unfamiliar and too-normal place, she finds that she can’t fit in. After a sudden tragedy, Shin-ae turns to Christianity to relieve her pain, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.

Jesus of Montreal

May 1989 •French

A group of actors putting on an interpretive Passion Play in Montreal begin to experience a meshing of their characters and their private lives as the production takes form against the growing opposition of the Catholic church.

The Baby of Mâcon

September 1993 •English

Set halfway through the 17th century, a church play is performed for the benefit of the young aristocrat Cosimo. In the play, a grotesque old woman gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The child's older sister is quick to exploit the situation, selling blessings from the baby, and even claiming she's the true mother by virgin birth. However, when she attempts to seduce the bishop's son, the Church exacts a terrible revenge.

Alice's Restaurant

August 1969 •English

After getting kicked out of college, Arlo decides to visit his friend Alice for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner is over, Arlo volunteers to take the trash to the dump but finds it closed for the holiday, so he dumps the trash in the bottom of a ravine. This act of littering gets him arrested and sends him on a bizarre journey.

Luther

October 2003 •English

During the early 16th century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.

Empties

March 2007 •Czech

Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.

Love Is All You Need?

March 2011 •English

Ashley was raised in a picture perfect all-American family with two moms, two grandpas, two uncles, and a little brother. But Ashley has a problem, she has a crush on a boy at school, which is against everything this world has ever taught her.

The Discovery of Heaven

October 2001 •English

Disappointed with humanity, God wants to revoke his contract with humanity and wants to take back the stone tablets containing the ten commandments. To this end an angel is sent out to affect the personal lives of three humans so an appropriate child may be conceived.

Adam's Apples

April 2005 •Danish

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

Real Men Don't Eat Gummi Bears

August 1989 •German

In this wacky comedy, teen-aged Tony (Bentley C. Mitchum) has never known who is father is. Together with his best buddies Peter and Susan, he tracks down the clues he has as well as he can.

Hell and Mr Fudge

July 2012 •English

Hell and Mr. Fudge is an 2012 American drama film directed by Jeff Wood and written by Brian Phillip Stoddard. Based on a true story, the film stars Mackenzie Astin as Edward Fudge, an Alabama preacher who has been hired to determine the existence of hell.

Guitar Men: The Darkest Secret of Rock 'n Roll

June 2007 •German

Blindness

November 2016 •Polish

A little known episode from the life of Stalinist security police office Julia Brystiger. Her nickname Bloody Luna was a reference to her incredibly brutal methods of interrogation. In the early 1960s, she appears in a centre for the blind on the outskirts of Warsaw, a place often visited by Cardinal Wyszyński, whose imprisonment in 1953-1956 Brystiger supervised personally. During a difficult and heated discussion with the cardinal, Brystiger denounces the communist ideology and begs for forgiveness for her crimes and for guidance in her search for God.

An American Crime

July 2007 •English

The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.

Laia

September 2016 •Catalan

"Laia" is located in the imaginary village of Sinera, a fishing village inhabited by a series of extreme characters, indiscriminately diverted to the adversities of destiny. There, Laia lives, a woman marked by a miserable and unhappy childhood, that is debated between her cruel husband and lover who is his best friend and faces the hatred of a whole town while dreaming of a freedom that only the sea can grant.

Er kanns nicht lassen

October 1962 •German

Father Brown is only too happy to interfere with the work of the police in solving tricky criminal cases, usually with resounding success. That's why the clergyman is transferred to a sleepy island called Abbott's Rock. At first, nothing happens there, but somehow Father Brown seems to be attracted to crime: Soon a gang of thieves is up to no good on the island. So Brown makes the headlines again, and is punitively transferred once more. This time he finds himself in a quiet Irish millionaire community.

Still Smokin

May 1983 •English

Cheech & Chong are invited to a celebrity party in Amsterdam. When they get there, however, it turns out that the guy who invited them has taken off with all the money. They are actually expecting Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, so our heroes get to be Mr. Burt and Mr. Dolly.