You’re awake when everyone else is asleep. You’re standing still as traffic is whipping by at 70mph. You see dusk and dawn everyday because they happen on your way to a time clock and then to a bed. Your off hours are spent trying to figure out why you’re here, whether you want to stay, and how to leave.
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When autistic teen Ricky is scolded for skipping class, he escapes into the subway for a days-long odyssey among the subway’s disparate denizens. Meanwhile, his mother wages an escalating search effort above ground. Based on a true story and set in Far Rockaway, Queens, in the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy, these parallel stories of mother and son take the viewer on a touching journey of community and connection in and below New York City.
Mimi is a Sicilian dockworker who loses his job when he votes against the Mafia candidate in what he thinks is a secret ballot. He leaves his wife behind and goes to Turin, where he meets and moves in with Fiore, a street vendor and Communist organizer. They have a child, he works non-union jobs, and again he comes to the Mafia’s attention. This time they’re impressed, promoting him to a supervisor’s job back in Sicily. He must keep Fiore and the child a secret, which is fine with Fiore, as long as he never makes love to his wife. He doesn’t, and when she becomes pregnant, he knows he’s a cuckold. His personal revenge and the Mafia’s tentacles then intertwine in tragicomic ways.
King of Crime is about Marcus King, an old school gangster, a crime lord, who has left behind old school crime. He has manoeuvred his business into the leafy lanes of the suburbs and now, in place of pimps and dealers, his team consists of the best graduate geeks that money can bribe. No brothels, no casinos and no drugs – he’s dragged serious, organised crime well and truly into the twenty-first century. From credit card cloning and skimming to Internet spamming and scamming, he is the king of Cyber Land.
Aspiring New York City artist, John Hollar returns to his Middle America hometown on the eve of his mother’s brain surgery. Joined by his girlfriend, eight months pregnant with their first child, John is forced to navigate the crazy world he left behind.
The ostensibly simple story of a sympathetic veteran teacher giving Italian lessons to a weekly class of diverse immigrants is given infinitely more depth and complexity by the manner in which director Daniele Gaglianone renders his story. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, truth and artifice, and between documentary and drama, Gaglianone has created a film within a film. You see the apparent artifice of Gaglianone’s crew using professionals, including the noted film actor Valerio Mastandrea as the teacher, interlinked with ‘real’ immigrant protagonists, studying the language to improve their chances of employment and of gaining a permanent residence permit. Thus in the course of the lessons there is simultaneously the painful and upsetting relation of the students’ personal stories but also humour, as they interact and share their humanity, bridging cultural differences, united in their striving to make a better life for themselves. (Source: LFF programme)
Four women, who have their own different sorrows, embark on a road trip. They look back at their past and restart their lives… Jinko (Aoi Miyazaki) and Motoko (Sakura Ando) have been friends since their university days. One day, they hear a rumor about their former classmate and friend Miki (Kazue Fukiishi). The rumor is that Miki ran into the sea, but got out safely. Jinko and Motoko decide to visit Miki to see if she is OK. In addition, Haraki (Shiori Kutsuna), who Jinko met at the library where she works, joins their trip as a driver. Their one night and two days road trip begins.
Enzo, a family dog with a near-human soul and a philosopher’s mind, evaluates his life through the lessons learned by his human owner, the race-car driver Denny Swift.
The Great Depression hits home for nine year old Kit Kittredge when her dad loses his business and leaves to find work. Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin stars as Kit, leading a splendid cast in the first ever “American Girl” theatrical movie. In order to keep their home, Kit and her mother must take in boarders – paying house – guests who turn out to be full of fascinating stories. When mother’s lockbox containing all their money is stolen, Kit’s new hobo friend Will is the prime suspect. Kit refuses to believe that Will would steal, and her efforts to sniff out the real story get her and friends into big trouble. The police say the robbery was an inside job, committed by someone they know. So if it wasn’t Will, then who did it.
An American man awakes in a hospital just to learn about the zombie apocalypse.
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
Following the sudden death of their last surviving parent – their Dad, two brothers and two sisters return to the family home after many years to face each other, face facts and face the future. But what do they know of the past?
