In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
An independent woman can't choose between the two men she loves.
Sickan, the leader of the criminal Jönsson gang is incarcerated in a mental institution, attended by Dr M.A. Busé, who admire a handbook in crime that Sickan has been writing. Blackmailed by the nefarious banker Wall-Enberg, Dr Busé and Sickan's partners Vanheden and Dynamite-Harry execute Sickan's plan of stealing the valuable Black Diamond of the Romanovs from the National Museum.
A woman, married and with a child but becoming increasingly distant from her husband who is already cheating on her, reluctantly enters a secret relationship with her neighbor, a teenage boy.
J. is depressed. E. lives peacefully. S. tries to get back with his wife. G. resorts to anxiolytics. P. plays seduction games. María and Sara exchange their husbands. L. calls his lover in a peculiar way.
Seb and Aaron have overspent and built up debts on their credit card. Aaron decides to take matters into his own hands and secretly films their sex life to broadcast online. The money pours in until he gets caught! Realising that the scheme could sort their financial problems, Seb agrees to allow things to continue until they are back in the black. When their friend Jem arrives and suggests a third party might help them make even more cash, things start to get a little tricky....
29-year-old Eban has retreated home to his parent's house in Seaside Oregon after the dissolution of his teaching job in Seattle. There he courts 15-year-old Charlie and eventually the two start a sexual relationship. As the age of consent in Oregon is 18 years and given the age difference, the adults in this drama take a dim view of this development.
In this short movie featuring familiar characters from Azumanga Daioh, Osaka is yet again having a strange dream of Chiyo-Chan's pigtails being posessed. As Chiyo-Chan's pigtails bounce out of the window, who knows if young Chiyo will ever be happy again.
A series of intertwining tales involve "pleasure seekers and pleasure providers" during the course of one night in Geylang, Singapore's red-light district. There are three distinct stories, united only by the presence of characters from all the stories in a streetside eatery:
Santa is allergic to cats, so he has a policy against delivering them as gifts, but little Tommy has been SO good, and all he wants is one small kitty. Santa says OK, but instead of one, the whole litter climbs into the sack. When Santa has a major allergic reaction, the kittens have to take over and deliver the presents on time.
Young judge Thirza Zorniger's dream comes true when she is offered a temporary position at the Higher Regional Court in Munich's historic Palace of Justice. Neither the high expectations of her superior Kaspar Epha nor the mountain of old cases she has to work through can dampen her euphoria.
A Southern librarian puts excitement in her life with a found murder weapon and a false confession.
Historian Steve Humphries examines failures in policies and legislation put in place to protect youngsters from sexual abuse, and discovers radical new solutions proposed by an increasing number of child-protection experts, which challenge deep-rooted attitudes and emotional reactions to paedophiles. Senior lecturer Sarah Goode believes the most promising way to reduce the number of child-abuse cases is to encourage people to seek treatment before they target victims. Her theory is supported by an interview in this programme in which Humphries meets a man who makes an extraordinary confession on camera.
The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.
Following his son Gabriel’s death, Jorge travels from conservative Bolivia to New York City to confront Gabriel’s boyfriend Sebastian. While the two battle over Jorge’s inability to accept his son, Sebastian channels his grief into a bold new play in honor of his lost love, in which Gabriel’s inner turmoil is transformed into an eye-popping gay fantasia.
The year is 1764. For over a year, Josef has been leading a precarious life in Venice. He hopes to become an opera composer. The city, full of talented and already-established composers, seems closed to him. Looking for work as a violinist, he comes into the orbit of a rich young woman. Thanks to her, he gets the opportunity to play at salons. But his real opportunity arises when he becomes the lover of a libertine marquise. She teaches him worldly manners, rids him of signs of a provincial upbringing and introduces him to a hedonistic existence free from religious intolerance. Thus transformed, Josef gets an incan incredible commission: to write an opera for the San Carlo, Europe's largest theatre.
Laura is still waiting for Prince Charming at the age of 24. So when Sandro appears at a party, exactly like her Prince would in her dreams, she thinks she's found the right one. But then again, when she meets Maxime, Laura starts to wonder if some Princes could be more charming than others? Of course Sandro has problems of his own : his father, Pierre, just bumped into Madam Irma at his father's funeral and this reminded him of the date of his own death which Madame Irma had predicted ages ago. Now Pierre is unable to make any plans, not with his new partner Eleonore, nor with Sandro. And Maxime has his own problems, and so does Eleonore, Marianne, Jacqueline and many others. But don't worry, in the end, they'll all live happily ever after.
Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
On an ordinary night, in an ordinary part of town, a beautiful young woman walks into a bar. Her name is Jewel, and before long she is chatting to bartender Randy. The pair leave together, but he ends up getting into a tussle with her criminal boyfriend, who she then shoots dead, later persuading Randy to take the rap for her. But this isn't the end of it, as both Randy's cousin Carl and the detective assigned to the murder case also fall for Jewel's charms and find themselves caught up in the ensuing events. It seems that any man who meets Jewel falls instantly in love with her, and she's going to use this fully to her own advantage, leaving a trail of havoc in her wake. It also seems that she is going to get away with it - that is, until Randy decides to hire a hitman...
Three couples at different parts of life navigate big turning points in their lives over the holidays.
In a quirky, small town, situated in the outskirts of everything, 14-year-old Martin is getting ready for one of the most formal transitions from boy to man; the communion. It's 1976, music's in the air and hormones are blossoming. But in the midst of it all Martin's mother suddenly passes away and her tragic death trickers a series of events that not only changes Martin's life forever, but also affects everyone else in the local community. Overwhelmed with grief neither Martin's dad, nor his older brother, is capable to comfort Martin. He enters adulthood in a mixture of drunken happiness and immense sadness over the loss of his mother, and his relationship to both his friend Kim and girlfriend Kristine comes to its natural conclusion.
Ostia is a fascinating short film directed by Julian Cole and produced for the Royal College of Art, which reconstructs the events leading up to the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Ostia relocates the proceedings to London and stars Derek Jarman as Pasolini. The film features an evocative dream sequence which is accompanied by poignant excerpts from Pasolini’s own poetry, as read by Jarman.
Raúl, Eduardo and Santiago have led a happy and "straight" life since their childhood, until, one day, Santiago confesses to them that he is gay.
A young paramedic is paired with a seasoned partner on the night shift in New York revealing a city in crisis. Discovering the chaos firsthand, he is tested with the ethical ambiguity that can be the difference between life and death.
A young nihilistic New Yorker copes with pervasive urban violence, obscene phone calls, rusty water pipes, electrical blackouts, paranoia, and ethnic-racial conflict during a typical summer of the 1970s.
A young travelling salesman Rodel and a young innocent student Aleli. Aleli befriended a mature woman who is expert in love. The lady taught her and lured her to fantasize and to seek the love offered by men. Aleli became curious about the love that this lady is talking about and is out there to find love for herself until she dated Rodel who ended up raping her. After her painful encounter with Rodel, she got addicted to that sexual feeling and affection that he gave to her. This terrible experience made her to crave for more love from Rodel. Is her addiction with making love to Rodel going to stop or will it continue until she becomes a slave to it.
HK businessman Kiu doesn't have time to woo a girl. On a trip to Saigon, he offers financial help to poor girl Shun's (very troubled !) family if she'll come and live with him. With a sense of duty but no love, she agrees, too timid to even tell boyfriend Lik just after losing her virginity to him. Love fails to blossom between Shun and Kiu in HK, and Kiu starts to drink heavily. Sandy, Kiu's luscious secretary takes advantage and gets it off with him in the gym and digusts Shun in the process. Shun gets drunk and is picked up in a bar, nearly raped, and rescued then befriended by a fellow Vietnamese, a photographer, in what is clearly a setup. Turns out Sandy is behind this ruse as well, to get Shun out of the way and have Kiu all to herself. But things don't go according to anyone's plan. Will Shun give up Kiu and his money to go back to Lik ? Will Sandy hold her nerve and push ahead ? Will the guys Sandy paid to set up Shun have their way with Sandy instead ?
Simone is a young law student who studies criminal law and advocates for women's rights. On her free time, she's a cam girl that makes live sexual performances on the Internet. One night, she watches a video that awakens her interest in BDSM-related activities, leading her into a series of conflicts dominated by violence and eroticism.
Inspired by Sherlock Holmes books, enforcement officer PL Thomas wants to crack a big case in his first posting. However, his wife's antics lead to the whole case going awry, even pushing him to the point to derangement. His scheme to salvage some pride as a last-ditch effort takes the plot forward.
Sergio is a brooding, alienated man who works as a trash collector in Lisbon by day and roams the city streets by night seeking rough, anonymous sex with men. One night he meets a man who seems to be the embodiment of his tormented fantasies, and he becomes obsessed with the stranger until loneliness and unfulfilled desire propel him finally into a dark and dangerous animalistic state.
For a long time, Natalie, an Australian architect living in New York City, had always believed that what she had seen in rom-coms is all fantasy. But after thwarting a mugger at a subway station only to be knocked out while fleeing, Natalie wakes up and discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.
The real-life case based on the horrific crimes of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the mother and son duo who specialized in theft, fraud and murder.
Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Monique is a 35 year old French woman, living in New York. The daughter of a French diplomat who has remarried, Monique has no financial worries, and holds a good job with a publishing firm. She finds relationships difficult, and frequently suffers acute depression. Her nights are filled with strange dreams, and apparitions of flashing lights.
Story follows two best friend on private investigation. They are going to their hometown to prove that Michals mother was killed by his stepmother.
Satur and Tina are married, and Berta enters their life as a ‘unicorn.’ In the end, however, Satur is pushed out and Tina and Berta have an affair. Manu is a loser who tries to embark on a relationship with Amanda, who at the same time is involved with Alex, Claudia and Marta and Esteban, with whom they are all co-raising two children. Everyone seem to be living many different lives but all of them will have a lot to learn from each other.
Sergio answers 36 questions to make Gabriel fall in love. Did you know Glauber was a Pisces?
Wasteland is a five-part anthology film that deals with isolation, mental illness, and the subjectivity of reality. Each of the five parts can be watched individually, but when viewed in sequence, each story brings out a more interesting and distinct context to its respective pieces.