Natural Beauties 19[2023]

Flow(en)

Eye for an Eye 2(zh)

The blind swordsman, skilled in martial arts, named Cheng Xiazi (Xie Miao), accidentally saves Zhang Xiaoyu (Yang Enyou), who has suffered from the destruction of his family. Under the persuasion of the orphan Xiaoyu, Cheng reluctantly keeps him by his side and teaches him skills. Xiaoyu also waits for the opportunity to seek revenge.

RETURN(ja)

8mm work directed by Norihiko Morinaga.

An Ideal Father(fr)

Michel, the jovial owner of the only café in a small Normandy town, sees his life turned upside down when his teenage daughter is murdered. The community has his back but soon rumor spreads and Michel is singled out. From the ideal father, he becomes the ideal culprit.

La verbena de la Paloma(es)

A young printer's relationship with his girlfriend is in trouble after she accepts another suitor's invitation to the fair. This adaption of a popular operetta aims to please with a simple storyline and goofy slapstick.

Bagelmania - Ein Kringel erobert die Welt(de)

I Remember Crimson Peak(en)

Four segments that breakdown the filmmaking process of Crimson Peak.

Heavenly Touch(tl)

Jonard is having trouble making ends meet. His mother is suffering from depression, and he and his sister are forced to quit school in order to take care of her. One day, Jonard meets up his friend Rodel, and Rodel introduces him to the world of massage parlors. Rodel teaches him massage, and brings him to Heavenly Touch, a syndicate-run massage parlor that mostly caters to homosexuals.

Young Boss: Prison Release(ja)

The further adventures of Takeshi Nanjo, the Young Boss.

Blue Fire(en)

An elite A.I.coder faces a collision between the algorithms of the VR worlds he's creating and the archetypal dimensions of the greater Collective Unconscious. He finds solace in a rural farmhouse he rents from a Professor of Psychology who lives next door with a student he mentors on her dreams. Over two days, the dreams of all three impact their daily discourse in unexpected ways unhinging their lives through a vortex of a greater reality. BLUE FIRE spins the controversial A.I. phenomena beyond the consensus narrative of destroying the world VS. saving the world towards a radical vision of the future.

Chou Deneiban SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors(ja)

A Romance of the Three Kingdoms retelling using SD Gundams. (Source: Myanimelist.net)

RETURN(en)

‘RETURN’ follows Torstein Horgmo, Mikey Ciccarelli, Mons Røisland, Brandon Cocard, Brandon Davis, and Raibu Katayama as they push the boundaries of what can be accomplished snowboarding when innovative minds join forces.

A Fight for(sl)

A month after the Wall Street occupation, a number of protesters follow their example and set up their tents in front of the Ljubljana stock market. The protesters are united in the critique of representative democracy and global financial capitalism under the slogan ‘nobody represents us’. Their organisation is based on the principles of direct democracy. In absence of other social alternatives, a community starts to emerge in the camp in front of the stock market where everyone has an equal say, and everyone is united in their diversity. After the initial euphoria the great idea of direct democracy clashes against the contemporary individual; antagonisms surface, similar to those of the system which the protesters fight against. The story about the Slovenian version of the ‘occupy’ movement is portrayed with the stories of a few protagonists, who despite several defeats do not lose hope in a different world.

Schwarzfahrer(de)

Thomas, a student drop-out, keeps his head above water with a life of petty crime. Passing himself off once again as a ticket inspector on a tram to extract money from fare-dodgers, he is confronted by Erich, a genuine inspector, or so it seems... However, Erich won his inspector's identity badge at cards. The two begin to meet regularly. Thomas doesn't realise until too late that he is to play a major role in Erich's long-planned coup. The well thought out plan succeeds. Unfortunately, however, Erich has failed to consider how he can convert his booty - a lorry load of valuable carpets - into hard cash. Their problems are just beginning...

Computer Ghosts(en)

A security company conjures up fake computer-generated "ghosts" so they can buy abandoned property at below-market value at auctions. However, a mysterious couple appear out of seemingly nowhere to thwart the company's plans.

No Time to Marry(en)

In this lightweight comedy, two news reporters who are engaged to be married endure romantic difficulties in their competitive pursuit of a "big scoop".

Step(en)

The senior year of a girls’ high school step team in inner-city Baltimore is documented, as they try to become the first in their families to attend college. The girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in their troubled city.

Trophy(en)

This in-depth look into the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation in the U.S. and Africa unravels the complex consequences of treating animals as commodities.

Unrest(en)

When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.

Whose Streets?(en)

A nonfiction account of the Ferguson uprising told by the people who lived it, this is an unflinching look at how the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown inspired a community to fight back—and sparked a global movement.

Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton(en)

This is the remarkable story of an American icon who changed the sport of big wave surfing forever. Transcending the surf genre, this in-depth portrait of a hard-charging athlete explores the fear, courage and ambition that push a man to greatness—and the cost that comes with it.

This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous(en)

A groundbreaking film that portrays the journey of Gigi Lazzarato, a fearless woman who began life as Gregory, posting fashion videos to YouTube from his bedroom, only to later come out as a transgender female. With never-before-seen personal footage, the film spotlights a family’s unwavering love for a child.

Motherland(en)

The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World(en)

Documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history, a little-known story built around the incredible lives and careers of the some of the greatest music legends.

Keening Woman(cn)

During a farewell ceremony for a family friend, Cotton begins feeling as if her body and her consciousness are separating. Different memories, identities and actions are lingering inside Cotton, which aggravate the unusual relationship between herself, her lame boyfriend and her psychiatrist.

Winnie(en)

While her husband served a life sentence, paradoxically kept safe and morally uncontaminated, Winnie Mandela rode the raw violence of apartheid, fighting on the front line and underground. This is the untold story of the mysterious forces that combined to take her down, labeling him a saint, her, a sinner.

Hoichoi(en)

Hoi Choi is a film dealing with the nitty gritty's of theatre and do not shy away from showing the adversities of the same too

The Island(es)

A group of people gather for a family reunion in a house on an isolated island. They are waiting for the last person to join them, but as the evening arrives and he doesn’t arrive, a strange anxiety overwhelms them. The group dismantles and the family members wander away from the house separately, confronting the sea and an unspoken fear that slowly consumes them.

Das 7. Jahr – Ansichten zur Lage der Nation(de)

Signature Move(en)

A secret new romance with Alma forces Zaynab to confront her complicated relationship with her recently widowed mother. In this coming-of-age Muslim melodrama, Zaynab copes by taking up Lucha-style wrestling.

Spettacolo(en)

Once upon a time, villagers in a tiny hill town in Tuscany came up with a remarkable way to confront their issues: they turned their lives into a play. Every summer, their piazza became their stage and residents of all ages played a part – the role of themselves. Monticchiello’s annual tradition has attracted worldwide attention and kept the town together for 50 years, but with an aging population and a future generation more interested in Facebook than farming, the town’s 50th–anniversary performance just might be its last. SPETTACOLO tells the story of Teatro Povero di Monticchiello, interweaving episodes from its past with its modern-day process as the villagers turn a series of devastating blows into a new play about the end of their world.

The Year of Spectacular Men(en)

In the year after graduating college, Izzy struggles to navigate the seemingly incessant failures of adulthood, the reality of a substandard dating pool and a debilitating fear of top-sheets, all in between X-Files marathons. Comically unsuccessful in love over the course the year, including five half-hearted relationships with astoundingly self-centered men, Izzy resigns herself to the support of her mother and sister, who are struggling with their own relationship problems. Seeing herself in them, Izzy gradually gains the confidence to be honest and vulnerable.

Yoshiko & Yuriko(ja)

Based on a true story, Yoshiko and Yuriko relates the journey and great love affair of Yoshiko, who was a renowned translator of Russian literature and drama, and Yuriko, who was a feminist novelist and great activist of the post-war democratic literature movement. Both have left huge marks on Japanese literary history. The two women shared a strong attraction to each other from their first meeting and enjoyed a powerful love affair. Yoshiko reveals that she's an out lesbian, whilst Yuriko is married (not altogether happily) to a well-known scholar - a situation she can't walk away from with ease.

Girls of the Night(ja)

In the wake of the 1956 Prostitution Prevention Law, a young woman recently released from one of Japan's new rehabilitation centers struggles to build a new life.

The David Dance(en)

Away from the microphone, David is soft spoken, shy and unsure of himself. However, as his on-air alias ‘Danger Dave,’ the host of “Gay Talk,” he’s poised, witty, and every listener’s best friend. His sister, Kate, a thrice divorced banker has a yen for Schumann and cats. Though successful, the siblings suffer from a secret, yet vast, sense of inadequacy. Kate decides to adopt and asks David to be a father figure. David gawkily romances his coworker. Past and present intertwine to tell the story of a man learning to love and accept himself.

Prater(de)

Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the Prater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s film “Prater” transforms this place of sensations into a modern cinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the beginning to the present is told by its protagonists and those who have documented it, including contemporary cinematic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, commentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, film quotes, and photographic and written documentary materials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a place of technological innovation, and its role as a cultural medium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von Sternberg, Erich Kästner and Elias Canetti, as well as in music devoted to this amusement venue throughout the course of its history.