Joël Farges

Two young men went on a ride with their old friend in his truck across the whole Mauritius, the sole purpose of it being finding and getting two girls to entertain them that very night back home.

A prominent Czech journalist Saša Uhlová leaves her family and joins “cheap labour force” in Western Europe. Undercover, she works at an asparagus farm in Germany, tries her hand as a maid at a hotel in Ireland and takes care of the elderly in France. She experiences first-hand the struggles of Eastern European low-wage workers whose sacrifice and hard work allow for the Western society’s comfort. What is the real price that Europe pays for exploiting its own citizens? How do the lives of economic migrants, who have been forced to leave their children and elderly parents, look like? And why are privileged Europeans looking the other way?

Whenever people are released from their society's constraints, there is the possibility that they will behave badly, at least according to the rules of the society they have left behind. This seems to have been particularly the case for Europeans living in colonial establishments in Africa and Asia. In this drama, based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Dr. Steiner (Andrzej Seweryn) was caught with his fingers in the till at a German hospital. Rather than prosecute him, they gave him the option of emigrating elsewhere. He chose to serve at a clinic in a remote part of Portuguese Goa. He has been on his best behavior for years, but when the beautiful wife (Fanny Ardant) of a diplomat comes to him asking for an abortion, he is tempted to ask for sexual favors in return, and his life swiftly goes out of control.

China’s rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.

Marat works as a personal driver in Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan. When he hits a Mercedes, the nightmare begins. The loan he accepts to pay for the damages puts him at the mercy of a Mafia boss.

A filmmaker, Kobessov, awakens from an anxiety nightmare: during the preview of his newest film, the projectionist mixes up the reels and begins to show a bad karate film by accident. Although Kobessov objects to the mix-up, the public is ecstatic and refuses to allow the projectionist to interrupt the screening to show Kobessov's film.

Jakub's life arrived at a dead-end. He leaves his job, and gets into conflict with his father. The trouble just grows by his relation with a married woman. Breaking out, Jakub realizes the pleasures of the countryside in the old garden of his grandfather. He finds true love with an angel, and encounters various exciting moments of his new free life. Strange visitors arrive, and he wont get back to town anymore.

A young woman, fleeing the bloody 1934 events in Shanghai, is sheltered in France by two friends of her late father, the psychiatrist Freyer and cardiologist Ménard. While the first turns her into a subject of study, the second feels compassion for her

In Jakarta, a young journalist struggling to escape from the confines of familiar obligations, receives a telegram informing him that his mother is dying.

A four-story omnibus depicting different Czech slices-of-life from the titular city.

Catarina Menezes is a bisexual TV reporter who decides to have a child on her own and chooses Spanish humanitarian doctor Rafael to father the child, setting up an elaborate charade to lure him into her bed. When Catarina reveals her pregnancy, though, her current live-in girlfriend doesn't take to it kindly and promises to make Catarina's life hell; to make matters worse, Rafael finds out her true identity and comes to Lisbon to see her. And Catarina's sole refuge is in the arms of fellow journalist Francisco, her professional relationship slowly becoming a romantic one.

A crime is committed in Paris, and the police are clueless. They call in Simon, a sorcerer with supernatural powers. whilst in Paris, Simon falls in love with Jeanne, although they do not speak each other's language. When Jeanne leaves for a couple of days, Peter, another visionary, calls Simon for a duel: They both have to spend three days buried alive. Will Simon ever meet his love again?

"In The Moonless Night, the whole of Albania seems to head for the coast by train in order to emigrate to the West. So too is 16-year-old Rudina and her strict and secretive grandfather, who have left their village with that aim in mind. In the train, Rudina meets Gjergj, who is on his way with his friend Millo. The grandfather tries at all costs to keep the two away from each other, but is left powerless in the train when Rudina and Gjergj miss the train at the station. As they continue their journey on foot, they get to know each other better. When they reach the beach, the local Mafia is busy organising the smuggling of people and goods. When the train travellers arrive there too, it slowly becomes clear how much Rudina's grandfather tries to hide about his past and why he doesn't want the two young people to be together." - IFFR

A pioneer of cinema and inventor of the first moving images, Émile Reynaud achieved dazzling success before the advent of the cinematograph, but was sadly forgotten thereafter. Yet his pantomimes still fill us with wonder today.

Three episodes from the history of socialism: Babeuf, whose virulent discourse is a radical assessment of the bourgeois revolution of 1789 (Vincent Nordon episode); the legend of Napoleon I, or the formation of the state as it still dominates today (François Barat episode); and the carnage of the Paris Commune, which official history strives to repress and forget (Joël Farges episode). What does it mean to make a historical film today? It means illuminating the present in the light of the past, and therefore adopting the new modes of modern storytelling to challenge what dominates us, structures us, and oppresses us.

In 1889, mounted on a small gray horse named Serko, Dimitri leaves his garrison on the Asian borders of the Russian Empire on the banks of the Amur River. After extraordinary adventures, they both arrive in St. Petersburg, at the court of the Tsar. Having covered more than 9000 kilometers in less than 200 days, this young rider has achieved the most fantastic equestrian feat of all time.

Set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, the movie tells the story of three youngsters in the 70s, when India was undergoing massive social and political changes.

An unrepentant prodigal son straight out of a Russian jail returns to his hometown, Asht, to help his mother die with dignity. But his debts in his hometown are many and long overdue, the townspeople are tough as nails, and he soon gets more than he expected from the quiet village. In this dark comedy, his third feature, writer-director Jamshed Usmonov cast the population of Asht as its own persuasive self and his own mother and brother as the fractured yet formidable domestic couple.

A hangman questions the moral implications of his job after learning that he executed an innocent man.

A story of an extraordinary artist who has unintentionally signed a deal with a devil. Jiří Trnka was one of the biggest Czech artists of the 20th century and one of the founders of the puppet animation. His work demonstrated the world that communist society can provide better conditions for extraordinary artistic creations. The ideological clash between West and East didn’t leave children and their stories apart from their struggle in ideological and political positions.

Told via flashback, this raw, emotional drama chronicles the events that led a 22-year-old Czech Gypsy to prison. Marian was born to an alcoholic father and a terrible mother. As a result he is sent to a government orphanage where he is labelled a problem child for his inability to speak Czech. Life in the orphanage is devoid of love and offers only minimal physical comforts. Sometimes life there is brutal. His one bright spot was the time he first spent with a kindly and encouraging teacher who inspired in him hope for a better future. One day something goes wrong and the teacher is forced to punish Marian who retaliates by stabbing her. Marian is a teen by the time he is released from a juvenile reformatory. He falls in love for the first time, but because it is a foreign emotion, he doesn't know how to deal with it. By this time, the cruelty that has marked his life in institutions seems to have fated him to be a criminal and for Marian there can be no turning back.

A César award nominated short documentary on the renowned early French film maker.