Charlatan

Twenty three year old virtuoso pianist Jennifer Rogiers has been living with a terrible secret most of her life. When she enters the world famous Queen Elisabeth competition the memory of a traumatic childhood experience surfaces again.

Rocklin Colorado, 1925. A hard cold winter. Young Arturo Bandini loves his father Svevo, his mother Maria and his brothers. Even though his bricklayer father wastes the little money he has in the Imperial Poolhall and his time with the rich American widow, Hildegarde. Even though his beautiful and pious mother lets his father get away with that, even if his little brother wets the bed. Arturo loves them all. He also loves to play baseball, even though he has to wait until spring. And he also loves the movies ... and Rosa. But she doesn't love him ...

In rural Westphalia, Franz Berger struggles to keep his inn open. On this day, a bluff, overbearing bully, Hermann Walzer, has booked the dining room for a wedding banquet for his son Mark. There's bad blood between Berger and Walzer, so when the first course, shrimp cocktail, is off, Hermann storms out with the wedding party vowing not to pay. Franz locks the loo door, taking prisoners of the bride and Hermann's wife while he also locks the estate's outer gates, leaving Hermann and the rest outside. Walzer, a pheasant hunter, lays siege; shotguns, rifles, grenades, a shovel, and other weapons leave no one safe. Will it take death to bring these men to their senses?

Three 'Bukowskian' torrid nights in the life of a man, Harry, in search of love. The first is as a youth, the second on the day of his high school graduation, and the third as a lonely, middle-aged man.

Colin, an ambitious young American businessman, has a deal with a potential client, a rich Arab sheikh who is a passionate pigeon fancier. The sheikh has tried several times to buy a champion pigeon, but the owner continues to stubbornly refuse his offer. In an attempt to gain the trust of the Sheikh, Colin offers him a deal: if he manages to convince the owner to sell the champion pigeon, the sheikh will agree to do business with Colin's company. But when Colin meets Jos, the grumpy owner of the pigeon, and Isabella, his granddaughter, he realizes that this mission will not be as easy as he had hoped.

Max, an aimless middle-aged man, travels to Brussels. As he wanders the city streets, he meets three unlikely companions, with tensions rising among the group each passing hour.

The 1950s. A family has its annual family reunion to commemorate the anniversary of mother's death. People drink and eat heavily and after a while all restrictions are lost. Family members start venting old frustrations, discussions and tensions. Eventually one homosexual young man gets depressed and a drama escalates.

After an argument and fight with a wealthy one night stand in a posh hotel, young hustler Chris finds himself trapped inside. With nowhere to go and the cops closing in on the hotel fast, he wanders into "Suite 16" in a fit of despair. Inside, a handicapped and wheelchair bound Glover is held captive for the evening once discovered by Chris. However, things change the next day when Glover informs Chris that the woman he slept with is now dead; and that he surely will be sought out for her murder. Lonely and bored, Glover offers to shelter Chris for awhile while the cuts and bruises from the previous nights escapades have time to heal.

La Patinoire is about a film director who is shooting a highly symbolic film called 'Dolores' at an ice rink. He has hired a Lithuanian ice hockey team with which he is having enormous communication problems. His actors all have inflated egos, his film crew is made up of fools, and there is a politician on his back. But he must finish the film, no matter what, in time for the Venice Film Festival.

Jean is a family man and factory worker who dreams of becoming a songwriter. Pinning his hopes on his teenage daughter, Marva, he takes her to singing contests in which the awkward and overweight girl struggles to belt out a tune. When Jean is suddenly fired because of cut backs, he is ashamed and even more desperate to have his daughter succeed. In a chance meeting Jean kidnaps the most famous pop star in the country and holds her hostage demanding to be heard by the music industry. Catching the attention of the media and the eyes of the nation, Jean and Marva realize that the show must go on until everyone is famous.

After almost thirty years, Germaine, Firmin's great love, suddenly returns to her hometown. Firmin is overjoyed and determined to win Germaine's heart back, but Germaine rejects his advances. Then Mohammed Boutrous, a young and talented boxer, seeks out Firmin. He wants Firmin to train him. Firmin accepts, hoping to regain his honor and the love of his life...

Martin, a drifter, is on his way to Istanbul when he meets Willy, a student working in Belgium. Fascinated by Martin, Willy decides to go with him to Istanbul, but soon discovers pieces of his dark past.

A psychoanalyst gives a strange advice to a mechanic whose marriage is falling apart: to take the blame for a murder, any murder, to impress his beautiful and indifferent wife, and his patient does just that.

The men of Chemics International lead a quiet life. However, this is cruelly disrupted by an industrial accident in which a toxic substance is released. Some workers are killed; many others are irrevocably contaminated and may suffer permanent injuries. The management, government, press and unions do not react, seeing this as an unfortunate incident. When one of Herman and Jef's best friends also dies, they have had enough. Together they made an ultimate attempt to reveal the truth to the outside world.