There is no effort to sanitise characters' lives in order to get a message across, and as a result the film never feels preachy.
Over the course of a year, a teenage girl adjusts to life as a woman while her mother adjusts to life as a man.
(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: Sophie Hyde; Writer: Matthew Cormack, Matthew Cormack, Sophie Hyde; Stars: Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Del Bert, Beau Travis Williams, Imogen Archer, Mario Spate, Sam Althuizen, Danica Moors, Susan Hyde, Greg Marsh, Audrey Mason-Hyde, Susie Skinner)
Having recently lost her sight, Ingrid retreats to the safety of her home - a place she can feel in control, alone with her husband and her thoughts. But Ingrid's real problems lie within, not beyond the walls of her apartment, and her deepest fears and repressed fantasies soon take over.
(Country: Norway; Year: 2014; Director: Eskil Vogt; Writer: Eskil Vogt; Stars: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Vera Vitali, Henrik Rafaelsen)
World premiere
Difret
Meaza Ashenafi is a young lawyer who operates under the government's radar helping women and children until one young girl's legal case exposes everything, threatening not only her career but her survival.
Leni anxiously waits for her childhood friend Lazar, who is coming back to their hometown after years of studying abroad. After they reunite, they embark on a random bicycle trip around their childhood haunts, which will either exhaust or reinvent their relationship.
(Country: Serbia; Year: 2014; Director: Mina Djukic; Writer: Mina Djukic; Stars: Hana Selimovic, Mladen Sovilj, Danijel Sike, Minja Subota, Marko Janjic, Zarko Radic, Branka Selic, Aleksandra Pleskonjic, Bojan Zirovic, Nenad Pecinar, Ivan Djordjevic, Raslav Sekulovic, Jovan Zivanovic)
Although the pacing is sometimes poor, the sentiment - while occasionally straying towards the sentimental - is heartfelt and sweet spirited.
A bereaved mother and the boyfriend of her son find a connection.
(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Hong Khaou; Writer: Hong Khaou; Stars: Ben Whishaw, Leila Wong, Morven Christie, Peter Bowles, Shane Salter, Pei-pei Cheng, Peter E. Hopkins, Andrew Leung, John Matthews)
Upon learning that his girlfriend is pregnant, 33-year-old locksmith Sebastian begins to have strange visions about his clients. With the help of an unlikely assistant, he sets out to use his newfound talent for his own good.
Although determined not to have a child in Communist Bulgaria, Boryana gives birth to Viktoria, who despite being born with no umbilical cord, is proclaimed to be the baby of the decade. But political collapse and the hardships of the new time bind mother and daughter together.
Meet Helen Memel. She likes to experiment with vegetables while masturbating and thinks that bodily hygiene is greatly overrated. She shocks those around her by speaking her mind in a most unladylike manner on topics that many people would not even dare consider.
(Country: Germany ; Year: 2013; Director: David Wnendt; Writer: Claus Falkenberg, David Wnendt, based on the novel by Charlotte Roche; Stars: Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Meret Becker, Axel Milberg, Marlen Kruse, Edgar Selge)
North American premiere
White Shadow
Alias is a young albino boy on the run. His mother has sent him away to find refuge in the city after witnessing his father's murder. Over time, the city becomes no different than the bush: wherever Alias travels, the same rules of survival apply.
