IFFR Unleashed

A hotel owner and landlord in a remote Turkish village deals with conflicts within his family and a tenant behind on his rent.

Through a gray blanket of cloud the contours of a mountain can be barely discerned. This is Mount Fuji, a volcano with many faces and of immeasurable cultural and symbolic significance. We are lead through the film by the voices of two fictitious characters - Mary, an English woman and her deceased Japanese partner, Hiroshi. Mary receives a parcel containing letters and a collection of photographs from Hiroshi. His letters, in which he describes climbing Mount Fuji, trigger in her mind a train of thoughts and reflections. The photographs we discover together with Mary. 4,500 exceptional and diverse photographs from the past 150 years form the basis for this film. Many images are of undeniably breathtaking beauty - ranging from early examples of nineteenth century Japanese studio photography to military propaganda photos from the thirties, from victorious American press images to amateur snapshots across several decades. This work has for me to do with visibility and invisibility, with distance and proximity. These thousands of images enshroud the mountain like a cloud, revealing and hiding it at the same time. This art film project is in essence a film made entirely with stills; a cinematic experiment balancing delicately between documentary and fiction. As the narrative unfolds unexpected and surprising paths are explored. Together with the two protagonists the viewer climbs Mount Fuji across geographical, temporal and cultural divides. The woodblock prints of Hokusai are considered, but also paintings by Van Gogh, philosophical views stemming from Asian philosophy, mankind's connection to landscape, Mount Fuji's religious significance, recent Japanese history. But central throughout is the filmmaker's own questioning about the nature of photography and how it is possible to create cinema using only found images and without movement.

Ras is a construction worker and graffiti artist in his neighborhood of east Cali, Colombia. After he loses his job he sets off on a journey across the city to find another graffiti artist.

Arthouse comedy set in 1992-3 following awkward graduate students on vacations all around the world.

Residents of a retirement home build a machine for self-euthanasia in order to help their terminally ill friend, though they are faced with a series of dilemmas when rumors of the machine begin to spread.

A group of young people dance and drink at a house. The atmosphere is festive and cheerful. Socialist victory in the general elections of 1982 seems recent. The night is full of euphoria and celebration. The attempt of coup d etat made in 1981 appears to be quite far away. We could say that in Spain, in 1982, everything was future. However, the future also looks closer at enormous speed, like a black hole that devours everything in its path.

The story of a well-known artistic family: legendary painter Zdzislaw Beksinski, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a highly-praised music critic and translator. Their lives were far from being usual.

A professor in the film department at a provincial university goes to Seoul to meet his senior, who works as a film critic, and stays in a northern Seoul village for three days.

Two young Portuguese women try to put down roots in Brazil. Teresa is newly arrived; Francisca has been there a while.

A truck driver stops at a small family-run noodle shop and decides to help its fledgling business. The story is intertwined with various vignettes about the relationship of love and food.

Nina, a teacher in her mid-30s struggling to have a child, looks for a surrogate mother. It would seem that with her husband, she has found an ideal candidate, yet Nina falls for the woman who could have given birth to her child.

After finding out that he has no sperm and can't impregnate his wife, an Iranian man suffers an existential crisis.

The young David divides his time between his home and his temporary job to fix and paint the house of someone who has gone abroad. After the arrival of a mysterious device for the homeowner, a restless and irrepressible curiosity takes possession of David. The myth awakens and David will get involved in a tale of greed, obsession, and death, ultimately threatening the most precious: the freedom.

A young addict girl ends her time on rehab and returns to her hometown where she's welcomed by her family. Her father is running for mayor which is a surprise. Disenchanted with the politics and the things she sees, she decides to make some new changes in her life.

António runs away from home and tries to spend the night at his ex-girlfriend's apartment. There he finds a brazilian girl, an unexpected guest. Johnny is struggling to stage his first theater play in Lisbon. His friendship with the young light technician will make him face his real problems. Débora is passing by, finally returning home. When she goes to the theater, she falls asleep, and is awaken by the protagonist. Three dimensions of the same story.

Steve recently moved to Frankfurt for work. His wife is a stranger in the new city, bored and vulnerable. She meets her husband's boss who is going through some big events in his life as well. They start to have an affair.

An introverted man's life changes completely when he finds himself attracted to a young barmaid.

A Korean director visits a small village in Japan to find inspiration for his film.

Finns have a quirky sense of humour - and are a bit shy. But: Tango is THE folk music of the Finns. The documentary discovers the Finnish tango from the viewpoint of the singer Chino Laborde, the guitarist Diego "DIPI" Kvitko and the bandoneonist Pablo Greco. The three Argentine musicians travel to Finland to find out whether Aki Kaurismäki is telling the truth when he asserts that tango music was invented in Finland.

Don Alfonso is a deliveryman. He also plays marimbas, the traditional Guatemalan instrument. He is used to play a folkloric musical show in one of the fancy hotel of Guatemala City. He faces the population's lack of interest for his instrument, considered like out of date and old fashioned. Black is pioneer of the Heavy Metal Guatemalan underground stage. He also is also a doctor in the public hospital but nobody wants to be treated by him because of his long hair and his tattoos. When Don Alfonso and Black meet each other and decide to combine their talents and create a brand new project called Marimbas from Hell, they could never have imagined all the reactions they would provoke among the population.

A grizzled thug and his gang head to an island retreat with a haul of 250 kilograms of gold bullion to lay low; however, a bohemian writer, his muse, and a pair of gendarmes further complicate things, as allegiances are put to the test.

An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.

A screenwriter retreats to a secluded cabin in the woods only to be rudely interrupted by some uninvited guests.