Shantaye Anderson is bold, black, beautiful, intelligent, and passionate about love. Born in rural St. Lucia during post-colonial times, she struggles to process the loss of a mother who passed away hours after bringing her into the world. She finds consolation in her loving paternal grandmother, Mam Lucess, who tries to equip her for the world. Her father, Edson Anderson, does his best to care for Shantaye after the passing of his wife. However, when he remarries, the young girl is suddenly exposed to the jealous wrath of an unreasonable stepmother. Her life changes forever when she falls in love with Jean Claude Le Marche. He is the handsome son of the community's white doctor, a charismatic young man who promises to love her until death. All hell breaks loose when Shantaye's family and the community folk realize the pair are in love. To save Shantaye from making what he believes to be a grave mistake, Edson sends her to war ravaged England, still reeling World War II
"1982" is a life-affirming coming-of-age tale set at an idyllic school in Lebanon’s mountains on the eve of a looming invasion. It unfolds over a single day and follows an 11-year-old boy’s relentless quest to profess his love to a girl in his class. As the invasion encroaches on Beirut, it upends the day, threatening the entire country and its cohesion. Within the microcosm of the school, the film draws a harrowing portrait of a society torn between its desire for love and peace and the ideological schisms unraveling its seams. In his debut feature, director Oualid Mouaness delivers an ode to innocence in which he revisits one of the most cataclysmic moments in Lebanon's history through the lens of a child and his vibrant imagination. The film demonstrates the complexities of love and war, and the resilience of the human spirit.
Poet Siegfried Sassoon survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was decorated for his bravery, but became a vocal critic of the government's continuation of the war when he returned from service. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.
The love story of the son of Imam Shamil Jamalutdin and Lisa Olenina against the backdrop of the dramatic events of the military history of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. Jamalutdin went down in history as a "great hostage", and the film is an attempt to answer the question: a hostage of big politics or big love. The historical context of the decline of the Nikolaev era, against which the story of love and betrayal, honor and duty, service to the motherland and loyalty to this word unfolds, will become the key to the film.
Unfolding over the span of 36 hours in three separate wars – The American Civil War, World War I, and Iraq – FOXHOLE follows five soldiers confined in a foxhole as they grapple with morality, futility, and an increasingly volatile combat situation. Casting the same five actors in each episode, the film depicts the shifting roles of race and gender over time against the backdrop of the seemingly endless human struggle for power and domination. (Olivia Belluck)
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins performing with her at small venues. She finds success and falls for her guitarist, Chris Perez, who draws the ire of her father. Seeking mainstream stardom, Selena begins recording an English-language album which, tragically, she would never complete.
The year is 1941. Nazi Germany has declared war on the USSR and begins launching air assaults on Moscow and St. Petersburg. Stalin immediately orders a retaliatory air campaign under the code name “Wings over Berlin.” The closest entry point to Berlin from the USSR border was an airfield on the Estonian island Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea. It would be a 7-hour flight over enemy territory in outdated aircraft leaving no chance of survival for the tail crew members in case of attack. Despite overwhelming odds, the first units completed the mission and made it back to base safely, unlike many others that followed.
The film follows two student cinematographers who, as the war approaches Moscow, refuse to be evacuated and instead volunteer to be front-line cameramen capturing the horrors of war and heroism of the soviet soldiers. At the same time, we witness another storyline taking place in the US. After the premiere screening of the already completed documentary “Moscow Strikes Back”, one of the members of the Academy Awards selection committee is trying to persuade his fellow colleagues to establish a new category of Best Documentary in the upcoming Oscars event.
The history of the confrontation between two worlds: the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Ural Parma, the ancient Perm lands inhabited by pagans. Here heroes and ghosts, princes and shamans, Voguls and Muscovites will clash. At the center of the conflict of civilizations is the fate of the Russian prince Mikhail, who fell in love with the young Tiche, a witch-lamia capable of taking on the form of a lynx. Passion for the pagan and fidelity to forbidden love, a campaign against the Voguls, bloody battles and a short peace, the battle between Muscovy and Parma, the hero will face trials in which it is not so terrible to part with life as to commit treason.
Five-time Olympic medalist and Native Hawaiian Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku shattered records and brought surfing to the world while overcoming a lifetime of personal challenges. Waterman explores his journey and legacy as a legendary swimmer, trailblazer, and the undisputed father of modern-day surfing, following the sport’s first-time inclusion in this year’s Summer Olympics – a fitting tribute to his work promoting the sport around the globe.