The seventies. Cold war is in full fling. The USSR and the West lead tense struggle for secret information about each other. Soviet special services want to save their couriers from too rapt attention of the customs in the Leningrad airport. These couriers bring to USSR very important documents, which were delivered by our secret service men in west Europe. Have been decided to introduce special service man on Leningrad customs. For this purpose is necessary to find the professional, who will be absolutely unknown nor in Moscow nor in Leningrad and will not arouse suspicions in his future colleges.
For the implementation of this important task Center returns their experienced agent to USSR. This agent has worked in Helsinki for many years, and in the homeland no one knows about him. Now, to work off his new legend and to manage the task of the Center, hero has to become Illegal. But this time - illegal in his country.
Cast: Aleksejs Serebrjakovs, Anatolijs Petrovs, Sergejs Umanovs, Olga Albanova, Sergejs Barkovskis, Jekaterina Untilova
Directed by Boriss Frumins, Jurijs Ļebedevs
In 1981, Chris Gardner was a struggling salesman in little needed medical bone density scanners while his wife toiled in double shifts to support the family including their young son, Christopher. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship where one in twenty has a chance of a lucrative full time career. Even when his wife leaves him because of this choice, Chris clings to this dream with his son even when the odds become more daunting by the day. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire.
Cast: Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith
Directed by Gabriele Muccino
"300" is an adaptation of Frank Miller's epic graphic novel. Using hyper-real renderings similar to Miller's own graphically stylized illustrations, the film tells the true story of 300 elite Spartan warriors led by their fearless king Leonidas (Butler), who thwart the charge of Xerxes and his massive Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian foe, leading to the origins of democracy.
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro
Directed by Zack Snyder
"FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH" chronicles the 16 year history of the Foo Fighters: from the band's very first songs created as cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana's drummer, through its ascent to their Grammy-winning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
Produced by Nigel Sinclair ("No Direction Home: Bob Dylan", "Amazing Journey the Story of the Who", "The Last Play at Shea") of Exclusive Media Group's Spitfire Pictures, and produced and directed by Oscar(r) and Emmy(r) winner James Moll, "FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH" culminates with the making of the band's new album "Wasting Light": a process in which the band pushed itself forward by going fully back to basics and recording in Grohl's garage completely on analog tape. No computers, no software - just a band recording an album to tape in a garage. The new record also marks the Foos' first full-length effort with legendary producer Butch Vig, with whom Grohl worked on Nirvana's classic album Nevermind.
“…the documentary film, serve{s} as a great reminder why the Foos deserve to be ranked among the world’s greatest rock bands. For proof, check out “Back and Forth.” -- Jim Harrington, San Jose Mercury News.
"FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH," will be followed by a performance from the band, playing their new album "Wasting Light" front to back in 3D.
Five paraplegics and a young able-bodied teenager must avoid the pitfalls of the street, stay united and find the force to hope in music. Benda Bilili! – in English “beyond appearances”, is the name of a Kinshasa band which has acquired a global following, having erupted out of the Congo in the past couple of years and taken Europe by storm. From the first rehearsals to their triumph in international festivals, Benda Bilili! is the story of this dream come reality, as well as a plunge into the streets of Kinshasa without a safety net.
Cast: Leon Likabu, Roger Landu, Coco Ngambali Yakala
Directed by: Florent de la Tullaye, Reno Barre
“Dance, dance... otherwise we are lost” are the words of Pina Bausch (1940 – 2009), a legendary German avant-garde dancer and choreographer. Her unique creations transformed the language of dance and offered a visual experience like no other. This revolutionary 3D film by Wim Wenders captures the aesthetics of Pina Bausch’s greatest works in a thrilling way. Partly musical, partly documentary, the film is a magical ode to the love of movement.
Cast: Pina Bausch, Dominique Mercy, Regina Advento, Malou Airaudo
Directed by Wim Wenders
Scriptwriter: Wim Wenders
The film revolves around the life and mind of world-renowned musician José González. Using video diary, surveillance camera, concert footage, tour documentation and animation, directors Mikel Cee Karlsson and Fredrik Egerstrand give form to something as elusive as the creative process of one of Sweden’s finest – and most secretive – musicians. The film was shot over a three year period on location in Sweden, Japan, Singapore, United States, South Africa, England, Chile and Argentina.
Cast: José González, Erik Bodin, Don Alsterberg
Directed by: Fredrik Egerstrand, Mikel Cee Karlsson
JØRGEN LETH (Denmark, 1937) is a true living cultural icon. Theatre, film and jazz critic, poet, writer, sports commentator, and anthropologist, having travelled to Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and India, and having written volumes on his observations. He is also a leading figure in experimental documentary filmmaking with several dozens of films in his filmography. His surrealistic short The Perfect Human (1967) was later famously explored in The Five Obstructions (2003), co-directed with Lars von Trier. The Erotic Man, Leth's docu-fictional account of his sexual encounters with women in third world countries, is a collection of scenes based on documents, letters, pictures and poems that depict man's erotic nature. The controversially reviewed film premiered at the 2010 Toronto IFF.
Cast: Alexander Gruszynski, Dan Holmberg, Adam Philp
Directed by: Jorgen Leth
At day, they are down-to-earth employees: wholesale meat buyers, ticket collectors, teachers, and representatives of other serious occupations. They are at an age when the twenties’ dream of becoming a rock star has come to an end. So their option is to resort to their potential of self-irony and... join the male synchronized swimming team. After all, it comes a bit close to being in a rock-band. The men are positive they have founded a unique troupe – the only all-male synchronized swim team in the world when they are forced to realize groups like this exist almost everywhere in the world – Japan, Ukraine, Netherlands, France, and elsewhere. Besides, the discipline’s first championship is drawing near.
Directed by: Dylan Williams
In which place of Finland is it possible to meet the greatest number of naked men? Obviously, in sauna, where men of various age, height, weight, and looks enjoy, live, and suffer a moment of physical and emotional nakedness. It is a moment of purification which at the same time is a ritual. A moment when such issues as love, death, birth, friendship - normally untouched in quotidian life – are discussed. A chance to realize the importance of sauna in the lives of Finnish men.
Cast: Timo Aalto, Pekka Ahonen, Aarne Aksila, Mauno Alasuutari
Directed by Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen
Scriptwriter: Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen
Perhaps the most inspiring movement of stylistic and ideological invention ever encountered in the history of the world cinema, the French New Wave crashed onto international shores when François Truffaut’s debut feature, The 400 Blows, premiered at Cannes in 1959, followed quickly by Jean-Luc Godard’s equally thrilling Breathless, based on a Truffaut story. Two in the Wave is a story of a friendship, an alliance of two of the foremost New Wave figures. As critics, they wrote for the the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma, and through the 1960s loyally supported each other in their filmmaking. The documentary poignantly melds revealing period footage of both men with scenes from some of their greatest films. History and politics separated them in 1968, but their friendship and their break-up embody the story of French cinema.
Cast: Etienne de Grammont, Nick de Pencier
Directed by: Emmanuel Laurent
Werner Herzog’s 3D masterpiece, exclusively shot inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, vividly captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. Always keen to explore the everlasting struggle between the forces of nature and humankind, Herzog’s appetite for controversy and pushing the boundaries here is as large as ever.
Cast: Werner Herzog, Dominique Baffier, Jean Clottes
Directed by: Werner Herzog