“A Highly Charged Chapter
In Germany’s History”
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

“Powerful! Intelligent! Impressive!”
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“An Unforgettable Film”
Kenneth Turran, Los Angeles Times

“A Distinctive Achievement”
Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

★★★★
“Intense”
Total Film

“Joins Such Wonderful Recent Films As “The Lives Of Others” And “The Baader Meinhof Complex” As A Clear-Eyed Portrait Of A Highly Charged Chapter In Germany’s History, A History That Once Again Proves Rewarding Fodder For An Alert Artistic Imagination.” Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

April 26th, 1945. The Russian Army has encircled Berlin and now draws the noose tight, marching towards the Reichstag and flushing out the German defenders, block by block. It is also on this day that a woman begins a most extraordinary diary, a diary that opens up a chilling window into the hard realities faced by women during war….

Directed by Golden Globe nominee Max Faerberboeck (”AIMÉE & JAGUAR”), this remarkable film is based on a diary that was first published in 1959 and later became an international bestseller in 20 countries. The book was at first met with outrage, as it was seen as being a disgrace to German women. Shocked by the anger of her contemporaries, the author never published again and remains anonymous to this day….

FROM THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING PRODUCERS OF “THE COUNTERFEITERS”

★★★★
“HEARTFELT AND STIRRING”
ScreenJabber.com

Clothes make the man. Only through remarkable presence of mind does the Jewish gallery owner Victor Kaufmann manage to exchange his concentration-camp clothing for an SS uniform and pull off the daring feat of outliving Adolf Hitler.

Vienna in the 1930s. Since his childhood, Victor Kaufmann, the son of wealthy Jewish gallery owners, has been close friends with Rudi Smekal. Victor’s girlfriend, the perky and attractive Lena, rounds off the inseparable trio that vows to stick together come hell or high water.

The Kaufmanns are shocked when Rudi shows up in an SS uniform after the annexation of Austria. The whole family is sent to a concentration camp, against Rudi’s will. Years later, the Nazi bosses in Berlin want to present Italy’s Duce with a confiscated Michelangelo sketch that belongs to the Kaufmanns. But the sketch is a forgery. They want the genuine Michelangelo! Rudi is ordered to get Victor out of the concentration camp and bring him to Berlin for interrogation. Their plane is shot down by partisans, however, and Victor doesn’t have the heart to simply leave the injured Rudi behind. He drags him into a hut and offers to share his concentration camp clothing with him. One gets the pants, the other the jacket, and thus both have nothing to fear from the Polish soldiers. But while Rudi is putting on the prison camp jacket, Victor hears the alleged partisans speaking German.  With great presence of mind, he quickly puts on Rudi’s uniform. When the German soldiers barge into the hut, Victor presents them with his “prisoner,” the wildly protesting Rudi. The Jewish prisoner becomes an SS man, and the Sturmbannführer the prison-camp inmate…

Academy Awards Nominee - Best Foreign Language Film

Winner of 11 Film Awards including Best Film | Best Director | Best Cinematographer

“Grand Scale Movie Making” The New York Times

“Huge & Hugely Impressive” L.A. Times

“David Lean Style Epic” Entertainment Weekly

“As a visual spectacle, it is all but overwhelming, putting to shame some of the recent historical epics from Hollywood.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Award-winning filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (“Prisoner of the Mountains”) illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in this stunning historical epic, MONGOL. Based on leading scholarly accounts and written by Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, MONGOL delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror. MONGOL shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested.

Filmed in the very lands that gave birth to Genghis Khan, MONGOL transports us back to a distant and exotic period in world history; to a nomad’s landscape of endless space, climatic extremes and ever-present danger. Masterfully blending action and emotion against some of the most arresting terrain on earth, Bodrov delivers an exciting and awe-inspiring tale of survival and triumph, and a love story for the ages.

“ZOMBIES, NAZIS, BLOOD ON SNOW…IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER”
ALAN JONES, FrightFest

“THERE IS A STORM OF SCARY FUN TO BE HAD IN THIS SPLATTERFEST.”
PETER TRAVIS, Rolling Stone

“ONE OF THE 25 BEST ZOMBIES MOVIES OF ALL TIME.”
Entertainment Weekly

“CHOMP-CHOMP, ZIP-ZIP GO THE NAZI ZOMBIES IN DEAD SNOW, A SELF-CONSCIOUSLY OUTLANDISH HORROR FLICK.” Manohla Dargs, New York Times

“MAY HAVE A DULL TITLE, BUT IT’S LIVELY, IDIOTIC FUN, AT LEAST UNTIL IT GOES TOO FAR PAST TOO FAR INTO THE REALM OF FAR TOO FAR.” Michael Phililips, Chicago Tribune

1945. Northern Norway is severely stricken by the German invasion, but few places worse than Øksfjord. The German soldiers rape and pillage with sadistic zeal, and ultimately the civilian population has had enough. They attack the occupants armed with any available weapons and an escalating thirst for revenge after years of abuse. Soon they have slaughtered almost everyone, but Colonel Herzog and some of his men escape into the mountains where they freeze to death …

Several years later, eight medical students go for their Easter vacation to the mountains around Øksfjord. They are bringing skis, snowmobile and copious amounts of beer, so expectations are high for a pleasant vacation.

Certainly, none of them fear that she could be the victim of an inconceivable cruelty hidden in the mountains all these years. That is, until they are visited by a rather shady hiker who tells them the story about the German occupants’ cruel fate…

A long night is ahead of them. Can anyone survive this painful ordeal?

21 WINNERS

Including:

GRAND PRIZE, BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST ACTRESS, BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

★★★★
“A MARVELOUS PIECE OF CINEMA”
JAMES CHRISTOPHER, THE TIMES

★★★
“Engaging And Frequently Surprising…
A Sharply Written Script And Compelling Performances”
Matthew Turner, VIEWLONDON

★★★★ ½
“A Genuine Tour de Force Of Inventive Expression”
Jules Brenner, FILMCRITIC.COM

★★★★
“One Of The Most Exciting German Movies Since RUN, LOLA, RUN”
Geoff Bershire, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

It was 60 years ago that Traude Krüger began teaching music at a women’s prison. Now, on her search for possible students, she meets Jenny. Jenny is withdrawn, extremely violent and a convicted murderer. At their first meeting the stern and conservative teacher rejects the fiercely rebellious inmate outright, provoking Jenny into an explosive tantrum.

However, as vicious as Jenny is outwardly, the one-time musical prodigy can play the piano with astonishing beauty. Compelled to see Jenny’s musical gift flower, Krüger convinces the director to allow the fiery inmate to train for a renowned public music competition… Jenny, whose only other alternative is solitary confinement, grudgingly enters into a shaky truce with the strong-willed piano teacher. For Krüger, it isn’t just about the music. She’s also hauntingly reminded of a student she once had…

The Story Of The Famous Knight Who Free The City Of Constantinople
Based On The Best Selling Novel By Joanot Martorell

Tirante el Blanco tells the story of the famous knight Tirante, who is commissioned by the Emperor of Byzantium to free the city of Constantinople from the siege of the Turks.

Famous knight Tirant Lo Blanch receives orders from the Emperor of Byzantium to free Constantinople from Turkish seige. Tirant doesn’t defraud the Empire’s expectations of a military pushover; his men are a carbon copy of the ferocious Almogavars and he a shrewd strategist not impressed by the fact that the Turks are greater in number. Knowing how to win, he proceeds to do so, using his victory to overcome Carmesina’s natural opposition to losing what she considers to be her most intimate belonging: her virginity. Carmesina -no more than a girl- is the presumed and unique heir to the Empire. Tirant is young, attractive and, by all accounts, invincible. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t come from noble lineage.

The Epic Saga Of A Threatened Nation
A Heroic Struggle
And An Immortal Love
The Untold Story Of The Miraculous Victory
That Ensured The Survival of Latvia After World War I

Riga, Baltics, 1919. World War I is over, and Martin, an ardent Latvian patriot and soldier, returns home to his beloved Elza. She was faithful to him throughout the war; but trench warfare has changed him, and she herself has become more self-reliant. Meanwhile, the newly declared Latvian Republic is fatefully trapped between two mighty neighbours: the collapsing Russian empire, engulfed in a bloody revolution, and the German Reich, with its dreams of conquest and power. Elza and Martin find the way to each other again, but on the day of their wedding, Riga comes under a sudden, brutal attack. Aware that his wartime experience and organizational skills make him a valuable asset to his young nation, Martin joins the poorly equipped Latvian army and reluctantly leaves Elza behind again. In spite of her anger and sorrow, she knows that he is fighting for her, too, and not only for his country. Though they are grossly outnumbered by the enemy troops, Martin and his closest companions devise a daring, foolhardy strategy. Like David taunting Goliath, they lure their enemy into a trap, ensuring independence for Latvia and freedom for Riga.

The Charisma Of Mariene Dietrich.
The Heart Of Edith Piaf.
The Soul Of Post-War Germany: “The Knef”

“An Outstanding Biopic With A Captivating, Standout Performance…”
Kirk Honeycutt, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Her Ambitiousness Is Only Matched By Her Humility And Tenderness.
She Says… ‘ I wanted Beauty’ and She Created It Out Of Hunger,
Misery, Frustration, Humiliation”. Henry Miller

Broadway star, songstress, screen diva, international icon and bestselling author - Hildegard Knef was many things. But more than anything else, she was a fighter who often fell, but never stayed down.

Berlin, 1943. The collapse of Nazi Germany looms, but young HILDE marches through the rubble of Berlin with only one thought in her head: she wants to become a star. With luck, looks, the right men and overwhelming self-confidence, she makes her way in the film world, both during and after the war, swapping her Nazi lover for a young Jewish husband. Hollywood beckons, but Hilde is no Marlene. Underemployed and frustrated she longs for Germany. The divided country welcomes her back but a short nude scene in “The Sinner” (1950) provokes a national scandal, making her an outcast in her own country. Internationally, she becomes what she’s always wanted to be: a star, on the big screen, on Broadway, in America and Europe. The years go by in a whirl of successes and failures, of ups and downs. Yet even as her film career wanes she picks herself up and embarks on a new journey…

Winner of 10 Film Awards

”Fiercely Unsentimental And Surprisingly Beautiful…” Rachel Cameron, BBC
“A First-Rate Contribution To The Holocaust Canon.” Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
”Superb Performances…” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“Remarkable, Vivid, Shattering, Emotionally And Intellectually Engaging … “Philip French, The Guardian
“Fateless Is Both Haunting And Poetic. It Also Is Visually Stunning.” Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
“Exquisitely Modulated And Superbly Mounted, … A Genuinely New Way Of Looking At The Holocaust…” Eddie Cockrell, Variety
“Accomplishes The Near Impossible, Bringing A Fresh Perspective To A Horrific Subject. “ Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

Fateless is a deeply moving tale of a Hungarian Jewish boy and his quest for the meaning of his past. Based on the 2002 Nobel prize-winning novel by Imre Kertesz, Fateless chronicles the attempts of 14-year-old Gyuri Koves to reconcile the unimaginable horror of having been incarcerated in German concentration camps. On his return to Budapest Gyuri finds those around him treat him with indifference. His friends and neighbours encourage him to put the past behind him, while an intellectual sympathetic to the personal and political terror of his past repeatedly refers to the camps as “the lowest circle of Hell”. Gyuri finds neither comfort nor meaning in these clinches. Increasingly troubled by the meaninglessness of his experiences, he gives human motives to the inhumanity of his captors, which helps maintain his tenuous hold on the world. Lacking emotional and spiritual ties to his Jewish heritage and feeling rejected by his country, he concludes that neither his Jewishness nor Hungarianess is really at the heart of fate.

The directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Koltai, this sweeping, profoundly moving drama offers a new perspective on one of modern history’s darkest junctures, as 14-year-old Gyurka is shuttled between the death factories of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald and Zeitz - all the while, maintaining his stubborn, stoic belief that ‘There’s nothing too unimaginable to endure’. Vast in scale, yet boasting a remarkable historical detail, and with a sweeping score by Ennio Morricone, this is a work of immense compassion, unlikely beauty and shattering power - a true testament to the resilience of the human spirit.