Klara Jagovit

Easy Virtue

It's great to have a family which supports your every decision, stands by your every dream and is your helping hand in times of your mistakes, failures, and heartbreaks. It makes every family meeting a pleasure and every holiday spent together an event worth waiting for. At least for some. But let's be realistic: if you find yourself among people who visibly don't like you, criticize your every move or share values which you don't believe in, such a meeting might turn into a nightmare. How conventions can destroy a beautiful love, why family looks good only in pictures and why the older we get, the more differences are bound to occur between siblings, parents, and children? Also, why bonds of family and tradition seem to win with even the strongest relationship, and why for some the only way to breathe is to break free? Bitter-sweat and funny: Easy Virtue.

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Sightseeres

adventure 02:38:00

Let's agree on one thing. People are irritating. They disturb your peace of mind in the means of public transport, they seem to be more successful than you, own things that you don't own, attempt to steal from you what you value the most. Oh, the world is such an irritating place, so unfair... Why not push your irritation to the limits and turn your anger into something constructive? Why not get rid of those who annoy you the most? Why not do this indefinitely? Enjoyable catharsis and just a tiny bit disturbing entertainment. Have fun, don't get inspired. Sightseers.

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Death at a Funeral

black comedy 02:28:00

Funerals are usually deeply sad occasions. Families gather to say goodbye to their beloved, eat a dinner dressed with tears, recall the final moments of the deceased, cherish memories, which in time will only fade. It's natural. People die. We will all die, whether we want to avoid it or not. There shouldn't be any taboo surrounding death. But the final day of the deceased on the surface on earth can trigger not particularly expected events, reveal secrets few would like to reveal and make family members behave like patients of a mental institution. Hilariously funny, despite the occasion. Death at a Funeral. Enjoy.

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Casting JonBenet

acting 23:48:00

It's easy to judge when the tragedy doesn't touch us. It's easy to find the guilty ones once we don't have to point fingers at our friends, family members, and workmates. It's, on the other hand, crushing to be in the shoes of people who were touched by an event, which lingered for years, leaving the unperishing sense of loss. The loss which had an impact. Some people were so moved by one famous crime that they tried to use their personal experiences, suspicions, and deductions to solve one buried mystery. But they also did something else. By reenacting one crime they opened gates for much more, revealing that none of us is really innocent and there are layers to every story. In the cloud of mystery, murder and family pathology, something else than just a documentary: Casting JonBenet.

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The Motorcycle Diaries / Diarios de motocicleta

disease 03:06:00

Let's go! Let's set off on a journey across a continent, across cities, mountains, villages, deserts, mines, rivers and historic monuments. Let's skip the school for a while, let's forget about textbooks, parents' words of wisdom, teachers' guidelines. Let's open our eyes and see the unexplored, the wild and the untamed. Let's compare what we think about the world to what the world thinks about us. Let's see the poverty, the injustice, the happiness in simple gestures and suffering due to incurable diseases. Let's appreciate what we have and see what we can do for others to give them a little bit more. Let's go! Let's go on a journey across South America and witness what turned one student of medicine into a revolutionary. Let's follow the footsteps of Che Guevara, at least for a while, and let's see for ourselves. The Motorcycle Diaries.

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Below Her Mouth

homosexuality 08:48:00

In the company of wrong people, there's always something missing. In a bad friendship, there are gaps of honesty, loyalty, and humor. In a bad relationship, there are gaps of happiness, fulfillment, and joy. We meander, changing our jobs, interests and life influences. But if there's something missing we are likely to give up even the biggest efforts, years of devotion and commitment, to find our cup of tea and something that rings true. There are people who gave up their priesthood for the warmth of a woman's body, there are husbands who abandoned wives for the charm of the other woman. There are people who had to reach the bottom to have the strength to come back to the surface. There are women who found each other somewhere in the middle of the way to decide if there's a step back. A pool of sexual pleasures and a good romance for those who still wait for the 'right click'. Below Her Mouth.

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Kinsey

education 04:19:00

Are you attracted to men or women? Both? Neither? Do you fantasize before falling asleep? Do you watch porn? Do you masturbate? How often? How often do you have sex? Do you feel sexually satisfied? Do you have sex without love? Or do you love, not having sex? Do you have sex with your partner? Many subsequent partners? Toys? Pets? Do these questions make you uncomfortable?

Sex. As far as it's not the most important thing on the planet, it's somewhere below our basic need, just after water and food. It makes the puberty the most uncomfortable period of our lives, it also makes us decide what course our lives are going to take. Married? Children? Single? Open relationship? No label?

There's too much shame that surrounds this basic human need and too much discrimination has been put on the fragile sphere of your sexuality. Whether straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, toysexual or weirdsexual, statistically, we're all in the spectrum of nature. From time immemorial. There was someone who wanted to teach us this simple truth of fitting in regardless of social prejudices, discrimination, religion, and tradition. Whatever your prejudices are, people once believed that the Earth was flat and the Sun revolved around it. Kinsey. Sexual education for us all. Where on the scale are you?

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Chi-Raq

crime 09:11:00

War. It takes years to raise a human being. It takes the pain of childbirth to bring a child onto this planet. It takes years of sleepless nights, money for education, food and shelter to raise a human to adulthood. It takes years to save money for a house, to build a family, to start a career.

It takes money to buy weapons. It takes millions to invest into tanks, missiles, biological weapons, bombs, and bullets. It takes millions to provide soldiers with their meals, uniforms, and equipment. It takes millions to train and school how to kill and how to do it well.

It takes seconds to kill a person. It takes seconds to destroy a building. It takes moments to divide nations.

It takes years to learn from mistakes. We've been there. We have sources, historical facts, documents. We know that there were wars which took a toll of millions of innocent citizens. We know that fear, economic instability, hatred, and prejudice triggered tragedies that destroyed a beautiful world and it took decades to rebuild this world again.

War is a waste of money, a waste of life and a waste of time. And still, there is war. There's still violence and crime. There's war in the world and small wars happen every day on the streets of even the smallest cities.

People resort to various means to spread the message of peace. They compose ballads, write poems or books, make films. The greatest strength of women is sex. What if this weapon was used for the higher good? Extremely important: Chi-Raq.

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LOL

daughters 01:20:00

Everything first is a step to the unknown. First bicycle ride makes us look like idiots completely out of control. Then there's adolescence. First kiss, first crush, first love, first sex seem to be equally awkward. There are no guidelines, no certain words of wisdom what to do and what to avoid. There is no guarantee that the first ones are going to be pleasant, successful or even not humiliating. Hormones and emotions push people into silly things, hurt feelings make them say or do what they will later regret. But entering the love game cannot happen without a few bruises here and there. A light but smart film about teenage growing-up. Firsts are just an introduction to a whole sequence of the next, hopefully, more successful, ones. LOL.

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Brokeback Mountain

Ang Lee 07:55:00

Is your family divided between two various concepts of an acceptable lifestyle? Do marriage, tradition, and religion play a big role in major family decisions and celebrations? Have your family members stopped talking to each other due to grudges, prejudices or different political views? It happens to families, and equally, it can divide nations.
There are stories which annoy many. There are taboos which like to be broken by the brave. There are finally films which were loud enough to break rigid and stiff traditions which slowly lost touch with reality. A cowboy: the epitome of strength, fitness, bravery, and manhood. In the lonesome meadows of America, across the grasses surrounded by sheep, there were two: typical studs, representatives of their kind, with the whole world kneeling at their feet. Who would have thought that they could ever fall in love? A love story which not so long before revolutionized the cinema to the extent of being mocked. Still good. Brokeback Mountain.

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Underground

animals 08:10:00

We know so little about the history of our nations. We fail to remember the most important facts from our own history, not to mention the affairs of great empires and building economies. We witness the history happening in front of our eyes to tell our children what it was like to live on the verge of two centuries, but is that enough? Americans are ignorant about European history, Europeans selectively pursue their interests, focusing either on medieval ages, colonialism, war or current affairs. Small countries lose the battle of textbooks' space with big revolutions. Nationalism prevails: Brexit is now a fact, and those more to the West consider themselves better than those in the East.

Do you know anything about Yugoslavia? Can you squeeze almost a hundred of years of political events into one film? Would you like to experience a different (but not worse) perspective and learn something that picked up on events which happened in the country few can even point to the map of the world? Underground. Some nations' revolutions can occur even in the basement.

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Small Town Killers/Dræberne fra Nibe

black comedy 08:20:00

Marriage. It makes people climb the peaks of the highest mountains and falls into the traps of the deepest swamps. What if the butterflies in your stomach turned into bitter irritation and annoyance with your life partner? What if sex was no longer satisfying and, as a matter of fact, it was utterly non-existent? What if at the sheer thought of spending one more year in your marriage, you were struck with dizziness, nausea and a desperate need to set yourself free? What if the only solution to saving money on divorce trials was to avoid divorce at all cost and resort to more practical methods of getting rid of your spouse? Maybe hiring a hitman is at the end of the day not such a bad choice? Small Town Killers.

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American Honey

driving 09:56:00

Life is not on the pages of gossip magazines. It happens not in the glamorous million dollar houses and television studios of your favorite TV-show. Forget the bullshit you listen to on TV. Forget about politicians' lies, beautiful faces of trust fund babies, dreams of Hollywood wives, degrees of Ivy League universities. Find the true America in its rich and poor, in its hope and hypocrisy. In its religion and approval of resourcefulness. Find it on the road and grow up, opening your eyes to the real world, not choreographed version bought by TV series' producers. Follow the footsteps of one American Honey and enjoy the ride.

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Carrie Pilby

education 23:31:00

There is something wrong with the educational system of today, as it teaches you the greatest thoughts of the most accomplished, the most brilliant concepts of those most devoted to science and philosophy, but it still allows you to fail at life. Why theory has so little to do with practice? Why, even though you have brains, you make mistakes in friendships, relationships and work? Why don't the best grades guarantee the most exciting career and six number salary? Why your attempts at relationship end with bigger and smaller heartbreak and there's no equation which would give you a perfect formula for success and happiness? Why we have to fail and there's no limit to failures, and why education is just the beginning, which poses questions but fails at giving answers? Carrie Pilby

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Contagion

disease 10:16:00

According to Wikipedia, the Black Death killed between 75 and 200 million people (out of about 450 million). It was spread by lovely flees who inhabited black rats and had an easier way to commute. The population of the planet was significantly lower. Now it's over seven billion people.
It is more than probable that the world at some point will be hit by a disease there's no cure for in the first place. Now that the distance is smaller due to plains, trains, and cars, the time of contagion can be cut to weeks, days, even hours. Remember that time when one of your relatives sold you the stomach flu, boasting about the fact that it was terrible (it went both ways and prevented him from leaving his flat for days) and he's now perfectly fine. A few days later you are hit with the same stomach flu and you suffer just the same. The warm feelings towards your benefactor are now less warm. Apparently, even though cured himself, he could still infect with the disease. Imagine a scenario when one virus causes the death of many. Imagine an uninhibited spread of a disease that turns the current world upside down just as The Black Death revolutionized Europe almost seven hundred years ago. Contagion.

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A Cure for Wellness

Europe 12:29:00

It's always fun to watch something different, something which doesn't bombard you with tons of shooting scenes, crashed cars and unbelievable special effects. Something which doesn't sell you the impossible love and stereotypical battle with good and evil. If you want to enter an institution which questions your mental well-being, where nothing is what it seems and where there's a mystery reaching a distant past and tradition, have a taste of A Cure for Wellness. Maybe you are also stuck in the prison of career, the building of corporation or a lifestyle without purpose. Maybe you need adventure, fear, and awakening. Enchanting like good gothic tales, this film can offer you a different outlook on health treatment.

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Frankie and Johnny

abuse 06:00:00

Remember that time when everybody was supposed to be a movie star, another it girl and high hopes crashed with the reality of a day job without prospects? Everybody was supposed to achieve something and the same everybody happened to lead an ordinary life with fewer and fewer dreams. But down-to-earth is available to all of us. Little cramped apartments, living from month to month, changing friends, enemies, lovers. Suffering from heartaches and spending boring evenings in front of TV. Pizza not caviar. A weekend at the movies not a luxurious SPA in Kuala Lumpur. This is where life happens not for selected few but for many.
One day you will bump into a woman who is supposed to be the mother of your children. One day you will be crushed by a man who will promise everything but won't keep any of his promises. One day you will find a job which is just fine and you will stick with it for many years to come, despite plans for another career. Instead of prince charming, there will be a man who happens to spend one night in your lonely bedroom and decides to stay for a lifetime. In the ordinary world, an ordinary couple of ordinary people: Frankie and Johnny. Sometimes we need to go back to basics. Enjoy.

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Indecent Proposal

business 02:34:00

How much do you value love? Would you give up your last penny to be with the person you love? Would you resign from the financial security of marriage to be with the person you really care about (romancing for years, but not cutting the final ties with your knotted idea of a marriage which had failed long before)? Kings and vagabonds equally lose their heads for the charm of falling in love. Everything else doesn't seem to matter.
But if you already had love, a beautiful true relationship, passion, and trust, would you let it go for other benefits? Would you choose a better job that requires long-distance travel? Would you have an affair with the benefits of no strings attached? Would you even consider giving your beloved partner for only one night for one million dollars? Is love another business and leasing a beloved can happen without consequences for both sides? Indecent Proposal.

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Freeheld

cancer 08:44:00

It requires a lot of strength to take a step forward. It requires courage to use personal experiences to drag the rest towards a more just, more equal world. Sometimes the greatest tragedy is a precedence that can help others win what is truly theirs from the beginning. Sometimes people need the precedence to make them admit that they were wrong, that there is something faulty in their perception of the world. This is a story of a loving couple who wished for the same rights as everybody else. And a story about real people who learned to accept, support and respect not a theoretical concept, but real human beings, their friends, workmates, and colleagues. Let's wish everybody the same learning process. Freeheld.

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A Beautiful Mind

abuse 23:23:00

Problems are here to overcome them. Life would be dull if we were here only for our uncomplicated, monotonous, perfect lives, surrounded by answers to every question, cures for every illness. But we strive for development, improvement, change. We think hard on matters that would help our people feel better about themselves, help them relieve the pain, travel faster and safer. For this, we need exceptional people. Genius and madness often go hand in hand. Being a prodigy in one area can trigger disability in every other sphere and every other subject. Your brilliance doesn't come without a price, it can cause your family to suffer and the quality of your life diminish. But isn't this life of struggle the reason for someone's work? Doctors help the sick, the sick inspire millions to become doctors. Life poses problems and dilemmas for brilliant minds to have food for thought. In this chain of cause and effect, there was a man who sacrificed a lot to come up with a brilliant theory. There was a man who suffered for someone's benefit and somebody's pain. A Beautiful Mind.