Cinequest 2018
Films showing at the 2018 Cinequest film festival
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- DirectorLaurie CoyleIn the docu-detective Adios Amor, the filmmaker discovers forgotten photographs taken over 50 years ago, and sets out to find their spunky protagonist: Maria Moreno, a migrant mother of twelve who led a movement for farmworker rights years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta launched the United Farm Workers. The search for Maria leads through archives, attics, and orchards, Californias rich agricultural belt, the Arizona desert, and beyond the U.S.-Mexico border, and recovers a treasure trove of audiotapes, home movies and memorabilia. Revived as well are the vivid memories of the maverick journalists and artists who captured Marias story and kept her memory alive. What emerges is a suppressed history of the people who harvest the food on our tables even when they cant feed their own families, and the epic saga of an outspoken, trailblazing woman who told their story to the world. Featuring a rocking score of cello, accordion, Gospel and Tex-Mex music, the search for Maria Moreno pays loving tribute to countless anonymous women working behind the scenes for social justice, and provokes us to ask, why havent we ever heard of them?
- DirectorPedro CoutinhoStarsJohnny MassaroRegina BragaBianca ComparatoThe story follows the emotional roller-coaster of Antonio, a young man who has just ended a relationship, but pays for it by believing that he would have no trouble moving on and getting over his ex-girlfriend.All the Reasons to Forget
- DirectorSebastian PerilloStarsJazmín StuartEleonora WexlerAlejandro AwadaMartin (Esteban Lamothe) is a lonely television director, who becomes obsessed with his neighbor, Isabel (Jazmin Stuart), when he finds an amateur porn video in which she participates.
- DirectorSarah HanksStarsChainarong SungkaoChaiwat SungkaoRutrana TatongTwo adolescent Thai boys journey to Bangkok to help a female friend who has landed in the sex industry, testing their friendship and their understanding of a woman's worth.
- DirectorJan SverákStarsJan TrískaOldrich KaiserTereza RambaA boy and his family leave Prague during World War II and move to a small village called Slavonice. There, he meets distant relatives and adjusts to a new way of life.
- DirectorTiago ArakilianStarsKathia CalilJosé de AbreuEucir de SouzaAt the age of 80, Polidoro decides to demolish the stability of his comfortable life as a retired judge and become the owner of a strip club.Before I Forget
- DirectorKen DukenStarsTom WlaschihaMarisa Leonie BachKen DukenWhen Frank offers Andreas a ride into Berlin out of courtesy he is certainly not aware that this decision will end up in a violent road trip for life and death.
- DirectorTasha HubbardStarsBetty Ann AdamWhen is a family reunion not a reunion? When your family has never met. Three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, meet together for the first time in this deeply moving film. Birth of a Family follows them through the challenges, trepidations and joys of their first steps towards forming their family.
- DirectorJanus MetzStarsSverrir GudnasonShia LaBeoufStellan SkarsgårdThe story of the 1980 tennis rivalry between the placid Björn Borg and the volatile John McEnroe.
- DirectorPaul SanchezStarsTom BerengerWillem DafoeKeith DavidCharlie Sheen narrates a documentary about the making of Platoon, the award winning, non-union, low budget film cast with young, unknown actors. Insider stories of Oliver Stone's unique directing style and brutal filming conditions.Brothers in Arms (closing night)
- DirectorTjardus GreidanusStarsKareem Abu-ElmagdThomas BurkeRonald BusuttilIn 1967, Dr. Thomas Starzl stunned the world with the first successful liver transplantation. His breakthrough provoked controversy. Critics accused him of recklessness, even murder. Others declared it the beginning of a medical revolution. "Burden of Genius" is the story of an innovator as complex and elusive as the biological secrets he unlocked. It is also a reflection on the price of scientific progress by the man many consider the greatest surgeon of the 20th century and the father of transplantation.
- DirectorBert ScholiersStarsEvelien BosmansDaphne WellensPatrick VervuerenTwo girls. A Friday night. And magical candy that makes body parts talk and through which a trip to another galaxy becomes the easiest thing in the world.
- DirectorHugo Félix MercadoStarsCassandra CiangherottiGustavo Sánchez ParraJorge Luis MorenoSome secrets are best left that way. Fabian is an astronomer on a quest to discover the nature of an unknown object near the Cygnus constellation 37,000 light years from earth. He travels to an observatory, hoping to use its powerful telescopes to uncover the answers he seeks. One night, a strange signal provides Fabian with the hope that he might be close to solving the mystery of Cygnus. As Fabian investigates further, he finds that not all is as it appears, and he begins to wonder who he can trust in his quest for the truth. Shari Clare.
- DirectorQuan ZhouStarsZhuo TanSongwen ZhangZishan RongA timid fifth grader, an orthodox middle-aged teacher, and a grumpy old man experience their first awakening to true self during the 1998 World Cup in China.
- DirectorNathalie BasteynsKaat BeelsStarsNatali BroodsJohan LeysenTheo MaassenWhen her mother abandons her dementing father, Alex unexpectedly finds herself at a crossroads. As she moves back in the parental house to look after her father, she starts questioning her own life. Does she want to stay with her adulterous husband? She tolerated his affairs for years, but is she really happy with him? Or should she, like her parents, drop the facade?
- DirectorDustin CohenFlin Flon, a hockey town" explores a small Canadian mining town's eccentric obsession with its legendary junior hockey team, the Flin Flon Bombers, and how the team and the community thrive off one another.
- DirectorErin PalmquistStarsGhazwan AlsharifNoelle LinzyRobert W. NicholsonThe epic journey of Ghazwan Alsharif, an Iraqi refugee and former translator for the U.S. military. Wrongfully accused of being a double agent, tortured by the U.S. military and ostracized from family and country, we follow Ghazwan as he struggles to rebuild his life in the San Francisco Bay Area while coming out as an openly gay activist.
- DirectorOle GiæverStarsOle GiæverMarte Magnusdotter SolemA filmmaker observes his place in the universe from his balcony in an Oslo suburb. He looks back at his upbringing and ponders a fundamental question: How did I get here?
- DirectorCarl Christian RaabeStarsSynnøve Macody LundEbba Steenstrup SåheimKen VedsegaardAfter her father's death Catherine travels back to her old family estate in winter time Norway. When locals start telling stories of disappearances and possible murders, she is forced to confront her family's mysterious past.
- DirectorLucien BourjeilyStarsLaeticia SemaanNadim Abou SamraSamira SarkisAs all the children and their spouses gathers for Easter's dinner, conversation flows. When something bad happens, everyone is on edge, especially Josephine, and Serge who wants to uncover the truth!
- DirectorJosé Ramón ChávezStarsHernán MendozaElena de HaroLuis AmayaA family is bankrupt. An accident will make them reconsider their decisions, since one of them, according to the doctors, will not survive at night.Help Me Make It Through The Night
- DirectorLaura PlancarteHERMANOS/SIBLINGS tells in parallel the story of two Mexican brothers that want to go back to the US after being deported for life, with the story of an American woman who lost her house and today believes she can get it back through Trump's promises. Their journeys take them on road trips to meet with their past and with relatives who they believe can help them achieve their dreams. Immigration has been shown in many ways, but it has never been presented through the lives of Mexicans and Americans who live similar situations due to poverty and lack of family structure.
- DirectorArnaud DesplechinStarsMathieu AmalricMarion CotillardCharlotte GainsbourgThe story follows a filmmaker (Mathieu Amalric) whose life is sent into a tailspin by the return of a former lover (Marion Cotillard as Carlotta) just as he is about to embark on the shoot of a new film.
- DirectorValerie BuhagiarStarsNina GilmourTom WilsonBenjamin MuirTwo bodies lying in the road. A hauntingly sterile emergency room. A girl crying out for her Father: God. One by one, all of the players in her life, angels and devils alike, emerge and illuminate how she ended up in this liminal consciousness between life and death. It is both in this consciousness and her previous existence that she begins to understand why God had forsaken her and how she can be redeemed. Dreamlike, visceral, and at times surreal, It's Hard to Be Human elegantly poses the age-old questions of what it means to be human and how to have a connection with the Divine in a fallibly human world.
- DirectorHarvey GlazerStuart StoneStarsStuart StoneHarvey GlazerAdam RodnessAn investigative look on the baseball card scandal during the 1990's.
- DirectorWilliam H. MacyStarsRosario DawsonNick RobinsonTip 'T.I.' HarrisA young man living a sheltered life develops a crush on an ex-stripper and joins her Alcoholics Anonymous group just so he can be in the same room with her.(opening night)
- DirectorPeter BebjakStarsTomas MastalirEmília VásáryováAndrej HrycThere are borders you cross only once... Criminal thriller about traffickers and smugglers from Ukrainian border. The feature film about the borders and the life on their edge.
- DirectorJatla SiddarthaStarsSaharsh Kumar ShuklaTaneea RajawatHima SinghA sexually inexperienced rickshaw driver struggles to build intimacy with his shy new wife in their tiny, overcrowded quarters.
- DirectorKhaled KaissarStarsLisa VicariCarlo LjubekBranko TomovicWhen Luna's family is killed in cold blood on a mountain vacation, she barely escapes, and has to discover she's been living a lie: Her dad was a Russian secret agent, and her family was just a front. Luna has the opportunity to flee the country. But first she wants revenge.
- DirectorJan MatthysStarsSara de RooBrit Van HoofNell CattrysseFive people fight themselves more than each other, in this existence that's so beautiful and incredibly hard at the same time.Many Heavens
- DirectorAntonio MoralesStarsPatricia JordáAida de la CruzMauricio BautistaMarisa feels that she is the supporting actress of her own life. She is ready to disappear, silent and quietly, like fading into black.
- DirectorHanna Antonina Wojcik SlakStarsLeon LucevMarina RedzepovicZala Djuric2009, Slovenia, European Union. For 30 years, Alija, the miner, has been one of the many Bosnian immigrant workers. Due to the crisis, miners are losing jobs. Alija is sent to check an abandoned mine. His task is to quickly make sure the mine is empty before management sells the company. But in the mine, Alija finds hidden proof of executions after WWII. He is told to stop digging and report the mine empty. He decides to continue, although he is risking his job. Alija discovers thousands of executed people. He informs the police. He found women among the dead. Some of them were civilians, missing persons, just like his sister that was lost in the 1995 genocide in Bosnia. Alija is convinced the victims need to be brought out, identified and buried. But there is no interest in doing that. The mine is proclaimed a WWII military grave and walled in. The dead will stay without a burial. Alija loses his job and struggles to preserve his dignity. He is sure he was doing the right thing, in spite of the unemployment his family is now faced with. Based on a true story.
- DirectorMohammad Reza FartousiStarsAbbas GhazaliJoseph ran away from Saddam's agents because he didn't want to fight in Iraq Iran war. Nobody has any news of him for 21 years. After the Allies invade Iraq, some news is heard about Joseph
- DirectorPablo BryantStarsDwayne BoothA personal documentary that follows a controversial political cartoonist as he struggles to provide for his family and stay true to his creativity in a world where biting satiric humor has an ever-diminishing commercial value.
- DirectorAlessandro MolatoreStarsIsabella ConstantinoMarc ElliottAlex HallFive young Americans with severe Tourette's Syndrome take part in an experimental case study that transforms their lives and raises questions about our perception of the neurological disorder.
- DirectorBernard FriedmanAn electronic parts salesman in Toronto with no medical training conceives an idea that could revolutionize medicine. A young woman living in the American South faced with an incurable disease takes him up on it, and the two set out on an international odyssey to realize the possibility of a cure.
- DirectorLoïc PaillardStarsBenoît ChauvinCamille ClarisJean FornerodAlexandre, a somewhat lost thirty-something, decides to start out in the professional world. Loris, his misanthropic roommate, works on a universal method to succeed in life, and Patrick, Alexandre's father, decides to stop his chemotherapy. Everything is on track, until Manon shows up in their lives.The Ones That Stay
- DirectorAndrea SegreStarsPaolo PierobonGiuseppe BattistonFabrizio FerracaneCorrado, a policeman for the European task force in charge of immigration control, is on a field assignment in Libya. During a night patrol in the desert, he meets Swada, a young Somaliwoman who left her war-ravaged country.The Order of Things
- DirectorHéctor ValdezStarsPeter VivesJoaquín FerreiraFrank PerozoWhen Diego's girlfriend decides to leave him after a disastrous anniversary getaway, he will find any means possible to amend or fix what happened. Even if it means competing with different versions of himself when traveling through time.Peaches
- DirectorDon HardyDana NachmanStarsDiane MeerTerry BlosserJanet GearheartPick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they're born and begin their quest to become Guide Dogs for the Blind, the ultimate canine career. Cameras follow these pups through a two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, the dogs meet a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high and not every dog can make the cut. Only the best of the best. The pick of the litter.
- DirectorYang-hee KimStarsYang Ik-joonJeon Hye-jinJung Ga-ramA married poet in South Korea falls for a teenage boy who works at the local doughnut shop.
- DirectorJeremy GuyThe inspiring story of a young Indian Muslim woman who trades her burka for dreams of playing on the Mumbai Senior Women's Cricket Team and how the harsh realities for women in her country creates an unexpected outcome for her own family, ultimately shattering and fueling aspirations.
- DirectorDawn MikkelsonFrom the streets of Minneapolis, the aboriginal lands of Australia, and the killing fields of Cambodia, three people with the courage to step out of a tragic dark past, risking everything to reach the light of their own compassion.
- DirectorHawa EssumanAnjali NayarStarsMarlay SiakorSilas SiakorAnjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman profile the life of Liberian activist Silas Siakor, a tireless crusader against illegal logging and a symbol of resistance for a new generation.
- DirectorYusron FuadiStarsEka Nusa PertiwiGuh S ManaYusron FuadiIf we found a 1-mile long humanoid skeleton. Would we like to know more?
- DirectorHilde Van MieghemStarsMarie VinckFlor DecleirHans KestingAfter a stroke, the flamboyant mother of a famous writer loses her speech. Confronted with her decay he starts tearing down his own life.Speechless
- DirectorVisa Koiso-KanttilaStarsVili SaarelaOlavi AngervoAntti LuusuaniemiTwo Finnish boys battle adolescence and family troubles. Meanwhile, their homes are being encroached upon by inevitable urban development.Star Boys
- DirectorZornitsa SophiaStarsZornitsa SophiaValeri YordanovGoran GunchevA mother, forced to abandon her child and home, leads a rebellious band and inflicts her own justice in the brutal men's world of 19th century.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonMontagu LoveA frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.(silent)
- DirectorKibwe TavaresStarsJack O'ConnellHolliday GraingerDaniel KaluuyaA love story between a robot and a scarecrow who meet and fall for each other at a summer music festival.
- DirectorNeill BlomkampStarsDakota FanningJose Pablo CantilloStranded in an Arctic mine, two lone survivors are forced to fight for their lives, evading and hiding from a new kind of terror.