Gabi is a cashier at a local supermarket in a small town in Austria. A middle aged plump woman, she is married to a community worker and has two grown kids. Her life consists mainly of ... See full summary »
Director:
Karl Markovics
Stars:
Ulrike Beimpold,
Nikolai Gemel,
Simon Jaritz
Together with her mother, Sylvie runs a brothel near the Flemish-French border. Eline, Sylvie's daughter, is intrigued by her mother's peculiar working place.
Director:
Peter Monsaert
Stars:
Sara Vertongen,
Wim Willaert,
Esra Vandenbussche
After 21-year-old student Tonio dies in a traffic accident, his novelist parents face sorrow and regret as they suffer the agony of losing their only child.
Nina, a teacher in her mid-30s struggling to have a child, looks for a surrogate mother. It would seem that with her husband, she has found an ideal candidate, yet Nina falls for the woman who could have given birth to her child.
Director:
Olga Chajdas
Stars:
Julia Kijowska,
Eliza Rycembel,
Andrzej Konopka
Vincent (17) wants to commit suicide as to take a stand against the problems of the world today. His giddy French aunt makes it her mission to save him. Only she's not without problems herself..
Director:
Christophe Van Rompaey
Stars:
Alexandra Lamy,
Spencer Bogaert,
Geert Van Rampelberg
In a juvenile delinquent center two girls find comfort in love for each other. Once one of them gets released, they don't know how to deal with this and both seek for a solution, with ... See full summary »
Director:
Zara Dwinger
Stars:
Sara Luna Zoric,
Dylan Jongejans,
Jaike Belfor
At the head of his NGO Move For Kids, Jacques Arnault pulls some humanitarian workers in a country of Africa "to take in" orphan children. The operation is transformed in a panic.
Director:
Joachim Lafosse
Stars:
Vincent Lindon,
Louise Bourgoin,
Valérie Donzelli
In apartheid-ruled South Africa, a renowned lawyer struggles to hide his secret affiliation to the nation's chief resistance movement - as he takes on defending a group of its arrested members, including its leader, Nelson Mandela.
Director:
Jean van de Velde
Stars:
Peter Paul Muller,
Antoinette Louw,
José Domingos
Back at the fun fair where he grew up, Djarno (15) is confronted with a painful decision his father made. How can you say goodbye to your childhood when you desperately want to hang on to it?
The film was selected as Austria's submission to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not make the final shortlist. See more »
Karl Markovics's "Atmen" ("Breathing" in English) focuses on a youth's emotional awakening and the issue of morality in our lives. The movie both gives the viewer a glimpse into the youth's life as he gets a job as a mortuary attendant while still in a juvenile detention center, but also how he has to confront the crime that put him juvie. There are also several shots of the environs of Vienna. I thought that the most effective scenes were the train, showing him going to and from the juvenile detention center, and how the advertisement comes into view, or vanishes.
I'd say that this was the right movie for Austria to submit for its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Addressing matters of incarceration, ethics, and relationships, it hits the right notes.
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Karl Markovics's "Atmen" ("Breathing" in English) focuses on a youth's emotional awakening and the issue of morality in our lives. The movie both gives the viewer a glimpse into the youth's life as he gets a job as a mortuary attendant while still in a juvenile detention center, but also how he has to confront the crime that put him juvie. There are also several shots of the environs of Vienna. I thought that the most effective scenes were the train, showing him going to and from the juvenile detention center, and how the advertisement comes into view, or vanishes.
I'd say that this was the right movie for Austria to submit for its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Addressing matters of incarceration, ethics, and relationships, it hits the right notes.