10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

20.000 Especies de Abejas

Eight-year-old Aitor (whose name means “good father” in Basque; played by Sofia Otero) makes it clear that he would rather be a girl. His understanding mother, Ane, gives him a more gender-neutral name: Cocó, which mean “sweetheart”. Aitor prefers to be called Lucía, a reference to light.

Agua

Water dances and flows with perfect rhythm until its journey is interrupted by humans. The brilliantly illustrated short film is not guided by a red thread, but by a blue drop.

Banel & Adama

Banel & Adama is the debut feature from French-Sengalese writer-director Ramata-Toulaye Sy. A heartbreaking love story set in a remote village in northern Senegal. Fate strikes when Banel’s husband falls into a well and dies.

C’è ancora domani

Rome, 1946. American troops are still in the streets of the capital. Italy is going through a turbulent political period, accompanied by sweeping constitutional changes. Delia is a brave, hardworking woman trapped in an abusive marriage. At home, she is constantly humiliated, both verbally and physically, by her husband, Ivano, who is also encouraged in the background by the resident and bedridden father-in-law.

Cesária Évora

After a very difficult childhood that scarred her, the barefoot diva (1941-2011) became a world star at the age of 50 in an industry obsessed with beauty and youth. Her songs are often about love, homesickness, nostalgia and the history of the people of Cape Verde.

De Dirigent

The life story of Antonia Brico, the world’s first successful female conductor. A captivating tale of ambition, love and courage, set in early 20th century Amsterdam, Berlin and New York. The Dutch, 24-year-old Antonia Brico was a child when she and her parents immigrated to the United States. She dreams of becoming a conductor, but nobody takes her ambition seriously. Because she has little to lose, she returns to her motherland, where she begs the famous conductor Mengelberg to teach her conducting lessons.

Divertimento

Based on an inspiring true story. Zahia Ziouani and her twin sister Fettouma pursue a career in music at the urging of their parents. Talented 17-year-old Zahia has one dream: to become a conductor. But she has everything against her – she is a woman and the daughter of working-class Algerian parents.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Beloved classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is Spielberg’s most magical movie about an extra -terrestrial, E.T., who is accidentally left behind on earth after collecting plant specimens. He befriends the curious and ompassionate Elliott (Henry Thomas) and his younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore), forming an unbreakable bond.

Fallen Leaves

A tender romance, first love. Two lonely people, Ansa and Holappa, try to find the love of their lives. Kaurismäki, one of our favorite directors, presents an indie playfulness, dark and dry humor in this vibrant tragicomedy. A movie that does not lose sight of the complications of dating when you have other things on your mind.

I Can´t Be Moe; Alice van Romondt

A documentary about Alice van Romondt, the woman who has been a driving force behind the cultural and artistic scene in Aruba for years. Artists of all kinds and creeds have come to her for help and guidance on all fronts.

Inshallah a Boy

This first Jordanian movie to screen at Cannes, is a passionate story about the country´s legal and social barriers to single motherhood. The movie establishes a world of dominant masculinity through details such as the freedom to use one´s own cell phone. After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal, played by actress Mouna Hawa, must fight for her share of the inheritance.

Io Capitano

A poetic, unsentimental movie about survival, ignorance, and loss. The fate of two 16-year-old boys, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar, Senegal, is heartbreaking. They experience hell on earth as they face the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.

Itu Ninu

In a highly controlled smart city in the year 2084 two climate migrants try to connect through old-fashioned letters. In the not-so-distant future of 2084, Ángel finds himself trapped as a climate migrant in an undisclosed city, where surveillance reigns supreme.

Je verrai toujours vos visages

In France, there is a form of restorative justice that offers victims and perpetrators of offences to engage in mediated dialogue, supervised by professionals. Although the movie is a work of fiction, the experience is very realistic for the viewer. Two storylines complement and reinforce each other. The general part deals with the group sessions and within them the special confrontation between the victim Chloë and her half brother who raped her.

La Nuit du 12

In the corridors of the criminal police, it is said that all the investigators have a crime that haunts them. One day or another, they come across a case hurting them more than the others, without always knowing why. It starts spinning in their heads to the point of obsession.

Le Pot-au-Feu

France at the end of the 19th century. A beautiful chateau with a lovely, lush garden. Fresh vegetables and herbs. All the ingredients for a place where haute cuisine must have been invented. Eugenie, a great role played by Juliette Binoche, shines as a chef alongside the grand master Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel).

Los Reyes de la Salsa

Los Reyes de la Salsa is a vibrant musical journey that chronicles the ups and downs of salsa sensation duo Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. The movie delves into their lives. From their first meeting in New York City, Richie, a child prodigy, and Bobby, a young man immersed in the harshness of the street, find the passion that will unite them for the rest of their lives: music.

Memento Mori

A decapitated corpse is found in a river in rural Colombia, assumed to be a victim of conflict, and is quickly buried anonymously. But Animero (César Badillo) deems the corpse “chosen” and ventures to find the head and reunite it with the body. His journey takes him deep into dark terrain, spiritually and physically.

Mi tía Gilma

In Caracas 13-year-old Isabel (Maryale) takes care of her aunt Gilma (Diana Peñalever), who was admitted to hospital after being brutally beaten by her partner, a high-ranking military official. As the days pass and Gilma´s surgery is constantly pushed back, the young girl is faced with a series of increasingly difficult decisions to try and save Gilma´s life.

Modelo 77

Spain, Barcelona, 1977. A country and a city in transition after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. A new social order emerges, leading to far-reaching attacks on prevailing conventions. The established order does not accept this without a fight.

Mountains

Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) and his wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier), a Haitian couple living in Miami´s Little Haiti, struggle with economic precarity and feeling like outsiders in their rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood. Their son Junior (Chris Renois), who was born in the US and always replies in English when his parents speak to him in Creole, nonetheless mines his Haitian background for material for a stand-up comedy routine that he keeps secret from his overbearing father.

Nomade in Niemandsland

Nomade in Niemandsland takes you into the eventful life of Caribbean artist Felix de Rooy. De Rooy, queer and ‘of color’ is considered a pioneer. The first in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who since the seventies has freely told with his art what it means to be queer and Caribbean.

Perfect Days

A delicate portrait of the world of an introverted janitor in Tokyo, who cleans state-of-the-art public toilets specially designed by renowned architects for the Tokyo Toilet Project. German director Wim Wenders manages to portray a complex Japanese point of view that is warm and optimistic. In essence, it is a praise of the so-called insignificant little things of life, events and encounters.

Plan 75

A quiet dystopian movie about the Japanese government and its plan to deal with an aging population. In a country where 30% of the population is over 65 and the birth rate is low, an economic and health crisis is looming. The program, Plan 75, offers financial and logistical support to citizens over that age who wish to be euthanized. Those who volunteer will receive a bonus for a last dream vacation and a free funeral.

Ramona

Filmmaker Victoria Linares Villegas’ second feature is a deceptively simple prospect on paper – a young actress (Camila Santana) prepares to portray a teenage mother in the Dominican Republic by interviewing actual teenage mothers in the region. As Ramona follows the process, a rather more slippery, uncategorizable meta-film swims into view, where things are far from simple.

Shabu

A heartwarming coming-of-age story about 14-year-old flamboyant Shabu, who lives in a deprived part of Rotterdam. While joyriding, he crashes his grandmother´s car. His family punishes him by making him pay for the damage. He goes through hell trying to earn money with jobs and chores he despises.

She Came To Me

A comedy with an all-star cast about love in all its forms set in the bustling metropolis of New York City. She Came to Me follows Steven Lauddem (Peter Dinklage), a composer who is plagued by a creative block which leaves him unable to finish the score for his big comeback opera.

Simple comme Sylvain

Philosophy professor Sophia has a pleasant but not very intimate relationship with Xavier. While renovating their country house, Sophia meets the rough and attractive Sylvain, a builder from a completely different background. Sophia comes from a wealthy family, while Sylvain comes from a family of manual workers.

Sur l´Adamant

A heartwarming and touching documentary about the Adamant, a unique day-care center in a boat located on the Seine river, in the heart of Paris. A safe place where psychiatric patients can spend their days making music, developing creative activities and lending a listening ear. People who have difficulty communicating because of fears, obsessions or because their heads work differently.

The Albanian Virgin

An interesting and moving variation on the Romeo & Juliet theme. The story is set in a small community in a remote country: Albania in 1958. Centuries-old traditions dominate daily life. Luana, the daughter of a respected man, and Agim, the son of traitors exiled by the communists, have known each other since childhood.

The Eternal Memory

A loving couple, Augusto and Paulina are both living with the effects of his Alzheimer’s disease. Two public figures in Chile, both linked by their work to their country’s recent (violent) history. Paulina is an actress and was also Minister of Culture for several years. As a (television) journalist, Augusto documented the crimes of the Pinochet regime. He emphasized that not only numbers and statistics are important, but also feelings and traumas: emotional memory.

The Great Escaper

In the summer of 2014, Bernard Jordan (Michael Cane) made global headlines. He had staged a “great escape” from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades at the D-Day Landings 70th anniversary. The Great Escaper not only tells the inspiring story of a man trying to come to terms with his lasting war trauma.

The Holdovers

After Nebraska, shot in black and white in 2013, another movie by grandmaster Alexander Payne in the CIFF program. At first glance a simple movie, shot in a straightforward style in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio common in the 1970s.

The Miracle Club

A couple of elderly ladies sign up for a talent show at the local church and end up winning a pilgrimage to Lourdes. They have been longing to escape, even for a moment, from their dreary lives and husbands. When a friend from their past, now living in America, suddenly appears and joins them on the trip, a lot of unfinished business comes up.

The Old Oak

The movie, part of the trilogy, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You, is set in a small mining town in decline, where the last remaining pub has little chance of survival. Inevitable closure threatens the town´s only remaining social gathering place. The arrival of a group of Syrian refugees adds to the turmoil, fueling already latent feelings of unrest.

The President´s Daughter & the Richest Freeborn Lady

The leading role in this documentary is played by the gifted and always energetic writer Cynthia McLeod (1936). She has set herself one last mission: to bring lasting attention to the history of slavery and the legendary first freeborn woman and first black female millionaire in Suriname, Elisabeth Samson (1715 – 1771). Filmmaker Mildred Roethof follows her on a journey through the Dutch colonial past.

The Quiet Girl

The director´s debut feature. A silent movie on many levels. In rural Ireland in 1981, people live and work mostly in silence. Beneath the surface there are all kinds of soul stirrings that are suppressed as much as possible. This is the background against which 9-year-old Cáit grows up. In a large chaotic family, poor, desperate, with neglectful parents.

Tótem

Seven-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes) spends the day at her grandfather's house, where the family is preparing a surprise party for her terminally ill father. As the day progresses, the family's relationships are put to the test. Shot in a single interior location, the movie takes the viewer inside the delicate family relationships that are soaked in life as well as grief and loss.

Utama

Elderly couple, Virginio and Sisa, live remotely on the parched Altiplano, the Bolivian plateau subject to severe erosion, with no amenities such as running water or electricity. The local community, playing versions of themselves, add a documentary layer to the movie. Climate change casts a dark shadow over this Bolivian drama.

When Morning Comes

Ten-year-old Jamal (Djamari Roberts) has just been suspended from school, but his protestations of innocence fall on deaf ears, and his mother (Shaquana Wilson) decides to send him to live with his grandmother in Canada. The premise for Kelly Fyffe-Marshall´s feature is simple, but it offers scope for a rich, sensitive examination of life in Jamaica for a single mother and her young son living on the poverty line.

Zwarte stem

Artist and youth worker Bram Mvambanu (rapper Cycz) discovers his voice in a polarized world. He engages in probing conversations with people on the street and those close to him about racism, the slavery past and identity.