My top 25 of SIFF 2008
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25 titles
- DirectorNic BalthazarStarsMarijke PinoyGreg TimmermansCesar De SutterAs an alternative to getting bullied at school, an autistic teenager retreats into the world of online role-playing games.
- DirectorPhilippe AractingiStarsNada Abou FarhatGeorges KhabbazRawia ElchabIn the wake of Israel's 2006 bombardment of Lebanon, a determined woman finds her way into the country convincing a taxi cab driver to take a risky journey around the scarred region in search of her sister and her son.
- DirectorAmin MatalqaStarsNadim SawalhaRana SultanHussein Al-SousWhen an old airport janitor finds a captain's hat in the trash, he gets pulled into the lives of children in his poor neighborhood. He weaves imaginary stories of his world adventures to offer hope in the face of their harsh reality.
- DirectorHana MakhmalbafStarsAbbas AlijomeAbdolali HoseinaliNikbakht NoruzIn Afghanistan, a young girl wants to go to school and learn to read and write, but is met with hostility or indifference.
- DirectorAbdullah OguzStarsTalat BulutÖzgü NamalMurat HanWhen an unmarried teenage girl is believed by her family to have given up her virginity, she is ordered to be killed out of shame. But before her relative is able to complete the task, the two encounter a college professor.
- DirectorOmar ShargawiStarsElias Samir Al-SobehiKhalid AlssubeihiSalah El KoussaAn Arabic tale that takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. About ancient religious hatred, about love, punishment, guilt and redemption, about being responsible for one's own actions and refusing a path of violence. Jamil stands in the middle. He is fighting the war of his life; a war within himself.
- DirectorBalufu Bakupa-KanyindaStarsDieudonné KabongoCarole KaremeraKatik Donatien BakombaKongo is writing a book on the subject of immigrants but while his editor wants a kind of traveler's book in which ethnic exotic ingredients are offered to a European audience, Kongo has more ambitious ideas - he conceives of the idea of writing a book that follows the paths of Congolese history and its many ghosts. A brave and powerful film, made with single-mind integrity. Filmed mainly in the Congo, the film also provides a slice of life of the contemporary Congolese community in Brussels.
- DirectorDorota KedzierzawskaStarsDanuta SzaflarskaKrzysztof GlobiszMarta WalderaWhen the witty old lady Aniela finally gets rid of her last lodger, she thinks it's finally time for her to feel at home in her beautiful old wooden house. But her greedy son and neighbours have other plans.
- DirectorGustavo SpolidoroStarsKarina KazueLindon Satoru ShimizuArtur PintoThe film tells the story of sixteen people in the hottest day of the year in the city of Porto Alegre.
- DirectorBaltasar KormákurStarsIngvar SigurdssonÁgústa Eva ErlendsdóttirBjörn Hlynur HaraldssonA murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.
- DirectorArmin VölckersStarsAlain MorelAnna HausburgConstantin von JascheroffLeroy (16) is an Afro-German boy who, not only notoriously unlucky, must also battle with an identity crisis born of the fact that he is both a highly cultured, well-mannered German AND black, thus belonging to two minorities. Leroy has a girlfriend, Eva, whose brothers happen to be Neo-Nazi skinheads, Leroy's natural enemies. After some time, and against all odds, Leroy and Eva's brothers have managed to become friends, and one day they ask Leroy to join them, afro and all. Leroy declines and sets off on a long walk through Berlin with his Greek friend Dimitrios. Whilst distributing supermarket leaflets across a dirty, overcrowded city pulsing to a 70s soul-groove, Leroy and "Dimmi" discuss the sorer spots of the German condition human: white foreigners and black Germans, the problem Germans have saying the word "Jew", colored people on tanning beds and Hitler's plan to convert the colors of all German traffic lights to black, red and gold. When Leroy and Dimmi almost get beaten up by hostile skinheads, Eva bravely saves the day and then it dawns on Leroy how he can eradicate fascism from its very core.
- DirectorMarc X. GrigoroffStarsMastura AhmadSiti Aisyah MasgotZaidi IbrahimThe story of a 12-year-old Singaporean-Malay girl who has just witnessed the death of her older brother, Shahim. The tragedy occurs when the boy goes for a swim and quickly gets into trouble. Wati, who cannot swim, begs a man to help her, but he ignores her pleas and Shahim drowns. Wati's parents are devastated. Her mother tries to hold the family together, while her father struggles to control his misdirected anger. The role of Islam in the lives of Wati and her family is revealed, for it is impossible to separate their beliefs from their lifestyle and the manner in which they deal with Shahim's death. Wati's story is intertwined with two others: an Indian courier with a penchant for drinking and fighting; and a Chinese man who is consumed by career goals. It becomes increasingly apparent that each of these men played some role in the death of her brother, and as Wati begins to follow them, the mystery deepens.
- DirectorKenneth BiStarsJaycee ChanTony Ka Fai LeungAngelica LeeA gangster's willful son is sent into hiding over sexual misconduct. Sent far, he unexpectedly takes up with remote Buddhist drummers who slowly but profoundly influence his life.
- DirectorAbdellatif KechicheStarsHabib BoufaresHafsia HerziFarida BenkhetacheIn southern France, a Franco-Arabic shipyard worker along with his partner's daughter pursues his dream of opening a restaurant.
- DirectorShangjun CaiStarsLu HuangYulai LüAnlian YaoA father and son meet after five years of the father's absence and they go on a trip to rebuild their relationship.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBaki DavrakGürsoy GemecCengiz DanerA Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.
- DirectorValeriy TodorovskiyStarsMaksim MatveevFedor BondarchukAleksey SerebryakovYoung and talented man has a dream - to become a successful DJ. But on his way to fame he takes the wrong step, that may be fatal...
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsAndrzej ChyraMaja OstaszewskaArtur ZmijewskiAn examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
- DirectorNatasha ArthyStarsSemra TuranNima NabipourCyron MelvilleAicha attends Kung Fu at her high school in Copenhagen. Her Muslim, Turkish father wants her to study hard and become a doctor but instead she starts training at a Kung Fu club where Emil helps with her training. They become friends.
- DirectorYang LiStarsLu HuangYouan YangYuling ZhangA young woman is kidnapped and sold to a villager in the mountains.
- DirectorSantosh SivanStarsLinus RoacheRahul BoseNandita DasA English spice baron settles in South India during the waning years of the Raj.
- DirectorRicardo de MontreuilStarsJason DayElsa PatakyEnrique MurcianoAn adventure drama that tells the story of Santiago, a 22-year old from Lima. Following his father's suicide, haunted by his inner daemons and hatred for the world in general, Santiago decides to escape the crude Lima winter to take refuge in Mancora, a beach to the north of Peru where it is always summer. Upon his departure, Santiago receives the unexpected visit from his stepsister, Ximena, a young and beautiful photographer in her late twenties, accompanied by her husband Inigo, a young surgeon from Spain. The three take off on a journey escaping reality and in search of themselves. Santiago and Ximena find refuge in each other, which sparks off jealousies within Inigo, and a trip that was intended to be a simple escape turns out to be much more, when each of the three crosses limits and borders they should never have crossed. The three are placed face to face with their dreams and daemons. "Mancora" is a story of redemption, where a kid becomes a man and learns to forgive the world.
- DirectorYôji YamadaStarsTakuya KimuraRei DanMitsugorô BandôA look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
- DirectorJohn CrowleyStarsAndrew GarfieldPeter MullanShaun EvansThe story of a young Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a violent crime he committed as a child.
- DirectorRobert GuédiguianStarsAriane AscarideJean-Pierre DarroussinGérard MeylanMuriel, François and René, three childhood friends from a working class neighbourhood of Marseille, suddenly stop their careers as thieves after having killed a jeweller.To keep a low profile, the friends see very little of each other until the day Muriel's son is kidnapped. Their friendship takes off right where they left it, when they come together once again to gather the ransom.