Speed of Life

Visioneer George Washington Winsterhammerman lives a comfortable but monotonous life in this slightly futuristic black comedy. When people start exploding from stress and George is showing early symptoms, he’s forced to examine his life. Taking a look at his nice job, his sexless marriage and his resistance to life coaching, George reconsiders the philosophy of happiness through mindless activity.

In 1945, Japan surrendered to the United States and the Second World War was over. Right? Wrong. For eighty percent of the Japanese community in Brazil, Japan had won the war and defeat was nothing more than American propaganda. The few immigrants that accepted the truth were persecuted. Some were hunted down and assassinated – by their own countrymen – causing the start of a new, private war. Dirty Hearts is a thriller and love story told by the wife of one of the fanatics dedicated to preach Japanese victory. Little by little, she watches her husband, a hard-working immigrant, become an assassin and their love story fade away.

A beatific couple are buried in a dream relationship, but when their love slowly descends into nightmares, strange things begin to happen in their apartment.

After a recently widowed single father moves to a new town, a mysterious woman threatens his relationship with his son and their safety.

Set in the 1970’s, MIGHTY FINE is the story of Joe Fine (Chazz Palminteri) a charismatic, high-spirited man, who relocates his family–wife Stella (Andie MacDowell), a Holocaust survivor, daughters Nathalie (Jodelle Ferland) and Maddie (Rainey Qualley)–from Brooklyn to New Orleans, in search of a better life. Unfortunately, Joe’s spending spree is wildly out of touch with reality, as his apparel business is teetering on the brink of collapse, a fact he refuses to accept. Written and directed by Debbie Goodstein, MIGHTY FINE is told from the perspective of an adult Nathalie remembering the events of her youth, and is inspired by Goodstein’s memories of her own father. MIGHTY FINE ultimately shows how coming to terms with the past without judgment is the most fruitful way to move toward the future.

Lee Doo-sam is a small time smuggler in Busan, Korea. One day, he helps the mob smuggle meth by chance and finds himself falling into the dark crime world. Being quick-witted and full of ambition, he eventually overtakes the underworld and starts to lead a double life: a good community leader during day but during the night, an infamous drug lord who rules an empire.

Travis Wolfe lives in a world all his own. He’s roaming the streets of Hollywood, struggling to finish his thesis documentary project for film school before he can graduate and start the next phase of life. After reconnecting with his estranged uncle Robin, a veteran television producer on the wrong side of his career, Travis unravels the mystery of his father’s suicide. A glimmer of hope is offered through his relationship with Kristen, a streetwise fashion designer from Koreatown with big dreams of her own. As tensions begin to brew with her protective older brother Bobby and family secrets put his newly established connection with Robin to the test, Travis struggles to hold it all together long enough to figure out his future, as well as his past.

An operative for an elite private intelligence firm finds her priorities irrevocably changed after she is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations.

The epic journey of two friends, ex-soldiers, who battle the moral injuries of war, and the temptation to escape through suicide, as they walk across America.

When a Mars colony’s comm satellite is damaged, Emilia Riley embarks on a seemingly harmless repair excursion. A shuttle malfunction cuts connectivity to the ground and Chris, her son, makes the knee jerk decision to go after her.

The film is a lyrical exploration of a particular family situation and the human relationships within it. Devoid of any moral judgment, the eye of the director studies the boundaries of human behaviour and explores how far an individual can go, driven by love and the spirit of survival. Andrea Pallaoro was born in Trento but at the age of 17 moved to California to study filmmaking. His short film Wunderkammer was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. This year he brings his first feature-length film to the Orizzonti section.

A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. Based on the classic novel by Emily Bronte.