International Films Vying From Around the World in 2019

Among the record 92 submissions this year, 27 titles are directed or co-directed by women. There are six documentaries in the mix, as well as two animated features. Moreover, for the first time, Ghana and Uzbekistan are each fielding an entry. However, Nigeriaâs submission was disqualified by the Academy as being mostly in the English language. Hereâs a guide to the films, including logline and sales or production contact.
Albania
âThe Delegationâ
Director: Bujar Alimani
Logline: In autumn 1990, a political prisoner is secretly taken out of jail to meet the head of the European delegation investigating human-rights violations. But nothing goes according to plan.
Key Cast: Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Feri
Sales: Art Film
Algeria
âPapichaâ
Director: Mounia Meddour
Logline: A female student rebels against the bans set by radicals during the civil war and plans a fashion show.
Key Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda
Sales: Jour2Fete
Argentina
âHeroic Losersâ
Director: Sebastián Borensztein
Logline: A heist dramedy that plays on the most basic human instinct: getting back whatâs yours.
Key Cast: Ricardo DarÃn, Chino DarÃn, Luis Brandoni
Sales: Film Factory
Armenia
âLengthy Nightâ
Director: Edgar Baghdasaryan
Logline: An omnibus drama encompassing a thousand years of Armenian history.
Key Cast: Shant Hovhannisyan, Samvel Grigoryan, Luiza Nersisyan
Sales: Edgar Baghdasaryan
Film Prod.
Australia
âBuoyancyâ
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Logline: A brutal yet realistic depiction of Cambodian forced labor in the Thai fishing industry.
Key Cast: Sarm Heng, Thanawut Kasro, Mony Ros
Sales: Charades
Austria
âJoyâ
Director: Sudabeh Mortezai
Logline: Nigerians in Vienna are caught in a vicious cycle of sex trafficking.
Key Cast: Joy Anwulika Alphonsus, Precious Mariam Sanusi, Angela Ekeleme Pius
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Bangladesh
âAlphaâ
Director: Nasiruddin Yousuff
Logline: A painter struggles to align his artistic aspirations with the realities of big-city life.
Key Cast: Alamgir Kabir, Doyel Mash, ATM Shamsuzzaman
Sales: Impress Telefilms
Belarus
âDebutâ
Director: Anastasiya Miroschnichenko
Logline: Documentary follows long-term female prisoners who participate in a play.
Sales: Taskovski Films
Belgium
âOur Mothersâ
Director: César DÃaz
Logline: In the aftermath of Guatemalaâs civil war, a forensic anthropologist searches for his father.
Key Cast: Armando Espitia, Emma Dib, Aurelia Caal
U.S. Distributor: Outsider Pictures
Bolivia
âTu Me Manquesâ
Director: Rodrigo Bellott
Logline: A wealthy, conservative Bolivian travels to New York to confront his deceased sonâs boyfriend.
Key Cast: Oscar Martinez, Rossy de Palma, Fernando Barbosa
Sales: Narrative Engineer
Bosnia and Herzegovina
âThe Sonâ
Director: Ines TanoviÄ
Logline: One familyâs crisis with their adopted son illuminates national and generational fault lines.
Key Cast: Dino Bajrovic, Snežana BogdanoviÄ,
Uliks Fehmiu
Sales: Dokument
Brazil
âThe Invisible Life of EurÃdice Gusmãoâ
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Logline: A tropical melodrama in which two close sisters are separated in 1950s Rio.
Key Cast: Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, Gregório Duvivier
U.S. Distributor: Amazon Studios
Bulgaria
âAgaâ
Director: Milko Lazarov
Logline: Set in the far north of Russiaâs Sakha republic, âAgaâ is an evocative visualization of a way of life that may soon no longer exist.
Key Cast: Mikhail Aprosimov, Feodosia Ivanova,
Galina Tikhonova
U.S. Distributor: Big World Pictures
Cambodia
âIn the Life of Musicâ
Director: Caylee So, Sok Visal
Logline: An intergenerational tale that explores love, war and a familyâs relationship to the song âChampa Battambang.â
Key Cast: Ellen Wong, Arn Chorn-Pond
Sales: Blood Sweat Honey
Canada
âAntigoneâ
Director: Sophie Deraspe
Logline: A loose adaptation of Sophoclesâ Greek tragedy set in contemporary Montreal.
Key Cast: Nahéma Ricci, Nour Belkhiria, Rawad El-Zein
Sales: WaZabi Films
Chile
âSpiderâ
Director: Andres Wood
Logline: A dark political thriller that explores the evolution of radical political activism and a dangerously charged love triangle.
Key Cast: Mercedes
Morán, MarÃa Valverde, Marcelo Alonso
Sales: Film Factory
China
âNe Zhaâ
Director: Yu Yang
Logline: Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, the young Nezha must choose between good and evil in order to become a hero in this animated feature.
Voice cast: Yanting Lü, Joseph, Mo Han, Hao Chen
U.S. Distributor: Well Go USA
Colombia
âMonosâ
Director: Alejandro Landes
Logline: A survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America where teen commandos keep watch over an American hostage.
Key Cast: Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Sofia Buenaventura
U.S. Distributor: Neon, Participant Media
Costa Rica
âThe Awakening of the Antsâ
Director: Antonella Sudasassi
Logline: A young wife and mother struggles within the narrow confines of patriarchal social structures to find her own path.
Key Cast: Daniella Valenciano, Leynar Gomez, Isabella Moscoso
Sales: FiGa Films
Croatia
âMaliâ
Director: Antonio NuiÄ
Logline: After four years in prison, a drug dealer is ready to do anything to keep custody of his young son Mali.
Key Cast: Franjo Dijak, Vito Dijak, Bojan Navojec
Sales: Propeler Films
Cuba
âA Translatorâ
Directors: Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso
Logline: A Russian literature professor at the University of Havana is ordered to work as a translator for child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster brought to Cuba for medical treatment.
Key Cast: Rodrigo
Santoro, Marciel Ãlvarez, Yoandra Suárez
U.S. Distributor: Film Movement
Czech Republic
âThe Painted Birdâ
Director: Václav Marhoul
Logline: A young Jewish boy encounters the worst of humanity as he wanders in Eastern Europe during World War II.
Key Cast: Petr Kotlár, Udo Kier, Harvey Keitel
U.S. Distributor: IFC Films
Denmark
âQueen of Heartsâ
Director: May el-Toukhy
Logline: A successful lawyer puts both her career and family on the line when she seduces her 17-year- old stepson.
Key Cast: Trine Dyrholm, Gustav Lindh,
Magnus Krepper
U.S. Distributor: Breaking Glass
Dominican Republic
âThe Projectionistâ
Director: José MarÃa Cabral
Logline: A lonely projectionist falls in love with a woman he sees on a film reel.
Key Cast: Felix Germán,
Cindy Galán
Sales: Media Luna
Ecuador
âThe Longest Nightâ
Director: Gabriela Calvache
Logline: A beautiful woman turns to prostitution to support her addiction and her daughterâs illness.
Key Cast: Noëlle Schönwald, Cristian Mercado, Jaime Tamariz
Sales: Wide
Egypt
âPoisonous Rosesâ
Director: Fawzi Saleh
Logline: A visually striking brother-sister drama, set in Cairoâs fetid tannery district.
Key Cast: Koky, Mahmoud Hemada, Ibrahim El-Nagary
Sales: Red Star Films
Estonia
âTruth and Justiceâ
Director: Tanel Toom
Logline: An adaptation of one of Estoniaâs most famous novels, this period film tells the story of an uncompromising man whose soul is corrupted by the relentless pursuit of his dream.
Key Cast: Priit Loog, Priit Võigemast, Maiken Schmidt
Sales: AllFilm
Ethiopia
âRunning Against the Windâ
Director: Jan Philipp Weyl
Logline: The lives of two brothers take very different paths when they decide to follow their dreams: one to become an Olympic runner, the other a photographer.
Key Cast: Miklas Wolde, Ashenafi Nigusu, Joseph Reta Belay
Sales: Negarit Film Academy & Prods.
Finland
âStupid Young Heartâ
Director: Selma Vilhunen
Logline: Teenagers Lenni and Kiira are in the early stages of a high school romance when they discover that they are expecting a baby.
Key Cast: Jere Ristseppä, Rosa Honkonen, Pihla Viitala
Sales: The Yellow Affair
France
âLes Misérablesâ
Director: Ladj Ly
Logline: A new policeman joins the anti-crime brigade in a gritty Paris suburb and quickly discovers the tensions between the force and various neighborhood groups.
Key Cast: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga
U.S. Distributor: Amazon Studios
Georgia
âShindisiâ
Director: Dito Tsintsadze
Logline: Drama is based on real events that took place during the 2008 Russian military intervention in Georgia, when some residents of Shindisi risked their lives to save wounded Georgian soldiers.
Key Cast: Goga Pipinashvili, Davit Bakhtadze
Sales: 20 Steps Prods.
Germany
âSystem Crasherâ
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Logline: Foster family, group home or special-needs school, wherever Benni ends up, she is immediately expelled. The wild 9-year-old girl has already become what child protection services call a âsystem crasher.â
Key Cast: Helena Zengel, Albrecht Schuch
Sales: Beta Cinema
Ghana
âAzaliâ
Director: Kwabena Gyansah
Logline: Fleeing an arranged marriage, a girl from rural North Ghana must survive in the slums of Accra.
Key Cast: Asana Alhassan, Akofa Edjeani, Adjetey Anang
Sales: Ananse Entertainment
Greece
âWhen Tomatoes Met Wagnerâ
Director: Marianna Economou
Logline: A documentary set in the plain of Thessaly where farmer Christos turns his land to the organic cultivation of tomatoes.
Sales: Rise and Shine
World Sales
Honduras
âBlood, Passion, and Coffeeâ
Director: Carlos Membreño
Logline: The harvest of a coffee-producing family is threatened by a plague of rust and low prices.
Key Cast: Alejandra Arias, Enrique Barrientos, Ethel Flores
Sales: Sin Fronteras Estudios
Hong Kong
âThe White Storm 2 â Drug Lordsâ
Director: Herman Yau
Logline: A final battle for the control of the Hong Kong drug market breaks out between the two tycoons, who were once lesser-known brothers from the same triad.
Key Cast: Andy Lau, Louis Koo, Michael Miu
U.S. Distributor: Hong Kong/CMC Films
Hungary
âThose Who Remainedâ
Director: Barnabás Tóth
Logline: The relationship of two traumatized Holocaust survivors helps them to heal and gives them someone to live for.
Key Cast: Károly Hajduk, Abigél SzÅke, Mari Nagy
U.S. Distributor: Menemsha Films
Iceland
âA White, White Dayâ
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Logline: In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief begins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife, who died in a tragic accident two years earlier.
Key Cast: Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Ida Mekkin Hlynsdottir, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason
U.S. Distributor: Film Movement
India
âGully Boyâ
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Logline: A 22-year-old from a Mumbai ghetto realizes his calling to be a rapper.
Key Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz
U.S. Distributor: Amazon Studios
Indonesia
âMemories of My Bodyâ
Director: Garin Nugroho
Logline: Journey into the life of Juno, a young Javanese man for whom dance, sensuality and violence are closely interlinked.
Key Cast: Muhammad Khan, Raditya Evandra
Sales: Asian Shadows
Iran
âFinding Faridehâ
Directors: Kourosh Ataee, Azadeh Moussavi
Logline: An Iranian adopted by a Dutch couple travels to her motherland to find her biological parents.
Sales: Eli Image
Ireland
âGazaâ
Directors: Garry Keane,
Andrew McConnell
Logline: A doc portrait of Palestinian people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
Sales: FilmOption Intl.
Israel
âIncitementâ
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Logline: The hate-filled words of politicians, cultural influencers and the right-wing media incite extreme nationalist Yigal Amir to murder Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Key Cast: Yehuda Nahari
Halevi, Amitay Yaish Ben Ousilio, Anat Ravnizky
Sales: WestEnd Films
Italy
âThe Traitorâ
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Logline: In 1984, Tommaso Buscetta, a member of the Sicilian mafia, begins to cooperate with Italian and American prosecutors. His decision led to Italyâs infamous anti-mafia Maxi Trial of 1986, in which hundreds of Sicilian mobsters were convicted.
Key Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Maria Fernanda Candido, Fabrizio Ferracane.
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Japan
âWeathering With Youâ
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Logline: The latest animation from the team behind âYour Nameâ centers on a high school runaway who meets a girl with the power to stop the rain and clear the sky.
Voice cast: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori
U.S. Distributor: GKids
Kazakhstan
âKazakh Khanate. The Golden Throneâ
Director: Rustem Abdrashev
Logline: The sequel to âKazakh Khanate. The Diamond Sword,â this film covers the period from 1470 to 1485, the struggle for the Great Steppe and the formation of Kazakh statehood.
Key Cast: Yerkebulan Daiyrov, Niyazbek Shaisultanov
Sales: Kazakhfilm
Kenya
âSubiraâ
Director: Ravneet Chadha
Logline: A young Muslim girl struggles for freedom from conformity as she challenges gender stereotypes and tradition.
Key Cast: Brenda Wairimu
Sales: Kaaya Films
Kosovo
âZanaâ
Director: Antoneta Kastrati
Logline: A chilling and emotional drama about a young Kosovar woman struggling to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality.
Key Cast: Adriana Matoshi, Astrit Kabashi
Sales: Alief
Kyrgyzstan
âAuroraâ
Director: Bekzat Pirmatov
Logline: An ironic contemporary drama taking place at the Aurora, a Soviet-era sanatorium located on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.
Key Cast: Albina Imasheva, Bolot Tentimyshov, Kanatbek Abdyrakhmanov
Sales: Antidote Sales
Latvia
âThe Moverâ
Director: Davis Simanis
Logline: A gripping account of the heroic deeds of blue-collar worker Žanis Lipke, who was later honored in Israel as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing Jews during WWII.
U.S. Distributor: Menemsha Films
Lebanon
â1982â
Director: Oualid Mouaness
Logline: At a private school on the outskirts of Beirut during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, 11-year-old Wissam tries to tell a classmate about his crush on her, while his teachers, on different sides of the political divide, attempt to mask their fears.
Key Cast: Nadine Labaki, Rodrigue Sleiman, Aliya Khalidi
Sales: WaZabi Films
Lithuania
âBridges of Timeâ
Directors: Kristine Briede, Audrius Stonys
Logline: A meditative documentary essay portraying the less-remembered generation of cinema poets
of the Baltic New Wave.
Key Cast: Andres Sööt, Mark Soosaar
Sales: VFS Films
Luxembourg
âTel Aviv on Fireâ
Director: Sameh Zoabi
Logline: A young Palestinian man becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier.
Key Cast: Kais Nashif, Lubna Azabal, Yaniv Biton
U.S. Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Malaysia
âM for Malaysiaâ
Directors: Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille
Logline: A documentary about the 2018 Malaysian general elections, when the people, led by a 92-year-old former prime minister, overthrew one of the longest ruling governments in the world.
Sales: Project M Media
Mexico
âThe Chambermaidâ
Director: Lila Aviles
Logline: A beautifully observed film of rich detail that follows the daily work of a chambermaid at a high-end Mexican hotel.
Key Cast: Gabriela Cartol
U.S. Distributor: Kino Lorber
Mongolia
âThe Steedâ
Director: Erdenebileg Ganbold
Logline: After being cruelly separated, a Mongolian boy and his horse brave the unforgiving wilds during the Russian Revolution to be reunited.
Key Cast: Ariunbold Erdenebayar
Sales: Media Luna
Montenegro
âNeverending Pastâ
Director: Andro MartinoviÄ
Logline: Three stories about fathers and sons, set in three different eras, in which they find themselves in borderline situations.
Key Cast: Lazar Ristovski,
Tihomir StaniÄ
Sales: Artikulacija Prod.
Morocco
âAdamâ
Director: Maryam Touzani
Logline: The character-driven, Casablanca-set drama shows how a pregnant stranger changes the lives of a mother and her young daughter.
Key Cast: Nisrine Erradi, Lubna Azabal, Douae Belkhaouda
U.S.Distributor: Strand Releasing
Nepal
âBulbulâ
Director: Binod Paudel
Logline: A woman, whose husband has been missing for years, drives a taxi in order to support her paralyzed father-in-law and young daughter.
Key Cast: Swastima Khadka, Mukun Bhusal
Sales: Awaken Film Factory
Netherlands
âInstinctâ
Director: Halina Reijn
Logline: A psychological thriller about an experienced psychologist working in a penal institution who becomes obsessed with a sex offender that appears to be ready to return to society.
Key Cast: Carice van Houten, Marwan Kenzari
Sales: Films Boutique
North Macedonia
âHoneylandâ
Director: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov
Logline: The livelihood of the last in a long line of wild beekeepers is thrown into turmoil by the arrival of an itinerant family.
Key Cast: Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam
U.S. Distributor: Neon
Norway
âOut Stealing Horsesâ
Director: Hans Petter Noland
Logline: A new neighbor makes 67-year-old Trond remember 1948, the summer he turned 15, and his fatherâs betrayal and disappearance.
Key Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Bjørn Floberg, Tobias Santelmann
Sales: TrustNordisk
Pakistan
âLaal Kabootarâ
Director: Kamal Khan
Logline: A dark and gritty Karachi-based crime drama.
Key Cast: Ahmad Ali Akber, Mansha Pasha, Ali Kazmi
Sales: Nehr Ghar Films
Palestine
âIt Must Be Heavenâ
Director: Elia Suleiman
Logline: However far a Palestinian man travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home.
Key Cast: Elia Suleiman
Sales: Wild Bunch
Panama
âEverybody Changesâ
Director: Arturo Montenegro
Logline: Federico struggles to keep his family together and save his own life when he chooses to undergo
gender reassignment surgery in Thailand.
Key Cast: Arantxa de Juan, Gaby Gnazzo, Jassiel
Sales: Q Films
Peru
âRetabloâ
Director: Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
Logline: High in the remote mountains of Peru, 14-year-old Segundo is being groomed to follow his fatherâs footsteps in the traditional folk art of retablo-making. But his father harbors a heartbreaking secret.
Key Cast: Magaly Solier, Amiel Cayo, Junior Bejar
U.S. Distributor: Wolfe Releasing
Philippines
âVerdictâ
Director: Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Logline: Joy and her 6-year-old daughter, Angel, live in Manila, with her abusive husband, Dante, a small-time criminal.
Key Cast: Max Eigenmann, Kristoffer King, Lourdes Javelosa-Indunan
Sales: Films Boutique
Poland
âCorpus Christiâ
Director: Jan Komasa
Logline: Twenty-year-old Daniel experiences a spiritual transformation while living in a youth detention center. He wants to become a priest, but it seems impossible because of his criminal record.
Key Cast: Bartosz Bielenia, Eliza Rycembel, Aleksandra Konieczna
U.S. Distributor: Film Movement
Portugal
âThe Domainâ
Director: Tiago Guedes
Logline: On the south bank of the River Tagus, a wealthy Portuguese family that owns one of the largest estates in Europe begins to delve into the secrets of its mysterious homestead.
Key Cast: Albano Jerónimo, Sandra Faleiro, Miguel Borges
Sales: Alfama Films
Romania
âThe Whistlersâ
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Logline: Not everything is as it seems for Cristi, a police inspector in Bucharest who plays both sides of the law.
Key Cast: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar
U.S. Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Russia
âBeanpoleâ
Director: Kantemir Balagov
Logline: Two young women search for meaning and hope as they struggle to rebuild their lives amidst the ruins of 1945 Leningrad.
Key Cast: Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina, Andrey Bykov
U.S. Distributor: Kino Lorber
Saudi Arabia
âThe Perfect Candidateâ
Director: Haifaa Al Mansour
Logline: An ambitious young doctor working in a small-town clinic in Saudi Arabia winds up running in her local elections.
Key Cast: Mila Alzahrani, Dhay, Nourah Al Awad
Senegal
âAtlanticsâ
Director: Mati Diop
Logline: In a suburb of Dakar, Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man.
Key Cast: Ndeye Binta Sané, Amadou Am, Ibrahima Traoré
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Serbia
âKing Petar the Firstâ
Director: Petar Ristovski
Logline: Film is set during WWI, and inspired by a true story about the Serbian king Petar KaraÄorÄeviÄ, the first strictly constitutional monarch.
Key Cast: Lazar Ristovski, Radovan VujoviÄ, Milan Kolak
Sales: Zillion Film
Singapore
âA Land Imaginedâ
Director: Yeo Siew Hua
Logline: An insomniac policeman investigates the disappearance of a Chinese migrant worker in this Singapore noir.
Key Cast: Peter Yu, Xiaoyi Liu, Luna Kwok
Sales: Visit Films
Slovakia
âLet There Be Lightâ
Director: Marko Å kop
Logline: A relatable state-of-the-nation drama that highlights xenophobia, religious hypocrisy and the rise of the extreme right in a small Slovak village.
Key Cast: Milan OndrÃk, FrantiÅ¡ek BeleÅ¡, Zuzana KoneÄná
Sales: Loco Films
Slovenia
âHistory of Loveâ
Director: Sonja Prosenc
Logline: In the process of coming to terms with the death of her mother, 17-year-old Iva slowly immerses herself in a strange, almost dreamlike world, far from reality.
Key Cast: Doroteja Nadrah, Kristoffer Joner, Zita Fusco
Sales: Monoo
South Africa
âKnuckle Cityâ
Director: Jahmil X.T. Qubeka
Logline: An aging boxerâs shot at a big prize fight offers him one last chance at saving his family, but drags him into the criminal underbelly of the gritty township.
Key Cast: Bongile Mantsai, Thembekile Komani, Faniswa Yisa
Sales: AAA Entertainment
South Korea
âParasiteâ
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Logline: The 2019 Cannes Palme dâOr winner is a
pitch-black tragicomedy about social inequality in South Korea.
Key Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Jo Yeo-jeong
U.S. Distributor: Neon
Spain
âPain and Gloryâ
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Logline: An aging filmmaker explores the emotional scars that underlie his own physical frailty in this remarkably mature metafiction.
Key Cast: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Sweden
âAnd Then We Dancedâ
Director: Levan Akin
Logline: Both a love letter to traditional Georgian dance and a story about someone who wants to break the norm, it centers on a gifted young performer struggling with the expectations of tradition and family while increasingly giddy over a forbidden love.
Key Cast: Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili
U.S. Distributor: Music Box Films
Switzerland
âWolkenbruchâs Wondrous Journey Into the Arms of a Shiksaâ
Director: Michael Steiner
Logline: Motti Wolkenbruch strays from the expectations of his overbearing mother and his Orthodox upbringing when he falls for a non-Jewish classmate, a âshiksa,â in this Yiddish-inflected comedy.
Key Cast: Joel Basman, Inge Maux, Udo Samuel
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Taiwan
âDear Exâ
Directors: Mag Hsu, Chih-Yen Hsu
Logline: A comic melodrama in which a teenager becomes trapped in the middle of a bitter feud between his mother and a free-spirited man, who is both the lover and insurance beneficiary of his recently deceased father.
Key Cast: Roy Chiu, Ying-Xuan Hsieh, Spark Chen
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Thailand
âKrasue: Inhuman Kissâ
Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
Logline: A supernatural creature infects an ordinary woman with a curse that causes her head to detach from her body at night and devour nearby cattle.
Key Cast: Phantira Pipityakorn, Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang, Sapol Assawamunkong
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Tunisia
âDear Sonâ
Director: Mohamed Ben Attia
Logline: The lives of an about-to-retire forklift operator and his wife revolve around their only son, who is preparing for his school exams. One day, the teen suddenly disappears.
Key Cast: Mohamed Dhrif, Mouna Mejri, Zakaria
Ben Ayed
Sales: Luxbox
Turkey
âCommitment â Asliâ
Director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Logline: The first of a planned trilogy, this drama centers
on a young mother who
hires a nanny in order to return to work.
Key Cast: Kubra Kip, Ece Yuksel, Umur Kurt
Sales: ATV
Ukraine
âHomewardâ
Director: Nariman Aliev
Logline: A visually striking, father-and-son-bonding drama unfolds against the backdrop of a fraught road trip from Kyiv to Russia-annexed Crimea.
Key Cast: Akhtem Seitablayev, Remzi Bilyalov, Dariya Barihashvili
Sales: Wild Bunch
U.K.
âThe Boy Who Harnessed the Windâ
Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Logline: Inspired by a science book, 13-year-old William Kamkwamba builds a wind turbine to save his Malawian village from famine.
Key Cast: Maxwell Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lily Banda
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Uruguay
âThe Moneychangerâ
Director: Federico Veiroj
Logline: An amoral currency trader winds up laundering some of the dirtiest money in Latin America during an era of military dictatorships, political expediency, brutality and corruption.
Key Cast: Daniel Hendler, Dolores Fonzi, LuÃs MachÃn
Sales: Film Factory
Uzbekistan
âHot Breadâ
Director: Umid Khamdamov
Logline: Teen Zulfiya longs to leave the home she shares with her grandmother in a sleepy village and join her mother in the city.
Key Cast: Zarina Ergasheva, Feruza Saidova, Munavvara Abdullayeva
Sales: Uzbekistan Republican Film Distribution Centre
Venezuela
âBeing Impossibleâ
Director: Patricia Ortega
Logline: A powerful, encouraging drama about freedom, self-determination, our bodies and our lives.
Key Cast: Lucia Bedoya, Maria Elena Duque
Sales: Media Luna
Vietnam
âFurieâ
Director: Le Van Kiet
Logline: When a little girl is snatched by a trafficking ring, the kidnappers soon find they messed with the wrong child. Her mother, a notorious former gang leader, is on their trail and will go to any lengths to bring her child home.
Key Cast: Veronica Ngo, Phan Thanh Nhien, Cat Vi
U.S. Distributor: Well Go USA