Synopsis of the participating films

1. Austria -‘Jack’

Director – Elisabeth Scharang

Producer – Dieter Pochlatko

Year – 2015

Running time – 90 minutes

Awards – Best Actor, Austrian Film Award 2016

A girl dies on a winter night, brutally mauled, frost bitten. Jack is in prison for this murder. He channels his dark character into poems that he writes. After his release from custody after 15 years he becomes a star in Vienna's high society as a poet and a lover. But can a person change fundamentally? Can he defeat, or at least silence the devil inside of him? Or does a murderer remain a murderer forever?

2. Belgium - ‘Les Rayures du Zèbre’ | Scouting for Zebras

Director - Benoît Mariage

Producer - Michaël Goldberg

Year – 2014

Running time – 80 minutes

Awards – Magritte Award for Most Promising Actor, Belgium 2015

José is a football agent. He is in Ivory Coast to spot young talents in football. One day, José spots Yaya, a street boy with the potential of a champion, and brings him to Belgium. Will Yaya be José's reward? Between the poor neighborhoods of Abidjan and Sporting Club of Charleroi, the cultural , gap,  is brutal ... and reserves surprises.

3. Cyprus - ‘Block 12’

Director – Kyriakos Tofaridis

Producer - Kyriakos Tofaridis

Year – 2013

Running time – 95 minutes

Awards – Jury Award - Cyprus International Film Festival (Cyprus Film Days)

The movie is about a dysfunctional family that is obliged to move to a small house in the wilderness, due to the financial crisis. Life changes when the place becomes the center of national and international attention, leading to humorous incidents.

4. Czech Republic - ‘Three Brothers’

Director - Jan Sverák

Producer – Jan Sverák

Year – 2014

Running time – 90 minutes

Awards – Nominated for Best Film and Best Director, Czech Lions 2015

This story is perfect for both adults and children. It is about how three brothers leave their home to see the world. During their journey, young men as by miracle enter into famous fairy tales (Little Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Twelve Months) and face traps, unexpected moments and even love in a story full of humor and songs. Script and music of new fairy tale are based on popular musical theatre play Miniopers by famous duo of screenwriter Zdenek Sverák and composer Jaroslav Uhlír.

5. Denmark- ‘Stille Hjerte’ | Silent Heart

Director – Bille August

Year – 2014

Running time – 98 minutes

Awards – Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, Bodil Awards 2015

Three generations of a family gather over a weekend to say goodbye to their matriarch. The two sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens. However, as the weekend progresses their mother’s decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts resurface.

6. Finland ‘Ollaan vapaita’ | Urban Family

Director – Oskari Sipola

Producer - Elina Pohjola / Pohjola-filmi

Year – 2015

Running time – 105 minutes

Selja is in her thirties and lives in a shared flat with her friends. One day a boy appears at her door; a boy she gave up for adoption sixteen years earlier. Selja has a chance to get to know her son, but at the same time, makes a complete mess of her and her best friends’ lives.

Urban Family is a new kind of music film set in the modern-day world. The movie’s engaging songs are written precisely for this movie by the very top Finnish songwriters.

7. France - , L'illusionniste,  – The Illusionist

Animated Film

Director - Sylvain Chomet,

Producer - Pathé International and Django Films

Year – 2011

Running time – 79 minutes

Awards –  

•        Best film European Film Awards, 2010

•        Nominated at the 68th Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film.

•        César Award for Best Animated Feature, 2011

•        Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the 83rd Academy Awards.

A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman. Their ensuing adventure changes both their lives forever.

8. Germany - ‘JACK’

Director – Edward Berger

Producer – Jan Krüger , René Römert Year – 2014

Running time – 102 minutes

Awards –

•        Silver Award for Best film in LOLA 2015 (Deutscher Filmpreis 2015)

JACK is a film about the development of a boy who has learnt to take responsibility from a young age. At the end of the film, he surprises us with the decision he makes and holds up a mirror to the audience with the courage he shows.

Jack is ten years old and hasn’t been at the home for long. It’s summer and there is great anticipation for the summer holidays. However, he’s not picked up on the last day of school. His mother, Sanna, a single parent who seems to be permanently overwhelmed with herself, with having to raise two children and with everything in general, calls the boy and consoles him. Jack is left waiting at the school with another boy and with the teachers, until he ends up exchanging blows with the other kid. Terrified, he runs away and goes back home to seek refuge with his mother, but, once again, Sanna isn’t there. Jack picks up his six-year-old brother Manuel from a friend’s house and together, they set out to find their mother. They roam around the city for several days, following her trail. The two brothers gradually manage to go through their mother’s circle of acquaintances, constantly reaping kind words and being given the cold shoulder.

9. Greece ‘Wild Duck’

Director - Yannis Sakaridis

Year – 2013

Running time – 88 minutes

Awards – Nominated for Best Film, Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2014

 Wild Duck is the story of Dimitris, a telecommunications engineer who’s forced to shutter his business after running up a considerable debt with a local loan shark. He and his buddy Nikos, another telecommunications expert working for a big outfit, decide to get to the bottom of a big scandal. Their research leads them to a certain apartment, whose tenant Panagiota becomes the focus of their attention. Dimitris is now facing some major dilemmas and a trip to his hometown will help him clear his head and look at himself under a different light.

10. Hungary - Utóélet | Afterlife

Director - Virág Zomborácz

Producer - Ferenc Pusztai

Year – 2014

Running time – 90 minutes

Awards –

• First Prize, Bergmao Film Meeting 2015
• Audience Award, Timisoara Ceau, Cinema! European Film Festival 2015
• Best Feature Film, Valladolid International Film Festival 2014

After Mózes starts seeing the ghost of his authoritative, recently-deceased father, the diffident and insecure young man is forced to take matters into his own hands: he has to deal with the relationship with his father once and for all.

11. Ireland -‘1916 – The Irish Rebellion’

Producer - Briona Nic Dhiarmada, University of Notre Dame

Director – Pat Collins, Ruan Magan

Year - 2016

Running Time – 80 minutes  

The documentary - featuring a combination of rarely seen archival footage, new segments filmed on location worldwide, and interviews with leading international experts - also uncovers the untold story of the central role Irish Americans played in the lead-up to the rebellion. Although defeated militarily, the men and women of the Easter Rising would wring a moral victory from the jaws of defeat and inspire countless freedom struggles throughout the world - from Ireland to India.

12. Italy - ‘Mi chiamo Maya’ | My Name Is Maya

Director – Tommaso Agnese

Producer – Silvia Innocenzi, Giovanni Saulini

Year – 2015

Running time – 90 minutes

After a tragic event, Niki, a 16 years old girl, decides to run away from home with her little 8 years old sister Alice. The two take on a trip, discovering over a well-known Rome a new city, full of very different characters: punks, street artists, go-go dancers. And among the difficulties within this initiation trip, Niki and Alice’s lives will change forever.

13. Latvia - ‘Mother, I love you’

Director – Janis Nords

Producer – Gatis Smits, Alise Gelze

Year – 2013

Running time – 80 minutes

Awards -

•        Grand Prix of the International Jury of the program Generation KPlus at the Berlin Film Festival

•        Best Feature Film Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival

•        Best European Film Award at the Zlin Film Festival for Children and Youth, Czech Republic

An insignificant reprimand in his school diary begins a week of emotional turmoil for thirteen-year-old Raimonds. Little lies create even bigger ones, and the snowball of trouble grows in size until at last it comes to the attention of the police. This situation nevertheless helps Raimonds and his mother to find common ground and return to a harmonious existence, which has been previously ruined by his mother's business.

14. Lithuania - ‘Edeno Sodas’| The Garden of Eden

Director - Algimantas Puipa

Producer – Kestutis Petrulis, Arunas Stoskus

Year – 2015

Running time – 93 minutes

Lithuania in the near future. The land is full of rich immigrants. Rich Lithuanians that were scattered throughout the world return to Lithuania to spend their golden years in luxurious nursing homes; and the laws that govern life and death provide a feeling of security. The residents of the Garden of Eden look upon this , global theatre of life,  with tearful smiles and great wisdom.

15. Luxembourg - ‘Dead Man Talking’

Director - Patrick Ridremont

Producer - Bidibul Productions (LU), Nexus Factory (BE), Superprod (FR)

Year – 2012

Running time – 101 minutes

Awards – Nominated Best Foreign Film, César Awards 2014

Forty-year-old William Lamers, an anonymous criminal sentenced to death for murder, is soon to be executed. The procedure is about to take place in an atmosphere of general indifference and neither the condemned man's family nor the relatives of his victims have bothered to come to witness the execution. Only a journalist from local rag has turned up to watch the , show.,  However, what was supposed to be a mere formality rapidly becomes a nightmare for Karl Raven, the prison director. When William is asked if he wishes to say something before he dies, William starts telling the story of his life and recounts an incredible, moving tale. But as the law does not define the duration a condemned prisoner's final words can be, it is decided that William can tell his story all the way through. Better still, he's offered a strange deal: to speak so as not to die. Like Sheherazade, who tells the Sultan a story each night, William becomes the , Dead Man Talking, .

16. Malta - ‘SIMSHAR’

Director – Rebecca Cremona

Producer – Leslie Lucey

Year – 2014

Running time – 101 minutes

Awards –

•        Silver Award, Narrative Film Competition, California Film Awards 2014

•        Best Director and Best Film, Cyprus International Film Festival 2015

•        International Feature Award, Edmonton International Film Festival 2015

•        Malta's Entry for Best Foreign Film Academy Award in a Foreign Language

The Mediterranean island of Malta's first Oscar submission, a local box office smash hit and receiving acclaim and awards from Australia to Zanzibar, 'Simshar' is inspired by true stories which occurred in the Mediterranean in the summer of 2008. This poignant film tells the story of 11 year old Theo who sets sail with his seafaring family on their fishing boat when an accident throws them into open water. Simultaneously, a Turkish merchant vessel has rescued a group of stranded migrants between Italy and Malta, but neither country will take them in. The stories collide and culminate in incredible ways as the family hangs on for dear life in the deep blue.

17. Netherlands ‘MICHIEL DE RUYTER’ | Admiral

Director - Roel Reiné

Producer – Klaas de Jong

Year – 2015

Running time – 151 minutes

Awards –

•        Nominated for Tiantian Award for Best Picture, Beijing International Film Festival 2015

•        Nominated for Audience Award, Hamburg Film Festival 2015

When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France and , and faces its own civil war no less, only one man, Michiel de Ruyter, can lead the county’s strongest weapon: the Dutch fleet.

18. Poland - ‘Bogowie’ | Gods

Director - Lukasz Palkowski,

Producer - Krzysztof Rak, Krzysztof Terej, Piotr Wozniak Starak         

Year – 2014

Running time – 120 minutes

Awards – Golden Lion for Best Film, Gdynia Film Festival 2014.

Bogowie is a 2014 Polish dramatic feature film directed by Łukasz Palkowski. It is based on the life and career of Polish cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa, who performed the first successful heart transplant in Poland in 1985.

19. Portugal ‘Cats Don't Have Vertigo’

Director - António-Pedro Vasconcelos

Producer – Tino Navarro

Year – 2014

Running time – 124 minutes

Awards – Best Actress and Best Screenplay, Autores Awards 2014

Rosa’s life has lost all meaning and purpose after the death of her husband Joaquim; she spends her days alone, talking to his ghost. Her solitude is disrupted when she discovers 18-year-old Jó asleep on the rooftop of her building. Jó has been kicked out of his house by his alcoholic father and has nowhere else to go. Rosa takes him under her wing, raising eyebrows among her family and his friends.

20. Slovakia - ‘Rytmus – A Dream from The Block’

Director - Miro Drobný

Producer – Michal Dvořák (Romeofilms)

Year 2015

Running time – 90 minutes

This documentary reveals the complexity of relationships within family, where each of their members has a different surname, where one has to use adjectives like , step, , , blood,  or , biological, , but foremost a family that has been struggling to fight racism. The family of popular Slovak musician Rytmus, the Romani waiter from Pieštany / Slovakia, who grew up in non-Romani family, became a celebrity and an idol of the youth. He sold tens of thousands albums, was a judge on Czech & Slovak Idol and his videos on internet were seen by over 100 million users. Intimate confessions of his closest family and friends portray the intriguing puzzle of his complicated personality. Many will realize that his album Street Dream is not about expensive cars, golden chains and pendants and watches, but about something entirely different.

21. Slovenia - ‘Sailing to Paradise’

Director - Blaž Završnik

Producer – Jani Sever

Year – 2014

Running time – 83 minutes

Awards – Audience Award for Best Picture, Slovene Film Festival 2014

Žak, a young man, after the death of his parents sets out on a sailing trip in quest for peace and memories, but his path is crossed by Lučka, a garrulous girl, who sticks to him and follows him all the way to his sailboat in the marina. She talks him into taking her aboard and after their Adriatic sailing trip they turn out to be each other's cure for what they are going through.

22. Spain - ‘Flamenco From The Roots’

Director - Vicente Pérez Herrero

Year – 2012

Running time - 85 minutes

A social view of Flamenco as told by its creators on the street. El Álvarez is a master singer in fandangos and street cleaner in Málaga. The roots of Flamenco at the world famous flamenco dance centre , Amor de Dios, .

23. Sweden ‘ÅTERTRÄFFEN’ | The Reunion

Director – Anna Odell

Producer – French Quarter Films

Year – 2013

Running time – 89 minutes

Awards – Guldbagge Award for Best Film 2013

Swedish artist Anna Odell invites us to a grim class-reunion with a twist. What happens when old hierarchies and truths are questioned from an unexpected voice? The Reunion investigates how far too far really is.

24. United Kingdom ‘Coriolanus’

Director – Ralph Fiennes        

Year – 2011

Awards – Best Supporting Actress, British Independent Film Awards 2011

Running time – 123 minutes

The citizens of Rome are hungry. Coriolanus, the hero of Rome, a great soldier and a man of inflexible self-belief despises the people. His extreme views ignite a mass riot. Manipulated and out-maneuvererd by politicians and even his own mother Volumnia, Coriolanus is banished from Rome. He offers his life or his services to his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Chastain.