Cast: Nurgül Yesilçay, Baki Davrak, Tuncel Kurtiz, Hanna Schygulla, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Nursel Köse
Cinematography: Rainer Klausmann
Editing: Andrew Bird
Music: Shantel
Art Direction: Seth Turner
Producers: Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Jeanette Würl, Klaus Maeck
Written and Directed by: Fatih Akin

SYNOPSIS
German professor Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali’s choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies. Yeter’s accidental death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter’s daughter Ayten and rediscovers his Turkish identity, unaware that Ayten, a political activist, has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany.

THE FILMMAKER
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He studied visual communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, “Sensin - You’re The One!”, which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, “Weed” (1996), received several national and international festival prizes. His first full length feature film, “Short Sharp Shock” (1998) won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include “In July” (2000), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards “Head-On” (2003), and “Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul” (2005).

Cast: Zabih Afshar, Leila Mousavi, Ali Yaaghobi, Ahmad Reza Akbari, Maryam Boubani, Ahmad Naghadeh, Massoud Mehregan
Cinematography: Bayram Fazli
Editing: Ebrahim Saeidi
Sound: Farshid Faraji, Amir Hossein Ghasemi
Screenplay: Bayram Fazli
Producer: Hamid Reza Ashtianipour
Directed by: Bayram Fazli

SYNOPSIS
Dasdaran is a powerful clan which rules the territories in a timeless and indeterminate place. Each area under their rule is governed in a special way. A tribal man together with a young woman who has escaped from a war torn village, unknowingly takes the helm from them. “Dasdaran”, the sickle bearers have easy ways to tackle them.

THE FILMMAKER
Bayram Fazli was born in 1968 in Azarbaijan, Iran. He graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at Art University, Tehran, and currently works mostly as a director of photography in Iranian cinema. He has many films to his credit as a cinematographer as well as a 2002 short “The Well” as a director. “Baaz Ham Sib Daari?” is his debut as a feature director.

SYNOPSIS
Set in contemporary Bombay, the action revolves around a driver, a watchman, and a waiter. These three friends share a camaraderie despite coming from three different generations. Misfortune soon befalls the watchman and, due to a series of chance events, he falls into a crime that provides him with the funds he needs. Discovering a new sense of confidence, and having found a seemingly low-risk way to make good money, he entices the others to join him in a series of such crimes. Making the leap into committing such brazen, formerly unthinkable crimes breaks their acceptance of the status quo, and more.

THE FILMMAKER
Raja Menon established himself making advertising films before moving into features. He made his debut feature, “Bas Yun Hi”, in 2003 which he also produced and wrote. “Barah Aana” is his second feature.

Cast: Shahood Alvi, Nayla Jaffery, Adnan Jilani, Saife Hasan, Arjumand Rahim, Shamim Hilaly, Mahvash Farooqi
Cinematography: Ali Hafiz
Editing: Zaigham Abbas
Sound: Mohammad Salman
Music: Sheema Kermani
Art Direction: Sheema Kermani
Screenplay: Anwer Jaffery
Producer: Sheema Kermani
Directed by: Anwer Jaffery

SYNOPSIS
Wafa is a housewife with a perfectly happy home and marriage, till it is discovered that her dentist husband has been cheating on her with her best friend. The ideal marriage seems to be shattered, but Wafa handles the situation with great calm and confidence and turns the tables to her advantage. A light-hearted comedy that deals with the institution of marriage in an endearingly ironic way.

THE FILMMAKER
Anwer Jaffery did his post-graduation in filmmaking from the school of audio-visual studies at Manchester Polytechnic, UK. He has written, edited and directed the award winning teleplays “Saibaan”, “Dhundalka” and “Break the Silence.” He has also written and directed documentaries and music videos for Tehrik-e-Niswan Productions and Saraang Productions.

Cast: Cezmi Baskin, Özgü Namal, Umut Kurt, Nazmi Kirik
Cinematography: Gokhan Atilmis
Editing: Engin Ozturk
Art Direction: Cagri Aydin
Music: Aytekin G. Atas
Screenplay: Sirri Sureyya Önder
Producers: Necati Akpinar, Fatmanur Sevinç
Directed by: Muharrem Gulmez and Sirri Sureyya Önder

SYNOPSIS
In 1982, a group of local musicians in Adiyaman are prevented from earning their living because of the curfew enforced during those years. They find a solution, but this results in jail, where the martial law commander of the region wants to create a ‘modern orchestra’ with these local street musicians. The tragicomic events begin, with ceremonies, protests, and surprising turns filling the film.

THE FILMMAKERS
Sırrı Süreyya Önder was a political science student at Ankara University during the military coup of September 12, 1980. He was arrested during the student riots and convicted as a political felon. Önder served 12 years in Mamak Prison. He is a writer and has recently moved towards writing screenplays. “Beynelmilel” is his first feature film.

Muharrem Gülmez was born in Ankara in 1968. He studied at Dokuz Eylül University and received a degree in Television from the Faculty of Fine Arts. Since 1990, Gülmez has been active in the film industry as the assistant director and producer for many motion pictures and TV series. “Beynelmilel” is his first feature film.

Cast: Abid Ali, Faiza Hassan, Nabeel, Amber Nausheen, Raza Ali, Hina Khan
Cinematography: Salman Shahid
Editing: Liaquat Ali Khan
Music: S. Mazhar Moin, Faseeh Bari Khan
Screenplay: Faseeh Bari Khan
Producer: Erum Binte Shahid /ARY
Directed by: S. Mazhar Moin

SYNOPSIS
Nilofer is a precocious 16-year-old girl who lives with her hassled mother and disciplinarian father and eight younger siblings in a cramped flat in Karachi’s old city. Beguiled by the soaps on television, she dreams of true love but has little chance to go out and find it or even to express herself in the presence of her parents. Her only confidante is a neighbour, a young woman whose wiles her mother does not particularly approve of. When Nilofer falls for the young cable man who visits to fix her television connection, it sets in motion a series of half-comic, half-tragic events that encapsulate the constricting life she lives.

THE FILMMAKER
S. Mazhar Moin studied accountancy from ICMAP but diverted afterwards into a career in television. He has directed two short films, “Purwa” (which ran on Pakistan Television) and “Dunkk.” He directed his first television drama “26th Temple Road” in 2004, following it up with “Barray Shehr ki Akaili Aurat.” His most recent production was “Dulha Bhai.”

Cast: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly
Cinematography: Tom Stern
Editing: Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach
Music: Clint Eastwood
Art Direction: Patrick M. Sullivan Jr.
Screenplay: J. Michael Straczynski
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Robert Lorenz
Directed by: Clint Eastwood

SYNOPSIS
Inspired by actual events that occurred in 1920s-era Los Angeles, the film tells the story of Christine Collins, a switchboard supervisor and single mother whose young son, Walter, goes missing while she is at work. When, many months later, the police present a boy who claims to be her recovered son, she refuses to accept the boy as the one she gave birth to, leading to confrontation with a corrupt police department.

THE FILMMAKER
After more than 50 years of filmmaking, Clint Eastwood continues to make award-winning cinema. Known initially for his iconic roles in spaghetti westerns such as “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, and crime dramas such as “Dirty Harry”, Eastwood has garnered 10 Academy Award nominations and 6 wins for films he has directed. His previous films “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” (complementary films about the Second World War from American and Japanese perspectives made in 2006) were nominated for a total of 28 awards and won a further 29 awards, including Oscars for Best Picture and Best Direction for “Letters from Iwo Jima.”

Cast: Victor Banerjee, Soha Ali Khan, Roopa Ganguly, Nedumudi Venu, Zeenat Aman, Shyan Munshi, Karthik Kumar, Kiera Chaplin
Cinematography: Tobias Datum
Editing: Bina Paul
Sound: Resul Pookutty
Music: Manikanth Kadri
Art Direction: Aloke Haldar
Screenplay: Anuvab Pal, Rajshree Ojha
Producer: Pramod Ojha
Directed by: Rajshree Ojha

SYNOPSIS
Similar but disconnected people search for something to overcome mundane reality. Thirty-something Farooq cannot get over memories of his parents in the Mumbai house he occupies and writes about, an obsession that threatens his budding relationship with the full-of-life Ira. Young architect Nandi must deal with the death in war of his elder brother and the shadow this casts over his family’s life as well as his own suppressed secret. Radha is in a loveless relationship with her surgeon husband who is carrying on an affair with a young European working as a bookstore clerk in Calcutta.

THE FILMMAKER
Born to a Gujarati mother and Bengali father and schooled in Bangalore, Rajshree Ojha completed her masters degree at the American Film Institute. Her 2002 short film “Badger” won the AFI Spirit of Excellence Award for Outstanding Direction as well as the best short film award at the Ojai Film Festival. Her 2005 short film “Yatna” introduced Charlie Chaplin’s grand-daughter Kiera Chaplin. “Chaurahen” is her feature film debut.

Cast: Shriya, Pankaj Kapur, Manek Bedi, Piu Dutt
Cinematography: Sachin K. Krishn
Editing: Aarif Sheikh
Sound: Dara Singh
Art Direction: Samir Chanda
Screenplay: Ruskin Bond (Story), Vishal Bharadwaj, Abhishek Chaubey, Minty Kunwar Tejpal
Producers: Vishal Bharadwaj, Ronnie Screwwala
Directed by: Vishal Bharadwaj

SYNOPSIS
Binya, a smart 11-year-old girl in a sleepy Himalayan village, comes across a bright blue umbrella owned by some Japanese tourists. Fascinated by it, she exchanges it with her grandmother’s precious necklace. As she flaunts it, her beautiful, expensive umbrella is coveted by everyone in the village and particularly by the penny-pinching old shopkeeper. When the umbrella suddenly disappears, everyone suspects the shopkeeper. This new materialism unleashes events that destroy the peaceful coexistence of the village. Based on a Ruskin Bond short story.

THE FILMMAKER
Vishal Bharadwaj shot to prominence as a music composer by scoring such celebrated films as “Maachis”, “Satya” and “Chachi 420.” In 2002, he directed and produced the children’s cult hit “Makdee”, starring Shabana Azmi. He followed it up in 2003 with the brooding and atmospheric “Maqbool” (3rd KaraFilm Festival) based on Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. “Maqbool” won the Best Film award at the Bangkok Film Festival and a number of other critics’ awards in India. His 2006 Othello adaptation “Omkara” (6th KaraFilm Festival) was another global critical success. He is currently in production on a film about the 1930s’ Bollywood stunt queen known as Fearless Nadia starring “Run Lola Run” star Franka Potente.

Cast : Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Elkerot, Nils Poppe
Cinematography: Gunnar Nordgren
Editing: Lennart Wallen
Music: Erik Nordgren
Producer: Allan Ekelund
Written and
Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

SYNOPSIS
“The Seventh Seal” is an existential Swedish film about the journey of a medieval knight across a plague-ridden landscape, and a monumental game of chess between himself and the personification of death, who has come to take his life. The title refers to a passage about the end of the world from the Book of Revelation. Bergman developed the film from his own play, ‘Wood Painting.’ Since its release, the film has been regarded as a masterpiece of cinematography and won the special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957.

THE FILMMAKER
Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in motion picture history. He was the first director to bring metaphysics — religion, death, existentialism — to the screen. His films deal with issues of pain and torment, desire and religion, evil and love. He made over 60 films over the span of six decades and was nominated for nine academy awards. His films also won awards at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. Bergman died in July, 2007.