Cast: Andreas Muller, Ilka Welz
Cinematography: Bernhard Keller
Editing: Natali Barrey, Bettina Böhler, Valeska Grisebach
Music: Martin Hossbach
Screenplay: Valeska Grisebach
Producer: Peter Rommel
Directed by: Valeska Grisebach

SYNOPSIS
Markus is a small-town volunteer firefighter and metal worker who lacks passion. He is married to his childhood sweetheart who adores him, but both cannot articulate their love. Shaken by an apparent suicide, he ends up, after a night of heavy drinking in another town, in the apartment of a waitress. He does not remember much the next morning but realizes he has fallen in love with this woman. He returns home, torn between his two loves. Inspired by a true story.

THE FILMMAKER
Grisebach was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1968. She grew up in Berlin, first studying philosophy and German before moving to Munich and finally to Vienna, where she took a course in direction at the Vienna Film Academy in 1993. After working initially in documentaries, she made her first non-fiction film in 2001, the short feature “Be My Star.” “Sehnsucht” is her feature directorial debut.

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Ninad Kamat, Seema Biswas, Satish Kaushik, Tulip Joshi, Naseeruddin Shah
Cinematography: Abhik Mukhopadhyay
Editing: Debalay Bhattacharya
Sound: Subhash Sahoo
Art Direction: Wasiq Khan
Music: Indian Ocean
Screenplay: Arindam Mitra, Anurag Kashyap
Producer: Shahnaab Alam
Directed by: Arindam Mitra

SYNOPSIS
A modern-day interpretation of T. S. Eliot’s “ Murder in the Cathedral”, “Shoonya” explores the guilt, honour and paranoia of a life in the public domain. When the captain of the Indian cricket team is brought up on charges of match fixing, his instinctive reaction is to accept the charges and be punished. But people around him won’t let that happen. “Shoonya” is a dream-like journey into the head of a disgraced champion.

THE FILMMAKER
Arindam Mitra spent eight years in advertising, first in Calcutta and then in Mumbai. As a creative writer, business manager and account planner, Arindam won numerous national and international awards. Moving to Mid Day Multimedia, publishers of the largest English language tabloid in Asia, he spotted a manuscript that a crime reporter was working on. Arindam developed it into a screenplay and later produced it as the film “Black Friday.” The film was nominated for the Golden Leopard in Locarno in 2004. “Shoonya” is his feature film directorial debut.

SYNOPSIS
“Wild Strawberries” explores the disillusionment of an elderly physician, Professor Isak Borg, as he reflects upon his life and begins to perceive his mortality. As he travels to Lund to receive an honorary award after 50 years of medical practice, he finds himself repeatedly affected by intrusive dreams and hallucinations that expose his darkest fears. He slowly comes to realize that the choices he made in the past have created a cold and empty life, devoid of real meaning or value. The film won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1958 and the Italian Film Critics Award at Venice the same year.

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.

Cast: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Sarah Bolger
Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel
Editing: Michael Kahn
Music: James Horner
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, John Sayles
Producers: Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi
Directed by: Mark Waters

SYNOPSIS
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames it all on Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what’s really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

THE FILMMAKER
Mark Waters was born in 1964 Cleveland, Ohio. He made his directorial debut with “The House of Yes” (1997) which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He has also directed “Freaky Friday” (2003) with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan and “Mean Girls” (2004) starring Lohan and written by Tina Fey.

Voices of: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy
Animation: Framestore Animation
Editing: Mark Solomon
Music: William Ross
Art Direction: Olivier Adam
Screenplay: Kate DiCamillo, Will McRobb, Gary Ross, Chris Viscardi
Producer: Robin Bissell
Directed by: Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen

SYNOPSIS
A long time ago, in the distant kingdom of Dor, a horrible accident broke the heart of the king, left a beautiful princess crestfallen, and filled the townspeople with despair. It was into this darkened world that a tiny mouse named Despereaux Tilling was born, and while this virtuous little rodent may have been short in stature, his bravery was ultimately too big for such a small world to contain. When Despereaux fails to adhere to the rigid rules of society, he is banished, and is joined by a kindhearted rat named Roscuro. On their way to realizing their extraordinary destinies, these two unlikely heroes will meet a whole host of colourful characters that they will never forget.

THE FILMMAKERS
Sam Fell is a writer, director and animator who made his feature debut with “Flushed Away” (2006) for which he was nominated in 2007 for a BAFTA and an Annie for best animated feature. Robert Stevenhagen has previously worked on the animation department of “Sindbad: Legend of the Seven Seas”, “The Road to El Dorado”, “Space Jam” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” “Despereaux” is his feature directorial debut.

Cast: Bruce Allpress, Geraldine Brophy, Eddie Campbell, Ben Chaplin, Brian Cox
Cinematography: Oliver Stapleton
Editing: Mark Warner
Music: James Newton Howard
Screenplay: Robert Nelson Jacobs, Dick King-Smith (novel)
Producers: Robert Bernstein, Charlie Lyons, Barry M. Osbourne, Douglas Rae
Directed by: Jay Russell

SYNOPSIS
When a lonely young boy named Angus discovers a large mysterious egg along the shores of Loch Ness, no one is prepared for what lies within. He soon discovers that the strange, mischievous hatchling inside is none other than the Water Horse, the loch’s most mysterious and fabled creature! But with the Water Horse growing ten times its size every day, Angus finds it increasingly difficult to keep his new friend a secret.

THE FILMMAKER
Born in 1960, Jay Russell graduated from Columbia University in 1984 with a MFA in screenwriting and directing, having studied with producer Michael Hausman and director Milos Forman. His first film, “End of the Line” (1988), was a Sundance Institute project and was released by Orion Classics. He has since written projects for Imagine Entertainment and TriStar Pictures and has directed numerous documentaries for PBS, Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, CBS, Fox, USA Network and NBC.

Cast: Alexei Maklakov, Sonya Oleynic, Alexander Bashirov, Vladimir Dolinsiy, Olga Matushkina
Cinematography: Maxim Shinkorenko
Editing: Slava Ross
Art Direction: Alexander Kovalev
Screenplay: Slava Ross
Producers: Slava Ross, Igor Chekalin
Directed by: Slava Ross

SYNOPSIS
At a children’s theatre in a small town, elderly, not quite sober, actors play parts of pigs, squirrels and goats for years, supervised by a teetotaller manager. Actor Arcady is in his 40s, and for the last 10 years has been playing only one role – Rabbit. He is divorced from his wife and lives in a make-up room at the theatre. He understands that the part of Rabbit could be the last part in his actor’s life, but his soul asks for real art. So Arcady begins to insert Shakespeare’s texts into the performance. His colleagues do not support him. The director threatens to fire him. The only person who admires Arcady is a young actress playing a Mushroom without words.

THE FILMMAKER
Slava Ross was born in Siberia in Novosibirsk in 1966. He studied theatre and graduated as a dramatic actor. For seven years he worked as an actor on stage as well writing and directing comic shows for television. In 1994 he made his cinematic debut with a leading part in the historical film “Shadows of Alangasar.” He left theatre in 1995 and established the Novosibirsk branch of a fund for children’s cinema. In 1999 he graduated from the All-Russian Cinematography Institute (VGIK) where he studied direction. His first student short film “Meat” (2002) has won over 26 international awards. “Fat Stupid Rabbits” is his first feature film.

Cast: Karan Singh, Mamatha Bhukya, Rama Chandraiah, Ramadevi
Cinematography: Milton Kam
Editing: Robert Q. Lovett, Rajnesh Domalpalli
Art Direction: Nagulu Busigampala
Music: Bhaskara S. Narayanan, Indira Amperiani
Screenplay: Rajnesh Domalpalli
Producer: Latha Rajendra Kumar Domalapalli
Directed by: Rajnesh Domalpalli

SYNOPSIS
Vanaja is the 15-year-old daughter of a poor, low caste fisherman, struggling with dwindling catches and mounting debt. When a soothsayer predicts that she will be a great dancer, she goes to work in the house of the local landlady, Rama Devi, in the hope of learning Kuchipudi dance while earning her keep. Vanaja excels at the art, and seems to be on a steadily ascending path when Shekhar, Rama Devi’s 23-year-old handsome but rather insecure son, returns from the US to run for local political elections.

Sparks fly between Shekhar and Vanaja, but the situation turns ugly when Vanaja’s superior intellect pits her against Shekhar in a public incident which ultimately humiliates him.

THE FILMMAKER
Rajnesh Domalpalli was born in Chennai, but spent his childhood in small rural towns associated with dam construction projects where his father worked as a civil engineer for the Andhra Government. After completing his B.Tech in electrical engineering from IIT Mumbai in 1984 and an M.S. from SUNY (USA) in 1986 he worked as a computer engineer in California’s Silicon Valley before deciding to take up film at Columbia University in New York and graduating with an M.F.A. in 2006. “Vanaja” was his thesis at Columbia.

Cast: Rohail Khan, Sania Saeed, Farooq Zameer, Saife Hasan, Sheeraz, Noman Qaiser, Qaiser Naqvi
Cinematography: Ilyas Kashmiri
Editing: Akhter Zia
Music: Waqar Ali
Screenplay: Ehteshamuddin, Saife Hasan
Produced and Directed by: Saife Hasan

SYNOPSIS
Faris is a 12-year-old boy from a lower middle class family who is very fond of a father who he hasn’t seen or spoken to for two years since the father works on a merchant ship. The mother, a school teacher at the same school he studies at, is having an affair with the head master of the school, whom Faris hates. Faris becomes attached to a retired old man from his neighbourhood, who shares with the young boy his hobby of collecting stamps. Faris is particularly intrigued by one of the stamps, from the time of Queen Victoria, that he believes will bring his father back to be with him. When the album containing the stamp is stolen, some dark secrets are spilled.

THE FILMMAKER
Saife Hasan is an actor, editor and director. He began his filmmaking career in 1996 after completing a training course from the Pakistan Television Academy in Islamabad organized by UNDP. Prior to that Saife was an active member of the theatre troupe Tehrik-e-Niswan. Saife Hasan has worked as an editor for more than eight years, and since 2003 has directed many television ventures for a number of television channels.

Cast: Kunwar Ali Roshan, Rubya Chaudhry, Roshanie Ejaz, Haider Raza, Osman Khalid Butt, Rehan, Najma Malik, Salim Meraj
Cinematography: Najaf Bilgrami
Editing: Andy Starke
Sound: The Snake Pit II
Makeup and FX: Nawab Saghar
Screenplay: Pete Tombs, Omar Ali Khan
Producers: Omar Ali Khan, Pete Tombs, Andy Starke
Directed by: Omar Ali Khan

SYNOPSIS
In the spirit of the EC horror comics of old, “Zibakhana” is the story of five teens from Islamabad who get lost on their way to a rock concert, are menaced by flesh eating mutants and then fall into the clutches of a family of backwoods killers. The film includes copious amounts of gore alongside a splattering of social commentary and several slices of dark humour. It’s best seen as a tribute to the cinema of Lucio Fulci and George Romero, but from a distinctly Pakistani perspective.

THE FILMMAKER
The co-producer, co-writer and director of the film, Omar Ali Khan’s earliest memories include being frightened as a child by the poster for “Zinda Laash” (The Living Corpse, 1967), Pakistan’s first – and only – vampire film. As a tribute to that pioneering production, “Zibahkhana” features a cameo role for Rehan, who played Dracula in that long forgotten shocker. Omar was born in the UK and attended film school at Emerson College, USA. A co-founder and proprietor of the Hot Spot chain of restaurants in Pakistan, he also has a radio show (as Dr. Phibes) and writes for a variety of local publications. “Zibahkhana” is his first feature film.