Social & External
At the onset of the pandemic, a Chinese Uber driver in New York struggles to make ends meet as he picks up various passengers on a long and dreary night.
COVID-19 is rampant in the world. Juri, a 25-year-old young girl, stops socializing and has been just staying at home. Her mother, Young-shim struggles against the hard season, still running her Kim-bob place. One day, Young-shim leaves to take care of her sick mother, and Juri takes charge of the restaurant unexpectedly.
When the Grande Hotel suddenly detected a suspected Covid case, the epidemic prevention center ordered a total blockade. All guests staying in the hotel must accept mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Everyone is isolated in the hotel, and the relationship between people is getting closer unconsciously. Everyone has lived through difficult times together, and learned to cherish what may be the last time to get along with each other.
In a strange place where daily broadcasts require everyone to “keep the silence”, the long-isolated residents of Edifice 129, trapped in their apartments and by distant memories, creep forwards, day by day. / Edifice 129 is a particular collaborative project, created by filmmakers across three countries. In the midst of the COVID-19 lock-downs, Linda Gasser — director of the Arc Film Festival in Mainz, Germany — invited filmmakers to join her Creatives Across Borders initiative. The aim was to meet via Zoom, support each other, and talk film, but talking film soon turned into developing a film. Meeting regularly, sometimes weekly, four writer/directors and a digital 3D artist created short films designed to work both as standalone projects and, when inter-cut, as one cohesive story, despite being filmed in Germany, the UK and Malta, and with the filmmakers never having met in person until after the films were finished.
This film tells five independent and intertwined stories, presenting the anti-epidemic life with laughter and tears from the point of view of doctors, patients, volunteers in Hubei, grassroots staff and ordinary people. They pay tribute to the "ordinary heroes" in the epidemic and pass on the endless force of "spring".
The year is 2020, the middle of the corona crisis. Art student Itsuka has her graduation exhibition canceled and must take home the piece which she had been working on for a year. In a whirlpool of emotions she clashes with her worried parents, her little sister overreacts to the virus and even her usually calm friend Hirai starts to build up frustration. In the middle of all that, she re-unites with Tanaka, who gave her the opportunity to absorb herself in painting, clashes with Hirai over their true feelings and tries to face her own future.
Abimanyu (16) struggles to understand the importance of health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. While his father, a dedicated healthcare worker, is on the front lines battling the virus, the boy often neglects basic safety measures like wearing a mask. But a sudden, life-changing moment forces him to reconsider his actions and the true cost of the pandemic.
Sarah seems to have found her calling working in a Liverpool care home where she has a special talent for connecting with the residents. Then, in March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic hits.
Two high school classmates talked about looking forward to various summer events which were later cancelled due to COVID-19.
In present-day Queens, a Turkish gravedigger is unable to face a shattering truth and risks losing the dearest connection left in his life.
In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. This silent witness has observed over a century the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives. At three distinct moments across the 20th and 21st centuries, these people — each carrying their own questions and inner struggles — inevitably find themselves drawn into the presence of this tree, full of mystery and meaning.
The patriarch of the family enters the hospital with COVID-19 and because of hospital protocols his family members are forced to say their goodbyes via video conferencing.
A village reliant on a consistent supply of alcohol is rocked by the Coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
Gabriel is a depressed young man living a reclusive and lonely life, shaken by memories of a very turbulent past. Amid the corona-virus pandemic that is ravaging the world, Gabriel finds refuge in his passion for video games and decides to start a modest career in live broadcasts on the internet. With his shy personality, he creates a community of online fans who connect with his inspiring messages of perseverance and authenticity. As Gabriel shares his personal journey and encourages his viewers to face their fears, he becomes a source of hope for many, especially one young follower who, inspired by her words, finds the strength to report her attacker. As his stream views increase and positive comments flood his channel, Gabriel finds a sense of purpose, fulfillment, and courage he never imagined.
Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.
An outbreak has Esteban confined at home and separated from Alan. From his rooftop bedroom, he tries to maintain their relationship through video calls, but the isolation seems endless and reality catches up with them.
In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.
After going through an emotional breakdown, a woman tries to realign herself before deciding if she can take on another job.
Twenty-two year old Neuroscience student Wendy is in the midst of a transition from pre-med to performance when she is thrown into quarantine with her 17 year-old sister, April. Suddenly sharing a full-sized bed, the sisters struggle to make peace with their newfound living quarters. But, while editing April’s college essays, Wendy discovers her purpose–to help April find hers. Over fourteen days, the girls grow from acquaintances to artistic allies as they realize their unstoppable potential to pursue their passion. Based on a true story, this film was shot in Houston with an entirely Texan cast & crew. Creator Abby Tozer donated $2500 to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell young performing artists' scholarship.
On the wild west coast of Auckland in New Zealand we follow one man's enforced isolation. Pacing the beach, he wonders if those dear to him will ever be seen again.
An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.
A doctor tries to woo a grieving, widowed firefighter in her attempt to get him to testify on her behalf in a medical malpractice case.
Set in 1958, the coming of age story follows four lower middle-class Brooklyn teenagers known as The Lords of Flatbush. The Lords chase girls, steal cars, shoot pool, get into street fights, and hang out at a local malt shop.
Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.
Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.
With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.
A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.
A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.
A conservative lawyer named Diane takes her two teenage children Jake and Zoe to meet their estranged, hippie grandmother in Woodstock after her husband asks for a divorce.
The film follows the marital and dating lives of three men and three women who unknowingly form a tangled web of relationships. Interspersing "man on the street" interviews with scenes from the six characters' lives, the film weaves a humorous and biting commentary on the game of love -- easy to start, hard to finish.
A car accident and shifting affections test the bond between a married couple.
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Left heartbroken after Romeo begins to pursue her cousin Juliet, Rosaline schemes to foil the famous romance and win back her guy in this comedic twist of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.
Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.
An aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia falls for a mysterious woman who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross-country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long-suffering brother to chase after him.
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.
A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
