Adan (Japan, 2004, 139min, directed by Sho Igarashi) is a record of the eccentric Japanese painter Takashi "Isson" Tanaka, who was unknown during his lifetime and died in self-exile. Apokrif: muzica dlya Petra I Pavla (Apocrypha: Music for Peter and Paul, Russia, 2004, 140min, directed by Adel Al-Khadad), the life of composer Peter Illich Tchaikovsky is seen through the sacrifices of others who were eager to give him the space to create. Brïdre (Brothers, Denmark, 2004, 110min, directed by Susanne Bier), Michael, while serving in Afghanistan with a peace-keeping force, becomes missing in action -- a situation of which his brother Jannik takes advantage. Der Untergang (Downfall, Germany, 2004, 156min, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, starring Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes and Juliane Köhler). Berlin, April 1945. A nation awaits its downfall. Fighting rages on the streets of the capital. Hitler and his closest confidantes have barricaded themselves in the Fuehrer's Bunker. Among them is Traudi Junge, Hitler's private secretary. Outside, the situation escalates. Although Berlin can no longer be held, the Fuehrer refuses to leave the city. And while the full force of war crushes his folk, he stages his final departure. Only hours before their joint suicide, he marries Eva Braun. Then their corpses are burned so that they do not fall into the hands of the Red Army. Many others also choose suicide. As the situation becomes ever more hopeless, Magda Goebbels poisons her six children before she and her husband take their own lives. Shortly thereafter Traudi Junge and several others manage to escape at the last minute. Les Choristes (France, 2004, 96min, directed by Christophe Barratier) César-winning film is set in 1949 Paris, where an unemployed music teacher, Clément Mathieu, is recruited to work in the oppressive atmosphere of a boys' boarding school, and uses the magic of music to positively transform the lives of the students. Enduring Love (UK, 2004, directed by Roger Michell). Based on the Ian Mckewan novel, depicts delusional and dangerous Jed Parry who torments Joe Morrisey, when he witnesses his failed attempt to rescue a victim of a hot-air balloon, playing on his sense of guilt and personal insecurities. Folgeschöden (Seeds of Doubt, Germany, 2005, 90min, directed by Samir Nasr). Algerian doctor Tarik Azmy, his wife Maya, an art director at a magazine, and their cute son, Karim are a family whose happy days come to an end when two German intelligence officers break into Maya's office and interrogate her about her husband suspected of being a "sleeper", a hidden terrorist who is associated with 9/11 perpetrators. Girl with a Pearl Earring (UK, 2002, directed by Peter Webber, starring Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Wilkinson). Set in 17th-century Holland, Girl with a Pearl Earring invents the story behind one of Vermeer's greatest and most enigmatic paintings -- a thriller full of suspense. Griet, a tilemaker's daughter, is tragically forced to become the master painter's maid. Fascinated by his craft, she soon shows an aptitude for helping around the studio, where she finds herself drawn to the man and his world of colour and light. As she becomes part of his work, their growing intimacy spreads disruption and jealousy within his ordered household and beyond, fuelling a scandal that threatens to ruin all. House of Flying Daggers (China, 2004, 119min, directed by Zhang Yimou). In AD 859, a time when China suffered terrible conflicts. The corrupt government of Tang dynasty sends two army officers, Leo and Jin, to infiltrate the rebel group House of Flying Daggers. Jin, disguised as a lone fighter, earns the trust of the beautiful and blind revolutionary, Mei, but the duo's success does not account for the feelings Mei begins to arouse in them. Al-Janna Al-Aan (Paradise Now, France, Germany, Netherlands, Palestine 2005, 90min, directed by Hany Abu-Assad). Said and Khaled, two car repair workers in Nablus are chosen to perform a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and their families are not supposed to know about their secret mission. Keuk jang jeon (Tale of Cinema, Korea, France, 2004, 90min, directed by Hong Sangsoo), the paths of two men and a woman intersect, then move apart from each other, with cinema at remaining at the centre. Al-Khoubz Al-Hafi (Le Pain nu/ For Bread Alone, Italy, France, Morocco, 100min, directed by Rachid Benhadj). Based on late Moroccan novelist Mohamed Choukri semi-autobiographical For Bread Alone, this film adaptation evokes much of its street-bound power, with little Mohamed searching for crumbs of bread, and the adventures into which deprivation throws him as he grows up -- from the company of criminals to working as a male prostitute. Kinsey (USA, 2004, 118min, directed Bill Condon, starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry and Oliver Platt). On 5 January 1948 the medical textbook publishing house W B Sanders released Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, inviting American society to freely discuss sex. Dubbed the "American Freud", Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956) was a sickly child brought up by a conservative father; his health improved only when he began to observe animals. He studied biology and psychology, obtained his doctorate from Harvard and, at the University of Indiana, became an authority on the gall wasp. On his marriage to Clara Bracken McMillen, he gradually overcame his inhibitions -- they had three children -- and eventually, recognising the importance of sex, even initiated an academic debate on the issue. Not until the interviews he conducted with his favourite student Clyde Martin did he obtain findings. Theory soon led to practice, however: Kinsey and Martin began an affair, in the course of which the latter also slept with the former's wife. Lila dit ça (Lila Says, France, 2004, 89min, directed by Ziad Doueiri). Set in France, Lila is a flirtatious blonde girl who has just moved into an Arab ghetto, and the poet Chimo, a quiet 19-year-old who, narrating the film, seems to stand in for the writer of the best selling novel on which the film is based, falls for her. The ensuing game of sexual discovery leads to an unexpected look at tolerance, self-hatred, and machismo. Maarek Hob (In the Battlefields, Lebanon, France, 2004, 98min, directed by Danielle Arbid') is set in 1983 Beirut, where Lina, 12, less aware of the war than of her impending adulthood, inadvertently reaches into the adult world, vicariously following the romantic escapades of her aunt's maid. Manderlay (Denmark, 2004, Colour, 139min, directed by Lars Von Trier, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach De Bankolé, Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe). Manderlay lay on a lonely plain somewhere in the deep south of the USA. In 1933 Grace and her gangster father have left the township of Dogville behind, after a fruitless winter seeking hunting ground. On their way south the car stops before large iron gate bearing a thick chain and a padlock in Alabama. Beside it a dead oak tree towers above a heavy boulder with Manderlay hewn in monumental letters into the granite. Just as Grace, her father and his men are about to leave, a young black woman runs up to the car and knocks on Grace's window in despair. Ignoring her father's advice to leave others to their own affairs, Grace follows the girl through the gates of Manderlay -- where slavery has yet to be abolished. Melinda and Melinda (USA 2005, 99min, directed by Woody Allen). In Manhattan, a man recounts a story to two famous writers and asks them to consider whether they think it is a comedy or a tragedy. The woman protagonist and the various couplings and romantic entanglements among her friends. provide contrasts of romantic comedy with drama, where marital infidelity and inter-gender (mis)communication are among the themes explored. Ovunque sei (Another Life, Italy, 2005, 86min, directed by Michele Placido) is the story of a couple, Emma and Matteo, who, happening to cheat on each other at the same time, rediscover the strength of their love. Pontormo, Un amore eretico (Pontormo, An Heretical Love, Italy, 2004, 108min, directed by Giovanni Fago) is about the last months in the life of the famous 16th-century Florentine painter Jacopo "Pontormo" Carrucci, whose mute Dutch muse is accused of being a witch. Les Poupées Russes (Russian Dolls, France, 2005, 115, directed by Cédric Klapisch) Xavier, achieved his childhood dream of becoming a writer but he is in financial straits and he is unable to commit himself in a relationship. He meets some friends with whom he once spent sometime in Barcelona five years before. Rakushka (Shell , Greece, 2004, 107min, directed by Fotini Siskopoulou, starring Costas Kalokairinos, Milana Youssoupova, Irina Boiko and Vangelis Mourikis). Rakushka (Shell) is a loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Krotkaya (The Gentle Maiden or The Meek One, 1876), relocated to contemporary Athens. Vassilis, a lonely middle-aged man, a pawnbroker with a dark past, is fascinated by 18-year-old Zogia, a cellist and immigrant from Tashkent who comes to his shop to pawn objects of very little value. Pursued by him, she finally accepts his proposal of marriage, but very soon their relationship develops into an undeclared war exacerbated by social, age and cultural differences. From the beginning his possessiveness results in her isolation, and gradually she rebels, resorts to silence -- then determinedly makes a decision. Sin City (USA, 2005, 123min, directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller). Neo-noir depicting three sets of characters. Street thug Marv and his dead love object Goldie; private investigator Dwight and his professional women friends in need of his protection; Sin City's last honest cop, John Hartigan, has to save an 11-year-old girl from a sadistic Senator's son. Based on the animated series by comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. La spettatrice (The Spectator, Italy, 2004, 98min, directed by Paolo Franchi, starring Barbora Bobulova, Brigitte Catillon, Andrea Renzi). In Turin, Italy, 26-year-old spontaneous translator Valeria is inhibited and solitary. With no emotional life, she develops a ritualistic attachment to observing the 40-something Massimo, who lives in the opposite apartment. Valeria happens to translate for Massimo at a conference and eventually something starts growing between them. When he moves to Rome, her life falls apart. Following him, she discovers that he has another woman -- the older Flavia. Valeria has "an accidental meeting" with her and a certain immediate sympathy between the two women develops, together with mutual curiosity about each other. Yet their "friendship" hangs on a web of subtle betrayals. Flavia uses Valeria's fragile introversion as a catalyst for the novel she is writing about her late husband, which work she chose over pursuing her relationship with Massimo. For Valeria, Flavia is the only desperate link with Massimo, with whom she cannot have a real relationship. Springet (The Leap, Denmark, 2005, 91min, directed by Henning Carlsen) depicts Tobias Jacobsen, a terminally ill 42-year-old who discovers and embarks on a "leap of faith" that teaches him both self trust and humour. Three Year Delivery (Japan, 2005, 99min, directed by Miako Tadano). In this social comedy a woman remains pregnant for 27 months and the reactions of her grandmother, mother, sister and husband vary: the former are not at all surprised while the husband, who has passing affairs with other women and returns every night drunk believes there is an alien inside her stomach. Vera Drake (UK, 2004, 125min, directed by Mike Leigh) is about a kindly abortionist in 1950s London, whose beliefs and practices lead ultimately to tragedy. Viva Laldjerie (Viva Algeria, Algeria, France, Belgium, 2004, 113min, directed by Nadir Mokn che, starring Lubna Azabal, Jalil Naciri, Lounes Tazairt, Biyouna and Nadia Kaci). Winter 2003 in the heart of Algiers. Three women exiled in their own country. The three women -- a mother, her daughter and a prostitute -- have been living in a hotel in the centre of town amid creeping fundamentalism. The daughter has chosen a modern, emancipated life for herself by working for a photographer and spending steamy weekends in nightclubs. Her faithful friend prostitutes herself under the thumb of a local protector. The mother eats pizzas in front of the television, torn between fear and nostalgia. Warriors of Heaven and Earth (China, 2004, directed by He Ping) is the story of a Japanese soldier and a Chinese convict uniting in defence of a Buddist monk. Xi zao (Shower, China, 2000, 90min, directed by Zhang Yang, starring Zhu Xu and Pu Cunxin). Lao Liu, the owner of a bathhouse who dedicated his life to the business, is now an old man, accompanied only by Erming, his mentally impaired second son. Daming, his elder son, has been away from home for many years, running his own business in the south. On receiving a message bearing news of his father's death -- a false alarm delivered by mistake -- Daming hurries home, only to find that with his father's age and his brother's mental condition, the bathhouse has become dilapidated. Although not eager to stay, his plan to leave is ruined by a sequence of events. He starts to learn about running the bathhouse, and tries to understand his father better. And in the world of the bathhouse, he is exposed to a different view of society and of life. Yi dai tian jiao Cheng Ji Si Han (Genghis Khan, China, 1998, directed by Sai Fu and Mai Lisi). In the 12th century, Genghis Khan gradually realized that hatred and revenge must be stopped and he united all different Mongolian tribes as one, thus bringing peace and stability to the Mongolian people. Zozo (Sweden, 2005, 103min, directed by Josef Fares) has little Zozo, 10, torn away from his family in the Lebanese civil war and setting out for in Sweden, an unknown country. Zwarte Zwanen (Black Swans, Netherlands, 2004, 87min, directed by Colette Bothof) depicts a love relationship that is alternately inevitable and impossible. For schedule details see Listings
