Under the Fig Trees
Synopsis
A truck filled with workers—women and men, young and old—arrives at an orchard at dawn. The youngest among them head up into the trees to pick figs under the watchful eye of the foreman. They are restless and eager in the summer heat, stealing away from work to catch up, gossip, squabble, and flirt. Over the course of a day in the harvest, each encounter between the workers on the cusp of adulthood is ripe with discovery and connection, as the older women share songs and reminiscences of lives lived and loves lost. Sun-dappled and sensual, Erige Sehiri’s fiction debut captures the promise of first love, the ephemerality of youth, and the sorrows of life with remarkable intimacy and tenderness.
Screenings & Events
Media
Film Credits
- Erige Sehiri, Didar Domehri
- Erige Sehiri, Ghalya Lacroix, Peggy Hamann
- Erige Sehiri, Hafedh Laaridhi, Ghalya Lacroix
- Frida Marzouk
- Fide Fdhili, Feten Fdhili, Ameni Fdhili, Samar Sifi, Leila Ouhebi, Hneya Ben Elhedi Sbahi, Gaith Mendassi, Abdelhak Mrabti, Fedi Ben Achour, Firas Amri
- Aymen Laabidi
- Heina Production, Maneki Films
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Synopsis
In a dystopian near-future, government program Plan 75 gently coerces senior citizens to be euthanized to relieve the social and economic burdens of an aging population. When 78-year-old widow Michi (Chieko Baishō) loses her job as a hotel maid, her prospects for a secure future vanish, and she considers the Plan as her only viable option. Plan 75 salesman Hiromu (Hayato Isomura) is unwavering in his belief in the benefits of the program, until it becomes personal. And Maria (Stephanie Arianne) accepts an unsavory job with Plan 75 in order to send money back to the Philippines, where her daughter awaits a life-saving operation. The paths of these three lonely souls intersect as they confront the crushing callousness of a world ready to dispose of those no longer deemed useful. On the surface, a tyranny of bureaucratic kindness pervades every waking moment, as the ancient practice of obasute (abandoning the elderly), enshrined in Japanese myth, casts a long shadow over the future in this uncanny, powerfully understated, and chilling vision.
Screenings & Events
Media
Film Credits
- Eiko Mizuno-Gray, Jason Gray, Frédéric Corvez, Maéva Savinien
- Chie Hayakawa
- Anne Klotz
- Setsuko Shiokawa
- Hideho Urata
- Chieko Baishō, Hayato Isomura, Yuumi Kawai, Taka Takao, Stefanie Arianne
- Masaru Usui
- Remi Boubal
- Loaded Films Ltd., Urban Factory, Happinet-Phantom Studios, Dongyu Club, Doha Film Institute, WOWOW, Fusee
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Return to Seoul Retour à Séoul
Synopsis
After an impulsive travel decision to visit friends, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. Freddie suddenly finds herself embarking on an unexpected journey in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new directions.
Screenings & Events
Film Credits
- Charlotte Vincent, Katia Khazak
- Davy Chou
- Dounia Sichov
- Thomas Favel
- Ji-min Park, Kwang-Rok Oh, Guka Han, Sun-Young Kim, Yoann Zimmer, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Ouk-Sook Hur, Émeline Briffaud, Cheol-Hyun Lim, Seung-Beom Son, Dong-Seok Kim
- Vincent Villa
- Ha Min-Ho, Davy Chou
- Aurora Films
- https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/returntoseoul/
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Mediterranean Fever
Synopsis
In this wry, absurdist tale of mid-life restlessness, husband and father Waleed dreams of becoming a successful novelist yet is plagued by a severe case of writer’s block. Neither his therapist nor his family are able to offer much support, but when he forges an unlikely connection with his new neighbor, petty criminal Jalal, his fortunes seem to shift. Under the auspices of research for his next novel, Waleed tags along with Jalal on his illicit daily routine, leading to a series of fraught situations that find Waleed out of his depth. Featuring a winsome winsome lead performance from Amer Hlehel and a dry, hilarious script, Mediterranean Fever is a sly, charming story of friendship and personal crisis told with a melancholic wit reminiscent of The Sopranos.
Screenings & Events
Media
Film Credits
- Baher Agbariya, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Juliette Lepoutre, Pierre Menahem, Marios Piperides, Janine Teerling
- Maha Haj
- Véronique Lange
- Andreas Antoniou
- Antoine Heberlé AFC
- Amer Hlehel, Ashraf Farah, Anat Hadid, Samir Elias, Cynthia Saleem, Shaden Kanboura
- Jorg Weimann, Adrian Baumeister, Florian Marquardt, Henry Uhl
- Munder Odeh
- Majdal Films, Pallas Films, Still Moving, AMP Filmworks, Metafora Production
Sponsors
Comedy Sponsor
Cultural Support
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Chile ’76
Synopsis
In this tense, artful drama set during the early years of the Pinochet dictatorship, affluent matriarch Carmen heads to her family’s beach house to oversee its renovation. When she arrives, she’s asked by her priest to care for an injured young man he has taken in; she agrees, only to discover that her new charge is fleeing the military police and her act of charity has unwittingly placed her in perilous circumstances. Taut and restrained like its lead character, this quiet thriller is structured around an impossible, urgent conflict: Will Carmen protect herself and her family or stand up to a brutal regime with a simple and potentially fatal act of resistance?
Screenings & Events
Media
Film Credits
- Omar Zúñiga
- Manuela Martelli, Alejandra Moffat
- Francisca Correa
- Jesica Suárez
- Cinestación, Wood Producciones
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