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ma ma[/caption]
Ma ma is set in Madrid, Spain, and stars Academy Award®-winning actress Penelope Cruz as Magda, a woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer who’s also going through a separation from her self-centered husband Raul (Alex Brendemuhl), who left her for one of his students.
It’s a few of several devastating hardships Magda endures in Spanish director Julio Medem’s film, written and produced by himself, Cruz and Alvaro Longoria.
After a few months of ignoring a lump on her right breast, Magda decides to get it checked out. Her doctor, Julian (Asier Etxeandia), biopsies the lump for cancer.
Shortly afterwards, much to her dismay, he delivers the terrible news that she indeed has cancer, and will require grueling chemotherapy sessions to shrink the nodules before having a mastectomy.
Each chemo session is accompanied by a glaring white background that distracts the viewer more than adding anything to the scenes. But the wonderful cinematography and camera work pull you back in.
Looking to for a bit of escapism, Magda attends her son Dani’s (Teo Planell) football game, where she meets a man, Arturo (Luis Tosar), a talent scout for the famed football (soccer) team, Real Madrid.
Arturo is interested in recruiting her son, a standout player on his youth squad, in Real Madrid’s junior program, which helps develop young talent into future professionals.
While there, Arturo receives unimaginable news of his own, that there has been a car accident, which has claimed the life of his daughter, and left his wife in a comma.
Magda accompanies Arturo to the hospital, subsequently visiting him while undergoing her own chemo treatments, which she hasn’t divulge to anyone at the time.
However, she eventually tells Arturo, who winds up losing his wife, and the two become each other’s support system. As she recovers from her operation, and is in the clear for the time being, they predictably fall in love, and form the perfect family unit.
But cruel misfortune steps in again on the hard-luck Magda, as Dr. Julian, who belts out beautiful, romantic songs in a bedside attempt to soothed her, informs his patient that the cancer has spread to her other breast, and metastasized to wall of her lungs. Subsequently, the doctor delivers a gut-wrenching prognosis of only six months to live.
What follows is an over-the-top attempt of series of events intent on extracting more tears from movie-goers, with the final scene cumulating in another foreseeable outcome.
Overall, though, ‘Ma ma’ is worth seeing despite its campy, overdramatic feel—which is only exaggerated by a few scenes in which beating hearts are splashed across the screen for shameless, emotional effects—because of its positive message of strength, courage, and hope amidst tragedy.
‘Ma ma’ opens in New York City on May 20th, and in Los Angeles and Miami on May 27th, with national expansion to follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxtB15K-nN4
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The family (Thanasis Papageorgiou, Valery Tscheplanow, Victor Khomut) watches TV in SON OF SOFIA. Photo credit: Dionysis Eftimiopoulos.[/caption]
Here is the poster and an exclusive video clip from Elina Psykou’s Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale, that will world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Although the clip doesn’t reveal too much of the storyline, it does provide a glimpse into the mother-son dynamic that is explored in the film
After her celebrated debut, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Elina Psykou returns with Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale that strikes a masterful balance between realism and dreams, much like its young lead.
The story revolves around 11-year-old Misha, who flies from Russia to Athens in the summer of 2004, to join his mother, Sofia, after having spent a long time apart. What he doesn’t know is that there is a father waiting for him there. While Greece is living the Olympic dream, Misha will get violently catapulted into the adult world, riding on the dark side of his favorite fairy tales.
Here is the poster and official trailer for Popular French actress Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and activist Cyril Dion’s César Award-winning environmentally-themed documentary 
In 2012, “Nature” published a study led by more than 20 researchers from the top scientific institutions in the world predicting that humankind could disappear between 2040 and 2100. It also said that it could be avoided by drastically changing our way of life and take appropriate measures.
Shortly after giving birth to her first child, French actress and director Mélanie Laurent became increasingly aware of the dangers and the state of urgency that her son will face in the future. Along with friend and activist Cyril Dion and their crew, she decided to travel the world in search of solutions that can help save the next generations. The result is Tomorrow, an inspiring documentary that presents concrete solutions implemented throughout the world by hundred of communities.
From the US to the UK and through Finland and India, together they traveled to 10 countries to visit permaculture farms, urban agriculture projects and community-owned renewable initiatives to highlight people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education. Their common ideas and examples make Tomorrow one of the most essential and unexpectedly inspirational viewing experiences of our time.
Nise: The Heart of Madness[/caption]
Nise: The Heart of Madness is a Brazilian film based on the true life story of psychiatrist, Nise Da Silveira, who refused to treat schizophrenia patients with electroshock therapy and instead used art and painting. The film directed by Roberto Berliner won the Best Film-Audience Award at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, and the Grand Prix along with the Best Actress Award at the 
All These Sleepless Nights (Wszystkie nieprzespane noce)[/caption]
Here is the new poster and trailer for the award-winning Czech film I, Olga Hepnarova, based on the crimes of Olga Hepnarova, a young, lonely lesbian who on July 10, 1973, drove a rented truck into a group of people waiting for a tram in Prague, Czechoslovakia, killing 8 of them.
Nakom[/caption]
HANDSOME DEVIL[/caption]
Here is the first official trailer for Handsome Devil, an Irish funny, music-drenched coming-of-age story set in an elite Dublin rugby school from writer-director John Butler. 
A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantástica)[/caption]
Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio’s trans drama A Fantastic Woman (“Una Mujer Fantástica”) has been 
Check out the trailer for the French erotic thriller SEX DOLLS starring César Award winner Hafsia Herzi. The film, written and directed by Sylvie Verheyde, and co-starring Ash Stymest, Karole Rocher, Paul Hamy, opens in theaters – in New York at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood – on VOD Friday February 10th.
A high-priced call girl navigates the shadowy world of London’s sex trade underground in this provocative, erotic thriller. Virginie (César Award winner Hafsia Herzi) goes about her work as a prostitute with a cool detachment, trading sex with wealthy businessmen for money, but never getting emotionally involved. That all changes when she meets Rupert (Ash Stymest), an enigmatic stranger with unclear intentions. Risking everything, Virginie plunges into a dangerous affair that tears her between a ruthless madame who forbids romantic attachments and a dark, sexy man who could be her savior or her downfall.
The Wound, John Trengove[/caption]
Just after celebrating its selection to have its world premiere in competition at the 
MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER[/caption]
The award winning South Korean documentary film MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER directed by Moyoung Jin will open in theaters in New York on Friday, June 17 and in Los Angeles on Friday, June 24 with a national release to follow.
A blockbuster in its native Korea, where it would go on to become the country’s biggest independent film of all time, MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER presents an unforgettable story of true love that transcends both generations and cultures.
“100-year old Lovebirds” Byong-man Jo and Gye-yeul Kang, have been inseparable companions for the past 76 years. Living in their small home by the river, they wear traditional Korean clothes, go shopping at the local market, have picnics with neighbors, and enjoy dance parties. Every night they go to sleep holding each other’s hands. Observing this fragile couple for 15 months, director Mo-Young Jin acts as a fly-on-the-wall, capturing their twilight days with tender moments that reveal simple acts of affection – from a good-natured leaf fight to a gentle caress of the cheek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsf1DNxSciY