Selection of shorts of Olivier Smolders.
"The exercises have to be adapted to the dispositions of the person who wishes to practice them, that is to his age, education and ability, in order not to give to one who is uneducated, weak or in poor health, things he cannot easily bear or profit by. Similarly, they should only be given to each person according to his availability."
Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 1548

On holiday in Yalta, Muscovite banker Dimitri Gurov contrives to meet a young woman who walks her dog. She's Anna Sergeyovna, trapped in a loveless marriage to a lackey. He's unhappy in an arranged marriage. With neither spouse at hand, Dimitri and Anna begin an affair. After a short time, she returns to Saratov, he to Moscow, believing it's good-by forever. All winter he is miserable, enervated, distracted by tristesse. In desperation, he contrives to go to Saratov, surprising her at a concert. Fearing discovery in her home town, she promises to come to Moscow. Will they cast aside reputation to live together, or will theirs be an affair of infrequent encounters in hotel rooms?

Peter is the dark brooding type. Leading a vacuous, shapeless life, he longs for the ideal woman, while at the same time, half heartedly continuing with his habitual girlfriend, Marusa , who is considerably older, a fact that Peter is quick to point out. As an ageing actress, struggling for parts in her local theatre, she oozes insecurity and breathes uncertainty. Together, they spend their time in the local restaurant, smoking, drinking and trading verbal blows. "I bet you'll just end up a drunk," she tells Peter each time. Peter just grins and tells her how old she looks. Compounded by a thankless director who soon shows her the door, Marusa finds her identity being squeezed harder and harder against the wall. To escape, Peter and Marusa dream

Yoshida returned to feature filmmaking after a hiatus of thirteen years with this brave and moving film about the struggle to maintain dignity in the face of old age and approaching death. The Human Promise reaffirms Yoshida's ability to deal with difficult and even taboo topics by exploring the question of euthanasia with a profound sensitivity and subtlety. The film's unusually frank meditation on death is anchored by the restrained performances by its veteran actors, including Rentaro Mikni, who starred in several of Yoshida's earlier works, including A Story Written on Water. The Human Promise's use of water imagery enriches a motif central to the rich ambiguity at the heart of Yoshida's cinema.(Art Cinema)

Based on Franz Kafka's novel. A man comes to a small village to begin his new job as an attendant at the nearby castle. But everybody in the village claims that he surely must be mistaken, there is no need for an inspector in the castle.

While on a train, a teenage boy thinks about his life and the flamboyant aunt whose friendship acted as an emotional shield from his troubled family. This film evokes the haunting quality of memory while creating a heartfelt portrait of a boy's life in a rural 1940s Southern town.

Dino Romani (Ben Gazzara) is an American cartoonist who sees a beautiful woman named Nicole (Ornella Muti) being saved from drowning while he draws on the beach. He offers her a blanket, beginning a strange relationship with the disturbed Nicole, who strips for bellboys, exposes herself to passing tourists, hallucinates insects in her bathroom, and receives a severous treatment in a mental institution.

A psychological gangster film based on fact. Machine gun totin' Ma Barker lead her family gang (her sons) on a crime spree in the Depression era. Her loyal brood have every perversion imaginable. The sadistic Herman sleeps with his Ma. When Fred Barker is released from prison, he brings home his cell mate/lover Kevin Dirkman, who also sleeps with Ma, much to Fred's chagrin. Lloyd Barker is a spaced-out drug addict who sniffs glue if nothing better is around. Ma kidnaps happy-go-lucky millionaire Sam Adams Pendlebury and holds him for ransom. Arthur Barker - Ma's wallflower son - and Herman's hooker lady friend Mona Gibson also figure in the story. The bloody finale is virtually choreographed and a visual stunner. Filmed in the Ozarks IMDB

A very popular movie on the medieval persecution of witches (inquisition).

A surreal, absurd mix of politics, sex, fantasty, black comedy and brutality that has been widely hailed as one of the decade's most exhilerating cinematic efforts. During World War II, a pair of friends in the Serb resistance hide in an intricate cellar. Years later, the war is over but the lies and deceptions continue. Winner of the award for Best Film at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

Onetime campus radical Nanni Moretti (who also directed this film) renounces his past to become a priest. Returning to his home village, Moretti is appalled at the lack of religious reverence amongst the townsfolk. Unable to communicate with any of his old friends, who've all gleefully succumbed to the Deadly Sins, Moretti cannot even count on solace from his own family, a screwed-up aggregation which gives the word "dysfunctional" several new meanings. The priest finally gives up on the village and transfers to a parish far, far away. Despite the somber tone of the past few sentences, the Italian-filmed Mass Is Ended (Messa E' Finita) is actually a comedy, its humor stemming from the nonplussed reactions of Moretti and the believable performances of the supporting cast. The film won a special jury prize at the Berlin Film Festival.

Compañero Presidente es el registro de una extensa conversación que tuvo el sociólogo francés Regis Debrais con Salvador Allende, después de que éste asume la presidencia de Chile en una narración en la que se insertan fragmentos de lo que Littin llama “la voz de la historia”: Allí, el primer mandatario explica las bases de su concepto de revolución, de su programa político, del profundo proceso de reforma agraria y de la estatización de las empresas privadas.

Michele is a mathematics professor who just started a new job in a school with some peculiar teaching methods. After a woman in his neighborhood is murdered, Michele meets beautiful colleague Bianca, and a relationship begins between the two. Where is this relationship heading, and will Michele be able to help the police catch the murderer?