Martin is a neurotic web designer taking baby steps out of the isolation of his one-room apartment and his virtual reality. Mariana is an artist fresh out of a a long relationship. They are perfect for each other, live on the same street, in opposite buildings, but they never meet. Can the movement of a modern city of three million people bring them together?
Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.
A sailor takes a short leave to visit his hometown and see if his mother is still alive.
A photographer, Isaac is asked by hotel owners to take portraits of their recently deceased daughter Angélica. When he looks at her through the lens of his camera, she appears to come back to life just for him. He instantly falls in love with her. From that moment, he will be haunted by Angélica day and night.
An early 20th-century sultan is introduced to the cinematograph with the help of a former operator for the Lumiere brothers.
During a brief rule towards the end of the 19th century, the Italian duke Amadeo of Savoy occupied the Spanish throne. However, confined to the safety of life within the palace walls, the lonely, frustrated king and his servants succumb to playful adventures focused more on pleasure than his duties.
Isa uses a tape recorder to record messages to herself and then reads them out. She is hoping for change to come, which isn’t surprising. She lives in a small community in southwest Spain where nothing ever happens. All the young people have left. For those who stay behind, time seems to stand still.
Ann, a cute video store clerk, calls a suicide hotline when her boyfriend breaks up with her. She speaks with Don, who volunteers there when he's not selling real estate for his dad. By chance, he finds out who Ann is.
Maria suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Luis, Maria's fifteen-year-old grandson, doesn't say very much either; he shuts himself off in his own silent world to escape his parent's marital crisis, spending time instead picking up stray cats and dogs off the street. His father, Miguel, wants to put a stop to this eccentric behavior, but his protective mother Alice indulges him. Nevertheless, the animals begin to appear at home in increasing numbers, making life complicated for the family in their flat.
On a train to Algarve, a young man recounts to a fellow passenger his past relationship with an eccentric young woman.
A man returns to a city to try to track down a woman he met six years earlier.
Different faces show us an Iran where tradition and modernity coexist and confront each other. Erfan Shafei invites us to discover a country through its music and its people. Erfan is a funny and ironic young Kurdish man who wants to become a film director. He sings, writes poetry, lives with his parents and his parrot, but knows nothing about love...
Trusting in fate, Don Quixote and Sancho pursue their travels in search of adventure day and night. They ride through fields, talking about subjects as varied as spirituality, chivalry and daily life. A growing bond of friendship unites them.
A man is consumed with the idea of acquiring a chair from a bric-a-brac shop.
The Three Wise Kings travel in search of the Messiah, with unexpected obstacles on the way.
Portraying the last days in the life of philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), whose writings such as The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction have become of seminal importance in cultural criticism, Ferraro not only deals with a historical and philosophically fascinating subject, but has also crafted a landscape film of immense beauty.
A companion piece to Les Unwanted de Europa (IFFR 2018) and Checkpoint Berlin (IFFR 2020), I morti rimangono con la bocca aperta extends Fabrizio Ferraro's project of retracing the historical footsteps of those fleeing persecution.
Two ghosts walk along the Camino of Santiago.
An advertising creative dies unexpectedly while working on an idea for the launch of an anti-cold pill. From then on Pedro, one of his old colleagues, begins an intricate search in order to discover the departed's idea, taking over his place and making use of his original notes and thoughts. Along the way Pedro comes across an orphan, a street child that will unconsciously and eventually lead him to a new and singular idea.
A Spaniard in Argentina becomes aware of his approaching death while staying at a hospital, so he decides to run away from Buenos Aires and start a trip up North, heading nowhere in particular.
