Lichtblick Film- und Fernsehproduktion (I)

Santa Claus tries to outrun a gang of knife-wielding youth. It's one of several vignettes of Palestinian life in Israel - in a neighborhood in Nazareth and at Al-Ram checkpoint in East Jerusalem. Most of the stories are droll, some absurd, one is mythic and fanciful; few words are spoken. A man who goes through his mail methodically each morning has a heart attack. His son visits him in the hospital. The son regularly meets a woman at Al-Ram; they sit in a car, hands caressing. Once, she defies Israeli guards at the checkpoint; later, ninja-like, she takes on soldiers at a target range. A red balloon floats free overhead. Neighbors toss garbage over walls. Life goes on until it doesn't.

When 12-year-old Tonin's teacher announces that he is looking for volunteers to house one of several orphan African refugees for a month during their visit to Paris, the exuberent, well-meaning youth immediately offers his own abode. His classmates cheer and he feels happy until he broaches the subject with his parents. Daniel, the boy's father is delighted by his son's humanitarianism, but still says no. Not wanting to lose face at school, Tonin decides to take the visitor anyway and just keep him hidden for the next few weeks. This family-oriented French comedy follows his efforts to keep his new African guest, Moussa, a secret.

The first documentary about the legendary mime Marcel Marceau. He inspired several generations of artists, including his grandson and his family, who shed new light on his life’s work.

The beautiful Tanya returns to her small mining town, after supposedly working as a model in Moscow. She decides to marry her shy school sweetheart Mishka, who now works in the mine. The miners finally receive some pay, but Mishka still ends up with no money to buy his bride a gift, so he seeks the help of his perpetually drunk buddy Garkusha. Mishka's poor working-class family all help to put on a fine wedding with copious amounts of vodka, even though they are suspicious of Tanya's occupation in Moscow, and of her connection with her Mafia ex-boyfriend Borodin.

A Jewish family leaves Germany after surviving the Holocaust and heads to Norway. Mendel, their youngest son, is too young to make sense of the Holocaust but tries to comprehend his family's actions during the war and their nightmares now. His imagination frequently runs away from him.

Two amateur circus kids from a poor Ukrainian village, ten-year-old Barbu and his older sister Mimma, are sold to a circus artist called Caruso who promises them a career in the West.

This documentary re-examines the story of the Red Orchestra: the most important resistance network in Nazi Germany, whose operations extended from Berlin and Brussels to Paris.

This tale takes place in a bar. The Spanish Alonso and his blind mother run this place. Bay, who is Alonso's friend live here too. This story tells something about Alonso and Bay and the "American Dream".

Set on the deserted North Sea island of Langeness, a lonely woman begins an affair with a stranger; only after he is identified as a political fugitive and deported does she begin to learn about his true identity and his past.

A singer flees from Nazi Germany, travels to Paris and befriends a young writer, his lover and a professor.

Art critic Keller, a German ex-pat living in London, is confronted by his radical 1960s past when he's asked to assassinate a Chilean murderer who is on a visit to London.

In her multi-layered documentary, Grimme Award winner and director Heidi Specogna unfolds a sensitive portrait of the life and work of renowned photographer Claudia Andujar. From her escape from the Holocaust to her deep connection with the Yanomami people in the Brazilian Amazon – the film takes us through formative childhood events, humanistic commitment to the rights of indigenous peoples and the fight to protect their habitat. The film team follows in the footsteps of Andujar's political and poetic photographs, explores the rainforest region, which is now more threatened than ever, and introduces a self-confident, young Yanomami generation who are making their voices heard among the population and in politics with self-made films.

Mika Kaurismaki's documentary Moro No Brasil features performances by a variety of Brazilian musical artists, intertwined with interviews of every day Brazilians in order to give the viewer a portrait of Brazilian culture. The film includes performances by Silberio Pessoa, Darue Malungo, and Antonio Nobrega. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi