From director Jamie Travis (The Saddest Boy in the World)

A young boy goes missing in a seemingly “perfect” suburban neighbourhood. His best friend has no idea what happened, and slowly begins to descend into an abyss of grief, tormented by the mystery surrounding the disappearance. Soon the depressed lad begins sleeping in his armoire, haunted by the silence it holds. Through magnificent art direction, Jamie Travis brings us another sad children’s tale, eerily capturing a young boy’s struggle to hide his secrets.

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Entrevista con la tierra (Interview with the Earth) (Mexico)

The poignant Interview with the Earth follows two young brothers from a small Mexican town as they come to terms with the loss of their father, who left the family some time ago. Blending documentary and a fictional story of the death of one of their friends, Pereda explores how the boys experience grief and loss.


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Jorge (Jorge Machado) and Roberta (Roberta Palombini) have been separated for several years. They simply come from opposite worlds: he likes an uncomplicated life in the jungle while she prefers a more urban existence. He is Mexican and she is Italian, and she has decided to return to Rome with their five-year-old son, Natan (Natan Machado Palombini). But before they leave, Jorge wishes to take young Natan on a trip, hoping to teach him about his origins in Mexico. At first the boy is physically and emotionally uncomfortable with the whole affair, and gets seasick on the boat taking them to their destination. But as father and son spend more time together, Natan begins a learning experience that will remain with him forever.

Jorge takes Natan to Chinchorro, home to the second-largest coral reef on the planet and one of the few places in the Mexican Caribbean with an intact ecosystem. Living simply in a wooden palafite (a shack constructed on stakes) in front of the quay, they spend their days fishing with the experienced Matraca (Nestor Marin), and Natan learns the value of catching his own food. The area is also home to all kinds of exotic animals, and Natan is amazed by the iguanas, crocodiles and seabirds that surround them – a natural world previously unknown to him. Father and son share an important experience when Jorge teaches Natan to snorkel, showing him the beauty of the underwater realm. At first the child is hesitant, but with time and the help of his father, he learns to do it alone.

The relationship between man and nature is subtly revealed as we bear witness to the day-to-day existence of the fishermen in Chinchorro, who still spear for lobster and live with few modern conveniences. Riding a thin line between fiction and documentary, filmmaker Pedro González-Rubio weaves a delicate, moving narrative in this fine second feature. Via Jorge and Natan's story, González-Rubio brings us to a remote region in Mexico and puts us in touch with a very pure way of life.

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Sólskinsdrengurinn  (The Sunshine Boy) (Iceland)

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson returns to the Festival with The Sunshine Boy, his first documentary since his debut Rock in Reykjavik. Though documentary is not a genre normally associated with Fridriksson, The Sunshine Boy is unmistakably his work, sharing themes with numerous of his other efforts. Like Angels of the Universe or Children of Nature (or Movie Days or Niceland), Fridriksson's latest focuses on the disenfranchised and how communication, or any fellow feeling, can be a near miraculous occurrence. In this particular case, “miracle” is an appropriate term: his subject is autism, a condition shrouded in mystery, uncertainty and, for the parents of the affected children, a debilitating sense of helplessness.

The Sunshine Boy follows Margrét Dagmar Ericsdóttir as she attempts to help her youngest son, Keli, who has been diagnosed as severely autistic. Unable to find adequate treatment in Iceland (and increasingly frustrated by conventional medicine's advice that she just reconcile herself to the fact that she'll never be able to communicate with her son), Ericsdóttir sets off to investigate alternative forms of therapy. She meets with a wide range of doctors exploring different approaches and other parents with autistic children, as well as several people who were once dismissed as hopeless cases. Most notable of these is the disarming and captivating Temple Grandin, an author and scientist who found a way to communicate despite the fact that virtually every doctor considered her a lost cause. Plain-spoken and direct, Grandin clearly defines the different ways by which autistic people might be able to communicate. Eventually, Ericsdóttir discovers a doctor, Soma Mukhopadhyay, who has developed a method called Rapid Prompting Technique that may allow her to speak with Keli.

The film provides an excellent, precise primer on the condition and the issues surrounding it: whether it's hereditary or caused by environmental factors; the problems with late diagnosis; and the lack of funding for alternative or, in some cases, any treatment.

Emotionally powerful and at the same time doggedly optimistic, The Sunshine Boy is both howl and hosanna.

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Gunther Strobbe (Kenneth Vanbaeden) is a thirteen-year-old boy growing up in the eighties. He lives in his grandmother's ramshackle house in a small Belgian town with his alcoholic father (a postman with more bars on his route than any of his colleagues) and three alcoholic uncles. Life in the household is clearly dysfunctional, yet it's hard to condemn the Strobbe men for their sins. Their hearts are in the right place – it's just that they can't seem to help turning everything around them into an unmitigated disaster. The Strobbes enter drinking contests, ride bicycles naked, pick up women, break furniture and invade their neighbours' homes to watch their beloved Roy Orbison on television. They teach vulgar songs to little girls and end up in hospital, then head right back to the bar the next day. Gunther is an observer in this broken home that reeks of cigarette smoke, spilled beer and sweat-stained clothes. He participates in his drunken uncles' shenanigans only to fit in, hiding his true passion for writing, which is ultimately his key to escaping this squalor.

It might have been the tear-jerker hit of the year if Ken Loach had been given the script, but in the hands of Felix van Groeningen, this film has the raw Flemish edge and black comedy that made Koen Mortier's 2007 Ex Drummer so memorable. Van Groeningen has adapted a widely read and acclaimed semi-autobiographical novel by Dimitri Verhulst into a film balanced with comedy and heartbreak, icy cynicism and poignant pathos. His depiction of small-town life, rife with gossip and class divisions, is spot on and sadly universal. The narrative is further buoyed by heart-wrenching performances not only from the young Vanbaeden, but also from Koen De Graeve as his father and stage actress Gilda De Bal as the grandma whose “heart is bigger than her pension.”

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definitely some intriguing prospects, though.  thanx for all the great reviews!

Hicks does seem to have some sort of affinity toward young performers, a lot of his stuff features youngsters. He gets good performances out of his cast. I doubt if "The Boys are Back" will do anything at the box office though. Thankfully this thread shows many movies are still getting made even though most will probably do nothing at the box office. I assume they make their money back through TV and DVD sales.

Mao Ker (Sunflower Seeds) (China)

Er Bao and Liang Zi live in a small village in China. Their families are very poor and sustain themselves through the animals they raise. One day, Liang Zi accidentally hits a chicken with his slingshot. He cares lovingly for the injured animal from then on, so that it will become healthy and lay eggs again. For, at least in the eyes of his mother, a hen that doesn’t lay eggs is useless. Er Bao also has animals in his care: a sow and her litter of piglets which grow ever increasingly close to his heart. But his parents already plan to sacrifice the animal for a family meal. With quiet images the film leads viewers into a strange world and accompanies two children through an important experience.

No picture found though 

Some short films of interest at Frankfurt....



10-year-old Rasmus is sad that his parents never really listen to him. His father would like to make a professional football player out of him, even though Rasmus does’t like sports at all, while his mother sticks him in hideously patterned sweaters on account of which the other children always tease him. There is only one solution: run away! And so Rasmus records a tape for his unborn brother with all the important things which should make his life with their parents easier. When Rasmus suddenly disappears, his parents discover the cassette and immediately start a big search, though without success. But then they hear the end of the recording…

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The clever Milo wears glasses and lisps: at his school, therefore, he is rather an outsider, but he makes money by doing others’ homework. One day, however, he forgets to change his name on an essay, and the boys have a bad feeling when the rector summons them both. Then comes Milo’s latest misinvention in the nick of time: a microwave which is actually supposed to cool food, but instead spews a heap of slime and can send things back into the past. Can the two solve their problem with this time-machine?

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Washdays  (UK)

Although Kyle is already eleven years old, he still wets the bed every night. His mother doesn’t understand that at all, and she forces him to wash his sheets every morning before school. The only thing that this highly dubious ‘therapy’ accomplishes is that Kyle is often late to school. When his mother mentions the real reason for his tardiness in her excuse letter, he thinks it certain that she doesn’t want to help him with his condition. Abandoned, he resolves to find a solution on his own. Full of feeling and humour, this film gently explores a taboo theme. 

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Ekornet (The Squirrel) (Norway)

Frederik remembers nothing with such joy as the day when he and his father fed ‘their’ squirrel together in the woods. But now everything is different: his mother has a new boyfriend, and his beloved father is in prison. Frederik misses him very much, but he also has an idea of how to be closer to him: as a memento of their wonderful time together, he would like to bring the squirrel to his imprisoned father. But to put this plan in action is not at all simple and takes Frederik to his limits. The film shows in intense images how a child in a special situation is led to an unusual deed.

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Gargoyle  (South Africa)

The grade-schooler Vuyo lives with his older brother Themba alone in Johannesburg-a city in the Apartheid in which poverty and crime are everyday realities. But Vuyo is fortunate because he is allowed to go to school. He idolizes his teacher, who also especially cares for him. Since, however, his underpaid jobs are not even enough to pay for Vuyo’s school outing, Themba sees no other way than to make some money through illegal means. One day, however, he commits a fatal deed which puts the relationship between the brothers to a hard test.

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Hammerhead (UK)

To have his mother work in an aquarium is like a dream come true for Boris, who is a great fan of sharks. At the aquarium he likes to scare the visitors by jumping into the fish-tank. For his birthday, Boris convinces his separated parents to take a trip with him to the coast, where a shark has recently been sighted. But unfortunately Leila, of all people—his mother’s new girlfriend—accompanies them on the outing. With a terrifying trick, Boris sees to it that the grownups come together and he becomes the centre of attention for the day. The film zestfully grapples with the serious theme of parental separation.

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Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante was also a selection in Montreal and was discussed as a possible film to see by joseph. I didn't profile it because Vincent Rottiers  (he of Les Diables 2002) was listed as the lead and he would be 22 or so now. I figured this meant the time spent in his character's childhood or adolescence would be minimal. The promo pics from Outnow suggest otherwise though....  and Claude Miller, the director, has produced a number of films of interest (Class Trip, A Secret, Betty Fisher and Other Stories, The Best Way). Here's the plot.

I'M GLAD THAT MY MOTHER IS ALIVE

Our identities are clothes the shapes of which were designed by our childhood. Between the age of 7 and 20, Thomas was looking for Julie, his birth mother. Unknown to his adoptive parents, he would find this woman who had abandoned him at the age of four and start a parallel life with her. But as the saying goes: You shouldn't bet on two winning horses. "The presence of those who raised us, our parents, has a profound influence on who we become. But what happens when these important figures are absent from our lives?... I don't believe that because a certain woman is our biological mother that we automatically bond with her. The fact that Thomas never knew his mother suggests the possibility of an attraction built on love. As soon as they meet, they are a young woman and a young man face to face. This is the way the film is acted and shot. This is one of the things about the subject that so interested me." -- Claude Miller

Pusan, South Korea will be screening some films of possible interest.

Children Metal Divers (Philippines)

A 'cinema verite' style film filled with snapshots of young kids jumping in the ocean to collect junk in the slums of Baceko Philippines. These children, known as the Bakal Boys, frequently get hurt and suffer from skin irritation and they also lose their hearing ability and their lives. The Bakal Boys, 9-year-old Utoy and 12-year-old Bungal, are close friends almost like brothers. Despite other people's concern, they keep picking up junk in the sea and selling it. One day, after gathering and selling a vast amount of junk, Bungal disappears and Utoy starts looking for him. But Utoy cannot find Bungal.
Director Ralston Jover maximizes the realistic portrayal of kids from the slums by starring real bakal boys and using a documentary style. Thus, the life of them weighs heavily down viewers' mind.

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God Lives in the Himalayas (Nepal)

In the Himalayan foothills, ten-year old Siddarth's mother is killed and his father burnt during a religious ceremony. Siddarth is shocked as to why God did this. The question consumes his mind and he searches for God to ask him why.

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How Are You Dad?  (Taiwan)

A father can have many different kinds of faces. Which one does your father have? This is a film of ten short stories, and each shows a different relationship between a father and his son. Each story reveals the complexity between fathers and sons.

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The Warmest (China)

Zicong lives with his graduate student father and mother who is still in college. Their busy lives mean that little time has been devoted to Zicong. He is later forced to care for his grandfather, and the two of them bond.

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