Nineteen diverse films formed the official competition of the Valladolid Film Festival. The Argentinian film Paco focused on drugs and their negative effects, especially on young people. The US-German-Israeli co-production Adam Resurrected showed a man haunted by war demons years after the actual war has ended. From Canada, Cooking with Stella centers on schemes and betrayal. Little Soldier is a Danish film about human trafficking and sex slavery. The American film Adam shows what happens two lovers are separated. The Army of Crime returns to the Paris of 1941 where some citizens fight the Nazis for their freedom. Casanegra, a film from Morocco, deals with young people challenging their tough reality and trying to make their dreams come true. The Spanish Castle of Cartoon is about a love triangle.
Dirty Mind, from Belgium, focuses on the fine line between manly behaviour and dysfunction. Honeymoons is a Serbian-Albanian co-production about young people who have dreams for a better life in Western Europe, only to have those dreams disappear. My Queen Caro, a co-production between Belgium and Holland, looks at the carefree lifestyle in Amsterdam’s 70s commune, a utopia for adults. Estigmas portrays a man’s trip to redemption through suffering, pain and death. The Spanish-French Petit Indi depicts a young boy immersed in his own fragile world.
The French-German film Father of My Children shows how debts and bankruptcy can push a man to kill himself. The Dust of Time is a co-production between Greece, Italy, Germany, France and Russia, and presents a historical panorama of World War II, the civil war in Greece, the death of Stalin and the Berlin Wall. The French film Le Herisson focuses on the love between a rich man and the poor female janitor in his building. The American film The Girlfriend Experience introduces a call girl who offers more than sex to her clients, including companionship and conversation. Finally, the American dream is represented in the film Amreeka, where a Palestinian woman tries to make it to America. This film is a co-production between the US, Canada and Kuwait.
Edited by Lesley Chow
© FIPRESCI 2009