Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America 2003

Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America 2003

Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America 2003
1h 43min | Drama | Video 5 September 2003

Storyline:

From acclaimed director Douglas Buck comes an unflinching, disturbingly beautiful look at the underbelly of American family. Three separate narratives (including the shocking film festival favorite “Cutting Moments” as well as “Home” and “Prologue”) combine to create a unique trilogy of life today that will leave you devastating… and begging for more.

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Nito 2003

Nito 2003

Nito 2003

Nito 2003
17min | Short | 19 October 2003 (Spain)

Storyline:

Nito is a young teenager who attends to class with children younger than him due to his psychological retardation. Children in the class make jokes and mock Nito continuously. Stirred by them and under the slogan they put in their head, Nito will try to lose his virginity.

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Toto le heros 1991

Toto le heros 1991

Toto le heros 1991

Toto le heros 1991
Toto le héros (original title)
PG-13 | 1h 31min | Comedy, Drama | 16 May 1991 (Belgium)

Storyline:

Thomas and Alfred were born around the same time; a fire in the nursery had nurses scrambling to save the newborns. Because he felt that he deserved Alfred’s good fortune at being born into a wealthy family, Thomas conceives the idea that he and Alfred were switched at birth, and he can’t help seeing that his unhappiness should be Alfred’s, from the loss of his sister to his inability to have a relationship with the woman Evelyne. So, as his life is ending, he formulates a plan of revenge against his bitter enemy, his lifetime adversary, the man who stole his existence.

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If There Be Thorns 2015

If There Be Thorns 2015

If There Be Thorns 2015
1h 40min | Drama | TV Movie 5 April 2015

Storyline:

It’s the 1980s. Brother and sister Christopher Jr. and Cathy Dollanganger, a surgeon and ballet teacher respectively, are the product of an incestuous but loving relationship between their married parents, who were half-uncle to niece. Chris and Cathy are now married to each other, and live under the last name Sheffield, the surname of who ended up being their adoptive father. They managed to escape from their mother, born Corrine Foxworth, who once tried to kill them so that she could inherit her estranged father’s vast estate. Corrine, who ultimately did inherit all the money, was eventually institutionalized following a mental breakdown. Cathy has two children, teenager Jory, whose biological father is now deceased ballet dancer Julian Marquet, and preteen Bart, whose biological father is now deceased Bart Winslow, Corrine’s second husband. While Jory knows about Julian, Bart knows nothing about Bart Sr.; neither knows about Chris and Cathy’s sibling relationship. Chris treats both boys as his own, and visa versa. These secrets abound in the Sheffield home, despite Chris having a policy of no secrets. Despite the possibility of being found out, Chris and Cathy decide to adopt an adolescent girl, Cindy, one of Cathy’s ballet students whose mother has just died following an illness. The Sheffield house of cards could come tumbling down around them when, not by accident, Corrine, now out of the hospital and with her inherited wealth, moves in next door, she who wants to revive her relationship with the only family she has. She uses Bart as her pawn, he the insecure one in the family. But it’s the actions of a bystander who wants to continue with the fire and brimstone beliefs of Corrine’s now deceased mother, the religiously fanatical Olivia Foxworth, that may not only bring the house of cards down but kill many under its weight with Bart’s help.

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Höhenfeuer 1985

Höhenfeuer 1985

Höhenfeuer 1985

Hohenfeuer 1985
Höhenfeuer (original title)
1h 59min | Drama | 30 January 1986 (West Germany)

Storyline

A year on an Alpine farm: an older couple have two children, Belli, who wanted to be a teacher, and the younger Franzi, deaf, and although he works like a man, child-like. Belli teaches him. In his work, he can become frustrated, so when he throws an expensive mower over a cliff in a fit of pique, his father banishes him to the outskirts of the farm, where he uses pubescent energy to break rocks and build walls and cairns. (It’s the tradition of the father’s family, called “The Irascibles” by neighbors, to spend puberty doing this.) Belli visits him and they begin sleeping together. By winter, the boy is back in the house and Belli is pregnant. Soon her parents must know.

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The Cement Garden 1993

The Cement Garden 1993

The Cement Garden 1993

The Cement Garden 1993
1h 45min | Drama | February 1993 (Germany)

Storyline:

After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from an unidentified illness. Rather than going to hospital, and letting the authorities foster her children, she opens a bank account for them so they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. After she dies, the 2 older siblings decide to hide her body in the basement. Soon they begin to suffer, both the emotional strains and pressures of their situation, as well as the changes which happen during adolescence.

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Les diables 2002

Les diables 2002

Les diables 2002

Les diables 2002
1h 45min | Drama | 23 June 2002 (Japan

Storyline:

The siblings Joseph and Chloé are 12 and have just been placed on another children’s home. For years they were on the same or separate homes or on the run together. Chloé is an autist. She does not talk, feels panic when touched, and eats only when told so. Joseph dearly loves her and firmly thinks she needs him. The child psychiatrist agrees that he has a very positive influence. Joseph dreams that Chloé will recover if they find their parents. The psychiatrist finds the mother. But she is also an autist. When the children were one year old she left them on the street just from an impulse. This is the first crack of Joseph’s dream. The children escape from this home. When they are caught next time Chloé is send to a mental hospital. The same thing is about to happen to Joseph after a suicidal attempt in the police arrest. Because of his friendship with the gang leader lots of children liberate him on the way. With much violence they also liberate Chloé. Eventually Joseph will have …

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