XConfessions 17[2019]

The Golden Bowl(en)

Wealthy American widower Adam Verver and his daughter Maggie live a refined life in Europe, surrounded by art. Maggie marries impoverished Italian Prince Amerigo, while Adam marries Maggie's friend Charlotte Stant. The Prince and Charlotte are having an affair, which Maggie discovers and navigates through a silent, psychological battle of wills, ultimately using her cunning to preserve her marriage and protect her father.

Newness(en)

In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

Gabriel's Inferno: Part II(en)

Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart before she finds love in another's arms?

Dirty Sexy Saint(en)

Clay Kincaid hates the nickname 'Saint', he got for being too kind to stray animals and desperate people. Especially when it comes to women. With a rough and damaged past that has left him jaded, he doesn't do committed relationships. This is before he meets Samantha Jamieson, an heiress turned runaway in need of help. When she starts to work as a waitress at his bar, he discovers that she is someone truly special and amazing… someone that could warm his damaged heart.

Fifty Shades Freed(en)

Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.

On the Edge(en)

A suicidal young man is committed to a Dublin psychiatric hospital where he meets new friends who greatly influence his life.

Time Is Up(en)

Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.

Fire with Fire(en)

A tough, street-smart kid serving a sentence in a state youth reformatory meets a beautiful, innocent girl studying at a nearby convent. When forbidden love blossoms between them, they must fight the prison authorities, their parents and the law.

The Little Death(en)

A comedy film that looks into the loosely connected lives of people with strange sexual fantasies.

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw(en)

Shaw Landon has loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule, a fiery-tempered rebel tattoo artist, doesn’t have time for a good girl pre-med student like Shaw — even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule must figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love…or each other.

Endless(en)

When madly in love high school graduates Riley and Chris are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend's death while Chris is stranded in limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcends life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.

Game of Love(en)

Follows Vivien and Roy as their love story continues and leads them to Roy’s childhood home in Sicily to prepare for the sale of the family estate. During the visit, a mysterious woman arrives and befriends Vivien, much to Roy’s displeasure. Tensions build and lines are crossed as secrets from Roy’s past force the couple to face aspects of their relationship they did not know existed.

Strictly Sexual(en)

Two successful women, sick and tired of dating and relationships, decide to keep two young men in their pool house for strictly sexual purposes.

Sylvie's Love(en)

When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.

Dirt Music(en)

Georgie is slowly suffocating in a loveless marriage to fishing tycoon Jim Buckridge. Handsome poacher Lu is an irresistible symbol of the excitement she craves. A passionate affair follows that reveals the dark secrets in Lu’s past and forces him to take flight into the blistering heat of the outback. Georgie follows, determined to find him and bring him back.

In Secret(en)

In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.

The Good House(en)

Hildy Good, a wry New England realtor and descendant of the Salem witches who loves her wine and loves her secrets. Her compartmentalized life starts to unravel as she rekindles an old romance and becomes dangerously entwined in one person’s reckless behavior.

The Man from Elysian Fields(en)

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

How to Please a Woman(en)

When her all-male house-cleaning business gets out of control, a mature woman must embrace her own sexuality, if she is to make a new life for herself.

Split(en)

The story of a young woman who takes an epic journey to claim her own darkness and sexuality so she can stop putting it into the hands of her abusive lover. When Inanna, a young actress, working as a stripper, becomes obsessed with a mask maker, she sacrifices parts of herself and her life, piece by piece, in order to win his love. At the same time she enters a mythic journey in the theater. One that forces her to face the many abuses endured by women around that world and that blurs her performance, her dreams and her real life and results in a provocative and powerful confrontation that frees her. -- from official website

German Angst(de)

Horror anthology consisting of three episodes directed by Jörg Buttgereit, Andreas Marschall and Michal Kosakowski.

Never Open That Door(es)

A man tries to avenge the death of his sister, a gambling addict. Another man, an ex-convict who whistles when he commits a crime, is reunited with his blind mother.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(en)

Snow White must flee from her evil stepmother. She's taken in by the lovable seven dwarves. Will the wicked queen be able to get rid of her rival?

Kadhaveedu(ml)

Kadhaveedu' is a dedication to Malayalam being accorded the Shresthabhaasha (Malayalam has been declared a Classical language in 2013) status and presents, as a single entity, three different stories penned by the doyens of Malayalam literature - Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer, M T Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty. The film is an anthology with adaptations of stories written by renowned Malayalam fiction writers Basheer, M. T. Vasudevan Nair and Madhavikutty (Kamala Surayya).. The stories have been tweaked to fit in a modern setting and the script has been conceived by the director himself.

Ensemble(ko)

There is a performance team preparing for an outdoor yard play in Jeonju. Director Young-ro, supporting director Se-young. Actor Man-sik and his wife Hye-young. And Joo-young, the youngest member of the performance team. And Minwoo, who plays busking music. The warm, heart-wrenching stories of the three couples are depicted in omnibus format.

Paris Je T'aime(fr)

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One(pt)

Every night, in danger of being beheaded, Scheherazade tells King Shahryar unfinished tales to continue them the following night, hence defying his promise of murdering his new wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade tells King Shahryar her stories but these are not those in the book. As in the book, these stories are tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events.

Věci(cs)

The Gulf War... What Next?(ar)

The second Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 represents in the collective Arab memory a turning point in regards to the Arab nationalism’s self-perception as well as a moment of deep historical and existential insecurity. Five Arab directors discuss the events from their personal perspective.

Aanum Pennum(ml)

An anthology film that takes you to different eras in the history of Kerala through three stories about relationships and emotions.

Wasteland(en)

Wasteland is a five-part anthology film that deals with isolation, mental illness, and the subjectivity of reality. Each of the five parts can be watched individually, but when viewed in sequence, each story brings out a more interesting and distinct context to its respective pieces.

O. Henry's Full House(en)

Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".

Ghosts vs. Aliens 03(ja)

A two-part feature directed separately by Shimizu and his colleague Keisuke Toyoshima. Unrelated to each other, both have a common goal: to bring ghosts and aliens together in pure, referential and absurdistic delirium, including neo-Nazi specters, zombie yakuzas and nasty aliens.

Some Other Stories(sr)

The film is a high-concept project with five stories exploring the themes of motherhood and pregnancy, directed by women filmmakers from five former Yugoslav republics. “Croatian Story” follows an anguished painter who must decide whether or not to keep one of her unborn twins, diagnosed with Down syndrome. “Serbian Story” finds an expectant mother in the same emergency room with a charming killer. “Bosnia-Herzegovina Story” centers on a financially strapped Sarajevo family whose son?s lover is pregnant. “Macedonian Story” unfolds in a clinic where a drug addict struggles to keep her baby, and “Slovenian Story” ends the omnibus on a humorous note with a nun who finds her own way to immaculate conception.

Tokyo!(ja)

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

Mga Ligaw na Bulaklak(tl)

A film of three intersecting love stories.

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True(en)

As a newly crowned princess, Cinderella quickly learns that life at the Palace - and her royal responsibilities - are more challenging than she had imagined. In three heartwarming tales, Cinderella calls on her animal friends and her Fairy Godmother to help as she brings her own grace and charm to her regal role and discovers that being true to yourself is the best way to make your dreams come true.

The Death King(de)

Seven episodes, each taking place on a different day of the week, on the theme of suicide and violent death.

Tales of Manhattan(en)

Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by its tailor has on those who wear it. The video release features a W.C. Fields segment not included in the original theatrical release.

Queer Boys and Girls on the Bullet Train(ja)

Queer Boys and Girls on the Shinkansen brings together ten filmmakers and artists who consistently affirm what it means to be gay or lesbian in their work. Habakari chose ten filmmakers to make a five-minute work each, developed around a gay or lesbian theme, and compiled the resulting shorts in random order to create this omnibus film. The result is a queer film, by queer filmmakers, for a queer audience. Each short is its own short story, and the styles range from drama and experimental film and animation. (2024 complete version includes all eleven films, 65 mins.)