The New Vision category, RIFF's competition category, is now ready.
Twelve great films from all around the world will compete for RIFF's
main prize, the Golden Puffin, which was designed by Stefán Pétur
Sólveigarson. The category is limited to the first or second film of
up-and-coming directors. This year, the twelve directors come from
eleven different countries.
Three people are on The Jury this year, people who will decide which film will receive the Golden Puffin.
They are:
-Cameron Bailey, director of the Toronto International Film Festival (President of jury)
-Valdís Óskarsdóttir, director and editor of such films as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Festen.
-Laura Kern, journalist and film critic for Film Comment
These are the films in the New Visions category:
Aardvark (USA, Argentina, 2010)
In a role inspired by his own life, Larry Lewis plays a blind and solitary man recovering from alcoholism and working towards stability. Determined to take control over himself, Larry leads an orderly and disciplined life. When he joins a Jiu Jitsu academy, he finds a close friend in his young hard-partying instructor, Darren. As Larry’s body and spirit begin to change and grow through his practice of this martial art, so does his friendship with Darren. But, as disturbing aspects of Darren’s life are starting to unravel, Larry soon finds himself facing the consequences of violence, descending into an underworld, deeper and deeper into shadows and darkness.
At Ellen´s Age (Germany, 2010)
Ellen must come to face some new turns in life. Although her job as a flight attendant keeps her rotating around the globe, she finds her private life has become a placebo, lending the sensation of security she needs so badly. She even suffers a panic attack whilst on duty, causing her to disembark and abandon an airplane that is preparing to start. As she crosses the airfield, she knows instinctively that she is leaving her old life behind. Driven by a sense of alienation, Ellen seeks a place to belong and in doing so, becomes a tourist in the lives of the people and groups she encounters. Ellen becomes acquainted with a group of young activists. Amongst them is Karl. The two are instantly drawn to one another and following his trail. They set out on a crusade to
destroy the industry of animal torture and liberate as many of its victims as they can. Yet however unbalanced this situation has become, Ellen finds she’s growing stronger. Inwardly matured and convinced that there must be a specific place in the world where she is needed, Ellen is ready to venture a new beginning.
Attenberg (Greece, 2010)
Marina, 23, is growing up with her architect father in a prototype factory town by the sea. Finding the human species strange and repellent, she keeps her distance. Instead she chooses to observe it through the songs of Suicide, the mammal documentaries of Sir David Attenborough, and the sexual-education lessons she receives from her only friend, Bella. A stranger comes to town and challenges her to a foosball duel, on her own table. Her father meanwhile ritualistically prepares for his exit from the 20th century, which he considers to be “overrated.” Caught between the two men and her collaborator, Bella, Marina investigates the wondrous mystery of the human fauna.
Fleurs du Mal (France, 2010)
Miss Dalloway, a young woman from Tehran’s high society, is sent to Paris by her parents to protect her from the political violence in Iran. She falls in love with Gecko, the bellhop at her hotel, but the bloodshed resurfaces through the Internet.
A 21st century love story steeped in Internet and tangled up in history.
Inside America (Austria, 2010)
Inside America is the portrait of six teenagers during their senior year at Hanna High School in Brownsville, Texas. The American flag is proudly raised at school every morning and the dream of prosperity and freedom is invested in their mind, but the reality is tough; drugs, violence and security at the school gate are a part of the daily routine. The six teenagers fight for their future in between ROTC Class and Home Economics, somehow managing to retain their vitality and dreams. A feature film based on a true story and closer to reality than any documentary.
Jo For Jonathan (Canada, 2010)
At 17, Jo idolizes his big brother, Thomas, car enthusiast and drag racer extraordinaire. One night an illegal race ends in a fiery crash. Jo is more or less uninjured, but Thomas is badly burned and disfigured. Condemned to isolation and shame, Thomas asks Jo to help him end his suffering.
Every year, about 600 Quebecers, out of a population 7.5 million, die in car accidents. Of these, 25% are between 15 and 24 years old. Speeding is one of the main causes of these deaths.
The Four Times (Italy, 2010)
An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day.
A new goat kid is born. We follow its first few tentative steps, its first games, until it gains strength and goes to pasture. Nearby, a majestic fir tree stirs in the mountain breeze and slowly changes through the seasons. Le quattro volte is a poetic vision of the revolving cycles of life and nature and the unbroken traditions of a timeless place. The story of one soul that moves through four successive lives.
Littlerock (USA, 2010)
When her car breaks down on a site-seeing tour of California, a Japanese student winds up stranded in a small desert town. Exhilarated by a sudden sense of freedom, she extends her stay and finds friendship, romance, and what promises to be a new home. But as she pulls back the layers on this unlikely paradise, she discovers a different America than the one in her dreams.
Mandoo (Iraq, 2010)
During the events of 1979 Iranian Kurdistan was in turmoil and the Islamic revolution obliged Iranian Kurds to flee their homeland and seek refuge in neighbouring Iraq, in deplorable living conditions. The film opens in Iraq 2004. Sheelan, a young female doctor of Kurdish origin, having fled to Sweden with her parents, has taken advantage of the fall of Saddam Hussein to return to Iraq. She finds her uncle who has suffered a stroke and lost the faculty of speech. Her cousin informs her that he wishes to take his father back to Iranian Kurdistan where he'll be able to live his final days surrounded by memories of his homeland. Sheelan decides to accompany them on their homeward trek, but the road to Iran will be long and full of twists and turns.
Tomorrow (France, Rumania, Hungary, 2010)
Nelu works as a security guard at the local supermarket in Salonta, a small town on the Romanian-Hungarian border. This is the place where many illegal emigrants try to cross to Hungary and then further to Western Europe. For Nelu, days go by the same way everyday: fishing at dawn, then work, and finally home with his wife Florica. They live alone in an isolated farm in the fields outside of town. One morning, Nelu ”fishes” something different from the river: a Turkish man trying to cross the border. Nelu takes the stranger to his farm and gives him dry clothes, food and shelter. In return, the Turkish man gives him all the money he has, asking him to help him cross the border. Eventually, Nelu takes the money and promises he will help him tomorrow.
Song of Tomorrow (Sweden, 2010)
Stig Manner lives a rough and unglamorous life buying and selling things to flea markets. His bohemian friend, the wandering singer Janos, prefers to live free of all the demands of society, but is there to help him out. Stig believes that Janos is a great undiscovered talent and decides that the way out of his situation is by marketing Janos as a brilliant new artist, by which both of them can be successful. Janos isn’t quite as enthusiastic about Stig’s high-flying plans, but does his best to keep Stig’s burning enthusiasm alive. All of a sudden Stig is reminded of his past, something which may change everything.
The Christening (Poland, 2010)
The script is loosely based on the real story of a man from the Polish provinces who, after operating as a criminal in his home town, finds himself in Warsaw. He hopes to change his luck and to escape from the criminal past he left behind. Michael has everything he could possibly dream of - a beautiful wife Magda, a newborn son, a good job. Unfortunately, there is a mafia vendetta against him and Michal desperately tries to find a way to save his family. Several days before the christening of his child he invites his old friend to be the godfather. Slowly, Janek grows closer and closer to the family. Michael is aware that his deeply concealed past will inevitably overtake him and Janek will have to make a decision, the consequences of which he will never forget.