Foreign Oscar dossier

AFTER LUCIA
(Michel Franco, Mexico)
Synopsis: After the death of her mother, a teenage girl must find ways to cope with bullying at school.
Sales: BAC Films

ALREADY FAMOUS
(Michelle Chong, Singapore)
Synopsis: A young Malay girl from a provincial town travels to Singapore to pursue an acting career.
Distrib: Cathay-Keris Films

AMOUR
(Michael Haneke, Austria)
Synopsis: A Frenchman takes care of his longtime wife, who has suffered two strokes.
Sales: Les Films du Losange

THE BAD INTENTIONS
(Rosario Garcia Montera, Peru)
Synopsis: A sheltered 9-year-old girl begins to misbehave when her mother gets pregnant.
Sales: Barry Films

BARFI!
(Anurag Basu, India)
Synopsis: A deaf mute romances two very different women — one a rich city girl and the other a shy, autistic wonder.
Sales: UTV/Disney

BARBARA
(Christian Petzol, Germany)
Synopsis: Two doctors in 1980’s East Germany must deal with a sensitive new patient while navigating the societal and governmental dangers in the region.
Sales: The Match Factory

BLOOD OF MY BLOOD
(Joao Canijo, Portugal)
Synopsis: The matriarch must keep her family together in a rough Lisbon neighborhood.
Sales: Midas Filmes

BEYOND THE HILLS
(Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
Synopsis: A young woman at an isolated monastery begins to rebel against the clergy, creating fears that she may have a demonic condition.
Sales: Wild Bunch

BLANCANIEVES
(Pablo Berger, Spain)
Synopsis: Pic recasts the story of Snow White, placing the tale in 1920s Spain with the protag as a feisty bullfighter saved by a traveling band of bullfighting dwarfs .
Sales: Dreamcatchers

BUNOHAN
(Dain Iskandar Said, Malaysia)
Synopsis: A Muay-Thai fighter is saved by his best friend from a vicious — and potentially fatal — in-ring beatdown, setting off a chain of events.
Sales: Easternlight Films

BUTA
(Ilgar Najaf, Azerbaijan)
Synopsis: A lonely 7-year-old who lives in a small mountain village with his grandmother, befriends an old soap merchant.
Sales: Narimanfilm

BWAKAW
(Jun Lana, Phillipines)
Synopsis: An elderly, ornery villager, alone except for a mutt, searches for ways to connect with others while coming to terms with his homosexuality.
Sales: Fortissimo Films

CAESAR MUST DIE
(Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy)
Synopsis: Berlin opener focuses on real-life inmates by staging a performance of “Julius Caesar” within prison walls.
Sales: Rai Trade

CANNIBAL VEGETARIAN
(Branko Schmidt, Croatia)
Synopsis: An ambitious but amoral gynecologist finds himself in trouble when he commits fatal mistakes in an effort to overthrow his rival, the head of the fertility clinic.
Production Company: Tele Film

CAUGHT IN THE WEB
(Chen Kaige, China)
Synopsis: A woman’s impolite behavior on a bus leads her into a tangle of cyber witch-hunting that ends up drastically changing careers, relationships and, ultimately, a business empire.
Sales: Moonstone Entertainment

CHECK MATE
(José María Cabral, Dominican Republic)
Synopsis: A TV host, while on the air, receives a call from unknown kidnappers who have taken his family and must devise a plan to get them back.
Sales: Antena Latina Films

CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO
(Aida Begic, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Synopsis: Rahima, a hardworking restaurant cook, looks after her orphaned younger brother, who is causing trouble at school. Rahima is struggling to make ends meet, and the pic reflects the duo’s troubles with the metaphor of pre- and post-war Saravejo.
Sales: Pyramide

CLANDESTINE CHILDHOOD
(Benjamin Avila, Argentina)
Synopsis: A 12-year-old is forced to live under an assumed identity in order to protect his resistance-fighter parents in Argentina.
Sales: Pyramide

THE CLOWN
(Selton Mello, Brazil)
Synopsis: A circus clown undergoes an existential crisis and quits.
Sales: Required Viewing

THE DANCER
(Ifa Isfansyah, Indonesia)
Synopsis: A military officer searches for a young love whose magical dancing led village elders to believe she was given special powers by the goddess of dance.
Sales: Salto Films

DEATH FOR SALE
(Faouzi Bensaidi, Morocco)
Synopsis: A petty thief attempts to get his love interest, a high-priced prostitute, out of jail after a police crackdown and plans one last heist with two of his best friends.
Sales: Urban Distribution

THE DEEP
(Baltasar Kormakur, Iceland)
Synopsis: A man escapes a sinking fishing boat and washes up five hours later on a lava field.
Cast: Olafur Darri Olafsson
Sales: BAC Films

THE DELAY
(Rodrigo Pla, Uruguay)
Synopsis: Cannes and Berlin player centers around a panicked woman who leaves her increasingly senile father on a park bench on the far side of the city — much to her regret.
Sales: Memento

EL CARTEL DE LOS SAPOS
(Carlos Moreno, Colombia)
Synopsis: A lower-class boy enters the world of drug cartels to achieve upward mobility and, more importantly, win the heart of his childhood love.
Production Company: 11:11 Films

80 MILLION
(Waldemar Krzystek, Poland)
Synopsis: Solidarity movement activists organize a dangerous plan to take $80 million from a secret bank account.
Sales: Cinema World Media Brigade

THE EMPTY HOME
(Nurbek Egen, Kyrgyzstan)
Synopsis: An apricot seller runs off to the big city without realizing the price she’ll have to pay to make it.
Production Company: Kinoglaz & Raccoon Cinema

FILL THE VOID
(Rama Burshtein, Israel)
Synopsis: Venice player centers around a young woman pressured to marry the husband of her late sister, who died in childbirth.
Sales: The Match Factory

FIRECROSSER
(Mykhailo Illienko, Ukraine)
Synopsis: A former Soviet hero, now imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, flees and redefines himself as an Native American chief.
Sales: B&H Film Distribution

GHETU PUTRA KAMOLA
(Humayun Ahmed, Bangladesh)
Synopsis: A young boy who performed traditional ghetu gaan, an extinct and elaborate performance artform that thrived in Northeast Bangladesh over a century ago, dies.
Production Company: Impress Tele Film

GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG
Yevgen
i Pachkevich, Latvia
Synopsis: Inspired by the works of Anatole France, pic depicts the tales of Lilith, the enigmatic biblical figure who can exert control over any man.
Sales: Wide

HEADSHOT
(Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand)
Synopsis: A cop-turned-assassin’s life is literally turned upside down when a bullet hits him in the brain.
Sales: Memento

THE HYPNOTIST
(Lasse Hallstrom, Sweden)
Synopsis: A police officer hires a hypnotist in attempt to glean information about a triple homicide from the lone survivor — a traumatized and awkward teen.
Sales: Svensk Filmindustri

IF ONLY EVERYONE
(Natalya Belyauskene, Armenia)
Synopsis: A Russian-Armenian woman travels to Armenia in order to plant a tree on the grave of her father.
Sales: Natl. Film Center of Armenia

IN THE SHADOWS
(David Ondricek, Czech Republic)
Synopsis: A member of Prague’s communist police investigates what appears to be a routine robbery, only to discover that deeper secrets lie within the case.
Sales: Bleiberg Entertainment

THE INTOUCHABLES
(Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, France)
Synopsis: French B.O. blockbuster revolves around the relationship between a rich, sheltered quadriplegic and his caretaker, a young black man.
Distrib: The Weinstein Co.

INUK
(Mike Magidson, Greenland)
Synopsis: A boy who sees his father drown searches for a way to reconnect with his Inuit heritage once he grows up.
Sales: TriCoast Worldwide

JUST THE WIND
(Bence Fliegauf, Hungary)
Synopsis: Inspired by real events, pic depicts the trials of a Romany family living in an isolated Hungarian village where five other Romany families have been gunned down in their homes.
Sales: The Match Factory

KAUWBOY
(Boudewijn Koole, Netherlands)
Synopsis: Berlin competition player centers a 10-year-old with an absent mom, a volatile dad and a baby bird as a new friend.
Sales: Delphis Films

KEEP SMILING
Rusudan Chkonia, Georgia
Synopsis: 10 women with serious financial problems, compete in a beauty contest for moms to win a substantial prize.
Sales: Doc & Film

KON-TIKI
(Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning, Norway)
Synopsis: Toronto player depicts the real-life voyage of the Kon-Tiki, in which six young scientists traversed the Pacific Ocean on a homemade balsawood raft.
Sales: HanWay Films

LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE
(Johnnie To, Hong Kong)
Synopsis: Venice player crosses the stories of a bank employee, a cop and a clutch of small-time triad gangsters, all of whom want to make some quick money.
Sales: Media Asia Group

LITTLE ONE
(Darrell Roodt, South Africa)
Synopsis: A young girl is found left for dead on the borders of a township in Johannesburg by a woman, who soon investigates the horrific events that led to the girl’s situation.
Production Company: Azari Media

LORE
(Cate Shortland, Australia)
Synopsis: A Nazi-indoctrinated teenager guides her siblings to promised safety in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
Sales: Memento Films

LOST LOVES
(Chhay Bora, Cambodia)
Synopsis: A woman loses family members to the brutal violence of the Khmer Rouge, based on the experiences of scribe Khauv Sotheary’s mother.
Production Company: N.D. Palm Film

MADE IN ASH
(Iveta Grofova, Slovakia)
Synopsis: A Slovak Romany girl’s goes from underpaid seamstress to exploited sex worker in the Czech town of Ash.
Sales: Endorfilm

MUSHROOMING
(Toomas Hussar, Estonia)
Synopsis: A politician with a PR problem, his dominant and chatty wife and a famous but clueless goth rocker get lost in a Baltic forest, where uncertain events await.
Production Company: Allfilm

MYN BALA: WARRIORS OF THE STEPPE
(Akan Satayev, Kazakhstan)
Synopsis: The historic saga of a small band of Kazakh herdsmen fending off hordes of invading Mongols.
Sales: 108 Media

NAIROBI HALF LIFE
(David “Tosh” Gitonga, Kenya)
Synopsis: A young aspiring actor from upcountry Kenya makes his way to Nairobi in search of success, even despite his parents’ disapproval.
Sales: One Fine Day Films

NO
(Pablo Larrain, Chile)
Synopsis: Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight player centers around an advertising exec works on a campaign to keep Chilean dictator August Pinochet in power.
Sales: Funny Balloons

OUR CHILDREN
(Joachim Lafosse, Belgium)
Synopsis: Loosely based on a 2007 case, pic follows a young woman who struggles to deal with her relationship and children in a small Belgian town.
Sales: Les Films du Losange

OUR HOMELAND
(Yang Yong-hi, Japan)
Synopsis: Based loosely on the helmer’s family history, “Homeland” follows a Korean man’s visit to his family in Japan after being exiled in North Korea.
Sales: Star Sands

THE PATIENCE STONE
(Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan)
Synopsis: A modern take on the tale of Scheherazade.
Sales: Le Pacte

PHARMAKON
(Joni Shanaj, Albania)
Synopsis: A downtrodden 25-year-old pharmacist dreams of creating a drug that cures unhappiness.
Sales: N/A

PIETA
(Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)
Synopsis: Venice competition winner centers on a vicious loan shark finding his long-lost mother, which leaves him vulnerable to revenge in his job.
Sales: Finecut

PURGE
(Antti Jokinen, Finland)
Synopsis: A tormented young woman and an elderly woman realize they share a mutually horrific past.
Sales: TrustNordisk

RAMIN
(Audrius Stonys, Lithuania)
Synopsis: In this documentary, Ramin Lomsadze, a 75-year-old Georgian wrestler famous for having once won seven matches in 55 seconds, looks for ways to cope with loneliness.
Sales: Taskovskifilms

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
(Hernan Jabes, Venezuela)
Synopsis: Two families discover a past betrayal through a series of events involving the innocent child’s game of rock, paper, scissors.
Production Company: Factor RH

A ROYAL AFFAIR
(Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark)
Synopsis: Berlin player examines the romance between a queen and the royal physician.
Sales: TrustNordisk

THE SCENT OF BURNING GRASS
(Nguyen Huru Muoi, Vietnam)
Synopsis: Of four Hanoi students who join the army for the Vietnam War only one returns home on Reunification Day.
Sales: Vietnam Film Television Studio

SISTER
(Ursula Meier, Switzerland)
Synopsis: Berlin player centers around a boy stealing from wealthy patrons in order to support his struggling sister.
Sales: Memento

SNEAKERS
(Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov, Bulgaria)
Synopsis: Six teenagers from Sofia escape the confines of the city and spend their summer on the coastline beaches of the Black Sea.
Sales: Cinemax

THE THIRD HALF
(Darko Mitrevski, Macedonia)
Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, “The Third Half” tells the story of a soccer team led by a Jewish coach who must deal with Nazi threats during World War II.
Sales: The Little Film Co.

TOUCH OF THE LIGHT
(Chang Jung-Chi, Taiwan)
Synopsis: Real-life blind pianist Huang Yu-siang stars as himself, offering a partly fictionalized account of his time in college and how he befriends an ambitious dancer.
Sales: Fortissimo

A TRIP
(Nejc Gazvoda, Slovenia)
Synopsis: Three friends embark on a final road trip before they split ways — one is heading to war, another is studying abroad and the third is staying home.
Production Company: Perfo

UNFAIR WORLD
(Filippos Tsitos, Greece)
Synopsis: A cop and his partner run into problems when a security guard they try to bribe for information blackmails them — and somehow, the cleaning lady takes the money.
Sales: Films Boutique

WAR WITCH
(Kim Nguyen, Canada)
Synopsis: Tribeca player a young girl is kidnapped by African rebels and forced to fight.
Sales: Films Distribution

WHEN DAY BREAKS
(Goran Paskaljevic, Serbia)
Synopsis: A music professor finds out that he is the child of Jewish concentration camp victims, who left him in the care of their friends.
Sales: Nova Film

WHEN I SAW YOU
(Annemarie Jacir, Palestinian territories)
Synopsis: A wistful young boy finds himself in an adventure to get home in the immediate aftermath of the Six Day War in this Toronto player.
Sales: The Match Factory

WHERE THE FIRE BURNS
(Ismail Gunes, Turkey)
Synopsis: A family must deal with the unwanted pregnancy of a daughter, which comes with a death sentence at the hand of her father.
Sales: Pinema

WHITE TIGER
(Karen Shakhnazarov, Russia)
Synopsis: During World War II, a mysterious white tank attacks and then vanishes, leaving death in its wake.
Sales: Mosfilm Cinema Concern

ZABANA!
(Saif Ould Khalifa, Algeria)
Synopsis: As Algeria struggles for independence, freedom fighter Ahmed Zabana, is executed in 1956 by French colonial authorities, igniting the Battle of Algiers.
Sales: Wide