"In rural Slovenia, Pero (Gregor Bakovic) is a sensitive intelligent man in his mid-thirties who lives close to death. He works writing and giving the speeches of the town?s funerals. These are not mere eulogies for the deceased, since Pero consciously or unconsciously entwines his own perception of the course of events and his life philosophy into them.

Pero lives with his father, Dedo, and his two sisters Ida, who is deaf and dumb, and Vilma who has a son. Pero?s neighbour, Shooki , is also his best friend and a very close member to Pero?s family. Gravehopping is a film about the ups and downs of our protagonists' destinies and about their search for warmth and love in the absurd chaos that is life.

The story of the film and its essence establishes itself through the prism of their interpersonal relationships. While Ida (Pero?s younger sister) falls for Shooki, Vilma tries to cope with a no-good husband. Meanwhile Pero seeks to win the heart of local girl Renata, whereas the solitude and sadness Dedo feels since he widowed are the cause of his frequent by but farcically inept, suicide attempts. The film focuses on the basic force of human existence; Fear. Out of fear from death stems the craving for eternity, while out of fear from life stems the desire for security, warmth and love.

Love is the only drug powerful enough to overcome death. The story of the film and its essence establishes itself through the prism of the interpersonal relationships of this small community. Although the film sets off with a comical tone it leads up to a tragic finale that leaves both Pero, and the viewer, literally speechless.

"

"Born in 1966, Slovenia, Jan studied archaeology, receiving his degree in 1999.

Since 1998 he has written the screenplays for shorts, feature films and TV series. His first written work was for the award winning short ?Robbery of the Century? (Rop stoletja) . Thereafter, Jan played the leading role as well as co-writing with director Janez Burger the award-winning film Idle Running (V leru) in 1999.

His 2001 first feature film debut Bread and Milk ( Kruh in Mleko ) won the Golden Lion of the Future Best First Film at Venice Film Festival . "

?A Snake?s Tail,? written, acted and directed by Bijan Daneshmand is a film about the quest of a successful Iranian businessman for his roots, his friendship with a Mullah, his addiction to opium and his eventual spiritual awakening. The film is set in London and is about the relationship between Kami, a forty year old businessman whose father has just passed away, and Agha, the Mullah or Priest who conducts the burial ceremony. The story shows how Agha, an opium addict with a penchant for Persian Sufi poetry, takes Kami, who is distraught by the death of his father, under his wings. During their weekly meetings Agha not only exposes Kami to the beautiful poetry of Rumi and Hafiz but to the euphoric pleasures of opium, the preferred drug of Iranians since time immemorial.

Bijan Daneshmand Writer, Director, Actor. Lives in London, England. Trained at the London Centre of Theatre Studies 2001, and commenced his artistic career in 2001 as an actor. As Producer and as Director: 2004- Produced and acted in 20 Fingers This film won the Best Film Digitale at the Venice Film Festival 2004, The Spirit of Freedom Prize at the Bahamas International Film Festival 2004, and Best Film at Barcelona Di, screened at over 30 festivals worldwide. 2005- Wrote and directed debut feature A Snake?s Tail

"HOW MANY ROADS gives a special view on forty years of contemporary American history through the experiences of various fans of Bob Dylan. Dylan?s lyrics appear to have a sometimes funny, sometitmes dramatic, but always far-reaching impact on people?s lives and convictions.

This documentary is made up of 11 separate portraits of people whose lives, due to the influence of Dylan?s words, took a surprising or decisive turn. They seem to be very ordinary people: a teacher, an accountant, a housewife and a student. They are of various ages, religions and convictions. But they all have one thing in common: without Dylan they would be entirely different from what they now are. Each portrait is connected to a line in one of Dylan?s songs. The documentary is thus compiled like an album consisting of varying songs that nevertheless form a unity.

HOW MANY ROADS is a road movie through both todays? American landscape and the poetic landscape of Dylan?s songs."

Jos de Putter (1959) studied political science and literature, and worked several years as a film critic before he made his first documentary in 1993. IT?S BEEN A LOVELY DAY, about the last year of his parent?s work and life on their traditional farm, was hailed internationally as a film in the purest documentary tradition. One year later, SOLO, THE LAW OF THE FAVELA, focusing on the dreams of teenagers in the slums of Rio de Janeiro to become soccer stars, won the prestigious Joris Ivens Award at the Amsterdam Documentary Filmfestival. Many other awards followed for films as THE MAKING OF A NEW EMPIRE (1999, the Godfather-like story of a Chechen warlord), Dans, Grozny Dans (2002, following a tour of a Chechen children?s dance troupe) Brooklyn Stories and Alias Kurban Sa?d (2004, about five different families who claim to be the heirs of a mysterious writer). In 2005, de Putter was honored with a retrospective of all his films in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

"In the state of Judea in southern Africa, violence, poverty and sectarianism are endemic. The neighbouring Alliance has invaded to restore ?peace? at gunpoint. Bloody street battles accompany the neighbouring dictatorship?s incursion into its weaker satellite. Promises of a transition to open democratic rule accompany summary executions and brutal massacres.

As the civil war reaches a new level, a divine child is born to a lowly couple. As he grows and witnesses the inhumanity of the world he lives in, his angelic guardians offer him an escape to the heavens. He refuses. This is his world and he must try to save it from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them.

As an adult, he travels to the capital, gathering followers from the armed factions of rebels that crisscross the land. He demands that his followers give up their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Inevitably, he attracts the attention of the Judean tribal leaders who have struck a power-sharing deal with the aloof Governor Pilate. The Son of Man must be brought down and destroyed. It should be another simple ?disappearance? like any other?

Son of Man was filmed in the township of Khayelitsha and on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This new and adventurous interpretation of the New Testament was filmed by Mark Dornford-May in collaboration with the pioneering Dimpho Di Kopane theatre troupe and choir network. As with his first film, U-Carmen eKhayelitsha? the classic Carmen opera translated into the Xhosa tongue?the original yet traditional dance, songs and rhythms infuse this film with the life and spirit that really cuts its own voice to speak. "

"Mark Dornford-May worked in theater in England for 25 years and founded Broomhill Opera. Mesmerized by the talent he had witnessed in South Africa, he returned in 2000 with Charles Hazlewood to create a new theatre company in Cape Town. That troupe would become Dimpho Di Kompane

U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, Dornford-May?s first film, won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005.

Son of Man is Dornford-May?s second film"

In BACKSEAT, a 'coming of age late' story about prolonged adolescence, two old friends flee New York City on a three-day road trip to Montreal to escape their problems and meet the great Donald Sutherland. Between running drugs and meeting a man who only communicates through instant messaging, they run head-on into the always lingering problem of real life. Directed by award-winning commercials director, Bruce van Dusen (who wrote and directed the Sundance hit COLD FEET) and written by and starring Josh Alexander, BACKSEAT is an off-beat and refreshing comedy about generation x as it struggles through prolonged adolescence and into adulthood. With a cast of truly wonderful up-and-comers (Will Janowitz from The Sopranos, Rob Bogue from Guiding Light, Aubrey Dollar from Fox's Point Pleasant) and featuring a soundtrack with some of the biggest indie acts currently playing the US music scene, BACKSEAT is that rare gem at film festivals - an entertaining, and ultimately moving snapshot of a few regular folks struggling to make sense of their lives and what they want from them.

Encompassing a single, fateful evening in the sprawling metropolis of Sao Paulo, Brazil, JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT is a gritty, crime thriller which centers around an illicit transaction gone awry?Two Americans in exile?Rosso (Scott Glenn) and his son, Paul (Brendan Fraser)?have been carving out a living of sorts, operating a run-down nightclub-brothel. But, they both harbor dreams of getting out of the racket once and for all. One night, it seems their prayers are answered when a customer leaves behind a suitcase containing the means for them to change their fates. Rosso will take his beautiful, young wife Angie (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and their 5 year-old son Lazare to start over in a new city, far away. Paul will escape his mounting debts, an escalating coke habit, and finally be rid of his father (who he despises and blames for all of his problems). All will depend on one person?a Nigerian immigrant named Wemba (Mos Def)?who must make his way safely, trafficking the cash through the perilous, nocturnal underworld of Sao Paulo.

Eric Eason is a New York City-based filmmaker whose first feature Manito won the Special Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and 14 other awards at festivals around the world, including the American Express Emerging Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. Manito, released theatrically in 2003, went on to win the Gotham Award and receive three Independent Spirit nominations.

"Slow Space takes the viewer on a visual trip through places of glass architecture in Chicago. Filmed entirely within the urban constructed environment that makes up this contemporary North American city, Slow Space is a visually arresting investigation into how space is described, defined and ultimately experienced. Berlin filmmaker Klaus W. Eisenlohr commutes this relationship with the outside ?world? via an array of constructed transparencies in the glass domes and atriums that formed so much of architecture?s modernist preoccupation for a constructed inside/outside dialectic. Descriptions and ultimately opinions on the status of public space in Chicago form part of the film?s identity via a series of interviews conducted from the participant?s private domains. Street scenes with performers complement this film essay.

With his project in Chicago, the artist Klaus W. Eisenlohr has investigated the relationship between the body and the urban architectural environment over the time period of three years."

Klaus W. Eisenlohr was born in Tuttlingen and has been living in Berlin since 1989. He studied in Berlin and Chicago. The main focus of his works, many of which have received prizes at exhibitions in Germany, France and the USA, is with photography, experimental film and media art.

"Stadtrandzone Mitte ? Center of Urban Periphery 43min 2005

Slow Space 72min 2006

lesson one Die Allm?hliche Verfertigung des Bildes beim Malen ? The Continuous Process of Image Making through Painting 38min 2002 (collaboration with Johann Zeitler)

Slow Space - The Interviews 27min 2001"

"""What is public space today?"" Filmmaker and artist Klaus W. Eisenlohr poses this question at the beginning of his research with reference to the city of Hannover. The resulting film takes the viewer on a trip through a number of public spaces in Hannover's metropolitan area. Devised as a series of portraits with varying urban qualities, the film dwells not only on the visible urban attributes but also on the activities and connectedness that 'make-up' a public space.

Undertaking an array of spatial explorations, the film seeks to find out as to what kinds of interference or interventions can activate public place(s). Eisenlohr proposes that to entice or provoke responses, one such activation can be drawn 'out of' art performances. Interviews with city planers interwoven with scenes of everyday occurrences with young people, together, form a complement to Eisenlohr's photographic vision - a film essay of the everyday and its places inherent in Europe's modern cities."

Klaus W. Eisenlohr was born in Tuttlingen and has been living in Berlin since 1989. He studied in Berlin and Chicago. The main focus of his works, many of which have received prizes at exhibitions in Germany, France and the USA, is with photography, experimental film and media art.

In a world with so many stories Nathlie el-Jorr, Anna Myung-Sook Kim and Karoline Schwikal, betook theirselves to a countr, nestled between the improbable borders of Syria and Israel, to show the lives of young people caught up by the tide of its development. Lebanon. In view of their final project they decided an a creative cinematic piece of work, that ought to be challenging and influential at the same time.

Everybody should do the things they love. Why should being blind change that? Milos Devise has been blind since having an eye operation when he was four-years-old. Milos loves rock music and fast machines ? and riding around on the bus without paying his fare. In just nine minutes, Nadja Elabbadi?s film presents a young man?s unconventional and inspiring outlook on life.

Nadja Elabbadi,

born 1979 in Wetzlar. Studies Design and Film at the Hochschule f?r Gestaltung Offenbach since 2001.