ADR Productions

A now-rich woman returns to her poor desert hometown to propose a deal to the populace: her fortune, in exchange for the death of the man who years earlier abandoned her and left her with his child.

Karnaval is set against a backdrop of intolerance and hostility in the gloomy Northern French city of Dunkirk. The story is set during carnival time, when the citizens let themselves loose for six weeks of partying, carousing and having a good time. The film centers on Larbi, an Arab youth, and his confrontation with one of the turning points of his life. After a violent argument with his father, Larbi decides to leave the family's business and go to Marseilles for a fresh start. On his last night in the town he grew up in, he sleeps in the hallway of an apartment building, where he is disturbed by Béa and Christian, a couple having fun at the carnival. Larbi is attracted to Béa and decides to stay a few more days to try his luck. In the free atmosphere of the carnival, Larbi discovers a world that he did not know existed, a world which is about to clash with his conservative outlook, and the three lives are changed forever.

Nous sommes dans un coin de France reculé... très reculé.

Suddenly he thinks her alone, his wife. This person whom he doesn't know how to love and who is now falling prey to a gnawing disease. This woman whom he knows so little about and whom he would like to be with him. Right now, Just like before.

After the fall of the military dictatorship in 1983, successive democratic governments launched a series of reforms purporting to turn Argentina into the world's most liberal and prosperous economy. Less than twenty years later, the Argentinians have lost literally everything: major national companies have been sold well below value to foreign corporations; the proceeds of privatizations have been diverted into the pockets of corrupt officials; revised labour laws have taken away all rights from employees; in a country that is traditionally an important exporter of foodstuffs, malnutrition is widespread; millions of people are unemployed and sinking into poverty; and their savings have disappeared in a final banking collapse. The film highlights numerous political, financial, social and judicial aspects that mark out Argentina's road to ruin.

The Mesopotamian Marshes, at the delta of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in the south of Iraq. This is where Mastour and Zahra grow up. Shortly after their marriage, Mastour and Zahra are forced to separate when the Gulf War breaks out. On the battlefield, Mastour befriends Riad, a young soldier from Baghdad. Mortally wounded, Mastour makes Riad promise to protect Zahra when the war is over. When Riad arrives in the village, he falls deeply in love with Zahra. But unable to bear the loss of her husband, Zahra shuts herself off. In this completely foreign environment that is hostile to this newcomer, and as a new conflict is on the verge of inflaming the whole area, Riad will do the impossible to find his place.

An executive and a dowdy working-class woman, both unemployed, married and parents meet at a supermarket. They become friends but find it hard to accept that they may be in love with each other.

Starting in 1944 in the wake of the Liberation and continuing into the '60s, 'houses of hope' were established to lend a semblance of continuity to youngsters orpahaned by the war. Nina's Home takes place between September 1944 and January 1946 in an orphanage housed in a chateau outside Paris. At the outset, the country residence is run by Nina who has a core population of French Jewish children whose parents are probably dead. Food is scarce. News of the Concentration Camps hasn't hit yet, but some months later, a contingent of youths arrive form the liberated camps. The children are a disparate, wild, damaged group and conflicts ensue. Nina's challenge is to help them make their first delicate moves toward the future and in the process restore all of them, including herself, to life.

Raphael is an ex-boxing champ who now trains his young brother Manu. Tony, Raphael's ex-rival, returns to town to wed his reluctant fiance Chinh. As soon as Chinh and Raphael meet, sparks fly, and soon the two are sneaking out together.

Some days turn out to be simply unforgettable. For Marie, it all starts with a pregnancy test… that proves positive, a car accident and being fired from her job... For Hortense, mobile phone in hand, the frantic quest for sexual satisfaction begins in a traffic jam... For both Luis and Maurice, the unexpected appearance of a loved one pitches them into a world of dreams and nightmares. While some of the characters know each other, others come into contact by chance. One woman profits from all this, the other is shattered. One will have gone looking for trouble, the other will have asked for nothing. There'll be no fatalities.

After the death of her husband, Lilia's life revolves solely around her teenage daughter, Salma. Whilst looking for Salma late one night, Lilia stumbles upon a belly dance cabaret and though initially reserved and taken aback by the culture of the place, Lilia gets consistently drawn back to it. She befriends one of the belly dancers and is encouraged into dancing for the audience. Lilia also starts a romance with one of the cabaret's musicians, who unbeknown to both of them, is also romancing Salma.

In Saint-Nazaire in 1967, a hotbed of workers' struggles, Clémence, 26, is married to a young worker, Gérard. Like many women of her generation, she does not work and takes care of her two children. But she longs for a different life while Gérard confuses the happiness of his family with the acquisition of household appliances. Trained by an old friend, Agnès, in family planning meetings, Clémence will meet a young philosophy teacher, Jérôme. For him, she will abandon her husband and her children, and try to live the utopia of a life of total freedom. Blinded by his pain, a stranger to his wife's questioning, Gérard will have to become aware of the upheavals that will overwhelm society a few months later. Life will never be the same again.

All over the world, in every society, there are objects that have special power over people. People climb mountains or make pilgrimages just to see or touch them. They prostrate themselves or engage in rituals in their presence, caress them in the hopes of absorbing some of their magic, they enshrine them in temples or pass them on to descendants; wear them or store them in treasure houses or sometimes burn them. An individual object might hold power over only one group or even just one person, but the phenomenon of "power objects" is universal.

Fleeing the mafia, Vladimir, a young romantic Russian in love with Rimbaud, ends up without money in Paris. After taking part in a game show, where presenter Victor Lalumière bows him, he is found by the Russian mafia who wants to kill him.

The meeting of two worlds that never met. One of poetry and freedom, and the other of silence and darkness. A story that begins in a maximum security prison in Sweden where a young actor, Jan Jönson, decides to stage " Waiting for Godot "with five prisoners as actors.

From Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina to Christians in Lebanon, from the Bektashis of Macedonia to the Syriacs of Turkey, director Jacques Debs helps us discover two groups of people long forgotten or ignored - the Muslims in Europe and the Christians in the Middle East.

In this French comedy-drama, actor Angelo Bastiani installs satellite dishes when not auditioning for films. After being told he's not convincing enough for a role in a gangster flick, Ange dons a mask and stages a parking-lot holdup, terrifying the film's director and casting director to prove his point.

A documentary charting the rigors of the Russian space program, where the symbol of national pride would justify the most demanding training conditions.