The Birch Tree

Not One Less

October 1999 •Chinese

Set in the People's Republic of China during the 1990s, the film centers on a 13-year-old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi, in the Chinese countryside. Called in to substitute for a village teacher for one month, Wei is told not to lose any students.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

June 1981 •English

After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.

The Sweet Hereafter

September 1997 •English

A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives to help the survivors' and victims' families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage.

War of the Buttons

April 1962 •French

For generations, two rival French villages, Longueverne and Velrans, have been at war. But this is no ordinary conflict, for the on-going hostilities are between two armies of young schoolboys. When he is beaten by his father for having lost his buttons, the leader of the Longueverne army, Lebrac, has an idea which will give his side the advantage: next time, he and his brave soldiers will go in battle without their clothes...

Inventing the Abbotts

April 1997 •English

In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.

Gutland

May 2018 •German

Early one summer morning a young man, with a secret stashed away in a duffel bag, emerges from the forest. In a nearby village he asks around for work, but the farmers, suspicious to the point of hostility, are not very forthcoming. Only when Lucy, the mayor’s unruly daughter, takes a liking to him, does the village change its attitude: he is promptly offered a job as a farmhand and a caravan to live in. As time passes and he is gradually integrated into the community, it emerges that he’s not the only one with a past to hide. Something sinister is lurking under the immaculate surface of this picturesque little world - and it is slowly drawing him in.

The Road Home

October 1999 •Chinese

Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.

Miracle at St. Anna

September 2008 •English

Miracle at St. Anna chronicles the story of four American soldiers who are members of the all-black 92nd "Buffalo Soldier" Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II.

Dry Season

February 2024 •Czech

Two neighboring clans and two different approaches to life. What happens when the strained relationship of two domineering fathers interferes with the love of their own children?

Turtles Can Fly

January 2005 •Kurdish

Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.

¡Three Amigos!

December 1986 •English

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.

The Grocer's Son

June 2007 •French

Antoine Sforza, a thirty-year-old young man, left his village ten years before in order to start a new life in the big city, but now that his father, a traveling grocer, is in hospital after a stroke, he more or less reluctantly accepts to come back to replace him in his daily rounds.

Train of Life

September 1998 •French

In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.

Up! Up! To the sky

January 2008 •English

Kaththi

October 2014 •Tamil

Kathiresan aka Kaththi, a criminal, escapes from the Kolkata prison and comes to Chennai, where he comes across his doppelganger Jeevanandham, fighting for his life after being shot at by unknown men. Kathir decides to pass off as Jeeva and make away with a lump sum amount but once he realizes who Jeeva really is, Kathir turns a crusader.

Infidelity

October 1911 •Dutch

Renée isn't very happy in her marriage with colonel Brachart and starts a relationship with a young lieutenant.

Country Maiden

September 1919 •Tagalog

This is the first Filipino feature-length film made by a Filipino director regarded as "Father of Filipino Movies" and is now lost forever. Dalagang Bukid is a story about a young flower vendor named Angelita, who is forced by her parents to marry a wealthy old man, Don Silvestre, despite her love for Cipriano, a law student.

Wild Seed

March 1967 •

A man who escaped from a prison comes to his inmate's village to find his wife, after having been told how wonderful she is. He hides at her place only to find out that she receives "night visits" from the village men. He starts a killing spree, causing panic among the locals.

Welcome to Dongmakgol

August 2005 •Korean

Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.

Forbidden

June 2002 •English

At his bachelor party, Jason has a one-night fling with Nikki, a radiant beauty with whom he forms an immediate bond. They agree to keep their secret locked away forever. Two years later, Jason, his wife, Andy and his fiancee plan a reunion weekend. Jason is shocked to discover that Andy's fiancee is Nikki. Now, secret and passionate affairs are played out.