The Mighty Pawns

The Dark Horse

July 2014 •English

One-time Maori speed-chess champ, Genesis Potini, lives with a bi-polar disorder and must overcome prejudice and violence in the battle to save his struggling chess club, his family and ultimately, himself.

Kartini: Princess of Java

April 2017 •Indonesian

A woman of nobility battles patriarchal norms in order to improve educational access for women in early 1900s Indonesian society.

Stip & Pensil

April 2017 •Indonesian

Toni, Aghi, Bubu, and Saras get the task of making essays. They create a free school for street children but they chose to earn money than learn.

King of Endings

January 1987 •

Branko Kralj is an alienated businessman and avid chess fan. He is married to the attractive Visnja and they have a son. Their marriage is weak and Branko feels much closer to his mistress than to his wife. One day Kralj and Visnja travel on a half empty train. Kralj goes to a far away compartment for a game of chess, and leaves Visnja alone. Three men take advantage of the lone woman in her compartment and rape her.

Stalag 17

May 1953 •English

It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17 and the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem—there seems to be a security leak.

Underdogs

July 2008 •German

Soultribe: A Dance of Life

November 2023 •German

Three families struggle to find their true selves and their soulmates in a world full of expectations, pressure and obstacles. Inspired by real events, this film shows how they pursue their dreams and potential without losing themselves.

King's Gambit

August 2021 •English

A surrealist retelling of Caine and Abel in a black void, where a game of chess is taking place. A boxer uses a punching bag while watching from afar.

The Blind Side

November 2009 •English

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.

Knight to D7

March 2011 •English

Knight To D7' is an extraordinary story of sacrifice that takes place one ordinary afternoon when Dustin Harper visits his longtime friend, Brady Collins. Their ongoing game of chess is brought to a halt when Brady reveals that his continuing battle with cancer has taken a turn for the worst. The only thing harder than saying goodbye will be honoring Brady's last request.

To Sir, with Love

June 1967 •English

A British Guianese engineer starts a job as a high school teacher in London’s East End, where his uninterested and delinquent pupils are in desperate need of attention and care.

Salty Air

January 2007 •Italian

An embittered penitentiary social worker receives an unwelcome blast from the past when the case file of his father, a convicted murderer who has been emotionally broken by prison life, lands on his desk.

Rondo

June 1966 •

Every Sunday, lonely bachelor and refined judge Mladen goes to play chess with his friend, sculptor Fedji. Slowly, he engages in a love affair with Neda, Fedia's wife, and almost invisibly, a love triangle forms. Chess board is the central part of the film, as moves on the board reflect emotions of the characters.

Martian Child

November 2007 •English

A recently-widowed science fiction writer considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially-rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.

The Wave

March 2008 •German

A school teacher discusses types of government with his class. His students find it too boring to repeatedly go over national socialism and believe that dictatorship cannot be established in modern Germany. He starts an experiment to show how easily the masses can become manipulated.

Královská hra

February 1981 •Czech

Television play

Die Grünstein-Variante

April 1985 •German

The plot revolves around three men waiting to be deported in a prison. To escape the monotony, they form chess pieces from their bread rations, with which they then play against each other. Grünstein, a Polish Jew, proves to be a real talent, because although he is a beginner, he manages to defeat even the experienced player Lodeck, a German sailor, with his "Grünstein Variant".

Die Klasse von '99 - Schule war gestern, Leben ist jetzt

September 2003 •German

The story of a group of contemporary young people, growing up in well-to-do small-town

The Collector of Brains

January 1981 •French

A young pianist is shocked when she witnesses a strange chess tournament with a robot. Could there be a gruesome secret behind this exhibition?

Europa

June 1991 •German

A young, idealist American gets a job as a train conductor for the Zentropa railway network in postwar, US-occupied Frankfurt. As various people try to take advantage of him, he soon finds his position politically sensitive, and gets caught up in a whirlpool of conspiracies and Nazi sympathisers.