Family Drama

Normal

Romanian New Wave patriarch, Cristi Puiu, composes with surgical precision and sharpness another grand and demanding epic of small things, a mosaic of his country's society within the four walls of an apartment.

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Three days after the terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices and 40 days after his father's death, a man plans to spend his Saturday with his relatives in order to honor his deceased father. At the same time, he finds himself facing his fears and his past, and wondering what his place is within his family.

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Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2016
Best Film | Chicago International Film Festival | 2016
Best Cinematography | Minsk International Film Festival | 2016

Sieranevada

Marco Bellocchio, the enfant terrible of italian cinema, has graced us with one of his most mature films: a wonderfully balanced, deeply touching story about childhood, innocence and the loss of both.

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Turin, 1969. A boy's idyllic childhood is shattered by the sudden loss of his mother. Today he is an accomplished journalist, but after working as a war correspondent in Sarajevo, he starts to suffer from panic attacks. As he prepares to sell his parents' apartment, the traumas of his past resurface, and a compassionate doctor helps him cope with his childhood wounds.

Sweet Dreams

The ghosts of the past return to haunt and extract revenge, in this skillfully constructed, full-of-twists drama. The film walks a fine line between satire and thriller and continuously torpedoes the concept of "holy matrimony".

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A young couple's wedding day begins auspiciously, but is gradually ruined by a strange visitor. The mysterious young man claims to be an old friend from the groom's school. He is warmly welcomed, yet everything changes when he confesses his true identity to the bride. The secrets that will be revealed will force the newlyweds to view their relationship in a new light, that's neither innocent nor magical.

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Best Director | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | 2013

Honeymoon

The two legendary and wonderful Catherines of French cinema, Deneuve and Frot, star in roles delightfully and diametrically opposed, with the common denominator of the concepts of forgiveness and redemption.

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A gifted midwife receives an unexpected phone call from someone in her past. After 30 years, her father's ex-wife suddenly shows up. The two women will confess old secrets and begin to make up for all the years and time they’ve lost as each other's companion.

The Midwife

Gorgeous landscapes and classical music. The contradictory and enigmatic face of modern Turkey. The elaborate dialogues and even more poignant silences. All of the elements we’ve come to love in the films of the great Nuri Bilge Ceylan become crystallized in his most recent three-hour epic.

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An unpublished writer returns to the village where he grew up after completing his studies. He hopes to publish his first book and is trying to decide what to do with his future, while dealing with his father's deteriorating indulgence into gambling.

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Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2018
Official Selection | Beijing International Film Festival | 2019
Official Selection Competition | Jerusalem Film Festival | 2018

The Wild Pear Tree

If there is anything worth preserving from Dogme 95, Lars von Trier’s manifesto that shook the waters at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, it is this legendary film by Thomas Vinterberg, that depicts familial abuse in a cinematically unparalleled way.

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Thomas Vinterberg directs the story of the sixtieth birthday of a wealthy paterfamilias, when unpleasant truths begin to emerge about the family's tumultuous past, which will quickly turn into an avalanche.

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Jury Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 1998
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film | Golden Globes | 1999
Nominated for Best Film not in the English Language | BAFTA Awards | 2000
Nominated for Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 1999

The Celebration

Clint Eastwood’s award-winning masterpiece about the relationship between a veteran coach and a young boxer who won’t stop fighting. The movie won 4 Oscars: Best Movie, Directing, Actress in a Leading Role (Hilary Swank) and Actor in a Supporting Role (Morgan Freeman)

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Frankie Dunn is a veteran boxing coach in Los Angeles. He keeps everyone at arm’s length except for his old-time friend and partner, Eddie. When Maggie, a young woman from a working-class Missouri background, comes to Frankie’s gym in search of his expertise, he is reluctant to become her trainer. Eventually, he gives in and the two of them form a tight bond that will irrevocably change both.

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Best Film | Oscars | 2005
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Hilary Swank) | Oscars | 2005
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Morgan Freeman) | Oscars | 2005
Best Director | Oscars | 2005
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama (Hilary Swank) | Golden Globes | 2005
Best Director | Golden Globes | 2005
Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 2006

Million Dollar Baby

Doubly awarded at the Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Actor (a brilliant Casey Affleck), "Manchester by the sea" is one of the most unforgettable family dramas of the last decade. Michelle Williams is also superb, in a heart-wrenching and soulful part.

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A man returns to his small hometown. His brother has died and he has been awarded custody of his orphaned teenage nephew, something he is not sure he can handle. There, he will have to encounter his ex-wife after many years and relive the trauma of the horrifying events of his past.

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Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Casey Affleck) | Oscars | 2017
Best Original Screenplay | Oscars | 2017

Manchester by the Sea

Haneke, the constant provocateur, has some fun with the demise of the traditional upper-class family as we know it, using murder as the only point of connection in the unbridgeable generation gap, in a perversely ironic best-of that winks at the whole of his oeuvre.

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There’s nothing "happy" about the life of this family. The eldest daughter has taken over the family business from her father because of his advanced age. She has to deal with the potentially catastrophic consequences of a work accident at one of the company's construction sites. At the same time, her brother takes custody of his teenage daughter after the mysterious poisoning of his ex-wife. He too is hiding secrets, which could endanger his second marriage.

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Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2017

Happy End

You are not ready for this shake up. Difficult subjects, taboos, strong emotions and a daring family drama from Romania that haunts, a "discovery" of the Berlin Festival's small sections.

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Two siblings and an illegitimate love. A father and several accusations. A family in which no one ever drew a line between what's moral and what's legal. Not even when it comes to abortion.

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C.I.C.A.E. Award | Berlin International Film Festival | 2016
Best Film Award | Odessa International Film Festival | 2016
Best Film Award | Pula Film Festival | 2016

Illegitimate

Live every day like it is your last, as people say. But what does that mean for Claire Darling? An outstanding portrait of a deeply flawed, compelling heroine, featuring Catherine Deneuve in one of her greatest contemporary performances, set in the beautiful French countryside.

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In a small village in Northern France, on the first day of summer, Claire Darling wakes up determined to live her final day. She decides to empty out her house as each object resonates something from her tragic, yet passionate life. Until the return of Mary, her daughter whom she has not seen in 20 years.

Claire Darling

One of Cinobo's favorite directors, Asghar Farhadi, makes his first French-speaking film and replicates the success of his masterpiece "A Separation", without being lost in translation. A slow-burning and explosive family drama.

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A few years after his separation, an Iranian man arrives in Paris to sign official divorce papers, as requested by his ex-wife. During his stay, he finds out about her relationship with a young Arab, the constant fights with their daughter and the psychological violence that is ever-present in their lives. Secrets from their past create a deadlock of emotional despair.

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Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film | Golden Globes | 2014
Best Actress (Bérénice Bejo) | Cannes Film Festival | 2013 
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 2013

The Past

An impressive directorial debut from Tunisia, in a multi-layered story that begins on the pretext of family drama, leaving a dynamic set of social and political commentary to subtly emerge.

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A couple and their son fall victim of a terrorist attack. 11 year-old Aziz is seriously injured and while the parents do everything they can to find an organ donor to save his life, a family secret will be revealed, endangering their son’s life.

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Best Actor (Sami Bouajila) - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2019
OPANDA Jury Prize | French Film Festival of Greece | 2021
FISCHER Audience Award | French Film Festival of Greece | 2021

A Son

Magic realism, melodrama, an ode to all things female: just some of the dimensions of this multi-faceted film by Julio Medem, who masterfully directs Penelope Cruz in an emotional, powerful role that feels like it was created just for her.

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Already heartbroken by her husband's decision to leave her, a woman discovers she has breast cancer. Her doctor is hopeful, but she will have to undergo surgery and painful, time-consuming treatments. The day her diagnosis is revealed to her, she meets a man who is going through his own personal drama. The tragic events in both their lives forge a unique bond between them, which will endure the test of time and great difficulties.

Ma Ma

Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the movie that made the Iranian Asghar Farhadi internationally famous and reflected the painful process of a divorce as a race of self-determination and survival in an authoritarian and fundamentalistic state.

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A man is bound by his sick father and does not want to abandon him. His wife leaves him and their daughter, hoping her mother will soon come back, stays with him temporarily. Unable to take care of his old father alone, he hires a woman to take care of him. What he doesn't know is that this woman works without her husband's permission while being pregnant. Without realizing it, he's captured in a web of lies and social disputes.

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Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2012
Golden Bear | Berlin International Film Festival | 2011
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Berlin International Film Festival | 2011
Best Actress | Berlin International Film Festival | 2011
Best Actor | Berlin International Film Festival | 2011

A Separation

Is it possible for a person to physically and spiritually change in the course of his life, having acceptance as a self-goal? With realism and boldness, a young director from Denmark describes a painstakingly hidden long-standing case of racism which victimized native Northern European Sami people.

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A tribute to those who remained in – but also those who left - a society on the edge of the world and at the same time an alternative, personal narrative about the colonial past of a "civilized" country, through the eyes and experiences of a teenager.

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Human Values Award | Thessaloniki Film Festival | 2016
Best Director of a Debut Film | Venice Film Festival | 2016
Europa Cinemas Award | Venice Film Festival | 2016

Sami Blood

The fearsome child of modern festivals, Xavier Dolan returns with an explosive domino of revelations and family passions. French cinema all-star cast and a well deserved Cannes award.

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After 12 years of absence, a writer returns home to make an important announcement to his family. A quiet afternoon is destroyed by confrontations and feuds, triggered by feelings of loneliness and doubt. The family members' attempts for reconciliation fail due to their inability to listen and love.

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Grand Prize of the Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 2016
Best Director | César Awards | 2017
Award Best Actor (Gaspard Ulliel) | César Awards | 2017

It's Only the End of the World

Much more than a bucolic romance, a surreal search for identity across humans and wolves against the backdrop of the countryside, from a director who has left his own mark on queer cinema, Alain Guiraudie.

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Documentary filmmaker Leo searches for a wolf in the south of France. During a search, he is enchanted by Marie, a feisty, free-spirited shepherdess. Nine months later, she gives birth to their child. But Marie suffers from depression and no longer has faith in Leo who comes and goes, leaving both him and the child behind. Leo returns and finds himself having to raise the baby alone.

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Best Director | Seville European Film Festival 2016

Staying Vertical

The great Andrey Zvyagintsev stages the disappearance of a young boy and gradually and masterfully orchestrates a cinematic requiem about the dissolution of family ties, the absence of love and the deathly apathy of a slowly dying Russia.

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A couple splits up and their divorce is full of disappointment, bitterness and insults. Having already found new partners, the ex-spouses cannot wait to turn the page and start their new lives. Even if that means abandoning their 12-year-old son.

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Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2018
Jury Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 2017
Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 2018
Best Film | London Film Festival | 2017

Loveless

A story full of secrets and lies both on an individual and collective level from the beloved Argentinian, Pablo Trapero ("The Clan" and "
"White Elephant"), that flirts with the genres of both melodrama and psychological thriller and enchants the viewer.

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Prompted by her father's illness, a woman returns to her family's mansion near Buenos Aires but the reunion with her mother and sister will lead to the revelation of the dark secrets of their common past during the military dictatorship.

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Official Selection | Venice Film Festival | 2018

The Quietude

With clear eclectic influences from similar literary and cinematic heroes, and a roster of recognizable stars, this indie film is an inspired modern coming-of-age tale that unfolds splendidly via Marc Webb’s (500 Days of Summer) visual ingenuity.

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Thomas, the son of a publisher and his artist wife, just graduated from college and is trying to find his place in life. His world begins to change when he discovers that his married father is having an affair with an enchanting younger woman. Determined to break up the affair, Thomas sleeps with his father’s mistress, thus offsetting a chain of events that will forever change what he knew about himself and his family.

The Only Living Boy in New York

With a script co-written by Lukas Dhont of the award-winning Close, this tender and much-needed debut is a cinematic lifeline for any child who feels different, but also an uplifting take on the search for identity that will leave no one unmoved.

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13-year-old Elias begins to develop feelings for his 14-year-old neighbour, Alexander. He soon realizes that he is truly in love for the first time. His interactions with his friends and family bring more questions than answers. Confused by his intensifying emotions, he tries to sort out his inner chaos to prove that he deserves Alexander's heart.

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Special Mention - Generation KPlus | Berlin Film Festival | 2024

Young Hearts

Inspired by his own family history, director Edouard Bergeon delivers a powerful biographical drama of resilience, set in a dramatic and beautiful countryside, starring Guillaume Canet.

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The Jarjeaus are farmers, father and son. Pierre was 25 when he returned from Wyoming to his fiancée Claire and the family farm. Twenty years later, both the business and the family have grown. Emma and Thomas enjoy country living while helping their parents. Happy days, at least on the surface… But Pierre is exhausted, his debts are piling up and his father isn’t making things easier. Despite the love of his wife and children, Pierre is sinking…

In the Name of the Land

Framed by amateur actors, the film transports the viewer with shocking forwardness into the harsh reality of its protagonist. A resounding presence in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Festival 2021, where it won the Jury Prize.

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Set against the background of a former metallurgical town in North Ossetia, young Ada tries to escape from the tight bonds of her family and the local society that keep her imprisoned.

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Un Certain Regard Best Film Award | Cannes Film Festival | 2021

Unclenching the Fists

The indefatigable Arnaud Desplechin ("My Golden Days") directs the irresistible duo of Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud in a riveting family drama that keeps its secrets well guarded. Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

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Alice and Louis are siblings. Sister and brother. She is an actress, he is a teacher and a poet. For more than 20 years, Alice has not stopped hating her brother. All this time, they have never seen each other. The death of their parents will bring the two siblings face to face again.

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Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2022