On the Road

An icon of popular modern Italian comedy, Antonio Albanese, stars, writes and directs with humor and irony about the contradictions and fears of modern times, in a crazy road movie that changes the life and beliefs of its hero. — Mario Cavallaro wakes up every morning in the same way, in the same house, neighborhood and city, Milan. He has just turned fifty and loves punctuality, preciseness, respect, manners and order in general. Every change scares him, especially when that has to do with the sale of his favorite bar to an Egyptian, and with the arrival of Oba, a Senegalese street vendor who is stealing his clients. Believing he needs to restore order, Mario comes up with a simple, albeit unorthodox, solution.

Laughter and tears alternate in this relatable and disarmingly bittersweet comedy that portrays a triumphant life journey that confirms and transcends the truth behind any cliche about "special abilities". — Three young people with different disabilities decide to take a daring road trip with a jaded nurse driver to Montreal, Canada, to visit an asylum that specializes in physically challenged clients.

The collective collapse of the Xenia hotels as a metaphor for the Greek dream has director Koutras making a road movie. He infuses it with melodrama, with clarity and tenderness, and looks straight at our inadequacies as individuals and as a society. — After their mother’s death, two brothers, 16 and 18 years old respectively, travel through Greece to locate their father, who abandoned them years ago. Their goal is to secure Greek citizenship; furthermore, the older of the two wants to participate in a song contest in Thessaloniki. Along the way, they encounter both foes and friends and are forced to grow up quickly; but they never give up on the right to dream of a better life. — Best Film | Chicago International Film Festival | 2014 Best Film | Hellenic Film Academy Awards | 2015 Best Fiction Film | Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival | 2014

Fatih Akin pays tribute to teenage nerve with this tale of two boys who steal a car and set off on a mad trip across Germany, with no map and nowhere to be. It’s a moving story of a friendship that saves a life, and of a summer that turns out to be the best ever precisely because nobody planned it. — A fourteen-year-old boy is spending the summer alone in the family villa, since his mother is in rehab and his father is away on a supposed business trip with his secretary. When another boy drifts into his life, they’re soon friends, and before long they’ve stolen a car and taken off. Where they’re going hardly matters, as long as it’s away from Berlin.

A road movie that makes fun of itself and of the new Romanian cinema, with three antiheroic losers who win the lottery, lose the ticket and embark on an adventurous journey to find it, getting themselves into trouble through hilarious circumstances. — Dinel lives in the Romanian province. His customers at the repair shop keep nagging and his income is barely enough for a beer - that’s also the reason his wife left him. Things take an unexpected turn when he wins a 6 million euros prize at the lottery. There’s only one problem: the ticket is in his bag, and it got stolen. Dinel embarks on a crazy journey in search of the magic ticket, meeting paranoid potheads, inventive fortune tellers and wannabe singers. — Special Mention for Best International Film | Zurich Film Festival | 2016

Harry Dean Stanton's last exercise in stillness is the story of an atheist’s road trip in search of meaning. One of the most legendary character actors in modern American cinema performs the star role of a lifetime, shot shortly before his death. — Lucky is a 90-year-old atheist who protects his independence fiercely and, compared to many of his peers, has lived a full, rich life. When he starts feeling that the end is nigh, Lucky begins a literal and spiritual journey of exploring the self, along with a variety of eccentric characters that live somewhere in the American desert. — Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Locarno International Film Festival | 2017 Official Selection | Thessaloniki Film Festival | 2017