Synopses taken from the catalogue of the 64th Venice International Film Festival

published by Electa

Alexi Tan

Tiantang kou

1930s Shanghai, a glittering city of vice and decadence. Three innocent young men arrive to this seeming paradise in search of a better future. But as time goes by, their paths diverge, even as they all descend into a life of crime. Soon, friends turn against friends, brother against brother. The blood bonds are now but relics from their early days of innocence.

Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza

REC  

A team of local TV reporters is following a firemen squad on duty for the entire night. The footage is completely live and their task to make report on the life of these professionals, which includes their work, long waits and situations of extreme risk. On the first job of the night, the fire squad must rescue an old lady who is trapped inside her apartment for unknown reasons. But during this operation something goes terribly wrong. What seemed to be a routine procedure, unexpectedly turned into hell. Trapped inside the building, a couple of firemen and the TV crew will have to confront an unknown and lethal horror. Something evil and sinister is spreading throughout the building, out of control. Suddenly, the rules have changed. Now, the only thing that matters is hiding, surviving, overcoming the fear, trying desperately to escape... And to keep on recording. No matter what happens. Until the very last moment.

Asif Kapadia

Far North  

Saiva, a woman living under a curse, and Anja, her adopted daughter, are in a remote land far from civilization where she believes they will be safe. Saiva is the sole survivor of an indigenous tribe of reindeer herders slaughtered by a troop of marauding soldiers. After the massacre, Saiva leads the men to their death on a glacier avenging Ivar, the only man she ever loved. They struggle to survive, living off the scarce prey they can kill. One day a figure appears on the horizon and collapses. Despite her fears and doubts Saiva takes him in and nurses him back from the brink of death. Loki the fugitive, recovers and settles in with the two women as the snow arrives and the long winter nights close in. Saiva and Anja compete for his attention. As the passion between Loki and Anja deepens, they tell Saiva the heartbreaking news that they intend to leave her to start a new life together. She is devastated. As the sea begins to freeze over, Loki and Anja prepare for the long journey South to Loki’s village. Saiva retreats into a tense silence. At the moment the lovers are about to leave, she acts with terrifying and horrific consequences.

Ridley Scott

Blade Runner: The Final Cut   

Visually spectacular, intensely actionpacked and powerfully prophetic since its debut, Blade Runner returns in Ridley Scott’s definitive Final Cut. In a signature role as 21st-century detective Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford brings his masculine-yet-vulnerable presence to this stylish noir thriller. In a future of high-tech possibility soured by urban and social decay, Deckard hunts for fugitive, murderous replicants – and is drawn to a mystery woman whose secrets may undermine his soul.

Richard Shepard

The Hunting Party  

“In war what you see, and what really happened, are sometimes two very different things.” TV News reporter Simon Hunt and cameraman Duck have worked in the world’s hottest war zones: from Bosnia to Iraq, from Somalia to El Salvador. Together they have dodged bullets, filed incisive reports and collected Emmy awards. Then one terrible day in a Bosnian village everything changes. During a live broadcast on national television, Simon has a meltdown. After that, Duck is promoted and Simon just disappears. Five years later Duck returns to Sarajevo with rookie reporter Benjamin to cover the fifth anniversary of the end of the war. Simon shows up, a ghost from the past, with the promise of a world exclusive. He convinces Duck that he knows the whereabouts of Bosnia’s most wanted war criminal “The Fox.” Armed with only spurious information Simon, Duck and Benjamin embark on a dark and dangerous mission that takes them deep into hostile territory. It’s the scoop of a lifetime but will they live to report it?