ESSE Production House

Erik is convinced he has a stone for a heart. That’s why he doesn’t mind that his parents have no time for him, or that he is bullied at school, or that he has no real friends. When his family moves to a villa they inherited, he is confronted by Maria whom Erik's parents want to kick out along with her father. Maria refuses to move and promises to make Erik's life a living hell. As a last attempt to defeat Erik, Maria goes to look for her mother who disappeared two years ago. Together they end up on a fantastical journey to the In-Between-World and Erik learns how hard it really is to wear a heart of stone.

Hanging out with friends, smoking a lot, spinning bottles and kissing, making mistakes, playing, refusing to accept, dreaming with open eyes - life as a teenager can be overwhelmingly beautiful and difficult at the same time. In her debut, the Ukrainian director composes a deeply emotional and multi-layered portrait of a generation whilst seamlessly flowing between the fictional and the documental.

Living in war-torn Eastern Ukraine Anna is an aging single mother who is desperate for a change. Lured by a radio advertisement, she goes to party with a group of American men who are touring the country, searching for love.

Shortly after the nuclear Chernobyl disaster in 1986, a father risks his life and returns to his deserted apartment to retrieve his front door.

Crocodile is a game for a big company. The host shows a word only with the gestures. The one, who guesses it, chooses the next one to lead the game. Anya comes up with a difficult word for Lisa. This New Year Eve turns into a test of their friendship.

In a cheap brothel at the foothills of an Athenian fortress, a man recounts the magnificent events of his life. His search for love and glory is retold and relived by many: a prostitute with an unredeemable past, a gangster haunted by bad luck, an icon painter who has no faith - In one of the stories, the man finds his riches, in another he becomes a vagabond prophet, in yet another he returns home to his wife. Memories betray him, but he knows for sure that in one of these lives, he will be killed.

Yesterday's serviceman Serhii stepping into the new life of a civilian that morning had already lost pace by lunchtime. The transition no longer seems like a walk to him, the day is coming to an end, but a new life still does not begin.