mwdw's - Rented List

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The future looks promising for amateur actors Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) as they prepare for opening night on their production of Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'.

However, when dangerous work on a neighbouring building forces the couple to leave their home and move into a new apartment, a case of mistaken identity sees a shocking and violent incident throw their lives into turmoil. What follows is a series of wrong turns that threaten to destroy their relationship irreparably. Academy-Award winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) returns with 'The Salesman', a characteristically taut drama exploring how unexpected cracks can form in the foundations of a seemingly happy marriage.

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This utterly compelling psychological thriller from Michael Haneke - one of cinema's most daring original and controversial directors - stars Daniel Auteuil as Georges, a television presenter who begins to receive mysterious and alarming packages containing covertly filmed videos of himself and his

family. To the mounting consternation of Georges and his wife (Juliette Binoche) the footage on the tapes - which arrive wrapped in drawings of disturbingly violent images - becomes increasingly personal, and sinister anonymous phone calls are made. Convinced he knows the identity of the person responsible, Georges embarks on a rash and impulsive course of action that throws up some unpleasant facts about his past and leads to shockingly unexpected consequences.

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When devout university student Nour (Shaden Kanboura) moves in with successful lawyer Laila (Mouna Hawa) and club DJ Salma (Sana Jammelieh), she is shocked by their lifestyle.

As Laila fights to retain her freedom in the face of a new relationship, Salma falls for beautiful trainee doctor Dounia (Ashlam Canaan), a romance she must hide from her family. Nour is set for an arranged marriage to Wissam, an exemplary member of the community who may not be as respectable as he appears. 'In Between' follows the lives of these strong, independent minded Palestinian-lsraeli women in Tel Aviv. Away from the constraints of their families and enforced tradition, they find themselves 'in between' the free and unfettered lives they aspire to lead and the restrictions imposed on them by a blinkered society. First-time director Maysaloun Hamoud's exhilarating depiction of the lives of 'liberated' Palestinian women in Israel earned her the first Palestinian fatwa in 70 years.

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In the business end of a kitchen, a polyglot staff strives to cope with a superhuman task.

A microcosm of the world, the kitchen looms around and encloses its workers; they include Peter (Carl Möhner), the German cook, who is in love with waitress Monica (Mary Yeomans), and constantly asks her to leave her husband. The pressure of the day becomes unendurable, and when Peter realises that Monica does not mean to divorce her husband his grief and pain cause him to run berserk!

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A vain sports reporter (Leon Niemczyk) and his beautiful but frustrated wife are on their way to the lake, for a days sailing, when they nearly run over a young hitch-hiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz).

The couple invite the hitch-hiker to join them on their boat which triggers a battle of wits between the two men as they jostle for superiority. But will the hitch hikers obession with his knife cause the tension to end in tragedy...

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Sao Paulo is an urban jungle, and a desperate father has lost his son... Theo (Wagner Moura) is living the good life in an upscale Brazilian neighbourhood; he is a hardworking doctor, husband, and father.

However, Theo has chosen his career over his family and his wife announces that she wants a divorce. Nothing could prepared him for the day he comes home to discover his 15-year-old-son, Pedro, has gone missing. Theo takes to the road in search of his son - a journey that leads him across Brazil, where will discover what truly matters to him. This film whisks us through the Sao Paulo nightscape - from swanky suburbs to shantytown slums. Theo embarks on a journey of discovery, exposing the realities of Brazil's population outside the realms of big cities and picture-perfect beaches.

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After failing to be admitted into the renowned Sao Paulo Symphonic Orchestra, talented violinist Laerte is forced to teach music in a public school in Heliopolis, the biggest and most violent slum of Brazil. There, Laerte experiences the brutal reality himself.

Little by little, he is able to gain the trust of the students and the community while he starts to give classes in a less conventional way, opening the doors to a new world.

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Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's follow-up to 'The Lesson' is a social parable about a humble man who gets unwillingly celebrated. Railway linesman Tsanko (Stefan Denolyubov) finds lots of bank notes on the tracks.

When he reports the money rather than pocketing it, the Ministry of Transport - embroiled in a scandal - takes the opportunity to parade their new hero. But Tsanko might not be a PR person's dream. Yet compared to PR head Julia (Margita Gosheva), he's an angel. When Julia removes his watch - a Russian-made Slava (Glory), inscribed and presented to him by his father - for the ceremony to present him with a new one, it sets off a chain of events that threatens to bring down the Ministry thanks to a combination of corruption, irresponsibility and arrogance.

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Nadezhda (Margita Gosheva) is an English teacher who also works as a translator to earn extra cash. Stunned by a theft by one of her students she is determined to find the culprit. But meanwhile her personal life is put under huge pressure.

A bailiff tells her that her house is about to be seized because of unpaid mortgage payments. Determined to keep the house, she will do everything she can to get the money before it is too late. Her personal and professional life converge as she wonders, whilst her options start to run out, whether to question the principles she teaches her students.

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On a hot summer day, a bicycle is found in a wheat field, and nearby, the body of a young girl. The killer is never found. 23 years later. Same date. Same place. Another bicycle. Another girl.

This time round, an ageing detective convinced that history is repeating itself, comes out of retirement determined to track down the perpetrator with the help of his young colleague. Spanning a week in the investigation, both of them will begin a journey that will see intact worlds shatter apart.

Set in the holy city of Mashhad, Ali Abbasi's haunting latest feature follows journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), as she investigates the murders of several sex workers by the 'Spider Killer', who believes he is on a divine mission to cleanse the city of sinners.

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Recently retired, Harold Fry is well into his 60s and content to fade quietly into the background of life.

Harold's life with his wife Maureen is uneventful and their marriage frozen, due to an unspeakable conflict relating to the absence of their son, until one day, Harold learns his old friend Queenie is dying. He sets off to the post office to send her a letter and decides to keep walking: all the way to her hospice, 450 miles away.

From director-writer-producer Todd Field comes Tar, starring Cate Blanchett as the iconic musician, Lydia Tar. The film examines the changing nature of power, its impact and durability in our modern world.

The courageous story of the Battle of the Atlantic: a story of an ocean, a ship and a handful of men. The brave crew are the heroes. The heroine is the ship. The only villain is the sea that man, and war, have made even more brutal...

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Karoly Makk's Cannes award-winning gem is a meditation on time, memory, love and loss. Two women - an elderly, bedridden mother and a loyal wife - await the return of an imprisoned man.

Beautifully played by two giants of Hungarian cinema, Lili Darvas and Mari Torocsik, the film is a subtle yet powerful exploration of how love sustains life, even in times of fear and uncertainty. Perfectly realised, with luminous cinematography and innovative editing, Makk's tender masterpiece is a landmark of international cinema.