Everyone's a winner

There are nine films up for the Best Picture award, among them the Thai film "Ploy". The films range from Chinese comedies to South American dramas and portray everything from British Punk culture to lesbianism in Taiwan.

The directors of the nine films in competition, many of which have won awards before, will be crossing their fingers. The judges have their work cut out to pick a winner from this excellent bunch.

Beaufort

Director: Joseph Cedar

Israel, 2007, 120 min

In the last Israeli outpost in southern Lebanon, a group of young soldiers wait for orders to leave. Meanwhile they must continue to defend the fort. They pass the time under a rain of fire, with the 22-year-old commander caught between fear of failure and desire to return home.

The Edge of Heaven

Director/writer: Faith Akin

Germany/Turkey, 2007

Nejat's widowed father, Ali, chooses a prostitute, Yeter, as a live-in girlfriend, to the dismay of his son. But her sudden death distances father and son irrevocably. Nejat decides to go to Turkey in search of Yeter's daughter, Ayten.

As it happens, Ayten is in Germany, on the run from police for her political activism.

Getting Home

Director: Zhang Yang

China/Hong Kong, 2007,

97 min

When construction worker Benshan Zhao's friend dies suddenly a long way from their home village, there's no money for the coffin or its transport back to their village. Zhao pretends his friend is drunk and hauls the corpse on to a bus. A series of comical adventures ensues as Zhao tries to scam his way back home undiscovered.

Lost in Beijing

Director: Yu Li

China, 2007, 112 min

Young couple, Ping Guo and her husband, An Kun, are struggling to survive in the bustling Beijing metropolis. But things change drastically when Ping is raped by her neaveau-riche boss, Lin Dong, at his Basin Foot Massage Palace as her husband watches helplessly. Ping becomes pregnant and her husband decides to blackmail his wife's rapist.

Ploy

Director/writer: Pen-ek Ratanaruang

Thailand, 2007, 107 min

Wit and Dang, a couple grown distant in recent years, return from the US to Bangkok for a funeral. Wit meets a young girl, Ploy, at their hotel bar. One

thing leads to another, and suddenly the three find themselves locked inside a hotel room. Jealousy and tension mount, and relationships begin to unravel towards an unthinkable climax. The couple are faced with a stark choice to either go their separate ways, or try to save their relationship.

Sankara

Director/writer: Prasanna Jayakody

Sri Lanka, 2006, 85 min, 35mm, Colour

Young Buddhist monk Ananda arrives to restore ancient murals which teach that a seeker after truth must not be swayed by worldly passions. But when he finds a woman's hairpin and decides to return it, the chance encounter leaves him struggling with long-suppressed emotions, his spiritual poise destroyed along with his work on the murals.

Spider Lilies

Director: Zero Chou

Taiwan, 2006, 94 min

Webcam pornography star Jade's quest to get a tattoo leads her to Takeko's tattoo parlour. Takeko happens to have been Jade's childhood crush. Jade requests a replica of Takeko's golden spider lily design which covers the tattooist's arm. But Takeko believes the design cursed her father, who died in an earthquake, so refuses. Instead she draws a new tattoo for Jade, but finds that with it comes love and its pitfalls.

This is England

Director/writer: Shane Meadows

UK, 2006, 100 min

In a gritty English coastal town over the summer of 1983, 12-year-old Shaun befriends a set of new male role models in the local skinhead scene.

XXY

Director/writer: Lucia Puenzo

Spain/Argentina/France, 2007, 86 min

15 year old Alex has a secret. Soon after her birth her parents left Buenos Aires for the isolated shoreline of Uruguay. When friends visit, they discover the truth and offer to help with the necessary surgery.

Weekend Staff