A match with Sam Riley and a luxury film winner

Biblical numbers are almost like sand by the sea. This also includes the twelve, just think of the tribes of Israel and the disciples of Jesus. Twelve is also the number of films that enrich the cinema program this week.

This includes above « Islands »the new thriller by Jan-Ole Gerster (« Oh Boy »): He is about tennis teacher Tom (Sam Riley), whose monotonous life on the Fuerteventura holiday island is mixed up by the arrival of a family. Among other things, he likes mother Anne (Stacy Martin) … but then her husband disappears Dave (Jack Farthing) without a trace.

Related – since water and waves are also involved here, but a bit less dramatic – is « Ocean with David Attenborough »: In the documentary, the nature filmmaker, who celebrates his 99th birthday this Thursday, takes the audience into the depths of the sea, to the flowering landscapes of the oceans.

Documentation number two this week is « Youth – Homecoming »the third part of the documentary and screenwriter Wang Bing, who takes a look at individual fates in the Chinese textile metropolis of Zhili. The Luxembourg co -production celebrated its premiere at the Film Festival in Venice in 2024.

The third documentary deals with a much closer problem region with the title « L’acier a Coulé dans nos veines »: The downfall of the steel industry in Liège, Belgium, shaped the city and its environment sustainably. A story with pictures and contemporary witnesses.

As is well known, the laughs come after the tears: Among other things, this week takes care of this week « Les Musiciens ». At the center of the plot are four Stradivari and four eccentric musicians who are supposed to play together with these instruments.

It is also giggled with « An & Cie »another French comedy in which everything revolves around Paul (Julien Pestel) and Léa (Shirine Boutella), two people who should never have met. Her guardian angels Gabriel (Romain Lancry) and Raphaëlle (Elodie Fontan) have to work hard to prevent the germination of feelings between the two Tortelbauben.

Figure figures and no heavenly creatures are in focus on two further restarts. For one thing, there would be the drama « Hard Truths »who tells of Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a woman who has built true walls with words and therefore not only disturbs family peace.

A wall of silence, on the other hand, is in the center of the Belgian-Swedish drama « Julie Keeps Quiet »: The young tennis player Julie (Tessa van den Broeck) is confronted with the suspension of her trainer. Rumors arise, but she is silent.

It continues across Europe towards Greece: there the biopic is dedicated « Stelios » The life and career of Stelios Kazantzidis (represented by Christos Mastoras), one of the best -known singers of the country, who died in 2001 at the age of 70.

The tragicomedy is a little further north « The New Year that Never Came“Located by director Bogdan Mureșanu, the six stories of six strangers woven during the revolution in Romania in 1989. A few weeks ago, the film won the main prize of the Luxfilm Festival and was also awarded the“ Orizzonti ”section in the Venice Film Festival in 2024.

It goes to Ukraine « La Chambre de Mariana »: The young Hugo (Artem Kyriyk) finds shelter at the prostitute Mariana (Mélanie Thierry), at the Wehrmacht soldier. The film is based on the book of the same name by the Ukrainian-Israeli writer Aharon Appelfeld (1932-2018).

And finally a work for the whole family, another film adaptation: « Greetings from Mars ». Little Tom (Theo Kretschmer), overwhelmed by the charms of everyday life, escapes into a dream world. In this he is astronaut … on Mars.

You can find the full cinema program here.