Luminous People – Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)A group of people is sailing in the Mekong River, in the borderline between Thailand and Laos. Running against the wind, they anticipate the farewell. At some point in the river, the matriarch of the family throws the ashes along the stream. The white dust mixes with the mudded water. The boat turns back by the bridge connecting the two countries. The passengers show some tiredness and start to wander through their own worlds. The film disintegrates. Both the crew and the actors seem to be bewildered. They cruise the river of simulation while the memory of the late father lingers. Rain starts to fall. The boat is still moving when the night arrives.Germano – Dir. Vicente Ferraz (Brazil)After several years sailing inside the beautiful and polluted bay of Guanabara, Germano and his crew decide to look for other waters to go fishing. Despite the small boat and the old engine, they sail towards deep waters. At dawn, the engine breaks down – like fate showing a sign that non-industrial fishing is living its last moments. Germano resists the blow and reminds the others that the sea is endless. Cheerfully, he starts to tell them stories about the Portuguese sailors and their achievements. The next day, ironically, they’re rescued by a huge Russian oil-tanker which will drag them back to the polluted waters of the Guanabara bay.One Way – Dir. Ayisha Abraham (India)Shyam Bahadur came from Nepal to Bangalore, India, 35 years ago and he has worked as a security guard ever since. It is through his eyes and his voice, that from within the basement of the apartment building he resides in, he recollects the journey he made from the high mountains of the Himalaya’s in Nepal, to the Deccan Plateau of Bangalore City. This short film traverses between his memories of the past, the mundane present of a security guard’s daily routine, and his hopes for a future democratic Nepal.Brutality Factory – Dir. Wang Bing (China)The beginning and the end of the story represent a part of modern world in China and the night scenes a part of history, which was very brutal, as many innocent people died or were killed. The fact that the story is told in the dark shows how this part of China’s history is hidden and still a subject of taboo for the authorities. The modern world appears to be bright and normal, but the truth cannot be forgotten and will be told. The souls of innocent victims are still with us.Tarrafal - Dir. Pedro Costa (Portugal)“When my father was buried, and I never even got a pair of socks from him, I took the shovel from the hands of the grave-digger (in the cemetery of Carnide, Lisbon) and filled the grave with earth myself. I, my corpse, will never be buried outside of Tarrafal.” - José Alberto Silva, 30 years old, born in Tarrafal, Santiago Island, Cape Verde, living in Bairro 6 de Maio, in Amadora, Portugal, presently awaiting extradiction.Tombée de nuit sur Shangaï (Avril 2007) - Dir. Chantal Akerman (France)I’d like to film as far away as possible, in Xanghai for instance, and describe, using voice-over, with an extreme precision, everything I know about my street in Paris, in the 20th District, which is quite mestizo and where Muslims and Africans constitute the majority. There’s a school, three bars, and a building recalling the Babel tower. My intention in thus to generate some disorder using the differences and similarities of those worlds.