Les Mains D

Barbara is a filmmaker who has been working in the prison environment for a few years now. She is preparing a film written and directed by long-term inmates in a prison in the projects around Paris. Twice a week, Barbara goes to the prison where she shoots interviews with the inmates which will serve as a basis for the writing of their screenplay.

Saint Tropez. Julie Wormser and her lover, writer and neighbour Jeff Marle, plan the murder of her wealthy husband Louis, an alcoholic impotent. She hits him, and leaves the rest of the task to Jeff. Julie finds herself alone the following day, and becomes therefore the prime suspect. Where is Louis' body? Where is Jeff? Is there any secret beyond a door?

Roxana Orlac, a famous violinist, loses the use of her hands in a terrible lift accident. Her career as a virtuoso seems to be over until Professor Christansen offers her a transplant of two new hands. What he omits to tell her is that the two hands in question belonged to a woman who murdered her own children. When unexplained incidents happen, followed by a murder in Roxana's entourage, she starts to wonder whether her new hands may be committing crimes of which she's unaware. Police Capitain Almeida, in charge of the investigation, falls in love with Roxana, but she remains the prime suspect. Is it possible that Roxana's hands are urging Roxana to do terrible things she's not even conscious of? Or is she the victim of some terrible plot?

Léo is the two-year old, son of the acting manager of a factory on the brink of closing. When employees discover the news, Bruno, a more radical Worker who is willing to fight for his job, abducts Léo.

Duras narrates a short story while the camera travels through the streets of Paris with short interludes of solemn music.

Charly, René, Katiga, Zinedine and Madeleine tell in a few minutes the story of their hands, filmed in a static shot, placed on a table that is familiar to them. Five acquaintances of the director are invited to present their hands, and nothing else, to the camera. The stories that this unconventional situation elicits reveal sensual memories and buried pain. The hands, restored to a certain independence, join, move and dance.

November 2017, North of Paris : H. Reiner-Onet cleaning company workers are fighting an exemplary battle. This 45 days strike, one of the longest in the history of the French railway, led by these men and women, ended in a decisive victory against two giants, Onet and the SNCF. One of the most impoverished sectors among railway workers, they had no previous experience with striking or organized struggle. How did they pull such a victory ? Their dermination to fight was undoubtedly the key to winning, but so are the links they forged with revolutionary activists who brought with them a tradition of fighting for workers against employers.

A postcard, Saint-Ouen flea markets.

A 1970's film directed by Pierre Brody.

Some random story about hands.

Romanian Experimental Cinema

Film based on the novel The Hands of Orlac.

After the closure of a lace factory in Calais, Andrée, Lulu and Solange are out on the street.

March 22, 2067. At dawn of life, Milana remembers her life, when she was a young Chechen immigrant in Paris, struggling for a better life along with her school friends.

In New France before the British Conquest, Marie, an indigenous slave, serves the local surgeon. Her daily life of household chores is bleak and alienating. The encounter with a young girl she presumes to be her child will give her motivation to undertake radical actions.

Frans Masereel is one of the most fascinating Belgian artists of the 20th century. His work, essentially composed of black and white engravings, is a cry of rebellion against the tragedies of his time. Forced into exile for his pacifist convictions, he embodied, alongside writers like Stefan Zweig and Romain Rolland, the dream of a cultural and brotherly Europe. Through an imaginary correspondence the director addresses to the artist, the film sketches the portrait of a free, touching man who, throughout his life, attempted to break free of art dealers and put his creations in the hands of all.