A Guide to Becoming an Elm Tree

Padraig, a guilt laden and grief stricken man seeks the help of an eccentric carpenter, John, to help him build a coffin for his already dead and buried wife. As Padraig works with John he begins to discover an ancient hidden world of magic and mythology that has its sinister roots planted deep in the island of Ireland.

November

In a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.

Jeremiah

An Asian-American high school football player is forced to confront his deepest fears after a strange encounter with a mysterious figure.

Balada o Vojtovej Marine

The Lion's Roar

Chan Kwai-sheung visits the brothel with So Tung-bo while his wife, Lau Yuk-ngo, is sleeping. As this is the first time Sheung did this, Ngo wants him to suffer and so makes him wear a lamp on his head. During the Lantern Festival, the Emperor has fun with his officials. After a few drinks, Bo says that Ngo has lost the virtues of a woman. Ngo immediately appeals to the Emperor. All the women there, including the Empress, say that Bo should be punished. Bo is unhappy and invites his cousin, Kam Cho, seduce Sheung to make Ngo unhappy. Sheung, a philanderer, schemes to take Cho as his concubine. Ngo finds out and beats him. Bo urges Sheung to divorce Ngo. Ngo is furious and lodges a complaint with the imperial court. The Emperor allows Sheung to have a concubine. Ngo pleads that she would rather drink poison than let Sheung take a concubine. Feeling remorseful, Sheung drinks the poison after his wife. Fortunately, the queen has switched the poison with vinegar. The couple reconciles.

Changeling

Fear and superstition take hold of a young family during a time of great hunger in 1879 Ireland.

El folklore de las bestias

A woman is forced to continue working while one of her colleagues lies unconscious on the floor due to the long, hot work days. This fact causes insomnia problems and the suspicion that something is happening at night.

The Mother

The Mother is one of Monteiro’s first essays on the universe of Portuguese oral culture, folktales and obscure colloquialisms. The plot revolves around a traditional tale about theft, greed, an ubiquitous mother, and the links between the worlds of the living and the dead.

A Story of the Forest: Mavka

Mavka, a water nymph, loves Lukash, a country youth. Their brief happiness ends when Lukash is forced to marry the shrewish Kilina. The Spirit of the Forest turns Lukash into a wolf as punishment for his infidelity. The strength of Mavka's love breaks the spell, but Kilina curses the nymph, transforming her into a weeping willow. This beautiful and tragic story is based on a play written in 1912 by Lesya Ukrainka, a Ukrainian poet, writer and political, civil and female activist, and includes mythological characters taken from Ukrainian folklore.

Antti Puuhaara

In 17th-century Pohjola, young Antti Puuhaara is looking for himself, because he has grown up with no knowledge of his childhood. Two actors, the tragedian and the comedian, who were banished from Tsarist Russia to Karelia, had predicted to the crooked merchant Markki Bohattov that Antti's fate would become intertwined with his own. When Antti falls in love with Bohattov's daughter Darja, the father has to arrange for her to marry the tar merchant Arho Mustahatu.

The Love of the Three Pomegranates

In this highly theatrical TV production, Monteiro again draws on the world of folklore – and, more precisely, on the widespread sexual connotation of the pomegranate – to tell a tale of love, envy, treason and mistaken/double identities.

Christiaan Hesen

The Commons

A group of teenagers go out to a den in the woods for a night of drinking, unaware that their behaviour touches on issues of ritual, folklore, mysticism and UFOs.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

One-Eyed Likho

The plot is the embodiment of everyday belief about the impact of a certain evil force on a person. The action develops in a peasant environment.

El Duende Sátiro

Legend tells of a girl named Palmira. A teenager, becoming a beautiful woman, her normal small town life took an unexpected turn. A demon expelled from paradise falls in love with her, causing great misfortune; only one can defeat him.