45 Years

The vitality of the African city has provided local filmmakers with a rich array of stories for their films. African Metropolis presents six short films that examine the complexity of urban life in Abidjan, Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. They run the gamut of genres, but in all the central character is the city itself. A Jewish pensioner lives alone in a Johannesburg apartment, the last resident of an ever-changing city. In a Nairobi of the future, one man searches for the girl of his dreams. Dakar is the backdrop to an intimate conversation between two women. Abidjan once played host to the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. In Cairo a musician sees the gap between rich and poor expand. And a final film confronts the perils of the poverty trap.

Popularity: 8.2

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

Popularity: 8.2

By mistake, film director Ham Chunsu arrives in Suwon a day early. With time to kill before his lecture the next day, Chunsu stops by a restored, old palace and meets an artist named Yoon Heejung. Together, they go to Heejung's workshop to look at her paintings, have Sushi with Soju for dinner, and get close. Later, they go to another café and have more drinks with Heejung's acquaintances. When asked if he is married, Chunsu is forced to reveal the fact that he is, and Heejung gets deeply disappointed...

Popularity: 7.0

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Popularity: 7.9

Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.

Popularity: 6.4

Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities.

Popularity: 6.3

The vitality of the African city has provided local filmmakers with a rich array of stories for their films. African Metropolis presents six short films that examine the complexity of urban life in Abidjan, Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. They run the gamut of genres, but in all the central character is the city itself. A Jewish pensioner lives alone in a Johannesburg apartment, the last resident of an ever-changing city. In a Nairobi of the future, one man searches for the girl of his dreams. Dakar is the backdrop to an intimate conversation between two women. Abidjan once played host to the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. In Cairo a musician sees the gap between rich and poor expand. And a final film confronts the perils of the poverty trap.

Popularity: 8.2

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

Popularity: 8.2

By mistake, film director Ham Chunsu arrives in Suwon a day early. With time to kill before his lecture the next day, Chunsu stops by a restored, old palace and meets an artist named Yoon Heejung. Together, they go to Heejung's workshop to look at her paintings, have Sushi with Soju for dinner, and get close. Later, they go to another café and have more drinks with Heejung's acquaintances. When asked if he is married, Chunsu is forced to reveal the fact that he is, and Heejung gets deeply disappointed...

Popularity: 7.0

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Popularity: 7.9

Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.

Popularity: 6.4

Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite but fails miserably in her attempt at all identities.

Popularity: 6.3

An American couple, Paul and Marianne, spend their vacation in Italy and experience trouble when Marianne invites a former lover and his teenage daughter to visit, which leads to jealousy and dangerous sexual scenarios.

Popularity: 6.2

A Beijing professor returns to his stomping grounds for a friend's funeral. Reflecting on the past, he meets a tea shop owner who sparks feelings of love in a time of pain.

Popularity: 7.2

On the Japanese island of Amami, despite lacking parental guidance, Kaito and his girlfriend Kyoko try to find their place in the world. While Kaito suffers from the absence of his father, who moved to Tokyo after his birth, Kyoko must come to grips with her mother’s terminal illness.

Popularity: 6.8