S1.E22 ∙ Approaching Retention

The author Jurga Ivanauskaite (1961-2007) was considered a pioneer of contemporary Baltic literature well beyond the borders of Lithuania. Her work deals intensively with the tension between religion, sexuality and emancipation. Film documents and interviews serve to reconstruct the life of this independent and willful woman - from her childhood to her artistic breakthrough as a companion of the Lithuanian rock and punk scene, but also depicting her spiritual side, which brought her all the way to India, where she turned to Buddhism. She is shown as fighting for the Dalai Lama and a "free Tibet", shown as a literary mind, but first and foremost she is shown as a woman who stood bravely in the face of inconvenience, pain and inner demons.

Chris wrote his first film and optioned it. Taking a risk he produced his movie by fronting it himself. On his next film he needs a story and capital, yet he deals with psychosis. Family and friends play a huge role in his life in how he moves with society. Chris tends to isolate himself to be creative, yet his mind and actions go other ways and leaves his emotions flexing like his diet and weight.

The film tells the story of an imigrant to Argentina who works for the railway company of this land. Being a witness to the history of the land of silver in this century the film is also a shortcut of the changes in Argentina during the last 100 years.

Naples, 1799. During the reign of Ferdinand IV, which consubstantiated the tyranny of the Bourbons and the British, the Portuguese Leonor da Fonseca Pimentel (1752-1799) became suspect to the henchmen of the Junta de Estado.

One of the world's best selling Italian writers, it is a hard character to define. Through his life he has been a boy scout, a brothel's auditor, a poet, an athletics champion, an art seller, a speed boat racing pilot, an essayist, a novelist, a philosopher, an illustrator, a photographer, a commentator, a script writer, a film director, an actor, an anchorman, a tip tap dancer and finally an engineer. On thing is certain, two qualities are required in order to live such an extraordinary life: an open mind and an infinite love for living.