Exceptions Without Rules

An almanac of short feature films based on stories by Mikhail Mishin from the collection of short stories "Pause in a Major".

Ау-у! (Киноальманах)

The film comprises three cinematic novellas: (1) “And They Arrived at the Peasant’s Hut… or the Adventures of Writer Senya in Search of the Hidden Word,” in which writer Senya draws inspiration for his rural novels from his housekeeper Yermolayevna’s tales; (2) “The Song, or How the Great Louarsab Organized a Choir,” where a city visitor attempts to form a choir of centenarian elders in a Georgian mountain village; (3) “What Is Our Life?! or What Is Our Life?!”—during a musical reenactment of pre-Revolutionary France, a drunken actor’s tardiness forces King Louis XIV (also the theater committee chairman) and the cast to improvise the play’s ending.

Big "Wick"

A satirical express train sets off on its way. The driver S. Mikhalkov gives a farewell beep ... On the first carriage an inscription - "Summer cottage". The following are 8 short stories ...

One Fine Day

A film almanac consisting of two short stories, united by a common idea of the need to maintain harmony between private and public interests: “Suite” and “One Fine Day”. The hero of the story ”Suite" is a lifeguard on the shore. The events taking place at sea do not bother him at all. To the music of Bizet, he dreams of Carmen, her exploits, valor and strong love... The hero of the short story “One Fine Day”, a promising researcher, one morning saw a spaceship from his balcony. Do this a little restlessly to his mother-in-law, neighbors, acquaintances, boss and, finally, to a psychiatrist...

Adult Games

Two episodes about the relationship between men and women in Lithuanians soviet era.

The Zavyalov Weirdos

A film anthology featuring three stories: 1) “The Capron Christmas Tree” - Two men and a city dandy, courting a village girl, return home on New Year’s Eve, with the dandy’s nylon Christmas tree gift offending the men. 2) “A Ticket for the Second Showing” - Timofey, an elderly village swindler, regrets his life and prays to Saint Nicholas for a second chance. 3) “The Version” - A rural braggart recounts his city adventure with a restaurant manager, challenging disbelievers to join him on a repeat trip.

In Profile and Full Face

Collective: Unconscious

A man and his grandmother hide out from an ominous broadcast. The Grim Reaper hosts a TV show. The formerly incarcerated recount and reinterpret their first days of freedom. A suburban mom's life is upturned by the beast growing inside of her. And a high school gym teacher runs drills from inside a volcano. What happens when five of independent film's most adventurous filmmakers join together to literally adapt each other’s dreams for the screen?

The City of First Love

The film tells about the inhabitants of the Russian city of Tsaritsyn-Stalingrad-Volgograd. The film consists of three novellas, united by the theme of love and the scene - a city on the Volga.

Living Heroes

Four different stories about young kids' destinies in different time periods in Lithuania.

People Of Our City

Armenian film containing three short stories: the story about the first driver and coachman of old Yerevan, the complicated psychological relationship of a loving couple set in the backdrop of Garni Temple during reconstruction and a story about human life from the point of view of a poor and homeless dog.

Ballywalter

A university drop-out living with her mum and making money as an unlicensed minicab driver picks up a budding stand-up comic whose marriage has recently broken up.

In and Out

Sawyer needs to find quick cash for his college tuition. He grabs his two friends, Gunther and Lonnie, and embark into a sketchy scheme that could leave them all shit out of luck.

Automated Trucking

A young engineer pitches a fully automated trucking system to one of Silicon Valley’s most successful billionaires and must prove the technology’s viability by driving cross country with a real trucker to present his breakthrough at the International Truckers expo.

The We Should Game

Fame driven Ken Dean becomes the subject of a documentary when he attempts to start a pornography company. Following the failure of the company, Ken uses his father's religious music to start a Christian rock band but finds himself trapped in a gay conversion cult.

Mother Mariam

Mother Meryem is the last Christian in a village where Muslims and Christians lived together for many years. One day she dies, and the Muslim villagers have different ideas about how to bury Virgin Mary.

The Shitheads

Cynical degenerate Mark and bumbling idealist Davis have both hit rock bottom. Paired for a job by a shady transport service, their task seems simple: transport Sheridan, a wealthy troubled teen, to rehab. But Sheridan has other plans and what starts as a simple road trip becomes an unhinged odyssey of drug-fueled disasters, near-death experiences and criminal encounters. Out of their minds and in way over their heads, Mark and Davis find the courage to face their failures and realize that it’s not the destination that matters, it’s the sh*theads you meet along the way.