Le damier

Mariama is the best student in her village and has a bright future. Her parents dream of sending her to America. But a predatory teacher and the malevolence of patriarchy threaten to derail it all.

In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of game. In nary a nanosecond, Nicholas finds himself consumed by a dangerous set of ever-changing rules, unable to distinguish where the charade ends and reality begins.

A failed track coach finally finds someone who he believes has what it takes to win. The Comrades Marathon is a 90-k race in South Africa. An aging running coach, Barry, wants to field a winner; he's working with four men from a factory, but when he's fired to make way for a smooth, corporate type, he's at loose ends. Then he sees Christine, a Namibian immigrant who runs to forget her troubles. He offers to coach her and soon she's living at his house, following his diet and training regimen. But his single-mindedness gets to her: she wants a job and a place of her own. Plus, the man who replaced Barry likes her and wants her away from Barry. Can runner and coach (woman and man, African and European) sort out their complex relationship before the race? Written by

When Tom travels across the country to locate the Daughter he never knew, undeniable questions of consequence rise to the surface when he offers a ride to stranded young woman.

The comforts of home are sacred, sweet and beloved. Mark had all of that... a beautiful wife, an angelic daughter, a purpose. His role was simple: To provide and protect. There was just one problem. Mark never learned how to stand up for himself. He lacked self-confidence and avoided confrontation for his entire life. For the most part, his fears went unnoticed and he was able to cloak his nervousness, until the day that everything around him changed. Mark finds himself in the middle of a very dark and terrifying predicament and is left with only one choice. He can stand up and fight, or lay down and die.

A doctor searches for the cure for nagana, the sleeping sickness caused by the tsetse fly.

A husband and father starts to dig a hole in his backyard, for no apparent reason.

David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.

A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States - Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

Seven friends decide to play a game at their dinner party, in which each member needs to read aloud all incoming text messages or put phone calls on speaker for all to hear. This causes many revelations to materialize.

Danny ponders a way for rival gangs to avoid violence at an upcoming dance.