BAD FAITH (MAUVAISE FOI)
Director: Roschdy Zem
Country: France
Year: 2006
Runtime: 88 minutes
French with English subtitles
Showtimes: Sunday, October 7 at 6:30pm and Monday, October 8 at 4:05pm
Awards: Étoile d'Or - Best Actress
Thirty-somethings Ismaël (Zem) and Clara (Cécile de France) are a happy couple who think nothing of their ethnic and religious origins, having been together for four years. He teaches at a Paris music conservatory and she’s a physical therapist. One morning, Clara discovers that she’s pregnant, but before telling their parents and making their union official, the couple will find themselves confronted with reticence that will turn the best day of their lives into something else entirely. Ismaël very quickly understands that his Muslim family will accept the circumstances with difficulty, while Clara, believing that her Ashkenaze Jewish parents are open and modern, soon realizes they are not at all ready to deal with the situation. With a generous layer of humor and undeniable charm, BAD FAITH is an intelligent, tender and funny look at what happens when the outside world - politics, tradition, societal prejudices and family - hits the personal: the love between two people.
~ Alliance Française French Film Festival
Principal Cast: Roschdy Zem, Cécile de France, Pascal Elbé,
Jean-Pierre Cassel, Martine Chevallier
Producer: Nathalie Gastaldo, Philippe Godeau
Cinematographer: Jérôme Alméras
Editor: Monica Coleman
Music: Souad Massi
Official Website: www.mauvaisefoi-lefilm.com/
BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (KRÁSKA V NESNÁZICH)
Director: Jan Hrebejk
Country: Czech Republic
Year: 2006
Runtime: 110 minutes
Czech with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 6:45pm and Sunday, October 7 at 6:00pm
Awards: Denver International Film Festival - Best European Film, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Special Prize of the Jury
In their sixth feature-length film, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hřebejk – as in the tragicomedy Up and Down – touch upon complex inter-personal relationships in modern Czech society. The heroine of this love story inspired by the poem of the same name by Robert Graves, is an ordinary young woman, Marcela, who has to decide between two men: her undeserving but beloved husband, and an affable, well situated elderly foreigner. The elegant Czech-Italian represents a secure future for Marcela and her two children, and if good sense were guiding her, she wouldn’t hesitate. A central role in this narrative which, according to its creators, is about “sex, money and a good person”, however, is also given over to the heroine’s complicated family relations. Using a simple plot reminiscent of a story from a dime novel, the experienced filmmakers develop an intricate genre piece with an unexpected ending.
~ Karlovy International Film Festival
Principal Cast: Anna Geislerová, Jana Brejchová, Emília Vásáryová,
Josef Abrhám
Producer: Ondrej Trojan
Editor: Vladimír Barák
Cinematographer: Jan Malír
Music: Ales Brezina
BELLE TOUJOURS
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Country: France
Year: 2006
Runtime: 70 minutes
French with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 7:05pm and Monday, October 8 at 8:45pm
An elderly man catches a glimpse of a woman while at the symphony. He watches her during the performance and follows her out, only to lose sight of her in the crowd. Who she is? Why does he pursue her? He reveals part of the puzzle when he wonders, “What is the impact of an ill-spent past?” Other clues lie in the mystery woman’s name and the title of this film. The woman is Séverine, the character played by Catherine Deneuve in 1967’s Belle de Jour. In this film, Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira returns to the story first told by Luis Buñuel and extends it into an elegant meditation on memory and truth, set in a dreamlike Paris of music, art and wealth. De Oliveira is a grand master of film who has won more than thirty film awards in a career spanning sixty years. He made this film at age 97 and is scheduled to shoot a movie based on Christopher Columbus this year. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Michel Piccoli, Bulle Ogier, Ricardo Trepa, Leonor Baldaque, Júlia Buisel
Producer: Serge Lalou
Cinematographer: Sabine Lancelin
Editor: Valerie Loiseleux
BORDER CAFÉ (CAFÉ TRANSIT)
Director: Kambuzia Partovi
Country: Iran
Year: 2005
Runtime: 105 minutes
Farsi, Turkish, Greek, Russian and German with English subtitles
Francie Noyes will moderate a post-film discussion w/audience.
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 1:40pm
and Monday, October 8 at 6:10pm
Awards: Dhaka International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize, Mar del Plata Film Festival - Jury Prize Best Film
With Iran and its neighbors so much in the news, this gentle story of a young Iranian widow offers a fascinating insight into an aspect of its culture. It is the story of Reyhan, a devout woman in a headscarf and respectful of tradition. She does not appear to be a rebel and she never openly challenges society’s mores. All she wants to do is support herself and her daughter by running her late husband’s café. She doesn’t want to follow the tradition that insists a widow move in with her late husband’s family. Instead, she wants to support herself and her daughter by herself. So she re-opens her late husband’s café and goes into business. Needless to say, this causes quite an uproar. Women are expected to cook, but custom forbids their taking jobs. Reyhan is a great cook, happy to stay in the kitchen and show care and compassion for her traveling customers with fabulous food. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Parviz Parastoei, Fereshteh Sadr Orafai,
Nikolas Padapopoulos, Svieta Mikalishina, Vanchos Constantin,
Esmaiel Soltanian, Jafar Vahabpour
Producers: Amir Samavati, Setareh Farsi, Behrooz Hashemian
Cinematography: Mohammed Reza Sokout, Davod Amiri, Hassan Ghafari
Editor: Jafar Panahi, Jacques Witta
Music: Ali Birang
CINERAMA ADVENTURE
Director: David Strohmaier
Country: USA
Year: 2002
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director David Strohmaier and Producer Randy Gitsch will participate in a post-film discussion with the audience.
Showtime: Tuesday, October 9 at 8:05pm
THE CINERAMA ADVENTURE is a feature length documentary chronicling the amazing history of the long lost three-camera, three-projector cinematic process which thrilled millions around the world in the 1950s and early 60s. It all began in 1942 with a virtual reality training device that was credited with saving over 350,000 lives during the war effort. Unlike the 3-D fads of the early 1950s, Cinerama enjoyed a steady 14 year reign, ultimately playing in over 200 specially equipped theatres in most major cities around the globe. These wildly popular, "Wonder Hunting" Cinerama productions were almost always listed within the top ten box office grossing films of the year with two titles landing in first place.
Though abandoned in 1966, the Cinerama process still brings back fond, and sometimes passionate, memories to millions of Baby Boomers - of sweeping aerials, world travel, thrilling roller coaster rides, and other virtual reality experiences designed to lift the audience out of their theatre seats and into the action. Practically forgotten for over 36 years, these films have been recently discovered, almost intact, in an obscure Hollywood vault. The documentary provides an in-depth revelation of the struggle to launch the groundbreaking widescreen process, which first incorporated stereophonic "Surround" sound and was far ahead of its time. In 1952 Cinerama single-handedly brought Hollywood to its knees and led the film industry into the widescreen - stereo sound era.
Principal Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach,
Russ Tamblyn
Producers: David Strohmaier and Randy Gitsch
Editor: David Strohmaier
Music: John Morgan and William Stromberg
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLION)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Country: France
Year: 2007
Runtime: 112 minutes
French and English with English subtitles
Showtime: Tuesday, October 9 at 8:15pm
CLOSING NIGHT FILM - Arizona Premiere, Special Advance Screening
Awards: Cannes Film Festival - Best Director/Technical Grand Prize
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is the remarkable true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), a successful and charismatic editor-in-chief of French Elle, who believes he is living his life to its absolute fullest when a sudden stroke leaves him in a life-altered state. While the physical challenges of Bauby's fate leave him with little hope for the future, he begins to discover how his life's passions, his rich memories and his newfound imagination can help him achieve a life without boundaries.
Principal Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy and Jon Kilik
Cinematographer: Janusz Kaminskin
Editor: Juliette Welfling
Music: Paul Cantenon
THE EDUCATION OF FAIRIES (LA EDUCACIÓN DE LAS HADAS)
Director: José Luis Cuerda
Country: Spain
Year: 2006
Runtime: 103 minutes
Spanish with English subtitles
Showtimes: Sunday, October 7 at 4:15pm
and Tuesday, October 9 at 4:00pm
Awards: Goya Awards – Best Original Song
A charming, delicate tale about the various ways people deal with loss, THE EDUCATION OF FAIRIES begins as Nicolás (a wonderful performance by Argentine actor Ricardo Darín) meets Ingrid (Irène Jacob) and her young son Raul on an airplane heading to Barcelona. Ingrid is clearly the woman he’s been waiting for all his life, and Raúl the son he’s never had; in no time they’re married and living in a beautiful house. Nicolas forms a very tight bond with Raul, spending long hours telling him about the world and the special race of fairies whose job it is to protect it and make things right. Then, when things surprisingly change in their lives, Raul expects those very fairies to make their appearance. Darín and French actress Jacob (The Double Life of Veronique) work beautifully together, but the revelation here is child actor Víctor Valdivia as Darín, who manages to make the boy’s transitions between his fantasy world and the world in which he and his parents live both convincing and poignant. ~ New York Film Festival
Principal Cast: Ricardo Darín, Irène Jacob, Victor Valdimia, Bebe
Producer: Gerardo Herrero
Editor: Nacho Ruiz Capillas
Cinematographer: Hans Burmann
Music: Lucio Godoy
HOLLYWOOD DREAMS
Director: Henry Jaglom
Country: USA
Year: 2007
Runtime: 100 minutes
Showtime: Saturday, October 6 at 3:00pm
HOLLYWOOD DREAMS follows the journey of a young woman from a small town in Iowa, Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick), who arrives in Los Angeles deeply scarred by certain events in her childhood and profoundly obsessed with a life-long dream of achieving fame and stardom. After a series of difficult and sometimes comic struggles – including a failed audition for the “part of a lifetime” in a local play – she literally bumps into a self-styled “major producer/manager” (Zack Norman) who, together with his personal and professional partner (David Proval), takes her under his wing. As Margie’s fate seems to have suddenly changed and her goal appears finally within reach, her romantic involvement with an exciting, complex up-and-coming young actor (Justin Kirk) challenges her – and our – ideas of success, fame and love. Written and Directed by Henry Jaglom, the film also stars Karen Black and Melissa Leo and introduces Keaton Simons.
Principal Cast: Tanna Frederick, Justin Kirk, Zack Norman, David Proval,
Karen Black, Melissa Leo
Producer: Rosemary Marks
Editor: Henry Jaglom
Cinematographer: Alan Caudillo
Music: Harriet Schock
HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE (WIE MAN SEION LEBEN KOCHT)
Director: Doris Dörrie
Country: Germany
Year: 2007
Runtime: 93 minutes
Showtimes: Sunday, October 7 at 11:05am and Monday, October 8 at 6:30pm
Acclaimed German director Doris Dörrie takes us on a delicious journey with Zen priest of cookery, Edward Brown, who is both a master Chef and a Zen master. Author of the celebrated “Tassajara Bread Book,” he was instrumental in establishing vegetarian cuisine in the United States. The film’s title comes from a 13th-century Zen cooking manual. It follows Brown from the Scheibbs Buddhist Centre in Austria, to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Northern California, and finally to the San Francisco Zen Center where Brown has taught generations of people seeking balance in their cooking, and their life. The film is about the art of cooking, the ways in which food can be an act of love and generosity, and its impact on both individuals and the community. Edward Brown invites us to question the way our relationship to food, one of our most basic connections to the earth, reflects our approach to life and the world as a whole. Through the intimacy of Dörrie’s camera, we become participants at Brown’s cooking courses, as his students (many of whom are used to take-out and restaurants) gingerly engage with the raw ingredients of healthy eating. The film, like Brown, challenges us to be in the moment, it is not only about Zen, but is in the spirit of Zen itself.
~ SilverDocs Film Festival
Principal Cast: Edward Espe Brown
Producers: Franz X. Gernstl, Fidelis Mager
Editor: Suzi Giebler
Cinematographer: Jörg Jeshel, Doris Dörrie
Music: b:sides music - Sven Faller, Mathias Götz, Martin Kolb, Flotian Riedl
Official Website: http://www.how-to-cook-your-life.de/
HULA GIRLS (HULA GÂRU)
Director: Lee Sang-Il
Country: Japan
Year: 2006
Runtime: 110 minutes
Japanese with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 11:10am and Sunday, October 7 at 8:20pm
Awards: Awards of the Japanese Academy - Best Director/Best Film/Best Screenplay/Best Supporting Actress/ Most Popular Film, Blue Ribbon Awards - Best Actress/Best Film/Best Supporting Actress, Hochi Film Awards - Best Film/Best Supporting Actress, Kinema Junpo Awards - Best Film/Best Supporting Actress/Best Director, Mainichi Film Concours - Best Art Direction/Best Sound/Best Supporting Actress, Nikkan Sports Film Awards - Best Actress/ Best Film/Best New Talent/Best Supporting Actress, Yokohama Film Festival - Best Actress
It is 1965 and the closure of the local coal mine threatens the livelihood of a small town in northern Japan. Perhaps the local hot springs could be a tourist attraction? Just bring in some palm trees, train the local girls to do the hula and sell the town as a Hawaiian vacation. But restrained, proper Japanese girls don’t take naturally to the hula, or so it appears. And their parents don’t like them dancing, either. However, a few of them persist in their lessons and what began as economic necessity soon transforms into creativity and great entertainment. Needless to say, the girls and their town will never be the same. Like Billy Elliott, HULA GIRLS shows the transformative power of dance in a landscape of economic hardship. HULA GIRLS was Japan’s official entry for Best Foreign Film in the 2006 Oscars. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Etsushi Toyokawa, Ittoku Kishibe, Shizuyo Yamazaki, Yasuko Matsuyuki, Yu Aoi
Producer: Hitomi Ishihara
Cinematographer: Hideo Yamamoto
Editor: Tsuyoshi Imai
Music: Jake Shimabukuro
Official Website: www.hula-girl.jp/index2.html
INTERVENTION
Director: Mary McGuckian
Country: UK
Year: 2007
Runtime: 93 minutes
Francie Noyes will moderate a post-film discussion w/audience.
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 4:00pm and Monday, October 8 at 4:00pm
These days, a celebrity going into rehab looks like public relations, but seriously facing addiction is a different story. The power of addiction – and the power of the ability of people, addicts and non-addicts alike, to lie to themselves – underlies the drama in INTERVENTION. Mark, played by Rupert Graves, is an actor, charming, great-looking, and an addict and a scoundrel. His family stages an intervention and sends him to rehab in New Mexico. His estranged wife (Jennifer Tilly) comes as well, part of the ‘family program’ approach to recovery. But Mark invites his current girlfriend, in defiance of the rules and the triangle is a catalyst for violence, soul-searching and tough confrontation. The film is marked by terrific performances from the ensemble cast and the desert locale is a serene background for a no-nonsense look at addiction, family dynamics and sexual politics. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Andie Macdowell, Colm Feore, Jennifer Tilly,
Charles Dance, Donna D’errico, Gary Farmer, Kerry Fox,
Rupert Graves, Bill Paterson, Russell Means, John Sessions,
Sara Stockbridge, Ian Hart
Producers: Jeff Abberley, Martin Katz, Mary McGuckian
Cinematographer: Mark Wolf
Editors: Michael Doherty, Mike Lee, Mark Sanders, Ron Wisman Jr., Ron Wisman
Music: Kim Bingham, Nicky Shaw
THE KITE RUNNER
Director: Marc Foster
Country: China/USA
Year: 2007
Runtime: 120 minutes
Farsi and English with English subtitles
Showtime: Friday, October 5 at 7:30pm (followed by FireSky Resort Party)
OPENING NIGHT FILM - Arizona Premiere, Special Advance Screening
Based on one of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, THE KITE RUNNER is a powerful tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood best friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It’s a glorious afternoon in Kabul, and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of an innocent kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day’s victory, one boy’s fearful act of betrayal will set in motion a catastrophe... and an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule, to face the dark secrets that still haunt him, and take one last daring chance to set things right.
Principal Cast: Shaun Toub, Khalid Abdalla, Nasser Memarzia, Said Taghmaoui, Atossa Leoni
Producers: Sam Mendes, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald
Cinematographer: Roberto Schaefer
Editor: Matt Chesse
Music: Alberto Yglesias
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Director: Criag Gillespie
Country: Canada
Year: 2007
Runtime: 106 minutes
Showtime: Saturday, October 6 at 8:00pm
Arizona Premiere, Special Advance Screening
Written by Six Feet Under scribe Nancy Oliver, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a heartfelt comedy starring Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom, a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage keeps him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca - because she is a life-size doll, not a real person; and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who explains this is a delusion he's created - for what reason she doesn't yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.
Principal Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson
Producer: Sidney Kimmel
Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel
Editor: Tatiana S. Riegel
Music: Spring Aspers
LOVE & DANCE (SIPUR HATZI RUSSI)
Director: Eitan Anner
Country: Israel
Year: 2006
Runtime: 93 minutes
Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 7 at 11:00am and Tuesday, October 9 at 6:15pm
Crossing the bridge between cultures begins with a step. Chen, a young kid, is battling a cultural conflict between his Russian born mother and Israeli father. She is cultured and used to the finer things in life, including theater and fine dining. He is gruff on the outside but sweet on the inside - a Sabra; and looking to make his young son a man rather than the wimp his mother is raising. One day, Chen stumbles upon a ballroom dance class for young people and sees Natalie, a stunning Russian young girl he falls in love with immediately. His interest in Natalie leads him to taking ballroom dancing and to ultimately bridging the cultural divide of his own family - through the Cha Cha and the Tango. (Ages 13 and up)
Principal Cast: Vladimir Volov, Valeria Voevodin, Talya Raz,
Evgenya Dodina, Avi Kushnir, Oksana Korostyshevskaya, Kirill Safonov
Producers: Eilon Ratzkovsky, Ehud Bleiberg, Yossi Uzrad, Koby Gal-Raday
Cinematographer: Itzik Portal
Editor: Tali Halter-Shenkar
Music: Jonathan Bar Giora
THE MISSING STAR (LA STELLA CHE NON C'È)
Director: Gianni Amelio
Country: Italy/China
Year: 2006
Runtime: 104 minutes
Italian and Mandarin with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 11:15am and Sunday, October 7 at 1:25pm
Awards: Venice Film Festival - Mimmo Rotella Foundation Award/
Best Actor
Vincenzo (the marvelous world weary Sergio Castellitto) is the soon to be redundant maintenance manager of a steel mill, whose blast furnace has been sold and is being shipped to a plant in China. Unfortunately, he realizes that the furnace has a serious technical flaw, which could cause a terrible accident if not rectified. Unable to get anyone to listen to him, he embarks on an unannounced trip to China, in the vain hope of finding the plant and persuading its owner to let him help repair the furnace. Engaging a reluctant young Chinese woman, who is beset with her own personal trials and tribulations, as his guide, Vincenzo's eyes are opened wide to the size, scale and gigantic extremes of living that exist in contemporary China. Renowned Italian maestro, Gianni Amelio follows up his acclaimed drama, Keys to the House, with this epic road movie of sorts, which is both powerful story telling and a rich spectacle. ~ The London Film Festival
Principal Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Tai Ling
Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Cinematographer: Luca Bigazzi
Editor: Simona Paggi
Music: Franco Piersanti
OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES (OSS 117: LE CAIRE - NID D'ESPIONS)
Director: Michel Hazanavincius
Country: France
Year: 2006
Runtime: 99 minutes
French with English subtitles
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 4:40pm and Tuesday, October 9 at 6:05pm
Awards: César Awards - Best Production Design, Tokyo International
Film Festival -Tokyo Grand Prix, Étoile d'Or - Best Actor
Not surprisingly this film is a box-office sensation in France. Special Agent OSS 117 pops up in Cairo, circa 1955, to monitor the Suez Canal, check up on the Brits and Soviets, burnish France's reputation, quell a fundamentalist rebellion and broker peace in the Middle East. You should think James Bond crossed with Austin Powers, with a little bit of The Naked Gun antics thrown in for good measure. Cairo is a total spy ring. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else, everyone is plotting against everyone else: English, French, Soviets, the family of deposed King Farouk, who wants to reclaim the throne, and the Kheops Eagles, a religious sect that wants to take power. René Coty, the President of the French Republic, sends his master weapon to establish law and order in this bedlam on the edge of chaos. "No problem," replies Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. It’s men like Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (alias OSS 117) who have made France the world power that it is today. Jean Bruce created this Gallic James Bond in 1949 in a pulp fiction series that finally ran to 265 novels and spawned seven film versions between 1956 and 1970. Now 117’s back in a delicious parody, suavely outwitting Nazis before enjoying a bracing and manly game of beach tennis with his very good friend and fellow agent, Jack. Then on to the Middle East where, under the cover of running a poultry factory, he will be plunged into a dastardly intrigue involving the Russians, the Brits and assorted Islamic fundamentalists. He will need all of the cultural sensitivity and deference to other ways of life for which the French are famed if he is to unravel the caper and return the region to a place where Europeans can feel safe to wear a tuxedo and cut a nifty samba. On a superficial level these clichés are the clichés of fifties movies, and at a deeper level, they are the clichés of the controlling western philosophy. ~ Michel Hazanavicius
Principal Cast: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Aure Atika,
Philippe Lefebvre, Constantin Alexandrov, Said Amadis
Producer: Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
Cinematographer: Guillaume Schiffman
Editor: Reynald Bertrand
Music: Ludovic Bource, Kamel Ech-Cheikh
THE ROCKET - MAURICE RICHARD
Director: Charles Binamé
Country: Canada
Year: 2006
Runtime: 125 minutes
French and English with English subtitles
Darren Pang and Dave Strader of the Phoenix Coyotes will participate in a post-film discussion with the audience on Sunday, October 7.
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 9:05pm and Sunday, October 7 at 1:10pm
Awards: Genie Awards - Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design/Best Achievement in Cinematography/Best Achievement in Costume Design/Best Achievement in Direction/Best Achievement in Editing/Best Achievement in Sound Editing/Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role/Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role/Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Tokyo International Film Festival - Best Actor Award
The rough and tumble world of professional hockey is the setting for this profile of French-Canadian Maurice Richard, who overcame poverty, injury and prejudice to earn the title “The Rocket” because of his amazing speed on ice. Richard grew up in Depression-era Quebec when hockey was not so much the big time as a steady job. He wasn’t the biggest player, but with his eye on the goal, he was unstoppable. All his speed and accuracy, however, couldn’t overcome his biggest challenge. The depth of anti-French bias in Canada showed itself in vicious game-time attacks on Richard and other French-Canadian players. Worse yet, English-speaking referees and league officials ignored and sometimes encouraged the abuse. Richard battled both the bias and opposing teams with the same conviction, eventually leading his team to five consecutive Stanley Cup championships. This exciting bio-pic won nine Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars. Playing Richard in the film is actor Roy Depuis. With facial features that bear an uncanny resemblance to the hockey player in his youth and a strong physique of an athlete the actor revives the legendary hero on the screen. Look for dynamic re-creations of all the actions on ice, full-flavored depictions of the stadium crowd's roar, and an up-close look at the passion that drove this family man.
~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Roy Dupuis, Stephen McHattie, Julie Le Breton, Philip Craig, Patrice Robitaille
Producers: Denise Robert / Daniel Louis
Cinematographer: Pierre Gill
Editor: Michel Arcand
Music: Michel Cusson
TIME (SHI GAN)
Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Country: South Korea
Year: 2006
Runtime: 97 minutes
Korean with English subtitles
– Graphic images –
Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 8:45pm and Tuesday, October 9 at 3:55pm
Awards: Chicago International Film Festival - Best International Film, Catalonian International Film Festival - Best Special Effects/Best Make Up
A young woman who is insecure about her looks and her love life decides to have plastic surgery. Seh-hee is afraid her boyfriend is getting bored and thinks surgery will correct her ‘same boring face.’ This radical decision sets in motion an oddly beautiful and questioning film. Although both her boyfriend Ji-woo and the doctor discourage her, Seh-hee has the procedure, which is shown in graphic detail in the film. Seh-hee is willing to undergo pain to please a man, but after the operation, she completely disappears from Ji-woo’s life. He finds himself wondering if this is a test, like a fairy tale where the knight must prove he is worthy of feminine devotion. The somewhat surreal mood is heightened as the action moves between contemporary Seoul, with coffee shops and glass buildings and a sculpture garden on a nearby beach. The provocative and sensual statues seemingly offer another commentary on both the fragility and the strength of love. TIME is a beautiful and disturbing look at love, need and obsession. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Hyeon-a Seong, Jung-woo Ha, Ji-Yeon Park
Producer: Kim Ki-duk
Cinematographer: Sung Jong-moo
Editor: Kim Ki-duk
Music: Noh Hyung-woo
THE WALKER
Director: Paul Schrader
Country: USA
Year: 2007
Runtime: 107 minutes
Showtime: Saturday, October 6 at 5:25pm
Arizona Premiere, Special Advance Screening
A contemporary drama set in Washington, D.C., THE WALKER centers around Carter Page (Harrelson), a well-heeled and popular socialite who serves as confidant, companion, and card partner to some of the capitol's leading ladies. These pampered women are married to the most powerful men in America, and when their husbands are too busy running the country to attend to their wives, they turn to their "gay best friend," Carter, for warmth, wit, and wisdom. Carter's loyalty is tested when his dearest friend (Scott Thomas) finds herself on the brink of a scandal that could destroy her reputation and her husband's career. Offering to cover for her, Carter suppresses incriminating evidence, only to find himself the chief suspect in a criminal investigation. Suddenly, this well-connected man-about-town is a pariah, hounded by the police and forced to find the true culprit and clear his name. More importantly, he must re-examine whether it is important to be accepted by a society based on betrayal, hypocrisy, and corruption. A tale of moral redemption that takes the form of a mystery-thriller, THE WALKER is the third part of Schrader's "lonely man" trilogy that began with American Gigolo (1980) and also includes Light Sleeper (1992).
Principal Cast: Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily Tomlin,
Lauren Bacall, Willem Dafoe, Ned Beatty, Moritz Bleibtreu, Mary Beth Hurt
Producer: Deepak Nayar
Cinematographer: Chris Seager
Editor: Chris Seager
Music: Anne Dudley
THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR
Director: David Scheinmann
Country: UK
Year: 2006
Runtime: 90 minutes
Showtimes: Sunday, October 7 at 8:10pm and Monday, October 8 at 8:25pm
Awards: Jackson Hole Film Festival - Best World Program
One man, two women, a country weekend and too much wine add up to a slew of complications and an edgy, contemporary comedy. Jamie, Kathy and Natasha all arrive in West Wittering with romantic expectations and way too much psychological baggage. They are looking for love, but settle for sex. Things do not go as planned and the after effects linger in unexpected way. What starts as a delightful sex comedy – with bumbling men and overwrought women – deepens into a careful look at contemporary relationships. Are people meant for each other or is love just a question of timing and need? The complexity of emotion is reinforced by a variety of storytelling techniques, including video diaries, flash-forwards and flashbacks and good, old fashioned snappy dialogue. ~ Francie Noyes
Principal Cast: Danny Scheinmann, Sarah Sutcliffe, David Annen,
Rebecca Cardinale and Poppy
Producers: Ben Timlett, Bill Jones
Director of Photography: David Scheinmann
Editor: Karoline Moser
Music: Mark Tschanz