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A SILENT LOVE
Director: Federico Hidalgo
Country: Mexico/Canada
Year: 2004
Runtime: 100 minutes
Language: English and Spanish with English subtitles
Awards: Brooklyn International Film Festival - Best Screenplay, Miami Hispanic Film Festival
Norman, a quiet, middle-aged college teacher from Montreal embarks on the adventure of his life when he goes to Mexico to propose to Gladys, a young woman he met through an Internet agency. Gladys accepts Norman, but impulsively requires him to bring her widowed mother, Fernanda, with them to Canada. Delighted and intrigued, Norman agrees and brings his new family north. But love eludes the newlyweds. Despite their best efforts, Gladys gets impatient and restless, while Norman grows introverted and confused. And Fernanda, the anxious mother-in-law, becomes the marriage counselor for both. Silently, Norman falls in love with Fernanda, a charming woman only a couple of years younger than he is. She senses his attraction and fears the worst - that it might be mutual. Abruptly, she returns to Mexico. In the emotional showdowns that follow, Norman, Gladys and Fernanda must find the courage to overcome great distance, foolish desire, and the obstinate fear of solitude.
Principal Cast: Vanessa Bauche, Noel Burton, Susana Salazar, Maka Kotto
Producer: Pascal Maeder
Cinematographer: François Dagenais
Editor: Max Chalifoux
Music: Robert Marcel Lepage
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:45 pm and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 1:45 pm
AFTER MIDNIGHT - Dodo Mezzanotte
Director: Davide Ferrario
Country: Itally
Year: 2004
Runtime: 89 minutes
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Awards: Berlin International Film Festival - Caligari Film Award/Don Quixote Award
Unlikely lovers meet in Turin's curious architectural wonder, the Mole Antonelliana, the actual site of Italy's Museum of Cinema. Having thrown boiling oil at her chauvinistic employer, Amanda (Francesca Inaudi) – a fast-fry cook – takes refuge in the Mole. Martino (Georgio Pasotti), the museum's handsome night watchman has, until Amanda complicates his life, lived for and in film, preferring the fantasy world of American silent film comedy, especially the films of Buster Keaton, to real life. Meanwhile, back on the mean streets of the city, Amanda's small-time crook of a boyfriend Angel (Fabio Troiano) is looking for her, mystified at how she has so easily
vanished into the darkness of industrial Turin. AFTER MIDNIGHT is a lovely film-by turns romantic, comedic, whimsical, even fantastic. It is the perfect entertainment for lovers of FILM. Note: Turin (Torino) is in Northern Italy, literally within sight of the Alps; it was the seat of the House of Savoy (the last ruling family of Italy), and is today a city equally famous for very thin breadsticks and the Fiat! After seeing Dopo Mezzanotte, cinemaphiles may want to pass up Tuscany for the trek north. ~ Nick Salerno
Principal Cast: Giorgio Pasotti, Francesca Inaudi, Fabio Troiano, Francesca Picozza, Silvio Orlando
Producer: Ladis Zanini
Cinematographer: Dante Cecchin
Editor: Claudio Cormio
Music: Daniele Sepe
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 10:00 pm and Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 4:00 pm
Official Website: www.avatarfilms.com/releases/aftermidnight.html
ANIMATED SHORT SUBJECT PROGRAMS
AEROSOL - Australia, 10 minutes
Director: Wojciech Wawrzyniak
The routine of a worker's job is wrecked when an ant crawls into his machine.
CYCLE OF LIFE - USA, 9 minutes
Director: Sang Ho Shin
A Buddhist based abstraction on the circulative images of cycle of life.
DEAR SWEET EMMA - USA, 6 minutes
Director: John Cernak
A dark comic fable of an elderly woman who is neither dear nor sweet.
FLYAWAY - USA, 11 minutes
Director: Danny L. Oakley Jr.
Every dream worthwhile is worth sacrifice. A little wooden plane, despite the price it must pay, does the impossible and joins a world it could only dream of.
GOPHER BROKE - USA, 4:18 minutes
Director: Jeff Fowler
Blur Studios presents their OSCAR® nominated short. - A hungry gopher hatches a clever plan to get a quick snack until his best-laid plans go awry. Jeff Fowler and animator Derron Ross will be in attendance to present their film and participate in Q&A.
THE LOSER WHO WON - Australia, 20 minutes
Director: Jack Feldstein
A loser from Melbourne finds true love.
ZOOM SUIT - USA, 13:30 minutes
Director: John Taddeo
When 12 year old Myles mistakes an alien suit for a Halloween costume the world's youngest superhero is born.
Shows: Monday, Oct. 10 at 9:00 pm
ARTIST OF RESISTANCE
Director: Penelope Price
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Runtime: 58 minutes
Penelope Price will be in attandance to present her film.
December 1981: In the village of El Mozote, El Salvador, hundreds died at the hands of Salvadoran military troops. Many of the dead were women, children and infants. The documentary follows the United Nations inquiry into the disaster through the eyes, words, and work of Berkeley-based Argentinian artist Claudia Bernardi. Set in the jungle of El Salvador, this is a story of one woman's courage – from the tragic brutality of cultural repression to the visionary alternative of hope.
Penelope Price is an award winning filmmaker whose work focuses on human rights and the arts. Her first documentary, PASA UN ANGEL, captured the top award at the 2000 San Francisco International Film Festival. She has similarly received a Telly Award in the Political Category for ARTIST OF RESISTANCE. Dr. Price has a PH.D. from Arizona State University and teaches at Scottsdale Community College where she has developed a Motion Picture/Television Program.
Plays with:
WALKING THE LINE
Director: Jeremy Levine
Country: USA
Year: 2005
Runtime: 58 minutes
WALKING THE LINE offers a harrowing view of the chaos along the U.S.-Mexico border through individuals who have taken the law into their own hands. In southern Arizona, a region celebrated for its history of lawlessness and currently the most highly trafficked area for illegal immigration in the world, these “vigilantes” are acting in what they dub a “border war.” Following rancher vigilantes with semiautomatic weapons, outlaw pastors with four-wheel drives, and hapless immigrants dreaming of a better life, the film offers a scathing critique of a failed border policy; a policy that provokes lawlessness and achieves hundreds of deaths every year. At once disturbing, offbeat, and probing, the film explores the tangled line between what is patriotic, what is moral, and what is just.
Shows: Monday, Oct. 10 at 6:25 pm
BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS
Director: DaiSiJie
Country: China
Year: 2003
Runtime: 111 minutes
Language: Mandarin and French with English subtitles
This Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Film is based on the experiences and best
selling autobiography of director Dai SiJie, who spent four years in a re-education program instigated during Mao Zedong’s “Cultural Revolution.” Two teenage boys, Ma (Ye Liu) and Luo (Kun Chen), are sent to live on the remote mountain known as Phoenix in the Sky. The boys steal the “subversive” novels of Honore de Balzac, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, and Gogol, and read them to the granddaughter of the local tailor (Xun Zhou). While reading, both boys fall in love with the girl, and, through Balzac, discover awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love--all the subjects that had, until then, been hidden.
Principal Cast: Xun Zhou, Kun Chen, Ye Liu
Producer: Lise Fayolle
Cinematographer: Jean-Marie Dreujou
Editor: Luc Barnier, Julia Gregory
Music: Pujian Wang
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 12:55 pm and Monday, Oct. 10 at 4:00 pm
Official Website: www.bacfilms.com/site/balzac/
BORDERS - Frontières
Director: Mostefa Djadjam
Country: Algeria/France
Year: 2002
Runtime: 102 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles
Awards: Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film - Youth Jury Award
Think of the journey in Casablanca in reverse. In Casablanca, characters seeking to escape a Nazi-dominated Europe head for Casablanca and thence for points west. In BORDERS, characters seek to escape from the poverty and internecine warfare of Africa by a journey to Europe. A small group of men and one woman embark on the hazardous journey from Senegal through the harsh Sahara Desert to Tangier, the hoped for embarkation point to a new life. It's not an easy trip for either the travelers or the viewer who must watch these sad all – too human beings endure physical and psychological hardships before attaining freedom. Not all the travelers succeed. Some find love – and perhaps a pitifully few laughs. The viewer, meanwhile, gains a new understanding of the problems which confront Africa-and more importantly, Africans-today. ~ Nick Salerno
Principal Cast: Lou Dante, Clarisse Luambo, Ona Lu Yenke, Dioucounda Koma, Tadie Tuene, Meyong Békaté, Delvelin Matthews, Peter Kern, Félicia Massoni
Producers: Aïssa Djabri, Farid Lahouassa
Cinematographer: Pascal Lagriffoul
Editor: Pauline Dairou
Music: René-Marc Bini
CAMPFIRE - Medurat Hashevet
Director: Joseph Cedar
Country: Israel
Year: 2004
Runtime: 96 minutes
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 11:15 am and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 11:45 am
Awards: Israeli Film Academy - Best Director/Best Editing/Best Film/Best Screenplay Best Supporting Actress, Berlin International Film Festival - Don Quixote Award, Chicago International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize
This fine blend of national politics and universal emotions was last year's big winner in the Israeli version of the Academy Awards. Set in Jerusalem in 1981, it tells the tale of a woman who almost desperately wants to become a working member of a new settlement and convinces the man in charge that she will fit in. Thinking that her being a widow is working against her, Rachel (Michaela Eshet) agrees to blind dates with a truck driver and a rich cantor. Complicating matters for Rachel are her two daughters, both of them coming-of-age but each reacting differently to the political events around them. What makes Campfire particularly fascinating is the way in which Cedar wraps primetime drama in a mantle of conservative Israeli politics; he pulls you into the bigger issues by seeming to focus on a small family group. Campfire is a winner. ~ Nick Salerno.
Principal Cast: Michaela Eshet, Hani Furstenberg, Moshe Ivgy, Maya Maron, Motkeh, Oshri Cohen
Producers: David Mandil, Eyal Shiray, Dan Shiray
Cinematographer: Ofer Inov
Editor: Einat Glaser-Zarhin
Music: Ofer Shalchin
Shows: Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2:00 pm and Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 5:45 pm
Official Website: www.campfiremovie.com/eng/index2/index.htm
THE CIVILIZATION OF MAXWELL BRIGHT
Director: David Beaird
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Runtime: 112 minutes
Patrick Warburton will be in attendance at the Saturday screening to present the film and participate in a Q&A.
This film begins with a totally naked couple angrily chasing one another down a driveway while neighbors look on in shocked wonderment. Much more nudity and violence ensues. Maxwell Bright (boy, is he wrongly named!) is a stupid, abusive, chauvinist who can manage neither his business nor his women. That is, not until he purchases the seemingly demure and compliant Mai Ling and is introduced to The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Now I have no patience whatsoever with New Age nonsense, but I was never tempted to turn off the VCR. Is this film a comedy, a satire, or a horror movie? Hell if I know. The more outrageous it got, the more I was hooked. As the titular hero/jerk, Patrick Warburton has more than a few good moments. And look who else shows up: Simon Callow, Jennifer Tilly, Eric Roberts, John Glover, and Carol Kane. (So sue me: I've been in love with them, respectively, at least since A Room With a View, Bullets Over Broadway, The Coca Cola Kid, Love! Valour! Compassion, and Hester Street). Any film with that crew of extremely gifted professionals is all right by me. ~ Nick Salerno
Principal Cast: Patrick Warburton, Marie Matiko, Eric Roberts,
Jennifer Tilly
Producer: Steven Wolfe
Cinematographer: Dean Lent
Editor: Shawn David Thompson
Writer: David Beaird
Music: Greg Ellis
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:25 pm and Monday, Oct. 11 at 8:20 pm
Mature themes and adult language
THE GREAT WATER
Director: Ivo Trajkov
Country: Macedonia
Year: 2004
Runtime: 90 minutes
Language: Macedonian with English subtitles
Francie Noyes will moderate an audience discussion after the film.
Lying near death in an emergency room, Lem (Saso Kekenovski) flashes back to his childhood in post-World War II Czechoslovakia. What passes for an orphanage is really a forced labor camp in which the children are brainwashed into the glories of Communism. Life is hell until a mysterious newcomer changes the status quo in the camp. Why is Lem so fascinated with this handsome newcomer who, at best, ignores him? Does the film have a homoerotic subtext? Whatever. The Great Water is grimly haunting. A native critic has described the film's source as a seminal work in the rise of Macedonian cultural sensibility and compares Trajov's film version to the work of David Lynch and Wim Wenders. ~ Nick Salerno
Principal Cast: Saso Kekenovski, Maja Stankovska, Mitko Apostolovski, Meto Jovanovski
Producer: Ivo Trajkov
Cinematographer: Suki Medencevic
Editor: Atanas Georgiev
Music: Kiril Dzajkovski
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1:15 pm and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 6:05 pm
HAPPILY EVER AFTER - Ils se Marièrent et Eurant Beaucoup d'Enfants
Director: Yvan Attal
Country: France
Year: 2004
Runtime: 100 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles
A delicious and revealing ensemble comedy from writer/director Yvan Attal, featuring a stellar all-star cast including the gorgeous Charlotte Gainsbourg, Attal, Emmanuelle Seigner, Alain Chabat, Alain Cohen, Anouk Aimee, Claude Berri and watch for the amusing cameo from Johnny Depp. Like Attal's first film, My Wife Is An Actress, the focus is again squarely on marriage, and all of the associated antics, rational and irrational, of day-to-day life together. Three men in their early forties are taking stock of their lives. Vincent (Attal) and Georges (Chabat) are the married ones, each with a five-year-old child. They feel staid - that society has pushed them into working, getting married and having children. It doesn't make things any easier that the third friend, Fred (Cohen), is a bachelor with a seemingly endless stream of beautiful women. Naturally, however, all Fred dreams about is to live like Vincent and Georges. It is subsequently revealed that Vincent is seeing another woman, and keeping the affair secret from his friends and from his wife Gabrielle (Gainsbourg). But she's fully aware of it, and quietly hopes things will all work out. That's until she encounters an attractive stranger in the aisles of a music store...This engagingly modern comedy features lively and winning performances from the talented cast. The sense of fun will resonate with anyone who wants a taste of what others always seem to have: that elusive thing called happiness. ~ The Australian Alliance Française French Film Festival
Principal Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yvan Attal, Emmanuelle Seigner, Alain Chabat, Alain Cohen
Producer: Claude Berri, Pierre Grunstein
Cinematographer: Rémy Chevrin
Editor: Jennifer Augé
Music: Christian Chevalier, Brad Mehldau
Official Website: www.kino.com/happilyeverafter/
HARI OM
Director: Bharatbala Ganapathy
Country: India
Year: 2004
Runtime: 117 minutes
Language: French/French/Hindi with English subtitles
Awards: Bangkok International Film - New Voices Award
About the title: it’s one of the most important of chants, a chant supposed to bring spiritual peace to those who repeat it. It's also the name of a rickshaw driver (Vijay Raaz); his rickshaw is a sort of van, he an Indian version of a Yellow Cab driver. While trying to avoid some thugs to whom he owes money, he picks up a French woman (Camille Natta) who missed the train on which she was to meet her boyfriend. Together they embark on a tour of Rajasthan. Hari Om then becomes a road film in which cultures clash, love very quietly blossoms, and the characters learn much about themselves. It's also, at moments, a very funny comedy. If an Indian filmmaker had deliberately set out to make a film that would appeal to Western audiences, it would look much like Hari Om. ~ Nick Salerno
Principal Cast: Jean-Marie Lamour, Vijay Raaz, Camille Natta,
A. K. Hangal
Producer: Kumar Taurani, Ramesh Taurani, Bharatbala Ganapathy
Cinematographer: Angus Hudson
Editor: Kanika Myer
Music: Nitin Sawhney
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 3:30 pm and Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 8:10 pm
Official Website: www.hariomfilm.com
I LOVE YOUR WORK - OPENING NIGHT GALA FILM
Director: Adam Goldberg
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Runtime: 107 minutes
I LOVE YOUR WORK is a stylish meditation on the many facets of the culture of celebrity. Sometimes somber, sometimes sly and self-parodying, and always surreal, the film chronicles the disintegration of Gray Evans (Giovanni Ribisi), a movie star losing his grip on reality, unable to adjust to his own celebrity, and consumed by a twisted nostalgia for love and simplicity lost. With his recent highly publicized marriage to the beautiful starlet Mia (Franka Potente) already strained by the glare of the media and their own dueling egos. Gray begins an impossible, self-indulgent struggle to reclaim a sense of authenticity.
Principal Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, Joshua Jackson,
Marisa Coughlan, Christina Ricci, Elvis Costello, Vince Vaughn
Producers: Chris Hanley, David Hillary
Cinematographer: Mark Putnam
Editor: Zachary Bell, Adam Goldberg, John M. Valerio
Music: Steven Drozd, Adam Goldberg
Shows: Friday, Oct. 7 at 8:00 pm
INTIMATE STORIES - Historias Mínimas
Director: Carlos Sorín
Country: Argentina
Year: 2003
Runtime: 94 minutes
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Awards: Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards - Best Art Direction/Best Cinematography/Best Director/Best Film/Best Music/Best New Actor/Best Screenplay/ Best Sound, Cartagena Film Festival - Special Jury Prize, Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival - Golden Dolphin, Fribourg International Film Festival - Grand Prix - Best Spanish Language Foreign Film, Lima Latin American Film Festival - Critics Award, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival - Best Film, San Sebastián International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize/ SIGNIS Award, Tromsø International Film Festival - Aurora Award, Uruguay International Film Festival - Best Film, Uruguayan Film Critics Association - Special Prize of the Jury
Don Justo goes out to look for his lost dog, Roberto wants to pick up a widow and Maria is on her way to a game show where she can win a food processor. In this charming road movie, three inhabitants of a small village in Patagonia travel to the big city. With an enchanting simplicity and humor, the film reflects their individual vicissitudes in the dusty steppes of Patagonia. The script came about around the personalities and experiences of local inhabitants who also play in the film. ~ The Rotterdam International Film Festival
Principal Cast: Javier Lombardo, Antonio Benedictis, Javiera Bravo, Laura Vagnoni, Mariela Díaz, Julia Solomonoff, Anibal Maldonado, Magín César García, María Rosa Cianferoni, Carlos Monteros
Producer: Letitia Cristi, Martin Bardi
Screenwriter: Pablo Solarz
Cinematographer: Hugo Colace
Editor: Mohamed Rajid
Music: Nicolas Sorín
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 5:50 pm and Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 6:20 pm
THE LAST MOGUL - The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman
Director: Barry Avrich
Country: Canada
Year: 2004
Runtime: 99 minutes
For more than half a century, one man held absolute power in Hollywood - built empires, controlled unions, mingled with Mafioso, even influenced Washington policy. That man was Lew Wasserman, Hollywood's last mogul. In this rags-to-riches story, a skinny hustler goes from the mob-controlled speakeasies of 1920's Cleveland to the top of Hollywood’s A-list. Lew Wasserman was a visionary who used politics, the mafia, and the enduring allure of talent to build an industry and then keep it on a tight leash. As Chairman and CEO of MCA (later Universal), Wasserman was the undisputed King of Hollywood. He worked with everyone - from Hitchcock to Spielberg, from Jimmy Stewart to Kevin Costner. His deal-making abilities were as legendary as his temper, but his ability to predict future trends and his unprecedented use of power made him a billionaire and defined the entertainment industry as we know it today.
Principal Cast: Sydney Pollack, Jack Valenti, Richard Zanuck,
Suzanne Pleshette, Jimmy Carter, Larry King, Alan Ladd, Jr.,
Helen Gurley Brown, Michael Ovitz, David Brown, Dominick Dunne,
Robert Evans
Producers: Nat Brescia, Tori Hockin
Cinematographer: Charles Haggart
Editor: Alex Shuper
Music: Jim McGrath, Frank Kitching
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 11:00 am and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 8:20 pm
LES AIMANTS - Love and Magnets
Director: Yves P. Pellandier
Country: Canada
Year: 2004
Runtime: 100 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles
Disillusioned with love, Jeanne is nevertheless engaged to Noel. However, Jeanne and Noel lead separate lives, and only communicate by leaving each other messages posted on the fridge door. Everything suddenly becomes very complicated. Jeanne compels Julie to take up with Noel so she can have a fling with a passionate musician. Egged on by her friend Marie-Ève, she alters the contents of the messages on the fridge in an attempt to breathe new life into Jeanne and Noel's relationship. LES AIMANTS is a feel good, romantic comedy.
Principal Cast: Isabelle Blais, Stéphane Gagnon, Sylvie Moreau,
Emmanuel Bilodeau
Producer: Nicole Robert, Gabriel Pellandier
Cinematographer: Pierre Jodoin
Editor: Yvann Thibaudeau
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 9:45 pm and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 8:25 pm
MACHUCA
Director: Andres Wood
Country: Chile
Year: 2004
Runtime: 120 minutes
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Awards: Bogota Film Festival - Best Film, Flanders International Film Festival - Georges Delerue Prize, Lima Latin American Film Festival - Elcine First Prize, Mexico City - Best Latin American Narrative Feature, Valdivia International Film Festival - Best Film, Vancouver International Film Festival - Most Popular Film, Viña del Mar Film Festival - Grand Paoa
MACHUCA was Chile's official Oscar selection for Best Foreign Language Film. Acclaimed director Andres Wood offers a perceptive story of friendship, class struggle and social responsibility. In a bid to foster mutual respect and tolerance, Father McEnroe-the headmaster of a private parochial school-admits children from the poor shantytown families. He is determined they will learn to respect each other. MACHUCA is a coming-of-age story set against the fall of the socialist Allende government and the installation of the military junta in Chile in 1973. The story is told through the eyes of two 11-year-old boys-Gonzalo Infante, who lives in a wealthy neighborhood, and Pedro Machuca, who lives in the shantytown. In addition to the practical difficulties involved in this attempt at integration, there are conflicts caused by the outward social confrontation taking place in Chilean society. As political tensions escalate within the country, the boys’ friendship is tested. ~ AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival
Principal Cast: Mathias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli, Aline Kuppenheim, Ernesto Malbran, Francisco Reyes
Producers: Gerardo Herrero, Mamoun Hassan, Andres Wood
Cinematographer: Miguel J. Littin
Editor: Fernando Pardo
Music: Jose Miguel Miranda
Shows: Sunday, Oct. 9 at 3:45 pm and Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 4:00 pm
Official Website: www.machucacine.cl/index-0.htm
THE NINTH DAY
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Country: Germany
Year: 2004
Runtime: 98 minutes
Language: German with English subtitles
Father Chris Carpenter will moderate an audience discussion after the film.
Awards: Biberach Film Festival - Grand Prize
Director Volker Schlöndorff has tackled the rise of fascism and its after-effects in his prior films “The Tin Drum” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In the NINTH DAY, however, he takes a more intimate and morally-complex approach. A Catholic priest interned in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau is released by his captors for nine days and given the task of convincing the bishop of Luxembourg to support Hitler. With the clock ticking, the priest must grapple with the Nazi high command, his family, his bishop and God in his struggle to do the right thing. Based on a true story, Schlöndorff’s latest is the work of a mature filmmaker, and perhaps the best of his career. ~ Father Chris Carpenter
Principal Cast: Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate
Producer: Jürgen Haase
Cinematographer: Tomas Erhart
Editor: Peter R. Adam
Music: Alfred Shnitke
Shows: Saturday, Oct. 8 at 3:15 pm and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 6:00 pm
Official Website: www.derneuntetag.de
Mature themes and adult language
THE OVERTURE
Director: Itthi-sunthorn Wichailak
Country: Thailand
Year: 2004
Runtime: 104 minutes
Language: Thai with English subtitles
Awards: Miami International Film Festival – Audience Award
On the surface, Thailand’s 2004 Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film appears to be a simple biographical piece about Sorn, a fictional character based on legendary Thai musician Luang Pradit Phairao. However, closer examination reveals the nuanced approach employed by director Itthi-sunthorn Wichailak. Wichailak separates Sorn’s life into two storylines—one as a precocious musician seduced by his own talent, the other as an older man whose youthful arrogance has evolved into deep-rooted conviction—and then weaves them together in a manner that allows the portrayal of the elder Sorn to facilitate understanding of the character in his younger years. Ultimately though, the film’s utilization of traditional Thai music is what captivates us. Primarily, the music conveys the emotional state of characters, but at times illustrates profound relationships such as the one that exists between nature and personal expression. The melodious notes and fluid rhythms that Sorn produces on the ranard-ek wooden xylophone enthrall us from the outset, but somehow, each subsequent composition manages to surpass its predecessor. It culminates in a duet with renowned Thai musician Narongit Tosa-Nga, a demonstration of musicianship that razes any preconceived notions of what is possible with this primitive-looking instrument. ~ San Francisco International Film Festival
Principal Cast: Anuchit Saphanphong, Adul Dulyarat, Arratee Tanmahapran, Narongit Tosa-nga, Phongphat Wachirabanjong, Phuwarid Phumphuang, Sumeth Ong-ard
Producer: Itthi-sunthorn Wichailak
Editor: Itthi-sunthorn Wichailak
Cinematographer: Natthawut Kittikhun
Music: Nick Chaiyapak, the Kor-Phai Bands
Shows: Sunday, Oct. 9 at 3:55 pm and Monday, Oct. 10 at 6:15 pm
STUDENT COMPETITION
HOW 87 LEARNED TO SMILE
Chapman University
Director: Sean Paul | 19:45 minutes
A government created killer clone rebels against his creators.
LOST LIGHT
San Diego State University
Director: Bryan Ott | 15:00 minutes
An old man living out his days alone is forced to reconsider his choices by a little girl.
OLD SOULS
California State Univ./Monterey Bay
Director: John Charter | 10:45 minutes
From the paranormal, a young woman relives her past experiences and grapples with issues of love, death and judgment.
PAPERCUT
Scottsdale Community College
Director: Jonathan Danielson | 7:14 minutes
An Average Joe worker gets an uncontrollable paper cut and nobody notices.
REMEMBERING
Rochester Institute of Technology
Director: Moonsik Chung | 15:00 minutes
Mark Hunt wants to escape painful memories of the past, but his solution leads to a sinister cycle.
SWIMMER
Scottsdale Community College
Director: Rachel Bryant | 3:00 minutes
A retired sausage plant manager tries to impress a young woman with stories from the old days.
THREE
New York University School of Continuing & Professional Studies
Director: Margaret H. Shin | 14:10 minutes
Three vignettes during the morning afternoon and night about three characters who are having a birthday.
TWITCH
New York University
Director: Leah Meyerhoff | 10:00 minutes
A young girl has a conflicted relationship with her disabled mother fearing that the condition is contagious.
VOCALIZE
School of Visual Arts New York
Director: Robert Bregman | 16:52 minutes
Elliot Gerard has one dream in life: to become a white, Jewish rapper.
Shows: Sunday, Oct. 9 at 4:10 pm
WHEN WILL WE EAT? - CLOSING NIGHT GALA FILM
Director: Salvador Litvak
Country: USA
Year: 2005
Runtime: 87 minutes
Lesley Ann Warren will be in attendance to present the film and participate in a Q&A.
WHEN DO WE EAT? is the story of the "world's fastest Seder" gone horribly awry. It's about an old school dad (Michael Lerner) who's as tough on his sons as his father (Jack Klugman) is on him. On this night, however, one of the boys (Ben Feldman) slips Dad a dose of LSD in order "to give him a new perspective." Meanwhile, Mom (Lesley Ann Warren) brings a handsome stranger to dinner and the kids take sides. By the end of the night, however, Dad's visions turn him into a modern day Moses intent on leading this hungry group to the promised land of family forgiveness. Of course they're all so stubborn; it'd be easier to part the Red Sea.
Principal Cast: Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Lerner, Jack Klugman,
Ben Feldman
Producer: Salvador Litvak
Cinematographer: M. David Mullen
Editors: Richard Halsey, Ryan Kushner
Music: Mark Adler
Shows: Tuesday, Oct 11 at 7:35 pm
Official Website: www.whendoweeat.com
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