ARGENTINA

Bolivia

Adrián Israel Caetáno
A moving story of xenophobia and homesickness, Bolivia charts the demise of an illegal immigrant in Buenos Aires with riveting precision. Freddy has left in Bolivia what he loves most, his family. He has come to Buenos Aires with no papers, aiming to find a good job and a place for his family to join him. He gets a job cooking
in a bar thanks to Enrique, the owner, who tries to lend him a hand. The clientele, largely coarse beer-drinking drivers, view the new cook with suspicion and disgust: why did the owner take on a foreigner when there are so many unemployed Argentineans? Trying to ignore their insults and threats as best he can, he befriends
El Oso and Marcelo, two struggling taxi drivers, Hector, a street salesman from Córdoba, and Rosa, a young waitress
from Paraguay who brings them all closer together. El Oso, whose money problems are about to cost him his taxi, turns his fury on the unfortunate Freddy, who cannot bear the burden. (75 mins.) Print courtesy
of Rebeca Conget.
Filmography: Pizza, Beer, Smoke (98),
A Red Bear (02).
Showtimes: 2/24, 6:30pm GU and 2/26, 4:30pm BW.

Love and Fright: Borges

Juan Carlos Desanzo
Aficionados of Argentina's Nobel Prize-winning writer Jorge Luis Borges will find veteran director Juan Carlos Desanzo's
bio-pic a fascinating experience. It is 1946. General Perón, a man with a facist past sympathetic to the Nazis, has just won the Presidential election. It is becoming clear that the dictatorship of the past is being replaced by an even more ruthless one. Forced from his job by political pressure, Borges takes up a paranoid refuge in a board house in Buenos Aries, where he must figure out the political treality of an unfolding nightmare and do what he can to save the woman he secretly loves from the clutches of her Perónist husband. Unable to trust anyone and uncertain of his enemies actions, Borges wrestles with love, literature and intrigue as only Borges would have it. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of Juan Carlos Desanzo.
Filmography: Passengers of the Garden (82),
The Search (87), Eva Perón (96).
Showtimes: 2/27, 9pm and 3/1, 9:15pm WH.

Kamchatka

Marcelo Pineyro
Argentina's selection for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, Kamchatka is a heartfelt, intelligent film with historical depth and universal themes of family, childhood, love and loss. Proving the adage that all politics is personal, director Pineyro uses a single family to paint an intimate portrayal of the menacing early days of Argentina's 1976 military coup. The tale is narrated by
10-year-old Harry, plucked out of school, along with his younger brother, affectionately known as "the midget," and whisked away to a rural hideaway. Having witnessed the disappearance of dissident friends, their parents (Darin and Roth) are fleeing persecution by the new regime. "to be together, the four of us for as long as we can." They eventually take in Lucas, another young man on the run who slowly befriends the sulking Harry and adds joy to their exile. Together, they are able to forget or ignore-however temporarily-the dreaded finale foreshadowed in opening scenes.(104 mins.) Print courtesy of Menemsha Entertainment.
Filmography: Wild Tango (93), Wild Horses (95), Burnt Money (00).
Showtimes: 2/28, 9:30pm and 3/1, 7pm WH.

AUSTRALIA

A Wedding in Ramallah

Sherine Salama
In the Palestinian border town of Ramallah, the ritual enactment of cultural traditions exemplifies the struggle to preserve ordinary life amidst eruptive violence. With Middle East peace talks threatening to dissolve, émigré Bassan returns to his family from political exile in Cleveland. His painfully failed marriage to an American woman brings him home to seek a new bride. Opting for an arranged marriage in hopes of avoiding another broken heart, he reaches agreement with the family of 25-year-old Mariam, a woman whose world up to now has extended only as far as the perimeter of her small town. Salama's observational and interactive documentary follows Mariam to the home of her new in-laws where, after the pageantry of marriage, she awaits being able to join her husband who waits for her in an unknown Ohio. Exploring divides-political, sexual and generational-Wedding In Ramallah is an engrossing multi-act drama of visas, gunfire and crushed expectations that weighs the value of traditional institutions against the cost of personal freedom. (94 mins.) Print courtesy of Travelfilms. First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/15, 1:30pm and 2/17, 7pm WH.

AUSTRIA

Gebirtig

Robert Schindel, Lukas Stepanik
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Gebirtig offers a cogent and scathing indictment of Austria's complicity in Nazi atrocities a half-century ago. Set in 1987, the year in which the "Waldheim affair" caused a wave of negative headlines for Austria around the world, the story follows Hermann Gebirtig, a Jewish emigrant now established in New York as a successful composer. Gebirtig believes that he has left his concentration camp experience as well as his Viennese hometown far behind. History however, catches up with him in the shape of beautiful Viennese journalist Susanne, who uses her charm and stubbornness to convince him to face his past and testify against a former concentration-camp guard known as "the Skullcracker of Ebensee." As the past becomes present, many lives will never be the same, including those of journalist Conrad Sachs, son of a high-ranking SS officer, and Susanne's father Karl, once a political prisoner in the Ebensee camp. This year's Austrian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (115 mins.) Print courtesy of the Austrian Film Commission. First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/15, 1pm and 2/16, 8:30pm BW.

BRAZIL

Maids

Fernando Meirelles, Nando Olival
Based on two years of interviews and an acclaimed theater production, Maids is a colorful, spirited look at the lives of five indefatigable maids in Saõ Paolo. Meirelles and screenwriter Olival weave the women's stories of hope, heartbreak and resiliency with a warmly comic touch. Brought together on the bus they ride and the "invisible" work they do, each has their story. Quiteria is a maid, like her mother before her, and is looked after by her friend Cida. Roxanne dreams of being an actress, Raimunda longs to be married, and Roxanne simply wishes that maybe she wasn't. All the while, Creo agonizes over the disappearence of her grown daughter. Not a movie about maids as much as a maid's movie, Maids is a fast and funny portrait set to the rhythm of a samba beat. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of o2 Filmes.
Filmography: City of God (02).
Showtimes: 2/17, 6:15pm GU and 2/19, 8:30pm.

CANADA

Soft Shell Man

André Turpin
Alex is a successful 31-year-old underwater photographer who returns to Montréal
after a near-death experience in the Indian Ocean. Worldly, handsome and loaded with charm, recently divorced Alex has a fatal flaw: he wants to please everyone-all the time. Unable to say no, he finds himself compulsively entangled in relationships-with friends, lovers and business associates-that ought not to be. First there is Marie, a strong-willed journalist, and then Sara, his best friend's hearing-impaired girlfriend. Soon, the sum of crashing lives has taken
its toll and the price of immaturity will have to be paid. Turpin's charming romantic comedy introspectively explores not the archetypal macho-man, but the more curious workings of the man-child. This year's Canadian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (102 mins.) Print courtesy of Film Tonic.
Filmography: Zigrail (95), Cosmos (96), Maelstrom (cinematographer, 00).
Showtimes: 2/15, 8:30pm and 2/19, 7pm WH.

CHILE

Loco Fever

Andres Wood
Andres Wood's colorful film is a funny and committed portrait of a village at the end
of the world. The Chilean coastal village of Puerto Loco is turned upside down when two swindlers, Canuto and Jorge, pose as representatives of a Japanese company looking to buy up the villages' entire catch of loco (abalone). Loco is the endangered shellfish legendary for its aphrodisiac qualities, and fisherman are only permitted a few days of the year to catch it. News of quick money has everyone from visiting prostitutes to local priests in a frenzy to cash in on the commerce and the normally sleepy town is soon engulfed with equal measures of lust, greed and intrigue. In a comic and moving way, Wood sketches the universal problems of the local people when the outside world invades. (97 mins.) Print courtesy of Andres Wood.
Filmography: Football Stories (97), Revenge (99).
Showtimes: 2/25, 6:30pm WH and 3/1, 1pm BW.

CHINA

Dazzling

Xin Lee
Are we alone on our quest for happiness, or do we have guidance along the way? In Dazzling, a lyrical film by Xin Lee, we follow our main characters in their everyday search for satisfaction and love. A movie usher attempts to conquer his fear of daylight. A young woman struggles with the possibility of marriage to someone she may not love. A young teacher fights to use his voice to woo a woman who grows impatient. The events in their lives would seem mundane if not for the presence of mysterious beings who look suspiciously like angels. The characters' revelations leave our own domestic decisions suspect: Did we turn that corner of our own accord, or was that action a part of some supreme plan? Visually fascinating, Dazzling watches like a poem: each character is a stanza, each life intertwined with its own cadence and rhyme. But who authors these poems? See this film and consider."-Hawaii International Film Festival. (84 mins.) Print courtesy of Laura Chen.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/16, 6:30pm and 2/17, 8:30pm, BW.

COLOMBIA

Bolivar, I Am

Jorge Alí Triana
Santiago Miranda, the star of a popular television series about the life of the Colombian national hero Simon Bolívar, furiously stomps off the set when the script announces his, or rather Bolívar's death, by shooting, thus changing history. Hovering on the border between lucidity and madness, Miranda, acting like the real Bolívar, obsessed with uniting the country, seizes the moment. The vision of a strong Great Colombia, capable of standing up to the great powers of the world and free from 160 years of war, instability and misery drives Miranda to kidnap the country's President and convene a meeting with the Presidents of all "Bolivarian" nations of South America and, on national television, once and for all forge the dream into reality. Triana's blackly humorous film explores the great ironies and cruelties of life in 21st-century Latin America. "I think we must re-evaluate our history to rediscover Bolívar's ideas...Bolívar's dream has not been realized, and that has been our misfortune."-Jorge Alí Triana. (93 mins.) Print courtesy of Venevision.
Filmography: Time To Die (85), Oedipus Mayor (96).
Showtimes: 2/27, 4pm and 3/1, 7:15pm BW.

The Invisible Children

Lisandro Duque
In a small town in Colombia, three eight-year-old boys embark on a summer adventure that involves black magic, first love, and the power of truthful emotion. Through their eyes comes a glimpse of the divisive politics of Colombia in the 1950s and the violent struggles to come. The adventure begins when young Rafael is enchanted by the girl next door and wants to get next to her by becoming invisible. He and his friends take us on a journey where each character gives a glimpse into the real life we might find in any small town-the old men who never see, the blind man who sees all, parents, shopkeepers and friends-all symbols of the frailty of human nature. Simple but profound, this charming film was awarded Best Film at the Bogota Film Festival. This year's Colombian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of CNAC.
Filmography: Visa USA (86), Miracle In Rome (88).
Showtimes: 2/23, 2pm WH and 3/1, 2pm BW.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Wild Bees

Bohdan Sláma
"The end of communism has brought the inhabitants of a Moravian village microwave ovens and Michael Jackson, but happiness proves harder to attain. Director Bohdan Sláma sensitively and realistically presents the dreams and frustrations of a group of young small-town Czechs, all grown up with no place to go, in this engaging coming-of-age feature. While the older generation soothes the pain of unrealized dreams with drink, gambling and adultery, their children still believe in the possibility of a better life. Shy, bumbling Kaja secretly loves free spirit Bozhka, who dates Michael Jackson-loving Ladya. When Kaja's brother Petr returns from school in Prague, his presence inspires Kaja and his friends to reassess their lives. Does happiness wait in the big city, or are they just as likely to find it in their own village? While dealing with gloomy themes, The Wild Bees is anything but a tragedy, as the characters find humor and even a perverse optimism in their situation. Sláma not only loves his characters, he respects them-and audiences will too."-San Francisco Film Festival. This year's Czech submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (94 mins.) Print courtesy of Teleport-CzechTV.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/15, 3:45pm and 2/22, 7pm WH.

DENMARK

Suzanne Bier
The powerful role of fate in relationships is the starting point for Bier's poignant story of two couples brought together by a shocking accident. Cecilie and Joachim are young and in love, with their whole lives ahead of them, when suddenly everything is turned upside down. Things change not only for Cecilie and Joaquim, but also for Marie and Niels. Both in their late thirties, they have three children and enjoy a marital bliss sorely put to the test when Niels falls passionately in love with Cecilie. The question is whether Niels and Cecilie are ready to give up everything for the sake of their love. One thing's for sure: nothing will ever be the same again. Produced with the realism of the celebrated Dogme 95 manifesto and featuring a stellar cast, Open Hearts is a moving exploration of love, loyalty and passion adrift in the sea of chance. This year's Danish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (113 mins.) Print courtesy of Newmarket Group.
Selected Filmography: Freud Leaving Home (90), Family Matters (93), Like It Never Was Before (95), Credo (97), The One and Only (99), Once in a
Lifetime (00).
Showtimes: 2/22, 6:30pm and 2/23, 3:30pm BW.

FINLAND

The Man Without a Past

Aki Kaurismäki
The Grand Jury Prizewinner at the Cannes Film Festival, The Man Without a Past finds Finland's most famed director, Aki Kaurismäki, returning to expressive color, dialogue and dead-pan, Chaplinesque humor after his luminous black-and-white, silent offering, Juha (PIFF 23). Attacked by thugs and left for dead, M (Markku Peltola) miraculously regains consciousness at the hospital, but with no memory of who he is or from where he came. Back on the streets of Helsinki, M must rely on the kindness of strangers to survive and takes up residence in a container on the docks with an assortment of other world-weary souls. With the help of Salvation Army worker Irma (Kati Outinen, Cannes Best Actress prizewinner), he reconstructs a life and his fortunes begin to mount. In the end his past will catch
up to him, but will his new life have to be left behind? Both touching and funny, Kaurismäki's idiosyncratic B-movie fairy-tale/melodrama, the second of a trilogy on unemployment, is rich with humanity, warmth, humor and morality. (97 mins.) Print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Selected Filmography: The Match Factory Girl (89),
I Hired a Contract Killer (90), Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (94), Drifting Clouds (96), Juha (99).
Showtimes: 2/14, 7:15pm and 2/16, 2:45pm GU.

FRANCE

Amen

Constantin Costa-Gravas
At what moment in a man's life must ethics come before self-preservation? Costa-Gavras' pulls no punches as it examines the Vatican's and Pope Pius XII's failure to speak out against the Nazis during WWII. Newly commissioned SS Lieutenant and respected civilian chemist, Kurt Gerstein, discover that the Zyklon B pellets he has developed to disinfect soldiers' barracks are being used to gas interred Jews by the thousands. Recruited to help streamline the death camp process by a team of SS officers, Gerstein secretly approaches the Swedish Consulate, the German Protestant community and finally Vatican representatives in the hopes of exposing this unspeakable crime. The only one who listens is Father Ricardo, a young Jesuit priest with deep family connections at the Vatican. Ricardo promises Gerstein he will alert the Pope to the Jewish genocide, confident that the pontiff will reveal and denounce the Final Solution to the Christian world. Based on Rolf Hochhuth's 1964 Broadway drama, The Deputy, this controversial and deeply unsettling film looks into the souls of two individuals who strive to make a difference within the power structures of which they are a part. (130 mins.) Print courtesy of Kino International.
Selected Filmography: Z (69), State of Siege (73), Special Section (75), Missing (82).
Showtime: 2/28, 6:30pm GU.

Man On the Train

Patrice Leconte
"In this superbly imagined and deeply moving film, Patrice Leconte strips away artifice and extraneous detail to focus on two unlikely men. Man on the Train features two of France's most famous entertainers-Jean Rochefort and singer-actor Johnny Hallyday-providing them both with a vehicle to display their dazzling talents. Hallyday plays Milan, a grizzled, aging gangster-cum-thief whose next job is to hit the bank in a small, quiet provincial French town. He arrives by train and immediately heads to the pharmacy to have a prescription filled. There, he attracts the attention of Monsieur Manesquier (Rochefort), a rather elegant and refined retired schoolteacher who lives in casual, unpretentious splendor in a rambling mansion. Upon realizing there is no hotel in town, Milan is forced
to accept the hospitality Manesquier offers him. This film is, above all, about friendship, and Leconte draws the details of Milan and Manesquier's connection with an uncanny mix of sharply observed humor and finely tuned emotion."-Toronto International Film Festival. (95 mins.) Print courtesy of Paramount Classics.
Selected Filmography: Monsieur Hire (88),
The Hairdresser's Husband (90), Tango (93), The Girl on the Bridge (99).
Showtimes: 2/15, 7pm GU and 2/18, 7pm BW.

Monday Morning

Otar Iosseliani
Georgian-born director Otar Iosseliani is one of world cinema's supreme individual talents and his latest film is one of his most inventive, playful and deeply entertaining works. Vincent (Jacques Bidou), who works in a chemical factory in a small French town, is fed up with just about every aspect of his life. His job is uninspired and his family members each live in their own worlds. One day, he decides he has had enough and, with no prior planning, leaves home and embarks on an adventure to see the world, starting with a trip to Venice. From then on, we witness his strange and wonderful encounters with a variety of amusing and bizarre characters. The question is, should he ever go back to a family irritated by his departure? Awarded the Best Director and International Critic's Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, Iosseliani shares a kinship with Jacques Tati, employing sight gags and conveying the absurd through mostly wordless activity. The result is a graceful depiction of the universal desire to flee monotony in search of an eventful elsewhere. "Monday Morning is an impeccably made production which beautifully encapsulates a world of serenity and timelessness"-Variety. (120 mins.) Print courtesy of Celluloid Dreams.
Selected Filmography: Pastorale (75), Favorites of the Moon (84), The Butterfly Hunt (92), Farwell, Home Sweet Home (99).
Showtimes: 2/16, 7:15pm and 2/27, 6:30pm BW.

Safe Conduct

Bertrand Tavernier
"Based on the true stories of the experiences of filmmakers working in the French film industry under World War II German Occupation, Safe Conduct is a brilliant evocation and exploration of this unique era. Interweaving stories of a film director, who is also a member of the French Resistance, with that of a Jewish script-writer with an extremely complicated love-life, Tavernier fashions a haunting portrait of Paris during the War. These are men
who love their country but still, somehow, want to make movies which say something, incorporating satire and hidden political messages into silly musicals or flimsy comedies, that will escape the understanding of their Nazi bosses. It is also a very human, finely wrought drama that features gripping action sequences, balanced with delightfully comic moments, as it shows these men, their friends and families trying to live and live good lives, where each day may literally be their last. In all, an engrossing, marvelously realized film from one of France's most distinguished filmmakers."-London Film Festival. "This wonderful film brims with the humanity, seriousness, good humour and commitment that mark all Tavernier's work."-Kevin Thomas, LA Times. (170 mins.) Print courtesy of Empire Films.
Selected Filmography: The Clockmaker of St. Paul (74), A Week's Vacation (80), Round Midnight (86), Life and Nothing But (89), D'Artagnan's Daughter (94).
Showtimes: 2/25, 7:00pm GU and 2/26, 7pm BW.

To Be and To Have

Nicholas Philibert
In isolated communities throughout France, there still exist so-called "single class schools", bringing together children of all ages, in one class around one teacher. This moving and funny film quietly observes one such school in Auvergne, and the mutually dependent bond between teacher and pupils. Winner of the award for Best Documentary at the 2002 European Film Awards, Philibert spent months quietly observing the daily rituals, petty squabbles, furrowed brows, curiosity, petulance and hurt feelings that accompany the learning process. As the year passes, we come to know these children individually, and we experience through their small triumphs and frustrations the richness and wonder of their coming to know life. Few have the patience and wisdom of teacher Georges Lopez, but we share in his dedication, passion and joy just as surely as the thirteen young minds that are learning "to be" and "to have." (104 mins.) Print courtesy of New Yorker Films.
Selected Filmography: Louvre City (90), Land of the Deaf (92), Who Knows? (98).
Showtimes: 2/15, 2pm and 2/16, 5pm GU.

GERMANY

Absolut Warhola

Stanislaw Mucha
Located in the "Ruthenian Bermuda Triangle" (the land between Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine) is Europe's only Pop Art Museum. Stanislaw Mucha's lighthearted documentary traces Andy Warhol's family roots, which can be traced to the town of Medzilaborce and the neighboring village of Miková. Andrijku, alias Andy, still inspires the imagination of his surviving relatives. Everyone has their own vision of the region's most famous son, though nobody knew him. Warhol sent original works of art to his unsuspecting relatives back home, but they made them into toys for their children and a flood ruined others. With a gentle humanistic touch, Mucha swings from Warhol's art and the museum, to his relatives-all characters in their own right-and their "art" of coming to grips with a life of poverty and hopelessness with an eternal supply of apathy and cheerful attitude. Winner, German Film Critics Prize for Best Documentary Film and the Audience Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival. (80 mins.)
Filmography: Back Home To the Reich, With Buba (01).
Showtimes: 2/15, 9:15pm GU and 2/18, 6:30pm BW.

Grill Point

Andreas Dresen
Winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, director Andreas Dresen collaborated with his ensemble cast to develop the story, pacing, and dialogue that create a lively roundelay of shifting marital mores. In the German city of Frankfurt an der Oder, near the Polish border, two couples in their late 30s have become unknowingly set in the banality of their relationships. Chris, a drive-time radio dee-jay, is mildly distanced from his second wife, Katrin. His friend Uwe, owner of the bar and grill of the films title, has become neglectful of his wife, Ellen. When Chris and Ellen develop a little "thing" on the side and get caught in the act, the four characters become shaken from their stupor. Concerned with the small and intimate moments that make up life, Dresen's tragicomic film recalls is at once funny, painfully honest and deeply affecting. Winner of numerous German film prizes including the German Film Critic's award for Best Film. (105 mins.) Print courtesy of Bavaria Film.
Selected Filmography: Silent Country (92),
Night Shapes (99).
Showtimes: 2/14, 7:15pm and 2/19, 8:45pm BW.

I'm the Father

Dani Levy
Dani Levy focuses on the family-in this case, on a young, well-to-do couple and their six-year-old son-who find that the dreams of their early days have been tempered by the realities of career and ambition. Melanie and Marco have been trying to make the best of their marriage. Like so many couples of their generation, however, they have found that demanding office hours and responsibilities make it difficult to devote enough time to their relationship, household duties or, most importantly, their son, Benny. Marco is an architect who feels he is on the verge of breaking into the professional upper ranks, but the increasing emphasis he places on his career is straining his marriage. His growing irresponsibility
is apparent, and when he hits Melanie one day during a fight, she decides she has had enough. What ensues is a classic story of two people who have decided that compromise will not work in their relationship and, therefore, start to draw lines in the sand. When Marco realizes that his access to his son is about to be restricted, he retaliates by raising the stakes. (98 mins.) Print courtesy of Bavaria Film.
Selected Filmography: Robbykallepaul (89), I Was
on Mars (91), Killer Condom (96), The Giraffe (98), Aimee & Jaguar (99).
Showtimes: 2/25, 8:45pm and 2/28, 9pm BW.

GREAT BRITAIN

Bend It Like Beckham

Gurinder Chadha
Bend It Like Beckham is a stylish, warmhearted comedy about overcoming cultural differences while celebrating them. Jess (Parminder K. Nagra) is a tomboyish London-area teen whose tradition-minded family hates the idea of girls playing soccer. They want her to be focused on preparing for her upcoming marriage and life as a wife. But Jess loves the game, idolizes Manchester United soccer legend David Beckham, and plays in pickup soccer games, on the sly, whenever she can. One day she is spotted by Jules (Keira Knightly) and is invited to try out for the Hounslow Harriers, a girl's league team. There is only one choice, but the complications of a double life are about to become more real. Chadha convincingly captures the speed, skill and indomitable spirit of women's amateur soccer while fashioning a heroine whose struggle for independence will make you root, soccer fan or not. (112 mins.)
Print courtesy of Fox Searchlight Films.
Filmography: Bhaji on the Beach (93),
What's Cooking? (00).
Showtimes: 2/21, 7pm BW and 2/23, 4:45pm GU.

Morvern Callar

Lynne Ramsay
Following up on her acclaimed debut, Ratcatcher, Scottish director Lynn Ramsay has adapted Alan Warner's cult novel into a mesmerizing, darkly comic portrait of a disconnected young woman's search for her own identity. Morvern, a supermarket-shelf stocker in a small town, wakes up on Christmas Day to find that her writer- boyfriend has committed suicide in the kitchen. Already out of touch with the world, Morvern drifts further into her own mind, until the chance discovery of his un-submitted novel on his computer leads her to sign her name to the work, empty his bank account and head out for a Spanish coastal resort for whatever comes. "An elegy for the rave generation, its hallucinatory visuals are echoed by the trippy textures of its soundtrack (with tracks by Aphex Twin, Can, Lee Hazelwood and Broadcast) and the wayward drift of its narrative. Euphoric, strange and unforgettable, this cinema at its most audacious and compelling: a triumphant return for one of the most gifted filmmakers of her generation."-Edinburgh Film Festival. New Director Prize, Cannes Film Festival. (97 mins.) Print courtesy of Cowboy Releasing.
Featured Filmography: Ratcatcher (99).
Showtime: 2/21, 7pm GU.

Sweet Sixteen

Ken Loach
"Returning to territory he knows well, Ken Loach is in exceptional form with Sweet Sixteen, a slice of Glasgow working-class social realism in a tough Glasgow district, sensitively rendered by the director's peerless capacity to combine humor and compassion with honesty and despair. The film centers on an adolescent boy who's sucked into a bleak spiral of crime and hopelessness. The superbly modulated drama steadily increases its heart-wrenching quality via quiet, unmanipulative means, building into an entirely believable story of bitter disappointment, thanks to Paul Laverty's economical script and ear for dialogue, combined with Loach's direct style, intimate grasp of the characters and faultless handling of key conflicts and confrontations. A rich vein of humor (often deriving from colorful local vernacular), the tenderness in scenes with mother and son, and the sad reality of the boy's narrow options, give Sweet Sixteen a quiet emotional pull and a resoundingly melancholy, affecting resolution."-Variety. (106 mins.) Print courtesy of Lions Gate Films.
Selected Filmography: Kes (70), Looks and Smiles (81), Riff Raff (91), Land and Freedom (95), Carla's Song (96), Bread and Roses (00), The Navigators (01).
Showtimes: 2/27, 6pm GU and 3/1, 7pm BW.

Is Not A Love Song

Bille Eltringham
Spike and Heaton, two petty criminals, are an unlikely pair: two loners who have fatefully found each other. Taciturn, competent, unreadable, Heaton is someone we are instinctively afraid of. In contrast, sidekick Spike is manic and childlike: someone we are instinctively afraid for. But when Spike accidentally commits a terrible crime, Heaton stands by him-an act of astonishing, and foolhardy, loyalty. The two flee across
a vast landscape of Scottish moors, rivers and forests, the exhausted fugitives hunted, not by the police, but by a chilling posse of farmers relentlessly bent on revenge. When Heaton injures his leg, the roles are reversed-suddenly it is Heaton who needs Spike's loyalty. "While digital video often is employed by filmmakers to no real aesthetic end beyond its speed, technical simplicity and reduced cost, Eltringham harnesses its creative possibilities, along with a variety of experimental techniques, to bring emotional edge, tension and visual texture to a fugitive thriller that could have been standard genre fare. This tale of a criminal duo becomes steadily more interesting as it develops into an understated yet soulful doomed love story."-David Rooney, Variety. (92 mins.) Print courtesy of Wellspring Media.
Filmography: Yellow (96), The Darkest Light (99).
Showtimes: 2/22, 4:45pm WH and 2/24, 8:15pm BW.

GREECE

The Only Journey of His Life

Lakis Papastathis
This year's Greek submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar is based on a short story by Greek writer Georgios Vizyenos. Towards the end of the 19th century, Vizyenos (1849-1896) was admitted to a mental asylum in Athens. Shortly before this, he had expressed an obsessive passion for a local girl, 12-year-old Bettina. While in the asylum, he attempts to recall memories of his childhood in Constantinopole and Thrace. At the same time, he reads through his literary work which is based on those memories. Reality and fiction become confused in his mind. The main character in his memories is his grandfather who was forced to spend the first 10 years of his life dressed as a girl in order to avoid serving
in the army. Vizyenos' grandfather lived all his life in fairy tales and dreams, thus influencing the psychological development of his grandson. This lyrical, dream-like drama won the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the top prize at the National Cinema Awards. (85 mins.) Print courtesy of the Greek Film Center.
Selected Filmography: Theofoils (87).
Showtimes: 2/21, 5:45pm, 2/24, 6:30pm and 2/21, 5:45pm BW.

HUNGARY

Bánk Bán

Csaba Kael
A new film version of Ferenc Erkel's famous historical opera about medieval court intrigues, Bánk Bán was shot by the great Hungarian cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond, who used numerous spectacular locations and only one studio set. In the year 1213, Hungary's King Endre II is waging war abroad. At home, his queen, Gertrud, a foreigner, has seized power, and heaps privileges on her Meranian countrymen. Nobleman Petur Bán wants to lead a Magyar rebellion against the Meranians, but his brother Bánk, a high-ranking courtier, feels loyalty to the King. But when Bánk learns that Endre's evil brother Otto wants to seduce his wife Melinda, he joins the uprising. A cast of world famous Hungarian opera stars does justice to this great patriotic epic. The score is performed under the baton of Tamas Pal who draws an enthralling performance from the Hungarian Orchestra of the Millennium. "A textbook example of how to turn opera into film... an altogether stirring experience in an inspired meld of the visual and the aural."-Los Angeles Times. (118 mins.) Print courtesy of Bunyik Entertainment.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/16, 4:45pm and 2/20, 8:30pm BW.

Hukkle

György Pálfi
"Twin Peaks meets Microcosmos in this playful but quietly ominous pageant of life, death, culpability and consumption in a sleepy Hungarian village. An elderly man sunning himself on a bench smiles through a bout of hiccups while a drunken youth snores nearby. These sounds lay the rhythm for this virtually dialogue-free film. Elsewhere, a kindly old lady picks lilies of the valley, women sew in the dressmaker's shop, men play boules near the pub, a beekeeper harvests honey, and women prepare meals for their husbands. Pigs mate under the approving eye of a farm couple, a pet cat dies suddenly. But beneath the calm pastoral surface brews a cunning murder plot-can you spot the clues? With a superb command of images and sounds, Pálfi creates a visually inventive and wildly imaginative whodunit."-Alissa Simon. "Pálfi takes delight in pitching curveballs... with a number of special effects that, like everything else in this rigorous yet unclassifiable film, come out of nowhere. Inventively edited, shot and recorded-the elaborately structured soundtrack, called by the director a 'conceptual soundscape' is alone worth the price of admission-Hukkle is a sensation."-Vancouver Film Festival. This year's Hungarian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (75 mins.)
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/20, 6:30pm and 2/23, 6:15pm BW.

ICELAND

Regina!

Babak Shokrian
Summer has arrived in Iceland, and all the children are leaving for summer camp. All except 10-year-old Regina, that is. Her father has passed away and her mother works at a home for the elderly and can't afford to send her. While home alone killing time, Regina discovers she has a gift: she can hypnotize people with her singing. Her friend Peter shows his talent for finding words that rhyme and together they realize that they can make people to do whatever they want. How about if her mother and his father got married? Maybe she could go to camp after all. All at once Regina and Peter find themselves at the beginning of an unforgettable adventure. For those who loved last year's family hit, Ikigut, Regina! was made by the same producers. A charming and vibrant musical romp for film lovers of all ages. (95 mins.) Print courtesy of Productions La Fete.
Filmography: America So Beautiful (00).
Showtimes: 2/16, 12:30pm and 3/1, 12pm GU.

The Sea

Baltasar Kormakur
Feeling his strength decline, Thordur, the old, feared and respected head of his family, invites his children to come back to the village to set his affairs in order-namely their mother's inheritance and the family business, which has made him one of the most powerful men in this small Icelandic fishing community. His hopes rest on Agust, his younger son, a business student in Paris living with a French girlfriend. Thordur is convinced that Agust will come back and stay after completing his studies in order to take over the fishery currently managed by Haraldur, the elder son he does not particularly trust. But the autocratic Thordur doesn't know that Agust has totally different plans for his future. As the family gathers to ponder their destiny, old ghosts and secrets erupt like geysers. Things will be different that anyone's plan imagined. At once a compelling family saga and a reflection on the impact of globilization on local economies, Kormakur interjects his off-kilter humor to add to the surprises. This year's Icelandic submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (109 mins.) Print courtesy of Palm Pictures.
Filmography: 101 Reykjavik (00).
Showtimes: 2/20, 7pm and 2/22, 2pm WH.

INDIA

Devdas

Sanjay Leela Bhansali
The most expensive Indian film ever made, Devdas, the third remake of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic 1913 novel, is the quintessential Bollywood epic-beautiful, humorous, decadent, energetic and extravagant-with equal parts singing, dancing and tragedy. In this "Romeo and Juliet" story of love and separation, childhood sweethearts Devdas and Paro's marriage plans are thwarted by their parents, causing a rift between the two families and leaving Paro to be married off to a wealthy, older aristocrat. Tormented, Devdas in his obsession for a lost Paro, turns to alcohol. Even the selfless love of popular courtesan Chandramukhi cannot save the doomed lover. Spectacular sets recreate Calcutta of the '20s, including a house with 180 pillars and a stained glass haveli which took seven months to build. Technically flawless and richly costumed, it is clear that no expense was spared to create this ultimate Bollywood spectacle. (182 mins.) Print courtesy of Eros Entertainment.
Filmography: Khamoshi (96), Straight From
the Heart (99).
Showtimes: 2/15, 7:30pm and 2/16, 1pm BW.

IRAN

Bemani

Dariush Mehrjui
"Gorgeously shot and brutally honest-this is the paradox-Bemani is a stunningly tragic portrait of the desperation of isolated young women. Three stories set in a town on
the Iraqi border build to a grim fairy tale. A weaver meets a handsome border guard and makes him a rug; they are seen together, and soon she is no more. A woman secretly studying medicine, is found out by her father and imprisoned in his basement. Bemani, daughter of a poor tenant, is given to her elderly landlord in marriage. She literally can't wait till he dies. The rate of attempted suicides among women and girls is stretching the local hospital's resources. In this rural life, all that should be beautiful is oppressive: the rich colors of yarns are the color of blood; beautifully prepared food tastes of a slave's hand; nature's dry expanses and familiar brooks mean there is nowhere to hide. A goat has a better life than a woman, until both have served their purpose."-Judy Bloch, Pacific Film Archive. (95 mins.) Print courtesy of Farabi Cinema Foundation.
Selected Filmography: The Postman (70), Cycle (78), Leila (96), The Pear Tree (98), Tales of An Island (00).
Showtimes: 2/21, 9pm WH and 2/23, 4:30pm BW.

Deserted Station

Alireza Raisian
Skillfully directed and superbly cast, The Deserted Station is Raisian's second movie based on the work of Abbas Kiarostami. Like all Kiarostami road tales, it depicts binary oppositions in a complex culture: modern/traditional, urban/rural, religious/secular and personal/political. Raisian's exquisite visuals beautifully complement this story of a photographer-husband and his schoolteacher wife who, having had two stillborn children, drive to the holy city of Mashad to pray for the healthy birth of their third child. En route, the car breaks down and they become stranded in a desert village. The villages' mechanic, Feizollah (played by Iran's greatest comedic actor, Mehran Rajabi), is also its teacher and barber; in fact, he is the villages' sole adult male and its self-appointed guardian. When the husband accompanies Feizollah to another town to get a part for the car, the wife takes over Feizollah's class and is utterly transformed by her experiences in this isolated world-one filled with the children she so desperately has wanted to have. (93 mins.) Print courtesy of Farabi Cinema Foundation.
Filmography: The Journey (94), Reghaneh (95).
Showtimes: 2/25, 6:30pm and 2/26, 8:30pm BW.

ITALY

At the First Breath of Wind

Franco Piavoli
"Franco Piavoli crafts a breathtaking poem from, and to, cinema in this luminous feature. An idyllic evocation of place, the film actually derives its extraordinary power from a mastery of the medium: its transcendence of time, its unique juxtaposition of representation and abstraction, and its flirtations with human perceptive processes.
The 'story' generally follows the progression of a sun-drenched afternoon in rural Italy, as a landed family and a group of field laborers alternately pass the day in leisure, reflection and work. However, the films most powerful journey is one that takes
the viewer inward-plunging headlong into minute incidents that swell with suggestion and reveal an extraordinarily rich, sustained observation of mood, atmosphere, and existential absorption. A young girl observes a boy swimming in a stream. A man slips into a deep, fitful slumber in his library. A woman traverses a cluttered landscape on a search for something untold. Such prosaic scenes fairly shimmer from the screen, as delicate manipulations of sound design, framing, and photographic processes create a seductive undertow, constantly shifting and layering points of view. Haunting and deeply affecting, Piavoli's film inspires a renewed wonder toward the often-untapped power of its medium."-Sundance Film Festival. (89 mins.)
Filmography: Blue Planet (81).
Showtimes: 2/22, 1pm and 2/26, 8:15pm GU.

Neapolitan Heart

Paolo Santori
"To sing Neapolitan songs," explains Hoboken native Jimmy Roselli, "first of all you need heart. Then a brain, then a voice and-balls." From the suburbs of Naples to the Italian immigrant neighborhoods of Manhattan's Lower East Side come the vibrant personalities of Neapolitan music. Archival footage captures the likes of singers Enrico Caruso, Elvira Donnarumma, and Gilda Mignonette and from the Italian-American music scene, Jerry Vale and Rita Berta, whose songs were used in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Casino. Based on Arab laments and Spanish folk songs, the Neapolitan tradition can be heard today in the casinos of Atlantic City, in the streets of New York and Naples, and, of course, at weddings and family reunions. (94 mins.) Print courtesy of Paolo Santori.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/21, 9:15pm WH and 2/22, 4pm BW.

Respiro

Emanuele Crialese
Respiro is an evocative, subtle dramatization of the life of a particular family who live within an isolated fishing community on the island of Lampedusa, west of Sicily. Although the film concentrates on the trials and tribulations that beset Grazia (Valeria Golino), the mother of the family, Respiro is much more of a tapestry, stitching together vignettes of a society that seems almost completely removed from modern day existence. The stark beauty of the sun-drenched island is used to great effect as a backdrop for the characters' domestic disputes and miniature dramas and provides haunting images superbly shot by cinematographer Fabio Zamarion. A highly distinctive film that lingers long in the mind, Respiro won the Best Film prize in this year's Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Filmography: Once We Were Strangers (98).
Showtimes: 2/22, 6pm and 2/23, 7:30pm GU.

JAPAN

Doing Time

Sai Yoichi
Based on the real-life prison experience of cult manga author Hanawa Kazuichi, Korean-Japanese director Sai Yoichi has made a film that captures the humor of the experience rather than the violence and drama. Following the chapter structure of the original manga, it explores the daily routines and codes of prison life from the perspective of the cell Hanawa shares with four other "hardened criminal" types: meals, laundry, baths, exercise, cleaning, making tissue-box holders in the prison workshop. "For Hanawa (wonderfully played by Yamazaki Tsutomu, best known for Tampopo), the real epiphany is the period he spends in solitary confinement, his punishment for 'unauthorized communication' with his cell-mates-which means writing down their names and addresses. Sai films it in strong, clear images and doesn't impose his own 'style' on the material. If its elusive bittersweet qualities seem somehow familiar, that's because if Ozu Yasujiro had ever made a prison movie it would have felt like this."-Vancouver Film Festival. (93 mins.) Print courtesy of Xanadeux Co. Ltd.
Selected Filmography: Mosquito on the 10th Floor (83), Via Okinawa (89), All Under the Moon (93), Tokyo Deluxe (94), MARKS (95), Dog Race (98).
Showtimes: 2/15, 4:30pm and 2/18, 7pm GU.

Go

Isao Yukisada
As a North Korean teenager (a "zainichi") living in Japan, Sugihara feels hopelessly out of place, and answers the prejudice of his schoolmates and teachers with his fists, quickly earning a reputation as a champion fighter. But his own father, a former Olympic boxer, remains the one antagonist he cannot beat. Breathlessly shot (complete with a full arsenal of freeze-frames, slo-mo and color washes), and with a banging electronic soundtrack, Go is a visually stunning work. Balancing its kinetic energy, the story is a surprisingly emotive work that paints a realistic rather than over-the-top portrait of the anguish of adolescence and the difficulties of identity, be they national or personal. Last year's Japanese submission for the
Best Foreign Film Oscar, Go was nominated for 13 Japanese Academy Awards, winning 8, including Best Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Actor.
(122 mins.) Print courtesy of Toei.
Filmography: Sunflower (00), Luxurious Bone (01).
Showtimes: 2/19, 6:15pm BW and 2/24, 7:00pm WH.
Sponsored by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles.

MAURITANIA

Waiting For Happiness

Abderrahmane Sissako
Leaving Mauritania behind for a new life in Europe, 17-year-old Abdallah returns to Nouadhibou, a small seaside village on the Mauritanian coast, to bid farewell to his mother. Unable to speak his mother tongue, a stranger in his own country, the melancholy young man becomes a mute observer of village life. He finds himself drawn, against his will, into the various stories of his people: the village prostitute abandoned by her husband, the old man with his young orphan ward; a photographer taking portraits; a merchant selling veils; women singing and flirting; a Chinese immigrant's karaoke serenade of his sweetheart; a woman teaching traditional music and song to a young girl. Casting a gentle, unforgettable spell, Sissako's music-filled, impressionistic reflection on the themes of exile, travel, home, and displacement is one of the most visually striking films of the year. "A gem of a picture"-The New York Times. (96 mins.) Print courtesy of New Yorker Films.
Filmography: The Game (89), Sabriya (96),
Rostov-Luanda (97), Life On Earth (98).
Showtimes: 2/26, 6pm and 2/27, 8pm BW.

MEXICO

Atletico San Pancho

Gustavo Loza
"The game of soccer is all but dead in the small Mexican town of San Francisco del Monte, once a wellspring of famous footballers. But change is afoot! Despite the puritanical principal's ban on soccer balls in school and the lack of a field, uniforms or equipment, 9-year-old To-o and his buddies "Hormiga" and "Torta" decide to assemble a team. With a cow for a mascot, the aging school custodian, Don Pepe, for a coach and a roster of misfits, they somehow manage to scissor-kick their way to the national championships against the dreaded Dinamo from Mexico City. Along the way, a few lessons are learned about life, love, family and the fact that girls really can play the field. With a squad of great young actors,
a high-energy soundtrack and a thunderous "GOAL!!!" pronounced with each San Pancho score, this fun family film will have you rooting for the home team."-Joanne Parsont. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of Venevision.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/15, 1:30pm BW, 2/27,
12pm GU and 3/1 4:30pm GU.

Bedtime Fairy Tales for Crocodiles

Ignacio Ortíz Cruz
Chainsmoking Arcángel Juárez lives in the city and suffers from chronic insomnia. His wife Teresa, who must also cope with their autistic son, is exasperated and leaves him. Arcángel receives a phone message from his long-estranged brother that their father is dying, and he sets off to a remote town in the country to see the old man for the last time. When he arrives at the village, he is surprised to find out that both his father and his brother are long dead. Searching for his roots, he discovers that his family has been afflicted by a curse for several generations: his great grandfather, desperate to get his hands on family property, killed his own brother. Arcángel also discovers why he suffers from insomnia. The story of his family and ancestors goes back to 1860, and was influenced by key events in Mexican history such as the reign of Benito Juárez, the French occupation, the Reform War of 1857-1860, the reign of Archduke Maximilian, the Mexican Revolution and mass emigration to the United States. Arcángel begins to remember his childhood-his mother had run off with another man, and he himself had been thrown out by his father after a serious argument with his brother. Now knowing the secrets of his past, Arcángel tries to remedy the present. (100 mins.)
Filmography: The Man Who Doesn't Listen to Boleros (94), The Shore of the Earth (95).
Showtimes: 2/27, 9pm and 3/1, 9:30pm BW.

Dark Cities

Fernando Sariñana
Inspired by the faces and places in downtown Mexico City, Fernando Sariñana's film latest takes us to shops, motels, bars, Chinese cafes, streets, squares and houses, exposing the gritty underbelly of an ever-pulsing metropolis. Based on the novel "Chronicles of Dark Madrid" by Juan Madrid, Sariñana's Short Cuts-esque film chronicles 12 stories that ultimately connect on real and violent city streets. From down-on-their-luck hookers with a Pretty Woman complex to ruthless dirty cops, a lonely widow to thrill-seeking drug addicts, omnipresent street dwellers to sexually curious troubled teens, a self-searching photographer to a pedophile drugstore owner, or a delusional loner to the sympathetic bartender who witnesses and keeps track of the magic and mayhem, Dark Cities intertwined stories portray life as it is on any given Mexico City night. (113 mins.) Print courtesy of IMCINE.
Selected Filmography: Till Death (94), Gimme the Power (99), El segundo aire (00).
Showtimes: 2/15, 4:15pm and 2/16, 4:00pm BW.

Japon

Carlos Reygadas
Reygadas was runner up for the Camera d'Or (Best First Film) at Cannes for this haunting meditation on salvation, most likely a work that will carve out its own special place on most people's list of unique films. In the high country of Mexico, a man arrives in a small town intending to find peace before committing suicide. Instead he befriends an elderly woman, in the process of being cheated out of her home by her family, and her plight lends him a reason to stay alive. Reygadas' mysterious, almost biblical tale of love and redemption is a striking film, intimate on one level and epic on another. "The surroundings inspired everything.
I was looking for beauty all the time. People don't understand that beauty itself is the most powerful discourse of all. Someone once asked Picasso, 'Yours is a beautiful painting, but what is it about?' He said, 'When you see a beautiful flower, do you want to ask God what it's all about?' I would like to try and make the most beautiful film ever.
I suppose I won't succeed, but I'll try."-Carlos Reygadas. (129 mins.) Print courtesy of Vitagraph Films.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/22, 9pm and 2/28, 9:30pm BW.

NETHERLANDS

Minoes

Vincent Bal
Tibbe is a young, naive reporter for a local newspaper in Killendoorn, The Netherlands. He is in danger of losing his job because
he is simply too shy to get out and talk to people. His boss gives him one last chance, and just as desperation is setting in he meets the curious Miss Minoes. Minoes can speak to cats, her favorite food is raw fish, and she spends her time prowling round trees and roofs of Killendoorn. It's no wonder that Minoes can speak to cats because she is, in fact, a cat who has been magically transformed into a human. Minoes offers Tibbe a deal: if he lets her stay at his apartment and feeds her, she will keep him provided with all sorts of interesting news, via her own network of cat spies. But as Tibbe's prospects begin to look up, trouble is just around the corner and this fast-paced, prize-winning fairy tale will keep you purring. Last year's Dutch submission for the
Best Foreign Film Oscar. (92 mins.) Print courtesy of Bos Brothers Films.
Featured Filmography: Joli môme (97),
Man van Staal (99).
Showtimes: 2/22, 1pm and 2/23, 1pm BW.

NORWAY

Dragonflies

Marius Holst
Holst's tense psychological drama is about the past that never really goes away. Maria and Eddie, a seemingly unlikely couple, have left the city behind to start a bucolic new life in the remote countryside. One day, by chance, Eddie runs into his former best pal, an ex-con named Kullmann, at a gas station and invites him for dinner at their cozy, rundown farmhouse. The stage is set for a dramatic turn of events that
will threaten to tear apart everything that Maria and Eddie have worked for. It seems Kullman has come to stay, and as the tensions mount, a power struggle develops among the trio, complicated by secrets, obsessive jealousy, conflicted loyalties and debts come due. With a tension that recalls Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water, Holst ratchets up the pressure slowly and masterfully-visually rather than verbally-until things blow with devasting force. (110 mins.) Print courtesy of Norwegian Film Institute.
Filmography: Cross My Heart and Hope to Die (97).
Showtimes: 2/18, 7pm WH and 2/20, 8:45pm BW.

PALESTINE/MOROCCO

Divine Intervention

Elia Suleiman
Part parable, part experimental narrative, Suleiman utilizes irreverence, wit, mysticism and insight to craft an intense, hallucinogenic and extremely adept exploration of the dreams and nightmares of Palestinians and Israelis living in uncertain times. Subtitled, "A Chronicle of Love and Pain," Divine Intervention follows a Palestinian filmmaker living in Jerusalem (director Elia Suleiman) as he tends to his ailing father and girlfriend, a Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. Due to the unending conflict between Israel and Palestine, she isn't allowed into Israel and they meet at a deserted lot beside one of the notorious checkpoints. Their relationship and the absurd situations around them serve as metaphors for the lunacy of larger cultural problems, and the result is palpable, bottled personal and political rage. Yet the films acerbic, absurdist sense of humor (earning comparisons to Jacques Tati and Nanni Moretti), in a situation where death seems to lurk at every corner, and Suleiman's own directorial interventions, are what earned him the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. (92 mins.) Print courtesy of Avatar Films.
Selected Filmography: Chronicle of a Disappearance (97).
Showtime: 2/22, 8:30pm GU.

POLAND

Edi

Piotr Trzaskalski
This strange but compelling grunge fairy tale is a parable in the spirit of Eastern philosophy, promoting sacrifice and human goodness. Gentle Edi and wasted alcoholic Jurek work as scrap-metal pickers in a grimy urban area. They spend the money they make on booze. In the hovel they share at the edge of town, Edi's prized possession is a library of found classics that he keeps in an abandoned refrigerator. Edi's literary bent draws the attention of the fearsome "Brothers," two vulgar and ruthless men who run various illegal businesses. They demand that Edi tutor their 17-year-old sister "Princess," whom they try to keep under lock-and-key. Princess, however, is not interested in her studies. She is having an illicit relationship with Gypsy, an associate of her brothers. When Princess discovers that she is pregnant, she accuses Edi of rape, sparking a painful cycle of revenge and redemption. This year's Polish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (100 mins.) Print courtesy of Opus Film.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/17, 8:30pm BW and 2/20, 9:15pm GU.

The Supplement

Krysztof Zanussi
Half sequel and half companion piece to his earlier Life As A Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (PIFF 24), Supplement focuses on frustrated medical student Filip and his pragmatic girlfriend, Hanka. Torn between a materially rewarding career as a doctor and the monastic life of a priest, Filip agonizingly wonders if he has truly received his calling or if he's meant for the secular world. Standing by while Filip struggles to find the answer within himself, Hanka has her own inner struggle-can she bear to go through the motions of day-to-day life as
he keeps her at a distance, or does her love indeed have limits? Supplement is a vivid meditation on the limits of faith, the merits of steadfast love and one man's struggle
to decide between flesh, spirit or something in between. (101 mins.) Print courtesy of
Tor Film.
Selected Filmography: A Woman's Decision (78), Camoflague (79), The Contract (80), The Constant Factor (80), The Year of the Quiet Sun (84), Life As A Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (00).
Showtimes: 2/21, 9:30pm GU and 2/24, 6pm BW.

RUSSIA

House of Fools

Andrei Konchalovsky
Based on a true story, House of Fools unfolds in a mental hospital located on the border of the North Caucasian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Russia is at war with Chechnya and the military machine is rolling in the direction of an asylum housing a multicultural microcosm of psychiatric patients. As the bombs start to fall, the nurses flee, leaving the lunatics to the mercy of fate. But as chance would have it, the soldiers who turn up at the asylum turn out to be a polite bunch of Chechen irregulars. They sing beautiful folk songs, accompanied by accordion-playing inmate Jana. Jana, who is obsessed with Canadian pop star Bryan Adams, falls for a flirtatious soldier and believes that he will marry her. When Russian troops finally bring real war to the asylum, all Janna can do is play her accordion and pray for peace to return. Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or King of Hearts, House of Fools raises the question of whether true madness lies within or outside the asylum walls. This year's Russian submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (104 mins.) Print courtesy of Paramount Classics.
Selected Filmography: Uncle Vanya (70), Siberiade (79), Shy People (88), The Inner Circle (91), Lumière and Company (95).
Showtimes: 2/21, 7pm WH and 2/22, 3:15pm GU.

The Lover

Valery Todorovsky
"Watch over your wife while she's alive, but especially after she's dead," states the main character in this moving work about mourning and memory. Mitya, a university lecturer, finds his musician wife dead from a sudden heart attack. Overcome by grief, he then discovers a letter she had written to the lover with whom she had been having an affair for the past 15 years. Jealousy combines with grief as Mitya searches the lover out in a quest that threatens his sanity and destroys the chance of him building a new life with his teenage son. Focusing on the relationship between Mitya and the lover, Ivan, and the ways in which they have been defined by their parallel, interdependent relationships, Todorovsky fashions a work that is at once literary in its focus on the characters internal lives, but full of visual flair as it conveys a brooding world of uncontrollable obsession. (96 mins.) Print courtesy of Intercinema Agency.
Selected Filmography: Catafalque (90), Love (91), Moscow Nights (94), The Land of the Deaf (97).
Showtimes: 2/15, 9pm BW and 2/16, 7:30pm GU.

Russian Ark

Alexander Sokurov
Russian Ark is both a dazzling technical tour-de-force and a love letter to Russian culture. Unfolding in real time in a single, dreamlike uncut digital video take, it tracks a contemporary filmmaker (Sokurov) and a mercurial 19th-century French diplomat, the Marquis De Custine-our tour guides on a phantasmagorical, time-traveling journey through St. Petersburg's opulent Hermitage Museum. Swirling through the galleries of time we encounter its first resident, Catherine the Great, the family of Czar Nicholas II, current Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky and regular Russian art lovers. Requiring seven months of rehearsal, 1,000 costumed actors, the equivalent of 33 soundstages and a live orchestra performance, the exhilarating final film was shot in just the amount of time it takes to watch it. But beyond the seamless logistical achievement-Russian Ark creates a moving testimony to human resiliency and the survival of culture. Sampling history and some of the world's most exquisite art and artifacts, it is, like the Hermitage itself, a veritable Russian Ark. (96 mins.) Print courtesy of Wellspring.
Filmography: Save and Protect (89), The Second Circle (90), Stone (92), Whispering Pages (93), Mother and Son (96), Moloch (99).
Showtime: 2/23, 7:30pm WH.

The War

Alexei Balabanov
"Set in Chechnya, Russia, and England, Alexei Balabanov's film is essentially an adventure story-even, it has been suggested, a Western. Two English actors, John (Ian Kelly) and Margaret (Ingaborga Dapkunaite), are among a group of captives held by the guerrilla leader, Aslan Gugaev. Gugaev demands a ransom for Margaret's release and John is allowed back to England to raise the money. During the captivity, John meets a Russian computer operator, Ivan (Alexei Chadov), who is also released by Gugaev, and later seeks out his help for the return journey through Chechnya. Very much a Russian view of the conflict, told from Ivan's perspective, the film is involving in both its action and narrative. At the same time, it also touches on the attitudes of government, the social realities of Putin's Russia, the clan rivalries of the Chechen fighters, and the cruelties of fate. The nature and brutalisation of war is made apparent as the action develops, where no individual or faction can afford to trust the word of the other. In Ivan's key words, 'War is blood. To survive you must kill.' The film concludes with a blackly ironic verdict on human and political motivation."-Peter Hames. (120 mins.) Print courtesy of Intercinema Agency.
Filmography: Happy Days (91), The Castle (94), Brother (97), Of Freaks and Men (98), Brother 2 (00).
Showtimes: 2/18, 9:15pm and 2/20, 6pm BW.

SOUTH KOREA

Chihwaseon

Im Kwon-Taek
Im Kwon-Taek, South Korea's most famous director, brings us his finest masterpiece.
It is a fiery portrait of the renowned 19th-century painter "Ohwon" Jang Seung-Up, an artist who rose from modest roots to great heights. Ohwon's lowly caste, wild lifestyle and rough appetites placed him on the fringes of the stratified, moralistic Korean society. He was an unapologetic philanderer and worked in a haze of alcohol, but his creative prowess and devotion to his art were immense and he left a legacy that remains an inspiration and a treasure today. Ohwon's life expressed the tensions of his age-internal dissent in the Chosun Dynasty, the growing threat of Western imperialism and the rise of "Eastern Learning," which sought to overturn the caste system. Restless and beholden only to his art, Ohwon sought inspiration from wine, women and life-and in the process created timeless masterpieces. Choi Min-sik's portrayal of Ohwon captures the roiling turbulence of this great man's life. "As Ohwon looked to his art to transcend his own mortality, Im looks to this misfit's creative power to reveal truths about Korea's experience as a nation."-Toronto International Film Festival. Co-winner of the Best Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. (117 mins.) Print courtesy of Kino International.
Selected Filmography: The Deserted Widow (73), Gilsottum (85), Sopyonje (93), The Taebaek Mountains (94), Chunyang (00).
Showtime: 2/16, 4:45pm WH.

SPAIN

Carol's Journey

Imanol Uribe
Carol is a 12-year-old raised in New York by her American father and Spanish mother: In spring of 1938, at the height of the Civil War, Carol travels to her mother's home village while her father serves as a pilot in the International Brigades. Rejecting at first the strange, vaguely threatening world to which she's been brought, Carol gradually accept her new home on its own terms through the help of the local teacher, Maruja and local village boy Tomiche. Yet the war raging all over Spain will eventually make its way to this remote village and into Carol's own life. Uribe's film is a haunting tale of a young girl's bittersweet initiation into the evasions and duplicity that often characterize the world of adults. (104 mins.) Print courtesy of Sogecable.
Filmography: Bilbao Blues (86), Numbered Days (94), Bwana (99), Plenilune (00).
with
A Christmas Carol for the Homeless

Chumilla Carbajosa, Spain
Still believing in the magic of Christmas,
a homeless person asks Santa for a pair of sports shoes and the love of a beautiful woman who sings in the subways for change. (16 mins.)
Showtimes: 2/26, 5:30pm GU and 3/1, 4:30pm BW.

Mondays in the Sun

Fernando León de Aranoa
After losing their jobs at a shipyard in Vigo, in Northern Spain, a group of friends tries to cope with the emotional and spiritual consequences of unemployment. Evoking both the neorealist Italian comedies of the 1950s and the more recent social realist works of Ken Loach, director León sets the story of these men's lives against a grim post-industrial landscape, where the vivid cast of characters struggles collectively to maintain dignity in the face of overwhelming economic hardship. Javier Bardem solidifies his reputation as one of the great contemporary European actors in his portrayal of Santa, an indignant yet kind-hearted man raging against the broken promises of modern capitalist society. Winner of the Grand Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival and this year's Spanish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (115 mins.) Print courtesy of Lions Gate Films.
Filmography: Barrio (97), Familia (98).
with
Bamboleho

Luis Prieto, Spain
Miguel, a runaway squatting on a rooftop in Barcelona, finds his life spiraling out of control as he becomes mixed himself up with the criminal underworld. (14 mins.)
Showtimes: 2/23, 4:45pm and 2/28, 6:45pm WH.

Poniente

Chus Gutiérrez
"In recent years Spanish agriculture has experienced a remarkable boom; membership in the European economic community has opened up vast new markets, and now Spain has become the veritable 'vegetable garden' of Europe. Thanks to the help of cheap African labor, that is; the vast tomato plantations covering the southern parts of Spain depend on a constant supply of cheap immigrant labor in order to function. Poniente is a hard-hitting, deeply felt look at this new reality; Lucía leaves Madrid with her daughter after inheriting her estranged father's agricultural properties in the countryside. Yet as an outsider she still doesn't know the hierarchies and codes that define the business and personal relationships between Spaniards and the immigrants.
A threatened labor action by the newly organized workers leads to a terrible showdown between the workers and owners, a confrontation that will force Lucía to decide on which side she truly stands. Crisply narrated and featuring a wonderful performance by Cuca Escribano as Lucía, Poniente is an important work whose observations have a resonance far beyond Spain."-Film Society of Lincoln Center.
(94 mins.) Print courtesy of Olmo Films and ICAA.
Filmography: Sublet (91), Oral Sex (93), Gypsy Soul (95).
with
Never is Sunday

Carlos Owners, Spain
Berta, upon her daughter's marriage, decides it's time to change her life too.
(19 mins.)
Showtimes: 2/28, 4pm and 3/1, 9:15pm BW.

Octavia

Basilio Martín Patiño
Rodrigo returns to his childhood home of Salamanca for a conference after a four-decade absence. After a career as a guerrilla in Latin America, secret agent in the Eastern Bloc and official for an international agency, it is time to assess the realities of a new political age. While Rodrigo may have attempted to put his past life behind him, the memory of his now deceased, wayward mother and his old-world family returns to haunt him. In an old city dominated by the weight of tradition, Rodrigo discovers a daughter whose existence he had never known, as well as a grand-daughter, the enigmantic and beautiful Octavia. A rebellious teenager, Octavia dismisses her grandfather's old politics, possessing her own sense of what freedom means. Patiño's film is a poetic, assured contemplation on the pain of returning somewhere you never really left and the accompanying ironies of a man obsessed with history who cannot face his own. (130 mins.) Print courtesy of Golem and ICAA.
Filmography: Nine Letters to Berta (65), Love and Other Solitudes (69), Songs for After the War (71), Lost Paradise (85), Madrid (87).
Showtimes: 2/25, 9pm BW and 2/26, 9:00pm WH.

SWEDEN

Lilja 4-ever

Lukas Moodysson
One of the most powerful and moving films of the year, Lilja 4-ever is simply unforgettable. Lilja is 16, and lives in a dismal suburb in a nameless town somewhere in Russia. Abandoned by her mother, who leaves for the U.S. with her boyfriiend with the promise of sending for her later, Lilja is left in the care of a ruthless aunt. She quickly moves into the apartment and sends Lilja to live in a squalid tenement. With no money, or job, her only comfort comes from Volodya, a good-hearted younger boy who she befriends. Hope arrives when Lilya meets and falls in love with Andrei, who asks her to move to Sweden with him and begin a new life. Full of trust and anticipation she boards the plane, unaware that what lies ahead will be worse that what she left behind. "It was meant to be a film about God's benevolence, but reality reared it's head and it became something else. What it became, in fact, is a truly harrowing film about adults' neglect and abuse of young people."-Lukas Moodysson. This year's Swedish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (109 mins.) Print courtesy of Newmarket Films.
Filmography: Show Me Love (98), Together (00).
Showtimes: 2/15, 6:00pm and 2/16, 7:30pm WH.

The Reunion

Mans Hemgren, Hannes Holm
"Both funny and sad, The Reunion is an observational gem from filmmaking duo Mans Herngren and Hannes Holm (Adam & Eve, Shit Happens), this time focusing
on a class get-together and its aftermath. By constantly moving between the present and 20 years ago, with characters walking into the latter scenes and commenting on events, the two writer-directors show with brutal clarity that one's school days were far worse than remembered. Magnus (Bjorn Kjellman) thinks he has everything-a wife (Cecilia Frode), a kid, a well-paid job, a nice house, an expensive car-but he lacks a spark in his life. When he's invited to a reunion party, he initially has no intention of going but then wonders if Hillevi (Inday Ba), his big love at age 15, will show up. At the party, all the old role-playing quickly falls back into place: The bullies are still bullies, and so on. When Hillevi does show up, Magnus' life is changed forever. Kjellman, the male lead, is excellent."-Screen International. (100 mins.) Print courtesy Swedish Film Institute.
Filmography: One in a Million (95), Adam & Eva (97), Snow (98), Shit Happens (01).
Showtimes: 2/17, 6pm and 2/18, 8:30pm BW; 2/19, 9pm WH.

THAILAND

Blissfully Yours

Apichatpong Weerasethaku
What at first seems to be a wry, neorealist film about Thailand's economic gloom and disenfranchisement enters the realm of the poetic when its characters-an illegal Burmese immigrant and the two Thai women who care for him-escape into the lush Thai countryside for an afternoon of picnics and sensual lovemaking. But despite their pastoral surroundings, an inescapable air of sadness hangs over these three, turning this sun-dappled interlude into a bittersweet affair. Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, this occasionally enigmatic, but always riveting film quietly tests the limits of feature filmmaking, combining beautiful photography, his actors' minimalist styles and a penchant for exploring unspoken emotions. The result is a delicately paced, deeply felt film exploring the connections, both emotional and physical, that bind three people together one languid summer afternoon. (125 mins.) Print courtesy of
Kick the Machine.
Filmography: Mysterious Object At Noon (00).
Showtimes: 2/21, 9:30pm and 2/24, 8:30pm BW.

Monrak Transistor

Pen-ek Ratanaruang
In this sweet and funny comedy, a musical of sorts, Pan is a singer who can't help falling into one misfortune after another, often of his own making. Separated (by fate and bad choices) from his true love, Sadaw, Pan must navigate a circuitous route back to her, achieving a measure of manhood in the process. Pan goes AWOL from the army to pursue a singing career, commits manslaughter while fending off his gay manager, and eventually winds up begging on the streets of Bangkok. Meanwhile the ever-loyal Sadaw gives up on him and allows herself to be seduced by a smooth-talking salesman, her own education in the ways of love, loss, disappointment and forgiveness as she debates her own future with the ever-present assistance of her domineering father. Ratanaruang's social-moral fable provides a realistic portrait of modern Thai culture where simple values wrestle with western modernity. (128 mins.)
Filmography: Fun Bar Karaoke (97), 6ixtynin9 (99).
Showtimes: 2/16, 1pm WH and 2/23, 8:30pm BW.

Turkey

Hejar

Handan Ipekçi
Winner of the major film prizes in Turkey, this (initally) banned film is a moving, wonderfully performed story of an orphaned Kurdish child taken in by a retired judge in Istanbul. Rifat, 75, is getting ready to go and live in a retirement home. One day the police, looking for anti government Kurds, raid the house next door. Five-year-old Hejar, who has lost her family in a military raid, has been left at her uncle's house by her villagers. She escapes arrest by hiding and is discovered, injured and in shock, by Sakine, Rifat's housekeeper. Rifat, intolerant of anything Kurdish, wants to hand her over to the police, but relents when he discovers that Sakine, who had been his housekeeper for a decade and whom he trusts implicitly, is Kurdish as well. Hejar is a stubborn girl and she refuses any relationship with Rifat. Rifat cannot accept that she doesn't speak Turkish. They quarrel. But, in time, mutual loathing gives way to tolerance, understanding and then to fondness. Then a neighbor, jealous of the child's presence, informs the police... This year's Turkish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (120 mins.) Print courtesy of Menemsha Entertainment.
Filmography: Dad is in the Army (95).
Showtimes: 2/15, 4pm and 2/19, 6pm BW.

UNITED STATES

All the Real Girls

David Gordon Green
"Green and his trusted collaborators boldly plumb fertile emotional territory: the instinctive, ineffable intoxication of first love and the risk of getting too close. Twenty-two-year-old Paul lives with his beloved mom and works as a grease monkey in a broken down North Carolina mill town. Charming, smart, unambitious, he has a devoted circle of rowdy friends and a reputation as a callous heartbreaker. When he meets his best friend's sister Noel, fresh from boarding school graduation, the two fall into a perfect, real, terrifying love. They share innermost secrets and inhabit a sweet, dreamy bubble of mutual admiration and understanding. But soon the perfection is too weighty, the bubble too delicate. Eschewing love story clichés, All the Real Girls is excruciatingly authentic and tender while intelligently refusing to explain away complex human emotion."-Sundance Film Festival. (105 mins.) Print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Filmography: George Washington (00).
Showtimes: 2/28, 6:30pm and 3/1, 4:30pm BW.

The Dancer Upstairs

John Malkovich
Based on Nicholas Shakespeare's adaptation of his own fact-based novel, The Dancer Upstairs, marks actor John Malkovich's feature directorial debut. As an unspecified Latin American nation nears collapse under a highly organized terrorist movement, idealistic policeman Agustin Rejas (Javier Bardem) faces the greatest challenge of his career-to catch the mysterious guerilla leader Ezequiel, a character loosely based on the real-life Peruvian Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman. The brains behind the bloody revolution that threatens to bring down the government and entire country, Ezequiel is as elusive as Rejas' superiors are corrupt-an irony not lost on Rejas, who left his career as an attorney to try to find "a more honorable way of practicing the law." In the midst of the chaos, Rejas finds respite in Yolanda (Laura Morante), his daughter's soulfully beautiful ballet teacher. By turns an absorbing political thriller and an intriguing character study of the conflicted Rejas, The Dancer Upstairs was filmed in Spain, Ecuador and Colombia, creating both behind and in front of the camera a deliberately multi-national landscape. In Spanish and English. (117 mins.) Print courtesy of Fox Searchlight Films.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/28, 9:15pm and 3/1, 7pm GU.

Manito

Eric Eason
In the 1980s the Washington Heights section of New York City was known as
the crack-cocaine capital of the world. Today it is one of the largest and most vibrant Spanish-speaking communities in the country. While most of the drug dealers have gone, their violent legacy still casts a shadow over the neighborhood and its residents. Eason's edgy portrayal of this neighborhood tells the story of two brothers and their struggle to transcend their fate in a world that won't let them. After being betrayed by his own father, Junior, an ex-convict, struggles to get his life back on track as a painting contractor. His younger brother, Manny, is the pride and joy of the family and has a scholarship to attend college. On the night of his graduation party, Manny makes a fateful decision that jeopardizes his future and brings old family wounds to the surface as Junior tries to handle the situation in the only way he knows how. Using cinema vérité style, Manito paints an unflinching portrait of a community rich with passion but crippled by a cycle of violence. Emerging Filmmaker Award, Tribeca Film Festival; Best Feature, SXSW. (78 mins.) Print courtesy of Film Movement.
Filmography: Alone Together (98).
Showtimes: 2/25, 8:45pm WH and 2/27, 6pm BW.

New Suit

Francoise Velle
In the tradition of The Player and Swimming with Sharks comes this biting comedy
about Hollywood and the sycophants and schemers that fuel its increasingly vacuous ideas. Kevin Taylor is a young screenwriter with a dream, but his unfortunate reality is fetching coffee (and hookers) for a washed-up producer and listening to his blowhard colleagues mouth off about scripts they've never read. One day he jokingly mentions a "hot" script that doesn't exist; his colleagues, unwilling to admit ignorance, pretend they know all about it. Soon half of Hollywood wants the script, while the other half pretends that they've already gotten, read, loved, optioned and financed it. Deftly satirizing Hollywood's inane ability to embrace only the most (literally) hollow ideas, New Suit slyly exposes the truth: It's not the package but the packaging that counts. Audience Prize Hamptons Film Festival. (94 mins.) Print courtesy of Trillion Entertainment.
First Feature.
Showtime: 2/21, 8pm BW.

Nine Good Teeth

Alex Halpern
Nine Good Teeth unfolds through the stories of director Alex Halpern's 102-year-old Brooklyn-born, Italian-American grandmother, Mary Mirabito ('Nana'). In an intimate and often hilarious portrait, the fiercely independent and outspoken Mary dispenses homespun wisdom in a series
of unflinching conversations with her persistent and equally outspoken grandson. Mobsters, affairs, an encounter with Jack Kerouac, even a possible murder fill the
air with speculation. As she divulges family secrets and rivalries, Mary confronts her own mortality with candor and courage while remaining the rock on which the rest of her family relies. Inspired by Martin Scorsese's 1974 classic family memoir, Italian American, Nine Good Teeth tries to make sense of where we come from and where we go. (80 mins.) Print courtesy
Alex Halpern.
First Feature.
Showtime: 2/25, 6:45 BW and 3/1, 2pm WH.

OT: Our Town

Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Thornton Wilder goes to Compton in this inspired look at the survival of the arts in the heart of the ghetto. With no budget, no stage and a ton of ambition, two teachers and 24 students venture forth to execute the first theatre production attempted at Manuel Dominguez High School in over 20 years and demonstrate that there's more to their school than riots and basketball. But is "Our Town," a 65-year-old play set in a small New England town, really relevant to the hard-edged world these teens inhabit? OT: Our Town closely follows these students through their empowering and conflict-ridden rehearsals and into their homes and hearts. Despite the play's age and cultural distance, its simple themes of daily life, love, marriage and death are universal after all. (90 mins.) Print courtesy of Think Film.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/15, 6:45pm and 2/16, 1:30pm BW.

Raising Victor Vargas

Peter Sollett
New York's Lower East side swelters in
the summer heat. 16-year-old Victor (Victor Rasuk), who fancies himself to be quite the man, his lippy sister Vicki and shy little brother Nino are going stir-crazy in their cramped tenement apartment, all under grandma's watchful eye. To ease the heat, Victor frequents the local public swimming pool, as do "Juicy" Judy (Judy Marte) and her friends. Cool and self-possessed, Judy is a beautiful mystery fancied by every boy in the neighborhood. Victor, in need of bolstering his macho image after being busted by his friends for an embarrassing liaison with a girl in his building, has his eye on redeptive conquest. Maybe he's even in love. He hears that Judy just ditched her boyfriend and fixes an introduction through her brother. But Judy's looking for something more than a boyfriend. Something she needs but can't name. Sparkling with authenticity, Sollet's debut film is a funny, emotional tribute to love and family. (88 mins.) Print courtesy of IDP.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/28, 7pm BW and 3/1, 4:00pm WH.

Spellbound

Jeff Blitz
Few films on the film festival circuit this year have charmed audiences as much as Jeff Blitz's debut documentary, which gives a knuckle-whitening, nerve-addling, thoroughly entertaining and slightly unsettling account of eight U.S. teenagers from disparate ethnic, class and regional backgrounds who travel to Washington, D.C. to compete in the nationally televised Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. Blitz followed his subjects for over a year as they prepared and competed to reach the finals, and through their fascinating, sympathetically told stories, these ordinary kids offer a unique window into the soul of America. What it finds there is made up of equal parts yearning for success and a desperate fear of failure. A tour-de-force of editing, Spellbound so effectively conveys the mood of nail-biting suspense surrounding the competition that, by the time the film ends, the viewer's nerves are nearly as frayed as the contestants. (97 mins.) Print courtesy
of Thinkfilm.
First Feature.
Showtimes: 2/22, 7pm and 2/23, 1pm BW.

Stevie

Steve James
Steve James' new film takes a deeply personal turn as he returns to the town where 10 years earlier he was a "big brother" to a troubled young boy named Stevie. As he resumes his connection with this emotionally and socially challenged man after so many years, we get a glimpse into the difficulties Stevie faced as a product of his environment. Abandoned by his mother at a young age, he bounced from foster home to foster home, abused and neglected. He soon found his way into trouble with the law, which complicated his strained relationships with what little family he had. Filmed over a number of years, this compassionate, emotionally powerful film gives us the opportunity to witness firsthand what can happen when the system fails a person. If only someone had really cared for Stevie, things might have turned out differently. Director James wrestles with his own issues of having abandoned Stevie years before when he left the area and lost touch with him. We are left with a sense of sadness, frustration, and-hopefully-a greater understanding of our responsibility for one another. (144 mins.) Print courtesy
of Lions Gate Films.
Filmography: Hoop Dreams (94), Prefontaine (97).
Showtime: 2/19, 7:15pm GU.

URUGUAY

The Last Train

Diego Arsuaga
The Society of Railway Friends, largely composed by elderly members, is trying to prevent a Hollywood studio from buying "Number 33," a vintage steam locomotive. The most radical members "the Professor, the Secretary and Pepe" decide to abduct the engine so as to attract the media and the public's attention. Joined by Guito, a child who admires Pepe, the trio drive the locomotive in a journey along the abandoned tracks of Uruguay's inland regions. The authorities try to stop the rebel engine, edged on by the affected businessman. A symbolic protest over global takeover in a country where trains stopped running years ago,
The Last Train is also about the inner journey of its main characters, deftly incarnated by the three best Argentinean actors of their generation: Héctor Alterio, Federico Luppi and Pepe Soriano. The film won the awards for Best Latin American film at the 2002 Montreal Film Festival; and for Best New Director, Best Actor (Ensemble Prize) as well as the Audience award at the Valladolid Film Festival. This year's Uruguayan submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.
(90 mins.) Print courtesy of Tornasol Films.
Filmography: Otario (98).
Showtimes: 2/27, 6:30pm WH and 3/1, 2pm GU.

VENEZUELA

A House With a View of the Sea

Alberto Arvelo
The year is 1948. In the beautiful Andean foothills, Tómas, a poor farmer, and his
12-year-old son, Santiago, grieve for the boy's recently deceased mother and contemplate their future life together. Tómas, a violinist and a gentle soul, gives his son the only picture of his mother, a youthful portrait taken on the ocean shore. His son is intrigued with this mystical body of water, which for both of them becomes a a symbol of hope and beauty in a world of almost feudal poverty. Tómas' indecision of whether to be a good coward, or defend his honor and prove himself before his son, brings him to commit a desperate act of violence that puts him in jail, leaving Santiago to tend the farm by himself. Inspired by Icelandic sagas, and wrought with themes similar to Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, minimalist writer-director Alberto Arvelo has created a magnificent tale of courage with majestic cinematography, a powerful score and fine performances. Best Director, Miami Hispanic Film Festival. (93 mins.) Print courtesy of Imx Communications.
Filmography: One Life and Two Trails (97).
Showtimes: 2/23, 7:30pm BW and 2/26, 6:30pm WH.