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THE LOVE PARADE
DIRECTOR: ERNST LUBITSCH
US 1929

MARCH 10 FRI 7PM
Guild Theatre

“The LOVE PARADE is really a gem of screwball comedy, long before that genre was ‘officially’ inaugurated in 1932. For if screwball asserts that the road to romance is paved with cynicism, of which women are the chief bearers, then this delightful musical outdistances all takers before the race begins. Maurice Chevalier marries Jeanette MacDonald, ruler of a feminist queendom, and discovers his true position when the wedding ceremony pronounces them “Wife and Man.” The witty plot satirizes contemporary mores (the kingdom of Sylvania, down to the smallest schoolchild, is obsessed with the fact that their queen is unmarried) as well as film/operetta conventions (MacDonald sings the opening aria in her underwear). Lubitsch revels in the artificiality of the musical form rather than trying to disguise it; at the same time, he manages to keep the fluidity of his silent films by using such devices as off-screen speech or conversations that take place, unheard, behind a window.”—Pacific Film Archive.(110 mins.)

THE SMILING LIEUTENANT
DIRECTOR: ERNST LUBITSCH
US 1931

MAR 11 SAT 7 PM
Guild Theatre

Characteristically, Lubitsch’s approach to the genre was a unique blend of the developing tradition of American musical comedy and the conventions of Viennese operetta remembered from his youth. Lubitsch’s early sound films retained the musical integration (along with the far-fetched plot complications) of operetta, but added clever patter songs and the distinctly un-operatic delivery of music-hall performers like Maurice Chevalier. In this film, Chevalier is a Viennese lieutenant who is forced to marry a homely princess, despite his love for a beer-garden violinist (Claudette Colbert).”—UCLA Film Archive.(88 mins.)

ONE HOUR WITH YOU
DIRECTOR: ERNST LUBITSCH
US 1932

MARCH 12 SUN 7PM
Guild Theatre

“By 1931, the romantic sophistication of the ‘Lubitsch touch’ was a recognized and marketable commodity. ONE HOUR WITH YOU, a musical remake of Lubitsch’s THE MARRIAGE CIRCLE (1924) and a Best Picture Oscar nominee in 1932, stars Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald as the happily married-shockingly so-Parisian couple whose inevitable infidelities seem forced upon them by the rapacious flirtations of Genevieve Tobin. Utilizing Chevalier’s frequent asides to the audience (“What would you do?”), ONE HOUR WITH YOU is more direct in its leering innuendo than any other Lubitsch comedy of the thirties. With a procession of double entendres, hidden meanings, mistaken assumptions, and off-camera assignations, the film is a virtual catalog of the stylistic devices used by Lubitsch throughout his career. The final scene, with its relay of looks and pantomimed promptings, is one of the most delightful in the Lubitsch oeuvre.”—UCLA Film Archive.(84 mins.)

THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES: THE RISE OF THE POLITICS OF FEAR
DIRECTOR: ADAM CURTIS
BRITAIN 2004

MAR 17 FRI 7PM
MAR 18 SAT 7PM
MAR 19 SUN 7PM
Guild Theatre

The thesis of BBC producer Adam Curtis’ three-part program is that fear has come to dominate politics, not only in America but also throughout the world, and that much of that fear is manufactured. Curtis’ traces the rise of today’s nightmare vision of a hidden, organized network of terror and how much of that threat has been distorted and exaggerated by politicians in their effort to maintain power. Part 1 starts in the 1940s and looks at the life of Egyptian educator Say Quit, whose ideas would later directly inspire those who flew the planes on 9/11, and political philosopher Leo Strauss, whose work strongly influenced the Neoconservative movement that now dominates Washington. Part 2 examines how the radical fundamentalist Islamist movement, later named al-Qaida, was originally a failure and posits that it was Neo conservatives’ reaction to the attacks of 9/11 that transformed it into a grand revolutionary force. Part 3 assesses to what degree the threat from a hidden and organized terrorist network is real, explores how the illusion/enhancement of its threat has been created, who benefits from it, and the odd ironies in the unintended consequences that now grip us all. Whether the nightmares are real or imagined, or whether you find Curtis’ ultimate conclusions lucid or unconvincing, his program is “a myth-shattering series. . .necessary for every citizen to see. . .The most important documentary of the year.”—David Thomson. “. . .would warrant an Oscar if the Academy gave one for explaining current events in a provocative, enlightening and (yes) entertaining way.”—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. (155 mins.) (155 mins.)

MAR 17 FRI 8PM
MAR 18 SAT 8PM
5TH AVENUE CINEMAS: PSU CAMPUS, 510 SW HALL

Tonight, students enrolled at the Northwest Film Center School of Film share their recent work with others interested in the burgeoning Portland independent film scene. Many of the filmmakers will be present talk about their work and the dicuss the myriad of opportunities and resources in the community.(80 mins.)

The Russo Japanese War (1904-1905) was the first major conflict of the modern age. From the onset it received huge, largely inaccurate, press coverage when it became apparent that a new Asian power might overturn a European army considered the strongest in the world. During the preceding decade Russia has completed the 8,000 mile long Trans-Siberian Railway. Needing a naval base to support her Pacific fleet, China was pressured to lease strategic Port Arthur on the tip of the Manchurian peninsula. Russia’s expansionist activities ran counter to Japan’s emerging sense of regional power and destiny, recently stirred by a victory over China and co-equal recognition in the spoils of the (1900-1901) Boxer Rebellion. A surprise attack carried out by Japanese torpedo boats started a long and bloody siege of the port, which culminated, after nearly a quarter of a million casualties, in a costly recognition of Japan as a world power. As with his earlier films chronicling British follies in the Crimean War and Admiral Dewey’s defeat of the Spanish fleet during the Spanish American War, Vaughan’s meticulous analysis of far ranging events provides a military historian’s delight, connecting obscure dots between “forgotten” events of a century ago that still inform our geo-politics and, as best as possible, offering some understanding of the intricate mysteries of war.(118 mins.)

HIGHWAY COURTESANS
DIRECTOR: MYSTELLE BRABBEE
US/INDIA 2005

MAR 23 THUR 7PM
Guild Theatre

For centuries in the rural town of Bachara, India, the eldest daughter of every family has had one occupation. What started as a custom of young girls becoming palace courtesans today translates into sanctioned prostitution to support their families and the local economy. But this ancient tradition may not be sustainable in the contemporary world as concepts of freedom, gender and self-determination enter the community. Brabbee follows the coming-of-age of Guddi Chauhan, an independently minded young girl struggling between traditional and contemporary values. The strength and hope that she and the other young women have despite all the obstacles provides an inspirational message. (68 mins)
Presented by Mercy Corps in celebration of 25 years of partnership with the Portland community. Join Mercy Corps staff members in a post-film discussion of the issues addressed in this thought provoking film.

2006 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
DIRECTORS: VARIOUS

MAR 24 FRI 7PM
MAR 25 SAT 7PM
MAR 26 SUN 7PM
Guild Theatre

THE MUSHROOM CLUB
US 2005
STEVEN OKAZAKI In this examination of the terrible personal toll that followed the bombing of Hiroshima, ten people whose lives were marked by the explosion are profiled. Okazaki won the Best Short Documentary Oscar for DAYS OF WAITING (1991) and was nominated for UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1986). (35 mins.)

GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA
US 2005
KIMBERLEE ACQUARO, STACY SHERMAN The genocide that devastated Rwanda in 1994 also left in its wake a population that was suddenly seventy percent female. Five courageous women struggle to rebuild their lives in a society still reeling from the conflict. (30 mins.)

A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN
US 2005
CORINNE MARRINAN, ERIC SIMONSON An exploration of the lasting impact of radio broadcasting legend Norman Corwin’s, whose landmark piece, “On a Note of Triumph,” aired on the evening of VE Day in 1945. Eric Simonson was nominated in 2000 for ON TIPTOE: GENTLE STEPS TO FREEDOM. (40 mins.)

THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BIG BANG CLUB
US 2005
DAN KRAUSS After shooting an award-winning photograph
that captured the full horror of starvation in the Sudan, South African photojournalist Kevin Carter found himself tormented the ethics of his work. (27 mins.)

TROOP 1500: GIRL SCOUTS BEYOND BARS
DIRECTOR: ELLEN SPIRO & KAREN BERNSTEIN
US 2004

Once a month the girls of Troop 1500 gather together-not to sell cookies, but to visit their incarcerated mothers at Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas. Spiro and Bernstein offer a moving look at a controversial Girl Scout program that brings the girls and their mothers together in less than ideal circumstances. Ninety percent of female inmates are single parents and their daughters are six times more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system themselves. As TROOP 1500 explores this courageous attempt to break the cycle and rebuild relationships and as these at-risk girls interview their mothers, a roller coaster of realities and emotions surface.(68 mins.)

Presented in celebration of National Women’s History Month, tonight’s screening is sponsored by Women Make Movies.

FREE ADMISSION

preceeded by
THE YOUNG FILMMAKERS PROGRAM PRESENTS:
THE CIRCLE IS ROUND: GIRL SCOUTS BEYOND BARS
US 2006

Approximately 20,000 children in the State of Oregon have an incarcerated parent. The Girl Scout Councils of Columbia River and Santiam are also helping to break this cycle through their Girl Scouts Behind Bars program. Twice a month girls join their mothers at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. Created by a team of girls ages 8-15 who worked with NWFC filmmaker-in-residence Sue Arbuthnot for three months, their personal, girls-eye-view offers touching stories of loss, reunion and hope. Thanks to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Donald H. Frank Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation and Girl Scouts Beyond Bars Advisory Committee for their support. Filmmakers in attendance.(30 mins.)

Presented by the Young Filmmaker's Program of the Northwest Film Center.

FREE ADMISSION

MAR 31 FRI 7PM
APR 1 SAT 7PM
APR 2 SUN 4:30 & 7PM
Whitsell Auditorium

Rosen’s film documents the downtown New York pop art scene in the 1960s, as seen through the eyes of legendary Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Henry Geldzahler. A legend in his own mind, but also in the hearts of the artists whose works he championed, Geldzahler was instrumental in raising consciousness about the vibrancy of contemporary American art. His landmark exhibition “New York Painting and Sculpture 1940-1970” shaped not only the Met’s future, but the art world’s as well. Featuring Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, Larry Poons, David Hockney, Mark Di Suvero and many others, Rosen’s film offers a provocative journey through a brash era. “Lively, intelligent. . . both richly complex and immediately accessible.”—VARIETY. “WONDERFUL. . .an exuberant fix for art junkies. . .It’s impossible to emerge unmoved by the pungency of the scene.”–TIME OUT NEW YORK.(80 mins.)

Explore with us the enigma of the carrot. Lil’ Longbaugh Film Festival and the Northwest Film Center present a retrospective of Estonian animation for KIDS! Obscure? Yes. Funny? You bet! These short films, made for children, span pre and post communist decades in a little country big in animated talent. Rare footage from the ’60 provides a historical backdrop for social comment and freedom of expression told through puppets and clay. Parents and children have a unique opportunity to find something fascinating in this window into celluloid history. (80 mins.)
Proceeds from this screening go to support the NW Film Center’s Young Filmmaker Program.
FULL PROGRAM INFORMATION ON THE LONGBAUGH FILM FESTIVAL,
APRIL 7-9, VISIT WWW.LONGBAUGH.COM

If you have a new work you’d like to share, send an email with the title, running time (15 minute max.), format and brief description to lena@nwfilm.org and we’ll put you in the program. It is a first-come, first-screened evening.
Admission is free and you never know what you might see!

THE BEST OF OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL
DIRECTORS: VARIOUS

APR 14 FRI 7PM
APR 15 SAT 7PM
Whitsell Auditorium

The Ottawa Animation Festival is one of the world’s premiere showcases for exciting new work. This year’s Touring Program showcases not only award-winning short films, but excerpts from TV series and commercials, music videos, internet shorts and more, all of it by leading talents in the field. Included in the program are: 2005 OIAF SIGNAL FILM, Will Krause (US); THE CURSE OF THE VOODO CHILD, Steven Woloshen (Canada);ICHTHYS, Marek Skrobecki (Poland; HITCHCOCK, Reuben Sutherland, (UK); GRAU, Robert Seidel, Germany; CHESTNUTS ICELOLLY, JJ Villard (US); CITY PARADISE, Gaëlle Denis (UK); OVERTIME, Oury Atlan, Thibault Berland and Damien Ferrié (France); FISH HEADS FUGE AND OTHER TALES FOR TWLIGHT, Lauren Indovina & Lindsey Mayer-Beug (US); WALKAMPF, Andreas Hykade (Germany); MORIR DE AMOR, Gil Alkabetz (Germany); AT THE QUINTE HOTEL, Bruce Alcock (Canada). (85 mins.)
Complete film descriptions are available at www.ottawa.awn.com

Each year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestows special awards upon films produced by students in university film programs. Although some of the filmmakers have just barely finished school, many of their works rival in talent and production quality anything that Hollywood has to offer. The films selected in tonight’s round of judging—from West coast schools from Los Angeles to Seattle—will join finalists from the rest of the country for the final selection and awards at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Hollywood. Maybe an opportunity to discover the next Spike Lee, Trey Parker or Robert Zemekis—all former Student Academy Award winners—before they hit it big.
FREE ADMISSION

Portland filmmaker Nick Peterson has received critical acclaim and attention for his nearly silent shorts, including ONE, TWO and THREE. In this, his first feature length film, not only do his characters speak, they sing. Shot and edited on 16mm, the film is a freeform narrative that follows Natalie (Nora Ryan) as she attempts to sort out her ideas of love, sex and communication within her relationships with her boyfriend Matt (Eric Schopmeyer, of local documentary group Archipelago fame) and her best friend Christian (Nico Izambard). Inspired by the saucy musical comedies of Ernst Lubitsch made in the early years of sound cinema (screening at the Film Center MARCH 10-12), the music springs up in the course of life. “yellow” features original music and lyrics written by Schopmeyer, which was recorded live on set with an ensemble of local area musicians.(93 mins.)

NORTHWEST TRACKING
BUSTING OUT
DIRECTOR: LAUREL SPELLMAN SMITH, FRANCINE STRICKWERDA
US 2004

In challenging and witty fashion, these Seattle filmmakers are “busting out” to talk about “Busting Out.” Their film takes a bittersweet, disturbing and funny look at breasts, not just what we think of them but why we think of them. Coming from the emotion perspective of Francine Strickwerda, who lost her mother to breast cancer as a child, we look at many of the social constructs around breasts and how they affect women. Breast cancer, breast enlargement, men’s obsessions about breast size, women’s reflections on puberty, the history of breasts and body image in art—it’s all examined in refreshing candor. “(60 mins.) The filmmakers will introduce their film. With short: MENOPAUSE SONG (1996). Vancouver animator Gail Noonan’s witty meditation on body image and aging. (80 mins.)

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NW FILM CENTER’S YOUNG FILMMAKERS PROGRAM PRESENTS:
CHANGE AGENTS:
THE OREGON SMALL SCHOOLS INITIATIVE STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
US 2005

MAY 9 TUE 7 PM
Guild Theatre

Hard evidence shows that smaller high schools are more effective high schools, providing a richer academic environment and more positive social experience for our young people. Through its Oregon Small Schools Initiative, Employers For Education Excellence (E3) is leading the small schools movement in our state, helping large high schools to convert into smaller ones, and brand new small high schools to get their start. With E3 and the Young Filmmakers Program as collaborators, teams of students who attend small schools from Medford to Hillsboro, and Pendleton to Newberg, have created a series of video shorts which share how change is playing itself out in a variety of classrooms and hallways, and offer commentary on what lies ahead. Some of the student filmmakers will be in attendance for Q&A. (75 mins.)

Victor Erice’s hauntingly beautiful film delves into the dark side of a child’s imagination. Ana, a lonely eight-year-old fascinated with death, lives in a small Castillian town in 1940 with her beekeeper father, mother and older sister Isabel. Always preoccupied, the family shows the youngest in the family little regard. One day the visiting cinema truck arrives in town to screen FRANKENSTEIN and Ana, who watches with her sister, is deeply moved by the film, especially by the friendship the monster forms with the little girl in the film. Thus begins Ana’s odyssey, one filled with the traumas and fears of childhood, to find the monster in the countryside and the comfort she has never known. “[An] extraordinary film. Impossible to forget! The story that emerges from Erice’s lovely, lovingly considered images is at once lucid and enigmatic, poised between adult longing and childlike eagerness, sorrowful knowledge and startled innocence.”—A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES.(95 mins.)

ZIZEK!
DIRECTOR: ASTRA TAYLOR

MAY 5 FRI 7PM
MAY 6 SAT 7PM
MAY 7 SUN 7PM
Guild Theatre

Zizek! is a fascinating portrait of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, one of the most important—and outrageous—cultural theorists today. Called by some “the Elvis of cultural theory,” Zizek is the author of works on subjects as wide-ranging as Alfred Hitchcock, Lenin, 9/11, Christianity, Freud and Marxist-Lacanian psychoanalysis. In his public appearances the hyperactive, idiosyncratic Zizek may gesticulate wildly, but he speaks convincingly and passionately to his absorbed audiences about his favorite themes: ideology, religion, love and cinema. Incredibly, he was a candidate for, and nearly won, the Presidency of his native Slovenia in the first democratic elections after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1990. “[Slovenia has a] reputation disproportionately large for its size due to the work of Slavoj Zizek.”—THE NEW YORKER.(71 mins.)

METROPOLIS
DIRECTOR: FRITZ LANG
GERMANY 1926

MAY 11 THUR 7PM
Whitsell Auditorium

Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, METROPOLIS is set in a now not so far away 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and a rich techno-oligarchy who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. Much of the overwhelming impact of Lang’s precedent setting futuristic vision was due to the magnificent design, intended at the time to beat Hollywood at its own game and presaging such sci-fi landmarks as 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY and BLADE RUNNER. The political allegory, with 21st century industrialism, a robot-inspired worker mutiny and the reconciliation between labor and capital, still inspires heated controversy, but the bold theatricality of the production remains as stirring as ever. “A glorious symphony of movement...the rhythmic progression of...hitherto unimagined mechanical shapes.” — Luis Buñuel. (124 mins.)

Presented in conjunction with “From Anxiety to Ecstasy: Themes in German Expressionist Prints,” on view MARCH 18-June 11 at the Portland Art Museum.
Marnie Stark, curator of the exhibition, will be introducing the film.

A Canadian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, FAR SIDE OF THE MOON is as impossible to describe as it is wondrous to behold. Lepage, creator and director of Cirque du Soleil’s hit show “Kà,” has created a visually dazzling, playfully surreal and wryly comedic look at the human quest for meaning. A French-Canadian Woody Allen, Lepage himself stars as Phillippe, a hapless doctoral student from Quebec moonlighting as a telemarketer. His mother has recently died and he has failed several times to defend his thesis—a theory that narcissism fuels man’s search for meaning in the cosmos. Phillippe is in an existential funk that fuels a strange rivalry with his more successful gay younger brother André (also played by Lepage). Featuring a fantastic score renowned Cirque du Soleil composer Benoit Jutras and breathtaking special effects, Lepage’s clever, space-travel inspired epic offers a whimsical and irreverently hilarious look at the effects of gravity on the human soul. In French, English and Russian with English subtitles.(105 mins.)

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MIDNIGHT MOVIES: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE MAINSTREAM
DIRECTOR: STUART SAMUELS
CANADA 2005

Can it be a midnight movie if it starts at 8? The answer is revealed in this lively, funny and at times raunchy look at the cult film phenomenon that started in the 1970s. Based on Samuels’ book, MIDNIGHT MOVIES features many of the preeminent filmmakers of the shock genre talking about their small, independent films that broke all kinds of box-office records—but only when screened at midnight. Interviews with David Lynch (ERASERHEAD), Perry Henzell (THE HARDER THEY COME), George Romero (NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), John Waters (PINK FLAMINGOS), Richard O’Brien (THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW) and Alejandro Jodorowsky (EL TOPO) reveal the impulses that guided these filmmakers to create the works that would make their names and blaze the independent cinema trail.(86 mins.)

REGULAR OR SUPER: VIEWS ON MIES VAN DER ROHE
DIRECTOR: JOSEPH HILLEL, PATRICK SEMERS
US 2004

Hiller and Semers provide a fascinating introduction to one of the 20th century’s most influential architects. In 1967, at the end of a five-decade career during which he designed more than 70 buildings (The Seagram Building in New York, The Lake Shore apartments in Chicago, Toronto’s Dominion Building), van der Rohe designed a small gas station near Montreal. His final, simple structure serves as the point of departure for this examination of his entire body of work. Van der Rohe (1886-1969) began his career in Germany and taught at the famed Bauhaus School of Art and Design in the 1930s. After the school was shut down by the Nazis, he emigrated to Chicago, where he began to refine a distinctive, modernist architectural style using glass and steel to create structures that cleverly integrated surrounding public space. REGULAR OR SUPER visits many of his classic buildings and includes impressions from such noted architects as Rem Koolhaas, Stanley Tigerman, Elizabeth Diller and Phyllis Lambert.(80 mins.)

CHINA BLUE
DIRECTOR: MICHA X. PELED
US 2005

Sorry, due to shipping difficulties, screenings of this film have been cancelled.

We often notice “Made in China” on the labels on the clothes we wear, but under what circumstances are our cheap jeans and T-shirts actually made? CHINA BLUE takes a look behind the closed denim factory gates and gives the anonymous workers a face. Like young Jasmine, who endlessly snips away loose threads from completed jeans destined for the Western market. She is one of 130 million Chinese farmer’s children who have exchanged their rural life for a job in a factory: the world’s largest migration wave and labor force. Jasmine earns six cents an hour, often works seven days a week, and does not get any extra money for overtime. She shares a room with twelve other girls, and the bland food she is dished up every day is automatically deducted from her meager wages. Should she question the benefits of globalization, Jasmine need only look to the scornful factory bosses’ sign on the wall—”If you don’t work hard today, you’ll look hard for work tomorrow.” (87 mins.)

2005 BRITISH AD AWARDS
DIRECTORS: VARIOUS
FRI MAY 19 - 7 PM
SAT MAY 20 - 7 PM
SUN MAY 21 - 7 PM
Whitsell Auditorium

Take a break from the rigors of feature films. Commercials possess not only the power of suggestion, but at their best have the power to entertain and inform, provoke reflection, motivate action and reveal consummate filmmaking skill. The commercials in the annual BRITISH AD AWARDS achieve the above by combining essential doses of uniquely British humor and visual creativity, oftentimes with an edge that rarely appears in politically correct American advertising. Drawn from over 1,000 entries, this survey showcases award-winning works that don’t just sell, but spark your imagination. (90 mins.)

THE GRACE LEE PROJECT
DIRECTOR: GRACE LEE
US 2005

MAY 19 FRI 7PM
MAY 20 SAT 7PM
MAY 21 SUN 7PM
Guild Theatre

When Korean American filmmaker Grace Lee was growing up in Missouri, she was the only Grace Lee she knew. Once she left the Midwest however, everyone she met seemed to know “another Grace Lee.” But why did they assume that all Grace Lees were reserved, dutiful, piano-playing overachievers? Wondering if she was the only one not living up to her Grace Lee-ness, Lee set out on a trek to find other Grace Lees. The result is a witty, insightful and moving exploration of identity and female stereotypes, revealing that one deceptively simple name can cover a range of personalities from newscasters and violinists to an ex-Black Panther activist. “An ironic, cosmic redefinition of genealogy as chaos theory.”—VILLAGE VOICE. “Ridiculously Entertaining!”—NEW YORK MAGAZINE. (68 mins.)

“The latest triumph from Jia Zhangke is about people who aren’t sure where they belong in the new, globalized world order. The story focuses on a young dancer and her security-guard boyfriend who work at a Beijing theme park, a weird cross between Las Vegas and the Epcot Center that offers scaled-down versions of famous landmarks—the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, even the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Rather than dwell on the kitsch, Jia casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves, friendships, and desperate dreams of the provincial workers at World Park. They’ve come to the capital to get ahead in the big glamorous world but end up offering tourists surreal simulacra of the real thing. Sly, poetic, and pulsing with life, this funny, touching work confirms, yet again, that Jia is one of the new millennium’s most inventive cinematic talents.”—New York Film Festival. Heralded by The Village Voice as “The world’s greatest living filmmaker under forty’.(143 mins.)

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Marcel Camus’ spectacular updating of the Orpheus legend, based on a play by Brazilian poet Vinitius de Moraes, is set among poor blacks in Rio de Janeiro during the orgiastic days of carnival. Orpheus is a streetcar conductor, his Eurydice a country girl who has come to the city for carnival while fleeing a menacing suitor whom she eventually comes to recognize as death. Conceived of as one long ballet with dialogue, in the space of twenty-four hours, the young couple relive the tragic myth. A precursor of Brazilian new wave films of the 1960s, the cast of non-professionals, vibrant colors, and delirious dance, costumes and music fashion a poetic fusion of naturalism and fantasy, classicism and voodoo. Winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.(105 mins.)

Meet Portland visual artist Vladimir, a truly singular individual working in the medium of Viewmasters. Or as she calls them, "Vladmasters." Having made history by winning the PDX Invitational two years running, Vladimir will show ACTEON AT HOME, which recently played at this year's Northwest Film & Video Festival. (60 mins.)
More information on the flicker: film club for teens can be found here.