Edel's riveting thriller chronicles the rise and fall of the left-wing militant group the Red Army Faction (RAF), which carried out an international terrorist campaign in the 1970s opposing American imperialism and the West German establishment.  Based on Stefan Aust's definitive book about the group, Edel's film mixes tense action sequences with character studies, deftly exploring the contradictory mentality of a croup that murdered over 30 public figures to thwart what they perceived as a new fascist state.  An exceptional cast of young German actors, along with screen legend Bruno Ganz (portraying the head of the German police force charged with bringing the gang to justice), brings to life the chilling story of a political faction formed by radicalized children of the Nazi generation.  This year's German submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Selected Filmography: Zoo (81), Body of Evidence (93), The Little Vampire (00).

Dörrie draws from Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's classic Tokyo Story for this emotional tale of love and renewal.  Middle-aged couple Trudi and Rudi lead a routine life in a sleepy German town.  When Trudi learns that Rudi is terminally ill, she will not tell him, but she wants him to see his children one last time.  They go to Berlin to visit two of their grown children, who have little time for or interest in them, but their plans to travel to Tokyo to see their other child are unexpectedly disrupted when Trudi herself dies.  Left with Trudi's suitcase, which contains mementos of hobbies he discouraged her from pursuing, Rudi pushes on to Tokyo, where he finds no real sympathy with his son, but discovers a new understanding of his wife, and of himself, as the cherry trees blossom.

Selected Filmography: Straight Through the Heart (83), Men (85), Nobody Loves Me (94), Am I Beautiful? (98), Enlightenment Guaranteed (00).

Sponsored by French American International School

One of the most infamous environmental battles in the last decade has centered on the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, which runs from Southern Oregon through Norther California to the Pacific.  In 2002, an estimated seventy thousand salmon died from water management decisions that did not favor fish runs.  In Upstream Battle Kempas tells the remarkable story of the battle over the use of the river, in which the stakeholders in this ecosystem--farmers who rely on the water for irrigation; tribes of the Hoopa, Yurok, Karuk and Klamath whose cultures are based on salmon fishing; and commercial fishermen who catch the salmon at sea--struggle against corporate interests that appear as impenetrable as the dams themselves.  Kempas manages to humanize those on all sides, including the corporate employees whose own livelihoods are in flux, offering a valuable lesson on a complex and ongoing situation.  In English.

Filmography: To Be a Nation Again (99), The Loch Long Monster (01).