Films & Schedules - N

A shocking crime brings together a frightened girl and a battle-hardened cop in this drama from writer and director Ryoichi Kimizuka.

When two children are found murdered, an 18-year-old high school student becomes the prime suspect and the case quickly becomes a media sensation. As both the press and an angry public descend on the home of the accused, the family finds itself at the mercy of strangers. A veteran police detective is assigned to look after Saori, the 15-year-old sister of the accused. While he initially regards the assignment as frivolous, it isn’t long before he sees what kind of toll the attention has taken on the family. When the detective feels Saori is no longer safe in Tokyo, he takes her to the country to escape, but they soon discover that no place is safe from the prying eyes of the tabloid press and the people who read it.

Filmography: The Suspect: Muroi Shinji (05).

This year’s Japanese submission for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

118 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature.

Before dying, Nora devises a plan to make José, her ex-husband, take care of her funeral during the height of Passover celebration. But despite her meticulousness, she misses something—a mysterious photograph left under the bed which leads to unexpected outcomes.

A divorcée plots to reunite family and friends on the eve of Passover in this affecting, understated comedy set in Mexico City’s close-knit Jewish community. José learns that Nora, the woman he was married to for 30 years and then divorced, has committed suicide. Forced to wait five days for the funeral to allow his son to be present and the rabbi to officiate, José in the meantime discovers that Nora had prepared all of the plans and food for a final Passover Seder. But Nora also left something else: a curious photograph that may unlock the mystery of her life and death for the family she left behind. As curmudgeonly José reluctantly prepares for the funeral, a colorful collection of characters assemble in Nora’s apartment, including disapproving rabbis, a devoted housekeeper, a half-blind aunt, and the couple’s grown son. Winner of Audience Awards at festivals in Morelia, Miami, and Moscow, Chenillo’s warm and witty tale speaks to audiences everywhere.

First Feature Film.

Sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico.

92 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, Latino.

Urszula Antoniak's Nothing Personal is the intensely personal and engrossing tale of a ferociously independent young woman's involvement with a kind widower in a remote part of Ireland.

Antoniak’s Nothing Personal is an intense, engrossing tale centering on a ferociously independent young Dutch woman’s relationship with a kindly widower in rural Ireland. A vagabond by choice, Anne (Lotte Verbeek) walks the country enjoying her solitude in the austerely beautiful landscape of Connemara. Martin (Stephen Rea) is a man in his prime, living a solitary life in a remote house on a beautiful island. She is radical and uncompromising. He is wise and ironic. What connects them is the exile they both see as freedom. He proposes she work for him in exchange for food. She agrees on one condition: that there will be no personal contact between them. Who will be the first one to break the vow?

First Feature Film.

Antoniak won the award for Best First Film, and Verbeek the Silver Leopard for Best Actress, at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Sponsored by Higgins.

85 Minutes