Films & Schedules - Tuesday, February 19, 2013

80 Million is set in the autumn of 1981, 10 days before the proclamation of martial law in Poland. Three members of the anti-Communist union movement in Wroclaw miraculously manage to withdraw 80 million zlotys (circa $2 million US then) from the organization’s bank account, just before it is blocked by the authorities. With Security Service agents on their trail, a tense cat-and-mouse game that involves wily clergy, black market money changes, and committed Solidarity activists unfolds with inspirational drama and surprising twists and turns. Less a political film than a heist-thriller and dark comedy, this entertaining film is this...

80 Million is set in the autumn of 1981, 10 days before the proclamation of martial law in Poland. Three members of the anti-Communist union movement in Wroclaw miraculously manage to withdraw 80 million zlotys (circa $2 million US then) from the organization’s bank account, just before it is blocked by the authorities. With Security Service agents on their trail, a tense cat-and-mouse game that involves wily clergy, black market money changes, and committed Solidarity activists unfolds with inspirational drama and surprising twists and turns. Less a political film than a heist-thriller and dark comedy, this entertaining film is this year’s Polish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. (102 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Suspended (87), Dismissed From Life (92), The Little Moscow (08)

Sponsored by the Polish Library Association and the Polish Festival Nonprofit Organization, Portland.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Comedy.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival and a New York Film Festival selection, Esparza’s lyrical film captures the reality of the life of a migrant worker who struggles on both sides of the border. Pedro returns home to a small mountain village in Guerrero after years of working in the US. His daughters feel more distant than he imagined, and his wife Teresa is delighted that he’s back but troubled by their circumstances. With the money he has earned, he can create a better life for his family and maybe even start...

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival and a New York Film Festival selection, Esparza’s lyrical film captures the reality of the life of a migrant worker who struggles on both sides of the border. Pedro returns home to a small mountain village in Guerrero after years of working in the US. His daughters feel more distant than he imagined, and his wife Teresa is delighted that he’s back but troubled by their circumstances. With the money he has earned, he can create a better life for his family and maybe even start the band with his cousins he has dreamed about for years. But work back home remains scarce and the temptation of heading back north of the border remains as strong as ever. (110 mins.)

First Feature.

Sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico in Portland.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Spanish Language.

Adapted from the novel by Vasili Bykov, Loznitsa’s film is a sobering meditation on the complicated moral decisions faced by both soldiers and citizens during wartime. Set in Nazi-occupied Belarus, the story begins with the hanging of three villagers for conspiring against their German oppressors. Later, Sushenya—a man spared by the Germans—is visited by two resistance fighters who intend to execute him for presumed collaboration with the Nazis. But their plan is interrupted by enemy fire and all three men become unwilling companions on an evasive trek through the forest. Through flashbacks, Loznitsa closely examines how each of the men...

Adapted from the novel by Vasili Bykov, Loznitsa’s film is a sobering meditation on the complicated moral decisions faced by both soldiers and citizens during wartime. Set in Nazi-occupied Belarus, the story begins with the hanging of three villagers for conspiring against their German oppressors. Later, Sushenya—a man spared by the Germans—is visited by two resistance fighters who intend to execute him for presumed collaboration with the Nazis. But their plan is interrupted by enemy fire and all three men become unwilling companions on an evasive trek through the forest. Through flashbacks, Loznitsa closely examines how each of the men reached this point in the chaos of war and their different responses. “An intense, slow-burning, and haunting drama [...] shrouded in the fog of war, the fog of fear, and the fathomless fog of European history.”—The Guardian (127 mins.)

Selected Filmography: My Joy (10)

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, History, Literature.

Thor Heyerdahl’s intrepid 1947 journey across the Pacific on a primitive raft, made famous by his own book and documentary, comes alive in this spirited, visually dazzling epic. Ethnographer Heyerdahl (who couldn’t swim and had never sailed!), along with a motley crew, constructs a hemp and balsa wood raft inspired by the pre-Columbian Incas as a means of proving his theory that the Polynesian Islands were settled by South Americans crossing the 4,000-mile Pacific. What follows is the Peru-to-Polynesia excursion, which co-directors Rønning and Sandberg—employing a crew of hundreds and technological magic—fill with high-seas adventure and nail-biting suspense, set against...

Thor Heyerdahl’s intrepid 1947 journey across the Pacific on a primitive raft, made famous by his own book and documentary, comes alive in this spirited, visually dazzling epic. Ethnographer Heyerdahl (who couldn’t swim and had never sailed!), along with a motley crew, constructs a hemp and balsa wood raft inspired by the pre-Columbian Incas as a means of proving his theory that the Polynesian Islands were settled by South Americans crossing the 4,000-mile Pacific. What follows is the Peru-to-Polynesia excursion, which co-directors Rønning and Sandberg—employing a crew of hundreds and technological magic—fill with high-seas adventure and nail-biting suspense, set against majestic cinematography and the vastness of the ocean. (118 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Bandidas (06), Max Manus: Man of War (08)

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

Sponsored by the Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, History, Literature.

A strange mechanical device lands on a desolate world and uses the planet to undergo a startling transformation. (5 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

A strange mechanical device lands on a desolate world and uses the planet to undergo a startling transformation. (5 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

In a war-torn fishing village in Somalia, a boy is faced with falling into the pirate life or rising above to choose the path of an honest fishing man. (18 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

In a war-torn fishing village in Somalia, a boy is faced with falling into the pirate life or rising above to choose the path of an honest fishing man. (18 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

No more boring films! Everything you need to know about the godfather of conceptual art. Narrated by Tom Waits. (6 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

No more boring films! Everything you need to know about the godfather of conceptual art. Narrated by Tom Waits. (6 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Since the 1970s, scientists have been conducting experiments with bizarre amusement park rides to study their effects on the human brain. (7 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Since the 1970s, scientists have been conducting experiments with bizarre amusement park rides to study their effects on the human brain. (7 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Fatine has ventured far from the village to meet her older lover. When a small boy catches her, all she wants to do is return home. (16 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Fatine has ventured far from the village to meet her older lover. When a small boy catches her, all she wants to do is return home. (16 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Once we called the noble, profound, and mysterious existence “The Great.” We have moved with time; our thoughts and consciousness have changed. And yet, what makes us still call it “The Great”? (7 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Once we called the noble, profound, and mysterious existence “The Great.” We have moved with time; our thoughts and consciousness have changed. And yet, what makes us still call it “The Great”? (7 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

After many years of marriage, Walter and Madge have grown apart: he lives on the floor and she lives on the ceiling. (10 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

After many years of marriage, Walter and Madge have grown apart: he lives on the floor and she lives on the ceiling. (10 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Novelist Tony faces the most difficult obstacle yet to publishing his magnum opus: his publishers. (11 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Novelist Tony faces the most difficult obstacle yet to publishing his magnum opus: his publishers. (11 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Cyprus, 1974. When a young Turkish-Cypriot conscript soldier comes face-to-face with a Greek-Cypriot family in hiding, he confronts the brutal reality of war and his role in it. (17 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Cyprus, 1974. When a young Turkish-Cypriot conscript soldier comes face-to-face with a Greek-Cypriot family in hiding, he confronts the brutal reality of war and his role in it. (17 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS III: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Sponsored by Red Giant and Lamar Transit Advertising.

97 Minutes    

Interests: Short Cuts.

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HEAD OVER HEELS

DIRECTOR: Timothy Reckart - (United States)

After many years of marriage, Walter and Madge have grown apart: he lives on the floor and she lives on the ceiling. (10 mins.)

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THE CURSE

DIRECTOR: Fyzal Boulifa - (Great Britain/Morocco)

Fatine has ventured far from the village to meet her older lover. When a small boy catches her, all she wants to do is return home. (16 mins.)

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THE CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT

DIRECTOR: Till Nowak - (Germany)

Since the 1970s, scientists have been conducting experiments with bizarre amusement park rides to study their effects on the human brain. (7 mins.)

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF JOHN BALDESSARI

DIRECTOR: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman - (United States)

No more boring films! Everything you need to know about the godfather of conceptual art. Narrated by Tom Waits. (6 mins.)

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ABIOGENESIS

DIRECTOR: Richard Mans - (New Zealand)

A strange mechanical device lands on a desolate world and uses the planet to undergo a startling transformation. (5 mins.)

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ONE WRONG WORD

DIRECTOR: Nicole Volavka - (Great Britain/United States)

Novelist Tony faces the most difficult obstacle yet to publishing his magnum opus: his publishers. (11 mins.)

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ASAD

DIRECTOR: Bryan Buckley - (South Africa/United States)

In a war-torn fishing village in Somalia, a boy is faced with falling into the pirate life or rising above to choose the path of an honest fishing man. (18 mins.)

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THE GREAT RABBIT

DIRECTOR: Atsushi Wada - (France/Japan)

Once we called the noble, profound, and mysterious existence “The Great.” We have moved with time; our thoughts and consciousness have changed. And yet, what makes us still call it “The Great”? (7 mins.)

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THE PALACE

DIRECTOR: Anthony Maras - (Cyprus/Australia)

Cyprus, 1974. When a young Turkish-Cypriot conscript soldier comes face-to-face with a Greek-Cypriot family in hiding, he confronts the brutal reality of war and his role in it. (17 mins.)

During King Gwang-hae’s reign in 17th century Korea, conspiracies abound. Driven by paranoia, Gwang-hae (Lee Byung-hun) orders his councilor to find him a body double. Soon after finding the perfect lookalike in the form of Ha-sun, a simple jester and mimic, the king is poisoned and Ha-sun is forced to take the stage. The ensuing events form the dramatic, and often comedic, heart of Masquerade, a riff on the classic Prince and the Pauper story. Instead of Gwang-hae’s rigid policies and demeanor, the new king has charisma and rules on far more personal and humanitarian grounds, thus risking discovery—not to...

During King Gwang-hae’s reign in 17th century Korea, conspiracies abound. Driven by paranoia, Gwang-hae (Lee Byung-hun) orders his councilor to find him a body double. Soon after finding the perfect lookalike in the form of Ha-sun, a simple jester and mimic, the king is poisoned and Ha-sun is forced to take the stage. The ensuing events form the dramatic, and often comedic, heart of Masquerade, a riff on the classic Prince and the Pauper story. Instead of Gwang-hae’s rigid policies and demeanor, the new king has charisma and rules on far more personal and humanitarian grounds, thus risking discovery—not to mention social and military upheaval. It’s clear that goodness does not automatically serve the country’s stability. Though spiced with humor, Masquerade provides a thoughtful meditation on the compromises faced by those who, willingly or not, take the fate of a nation into their hands. (131 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Mapado: Island of Fortunes (05), Late Blossom (11)

Sponsored by the Oregon Korea Foundation.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian, Comedy.

Two ostensibly ordinary middle-aged couples, Marie and Vitek and Dita and Ondra, are linked by more than just a lifelong friendship, a shared house in a small town, and same-aged adolescent children: they are linked by love. Both men, Ondra and Vitek, who are work colleagues, sincerely love their wives, but they each harbor a secret yearning for the other’s wife. When the two of them are offered a job together—restoring the electrical grid on a sparsely inhabited Caribbean island—they leap at the chance to enjoy a little tropical sunshine while launching the kind of cunning plan people in Czech...

Two ostensibly ordinary middle-aged couples, Marie and Vitek and Dita and Ondra, are linked by more than just a lifelong friendship, a shared house in a small town, and same-aged adolescent children: they are linked by love. Both men, Ondra and Vitek, who are work colleagues, sincerely love their wives, but they each harbor a secret yearning for the other’s wife. When the two of them are offered a job together—restoring the electrical grid on a sparsely inhabited Caribbean island—they leap at the chance to enjoy a little tropical sunshine while launching the kind of cunning plan people in Czech sex comedies tend to launch. What ensues is a sunny romp with a couple of (not too) serious questions in the back of its mind. (80 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Cosy Dens (99), Divided We Fall (00), Up and Down (04), Beauty in Trouble (06), Kawasaki’s Rose (09)

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, Comedy.

“Paradise on earth? Through writer and narrator Werner Herzog’s lens, that is what Bakhtia, a village on the river Yenisei in Russia’s far north might seem like in this breathtaking, rich, and frequently funny documentary. He and first-time director Vasyukov capture the local people—nearly always in companionship with their dogs—making their own tools, trapping sable, felling trees to build boats, fishing, harvesting food, and holding ceremonies for the turning of the seasons. Sharing their perspectives on greed, war, and mortality, as Herzog notes: They live off the land and are self-reliant, truly free. … No rules, no taxes, no government,...

“Paradise on earth? Through writer and narrator Werner Herzog’s lens, that is what Bakhtia, a village on the river Yenisei in Russia’s far north might seem like in this breathtaking, rich, and frequently funny documentary. He and first-time director Vasyukov capture the local people—nearly always in companionship with their dogs—making their own tools, trapping sable, felling trees to build boats, fishing, harvesting food, and holding ceremonies for the turning of the seasons. Sharing their perspectives on greed, war, and mortality, as Herzog notes: They live off the land and are self-reliant, truly free. … No rules, no taxes, no government, no laws, no bureaucracy, no phones, no radio, equipped only with their individual values and standard of conduct.”—Telluride Film Festival (90 mins.)

Selected Documentary Filmography: Land of Silence and Darkness (71), La Soufrière (77), Lessons of Darkness (92), Grizzly Man (05), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (10)

Sponsored by Zeitgeist Northwest.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: German Language, Documentary.

Writer/director Chkonia brings a woman’s eye to this satiric tragicomedy, set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, that tells the story of 10 desperate housewives and their fierce rivalry to win a beauty contest—one open only to mothers with three or more children. Competing in five categories pigeonholing women, including “Best Cook” and “Super Mom,” the grand prize is a coveted apartment and $25,000. But dreams soon vanish as realization dawns that the competition is a scam and all they are getting are media hounds, chauvinist pigs, and their own domestic nightmares. This heartfelt story, filled with equal measures of...

Writer/director Chkonia brings a woman’s eye to this satiric tragicomedy, set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, that tells the story of 10 desperate housewives and their fierce rivalry to win a beauty contest—one open only to mothers with three or more children. Competing in five categories pigeonholing women, including “Best Cook” and “Super Mom,” the grand prize is a coveted apartment and $25,000. But dreams soon vanish as realization dawns that the competition is a scam and all they are getting are media hounds, chauvinist pigs, and their own domestic nightmares. This heartfelt story, filled with equal measures of humor and humanism, is this year’s Georgian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and offers a multi-faceted look at contemporary Georgia. (94 mins.)

First Feature.

Sponsored by OregonLive.com.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Comedy.

The best way to escape from your pursuers without leaving any traces behind you is to walk backwards over your own footprints. This is what French artist and author François Augiéras (1925–1971) believed as he painted every inch of the walls of a military bunker in the desert and let it sink into the sand so that no one would find it until the 21st century. But who is Augiéras? A legionary, painter, writer, gunman, saint, thief, devil, or a mix of all this? Catalan filmmaker Lacuesta and one of Spain’s foremost living artists, Miquel Barceló, guide us through the...

The best way to escape from your pursuers without leaving any traces behind you is to walk backwards over your own footprints. This is what French artist and author François Augiéras (1925–1971) believed as he painted every inch of the walls of a military bunker in the desert and let it sink into the sand so that no one would find it until the 21st century. But who is Augiéras? A legionary, painter, writer, gunman, saint, thief, devil, or a mix of all this? Catalan filmmaker Lacuesta and one of Spain’s foremost living artists, Miquel Barceló, guide us through the Mali desert in search of a fresco painted by Augiéras in this gorgeous film that won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. (86 mins.)

Selected Filmography: The Legend of Time (06), The Condemned (09)

In French and Bombarian with English subtitles.

Co-sponsored and organized by PRAGDA with support from the Embassy of Spain, Washington; American Airlines; and the Secretary of State for Culture-Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, French Language, History.

Song Fang’s remarkable directorial debut, in which she travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family (many of whom play themselves), gracefully expounds on several poignant topics: how an adult child’s relationship with her parents changes as they grow older and how to negotiate one’s place as a single woman in a world of married couples. Song, who many will remember for her wonderful performance as Juliette Binoche’s nanny and aspiring filmmaker in Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon (PIFF 2008), perfectly captures the rhythms of brief sojourns home, trips filled with reunions (both joyful and...

Song Fang’s remarkable directorial debut, in which she travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family (many of whom play themselves), gracefully expounds on several poignant topics: how an adult child’s relationship with her parents changes as they grow older and how to negotiate one’s place as a single woman in a world of married couples. Song, who many will remember for her wonderful performance as Juliette Binoche’s nanny and aspiring filmmaker in Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon (PIFF 2008), perfectly captures the rhythms of brief sojourns home, trips filled with reunions (both joyful and heart-wrenching), reminiscences, and moments of feeling painfully out of place. (91 mins.)

First Feature.

Winner of the Best First Feature Prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Asian.