Films & Schedules - C

Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and this year’s Italian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Caesar Must Die deftly melds narrative and documentary in a powerful drama-within-a-drama. In Rome’s Rebibbia prison, the prisoners prepare to stage Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and in exploring the text find a tale of fraternity, power, and betrayal that parallels their own lives and stories. Seamlessly moving in and out of the text as they wrestle with notions of necessity and the boundaries of order, drama comes alive on multiple, and timeless, levels. “This latest masterpiece from Italy’s famed...

Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and this year’s Italian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Caesar Must Die deftly melds narrative and documentary in a powerful drama-within-a-drama. In Rome’s Rebibbia prison, the prisoners prepare to stage Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and in exploring the text find a tale of fraternity, power, and betrayal that parallels their own lives and stories. Seamlessly moving in and out of the text as they wrestle with notions of necessity and the boundaries of order, drama comes alive on multiple, and timeless, levels. “This latest masterpiece from Italy’s famed Taviani brothers not only serves as a deeply human document but a caustic portrait of our own imprisoned societies, reminding us that a life without art truly is a prison.”—AFI Fest (76 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Allonsanfan (74), Padre Padrone (77), The Night of Shooting Stars (82), Fiorile (93)

Sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco and the Italian Film Commission, Los Angeles.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Documentary.

Welcome to the surreal and wild world of Carmina, a crass 58-year-old bar owner in Seville. When the insurance company refuses to pay up following a series of robberies, Carmina (director León’s real-life mother) has to find an alternative way of getting the money back to support her family. While she waits in her kitchen for her plan to develop, the chain-smoking Carmina reflects on her life, deeds, and miracles and feeds the goat that lives with her. A box office phenomenon in Spain, León’s charming and wild film won the Special Jury Prize, Audience Award, and Best Actress Award...

Welcome to the surreal and wild world of Carmina, a crass 58-year-old bar owner in Seville. When the insurance company refuses to pay up following a series of robberies, Carmina (director León’s real-life mother) has to find an alternative way of getting the money back to support her family. While she waits in her kitchen for her plan to develop, the chain-smoking Carmina reflects on her life, deeds, and miracles and feeds the goat that lives with her. A box office phenomenon in Spain, León’s charming and wild film won the Special Jury Prize, Audience Award, and Best Actress Award at the Málaga Film Festival. (70 mins.)

First Feature.

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, Spanish Language, Comedy.

An aging fisherman develops an intimate relationship with a lobster as he struggles to find closure with his lost wife. (14 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS II: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

An aging fisherman develops an intimate relationship with a lobster as he struggles to find closure with his lost wife. (14 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS II: 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.

Eating chicken takes on new meaning for four-year-old Zoe as she observes her first slaughter. (4 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Eating chicken takes on new meaning for four-year-old Zoe as she observes her first slaughter. (4 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Staunch loner Roberto, owner of a small hardware store in Buenos Aires, is shaken out of his solitary daily routine of collecting absurd newspaper clippings and visiting his parents’ grave when Chinese immigrant Jun literally falls into his life out of the back of a cab. Through a series of events that go against Roberto’s better judgment, the out-of-work Jun moves in with him, which proves a nightmare for Roberto as he makes increasingly desperate (and also touching and hilarious) attempts to get rid of his new roommate. Borensztein’s warm, endearing film offers a heartfelt reminder that friendship can crop...

Staunch loner Roberto, owner of a small hardware store in Buenos Aires, is shaken out of his solitary daily routine of collecting absurd newspaper clippings and visiting his parents’ grave when Chinese immigrant Jun literally falls into his life out of the back of a cab. Through a series of events that go against Roberto’s better judgment, the out-of-work Jun moves in with him, which proves a nightmare for Roberto as he makes increasingly desperate (and also touching and hilarious) attempts to get rid of his new roommate. Borensztein’s warm, endearing film offers a heartfelt reminder that friendship can crop up between the strangest, most mismatched, and plain old grumpiest of odd couples. (98 mins.)

Filmography: Sin Memoria (10)

Winner of the Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Film Awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina.

In Spanish and Mandarin.

Sponsored by Hotel Modera.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, Comedy.

Ávila’s partly autobiographical account of his upbringing is a moving portrait of adolescent life in politically tumultuous 1970s Argentina. After years of exile, 12-year-old Juan and his family cautiously return to Buenos Aires with fake identities. Juan’s parents are members of the Montoneros organization, fighting against the ruling military junta. His friends at school know him as Ernesto, and as he tries to make friends and lead a normal life, he knows his life depends on him not forgetting who he really is. Ávila’s powerful portrait of childhood innocence at odds with life-or-death political ideals won the Casa de America...

Ávila’s partly autobiographical account of his upbringing is a moving portrait of adolescent life in politically tumultuous 1970s Argentina. After years of exile, 12-year-old Juan and his family cautiously return to Buenos Aires with fake identities. Juan’s parents are members of the Montoneros organization, fighting against the ruling military junta. His friends at school know him as Ernesto, and as he tries to make friends and lead a normal life, he knows his life depends on him not forgetting who he really is. Ávila’s powerful portrait of childhood innocence at odds with life-or-death political ideals won the Casa de America Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and is this year’s Argentine submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. (112 mins.)

First Feature.

Sponsored by OPB.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Spanish Language, History.

Rosa meets Bruno. Two people who consider themselves to be over the hill and irrelevant in today’s world suddenly learn what it means to pursue once-in-a-lifetime happiness, to find one’s soulmate. The only problem: Rosa has only six months to live. The two decide to go for it anyway. Bruno breaks out of his marriage and a family life where everything’s been routine for some time, and Rosa runs away from the retirement home where her niece hoped she would quietly disappear. They set up house together and are then forced to face the question of whether happiness has an...

Rosa meets Bruno. Two people who consider themselves to be over the hill and irrelevant in today’s world suddenly learn what it means to pursue once-in-a-lifetime happiness, to find one’s soulmate. The only problem: Rosa has only six months to live. The two decide to go for it anyway. Bruno breaks out of his marriage and a family life where everything’s been routine for some time, and Rosa runs away from the retirement home where her niece hoped she would quietly disappear. They set up house together and are then forced to face the question of whether happiness has an expiration date or if memories of special moments with the kind of person you meet only once are much more important. (90 mins.)

Filmography: Nogo (02)

Winner of the Audience Prize at the Montreal Film Festival.

With the support of the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature.

“A winning, life-affirming fable about a young coal miner’s pursuit of her dream to become an acrobat, this is the first Western-financed fiction feature made entirely in North Korea. But this charming film wears its heavy historical mantle with grace, weaving a lovely, light-hearted tale whose themes—overcoming adversity and realizing the dream of a lifetime—upend our assumptions of a largely cloistered culture. Kim Yong-mi works as a coal miner in a small village. She dreams of one day joining the national circus and performing on the trapeze—despite the fact that she is deathly afraid of heights. When she is promoted...

“A winning, life-affirming fable about a young coal miner’s pursuit of her dream to become an acrobat, this is the first Western-financed fiction feature made entirely in North Korea. But this charming film wears its heavy historical mantle with grace, weaving a lovely, light-hearted tale whose themes—overcoming adversity and realizing the dream of a lifetime—upend our assumptions of a largely cloistered culture. Kim Yong-mi works as a coal miner in a small village. She dreams of one day joining the national circus and performing on the trapeze—despite the fact that she is deathly afraid of heights. When she is promoted and sent to the capital, Pyongyang, she seizes the opportunity. This gorgeously filmed romantic comedy transports us to a fantastic world seemingly out of time, with astonishing, candy-colored images of the seldom-seen North Korea.”—Toronto International Film Festival (83 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Kim Gwang Hun—My Wish (01), Unforgettable Man (02), Watch Us (08), Great Bear (09)

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature, Asian.

The filmmaker examines the artifacts of an ended love affair. (3 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS V: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

The filmmaker examines the artifacts of an ended love affair. (3 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS V: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

While watching lifeguards perform rescue drills at a neighborhood pool, a woman faces her own need to be saved. (7 min.)

See SHORT CUTS V: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

While watching lifeguards perform rescue drills at a neighborhood pool, a woman faces her own need to be saved. (7 min.)

See SHORT CUTS V: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

An absurdist journey through time in which the worlds of three hapless heroes living in different centuries collide unexpectedly in present-day Amsterdam. (9 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

An absurdist journey through time in which the worlds of three hapless heroes living in different centuries collide unexpectedly in present-day Amsterdam. (9 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: 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.