Films & Schedules - T

“The ghosts of F.W. Murnau, Luis Buñuel, Joseph Cornell, and Jack Smith hover above this exquisite, absurdist entry in the canon of surrealist cinema. Shot in ephemeral black-and-white celluloid, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia that nevertheless is grounded in serious feeling and beliefs, even anti-colonialist politics. There is a story, which is delightful to follow and in which the cart comes before the horse: the first half is set in contemporary Lisbon, the second, involving two of the same characters, in colonial Mozambique in the early 1960s. Phil Spector’s ‘Be My Baby’ belted...

“The ghosts of F.W. Murnau, Luis Buñuel, Joseph Cornell, and Jack Smith hover above this exquisite, absurdist entry in the canon of surrealist cinema. Shot in ephemeral black-and-white celluloid, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia that nevertheless is grounded in serious feeling and beliefs, even anti-colonialist politics. There is a story, which is delightful to follow and in which the cart comes before the horse: the first half is set in contemporary Lisbon, the second, involving two of the same characters, in colonial Mozambique in the early 1960s. Phil Spector’s ‘Be My Baby’ belted in Portuguese, a wandering crocodile, and a passionate, ill-advised coupling seen through gently moving mosquito netting make for addled movie magic.”—New York Film Festival (118 mins.)

Selected Filmography: The Face You Deserve (04), Our Beloved Month of August (08)

Winner of the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

Sponsored by Nel Centro.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature.

Skateboarding becomes a metaphor for freedom in this love letter to the subversive power of youth. In East Germany in the 1980s, for three teens—Nico, Dirk, and Dennis—life in the GDR was dominated by skateboarding. But in a nation where “the streets were not for playing around,” skating was as much a revolutionary act of defiance as it was a spectacular sport. Using a clutch of priceless Super-8 films, animations, reenactments, and archival footage, all set against a delirious punk soundtrack, This Ain’t California follows the three through adolescence and into adulthood on the eve of reunification. Through the lenses...

Skateboarding becomes a metaphor for freedom in this love letter to the subversive power of youth. In East Germany in the 1980s, for three teens—Nico, Dirk, and Dennis—life in the GDR was dominated by skateboarding. But in a nation where “the streets were not for playing around,” skating was as much a revolutionary act of defiance as it was a spectacular sport. Using a clutch of priceless Super-8 films, animations, reenactments, and archival footage, all set against a delirious punk soundtrack, This Ain’t California follows the three through adolescence and into adulthood on the eve of reunification. Through the lenses of the skater kids amongst the Stasi comes a rare, stylishly witty glimpse into East Berlin counterculture. (90 mins.)

First Feature.

Sponsored by Zeitgeist Northwest.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, German Language, History, Documentary.

The city of Southampton feels the lasting and haunting effects of the Titanic disaster a century later. (13 mins.)

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

The city of Southampton feels the lasting and haunting effects of the Titanic disaster a century later. (13 mins.)

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

Interests: Short Cuts.

An accidental meeting recording the possible (last) thoughts of a bumblebee. (3 mins.)

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

An accidental meeting recording the possible (last) thoughts of a bumblebee. (3 mins.)

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

Interests: Short Cuts.

“A neighborhood’s lives and loves intertwine in this almost novelistic film, seen mostly through the eyes of 17-year-old Xiao Yang. Together’s various storylines cycle through several families who live on the same street in contemporary Taipei. Xiao Yang is a patient observer but not a neutral one: most of the love letters that charmingly still circulate in this working-class Taipei community pass through his hands, and he’s the catalyst of several of the story’s love affairs. The community includes a costume vendor, a Japanese-Taiwanese newlywed couple, and Xiao Yang’s sometimes violent, sometimes romantically inclined classmates. Everyone seems to be in...

“A neighborhood’s lives and loves intertwine in this almost novelistic film, seen mostly through the eyes of 17-year-old Xiao Yang. Together’s various storylines cycle through several families who live on the same street in contemporary Taipei. Xiao Yang is a patient observer but not a neutral one: most of the love letters that charmingly still circulate in this working-class Taipei community pass through his hands, and he’s the catalyst of several of the story’s love affairs. The community includes a costume vendor, a Japanese-Taiwanese newlywed couple, and Xiao Yang’s sometimes violent, sometimes romantically inclined classmates. Everyone seems to be in the process of breaking up or finding a new lover. We are gently induced to interpret, to be active participants in framing the story. The result is a fully achieved first film of tangible power and abundant humanity.”—Vancouver International Film Festival (114 mins.)

First Feature.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Narrative Feature, Asian.

A tribe of Norse warriors retreats after a bloody battle. With their chief near death, they come upon an army they could never have expected. The comedic be-all and end-all of culture clashes! (13 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS II: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

A tribe of Norse warriors retreats after a bloody battle. With their chief near death, they come upon an army they could never have expected. The comedic be-all and end-all of culture clashes! (13 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS II: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

Two Years At Sea is a nearly wordless portrait of Jake, who lives a solitary existence in a Scottish forest in Aberdeenshire. Surviving frugally, he passes his time with strange projects and living the radical dream he had as a younger man, which he spent two years working at sea to realize. Rivers has made 20 shorts over the past decade, free of narrative, drama, and character development, inspired by literature and fine art, and exploring worlds at the far fringe of civilization—places of ragged, strange beauty where inventors, seers, and eccentric philosophers live in zealous communion with nature. “Too...

Two Years At Sea is a nearly wordless portrait of Jake, who lives a solitary existence in a Scottish forest in Aberdeenshire. Surviving frugally, he passes his time with strange projects and living the radical dream he had as a younger man, which he spent two years working at sea to realize. Rivers has made 20 shorts over the past decade, free of narrative, drama, and character development, inspired by literature and fine art, and exploring worlds at the far fringe of civilization—places of ragged, strange beauty where inventors, seers, and eccentric philosophers live in zealous communion with nature. “Too much exposition is the kind of thing that makes me bored with Hollywood movies,” Rivers says. “I like films that leave a lot to the audience.” (88 mins.)

First Feature.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Co-presented with Cinema Project.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors, Documentary.