ACCIDENTS
Italy 2004 100 min
Directed by: Toni Trupia, Ramon Alos Sanchez and Miloje Popvi
World Cinema
FLORIDA PREMIERE
Variations of themes are present as three Italian film makers offer diverse cinematic styles. Toni Trupia's Good Friends Near and Far is a surrealistic fable about how a game-show judge's death in a car accident entices a carnival atmosphere and makes a public display of haunting the show's narcissistic host. Live action, animation and a puppet show are combined in Ramon Alos Sanchez's The Day Nothing Happened to represent the life, final hours and the motorcycle accident that ended the life of T. E. Lawrence. In the final movie, Miloje Popvi's Nothing Serious, a man regains consciousness after a terrible wreck, and he reminisces about his life as he waits for help to arrive. These films were made by students of the Rome Film Academy.
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A TALE OF A NAUGHTY GIRL
India 2003 89 min
Directed by: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Dasgupta Retrospective
Lati is the daughter of a prostitute. Her mother wishes to sell her to a rich albeit perverted old man in hopes that he would provide her with a better life. But Lati prefers to study, and eventually decides to leave home to follow her teacher. The plot focuses on her life, as well as the lives of the other cast members in the brothel.
REVIEW by Steve Gravestock of the
Toronto International Film Festival
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BOMBON EL PERRO
Argentina 2004 98mins
WORLD CINEMA
A mechanic who dreams of a better life finds his wishes fulfilled in a most unforeseen way, through the adoption of a purebred puppy.
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BUT, WHEN DO THE GIRLS GET HERE?
Italy 2005 99 min
Directed by: Pupi Avati
WORLD CINEMA
FLORIDA PREMIERE
Two musicians, a saxophone player named Giancarlo and a trumpeter named Nick, meet on the way to an audition for the music work shop. Their friendship develops from their widely different pasts and personalities as well as their shared passion for music. However, despite Giancarlo's excessive practice and passion, his mediocre skills cannot compete with Nick's raw talent.
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CHASED BY DREAMS
India 2004
Directed by: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Dasgupta Retrospective
The film weaves a story around the dreams of three different people whose paths cross briefly in a government jeep. Paresh, the main character, screens government educational films and during one of his expeditions falls in love with the image of a girl in one of the videos. He dreams of finding her, one day. The substitute driver of the jeep, Chapal, dreams of acquiring wealth in Dubai. Amina, a pregnant Muslim girl whose husband lost his life during a riot after their migration to India, dreams of returning to her own land to give her unborn child an unquestionable identity. These fantasies are forced to face reality as harsh conflicts arise.
REVIEW by Steve Gravestock of the
Toronto International Film Festival
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CLEOPATRA
Argentina 2002 104 min
WORLD CINEMA
Follows a soap star and retired teacher as they leave their routines and the men in their lives behind to journey out to the South American countryside.
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DIAS DE SANTIAGO
Peru 2004 83 min
World CINEMA
After retiring from the marines, Santiago finds his structured world thrown into chaos as he returns to a life far different than the orderly one he lived in the military.
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FALLEN
Germany/Latvia 2005 90 min
WORLD CINEMA
FLORIDA PREMIERE
Upon witnessing a woman's suicide, a man becomes obsessed with discovering her identity and understanding her life and motivations.
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FRENCH SHORTS
France
A collection of award winning shorts.
OPEN VAULT
A collection of French short films, including: La Vis stars Jean Reno as a character far different from any of his more recent roles. Marielle et Barnabe Would Like to Have One, by Laurent Benegui presents the trials and tribulations of a couple trying to have a child. Manivel by Daniel Cattan dives into the dangerous obsessions of a movie fan who becomes a little too fascinated with one of the actors. Countdown explores the rough but loving relationship between two wild sons and their middle class father. Hanging on for Dear Life is a French comedy about a young man trying to kill himself... without much success. Deus Ex Machina journeys into the mechanical mind of a photo booth in a future European railway station.
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LA NEUVAINE
Canada 97mins 2005
Directed by: Bernard Emond
WORLD CINEMA
FLORIDA PREMIERE
A doctor troubled by a traumatic event is reconciled with her past and future after she meets an enigmatic young man caring for his dying grandmother. A haunting and poignant drama from Bernard Emond.
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MEMORIES IN THE MIST
India 2005, 120 min
Directed by: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Dasgupta Retrospective
FLORIDA PREMIERE
When his powerful father and newly successful wife loom over him, spawning feelings of social inadequacy, an underachieving Kolkata office clerk begins to lose himself in his memories.
REVIEW by Steve Gravestock of the
Toronto International Film Festival
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THE ARCHIMEDES PRINCIPLE
Spain 2003, 101 min
Directed by: Gerardo Herrero
WORLD CINEMA
Successful in the fast paced world of fashion, Sonia falls short in her relationship with her son and husband. Her friend, Dew, is also married and with a daughter. Both friends are jealous of the other, Sonia wishing for time to devote to her family while Dew pines for recognition and economic independence.
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THE BEAUTY ACADEMY OF KABUL
USA 2004 75 min
INDEPENDENT FILM SECTION
After the collapse of the Taliban, a team of women sponsored by the United States come to Afghanistan to start the nation's first westernized school of cosmetology. Hoping to give the Afghan women a different way of viewing themselves and others, the American cosmetologists find conflict with students who are rooted to their previous notions of modesty and gender inequality as they learn to style hair and apply makeup in accordance to the Western style.
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THE ISTER
France 2005, Part 1 102 min, Part 2 87 min
MOSI FORUM AT MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
The Ister conjures provocative questions pertaining to contemporary philosophy, such as of home and place, culture and memory, technology and ecology, as well as politics and war.
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THE PORCELAIN DOLL
Hungary 2005 75 minutes
Directed by: Peter Gardos
WORLD CINEMA
FLORIDA PREMIERE
Contains three bizarre and fantastical short stories, using powerful imagery. The director, Peter Gardos, had lived with the villagers presented on screen and their amateur performances are of the same caliber as those of the professionals in the east.
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THE WRESTLERS
India 2000 95 min
Directed by: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Dasgupta Retrospective
Balaram and Nimai are two close friends who share a passion for traditional wrestling. Balaram is eventually summoned to his native village by his dying mother and while there marries a lovely and innocent girl named Uttara. When he returns with her, her presence drives a wedge between the two friends and their wrestling turns more violent.
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YANG BAN XI: THE EIGHT MODEL WORKS
Netherlands/China 2005 85 min
Director: Yan Ting Tuen
WORLD CINEMA
FLORIDA PREMIERE
The documentary looks back on the Chinese opera during the Cultural Revolution. In these operas, workers, farmers and soldiers would sing propaganda songs to honor the party and their beloved leader, Mao Zedong. The genre consists of eight milestones, otherwise known as the eight model works, and for many years served as the only film entertainment in China. Yang Ban Xi along with their stars fell into disgrace after the fall of the Gang of Four but has since then climbed back up in popularity. Director Yan Ting Tuen gives those involved in the operas a chance to look back on their experiences with interviews, present day performances, a fictional conversation with Mao's widow and the images of modern China.
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