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| International Film Festival |
Confronting the Past: An International Festival of Films
Admission is FREE! A Q & A will follow the screenings.
Monday, February 25, 2013, @ 7 p.m.Monsieur Lazhar 2011 (Canada) In Montreal, an elementary school teacher dies abruptly. Having learned of the incident in the newspaper, Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, goes to the school to offer his services as a substitute teacher. Quickly hired to replace the deceased, he finds himself in an establishment in crisis, while going through his own personal tragedy… -- (C) Music Box Tuesday, February 26, 2013, @ 7 p.m.The Secret in their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) 2009 (Argentina, Spain) Benjamin Esposito has spent his entire working life as a criminal court employee. Recently retired, and with time on his hands, he decides to write a novel. He does not decide to make up a story. There is no need to. He can draw on his own past as a civil servant for a true, moving and tragic story in which he was once very directly involved. In 1974 his court was assigned an investigation into the rape and murder of a beautiful young woman. -- (C) Sony Classics Wednesday, February 27,2013@ 7 p.m.Munyurangabo 2007 (Rwanda) In a Kigali, Rwanda marketplace, local adolescent boy Munyurangabo and his friend, Sangwa, swipe a machete from a vendor and hit the road together. Each young man is haunted by the ghosts of past experiences. Munyurangabo lost both parents to the Rwandan genocide and now embarks on a quest for swift justice; Sangwa left home years prior and longs to return…~ Nathan Southern, Rovi Thursday, February 28, 2013,@ 7 p.m.Salt of this Sea (Milh Hadha al-Bahr) 2008 (Palestine, Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland) The first feature film from Palestine by a female director, Salt of this Sea is the politically and emotionally explosive story of Soraya (Suheir Hammad), a Brooklyn-born woman of Palestinian lineage who comes to Israel to search for the land and ancestral home near Jaffa from where her grandparents were ejected 60 years ago. Once she arrives, reality strikes hard and her mission to claim what is hers and fulfill her lifelong dream to "return" to Palestine is obstructed at every turn….-(C) Lorber Monday, March 4, 2013,@ 7 p.m.The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei) 2004 (Germany) Three young radicals face off against an older man who left behind his ideals years ago in this drama from Austria. Jan (Daniel Brühl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg) are a pair of leftist political activists who have their own ideas of how to strike out in the name of economic justice. Jan and Peter like to break into the homes of the rich, re-arrange their belongings, and leave behind a note crediting "the Edukators" with the invasion, satisfied that their efforts will teach their victims a lesson….-(C) imdb.com Tuesday, March 5, 2013,@ 7 p.m.Heading South (Vers le sud) 2005 Director Laurent Cantet follows up his critically acclaimed "Time Out", set during an austere wintertime in France and Switzerland, with “Heading South,” set in Haiti during the late 1970s. Based on stories by Dany Laferriere, the heat comes not only from the summertime tropical setting. Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, and Louise Portal head a group of single middle-aged women who have come for sun, fun, and romance. They desire the solicitous attention of attractive young Haitian men, and teenaged Legba…is an especially prized companion for whom the women vie. But in this difficult andeconomically devastated land, Legba has other demands on him as well...– © New Yorker Films Wednesday, March 6, 2013,@ 7 p.m.The Lark Farm (La Masseria dell Allodole ) 2007 (Italy) As adapted from the roman by Antonia Arslan and co-directed by legendary Italian brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, The Lark Farm marks one of the few international features to tackle the Armenian genocide head-on. The story (with its thematic parallels, in the early scenes, to De Sica's 1970 Garden of the Finzi-Continis) concerns the Avakian clan. An Armenian family living an affluent lifestyle and periodically shuttling back and forth between their two comfortable homes, the Avakians feel convinced that the rising tide of Turkish hostility on the horizon means little to them and will scarcely affect their day to day….~ Nathan Southern, Rovi Thursday, March 7, 2013,@ 7 p.m.Departures (Okuribito) 2008 (Japan) Director Yojiro Takita and writer Kundo Koyama examine the rituals surrounding death in Japan with this tale of an out-of-work cellist who accepts a job as a "Nokanashi" or "encoffineer" (the Japanese equivalent of an undertaker) in order to provide for himself and his young wife. Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) is a talented musician, but when his orchestra is abruptly disbanded, he suddenly finds himself without a source of steady income. Making the decision to move back to his small hometown, Daigo answers a classified ad for a company called "Departures," mistakenly assuming that he will be working for a travel agency….~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi Special Screenings
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