April 12 – 20, 2024

 

Film List

Correction

Thanos Anastopoulos
Greece – 2007, 83′

A man gets out of prison. Like a modern Ulysses he undertakes a homeless journey into contemporary mutilated Athens. On his way he will meet a woman and a little girl. Are the three of them members of a disrupted family or just persecutors and victims of a violent and conflict driven society that prevents them from living together?

Awards
1. Best Screenplay, Best Actor – Thessaloniki, IFF 2007
2. Golden Alexander Nomination – Thessaloniki IFF 2007

Wendy & Lucy

Kelly Reichardt
USA – 2008, 80′

Wendy Carroll is driving to Ketchikan, Alaska, in hopes of a summer of lucrative work at the Northwestern Fish cannery, and the start of a new life with her dog, Lucy. When her car breaks down in Oregon, however, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart, and she confronts a series of increasingly dire economic decisions.

Awards
1. Best Actress, Best Picture Award – Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, 2008

Cherry Blossoms - Hanami

Doris Dorrie
Germany – 2008, 127′

When Trudi learns that her husband Rudi is dangerously ill, she suggests visiting their children in Berlin without telling him the truth. As Franzi and Karl don’t care much about their parents, Trudi and Rudi go to the Baltic Sea, where a big surprise is waiting for them.

Awards
1. Best Actor, Best Production – Bavarian Film Awards, 2008
2. Best Film – Seattle IFF 2008
3. Best Film – German Film Awards, 2008

Hi! Am Erika!

Yiannis Ioannou
Cyprus – 2008, 86′

Premiere presentation of Yiannis Ioannou’s latest film. The film tells the story of the sexual and social awareness of Petros, a young Cypriot, and his friendship with a black American sailor and a prostitute from Buenos Aires (1939-1945).

Salt of this Sea

Annemarie Jacir
Palestine, France, Switzerland, Belgium, USA, UK, Holland, Spain – 2008, 109′

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather’s savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Stubborn, passionate and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of “returning” to Palestine.

Awards
1. Section Un Certain Regard – Cannes IFF 2008
2. Muhr Award for Best Screenplay – Dubai IFF 2008
3. International Critics Award (FIPRESCI Prize) – Osian, 2008,
4. Palestine’s official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, 2008

Four Nights with Anna

Jerzy Skolimowski
Poland – 2008, 87′

The first film in 17 years by the great Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski is more than worth the wait. The meticulously realized Four Nights with Anna centers on an introverted crematorium worker who shows his growing affection for a beautiful nurse by repeatedly breaking into her apartment while she sleeps and fixing her clock, cleaning up and occasionally spending the night by her side.

Awards
1. Honorary Screening in Cannes Film Festival, 2008
2. Honourable Mention – New Horizons Film Festival, Poland, 2008
3. International Critics Award (FIPRESCI Prize) – 21st Panorama of European Cinema, 2008

Jerusalema

Ralph Ziman
South Africa – 2008, 120′

This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld.

Awards
1. Best Actor – Durban IFF 2008

Lemon Tree

Eran Riklis
Israel, Germany, France – 2008, 106′

Salma, a Palestinian widow, has to stand up against her new neighbor, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West bank. Salma’s legal and personal journey lead her deep into the complex, dark and sometimes funny chaos of the ongoing struggle in the Middle East.

Awards
Audience Award – Berlin IFF 2008

Tulpan

Sergey Dvortsevoy
Germany, Switzerland, Kazahhstan, Russia, Poland – 2008, 100′

After completing his naval service, young Asa travels back to the Kazakh steppe where his sister and her shepherd husband live a nomadic life. To start his new life, eager Asa must get married first before he can become a shepherd himself. Asa’s only hope for marriage on the deserted steppe is Tulpan, the daughter of another shepherd family..

Awards
1. ‘Un Certain Regard’ Prize -Cannes IFF 2008
2. East of West Award – Karlovy Vary IFF 2008
3. Nominated for European Discovery of the Year – European Film Awards, 2008.

The film has won 9 awards and was nominated for 4 more.

Waltz with Bashir

Ari Folman
Israel, France, Germany – 2008, 87′

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images..

Awards
1. Winner Best Foreign Language Film °V Golden Globe Awards, 2009
2. Golden Tower for Best Film – Palic European FF 2008
3. Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Sound – Ophir Israeli Academy Awards, 2008
4. Best Animated Feature Nomination – Oscars, 2009.

The film has won 18 awards and was nominated for 13 more.

Lorna's Silence

Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Belgium, France, Italy – 2008, 105′

In order to become the owner of a snack bar together with her boyfriend, Lorna, a young Albanian woman living in Belgium, becomes an accomplice to a diabolical plan devised by mobster Fabio.

Awards
1. Best Screenplay – Cannes IFF 2008
2. Audience Award – Chicago IFF 2008
3. Best Director – Seattle IFF 2008
4. European Parliament Lux Cinema Prize, 2008

Small Crime

Christos Georgiou

Greece – 2008, 85′

Premiere presentation of Christos Georgiou’s latest film. Leonidas, a young police officer, has been assigned to a small, sleepy and remote island in the Aegean. He thinks he should be in the big city solving important crimes, but to his frustration all he does is put up “No Nudism” signs and watch Angelikis’ morning TV show with the locals at the caf.. His daily routine changes when he discovers a dead body abandoned in a cliff.

Captain Abu Raed

Amin Matalqa

Jordan – 2007, 110′

Abu Raed is an old and lonely airport janitor who has always yearned to see the world but has never been able to afford travel. One day he finds a thrown-out pilot cap and returns home wearing it on his head. A group of children in his poor neighbourhood mistakenly assume that he is a pilot and beg him to share stories of the world he has travelled. Happy for the company, he transports the children to colorful places around the world through his fictional stories and inspires them to believe in themselves.

Awards
1. Audience Award – Sundance Film Festival, 2007
2. Best Director – Seattle IF 2007
3. Best Actor – Dubai IFF 2007.

The film has won 13 awards and was nominated for 2 more

The Band's Visit

Eran Kolirin

Israel, France, USA – 2007, 90′

Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian Police band arrived in Israel. They came to play at an initiation ceremony but,due to bureaucracy, bad luck, or for whatever reason, they were left stranded at the airport. They tried to manage on their own, only to find themselves in a desolate, almost forgotten, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert.

Awards
1. Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Actress, Best Costumes and Best Music – Israeli Film Academy, 2007
2. Award of the Youth, FIPRESCI Prize – Cannes IFF 2007
3. European Discovery of the Year, European Film Award for Best Actor – European Film Awards, 2007

The film has won 38 awards and was nominated for 9 more.

The Last Homecoming

Corinna Avraamidou

Cyprus – 2008, 85′

During the course of what seems to be an idyllic Mediterranean summer, a Greek Cypriot family are asked to re-evaluate their relationships, as compelling desires and needs are beginning to unfold. Passions, infidelities and betrayal emerge, while political mumblings are heard in the distance. The year is 1974. Soon their world is about to change forever.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Hayao Miyazaki

Japan – 1989, 103′

This is one of the earliest films from Miyazaki’s famous Studio Ghibli, the greatest makers of Japanese hand-drawn anime films. Kiki is a thirteen-year-old witch, and daughter of a witch, who is eager to leave home and spend a year working away from home. Her only talent is flying on her broomstick, but she sets off with her black cat and finds a big city by the sea.

Awards
1. Special Award – Japan Academy Award, 1989
2. Best Animation – 12th Annual Anime Grand Prix, 1990

Spirited Away

Hayao Miyazaki

Japan – 2001, 120′

The first film of the festival’s tribute to the Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki is Spirited Away. The film tells the tale of Chihiro, a young girl who wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters.

Awards
1. Best Animated Feature – Oscars, 2003
2. Golden Bear – Berlin IFF 2002
3. Silver Scream Award -Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, 2003
4. Best Film – Durban IFF 2002

The film has won 35 awards and was nominated for 19 more.

Howl's Moving Castle

Hayao Miyazaki
Japan – 2004, 114′

Acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki adapts British writer Diana Wynne Jones’s popular fantasy tale for this animated feature, adding his own unique and celebrated dreamlike spin. As with Miyazaki’s previous work, the emphasis is on creating a beautiful alternate reality, where anything can happen and every frame is a breathtaking work of art.

Awards
1. Best Animated Feature Nomination – Oscars, 2006
2. Best Animated Film – New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 2005
3. Best Animation Film – Hong Kong Film Awards, 2006

The film has won 8 awards and was nominated for 13 more.