2001-2010

Synopsis:
Separated at the end of the Vietnam war, an “Americanized” woman and her Vietnamese mother are reunited after 22 years.Read More »

Synopsis:
A hidden enclave in the shadow of the New York Mets’ new stadium, the neighborhood of Willets Point is an industrial zone fated for demolition. Filled with scrapyards and auto salvage shops, lacking sidewalks or sewage lines, the area seems ripe for urban development. But Foreign Parts discovers a strange community where wrecks, refuse and recycling form a thriving commerce. Cars are stripped, sorted and cataloged by brand and part, then resold to an endless parade of drive-thru customers. Joe, the last original resident, rages and rallies through the street like a lost King Lear, trying to contest his imminent eviction. Two lovers, Sara and Luis, struggle for food and safety through the winter while living in an abandoned van. Julia, the homeless queen of the junkyard, exalts in her beatific visions of daily life among the forgotten. The film observes and captures the struggle of a contested “eminent domain” neighborhood before its disappearance under the capitalization of New York’s urban ecology.Read More »

The tears of a clown give French tragicomedy Strange Gardens an unexpected power. For 15-year-old Lucien (Damien Jouillerot), there’s nothing more embarrassing than his father Jacques’ (Jacques Villeret) circus routine. Dressing up in funny feet, white makeup, and a bright red nose to entertain the village, he’s a hit with everyone except his own son. But, as Jacques’ best friend André (André Dussollier) explains, there’s a history to his act that goes beyond simple clowning and to his experiences in the Second World War.Read More »

An ambitious and idealistic young actress comes to Berlin to convince an American ex-pat filmmaker that she must be his next muse – the leading lady of his first great German film.Read More »

Lionel has brought up his daughter, Josephine, on his own since his wife’s accidental death. Over the years, their life together has grown to resemble that of a couple. Josephine has now reached the age at which the roles begin to be inverted. She is now the one who seems to want to take care of her father. Lionel knows that he has one more thing to do: to convince Josephine to make her own way in the world, to become a woman and to leave him.Read More »

An experimental film that lifts the veil on the world of African American drag racing.

Set in the world of African-American drag racing in Virginia, Cinnamon follows Erin (actress Erin Stewart), a young bank teller, and John, a mechanic, as they prepare for a race. As a driver, her routine is to stay focused before races, while his is to constantly examine the driver’s behavior.Read More »

Der sensible Träumer Laid lebt in der algerischen Mittelmeerstadt ‘Bejaia’. Er verbringt seine Tage in einem Fotostudio und am Strand mit seinem Freund Nadir. Eines Tages wird er von seiner Schwester aufgefordert, nach Timimoun zurückzukehren und als Ältester die Ehre der Familie wieder herzustellen. Nadir bietet ihm an, ihn auf der abenteuerlichen Reise ins algerische Hinterland zu begleiten…

Der Spielfilm ‘Timimoun’ (2010) von Michael Roes, der zu den bedeutendsten deutschsprachigen Autoren der Gegenwart gehört (‘Rub’ al-Khali – leeres Viertel’), erzählt von der Freundschaft zweier Jungen als Utopie in einem zerrissenen, von religiösen und politischen Spannungen gezeichneten Land. Auf Grundlage des Films entstand auch der Roman ‘Weg nach Timimoun’.Read More »

Quote:
A hapless country doctor describes with breathless urgency a night-time summons to attend a young patient. Events soon take on a surreal aspect as “unearthly horses” transport him instantaneously to the bedside. The doctor, preoccupied with personal distractions and grievances against those he is employed to care for, fails to find what is revealed to be a vile, fatal wound. He is humiliated by the villagers, who are “always expecting the impossible from the doctor,” and doomed to an endless return trip, losing everything.Read More »

Quote:
Ramata is a spellbindingly beautiful woman in her fifties. She has been married for thirty years now to Matar Samb, a very rich man, a former prosecutor who is now Minister of Justice. They live in Les Almadies, an elegant neighborhood of Dakar. Ngor Ndong is twenty-five. He is young, strong, mysterious and homeless. He is an occasional petty crook, known to the police. One evening, in a taxi that Ngor Ndong just happens to be driving, Ramata, reticent at first, finally agrees to follow this young man half her age to the Copacabana, a dive in the seediest part of Dakar.Read More »