Drama

The most incendiary of Nazi Germany’s anti-British films, and one of the most audaciously cynical movies ever made. Conceived by Joseph Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry as a propagandistic blockbuster, this lavish production leaves no stone unturned in its bitter indictment of Great Britain, which at the time (early 1941) stood alone as Germany’s wartime foe. In its historical re-enactment of the Second Boer War, Ohm Krüger depicts Britain as a relentlessly aggressive power, hell-bent on world domination; the film’s remarkable set pieces feature a scotch-swilling Queen Victoria, a cruelly conniving Cecil Rhodes and a Winston Churchill look-alike who presides over a murderous concentration camp. On the Boer side stands saintly “Uncle” Krüger, portrayed as a model of simple dignity and unerring moral right by one of the world cinema’s greatest actors, Emil Jannings. Read More »

Halit Refig’s film “The Lady” can be conceived as a thoroughly nostalgic film; the yearning for the city of Istanbul in old times was expressed in every part of the film. At first glance, the film was based on the story of a lonely old woman looking for a place for her cat before dying; yet, beyond this, within the structure of the film there existed a changing, disappearing, and even collapsing Istanbul and in parallel relation to the degenerating social connections in the city. In other words, the film reflected the degrading of the spatial characteristics of Istanbul and, human relations thereof. While Mrs. Olcay with an old residence on the shore house full of old furniture was the symbol of the old Istanbul, her helpless search for a safe place for her cat, on the other hand, revealed the new face of Istanbul with dehumanizing conditions of city life. Read More »

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Lorna has been married to Jim for a year, but still hasn’t been satisfied sexually. While Jim is working at the salt mine, she is raped by an escaped convict, but falls in lust with him. Meanwhile Jim’s buddies are giving him a hard time about Lorna’s supposed infidelity, not realizing how close to the mark they really are. Trouble starts when Jim gets home early from work because it’s their anniversary.Read More »

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A country road glimpsed through a dirty windscreen… a mangled car wreck on a garage forecourt…Volonté blowing up an inflatable coat hanger and reminding his assistant that ‘it’s the details that count’. And so they clearly do in Goretta’s film, although quite what they add up to is never sharply defined. A crippled TV journalist (Volonté) arrives in a Swiss village to interview a specialist in world food shortages disillusioned by the non-application of his theories. But he soon becomes embroiled in a web of local intrigue resulting from the death of a young immigrant worker. Goretta counterpoints his two stories with deft assurance, letting them strike subdued ironies off one another; there are thematic strands galore here, clearly signposted but seemingly left deliberately smudged. Yet there is no shortage of delights either: fine atmospherics, immaculately fluid camerawork, and a towering performance from Volonté, sympathy and disdain flickering back and forth across those marvellously expressive features.Read More »

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On 24th August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children on what has since become known as “The Night of the Fire.” The riots became a symbol for xenophobia in the just recently reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters. Lien is a Vietnamese woman who settled in Germany, but at the end of the day she will be fighting for her life wondering if the place she called home could ever be one for her. Stefan and his friends are part of the night’s violent turmoil. Read More »

A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.Read More »

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A group of very different individuals who in 1975 lived in a commune called “Together”. Now it is 1999, and the collective has turned into the world’s smallest. The commune consists of only two people – Göran and Klasse. Feeling a bit lonely, the idea occurs of a reunion with their old friends.Read More »

A teacher in a Mexican border town full of neglect, corruption, and violence, tries a radical new method to unlock their students’ curiosity, potential – and maybe even their genius.Read More »

Renowned Korean filmmaker Lee Chang Dong, the director of Green Fish, Peppermint Candy, and Oasis, returns to the director’s chair in 2007 with the critically acclaimed Secret Sunshine. This is his fourth film, and his first directorial work since his stint as Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2003 to 2004. In addition to Lee’s long-awaited return, Secret Sunshine attracted much attention with its pairing of two of the biggest names in Korean cinema – Song Kang Ho and Jeon Do Yeon, who was named Best Actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for her amazing performance.Read More »