2000s

Synopsis:
A massacre initiated by the followers of an apocalyptic religious sect, the Ark of Truth, leaves more than a hundred people dead – including the self-appointed executioners, slain by fellow cult members.

Three years pass. On the anniversary of the slaughter, four friends who lost loved ones in the tragedy seek solace by journeying to the secluded lake where it all began. They encounter a man who was with the executioners until the very moment the killing began, and their pilgrimage takes a strange, unexpected turn.Read More »

Director Barbet Schroeder makes an ambitious attempt to revisit, in spirit, some of the great B-movies and thrillers of the past in ‘Inju, the Beast in the Shadow,’ which starts out as a smart romp through exotic Japan, only to spiral down into disappointing predictability after a hot opening half-hour. Inspired by a book by cult writer Edogawa Rampo and shot in French and Japanese, the film promises much more than it ultimately delivers. Commercial prospects will rest on the imaginatively recreated Kyoto atmosphere and vivid characters, not least a beautiful geisha into S&M.Read More »

Plot/ Synopsis
Jump – based on the novel of the same name, received numerous offers for the filming rights; not unusual for a novel by Sato, famous for his eerie love stories. The story is about an ordinary salary man, Junosuke, and his search for his lover, Miharu, who disappeared one night when she handed him the key to her room, and promised to be back in five minutes. She had only gone out to buy apples at the nearby convenience store, because Junosuke had it for breakfast every morning. Slightly drunk from the cocktail he had had earlier, Junosuke falls asleep, and wakes up the next morning to find that Miharu had never returned.Read More »

Director Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s young protegee debut, an obscurely low key drug drama.

Quote:

Iseya enrolled on a film course at New York University in 1998, which he funded through modelling work, and has gone on to direct this feature under the patronage of his early mentor, Kore-Eda, here acting for the first time in the role of producer.Read More »

Quote:
A documentary in 17 movements, in which testimonies and the guitar define the genius, the bravery and the modesty of Carlos Paredes. In PERPETUAL MOVEMENTS ‚ A TRIBUTE TO CARLOS PAREDES a dialog is established between a guitar and a SP8 camera, in an aesthetic which evocates the memory of old family pictures, full of intimacy, revealed in the sharing of simple stories of life. The Carlos Paredes’s concert in Auditório Carlos Alberto, in Oporto, 1984, is the starting point for the unfolding of prison stories, resistance, success and amateurism, stories marked by simplicity and passion.Read More »

A summer evening in Beirut. The life of Toufic, a young Lebanese man, and his nightly strolls. Between his family, friends and love affairs, he tries to seize every day of his life, through pleasures and entertainment. For him, every second is the most important. Soon he discovers that having a normal life, in this country, is a luxury. 15 years after the war had ended, a volcano is lying dormant on every street corner, like a time-ticking bomb that is ready explode… This night will be pivotal in the life of the young man. It was produced by Elle Kensington.Read More »

Filmed in 2000 for the Toronto Film Festival’s 25th anniversary, Camera stars Videodrome’s Les Carlson (he played the Jim Bakker-inspired Barry Convex) in a six-minute monologue about cinema as a group of children invade his home with a large 35mm camera and prepare to film him. Shot in digital video until a final, wonderful change to real film, Camera provides and excellent showcase for Carlson and manages to be both creepy and moving at the same time. Cronenberg’s composer Howard Shore supplies a brief, poignant music passage at the end.Read More »

Quote:
In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.Read More »

Beavers shot The Hedge Theatre in Rome in the 1980s. It is an intimate film inspired by the Baroque architecture and stone carvings of Francesco Borromini and St. Martin and the Beggar, a painting by the Sienese painter Il Sassetta. Beavers’ montage contrasts the sensuous softness of winter light with the lush green growth brought by spring rains. Each shot and each source of sound is steeped in meaning and placed within the film’s structure with exacting skill to build a poetic relationship between image and sound. (Susan Oxtoby, Toronto International Film Festival)Read More »