Synopsis:
A film that starts like an odd documentary on ski resorts suddenly declares its subject to be aluminum. And it’s all downhill from there, evoking in chapters the history of capitalism in the 20th century, the death of the God Progress in the valleys of the Alps and the question of the relationship between State and Industry. All’s fair in love and snow.
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Set in the areas of Istanbul rarely visited by foreigners, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s strange detective story traces the journey of a family that is suddenly dislocated when minor shortcomings explode into exorbitant deceptions. Now their only hope of remaining together is to cover up the truth, but can ignoring the hardships and responsibilities that would be impossible to endure ever really invalidate the existence of the truth?Read More »
Synopsis:
A train in a futuristic landscape takes passengers to a place where they can recapture their memories, a place from which no one has ever returned. This is the premise of a novel by the womanizing sci-fi writer Chow, who engages in passionate affairs with a series of intriguing women he meets at the Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. As Chow’s lovers offer him inspiration for his writing, reality blends with fiction, and the past commingles with the future.Read More »
According to back cover: “A 1 hour re-mix useing [sic] the original and the remake.”
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Moncef Kahloucha is a fan of ’70s genre movies, especially those with Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and Clint Eastwood. Apart from working as a house painter in Kazmet, a poor Tunician locality, Kahloucha is a tenacious director, actor, screenwriter and prop master in his own zero-budget productions. At the limits of communal, visceral cinema captured on a VHS camera, it literally costs Kahloucha blood, sweat and tears to shoot his next film: Tarzan of the Arabs, opening at a bar TV set. With an amplified eye, Néjib Belkhadi not only records a ferocious making-of, but also manages to come out with a crystal-clear map of Kazmet’s social ills, including the Arabs who must survive in their Italian exile to the tune of the anthological “Tunisino” by Neshez. The savage primitiveness of the shooting, the struggle for a place in the ads of the neighbors-actors and Kahloucha’s displays of tinsel used in previous films are some gripping, all but likely moments of an incendiary passion for cinema.
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Beynelmilel / International: Co-directed by Muharrem Gülmez and scriptwriter Sirri Süreyya Önder, Beynelmilel / International takes movie-goers to the days in the aftermath of the coup d’etat of September 12th, 1980. Here we are in a remote town of Adýyaman watching the tragicomical story of a group of local musicians. The film depicts the extent to which ordinary people were affected by the military suppression after the coup. It is a period movie made in an ironic and humorous manner. (Istanbul Film Festival booklet – 2007)
• IST.FF 2007 – The Special Prize of the Jury was awarded to “Beynelmilel / International”.
• IST FF 2007 – Best Actress Award was given to Özgü Namal for her performance in “Beynelmilel”.Read More »
Quote:
A young girl’s life is turned upside down when her mother brings home a new boyfriend
Quote:
From the start, I knew the British director Andrea Arnold had captured something volatile and splendid in Fish Tank. A girl named Katie Jarvis plays 15-year-old Mia, who in the first shots stares out the window of a high-rise, working-class tenement in London’s East End — the window of a vacant flat where she practices her hip-hop moves to the sound of music from tiny speakers.Read More »
Synopsis from Offical Site
A musical voyage among exotic places and people of Anatolia, unique host of ancient civilizations, empires as well as mythologies and glory of 10 millennia.
The fruit of 350 hours of footage, more than 40,000 km traveled and 133 recorded live performances, Lost Songs of Anatolia may be the first example of its kind as a documentary-musical film. The cultural riches of Anatolia are sung in authentic performances recorded live on location spontaneously. With the modern arrangements made, an incomparable musical is formed.
While this journey is showing how music and culture is derived from life, geography and work, an exploration of Anatolia’s versatile cultures takes place on a basis of music, dance and rituals. The staggering environment surrounding these people and influencing their lifestyles contribute the lyric flow of the film.
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Grand Prize, USA Film Festival
“A highly emotional personal essay on Christian anti-Semitism that weaves together history, autobiography and snippets of Hollywood films depicting the life of Jesus.”
–Stephen Holden, The New York Times
King of the Jews is a film about anti-Semitism and transcendence. Utilizing Hollywood movies, 1950’s educational films, personal home movies and religious films, the filmmaker depicts his childhood fear of Jesus Christ. These childhood recollections are a point of departure for larger issues such as the roots of Christian anti-Semitism.
King of the Jews explores the challenges and fears of being an outsider, of holding beliefs different from the mainstream. The myth that “the Jews” killed Jesus has been responsible for centuries of pain and destruction. After 2000 years, the wound is still open. The film uses the resurrection of Christ as a metaphor for personal renewal. Only by acknowledging past injustices can we get closer to our shared humanity.Read More »