2000s

  • Nenad Djuric – Nebo Iznad Krajolika aka Skies Above The Landscape (2006)

    Drama2001-2010Bosnia HerzegovinaComedyNenad Djuric

    Winner – Special Jury Award, 10th Sofia International Film Festival
    Official Selection Haifa 22nd International Film Festival
    Official Selection 2006 St. Louis International Film Festival

    Bosnian director Nenad Djuric’s postwar Bosnian comedy – a breezy, rib-tickling story about the clash of cultures – is a charmingly innocent love story set in a country that no longer wishes to dwell on recent atrocities.Read More »

  • Dominik Graf – Der Felsen AKA A Map Of The Heart (2002)

    2011-2020ArthouseDominik GrafDramaGermany

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    Synopsis
    Things could hardly turn out worse for Katrin. In Corsica, her boss and lover of many years tells her that his wife is pregnant. In one abrupt instant, all hopes for a life together are dashed. Her plans for her future unraveled, her heart broken, Katrin breaks up with him. But all her attempts to start a new life simply toss her deeper into a maelstrom of aimlessness and pain.

    She then happens to meet Malte, an adventure-hungry young man who lives on the edge and strictly for the moment. He overwhelms her with the honesty and clarity of his feelings – and suddenly, from one minute to the next, her life becomes a dangerous tightrope walk.Read More »

  • Joe Swanberg – Kissing on the Mouth (2005)

    2001-2010DramaEroticaJoe SwanbergMumblecoreUSA

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    AMG: The low-budget, direct-to-video erotic drama Kissing on the Mouth explores the erogenous trials and travails of a clique of college grads. It concerns Ellen, a young woman sleeping with her ex-boyfriend and bucking his attempts to re-instigate a serious romantic commitment. Meanwhile, she does her best to ignore the increasingly possessive and suspect behavior of her flatmate, Patrick. The film (shot by its cast) is marked by graphic sexual content and frank, explicit discussions of coital behavior. For added realism and authenticity, the directors work in a number of documentary-style interviews with college graduates.Read More »

  • Mehmet Güleryüz – Havar AKA Scream (2009)

    Drama2001-2010Mehmet GüleryüzTurkey

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    A young woman may be forced to pay with her life for an innocent mistake in this drama from director Mehmet Guleryuz. Havar, meaning ‘cry for help’ in Kurdish, is the name of the young female protagonist living in the remote Turkish village of Batman, notorious for its honour killings. Havar (Cicek Tekdemir) is a teenager living in a rural community in Turkey with her family. One day, Havar is sent down to the river to wash the family’s clothes, and while scrubbing the laundry her scarf slips off. A boy named Sedat (Edip Dogan) hands it to her, and while there was nothing untoward in this act, Havar’s grandmother is certain this is a sign of some sort of inappropriate behavior. Word circulates through the village that Havar’s virtue has been compromised, and her father Osama (Abdullah Tarhan) receives word from his brother (Ramazan Ilten) that his son is backing out of his arranged marriage to Havar after hearing the rumors.Read More »

  • Alexander Pfeuffer – Frühstück? aka Breakfast? (2002)

    2001-2010Alexander PfeufferDramaGermanyQueer Cinema(s)Short Film

    Boris, on the cusp of coming out, is smitten with Til. Upon leaving a club one night, just as they are about to kiss for the first time, an interloper joins them and much to Boris’ chagrin, Til is delighted. Boris doesn’t know how to deal with this and is jealous.

    This is a well-made short that gives the audience a peek into the difficulties that arise when two boys look at love (and their relationship) differently.

    IMDB user commentRead More »

  • Roman Polanski – Oliver Twist (2005)

    2001-2010CrimeDramaRoman PolanskiUnited Kingdom

    Polanski’s greatly under-rated adaptation of the Dickens classic boasts stunning set design, exemplary, understated acting quite unlike the “Dickensian” grotesques of most TV adaptations, and definitive portraits of Sykes and Fagin by the great actors James Foreman and Sir Ben Kingsley. The latter’s night of terror in the execution cell at the film’s end is one of the most moving scenes in the director’s canon. Polanski is not scared of invoking Lean. In fact, several scenes pay specific homage to the earlier version while offering a totally valid, more naturalistic update. One for the ages, if not the box office.Read More »

  • Rustam Khamdamov – Vokaldy Paralelder AKA Vocal Parallels (2005)

    2001-2010ExperimentalFantasyKazakhstanRustam Khamdamov

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    The movies of Rustam Khamdamov are impossible to find in the West, and for the most part in his native Russia as well.

    Vokaldy paralelder [Vocal Parallels] , which happily has reached its audience, but only after nine years of production due to numerous obstacles and stoppages. What is THIS film about? Again, no definite plot, but a kind of a concert-film. You most probably exclaim in astonishment, absolutely disappointed: What?! A concert? Yes, it’s a surreal, impressionistic concert of classical opera pieces performed by several retired Soviet opera divas: Roza Dzhamanova, Araksiia Davtian, Bibigul’ Tulegenova, and the late Erik Salim-Meriuert (Kurmangaliev), a fantastic countertenor.Read More »

  • Roman Polanski – The Pianist (2002)

    2001-2010DramaRoman PolanskiUSAWar

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    Plot Synopsis: A brilliant pianist, a Polish Jew, witnesses the restrictions Nazis place on Jews in the Polish capital, from restricted access to the building of the Warsaw ghetto. As his family is rounded up to be shipped off to the Nazi labor camps, he escapes deportation and eludes capture by living in the ruins of Warsaw.Read More »

  • Frédéric Fonteyne – La Femme de Gilles AKA Gilles’ Wife (2004)

    2001-2010BelgiumDramaFrédéric Fonteyne

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    Review from IMDB:

    The Title, Sadly, Says It All, 23 October 2006
    10/10
    Author: gradyharp from United States

    ‘La Femme de Gilles’ (‘Gilles’ Wife’) began as a novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe and was transformed for the screen by Philippe Blasband, Marion Hänsel and Frédéric Fonteyne who also directs this stunning and controversial art piece. Certainly one of the most visually magnificent films of recent years (cinematographer Virginie Saint-Martin) ‘Gilles’ Wife’ succeeds on every level: the story is unique, the direction is liquid and languorous, and the cast is superlative.Read More »

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