Confirmed Titles for Cinemapolis and Fall Creek Shows

Most screenings feature discussion with scholars, writers, activists, local businesses and filmmakers, as well as public forums!

Friday, April 4; Saturday April 5; and Sunday April 6

4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) (Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007; 113 min.) Set in a single day in Romania, this film tells the story of Gabita as she obtains an illegal abortion and the trials of her friend and accomplice, Otilia. It portrays not only the characters’ personal misery but also the drab grimness of life in the former Communist country. This film was the winner of the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Band's Visit (Eran Kolirin, Israel, 2007; 87 min.) When the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra flies from Egypt to Israel to perform at the opening of an Arab culture center, they are left stranded at the airport. Their leader, Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai), orders the handsome violinist, Khaled (Saleh Bakri), to solve their predicament, but it turns out that he’s gotten the wrong information. As a result, all eight members are left standing alone in a quiet desert town far from their intended destination with no way to get where they need to go. When the band leaves in the morning for their next intended destination, it is clear that their unplanned detour was worth the trip. In the wrong hands, this material could turn into a quirk-fest that parodies everyday life. Yet under Kolirin’s assured command, it becomes like life itself.

Caramel (Nadine Labaki, Lebanon, 2008; 95 min.) This film is a drama-comedy movie set in Beirut. The story is about five women who meet regularly in a beauty salon, a colorful and sensual microcosm of the city where several generations come together to talk to and confide in each other. In the salon, their intimate and liberated conversations revolve around men, sex, and motherhood between haircuts and sugar waxing with caramel.

Chop Shop(Ramin Bahrani, United States,  2007; 85 min.) After his auspicious debut (Man Push Cart), Ramin Bahrani sets his story of a 12-year-old Latino boy and his older sister in the no-man’s-land of Willet’s Point, Queens, a 20-block stretch of junkyards and chop shops (where stolen cars are dismantled for parts). It is overshadowed by Shea Stadium’s giant billboard: “Make Dreams Happen.” The film conjures up an outsider’s reality with  palpable compassion and realism. Without a smidgeon of sentimentality, Chop Shop suggests that for many, New York City is closer to a third world country than the glittering jewel in the crown of a land of infinite opportunity. WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR RAMIN BAHRANI

City of Men (Paul Morelli , Brazil, 2008; 110 min) In City of Men, producer Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardner) returns to the Brazilian favelas of his Academy Award-nominated film, "City of God." Growing up in a culture dictated by violence and run by street gangs, teenagers Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha) have become close as brothers. With their eighteenth birthdays fast approaching, Laranjinha sets out to find the father he never met, while Acerola struggles to raise his own young son. But when they suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a gang war, the lifelong friends are forced to confront a shocking secret from their shared past

The Counterfeiters (Stefan Ruzowitzky, Austria, 2007; 98 min)  The true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog. Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones.    2008 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film

Grass (Ernest B. Schoedsack, United States, 1925; 71 min.) This documentary follows the journey of 50,000 members of the Bakhtiari, a poor nomadic tribe in Iran, as they herd their livestock up snow-covered mountain passes—barefoot—to get to the grazing lands on the other side of the mountains before their animals die from hunger. Director Schoedsack went on to direct King Kong. The film is a classic and is considered one of the greatest documentary films of all time. With a live film score written and performed by Chris White, Peter Dodge, and Robby Aceto  co-presented with the Ithaca Motion Picture Project, the art, science and history of filmmaking in central New York

Honeydripper (John Sayles, United States, 2007; 122 min.) Iconoclastic filmmaker John Sayles, in his 16th feature film, continues his extraordinary examination of the complexities and shifting identities of American subcultures in this new film. With his usual understated intelligence, Sayles uses the rhythms of the citizens of Harmony, Alabama, to immerse the audience into the world of the Jim Crow south. It’s a fable about the birth of rock ’n’ roll—a quintessentially American subject—but with a fidelity to time and temperament that is unusual in an American director.

It (Clarence G. Badger, United States, 1927; 72 min.) In this silent film that defined the career of Clara Bow and launched the phenomenon of the flapper, Bow, as shopgirl Betty Lou, is a young woman with plenty of “it” (i.e., sex appeal). She has designs on Cyrus Waltham, the handsome owner of the department store where she works. Camouflaging herself as attracted to Waltham’s friend Monty, she accepts a date, under the condition that they dine at the Ritz, where Waltham also has a dinner engagement that evening. The plan works, and Waltham falls under her spell, until a misunderstanding sends things awry. With live jazz music performed by Fee Nunn and Friends  co-presented with the Ithaca Motion Picture Project, the art, science and history of filmmaking in central New York

The Last Conquistador (John Valadez, United States, 2008; 60 min.) A world-famous sculptor builds the largest statue of its kind ever created in human history, but Native Americans believe it is a monument to genocide and white supremacy. Literally caught in-between are the people of El Paso, Texas, where the statue is being constructed. They are the conflicted sons and daughters of both the Indians who were enslaved and the Spanish who brutalized them. Protests, conflicting versions of history, and an artist’s quixotic quest transform this isolated border town in unexpected ways. WITH DIRECTOR JOHN VALADEZ

Man Push Cart (Ramin Bahrani, United States, 2005)  Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi)is a former Pakistani rock singer who ekes out a living selling coffee and donuts to morning commuters from his push cart in Midtown Manhattan. Ahmad supplements his income by selling bootleg porn DVDs, carefully saving his money to afford a place where he might be able to live with his estranged young son. The dull routine of his life is brightened by two developments: the arrival of a young Spanish woman (Leticia Dolera) working down the street in a newspaper kiosk; and an offer of assistance from a wealthy fellow Pakistani (Charles Daniel Sandoval), who remembers Ahmad's former life as a rock star. Beautifully observed, Man Push Cart  is a haunting and insightful feature that  reveals a rarely depicted community in the Big Apple with strong central performances and stunning photography. WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR RAMIN BAHRANI

The Price of Sugar (Bill Haney, United States/Dominican Republic, 2007; 90 min.) Narrated by Paul Newman, this documentary profiles the courageous Father Christopher Hartley, a priest who travels to the Dominican Republic and finds himself trying to stop a modern-day slavery operation. Thousands of Haitian men are forced to work in inhumane conditions to harvest sugar cane for obscenely rich sugar barons. Standing up in the face of multiple death threats, Father Hartley bravely teaches these dispossessed workers to stand up for themselves and improve their lives.  Followed by a FLEFF Forum on Gastronomica and Labor. Co-presented with Gimme Coffee

Scouts Are Canceled (John Scott, Canada/United States, 2007; 72 min.) One day John Stiles—a middle-aged writer down on his luck and working as a telemarketer in Toronto—lost it. Finger on the dial button, he threw away his prewritten telemarketer script and launched into the character and accent from his rural upbringing in Nova Scotia. His next customer was greeted with, “Mrs. Farrell, you are tighter than a mouse’s hole stretched over a barrel—give ’er a whirl, girl—you got nothing to lose,” accompanied by the sounds of sirens, dogs, and Ski-Doos. He won a DVD player for making the most sales that month. Subsequently he decided to start going to open-mike readings, developed a cult following, and then published two books with Insomniac Press. Director John Scott, who has known Stiles for 20 years, intelligently crafts a nonlinear approach to this documentary that highlights the medium of film, much as Stiles’s writing plays with the formal aspects of poetry. WITH DIRECTOR JOHN SCOTT

Steamboat Bill Jr. (Charles Reisner, United States, 1928; 71 min.) This was one of the last—and also one of the best—of Buster Keaton’s great silent films. Keaton plays the role of an educated, effete son. Accident-prone, highly educated, and also seemingly simpleminded, he initially disappoints his burly, red-necked, hard-working Mississippi steamboat captain father. But together they fend off the threatening efforts of a rival tycoon to take over the Mississippi steamboat business in the South. Keaton saves the day and wins the heart of the business rival’s daughter. The final hurricane scene is considered one of the most spectacular special effects sequences in film history. With live Americana music performed by the Common Railers

Steep (Mark Obenhaus, United States, 2007; 92 min.) This is a feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism, and the pursuit of a perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big mountain skiing, a sport that barely existed 35 years ago. It started in the 1970s in the mountains above Chamonix, France, where skiers began to attempt ski descents so extreme that they appeared almost suicidal. Men like Anselme Baud and Patrick Vallencant were inspired by the challenge of skiing where no one thought to ski before. Now, two generations later, some of the world’s greatest skiers pursue a sport where the prize is not winning but simply experiencing the exhilaration of skiing and exploring big, wild, remote mountains.

Summer Palace (Lou Ye, China, 2008; 140 min.) Country girl Yu Hong leaves her village to study in Beijing. At university, she falls madly in love with fellow student Zhou Wei. Driven by passion that neither can control, their relationship becomes one of dangerous games. All around them, their fellow students begin to demonstrate, demanding democracy and freedom. As the protests collapse, Yu and Zhou lose each other amidst the social chaos and panicked crowds. Zhou Wei is sent to a military camp and upon his release moves to Berlin. Meantime, Yu finds a job and a lover, but still she cannot forget Zhou.

Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney, United States, 2007; 106 min.)  The 2008 Academy Awardwinning documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), this film focuses around the controversial death of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base. The film further examines in detail America’s policy on torture and interrogation, specifically the CIA’s use of torture based upon research into sensory deprivation. This is said to be the first film to contain images taken within Bagram Air Base.

Terror’s Advocate (Barbet Schroeder, France, 2007; 132 min.) What convictions guide the moral mind of Jacques Vergès? Barbet Schroeder takes us down history’s darkest paths in his attempt to illuminate the mystery behind this enigmatic figure. As a young lawyer during the Algerian war, Vergès espoused the anti-colonialist cause and defended Djamila Bouhired, “la Pasionaria,” who bore her country’s hopes for freedom on her shoulders and was sentenced to death for planting bombs in cafés. Vergès obtained Bouhired’s release, married her, and had two children with her. Then Vergès disappeared without trace for eight years. He reemerged, taking on the defense of terrorists of all kinds from Magdalena Kopp to Carlos the Jackal. He represented historical monsters such as Nazi lieutenant Klaus Barbie. Barbet Schroeder follows the winding trail left by this “devil’s advocate” as he forges his unique path in law and politics.

War/Dance (Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, United States, 2007; 105 min.) Chief among the victims of the ongoing warfare in northern Ugandan are the country's children. Three students in the Patongo refugee camp, all victims of terrible violence and losses, nevertheless prepare to enter a music competition that offers them a lifeline of hope. For Nancy, Rose, and Dominic, a former child soldier, the contest provides a welcome respite from the desperate circumstances of their daily lives.