Feature Narrative and Documentaries Downtown
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.
