International Film Series

Spring 2008

Thursday Evenings, 7:30 p.m.

Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater, Bowling Green SU

Sponsored by the Office of the Provost

Organized by the Department of German, Russian & East Asian Languages

24 January

Water Boys
Director: Yaguchi Shinobu
(2001) Japan, 91 minutes

It's springtime in Japan and the Tadano High School boys’ swim team is doing poorly when a pretty new coach comes with the novel idea of forming a synchronized team. She has just a few problems to overcome before the team is tested in the autumn.

31 January

Kuutyuu Teien (Hanging Garden)
Director: Toyoda Toshiaki
(2005) Japan, 113 min.

The members of a family that professes to keep no secrets in fact have, each of them, potentially devastating secrets. The mother, Eriko, who is most adamant about openness, turns out to be the worst offender and faces separation from her family.

7 February

La Haine (Hate)

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz

(1995) France, 97 minutes

One day in the lives of three young men in a French suburban ghetto. Vinz, a Jew, Saïd, an Arab, and Hubert, a black boxer have grown up in the mixed projects whose residents are often at odds with the police. “…One of the most blisteringly effective pieces of urban cinema ever made” (Wendy Ide, The London Times). 2008 is the European Year of Intercultural Dialog.

14 February

Pacchigi (We Shall Overcome Someday)
Director: Izutsu Kazuyuki
(2004) Japan, 119 minutes

Tumultuous 1960s relations between Koreans in Japan and the Japanese provide the backdrop for ethnic tensions between two high schools that flare into open confrontation. A friendly visit and soccer match are supposed to smooth things over, but it is music that provides the key.

21 February

Linda Linda Linda

Director: Yamashita Nobuhiro

(2005) Japan, 114 minutes

A film about contemporary Japanese young adults. A female band at a suburban Tokyo high school has a crisis that causes them to draw closer together and brings a new member, a Korean exchange student, into their group. Preparations for the big show almost are for naught.

28 February

Tsuki wa docchi ni dete iru (All under the Moon)

Director: Sai Yoichi

(1993) Japan, 109 minutes

A North Korean born in Japan and driving a taxi for a Tokyo company owned by his old classmate is blithe to others’ problems and prejudices, striving only to meet the right woman. When he thinks he has—she is from the Phillipines—events take a turn for the worse.

13 March

Oberst Redl (Colonel Redl)

Director: István Szabó

(Austria, Germany, Hungary), 1985, 144 minuties

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of an ambitious young officer’s rise and fall in the imperial secret police. Script co-written by Oscar Award-winning (Tom Jones, 1963) John Osborne. Stars Klaus Maria Brandauer.

20 March

Plata quemada (Burnt Money)

Director: Marcelo Piñeyro

(2004) Argentina, 125 minutes

Based on the story of a spectacular 1965 crime spree by the young and sexy Angel and Sam, inseparable killers, which terrified Argentina and Uruguay for two months. The film is thriller about their exploits and love for each other. Their story is now legendary.

27 March

Danzón

Director: María Novaro

(2001) Mexico, 120 minutes

For admirers of dance and romance. A telephone worker finds fulfillment on the dance floor in a film that elegantly blends flourishes of precision and passion, vibrant tropical color, female empowerment and appeal to tradition.

3 April

The Venetian Dilemma

Producers: Carole and Richard Rifkind

(2005) U.S., 56 minutes

Historic and beautiful Venice through the eyes of four ordinary residents opposed to city hall’s plans for development. This documentary depicts an elegant city threatened by, among other things, the demands of fourteen million tourists a year. The showing anticipates Earth Day later (22nd) in April, and is in the spirit of the U.N. proclamation of 2008 as “International Year of Planet Earth.”

and

Portret (Portrait)

Director: Sergei Loznitsa

(2002) Russia, 28 mins.

An award-winning documentary film from Russian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, Portrait is an evocative snapshot of a vanishing way of life, a timeless film about human dignity and grace in nature.

10 April

Russkii kovcheg (Russian Ark)

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov

(2002), Russia, 96 minutes

The invisible contemporary filmmaker embarks on time travel along with the Marquis de Custine from the early 1700s in St. Petersburg’s Winter Place/Hermitage Museum. A breathtaking view of Russian history, exploring the splendid palace-museum and witnessing vivid scenes from the imperial past. A feature-length film shot in a single take.