Film Reviews

Three stories dealing with three men and their stance towards life, given their personal background. All stories are held in Northern Greece (Macedonia and Thrace), covering all the spectrum from urban to rural settings.

In this true story told through flashbacks, Christy Brown is born with crippling cerebral palsy into a poor, working-class Irish family. Able only to control movement in his left foot and to speak in guttural sounds, he is mistakenly believed to be retarded for the first ten years of his life.

A prequel to the critically acclaimed series featuring Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie, ex-con who returns to high school in a bid to start her life over.

A feature documentary film set in Hollywood, examining a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. The Source Family were the darlings of the Sunset Strip until their communal living, outsider ideals and spiritual leader Father Yod's 13 wives became an issue with local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.

A small group of cosmic explorers leave Earth to find freedom and start a new civilization.

An obsessed fan and his mother kidnap former 'scream queens' and force them to reenact their famous film roles...with deadly results.

School nerd Bill just wants to save the world and to score a date with cheerleader babe Chrissie Schackler. Both become real possibilities when he finds an alcoholic Leprechaun in a beer bottle he was about to recycle. Wacky hijinks ensue as the leprechaun, Lepkey, messes up a few of the wishes. Can Bill fight off school jock Tony Chanuka and marry Chrissie so they can fulfill their dream of opening a clinic?

The controversial true story of a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor.

"Diamond Dogs" is the story of a group of American fortune hunters, who come to China looking for a long-lost-treasure. During the Soviet crack-down on religion in the 1930's, a priceless Buddhist artifact, a Tangka was taken across the border to China and hidden in the mountains. The diamonds alone, decorating this huge gold-inlaid textile, are thought to be worth $50 million. The fortune hunters

A young man and woman meet by chance in an airport while waiting for a delayed flight. When the plane is rerouted, they decide to make the best of it, and over the course of one night, realize that sometimes it takes a detour to make a connection. Written by Rebecca Green

The Invitation, a 2003 movie starring Lance Henriksen. When an author invites his friends to his home on a private island, the guests realize they've been poisoned at dinner. The only way to receive the antidote from their twisted host will be to confess to all the lies they've ever told.

Daryl gets out of jail after 5 years. His mother has died, his girlfriend is married, and he can't find a job. His new girlfriend Vanessa, whom he meets when a gunman opens fire on them, gets him a job as a car driver. Hitmen are still after them, and Vanessa tells Daryl that this is her former lover Ahmad who wants revenge.

In 1996, Marcello Mastroianni talks about life as an actor. It's an anecdotal and philosophical memoir, moving from topic to topic, fully conscious of a man "of a certain age" looking back. He tells stories about Fellini and De Sica's direction, of using irony in performances, of constantly working (an actor tries to find himself in characters). He's diffident about prizes, celebrates Rome and Paris, salutes Naples and its people. He answers the question, why make bad films; recalls his father and grandfather, carpenters, his mother, deaf in her old age, and his brother, a film editor; he's modest about his looks. In repose, time's swift passage holds Mastroianni inward gaze.

This exhilarating two-part film (“Soldier Ivan Brovkin” and “Ivan Brovkin on the State Farm”) presented to the country a new national hero – kind, modest, charming and… ne’er-do-well. That “ne’er-do-well-ness” proved “Kharitonov’s special key to audiences’ hearts”. Following Brovkin’s appearance on the screen, Kharitonov had become a star of the national cinema, an idol for millions of people. His incredible popularity may be compared to that of another national hero – the world’s first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. And not surprisingly, it was Kharitonov who made a cameo appearance going up the festival stairs and followed with the adoring eyes of the heroines in V. Menshov’s Oscar-winning melodrama “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”.

Juno Mak’s debut feature Rigor Mortis is an eerie and chilling, contemporary action- and special effects-laden homage to the classic Chinese vampire movies of the 1980s.