Film Reviews

A response to the failure of the American mass media to provide the public with relevant and accurate information about the standoff between the US and Iran, as happened before with the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. We have heard that Iran is a nuclear menace in defiance of the international community, bent on "wiping Israel off the map", supporting terrorism, and unwilling to negotiate. This documentary disputes these claims as they are presented to us and puts them in the context of present and historical US imperialism and hypocrisy with respect to Iran. It looks at the struggle for democracy inside Iran, the consequences of the current escalation and the potential US and/or Israeli attack, and suggests some alternatives to consider.

According to Harun Farocki, today's photographers working in advertising are, in a way, continuing the tradition of 17th century Flemish painters in that they depict objects from everyday life - the "still life". The filmmaker illustrates this intriguing hypothesis with three documentary sequences which show the photographers at work creating a contemporary "still life": a cheese-board, beer glasses and an expensive watch.

In 1942, in an occupied Paris, the apolitical grocer Edmond Batignole lives with his wife and daughter in a small apartment in the building of his grocery. When his future son-in-law and collaborator of the German Pierre-Jean Lamour calls the Nazis to arrest the Jewish Bernstein family, they move to the confiscated apartment. Some days later, the young Simon Bernstein escapes from the Germans and comes to his former home. When Batignole finds him, he feels sorry for the boy and lodges him, hiding Simon from Pierre-Jean and also from his wife. Later, two cousins of Simon meet him in the cellar of the grocery. When Pierre-Jean finds the children, Batignole decides to travel with the children to Switzerland.

Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.

To impress his fiancee's aunt, a young man tries to become king in a small kingdom, but the people there have already crowned one, who has won this honor by gambling. So he plans a coup d'etat. He tries to achieve this with a bomb, but then something goes wrong...

A young Glaswegian prostitute in London tries to start a new life.

In a twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast tale, Isabelle is all beauty--on the outside. A glamour-queen socialite, she spends her days spoiling herself and spending money like it's going out of style. When Isabelle injures herself and gets lost in an isolated winter land, she stumbles on the solitude of Jeremy, a man hiding from both the world and his past. He's the first person to put Isabelle in her place, and Isabelle realizes she might be more beast than she wants to admit. Through Jeremy's influence, she begins to change--and fall in love. But will she revert to the beast and give up her chance at real love when she returns home?

A portrait of a deserted fisherman's village in Northern Norway called Børfjord - a place with an incredible personality in the middle of a magnificent Arctic nature. The 12 minute short film was filmed in 70mm Super Panavision, using a specially developed "nature animation" technique. The result is a magic flight in one single shot, along the remains of an internal village road. At the same time a whole year passes by at 50 000 times normal speed! Most of the year, the village of Børfjord lies empty with virgin snow between cold houses. People show up only during a short and hectic summer season. But the cycles of nature go on as they have always done, totally independent of what people might do.

Three men and their accidental meeting on a bridge will change their lives forever.

A chronicle of the Russian and Mexican revolutions in the early 20th century.

In the future, America is a dystopian wasteland. The latest scourge is Ma-Ma, a prostitute-turned-drug pusher with a dangerous new drug and aims to take over the city. The only possibility of stopping her is an elite group of urban police called Judges, who combine the duties of judge, jury and executioner to deliver a brutal brand of swift justice. But even the top-ranking Judge, Dredd, discovers that taking down Ma-Ma isn’t as easy as it seems in this explosive adaptation of the hugely popular comic series.

A recovering alcoholic film director tries for a comeback in Rome.

Pahwa is a film buff. He watches every new release in the night show on the first day itself. Just as he readies himself to visit a nearby theatre to catch the new release Darna Mana Hai, his mother cautions him against taking the route via the graveyard. It also happens to be Friday the 13th and Amavas ki raat (new moon). Pahwa dismisses his mother's plea since he doesn't believe in ghosts and goes through the graveyard, making fun of the dead and hitting a tree in the cemetery. The movie is boring and ends with no incident, but on the way back, for some reason he's a little more nervous than usual. He hears strange noises and someone seems to be pursuing him.

Documentary about the discovery of the largest T-Rex fossil found.

An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.