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Check out these intriguing, original DVD projected films. Film Forum is for anyone who
wants to experience outstanding independent films where they live. An independent film (or
indie film) is a film produced without the support of a major movie studio or a big
budget. Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth
of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Most of these films we show do not receive a national release despite critical acclaim
and awards at Cannes, Sundance and other top film festivals. As a result, most of us don't
get to see many of the year's best films. Foreign, independent, shorts, and full-length
films in all genres are now in our collection.
Full Length Films
FAMILIA
Michele, a divorced aerobics instructor with a gambling
addiction, loses her job and seeks refuge with a childhood friend, Janine, who lives in a
seemingly comfortable middle-class suburban neighborhood. Michele's rebellious teenage
daughter, Marguerite, and Janine's shy and reserved daughter, Gabrielle, become friends,
leading to unforeseen tensions that force both generations to reassess their values.
Familia explores the question of how value systems are passed on from mother to daughter
and asks: Is it possible to avoid passing on to our children those traits that we despise
in our parents? 102 min. Drama, not rated. Canadian. French with English subtitles.
DAY BREAK
In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to
Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender’s life.
Day Break, based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran s century-old
prison, revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder.
When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day,
Mansour’s execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his
own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death,
retribution and forgiveness. 85 min. Drama, not rated. Iran; English
subtitles.
AALTRA
This irreverent road movie, comedians Benoît Delépine and
Gustave Kervern, who wrote, directed, and co-star, show a distinct flair for understated
physical comedy and defiantly non-PC humor.
Rural neighbors who hate each other come to blows one day on a farm and get tangled up in
an agricultural tractor, leaving them both paralyzed, wheelchair-bound, and simmering with
spite. But rather than feel sorry for themselves, the embittered paraplegics decide to
seek revenge against the tractor’s manufacturer. They take to the road, redirecting
their frustrations with their plights towards the people they meet on the way to Helsinki.
Captured in sharp black-and-white Cinemascope photography that complements its exquisite
Tati-like sight gags, AALTRA undermines conventional attitudes toward the disabled with
its dry wit and acerbic, vengeful characters. Look for some recognizable cameos, including
famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. 92 minutes, comedy, not rated.
Belgium; English subtitles.
THE FOREST FOR THE TREES
Bursting with idealism, Melanie Pröschle, a young teacher
from the countryside, starts her first job at a high school in the city. Desperate to
fulfill her hopes, Melanie intends to do everything the right way. Politely she introduces
herself to her neighbors with homemade schnapps. At her first day of school she gives a
very ambitious speech for her colleagues. She wants to be a “fresh breeze” to
the school, but it is not easy to start a new life, as Melanie copes with loneliness,
established teachers and ninth grade students. 81 minutes, drama, not rated.
Germany (German with English subtitles).
HAWAII, OSLO
Hawaii, Oslo is the story of a handful of desperate people
whose paths cross on the hottest day of the year in Oslo. Frode and Milla have their first
child, but learn he will not live long without an expensive operation they cannot afford.
Bobbie-Pop is a faded singer who tries to commit suicide. Leon is an institutionalized
mental patient, who hopes to keep a 10-year-old date on his birthday with his teenage
sweetheart. Leon`s brother, Trygve, gets a weekend leave from prison to be with Leon on
his birthday, but plans on using the furlough to escape. Overseeing Leon and protecting
him is his guardian angel Vidar, Leon`s best buddy at the institution, who sees things no
one else can see, and who may be able to save everyone - except himself…
125 minutes, drama, not rated. adult content.
Norway (Norwegian).
ANYTOWN, USA
All politics is local in this hilarious burlesque of a
documentary following a tightly-run mayoral race in the small town of Bogota, New Jersey.
When the much-reviled--and legally blind--Republican incumbent Steven Lonegan boldly
announces he will run for re-election, the citizens of Bogota go on the offensive to
unseat him. Enter Democrat Fred Pesce, coaxed from retirement to share the ticket. With
his health in question, and his politics compared to those of Tony Soprano, the field is
wide open for sight-challenged town booster and former local football hero Dave Musikant
to step in as a long-shot write-in independent candidate--officially making it the only
mayoral race in the nation where two of the three candidates are legally blind! Add to the
mix the machinations of Jesse "The Body" Ventura`s campaign manager, and
Anytown, USA resonates as an all-too-familiar look at the charade of partisan politics in
our increasingly polarized nation.
93 minutes, documentary, not rated. USA (English).
LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN
A film by David Petersen. Here is what the Academy Award Nominated Director has to say
about the film: "In conducting our research for Let the Church Say Amen, we looked at
over 400 small churches in both New York and the Nation's Capitol, searching or the one
church that astonished us, that had the kind of leadership, outreach, and commitment to
its community to represent the thousands of small churches that strengthen cities across
the country."
90 minutes, not rated; adult situations and language.
United States (English).
CAMPFIRE
From the director of Time of Favor (winner of six Israeli
Academy Awards, including Best Picture, 2000), comes Campfire, a story of one woman's
personal journey, but also a portrait of a movement that has forever affected millions of
lives in the Middle East. The year is 1981. Rachel Gerlik, a 42 year-old widowed mother of
two beautiful teenage daughters, wants to join the founding group of a new religious
settlement in the West Bank. The problem is that the settlement's acceptance committee
won't approve her unless she remarries and demonstrates that she and her daughters can
meet the group's religious and ideological standards. When Tami, her youngest daughter, is
accused of seducing some boys from her youth movement, Rachel is forced to weigh her
allegiances. Only Yossi, a 50 year-old bachelor and the new man in Rachel's life, can show
Rachel that living as an outcast is not as bad as it seems.
96 min., not rated; adult situations and language. Israel (Hebrew with
English subtitles).
LE GRAND VOYAGE
A few weeks before his college entrance exams, Réda
(Nicolas Cazale), a young man who lives in the south of France, finds himself obligated to
drive his father to Mecca. The wide cultural and generational gap between the two is
worsened by their lack of communication. Réda finds it hard to accommodate his father,
who demands respect for himself and his pilgrimage. From France, through Italy, Serbia,
Turkey, Syria, Jordan to Saudi Arabia, the two embark on a road trip that will change
their lives.
108 min., not rated; adult situations & language. France/Morocco (Arabic &
French with English Subtitles).
AGATA AND THE STORM
A swirl of pop-art color, madcap magic, and the bittersweet
call of life and love. Director Soldini pays careful attention to his cast of characters
in this ensemble comedy, creating
suspense, laughter and tenderness. When Agata (Licia Maglietta), the popular bookshop
proprietor and dispenser of sunny wisdom in the form of books is suddenly wooed by a man
almost half her age, her electricity hits high-voltage. Yet it is Agata's joy and
magnetism in the face of life in all its irony that eventually offers the eye of the
storm.
118 min., not rated; adult situations & language. Italy (Italian with English
subtitles).
ROAD TO KOKTEBEL
A father sets off from Moscow with his 11 year old son for his sister's house in Koktebel
by the Black Sea. With no money nor means of transport, they drift through the expansive
and mesmeric landscapes at the mercy of chance. The father is content to drag his feet,
stopping occasionally for the odd job to raise money while the son impatiently dreams of
reaching the coast. For the father, the journey is an attempt to restore self-respect, to
piece together his broken life and win back the trust of his son. For the boy, the mythic
costal town holds the key to a new life and emancipation.
105 min., not rated; adult situations & language. Russia (Russian with English
subtitles).
DRIFTERS
Would-be immigrant Er Di is back in China, expelled from the United States for working
illegally. While in the U.S. he had fathered a child, and when his American-born son comes
to China for a visit, Er Di is barred from seeing him. At the same time, Er Di becomes
involved with the beautiful member of a touring Shanghai opera company. Caught between his
past and his future, his son's culture and his own, Er Di seeks bonds with both.
102 min., not rated; adult situations and language. China (Chinese with English
subtitles).
SPARE PARTS
Hard-drinking, chain-smoking Ludvik spends his nights
smuggling illegal refugees in his van from Croatia, across Slovenia, and into Italy.
The young and inexperienced Rudi is his new assistant. In a story straight from the
headlines, director Kozole refuses to paint the world in black and white, as Ludvik and
Rudi cope with life in a rundown town, home to the only nuclear power plant in the former
Yugoslavia.
84 min., not rated; adult situations & language. Slovenia (Slovenian with English subtitles).
FILM MOVEMENT SHORTS COMPILATION - ART OF THE SHORT FILM - (ONE DVD)
(Total running time approx. 106 minutes):
INJA aka DOG (Australia) - Steven Pasvolsky and Joe Weatherstone
On a South African farm during Apartheid, a white landowner makes a brutal effort to sever
the ties between a black boy and his puppy. 17 minutes. Nominated, Academy Award®
SANGAM (USA/India) Prashant Bhargava
Raj has arrived from India to find the American Dream. Vivek is a disillusioned Indian
American. On an NYC subway they confront what binds, divides and drives them. 24 minutes.
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival
MT. HEAD aka ATAMA YAMA (Japan) Koji Yamamura
A stingy man eats some cherry seeds, only to find that a cherry tree has grown from his
head. 10 minutes. Nominated, Academy Award®
DAS RAD aka ROCKS (Germany) Chris Stenner and Heidi Wittlinger. Two rocks - Hew
and Kew - stand on the hilltop they have occupied for centuries, discussing the frantic
activities of the human beings below them. 9 minutes. Nominated, Academy Award®
THE FIRST THREE LIVES OF STUART HORNSLEY (USA) Leigh Dana Jackson
Stuart Hornsley discovers a way to travel through time. His mission: to right what was
wrong with his true love at the one moment where he can change his destiny. Starring Tunde
Adebimpe, the lead singer for the acclaimed band, TV on the Radio. 30 minutes. World
Premiere, Florida Film Festival
DEATHDEALER: A DOCUMENTARY (USA)
Andy Watts
A camera crew follows a dissatisfied salesman traveling door-to-door on his daily routine.
Darkly funny mockumentary stars Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins. 16 minutes. Official
Selection, Avignon Film Festival
Mohawk Valley Center for The Arts
401 South Ann Street, Little Falls NY 13365
Tel: 315.823.0808
 Copyright © 2005-2006 Mohawk Valley Center for the
Arts.
All Rights Reserved.
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