The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will screen eight of the nine films selected to advance in the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards® and in partnership with Telefilm Canada will screen 12 Canadian features. The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is scheduled from January 3-14, 2013.
The foreign language films on the Oscar shortlist, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Amour (Austria), Director Michael Haneke
War Witch (Canada), Director Kim Nguyen
A Royal Affair (Denmark), Director Nikolaj Arcel
The Intouchables (France),Director Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
The Deep (Iceland), Director Baltasar Kormákur
Kon-Tiki (Norway), Director Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Beyond the Hills (Romania), Director Christian Mungiu
Sister (Switzerland), Director Ursula Meier
The Canadian film line-up includes:
Camion (Canada) – Refreshingly honest and precisely observed, this Quebecois drama examines the lives of a trucker and his two estranged sons after the former is involved in a terrible crash. Director: Rafaël Ouellet. Cast: Julien Poulin, Patrice Dubois, Stéphane Breton, Jacob Tierney, Noemie Godin-Vigneau.
The End of Time (Canada/Switzerland) – A meditative, free-associative but entirely engrossing contemplation of the nature of time by the innovative non-fiction filmmaker Peter Mettler. Director: Peter Mettler. Cast: George Mikenberg, Jack Thompson, Richie Hawtin, Rajeev Agrawal, Julia Mettler.
The Final Member (Canada/Iceland/Italy/USA) – Forget Hollywood, the funniest comedy of the year may be this documentary about the Icelandic Phallological Museum. That’s right, a penis museum. Join “Siggi” Hjartarson on his quest to find the one thing that will make his museum complete – a human penis. Director: Jonah Bekhor, Zach Math.
The Fruit Hunters (Canada) – Environmental docs come in all shapes and sizes, but you won’t have seen any as appetizing as this sensual, seductive tribute to nature’s sweetest bounty. Join Bill Pullman and the fruit detectives in their quest for a wider world of taste sensation. Director: Yung Chang. Cast: Bill Pullman. US Ppremiere.
Inch’Allah (Canada) – Every day young Canadian obstetrician Chloe crosses the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, fraternizing with locals on both sides of the border but increasingly pushed towards taking a stand of her own. A thoughtful, humane take on the Israel/Palestine divide. Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.Cast: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Sivan Levy, Yousef Sweid. International Premiere.
Inescapable (Canada/South Africa) – Rubba Nadda follows her hit Cairo Time with this timely thriller about a father returning to Syria to try to find his missing daughter. Director: Ruba Nadda. Cast: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Saad Siddiqui. International Premiere.
Laurence Anyways (Canada/France) – Xavier Dolan’s terrifically stylish love story is set in 1990s Montreal and stars Melvil Poupaud as a transgender man whose decade-long relationship with his lover Frédérique makes for a dazzling and entertaining mini-epic. Director: Xavier Dolan. Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye, Monia Chokri.
Margarita (Canada) – A cash-strapped middle-class Toronto family reluctantly fires their Mexican-born nanny Margarita, only to discover just how indispensable she really is. Unfortunately she is also illegal, which makes everything that much stickier in this quirky lesbian-themed comedy-drama. Director: Laurie Colbert, Dominique Cardona. Cast: Nicola Correia Damude, Patrick McKenna, Christine Horne, Claire Lautier, Maya Ritter, Marco Grazzini.
Midnight’s Children (Canada/UK) – Salman Rushdie adapts his own monumental novel – a picaresque that doubles as a history of modern India – into a rich, sprawling, unruly movie, full of romance, satire, magic and anger. Director: Deepa Mehta. Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Rahul Bose, Ronit Roy, Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Charles Dance.
Molly Maxwell (Canada) – Molly Maxwell is a precocious 16-year-old who attends an alternative school where every student is perceived to be a prodigy. Molly develops a close relationship with a young teacher who opens her world but the relationship potentially threatens her future. Director: Sara St. Onge. Cast: Lola Tash, Charlie Carrick, Krista Bridges, Rob Stewart. World Premiere.
Still (Canada) – An exquisite love story wrapped in a classic tale of modernity versus tradition. James Cromwell plays a farmer who is determined to provide a comfortable home for his ailing wife and is confronted by the realities of their situation. Director: Michael McGowan. Cast: James Cromwell, Genevieve Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart. US Premiere.
War Witch (Canada) – Canada’s Foreign Language Oscar submission, this award-winning, harrowing tale of a young African girl’s kidnap by rebel soldiers features an astonishing performance by its non-professional lead. Punctuated with moments of magic and wonder, this is a powerful testament to human resilience in the darkest of times. Director: Kim Nguyen. Cast: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper, Mizinga Mwinga.