Foreign Language Films

Sundance Selects will release acclaimed filmmaker Claire Denis’ BASTARDS in the US on October 25, 2013.  The film, which made its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, will make its U.S. premiere next month at the 2013 New York Film Festival, following a North American Premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. 

BASTARDS follows Marco Silvestri, a captain on a container-ship who is called urgently back to Paris by his desperate sister Sandra. Sandra’s husband has committed suicide, the family business has gone under, her daughter has gone adrift – and she holds powerful businessman Edouard Laporte responsible. Determined to exact a terrible revenge for the violence done to his family, Marco moves into the building where Laporte’s mistress Raphaelle lives; but he can’t avoid Sandra’s secret manipulations… or the fact that he is falling in love with Raphaelle.

http://youtu.be/WY6RkbAt6D8

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Sundance Selects will release Abdellatif Kechiche’s 2013 Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or Winner BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR with the MPAA rating of NC-17 in the United States, as opposed to trimming the film or releasing the film Unrated.  Starring Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, the film is being rated NC-17 for “explicit sexual content.” Sundance Selects will release the film in theaters beginning on October 25, 2013, on the heels of screening as part of the 2013 New York Film Festival.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR centers on a 15-year-old girl named Adèle (Exarchopoulos) who is climbing to adulthood and dreams of experiencing her first love. A handsome male classmate falls for her hard, but an unsettling erotic reverie upsets the romance before it begins. Adèle imagines that the mysterious, blue-haired girl she encountered in the street slips into her bed and possesses her with an overwhelming pleasure. That blue-haired girl is a confident older art student named Emma (Seydoux), who will soon enter Adèle’s life for real, making way for an intense and complicated love story that spans a decade and is touchingly universal in its depiction.

An NC-17 rated motion picture is one that, in the view of the Rating Board, most parents would consider patently too adult for their children 17 and under. No children under the age of 17 and under can be admitted into theaters to see the film. The rating signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience. An NC-17 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other element that most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children. The film received a rating of “12″ by the French Ministry of Culture, which indicates the film is unsuitable only for children younger than 12 years of age in that country.

When BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR won the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes film festival, Jury president Steven Spielberg called the film “a great love story that made all of us feel privileged to be a fly on the wall, to see this story of deep love and deep heartbreak evolve from the beginning. We didn’t think about how it was going to play, we just were really happy that someone had the courage to tell this story the way he did…The issue of gay marriage is one that many brave states in America are resolving in a way that suits all of us that are in favor of gay marriage. But I think actually this film carries a very strong message, a very positive message.”

http://youtu.be/LW1UfYdtcHg

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AFTERMATH, winner of the Yad Vashem Award at the 2013 Jerusalem Film Festival and the Critics’ Prize at the 2012 Gdynia Film Festival in Poland, will open at Lincoln Plaza in New York on November 1st, and at The Royal and other Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles on November 8. A national release will follow.

AFTERMATH, written and directed by Władysław Pasikowski, tells the story of two brothers, Jozek (Maciej Stuhr) and Franek (Ireneusz Czop) who discover a secret and are forced to revise their perception of their father, their entire family, their neighbors, and the history of their nation. Franek, the older brother, returns home to Poland after many years living in Chicago and discovers that his younger brother is being mysteriously threatened and shunned by local townspeople. What follows is a gothic tale of intrigue as the brothers are drawn into investigating the village’s dark secrets.

Upon the release of this film in its native Poland, AFTERMATH received intense criticism from Polish nationals, who accused the film of being “anti-Polish propaganda” and a gross manipulation of historical truth. AFTERMATH has so riled the Polish right wing that it has been banned from some local cinemas, while its leading actor, Maciej Stuhr, has received death threats.

http://youtu.be/KZapH2vo-cs

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Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of Japan’s leading comedians returns to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival with R100, following earlier TIFF premieres of his previous films BIG MAN JAPAN (2007) and SYMBOL (2009). The title of R100 is a word play on the Japanese ratings system, suggesting that the viewer should be at least 100 years old to see the film. Mr. Matsumoto thought of the title while doing publicity for his previous film SCABBARD SAMURAI. With R100, he wants to challenge the concept of rating, or any kind of judgment, of films–which he explores in a tongue-in-cheek subplot about the filmmaking process.

The universe that Mr. Matsumoto created for R100 is decidedly kinky. He dives headlong into the world of sexual fantasies, bypassing the usual fetish clichés. In a hilarious performance as a dead-pan, no-nonsense police officer, Matsumoto gets to ask the pivotal question: “What happens if you get what you asked for?”

A very ordinary man (Nao Omori) who takes care of his son while his wife lies in a coma, enters a very ordinary building. Following a seductive ride on a merry-go-round, he signs up with an exclusive club. Membership is one year only and cannot be cancelled under any circumstances.

Happily he endures dominatrix intrusions in his daily life, until they get a little too close to his unsuspecting family. With a courage not displayed in his professional life as a bed salesman, he tries to cancel his membership, evoking the wrath of the American CEO, who descends upon Tokyo to teach him a lesson…

The all-star cast includes Nao Omori of VIBRATOR (2003) and ICHI THE KILLER (2001), Mao Daichi, a renowned stage actress, Shinobu Terajima of CATAPILLAR (2010), Hairi Katagiri of KAMOME DINER (2006), Ai Tominaga, a Japanese supermodel, Eriko Sato of FUNUKE SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! (2007), and Hitoshi Matsumoto himself. Warner Bros Pictures releases the film in Japan on October 5.

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Felix

FELIX described as “the feel-good South African family movie” was the winner of the Audience Choice Best Film award at this year’s 34th Durban International Film Festival. Durban International Film Festival manager Peter Machen called Felix “a South African equivalent of Billy Elliott… a lovely, vibrant, feelgood film about a young township boy intent on following his dreams.”

In FELIX, 14-year-old Felix Xaba dreams of becoming a saxophonist like his late father, but his mother Lindiwe thinks jazz is the devil’s music. When Felix leaves his township friends to take up a scholarship for grade eight at an elitist private school, he defies his mother and turns to two aging members of his father’s old band to help him prepare for the school jazz concert.

Felix was created by a predominantly female creative team, with SAFTA Lifetime Achievement winner Roberta Durrant directing; and featured an all-star cast that included Joburg-born Oscar-nominee Dame Janet Suzman in her first South African film; South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) Best Actress winner Linda Sokhulu in her feature debut; and newcomer Hlayani Junior Mabasa, who was cast in the title role from over 400 auditions across the country.

http://youtu.be/4XC2YXTxuhQ

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The Colombian film “LA PLAYA DC“, an official selection at 2012 Cannes Film Festival, will open in NY on Friday July 19 for a one week run at reRun Theater in Brooklyn, NY. Directed by Juan Andres Arango, the film tells the story of Tomas (Luis Carlos GUEVARA), an Afro-Colombian teenager who fled the country’s Pacific coast pushed out by the war, faces difficulties of growing up in a city of exclusion and racism. When Jairo (Andrés MURILLO), his younger brother and closer friend disappear, Tomas is forced to leave his home to look for him.

With the help from his older brother Chaco (James SOLIS), Tomas plunges in the streets of the city. His search becomes an initiatory journey that compels him to face his past and to leave aside the influence of his brothers in order to find his own identity. Through this journey, Tomas reveals a unique perspective of a vibrant and unstable city that, like Tomas, stands on the threshold between what once was and what might be.

http://youtu.be/nJWLSGikowU

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See the the trailer for the wild and hilarious Bollywood bromantic comedy FUKREY that hits the big screen on June 14. This new film about four slackers in Delhi comes from the blockbuster producing duo of Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar whose recent hits include Talaash starring Aamir Khan, Don 2 with Shah Rukh Khan, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara starring Hrithik Roshan.

College. Three of the most important years of your life. Three years of studies (at times) and sheer indulgence. Indulgence in all the little pleasures that a carefree life has to offer. But it isn’t always about ragging, fuchcha parties, college fests, raves and churning out ways to whack some extra pocket money from your parents. It’s sometimes hard, ugly and complicated. More so, when you really need to get admission in the coolest college in town and you know you don’t deserve it. And to top that, you get yourself involved in the most bizarre situations that could crack you into pieces before you could crack it.

FUKREY is one such crazy story of four restless and hapless souls, running after their individual desires, brought together by one dream, which turns their not so simple life upside down. From breaking school walls, to cross dressing dancers at the Ram Lila; from a Jugaad Baaz college watchman to leaking examination papers; from a female pimp, who runs her drug cartel through Nigerian henchmen to visionary dreams. Can the four ‘Fukrey’, the four nobodies, twist their fate and dreams into reality or will they forever be lost in the obscurity that they come from?

FUKREY stars Pulkit Samrat, Manjot Singh, Ali Fazal, Varun Sharma, Priya Anand, Vishakha Singh, Pankaj Tripathi, and Richa Chadda.

http://youtu.be/0A6gpPuw9ak

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Six films have been selected by the Museum of Modern Art for their 35^th annual exhibition, Kino!, MoMA’s long-running survey of young German filmmakers. 

The films include the award winning tragicomedy OH BOY by Jan Ole Gerster, which had its US-premiere at AFI Fest in November and was shown at Miami International Film Festival in March. OH BOY is nominated in eight categories for the German Film Prize, whose winners are announced on April 26.

The documentary FORGET ME NOT (VERGISS MEIN NICHT by David Sieveking won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize following its world premiere in Locarno, one of Europe’s leading film festivals. FORGET ME NOT is currently nominated for the German Film Prize for Best Feature-length Documentary.

KINO! PROGRAM

MoMA, April 18-24, 2013

FREE FALL (FREIER FALL) by Stephan Lacant – North American premiere

[caption id="attachment_3444" align="alignnone" width="550"]Freier Fall [/caption]

Fiction, color, 100 min, DCP, 2013

Police officer Marc is shaken to the core when he meets a new colleague, Kay, on a training course and begins to develop feelings for him. Torn between his love for his pregnant girlfriend Bettina and the rush of a completely new experience, his life spins increasingly out of control. Opening night film of the Perspective Deutsches Kino program at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Screenings:

Thursday, April 18, 2013, 7:00 p.m., Theater 1 (in the presence of the director)

Friday, April 19, 2013, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the director)

 

OH BOY by Jan Ole Gerstner – East Coast premiere

Fiction, black and white, 88 min, DCP, 2012

A humorous, self-deprecating tale about college drop-out Niko. Drifting through Berliin, he prefers to be an observer. But life has a way of catching up with him, as he finds himself losing his girlfriend and his father’s financial support. Everything would be so much easier if he could only find a ‘normal’ cup of coffee.

Screenings:

Saturday, April 20, 2013, 7:30 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the director)

Sunday, April 21, 2013, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the director)

 

SILVI by Nico Sommer – North American premiere

Fiction, 97 min, DCP, 2013

Deserted by her husband, Silvi finally realizes that her rather dull marriage has failed. Driven by loneliness, the 47-year-old woman decides to start over again! Anonymous sex, endearments in the dark and deranged lovers push her into emotional chaos of affection, pleasure and borderline experiences. She discovers that finding the right partner poses quite a challenge.

Screenings:

Friday, April 19, 2013, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the director)

Sunday, April 21, 2013, 1:00 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the director)

 

FORGET ME NOT (VERGISS MEIN NICHT) by David Sieveking

Documentary, color, 88 min, DCP, 2012

This feature-length documentary centers on the director’s mother succumbing to Alzheimer’s. Created with humor and astonishing candor, this is remarkably unsentimental film, which bravely tackles the fundamental question: will we grow old together? Grand Jury Prize winner at the Locarno Film Festival.

Screenings:

Saturday, April 20, 2013, 1:30 p.m., Theater 2,

Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2

 

KALIFORNIA by Laura Mahlberg – North American premiere

Fiction, color 27 min, DCP, 2013

The pale grey surrounding Pavel’s caravan resembles the life inside of it: the 71-old Russian spends his evenings in a dismal and monotonous way. But then Pavel makes a decision: He picks up the telephone, calls his old friend Jack and starts walking – straight-ahead to California. Kalifornia describes the late effort of an old man to turn his life around and find happiness in the distance.

 

THE REVENANTS (DIE WIEDERGÄNGER) by Andreas Bolm – International premiere

Fiction, color, 62 min, HD Cam, 2013

An ageing hippie couple endures an isolated, ghostly existence in an old country house.
 A boy wanders aimlessly through a forest, building a lair for himself. A ghost story about a never-ending escape from catastrophe, The Revenants is a film about desire, loss and endlessly returning.

Screenings (both films):

Saturday, April 20, 2013, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2, (in the presence of the directors)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2 (in the presence of the directors)

  

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[caption id="attachment_3678" align="alignnone" width="550"]Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt in HANNAH ARENDT a film by Margarethe von Trotta. [/caption]

The German biopic film HANNAH ARENDT, directed by Margarethe von Trotta will open at Film Forum in NYC on May 29 and at The Royal in West LA, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center in Encino on June 7, with a national release to follow.

HANNAH ARENDT, an Official Selection at the Toronto International and New York Jewish Film Festivals, Hannah Arendt stars Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt, with co-stars Klaus Pohl as philosopher Martin Heidegger, Nicolas Woodeson as New Yorker editor William Shawn, and two-time Oscar Nominee Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs) as novelist Mary McCarthy.

The film is described as a biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish councils—introduced her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.” Using footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaving a narrative that spans three countries, von Trotta beautifully turns the often invisible passion for thought into immersive, dramatic cinema.

http://youtu.be/iIUbQR9b1P8

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Love Is All You Need diirected by Oscar Winner Susanne Bier opens May 3, 2013 at Lincoln Plaza and Landmark Sunshine Cinemas in NY

The film, an official selection at Toronto International Film Festival 2012 and Venice International Film Festival 2012, stars Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Molly Blixt Egelind, Sebastian Jessen, Paprika Steen, Kim Bodnia, Christiane Schaumburg-Müller, Micky Skeel Hansen.

In the film, Philip (Brosnan), a well-off Englishman living in Denmark, is a long-time bachelor and single father. Ida (Dyrholm) is an attractive, middle-aged Danish hairdresser who has just conquered cancer only to find her husband in bed with his secretary, Thilde. Their two fates collide at the airport as they embark upon a trip to Italy to attend the wedding of Patrick and Astrid, Phillip’s son and Ida’s daughter.

With warmth, affection and confidence, Susanne Bier has shaken a cocktail of love, loss,absurdity, humor, and delicately drawn characters that will leave only the hardest heart untouched. It is a film about the simple yet profound pains and joys of moving on – and forward – with your life.

 In Danish, English and Italian with English subtitles.

http://youtu.be/v4B02wHam_U

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