FILM DIRECTORY

The Bet Collector (Kubrador)
Director: Jeffrey Jeturian
Country: Philippines   Region: Southeast Asia

Language: Tagalog, with English subtitles
Year: 2006   Series: Global Lens 2008
Running Time: 98 minutes

Amy, the family matriarch, makes ends meet by running a small convenience store out of her home. But in a struggling economy customers are scarce, and without the help of her husband or pregnant daughter, she is forced to supplement the family income by collecting bets for an illegal numbers game. In this starkly realistic narrative, director Jeffrey Jeturian presents a captivating portrait of a proud woman, haunted by memories of a dead son and hounded by the police, and her fragile and lonely life as a kubrador (bet collector) on the streets of Manila.

Themes: Authority – Power – Community – Death – Duty – Responsibility – Economics – Gender Issues – Rituals – Customs – Social Inequality – Women’s Issues

The Fish Fall in Love (Mahiha Ashegh Mishavand)
Director: Ali Raffi
Country: Iran   Region: Central Asia/Middle East

Language: Persian, with English subtitles
Year: 2008   Series: Global Lens 2008
Running Time: 96 minutes

Atieh’s passion is food, and her small but popular restaurant on the sleepy Caspian coast is her pride and joy. But when Aziz, her former fiancé, appears after a twenty-year absence, the women believe he has intentions of closing the restaurant and prepare his favorite dishes, one after the other, in a desperate effort to convince him otherwise. Loosely based on the Persian fable of Scheherazade and the Thousand Myths (A Thousand and One Nights), director Ali Raffi uses the language of food to paint a richly textured portrait of life and love on the northern coast of Iran.

Themes: Community – Cultural Values – Economics – Food – Literature – Literary Reference – Revolution – Rituals – Customs – Romance – Women’s Issues

The Kite (Le Cerf–Volant)
Director: Randa Chahal Sabbag
Country: Lebanon   Region: Middle East

Language: Arabic, with English subtitles
Year: 2003   Series: Global Lens 2008
Running Time: 80 minutes

In director Randa Chahal Sabbag’s ‘fairytale for troubled times,’ sixteen-year-old Lamia must cross a border checkpoint between Lebanon and Israel to marry a man she has never met.  But on her wedding day, neither she nor her betrothed are eager to consummate a marriage to a stranger—a matter further complicated by Lamia’s surprising admission that she is in love with the Israeli soldier guarding the checkpoint.  Sabbag’s enchanting drama about marriage and tradition is underscored by delicate symbolism and artful references to politics of Lebanon’s territories that have been annexed.

Themes: Authority – Power – Children – Coming-of-Age – Community – Ethnic Conflict – Marriage – Politics – Religion – Rituals – Customs – Romance – Woman’s Issues

Let the Wind Blow (Hava Aney Dey)
Director: Partho Sen–Gupta
Country: India  Region: South Asia

Language: Hindi, with English subtitles
Year: 2004   Series: Global Lens 2008
Running Time: 93 minutes

At the height of nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, Arjun and his best friend, Chabia, weigh their options for the future against the reality of life on the streets of Mumbai. Enticed by the promise of wealth and opportunity in the Persian Gulf, Chabia is eager to leave his job as a mechanic. But for Arjun, who must finish college and care for his mother, the decision is not so easy in director Partho Sen-Gupta’s gritty, apocalyptic interpretation of Krishna’s counsel to Arjuna, from the Bhagavad Gita.

Themes: Cultural Values – Duty – Responsibility – Economics – Ethnic Conflict – Generational differences – Nationalism – Politics – Religion – Social Inequality – War

Dam Street (Hong Yan)
Director: Li Yu
Country: China   Region: Asia
Language: Mandarin and Sichuan, with English subtitles
Year: 2005   Series: Global Lens 2007
Running Time: 93 minutes

Xiao Yun, a sixteen-year-old girl living in small riverside town in China, discovers she is pregnant. The local community is stunned, her family loses “face” and she and her boyfriend are expelled from school. Ten years later, ostracized by the town and reduced to working as a singer in a local song and dance troupe, her only real companion is Xiao Yong, a fiercely affectionate, mysterious boy who protects her from the critical eyes of the community, and forces her to confront the depth of her unresolved past.

Themes: Community – Cultural Values – Economics – Food – Literature – Literary Reference – Revolution – Rituals – Customs – Romance – Women’s Issues