Mutum
A Film by Sandra Kogut
Portuguese, with subtitles in English
Brazil, 2007 (86 minutes)
Synopsis
Thiago is a sensitive and imaginative boy living on a small, hardscrabble farm in a remote region of Brazil. His life is filled not only with curiosity and youthful discovery, but also the reality of his parent's unhappy marriage and his father's abuse—all of which are one day changed by a chance encounter and unexpected gift. Director Sandra Kogut, in her poetic adaptation of the Brazilian short story Campo Geral, focuses on minute details of rural life to tell a bittersweet story of one boy's coming-of-age amidst events both great and small.
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Possible Lives (Las Vidas Posibles)
A Film by Sandra Gugliotta
Spanish, with subtitles in English
Argentina, 2007 (80 minutes)
Synopsis
After her husband mysteriously disappears during a business trip to Patagonia, Clara embarks on a desperate mission to find him. During her search, she makes a startling discovery: a man with an uncanny resemblance to her spouse, but with another name and a wife. Convinced the stranger may be her husband, she ignores entreaties to quit her search just as police discover a body that may be the real man she seeks. Shot amid majestic vistas and suffused with vibrant color and sexuality, director Sandra Gugliotta's feature is a haunting and suspenseful study of grief and letting go.
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Sleepwalking Land (Terra Sonâmbula)
A Film by Teresa Prata
Portuguese, with subtitles in English
Mozambique, 2007 (97 minutes)
Synopsis
In the midst of Mozambique's devastating civil war, Muidinga, an orphaned refugee, wanders the countryside in search of his mother. His only companion is an elderly storyteller, and the only guide to finding his mother is a dead man's diary. Together, the storyteller and diary lead him on a magical, and sometimes macabre, journey across war–torn landscapes to find the family he lost. Based on Mia Coutou's acclaimed Portuguese novel of the same name, Teresa Prata's transporting drama underscores the power of imagination in surviving, and ultimately overcoming, the catastrophe of war.
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What a Wonderful World
A Film by Faouzi Bensaïdi
French and Arabic, with subtitles in English
Morocco, 2006 (94 minutes)
Synopsis
Souad is a prostitute whose best friend is Kenza, a tough traffic cop. Kamel is a stony–eyed contract killer who receives his hit orders via the Internet; he is also Souad's favorite customer. When Kenza falls in love with Kamel, the two begin a bizarre courtship doomed by their disparate lines of work, and a persistent cyber–snooping hacker who stumbles upon the site where Kamel receives his murderous contracts. Moroccan actor–director Faouzi Bensaïdi's promiscuously stylish film is a new vision of an old culture, unveiling an uncommon Casablanca caught in a world wide web of associations and consequences.
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Getting Home (Luo Ye Gui Gen)
A Film by Zhang Yang
Mandarin, with subtitles in English
China, 2007 (101 minutes)
Synopsis
In this soulful and humane comedy, Zhao, a middle–aged construction worker, struggles to fulfill a dying co–worker's last wish to be buried in China's Three Gorges region. Setting out with his colleague's body in tow, Zhao travels hundreds of miles across extraordinary countryside, encountering a number of colorful adventures and characters — and even discovering love in some unlikely quarters. Director Zhang Yang's humorous and moving tale of friendship offers a powerful, and sometimes slapstick, commentary on the value of community and human connectivity in modern China.
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Song From the Southern Seas (Pesn' Juzhnykh Morej)
A Film by Marat Sarulu
Russian, with subtitles in English
Kazakhstan, 2008 (80 minutes)
Synopsis
Two couples, one Russian and one Kazakh, live side by side in relative harmony in a beautiful yet semi–desolate region of the Great Steppe. But when the fair–skinned Russians give birth to a boy of decidedly darker skin, fifteen years of suspicion and acrimony arises between them, and can only be resolved by an ironic twist of family and fate. At times darkly somber, at other times tender and wistful–and buoyed throughout by a soundtrack of folk–inspired melodies–writer-director Marat Sarulu draws on Kazakhstan's epic history to create a gritty and deeply compassionate tale of humor and cultural insight.
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I Am From Titov Veles (Jas Sum Od Titov Veles)
A Film by Teona Strugar Mitevska
Macedonian, with subtitles in English
Macedonia, 2007 (102 minutes)
Synopsis
Set in the quaint but scarred town of Veles, three sisters long to escape the suffocating environment of their dying community. Burdened by memories of their late father, each chooses a different path: Sapho struggles to secure a visa to Greece, Slavica desperately searches for a rich husband, and Afrodita harbors hopes for love and children. In this contemporary story of urban decay, director Teona Strugar Mitevska blends stark realism with memorable performances to create a vivid landscape of life and longing in post-communist Macedonia.
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The Photograph
A Film by Nan Achnas
Indonesian, with subtitles in English
Indonesia, 2007 (98 minutes)
Synopsis
Sita is a spirited young woman working to support her family as a singer and prostitute in a local brothel. Always short of funds and bullied by her pimp, she convinces an elderly portrait photographer, Mr. Johan, to rent her a room; in failing health, Mr. Johan is desperate to find an apprentice to carry on his work before he dies. The unlikely bond that develops between Sita and Mr. Johan is the basis of writer-director Nan Achnas's visually brilliant and poignant human drama about the profound effect one life can have on another.
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