World Cinema Showcase 2006 – The Lineup
For more information on the following titles + festival venues, times and dates, visit worldcinemashowcase.co.nz.
rated R18 contains violence, offensive language, drug use and sex scenes
François Ozon’s (Under the Sand, Swimming Pool) new film coolly and acutely examines the disintegration of a marriage through five key moments in the life of an ordinary couple. We see their story backwards, from its unhappy ending through to the moment that brings them together. Ozon’s most mature film to date is ‘harrowing, brilliant and absolutely not a date movie’ —Film Comment
A Fistful of Dynamite (Italy)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language
The most eccentric of Sergio Leone’s ‘spaghetti’ westerns is also the most riotously entertaining – and the most difficult to see, let alone in this new, restored version. “Belongs with the crazy left-wing westerns that mark the post-60s wreck of revolutionary dreams... the cynicism meter oscillates between outrageously callous and merely irresponsible.” —Village Voice
Accused (Denmark)
rated M adult themes
A father accused of a horrendous crime, a daughter who may or may not be telling the truth: this dichotomy forms the basis for a tragic unravelling of fact and fiction in this provocative, non-sensationalist thriller about one of society’s few remaining taboos. Does the mere fact of accusation forever alter our feeling about a person? This riveting, superbly acted Danish drama looks into the hearts of a family where trust has been destroyed.
The Aristocrats (USA)
rating R18 – contains offensive language, content may offend
An outrageous, star-studded, comedy extravaganza that celebrates the art of improvisation and the finest (and most foul-mouthed) traditions of stand-up. Starring Chris Rock, Penn Jillette, Paul Provenza, Drew Carey, Robin Williams, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Gilbert Gottfried, Whoopi Goldberg and many more!
The Beat My Heart Skipped (France)
rated M – contains violence, sexual refs and offensive language
Romain Duris, France’s hottest young star, and a Showcase regular, is excellent in this memorable story of a nervy young man torn between a life of crime and a career in classical music. In his follow up to his critical hit Read My Lips, Jacques Audiard has adapted and updated James Toback’s 1978 Harvey Keitel noir, Fingers,
Brothers (Denmark)
rated R16 – contains violence, content may disturb
Michael has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Further evidence of the extraordinary dramatic force of contemporary Danish psychodrama, from the director of Open Hearts. Winner audience award Sydney Film Festival.
The Child (Belgium)
rated R13 – contains violence / Auckland/Wellington only
The latest film by the Belgian brothers, Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is a riveting, at times alarmingly suspenseful moral tale of a feckless young hustler whose cavalier attitude to fatherhood takes him into very deep waters indeed. Winner of last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, The Child is a welcome return from the 2005 Film Festivals. “A profoundly moving and engaging realist picture.” —The Guardian
Darwin’s Nightmare (Austria/Belgium/France/Canada/Finland/Sweden)
rated M – adult themes
Could this be the most depressing film of 2005? This jaw-dropping and scathing exposé of the ecological devastation and economic exploitation of Tanzania's Lake Victoria was one of the most talked-about films at the 2005 Film Festivals. You’ll soon see why.
Disarm (USA)
rated M – content may disturb
Directed by New York-based NZer, Mary Wareham, Disarm is a lively and damning activist documentary that spans a dozen countries to show how, despite a global ban, millions of anti-personnel mines continue to claim victims daily around the world.
Don’t Come Knocking (Germany/USA) rating TBC
Director Wim Wenders and writer/actor Sam Shepard, collaborators on the classic Paris, Texas 21 years ago, revisit similar themes and fashion another visual ode to the natural splendour – and faded glory – of the American West. Shepard plays a hard-living movie star who goes AWOL from a Monument Valley location to go search for the mother, the lover and the offspring he long ago abandoned.
The Double Life of Véronique (Poland) rating TBC
In this ravishing and mysterious film by Polish master Krzystof Kieslowski, Irene Jacob plays two young women, one French and one Polish, whose spiritual lives run along amazingly parallel lines. Véronique makes a rare return to the cinema screen
Down to the Bone (USA)
rated R16 drug use, sex scenes and offensive language / Auckland/Wellington only
Actress Vera Famiga is amazing in this intensely sympathetic portrait of a small town working class woman fighting to protect her children, survive a loveless marriage and overcome cocaine addiction. "The kind of movie most independent films strive in vain to be: a small, beautifully faceted gem" —NY Times
Favela Rising (Brazil) rating TBC
This extraordinary documentary plunges us into the notorious favelas of Rio de Janiero. Haunted by the murders of his family and friends, the charismatic Anderson Sá, a former drug-trafficker turned social revolutionary, helps to build community solidarity through the hugely popular AfroReggae movement, inspiring many favela dwellers to turn their backs on violence.
Ferpect Crime (Spain)
rated R16 – contains violence, sex scenes and offensive language
From the director of Accion Mutante and Perdita Durango, this Spanish black comedy about sex, murder and the challenges and frustrations of working in retail is ‘rich with moments of inspired lunacy and precisely targeted disgust’ —Jason Alexander, eyeWEEKLY
Ghost in the Shell (Japan)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language
The original 1995 cyberpunk sci-fi anime makes a rare big screen appearance. “Just make sure you see it on a big screen. One the size of Norfolk should do.” —Empire
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Japan)
rated M – contains violence
Vast and spectacular, this dazzling anime is also rife with speculation about the meaning of cyberlife. Not for lightweights! “You can call me fanboy, but this is the best anime I've ever seen.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Le Grand Voyage (France/Morocco)
rated PG – contains violence / Auckland/Wellington only
In this sweet-natured and affecting road movie, an elderly Moroccan exile in France forces his irreverent, westernised son to drive him on a 3,000 mile Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It’s a fascinating and entertaining journey and the film is especially remarkable for the unprecedented footage of Mecca itself.
The Great Dictator 1940 (USA) rated G
Charlie Chaplin takes on Adolf Hitler. Chaplin’s first talkie stands as a remarkably forthright and bravely political film, satirising Hitler at a time when Americans still saw him as an ally rather than an enemy. Although banned outright in their countries by Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, the film became Chaplin’s biggest box office success and its imagery remains iconic.
Junebug (USA) rating TBC
Nothing and everything happens in this funny yet painful film about a Chicago art dealer’s first visit to her new husband’s family in rural North Carolina. With his first feature Phil Morrison has produced a piercing exploration of family dynamics that would make Mike Leigh proud. Look for a stand-out performance from Amy Adams, nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her loopy sister-in-law role.
Lower City (Brazil) rating TBC
A fiercely erotic tale of two young men on the make who fall in with and then both fall in love with a young prostitute. Set in Salvador de Bahia’s seductively dangerous cidade baixa (lower city), this is one of the ‘sexiest films seen in a long time..’ —Time Out
Manderlay
(Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/France/Germany/USA) rating TBC
Lars von Trier lambastes American race relations and imperialism in his latest sustained assault on the world’s most powerful nation. Taking over the role played by Nicole Kidman in Dogville, Bryce Dallas Howard plays the headstrong and idealistic Grace as she attempts to re-educate the inhabitants of an American plantation where the slaves still fear the master’s lash 70 years after abolition.
Millennium Actress (Japan)
rated PG – contains medium level violence
A loving and perceptive tribute to the power and legacy of cinema, this exquisitely animated film tells the story of a famous, and now reclusive, movie star and the documentary team that want to tell her story. Directed by Kon Satoshi (Perfect Blue), Millennium Actress makes its long overdue NZ cinema debut at the Showcase.
Overcoming (Denmark)
rated M – contains offensive language
A surprisingly intimate insider view of the successful CSC cycling team as it makes its way through to the 2004 Tour de France. The result is an exhilarating plunge into the greatest race of them all and a keen psychological profile of some of the world’s toughest athletes.
Oyster Farmer (Australia/UK)
M – contains sex scenes and offensive language
NZ born Anna Reeves’ first feature tells a comic love story about a young man who runs away up an isolated Australian river and gets a job with eighth generation oyster farmers. ‘Oyster Farmer is engaging, revealing and funny all at once. The best Australian film of the year’ —Urban Cinefile
The Proposition (Australia/UK)
rated R18 – violence, offensive language and content that may disturb
Nick Cave (screenplay/music) and John Hillcoat’s (director) second collaboration (after Ghosts of the Civil Dead) is a blazingly spartan and violent portrait of frontier society, set in the furnace-like Outback of 1880’s Queensland. British colonial lawmen are pitted against white outlaws and renegade Aborigines. ‘It makes Deadwood look positively limp and flaccid by comparison.” —Twitch. With Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Emily Watson
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (China) rating TBC
Zhang Yimou follows his martial arts hits Hero and House of Flying Daggers by returning to the intimacy, realism and rusticity of such dramas as Not One Less and The Road Home with this simple, poignant, low-budget comedy-drama about the problematic relationships of fathers and sons.
Russian Dolls (France/UK)
rated M – contains sex scenes, offensive language and drug use
Cedric Klapisch's delightful sequel to The Spanish Apartment. It’s five years later and Xavier (Romain Duris) is now a self-absorbed, freelance writer in Paris. Reunions abound as he travels from Paris to London and St Petersburg in search of a better career and the elusive perfect woman.
Shakespeare Behind Bars (USA) rating TBC
This revelatory trip into and around a prison production of The Tempest tells an extraordinary and moving story about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem. “The universality and humanity of Shakespeare's words have never been more evident than in Hank Rogerson's remarkable documentary.” —Hollywood Reporter
SPL: Sha Po Lang (Hong Kong)
rated R16 – contains violence
A gritty, dark thriller that classically pits good against evil and cop against gangster, Wilson Yip’s SPL delivers some of the most intense martial-arts sequences in recent years, reaffirming Hong Kong’s complete dominance of the genre. “To fail to catch this film in the cinema is to miss a milestone in Hong Kong Action.” —Twitch
Tickets (Italy/UK/Iran)
rated M – contains offensive language
Three great directors (Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami and Ken Loach) join together to direct three interwoven stories that take place on a train travelling from Central Europe to Rome. Memorable characters of various nations connect through casual encounters, and their stories register with gratifying subtlety and depth. “Consistently warm, witty and wise.” —Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Tsotsi (UK/South Africa)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language / OPENING NIGHT FILM
Topping the audience polls at Edinburgh and Toronto, this propulsively energetic film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who shoots a woman outside her home and steals her car – unaware that her baby is in the back seat. Pumping with Zola’s ‘Kwaito’ music, Tsotsi is a gritty contemporary portrait of ghetto life set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg townships. South Africa’s official selection for the Foreign Film Oscar this year.
Winter Soldier 1972 (USA)
rating TBC / Auckland/Wellington only
Perhaps the most important film about America’s involvement in Vietnam and a searing account of how and why ordinary men perform monstrous acts in war, Winter Soldier documents hearings organised by Vietnam Veterans Against the War that allowed combat veterans to report their observations, experiences and, often horrific, war crimes. Having obvious parallels to the Iraq war, this long lost film (American TV networks wouldn’t touch it when first released and it never found a distributor) is a sobering insight into the nature of military power.
5X2 (France)
rated R18 contains violence, offensive language, drug use and sex scenes
François Ozon’s (Under the Sand, Swimming Pool) new film coolly and acutely examines the disintegration of a marriage through five key moments in the life of an ordinary couple. We see their story backwards, from its unhappy ending through to the moment that brings them together. Ozon’s most mature film to date is ‘harrowing, brilliant and absolutely not a date movie’ —Film Comment
A Fistful of Dynamite (Italy)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language
The most eccentric of Sergio Leone’s ‘spaghetti’ westerns is also the most riotously entertaining – and the most difficult to see, let alone in this new, restored version. “Belongs with the crazy left-wing westerns that mark the post-60s wreck of revolutionary dreams... the cynicism meter oscillates between outrageously callous and merely irresponsible.” —Village Voice
Accused (Denmark)
rated M adult themes
A father accused of a horrendous crime, a daughter who may or may not be telling the truth: this dichotomy forms the basis for a tragic unravelling of fact and fiction in this provocative, non-sensationalist thriller about one of society’s few remaining taboos. Does the mere fact of accusation forever alter our feeling about a person? This riveting, superbly acted Danish drama looks into the hearts of a family where trust has been destroyed.
The Aristocrats (USA)
rating R18 – contains offensive language, content may offend
An outrageous, star-studded, comedy extravaganza that celebrates the art of improvisation and the finest (and most foul-mouthed) traditions of stand-up. Starring Chris Rock, Penn Jillette, Paul Provenza, Drew Carey, Robin Williams, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Gilbert Gottfried, Whoopi Goldberg and many more!
The Beat My Heart Skipped (France)
rated M – contains violence, sexual refs and offensive language
Romain Duris, France’s hottest young star, and a Showcase regular, is excellent in this memorable story of a nervy young man torn between a life of crime and a career in classical music. In his follow up to his critical hit Read My Lips, Jacques Audiard has adapted and updated James Toback’s 1978 Harvey Keitel noir, Fingers,
Brothers (Denmark)
rated R16 – contains violence, content may disturb
Michael has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Further evidence of the extraordinary dramatic force of contemporary Danish psychodrama, from the director of Open Hearts. Winner audience award Sydney Film Festival.
The Child (Belgium)
rated R13 – contains violence / Auckland/Wellington only
The latest film by the Belgian brothers, Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is a riveting, at times alarmingly suspenseful moral tale of a feckless young hustler whose cavalier attitude to fatherhood takes him into very deep waters indeed. Winner of last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, The Child is a welcome return from the 2005 Film Festivals. “A profoundly moving and engaging realist picture.” —The Guardian
Darwin’s Nightmare (Austria/Belgium/France/Canada/Finland/Sweden)
rated M – adult themes
Could this be the most depressing film of 2005? This jaw-dropping and scathing exposé of the ecological devastation and economic exploitation of Tanzania's Lake Victoria was one of the most talked-about films at the 2005 Film Festivals. You’ll soon see why.
Disarm (USA)
rated M – content may disturb
Directed by New York-based NZer, Mary Wareham, Disarm is a lively and damning activist documentary that spans a dozen countries to show how, despite a global ban, millions of anti-personnel mines continue to claim victims daily around the world.
Don’t Come Knocking (Germany/USA) rating TBC
Director Wim Wenders and writer/actor Sam Shepard, collaborators on the classic Paris, Texas 21 years ago, revisit similar themes and fashion another visual ode to the natural splendour – and faded glory – of the American West. Shepard plays a hard-living movie star who goes AWOL from a Monument Valley location to go search for the mother, the lover and the offspring he long ago abandoned.
The Double Life of Véronique (Poland) rating TBC
In this ravishing and mysterious film by Polish master Krzystof Kieslowski, Irene Jacob plays two young women, one French and one Polish, whose spiritual lives run along amazingly parallel lines. Véronique makes a rare return to the cinema screen
Down to the Bone (USA)
rated R16 drug use, sex scenes and offensive language / Auckland/Wellington only
Actress Vera Famiga is amazing in this intensely sympathetic portrait of a small town working class woman fighting to protect her children, survive a loveless marriage and overcome cocaine addiction. "The kind of movie most independent films strive in vain to be: a small, beautifully faceted gem" —NY Times
Favela Rising (Brazil) rating TBC
This extraordinary documentary plunges us into the notorious favelas of Rio de Janiero. Haunted by the murders of his family and friends, the charismatic Anderson Sá, a former drug-trafficker turned social revolutionary, helps to build community solidarity through the hugely popular AfroReggae movement, inspiring many favela dwellers to turn their backs on violence.
Ferpect Crime (Spain)
rated R16 – contains violence, sex scenes and offensive language
From the director of Accion Mutante and Perdita Durango, this Spanish black comedy about sex, murder and the challenges and frustrations of working in retail is ‘rich with moments of inspired lunacy and precisely targeted disgust’ —Jason Alexander, eyeWEEKLY
Ghost in the Shell (Japan)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language
The original 1995 cyberpunk sci-fi anime makes a rare big screen appearance. “Just make sure you see it on a big screen. One the size of Norfolk should do.” —Empire
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Japan)
rated M – contains violence
Vast and spectacular, this dazzling anime is also rife with speculation about the meaning of cyberlife. Not for lightweights! “You can call me fanboy, but this is the best anime I've ever seen.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Le Grand Voyage (France/Morocco)
rated PG – contains violence / Auckland/Wellington only
In this sweet-natured and affecting road movie, an elderly Moroccan exile in France forces his irreverent, westernised son to drive him on a 3,000 mile Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It’s a fascinating and entertaining journey and the film is especially remarkable for the unprecedented footage of Mecca itself.
The Great Dictator 1940 (USA) rated G
Charlie Chaplin takes on Adolf Hitler. Chaplin’s first talkie stands as a remarkably forthright and bravely political film, satirising Hitler at a time when Americans still saw him as an ally rather than an enemy. Although banned outright in their countries by Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, the film became Chaplin’s biggest box office success and its imagery remains iconic.
Junebug (USA) rating TBC
Nothing and everything happens in this funny yet painful film about a Chicago art dealer’s first visit to her new husband’s family in rural North Carolina. With his first feature Phil Morrison has produced a piercing exploration of family dynamics that would make Mike Leigh proud. Look for a stand-out performance from Amy Adams, nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her loopy sister-in-law role.
Lower City (Brazil) rating TBC
A fiercely erotic tale of two young men on the make who fall in with and then both fall in love with a young prostitute. Set in Salvador de Bahia’s seductively dangerous cidade baixa (lower city), this is one of the ‘sexiest films seen in a long time..’ —Time Out
Manderlay
(Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands/France/Germany/USA) rating TBC
Lars von Trier lambastes American race relations and imperialism in his latest sustained assault on the world’s most powerful nation. Taking over the role played by Nicole Kidman in Dogville, Bryce Dallas Howard plays the headstrong and idealistic Grace as she attempts to re-educate the inhabitants of an American plantation where the slaves still fear the master’s lash 70 years after abolition.
Millennium Actress (Japan)
rated PG – contains medium level violence
A loving and perceptive tribute to the power and legacy of cinema, this exquisitely animated film tells the story of a famous, and now reclusive, movie star and the documentary team that want to tell her story. Directed by Kon Satoshi (Perfect Blue), Millennium Actress makes its long overdue NZ cinema debut at the Showcase.
Overcoming (Denmark)
rated M – contains offensive language
A surprisingly intimate insider view of the successful CSC cycling team as it makes its way through to the 2004 Tour de France. The result is an exhilarating plunge into the greatest race of them all and a keen psychological profile of some of the world’s toughest athletes.
Oyster Farmer (Australia/UK)
M – contains sex scenes and offensive language
NZ born Anna Reeves’ first feature tells a comic love story about a young man who runs away up an isolated Australian river and gets a job with eighth generation oyster farmers. ‘Oyster Farmer is engaging, revealing and funny all at once. The best Australian film of the year’ —Urban Cinefile
The Proposition (Australia/UK)
rated R18 – violence, offensive language and content that may disturb
Nick Cave (screenplay/music) and John Hillcoat’s (director) second collaboration (after Ghosts of the Civil Dead) is a blazingly spartan and violent portrait of frontier society, set in the furnace-like Outback of 1880’s Queensland. British colonial lawmen are pitted against white outlaws and renegade Aborigines. ‘It makes Deadwood look positively limp and flaccid by comparison.” —Twitch. With Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Emily Watson
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (China) rating TBC
Zhang Yimou follows his martial arts hits Hero and House of Flying Daggers by returning to the intimacy, realism and rusticity of such dramas as Not One Less and The Road Home with this simple, poignant, low-budget comedy-drama about the problematic relationships of fathers and sons.
Russian Dolls (France/UK)
rated M – contains sex scenes, offensive language and drug use
Cedric Klapisch's delightful sequel to The Spanish Apartment. It’s five years later and Xavier (Romain Duris) is now a self-absorbed, freelance writer in Paris. Reunions abound as he travels from Paris to London and St Petersburg in search of a better career and the elusive perfect woman.
Shakespeare Behind Bars (USA) rating TBC
This revelatory trip into and around a prison production of The Tempest tells an extraordinary and moving story about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem. “The universality and humanity of Shakespeare's words have never been more evident than in Hank Rogerson's remarkable documentary.” —Hollywood Reporter
SPL: Sha Po Lang (Hong Kong)
rated R16 – contains violence
A gritty, dark thriller that classically pits good against evil and cop against gangster, Wilson Yip’s SPL delivers some of the most intense martial-arts sequences in recent years, reaffirming Hong Kong’s complete dominance of the genre. “To fail to catch this film in the cinema is to miss a milestone in Hong Kong Action.” —Twitch
Tickets (Italy/UK/Iran)
rated M – contains offensive language
Three great directors (Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami and Ken Loach) join together to direct three interwoven stories that take place on a train travelling from Central Europe to Rome. Memorable characters of various nations connect through casual encounters, and their stories register with gratifying subtlety and depth. “Consistently warm, witty and wise.” —Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Tsotsi (UK/South Africa)
rated M – contains violence and offensive language / OPENING NIGHT FILM
Topping the audience polls at Edinburgh and Toronto, this propulsively energetic film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who shoots a woman outside her home and steals her car – unaware that her baby is in the back seat. Pumping with Zola’s ‘Kwaito’ music, Tsotsi is a gritty contemporary portrait of ghetto life set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg townships. South Africa’s official selection for the Foreign Film Oscar this year.
Winter Soldier 1972 (USA)
rating TBC / Auckland/Wellington only
Perhaps the most important film about America’s involvement in Vietnam and a searing account of how and why ordinary men perform monstrous acts in war, Winter Soldier documents hearings organised by Vietnam Veterans Against the War that allowed combat veterans to report their observations, experiences and, often horrific, war crimes. Having obvious parallels to the Iraq war, this long lost film (American TV networks wouldn’t touch it when first released and it never found a distributor) is a sobering insight into the nature of military power.
The Band's Visit: Framed with finesse, The Band's Visit has a beautiful feel for space and stillness. An Egyptian police band winds up in the wrong Israeli town. Weighty, deftly weighted, bittersweet.
Pierre wrote:
Can't wait for it to start i'll surely be going.