A selection of delights from world cinema, plus some gruelling but powerful documentaries.
The Song Of Sparrows and Disgrace
24 City (Er Si Si Cheng Ji, Er shi si cheng ji (24 city))
(Country: China, Hong Kong, Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Jia Zhang-Ke; Writer: Jia Zhang-Ke, Zhai Yongming; Stars: Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lu, Zhao Tao)
Blend of fiction and documentary looks at a Chinese munitions plant scheduled for conversion into luxury apartments.
Bitter & Twisted (Bitter And Twisted)
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Christopher Weekes; Writer: Christopher Weekes; Stars: Noni Hazlehurst, Steve Rodgers, Leeanna Walsman, Gary Sweet, Matt Newton, Christopher Weekes),
Official Site
This quirky, multidimensional drama of longing and loss starts with the death of a young man and flashes forward three years to assess the toll it took on his parents, brother, and ex-girlfriend. A vivid style and nuanced performances add unusual charm to this confident debut.
Disgrace
(Country: Australia, South Africa; Year: 2008; Director: Steve Jacobs; Writer: Anna Maria Monticelli, based on the book by J.M. Coetzee.; Stars: Scott Cooper, Eriq Ebouaney, Jessica Haines, John Malkovich, Fiona Press)
The complex social life of an English professor forms a mirror for a complex country.
Heart Of Fire (Feuerherz)
(Country: Germany, Italy, Austria, France; Year: 2008; Director: Luigi Falorni; Writer: Luigi Falorni, Gabriele Kister, Senait Mehari; Stars: Letekidan Micael, Solomie Micael, Seble Tilahun, Daniel Seyoum, Mekdes Wegene, Samuel Semere)
The story of a young girl who is passed to the Eritrean Liberation Front.
Johnny Mad Dog
(Country: France, Belgium, Liberia; Year: 2008; Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Writer: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Stars: Christophe Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy),
Trailer
As civil war rages in an unnamed African country, the lives of a boy soldier and a young girl fleeing the fighting become intertwined.
Tulpan and Johnny Mad Dog
Laila's Birthday (Eid milad Laila)
(Country: Palestine, Tunisia, Netherlands; Year: 2008; Director: Rashid Masharawi; Writer: Rashid Masharawi; Stars: Mohamed Bakri, Areen Omari, Nour Zoubi)
A moving, often funny tale of a Palestinian taxi driver trying to get home in time for his daughter's birthday.
The Song Of Sparrows (Avaze gonjeshk-ha)
(Country: Iran; Year: 2008; Director: Majid Majidi; Writer: Mehran Kashani, Majid Majidi; Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Hossein Aghazi, Maryam Akbari, Kamran Dehghan)
This Iranian morality tale deals with an ostrich farmer who loses his job and is forced to travel to and from the city.
Tulpan
(Country: Germany, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Switzerland; Year: 2008; Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy; Writer: Sergei Dvortsevoy, Gennadi Ostrovsky; Stars: Askhat Kuchencherekov, Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Ondas Besikbasov, Samal Esljamova,),
Official Site
A man dreams of becoming a shepherd in the Kazakhstan steppe, but is there room for such dreams in the modern world?
