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Caribe
Costa Rica, 2005, 91 min.
This debut feature depicts environmental strife in the paradise-like Caribbean tropical coast of Costa Rica through the story of an altruistic ecologist who compromises his ideals.... more
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Citizen Dog
Thailand, 2005, 101 min.
Funny and original, this boasts the same eye-poppingly garish color scheme as the director's Tears of the Black Tiger. With musical numbers, talking teddy bears, zombie motorcycle riders and severed fingers, it's a surreal, absurdist fantasy/fable about a country boy's adventures in Bangkok. ... more
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Days of Santiago
Peru, 2003, 84 min.
Think Taxi Driver in Peru. A 23-year-old war veteran returns to Lima after spending six years fighting terrorists, the Peruvian drug mafia, and a nationalist war against Ecuador. Unable to smoothly transition back home, his life starts to spin out of control…... more
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The Death of Mister Lazarescu
Romania, 2005, 155 min.
The tragicomic late-night odyssey of 63-year-old Mr Lazarescu: on the verge of death, he is driven from one hospital to another without any result... This brilliant marvel of black humor was the revelation at Cannes, where it took top prize in the Un Certain Regard section. ... more
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Distant Journey
Czechoslovakia, 1949, 99 min.
Over the years, the stature of this unaccountably neglected masterpiece has grown. It is one of the few films that succeed in making the horror and inexplicable reality of the concentration camp universe come alive by blending documentary with intentionally intensified, non-realist film techniques d... more
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Don’t Tell
Italy, 2005, 121 min.
Sabina is a young woman who discovers some dark secrets from her childhood buried deep inside her mind. Her pregnancy opens a door on this hidden past that she cannot close again. Best Actress, Venice Film Festival.... more
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A Christmas Gift
Italy, 1986, 102 min.
A parable on friendship and the power of money. Four friends gather on Christmas Eve for a poker game organized to rip off a rich industrialist who is supposed to be easy prey. But the night turns out different than planned, and in the end those who came to overcome leave defeated.... more
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Elsa & Fred
Spain, 2005, 107 min.
Two mainstays of Spanish language cinema, China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre, play aging widowers who rekindle their passions for love with a visit to the Trevi Fountain in Rome, a landmark from Fellini's La Dolce Vita, in this touching romantic comedy.... more
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Familia
Canada, 2005, 103 min.
Familial bonds, particularly those between mothers and daughters, form the core of this impressive and emotionally satisfying first feature. When gambling addict Michele moves in with her childhood friend Janine, their teenaged daughter’s burgeoning friendship produces both humorous and heartbreakin... more
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Fateless
Hungary, 2005, 141 min.
Adapted by Nobel laureate Imré Kertesz from his 1975 autobiographical novel, Fateless dares to aestheticize the concentration camp experience in a more provocative manner than -- in many critics' opinions -- Schindler's List. Cinematographer Lajos Koltai's directorial debut follows young Gyor... more
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Gie
Indonesia, 2005, 148 min.
Gie chronicles the life and times of Indonesian political activist Soe Hok Gie (1942-69) as he divides his time between intellectual endeavors, mountain climbing, and political activism in opposition to the Soekarno regime of the late-1960s. ... more
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Gimme Kudos
China, 2005, 101 min.
With strong dialogue and subtle performances, this ironic comedy of manners follows Gu, who desperately seeks public kudos for his supposed act of heroism. The film gently peels the mask from modern China, revealing the firm grip of bureaucratic and social traditions despite the advances of the last... more
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Graduation Party
Italy, 1985, 97 min.
A graduation party thrown by a quiet confectioner for the daughter of his secret beloved turns into a disaster, full of envy and nasty actions. But the film made from the event shows a different version, where a fake feeling of joy takes the place of wicked reality... more
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The Grönholm Method
Spain, 2005, 116 min.
A group of corporate types are assembled to compete for one position using something called the Grönholm Method, a system meant to separate the weak from the strong. But the weak may be wilier than they appear... This tale of executive überdogs from the director of Kamchatka possesses a tru... more
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Heaven & Hell On Earth (Parzania)
India, 2005, 130 min.
Based on a true story, the gripping Heaven & Hell on Earth follows a Parsi father's search for his ten-year-old son lost in the crossfire of Hindu-Muslim riots. Meanwhile, the family's American friend Alan tries to uncover the truth behind the senseless violence he witnessed in the land of Ga... more
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The Hidden Blade
Japan, 2005, 133 min.
Following on The Twilight Samurai, the second part of director Yamada's trilogy is another gorgeously shot mid-19th century period piece, this one concerning a low-level samurai — who has never drawn his sword in anger — forced to put down a rebellion. Visually sweeping, rich in plot and char... more
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The House With The Laughing Windows
Italy, 1976, 111 min.
Director Avati took a step into thriller territory in this early work. A gothic chiller, it revolves around the restoration of a painting depicting the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The art historian discovers evidence that the painter may have been involved in satanic rites and human sacrifice.... more
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Iberia
Spain, 2005, 100 min.
In his latest tribute film, celebrated filmmaker Carlos Saura engages Spain's most celebrated actors, dancers and singers to interpret Isaac Albéniz's “Iberia” suite on its one hundredth anniversary. The freshness and spontaneity is heightened by Saura's focus on the evolution of the piece from init... more
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Idiot Love
Spain, 2005, 94 min.
Catalan director Ventura Pons returns with an erotically transgressive, occasionally tender and frequently very funny tale of sexual obsession that focuses on a sad-sack 30-something teacher who falls hard for an upwardly mobile woman. Refreshing and quirky in equal measures. ... more
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In His Hands
France, 2005, 121 min.
A doomed romance with a possible serial killer drives the suspense in this thriller. The accomplished filmmaker and her able cast provide rewards in the delicacy with which they sketch the way a woman in a marriage neither happy nor unhappy drifts into an affair, and persists despite clear indicatio... more
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In My Father’s Den
New Zealand, 2005, 127 min.
After 17 years of traveling as a war photographer, Paul returns home to lead a quiet, solitary life. He finds a welcome intrusion from a curious teenage girl named Celia, but when she mysteriously disappears suspicions arise. Paul faces not only violent threats, but also his own wavering doubts abou... more
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Iron Island
Iran, 2005, 91 min.
A sharp-edged allegory about Iran, this briskly-paced and blackly comic film follows a group of men, women and children, impoverished and abandoned by society, who inhabit a sinking oil tanker in the Persian Gulf under the watchful eye of Captain Nemat, who rules the decaying ship with an iron fist.... more
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Kissed by Winter
Norway, 2005, 85 min.
Starting like a whodunit, this assured first feature deals with loss, regret and possible redemption. Victoria, a Swedish doctor working in a snowy Norwegian village, discovers that the death of a young man dredges up painful memories that she would prefer to forget.... more
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Lady Vengeance
South Korea, 2005, 113 min.
Flamboyant Korean director Park Chan-wook's latest (part three in the "vengeance trilogy" that includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy) follows a woman who, wrongly imprisoned for murder for 13 years, seeks redress in the most violently spectacular of ways. A stunningly cinemat... more
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La Maison de Nina
France, 2005, 113 min.
Writer-director Richard Dembo (who died during the production) offers a moving tribute to Nina’s “house of hope,” one of many orphanages established outside Paris at the end World War II. The residents are largely secular French Jews, but later concentration camp refugees begin to arrive from Poland... more
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The Last Moon
Chile, 2005, 106 min.
Miguel Littin, a descendant of Palestinian Christian immigrants to Chile, tells the dynamic story of two friends, the Jew Jacob and the Christian Palestinian Soliman, caught up in the beginnings of the Middle East conflict after the First World War.... more
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The Life That I Want
Italy, 2005, 126 min.
True emotion as well as jealousy and manipulation mark the love story of two actors on the set of a historical drama. The script becomes so close to their reality that it hurts them deeply, yet, at the same time, they have difficulty differentiating between their real and "reel" lives.... more
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Lost and Found
Brazil, 2005, 101 min.
José Joffily, best known for his rugged New York melodrama, Two Lost Souls in a Dirty Night, now tackles the underworld of Copacabana with this dark thriller based on the novel by Alfredo Garcia-Roza. It offers mystery, crime, dirty money, betrayals and an unexpected ending.... more
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Lovelorn
Turkey, 2005, 139 min.
Winner - Meltem Cumbul, FIPRESCI Award, Best Actress
Idealist schoolteacher Nazim retires and returns home to Istanbul, after a 15-year term in a poor, forgotten Kurdish-Alevite village in eastern Turkey. Politely ignored by his children who secretly despise him since he chose ideal... more
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Low Profile
Germany, 2005, 95 min.
A teenage boy veers down a dangerous path when he claims responsibility for accidents he did not cause. With a great ear for dialogue and a color palette evoking the drabness of middle class life, director Christoph Hochhausler has crafted a disturbing yet compelling film that incited great controve... more
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Malas Temporadas
Spain, 2005, 116 min.
Malas Temporadas places us in the heart of contemporary Madrid and the existential dilemmas of its three characters searching for their place in the world. Beautifully crafted as a choral piece, the film deftly explores the emotional barriers and walls its anguished characters must overcome.... more
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Manderlay
Denmark, 2005, 140 min.
The second in Lars von Trier's controversial USA trilogy picks up where Dogville left off. Grace (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard) arrives at a Southern plantation where, more than 70 years after abolition, slavery is still in effect. A shocking, pointed and unforgettable interpretation of ... more
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Mario’s War
Italy, 2005, 98 min.
A middle class couple take a foster child without imagining how this choice will impact their life. The wife finds a meaning in life that transcends her expectations, the husband cannot relate with the child in any way and the child himself is stranded in a world where he cannot fit in. ... more
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The Married Woman
India, 2005, 130 min.
Calcutta of the 1960s, with its vintage cars and sophisticated cafes, gives a nostalgic elegance to this romantic and tender love story. Although they grew up together Lolita and Shankhar only discover their intense love for one another when another suitor for Lolita's hand arrives. ... more
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Moonrise
USA, 1948, 91 min.
An angst-ridden Southern boy kills his lifelong persecutor and buries the body. A persistent sheriff and his own tortured conscience hound him. Director Borzage brings a poetic visual style to this rural noir drama, one of the most brilliant -- and under-appreciated -- films of the 1940s. Noir autho... more
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Mother of Mine
Finland, 2005, 112 min.
Winner - Audience Awards, Best Narrative Feature
A momentous event in Finnish history is recounted in this heart-wrenching film. During World War II, ten-year-old Eero is one of eighty thousand children sent to Sweden for their protection. Alienated from his foster family and unfamiliar wi... more
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Mrs. Harris
USA, 2005, 96 min.
The tragic true-life story of Jean Harris, the brittle girls school headmistress, who murdered her lover, Scarsdale Diet guru Dr. Herbert Tarnower in the 1980s, receives a multi-toned treatment by playwright Phyllis Nagy in her first feature. The film brims with memorable star cameos.... more
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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
United Kingdom, 2005, 109 min.
Winner - Audience Awards, Best Narrative Feature
This sweet, beguiling story about the unlikely friendship between an elderly widow (Joan Plowright) and a dashing young writer (Rupert Friend), who meet quite by chance in contemporary London and come to share an enchanting and unexpectedly ... more
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My Best Enemy
Chile, 2005, 108 min.
Set in 1978, this humanistic film about the futility of war, follows a Chilean border patrol unit that gets lost on their march to the Argentinian border. After days of wandering the pampas, they become disillusioned… until they meet an Argentine patrol also lost in the pampas and war turns into fr... more
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The New World
USA, 2005, 151 min.
This sweeping adventure, focusing on the first encounter of European and Native American cultures during the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia settlement in 1607, brings to life the classic tale of Indian princess Pocahontas and her relationship with adventurer John Smith, a story which forms the ... more
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The Novena
Canada, 2005, 98 min.
Winner of the Ecumenical Prize at the 2005 Locarno Film Festival, this absorbing drama features a towering performance by Élise Guilbert as a suicidal doctor. Her chance encounter with a young grocery clerk on a pilgrimage to pray for his dying grandmother forces her to re-think her life. Intelligen... more
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Off Screen
Netherlands, 2005, 87 min.
This haunting, intelligent thriller brings together two of Benelux's best actors and offers a parable about living in a time of anxiety. On March 11, 2002, a disturbed 59-year-old bus driver took hostages in Amsterdam's Rembrandt Tower. What inspired his actions? Best Film and Best Actor, Montreal W... more
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Once You’re Born You Can No Longer Hide
Italy, 2005, 119 min.
A 13-year-old boy thought lost at sea is rescued by a boat of illegal aliens travelling to Italian shores. His trip back to his own life and family as a societal outsider will mark his passage to adulthood. From the director of The Best of Youth, the 2004 PSIFF Audience Award winner.... more
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One Long Winter Without Fire
Switzerland, 2005, 91 min.
Winner of the 2005 Swiss Film Award for best picture, this controlled, meticulously crafted film features Aurelien Recoing (star of Laurent Cantet's Time Out) and Marie Matheron as parents trying to cope with the death of their child while struggling to maintain their livelihoods as farmers i... more
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Paheli
India, 2005, 141 min.
Drawn from a classic folk tale where a ghost falls in love with a beautiful girl and substitutes for the husband who leaves on his own wedding night, this exuberant and colorful film is set in the exotic Rajasthan of vibrant dances and camel races.... more
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The Prince That Contemplated His Soul
Tunisia, 2005, 97 min.
Blind mystic Bab'Aziz and his granddaughter travel through the desert on their way to a great convocation of dervishes, an auspicious event held every 30 years. Variety calls it "an Arabian dream that weaves timeless story threads with mystical and Sufi elements into a beautiful film object." ... more
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The Promise / aka Master Of The Crimson Armor
China, 2005, 98 min.
Chen Kaige, one of China's most acclaimed filmmakers, tries his hand at the kind of digitally-enhanced fantasy established by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). A valiant slave falls in love with a beautiful princess and epic chaos ensues.... more
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Requiem of Snow
Iraq, 2005, 91 min.
In a village in the Kurdish area of Iraq, the inhabitants pray for rain for their land parched with drought. Longing to escape from his undesirable destiny, Rojin seeks help from a stranger… A first feature from an Iraqi Kurd living in Iran.... more
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The Rising - Ballad of Mangal Pandey
India, 2005, 161 min.
The Rising is a sweeping historical epic based on the life of Mangal Pandey (played by Amir Khan of Lagaan) the Indian soldier behind the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 that eventually brought down the East India Company and sparked the beginning of India's independence.... more
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A School Outing
Italy, 1983, 91 min.
Two high-school teachers take their students for an outing in the mountains. The youngsters flirt with each other, and the older teacher confesses his love for his younger colleague. However, a scandal breaks out when it's discovered that she's had a fling with one of her students.... more
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