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12
Russia, 2007, 153 min.
This riveting psychological drama is a loose remake of 12 Angry Men. As the jurors debate the details of their first-degree murder case, they reflect on contemporary Russian society.... more
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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Romania, 2007, 113 min.
One of the most highly acclaimed films of the year, this gritty, gripping drama portrays a university student who helps her roommate arrange an illegal abortion and is forced into a maelstrom of dramatic events.... more
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881
Singapore, 2007, 105 min.
Vivid hues and exuberant singing and dancing are the central aesthetic in this warm and earthy musical fantasy from Singapore that explores the relationship between two sisters in a popular getai band.... more
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The Air I Breathe
USA, 2007, 97 min.
Romantic/crime drama in four segments with four acclaimed actors representing the key emotions of life set out by a Chinese proverb: happiness (Forest Whitaker), pleasure (Brendan Fraser), sorrow (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and love (Kevin Bacon).... more
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And Along Come Tourists
Germany, 2007, 85 min.
A young German is assigned to do his civil service at Auschwitz where his duties include helping a former concentration camp survivor. This powerful drama proves that it’s possible to talk about Auschwitz from today’s perspective in an intelligent, empathetic and edifying way.... more
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Anna M.
France, 2007, 106 min.
Isabelle Carré offers a scintillating performance as a psychologically damaged woman who develops a dangerous erotic obsession with the married doctor treating her after her suicide attempt. Compared to Haneke’s The Piano Teacher and Claude Chabrol’s L’Enfer, Michel Spinosa’s feature i... more
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Armin
Croatia, 2007, 82 min.
An intimate, poignant drama about a small-town father and son trying to maintain their dignity in the big city and in the face of unexpected opportunities.... more
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The Art of Crying
Denmark, 2006, 105 min.
A chilling tale of domestic abuse told with black humor and acute understanding. Young Allan will do anything he can to keep his family together. His innocence is his best protection against a father who misbehaves to ensure that he gets what he wants, however forbidden his desires.... more
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The Art of Negative Thinking
Norway, 2007, 79 min.
This transgressive black comedy skewers PC correctness toward the disabled, as a wheelchair-bound accident victim challenges the conventional pieties of a therapy group for the handicapped. A multiple award winner, it provides a cathartic message about the need to accept reality.... more
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The Art of Travel
USA, 2007, 100 min.
High school graduate Conner Layne plans to marry his sweetheart, but soon finds himself on an adventure through the Darien Gap, a hundred-mile swath of jungle between Central and South America.... more
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The Band's Visit
Israel, 2007, 89 min.
This witty and gentle lark presents an Egyptian brass band in a backwater, desert Israeli town and the comical tensions that erupt among the band’s members, hosts, and potential audience.... more
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Baptism of Blood
Brazil, 2006, 110 min.
In the late 1960s, faithful to the gospel of the poor, and deeply touched by social inequality, a group of young Dominican friars in Sao Paolo become involved in the resistance against Brazil’s military dictatorship. Their loyalties and faith are put to the test in this rigorous account based on the... more
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Beaufort
Israel, 2007, 120 min.
The last days of a legendary Israeli outpost in Lebanon are brought to harrowing life (and death) in this searing docudrama. Drawing comparisons to All Quiet on the Western Front, the film was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival.... more
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Before the Rains
USA, 98 min.
Acclaimed cinematographer Santosh Sivan brilliantly captures the rustic beauty of his native Kerala with its sweeping vistas as a backdrop for a torrid love affair set in 1937 India—a world where characters are caught between loyalty to British colonialism and the desire for freedom.... more
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Beloved
India, 2007, 142 min.
Supported by lush musical and dance numbers, this poetic film saturates the senses with images so beautiful, they’ll leave a haunting impression. Two star-crossed lovers move through life with a childlike innocence, reminding us of the power of unconditional love.... more
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Ben X
Belgium, 2007, 93 min.
16-year-old Ben is different. Bullied at school and unable to communicate, he escapes into his video-game world until his tormentors go too far and Ben devises a plan to get rid of them once and for all. Director Nic Balthazar’s dazzling debut blends fantasy and harsh social realism.... more
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The Best of Me
Spain, 2007, 83 min.
Award-winning actress Marian Alvares portrays a young woman who must decide whether or not to serve as an organ donor for her new lover in this emotionally honest melodrama.... more
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Body
Brazil, 2007, 85 min.
The body of a woman found in a mass grave dating back to the 1970s is strangely preserved, as if her death had just occurred. At the Sao Paolo morgue, a pathologist assigned to her case suspects that she was killed by the military dictatorship. He embarks on an obsessive search to uncover the truth.... more
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Breath
South Korea, 2007, 84 min.
A woman’s growing obsession with a condemned criminal takes root and blossoms with the changing seasons in this evocative and highly original tale from Korean director Kim Ki-Duk, best known for his Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring.... more
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Burn the Bridges
Mexico, 2007, 105 min.
Winner of the Audience Award at the recent Morelia Film Festival, Francisco Franco Alba's drama circles around teenage brother and sister living in a decaying colonial mansion, who must deal with the upsetting erotic intrusion of a lower-class tough.... more
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California Dreamin' (Endless)
Romania, 2007, 155 min.
This complex dark comedy of near-Shakespearean proportions was inspired by a Kosovo war incident involving American troops accompanying a NATO train who were stopped at a rural Romanian railway station because they lacked customs documents. Best Film, Un Certain Regard, 2007 Cannes Film Festival.... more
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Chaos
Egypt, 2007, 122 min.
In this biting social melodrama, Hatem, a Cairo police chief, runs his district with an iron fist and complete disregard for the law, until his unrequited lust for a young neighbor causes him to resort to previously unparalleled acts of misconduct.... more
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Chaotic Ana
Spain, 2007, 116 min.
Nubile young Ana takes a journey of personal transformation through art, love and sex. Finding that she has lived many past lives, she travels back through hypnosis and finds the horrific links to the chaos in her present day existence.... more
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Children of Glory
Hungary, 2006, 123 min.
A sweeping historical epic set against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Krisztina Goda’s powerfully realized romantic drama is remarkable for its immense sweep, uncanny attention to detail, and superb acting from its two leads.... more
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Christopher Columbus, the Enigma
Portugal, 2007, 77 min.
Cinematic master Manoel de Oliveira, who turned 99 in December, shows he is still in peak form with this quiet drama about one doctor’s quest to prove that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese. Featuring Oliveira and his wife Maria Isabel in prominent roles.... more
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City of Men
Brazil, 2007, 106 min.
From the team behind companion piece City of God comes this less razzle-dazzle but more emotionally affecting story of the friendship between two 18-year-olds in the slums of Rio and the effects on their relationship caused by a burgeoning gang war.... more
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City in Heat
Argentina, 2006, 100 min.
Much like an Argentine The Big Chill, this warm ensemble film follows the entangled relationships of three thirty-something friends who gather at a jazzy Buenos Aires pub after the suicide of a loved one.... more
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The Class
Estonia, 2007, 97 min.
Brutal bullying catalyzes a high school massacre in this harrowing teen drama. Like Elephant, it's inspired by the Columbine tragedy, but unlike Gus Van Sant's film, The Class posits a rationale for the violence.... more
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Continental, A Film Without Guns
Canada, 2007, 103 min.
This quiet and affecting ensemble piece traces the lives of four struggling characters whose lives are intertwined after a man’s disappearance; its title is taken from a line dance which is performed without touching.... more
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Conversations with my Gardener
France, 2007, 108 min.
French stars Daniel Auteuil and Jean-Pierre Darroussin play middle-aged men from different social strata—an artist and a gardener—who discover life anew by seeing the world through one another’s eyes.... more
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Cosmic Radio
USA, 2008, 106 min.
Idyllic Idyllwild provides the setting for this story about the owner of a counter-culture radio station whose business is on the verge of going belly-up—along with the illusions that have fueled his life so far—when the daughter of a conservative Senator comes to town hoping to undermine an effort ... more
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The Counterfeiters
Austria, 2007, 99 min.
This gripping drama is based on a true story about the world’s largest counterfeiting operation, which occurred in a Nazi concentration camp where inmate artisans were forced to aid the war effort.... more
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Crime and Punishment
USA, 1935, 88 min.
The rarely-screened Crime and Punishment (1935), directed by Josef von Sternberg and based on Dostoevsky’s classic 1866 novel, stars gifted Peter Lorre in his American debut and beautiful Palm Desert resident Marian Marsh in one of her best roles.... more
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Crossing a Shadow
Peru, 2007, 135 min.
This year’s Peruvian Oscar submission is a gentle but insightful historical drama situated at the beginning of the 20th century. It tells the story of a traffic engineer, who faces adversity and eventual redemption.... more
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Crossing the Dust
Kurdistan, 2006, 74 min.
The gripping story of two Kurdish foot soldiers, who come upon a lost child in the course of completing a mission, is an absorbing portrait of the societal strains that began to emerge in the aftermath of the quest to topple the Saddam Hussein. ... more
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Days of Darkness
Canada, 2007, 104 min.
Final part of a trilogy that began with Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions. Everyman Jean-Marc escapes his Kafkaesque office and arid home life into a fantasy world of glamour and power in this witty dissection of the malaise of contemporary life.... more
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Dharm
India, 2007, 103 min.
In Dharm, a four year old boy challenges the very core of a traditional Brahmin priest’s beliefs—and our faith in humanity—when it is found out that the little boy adopted by the priest is a Muslim.... more
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Disengagement
Israel, 2007, 116 min.
Veteran Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai emphasizes the human, rather than political, element in his story about an Israeli French woman (played by Juliette Binoche) who seeks reconciliation in Gaza during forced evacuations.... more
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Donsol
Philippines, 2006, 105 min.
Whale sharks, magnificent creatures of the deep, annually visit the turquoise waters of Donsol. Daniel, a young guide at the retreat, finds himself drawn to the mysterious Teresa. Burdened by past heartaches and uncertain of the future, the two find sanctuary in each other as love surfaces anew. ... more
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The Duchess of Langeais
France, 2007, 137 min.
French New Wave filmmaker Jacques Rivette offers a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Balzac’s 19th century novella, a genre-bending romantic tragedy cum thriller rumination on the sexes. French stars Guillaume Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar portray a lovesick soldier and his flirtatious duchess, bo... more
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The Edge of Heaven
Germany, 2007, 120 min.
Superb humanist drama, where six lives intersect in the never-ending search for love. When a tragic accident befalls his father, college professor Nejat leaves Germany for Turkey to find a young woman he feels has been wronged—raising questions about family, homeland and sexuality.... more
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Eduart
Greece, 2006, 105 min.
Based on actual events, Eduart tells the story of a young criminal who commits a murder, but is put in jail for another crime, where he finds redemption. Winner of 11 awards at the 2006 Thessaloniki Film Festival.... more
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Eklavya: The Royal Guard
India, 2007, 107 min.
A spectacular, majestic fort sits in a fairytale setting in Rajasthan, India with a royal family that no longer rules. Eklavya, the royal guard whose markmanship inspired legends, lives only to protect the fort, the king and the soon-to-be-revealed shocking palace secrets.... more
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Euphoria
Russia, 2006, 73 min.
Love at first sight can be a blessing and a curse, as Pasha discovers when his glance falls upon the married Vera at a wedding. Part provincial tragedy and part road movie, this is an unexpected and intense film about broken people who attempt to live life to the fullest.... more
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Frozen
India, 2007, 110 min.
The astonishing cinematography of this most mesmerizing film conveys the harsh but hauntingly beautiful, endless snow capped landscape of winter in a small village in Ladakh where a young spirited teenager lives with her father. When the army moves in next door, their dreamlike routine is disturbe... more
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The Girl By the Lake
Italy, 2007, 95 min.
A girl is found dead—drowned in a small lake in the mountains of Friuli. Anna’s death is investigated by inspector Giovanni Sanzio, a brilliant detective from Italy’s deep south.... more
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Gone With the Woman
Norway, 2007, 92 min.
A fast-paced screwball comedy about a man’s first tentative steps into the potential disaster area of love, about the female monologues that pass for dialogue, and the right of modern man to decide who wears the pants in the family.... more
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Heartbeat Detector
France, 2007, 140 min.
The crimes of past generations come back to haunt a powerful corporate executive in this quietly riveting emotional drama, the effects of which will continue to resonate long after you leave the theater.... more
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The Home Songs Stories
Australia, 2007, 103 min.
1970s Singapore nightclub singer and single mom Rose (Joan Chen, outstanding), drags her two young children off to suburban Melbourne with a new ‘daddy’ following a surprise marriage proposal. But will this new home prove fertile ground for such an exotic bloom?... more
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Honeydripper
USA, 2007, 122 min.
Alabama, 1950. Ty “Pine Top” Purvis (Danny Glover) hatches a plan to revive his ailing jukebox joint by hiring blues star Guitar Sam for a make-or-break show. Two tiny problems: Ty has no money and no clue how to locate Sam.... more
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