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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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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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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
USA, 2005, 111 min.
Alex Gibney's soberly entertaining documentary is an excellent example of how reality so often trumps fiction. The film exposes the voracious culture of greed, the web of corporate collusion, and the blatant loopholes of government's corporate policy that enabled the America's largest bankruptcy.... 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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Inlaws & Outlaws
USA, 2005, 106 min.
Unconventional couples, both gay and straight, from the Pacific Northwest share their views on marriage and the possibility for long-term relationships. The result is a revelatory illustration of how individuality and independence can be the most important ingredients in any romantic match.... 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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Occupation: Dreamland
USA, 2005, 79 min.
This melancholy portrait of a squad of American soldiers deployed in the doomed Iraqi city of Falluja during the winter of 2004 offers a revealing look at Army life, operations and the complexity of American war in the 21st century.... more
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Palais Royal!
France, 2005, 101 min.
A speech therapist is married to the heir of an imaginary kingdom. When the old king dies, she becomes queen although she's definitely not ready to be one! This brilliant parody of Lady Diana's setbacks with power and the media is brought to life by a group of great French actors in unexpectedly fun... more
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Paradise Now
Palestine, 2005, 91 min.
Shot in Nablus, Hany Abu-Assad's timely and shocking film looks at two Palestinian childhood friends who are recruited to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Sworn to secrecy, the friends begin their journey across the border, but the operation doesn't go as planned... Best Director, Berlin Fil... more
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Persona Non Grata
Poland, 2005, 127 min.
The expression "persona non grata" takes on multiple meanings in this tense psychological drama unfolding in the high stakes and morally dangerous world of international diplomacy. The complicated relationship between Poland and Russia plays out in multiple subplots. Jury Prize and Best Supporting A... more
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Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea - Revisited
USA, 2005, 72 min.
Squatters, nudists, retirees, and barflies all speak their piece about the resort/mistake/ecological nightmare that is the man-made lake in the Southern California desert that they call home.... more
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Pursuit of Equality
USA, 2005, 82 min.
Geoff Callan and Mike Shaw's documentary looks behind the scenes at San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom's 2004 decision to allow gay couples to marry. The elation, the controversy, the court's decision to shut things down, Bush, Schwarzenegger, Rosie O'Donnell -- they're all here in this thoroughly eng... more
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Salvador Allende
Chile, 2005, 101 min.
Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile) offers this personal reflection on General Pinochet's violent coup d'etat that overthrew President Allende on September 11, 1973. Guzmán conveys the significance of Allende's thwarted socialist vision for himself and many Chileans.... more
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Shakespeare Behind Bars
USA, 2005, 93 min.
Take Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest, cast it with a group of inmates who are part of an innovative rehabilitation program at Kentucky's Luther Lucket prison, and watch the sparks fly. This revelatory film about a group of hard-timers coming to grips with their past actions in the course of pr... more
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Shyamol Chhaya
Bangladesh, 2005, 111 min.
Here's the story of a fateful boat journey during Bangladesh's 1971 war of liberation. As the Pakistani military attacked, a group of helpless people moved towards the liberated zone. They were terribly frightened, but they had dreams of Shyamol Chhaya -- the land of peace. Will they be able to reac... more
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Sisters In Law
United Kingdom, 2005, 105 min.
The only documentary selected for the 2005 Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, this is a totally fascinating, often hilarious look at the work of one small courthouse in Cameroon where the tough-minded state prosecutor and court president help women in their Muslim village find the courage to fight abus... more
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Stolen Eyes
Bulgaria, 2005, 112 min.
Stolen Eyes deals with a dark chapter in Bulgarian history, when, in 1985, the government of Todor Zhivkov decided to "Bulgarianize" its Turkish minority by outlawing Turkish names, customs, language and dress, and follows an unlikely love story that develops against this traumatic backdrop. Best Bu... more
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Street Fight
USA, 2005, 84 min.
A political documentary of the first order, Marshall Curry's feature debut chronicles the down-and-dirty 2002 race for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, fought between incumbent Sharpe James and rising-star city councilman Cory Booker. Audience members will shake their heads in disbelief at the tactics o... more
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Tbilisi-Tbilisi
Georgia, 2005, 108 min.
A selection from Cannes' prestigious Directors Fortnight, writer/director/ film professor Levan Zakareishvili's second film is a powerful, personal work, which turns an unforgiving narrative eye on the harsh realities of life on the streets in his native Tbilisi where poverty, corruption and a class... more
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Totally Personal
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2005, 79 min.
Totally Personal creates a historical document both droll and touching out of the memories, meditations, and observations of the filmmaker and his family. The history begins in the communist era, continues through the war that ravaged the former Yugoslavia and into today's post-war period.... more
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Welcome to Dongmakgol
South Korea, 2005, 134 min.
During the Korean Civil War of 1950, a handful of northern and southern Korean soldiers and one American find themselves taking refuge in Dongmakgol, a tiny village history has passed by. This dryly-scripted dramedy finds the various warring factions slowly seduced by the peasant's laid-back lifesty... more
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