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The Baader Meinhof Complex
Germany, 2008, 150 min.
This frantically paced epic traces the rise and fall of Germany's notorious Red Army Faction, a group of radicals who wrought mayhem on postwar Germany over the course of nearly three decades.... more
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The Blind Sunflowers
Spain, 2008, 98 min.
The Spanish Civil War continues to haunt Spanish culture. Blind Sunflowers looks at the effect of the war on the children growing up under the Franco regime when a young boy can't quite figure out why his father lives secretly in his own house.... more
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Crossing
South Korea, 2008, 106 min.
Focused on the politically sensitive issue of North Korean defectors, Crossing tells the heartrending story of a young family struggling with abject poverty. Their situation becomes so dire that the devoted father takes a chance and slips across the border.... more
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Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action
Canada, 2008, 97 min.
In Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action, filmmaker Velcrow Ripper searches for deeper meaning in his life. He finds it in "fierce light," or desire for change driven by love and compassion. Featuring interviews with world spiritual leaders, this film will inspire viewers with hope.... more
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Firaaq
India, 2008, 101 min.
Nandita Das, best known for her emotionally expressive roles is also a committed social activist exploring, in this directorial debut, the emotional consequences of post-sectarian violence in the 2002 Gujarat riots. She interweaves moving stories, illuminating characters on both sides of the equatio... more
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Hunger
United Kingdom, 2008, 96 min.
In 1981 Bobby Sands, an Irish Republican, starved himself to death as a protest against the British government. Visual artist Steve McQueen's stunning directorial debut unrelentingly depicts the last months of Sands' life in Belfast's Maze prison.... more
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Il Divo
Italy, 2008, 110 min.
Director Paolo Sorrentino's portrait of seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti (a brilliant Toni Servillo) is packed with wicked wit, brilliant cinematography and drama galore. Andreotti dominated Italian politics until undone by scandal and the predations of the Mafia.... more
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Kabei
Japan, 2008, 133 min.
Set in 1940 Tokyo, veteran Yoji Yamada's 80th (!) feature is a deeply affecting drama centering on mother and wife Kayo (Sayuri Yoshinaga), who struggles to get along with her two daughters after her professor husband is jailed for his progressive views.... more
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Kanchivaram
India, 2008, 117 min.
This lush Tamil film is set in the temple town famous for its silk saris, at a time when a humble weaver could never afford the shimmering saris he produces. Vengadam is determined to wrap his daughter in silk on her wedding day, and resorts to stealing single strands of silk.... more
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My Marlon and Brando
Turkey, 2008, 92 min.
The true-life border-crossing romance between a Turkish actress and her Kurdish lover gets a semi-fictional work-up with the real actress earning kudos for taking on her own role. A moving statement on war, human rights and the confining artificiality of borders.... more
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No One's Son
Croatia, 2008, 100 min.
Ivan (Alen Liveric), a Croatian war veteran, doesn't have much to live for. He's lost both legs in a minefield, his ex-wife is leaving the country, and he is dependent on his parents. When a devastating family secret is revealed, Ivan goes over the edge.... more
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Opium War
Afghanistan, 2008, 90 min.
Winner of best film at the Rome festival and Afghanistan's entry for the Best Foreign Language Feature Academy Award, Siddiq Barmak's combo of ultra-realism and absurdism relates the interactions between two US soldiers caught behind enemy lines and an opium-producing Afghani family.... more
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The Rest Is Silence
Romania, 2007, 140 min.
A fictionalized account of the making of Romania's first feature film, the 1912 epic The War of Independence, itself a lavish recreation of Romania's struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.... more
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Salt of This Sea
Palestine, 2008, 109 min.
Brooklyn-born Soraya decides to move to Palestine and reclaim her heritage on both spiritual and financial levels. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever.... more
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Snow
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2008, 100 min.
In a remote Bosnian village, wartime survivors attempt to keep the memories of their loved ones alive. But when the first snow threatens further isolation, the stage is set for a final confrontation with the outside world. Grand Prize, International Critics' Week, Cannes Film Festival.... more
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The Tour
Serbia, 2008, 105 min.
In 1993, a naive Belgrade-based theater company embarks on an increasingly dangerous tour of the war-torn Krajina in this jet-black road movie. Tapping the sweet spot between comedy and tragedy, this treatise on war's chaos and humanity's foibles is accessible.... more
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Waltz with Bashir
Israel, 2008, 87 min.
A film about memory and responsibility that uses powerful animation to recreate the hallucinogenic qualities of recollection, this unique documentary shows how Lebanon is part of the Israeli psyche, its shadow, its other place.... more
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The Wedding Song
Tunisia, 2007, 100 min.
Karin Albou's (Little Jerusalem) sophomore feature confirms her status as a rising star in the art-film firmament. The story of a Muslim girl and a Jewish girl who bond intensely during the Nazi occupation of Tunis is taboo-breaking, sensual and political, all at the same time.... more
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