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Almanya, Welcome to Germany
Germany, 2011, 97 min.
Neatly structured into two interwoven time frames, this charming, colorfully styled comedy centers on multiple generations of a German-Turkish clan, and derives its touching, laugh-out-loud humor from cultural misunderstandings and the question of what constitutes national identity. Winner: Best Fil... more
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Arranged Happiness
Germany, 2011, 87 min.
A loving, first-hand portrayal of a Muslim Kashmiri family’s search for a groom for 27-year-old Waheeda, this humane, mesmerizing documentary provides an intimate and compelling counterweight to widely held perceptions of Islam’s practices in the West.... more
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Beyond
Finland, 2010, 94 min.
Acclaimed actress Pernilla August makes her writing/directing debut with this compassionate look at a woman forced to confront her dark childhood as the daughter of bitter, hard-drinking Finnish immigrants. Winner, Audience Award, Critic’s Week Venice Film Festival.... more
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California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown
USA, 2010, 90 min.
An illuminating and personal portrait of Gov. Edmund G “Pat” Brown, the patriarch of the so-called “West Coast Kennedys” and one of California’s most important governors, by his granddaughter Sascha Rice.... more
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Corpo celeste
France, 2011, 100 min.
Having returned to tradition-bound Reggio di Calabria after a decade in Switzerland, withdrawn 13-year-old Marta (Yle Vianello, perfect) finds her adolescent feelings of isolation enhanced by her strange surroundings. Rohrwacher’s naturalistic feature debut is emotionally honest and bracingly immedi... more
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Declaration of War
France, 2011, 100 min.
Taking a serious story about a couple whose baby is diagnosed with cancer, Donzelli turns expectations upside-down by using the jump cuts, musical numbers, bright color palette, and low-budget enthusiasm of the New Wave to fashion a delightful and moving gem.... more
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Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel
USA, 2011, 86 min.
Both the inventor and embodiment of the term "pizzazz", Diana Vreeland ruled over the editorial content of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue for decades. This tribute to one of our greatest style icons blends archival material and interviews with fashion luminaries with a chic, assured hand.... more
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Die Standing Up
Mexico, 2011, 90 min.
The inspiring story of Irina, a tireless fighter in the war for personal freedoms, a transsexual who works for progressive causes from her wheelchair despite a severe disability, and her powerful love story with her partner Nelida, whom she married as a man.... more
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Expiration Date
Mexico, 2011, 100 min.
When Ramona’s adult son disappears, she believes her new neighbor Mariana will lead her to him, but Mariana has a secret….This macabre black comedy offers three conflicting perspectives on a tragic tale. Winner: Audience Award, Morelia Film Festival.... more
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The Girls in the Band
USA, 2011, 83 min.
The hidden history of women jazz musicians finally sees the light of day in this glorious celebration of some of our greatest musicians, period.A delightful sound and visual journey for history buffs and fans of music alike.... more
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Goodbye First Love
France, 2011, 110 min.
Exploring themes of loss, the passage of time, and emotional unrest, Goodbye First Love begins with a passionate romance between 15-year-old Camille and Sullivan, a free-spirited older boy. But eight years after he left her for Argentina, what remains of their love? ... more
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The Good Son
Finland, 2011, 88 min.
The destructive relationship between a profoundly narcissistic film star mother and her teenage son is at the center of Zaisa Bergroth’s striking combination of blackly comic showbiz satire and serious psychological drama.... more
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The Graveyard Keeper’s Daughter
Estonia, 2011, 100 min.
A child's gaze anchors this gentle, lyrical tale. Eight-year-old Lucia may qualify as a child at risk, with a largely absent father and chronically drunken mother, yet she fashions a satisfying existence from the cards dealt her. ... more
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Habibi
Palestine, 2011, 78 min.
The first fiction feature set in Gaza in over 15 years offers a story of forbidden love. Can Qays, a poet from the refugee camp, build a future with Layla, the daughter of a traditional, religious family?... more
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Happy, Happy
Norway, 2010, 85 min.
In a snowy small town in northern Norway, new neighbors change the life of determinedly happy Kaja. An offbeat comedy of infidelity, moose meat, church choirs, board games and embarrassing showdowns. Winner: World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival.... more
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The House
Slovak Republic, 2011, 97 min.
Contemporary Eastern Europe’s divisions – between generations, genders, economic strata, city and country – are given incisive treatment in this affecting family drama about an ambitious teen, her disowned elder sister and their dour, controlling father.... more
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How Big is Your Love
Algeria, 2011, 98 min.
A heartwarming examination of childhood and love in modern Algiers. With his parents breaking up, 8-year-old Adel is sent to live with his grandparents. Soon it’s like he’s lived there forever, he’s so intimately wrapped up in their lives.... more
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If I Were You
Canada, 2011, 115 min.
When Madelyn discovers her husband is having an affair, her attempts to stalk his young mistress take a surprising turn and the two wind up forming a rather unconventional pact. A charming, very funny look at the unexpected places life can take us.... more
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In Darkness
Poland, 2011, 145 min.
Acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa) offers a compelling look at the complex reasons a man might risk his life for others with this true story of a Polish sewer worker who saved many Jewish lives. ... more
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Kiss Me
Sweden, 2011, 107 min.
Love blossoms when two professional women meet at their parents’ engagement party in this nuanced and deeply felt drama that does not avoid confronting the barriers—both personal and social—faced by the same-sex couple.... more
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Land of Oblivion
France, 2011, 115 min.
A powerful recreation of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster anchors the first half of Boganim’s timely drama. But it is in the second half, ten years later, that the profound and heartbreaking implications hit home for survivor Anya (Olga Kuylenko). ... more
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The Loving Story
USA, 2011, 77 min.
In 1958, a white man and a part black, part Cherokee woman were convicted of breaking Virginia's law against interracial marriage. This eye-opening documentary examines the overlooked story of this couple's courageous fight and the Supreme Court case that resulted.... more
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Mulberry Child
USA, 2011, 85 min.
Mixing interviews and dramatic reenactments, this deeply moving documentary explores author Jian Ping’s best-selling memoir: how she grew up the daughter of a senior government official and her family’s struggles to survive Mao’s Cultural Revolution.... more
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Nuit #1
Canada, 2011, 91 min.
A one-night stand veers from casual sex to something more intimate and revealing in Anne Émond’s bold debut feature, a candid two-hander with a stellar performance by Catherine de Léan). Winner: Best Canadian Feature, Vancouver International Film Festival.... more
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Off White Lies
Israel, 2011, 86 min.
A poignant comedy about a teenager who returns to Israel to get to know her eccentric father, who is currently “between apartments.” As war in Lebanon begins, the father proposes a creative plan to put a roof over their heads.... more
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On The Edge
France, 2011, 106 min.
In the demimonde of nocturnal Tangier, four street-smart young women struggle to escape their poverty turning tricks and pawning stolen valuables. Winner: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Taormina Film Festival.... more
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Pariah
USA, 2011, 86 min.
Executive produced by Spike Lee this distinctive and powerful coming of age and coming out story follows a young African-American woman's search for identity as she figures out what kind of woman she wants to be.... more
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Return
USA, 2011, 97 min.
Linda Cardellini (ER) gives a beautifully observed performance as an Afghan War veteran who comes home to find husband Michael Shannon has had an affair and her life in a small Ohio town no longer means what it did to her.... more
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The Rif Lover
Morocco, 2011, 90 min.
A bold, visually ravishing tale of women struggling against the bonds of tradition as a beautiful but naïve 20-year-old falls into the clutches of a drug baron.... more
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Semper Fi: Always Faithful
USA, 2011, 76 min.
The heartbreaking and inspirational story of Marine Corps Master Sergeant Jerry Ensminger whose daughter’s death from leukemia took him on a thirteen-year quest to hold the Marine Corps accountable in one of the country’s largest cases of environmental contamination.... more
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Simon and the Oaks
Sweden, 2011, 122 min.
An epic drama spanning the years 1939–1955. Working class Simon befriends Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution. Their families connect in unexpected ways as war rages across Europe.... more
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A Simple Life
Hong Kong, 2011, 119 min.
When Ah Tao (Venice prize winner Deannie Yip), lifelong maid to film producer Roger (Andy Lau), has a stroke, she moves to a care home where a new life awaits. A deeply moving film from Asia’s most important female director.... more
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Sonny Boy
Netherlands, 2011, 132 min.
Offering a sweeping epic encompassing the years 1911–1945, this eagerly anticipated screen version of the bestselling novel by Annejet van der Zijl tells the real-life love story of a mixed-race couple and their struggle in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.... more
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Thin Ice
USA, 2011, 114 min.
Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup are all superb in Sprecher’s ingeniously structured film noir-slash-black comedy, about a sleazy insurance salesman (Kinnear) and the scam he runs to acquire a $25,000 violin from a lonely Midwest farmer (Arkin).... more
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The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni
Lebanon, 2011, 68 min.
Beautifully conceived and expertly edited, this playful documentary uses a wealth of clips from Egyptian star Hosni's films to explore the iconic actress’s screen image and shed light on the Arab world’s most popular cinema.... more
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The Tiniest Place
El Salvador, 2011, 104 min.
The heartbreaking yet hopeful story of Cinquera, a small town in rural El Salvador that was completely depopulated during the Civil War, as told by the survivors who have returned with astonishing resilience to rebuild their lives on their native soil.... more
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Turn Me On, Dammit!
Norway, 2011, 76 min.
This debut feature tells a story that is rarely if ever explored in films: the unbridled sexual appetite of a teenage girl.Certainly this subject has never been approached in such a candid and wryly comic way. Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best Debut Film at th... more
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Unfinished Spaces
Cuba, 2011, 86 min.
Masterfully interweaving art, politics and history, this spellbinding doc recounts the secret history of a little-known architectural marvel, commissioned as a showpiece art school by Fidel Castro, but then deemed “decadent” when he was forced to throw in his lot with the Soviet Union. ... more
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We Need to Talk About Kevin
United Kingdom, 2011, 112 min.
Two years after her teenage son commits a horrific crime, Eva (Tilda Swinton) tries to come to terms with her marriage, career, and parenthood. A grippingly cinematic, searingly honest film from the director of Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar.... more
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When The Night
Italy, 2011, 116 min.
A troubled, unhappy young mother bonds with an Alpine mountain guide after an accident (or was it?) befalls her infant son while they are on vacation awaiting the woman’s husband. A searching film from the writer/director of the Oscar-nominated Don’t Tell. ... more
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Wish Me Away
USA, 2011, 96 min.
Coming out is never easy, but when you’re a country music star it could also be career suicide. This inspiring, award-winning doc introduces us to courageous singer-songwriter Chely Wright, a devout Christian who also happens to be a lesbian.... more
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Wreckers
United Kingdom, 2011, 86 min.
Urbanites David and Dawn (rising stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy) move to the pastoral village of David’s youth, only to have the arrival of David’s soldier/brother Nick—and his revelations about family secrets—threaten their idyll. A taut, compelling drama.... more
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