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900 Days
Netherlands, 2011, 77 min.
History at its most fascinating and horrifying, 900 Days uses gripping testimonials by the Russian survivors of the German army’s WWII siege of Leningrad to tell the truth about events that the Soviet government kept hidden for 65 years.... more
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The Deep
Iceland, 2012, 95 min.
This real-life survival tale offers a powerfully authentic, elemental depiction of an incident that still haunts the Icelandic psyche: the sinking of the fishing trawler Breki in 1984 and the near-miraculous survival of a lone crewman.... more
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Defiant Requiem
USA, 2012, 85 min.
A memorial concert reawakens the story of an artistic uprising in the Nazi concentration camp, Terezin, where a chorus of 150 inmates confronts the Nazis face-to-face ... and sings to them what they dare not say.... more
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Emperor
Japan, 2012, 98 min.
Army General Fellers (Matthew Fox, Lost) investigates Japan’s Emperor Hirohito for war crimes while searching for his love, with a stellar performance from Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas MacArthur.... more
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A Fierce Green Fire
USA, 2012, 114 min.
A fervent and engrossing account of environmentalism, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mark Kitchell's five-part history offers up righteous fury and startling realities about the short-sighted past, perilous present, and uncertain future of our relationship with nature.... more
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The Foster Boy
Switzerland, 2011, 108 min.
As harrowing as it is beautiful, this poignant drama is Switzerland’s biggest domestic box-office hit. It tells the story of an orphan boy named Max who is contracted to work on a local farm where he is exploited and abused.... more
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Hannah Arendt
Germany, 2012, 113 min.
In Margarethe von Trotta’s stirring and emotionally rewarding biopic, Barbara Sukowa perfectly embodies the philosopher famous for her concept of “The Banality of Evil” and her controversial reporting on the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann.... more
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In the Shadow
Czech Republic, 2012, 106 min.
Inspired by the darkest days of Cold War Prague when the Soviets were tightening their grip on Czechoslovakia, this suspenseful crime drama follows an honest cop whose jewelry heist investigation is taken over by State Security.... more
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Jews of Egypt
Egypt, 2012, 96 min.
“An engrossing, enraging and deeply moving chronicle of the lost history of Egyptian Jews from the beginning of the 20th Century until the mid-60s… seamlessly blends the personal with the public, painting a rich, multifaceted portrait of a history that has been deliberately forgotten and tarnished.”... more
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Kon-Tiki
Norway, 2012, 118 min.
A real-life action-adventure, Kon-Tiki follows Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and five fellow scientists on a 1947 voyage of 4300 nautical miles from South America to Polynesia on a wooden raft. From the directors of PSIFF audience favorite Max Manus.... more
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The Last Sentence
Sweden, 2012, 125 min.
From the director of PSIFF audience favorite Everlasting Moments comes a dramatic and poetic tale – exquisitely filmed in black and white - about crusading Swedish journalist Torgny Segerstedt and his courageous stand against Fascism during WWII.... more
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Lore
Australia, 2012, 109 min.
Spring 1945. As Allied forces sweep across the Motherland, Lore and her four younger siblings are stranded after their parents are imprisoned and embark on a daunting 900km trek across a devastated Germany. Winner, Audience Award, Locarno Film Festival.... more
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Marie Krøyer
Denmark, 2012, 103 min.
An exquisite period romance about the wife of acclaimed Danish painter P.S. Kroyer. At the peak of their marriage, Kroyer’s mental illness becomes more severe and Marie’s dream of a mutually supportive life as artists turns to frustration and sorrow.... more
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Midnight’s Children
Canada, 2012, 148 min.
Salman Rushdie adapts his own monumental novel – a picaresque that doubles as a history of modern India – into a rich, sprawling, unruly movie, full of romance, satire, magic and anger.... more
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No Place on Earth
USA, 2012, 83 min.
“Maybe some Jews lived down there.” These words mark the beginning of an incredible story: 38 Ukrainian Jews who hid deep inside some of the longest caves in the world for 511 days to escape the Nazis.... more
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Out of the Clear Blue Sky
USA, 2012, 107 min.
The riveting, never-before-told inside story of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm headquartered on the top of the World Trade Center that suffered the largest number of casualties of any organization on 9/11, and of its remarkable and controversial CEO Howard Lutnick.... more
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Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy
Italy, 2012, 129 min.
Marco Tullio Giordana’s (The Best of Youth) meticulous and engrossing conspiracy thriller dissects the real-life 1969 bombing of a bank in Milan’s Piazza Fontana that killed 17 people. The excellent Valerio Mastandrea is a cop whose investigation leads down the corridors of power.... more
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Purge
Finland, 2012, 125 min.
Purge spotlights the legacy of Soviet oppression in Estonia. Two women from two different eras are linked by separate histories of deceit, desperation and fear in this heartstopping adaptation of Sofi Oksanen’s bestseller.
Note: This film has disturbing scenes of violence against women.... more
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A Royal Affair
Denmark, 2012, 137 min.
This compelling, character-driven costume drama shows how a passionate and forbidden romance changed the course of Danish history. Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Berlin Film Festival.... more
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Shores of Hope
Germany, 2012, 116 min.
Reminiscent of Lives of Others, this compelling drama follows two young dockworkers Conny and Andreas whose quest to escape East Germany in the early 80s runs foul of the Stasi.... more
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The Sleeping Voice
Spain, 2011, 128 min.
In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Pepita, a naïve young woman, comes to Madrid to be near her pregnant sister, a political prisoner facing execution. Pepita gradually gets drawn into the underground struggle while working in a Nationalist household. Winner: Best Actress, San Sebastian FF... more
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Smiling Through the Apocalypse - Esquire in the 60s
USA, 2012, 98 min.
An intimate and engaging portrait of Harold Hayes, the brilliant editor of Esquire magazine in its 1960s peak, who fostered the leading lights of the New Journalism, including such talents as Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, William F Buckley and Norman Mailer.... more
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Stolen Seas
Somalia, 2011, 92 min.
Presenting the inside story of Somali piracy — the filmmakers spent three years in some of the world's most dangerous places, talking to pirates, hostages, hostages' relatives, and the shipping company executives caught up in this deadly culture clash — this is truly an eye-(and mind)-opening doc..... more
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The Third Half
Macedonia, 2012, 113 min.
Inspired by real events, this deeply moving story of love and loyalty during WWII reveals a country’s passion for soccer and the cruel fate of most of Macedonia’s Jewish population.... more
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This Life - Some Must Die, So Others Can Live
Denmark, 2012, 122 min.
Based on a true story, this authentic, moving tale of Danish resistance to Nazi occupation has rivaled Flame & Citron as a local box office sensation. Audience Award, Hamburg Film Festival.... more
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Two Lives
Germany, 2012, 97 min.
An East German spy in Norway has built a life around a fake identity. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, her happy existence is threatened in this story of trauma, intrigue and espionage.... more
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When Day Breaks
Serbia, 2012, 90 min.
Retired music professor Misha Brankov learns a life-changing secret about his past in this moving tribute to the Jews and Romani who perished in Belgrade’s notorious Sajmiste concentration camp from acclaimed director Goran Paskaljevic.... more
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White Tiger
Russia, 2012, 108 min.
A weird, wondrous tale of an eerie white fascist tank that appears, attacks and vanishes, leaving smoldering Soviet tanks and cremated corpses in its wake. “The film’s strong aesthetic and suspenseful action sequences could wow audiences worldwide.” Variety... more
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