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$5 a Day
USA, 2008, 90 min.
An aging con artist (Christopher Walken) bamboozles his estranged son into a long-distance road trip. The course of their journey provides an opportunity for the hilarious playing out of audacious scams and ultimately, filial reconciliation.... more
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$9.99
Israel, 2008, 78 min.
A stop-motion animated film with a decided undertone of irony and wit, Tatia Rosenthal's surprising film uses puppets to bring to life a quirky set of characters inhabiting a Tel Aviv building.... more
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Bedford: The Town They Left Behind
USA, 2009, 75 min.
During WWII, Bedford, Virginia was a town of a few thousand residents, 19 of whom lost their lives in the D-Day invasion — a higher proportion than any other place in the US. This film examines the lives of those who died and those who survived, as well as Bedford's role in current conflicts.... more
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Before Tomorrow
Canada, 2008, 93 min.
Inuit elder Ningiuq (Madeline Ivalu) and her grandson Maniq (Paul-Dylan Ivalu) fear they are the last people on earth after a mysterious illness kills their clan. This is the debut feature from the Inuit women's group Arnalt Video Collective.... more
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Black Sea
Italy, 2008, 95 min.
A recently widowed older woman opens her Florentine apartment to a young Romanian caregiver. Seeming so different in the beginning, the women discover they have much in common and become close friends, until an unexpected event threatens their equilibrium.... more
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Cherry Blossoms
Germany, 2008, 122 min.
This profoundly moving story of marital love won the Most Popular Film Award at the Seattle Film Festival. Trudi discovers that Rudi is suffering from a terminal disease, but decides to keep it from him. Instead she plans to take a long-planned trip together to Japan to visit their son.... more
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Cloud 9
Germany, 2008, 98 min.
Inge is in her mid-60s. She has been married for 30 years and loves her husband. But Inge is drawn to this older man Karl, already 76. It's passion. It's sex. And she suddenly feels like a young girl again.... more
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The English Surgeon
United Kingdom, 2007, 93 min.
A life-affirming, unforgettable portrait of London brain surgeon Henry Marsh and his humanitarian work in the Ukraine, this extraordinary documentary delivers hugely emotive subject matter with nimble delicacy and steely reserve.... more
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Forgotten Transports: To Estonia
Czech Republic, 2008, 85 min.
Bearing witness to some little-told stories of the Holocaust, this moving documentary offers an important contribution to WWII history as it traces the harrowing three-year odyssey of roughly 100 young Czech Jewish women after they arrived in Estonia on September 5, 1942.... more
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Goodbye Solo
USA, 2008, 91 min.
Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané), a Senegalese taxi driver living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, strikes up a relationship with a 70-year-old passenger (Red West) who is bent on suicide.... more
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The Green Dumpster Mystery
Israel, 2008, 50 min.
Like Daniel Mendelsohn's nonfiction bestseller The Lost, this tightly paced tour de force of detection vividly evokes the now-extinguished lives of an extended family seared by the Holocaust and modern Israeli tragedies.... more
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Herb and Dorothy
USA, 2008, 91 min.
Herb and Dorothy Vogel, he a postal clerk and she a librarian, through tenacity and a love for beauty, went on to collect more than 4,000 pieces of minimalist and conceptual art. Their stories make Megumi Sasaki's film endlessly fascinating.... more
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Native Dancer
Kazakhstan, 2008, 87 min.
Endowed with psychic powers, Aidai can find lost souls and heal the ailing. But when local gangsters drive her off her land, she's forced to put her life on the line. Part crime thriller, part spiritual journey, Native Dancer reveals the effects of encroaching capitalism on traditional ways.... more
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O'Horten
Norway, 2007, 91 min.
Locomotive engineer Odd Horten's entire life has been governed by a strict train schedule. But after 40 years of driving one route, he's more than a little lost upon his retirement.... more
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Pandora's Box
Turkey, 2008, 112 min.
When their aged mother goes missing near her Black Sea mountain home, a trio of neurotic Istanbul siblings come together and reopen old wounds. Like many films in this year's Festival, Pandora's Box is concerned with the way capitalism and modernity infringe on traditional life.... more
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The Shaft
China, 2008, 98 min.
Set amid the imposing mountains of western China, the dreams and disappointments of a family of coalmine workers poignantly reflect the plight of a vast number of ordinary laborers unable to climb the ladder of the country's post-Communist economy.... more
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Valentino: The Last Emperor
USA, 2008, 96 min.
Valentino has built his career making women look beautiful while forging a global brand out of the refined art of haute couture. This cheeky and affectionate documentary also charts the mutual dependency and tensions in Valentino's 45-year association with Giancarlo Giammetti.... more
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The Window
Argentina, 2008, 85 min.
Ailing and close to the end, 80-year-old Antonio has received word that he will soon be visited by his estranged son, sending his caretakers into a frenzy of preparation for this special event. Antonio, meanwhile, has begun to slip into a world of nostalgia.... more
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The Witch of the West Is Dead
Japan, 2008, 116 min.
Featuring a touching performance by Sachi Parker (the look-alike daughter of Shirley MacLaine) this enchanting film about a special summer shared by a wise grandmother and her teen granddaughter was a popular hit in Japan and should strike a chord here as well.... more
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