Foreign Film Series
All Films in Original Language with English
Subtitles
Spring 2009
Thursdays - 7:00p.m.
Efroymson Diversity Center, Atherton Union 004
FREE POPCORN!
Thursday, Jan. 29 Winter Sleepers: (Winterschläfer) (German
1997, 122 min.)
The film opens with a terrible sense of foreboding, which
envelops the stillness of winter. Almost hallucinatory events begin
to unfold and engulf four young people - Laura, Marco, Rebecca, and
René - who have little or nothing in common with each other. When
local farmer Theo enters the picture, their lives change directions
forever. This brief crossing gives new and unforeseen meaning to
their lives.
Thursday, Feb. 5 Tiger and the Snow: (La Tigra e la neve)
(Italian 2005, 114 min.)
Soon after the start of hostilities in Iraq, Rome-based,
love-struck poet and lecturer Attilio heads to Baghdad when he
learns from his friend, an Iraqi poet, that the woman he loves has
been critically injured in a bomb explosion. Attilio does
everything in his power to save her, risking his own life amidst
the chaos of war.
Thursday, Feb. 12 Lovers of the Arctic Circle: (Los Amantes del
Círculo Polar) (Spanish 1998, 109 min.)
Co-Sponsored by Latinos Unidas
Lovers of the Arctic Circle charts the remarkable destinies of Ana
and Otto, childhood friends whose fates intersect over the years,
leading to a stunning conclusion in which destiny and romance
collide.
Thursday, Feb. 19 A Heart in Winter: (Un Cour en hiver) (French
1992, 105 min.)
Stephane and his partner Maxime are co-owners of an exclusive
violin brokerage and repair shop. When Maxime's new lover, a
violinist named Camille, is drawn to Stephane's still waters, he is
briefly moved, thus destroying the fragile, symbiotic relationship
between all three individuals.
Thursday, Feb. 26 A Brief Vacation: (Una breve vacanza)
(Italian 1993, 112 min.)
A Brief Vacation is the story of a woman victimized by society,
and by her husband's family. As the only family member that can
maintain a job, Clara must drag herself to and from a local factory
where she one day collapses from lung damage. With orders from the
factory doctor, Clara is sent to a sanatorium in the mountains
where she finds solace and companionship, and a chance at romantic
love.
Thursday, Mar. 19 Rose Street: (Rosenstrasse) (German 2003, 136
min.)
Co-Sponsored by German Klub
In the cold Berlin winter of 1943, hundreds of women stood, and
waited, in defiance of the Nazis. While countless Jews were being
sent to concentration camps for execution, Jewish husbands of Aryan
wives suffered a different fate; they were separated from their
families and imprisoned in a factory on a street named
Rosenstrasse. On that street these women stood in protest, in the
name of love until they were reunited with their men.
Thursday, Mar. 26 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress:
(Xiao cai feng) (Chinese 2002, 110 min.)
Two city-bred teenage best friends are sent to a backwards
mountainous region for Maoist re-education, where they meet the
daughter of the most renowned tailor in the region - whom they
nickname "the little Seamstress." When they discover a suitcase
filled with banned books, they read these works to her. Thirsting
for knowledge of the world beyond, she comes to love Balzac and his
fellow writers.
Thursday, Apr. 2 Intimate Stories: (Historias Minimas) (Spanish
2002, 92 min.)
Maria, Don Justo or Roberto all want to get to San Julián, where
Maria has been promised fame, Roberto foresees love and Don Justo
seeks redemption. Although the three neighbors begin their journeys
separately, they encounter their share of detours along the way on
the deserted routes, and their stories and dreams crisscross in
seemingly free-form patterns at the most remote stopping
points.
Thursday, Apr. 9 Heavyweights: (Schwere Jungs) (German 2007, 94
min.) (002AGerman with German subtitles)
A light-hearted comedy based on true events that follows amateur
Bavarian bobsledders who attempt to win gold at the 1952 Oslo
Winter Olympics.
Thursday, Apr. 16 Season's Beatings: (La Bûche) (French 1999,
103 min.)
When Yvette's second husband suddenly dies days before
Christmas, she turns to her three daughters from her first marriage
to console her during the holidays. Not wanting their father to be
alone, they invite him to Christmas dinner, forcing their parents
to speak for the first time in 25 years. As their complicated lives
converge, secrets are revealed that will test their loves and
loyalties.
Thursday, Apr. 23 Para que no me olvides (Spanish 2005, 100
min.)
A family struggles to stay together when relationships and their
country's history threaten to pull them apart. One day, an
unexpected event will put them to the test and they will have to
learn to live all over again, as each of them discovers what he or
she did not know about the others.