2008-2009 Season
Presented at the Smith Theater
Howard Community College
Nine Fridays/Saturdays of Film for $35
We're adding a fourth early show on Fridays at 5:30 p.m.
MPAA RATING: R for some strong violence, brief sexuality/nudity and language
Starring Karl Markovics, August Diehl, and Devid Striesow
The true story of
Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire and bohemian who was in captured
by the Nazis in 1944. He agrees to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeiting
operation set up to finance the war effort. It was the biggest counterfeit-money
scam of all time. Over 130 million pounds sterling were printed under conditions
that couldn't have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the
war, as the German Reich saw that the end was near, the authorities decided to produce
their own banknotes in the currencies of their major war enemies. They hoped to
use the duds to flood the enemy economy and fill the empty war coffers. At the Sachsenhausen
concentration camp, two barracks were separated from the rest of the camp and the
outside world, and transformed into a fully equipped counterfeiters workshop. "Operation
Bernhard" was born. Prisoners were brought to Sachsenhausen from other camps to
implement the plan, and professional printers, fastidious bank officials, and simple
craftsmen all became members of the top-secret counterfeiter crew. They had a choice:
If they cooperated with the enemy, they had a chance to survive as first-class prisoners
in a "golden cage" with enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. If they sabotaged the
operation, a sure death awaited them. For the counterfeiters, it was not only a
question of saving their own lives, but also about saving their conscience as well...
(Sony Classics)
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Juliette Binoche, Hippolyte Girardot, Simon Iteanu, and Fang Song
A highlight at the
2007 Cannes, Toronto, and New York film festivals, Flight of the Red Balloon is
the latest masterpiece from Hou Hsiao Hsien. Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's 1956
Academy Award-winning classic, Flight of the Red Balloon, Hou expands on that film's
key elements--a young boy, a red balloon, and Paris--to weave an achingly beautiful
tale about the mysteries of familial bonds and the lingering effects the past has
on us all. Simon, a precocious young boy, must deal with the increasing fragility
of his mother, the loving yet preoccupied Suzanne. Completely immersed in her own
tribulations, Suzanne hires Song, a Taiwanese film student, to help care for Simon.
Together with Song, a unique extended family is formed, utterly interdependent yet
lost in separate thoughts and dreams mirrored by a delicate, shiny red balloon.
(IFC First Take)
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, and Alexandru Potocean
During the final days
of communism in Romania, two college roommates Otilia and Gabita are busy preparing
for a night away. But rather than planning for a holiday, they are making arrangements
for Gabita's illegal abortion and unwittingly, both find themselves burrowing deep
down a rabbit hole of unexpected revelations. (IFC Entertainment)
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Nurgül Yesilçay, Baki Davrak, and Tuncel Kurtiz
Nejat initially
disapproves of his widower father Ali`s choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in
girlfriend. But the young professor warms to her when he learns that most of her
hard-earned money is sent home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies.
After Yeter`s accidental death, Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter`s
daughter Ayten. Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already
in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten
to stay in her home, much to the displeasure of her conservative mother, Susanne.
When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea denied, she is deported and imprisoned
in Turkey. Passionate Lotte abandons everything to help Ayten. A tragic event brings
Susanne to Istanbul to help fulfill her daughter`s mission. (Strand Releasing)
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for nudity, sexual content and some language
Starring Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, and Max von Sydow
The Diving Bell and
the Butterfly is the remarkable true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a successful
and charismatic editor-in-chief of French Elle, who believes he is living his life
to its absolute fullest when a sudden stroke leaves him in a life-altered state.
While the physical challenges of Bauby's fate leave him with little hope for the
future, he begins to discover how his life's passions, his rich memories and his
newfound imagination can help him achieve a life without boundaries. (Miramax Film)
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Alejandro Polanco, and Isamar Gonzales
Alejandro spends his
days in an adult world, running errands and convincing customers to come to his
boss's garage instead of a competitor's garage. He's also learning how to paint
and repair cars. Although conditions are harsh, his life is sprinkled with moments
of happiness as he carves out a life for himself in the wasteland of the Iron Triangle.
The brightest of these moments is the arrival of his sister Isamar, who moves in
with him in the tiny room that he has found for them perched in the back of the
shop where he works. Knowing that creating a better life for the two of them is
their best bet at staying together, Alejandro finds her a job in a food van cooking
and selling meals to the workers in the Iron Triangle. With a mixture of childlike
naiveté and adult ambition, Alejandro begins obsessively saving his money to buy
a mobile food van. The two dream about owning and running a small business of their
own. But when their dream--as well as their loving relationship--is threatened by
the hard truths of life, work, and one another, the children find themselves forced
to make the kinds of difficult decisions that most adults never have to face. (Koch
Lorber)
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass, and Maggie Moore
In a world of 6 billion
people, it takes only one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy's
follow-up to his award-winning directorial debut "The Station Agent," we get to
know Walter Vale, a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is
transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Through newfound connections
with virtual strangers, Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life. (Overture
Films)
MPAA RATING: R for brief language and sexual references
Starring Audrey Dana, Dominique Pinon, and Fanny Ardant
Best-selling
author Judith Ralitzer is researching unlikely places to find characters for her
next bestseller. As luck would have it, a serial killer with a penchant for magic
tricks has just escaped from a high-security prison…providing the perfect source
material for an intricately plotted, mood mystery. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Uri Gavriel, Imad Jabarin, Ahuva Keren, Rubi Moskovitz, Khalifa Natour, and Hilla Sarjon
The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to play at the
opening of an Arab Cultural Center. Dressed in full regalia and observing all military
police protocol, the members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers.
It’s not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional
Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations
have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra. Faced with the heavy burden
of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq is determined not to foul their excursion.
Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it’s not long before problems arise. The band arrives
at the airport with no one there to greet them. Stranded and unable able to contact
their Israeli hosts or the Egyptian consulate for help, Tewfiq decides that the
Orchestra will persevere with its assignment and orders, and designates Khaled,
a sauve young ladies man, to ask for directions. Khaled and the station agent struggle
in English, Arabic and Hebrew to communicate, but despite their best efforts, the
Orchestra is sent to the outskirts of a small forgotten Israeli town in the desert.
(Sony Classics)