CZECH REPUBLIC / UK / DENMARK – 2007 – 100 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN CZECH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY JAN SVERAK
Czech literature teacher Josef unwillingly goes into retirement. Instead of a peaceful family life he chooses a part-time job in a supermarket at the bottle-return counter. The exciting new world that he creates there however leaves less and less room for his wife, Eliska, and she of course has no intention of getting used to it.
USA – 2010 – 74 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY TRISTAN PATTERSON
DRAGONSLAYER documents the transgressions of a lost skate punk falling in love in the stagnant suburbs of Fullerton, California in the aftermath of Americaʼs economic collapse. Taking the viewer through a golden SoCal haze of broken homes, abandoned swimming pools and stray glimpses of unusual beauty, DRAGONSLAYER captures the life and times of Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, a local skate legend and new father, as his endless summer finally collides with the future. Set to the alternately roaring and dreamy soundtrack of bands from the indie labels Mexican Summer and Kemado Records — including Best Coast, Bipolar Bear, Children, Dungen, Eddy Current and the Suppression Ring, Golden Triangle, Jacuzzi Boys, Little Girls, Real Estate, The Soft Pack, Saviours, as well as DEATH and Thee Oh Sees —DRAGONSLAYER is a punk- rock manifesto to youth, love and learning to survive after the decline of western civilization.
CANADA – 2011 – 81 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY KRIS ELGSTRAND & DYLAN AKIO SMITH
Following a near-death experience, Karl comes to believe that Paul is his doppelganger. When Karl finally reveals himself to Paul, a unique and troubled relationship begins to form, a relationship that is severely tested when Karl grants Paul the privilege of reading his 20, 000 page manuscript, A Book About How Much I Hate Myself.
GREECE – 2009 – 96 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN GREEK WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY YORGOS LANTHIMOS
The father, the mother and their three kids live at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never been outside that fence. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return.
The amazing adventures of H.L. "Doc" Humes, the man who put the culture in counterculture. With Lord Buckley, the Hip Messiah; paper houses for the poor; Don Peyote, a lost Beat take on Cervantes; the CIA, FBI, marijuana, massage, utopia — and paranoia.
In the 1950s and early '60s, Doc co-founded The Paris Review, wrote two acclaimed novels, and was a gregarious fixture of the cultural scene in Paris, London and New York. Doc was a 1950s NYC intellectual, a 60s free speech militant, and a 70s visionary crazy genius. His story is the story of decades of cultural history, a poignant personal long-strange-trip, and a fount of ever-relevant ideas.
USA – 2008 – 105 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY ONDI TIMONER
DIG! is the feature-length documentary shot over seven years about musicians Anton Newcombe, leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Courtney Taylor, head of The Dandy Warhols – star-crossed friends and bitter rivals.
CANADA – 2008 – 75 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY ROB FITL
Dillon (Joe Salvoni), Parker (Doug Brown), and Hot Dog (Allen Finn) are in a band, stuck playing low-paying shows and working dead-end jobs. When they get the chance to move to Montreal for a regular gig at a downtown club, they jump at it. But the road from no-name indie act to rock-star fame is a bumpy ride. Shot in Kingston and edited with a breezy staccato rhythm, director Rob Fitl's first feature is a rough-and-tumble look at a young local band chasing their dreams — and occasionally their nightmares. Indie rock may be dead, but indie filmmaking is alive and kicking.
CANADA – 2009 – 87 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY PARK BENCH
Something strange is going on behind the doors of Raven Advertising...Ambitious new employee Alice Blue wants to impress roguishly handsome Creative Director Stephen. To do it, she has set her sights on signing an elusive client, Nether Wines. However, the agency has other plans for her. Reluctantly Alice befriends a group of co-workers who call themselves “The Resistance” led by paranoid conspiracy theorist Peter. He is convinced Alice is the key to unravelling the mystery of Raven. With the help of The Resistance, Alice discovers ancient secrets about her job and herself. But in the end, despite the powerful forces allied against her, Alice will abide by nobody’s rules but her own.
An apathetic seventeen-year old shares a dark secret that causes his aimless new friend to immediately sever ties in director Aaron Katz’s talky teen drama.
Gus spends most of his time relating self-indulgent tales of sexual conquests and drug fueled frenzies to his best friend Bill. Jessica seems to be drifting away from most of her friends, and lately things have gotten so bad that she isn’t even speaking with her one time best-friend Christie.
Every Fourth of July all the kids gather at Brian’s house to drink free beer and watch the fireworks. This year, Gus meets Jessica at the party and tries to pick her up. When she blows off his obvious come-on, Gus tells Jessica a secret that he has never revealed to even his closest of friends.
DIRECTOR
Aaron Katz was born in rainy Portland, OR. In high school he became interested in film and acting. When he realized that he wasn't a very good actor he decided to go to film school at North Carolina School of the Arts. Immediately after graduation he and two of his college roommates drove a 1963 Chevy Nova from North Carolina to Portland, OR in order to make DANCE PARTY, USA, his first feature. QUIETY CITY, his second feature, premiered at SXSW 2007. Subsequently, QUIETY CITY has had critically praised theatrical runs in several cites, was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at Film Independent's Spirit Awards, and was featured on several year end top ten lists. Currently Aaron lives in Brooklyn, NY where he is working on a new feature.
INDIA – 2014 – 116 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN GUJARATI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY CHAITANYA TAMHANE
A sewage worker’s dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is arrested and accused of performing an inflammatory song, which may have incited the worker to commit suicide. The trial unfolds in a lower court, where the hopes and dreams of the city’s ordinary people play out. Forging these fates are the lawyers and judge, who are observed in their personal lives beyond the theatre of the courtroom.
“I’m a Communist!” declares Luciana at age 9.
It’s now 1963 and 15 year old Luciana has been obsessed with Russian space missions since she was a little girl, a passion passed on by her older, oddball brother Arturo. She is now a committed member of the local Italian Federation of Young Communists and is nursing a hopeless crush on the handsome leader of the group, also her friend’s boyfriend. Susanna Nicchiarelli’s first feature follows feisty Luciana trying to get the boys in her group to take her ideas seriously as she suffers through the initial blast off and return to Earth of first love.
(4 Stars!) "I’d never heard Susanna Nicchiarelli’s name before I got the screener of COSMONAUT, and now I can’t wait to see what she does next."
- NOW MAGAZINE
"...buoyed by a smartly curated soundtrack featuring cover versions of vintage Italian pop songs — perfect for a film that seeks a contemporary perspective on the past."
- EYE WEEKLY
"...slight, charming, thoughtful movie; one that can be recommended to fallen idealists of every persuasion."
- THE GLOBE AND MAIL
"Watching COSMONAUT, I was reminded of the charming 2002 film Valentin by Argentine director Alejandro Agresti. (He later made The Lake House; forgive him.) It’s about an eight-year-old boy in 1960s Buenos Aires who longs to be an astronaut."
- THE NATIONAL POST
"Here’s something you don’t see every day: A quirky feminist comedy about teenage Italian communists obsessed with the space race in the early 60s."
- METRO
USA – 2010 – 88 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY RODMAN FLENDER
After a much-publicized departure from hosting NBC’s Tonight Show — and the severing of a 22-year relationship with the network — O’Brien hit the road with a 32-city music-and-comedy show to exercise his performing chops and exorcise a few demons. The “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television” tour was O’Brien’s answer to a contractual stipulation that banned his appearance on television, radio and the Internet for six months following his last show.
USA – 2012 – 92 MIN – BLACK & WHITE - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY ANDREW BUJALSKI
Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers thirty-some years ago, COMPUTER CHESS transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.
CANADA – 2013 – 74 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY JUSTIN LUDWIG
ChristCORE is an inside look at the explosive subculture of Christian hardcore music which is surging across North America.
USA – 2013 – 112 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY BEN COTNER AND RYAN WHITE
Battles are won because we fight them.
A behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage. The high-profile trial first makes headlines with the unlikely pairing of Ted Olson and David Boies, political foes who last faced off as opposing attorneys in Bush v. Gore. The film also follows the plaintiffs, two gay couples who find their families at the center of the same-sex marriage controversy. Five years in the making, this is the story of how they took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
GREECE – 2012 – 35 MIN – COLOUR - SHORT - IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY ATHINA RACHEL TSANGARI
Seven girls, a mansion perched on a Cycladic rock, a cycle of lessons on discipline, desire and demise — infinitely.
Athina Rachel Tsangari has created both a film and a projection installation for the DesteFashion- Collection 2012, commissioned by art collector Dakis Joannou. It is a “Greek Gothic” mystery inspired by the work of the young Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska.
CANADA – 1973 – 84 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY IVAN REITMAN
Second City TV regulars Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin star in this Canadian horror spoof as a couple on a romantic holiday who settle into a quaint little bed-and-breakfast run by a trio of flesh-eating ladies who fancy them for tomorrow's menu.
USA – 2011 – 89 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY CINDY MEEHL
BUCK, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life “horse-whisperer”, he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment.
BELGIUM / NETHERLANDS – 2012 – 111 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN FLEMISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY FELIX VAN GROENINGEN
THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN tells the love story between Elise and Didier. She has her own tattoo shop, he plays the banjo in a band. It is love at first sight, in spite of major differences. He talks, she listens. He is a dedicated atheist, although at the same time a naïve romantic. She has a cross tattooed on her neck, even though she has both feet firmly on the ground. Their happiness is complete after their little girl Maybelle is born.
USA – 2006 – 97 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY GUY MADDIN
Guy Maddin lazes away his under-stimulated youth with his teenage sister on the mysterious island that one day he stands to inherit. They share this island with a horde of orphans all living together in the lighthouse which doubles as the orphanage. Their every move is vigilantly watched over by Guy’s overbearing and tyrannical mother from the top of the lighthouse while his father, a scientist and inventor, secretly works away in the basement morning noon and night.
