American Teen – documentary - Nanette Burstein
http://www.americanteenthemovie.com/
In this biting cinéma vérité, director Nanette Burstein follows a group of four Indiana high-school seniors as they navigate the social mazes of adolescence, prepare for graduation, and generally deal with the often surprising and strange situations that arise simply from being 17. Incorporating intimate footage, interviews, and animation, Burstein reveals all the gritty details about life as a teenager in Midwestern America, from drugs, alcohol, and peer pressure to cliques, first love, and heartbreak.
Ashes of Time Redux – action - Wong Kar Wai
http://www.sonyclassics.com/ashesoftimeredux/trailer.html
Wong Kar Wai works his magic in this long planned "reworking" of his legendary, romantic and one and only martial arts film, previously unreleased in North America. Set in ancient China, Ouran Feng (Leslie Cheung) is a fallen swordsman who is afraid of love after having his heart broken. But the bounty hunters that work for him, like "Blind Swordsman" (Tony Leung Chio Wai) and Hung Chi (Jacky Cheung), discover the intangible secret of true love while Ouyang retains his attitude towards his fighters and the precious lessons that they have taught.
Baghead – comedy - Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
http://www.sonyclassics.com/baghead/
Two screenwriting couples head to a remote cabin in the woods, hoping that the change of scenery will get the creative juices flowing. Amid the solitude, the dynamics of their relationships are revealed as they strive to write their masterworks. Complicating matters though, is the lurking presence of a strange man who wears a bag over his head. Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass wrote and directed this offbeat follow-up to 2005's The Puffy Chair.
Blindness – drama - Fernando Meirelles
http://www.blindness-themovie.com/
The Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles joins forces with Canadian writer/director/actor Don McKellar to bring Portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago's 1995 novel to the big screen in this large-scale philosophical thriller. An epidemic of blindness pushes society to the breaking point after sweeping through a modern metropolis and crossing borders into the outside world. A Brazilian/Canadian co-production shot in São Paulo and Toronto, Blindness features a script by producer and co-star McKellar, who optioned the novel alongside Rhombus Media's Niv Fichman.
Bottle Shock – comedy - Randall Miller
http://www.bottleshockthemovie.com/
Brought together by a curious twist of fate on a dusty California road, a wandering vintner and a struggling winemaker find both their lives, and their careers, forever transformed at a blind Paris wine tasting that introduced the world to the extraordinary wines of Napa Valley. The year is 1976, and Napa Valley has yet to gain the reputation as one of world's best-known wine regions. Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) has sacrificed everything in life to realize his dream of creating the perfect Chateau Montelena. Yet despite the fact that Jim's Napa Valley vineyard has great potential, his son, Bo (Chris Pine), doesn't seem to have much interest in the family business. Most days, Jim and Bo can be found trading blows in their backyard boxing ring -- their attempts to knock a bit of sense into one another usually amounting to naught. Meanwhile, in Paris, British expatriate Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) finds necessity dictating that he educate Parisians on the latest wines to come out of California. Steven owns the Académie du Vin, and is eager to travel to the United States in order to ensure that he has conducted his research properly. Little did Steven and Jim realize that they were both on course for a chance meeting that would revolutionize the wine industry while opening up a whole new world of possibilities for wine lovers everywhere.
Brideshead Revisited – drama - Jullian Jarold
http://bridesheadrevisited-themovie.com/
Matthew Goode, alongside Michael Gambon and Oscar winner Emma Thompson, stars as Capt. Charles Ryder, an officer stationed at England's Brideshead Castle during World War II, in this big-screen adaptation of the classic novel by Evelyn Waugh. The suspenseful drama builds as Captain Ryder becomes infatuated with the castle's owners, the aristocratic Marchmain family -- particularly their grown son, Sebastian Flyte, and his elegant sister, Julia.
Bustin' Down the Door – documentary - Jeremy Gosch
http://www.bustindownthedoor.com/flash.html
During the winter of 1975 in Hawaii, surfing was shaken to its core. A group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa sacrificed everything and put it all on the line to create a sport, a culture, and an industry that is today worth billions of dollars and has captured the imagination of the world. With a radical new approach and a brash colonial attitude, these surfers crashed headlong into a culture that was not ready for revolution. Surfing was never to be the same again. Narrated by Edward Norton.
Choke – comedy - Clark Gregg
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=yMZ3Mi1vT-w&feature=related
Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) has got some problems -- when he's not haunting sexual-addiction meetings to bed women, he masquerades as a choking victim in restaurants to gather money from unsuspecting strangers for his ailing mother (Anjelica Huston). But what happens when this messed up Colonial-era theme-park attendant finds Mrs. Right in the guise of his mother's doctor -- and how is he to tell her that he fears he is the next coming of Jesus Christ? Based on Chuck Palahniuk's (Fight Club) pitch-black comedic novel, Choke is adapted and directed by David Mamet alumni Clark Gregg, whose career spans stage, screen, and TV work as well as a screenplay credit for Robert Zemeckis's 2000 thriller What Lies Beneath.
Chris and Don: A Love Story – documentary -Tina Mascara
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=5hb5pFoAh-U
Guido Santi and Tina Mascara's documentary Chris and Don. A Love Story traces the romantic relationship between writer Christopher Isherwood and painter Don Bachardy. The filmmakers utilize interviews with Don himself, as well as personal documents belonging to Isherwood, in order to show how the duo nurtured each other's artistic instincts while establishing a deep emotional bond that survived even after Isherwood's passing.
Diminished Capacity – comedy - Terry Kinney
http://ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=776
Director Terry Kinney's delightfully poignant and bittersweet comedy poses the question: How much is a good memory worth? That's the question that faces newspaper editor Cooper (Matthew Broderick) after a debilitating concussion takes him from the political pages to comic strip detail. Looking for answers, he travels home to Missouri where his now senile Uncle Rollie (Alan Alda) is on the verge of losing his home. When a valuable baseball card is thrown into the mix, these two men along with a motley group of hometown friends, including Cooper's high school sweetheart, Charlotte (Virginia Madsen) , head to a memorabilia expo to make the deal of a century, diving headfirst into a snakepit of slick salesmen, crooked dealers, and rabid fans revealing that there are some things in life that you can't put a price on. Diminished Capacity also stars Dylan Baker, Louis C.K. and Bobby Cannavale in hilarious supporting roles
The Duchess – drama - Saul Dibb
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=pOKjNhXqAJc
Director Saul Dibb takes the helm for this period drama adapted from Amanda Foreman's best-selling novel Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, documenting the romantic entanglements of a beautiful celebrity (Keira Knightley) whose unhappy marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) threatens to erupt into scandal when she falls for an enterprising young politician.
Elegy – drama - Isabel Coixet
http://youtube.com/watch?v=M0CFAC2k0LA
Driven by Isabel Coixet's visually assured and deeply observant direction "Elegy" charts the passionate relationship between a celebrated college professor and a young woman whose beauty both ravishes and destabilizes him. As their intimate connection transforms them - more than either could imagine - a charged sexual contest evolves into an indelible love story. With humanistic warmth, wry wit and erotic intensity, Elegy explores the power of beauty to blind, to reveal and to transform. Starring Oscar-nominee Penelope Cruz and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley, with extraordinary supporting performances form Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard, Elegy is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth's short novel The Dying Animal
Elite Squad – action - Jose Padhila
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-rUfBTQ1g
ELITE SQUAD is an intense and astonishing look at Rio de Janeiro's notorious favelas, the volatile slums on the edge of the city, presenting an intimate look at the city's vast and intricate web of corruption. The elite BOPE force (State Police Special Operations Battalion) combats drug trafficking, keeping order has its price though and their actions make it difficult to distinguish right from wrong and justice from revenge. BOPE Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is facing a crisis: in addition to the pressures of fighting within war zones, the Captain must find and train his own replacement so he can escape the day to day violence and be close to his wife who is about to give birth to their first child. Two of the force's newest recruits, are childhood friends: one is quick on the trigger to maintain order and the other refuses to compromise his ideals. Together they are the perfect replacement. Alone they may not have what it takes to survive.
Everybody Wants to be Italian –comedy- Jason Todd Ipson http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MNdf25G3s
A lovelorn urbanite who has spent nearly a decade trying to win back his ex-girlfriend gets involved in a romantic case of mistaken ethnicity in director Jason Todd Ipson's warmhearted relationship comedy. It's been eight years since Jake's girlfriend left him, and despite the fact that she's now married with three children, he refuses to move on. Fed up with their depressive pal's unwillingness to let go of the past, Jake's friends set him up on a blind date with a beautiful Italian woman from Boston's North End. Though Jake is convinced that such a woman would never even consider dating a non-Italian, a quick crash course in how to fake it may prove just the trick to helping him learn to love once again.
Fear(s) of the Dark - animation/mystery
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=70oVIphkXcw
IFC Films Presents A Film by : BLUTCH, CHARLES BURNS, MARIE CAILLOU, PIERRE DI SCIULLO, LORENZO MATTOTTI, RICHARD MCGUIRE, ROMAIN SLOCOMBE, JERRY KRAMSKY, MICHEL PIRUS, ETIENNE ROBIAL. Fear(s) of the Dark is a unique collection of fearful tales by the world's most cutting-edge, acclaimed graphic artists. Their intertwined stories make up an unprecedented epic where phobias, disgust and nightmares come to life and reveal Fear at its most naked and intense.
Filth and Wisom – comedy – Madonna
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=DqpSaFjViXY
Madonna's directorial debut, FILTH AND WISDOM, is a hilariously sexy tale of three roommates who must delve into mischievous and naughty behavior in pursuit of bigger and brighter futures. A Ukrainian immigrant, A.K. (Eugene Hutz), finances his dreams of 'trans-continental superstardom' with his band, Gogol Bordello, by turning tricks as a role-playing cross dresser. As A.K. literally whips the privileged of London into shape, he also secretly pines for the object of his affection, Holly (Holly Weston), an aspiring ballerina looking for her big break while moonlighting as a slippery stripper. Meanwhile, Juliette (Vicky Mclure) steals medicine from her pharmaceutical job in hopes of quenching her dreams of helping Africa's youth. FILTH AND WISDOM is every bit as erotic and playful as it is poignant and touching, revealing the universal struggles we all face in our pursuits of happiness.
Frozen River – drama - Courtney Hunt
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=90_D5nNNvQw
A desperate single mother living in upstate New York resorts to smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States as a means of making ends meet in first-time feature director/screenwriter Courtney Hunt's emotionally wrenching drama, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Ray Eddy is in an impossible position; it's two days before Christmas and her husband has suddenly disappeared with all of the family savings. Now, as the newly single mother of two realizes the futility of attempting to cover the house payments on her meager Yankee One Dollar Store wages, her children are forced to exist on a nutritionally devoid diet of popcorn and Tang. Deciding that her only hope for survival is to find a man who will support her and her children, Ray sets out to find a husband but instead makes the acquaintance of street-smart Mohawk Lila Littlewolf. Lila, too, has been struggling to keep her head above water amidst economic despair, and has recently stumbled across a rather unconventional solution to her dire financial situation. Lately, Lila has been earning a living by smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S., but her tribal elders vehemently disapprove of the scheme and have recently attempted to stop it by forbidding the local auto dealers from selling her a car. As fate would have it, Ray's Dodge Spirit may just be the only thing the destitute mother can count on anymore, and as this unlikely pair gas up the tank for a daring dash across the iced-over St. Lawrence River, their fates become forever intertwined in ways that neither could have ever anticipated.
Fugitive Pieces – drama - Jeremy Podeswa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRbiet9jR4
Author Anne Michaels's poetic novel comes to the screen courtesy of director Jeremy Podeswa in this period drama concerning a Holocaust survivor who remains eternally haunted by the uncertain fate of his beloved sister. Athos (Rade Sherbedgia) is an archeologist conducting a dig in Nazi-occupied Poland. When Athos discovers a seven-year-old boy named Jakob (Robbie Kay) hiding near the work site, he smuggles the frightened boy back to Greece and promises to shelter him when the Nazis come knocking there as well. Having previously witnessed the brutal massacre of his family at the hands of Hitler's henchmen, Jakob longs to find out what fate befell his sister, Bella (Nina Dobrev) -- who wasn't executed with the majority of his other relatives but subsequently disappeared without a trace. After the war, Athos and Jakob emigrate to Toronto in hopes of starting a new life. But even after all these years, Jakob (Stephen Dillane) can't seem to shake the grief of losing his family and not knowing what ever became of Bella. Later, when Jakob marries the radiant Alex (Rosamund Pike), the bright-eyed beauty does her best to illuminate the dark corners within her husband's soul. To maintain one's connection to ghosts requires a certain shunning of the living, however, and only when Jakob discovers the strength to let go of his painful past will he finally be able to move forward into the future.
Full Grown Men - comedy/drama - David Munro
http://www.fullgrownmenthemovie.com/klickable/klickable.html
The youthful delusions of a wistful husband and father prompt him to seek out a childhood friend and embark on a soul-searching journey of self discovery to the one place where no adult demands will be made of him in director David Munro's surreal second coming-of-age comedy. Alby (Matt McGrath) is having an early mid-life crisis. Convinced that the only way to overcome his current malaise is to seek out his childhood pal Elias (Judah Friedlander) and set out on the open road, Alby leaves behind his wife and son in hopes of recapturing the glory of his youth. Unfortunately for Alby, Elias is all grown up now, and isn't exactly overjoyed to see the "best friend" whose rosy vision of childhood largely came from the fact that he made Elias the unwitting butt of his every joke. When Alby learns that Elias is taking a group of disabled drama students on a trip to the local amusement park, Elias has no choice but to let his pushy pal come along for the ride. What follows is a pensively hilarious look life as seen through the eyes of a man who can't seem to move past his youth, and the effect that a student clown bartender (Amy Sedaris), a disgruntled former amusement park employee (Alan Cumming), a retired water park mermaid (Debbie Harry), and a whole host of colorful characters have in helping Alby to bridge the gap between the glory days of his past, and an uncertain future.
Girl Cut in Two – drama - Claude Chabrol
http://ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=756
The French master of suspense Claude Chabrol returns with the razor-sharp, darkly seductive, A GIRL CUT IN TWO. Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier of SWIMMING POOL) is an independent, ambitious TV weather girl torn between her love of a distinguished author several decades her senior (Francois Berleand), and the attentions of a headstrong, potentially unstable young suitor (Benoit Magimel). An unspoken past between the two men heightens tensions, and though she's initially certain of her love for one them, the see-saw demands and whims of both men keep confusing - and darkening - matters. Before long she's encountering emotional and societal forces well beyond her control, inexorably leading to a shocking clash of violence and passion. Inspired by the sensational Gilded Age murder of Madison Square Garden architect Stanford White, A GIRL CUT IN TWO is trademark Chabrol: fiendishly entertaining and impossible to shake.
Hell Ride - action - Larry Bishop
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=jHglhwcwO8I
Veteran AIP genre star Larry Bishop (son of famed Rat Packer Joey Bishop) directs and stars in this gritty revenge tale concerning a biker gang that rallies to avenge the violent murder of a fellow gang member. An homage to such classic biker films as Chrome and Hot Leather and Angel Unchained, Hell Ride was conceived when director Bishop was invited to Quentin Tarantino's home to view a print of The Savage Seven. Upon realizing that there hadn't been a true biker film in years, the pair quickly contacted Bob Weinstein and conspired to produce a lean and mean two-wheeled revenge flick that would more than make up for lost time.
Humboldt County – comedy - Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=s9kc-oFiv_I
An ambitious and straight-laced young man falls in with a group of stoners and aging hippies in this independent comedy drama. Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong) is a medical student in his early twenties whose dreams of a residency at a prestigious teaching hospital are dashed when he flunks out of a class taught by his father (Peter Bogdanovich). Trying to blot out his awful day, Peter heads to a jazz club, where he ends up going home with Bogart (Fairuza Balk), the sexy singer with the band. The next day, Peter tags along with Bogart as she pays a visit to her family, and is soon stranded with her aunt and uncle as she heads back into the city. Jack (Brad Dourif) and Rosie (Frances Conroy) are former academics-turned-bohemian dropouts who live in a remote and idyllic community near California's redwood forests, where they support themselves by growing marijuana. Also living with Jack and Rosie are Max (Chris Messina), Bogart's sometime boyfriend, and Charity (Madison Davenport), Max's young daughter. While Peter clearly doesn't fit in with Jack, Rosie, and their friends at first, before long he develops an appreciation and respect for their way of life as he ponders his future, but the risks of their profession become equally clear to him, and Max is looking for a big score so he and Charity can move on. Humboldt Country was the first feature film from the writing and directing team of Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs.
I.O.U.S.A. – documentary - Patrick Creadon
http://www.roadsideattractions.com/Catalog/Trailer.asp?BusinessUnitID={BDC8C46C-7B42-42EA-AE44-4E14387B8A7D}&ProjectID={09D5EE3C-B50F-4D99-A9EA-5A1C7875C4B1}
As the United States faces unprecedented financial crises, filmmaker Patrick Creadon explores just how America got to be in the economic mess that it finds itself in, eventually detailing just what the nation would have to do in order to prevent a bad situation from turning into an all-out financial disaster from which no citizen could escape.
I Served the King of England – comedy - Jiri Minzel
http://www.sonyclassics.com/iservedthekingofengland/trailer.html
Despite the 1997 death of longtime friend and Closely Watched Trains collaborator Bohumil Hrabal, 1960s-era Czech New Wave filmmaker Jirí Menzel enters into a postmortem collaboration with the famed author in this pitch-black comedy detailing the shrewd rise of an ambitious waiter. All diminutive manservant Jan Dite (Ivan Barnev) ever wanted was to be filthy rich and to preside over his very own hotel. As a young man coming of age in the 1930s, Jan was preoccupied by beautiful women and awestricken by the fact that anyone, be they rich or poor, would bend to their knees to pick up a coin. With World War II fast approaching and the Germans steadily taking occupation of Czech territory, the opportunistic servant begins his rapid ascent up the hospitality ladder by working for a number of high-profile figures. Though Jan was never a man to settle down with just one woman, his growing attraction to Aryan beauty Liza (Julia Jentsch) soon finds the aspiring hotelier proposing marriage. Of course, a blueblood Teuton like Liza could never wed a man unable to provide proof of his German heritage, but that doesn't stop Jan from doing his best to please her in the bedroom. Later, when Liza is killed retrieving a box of valuable stamps acquired during her stint at the Russian front, Jan uses the valuable collector's items to purchase the very hotel in which he used to work. Unfortunately for Jan, good luck is always followed by bad news, and it's not long before his life's ambition comes crumbling down all around him.
I've Loved You So Long – drama - Philipe Claudel http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=1vxB-g9PmXE&feature=related
Their relationship fractured when older sister Juliette is sentenced to 15 years in prison, two siblings wage an emotional battle to rebuild their relationship, overcome the secrets that keep them apart, and finally express the thoughts that have lain dormant for well over a decade. The moment Juliette was convicted, her parents declared that they wanted nothing to do with her. Now, after 15 years behind bars, Juliette is a free woman and in desperate need of a human connection. When Juliette's younger sister, Léa, is approached by a prison social worker and asked if she would be willing to provide her recently paroled sibling with a place to live, she doesn't hesitate to open her doors and share her home. But Léa is happily married with two adopted daughters, and her husband, Luc, is uneasy with the arrangement. Still, the house is large, the couple is used to having company, and the two young girls are thrilled to have a new aunt. As Juliette gets settled, Léa does her best to make her feel welcome. Likewise, Léa's colleague Michel and emigrant couple Samir and Kaïsha also offer to help Juliette readjust to life on the outside. Along the way, Juliette slowly begins to emerge from her shell and Léa realizes just how much she missed her sister. Perhaps if she can put aside her feelings of guilt long enough to truly understand her sister's plight, these two strangers can finally remember what it means to be family.
Late Bloomer – thriller - Go Shibata
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=feP-jSwM-40
Go Shibata's stylish and stark depiction of a disabled man's quest for normalcy -- and studied pursuit of revenge. In Japanese with English subtitles.
The Linguists – documentary - Seth Kramer, Daniel Miller
http://www.thelinguists.com/
In a time when over 7,000 distinct languages are spoken around the world, professors David Harrison and Gregory Anderson navigate treacherous terrain and travel to the furthest reaches of the globe to research forgotten and hidden languages. As colonialism and economic unrest spread, the new generations begin to abandon their ancestral languages, and their cultures are passively suppressed. But their legacy is not lost thanks to Harrison and Anderson, and now amateur linguistics can follow along as these two adventurous ethnographers observe a Kallawaya healing ritual in Bolivia, attend a traditional ceremony in a remote village in India, and set their sights on Siberia to document these languages before they are lost forever. Together, Harrison and Anderson speak over twenty-five languages, and though their mission is a serious one, they always attempt to maintain a sense of levity as they explore how disappearing languages serve as an indicator of the disappearing traditions and heritage of Indigenous people everywhere.
Mad Detective – action - Johnny To, Wai Ka-fai
http://ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=636
A missing police gun is connected to a series of recent heists and murders. Its owner, WONG (LeeKwok Lun), vanished earlier while pursuing a suspect in the mountains. His partner, CHI-WAI (Lam Ka Tung), miraculously returned unharmed and the hot shot Regional Crime Unit Inspector, HO (Andy On), is in charge of the investigation. HO knows the only chance he has in cracking the case is to ask for help from his mentor/former boss BUN (Lau Ching Wan), a gifted criminal profiler now living in seclusion with his wife MAY (Kelly Lin). BUN puts himself in the victim's place, literally, and his unorthodox approach has put doubt in HO's mind who feels betrayed when BUN's investigation goes beyond his imagination. What begins as a quest for answers has now taken a schizophrenic turn where truth and lies, reality and delusions intertwine...
Man on Wire – documentary - James Marsh
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YW1b3G2MN3Q
On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC’s security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan… James Marsh’s documentary brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”
Mister Foe - drama/comedy - David MacKenzie
http://misterfoemovie.com/
With Hallam Foe, British director Peter MacKenzie and scripter Ed Whitmore adapt the 2002 roman of the same name, a quirky, bittersweet, coming-of-age psychodrama by Peter Jinks. The character of the title is the 17-year-old son (Jamie Bell) of a wealthy Scotch businessman father (Ciaran Hinds). Still rattled by the death of his mom (who drowned in a nearby loch), Hallam retreats into a deep-seated fantasy world. He harbors amorous feelings for his new stepmother Verity (Claire Forlani) until he gradually concludes that she murdered his biological mother. Hallam nonetheless lets himself be seduced into an affair with Verity, and is so repulsed by this transpiration that he flees to Edinburgh. His life turns a corner, however, when he spots - and instantly becomes infatuated with - Kate (Sophia Myles), a local girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother. After he talks her into giving him a routine job in the kitchen of the hotel that she manages, they become romantically involved, ever so gradually, which spells trouble for Hallam's emotional state by thoroughly overwhelming and confusing him -- and deeper trouble still still when Kate's married lover (Jamie Sives) discovers that Hallam has been spying diligently on Kate from his perch in a nearby belltower. Ewen Bremner co-stars as the bellhop supervisor at the hotel.
Momma's Man – drama - Azazel Jacobs
http://kino.com/mommasman/index.html
A grown man locked into an extended state of arrested adolescence returns to the nest while concocting a series of excuses as to why he cannot return to his wife and child in this existential comedy drama from filmmaker Azazel Jacobs. Mikey was preparing to board an airplane bound for California when he suddenly found himself fleeing from the airport and returning to the comfort of his parents' New York home. Even Mikey isn't sure exactly why he made the snap decision not to go home, all he knows is that he can't quite muster the courage to go back and assume the responsibilities of your typical family man. Of course, Mikey's doting mother is more than happy to enable her son's indecision -- and his father remains as emotionally distanced as ever -- but as time goes on, the grown-up man-child finds it increasingly difficult to make the choice between going back to reality, or drifting ever further into his second adolescence.
Moving Midway – documentary - Godfrey Cheshire
http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/trailers_movingmidway.html
Godfrey Cheshire's richly observed film about his family's Southern plantation - and the colossal feat of moving it to escape urban sprawl - is a thoughtful and witty look at the lingering remnants and still-powerful mythology of plantation culture and the antebellum South. An award-winning film critic turned film maker, Cheshire uses the relocation of his family's North Carolina plantation house to embark on a surprising and multi-layered journey. While observing the elaborate, arcane preparations for moving a centuries-old house over fields and a rock quarry, unexpected human drama - from both the living and the dead - emerges. And a chance encounter leads Cheshire and his cousins to discover a previously unknown African American branch of the family (who have their own take on Midway and its legacy). Through the use of movies and music, and by turning the camera on himself and his family, Cheshire examines the Southern plantation in American history and culture, and how the racial legacy from the past continues into the present.
No Regret – drama - Leesong Hee-Il
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=QjMzt2KoNPQ
A working-class South Korean homosexual and a factory owner's engaged son embark on a clandestine love affair in director Hee-il Leesong's heartfelt tale of forbidden love. The first-ever South Korean feature by an openly gay filmmaker, No Regret begins as orphan Lee Su-min (Yeong-hun Lee) leaves behind both his rural orphanage and one-time lover. Later finding work at a Seoul factory and sharing an apartment with an unquestionably heterosexual workmate, Lee supplements his income by working nights as a driver for hire. When drunken fare Jae-min Song (Han Lee) makes a tentative pass at Lee during a late-night ride home, the uninterested driver rejects the obvious come-on. As it turns out, Song is the son of the factory's CEO. Later, when a round of layoffs is announced at the factory and Lee's name appears on the list, Song offers to help the struggling worker, to no avail. Subsequently earning his keep as a lap-dancer at a local strip joint, Lee is disturbed to see Song appear at the club and threatens to kill him if he ever dares return. Though Song's parents are pressuring him into marriage, the reluctant groom has no interest in taking a bride, and gradually begins to form a relationship with the down-on-his-luck dancer. Despite the comfort they find in one another's company, simmering class differences soon propel their doomed affair toward a tragic conclusion.
Order of Myths – documentary - Margaret Brown
http://www.theorderofmyths.com/index2.html
The first Mardi Gras in America was celebrated in Mobile, Alabama in 1703. in 2007, it is still racially segregated. Filmmaker Margaret Brown ("Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt"), herself a daughter of Mobile, escorts us into the parallel hearts of the city's two carnivals. With unprecedented access, she traces the exotic world of secret mystic societies and centuries-old tradition and pageantry; diamond-encrusted crowns, voluminous, hand-sewn gowns, surreal masks and enormous paper mache floats. Against this opulent backdrop, she uncovers a tangled web of historical violence and power dynamics, elusive forces that keep this hallowed tradition organized along enduring color lines.
Ping Pong Playa – comedy - Jessica Yu
http://ifcfilms.com/viewFilm.htm?filmId=977
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu makes her feature comedy debut with PING PONG PLAYA, a hilarious and warm-hearted tale about embracing one's culture while still breaking down stereotypes. Christopher "C-dub" Wang (Jimmy Tsai) is a suburban guy who sports an urban swagger, waxes political on all things Asian American, and clings to pipe dreams of a career as a pro basketball player. C-dub lives at home, works a dead-end job, and squirms in the shadow of his older brother, Michael, a doctor and ping pong champion. With a family-run store devoted to all things ping pong, the Wangs' entire world revolves around the sport. But when the Wang family livelihood is threatened by a rival ping pong player's attempts to lure the kids away, C-dub begins to take things more seriously. With the National Golden Cock Tournament coming up and an injured Michael unable to defend his title, C-dub must become the player he pretends to be and defend his family's ping pong dynasty.
Rachel Getting Married – drama - Jonathan Demme
http://www.sonyclassics.com/rachelgettingmarried/trailer.html
When Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie Dewitt), she brings a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along with her. The wedding party's abundant cast of friends and relations have gathered for an idyllic weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym - with her black-comic one-liners and knack for bombshell drama - is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic. Filled with the rich and eclectic characters that have always been a hallmark of Jonathan Demme's films, Rachel Getting Married paints a strikingly perceptive and sometimes hilariously family portrait. Director Demme, first-time writer Jenny Lumet, and the stellar acting ensemble leaven the drama of these difficult but compelling people with wry affection and generosity of spirit.
Save Me – drama - Robert Crary
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=C4l1qzffGQM
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and in this look at one of the most polarizing religious and sexual debates in America, filmmaker Robert Cary attempts to reconcile homosexuality with Christianity. Mark (Chad Allen) is a young gay man who has fallen into a dangerous cycle of hard drugs and risky sex. Recognizing that his sibling may not have the strength to pull himself back from the edge, Mark's brother checks him into the Genesis House Christian retreat in New Mexico -- a place far removed from the temptations of the big city. Genesis House is run by a deeply spiritual, middle-aged couple named Gayle (Judith Light) and Ted (Stephen Lang). After losing a battle with sin back when she was young, Gayle has dedicated her entire life to rescuing young homosexuals from their own inner demons. In order to help Mark through the process, Gayle assigns Scott (Robert Gant) -- one of the program's advanced "fifth phasers" -- as the newcomer's mentor. When Gayle notices that Mark and Scott's relationship is intensifying, she sees the development as a threat and fights back in order to prevent her carefully controlled world from falling apart. The spectre of damnation looming constantly over their shoulders, Mark and Scott are finally forced to confront the truth about their own true natures.
Secret, A – drama – Claude Miller
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=TbikfSMr_r4
Adapted from Philippe Grimbert's bestselling novel, A SECRET (UN SECRET) is a story of passion and guilt in troubled times, which unfolds as a young teenager uncovers the truth about his parents' past. He finds out that before the war, his father Maxime (Patrick Bruel of The Comedy of Power, O Jerusalem) was married to Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier of 8 Women, Swimming Pool, A Girl Cut in Two, Love Songs) when he fell madly in love with his mother Tania (Cecile de France of The Russian Dolls, Avenue Montaigne). As a young Jewish couple living in Nazi-occupied France, Maxime and Tania had to make difficult choices to survive the war and the Holocaust.
Secret Lives of Bees – adventure - Gina Prince-Bythewood
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7dKBEqtzo
Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson star as two friends who run away from home in order to solve the mystery surrounding one of their mothers in this adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's best-selling coming-of-age novel, The Secret Life of Bees. Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys co-star in picture as three sisters who take the two girls in and teach them to care for and raise bees. Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) provides the adaptation as well as the direction for the Overbrook Entertainment production.
Synecdoche, New York – comedy - Charlie Kaufman
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVuzfOvlIw
A wild-eyed theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) attempts to build a life-sized replica of New York City in preparation for an ambitious play in the feature directorial debut of notoriously quirky screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, and Emily Watson co-star in a tale of one man's quest to stage the ultimate love letter to the Big Apple.
Tell No One – drama - Guillaume Canet
http://musicboxfilms.com/tellnoone/
Based on Harlan Coben’s international best selling thriller about pediatrician Alexandre Beck who still grieves the murder of his beloved wife Margot Beck eight years earlier. When two bodies are found near the scene of the crime, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes a suspect again. The mystery deepens when Alex receives an anonymous e-mail with a link to a video clip that seems to suggest Margot is somehow still alive and a message to "Tell No One."
Thousand Years of Good Prayers – drama - Wayne Wang
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=GQrQ_vSJ2pQ
Wayne Wang's intimate drama A Thousand Years of Good Prayers stars Henry O as Mr. Shi, a Chinese man who, after the death of his wife, decides to travel to the United States in order to see his estranged daughter for the first time in over a decade. Their time together is awkward at first, seeing each other only at dinner when he cooks for her. Shi spends his days taking in the strange culture, improving his language skills, and making a friend in an Iranian woman. Eventually his persistent attempts to forge a connection with his daughter lead to some buried issues bursting forth between the pair.
Towelhead – drama - Alan Ball
http://wip.warnerbros.com/towelhead/
Six Feet Under creator and American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball makes his feature directorial debut with this screen adaptation of author Alicia Erian's controversial novel Towelhead. Jasira (Summer Bishil) is a 13-year-old Arab-American who's contending with the pains of adolescence when her life takes a sudden and unexpected turn. Sent to live with her stern Lebanese father, Rifat (Peter Macdissi), by her self-absorbed mother (Maria Bello), Jasira finds herself struggling to adjust to life in the suburbs while contending with racism and hypocrisy at every turn. Rifat lives in a modest, suburban Dallas home next to racist reservist Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart) and meddling expectant mother Melina (Toni Collette). Adjusting to life in the suburbs isn't easy for young Jasira, though she tries her hardest to adapt to the unfamiliar environment by striking up casual conversations with her curious new neighbors. In the process, Jasira finds herself increasingly attracted to hormone-driven African-American teen Thomas (Eugene Jones). When Rifat finds out that his daughter's new boyfriend is black, he vehemently condemns the relationship. As America launches its initial invasion of Iraq, Jasira finds herself caught up in a potentially explosive situation that is only compounded by her raging hormones and the snooping of her pregnant, busybody neighbor.
Transsiberian - crime/drama - Brad Anderson
http://www.firstlookstudios.com/films/transsiberian/videos.html
When an American couple (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) traveling from China to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway meets an outwardly friendly couple (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara) traveling the same route, deception soon gives way to murder in The Machinist director Brad Anderson's tense tale of international intrigue. Ben Kingsley and Thomas Kretschmann co-star as a pair of Russian police officers striving to solve the case and stop the rising body count.
Trouble the Water – documentary - Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq426VjZD1E
Relegated to the role of refugees in their own country the moment the levees broke, New Orleans residents Kimberly and Scott Roberts document their harrowing struggle against the forces of nature and the evils of man as they nobly attempt to rebuild their lives amidst one of the greatest natural disasters ever to befall the United States. Kimberly Rivers Roberts is a musician and filmmaker who was living in New Orleans with her husband, Scott, when the force of Hurricane Katrina transformed their once-happy hometown into a waterlogged wasteland. In the aftermath of the disaster, the nightly news was filled with images of looting and chaos. Now, as the masses finally receive the opportunity to witness events from an insider's perspective, it quickly becomes apparent that the rampaging waters were only the beginning of the problem, and that the ineptitude of the government and the media in dealing with the disaster did nearly as much damage to New Orleans as the forces of Mother Nature.
Trumbo – documentary - Peter Askin
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KP8lqj-lZ4s
A documentary adaptation of the popular regional theatrical monologue -- in which such heavyweights as Paul Newman, Nathan Lane, and Joe Mantegna essayed the lead on various occasions -- Trumbo recounts the life and times of legendary Hollywood scribe-turned-HUAC scapegoat Dalton Trumbo. As with its source production, the film takes as its base material highly personal, detailed, and emotive letters written by Dalton Trumbo to his son, Christopher; the latter, in turn, molded the missives into a screenplay for this production. Here, however, in lieu of one actor portraying Dalton, a number of celebrities take turns narrating from the script, including Lane, Paul Giamatti, Brian Dennehy, Donald Sutherland, and others. As a visual accompaniment, the film intercuts home-movie footage from the Trumbos' lives; incisive interview material with Trumbo, his family, friends, and collaborators; and haunting glimpses of the HUAC trial hearings with the Hollywood Ten, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; as well as extracts from The Sandpiper, Johnny Got His Gun, Spartacus, and other productions authored by Trumbo. Peter Askin, who helmed the stage play, directs.
Up the Yangtze – documentary - Yung Chang
http://www.uptheyangtze.com/trailer.php
Director Yung Chang uses the construction of China's massive Three Gorges Dam as a springboard to better understanding the social hierarchies and changing times in his homeland in this documentary focusing on the luxury cruise ship that carries predominately Western tourists down the Yangtze River. Constructed as a symbol of modern progress in China, the Three Gorges Dam has forced millions of common people out of their ancestral homes, and will soon swallow up numerous nearby towns and villages. Despite the fact that the government has funded alterative housing for the dislocated families, however, many citizens make their way to higher ground feeling as if they have been duped by the powers that be. In order to truly understand how this affects the people, Chang focuses on telling the stories of middle-class scion Chen Bo Yu (renamed "Jerry" by the cruise line) and Yu Shui (who answers to the call of "Cindy" while on duty). As the ship sets sail, this hard-working pair do their best to familiarize themselves with Western social cues, striving to perform to the best of their abilities, and ponder the prospects of a brighter future.
What Just Happened – comedy - Barry Levinson
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=krFKQvNVDno
Inspired by the personal memoirs of Hollywood producer Art Linson, Barry Levinson's fictional showbiz comedy stars Robert De Niro as a struggling movie producer who has just suffered through his second divorce, and slowly finds his soul being ground up in the machinations of the Hollywood machine. Ben (De Niro) is an aging producer whose career was already on a downward turn when his personal life went straight into the toilet. Not only is Ben juggling two ex-wives and a daughter who seems to have grown up overnight, but his colleagues seem to take pleasure in watching him suffer while he attempts to complete his latest film on an impossible schedule.
Wonderful Town – drama - Aditya Assarat
http://kino.com/wonderfultown/index.html
In the wake of Thailand's 2004 tsunami, Ton (Supphasit Kansen), a big-city architect overseeing the construction of a resort in a small coastal town, embarks on star-crossed romance with a chambermaid named Na (Anchalee Saisoontorn). Writer-director Aditya Assarat sublimely crafts this poetic tale, which juxtaposes the images of the devastation found prominently in southern Thailand with the hope and promise of Ton and Na's newfound love.
Elsa and Fred – comedy – Marcos Carnevale
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=B1MlpAmbudM
After his wife dies, reserved septuagenarian Alfredo (Manuel Alexandre) moves into a small Madrid apartment, where sparks fly with his neighbor Elsa (China Zorrilla), a fiery 82-year-old widow who christens him "Fred." Elsa's wild insouciance lures Fred into a whirlwind romance -- and a celebration of life -- in this award-winning romantic comedy from Spain and Argentina.
The Singing Revolution – documentary – James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=DA9PmZo-2jo
After enduring WWII-era brutalization by Hitler's Nazi Party and decades of repressive Soviet dictatorship, the tiny Eastern European nation of Estonia began to declare its independence from Communist rule in the late 1980s. Over a five year period, beginning in 1986, hundreds of thousands of Estonians began to systematically and repeatedly gather in public venues to collectively sing illegal patriotic songs, declaring their desire for national independence but never resorting to violence amid their protests. Uncoincidentally, Estonia was indeed one of the first nations to break away from the Soviet Union in the events leading up to the fall of the Iron Curtain. The documentary The Singing Revolution chronicles this extraordinary yet seldom told chain of events.
