November Advisory Meeting Candidates

Absurdistan – comedy – Veit Helmer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5zDckXUj8
RT: 89 Metacritic:N/A
Welcome to Absurdistan, a small village in the high desert mountains, just on the outskirts of reality, where magical visions and bizarre events fuse together, but the sexes are divided. The village is facing a water shortage, but the men are too lazy to fix a rickety pipeline and the women are getting fed up with their good-for-nothing husbands. Led by young Aya (Kristyna Malerova), the women make a simple vow: “No water, no sex.” The men’s only hope is Temelko (Maximilian Mauff), whose long-promised wedding with Aya is put on hold until he finds a solution to the water problem. From the wild imagination of the award-winning director of Tuvalu comes this perfectly pitched lyrical comedy that is romantic, surreal and boundlessly poetic.

Act of God – documentary - Jennifer Baichwal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgTpXoYTXQE
RT: 71 Metacritic:N/A
Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal helmed this reflective documentary that ponders the spiritual, emotional, and metaphysical ramifications of being struck by a lightning bolt. According to the National Weather Service, the odds of this incident befalling any given person are about one in 700,000, which makes many a survivor question why he or she fell prey to this unusual calamity; some infer a cosmic reason, some reject that possibility, but most fall somewhere in between as they feebly attempt to come to terms with it. In the film, Baichwal speaks with a number of well-known victims, including the novelist and screenwriter Paul Auster (The Music of Chance), the improv-driven prog rock guitarist Fred Frith, and others, and evaluates how the interviewees' lives forked off in new directions after a massive discharge of electricity descended from the sky and landed on them.

Antichrist - drama/horro - Lars von Trier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw03QayJ2fU
RT: 48 Metacritic: 48
This enormously controversial psychodrama-cum-horror film from Danish enfant terrible Lars Von Trier charts the degeneration of a marriage into apocalyptic violence, chaos and insanity following an unthinkable domestic tragedy. The film opens with a prologue. While they make love in their apartment on a snowy winter afternoon, a husband and wife known only as "He" and "She" (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) fail to keep an eye on their young toddler. In a horrific turn of events, the child wanders over to an open window, entranced by the snow cascading down, and falls two stories to his death. Von Trier then divides the remainder of the film into four chapters, beginning with "Grief." In that segment, the woman finishes a month's hospitalization, and accuses her husband of apathy over the child's death, but proceeds to take responsibility for it herself; he calmly and rationally guides her through this process. In the second segment, "Pain," she confesses to him that she's most terrified of their property in the forest, because she spent time with her son there over the preceding summer; as a form of therapy, he takes her to that locale on a wilderness retreat. She appears to grow more calm and rational over their first days in that milieu. Yet the recovery, it seems, was only illusory, and the subsequent two chapters, "Despair (Gynocide)" and "The Three Beggars," depict the woman's shocking and abrupt regression into unbridled insanity, culminating with grotesque sexual violence against herself, gruesome acts of destruction against her husband, and an apocalyptic climax.

Art and Copy – documentary - Doug Pray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekD_XNLEMc
RT: 57 Metacritic: 62
The advertising industry in America exists in a paradox -- while it's all but impossible to go a day without being exposed to the work of leading figures in the advertising business, very little is known about the people behind the ads and the process by which they're created. Filmmaker Doug Pray offers a rare look inside the business of advertising in the documentary Art & Copy, in which he profiles a number of the most respected men and women in the ad game as they talk about their work, their motivations, and their views on the creative process. Pray's interview subjects include Lee Clow, who created memorable television spots for Apple's Macintosh computer and later their iPod MP3 player; Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby, who gave new life to the dairy industry with the "Got Milk?" campaign; Hal Riney, who helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House with his "Morning in America" TV spot; George Lois, who remade popular culture by coining the slogan "I Want My MTV"; and Mary Wells, the first woman to run a major ad agency and the creator of the "I (heart) New York" campaign.

Black Dynamite – comedy – Scott Sanders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wqmnJrOFM
RT: 85 Metacritic: 66
The city streets explode into violence when "The Man" kills Black Dynamite's (HYPERLINK "http://allmovie.com/artist/michael-jai-white-221388"Michael Jai White) brother in this seamless recreation of the blaxploitation classics of the 1970s. He was the best agent that the CIA ever had, but these days Black Dynamite only answers to one boss -- himself. When "The Man" ices Black Dynamite's brother, starts pumping heroin into the local orphanage, and floods the ghetto with a secret weapon disguised as common malt liquor, the car chases, gunfights, and shirtless brawls that follow prove wild enough to make even Dolemite green with envy.

Blue Tooth Virgin – comedy - Russell Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4IaxNlnIMA
RT: 67 Metacritic: 35
One man's unguarded honesty threatens to destroy the longtime friendship between an aspiring screenwriter and a successful magazine editor in writer/director Russell Brown's blistering comedy about the high price of being truthful. Sam has written a screenplay. He believes the film he has dreamt up could be his ticket to the big time, but before anything else, he wants to get some feedback from his old friend David. David is a magazine editor who's currently at the top of his game. He doesn't think too much of Sam's screenplay, and his admission of this fact opens up a critical rift between the two longtime writers. As the tension begins spreading to other areas of both men's lives, they suddenly find themselves forced to confront their motivations for becoming writers in the first place.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day – action - Troy Duffy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjMBd9XSLgI
RT: 22 Metacritic: 26
Boondock Saints, the 2000 crime picture renowned for the unique story of the fast rise and fall of its egomaniacal filmmaker, Troy Duffy, as well as the cult following that appeared later on home release, gets the sequel treatment with this follow-up. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus reunite as the vigilante MacManus brothers, with Billy Connolly returning as Il Duce. Duffy once again directs from his own script, with Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz, and David Della Rocco filling out the rest of the cast.

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men – drama - John Krasinski
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URCMDgdKMWk
RT: 48 Metacritic: 45
Based on the book by David Foster Wallace, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN is a darkly funny and disturbing exploration of men and their complex relationships with women. Sara Quinn is interviewing men as part of her graduate studies. Her intellectual endeavor has emotional consequences as the men's twisted and revealing stories are juxtaposed against the backdrop of her own experience. As she begins to listen closely to the men around her, Sara must ultimately reconcile herself to the darkness that lies below the surface of human interactions.

Bright Star – drama - Jane Campion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTetIodauIM
RT: 84 Metacritic: 81
The tragic but intensely passionate love affair between Romantic poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and the radiant Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is detailed in this romantic period drama from critically acclaimed writer/director Jane Campion.

Broken Embraces - drama/romance Pedro Almodóvar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-X7b1MQjk
RT: 83 Metacritic: N/A
A follow-up to Spanish enfant terrible Pedro Almodóvar's 2006 arthouse sensation Volver, Los Abrazos Rotos finds the filmmaker re-teaming with actress Penélope Cruz and working on a canvas much broader than those of his previous outings, in terms of genres covered, narrative scope, and duration. Lluís Homar stars as the former Mateo Blanco, a screenwriter and ex-director who changed his name to Harry Caine after losing his sight in an automobile accident. A past scandal suddenly resurfaces when the news arrives that the producer of one of Harry's old movies ("Girls and Suitcases"), a corrupt stockbroker named Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), has died. For mysterious reasons, this makes Harry's ex-production manager Judit (Blanca Portillo) nervous; then Ernesto's son, Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano), turns up and asks Harry to help him write a vindictive script to get back at his vile father. The film subsequently flashes back to the early '90s, when Martel became involved with his secretary, Lena (Cruz), but Mateo also began to develop feelings for her, and auditioned her for "Girls and Suitcases." In response to Mateo's interest in Lena (and her burgeoning interest in him), the jealous Martel commissioned Ray to make a documentary about the making of "Girls and Suitcases" as an excuse to spy on the director and star. This enabled him to watch Mateo spiriting off with Lena right under his nose, and set the stage for the wily producer's elaborate revenge against Mateo. As this synopsis suggests, Almodóvar uses a tricky structure laden with flashbacks to both comment on and explain the events of the present; he also interweaves a noirish sensibility throughout the picture that marks something of a first for this director.

Burning Plain - drama/romance – Guillermo Arriaga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FvckMrGa2E
RT: 32 Metacritic: 45
THE BURNING PLAIN, a romantic mystery about a woman on the edge who takes an emotional journey back to the defining moment of her life. Oscar-winner Charlize Theron plays Sylvia, a beautiful restaurant manager whose cool, professional demeanor masks the sexually charged storm within. When a stranger from Mexico confronts her with her mysterious past, Sylvia is launched into a journey through space and time that inextricably connects her to these disparate characters, all of whom are grappling with their own romantic destinies. In Mexico, a young motherless girl, Maria (Tessa Ia), lives happily with her father and his best friend until a tragic accident changes it all. In the New Mexico border town of Las Cruces, two teenagers, Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) and Santiago (JD Pardo), find love in the aftermath of their parents’ sudden deaths. In an abandoned trailer, a housewife, Gina (Oscar-winner Kim Basinger), embarks on a passionate affair that will put Sylvia and the others on a collision course with the explosive power of forbidden love.

The Country Teacher – drama - Bohdan Sláma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnH4ovseOh0
RT: 82, Metacritic: N/A
A sexually confused natural science teacher turns down a prestigious job in Prague in favor of working in a remote Czech village, in the process forming a close bond with a lonely widow and her insolent seventeen year old son. Having recently come off of a failed homosexual relationship, the troubled teacher makes the difficult decision to leave his family behind and relocate to a quaint village in the countryside where he can create a new identity from the ground up. Shortly after getting settled in and landing a job teaching at the local school, he meets pretty widow Marie (Zuzana Bydzovská) whose husband has disappeared to work on the family farm. In the process of forming a friendship with Marie, who clearly wants to take their relationship a step further, the teacher also forms a connection with her rebellious adolescent son (Ladislav Sedivý). Marie simply doesn't understand that the teacher left Prague in order to find himself in the country, and due to the rampant homophobia in the rural area it's difficult for him to express his true motivations to her. An already complicated situation intensifies tenfold when, out of nowhere, the teacher's former lover arrives in town determined to find out why their relationship was broken off so suddenly and unceremoniously.

Crude – documentary - joe berlinger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnm01lWsTg
RT: 94 Metacritic: 75
The story behind the world's largest oil-related environmental lawsuit comes to the screen as award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) investigates the facts in the case of the so-called "Amazon Chernobyl," a disaster that occurred deep in the rain forests of Ecuador.

The Damned United - sports/drama - Tom Hooper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_QiKT-6hlo
RT: 91 Metacritic: 82
Set in 1960's and 1970's England, THE DAMNED UNITED tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough's doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions on English football, Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football - an anathema to the principled yet flamboyant Brian Clough, who had acheived astonishing success as manager of Hartlepool and Derby County building teams in his own vision with trusty lieutenant Peter Taylor. Taking the Leeds job without Taylor by his side, with a changing room full of what in his mind were still Don's boys, would lead to an unheralded examination of Clough's belligerence and brilliance over 44 days.

Dead Snow – action - Tommy Wirkola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KQh87_V2Q
RT: 66 Metacritic: 61
Eight medical students on a ski trip to Norway discover that Hitler's horrors live on when they come face to face with a battalion of undead Nazi soldiers intent on devouring anyone unfortunate enough to wander into the remote mountains where they were once sent to die. It's Easter vacation, and what better way to spend the break than skiing down the isolated hills just outside of Øksfjord, Norway? After packing their cars with enough beer and ski equipment to ensure that a good time will be had by all, the students set out for their destination and prepare for a relaxing snowbound getaway. Shortly after arriving at their remote cabin, however, the students receive an unexpected visit from a rather suspicious hiker. According to their shady visitor, the Nazis occupied this territory during World War II. In the aftermath of their brutal raping and pillaging, the locals revolted, driving the few surviving Nazi soldiers -- including their iron-fisted leader, Colonol Herzog -- deep into the hills. Neither the soldiers nor their leader were ever seen again. Everyone in town assumed that they simply froze to death. But there's something stirring out there in the trees, and it won't be long until the unsuspecting students discover how the story really ends.

Earth Days – documentary - Robert Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsdKxew6FM8
RT: 80 Metacritic: 70
While the publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring in 1962 has been cited by many as the dawn of the environmental movement, the celebration of the first Earth Day in 1970 demonstrated to many that the concern over pollution, overpopulation, and the abuse of our natural resources was no longer the task of a handful of scientists but something that had caught the attention of people all around the world. Filmmaker Robert Stone offers a historic look at the events leading up to the initial Earth Day event (and what has and hasn't happened to protect the planet since then) in the documentary Earth Days. Stone offers a thumbnail history of the early days of the environmental movement, profiles several of the movers and shakers behind the initial Earth Day event (including Stuart Brand, Rusty Schweickart, Stewart Udall, and Paul Ehrlich), and compares what politicians have promised to do about the environment since 1970 to what has actually taken place

Five Minutes of Heaven - crime - Oliver Hirschbiegel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZOE7HgvI3c
RT: 73 Metacritic: 62
Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of Das Experiment and The Invasion, takes the helm for this film about a killer who dares not seek forgiveness, and another who feels incapable of granting it. The political divide in Ireland runs as far as it does deep. Alistair (Liam Neeson) and Joe (James Nesbitt) each stand on opposing sides of that gaping chasm. Alistair killed Joe's brother, and for than man who's lost family, absolution simply isn't an option.

Four Seasons Lodge – documentary - Andrew Jacobs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2vUpE9sWyw
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
Fascinated by the group of aging Holocaust survivors who spend their summers together at the Four Seasons Lodge in the Catskill Mountains, filmmaker Andrew Jacobs documents their collective memories, close friendships, and rich traditions at a time when their favorite retreat hovers in an uncertain state of flux. Every year since 1979, this small group of German and Polish Jews has gathered at the Four Seasons to reminisce about their childhoods and find comfort in one another's company. Like old friends, they often bicker and argue, but it generally isn't anything that lodge president Carl can't resolve with some friendly advice. This year, the regular vacationers at the Four Seasons hopelessly split between those who want to see the resort sold, and those who hope to see it stay intact. But this particular group has been through so much together that whatever may come of the Four Seasons, their familial bonds will remain as strong as they ever were.

Good Hair – documentary - Jeff Stilson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So
RT: 95 Metacritic: 72
In the movie School Daze, Spike Lee staged a dance number in which two bands of African-American college students debated the merits of "Straight and Nappy" hair in song, and now comedian Chris Rock and filmmaker Jeff Stilson have extended the conversation to a full-length film in this witty documentary with serious undertones. Rock says he was inspired to make the film when his young daughter asked him, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" and he and Stilson examine black America's obsession with their hair as they visit the Bronner Brothers International Hair Show, an annual trade show for the African-American hair care industry which includes fierce competitions among stylists from around the country and demonstrations of new hair products and techniques. Along the way, Rock also talks to a number of African-American luminaries about their hair issues (including Maya Angelou, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Nia Long, Raven Symone, Ice-T, and Paul Mooney), researches the dangers of many common hair-straightening treatments, reveals the surprising expense of regular hair "relaxing" and weaves, and ponders what the pursuit of straight hair says about African-American cultural identity.

The Horse Boy – documentary - Michel O. Scott
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYkT_GndKtE
RT: 89 Metacritic: 68
A family takes some very unusual steps to help their son in this documentary from filmmaker Michel Orion Scott. Rupert Isaacson and Kristen Neff first met when they were both traveling through India; Rupert was an activist representing the rights of indigenous peoples in the Third World, while Kristen was a college professor with a degree in psychology. While Rupert and Kristen expected that their nomadic life might change when they married and had a child, they weren't quite prepared for what happened when their son, Rowan Isaacson, was diagnosed with autism. Rowan was given to long periods of sullen withdrawal and sudden bursts of rage that no form of therapy seemed to help, and by the time he was five his parents were running out of ideas when they discovered the boy had a close bond with animals. Rupert discovered a band of shamans in Mongolia who claimed to be able to heal autism, and so he joined Rowan and Kristen for a journey in which they would travel across the country on horseback to meet the holy men who might be able to help the child. Director Scott and a small camera crew joined the family on their voyage, and Over the Hills and Far Away allows viewers to watch as Rupert and Kristen search out a way to help their son connect with the world at large. Over the Hills and Far Away received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

The House of the Devil – horror - Ti West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHvSkTDWFfk
RT: 88 Metacritic: 73
A coed struggling to pay her rent ends up taking the wrong part-time job in writer-director Ti West's old-school 1980s-set horror flick, The House of the Devil. Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is a sweet-natured and retiring young woman, unlike her rambunctious, loud, and self-assured best buddy, Megan (mumblecore stalwart Greta Gerwig). After moving into a new apartment, Samantha is desperate for a way to make a few more bucks. When Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) comes on campus looking for a babysitter, Samantha jumps at the opportunity. Once she convinces Megan to give her a ride to the creepy old Ulman house, Samantha learns that the job is not quite what was advertised. Ulman and his wife (Mary Woronov) don't even have a child. He tells Samantha that she just has to stay in the house with his elderly mother-in-law while he and the missus go out to celebrate the lunar eclipse. When she balks at the change of plans, he offers her more money. As the night goes on, it becomes clear that Samantha is a much bigger part of the Ulmans' plans for the evening than she would ever want to be. West established his genre credentials with low-budget cult favorites The Roost (which also starred Noonan) and Trigger Man. The House of the Devil also stars A.J. Bowen and Dee Wallace.

The Maid – drama - Sebastián Silva
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYpfAxo3CIM" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYpfAxo3CIM
RT: 100 Metacritic: 85
A woman feels she must fight to hold on to her place in the household where she's been a servant for much of her life in this drama from writer and director Sebastian Silva. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) works as a maid for a well-to-do Chilean family, and has been with the household so long that she's come to think of herself as part of the family. However, Raquel is also aware of the distance between herself and her employers, and though she's fiercely devoted to Mundo Valdes (Alejandro Goic), his wife, Pilar (Claudia Celedón), and their son, Lucas (Agustín Silva), she finds herself increasingly at odds with their rebellious daughter, Camila (Andrea García-Huidobro). Years of hard and unrelenting work have begun to take their toll on Raquel, and Mundo decides she could use some help; he hires a young au pair, Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva), to assist her, but Raquel refuses to allow anyone to usurp her role in any way, and treats the girl so horribly she soon quits. Unaware of the conflict between Raquel and Mercedes, Mundo hires an older and more experienced women to work with Raquel, Sonia (Anita Reeves), and it's not long before the two domestics are locked in a fierce battle of wills. La Nana (aka The Maid) received its American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Mammouth – drama - Lukas Moodysson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGmK1N0eFU0
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
Three years after his "experimental" phase wrapped with the jarring, iconoclastic Container, Swedish enfant terrible Lukas Moodysson returned for this sprawling, ambitious social drama. Echoing Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel and featuring two Hollywood A-listers as his leads, Mammoth also marked the director's premier English-language project. Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal co-star as Ellen and Leo, New York marrieds; she's an emergency-room surgeon, he's a listless, vaguely dissatisfied Internet game designer. They have a family, albeit an unconventional and dysfunctional one: seven-year-old daughter Jackie (Sophie Nyweide) is practically being raised by a 24/7 Filipino caregiver, Gloria (Marife Necesito), who dotes on her incessantly. This provokes the envy of Ellen and the resentment of Gloria's two geographically estranged sons, Manuel (Martin Delos Santos) and Salvador (Jan Nicdao), who repeatedly phone their mom from Manila and plead with her to come home. Gloria's mother grows so distressed by this behavior that she attempts to show Salvador just how easy his life is in comparison to that of others, which leads to unanticipated tragic consequences. Meanwhile, Leo teams up with a shifty associate, Bob (Tom McCarthy), flies to Thailand, and encounters a freewheeling, laid-back working mother named Cookie (Run Srinikornchot). Step by step, the actions that Leo takes while abroad create a domino effect and alter everyone's lives in irreversible ways.

The Messenger – drama - Oren Moverman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MEApxjYncI
RT: 100 Metacritic: N/A
An Iraq War veteran who just narrowly escaped death in combat struggles with his new post at the Casualty Notification Office while anticipating his upcoming discharge in this military drama starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, and Samantha Morton. Will Montgomery (Foster) has spent his fair share of time in army hospitals, and with just three months to go before returning to civilian life, he discovers that his girlfriend back home (Malone) has decided to move on with her life. Crestfallen, Will discovers that his latest hope for a fresh start will be training to work for the Casualty Notification Office under the mentorship of senior officer Tony (Harrelson). As someone who had a close brush with death himself, Will isn't sure that he's the man to tell families that their own loved ones will never be coming home. Thankfully, in between his assignments, Tony offers a sympathetic ear and the two men form a bond that will ultimately help them to readjust to "normal" life. But once you've been in the thick of it, any true hope for a "normal" life after the military is just wishful thinking. Later, Will is drawn to the grieving widow (Morton) of a fallen soldier, a development that forces him to ponder the ethical dilemma of starting a relationship with a woman in such a vulnerable position.

Misconceptions – comedy - Ron Satlof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIkYwDUeGU
RT:N/A Metacritic: N/A
This lighthearted comedy pokes fun at the culture wars, and the debate over same-sex parenting. Southern gal Miranda is an Evangelical Christian with all the social and political beliefs dictated by her church, but when she gets what she's sure is a message from God, she does a 180 and decides to become a surrogate mother for a married gay couple from Boston. It's a weird enough situation as it is, but things get even crazier for Miranda when one of her baby-daddies-to-be decides to come down South for a visit -- and won't leave!

New York, I Love You – drama - lots of people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5katNrnYb8U
RT: 43 Metacritic: 49
Some of the world's most-respected directors align forces to pay tribute to the city of the New York in this unconventional omnibus sister film to 2006's Paris, Je T'Aime. Broken into short segments, New York, I Love You is comprised of 10 films, most choosing to take a down-to-earth approach to the stories of the countless lives lived in the city on a given day. The segments are as follows, chronologically:
Segment 1 - Directed by Jiang Wen; Written by Hu Hong and Meng Yao; Starring Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia and Rachel Bilson.
Segment 2 - Directed by Mira Nair; Written by Suketu Mehta; Starring Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan.
Segment 3 - Written and directed by Shunji Iwai; Adaptation by Israel Horovitz. Starring Orlando Bloom and Christina Ricci.
Segment 4 - Directed by Yvan Attal; Written by Olivier Lecot and Yvan Attal; Starring Robin Wright Penn, Ethan Hawke, Maggie Q and Chris Cooper.
Segment 5 - Directed by Brett Ratner; Written by Jeff Nathanson; Starring Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Olivia Thirlby and Blake Lively
Segment 6 - Directed by Allen Hughes; Written by Xan Cassavetes and Stephen Winter; Starring Drea de Matteo and Bradley Cooper.
Segment 7 - Directed by Shekhar Kapur; Written by Anthony Minghella; Starring Julie Christie, John Hurt and Shia LeBoeuf.
Segment 8 - Written and directed by Natalie Portman; starring Taylor Geare, Carlos Acosta and Jacinda Barrett.
Segment 9 - Written and directed by Fatih Akin; starring Burt Young, Ugur Yucel and Shu Qi..
Segment 10 - Written and directed by Joshua Marston; starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman.
Transitions In-Between Segments - Directed by Randy Balsmeyer; Written by Israel Horovitz, James Strouse and Hall Powell; Starring Emilie Ohana, Eva Amurri and Justin Bartha.


No Impact Man – documentary - Laura Gabbert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ctt7FGFBo
RT: 89 Metacritic: 66
Colin Beavan was a writer living in Manhattan who had the usual concerns over the future of the environment until he realized he wasn't doing much about it. Beavan decided that it was time he and his family did something to deal with the practical issues of global warming and environmental sustainability, so he set out on a grand experiment -- to see if he, his wife, Michelle Conlin, their young daughter, and their dog could live for a year in New York City without leaving any sort of carbon footprint. Michelle, a writer for Business Week with a taste for fashion, was a hard sell for the notion of spending a year without electricity, takeout, toilet paper, or motorized transportation, but in time she agreed and found that their new life was a life-changing experience. Colin, however, found his will tested by the experience and his ideals questioned when he began writing a book about his experiences and sharing his story with the news media, becoming a minor celebrity in the process. Colin and Michelle's friends Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein are filmmakers who decided to capture the family's year of environmental purity on film, and No Impact Man is a documentary that chronicles the nuts and bolts of living a carbon-neutral life as well as how the experience impacted the family.

Nollywood Babylon – documentary - Ben Addelman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVUNYV7Mto
RT: 80 Metacritic: N/A
Hollywood and Bollywood watch out; in this documentary examining Nigeria's booming movie industry, filmmakers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal highlight the reasons why it doesn't take a multi-million-dollar budget to produce a wildly entertaining movie. Idumota market, Lagos: amidst the hustle and bustle of the endless stalls, movie stars are born. Nigeria is a place where traditional mysticism and modern culture clash to form an atmosphere where anything seems possible. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the inventive, low-budget B-movies produced by enterprising local filmmakers with no goal other than to entertain the viewer. From the epicenter of this African metropolis emerges a new breed of cinema known as Nollywood, a brand of film that's remained a well-kept secret...until now.

Peter and Vandy – drama - Jay DiPietro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Uh3XXdQBU
RT: 61 Metacritic: 44
One couple's stormy relationship is examined out of chronological order in this drama written and directed by Jay DiPietro, adapted from his play. Peter (Jason Ritter) and Vandy (Jess Weixler) meet when both are college students; they fall in love and live together for a while, but on a certain fundamental level they're never fully comfortable with one another, and eventually they go their separate ways. But rather than tell their story from beginning to end, Peter and Vandy jumps back and forth in time, with the couple midway through their romance before we've seen their first date. DiPietro allows us to see how the flaws in their relationship -- Peter's discomfort around Vandy and their habit of bickering about petty things -- were present at the beginning, lurking around the corner even in their happiest moments. Peter and Vandy received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Red Cliff – action - John Woo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLgDcvqVAw
RT: 89 Metacritic: N/A
Legendary Hong Kong action specialist John Woo and international superstar Tony Leung reunite for their first feature film together since 1992's Hard Boiled with this historical drama set during the decisive 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. Adapted in part from the beloved Chinese tome Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Red Cliff opens in the year 208 A.D., just as prime minister-turned-general Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from Han Dynasty emperor Xian (Wang Ning) to organize a southward-bound mission designed to silence troublesome warlords Liu Bei (You Yong) and Sun Quan (Chang Chen). As the expedition gets under way, Cao Cao's troops rain destruction on Liu Bei's army, forcing the latter to retreat and convincing Liu Bei's military strategist Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) that their only hope for victory is to form an alliance with Sun Quan. Increasingly aware of the monumental struggle ahead, both sides begin preparing for the battle that will ultimately shape the future of an entire nation. Originally envisioned as a single film, Red Cliff was eventually split into two parts due to an excessive running time that approached five hours.

A Serious Man – comedy - John and Ethan Coen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcUTv3LH3ss
RT: 84 Metacritic: 79
Filmmaking duo Joel and Ethan Coen write, produce, and direct this period black comedy set in 1967 concerning a Midwestern physics professor whose staid and stable life slowly begins to unravel after his wife announces that she's leaving him. As if the failure of his longtime marriage wasn't enough for Larry Gopnik (Tony-nominated Michael Stuhlbarg) to contend with, now his socially inept brother refuses to move out of the house as well. Larry is a modest man of science. Up to this point, his life has been uneventful at best, but things are about to get interesting. When his wife, Judith announces that she is leaving him to move in with his smug colleague Sy Ableman, Larry does his best to contend with his failed marriage while barely tolerating his unemployable brother, Arthur, who appears to have grown roots on Larry's couch. Meanwhile, Larry's son, Danny, is getting into trouble at Hebrew school, and his daughter, Sarah, is stealthily snatching money from his wallet so she can afford a nose job. As Judith and Sy merrily begin making plans for their new life of domestic bliss together, Larry begins receiving a series of anonymous letters from someone who seems intent on sabotaging his chance for tenure at the university. To further complicate matters, a graduate student with failing grades is attempting to bribe the professor while simultaneously threatening him with a defamation lawsuit. Larry is in some serious need of equilibrium, though it's hard to focus on getting your life in order when your beautiful neighbor insists on sunbathing in the nude just outside your window. Perhaps by seeking the advice of three trusted rabbis, Larry can finally learn to cope with his afflictions and become a genuine mensch. A Serious Man is the second in a two-picture deal that the siblings made with Focus Features and Working Title.

Serious Moonlight – comedy - Cheryl Hines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCsU_19Clyo
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
When high-powered attorney Louise (Meg Ryan) learns that her husband, Ian (Timothy Hutton), plans to leave her after 13 years of marriage to run off with his twentysomething girlfriend, Sara (Kristen Bell), she impulsively decides to take drastic action. She ties up Ian in their country house, and refuses to let him go until they talk things through. Naturally, he resists, and things take an even worse turn for the couple when a young hooligan (Justin Long) hears Ian's cries for help, and decides to rob the couple blind instead of helping the hapless husband. Serious Moonlight was scripted by the late Adrienne Shelly. Shelly's husband, Andy Ostrow, who produced the film and has a small role in it, decided to go forward with the project, for which Shelly had been seeking a producer, after the actor-director's tragic death. Serious Moonlight marks the feature directorial debut of actor Cheryl Hines, who co-starred in Shelly's last directorial effort, Waitress. Several key crew members for Serious Moonlight -- including composer Andrew Hollander, casting directors Sunday Boling and Meg Morman, costume designer Ariyela Wald-Cohain, and line producer Brigitte Mueller previously -- worked with Shelly on Waitress.

A Single Man – drama - Tom Ford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tCxRO67gyk
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
Fashion designer Tom Ford makes his directorial debut with this dramatic outing starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Matthew Goode. Ford and David Scearce adapted the story from a book by Christopher Isherwood, which tells the tragic tale of a professor's loss of his longtime partner.

Still Walking – drama - Hirokazu Koreeda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Ca0f-eY7c
RT: 100 Metacritic: 89
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda writes and directs this family drama that unfolds over the course of a single summer day as the Yokoyama family gathers for a rare reunion held to commemorate the death of the one who was taken before his time. It was fifteen years ago that eldest Yokoyama son Junpei drowned in a tragic accident, and the only changes around the family home since that fateful day are so subtle that they're not likely to be noticed by anyone outside of the immediate family. Retired family patriarch Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) used to run a successful medical clinic out of the home, though the lights in his medical examining room haven't even been turned on in years. The tiles in the kitchen where energetic Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) cooks family meals are slowly coming loose, and as youngest son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives home he does his best to hide the fact that he's currently unemployed. His older sister Chinami has also arrived with her family, and does her best to entertain everyone despite the undeniable cloud of melancholy hanging over the home. As the festive gathering commences and Toshiko lays out a lavish meal, it gradually becomes obvious that resentment and sorrow bonds this family as powerfully as love.

Storm – drama - Hans-Christian Schmid
http://www.filmmovement.com/trailers/videoplayer.asp?CLIP=207
RT: 71 Metacritic: 55
Hannah Maynard, prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, is leading a trial against a former commander of the Yugoslavian National Army who is accused of the deportation and later killing of dozens of Bosnian-Muslim civilians. When a key witness commits suicide, it looks like the case will unravel, however Hannah refuses to give in. Hoping to uncover new findings, she travels to the witness' burial in Sarajevo and meets his sister Mira who she senses has much more to say than she is willing to admit. Despite threats of violence, Mira reluctantly agrees to testify at The Hague. However, she and Hannah must both risk life and limb to make it to the court, only to discover that there are traitors among their own ranks.
Tony Manero – drama - Pablo Larrain
http://www.lorberfilms.com/tony-manero/
RT: 86 Metacritic: 72
As Augusto Pinochet holds Chile in the grip of dictatorship, a fifty year old man obsessed with John Travolta’s character from Saturday Night Fever imitates his idol each weekend in a small bar on the outskirts of Santiago. Each weekend, Raúl Peralta and his friends – a devoted group of dancers – gather in a small bar and act out their favorite scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl longs to become a showbiz superstar, and when the national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest it seems like he may finally have a shot at living his dreams. But as Raúl is driven to commit a series of crimes and thefts in order to reproduce his matinee idol’s persona, his dancing partners (also underground resistance fighters who rail against the regime) are persecuted by the secret police.

A Town Called Panic – animation - Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-Cp5EAg1E
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
This unusual feature (a French-Belgian-Luxembourgian co-production) stylistically recalls the work of Art Clokey (Gumby, Davey and Goliath), with its lead cast consisting entirely of stop motion-animated children's toys. The premise concerns two such toys -- Cowboy (Stéphane Aubier) and Indian (Bruce Ellison) -- who plan to buy a birthday gift for their friend Horse (the voice of Vincent Patar) but accidentally destroy his house. A series of wacky, often hallucinatory adventures ensues that finds the trio journeying to the center of the earth, wandering across icy tundra and discovering a strange aquatic world inhabited by oddball beings with pointed heads. Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) provides one of the voices.

Uncertainty – drama - Scott McGehee and David Siegel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXc6dWzsWVE
RT: N/A Metacritic: N/A
Responsibility clashes with freedom as a young New York City couple experiences two decidedly different holidays in this drama from filmmaking duo David Siegel and Scott McGehee (Suture, The Deep End). It's the Fourth of July, and Kate and Bobby are struggling to make a decision: do they stick with tradition and spend the weekend with Kate's family, or do they set out on their own for a spontaneous adventure? After making their initial decision, an alternate narrative emerges to show just what would have happened had they chosen to do otherwise. While the decision-making process may seem mundane, the implications of each choice are profound. Sure, a holiday with the family doesn't seem nearly as exciting as an impromptu romantic trip, but that doesn't mean it will be any less dramatic. As the stories diverge and a "what if" scenario becomes reality, it soon becomes apparent how much one seemingly minor decision can ultimately affect the rest of our lives.

(Untitled) – drama - Jonathan Parker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9myaiQs3GI
RT: 70 Metacritic: 57
The uncomfortable merger of art and commerce leads to an unstable romantic triangle in this satiric comedy from director Jonathan Parker. Madeleine (Marley Shelton) is a beautiful young woman who runs an upscale art gallery in New York City. While Madeleine prides herself on exhibiting the most daring and cutting-edge work on the East Coast, her dirty little secret is that she's able to keep the place open by selling the bland but accessible work of her boyfriend (Eion Bailey), whose paintings are quite popular with corporate clients. However, Madeleine is drawn to moody creative types, and her boyfriend makes the mistake of introducing her to his bother (Adam Goldberg), an avant-garde composer whose music is built around breaking glass and the clatter of metal objects. Before long, Madeleine has fallen for the pretentious composer and has to choose between him and the man who can keep her gallery in the black.

Vanished Empire – drama - Karen Shakhnazarov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxXGKIrWleo
RT: 75 Metacritic: N/A
Love and youthful idealism are both put to the test as the Soviet Union begins to crumble in this drama from director Karen Shakhnazarov. In the early 1970's, Sergei (Alexander Lyapin) is a Russian college student who proudly describes himself as a dissident, telling anyone who cares to listen that he wants to help bring democracy to the Soviet Union. Sergei's confident, outspoken manner had made him quite popular with the women on campus, much to the chagrin of his close friend Stepan (Egor Baranovsky), who shares his political views but not his social skills. Sergei is dating Lyuda (Lidia Milyuzina), one of the most beautiful girls at the university, but while he loves her he doesn't always appreciate how special she is. Stepan, however, is immediately smitten with Lyuda, and loves her from afar while Sergei's headstrong nature and thirst for alcohol threaten to jeopardize his opportunities. Sergei, Lyuda and Stepan are entering adulthood at a time when the Soviet Union is in a state of flux -- young people are embracing the trappings of the West, their grandparents are trying to hold on to scraps of the culture that was lost in the revolution, and their country is headed for a future far different than what either side can imagine.

Yasukuni – documentary - Ying Li
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVLCaitzPg
RT: 86 Metacritic: N/A
For ages, the Yasukuni shrine of Tokyo, Japan has courted a tremendous amount of controversy for a ceremonial sword that it holds. Shinto Buddhists believe that the said weapon harbors some 2.4 million souls; as a result, the Japanese ascribe tremendous power to the blade and Japanese officers used it to lay waste to untold numbers of victims in 1930s Asia. The building and the weapon harbor tremendous personal significance for Chinese director Li Ying, given the torture inflicted by the Japanese soldiers on Chinese communists including his own father. With Ying's documentary Yasukuni, he visits the shrine and explores the violent history that belies the existence of the building and the sword, as Japanese Buddhists continue to gather at the site and honor their dead.

The Yes Men Fix the World – documentary – The Yes Men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnQX09DZLYE
RT: 76 Metacritic: 70
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are "The Yes Men" -- two guys who combine political activism, performance art, and the love of a good prank in the name of demanding that the private sector take responsibility for the damage it has done to the world and its people. Bichlbaum and Bonanno specialize in setting up realistic-looking mock websites that claim to represent famous and powerful multinational corporations, and when they're contacted to speak on behalf of the companies, they deliver absurd satirical presentations that sometimes fool their audiences into believing they've seen the real thing. The exploits of Bichlbaum and Bonanno were chronicled in the 2003 documentary The Yes Men, and their further adventures have spawned a second film, The Yes Men Fix the World, which follows the radical pranksters as they claim responsibility for a major environmental disaster in Bhopal on European television, demonstrate a new corporate rescue orb, "defend" corporate interests in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and publish a mock edition of The New York Times that declares the end of the war in Iraq. The Yes Men Fix the World received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.


You, the Living - comedy/drama - Roy Andersson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzQ9vqyXAM
RT 100 Metacritic: N/A
Filmmaker Roy Andersson draws the viewer into the world of a woman whose most uplifting moments are always balanced by tragedy, and whose joy is constantly offset by sorrow. In laughing along at the good times and shedding a tear at the bad, the comic tragedy of life manifests itself in a manner that all can surely relate to.

September Advisory Meeting Candidates

Removed from the list:

The Cove – booked Sept 16-22
World’s Greatest Dad – booked Sept. 30-October 6


Additions to the list:

Yasukuni – documentary - Ying Li
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YVLCaitzPg
For ages, the Yasukuni shrine of Tokyo, Japan has courted a tremendous amount of controversy for a ceremonial sword that it holds. Shinto Buddhists believe that the said weapon harbors some 2.4 million souls; as a result, the Japanese ascribe tremendous power to the blade and Japanese officers used it to lay waste to untold numbers of victims in 1930s Asia. The building and the weapon harbor tremendous personal significance for Chinese director Li Ying, given the torture inflicted by the Japanese soldiers on Chinese communists including his own father. With Ying's documentary Yasukuni, he visits the shrine and explores the violent history that belies the existence of the building and the sword, as Japanese Buddhists continue to gather at the site and honor their dead.
Clound 9 – drama - Andreas Dresen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbgk3IHsPH0
A woman has to decide if she wants to stay with her husband after three decades together in this drama with a comic undertow from Germany. Inge (Ursula Werner) is an ordinary woman in her mid-Sixties who is married to Werner (Horst Rehberg). Inge and Werner have been together for over thirty years, and while their relationship is still a happy one, it's clear that in most respects their lives have fallen into a rut. Inge makes extra money mending clothes for others, and when she drops off a pair of trousers for one of her customers, Karl (Horst Westphal), he invites her in for a moment. Inge and Karl sense an immediate attraction to one another, and after a few minutes together they repair to the bedroom. Unwilling to lie to her husband, Inge confesses her infidelity to Werner, but at the same time she admits she wants to continue her affair with Karl. After all their years of marriage, Werner isn't interested in an open relationship, and their daughter Petra (Steffi Kuehnert) is appalled by her mother's brazen behavior. Unable to have her cake and eat it too, Inge realizes she must choose between a man she's loved most of her adult life and one who has brought a new excitement to her autumn years.
Before Tomorrow
http://beforetomorrow.ca/en/index.php
Before Tomorrow is the story of a woman who demonstrates that human dignity is at the core of life from beginning to end, as she faces with her grandson the ultimate challenge of survival.
It's circa 1840 in the northernmost tundra of Inuit-land. In the Arctic Circle, some Inuit tribes still have never met any white people, although rumors circulate about what they might be like, where they come from, and why they are there. As the Europeans encroach upon the territory and the Inuit clans go about their nomadic life, two elder women and a young boy go to an isolated island to perform the task of drying their clan's cache of fish in preparation for the long winter. The clan promises to fetch them after the fish are dried and before the water freezes over, but as the fall hunting season ends and they fail to return, something appears to have gone very wrong. In their first feature, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu and Marie-Hélène Cousineau of the Arnait Video Collective base their film on the novel For Morgendagen by Danish writer Jørn Riel. They combine traditional Inuit storytelling traditions with European cinema techniques to portray a story of a grandmother and a grandson who fend for themselves after tragedy strikes their clan.With stellar performances by Madeline Piujuq Ivalu as Ningiuq and Paul-Dylan Ivalu as Maniq, viewers experience the harshness of the tundra and the love of family in the most trying of times.

BARKING WATER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-jnMVVgyYw

Before Oklahoma was a red state, it was known as the Land of the Red People, described by the Choctaw phrase Okla Humma. In his sophomore film, Sterlin Harjo takes viewers on a road trip through his own personal Oklahoma, which includes an eclectic mix of humanity.Irene and Frankie have a difficult past, but Frankie needs Irene to help him with one task. He needs to get out of the hospital and go home to his daughter and new grandbaby to make amends. Irene had been his one, true, on-again, off-again love until they parted ways for good. But to make up for the past, Irene agrees to help him in this trying time.With steady and graceful performances by Richard Ray Whitman as Frankie and Casey Camp-Horinek as Irene, this story takes viewers for a ride in the backseat of Frankie and Irene’s Indian car, listening to their past and the rhythmic soundtrack that sets the beat for a redemptive road journey. Harjo wraps us in the charm and love of Oklahoma through the people and places Irene and Frankie visit along the way. In this sparingly sentimental and achingly poignant film, Harjo claims his place as one of the most truthful and honest voices working in American cinema today. Barking Water is an expression of gratitude for the ability to have lived and loved.



BIRDWATCHERS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDN3uTz_Hs&feature=related

Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, present day. The fazenderos are leading their wealthy life in absolute boredom. They have plantations that stretch as far as the eye can see and spend their evenings in the company of the tourists who have come to watch the birds. On the borders of their land, the unrest of the Indians is growing. Forced to live on reservations, the natives have no future ahead of them, and out of despair, they often resort to suicide. It is a suicide that sparks off the rebellion. A group of Indians set up camp outside one of the properties to demand the restitution of their land. While battling with each other, the two sides do not stop studying one another. It is this very curiosity that will give way to a profound relationship between Osvaldo, a young shaman apprentice, and the daughter of a fazendero.


The Necessities of Life

http://www.sevillepictures.com/index.php?lng=en&sct=2&id=603&type=1

Tivii, of the Baffin Island Inuit, quietly supports his family by hunting on the frozen lands of Canada’s Far North until modern society intrudes on his corner of the world. Diagnosed with tuberculosis by Canadian authorities, Tivii is forcibly removed from his family and quarantined in a Quebec City tuberculosis sanitarium. For Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner), everything seems alien—and of course, no one speaks Inuktitut. He manages to establish a connection with Carole, a compassionate nurse, but he eventually slides into depression as he realizes his treatment might last up to two years. Seeing his despair, Carole orchestrates the hospital transfer of Kaki, a similarly afflicted Inuk orphan boy who’s been separated from his native culture for many months. With his feet in both the French-Canadian and Inuit worlds, Kaki acts as Tivii’s translator. Tivii also takes a fatherly interest in Kaki and tries to refresh the child’s lapsed knowledge of traditional Inuit customs and myths. Inspired by a real tuberculosis epidemic that broke out in the Inuit population in the 1940s and 1950s, The Necessities of Life is a profound story of culture shock and barrier-transcending human connections.



Rest of the list:

35 Shots of Rum – drama - Claire Denis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-liDSUGsQ
Time and romantic attraction threaten to sour a family relationship in this drama from writer and director Claire Denis. Lionel (Alex Descas) is a middle-aged widower who makes his living driving a train and shares an apartment with his twenty-something daughter Josephine (Mati Diop). Lionel and Josephine have a warm and caring relationship, and while it's not Lionel's nature to say very much, his affection for his daughter is clear. Lionel's on-and-off girlfriend Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) and their footloose friend Noe (Gregoire Colin) live in the same building, and together the four have fallen into a casual family relationship. However, when's Lionel's close friend and fellow driver Rene (Julieth Mars Toussaint) announces he's retiring, Lionel becomes painfully aware that he's not as young as he once was, and realizes how much he depends on his daughter. This knowledge sets Lionel on edge when Jospehine's friendship with Noe begins to evolve into a romantic relationship, while she is angered when she spies her father flirting with an attractive woman who runs a nearby diner.
Absurdistan comedy Veit Helmer 8/14/2009 3/26/2009 First Run Features http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5zDckXUj8 Welcome to Absurdistan, a small village in the high desert mountains, just on the outskirts of reality, where magical visions and bizarre events fuse together, but the sexes are divided. The village is facing a water shortage, but the men are too lazy to fix a rickety pipeline and the women are getting fed up with their good-for-nothing husbands. Led by young Aya (Kristyna Malerova), the women make a simple vow: “No water, no sex.” The men’s only hope is Temelko (Maximilian Mauff), whose long-promised wedding with Aya is put on hold until he finds a solution to the water problem. From the wild imagination of the award-winning director of Tuvalu comes this perfectly pitched lyrical comedy that is romantic, surreal and boundlessly poetic.

Act of God – documentary - Jennifer Baichwal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgTpXoYTXQE
Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal helmed this reflective documentary that ponders the spiritual, emotional, and metaphysical ramifications of being struck by a lightning bolt. According to the National Weather Service, the odds of this incident befalling any given person are about one in 700,000, which makes many a survivor question why he or she fell prey to this unusual calamity; some infer a cosmic reason, some reject that possibility, but most fall somewhere in between as they feebly attempt to come to terms with it. In the film, Baichwal speaks with a number of well-known victims, including the novelist and screenwriter Paul Auster (The Music of Chance), the improv-driven prog rock guitarist Fred Frith, and others, and evaluates how the interviewees' lives forked off in new directions after a massive discharge of electricity descended from the sky and landed on them.

Adam - comedy/drama - Max Mayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92U6OnVZG3U
A romantic character study examining the obstacles to intimacy and the compromises we make in the name of love, Adam stars Hugh Dancy as a man living with Asperger's syndrome who does his best to reach out to his pretty new upstairs neighbor. Due to his condition, Adam isn't the best when it comes to communicating. Though he frequently escapes by submersing himself in the world of space exploration, Adam senses an opportunity for a real human connection after Beth (Rose Byrne) moves into the apartment just upstairs. As Adam attempts to gain control of his off-kilter, sometimes embarrassing social skills, he discovers that with a little patience and understanding, developing a meaningful relationship might not be as hard as he previously thought. Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison, and Mark Linn-Baker co-star.

Answer Man – comedy - John Hindman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeixpYzhEGg
The reclusive author whose groundbreaking book redefined spirituality for an entire generation realizes how little he actually knows upon being approached by a single mother and a recovering addict in this drama from first time writer/director John Hindman. It's been 20 years since Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels) penned "Me and God," and the inspirational, soul-searching book is still as popular as ever. Anyone who reads it thinks that Arlen has all the answers to life's problems, but these days the author barely ventures outside of the house. Then, one day, Arlen crosses paths with Elizabeth (Lauren Graham), a single mother struggling to raise her seven-year-old son, and Kris (Lou Taylor Pucci), a young man who has just gotten out of rehab. Both are searching for the answers that will help them to become better people while overcoming their fears of failure. Does Arlen possess the wisdom to help Elizabeth and Kris work through their current problems, or is he really as clueless as he's been feeling for the last two decades?

Art and Copy – documentary - Doug Pray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekD_XNLEMc
The advertising industry in America exists in a paradox -- while it's all but impossible to go a day without being exposed to the work of leading figures in the advertising business, very little is known about the people behind the ads and the process by which they're created. Filmmaker Doug Pray offers a rare look inside the business of advertising in the documentary Art & Copy, in which he profiles a number of the most respected men and women in the ad game as they talk about their work, their motivations, and their views on the creative process. Pray's interview subjects include Lee Clow, who created memorable television spots for Apple's Macintosh computer and later their iPod MP3 player; Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby, who gave new life to the dairy industry with the "Got Milk?" campaign; Hal Riney, who helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House with his "Morning in America" TV spot; George Lois, who remade popular culture by coining the slogan "I Want My MTV"; and Mary Wells, the first woman to run a major ad agency and the creator of the "I (heart) New York" campaign.

The Baader Meinhof Complex – action - Uli Edel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opq65hdMJHc
Director Uli Edel teams with screenwriter Bernd Eichinger to explore a dark period in German history with this drama detailing the rise and fall of the Red Army Faction, a left-wing terrorist organization that became increasingly active following World War II. Also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, the Red Army Faction was formed by the radicalized children of the Nazi generation with the intended goal of battling Western imperialism and the West German establishment. Adapted from author Stefan Aust definitive account of the group that resorted to killing innocent civilians in the name of democracy and justice, The Baader Meinhof Complex stars Moritz Bleibtreu as Andreas Baader and Martina Gedeck as Ulrike Meinhof. Brino Ganz co-stars as Horst Herold, the head of the German police force faced with the task of bringing the Red Army Faction to justice.

Bliss – drama - Abdullah Oguz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnEMhcaLTuM
Three people meet under unlikely circumstances and change each other's lives in this Turkish drama from director Abdullah Oguz. When an unmarried teenage girl is believed by her family to have given up her virginity, she ordered to be killed out of shame. But before her relative is able to complete the task, the two encounter a college professor in the midst of an existential crisis. With each of their futures held in the balance, the trio embark on a journey together.

The Blue Tooth Virgin – comedy - Russell Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4IaxNlnIMA
One man's unguarded honesty threatens to destroy the longtime friendship between an aspiring screenwriter and a successful magazine editor in writer/director Russell Brown's blistering comedy about the high price of being truthful. Sam has written a screenplay. He believes the film he has dreamt up could be his ticket to the big time, but before anything else, he wants to get some feedback from his old friend David. David is a magazine editor who's currently at the top of his game. He doesn't think too much of Sam's screenplay, and his admission of this fact opens up a critical rift between the two longtime writers. As the tension begins spreading to other areas of both men's lives, they suddenly find themselves forced to confront their motivations for becoming writers in the first place.

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men – drama - John Krasinski
Based on the book by David Foster Wallace, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN is a darkly funny and disturbing exploration of men and their complex relationships with women. Sara Quinn is interviewing men as part of her graduate studies. Her intellectual endeavor has emotional consequences as the men's twisted and revealing stories are juxtaposed against the backdrop of her own experience. As she begins to listen closely to the men around her, Sara must ultimately reconcile herself to the darkness that lies below the surface of human interactions.

Burma VJ – documentary - Anders Østergaard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V08EBWQLzyU
Armed with small handy cams undercover Video Journalists in Burma keep up the flow of news from their closed country. Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, acclaimed director Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. The Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages from the streets of Rangoon. Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media. The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. ”Joshua”, age 27, is one of the young video journalists, who works undercover to counter the propaganda of the military regime. Foreign TV crews are suddenly banned from the country, so it’s left to Joshua and his crew to keep the revolution alive on TV screens all over. With Joshua as the psychological lens, the Burmese condition is made tangible to a global audience so we can understand it, feel it, and smell it. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

Burning Plain - drama/romance – Arriaga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FvckMrGa2E
THE BURNING PLAIN, a romantic mystery about a woman on the edge who takes an emotional journey back to the defining moment of her life. Oscar-winner Charlize Theron plays Sylvia, a beautiful restaurant manager whose cool, professional demeanor masks the sexually charged storm within. When a stranger from Mexico confronts her with her mysterious past, Sylvia is launched into a journey through space and time that inextricably connects her to these disparate characters, all of whom are grappling with their own romantic destinies. In Mexico, a young motherless girl, Maria (Tessa Ia), lives happily with her father and his best friend until a tragic accident changes it all. In the New Mexico border town of Las Cruces, two teenagers, Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) and Santiago (JD Pardo), find love in the aftermath of their parents’ sudden deaths. In an abandoned trailer, a housewife, Gina (Oscar-winner Kim Basinger), embarks on a passionate affair that will put Sylvia and the others on a collision course with the explosive power of forbidden love.

Coco Before Chanel - drama/biopic - Anne Fontaine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0eV9oFN34
Amélie and The Da Vinci Code star Audrey Tautou stars as legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel in this biopic penned by director Anne Fontaine and screenwriter Camille Fontaine in collaboration with Christopher Hampton. Based on the Chanel biography L'Irrégulière (The Nonconformist) by author Edmonde Charles-Roux, Coco Avant Chanel features dresses from the Chanel collection. House of Chanel art director Karl Lagerfeld also steps onboard to supervise the creation of accessories and costumes.

Cold Souls – comedy - Sophie Barthes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiPAkcsqgFo
Writer/director Sophie Barthes crafts this metaphysical tragicomedy that straddles the line between reality and fantasy set in a world where souls are extracted from humans and traded as commodity. Paul Giamatti is an anxious New Yorker who finds the answer to his deep-rooted malaise after stumbling upon an article about a high-tech company that claims to have found a solution to human suffering. By deep-freezing souls, claims the company, they can give their customers a life free from fear, doubt, and worry. Eager to free himself from the emotional burden of angst, Giamatti eagerly enlists their services. Trouble arises, however, when Giamatti's soul is swiped by a soul-trafficking "mule" who in turn gives it to a no-talent Russian soap opera actress. Now, in order to get back the soul that is rightfully his, Giamatti must make the arduous trip to St. Petersberg, along the way discovering that the true key to happiness isn't the absence of pain, but the ability to experience the entire spectrum of emotion and cherish the things that really matter.

The Country Teacher – drama - Bohdan Sláma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnH4ovseOh0
A sexually confused natural science teacher turns down a prestigious job in Prague in favor of working in a remote Czech village, in the process forming a close bond with a lonely widow and her insolent seventeen year old son. Having recently come off of a failed homosexual relationship, the troubled teacher makes the difficult decision to leave his family behind and relocate to a quaint village in the countryside where he can create a new identity from the ground up. Shortly after getting settled in and landing a job teaching at the local school, he meets pretty widow Marie (Zuzana Bydzovská) whose husband has disappeared to work on the family farm. In the process of forming a friendship with Marie, who clearly wants to take their relationship a step further, the teacher also forms a connection with her rebellious adolescent son (Ladislav Sedivý). Marie simply doesn't understand that the teacher left Prague in order to find himself in the country, and due to the rampant homophobia in the rural area it's difficult for him to express his true motivations to her. An already complicated situation intensifies tenfold when, out of nowhere, the teacher's former lover arrives in town determined to find out why their relationship was broken off so suddenly and unceremoniously.


Crude – documentary - joe berlinger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnm01lWsTg
The story behind the world's largest oil-related environmental lawsuit comes to the screen as award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) investigates the facts in the case of the so-called "Amazon Chernobyl," a disaster that occurred deep in the rain forests of Ecuador.

The Damned United - sports/drama - Tom Hooper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_QiKT-6hlo
Set in 1960's and 1970's England, THE DAMNED UNITED tells the confrontational and darkly humorous story of Brian Clough's doomed 44 day tenure as manager of the reigning champions on English football, Leeds United. Previously managed by his bitter rival Don Revie, and on the back of their most successful period ever as a football club, Leeds was perceived by many to represent a new aggressive and cynical style of football - an anathema to the principled yet flamboyant Brian Clough, who had acheived astonishing success as manager of Hartlepool and Derby County building teams in his own vision with trusty lieutenant Peter Taylor. Taking the Leeds job without Taylor by his side, with a changing room full of what in his mind were still Don's boys, would lead to an unheralded examination of Clough's belligerence and brilliance over 44 days.

Dead Snow – action - Tommy Wirkola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KQh87_V2Q
Eight medical students on a ski trip to Norway discover that Hitler's horrors live on when they come face to face with a battalion of undead Nazi soldiers intent on devouring anyone unfortunate enough to wander into the remote mountains where they were once sent to die. It's Easter vacation, and what better way to spend the break than skiing down the isolated hills just outside of Øksfjord, Norway? After packing their cars with enough beer and ski equipment to ensure that a good time will be had by all, the students set out for their destination and prepare for a relaxing snowbound getaway. Shortly after arriving at their remote cabin, however, the students receive an unexpected visit from a rather suspicious hiker. According to their shady visitor, the Nazis occupied this territory during World War II. In the aftermath of their brutal raping and pillaging, the locals revolted, driving the few surviving Nazi soldiers -- including their iron-fisted leader, Colonol Herzog -- deep into the hills. Neither the soldiers nor their leader were ever seen again. Everyone in town assumed that they simply froze to death. But there's something stirring out there in the trees, and it won't be long until the unsuspecting students discover how the story really ends.

Downloading Nancy - drama - Johan Renck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXfz8fKt7N0
A self-destructive housewife takes what may be her final step into the abyss in this independent psychological drama. Nancy Stockwell (Maria Bello) is a woman edging into her forties who has fallen into a deep and prolonged state of depression, finding her only solace in self-inflicted pain. Nancy has grown weary of her relationship with her husband, Albert (Rufus Sewell), and one day he comes home from work to find a note in which Nancy says she's decided to visit an old friend for a few days. When Nancy doesn't call after several days, Albert begins to worry that something is wrong, and he soon learns that Nancy hasn't told him the truth. Nancy has struck up an on-line relationship with Louis Farley (Jason Patric), who has a passion for violent sex, and she has decided to meet with him in person, but she has more in mind than just a fling -- she believes that Louis is the man who can end her misery by killing her. Also featuring Amy Brenneman as Nancy's analyst, Downloading Nancy was the first English-language feature from Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck.

Earth Days – documentary - Robert Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsdKxew6FM8
While the publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring in 1962 has been cited by many as the dawn of the environmental movement, the celebration of the first Earth Day in 1970 demonstrated to many that the concern over pollution, overpopulation, and the abuse of our natural resources was no longer the task of a handful of scientists but something that had caught the attention of people all around the world. Filmmaker Robert Stone offers a historic look at the events leading up to the initial Earth Day event (and what has and hasn't happened to protect the planet since then) in the documentary Earth Days. Stone offers a thumbnail history of the early days of the environmental movement, profiles several of the movers and shakers behind the initial Earth Day event (including Stuart Brand, Rusty Schweickart, Stewart Udall, and Paul Ehrlich), and compares what politicians have promised to do about the environment since 1970 to what has actually taken place

An Education – drama - Lone Scherfig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYkLgaQ27L8
A suburban London teen finds her traditional education replaced by something slightly more sinister when an older, more worldly suitor sweeps her off of her feet while placing her future in jeopardy. London, 1961: 16-year-old Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is smart, attractive, and eager to start her adult life. She's grown tired of the familiar adolescent routine, so when urbane newcomer David (Peter Sarsgaard) appears in town, Jenny senses a rare opportunity to shake things up a bit. Quickly falling under David's spell, the impressionable Jenny begins accompanying her newfound beau to classical concerts, art auctions, crowded pubs, and dinners that stretch into the small hours of the night. But Jenny is brighter than most kids her age, and her parents always dreamt of getting their exceptional daughter into Oxford. These days it seems like she's headed in a different direction -- will David ultimately be her undoing, or the person who helps her finally realize her true potential?

Five Minutes of Heaven – crime - Oliver Hirschbiegel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZOE7HgvI3c
Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of Das Experiment and The Invasion, takes the helm for this film about a killer who dares not seek forgiveness, and another who feels incapable of granting it. The political divide in Ireland runs as far as it does deep. Alistair (Liam Neeson) and Joe (James Nesbitt) each stand on opposing sides of that gaping chasm. Alistair killed Joe's brother, and for than man who's lost family, absolution simply isn't an option.

The Girl from Monaco – comedy - Anne Fontaine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUCh4uqfek
A brilliant and neurotic attorney (Fabrice Luchini) goes to Monaco to defend a famous criminal. But, instead of focusing on the case, he falls for a beautiful she-devil (Louise Bourgoin), who turns him into a complete wreck. Hopefully, his zealous bodyguard (Roschdy Zem) will step in and put everything back in order... Or will he?

It Might Get Loud – documentary - Davis Guggenheim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9iS2egnC0
Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim focuses his probing lens on a subject that's decidedly less urgent but no less fascinating with this look at the electric guitar featuring Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, U2's The Edge, and The White Stripes' Jack White. Growing up, all three guitarists realized their rebellion through music: Page was attempting to subvert the sugary sweet pop music of the 1960s, The Edge was hell-bent on making the guitar solos of the 1970s a distant memory, and White used his screeching strings to buzz out the droning bass machines of the 1980s. Later, Page makes way for Headley Grange to revisit the birthplace of "Stairway to Heaven," The Edge digs out the original four-track rehearsals for "Where the Streets Have No Names" in Dublin, and White expresses his exuberance for revered bluesman Son House -- all the while displaying their deep love for their instrument of choice by permitting the viewer a rare chance to see them refining as-yet-unreleased material. When the trio comes together for a landmark jam session, their spectacularly diverse styles and instruments become just as apparent as the shared passion that binds them all together.

Jerichow – drama - Christian Petzold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlgHdr2-SBM
The Turkish diaspora in Germany proves the catalyst for this noir-flavored drama concerning the unlikely friendship between a veteran of the Afghan-Soviet war and a middle-aged Turk in need of a helping hand. Returning home for his mother's funeral when he happens across a business associate to whom he owes a sizable debt, Thomas (Benno Fürmann) subsequently stumbles into intoxicated Turk Ali (Hilmi Sözer) while fleeing in haste. Ali has nearly driven his van into a local canal, and now he needs a driver to chauffeur him around his modest kingdom of crumbling snack bars. Recognizing the opportunity to make some quick and easy cash, Thomas agrees. But Thomas doesn't know that Ali is an intensely jealous and distrustful man, two traits that threaten to spell tragedy when Thomas enters into a passionate affair with Ali's gorgeous German bride (Nina Hoss).

Laila's Birthday – drama - Rashid Masharawi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hFLmBzGMjI
A taxi-driving judge attempts to keep his promise to return home with a birthday cake for his young daughter while contending with everyday life in occupied territory and doing his best to keep unruly passengers in check. Abu Laila is a judge, though despite being invited to practice in Palestine bureaucracy has prevented him from procuring his papers. Today is his daughter's birthday, and if he can somehow maintain his sanity amidst the chaos of the outside world he plans to buy her a cake so they can celebrate later that evening. Cigarettes are banned from Abu's cab, as are AK-47s. And while contending with the occupiers harass him at every turn is no easy task, Abu's greatest challenge is often convincing his passengers to buckle their seat belts.

Lemon Tree – drama - Eran Riklis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIoowHIpUT0
Widow and empty-nester Salma Zidane lives on the Palestinian West Bank, in a little house flanked by lemon trees planted by her great grand parents. Unfortunately, when the Israeli minister of defense builds a house adjacent to her own, her lemon trees are deemed a security risk. Salma hires a lawyer to prevent the powerful man from having her ancestral trees removed, but the odds are stacked against her and to make matters worse, she begins to fall in love with her lawyer. Things look bleak, but it looks like hope could shine in from an unexpected source, when the minister's neglected wife develops sympathy for Salma's plight.

Limits of Control - crime/drama - Jim Jarmusch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPFRaCnkVzE
A mysterious loner attempts to successfully complete his criminal mission while operating outside of the law in contemporary Spain. His objectives shrouded in secrecy, the untrusting lone wolf (Isaach de Bankolé) sets out on his latest assignment knowing that the law is never too far behind. Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Gael García Bernal co-star in a crime drama from acclaimed indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai).

Lion's Den – drama - Pablo Trapero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVxj1-a5jbQ
Writer/director Pablo Trapero crafts this tender tale of an incarcerated woman who gives birth to a baby boy and struggles to raise her son behind bars as she comes to the bleak realization that he is the only one who matters to her anymore. It all started when a pregnant Julia woke up in her apartment flanked by the bloodied bodies of her former lovers Nahuel and Romiro. Subsequently sent to a prison for mothers and pregnant convicts, Julia railed against the system by withdrawing into her own world. Upon giving birth, Julia realizes just how difficult it could be to raise a son in prison, but each day her feelings for the boy swell stronger within her. Later, when Julia pays a visit to Romiro in the men's prison, it becomes obvious that the couple's feelings for one another are just as muddled as the events of that fateful night back in Julia's apartment.

Loren Cass – drama - Chris Fuller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX4HvrCDmPc
The debut feature by Chris Fuller, the hard-edged drama Loren Cass stars Travis Mynard as Jason, a skinhead who starts a racial conflagration after playing a prank on a Black man with the help of his friend Cale (played by the director and writer, but billed under the name Lewis Borgan). Cale asks out a young waitress (Kayle Tabish), but they end up having dinner at the diner where she works. Everyone in the film seems weighed down by hopelessness and racial tension.

Lorna's Silence – drama - Jean-Pierre Dardenne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZN_rVSq1qg
An Albanian woman living in Belgium finds her dreams of opening a snack bar with her boyfriend leading to tragedy after she agrees to marry a Russian Mafioso in order to gain citizenship. All Lorna wanted was to start a small business with her loving boyfriend, but in order to make that happen she would first have to gain citizenship. Local mobster Fabio claims that he can make that happen if Lorna agrees to a sham marriage with a man named Claudy. After gaining Belgian citizenship, Lorna discovers that a high-profile Russian Mafioso is also seeking legal entry into Belgium, and soon. He's willing to pay a hearty sum in order to marry Lorna, but in order for that second marriage to be possible Fabio will have to have Claudy killed. Will Lorna be able to remain silent as Fabio's deadly plot unfolds, and what will become of her if Fabio finds out that she has warned Claudy of the impending danger he faces?

Misconceptions – comedy - Ron Satlof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIkYwDUeGU
This lighthearted comedy pokes fun at the culture wars, and the debate over same-sex parenting. Southern gal Miranda is an Evangelical Christian with all the social and political beliefs dictated by her church, but when she gets what she's sure is a message from God, she does a 180 and decides to become a surrogate mother for a married gay couple from Boston. It's a weird enough situation as it is, but things get even crazier for Miranda when one of her baby-daddies-to-be decides to come down South for a visit -- and won't leave!

No Impact Man – documentary - Laura Gabbert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ctt7FGFBo
Colin Beavan was a writer living in Manhattan who had the usual concerns over the future of the environment until he realized he wasn't doing much about it. Beavan decided that it was time he and his family did something to deal with the practical issues of global warming and environmental sustainability, so he set out on a grand experiment -- to see if he, his wife, Michelle Conlin, their young daughter, and their dog could live for a year in New York City without leaving any sort of carbon footprint. Michelle, a writer for Business Week with a taste for fashion, was a hard sell for the notion of spending a year without electricity, takeout, toilet paper, or motorized transportation, but in time she agreed and found that their new life was a life-changing experience. Colin, however, found his will tested by the experience and his ideals questioned when he began writing a book about his experiences and sharing his story with the news media, becoming a minor celebrity in the process. Colin and Michelle's friends Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein are filmmakers who decided to capture the family's year of environmental purity on film, and No Impact Man is a documentary that chronicles the nuts and bolts of living a carbon-neutral life as well as how the experience impacted the family.

Nollywood Babylon – documentary - Ben Addelman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVUNYV7Mto
Hollywood and Bollywood watch out; in this documentary examining Nigeria's booming movie industry, filmmakers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal highlight the reasons why it doesn't take a multi-million-dollar budget to produce a wildly entertaining movie. Idumota market, Lagos: amidst the hustle and bustle of the endless stalls, movie stars are born. Nigeria is a place where traditional mysticism and modern culture clash to form an atmosphere where anything seems possible. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the inventive, low-budget B-movies produced by enterprising local filmmakers with no goal other than to entertain the viewer. From the epicenter of this African metropolis emerges a new breed of cinema known as Nollywood, a brand of film that's remained a well-kept secret...until now.

O'Horten – comedy - Brent Hamer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ong76I3aJm4
A septuagenarian taking his penultimate voyage from Oslo to Bergen begins to mentally prepare for his final trip, but finds that sometimes things don't turn out as expected when he misses the last departure for the first time in 40 years.

Paper Heart – comedy - Nicholas Jasenovec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewisKyyuF78
Real-life sweethearts Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi head up this indie semi-documentary comedy, scripted by Yi, concerning the meaning of love. Fellow Judd Apatow veteran Nicholas Jasenovec makes his directorial debut with the production.

Paris – comedy/drama - Cédric Klapisch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwROhrqTyi8
Love and life pose dilemmas for a handful of friends in the City of Lights in this romantic drama from French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch. Pierre (Romain Duris) has enjoyed a successful career as a dancer performing in Parisian nightclubs, but when he's diagnosed with a serious heart condition, his doctor warns him that the strain of his work could kill him. Pierre must reinvent his life, and as he ponders his future and his mortality, he turns to his sister, Élise (Juliette Binoche), a social worker and single mother, for help. Élise is facing some life changes of her own; she's tired of being alone, and has developed an infatuation with Jean (Albert Dupontel), a grocer who sells his wares in the city's open-air market. But Jean is recently divorced and is still preoccupied with his former wife, Caroline (Julie Ferrier). Pierre also finds himself falling from afar for a lovely college student named Laetitia (Melanie Laurent), but he has a rival for her affections in Roland (Fabrice Luchini), one of her professors, who is considerably older than her.

September Issue – documentary - R. J. Cutler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq4wo4JYy2s
Vogue has been the most powerful and best-respected fashion magazine in the world for decades, and each year the journal devotes a fall issue to the designs and designers that the editors feel will be influential in the coming year. The September 2007 issue of Vogue, that year's annual Fall Fashion issue, became the biggest single issue in the magazine's long history, and filmmaker R.J. Cutler was given unprecedented access to Vogue's creative team as the issue was being prepared. The September Issue is a documentary which focuses on Vogue editor Anna Wintour as she visits the annual Fashion Week shows, accepts or dismisses the latest creations of the biggest names in fashion, works with the models, photographers, and writers who help bring her vision to the page, and labors with her staff to determine what the world's fashionistas will be wearing for the next 12 months. The September Issue received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where it received an award for excellence in documentary cinematography.

Seraphine - bio/drama - Martin Provost
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/seraphine/36900/video/seraphine-trailer-no-1/25324780001
Séraphine is the story of Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (Yolande Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper who in 1905 at age 41, self-taught and with the instigation of her guardian angel began painting brilliantly colorful canvases. In 1912 Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur), a German art critic and collector - he was one of the first collectors of Picasso and champion of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau - discovered her paintings while she worked for him as a maid in his house in Senlis outside Paris. A moving and unexpected relationship develops between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady leading to Séraphine's work being grouped with other naïve painters - the so-called "Sacred Heart Painters" - with acclaimed shows in France, elsewhere in Europe and eventually at New York's MOMA . Martin Provost's poignant portrait of this now largely forgotten painter is a testament to the mysteries of creativity and the resilience of one woman's spirit.

Shall We Kiss - comedy/romance - Emmanuel Mouret
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1YmwkwJL3o
Emmanuel Mouret's romantic comedy Shall We Kiss? begins with two strangers who end up attracted to each other, even though they both are involved in relationships with others. The woman refuses to kiss the man goodnight after a dinner together, explaining that a single kiss can alter a life. This set-up acts as a framing device for the main story, a tale she shares with him about friends who complicate their lives by becoming sexually involved.

Soul Power – documentary - Jeffrey Levy-Hint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OprNgiOq-I
Presented in conjunction with the landmark "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between famed pugilists Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Zaire '74 was a three-day music festival in Kinshasa that was organized by South African musician Hugh Masekela and American record producer Stewart Levine, and featured performances by such famed musicians as James Brown, Bill Withers, and B.B. King, among others. Many of the American musicians performing at Zaire '74 had been emboldened by the American Civil Rights movement, and saw their journey to Africa as a unique opportunity not just to perform for a new set of enthusiastic fans, but to explore their roots as well. However, while the forward-thinking promoters of Zaire '74 hired a talented team of documentary filmmakers to capture everything from the setup to the performances to everyday life in Kinshasa, the project ran into trouble when the Liberian investment group that financed the festival and film ran into some rather serious legal disputes. For the next three decades, the remarkable footage would sit untouched and unedited -- a valuable sociohistorical artifact seemingly forgotten, and left to succumb to the ravages of time. Later, in 1996, the rights were settled in order to help facilitate the completion of When We Were Kings, an Academy Award-winning documentary focusing on the very same Ali/Foreman match that took place alongside the Zaire '74 music festival. Recognizing the need to assemble the neglected Zaire '74 footage while it was still possible, When We Were Kings editor Jeffrey Levy-Hinte made it his own personal mission to see the long gestating project through to completion. The result is not simply a concert film featuring some of the most popular African and American musicians of the era, but also a pure cinéma vérité glimpse into a time when the musical crossover between the two nations was just beginning to emerge.

Still Walking – drama - Hirokazu Koreeda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Ca0f-eY7c
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda writes and directs this family drama that unfolds over the course of a single summer day as the Yokoyama family gathers for a rare reunion held to commemorate the death of the one who was taken before his time. It was fifteen years ago that eldest Yokoyama son Junpei drowned in a tragic accident, and the only changes around the family home since that fateful day are so subtle that they're not likely to be noticed by anyone outside of the immediate family. Retired family patriarch Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) used to run a successful medical clinic out of the home, though the lights in his medical examining room haven't even been turned on in years. The tiles in the kitchen where energetic Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) cooks family meals are slowly coming loose, and as youngest son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives home he does his best to hide the fact that he's currently unemployed. His older sister Chinami has also arrived with her family, and does her best to entertain everyone despite the undeniable cloud of melancholy hanging over the home. As the festive gathering commences and Toshiko lays out a lavish meal, it gradually becomes obvious that resentment and sorrow bonds this family as powerfully as love.

Thirst - drama/horror - Chan-wook Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG4AV6kLrKY
Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, and Kim Ok-bin star in Oldboy director Park Chan-wook's frightener concerning a priest whose life takes a turn for the worst after he participates in a medical experiment to find a cure for a deadly disease.

Three Monkeys – drama - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfTbUNRuX8
Set in the areas of Istanbul rarely visited by foreigners, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's strange detective story traces the journey of a family that is suddenly dislocated when minor shortcomings explode into exorbitant deceptions. Now their only hope of remaining together is to cover up the truth, but can ignoring the hardships and responsibilities that would be impossible to endure ever really invalidate the existence of the truth?

Tony Manero – drama - Pablo Larrain
http://www.lorberfilms.com/tony-manero/
As Augusto Pinochet holds Chile in the grip of dictatorship, a fifty year old man obsessed with John Travolta’s character from Saturday Night Fever imitates his idol each weekend in a small bar on the outskirts of Santiago. Each weekend, Raúl Peralta and his friends – a devoted group of dancers – gather in a small bar and act out their favorite scenes from Saturday Night Fever. Raúl longs to become a showbiz superstar, and when the national television announces a Tony Manero impersonating contest it seems like he may finally have a shot at living his dreams. But as Raúl is driven to commit a series of crimes and thefts in order to reproduce his matinee idol’s persona, his dancing partners (also underground resistance fighters who rail against the regime) are persecuted by the secret police.

Unmistaken Child - documentary - Nati Baratz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy9AFwvzmok
Documentary filmmaker Nati Baratz follows the shy but devoted disciple of a deceased Tibetan master as he sets out in search of his reincarnated master under the direct orders of the Dalai Lama. In 2001, Lama Konchog passed away following 26 years of isolated meditation in a remote mountain cave. Upon Lama Konchog's death, the Dalai Lama instructed his disciple Tenzin Zopa to venture out in search of his reincarnated master. But there is an urgency to Zopa's quest, because should he fail to locate the "unmistaken child" within the span of four short years, it will be too difficult to remove the boy from his parent's care. As a seven-year-old boy, Zopa had willingly entered the service of Lama Konchog, faithfully remaining by his chosen master's side for the next 21 years. When Lama Konchog died, Zopa was devastated. But while the prospect of finding his reincarnation is indeed a foreboding one, the loyal disciple is determined to succeed. With little more than dreams and whispers to guide him, Zopa sets out across lands that seemed to have been virtually untouched by civilization for an entire century. Later, when Tenzin comes across an apparent contender, he prepares to conduct the test that will confirm or deny the reincarnation.

Vanished Empire – drama - Karen Shakhnazarov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxXGKIrWleo
Love and youthful idealism are both put to the test as the Soviet Union begins to crumble in this drama from director Karen Shakhnazarov. In the early 1970's, Sergei (Alexander Lyapin) is a Russian college student who proudly describes himself as a dissident, telling anyone who cares to listen that he wants to help bring democracy to the Soviet Union. Sergei's confident, outspoken manner had made him quite popular with the women on campus, much to the chagrin of his close friend Stepan (Egor Baranovsky), who shares his political views but not his social skills. Sergei is dating Lyuda (Lidia Milyuzina), one of the most beautiful girls at the university, but while he loves her he doesn't always appreciate how special she is. Stepan, however, is immediately smitten with Lyuda, and loves her from afar while Sergei's headstrong nature and thirst for alcohol threaten to jeopardize his opportunities. Sergei, Lyuda and Stepan are entering adulthood at a time when the Soviet Union is in a state of flux -- young people are embracing the trappings of the West, their grandparents are trying to hold on to scraps of the culture that was lost in the revolution, and their country is headed for a future far different than what either side can imagine.

A Wink and A Smile – documentary - Deirdre Allen Timmons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhPw65N8pSM
Ten burlesque newcomers shed their inhibitions, emotional hang-ups, stereotypes, and, of course, clothing as they enter the Academy of Burlesque for a personal training session with famed Seattle dancer Miss Indigo Blue. By the time this lesson is over, these ladies will have gained the confidence to strut across the stage in true style, all the while knowing that every eye in the room is completely fixed on them.

A Woman in Berlin – drama - Max Färberböc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZxcSf9HwM
The horrors and moral compromises of war set the stage for this harrowing drama from director Max Färberböck, based on a true story. An anonymous female reporter (Nina Hoss) is living in Berlin in the spring of 1945; most of the city has been reduced to rubble by bombing, the German army has been decimated, and most of those left behind are expecting the arrival of Russian troops and fearful of what awaits them. The reporter is one of a number of women who are hiding wherever they can in the city, expecting that they will be raped and brutalized by the Russians. It doesn't take long for their worst fears to be realized as the emotionally ravaged Russian soldiers take out their anger and frustration on their new captives. But the reporter, who can speak Russian, is determined not to allow herself to be violated by the soldiers, and she decides to curry favor with a Soviet officer who will then protect her from his underlings. The reporter's plan works as she becomes the lover of Major Andrej (Yevgeni Sidikhin), an officer with decidedly mixed feelings about his work. But as the reporter trades consensual sex for the safety Andrej can give her, both are aware who is the victor and who is a captive, and elsewhere in Berlin both German survivors and the soldiers occupying Berlin show the scars of war as they bring out the worst in one another.