| TITLE:: | TIME:: |
| 3 WALLS | WENESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2:00 pm / VISTA THEATRE |
| Dir.: NAGESH KUKUNOOR, 2002, INDIA, 35MM, 120:00 | |
| Reminiscent of The Usual Suspects, but with a ton more heart. Three prisoners from all walks of life find themselves unsuspecting friends inside an Indian prison. A young (and, of course, quite beautiful) female reporter sniffing out a human interest story befriends the group and becomes embroiled in their lives. The story makes a sharp left turn when one of the characters plots an escape from prison in what may be the most creative use of food ever seen on film. | |
| A BOY’S LIFE | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 5:00PM / BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE |
| Dir.: RORY KENNEDY, 2003, USA, 77:00 | |
| Parents don’t always know best, as this remarkable documentary shows. Award-winning director Rory Kennedy (“American Hollow”) turns her gaze to Robert Oliver, a troubled 7-year-old in rural Mississippi. The progeny of a mother raped at 15 and generations of dysfunction and poverty, Robert’s chances to succeed are nearly nonexistent. What begins as a story of horror and abuse ends with uplift when one concerned teacher makes Robert her personal crusade. A cautionary tale on welfare reform, rural poverty, mental illness, and the under-funding of social services in Republican America, A Boy’s Life astounds throughout. | |
| ADDRESS UNKNOWN (SUCHWIIN BULMYEONG) |
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 7:00PM / VISTA THEATRE |
| Dir.: KIM KI-DUK, FILM 35MM, 117:00 | |
| Romances end in blood and the frail hopes of individuals are torn apart in a vile karmic continuity of colonialism, civil war and occupation. After surviving Japanese colonization, Korea became the first war zone of the Cold War. The legacy of war remains today in this divided country. Three forlorn teenagers, Chank-guk, Jihum and Eunok are figures in the landscape of this story, which highlights the global implications of a very Korean reality. None of them escape the withering pull of tragedy. All desperate pleas for love and redemption are returned stamped in red. | |
| AFGHANISTAN: FROM GROUND ZERO TO GROUND ZERO | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 4:30PM / LOS FELIZ 3 |
| Dir.: JON ALBERT, WEST COAST PREMIERE, VIDEO, USA, 51:45 | |
| Post-invasion, we see precious little news on the ramifications of our invasion. Masuda Sultan, a 23-year-old Afghan-American woman travels the treacherous route to Kandahar after 9/11. She is delighted to see the yoke of the Taliban gone, but horrified to find that American bombs killed 19 members of her family--and countless other civilians. Although a supporter of American intervention, Sultan asks the question: Why did so many innocents have to die? For that reason alone, this film must be seen. | |
| AIME TON PERE | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 7:00PM / VISTA THEATRE |
| Dir.: JACOB BERGER, 2002, FRANCE, 109:00 | |
| In this stirring French film, art does more than imitate life--it derives directly from it. Screen legend Gerard Depardieu plays a reclusive writer who has just won the Nobel Prize. On his way to Stockholm on a motorbike, he is virtually kidnapped by his estranged son, played by real-life progeny Guillaume Depardieu. In a mirror of their own relationship, the son, a former addict, tries to force his father into a relationship by confronting him with the secrets of their shared past. But can such things be forced? Emotionally brutal, and with a virtuoso performance by Sylvie Testud as the daughter who has sacrificed her own life for her famous father’s success. | |
| ALMOST A WOMAN | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 11:30AM / VISTA THEATRE |
| Dir.: BETTY KAPLAN, 2001, USA, 97:00 | |
| Peabody-award winner Betty Kaplan directs this evocative and emotionally honest portrait of a Puerto Rican girl’s arrival from New York based on the memoir by Esmeralda Santiago. The girl must serve as a link to the outside world for her Spanish-speaking mother while navigating her own entry into a dizzying world (captured here with evocative period detail). A celebration of adolescence, family life, and the thrill of new beginnings, Almost A Woman speaks to the newcomer in us all and reminds us of the possibilities life holds in store. | |
| AND ALONG CAME A SPIDER | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 7:00PM / LOS FELIZ 3 |
| Dir.: MAZIAR BAHARI, 2002, VIDEO, UNITED KINGDOM, 52:00 | |
| At once a haunting look at modern Iran and a testament to the horrors of fanaticism everywhere, And Along Came A Spider burns in the memory. A true story of a man convicted of murdering 13 prostitutes, this documentary features exclusive interviews with the killer, his family, and Iranians of various moral perspectives. The film examines not only the motivating forces in his own life, but the collective morality and daily dysfunctions of a country at war with itself--and the rest of the world. | |
| ANGELA SHELTON | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 4:30PM / VISTA THEATRE |
| WORLD PREMIERE 2003, 35MM, USA, 52:30 | |
| Angela Shelton #1 lives in L.A. On a cross-country trip she looks up Angela Sheltons everywhere looking for. . .something. What she finds is that nearly all of the women she meets have--like herself--been raped, molested, or beaten. Against all odds, a Southern Angela Shelton actually tracks sexual predators and lives in the same town as Angela’s never-prosecuted father. On Father’s Day, Angela meets her pedophilic father after a silence of many years--and begins a voyage of self-discovery, cleansing, and hope. Trenchant, piercing, and unforgettable. | |
