Friday February 2, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Le Grand Voyage                                                                                             DVD                (France & Morocco)   

A 2004 film by Ismael Ferroukhi. A few weeks before his college entrance exams, Reda finds himself obligated to drive his traditionalist Muslim father from their French suburban home to Mecca, on a pilgrimage that is one of the pillars of Islam - the hajj. Within these tight confines, father and sone discover that the wide cultural and generational gap between them is a catalyst for confrontation. Yet each time a seemingly irreparable split arises, its resolution brings another level of understanding to their relationship. With several unexpected passengers attaching themselves to the pair along the way, humour intertwines with this heartwarming “road movie with a difference” (June Givanni, Toronto International Film Festival)

French with English subtitles                              1 hour 43 minutes.

Saturday February 3, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Tsotsi                                                                                                                                       DVD                                        (South-Africa)  Rated 14A

The 2005 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winner. An acclaimed drama of crime and redemption at the edge of Johannesburg. This movie tells the story of a car theft by Tsotsi who’s life changes upon a shocking discovery in the back seat of the stolen care. He follows and extraordinary path of redemption.

Tsotsi-Taal                                                       1 hour 34 minutes.

Saturday February 3, 2007 - 9:00 pm

Rigoletto                                                                                                                                   DVD                            (Italy)                           Rated G

Guiseppi Verdi’s opera performed in Sienna, Italy in 2005 musically feeling the story from the 1550's of the seduction of Gilda by the Duke Montua. Gilda is the daughter of the Jukes jester, Rigoletto. The opera follows the jesters attempt at exacting revenge.

Italian with English subtitles                               2 hours 10 minutes

Sunday February 4, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Paradise Now                                                                                                  DVD                                        (Palestine)             Rated PG

This 2005 winner of numerous film festivals, including the 2005 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film is set in Palestine and follows two proposed suicide bombers detailing their plans, and their second thoughts. A powerful and fascinating film that is multidimensional and looks into the character and motivation of the planner. A film that asks many questions about a controversial topic and lays out the humanity of the character.

Arabic  1 hour 31 minutes

Friday February 9, 2007- 7:00 pm

Buddy                                                                                                  DVD                                        (Norway)

A 2003 film by Morten Tyldum. Kristoffer’s love life is on the rocks. But what can you expect from a guy who likes to videotape himself and his friends pulling outrageous stunts? When Kristoffer’s video diary winds up at a popular TV show, it’s not just his love life that turns upside down. A vibrant young cast explores the true meaning of friendship and love in a heartwarming story about high jinks, crazy roommates and reality television.

Norwegian with English subtitles            1 hour 41 minutes.

Saturday February 10, 2007 - 7:00 pm

The Forest For the Trees                                                                                              DVD                (Germany)                   

A film by Maren Ade. Melanie leaves home to become a teacher, armed with alternative methods and bright-eyed optimism. Soon enough, though, storm clouds begin to form: she’s tortured by her students and rejected by her colleagues. There’s no comfort in her personal life either, as loneliness begins to take its toll. Eager for some kind of companionship aside from the creepy Thorsten, the only co-worker her age, Melanie orchestrates a “chance meeting” with her attractive neighbour and begins to insinuate herself into her neighbours life.

German with English subtitles                1 hour 21 minutes.

Saturday February 10, 2007 - 9:00 pm

Carmen                                                                                                            DVD                                                    (Italy)                           Rated PG

The 2004 production of George Bizets famous opera.

Italian                           1 hour 20 minutes.

Sunday February 11, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Whale Rider                                                                                                                             (New Zealand / Germany)

This outstanding 2002 film follows a young Maori girl whose twin brother died at birth and whose grandfather wants a male heir to take over leadership of the local tribe.  This film is in English.  Length: 1 hour, 41 minutes.

Friday February 16, 2007 - 7:00 pm

The Motorcycle Diaries                                                                                                                                                            Rated 14

A 2004 drama about the motorcycle tour fo a young Che Guevara and the lessons learned by the young doctor on that trip that helped shape the future. All of the film awards received by this superb film are deserved. The story is based on true life and involves and interests the viewer.

Spanish            2 hours 7 minutes.

Saturday February 17, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Hawaii, Oslo                                                                                                    DVD                            (Norway)                    

A 2004 film by Erik Poppe. A man running desperately through the Oslo night is pursued by another man on a bicycle. An ambulance comes charging through the darkness, carrying a young couple with a sick child. The ambulance passes a couple with a sick child. The ambulance passes a couple standing on the sidewalk. Suddenly, there is an accident. As people gather around site, we jump back to the day before, and to the events that have led to this unfortunate gathering of strangers. Five stories about love are interwoven as a handful of desperate people cross paths on the hottest day of the year in Oslo. Everyone is running from something, searching for something, or dreaming of something else on this destined day.

Norweigian with English subtitles           2 hours

Saturday February 17, 2007 - 9:00 pm

Singing in the Rain                                                                                             VHS                                        (US)                             Rated G

This 1952 classic is the best of the musical dance genre. Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Conner and Debbie Reynolds. Unforgettable dance routines.

English              1 hour 43 minutes

Sunday February 18, 2007 - 7:00 pm

The Cuckoo                                                                                                                             (Russia)

Set in Lappland in 1944, this 2002 film tells the story of a two disgraced soldiers, one Finnish and one Russian, who end up being taken in by a Lapp widow.  Though none of them speak the same language, they forge a path together.  In Finnish, Russian and Saami with English subtitles.  Length: 1 hour, 39 minutes.

Friday February 23, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Heaven                                                                                                 DVD                                        (Italy)                           Rated 14A

A 2001 joint UK-Italian drama about a British teacher living in Italy who watches her husband and friends fall victim to drug overdoses. In the face of police inaction, she pursues the strange deaths and justice on her own.                        

Italian and English         1 hour 37 minutes

Saturday February 24, 2007- 7:00 pm

Witnesses                                                                                 DVD                                        (Croatia)

A 2003 drama by Vinko Bresan. Set amid the atrocities of war in the Balkans, Witnesses is retold, Rahomon-style, from various characters’ viewpoints, adding new information about the complexity of war and humanity. Beginning inside a rustic home with a woman in black standing beside her husband’s coffin. Witnesses interweaves the stories of a small town confronting ethnic hatred and deep moral ambiguities.

Sebro-Croatian with English subtitles                 1 hour 25 minutes.

Saturday February 24, 2007 - 9:00 pm

I am Curious                                                                                                                             DVD                            (Sweden)                                             Rated R

A controversial 1967 film dealing with capitalism, radicalism and nudity, it generated headlines and disgust in the sixties. It’s nudity and sexuality is tame by today’s standards and it is hard to believe that it was banned in so many cities less than forty years ago. It follows the story of Lana, a rebellious young woman who tries to understand the social and political realities of the 1960's Sweden.

Swedish with English subtitles                2 hours

Sunday February 25, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Millie Bollie Blue                                                                                               VHS                            (Italy)               Rated PG

A 1996 Venice Film Festival award winning comedy intertwining the stories of a group of characters who share an apartment complex in Rome in 1961. The film details two days leading up to a solar eclipse and is told from a child’s point of view.

Italian                           1 hour 24 minutes

Friday March 2, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Cache                                                                                                                                      DVD                                        (France)                                   Rated R

A psychological thriller by Michael Haneke about a couple who are terrorized by anonymously delivered surveillance tapes of their personal life. The tapes reveal secrets that take the couple to a point of no return. Sure to keep an audience guessing until the end. This film won many awards.

French              1 hour 58 minutes

Saturday March 3, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Antares                                                                        DVD                            (Germany)

This 2004 film by Gotz Spielmann was Austria’s Oscar selection for Best Foreign Film. Antares skilfully interweaves the stories of three couples at crossroads over three momentous days. Set in a ubiquitous, concrete high-rise apartment complex on the outskirts of a big city, the couples emerge from this uniform coexistence to search for love, closeness and some form of happiness. Alex and Nicole are divorced, but Alex cannot let go of what has passed. Sonja is becoming wildly jealous of her husband Marco. Eva, a loyal wife and mother, has turned her life upside down.

German with English subtitles                1 hour 55 minutes

Saturday March 3, 2007 - 9:00 pm

Rain                                                                                                                 DVD                                                                (New Zealand) Rated 14A

A thirteen year old on a seaside vacation with her parents learns of her parents troubled marriage and must deal with adult concerns quickly when she learns of her mother’s adultery. A 2001 drama with a fascinating story and stunning photography.

English              1 hour 30 minutes.

Sunday March 4, 2007- 7:00 pm

Autumn Spring                                                                                                                          VHS                            (Czech Republic)                      Rated PG

A bittersweet comedy about aging from 2002 that won several European Film Festival awards. An old man who refuses to grow up until his elderly wife eventually has enough of his immaturity and divorces him. An extremely humourous delivery of messages about life and aging.

Czech                           1 hour 35 minutes

Friday March 9, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Turtles Can Fly (DVD)                                                                                                                         (Iraq)                           Rated 14a

A 2004 Iran-Iraq co production about children in a Kurdish Village just prior to the last Iraq war. A drama weaving the story of children picking mines from farm fields, children having children and unwanted children. This marvellous film is thought provoking and fascinating with characters who are both sympathetic and occasionally humourous. A critically recommended film.

Kurdish 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Saturday March 10, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Hop                                                                                                     DVD                                        (Belgium)

A 2002 film by Dominique Standaert. All Justin and his father want to do is sit down and enjoy a soccer game. This simple act sparks a chain of events leading to Justin running from the law. He must embark on a thrilling adventure to re-unite with his father. But in order to fight the system, he mus enlist the help of a former anarchist and together they will need to apply the secret of the HOP.

French with English subtitles                              1 hour 50 minutes.

Saturday March 10, 2007 - 9:00 pm

Ginger & Cinnamon                                                                                                      DVD                            (Italy)                           Rated 14

A 2003 drama by Danielle Luchetti. When Stefania breaks up with her boyfriend Andrea, little does she realize what the summer has in store for her. She winds up on vacation at a Greek resort “Isle of love” with her 14-year-old niece. Unfortunately, her teenage niece has something more than sun and surf on her mind; she decides that this Mediterranean paradise is where she will finally lose her virginity. However, in an ironic twist, the cute guy she has her eye out on turns out to be none other than Andrea, her aunt’s ex-boyfriend. This light-hearted “comedy of errors” is a valuable lesson in what being a woman means at any age.

Italian   1 hour 47 minutes.

Sunday March 11, 2007 -7:00 pm

The World                                                                                                                                DVD                                        (China)                         Rated PG

A 2004 film by Jia Zhang Re about a young dancer working in a world park in Beijing which features replicas of the worlds best known monuments. The World is full of famous replicas and workers from small towns trying to pursue their dreams in a world of Kitsch.

Mandarin          2 hours 13 minutes.

Friday March 16, 2007 - 7:00 pm

The Holy Land                                                                         DVD                            (Israel) Rated R

This 2002 film about a young rabbinical student who falls in love with a Russian prostitute and descends into a underworld that he does not understand. This film was chosen as best film at two film festivals and takes a different look at life in Israel then most films.

English              1 hour 41 minutes.

Saturday March 17, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Light of My Eyes                                                                      DVD                            (Italy)

A 2001 film by Giuseppe Piccioni. Antonio is a fallen angel, a rootless chauffeur in Rome, who relates only to the lonely heros in the pulp science fiction novels he grew up with. Only through a chance encounter with Maria, a woman struggling to hold onto her daughter and her business, does he discover a hope that’s been lacking in his detached existence. Antonio is drawn into the suffering of Maria’s world, where she draws her inner strength from her fragile solitude. A haunting score, poetic atmosphere and award winning lyrical performances by the two leads evoke the beauty of a precarious existence.

Italian with English subtitles                               1 hour 54 minutes.

Saturday March 17, 2007 - 9:00 pm

The Icicle Thief                                                                                                                                     (Italy)

A comic masterpiece by Maurio Nichetti about a pretentious film critic and the nervous director of a black and white film.

Italian with English subtitles       90 minutes

Sunday March 18, 2007 - 7:00 pm

A Hungarian Fairy Tale                                                                                                 VHS                            (Hungary)                                    Rated 14A

A 1987 black and white drama about a magical meeting between two theatre attendants that results in a child with a false name recorded as a father and that child’s adventurous search for a non-existent father.

Hungarian                                 1 hour 37 minutes

Friday March 23, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Viva Laldjerie                                                                           DVD                            (France)

A 2004 film by Nadir Moneche. Algiers, the winter of 2003: Three women have been living in a hotel in the centre of town since the violence started. The daughter has chosen a modern, emancipated life for herself by working for a photographer, taking a generous married lover and spending steamy weekends in nightclubs. Her faithful friend prostitutes herself under the thumb of a powerful and “kind” protector. Meanwhile the mother bides time, torn between fear and nostalgia. Director Nadir Moneche weaves a richly drawn portrait of women exiled in their own country.

French with English subtitles                              1 hour 41 minutes

Saturday March 24, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Spare Parts                                                                                                      DVD                                        (Slovenia)           

A 2003 film by Damjan Kozole. Ludvik is a former speedway champ who has drifted into the lucrative business of people-trafficking, pocketing fistfuls of euros from desperate souls as they are shoved into his van, waiting to be taken across the border into Italy. Young and inexperienced Rudi is his new assistant. In a story straight from the headlines, Ludvik inducts Rudi into the blood-chilling illegal immigrant trade, a squalid world where the refugees are considered disposable, sexual exploitation is par for the course, and the paying customers are just as likely to be drugged and used as “spare parts” (unwilling organ donors), once they are safely over the border.

Slovenian with English subtitles              1 hour 24 minutes.

Saturday March 24, 2007 - 9:00 pm

The Magnificent Swan                                                  DVD                            (US)

This 1960 western legend staring Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach and Charles Bronson, is the quintessential western and arguably the very finest of the genre ever made.

English              2 hours 8 minutes.

Sunday March 25, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Tsotsi                                                                                                                                       DVD                                        (South-Africa)  Rated 14A

The 2005 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winner. An acclaimed drama of crime and redemption at the edge of Johannesburg. This movie tells the story of a car theft by Tsotsi who’s life changes upon a shocking discovery in the back seat of the stolen care. He follows and extraordinary path of redemption.

Tsotsi-Taal                                                       1 hour 34 minutes.

Friday March 30, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Hawaii, Oslo                                                                                                    DVD                            (Norway)                    

A 2004 film by Erik Poppe. A man running desperately through the Oslo night is pursued by another man on a bicycle. An ambulance comes charging through the darkness, carrying a young couple with a sick child. The ambulance passes a couple with a sick child. The ambulance passes a couple standing on the sidewalk. Suddenly, there is an accident. As people gather around site, we jump back to the day before, and to the events that have led to this unfortunate gathering of strangers. Five stories about love are interwoven as a handful of desperate people cross paths on the hottest day of the year in Oslo. Everyone is running from something, searching for something, or dreaming of something else on this destined day.

Norweigian with English subtitles           2 hours

Saturday March 31, 2007 - 7:00 pm

The Drifters                                                                                                      DVD                (China)                        

A 2003 film by Wang Xiaoshuai. Adrift between two cultures, Er Di is back in China after being expelled from the United States for working illegally. Once a hopeful stowaway on a quest for the American Dream, he now drifts aimlessly from one day to the next, even as he shares a tender romance with a member of a touring opera troupe. His life lacks meaning until he learns that his American-born son has been brought to China for a visit. Determined to see him, Er Di must overcome the boy’s family, who is determined to prevent a reunion. Soon Er Di realizes there are other measures of success than making it to America..

Mandarin with English Subtitles             2 hours 1 minute.

Saturday March 31, 2007 - 9:00 pm

The Forest For the Trees                                                                                              DVD                (Germany)                   

A film by Maren Ade. Melanie leaves home to become a teacher, armed with alternative methods and bright-eyed optimism. Soon enough, though, storm clouds begin to form: she’s tortured by her students and rejected by her colleagues. There’s no comfort in her personal life either, as loneliness begins to take its toll. Eager for some kind of companionship aside from the creepy Thorsten, the only co-worker her age, Melanie orchestrates a “chance meeting” with her attractive neighbour and begins to insinuate herself into her neighbours life.

German with English subtitles                1 hour 21 minutes.

Sunday April 1, 2007 - 7:00 pm

Antares                                                                        DVD                            (Germany)

This 2004 film by Gotz Spielmann was Austria’s Oscar selection for Best Foreign Film. Antares skilfully interweaves the stories of three couples at crossroads over three momentous days. Set in a ubiquitous, concrete high-rise apartment complex on the outskirts of a big city, the couples emerge from this uniform coexistence to search for love, closeness and some form of happiness. Alex and Nicole are divorced, but Alex cannot let go of what has passed. Sonja is becoming wildly jealous of her husband Marco. Eva, a loyal wife and mother, has turned her life upside down.

German with English subtitles                1 hour 55 minutes