NEW INTERNATIONAL CINEMA

This year too we are presenting current cinematic highlights from eleven countries around the world.

We are showing "Caché", the new and drastic masterpiece by Michael Haneke, the turbulent Argentinian comedy "Familia rodenta" and the road movie "Le Grand Voyage", which will take us from Southern France to Mecca.

Skeletons in the closet is the subject of the wonderful New Zealand debut "In my father's den". The social satire "Lemming" from France presents a murderous thriller and "Ricordare Anna" is about family roots. Master director Atom Egoyan in "Where the truth lies" is about moral depths in the world of media. From Canada comes the culture clash comedy "Sabah" and in "P.S. - Liebe auf Anfang" a young woman experiences a strange case of déjà-vu.

While "Be with me" from Singapur shows us people in the metropolis-moloch, "Saratan" tells tragi-comical stories of life in a Kirghiz mountain village. The grotesque political film "The President's last Bang" comes from South Korea and "They came back" is an unusual zombie film from France.




Lemming
Director: Dominik Moll, F 2005, 129 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Fr, November 11 10:30 pm Universum 1
Sa, November 12 2:30 pm CinemaxX 3
Su, November 13 3:45 pm CinemaxX 1



A bizarre social satire on a happily married couple, who are confronted with never-before known depths and desires in their idyllic house in the south of France. And it all began because the drain was plugged - with such a tiny animal too... A murderous marriage thriller with gruesome effects and a star cast: Charlotte Rampling and Charlotte Gainsbourg.




Caché (Hidden)
Director: Michael Haneke, F/A/D/I 2005, 117 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
We, November 9 2:45 pm CinemaxX 3
Sa, November 12 8:00 pm CinemaxX 4



The new masterpiece from Michael Haneke ("The Piano Player") forcefully and dramatically shows the destruction of a family's idyll through subtle terror. Mysterious videos cause great psychological pressure on a successful television MC and his familiy. An equally exciting and destructive thriller starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil.




Familia rodante
Director: Pablo Trapero, ARG 2004, 103 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Fr, November 11 8:00 pm CinemaxX 4
Sa, November 12 5:30 pm Universum 2
Su, November 13 1:15 pm CinemaxX 2



An extended family takes off in a home-made trailer for a wedding somewhere in the country, from Buenos Aires to a distant Argentinian province. In spite of all the trouble in this crowded space the familiy stays together, thanks mostly to the wise grandmother. Pablo Tapero has created a wonderful, subtly witty road movie full of laconic social criticism.




Ricordare Anna
Director: Walo Deuber, CH 2005, 96 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
Fr, November 11 2:45 pm Universum 2
Su, November 13 7:30 pm CinemaxX 3 Guests: Pippo Pollina, Walo Deuber



Embittered, Victor has been trying for years to forget his daughter Anna and her two children dying of AIDS. As a result he has only been living in the past for the last few years. When the dead woman appears to him one day, he resolves to go to Sicily and seek Salvo and learn about Anna's life. A brilliantly told family story and an insightful documentary of the times.




In my father's den
Director: Brad McGann, NZ/GB 2004, 126 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Th, November 10 7:45 pm CinemaxX 3
Sa, November 12 3:15 pm CinemaxX 1
Su, November 13 8:00 pm Universum 3



After 17 years absence war photographer Paul returns for his father's funeral to his New Zealand hometown, which he had left in haste at the time… He is quickly confronted with long suppressed memories. An exciting, impressive story, magnificent actors and an ingenious sound track - a wonderful (debut) film full of magic moments and heady images.




Where the truth lies
Director: Atom Egoyan, CDN/GB/USA 2005, 107 min, 35 mm, colour, OV
We, November 9 5:15 pm CinemaxX 3
Fr, November 11 7:30 pm CinemaxX 3



The golden times of the TV comedy team Vince (Colin Firth) and Lanny (Kevin Bacon) come to an aprupt end when a young woman is found dead in the star's bathtub. Fifteen years later a young, ambitious reporter tries to bring some light into this dark affair. The film swings masterfully between the present and the past and leads us again and again along the false path...




Le Grand Voyage
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi, F/MA 2004, 108 min, colour, GS
Th, November 10 5:30 pm Universum 1
Sa, November 12 8:00 pm Universum 2



A father and son drive their own car from Southern France via the Balkans, Turkey and the Near East to Mecca. A pilgrimage that means little to one party and a lot to the other. This rather different road movie gives us a successful and humorous portrait of two dissimilar, mutually suspicious travelling companions who come to understand each other better with time.




Be with me
Director: Eric Khoo, SGP 2005, 90 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
Fr, November 11 5:15 pm CinemaxX 2
Su, November 13 2:30 pm CinemaxX 3



Three subtle episodes about fate, love and hope. An elderly man who lovingly looks after his sick wife, two teenagers who get to know each other via the internet, a watchman who falls in love but does not have the nerve to speak to her… With these three different stories Khoo creates a picture of urban loneliness in Singapur without being cynical or sentimental.




Saratan
Director: Ernest Abdyshaparov, KS/D 2004, 84 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Sa, November 12 11:00 am CinemaxX 1
Su, November 13 5:30 pm Universum 1



The tragicomical episodes from the lives of the inhabitants of a small Kirghiz mountain village more than ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union deal with religion, politics, the traditional, the modern, pride and honour. Everyone attempts to settle his own affairs - if necessary, illegally. Then something happens that puts the community to the test.




P.S. - Liebe auf Anfang
Director: Dylan Kidd, USA 2005, 97 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Fr, November 11 5:30 pm Universum 1
Sa, November 12 10:15 pm CinemaxX 3
Su, November 13 11:00 am CinemaxX 2



Louise is in her mid-thirties, is good-looking, clever and divorced, and works at the Columbia School Of Fine Arts, where she is responsible for student admissions. 20 years before she lost the great love of her life in a car accident. When she meets the young artist F. Scott one day, she experiences an odd but sensual deja-vu. A unusual story of a not so young woman.




The President's last Bang
Director: Sang-soo Im, ROK 2005, 102 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
We, November 9 10:30 pm CinemaxX 3
Su, November 13 8:00 pm CinemaxX 2



In 1979 the dictator General Park Chung-hee, also called the father of the Korean economic wonder, was killed by the chief of the secret service during a drunken orgy. Basing himself on historical facts, director Sang-soo Im created a politically grotesque film which consciously exploits to the utter limit the satirical potential of the hair-raising events.




Sabah
Director: Ruba Nadda, CDN 2005, 90 min, 35 mm, colour, GS
Fr, November 11 2:30 pm CinemaxX 3
Sa, November 12 12:45 pm CinemaxX 2
Su, November 13 5:00 CinemaxX 3



Sabah is a 40-year-old Muslim, Arab woman. One day, when Sabah least expects it, she falls in love with the wrong man: She's Muslim, he's not. Keeping him secret from her family, she goes on a whirlwind affair before both culture and love collide.




They came back (Les Revenants)
Director: Robin Campillo, F 2005, 102 min, 35 mm, colour, ES
We, November 9 7:45 pm CinemaxX 3 Guest: Robin Campillo
Th, November 10 10:15 pm CinemaxX 3 Guest: Robin Campillo



A nightmare scenario: The dead of the last ten years have come back to life over night and sleepwalk through the streets of a small French town. The film does almost completely without the effects and elements of the classical zombie film of a George Romero. Rather it is a modestly presented criticism of society somewhere between social satire and the Twilight Zone.




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