Feature
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Director Chris Vander Stappen (co-screenwriter for Ma Vie en Rose) debuts as a feature director with a funny, intelligent and uplifting film that includes a dramatic and playful performance by internationally acclaimed French actress Marie Bunel (Ma Vie en Rose). Sacha's mom wants her daughter to become a successful doctor. Sacha, however, just quit medical school. Okay, maybe Sacha can simply marry a doctor, or a lawyer or even a notary man. That would make her mother's dreams come true?a tall, handsome man in her daughter's life. Well, Sacha did meet someone, and she's very happy.
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A coming-of-age story deeply rooted in the spirit and culture of Japan, The Crossing reaches past Japanese traditions and customs to explore universal themes. Set amid the bustle of Tokyo and the quiescence of rural Japan, the film follows the story of two young men dealing with the frustrations of living in a society drifting unmoored. Koji is a 29-year-old graphic designer living in Tokyo, depressed by the ceaseless buzz and hum of urban culture. His gloom is heightened by the death of his father and troubles with his love life.
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Mia Trachinger's Bunny is sure to be a highlight for audiences, with its absurd humor and particularly haunting look at fear and loneliness. For her feature debut, Trachinger invents a story that is at the same time both comical and sad, and somehow exquisitely reminds us that film is a landscape wherein creativity is still swarming.
Edward Draner, Petra Tikalova, Elizabeth Leibel
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Innovative and original, yet harkening back to the tradition of the conversational classic My Dinner With Andre, first-time director Jon Zeiderman's bold and offbeat new film Artifacts defies the expectations of today's filmgoer with an inimitable style and a seemingly-effortless flair that few veterans can accomplish. Jack and Sonny's conversations are about women. In fact, no matter what they're talking about, they always meander back to talking about women.
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Goodfellas in 1924 Shanghai. Director Yu Young-Sik's feature debut explodes off the screen with a fast-paced, in-your-face thriller. Follow a band of outlaws as they defend their own brand of justice. The Anarchists are a tight-knit group of revolutionaries, determined to overthrow the military and government. Even though they are outnumbered and out-gunned, their passion drives them against the odds and into a hurricane of blood.
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A remote part of the country, an isolated farm, a woman with an unrequited passion, and a man on the verge of insanityÉ Torben Skjodt Jensen's debut black & white feature is a rare visual experience. One breathtakingly beautiful suite of images succeeds another in a hypnotic rhythm reminiscent of Terence Malick's Days of Heaven. The man of the title, Adrian Palmberg, lives to be a hundred, and the film follows him to his miraculous end.
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It is a day almost like any other day for the young girl and Buddhist monk who have yet to meet. For her, there is the water to be carried from down the road, for cooking and bathing. For him, there is a long walk through the dusty roads, through the everyday people who may or may not toss some crumbs his way while reciting his many prayers. It is at the bridge that they meet, and it is there that he rescues her from the abyss. He is her hope. He is her light. It is here, the connection between two restless souls, that the "passage of life" again shapes destiny. --Al Owens
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If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 20 persons will serve time in a prison during his/her lifetime. -- U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. In the near future, where many have no hope, two people have a chance at love. He is an inmate in a privately run prison, where his incarceration costs come out of his "paycheck." She is in a virtual prison herself, living with an uncaring husband and anticipating a life of low paying waitressing jobs.
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"East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." But in Hanuman, they do meet in the form of a friendship between a small wild monkey, Hanou, and a young Scottish archeologist who is in India to investigate the smuggling of sacred works of art. In the tradition of Kipling, action and adventure blend in this story of wild monkeys, lovers, and a shady villain. This Indian-French production used hundreds of wild monkeys on location in the ancient Indian city of Hampi. Although the action is placed in the present, the background is the legend of the Hindu god, Hanuman.
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When you order a pizza at home, do you take a close look at the delivery person? Sometimes that person might have a really unusual story to tell. Bel Air is one of them, and a Hollywood story, at that. Curson Beeley (Marc Coppola) gets paid to deliver pizza in Hollywood and its environs, but his "calling" is being a star. And a child actor he once was--the operative word being "was." Eventually, however, children grow up, stop being cute, and start delivering pizza.