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A tiny seasonal river island, an old man and his granddaughter, the cycle of life - a miracle of cinema. In the Inguri river on the Georgia-Abkhazia border, tiny islands form in the spring, only to vanish later with the onset of winter storms. On one of these spots of arable land an old man and his granddaughter struggle to raise a crop to see them through another winter. Though there is almost no dialog, this timeless Everyman's rough hands, his calm weathered face, and piercing gaze speak with an elegance of dignity that transcends language and culture.
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Juliette Binoche (The English Patient, Chocolat), Chloë Grace Moretz (Kickass), and Kristen Stewart (Twilight) mesmerize in this complex drama about the private lives of starlets. Prolific director Olivier Assayas' (Irma Vep, Paris, je t'aime) latest richly explores the female psyche through an impressively multi-layered tale of the interwoven lives of three women at various stages of life. Veteran actress Maria (Binoche) is offered a role in the revival of the play that launched her career twenty years ago.
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He thought she was created for his pleasure... He was wrong. In the late 21st century, Jack is a painter recovering from the mysterious loss of his fiancee - he is depressed, creatively blocked, and reclusive. In hopes to reignite his life, Jack arranges to purchase a Muse: a genetically engineered human form designed to be his perfect partner and fulfill his every whim. But soon after the beautiful and alluring Evelyn arrives, things become more and more unhinged and Jack realizes nothing is as he had hoped it would be...
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Growing up in Alaska beauty, yet restlessness in isolation. Enter the secluded and hidden wonder of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the USA. Largely inhabited by descendants of its original Native Alaskan tribe, the Barrow community holds tight to the traditions and pastimes of their ancestors. However, ever-increasing globalization threatens the livelihood of its endangered native culture - most pressingly, among the younger generation.
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Berlusconi thunders down the home stretch A down-on-his-luck harness racer, Bjarte Lem, gets entangled with the wrong crowd in this madcap Norwegian comedy. Previously, a star in his field, but now a little older, he turns to fixing race odds in order to pay back his wife's enormous debt to a pair of shady Finnish loan sharks. Hilarity ensues when he hires a pair of blockheads to do his dirty work. Their plan goes awry when the prizewinning horse is kidnapped.
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A powerful look at the lives and dreams of boxings heaviest hitters, including Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. Director Bert Marcus brilliantly examines what it means to pursue the American Dream through boxing. Long considered "the poor man's sport," boxing has a long-standing tradition of giving kids in the roughest neighborhoods opportunities to re-channel their aggression and give them a place to go, other than the streets. But in the ring come new struggles, for which many are ill-equipped to handle, and many succumb to the pressure.
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Songs, dance numbers and a road to stardom. A quirky musical where no one thinks twice before breaking out in a song, Booze Boys & Brownies is an exuberant and endearingly frank portrait of a heroine with whom you can't help but fall in love. Ambitious, sassy, and a die-hard sentimental creature, young actress Vivian (writer-director Veronica Mannion) has no qualms admitting she would prefer a musical comedy to life.
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Norwegian Wood - isnt it good? It's the sixties in Oslo, and four friends are teetering between adolescence and adulthood as only teenage boys can. They fancy themselves to be the Fab Four, though their band, the Snafus, has yet to master a single song. For these boys, listening to the new Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album is like "listening to God say 'let there be light' on day one." They navigate the treacherous shoals of young love and early adulthood to the innocent beat of early Rock 'n Roll, against the backdrop of the nascent global anti-war movement.
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All the wealth she could desire, no life she wants to live. Foibles and eccentricities of a closely knit, stifling upper class community get a sensual and witty treatment in this wildly imaginative and extravagant gem of a story. Moira, a young and wealthy Dominican woman, is forced to halt her studies in America and return home to her family and the elite and suffocating society of their small town. It seems everyone is a hater and a gossiper here; Moira's conservative family controls her every step.
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For 25 years, Cinequest has chosen visions that spark fire and greatly inspire. Cinequest 25 opens with spectacular energy, spotlighting a story that not only touched the entire Bay Area, but also one that inspired millions. Who would have thought a 5-year-old boy who fought leukemia would transform a city and a nation for a day? No one. Not his family. Not his friends. Not the thousands of volunteers who came from near and far to help make his wish come true.