World Premiere
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Can a "20-year-old movie about a failed relationship" be someone's guide through life? It can if you're Max, a college student obsessed with Woody Allen's Annie Hall to the point of sabotaging his own dates if necessary. Sharing his time between a radio show to which nobody listens and hanging out with his romance-challenged colleagues, Max seems bound for bachelorhood. That is, until he meets beautiful Julie, who is nothing less than his favorite film in the flesh. Will he be able to reach out to her, or will he be trapped forever by his own neurosis?
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Following in the inspiring tradition of Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich, Sonia Valent?n's Bitter Sweat gives viewers a vivid look at simple people fighting against overwhelming odds for better working conditions. Set in a Puerto Rican fish-cleaning factory, the film focuses on a group of female workers struggling to hold onto their jobs as massive layoffs and heated protests swirl around them. The volatile atmosphere culminates when their boss is found murdered one morning-quickly turning the story into a clever "whodunit" that Agatha Christie would drool over.
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Maija Di Giorgio was a comedian on the verge of big time success. Then one night in front of executives from HBO, she inexplicably cracked, shouting obscenities at the audience and walking off stage. Thus, her career as a stand-up was finished. So, Maija sets out on a two-year quest to find out what went wrong and to try to resurrect her dreams of making people laugh.
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Bret Packard is an American hero. He's rich, famous, and the best baseball player in the world. But Bret is bored. With nothing left in baseball to conquer, Bret has decided to play a new game in which only he will come out the winner. Bret's best friend on the team is Tod, who fears a young pitcher, Ricky, is being groomed to replace him. Bret offers Tod a deal-if Tod hits more batters than Ricky, Bret will insure that Ricky is traded.
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San Francisco director David Schendel's Yank Tanks joins the Buena Vista Social Club as another effervescent commemoration of Cuban culture and life. In 1961, Castro declares Cuba a Communist nation. The U.S. reacts swiftly by cutting diplomatic relations and enforcing an embargo that inadvertently strands 150,000 American cars. Years later, the sleek shapes, vibrant colors, and polished chrome are still a major part of the city's landscape, and the Cuban love affair with old American cars has rendered Havana into a veritable classic car museum. Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
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"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or is it "Do unto others before they do unto you"? Edward Barkin's Unforeseen poses this question in a modern-day film noir/psychological drama about a tangled love triangle filled with betrayal and painful obsession. It delivers a stark look into the eyes of despair through a badly injured young man, Derek, in a dark and lonely hospital room in New York City. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn Derek was rich, had a beautiful girlfriend, and believed himself to be happy.
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In this bone-dry comedy, failed actor, Arthur Artemis, has it all: a pathetic romantic life, a passionless day job as a sixth grade teacher, and a drinking problem. When he discovers that a local theater is putting on Molire's The Misanthrope, however, Artemis' passion is rejuvenatedÉuntil he loses the role to a less talented, but better-looking, actor. Meanwhile, the school principal, fed up with Artemis' tardiness and attitude, badgers Artemis to direct the school play, insinuating that this is his last chance to save his job.
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A distinctive and compelling storyteller, director Jacques Thelemaque (Egg, Winner Best Comedy Short in Cinequest, 2001) returns with his courageous and moving debut feature about making destiny happen instead of waiting for it. Running away from her past-in the form of an abusive boyfriend-Ellie (Diane Gaidry, a real-life dogwalker) hops on the first plane out of Buffalo, heading for Los Angeles. As an inauspicious beginning in her new surroundings, Ellie learns that her father has moved, and she does not know where to begin a search for him.
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Can two pizza delivery boys change the world? What if it's like no other world you've ever seen? Think Blade Runner meets Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure-throw in The Wizard of Oz, and suddenly anything becomes possible. Cornelius and Scooter live in a world where pizza is everything-and nobody wants to eat their Mom and Pop's pizza. They spend their days calling in phony orders to make Mama happy but long for the success of the giant pizza chains all controlled by the evil Ozcorp.
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Based on Vaanaprastham, a novelette by multi-award-winning writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Pilgrimage is an exquisite story of love-a love kept immaculate through the years by a couple destined to stay apart. When retired schoolteacher, Karunan Master, and his old student, Vinodini, meet after more than three decades, they find that their unfulfilled love for each other is as strong as ever.