United States Premiere
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Using astounding Sony digital technologies, director Dwayne Beaver's The Rhino Brothers is an absorbing drama about the sport of ice hockey and the powerful effects it has on the souls of the Kanachowski family. Brothers Sasha and Victor play with The Rhinos, each filling his respective role as the failed pro-leaguer and coach. Their younger brother, Stefan, returns home ready to let the family know that he is planning the ultimate sin-give up hockey. Unable to say he has quit, he tells his family that he has been cut. Their overbearing and fanatical hockey-mom forces him to join The Rhinos.
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The Last Supper is an uninhibited triumph of cinema: a unique blend of original filmmaking techniques and a tension-laden dark comedy that celebrates the beauty and awe of life. Tincek and Hugo lead their quiet lives of desperation in a mental institution. That is until they steal a camcorder and escape with the intention of making a film about a guy who comes to the rescue of a fair maiden and is rewarded with a kiss. With Hugo as the cameraman and Tincek as the star, they meet a suicidal prostitute named Magdalena, and a deal is struck.
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How far would you go to retrieve what is rightfully yours? What price would you pay? And whose help would you accept? Making "friends" with the Devil has a terrible price. In the new world of gangsters and politics, it is always best to know with whom you're dealing, what they're offering, and what it is they really want. Composer-musician Pavel is no exception to the established rule that artists live life on the edge.
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Paul Sarossy (cinematographer of The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Affliction) delivers a powerful and visually stunning film in his directorial debut, Mr. In-Between. Jon, a hired assassin whose impressive reputation precedes him, is slowly coming to grips with the moral implications of a multitude of unspeakable sins. Entrenched in his subterranean world of murder, drugs, and isolation, Jon is wrenched out of his soulless reverie when he runs into Andy, an old school friend who lives with his beautiful wife, Cathy, and daughter, Kirsty, but has fallen on hard times.
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First time director/writer Zhong Qiang presents an absorbing story of alienation and intrigue in contemporary China. Newly divorced taxi driver, A, lives in a flat opposite Business Man, B, and his young, beautiful wife, C, who often takes A's taxi on mysterious journeys. Meanwhile, D, a young girl who lives in the flat across from A, develops what she hopes will be more than a friendship with A. One day A happens upon a serious car accident involving B. At the scene, A finds a large amount of cash in B's bag and steals it before calling for help.
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It's no wonder why INerTia walked away with the Best First Feature Award from the Toronto Film Festival. Filled with sly humor and keen observation on the toils of modern romance, Sean Garrity's debut feature is a captivating and assured comedy about restlessness, infidelity, desire, and regret. A four-sided love triangle forms as a group of 20-somethings open doors that are best left closed. Joseph cannot let go of Laura; Laura is interested in the very married Bruce; Bruce is after Joseph's cousin, Alex; and AlexÉwell, like all 19-years-olds, she has other plans.
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A weekend in the country isn't usually a nerve-wracking experience. Not so in Honolulu. It just so happens that in these restless lives, pandemonium is just a heartbeat away. Seven up-and-coming German directors, including Academy Award winner Florian Gallenberger (Quiero Ser, also in this year's shorts programs), present a light and breezy provincial patchwork. Rarely has the conflict between youth angst and comic abandon, the drab reality and willful dreaming been so briskly, so exuberantly balanced.
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Winner - FIPRESCI (International Film Critics' Federation) Prize at the 25th Hong Kong Film Festival. Three years ago, Tam received a postcard from his older brother, sent from a village in the westernmost reaches of the Qinghai highlands on the Tibetan border. Since then, nothing. Now, Tam's decided to leave Hong Kong to find his brother, but what starts off as a search for his loved one becomes much more; and what Tam finds (and doesn't find) and learns reveals much more than simply the whereabouts of a peripatetic sibling.
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Gregor is a laconic Berlin radio host with a "thing" for Tim Hardin songs and an obsession with his former lover. Mai is a happy-go-lucky twenty-something romantic in love with her roommate's boyfriend who looks at her like a sister. About the only thing Mai and Gregor have in common is an unrequited love. After barely escaping a near fatal car accident, Mai notices Gregor's signature Tim Hardin song on the radio. This spurs her to attempt to contact Gregor, which she does via the Internet.
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Recently, some of the world's most interesting films have come from economically troubled Argentina. One of the very best yet is Bolivia, winner of several international prizes, including the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics' Federation) Award at the London International Film Festival. Director Israel Adri?n Caetano's film is "harrowing, hard-hitting, and highly involving on both emotional and intellectual levels." The story is simplicity itself: Freddy has left Bolivia and come to Argentina, looking for work.