United States
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David Morse, best known as one of the young doctors on the 1980s television medical drama St. Elsewhere and most recently seen playing Jodie Foster's father in Contact, takes on a very different role in George B. You decide if George, an odd -job man for hire, is blessed with saintly patience and an overly positive outlook on life, or cursed with a slowness from too many head blows. The subtleties of Morse's performance provide plenty of room for interpretation. In either case, George is a man on his way up.
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The central character of Hamilton Sterling's Faith of Our Fathers is an optimistic chimneysweep N- there ends any similarity to Mary Poppins. Charles starts out in L.A. full of hope, believing he can succeed in turning an honest buck through honest effort. He encounters a failed priest, the ironically named Nicholas Nickleby, who radiates a tireless cynicism that would shock a politician. In most films, old Nick would be a glowing guardian angel, magically appearing and guiding the neophyte away from evil. Sterling instead assigns Charles a fallen angel of the streets.
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Many children prefer to leave the closet light on to keep the monsters away at night. Some end up in their parents' bed. Those monsters, however, are but imaginary. But the monster who is the main focus of Barry Hershey's feature debut The Empty Mirror is far too real. A bold re-imaging of the man who committed the most heinous crimes in history, we find Adolf Hitler (Norman Rodway) if he had survived WWII, left to contemplate his deeds. If Hitler lived to write his memoirs, how would he justify his actions? Hershey challenges us to examine the myth vs.
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National winner of Children's Film Festival, showing the dangers of child labor.
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Diversion, Vietnam is the account of three women who volunteered to serve their country in the Southeast Asian war zone.
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San Francisco-based filmmaker Marcia Jarmel never identified herself as a Jew. That was before a friend's wedding where she was drawn into the Orthodox Jewish world. She takes her camera to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the center of Lubavitcher Chassidic life, to explore what draws modern, educated women to choose such a restrictive way of life. Along the way, Jarmel learns about her own Jewish identity as well as the choices one makes in life and the rich benefits of community.
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In 1992, the small peninsula community of East Palo Alto was filled with crime and designated as the ''murder capital of the United States.'' This absorbing, in-depth documentary by Michael Levin tells the 100-year history of this misunderstood town. A superb blend of historical research and a revealing and hopeful portrait of how people can make a difference.
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Three women, two days, one family: an apt, if oversimplified, synopsis of Chris Brown's absorbing feature film debut. Daughters gives us a snapshot view of the lives of three generations of women, each facing an age-related crisis. Jade is turning 50. She lives with her mother, a cynical woman who refuses to stop smoking despite serious health problems, and her daughter, a 25-year-old slacker-in-training. Jade tries to prod her housemates into doing what's ''right'' while dealing with the eminent bankruptcy of her own home-based business.