2000

Running time: N/A

For the cult followers of professional wrestling, it is the equivalent of opera, theater, and football, all rolled together. It fulfills the needs of a large subculture in a way nothing else does. But what does it mean for the wrestlers themselves? Three hundred appearances a year, two shows a day, in locations often hundreds of miles apart, and some of the wrestlers even try to fit in family life.

Season:
2000
Director:
Barry W. Blaustein
Cinematography:
Michael Grady
Producer:
Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Rosenberg, Barry Bloom, Barry W. Blaustein

Running time: N/A

Berlin-Cinema is an intricate yet surprisingly lucid film that looks at two of the world's most peerless filmmakers'Wim Wenders and Jean-Luc Godard--as they explore the history, the splendor, and awesome force of the cinema. Director Samira Gloor-Fadel's non-traditional style of filmmaking interweaves the highly illuminating words of each master as he talks about the beauty of "the story" in an art-form that has more or less succumbed to formula rather than telling stories.

Season:
2000
Director:
Samira Gloor-Fadel
Cinematography:
Philippe Bonnier, Patrice Cologne, Denis Jutzeler, Samira Gloor-Fadel, Jacques Loiseleux, Sophie Mautigneux, Hugues Ryffel
Cast:
Wim Wenders, Jean Nouvel, Jean-Luc Godard
Producer:
Jean-Yves Gloor
Language:
German and English with English subtitles

Running time: N/A

Merz is a scientific phenomenon. A jobless, middle-aged alcoholic, he finds his world defined by a surreal and hypnotic atmosphere. A young parapsychologist, Dr. Andres, has discovered Merz's remarkable ability to project "PSI-images" of his thoughts and sometimes future events on a TV screen and seeks to obtain scientific proof of those abilities through a series of clandestine experiments.

Season:
2000
Director:
Michael Busch
Cinematography:
Marcus Winterbauer
Cast:
Inga Busch, Armin Dallapiccola, Rene Hofschneider, Rudiger Kuhlbrodt
Producer:
Michael Busch
Executive Producer:
Jaqueline Kaassa
Language:
German with English subtitles

Running time: N/A

Will connecting with the one we love free us from despair and want? What if the despair and longing are from what we love? This is the world of the inhabitants we meet in Jonathan Sagall's Urban Feel--a chain of events linking their pasts and the cycle of saturnine acts that continue to keep them apart. The eccentric characters in Urban Feel are strangely enough very real. We witness Eva and Robby as chaos impinges on their well-ordered marriage by their permitting Eva's former lover, Emanuel, to move in. Emanuel's compelling presence and charm makes resistance futile.

Season:
2000
Director:
Jonathan Sagall
Cinematography:
Dror Moreh
Cast:
Dafna Rechter, Scharonn Alexander, Asi Levi, Jonathan Sagall, Ziv Baruch
Producer:
Jonathan Sagall, Eyal Shiray, David Mandil, Michael Tapuach
Language:
Hebrew with English subtitles

Running time: N/A

Under the Sun is a lush and sensuous film about love, trust, time, and the quiet depth of loneliness. Set in the strikingly beautiful, sun-drenched rural countryside of Sweden, the story finds Olof, a lonely, secretly illiterate egg farmer, taking out a help wanted ad. "Lonely farmer, 39, own car. Seeks young lady housekeeper. Photograph appreciated." Having lived alone since the death of his mother, Olof is looking for more than just a live-in maid. He finds the beautiful and elegant Ellen, who has a few secrets of her own.

Season:
2000
Director:
Colin Nutley
Cinematography:
Jens Fischer
Cast:
Rolf Lassgard, Helena Bergstrom, Johan Widerberg
Producer:
Colin Nutley
Language:
Swedish with English subtitles

Running time: N/A

Meet Melita, single, a little lonely, but optimistic. She's looking for love. The Three Men of Melita Zganjer is a lighthearted comedy about Melita's roundabout search for love, beginning with the man who bakes those cookies she loves so much. It's positively astounding, the lengths to which a girl will go for love. Melita spends her days working in a bakery and dreaming about her ideal man, Juan, from the Spanish language telenovela, The Slave of Love. Every man should be like Juan. Follow Melita on her journey of discovery about men, as she learns that they are not always what they seem.

Season:
2000
Director:
Snjezana Tribuson
Cinematography:
Goran Mecava
Cast:
Mirjana Rogina, Goran Navojec, Sanja Vejnovic, Suzana Nikolic
Producer:
Sania Vejnovic
Language:
Croatian with English subtitles

Running time: N/A

Suckers is an absolutely hilarious comedy about the birth of a car salesman. Bobby (Louis Mandylor) and his lovely wife need cash to pay back a couple of shady loan sharks. But, as Bobby patiently explains, money isn't available for the asking, and he's looking for a career, not just a job. There's a difference, you know. Bobby's looking for a true calling. Unfortunately, loan sharks don't really care about long-term career satisfaction. Sacrifices must be made.

Season:
2000
Director:
Roger Nygard
Cinematography:
Nathan Hope
Cast:
Daniel Benzali, Louis Mandylor, Lori Loughin
Producer:
W.K. Border
Executive Producer:
Joel Soisson, Michael Leahy, Michael Peyser

Running time: N/A

Ever thought about the competitive aspects of the market for pet food supplies? Well then, this film should provide all the answers to your questions. Marvelously improvised, Brien Burroughs' off-the-wall comedy sheds new light on the inside workings of the "free market" in pet food. The competitive Dick Goodman, a slick shark of a salesman, and Alan Walker, his rival for business, as well as Dick's straying wife, manage to routinely fleece their gullible pet store clients with tricks and cunning.

Season:
2000
Director:
Brien Burroughs
Cinematography:
Christopher Brown
Cast:
Dan Donovan, Tim Orr, Gerri Lawlor, Kurt Bodden
Producer:
Brien Burroughs

Running time: N/A

Paul Lazarus' romantic comedy, Seven Girlfriends, is a quick-witted look at losing (or is it gaining?) love, marriage, and an accidental death. Jesse is really worried this time. His realization that he has screwed up things with his last girlfriend, Anabeth, comes too late as she meets an untimely, yet comical, demise. After being rejected in his offer of marriage by Hannah (his boss), he begins to wonder why he hasn't been able to maintain relationships with women, although he has no trouble finding new loves.

Season:
2000
Director:
Paul Lazarus
Cinematography:
Don E. Fauntleroy
Cast:
Tim Daly, Olivia D'Abo, Jami Gertz, Melora Hardin, Laura Leighton, Elizabeth PeÐa, Mimi Rogers, Katy Selverstone, Arye Gross
Producer:
Paul Lazarus, J. Todd Harris, Barry Opper

Running time: N/A

One night - two people - and the phone line to save their lives. Talking to a stranger on the phone is rarely a moving experience, but when you work for a telephone counseling service, it can be that and much more. Simone is working the Saturday night graveyard shift when Mac calls in. It quickly becomes clear that the caller is drunk and suicidal. Simone must gain Mac's trust quickly but is met with resistance until she starts to spill a little of her own pain. As they talk through the night, each soon realizes that the healing process is not one-sided.

Season:
2000
Director:
James Balian
Cinematography:
Steve MacDonald
Cast:
Alison Whyte, Aaron Pedersen
Producer:
Charlie Doane
Executive Producer:
Andrew Blaxland, Martin Guiness
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