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…
2002
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World Premiere 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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United States Premiere 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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Both disturbing and beautiful, director Bennett Rathnayake's unique morality tale from Sri Lanka combines the serenity of the films of Satyajit Ray with the tension of Deliverance. Immediately after his wife's funeral, Guneris wanders into a police station, whereupon he demands to be arrested for a murder he claims he committed over 50 years ago. His passion convinces the chief to listen to his story of the events of 1948. Guneris' son is ill with malaria. The nearest hospital is a day's journey, so Guneris takes the child to the mansion of the closest doctor.
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SUMO East and West is a visually mesmerizing and dramatic journey that follows the lives and commitment of modern day professional and amateur sumo wrestlers. For centuries, the art and sport of sumo have been a cloistered and highly secretive world. It is, in many ways, the living embodiment of Japan itself. Sumo is not only Japan's national sport but also a cultural treasure that is literally part of the Shinto religion.
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World Premiere 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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World Premiere 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.
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Northern California Premiere It is the future. Controversial singer, Francisco Ruiz, seems a shoe-in for president. But there are some who would give their lives to stop that from happening. Pachito Rex, It's Not Over Until It's Over is the sum of numerous stories that revolve around the assassination attempt of Francisco Ruiz, a man who maintains his status as the much beloved candidate, destined to win the presidential election of a small, imaginary Latin-American country.
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Otilia is a sensuous woman with a gorgeous body. An enormous birthmark, however, mars her face-leading to scorn and rejection by all the men in her small village. That is, all except for Melquiades, her one true friend, a slow hulk of a man, employed by her family, who has always loved Otilia just the way she is. Embarrassed by the attention paid to his daughter's body and the ridicule given to her face, Otilia's father arranges for her to marry the local police chief.
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West Coast Premiere The Internet is all encompassing. It is used to make millions, to locate libraries of useless knowledge, to invade the privacy of others, and for many lonely souls, to provide sexual gratification. John Roth is a shy computer nerd who hasn't gotten over being dumped by his fiancee. Together with his old college roommate, Moe, they start up Intercon-X.com, an adult web site, in their Manhattan apartment.
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United States Premiere 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.