1997
Running time: N/A
Marriage a la Mode is a fish-out-of-water comedy by Rick Hays. Our mail-order bride heroine, Svetlana, comes to America to her new husband, who promptly dies. The resulting hunt for a husband spins out of control. --Matthew Aquino
Running time: N/A
Harry has been "cursed" with a large facial birthmark in the shape of the island of Madagascar. Fleeing the local gay scene, his feelings of loneliness are curbed with an unusual meeting between him and another societal outcast named Flint, a somewhat older and more bitter man. Illegally taking over an abandoned cottage, the two men begin to regain their lost trust in humankind. Although at first uneasy with Flint's easy-going and unscrupulous approach to life, Harry's instinctual need for physical contact unchains his mind allowing his attraction to the heterosexual Flint flourish.
Running time: N/A
Luna di Capua and her shadow have a story to tell. It begins in Milan in 1955, as Luna spends her days, a dedicated teacher with a rigid agenda, not just for her students, but for herself. She doesn't even have time to notice Angelo, the school's janitor, who has been in love with Luna for years. But Luna's life is about to change. The Panforti Circus has come to town, and through a twist of fate, Luna comes into possession of Igor's magic lantern.
Running time: N/A
Twelve million people a year visit this holy place, some making pilgrimages lasting months. The destination, however, is not some exotic location like Mecca or a distant temple in Tibet. Instead, these devoted pilgrims march to the hill Tepeyac, in the heart of Mexico City. The reason for their pilgrimage and its importance to Mexican heritage are the driving forces behind Juan Francisco Urrusti's newest documentary. A Long Journey to Guadalupe introduces its viewer to the many individuals whose paths culminate at the shrine to the Virgin Guadalupe.
Running time: N/A
In Laura of Albania, Margret Run depicts the life of a nine-year-old Albanian girl who sought asylum in Germany. Laura resorts to a creative, somewhat nightmarish, imaginary world to balance the lack of beauty her everyday life. --Hayet Ennabli
Running time: N/A
"Love stories are about people who find love in happy times. Tragedies are about people who seek love in unhappy times." -- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun Times Brooklyn in the 1950s was a hellhole. And there was no way to get out, no way to escape the ensuing madness. The union official cannot admit to being left wing. The strike leader cannot reveal he is homosexual. The father cannot express his love for his child. The prostitute cannot accept her love for the sailor. The drag queen is not able to love himself.
Running time: N/A
On the eve of the Velvet Revolution a mercenary, has-been musician unexpectedly finds he must finally grow up in Kolya, directed by Jan Sverak, the foremost member of Czech cinema's new wave. It's 1989 and Prague, occupied by the Russians, is on the brink of enormous political changes. For Frantisek Louka, however, concerns are a shade more mundane. Once a renowned cellist in the August Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Frantisek has been reduced to playing for funerals at the city crematorium and renovating tombstones in his spare time.
Running time: N/A
David McLennan's Kismet is a black comedy about a group of strangers who learn the importance of karma and avoiding people with guns. --Matthew Aquino
Running time: N/A
Mystery combined with love and prejudice is an unusual recipe for a film, but you can trust the French (in this case, French-Canadian) to bring it off with culinary flair. This nineteenth century period tale takes place in Nova Scotia and reflects the rigid mores of that time and place. Jean, an unhappy exile from Corsica, searches obsessively for rumored buried pirate treasure while his wife, Julitt, tries to make ends meet amid the hostility of the town and Jean's driven single-mindedness.
Running time: N/A
Depicting a tale of evocative beauty and love, Jaya Ganga captures the viewer's imagination with magical, vivid characters and the picturesque landscape of India. Already a popular novel, author Vijay Singh takes his 1989 book to film as director, thirty years after his inspirational trip down the Ganges River and the emotions its magnificence had stirred in him. Nishant is in love with two women; the mysterious Jaya who believes herself to be living two separate lives and the beautiful prostitute and dancer Zehra who he meets during his solo excursion down the Ganges.