Foreign Film Series 2008

The Department of Modern Foreign Languages will offer a foreign film
series beginning in January. Six films (with English subtitles) will be
shown in George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. No
admission charged.

The series will open with The Lives of Others (in German) on Wednesday,
January 16. Winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, The
Lives of Others begins in East Berlin in 1984, five years before
Glasnost and the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately takes us to
1991, in what is now the reunited Germany. It is a thrilling mix of
suspense and drama which traces the gradual disillusionment of a highly
skilled officer who works for the Stasi, East Germany’s all-powerful
secret police. Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

Blue (in French), directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, will be shown on
Wednesday, January 23. The first in Kieslowskis’s acclaimed “three
colors” trilogy, Blue explores the events and emotions that shape the
choices each person makes in his or her life. Juliette Binoche plays
the role of Julie, who, numb after the tragic deaths of her husband and
her child, seeks a new life in Paris, where she attempts to liberate
herself from sorrowful love and learns to cope with loneliness. For her
powerful performance in this film Juliette Binoche won the Cesar Award
and the Venice Film Festival Award as Best Actress.

Hero (in Chinese), directed by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker
Zhang Yimou, is scheduled for Monday, January 28. Nominated for Best
Foreign Film at the 2003 Academy Awards, Hero is a martial arts film set
in ancient China when the monarch of Qin was determined to unite rival
states into one empire. The story is told from multiple points of view,
resulting in a rich historical pageant with stunning cinematography by
Christopher Doyle.

The Keys to the House (in Italian), nominated for Best Foreign Film at
the 2004 Academy Awards, will be shown on Monday, February 4. Directed
and co-written by Gianni Amelio, this is a poignant, sensitive film
depicting a few days in the life of a physically disabled fifteen
year-old boy who is reunited with a father he has never known. It is
the son who shows great strength and courage and teaches the father to
embrace life.

Bella (in Spanish), winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2006
Toronto International Film Festival, is scheduled for Monday, February
11. It is an urban fairy tale about understanding, compassion, and
love. Once a rising soccer star and now a cook at his brother’s Mexican
restaurant in New York City, José responds to a young waitress’s need
with an act of selfless kindness, an act that turns an ordinary day into
an unforgettable experience. Directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde.

The film series will conclude on Monday, February 18, with Situation (in
Arabic and English), directed by Philip Haas. In this tense thriller
set in the turmoil of modern-day Iraq, a love triangle forms between an
American correspondent, her Iraqi photographer, and a CIA operative, as
the war that surrounds them or drives their various professions makes
life increasingly difficult. By outlining the subtle differences in
interactions between occupier and occupied, government and citizen,
soldier and target, the film provides a startling and complex portrait
of life on the ground in one of America’s most politically urgent
situations.