International Film Series at University of Richmond Will Feature Eight Films This Fall
September 15, 2003
The French film "Read My Lips" will kick off the University of Richmond International Film Series Sept. 18, 19 and 21. It will be the first of eight original-language films with English subtitles to be shown this fall.
Directed by Jacques Audiard, the thriller features Emmanuelle Devos as a partially deaf secretary who plans a robbery with the help of a new employee, the ex-con Paul, played by Vincent Cassel. Devos was named best actress at the 2001 French Academy of Cinema Awards. The film also won awards for best screenplay and best sound.
The Thursday and Sunday showings of "Read My Lips" and of all the films in the series will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Jepson Hall 118. All Friday showings will begin at 3 p.m. in the Adams Auditorium of Boatwright Memorial Library. All showings are free and open to the public.
The 2002 Korean film "The Way Home" will run Sept. 25, 26 and 28. The second film by female Korean director Jeong-Hyang Lee is the story of a young city boy sent to spend the summer in the country with his mute grandmother. With very little dialogue, writer-director Lee explores universal themes of tradition and change, age and youth, physical debility and emotional strength.
"Nowhere in Africa," the 2002 German film adapted from Stefanie Zweig's best-selling novel of the same name, will be shown Oct. 2, 3 and 5. Directed by Caroline Link, the film chronicles the lives of a prosperous Jewish family that flees Nazi Germany in 1937 to manage a cattle farm in Kenya. At war's end, each family member must grapple with life-altering decisions about marriage, home and country. "Nowhere in Africa" won an Oscar nomination in 2002 for best foreign language film.
"Divine Intervention," in Arabic and Hebrew, will run Oct. 16, 17 and 19. The 2002 Palestinian film directed by Elia Suleiman is a black comedy about life among the Arab citizens of Israel. Suleiman strings together a series of short, biting vignettes to illustrate the smoldering anger about Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. With humor, sympathy and horror, the film suggests that, in some respects, Palestinians and Jews are not so far apart.
Set in a small Spanish port city, "Mondays in the Sun" is a warm and funny slice-of-life drama about six macho men who suddenly find themselves unemployed and unwanted in middle age. At the 2003 Goya Awards, it won best picture, best director for Fernando Leon de Aranoa and best actor for Javier Bardem. In addition, it was Spain's surprise representative for the 2003 Oscars' foreign language film category. Oct. 23, 24 and 26 are the dates.
"L'Atalante" is the 1934 masterpiece and only full-length feature of director Jean Vigo, who led the way for the French poetic realist style. It will show Oct. 30, 31 and Nov. 2. This dark love story centers around the marriage of Jean (Jean Daste), captain of the barge L'Atalante, to Juliette (Dita Parlo), a young peasant girl whom Jean brings to live aboard the cramped barge with his crew and a host of cats. A 1999 Village Voice critics' poll named it one of the 10 best films of the 20th century.
"Morvern Callar," is an English film about the interior life of its title character, played by Samantha Morton, who is haunted by the death of her boyfriend. From its nearly silent opening passages to its exhilarating conclusion, the offbeat drama captivates viewers with its minimal dialogue and the unsettling behavior of its main character. It will run Nov. 6, 7 and 9.
"Respiro," a 2002 Italian film is about Grazia (Valeria Golino), a woman who does not fit into her tight-knit community on a sun-baked Mediterranean island. In such an atmosphere, there is no room for her eccentricities, and family and neighbors want her institutionalized "for her own good." Grazia's response leads ultimately to a remarkable conclusion. It runs Nov. 13, 14 and 16.