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| July 2007 |
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Archive
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Vol.
1, No. 4
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Duck Season, directed by Fernando Eimbcke
(in Spanish with English subtitles)
Two fourteen-year-old boys spend a day, playing video games, helping a neighbor bake brownies, and eating pizza. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. Flama and Moko have more complicated lives than that, with family drama hanging over them, an impending divorce of Moko's parents, and a power failure that serves as a catalyst for the story action. A mixture of comedy and tears, this glance at everyday life in Mexico serves to remind us that the complications of the human spirit are universal. |
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Cave of the Yellow Dog, directed by Byambasuren Davaa
(in Mongolian with English subtitles)
From the director of The Story of the Weeping Camel comes a tale with sensibilities as subtle and as rich. Nansal finds a dog living in a cave in the high grazing lands of Mongolia. Since her father fears that the dog's presence will attract wolves, a very real danger to his herds of sheep, he forbids her to adopt the dog. She must then keep Zochor (Mongolian for "Spot") hidden, and with the help of her mother, is successful...until the family begins the move to the winter grazing lands. Then Zochor must stay behind, alone and abandoned. Little Zochor, however, is as smart as he is resourceful in winning his way into even the hardest of hearts.
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The Italian, directed by Andrei Kravchuk
(in Russian with English subtitles)
Six-year-old Vanya is an orphan, who longs for a family. When a loving
Italian couple offers to adopt him, a life of happiness seems to be at hand. Then
another boy's long-lost mother commits suicide, and Vanya wonders if his own
birth mother will do the same if he does not seek her out. The journey
that follows is one in which Vanya's heart, not his reason, leads him
out into a perilous world.
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Mountain Patrol, directed by Lu Chuan
(in Mandarin with English subtitles)
A Bejing journalist sets out to document the work of the Kekexili Mountain Patrol, whose members are devoted to protecting the increasingly rare Tibetan antelopes. The dedication of the volunteers is matched by the dangers they face from poachers as well as natural elements of ice, snow, quicksand and much more. |
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The Lost Steps, directed by Manane Rodriguez
(in Spanish with English subtitles)
During the years when a military junta ruled Argentina, suspected citizens routinely disappeared into the horrific machine of government terrorism. Along with those "disappeared" went their infant children, many of whom were adopted out to families sympathetic to the government. In this film, Monica, a young adult in modern-day Spain, meets a man claiming to be her grandfather. Similar in theme to The Official Story, the story reveals the inner conflict inflamed by outward government oppression. |
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