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Foreign Films

New to View

 

Vol. 1, No. 6

Welcome to the Foreign Films New to View newsletter, a monthly publication designed to keep you up to date on some of HCPL's latest foreign films on DVD.  The selections in this newsletter are just a sample of the rich variety of films available to you through your library.  Use the sign-up box to have this newsletter sent directly to your e-mail every month, with new, recommended movies for you to view. See Foreign Films Archive.

The passing of two great European directors, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni this summer gives us an opportunity to reflect on the profound influence these two directors have had on film making.  HCPL fortunately has many of Bergman's and Antonioni's films in DVD and video formats.  Listed below are just a selection of those films available for you to view, in addtion to the usual highlighted new DVDs.

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

A selection of the many DVDs and videos owned by HCPL:

Wild Strawberries

Autumn Sonata

Cries and Whispers

The Seventh Seal

Hour of the Wolf

Persona

Virgin Spring

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007)

The Passenger

And now, highlights of new DVDs:

13 Tzameti, directed by Gela Babluani

(in French with English subtitles)

Sebastian is an impoverished immigrant, just trying to make ends meet to support his family.  When he overhears a conversation about a package to be delivered to a neighbor, he knows that this may be his way out of poverty.  Intercepting the package, he follows a series of increasingly mysterious instructions that ultimately lead him to a group of gamblers whose deadly game is one of Russian roulette, with Sebastian as just one of thirteen hapless participants. 

After the Wedding, directed by Susanne Bier

(in Danish with English subtitles)

When Jacob returns to Denmark to attend a wedding at the behest of a potential benefactor to his orphanage in India, little does he suspect that the benefactor may have deeper and far more sinister motivations in his request.  Jacob's past will rise up, linking him and the benefactor in ways not at all anticipated.

The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

(in German with English subtitles)

Winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, The Lives of Others delves into the dark world of East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It is 1984, and Gerd Wiesler, an officer in the notorious Stasi, is assigned to eavesdrop on playwright Georg Dreyman, suspected of being less than patriotic, despite the fact that he is one of the few East Germans who truly seem to believe in the government.  Wiesler, however, soon learns that the reasons for his surveillance are much more complex and subtle than he had been led to believe.  In fact, they will shake his own convictions in his heady struggle to search for the truth.

Days of Glory, directed by Rachid Bouchareb

(in French and Algerian Arabic with English subtitles)

Based on true stories of North African veterans who fought for France during World War II, Days of Glory follows four young men, indigenes or "natives," who are swept up in their fight to free France from Germany.  While they liberate France and receive affection from the people for their bravery, the cultural gaps persist, causing confusion and some hostility.

Foreign Films Archive 

June 2007

August 2007