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Spring Madness: A Cinematic Kaleidoscope (Independent Film Movement Series)

March 28 – 29, 2015

Wells Library, Room 043

film movement

“More than ever, film choices are dictated to audiences by a smaller and smaller group of major studios, deciding which films to release based on superficial metrics that leave quality out of the equation. We created Film Movement because the system of releasing independent, foreign and documentary films needed a change. We believe that the only way to change the system is to reach out to film fans directly, to make the acclaimed independent films we love available everywhere you want to see them. At its heart, Film Movement is dedicated to providing intelligent, beautiful and compelling art to ever-growing audiences who want more than the standard Hollywood fare.”

~ Film Movement Series

Media & Reserve Services will host a two-day event bringing you continuous award-winning independent art films on Saturday, March 28, and Sunday, March 29, starting at 11:00am.

Light snacks provided.

Saturday, March 28

CHINA     11:00am – 12:45pm

The Piano in a Factory (105min.) DVD, 2011. Dir: Zhang Meng

piano in a factory

When Chen’s estranged wife reappears asking for a divorce and custody of their daughter, the musician girl decides she will live with whoever can provide her with a piano. Chen’s struggle thus begins. When efforts to borrow money and even steal a piano fail, Chen concocts a preposterous plan – he’ll make a piano from scratch! He persuades a bunch of reluctant, but loyal, misfit friends to help him forge the instrument in a derelict factory from a heap of scrap steel. Though crude in design and tune, the factory piano awaits its first and final performance from his little girl. In Mandarin with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .G3618 2011

COLUMBIA     12:50 – 2:20pm

La Sirga (90min.) DVD, 2013. Dir. William Vega

la sirga

Alicia is helpless. War memories invade her mind like threatening thunder. Uprooted by the armed conflict, she tries to reshape her life in La Sirga, a dilapidated hostel on the shores of a great lake in the highlands of the Andes. There, on a swampy and murky beach, she will try to settle down until her fears and the threat of war resurface again. In Spanish with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .S5555 2013

FRANCE     2:25 – 4:15pm

Pour une femme / For a Woman (110min.) DVD, 2014. Dir: Diane Kurys

pour une femme

In her mid-thirties, Anne still knows practically nothing of her family’s past. After her mother’s death, Anne discovers old photos and letters that convince her to take a closer look at her parents’ life after the concentration camps of World War II. Her research reveals the existence of a mysterious uncle everyone seems intent on forgetting entirely. As she closes in on a discovery she didn’t expect, her father grows ever more ill, and may take the family secret to his grave. In a journey that stretches from post-war France and to the 1980s, Anne’s destiny intertwines with her father’s past until they form a single, unforgettable story. In French with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .P688 2014

GERMANY     4:20 – 6:15pm

The Dark Valley (114min.) DVD, 2015. Dir: Andreas Prochaska

the dark valley

When mysterious outsider, Greider, rides into town for the winter, everyone wants him gone. Refusing to leave, Greider sparks into motion a series of deadly events in this thrilling revenge western. In German w/English subtitles. IUCAT, PN1997.2 .D3788 2015

IRAN     6:20 – 8:00pm

The Iran Job: Story of an American Basketball Player in Iran (95min.). DVD, 2014. Dir: Till Schauder

the iran job

At the height of international tension between America and Iran, Kevin Sheppard, an African-American basketball player accepts an offer to play professional basketball in Iran. What begins as a desire to “explore the unknown” ends in an emotional roller-coaster as he forms an unlikely alliance with three young Iranian women against the backdrop of revolutionary social upheaval in Iran. In Farsi with English subtitles. GV885.8.I73 I73 2014

Sunday, March 29

ISRAEL     1:00-2:30pm

Off White Lies (89min.) DVD, 2012   Dir: Maya Kenig

off white lies

After years of living apart from her dad, Libby, an introverted yet sharp-witted teenager, is sent to live with him is Israel. Her arrival coincides with the outbreak of the second Lebanon war. Libby quickly discovers that her dad, Shaul, is an infantile eccentric, and that he is “in-between apartments” (in other words, homeless). Shaul comes up with a creative plan to put a roof over their heads. They pose as refugees from the bombarded northern region of Israel, and are taken in by a well-off family in Jerusalem. Finally in a “normal” household, Shaul and Libby begin to build their father-daughter relationship, but their false identities can’t last forever, especially as Libby unleashes teenage fury at the lies permeating her life; those she must tell now, and those she’s been fed since childhood.  In Hebrew with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .O355 2012

JAPAN     2:35-4:10pm

Hospitalite (95min.) DVD, 2012. Dir: Koji Fukada

hospitalite

Mikio Kobayashi lives quietly with his wife, daughter, and divorced sister in downtown Tokyo, where xenophobic neighbors insist they attend community watch meetings, and the only recent excitement is the disappearance of a pet parrot. One day Kagawa appears, claiming to be the son of a financier who once helped Kobayashi’s company. Kagawa soon ingratiates himself as a live-in employee and proceeds to comically turn the Kobayashi’s monotonous life upside down with his odd behavior, unexpected visitors, and bizarre schemes. In Japanese with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .K366 2012

POLAND 4:15-6pm

Wimię / In the Name of (102 min.) DVD, 2014. Dir: Malgoska Szumowska

in the name of

Adam is a Catholic priest who discovered his calling as a servant of God at the relatively late age of 21. He now lives in a village in rural Poland where he works with teenagers with behavioral problems who fight and yell abuse. He declines the advances of a young blonde named Ewa, saying he is already spoken for. However, celibacy is not the only reason for his rejection. Adam knows that he desires men and that his embrace of the priesthood has been a flight from his own sexuality. When he meets Lukasz, the strange and taciturn son of a simple rural family, Adam’s self-imposed abstinence becomes a heavy burden. In Polish with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .W115 2014

SINGAPORE     6:05-7:45pm

Ilo Ilo (99min) DVD, 2014. Dir: Anthony Chen

ilo_ilo_02_chan

Set in Singapore during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Ilo Ilo chronicles the day-to-day of the Lim family–troublesome grade-schooler Jiale and his overstressed parents, Teck and Hwee Leng. Comfortably middle class and with another baby on the way, they hire Teresa, a Filipino immigrant, as a live-in maid and nanny. An outsider in the family and Singapore itself, Teresa initially struggles to manage Jiale’s antics and find her footing in her new community. The two eventually form a unique bond, but just as Teresa becomes an unspoken part of the family, unforeseen circumstances in an uncertain economy will challenge the new normal yet again.  In Mandarin with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .B22 2014

UNITED STATES     7:50-9pm

The Dynamiter (74min.) DVD, 2013. Dir: Matthew Gordon

dynamiter

All fourteen-year-old Robbie Hendrick ever wanted was a family. Yet as another Mississippi summer begins, his wayward mother has run off again fearing a breakdown and he’s left to burn the days caring for his half-brother, Fess. As the deep days and nights pass without her return and with older brother Lucas dangerously in their lives again, Robbie must face the fact that his dream of a family may only be a dream and he might just lose the only family he’s ever had: Fess. In English. PN1997.2 .D963 2013

TAIWAN     9:05-11:00pm

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (106min.) DVD, 2014. Dir: Arvin Chen

Will_You_Still_Love_Me_Tomorrow_pic_02_3

In this madcap and lighthearted comedic romp, introverted optometrist Weichung begins to question his marriage with his wife Feng, upon learning of her desire to have another baby. At his sister’s engagement party, Weichung bumps into an old friend, Stephen, a wedding photographer who, though also married, is living the high life of a younger, single gay man. When Stephen teases Weichung for his newly straightlaced lifestyle, dormant emotions are awakened in Weichung, setting him off on a quest for true romance and desire. In Mandarin with English subtitles. PN1997.2 .W5534 2014