4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days | Romania | 2007 | 113 minutes
Synopsis : Director Cristian Mungiu's drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days unfolds in Romania in the late '80s, during the last waning days of Communist rule. Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu play, respectively, Otilia and Gabita, two female friends and students who share a Bucharest flat. They soon find themselves saddled with an overwhelming problem: Gabita is expecting. With abortion illegal in Romania at that time, the women seek an illicit termination at the hands of one Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) in a seedy Romanian hotel - but Bebe refuses to accept money in return for his services and demands a certain "alternate" commodity instead.
Director : Cristian Mungiu Screenwriter :Cristian Mungiu Cinematographer :Oleg Mutu Editor :Dana Bunescu Cast :Anamaria Marinca, Laura Visiliu, Blad Ivanov
Awards : Golden Palm, FIPRESCI and Cinema Prize for the French National Education System - 2007 Canes International Film Festival
Bio : Cristian Mungiu was born in 1968 in Iasi, Romania. He studied English literature at the University of Iasi and Film directing at the University of Film in Bucharest. He worked as a teacher and a journalist for written press, radio and television until 1994. During his film studies, he worked as an assistant director for foreign productions shot in Romania. After his graduation, in 1998, he made several shorts. His first feature, “Occident”, was premiered in Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 2002 and later won prizes at several festivals. He co-founded Mobra Films in 2003.
Control | UK/USA | 2007 | 119 minutes
Synopsis : Directed by acclaimed music photographer Anton Corbijn and based on Deborah Curtis' "Touching From A Distance", Control is the story of the late Joy Division Singer Ian Curtis' life, from te band's rise to fame to his tragic suicide. Control documents the relationships with both his wife and his girlfriend, his batle with epilepsy and the road to success with his band, Joy DIvision. WIth a score by New Order featuring original tracks from the 70s by WEarsaw and Joy Division
Director : Anton Corbijn
Screenwriter : Matt Greenhalgh
Cinematographer : Martin Ruhe
Editor : Andrew Hulme
Cast : Sam Rilley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra Maria Lara
Awards : Golden Camera - 2007 Cannes International Film Festival
Bio : "Anton Corbijn was born in Strijen, Netherlands.His first photographs he took in 1972 during a live concert. In 1979, enchanting by the musical world, he moved to London, where he gets into immediate contact with the most popular bands and artists of the time: Post Punk, Joy Division, Magazine, PIL Ltd., etc. He loved music and he loved photography. In CorbijnÕs photos people are pictured as earnest people, caught in calm moments, far removed from summit of their stages. At a time when authenticity as a revolutionary concept had long been derided, Corbijn boldly and unwaveringly entered a battle he could not win. It was a battle against the superiority of soullessly and artificially images of man."
Synopsis : Eleven days after the start of the revolution the Russians give into the demands of the students and the their soldiers and tanks leave Budapest. It's a joyful moment for all of Hungary. Viki persuades Karcsi that he must return to the water polo team and rep
Goodbye Bafana | Germany/France/Belgium/UK/Italy/SouthAfrica | 2007 |117 mins
Synopsis : Bille August's inspirational docudrama Goodbye Bafana begins in 1968, with South Africa buried neck-deep in the horrors of apartheid and Nelson Mandela (Dennis Haysbert) - then an underground leader of the African National Congress - imprisoned on Robben Island for sedition. As the story opens, the native African population of the country - 25,000,000 in number - buckles beneath the crippling weight of the racist white minority, who control the Nationalist Party Government. The film follows the spiritual and psychological journey of James Gregory (Joseph Fiennes), a Caucasian Afrikaner who came of age on a farm in the Transkei and initially views all blacks as subhuman. Gregory also speaks Mandela's native language of Xhosa with perfect fluency, which makes him an ideal candidate to serve as warden of the Robben Island Prison and eavesdrop on Mandela and his inmates. What he fails to anticipate is the most unlikely and special of friendships (one of history's greatest) that burgeons between himself and Mandela - and helps him evolve from a narrow-minded bigot with limited self-awareness to a sensitive, humane critic of social injustice with a heightened awareness of mankind's ill treatment of one another and a genuine level of love for his fellow man. As the friendship between Gregory and Mandela grows and matures, it symbolizes Africa's transition from the oppressiveness of Apartheid to the freedom of multi-racial democracy.
Director : Billie August
Bio : Billie August, born on the 9th of November in Brede, Denmark. He is a Danish film and television director. Pelle Erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror), based on Martin Andersen Nex¿'s novel, won both the Golden Palms in Cannes and an Oscar. Here he created both a social historical epic and a beautiful psychological study of a boy and his father. His international breakthrough was followed by the film and television series Den gode vilje (The Best Intentions) with a script by Ingmar Bergman. The film was awarded the Golden Palms in Cannes.
Awards/Screenings : Peace Film Award - 2007 Berlin International Film Festival
Red Dust | South Africa | 2004 | 110 mins
Synopsis : A dedicated human rights lawyer and a political activist who suffered at the hands of South African police officer with no regard for human life finds that the only thing more dangerous than standing up for your beliefs is the discovery of the truth in director Tom Hooper's adaptation of Gillian Slovo's captivating novel. Tortured at the hands of police officer Dirk Hendricks (Jamie Bartlett) for his efforts in seeking equality under the brutal apartheid regime, social activist Alex Mpondo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is shocked upon learning that Officer Hendricks is now seeking amnesty for his violent deeds. When human rights lawyer Sarah Barcant (Hilary Swank) returns to her South African home to represent Alex, she quickly discovers that the deeper she delves into the past, the more she has to fear in the present.
Director : Tom Hooper
Bio : Tom Hooper was a Best Director Emmy nominee for the two-part Prime Suspect 6 - The Last Witness, which starred ELIZABETH I's Helen Mirren. Most recently he directed the feature film Red Dust, with Hilary Swank. Hooper's other TV work includes Daniel Deronda, which won the Best Mini Series award at the 2003 Banff TV Festival, Love in a Cold Climate, Cold Feet II, two one-hour specials for Eastenders, which won back-to-back BAFTA Awards for Best Soap, Byker Grove, Quayside and Painted Faces. In addition to Hooper's extensive background in commercials and corporate film and video, he directed The Trial and A View from the Bridge for the stage. He is also the director of HBO Films, Longford, starring Samantha Morton and Jim Broadbent, which debuts later this year on HBO.
Awards/Screenings : Special Jury Award - 2005 International Film Festival of India
U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha | South Africa | 2005 | 120 mins
Synopsis : U-CARMEN is a feature film based on Bizet's nineteenth century opera filmed on location in a modern South African township setting. The energy, compassion and heat of township life in all its elements will create a constantly visually interesting and dynamic background for the unfolding of the story. The Carmen story owes part of its huge popularity to the thrilling combination of a violent gangster tale with a passionate almost supernatural love story. As it unfolds it explores issues of fame and wealth, the position of a strong and independently minded woman in a very masculine society, and perhaps most importantly, the incomprehensible attraction between abuser and victim. Bizet's opera, based on Prosper Merimee's novel, premiered in Paris on March 3, 1875. Set in a poor area of Seville, the story of the magnetic woman who seduces, loves and ultimately destroys her lover and herself, is well known. Girl (Carmen) seduces boy (Don Jose), boy becomes completely obsessed, girl leaves boy for another (the Matador), boy in a jealous rage kills her. Carmen's mother-obsessed soldier lover who is displaced by the glamorous matador is one of the greatest tragic figures in all of musical theatre. Although these fascinating aspects of human relationships are explored in a penetrating and at times uncomfortable way this is no intellectual journey but a bawdy, passionate, vibrant tale with enormous warmth and heat and some of the greatest tunes ever written. The fantastic vitality and huge skill of the performers from Dimpho Di Kopane make an impact beyond that achieved by any filmed opera to date. The soundtrack, recorded by Dimpho Di Kopane with Imbumba, a young South African orchestra, combines Bizet's score with traditional South African music creating a powerful musical experience.
Director : Mark Dornford-May
Bio : Mark Dornford-May was born in 1955 in England. He worked in theatre in England for 25 years and founded Broomfield Opera. Mesmerized by the talent he found in South Africa he returned there in 2000 with Charles Hazlewood to create a new theatre company in Cape Town, Dimpho Di Kompane. His first film, U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2005.
