WORLD CINEMA SHOWCASE
September 12, 2008 - May 22, 2009

Featuring movies from France, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States, this diverse monthly film series reflects the vitality of contemporary global cinema. Films will be presented with digital projection, and most screenings will be introduced by guest speakers.

All screenings at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, 31-10 Thomson Avenue (at Van Dam Street), Long Island City. Pictured: Flight of the Red Balloon.

Tickets: $10.00 public / $8.00 CUNY Students / Free for Museum members. Members RSVP to 718.784.4520. Advance tickets available online at www.laguardiaperformingarts.org ($2 surcharge) and on day-of-show at the LPAC box office.


Operation Filmmaker
With director Nina Davenport in person
Friday, September 12, 7:00 p.m.

U.S. 2008, 96 mins. Directed by Nina Davenport. With Muthana Mohmed. An aspiring young filmmaker from Baghdad is offered an internship on an American independent film being shot in Prague. He turns out to be as inept as he is narcissistic, and he insinuates himself into Davenport’s life. In this hilarious and unnerving documentary, a good deed gone awry becomes an allegory for the Iraq war, when Davenport realizes she can’t tear herself away from her needy subject—and has no exit strategy for her own film. Screening followed by a discussion with director Nina Davenport, moderated by David Schwartz, Chief Curator.


Volver
Friday, October 3, 7:00 p.m.

Spain, 2006, 121 mins. Directed by Pedro Almodovar. With Penelope Cruz. In the latest and perhaps finest film by Spain’s top filmmaker,  three generations of women survive wind, fire, madness, superstition—even death—through a combination of decency, deception, and boundless vitality. Penelope Cruz earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as a single mother who opens her own restaurant…and who hides a dark secret.


Offside
Friday, November 21, 7:00 p.m.

Iran, 2006, 93 mins. Directed by Jafar Panahi. With Sima Mobarak-Shahi. A group of young women are denied entry to an important Iranian soccer game because of their gender. A simple fictional story, filmed documentary-style against the backdrop of the real game, Panahi’s deceptively simple masterpiece is a suggestive study of women’s rights and political and personal freedom in the contemporary Middle East.


4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Friday, December 19, 7:00 p.m.
CANCELLED DUE TO BAD WEATHER

Romania, 2007, 113 mins. Directed by Cristian Mungiu. With Anamaria Marinca. In this beautifully performed drama about the human cost of petty bureaucracy in the final days of Communism in Romania, two college roommates try to arrange an illegal abortion. The Palme d'Or winner at Cannes is one of the key works in the current resurgence of Romanian cinema.


In Between Days
With director So Yong Kim in person
Friday, January 23, 7:00 p.m.

U.S. 2006, 82 mins. Directed by So Yong Kim. With Jiseon Kim. So Yong Kim’s feature debut traces the joys and risks of first love for a young Korean-American immigrant. On the threshold of maturity, Aimie struggles to find her place in a new city, and her own emotional place in the world. The film won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Screening followed by a discussion with So Yong Kim, moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz.


Exiled
Friday, February 13, 7:00 p.m.

Hong Kong, 2006, 109 mins. Directed by Johnny To. With Francis Ng. In this powerhouse tale of childhood buddies-turned-hit men squaring off against a gang boss in 1998 Macau—on the eve of the former Portuguese colony’s absorption by China—flames roar, waves crash, and dropped bullets thud like bowling balls. A Hong Kong action film supreme, Exiled also has unexpected moments of sentiment and tenderness.


Flight of the Red Balloon
Friday, March 13, 7:00 p.m.

France/Taiwan, 2007, 114 mins. Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. With Juliette Binoche. In this contemporary reinvention of the classic children’s film The Red Balloon, a young Parisian boy, his harried single mother, and his watchful Chinese babysitter wander through the city. This is a tender and exquisite study of loneliness, beauty, and imagination by one of the world’s great directors.


Killer of Sheep
Friday, April 3, 7:00 p.m.

U.S. 1977/2007, 83 mins. Directed by Charles Burnett. With Henry G. Sanders. The best-reviewed film of 2007 was made 30 years ago, but not released until it was restored last year by the UCLA Film and TV Archive. A landmark of African-American independent cinema, Killer of Sheep is also a neo-realist drama steeped in the lyricism of the blues, about a South Central slaughterhouse worker who struggles to support himself and his family.

Film program curated by David Schwartz and Livia Bloom, Museum of the Moving Image. Special thanks to Steven Hitt and Handan Ozbilgin, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center; Nina Davenport; Dennis Doros and Amy Heller, Milestone Films; Linda Duchin, New Yorker Films; Brian Fox, Swank Motion Pictures; Lori Fried, First Run Icarus Films; So Yong Kim; and Gary Palmucci, Kino International.