Awards & Foreign Screening Series 2015

KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK invites you to experience Kurt’s life, art, and mind through his own unique lens, bringing you as close to the generation-defining icon as it’s possible to get. This first-ever fully authorized documentary feature blends Cobain’s personal archive of art, music (both his most famous and some that’s never been heard), written word, and never-before-seen home movies with animation and revelatory interviews from his family and closest confidantes. Following Kurt from his earliest years in Aberdeen, Washington, through the height of his fame, it creates an intense and powerful cinematic insight into an artist who craved the spotlight even as he rejected the trappings of fame.

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Yitzhak runs the turkey farm his father built with his own two hands after they emigrated from Iran to Israel. When his son Moti turns thirteen, Yitzhak teaches him the trade, hoping that he will continue the proud family tradition. But Moti doesn’t like working in the turkey barn; his passion is fixing up junkyard cars and bringing them back to life. Moti’s mother Sarah tries to reconcile between the two, while his grandfather pushes Yitzhak to take a firm hand with his son. Yitzhak takes Moti’s refusal to work in the turkey barn as a personal rejection. Though he loves his son dearly, he makes it his mission to impose the family farm on Moti. The arrival of Darius, the uncle from America, sets off a chain of events that will undermine the familial harmony. Soon enough Yitzhak will learn that his son is just as stubborn as he is. The conflict is inevitable.

Dedicated home care nurse Vlasta attends her capricious patients in the Czech wine country, and lives for her husband Lada and her daughter, giving them more than they are asking for. Then, one day, things change and Vlasta is forced to step outside of her comfort zone. Drama and gentle humor intertwine as Vlasta realizes, for the first time in her life, that she might need some care, too.

A gripping tsunami-peril thriller can stand toe-to-toe with best American disaster films. The experienced geologist Kristian Eikfjord has accepted a job offer out of town. While getting ready to move his family from the city of Geiranger, he and his colleagues measure small geological changes in the underground. Kristian’s worst nightmare rapidly comes true when the alarm goes off and disaster is inevitable. With less than 10 minutes to react, it becomes a race against time in order to save as many people as possible, including his own family.

In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two brothers who haven’t spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep.

Academy Award nominees Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter, and three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, lead the cast of a powerful drama about the women who were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality in early-20th-century Britain. The stirring story centers on Maud (played by Carey Mulligan), a working wife and mother whose life is forever changed when she is secretly recruited to join the U.K.’s growing suffragette movement. Galvanized by the outlaw fugitive Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Maud becomes an activist for the cause alongside women from all walks of life. When increasingly aggressive police action forces Maud and her dedicated fellow suffragettes underground, they engage in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the authorities, who are shocked as the women’s civil disobedience escalates and sparks debate across the nation. Inspired by true events, SUFFRAGETTE is a moving drama exploring the passion and heartbreak of those who risked all they had for women’s right to vote – their jobs, their homes, their children, and even their lives.

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A family of nomads live in the high, remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia; elderly herdsman Tabyldy, his wife Karachach, their daughter-in-law Shaiyr and their 7 year old granddaughter Umsunai. Shaiyr’s son studies in the city and visits them only during the summer holidays. Her husband died many years ago when he was drowned in a mountain river, trying to save a foal. Shaiyr decided to stay with the family due to her strong attachment to the wonderful land and its people. The family breed horses and life goes on as normal amidst the beautiful scenery of the mountain gorge. But another resident of the area appears in Shaiyr’s life, meteorologist Ermek, whose weather station is located near to the family’s home.

One family…torn apart…scattered all over the world. Bombs, war, angry bearded men, shrouded sobbing women, shattered cities: Iraq, as seen through the eyes of the western media these days. These images are juxtaposed with those from the fifties and seventies: films with frivolous music, unveiled women who study; elegantly dressed men in Bagdad, a modern city. How did it come to this? In this riveting and timely documentary, author and director Samir tells the compelling story of his globalized middle-class Iraqi family scattered between Auckland, Moscow, Paris, London and Buffalo, New York, paying a moving homage to the frustrated democratic dreams of a people successively plagued by dictatorship, war, and foreign occupation. IRAQI ODYSSEY’S awards include Best Asian Film Award, Abu Dhabi Film Festival and a Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Set in early 19th century Wallachia, when a local policeman, Costandin, is hired by Iordache, a boyar (local noble), to find Carfin, a Gypsy slave who had run away from the boyar estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana. Costandin sets out to find the fugitive, beginning a journey full of adventures. Gypsy slavery lasted from the 14th century up until the middle of the 19th century, a situation which is very little known and almost nonexistent in the public debate today, although its impact continues to influence Romania social life.

Both highly suspenseful and deeply emotional, ROOM is a unique and unexpectedly tender exploration of the boundless love between a mother and her child under the most harrowing of circumstances. ROOM tells the extraordinary story of Jack (Jacob Tremblay in a breakout performance), a spirited 5 year-old who is looked after by his loving and devoted Ma (Brie Larson, SHORT TERM 12, TRAINWRECK). Like any good mother, Ma dedicates herself to keeping Jack happy and safe, nurturing him with warmth and love and doing typical things like playing games and telling stories. Their life, however, is anything but typical–they are trapped–confined to a windowless, 10-by-10-foot space, which Ma has euphemistically named “Room.” Ma has created a whole universe for Jack within Room, and she will stop at nothing to ensure that, even in this treacherous environment, Jack is able to live a complete and fulfilling life. But as Jack’s curiosity about their situation grows, and Ma’s resilience reaches its breaking point, they enact a risky plan to escape, ultimately bringing them face-to-face with what may turn out to be the scariest thing yet: the real world. ROOM also stars three-time Academy Award® nominee Joan Allen and Academy Award® nominee William H. Macy.

Early summer. In a village in northern Turkey, Lale and her four sisters are walking home from school, playing innocently with some boys. The immorality of their play sets off a scandal that has unexpected consequences. The family home is progressively transformed into a prison; instruction in homemaking replaces school and marriages start being arranged. The five sisters who share a passion for freedom, find ways of getting around the constraints imposed on them.

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Oscar®-winning director Louie Psihoyos (THE COVE) assembles a team of artists and activists on an undercover operation to expose the hidden world of endangered species and the race to protect them against mass extinction. Spanning the globe to infiltrate the world’s most dangerous black markets and using high tech tactics to document the link between carbon emissions and species extinction, RACING EXTINCTION reveals stunning, never-before seen images that truly change the way we see the world.

A desperate construction worker (Andrew Garfield) reluctantly accepts a job with the ruthless real-estate broker (Michael Shannon) who evicted him and his family from their home.

Hadas Yaron (of the internationally acclaimed film Fill the Void) returns to the big screen in Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira, a story of an unconventional romance between two people living vastly different lives mere blocks away from one another. Meira (Yaron), a young Hasidic housewife and mother, and Félix (Martin Dubreuil), a man lost in mourning the recent death of his father, unexpectedly meet at a local bakery in Montreal’s Mile End district. What starts as an innocent friendship becomes more serious as the two wayward strangers find comfort in one another. As Felix opens Meira’s eyes to the world outside of her tight-knit Orthodox community, her desire for change becomes harder for her to ignore, ultimately forcing her to choose: remain in the life that she has always known or give it all up to be with Félix. Giroux’s film is a poignant tale of self-discovery, a fascinating glimpse into the Hasidic community, and a modern love story set against backdrops both familiar and unknown.

Elle Reid has just gotten through breaking up with her girlfriend when her granddaughter Sage unexpectedly shows up needing 600 dollars before sundown. Temporarily broke, Grandma Elle and Sage spend the day trying to get their hands on the cash as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets.

God exists! He lives in Brussels. He’s a real bastard, horrible to his wife and daughter. We know a lot about his son, but very little about his daughter. Her na me is Ea and she’s ten years old. One day, she revolts against her overbearing father, hacks his computer and sends everyone on Earth an SMS with the date of their death. Then she escapes from home, searching for six apostles who will help her to write a brand new testament.

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Aslan, an eleven year old boy living in a small rural village, rescues a noble weathered fighting dog who has been badly beaten in a fight. The dog finds a new lease on life, but as his success attracts attention from the village head, Aslan also finds himself in an unexpected crash-course into adulthood… Programmed in more than two dozen major international film festivals, SIVAS received its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival (Special Jury Prize for Best Actor).

Mityo has lost everything that matters to him: his wife, his work and his hopes. And now he\’s losing the trust of his only son, Vasko. Out of desperation, Mityo agrees to smuggle illegal immigrants from Syria through a steep mountain pass. One last trip remains. Left at the mercy of the Judgment Mountain, and in desperate need of help from his ever more distant son, Mityo will soon discover if he can be forgiven for a terrible sin committed 25 years ago.

Young Arnulfo, soon-to-be-gangster, smuggles weapons for a drug cartel from Arizona and across the border into Mexico. He’s helped by Carson, the gringo who thanks to the liberal gun laws easily can buy assault rifles in the US weapons stores. Inadvertently, he is being monitored by the agent Hank Harris (Tim Roth) from the federal organization ATF which, in the real world, is known for its controversial methods in the fight against arms smuggling in the Mexican drug war. Arnulfo finds himself in deep waters after a violent collision with the agent and panicked, he decides to kidnap him instead of fleeing. Ultra-realistic and in long, patient frames, we follow their trip back through Mexico while the two men’s destinies are being forged together in a partnership that will prove to have fatal consequences.

The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (portrayed by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne “The Theory of Everything” and Alicia Vikander “Ex Machina”, directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper “The King’s Speech,” “Les Misérables”. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s journey as a transgender woman.

Fleeing from Russian secret police in early 1950’s, a young man is forced to settle in a godforsaken Estonian coastal village. He finds work as a sports teacher at a local elementary school and becomes a father figure to his students by teaching them his great passion – fencing. As a fencing tournament in Leningrad approaches, he’s put in in front of a difficult choice. Will he take the children to compete or will he abandon them in order to save himself?

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After Mamuka is released from prison, he tries to rescue his family from poverty. His mother is working abroad, his father is wheelchair-ridden, and his unemployed younger brother appears to be attracted by criminals. Mamuka takes out a loan and buys a small fishing boat, eager to work and bring his mother back. The brothers name the fishing boat after Moira, a goddess of fate. But fate is often blind and merciless.

1916. While war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb “Wolf” in a traditional Bedouin community that is isolated by the vast, unforgiving desert. The brothers’ quiet existence is suddenly interrupted when a British Army officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them on a treacherous journey. The young, mischievous Theeb secretly chases after the travelers, but they soon find themselves trapped amidst threatening terrain riddled with mercenaries, revolutionaries, and outcast raiders, forcing Theeb to live up to the name given to him by his father.

A social activist who uses folk music to spread his message is arrested, accused of inciting the suicide of a sewage worker. Lawyers from both sides of the aisle, and the rote ideologies they represent, are scrutinized as the trial plays out.

October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Ausländer is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the body of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.

Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author of “How May I Help You Help Them?” is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa, who may or may not be the love of his life. A beautifully tender and absurdly humorous dreamscape, from the brilliant minds of Charlie Kaufman (SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK) and Duke Johnson (“Community” episode, Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas), this stop-motion animation wonder features the vocal cast of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan and David Thewlis and a stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell. The darkly comedic and surreal stop-motion journey of a man\’s long night of the soul, ANOMALISA confirms Charlie Kaufman‘s place amongst the most important of American filmmakers, and announces Duke Johnson as a major creative force.

Directed by Evgeny Afineevsky and produced by Angus Wall, this documentary chronicles events that unfolded over 93 days in 2013 and 2014. Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom witnesses the formation of a new civil rights movement in Ukraine. What started as peaceful student demonstrations supporting European integration morphed into a full-fledged violent revolution calling for the resignation of the nation’s president. The film captures the remarkable mobilization of nearly a million citizens from across the country protesting the corrupt political regime that utilized extreme force against its own people to suppress their demands and freedom of expression.

BROOKLYN tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

SHOWTIME documentary film LISTEN TO ME MARLON unlocks two-time Oscar® winner Marlon Brando‘s extensive never-before-heard personal audio archive, bringing viewers on a creative odyssey into the mind and motivation of the enigmatic legend. As the lines between Brando’s on screen persona and personal life blurred, his audio recordings uncover his intellectual introspection, humor and sensitivity; a man in perpetual search for moral clarity. The award-winning feature documentary is written, edited and directed by Stevan Riley and produced by John Battsek, R.J. Cutler and George Chignell.

Company commander Claus M. Pedersen (Pilou Asbæk) and his men are stationed in an Afghan province. Meanwhile back in Denmark Claus’ wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) is trying to hold everyday life together with a husband at war and three children missing their father. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy crossfire and in order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that has grave consequences for him – and his family back home.

Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist, Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy. In this epic documentary, director Liz Garbus interweaves never-before-heard recordings and rare archival footage together with Nina’s most memorable songs, to create an unforgettable portrait of one of the least understood, yet most beloved, artists of our time.