The blog and the Community

Hi all !!
Welcome to the Cinema-Club blog. We have decided to open this as our own web space and to invite all of you to participate actively in the organisation of the Welcoming Cinema Club.
You can enter and add all your opinions about the viewed movies and also make suggestions for the forthcoming. We hope that you will take the best out of it !!
See you at the screenings!

Tuesday 20 December 2011

22nd of December "The Town" (USA, 2010)

After the heist of the Cambridge Merchants Bank, the four thieves blindfold and kidnap the manager Claire Keesey. They take her driver license; release her at an empty beach; and head to Charlestown, Boston. Later, the friends Doug MacRay, James Coughlin, Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan and Desmond Elden find that Claire also lives in Charlestown and they decide to monitor her steps. Doug MacRay gets close to Claire to know what she might have told to the FBI and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile, the FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley is assigned to investigate the heists to armored trucks and banks in Charlestown and he concludes that the thieves are the four friends. He joins his team and keeps Doug and his friends under surveillance. Doug decides to move to Florida with Claire and begin a new life; however, the dwellers are trapped in Charlestown and they do not have any way out but dead. For more click here.


Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Peter Craig, Ben Affleck (screenplay) &Aaron Stockard (screenplay)
Chuck Hogan (novel "Prince of Thieves")
Stars: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm

Wednesday 14 December 2011

15th of December "Tickets" (Italy, 2005)

"Tickets" is comdey drama directed by three legendary directors, Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami and Ken Loach.
A train travels across Italy toward Rome. On board is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was, a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket, three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match, and a complaining widow traveling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and rudeness, and opportunities for kindness.

Monday 28 November 2011

1st of December "12 Monkeys" (USA, 1995)

12 Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film shot mostly in Philadelphia and Baltimore, where the story was set.

File:Twelve monkeysmp.jpg

An unknown and lethal virus has wiped out five billion people in 1996. Only 1% of the population has survived by the year 2035, and is forced to live underground. A convict (James Cole) reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to 1996 to gather information about the origin of the epidemic (who he's told was spread by a mysterious "Army of the Twelve Monkeys") and locate the virus before it mutates so that scientists can study it. Unfortunately Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990, six years earlier than expected, and is arrested and locked up in a mental institution, where he meets Dr. Kathryn Railly, a psychiatrist, and Jeffrey Goines, the insane son of a famous scientist and virus expert.
The film was released to critical praise and grossed approximately $168.4 million worldwide.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Chris Marker (film La Jetée), David Webb Peoples(screenplay)
Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and won a Golden Globe for his performance. The film also won and was nominated for various categories at the Saturn Awards.
For more information about this film click here.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

28th of Novemeber "Kandehar" (Iran, 2001)

"Kandahar" or "Kandahar Journey" [Safar-e Ghandehar in Farsi]  is a 2001 Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, set in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. After an Afghanistan-born woman who lives in Canada receives a letter from her suicidal sister, she takes a perilous journey through Afghanistan to try to find her. This journey takes us to Afghanistan's situation before 9/ll. Time magazine selected this film as one of top 100 films of all time.


Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Writer: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Stars: Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tantai and Ike Ogut

Tuesday 15 November 2011

18th of November "Metropolis" (Germany, 1927)


In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class, who live in poor conditions but are the basic force for the city's work, and the upper class, which is mainly integrated by the city planners and their families, two persons from each class fall in love with each other. One of them is a working class prohet, a woman who gives hope to the city's workers. She predicts the coming of a savior, a savior who will mediate the differences between the social groups and give the city the start of new era. The other is the son of the city's mastermind. But the prophet is kidnapped by a crazy inventor, who wants to use her to make a robot work. The robot is given the same physical appearence the prophet has. Following orders from the crazy inventor, the robot creates a lot of problems for the working class. The son of the city's mastermind and the prophet will have to stop the robot and its crazy inventor for creating more problems for Metropolis, and achieve the goal of making Metropolis an harmonius place. for more click here.


Director: Fritz Lang
Writers: Thea von Harbou (screenplay), Thea von Harbou(novel)
Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel and Gustav Fröhlich

Tuesday 1 November 2011

3rd of November "In Cold Blood" (America, 1967)

In Cold Blood is a 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book of the same name. It pictures after a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.


Director: Richard Brooks
Writers: Truman Capote (based on the book by), Richard Brooks (written for the screen by)
Stars: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson and John Forsythe

This was also the first commercially released film in the US to use the word 'shit'. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Director, Original Score, Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay.

In 2008, In Cold Blood was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Wednesday 26 October 2011

27th of October "Little Miss Sunshine" (USA, 2006)

Little Miss Sunshine is the story of Olive, a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive's father Richard is a flop as a motivational speaker, and is barely on speaking terms with her mother. Olive's uncle Frank, a renowned Proust scholar, has attempted suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student. Her brother Dwayne, a fanatical follower of Nietzsche, has taken a vow of silence, which allows him to escape somewhat from the family whose very presence torments him. And Olive's grandfather is a ne'er-do-well with a drug habit, but at least he enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent routine. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California. For more information about this film click here.

Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer: Michael Arndt
Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear
The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two: Best Original Screenplay for Michael Arndt and Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin. It also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and received numerous other accolades.

Sunday 16 October 2011

20th of October "Lilya 4 Ever" (Sweden, Denmark, Russia, 2002)

'Lilya 4 Ever' is a story of a 16 year old Lilya who lives in a poor suburb in the former Soveit Union, dreaming of a better life somewhere waiting for her. Abandoned, along and adrift ina brutal and unforgining city. Lilya befriends 11 year old Volodya, himself an outast. HBt their shared hopes and dreams are torn apart by the dawning reality of the world in which they live.

Director: Lukas Moodysson
Writer: Lukas Moodysson
Stars: Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharskiy and Pavel Ponomaryov 
Together with the accompanying short film by UNICEF 'More precious than Gold' about people trafficking.


Tuesday 11 October 2011

13th of October "South of the Border" (America, 2009)

South of the Border is a 2009 documentary film directed by Oliver Stone.
There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misrepresentation of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.Oliver Stone interviews eminent intellectual Tariq Ali, and some serving Latin-American presidents attempting to break away from America's dominance. The aim of this documentary is to counter the western media’s portrayal of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez (pictured) and fellow ‘Bolivarians’, such as Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, as mad, bad and dangerous. After a survey of some of the wilder TV reports and a recap of Chávez’s rise, Stone hotfoots it around South America, interviewing seven leaders on the fly, with exposed cameras, wires and lights lending a guerilla feel. Critics claim the film is unbalanced, and, yes, Stone’s film is a president’s-eye view of their countries – but when that same view is so routinely distorted or ignored elsewhere, there’s a need for this film, and anyone who doesn’t clock where Stone’s sympathies lie is not concentrating (the triumphant music is a giveaway). Watch, enjoy and start paying attention to the region. This is a spirited and necessary primer, not the last word on its subject.


Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Mark Weisbrot, Tariq Ali
Stars: Tariq Ali, Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez

Tuesday 4 October 2011

6th of October "Butterfly's Tongue" (Spain,1999)

For Moncho, it's an idyllic year: he starts school, he has a wonderful teacher, he makes a friend in Roque, he begins to figure out some of the mysteries of Eros, and, with his older brother, a budding saxophone player, he makes a trip with the band from their town in Galicia. But it's also the year that the Spanish Republic comes under fire from Fascist rebels. Moncho's father is a Republican as is the aging teacher, Don Gregorio. As sides are drawn and power falls clearly to one side, the forces of fear, violence, and betrayal alter profoundly what should be the pleasure of coming of age.

Butterfly's Tongue received some critical acclaim. It was nominated for the 2000 Goya Award for "Best Picture" and it won the Goya Award for "Best Adapted Screenplay." Butterfly also has a 96% rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

File:Buttefly 1999 dvd.jpg


Director: José Luis Cuerda
Writers: Rafael Azcona and José Luis Cuerda
Stars: Manuel Lozano, Fernando Fernán Gómez and Uxía Blanco
For more information click here.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

29th of Septmeber "Dogtooth" (Greece, 2009)

Dogtooth (Greek: Κυνόδοντας, translit. Kynodontas) is a 2009 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the über-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission. The father is the only family member who can leave the manicured lawns of their self-inflicted exile, earning their keep by managing a nearby factory, while the only outsider allowed on the premises is his colleague Christina, who is paid to relieve the son of his male urges. Tired of these dutiful acts of carnality, Christina disturbs the domestic balance.


Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
Writers: Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Stars:Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley and Aggeliki Papoulia
The film won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards. For more click here.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

15th of September "Days of Being Wild" (Hong Kong, 1990)

"Days of Being Wild" forms the first part of an informal trilogy, together with In the Mood for Love (released in 2000) and 2046 (released in 2004). Wong Ka Wai became an internationally renowned director for his visually unique, highly stylized films. 'Days of Being Wild' was his second movie and first of its genre. The story is about youth in the 60s. It centres on the love relationships of playboy named Yuddy. It's a film with complex layers and ambiguity. Yuddy realises that the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass named Su Lizhen who works at a sports arena, while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi. Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide, he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy's friend Zeb, who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines.


Director: Kar Wai Wong
Writers: Jeffrey Lau, Kar Wai Wong
Stars: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau

For more information click here.

Monday 5 September 2011

8th of September "Mountain Patrol" (China, 2004)

This week we are planning to show a film from China called 'Mountain Patrol' (Kekexili) directed by Lu Chuan. It's about a volunteer mountain patrol team in Tibet who defend their land against illegal antelopes poachers. The movie is based on a true story.


Director: Chuan Lu
Writer: Chuan Lu
Stars:Zhang Lei, Duobuji and Liang Qi
For more detail click here.

Wednesday 31 August 2011

1st of September "Betty Blue" (France, 1986)

"Betty Blue" with the original French title of 37°2 le matin, which means "37.2°C in the Morning" is a social drama of a couple. Zorg is a handyman working at in France, maintaining and looking after the bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time. One day Betty walks into his life, a young woman who is as beautiful as she is wild and unpredictable. After a dispute with Zorg's boss they leave and Betty manages to get a job at a restaurant. She persuades Zorg to try and get one of his books published but it is rejected which makes Betty fly into a rage. Suddenly Betty's wild manners starts to get out of control. Zorg sees the woman he loves slowly going insane. Can his love prevail even if it comes to the worst?


The film received both a BAFTA and Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, as well as winning a César Award for Best Poster. In 1992 it was awarded the Golden Space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival.
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix
Writers: Philippe Djian (novel), Jean-Jacques Beineix
Stars: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle and Gérard Darmo

Tuesday 23 August 2011

25th of August "Princess Mononke" (Japan, 1997)

Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) was directed by Japan's world renowned animation director Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1997 to widespread critical acclaim.


Set in Japan's Muromachi period (1336-1573), the film's central dynamic revolves around the relationships between: Ashitaka, a prince from a small indigenous tribe; San, a forest dwelling young woman who was been raised by a wolf god; and Lady Eboshi, the leader of an iron smelting town. Ashitaka's role is as an intermediary between the natural world of the forest, championed by San, and the encroaching world of man, championed by Lady Eboshi.
By the end of the film, the viewer is left to reflect on what it is like to live as an individual in a world that is morally ambiguous, with no positions being clearly differentiated as 'right' or 'wrong'.
This film will be hosted by The Japanese Institute of Scotland Film Group and is part of the coming event, "Cheer Up Japan", on 27th of August. For more information check here.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

18th of August "Carlos the Jackal" (France/Germany 2011)

The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting. He is better known as Carlos the Jackal (born on October 12, 1949), a Venezuelan convicted of murder in France who has worked with and for causes associated with communists, Arab nationalists and Islamists. He is serving a life sentence in prison.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

11th of August "The Triplets of Belleville" (France, 2003)

 The Triplets of Belleville (French: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a 2003 animated adventure film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature film and was an international co-production between companies in France, the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium and Canada.

The story focuses on Madame Souza, an elderly woman raising her young grandson, Champion. Souza notices her grandson is sad and lonely so she buys him a puppy named Bruno to cheer him up. Although he is initially happy, he quickly becomes melancholic once again. After discovering that Champion has a keen interest in road bicycle racing, because it is implied that Champion's deceased parents were bicyclists, she buys him a tricycle. Years later, Champion becomes a professional cyclist with Souza as his coach.
Eventually, Champion enters the Tour de France but during the race, he and two other riders are kidnapped by two French mafia henchmen and brought to a bustling metropolis in North America ...



Director: Sylvain Chomet
Writer: Sylvain Chomet
Stars:Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda and Michel Robin
For more information click here.



Monday 1 August 2011

4th of August "The Wedding'' (Poland, 2004)

Director Wojciech Smarzowski's nutty black comedy The Wedding plunges into shenanigans that transpire when two Poles,groom Janusz and bride Kaska, decide to tie the knot.The day is beset with outrageous and occasionally violent complications,including fingers chopped off, exploding toilets, illicit sexual encounters, and several deaths. It is then capped off by an even more absurd and over-the-top event, when Kaska's well-to-do father gives the bride and groom a new Audi as a wedding present-that just happens to come with a few messy strings.

 
Director: Wojciech Smarzowski
Writer: Wojciech Smarzowski
Stars:Tamara Arciuch, Andrzej Beja-Zaborski and Iwona Bielska

The director won the Eagle at the Polish Film Awards, the East of West Award - Special Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Youth Jury Award - Special Mention at Locarno International Film Festival, while as writer he won the Best Script award at the Warsaw International Film Festival. Marian Dziedziel (Wojnar) won the Audience Award and the Eagle at the Polish Film Awards.
For more click here.

Monday 25 July 2011

28th of July "The Twilight Samurai" (Japan, 2002)

The twilight Samurai (129 minutes) is the first in a trilogy of samurai dramas directed by Yoji Yamada, better known for the much loved Tora-san movies of which he made 48. The Twilight Samurai follows the life of a poor low-ranking samurai in the 19th-century and focuses on his everyday struggles with financial hardship and conflicted emotions and loyalty. There is still some action and violence but with more realism than chanbara style samurai dramas and there is something more profound in the story. Hiroyuki Sonada, better known to Western audiences as Ujio in the Hollywood movie The Last Samurai, plays the lead role.

For more click here.




This film night will be cohosted with the Film Group set up by Atsuko Betchaku.
For this please visit http://japaneseinstitute.jimdo.com/ (see Film Group).
Director:Yôji Yamada
Writers: Shûhei Fujisawa (novel), Yôji Yamada(screenplay)
Stars: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa and Nenji Kobayashi

 

Tuesday 19 July 2011

21st of August "Nicaragua: No Pasaran" (Austria, 1984)

'No Pasaran' will be hosted by the Nicaragua Learning Exchange, as part of a project funded by the European Commission's Youth in Action Programme.
'No Pasaran' (74 mins)



In 1979 the Nicaraguan Revolution triumphed, ending the 43-year rule of the corrupt Somoza dictatorship and giving hope to national liberation movements around the world. Ex-members of Somoza's feared National Guard regrouped, and began a guerrilla campaign to overthrow the new Sandinista-led Popular Front government. The United States saw the revolution as the spread of Communism on the American continent, and began supporting the so-called 'Contras' in their fight against the Sandinistas.

Developments in the 'Contra War' were reported internationally, and the United States launched a huge information campaign to justify its involvement. In 1984, Australian filmmaker David Bradbury spent six months in Nicaragua researching the Sandinista movement and the role of the United States in a war that went on to last the entire decade, claiming an estimated 30,000 lives.

Further information: 
http://www.frontlinefilms.com.au/videos/nicaragua.htm

Wednesday 13 July 2011

"Of Gods and Men" (Algeria/Frence, 2010)

Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. Its original French title is Des hommes et des dieux, which means "Of Men and of Gods" and refers to a motto from the Bible shown at the beginning of the film. It centers on the monastery of Tibhirine, where nine Trappist monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were kidnapped and assassinated in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War.

Largely a tale of a peaceful situation between local Christians and Muslims before becoming a lethal one due to external forces, the screenplay focuses on the preceding chain of events in decay of government, expansion of terrorism and the monks' confrontation with both the terrorists and the government authorities that led up to their deaths. Principal photography took place at an abandoned monastery in Morocco, with careful attention to authenticity.

The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix, the festival's second most prestigious award. It became a big critical and commercial success in its domestic market. It won both the Lumière Award and César Award for Best Film.

For more information about the film click here.


Director: Xavier Beauvois
Writers: Xavier Beauvois (adaptation) (dialogue), Etienne Comar (scenario)
Stars:Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale and Olivier Rabourdin
This film is suggested and will be hosted by Nicola.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

7th of July "Tampopo" (Japan, 1985)

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect fast-food noodle restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food to an old lady terrorizing a shopkeeper by compulsive squeezing of his wares.




Director: 

Jûzô Itami

Writer: 

Jûzô Itami

Stars:

 Ken Watanabe, Tsutomu Yamazaki and Nobuko Miyamoto
This film will be hosted by Atsuko Betchaku from  Japanese Institute of Scotland.
Find more about this film here

Monday 27 June 2011

30th of June "DIRTY OIL" (2010)



"Dirty Oil" (running time 73 minutes) is one of the trilogy on toxic fuels presented by The Co-operative and powerfully illustrates the devastating impact that Albertan tar sands developments are having on the environment and local First Nation communities. This film is directed by Leslie Iwerks and narrated by Neve Campbell.
"H2Oil" and "Petropolis" are the two other episodes in these series.


‘There is no such thing as dirty oil’
Mel Knight, Alberta Energy Minister



‘Tar sands constitute one of our planet’s greatest threats’
Jim Hansen, Climate Scientist, NASA

For more information visit www.toxicfuels.com

Edinburgh Active Citizenship Group will be hosting this film for the Welcoming Cinema Club.

Friday 17 June 2011

23rd of June "Dirty Pretty Things" (UK, 2002)

Celebrating the Refugee Week in Britain, we are proud of having an especial event on 23rd of June. 
This week in our cinema club besides our regular screening we will have a small party with food and drinks from 6:15 to 10:30.

"Dirty Pretty Things" with a relevant topic has been chosen for this night. It is about an illegal Nigerian immigrant who discovers the unpleasant side of London life. Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Nigerian man who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night — chewing khat (a stimulant) to keep awake. Okwe was formerly a doctor in Nigeria. In London he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants. Everything is normal until he meets Juliette a prostitute in the hotel ...






Director: Stephen Frears

Writer: Steven Knight
Stars:Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou and Sophie Okonedo

Friday 10 June 2011

16th of June "No man’s Land" (Serbia, 2001)

"No Man's Land" happens in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.


Director: Danis Tanovic
Writer: Danis Tanovic
Stars:Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac and Filip Sovagovic


No Man's Land won Prix du scénario at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by numerous awards, including the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001, while in competition with French Amélie and the Indian blockbuster Lagaan. Tanović was presented the Oscar by John Travolta and Sharon Stone. Briefly after, Tanović thanked everyone who worked with him on the film and supported its creation. He ended his acceptance speech by saying, "This is for my country".







Tuesday 7 June 2011

9th of June "Hamoun" (Iran, 1990)

Hamoun is a 1990 psychological drama movie directed by Dariush Mehrjui. The movie tells the story of a middle-class Iranian – Hamid Hamoun, played by Khosro Shakibai – and his struggle after his wife demands a divorce from him. 
Due to its dream like sequences and the treatment, Hamoun has often been described as having a Fellini touch. 
It is believed that Mehrjui was under influence of "Fear and Trembling" by Søren Kierkegaard and his argument on "Love", "Feith" and "Anxiety" specially in the story of "Abraham"  and sacrificing his son, Issac.
The movie was received very well in Iran by critics and young generation at the time and still it is in the list of the best ten films in the history of Iranian cinema.

Director: 

Dariush Mehrjui

Writer: 

Dariush Mehrjui

Stars:

 Ezzatolah Entezami, Bita Farahi and Sedigheh Kianfar

Tuesday 31 May 2011

2nd of June "The Secret in Their Eyes" (Argantin/Spain, 2009)

"The secret in their eyes" is a story of Benjamin Espósito a retired Argentinian federal justice agent who is writing a novel. The novel is based on a real case involved the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. In addition to seeing the extreme grief of the victim's husband Ricardo Morales, Benjamín, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly hired department chief Irene Menéndez-Hastings were personally affected by the case as Benjamín and Pablo tracked the killer, hence the reason why the unsatisfactory ending to the case has always bothered him. Despite the department already having two other suspects, Benjamín and Pablo ultimately were certain that a man named Isidoro Gómez is the real killer. Although he is aware that historical accuracy is not paramount for the novel, the process of revisiting the case is more an issue of closure for him. He tries to speak to the key players in the case, most specifically Irene. For more information click here.


Director: Juan José Campanella
Writers: Eduardo Sacheri, Juan José Campanella
Stars: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago

Tuesday 24 May 2011

26th of May "Three Colours: White" (France/Poland, 1994)

Synopsis: The second feature in filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, the black comedy White features Zbigniew Zamachowski as Karol Karol, an expatriate Polish hairdresser whose French wife (the breathtaking Julie Delpy) divorces him after just six months of marriage because of his impotency. Penniless and devoid of his passport, Karol must journey back to Poland by hiding in a trunk. Upon his return, he slowly begins amassing a considerable fortune, ultimately hatching a perverse plot for revenge. Often unjustly dismissed as the weak link in the trilogy, White grows in strength upon repeated viewings. An allegory about equality, the film is mordantly witty, a cynical look at power, marriage and capitalism.






Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers: Krzysztof Kieslowski (scenario), Krzysztof Piesiewicz (scenario)
Stars:Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy and Janusz Gajos
For more information check here.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

19th of May "The Dancer Upstairs" (Spain, 2002)

This week cinema club will be hosted by Nicaraguan group with a film from Spain.

The Dancer Upstairs is the story of a detective Agustín Rejas (Bardem) who is tracking the self-styled President Ezequiel (Abel Folk), a Marxist-influenced guerrilla waging a brutal terrorist campaign against the corrupt-yet-democratic government of an unnamed Latin American country. Contrasting with the violence and death in his professional life, Rejas begins to fall for Yolanda (Laura Morante) - his daughter's beautiful ballet teacher. But she may not be all she appears, and his growing attraction to her brings him in direct conflict with his prey.




Director: John Malkovich
Writers: Nicholas Shakespeare (novel), Nicholas Shakespeare (screenplay)
Stars:Javier Bardem, Laura Morante and Juan Diego Botto
You can find more here.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

12th of May "Machuca" (2004, Chile)

This week we will watch Machuca which is part of The Smallest Latin American Festival and taken place in May all over the world. 
Plot: Santiago, Chile, 1973: Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) is a poor boy of tribal descent, brought into an upper class private school during Chile’s brief socialist era. Gonzalo (Matias Quer), the well-to-do boy seated a row ahead, befriends Pedro against the bullying will of his classmates. In so doing, he discovers a raw, thrilling but wildly complicated world outside his own previously sheltered homelife. Pedro’s fierce, attractive young neighbor Silvana (Manuela Martelli) by turns mocks Gonzalo’s pampered background, only to fondly lead both boys in a number of kissing games. All around them, Chile drifts toward civil war. Protest marches fill the Santiago streets with zealots of the right and left. At school, their humane headmaster Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) comes under an hysteria-driven attack by parents for his charity toward poor students.
...

Director: 

Andrés Wood

Writers: 

Mamoun Hassan, Andrés Wood

Stars:

 Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna and Manuela Martelli
Read more about Machuca here.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

28th of April "Gregory's Girl" (Scotland, 1981)

Gregory's Girl is a 1981 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth. It is set in Scotland.

Sixteen year old Gregory is an awkward, gangly Scottish lad who is in the midst of the throngs of puberty. The object of his affection is Dorothy, despite or in part because she is a talented striker who took his place on the school's boys' football team, he now demoted to distracted goalkeeper. Gregory tries to insinuate himself as much as possible in her life through her interests, such as learning the Italian language, without ever directly coming out and telling her that he likes her. Gregory's male friends are of no help in advising him on how to get into a relationship with Dorothy. The only person with whom he confides that provides any constructive advice is his ten-year old sister, Madeline. When Gregory finally gets the nerve to ask Dorothy out on a date, the outcome of the question is not quite what he expects. He learns that Dorothy talks to her girlfriends about such issues as much as Gregory does with his friends, each side strategizing to their own desired end.

Director: Bill Forsyth

Writer: Bill Forsyth
Stars:John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Jake D'Arcy

For more information check here.

Thursday 21 April 2011

21st of April: Short films from students in Edinburgh Napier University

 This thurday, we will enjoy wacthing shortfilms made by students of Napier University. It will be an experimetal evening where we'll have the chance to explore the new cinema.

     
  • HOW MACBETH IS BEEN TAGHT by Pollyana Davison and Karel Dolak
  •  WOMAN'S CASE  by Nelisa Alcalde. It's about a special woman's dream
  •  CLICHE by nelisa alcalde, Jessi Salomen, Sophie Turnet and Katri Vantahalao. With this film we  want to say to all these women who are afraid to love:let it go.....
  • OLD LAND by Nick Gibbon.
  • TWO GALLANTS by David Borbas (12 min)
  • EXILE ON CANVAS by Edgar Wittek (10 min)

Monday 11 April 2011

14th of April "Latcho Drom" (France, 1993)

Latcho Drom is a French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.



Latcho Drom (rom for "safe journey") describes the travels, singing and dancing of Romany groups from Rajahstan (India), Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain. Some scenes are acted, but there is no dialogue or narration--only partial translation of some songs. The film illustrates the variety of conditions in which the Romany people live--earthbound nomads in the hot deserts of Asia, ironsmiths and abjectly poor tree-dwellers in the frozen plains of Eastern Europe, and craftspeople and traders in the hills and seasides of north Africa and western Europe. It also illustrates the similarities in travel habits, musical tones (spoons, open drums, and string-based rhythms) and song themes (celebration of travel and perceived rejection by sedentary locals).

Wednesday 6 April 2011

07th of April "Run Lola Run" (1998, Germany)

"Run Lola Run" is a German crime thriller. The f ilm begins with Lola (Franka Potente) receiving a phone call from her distraught boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). He is a small-time criminal and has lost 100,000 marks belonging to his boss by accidentally leaving it on a train (Lola was supposed to pick him up, but her moped was stolen while she was buying cigarettes). After the doors of the train closed, he saw a homeless man pick up the bag of money but he was unable to get back onto the train before it left the station. Upon not seeing any trace of his money or the homeless man at the next station, Manni assumes the money is long gone.
Manni has to get the money within 20 minutes before his boss finds out, and plans to rob a nearby supermarket. Lola urges him to wait and tells him she will sort out the money. She decides to ask her father (Herbert Knaup), who is a bank manager.
The main part of the film is divided in three "runs". Each run starts from the same situation but develops differently and has a different outcome. Each run contains various flash-forward sequences, showing how the lives of the people that Lola bumps into develop after the encounter. In each run, those people are affected in different ways.

Director: 

Tom Tykwer

Writer: 

Tom Tykwer
for more click here.

Thursday 31 March 2011

31st of March "the Dinner Game" (France,1998)

"Le Diner de Cons" or the dinner game is the story of Pierre Brochant, a Parisian publisher, attends a weekly "idiots' dinner", where guests, who are prominent Parisian businessmen, must bring along an "idiot" who the other guests can ridicule. At the end of the dinner, the evening's champion idiot is selected.
With the help of an "idiot scout", Brochant manages to find a "gem", François Pignon, a Finance Ministry employee whose passion is building replicas of landmarks with matchsticks. When Brochant starts to suffer from a bad back, his wife, Christine, leaves him shortly before Pignon arrives at his apartment. Brochant initially wants Pignon to leave, but instead becomes reliant on him, because of his back problem and his need to resolve his relationship problems.
He solicits Pignon's assistance in making a series of telephone calls to locate his wife, but Pignon gaffes each time, including revealing the existence of Brochant's mistress, Marlene Sasseur, to his wife Christine and inviting Lucien Cheval, a tax inspector, to Brochant's house where, in an attempt to disguise his tax evasion, Brochant is forced to quickly hide most of his valuables.
In the meantime, Brochant is able to make amends with an old friend, Just LeBlanc, from whom he stole Christine, and through the evening's events is forced to reassess his mistakes.


 Director: Francis Veber

Writer: Francis Veber

Stars:Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret and Francis Huster

Wednesday 23 March 2011

24th of March "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966, USA)

"Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is about a bitter aging couple with the help of alcohol, use a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.


This is the only film to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards. Each of the four actors was nominated for an Oscar but only Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis won, for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively. The film also won the Black and White Cinematography award for Haskell Wexler's stark, black-and-white camera work (it was the last film to win before the category was eliminated) and for Best Art Direction (Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins). It was the first film to have its entire credited cast be nominated for acting Oscars, a feat only accomplished twice more with Sleuth in 1972 and Give 'em Hell, Harry! in 1975.

The film received the BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source.
In AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ranked #67.






Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Edward Albee (play), Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
Stars:Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and George Segal
For more information click here.

Tuesday 15 March 2011

17th of March "Ju Duo" (China, 1990)

Ju Dou takes place in the early 20th century in rural China. The story begins as Yang Tianqing (the regular Zhang collaborator Li Baotian) is returning from a trek to sell silk for his adoptive uncle, Yang Jinshan (Li Wei). Jinshan, whose trade is dyeing fabrics, is known for his cruelty and treats Tianqing with much scorn. Upon returning, Tianqing learns that Jinshan has just recently purchased a new wife, having beaten two previous wives to death after they failed to produce a son, the cruel irony being that Jinshan is in fact impotent.

Directors: Fengliang Yang, Yimou Zhang
Writer: Heng Liu
Stars:Li Gong, Wei Li and Baotian Li
For more information click here.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

10th of March "Fire" (India, 1996)

Fire is the first in the thriology of  Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).
Plot: Ashok runs a family business that sells takeout food that also has a video rental store at the side. Ashok's extended family includes his wife Radha, his brother Jatin, their ailing mother Biji and their manservant Mundu, all living under the same roof. Jatin, at the insistence of Ashok and their mother, Biji, agrees to marry the beautiful Sita in an arranged marriage, although he is actually in love with Julie, a Chinese-Indian. At first glance, you see a happy middle-class family going through the normal paces of everyday life. However, as the layers are slowly peeled back, we find a simmering cauldron of discontent within the family, with almost every family member living a lie. Both marriages in the family turn out to be emotionally empty, without love or passion. While Ashok is an ascetic who has taken a vow of celibacy, Jatin is a handsome ladies' man who is still openly seeing Julie even after his marriage to Sita. Ashok has pledged his total devotion to a religious holy man, a swami, in order to purge his life of worldly desires and temptations. Radha, bound by her sense of duty to her husband, agrees to go along with his wishes. As you can imagine, with both husbands ignoring their spouses' emotional and sexual needs (albeit with reasons that are totally opposite from each other), it is only a matter of time before Radha and Sita look to one another for comfort and to satisfy their own passions. In this environment, it is only natural that Sita and Radha become fast friends, and, in time, much more than that. But their love is not without its share of painful obstacles.


Director: Deepa Mehta

Writer: Deepa Mehta
Stars:Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and Karishma Jhalani

Tuesday 1 March 2011

3rd of March "Red Sorghum" (China, 1988)

"Red Sorghum" marked the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou, and the acting debut of film star Gong Li. With its lush and lusty portrayal of peasant life, it immediately vaulted Zhang to the forefront of the Fifth Generation directors.

In the 1930s China, an old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows a new.

For more about the plot click here.


Director: Yimou Zhang
Writers: Jianyu Chen, Yan Mo
Stars: Li Gong, Wen Jiang and Rujun Ten
Hosted by Zhuozhi.

24th of Fabruary "Lives of Others" (Germany, 2006)

The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen) is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
The Lives of Others won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after having set a new record with 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards. The Lives of Others cost 2 million USD and grossed more than 77 million USD worldwide as of November 2007
.In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. 
For more about the plot click here.

Director: 

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Writer: 

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Stars:

 Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch