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By Leah Furbert

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Fourteen of the world’s films are screening at the Bermuda International Film Festival this month as part of the World Cinema Showcase category.

The films include four award-winning films from the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Globe winning film and a documentary award winner from the Sundance Film Festival. The World Cinema Showcase at the ninth BIFF (March 17-25), will include seven narrative feature films and seven documentary features.

The line-up includes a film by Jonathan Demme, as well as a film by director Josef Fares, whose comedies Jalla!Jalla! and Kops were favourites of Bermuda audiences at previous festivals.

“This is our strongest world cinema line-up yet,” Duncan Hall, the festival’s deputy director, said. “There is a wonderful mix of films; it’s a great opportunity to see 14 of the most-talked about films on the festival circuit.”

The films are as follows:

BALLET RUSSES

(d. Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, United States, 118 minutes)

Combining a treasure trove of archival footage with interviews from a reunion of the dancers in New Orleans, the filmmakers have fashioned an entrancing ode to the revolutionary 20th-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who had never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous “ballet battles” that consumed London society before World War Two. Infused with juicy anecdotal interviews with many of the company’s glamorous stars, the film treats modern audiences to a glimpse of the dancers, choreographers, designers and composers who transformed the face of ballet for generations to come. Shown with Three Extraordinary Weeks, a documentary film about the Summer Dance Institute staged by the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda and the American Ballet Theatre.

THE CHILD (L’Enfant) *

(d. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgium-France, 95 minutes)

Dispossessed 20-year-old Bruno (Jérémie Renier) lives with his 18-year-old girlfriend Sonia (Déborah François) in Serang, an eastern Belgian steel town. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth to their child, Jimmy. After an initial and promising change of heart about becoming a father and changing his ways, Jimmy becomes little more to Bruno than a new source of wealth. Desperate for money and unable to face his parental responsibilities, Bruno sells Jimmy to a black market connection, who promises to find the child an adoptive home. Bruno sets out to try and undo his callous deed, leading him to a powerful personal transformation. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU *

(d. Cristi Puiu, Romania, 154 minutes)

Old, alcoholic Mr. Lazarescu has a headache, but it’s not getting him much sympathy from his neighbours, his sister — or even the ambulance attendant, all of whom blame it on his drinking. But when he vomits after taking an aspirin, it finally becomes clear that this is more than a hangover. Accompanied by a medic, Mr. Lazarescu embarks on an epic journey across nighttime Bucharest, from crowded hospital to crowded hospital, and from overworked doctor to overworked doctor, seeking treatment. This dark comedy is characterised by what the filmmaker refers to as “typically Romanian slowness.” The lethargy of the characters builds suspense as poor Mr. Lazarescu searches for humanity but is met with indifference. Winner, Prix Un Certain Regard, 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

THE GIANT BUDDHAS *

(d. Christian Frei, Switzerland, 95 minutes)

In February of 2001, the Taliban issued an edict that all non-Islamic statues be destroyed. By March, the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, existent for 1,500 years, lay in pieces. Of the international outrage that ensued, the filmmaker quotes Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf: “I am now convinced that the Buddhist statues were not demolished. They crumbled to pieces out of shame, because of the West’s ignorance toward Afghanistan.” The filmmaker speaks to witnesses to the destruction, and retraces the steps of Xuanzang, the seventh-century Chinese monk famed for his 16-year spiritual quest along the Silk Road to India, taking us on a journey about terrorism and tolerance, ignorance and identity, fanaticism and faith.

HIDDEN (Caché) *

(d. Michael Haneke, France-Austria-Germany-Italy, 121 minutes)

Georges (Daniel Auteuil), a television talk show host, and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche), are living the perfect life of modern comfort and security. One day, their idyll is disrupted in the form of a mysterious videotape that appears on their doorstep. On it they are being filmed by a hidden camera from across the street with no clue as to who shot the tape, or why. As more tapes arrive containing images that are disturbingly intimate and increasingly personal, Georges launches into an investigation of who is behind this. As he does so, secrets from his past are revealed, and the walls of security he and Anne have built around themselves begin to crumble. Winner, 2005 European Film of the Year.

IN THE PIT *

(d. Juan Carlos Rulfo, Mexico, 80 minutes)

Mexican legend holds that for every bridge being built, the devil asks for one soul to ensure that the bridge never fails. This film tells the story of the workers who are building the second deck to Mexico City’s 17-kilometre inner Periférico freeway. The film is the story of those whose hands and sweat go into the making of his mammoth work of concrete, steel and asphalt. Winner, Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2006.

KILOMETRE ZERO *

(d. Hiner Saleem, France-Kurdistan, 96 minutes)

Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime serves as a backdrop for the film, a tragicomic road movie set in Iraqi Kurdistan during the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s. With strong poetic vision and the sensitivity of his own life experience, writer-director Hiner Saleem depicts the universal wish to escape a war-torn country as reluctant Kurdish soldier Ako is forced to fight in the Iraqi army. Ako is sent to the frontlines of the war, where he experiences not only the reality of war but also abuse due to his Kurdish background. Using his trademark satirical humour, Hineer creates a delicate balance between the dramatic context of the war and the tenderness of his characters. Screened at Cannes 2005.

NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD

(d. Jonathan Demme, United States, 103 minutes)

Director Jonathan Demme displays a masterful touch with this filmed concert given by Neil Young and friends over two days in Nashville in 2005. Starting with brief conversations with members of the band, the concert consists of a real variety of performances — solos, duets — from truly talented musicians. The film style lends an intimacy to the picture and allows us to see each of the performers in both mundane and special moments. This is a film for all music fans not just Neil Young fans, and seeing the musicians live and in action is a treat. Neil Young was and is more than just a musician.

PARADISE NOW *

(d. Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine-Netherlands-Germany-France, 90 minutes)

On a typical day in the West Bank city of Nablus, where daily life grinds on amidst crushing poverty and the occasional rocket blast, we meet two childhood best friends, Saïd (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), who pass time drinking tea, smoking a hookah, and working dead-end menial jobs as auto mechanics. Soon, though, Saïd and Khaled are informed that they have been chosen to carry out a strike in Tel Aviv. But when they are intercepted at the Israeli border and separated from their handlers, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions. Winner, Best European Film, Berlin Film Festival.

SHANGHAI DREAMS *

(d. Wang Xiaoshuai, China, 120 minutes)

Set in the early 1980s against the backdrop of China’s reform and opening, Shanghai Dreams is the story of first love. Qing Hong, 19, comes from a typical emigrant family that was relocated to Guizhou Province from their hometown of Shanghai during the mid 1960s. Nearly 20 years later, Qing Hong’s parents find they are mired in a rural backwater, cut off from the new economic policies that are transforming China’s large cities. They agonise whether to return to Shanghai — but for Qing Hong, the choice to relocate is complicated by her budding romance with Hong Gen, a young man from a local peasant family. Winner, Jury Prize, 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

THE SUN *

(d. Alexander Sokurov, Russia-Italy-France-Switzerland, 110 minutes)

The Sun is the third chapter of director Alexander Sokurov’s film tetralogy, following his depictions of the hero who suffers a personal tragedy in Moloch (Hitler) and Taurus (Lenin). Japanese Emperor Hirohito is the focus as he brings to an end Japan’s participation in the Second World War. On 15 August 1945 millions of Japanese heard the voice of their Emperor for the first time when he made an appeal to the armed forces and the people to cease military operations. The film also portrays the events leading up to Hirohito’s decision to renunciate his divine status as the 124th descendant of the Goddess of Sun Amaterasu. Winner, Grand Prix Award, Yerevan Film Festival.

TWELVE DISCIPLES OF

NELSON MANDELA *

(d. Thomas Allen Harris, South Africa-U.S. 73 minutes)

Confronted by the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey of reconciliation with the man who raised him as a son but whom he could never call “father”. B. Pule Leinaeng was an African National Congress (ANC) foot soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African exiles, Lee and his 11 comrades left their home in Bloemfontein in 1960 — just six months after the Sharpeville massacre — to broadcast to the world the brutality of the apartheid system and to raise support for the ANC and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. Drawing upon the memories of the surviving disciples and their families, young South African actors portray the harrowing events of the exodus and exile and in so doing forge their own reconciliation between the generations.

WE FEED THE WORLD *

(d. Erwin Wagenhofer, Austria, 96 minutes)

Every day in Vienna, the amount of unsold bread is enough to supply Austria’s second-largest city, Graz. Around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land, above all in Latin America, are dedicated to the cultivation of soybeans to feed Austria’s livestock while one quarter of the local population starves. Every European eats 10 kilograms (22 pounds) a year of artificially irrigated greenhouse vegetables from southern Spain, with water shortages the result. The film provides insight into food production and answers the question of what world hunger has to do with us.

ZOZO *

(d. Josef Fares, Sweden, 103 minutes)

Director Josef Fares returns to BIFF with a story based on his experiences as a Lebanese youngster trying to fit in after his family moved to Sweden when he was 10 years old. Zozo lives in Beirut with his family, who yearn to move to Sweden to live a more peaceful existence. Just before they are due to leave, tragedy strikes. Left orphaned, hungry and adrift by shells and gunfire, Zozo sets off for Sweden, where his paternal grandparents live. Once there, however, he faces new challenges, including senseless aggression from a sadistic schoolyard bully. Crafted with Josef’s trademark sense of visual flare, Zozo is the filmmaker’s most personal film yet.

* Indicates sub-titled films.

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