L to R : Shareeka Epps as Drey and Ryan Gosling as Dan in
Half Nelson, directed by Ryan Fleck, USA, 2006; 106 min.
Courtesy: THINKFilm
Half Nelson, directed by Ryan Fleck, USA, 2006; 106 min.
Courtesy: THINKFilm
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Celebrating its 35th anniversary, NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS remains one of the major showcases for the
work of emerging international and American filmmakers. In 2006, there were twenty-five feature films and
five shorts that comprised the program which ran from March 22 to April 2. The festival was presented jointly
by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Department of Film and Media, The Museum of Modern Art.
Screenings were held at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center and at the Roy and Niuta Titus 1
Theater at MoMA.
In addition to the screenings, this year’s event featured a new-directors roundtable entitled “From Script to
Screen,” presented by HBO Films. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson), Ramin Bahrani (Man Push
Cart), and Sarah Watt (Look Both Ways) shed light on the making of their films and answered audience
questions at the Walter Reade Theater on Sunday, March 26, at 12:30 p.m.
Another new feature at this year’s New Directors/New Films was “ND/NF Classics,” a look back at some of the
most important documentaries that premiered in the festival over the past twenty years. Among some of the
offerings in this retrospective sidebar are Stephanie Black’s H-2 Worker (1990), a stunning look at the
thousands of foreign migrant workers brought in to harvest Florida’s sugar cane; the Oscar-nominated
Streetwise (1984), Martin Bell’s searing portrait of the lives of runaway teens; and Paradise Lost: The Child
Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996), Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s detailed and controversial study of
an Arkansas murder trial. These afternoon screenings will all be presented at the Walter Reade Theater.
The 2006 Selection Committee was composed of Film Society’s Marian Masone, Joanna Ney, and Richard
Peña; and MoMA’s Mary Lea Bandy, Jytte Jensen, and Laurence Kardish. In making their final selection they
viewed over one thousand movies in special screenings, at festivals, and as part of an open-call process.
The countries represented this year included Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany,
Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.
New Directors/New Films was sponsored by National Geographic Traveler Magazine and Stella Artois® and
was made possible by the generosity of the Julien J. Studley Foundation and the Irene Diamond Fund.
Additional support was provided by HBO Films, Film Movement, and The Junior Associates of The Museum of
Modern Art, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
Ticket Information
Tickets to New Directors/New Films went on sale to the public on March 3 and were available for purchase for
screenings at both venues (Walter Reade Theatre and the Titus Theater) at Alice Tully Hall, the Walter
Reade Theater, online at www.filmlinc.com (there was a $1.25 service charge per ticket), and by phone by
calling CENTERCHARGE at (212) 721-6500 (there was a $5.50 handling charge per ticket). Tickets for
MoMA screenings also were available at MoMA’s Film and Media desk. Ticket prices were $12 for the general
public, $10 for Film Society and MoMA members. Series tickets (10 or more different films) were $10 for the
general public and $8 for members. Series tickets were sold only by mail order through the Alice Tully box
office. The HBO Films Roundtable tickets were $10 for the general public and $6 for Film Society and MoMA
members.
Detailed Program and Schedule Information
Please note: all film descriptions were written by the festival’s programmers.
The first letter of the program number indicates the venue: W – Walter Reade Theater, M – MoMA.
HALF NELSON
Ryan Fleck, USA, 2006; 106 min. - A THINKFilm release.
M-22a: Wed., Mar. 22: 6:00 P.M.; W-23b: Thur., Mar. 23: 8:45 P.M.; W-25b: Sat., Mar. 25: 3:45 P.M.
A committed and popular teacher and coach at a public New York City junior high school, Dan’s totally
engaged at school but his private life is a mess, as he spends most of his time off in a drug haze. He
manages to keep his two lives separate until Drey, one of his students, discovers him in a compromising
situation. Now the two embark on a turbulent journey through the chaos and temptations of their worlds.
Director Ryan Fleck has fleshed out the characters from his short film Gowanus, Brooklyn (ND/NF 2004) and
created a full-bodied drama that explores personal demons and the friendships that can help us change our
lives. Ryan Gosling plays Dan with an idealistic intensity and Shareeka Epps—who originated the role of Drey
in the short—packs an emotional wallop as a teenager who struggles to make sense of her world.
THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS
Auraeus Solito, Philippines, 2006; 100 min. – A Unico Entertainment release
M-22b: Wed., Mar. 22: 9 P.M.; W-23a: Thur., Mar. 23: 6:00 P.M.; W-25a: Sat., Mar. 25: 1:00 P.M.
A remarkable feature film debut, Maximo Oliveros is the irresistibly endearing tale of a twelve-year-old Filipino
boy named Maxi who lives with his outlaw father and thuggish older brothers in the teeming slums that ring
Manila. A neighborhood favorite despite his flirty walk and elaborate hair accessories, Maxi cooks, sews,
shops, and brings a note of welcome warmth to the motherless, all-male household. One night Victor, a kind
rookie cop, saves Maxi from a beating, and a very special friendship blooms. Smitten with the handsome law
enforcer, Maxi is torn between his loyalty to his brutal yet loving family and his attraction to the young cop.
Infused with warmth, humor, and wisdom, the film is a layered portrait of a different kind of community.
Nathan Lopez as Maxi and JR Valentin as Victor make an unforgettable odd couple.
OCTOBER 17, 1961
Alain Tasma, France, 2005; 106 min.
M-23a: Thur., Mar. 23: 6:00 P.M.; W-24b: Fri., Mar. 24: 8:45 P.M.
Over four decades later, the shadows of French colonialism in Algeria continue to haunt not only French
historical memory but its recent cinema as well. Director Alain Tasma, a former assistant to François Truffaut,
Jean-Luc Godard, and Barbet Schroeder, making his feature film debut, meticulously re-creates a pivotal
moment in the Algerian struggle that has surprisingly remained
-more-
practically unknown by the French public until recently. As the fighting in Algeria was winding down, Algerians
living in France became the targets of violence, while the Algerians and their supporters responded by killing
policemen. The FLN—the main Algerian political group—called for a peaceful demonstration, and thousands of
Algerians took to the Paris streets, setting the stage for a tragic confrontation. Tasma gives voice to both the
Algerians and the French authorities, carefully detailing the factions, the internal divisions, and the eventual
cover-up of a night whose resonance can still be felt in France and beyond.
LOOK BOTH WAYS
Sarah Watt, Australia, 2005; 100 min. A Kino International release.
M-23b: Thur., Mar. 23: 8:45 P.M.; W-26c: Sun., Mar. 26: 5:30 P.M.
Sarah Watt, an Australian writer, director, and producer of prize-winning animations, brings her particular
offbeat sensibility to her feature film debut, an unconventional and complex story of intersecting lives. For
anxiety-ridden and disaster-prone Meryl (Justine Clarke), life is daunting. Her vivid imagination invokes scary
events that we see as hand-drawn animation imagery. Still numb after her father’s funeral, Meryl witnesses a
real accident, an event that links her fate to other troubled souls, particularly Nick (William McInnis), a
reporter dealing with a health crisis, and Andy (Anthony Hayes), a divorced father coping with his girlfriend’s
unwanted pregnancy. Slightly bizarre and intense yet inexplicably buoyant, this astute examination of
personal mortality in contemporary times may signal a new New Wave in Australian cinema.
Preceded by
Pia
Javier Andrade, Ecuador, 2005; 9 min.
A story of a young girl dealing with two rites of passage as she turns fifteen—one celebratory, the other life-
changing.
ICEBERG
Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, Belgium, 2005; 84 min.
W-24a: Fri., Mar. 24: 6:00 P.M.; M-25a: Sat., Mar. 25: 3:00 P.M.
Not since René Clair and Jacques Tati have gags been so expertly constructed or characters looked more
mournful than in Iceberg, a tasty concoction with equal measures of poetic fantasy and slapstick comedy. In a
tranquil seaside town in lower Normandy, life goes through its predictable paces. Fiona, our sad-sack
heroine, lives with her husband and kids and manages a local restaurant. One day, as she is closing up, she
accidentally gets locked in a cold storage chamber from which she emerges a woman transformed—and
violently obsessed with all things frozen. Before long, she meets a deaf sailor, embarks on a new adventure
aboard a skiff named “Le Titanique,” and then…. The three venturesome filmmakers—Dominique Abel, Fiona
Gordon, and Bruno Romy—are true cinematic magicians and gifted clowns as well.
Preceded by
Terra Incognita
Peter Volkart, Switzerland, 2005; 18 min.
This hilarious “mockumentary” explores one young physicist’s bizarre experiments and secret expeditions to
unknown parts of the world.
QUINCEAÑERA
Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, USA, 2006; 90 min. – A Sony Pictures Classics release
M-24a: Fri., Mar. 24: 6:00 P.M.; W-25d: Sat., Mar. 25: 9:00 P.M.
The Grand Prix winner from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival is a spirited and well-wrought contemporary
comedy/drama—one that entertains as it performs a reality check on a close-knit community. Magdalena is
obsessed with preparations for her all-important fifteenth birthday celebration in Echo Park, one of Los
Angeles’s traditional Mexican neighborhoods, until she finds she’s pregnant and her father sends her
packing. She lands at the home of her uncle, who’s also taken in her cousin who has been thrown out of his
house. Meanwhile, gentrification is disturbing the status quo in the old neighborhood, and crucial events tear
at the fabric of traditional family life. Quinceañera is an unsentimental yet affectionate tale of growing up and
taking charge of one’s future in a rapidly changing reality.
CAVITE
Ian Gamazon and Neill dela Llana. Philippines/USA, 2005; 80 min. – A Truly Indie Release
M-24b: Fri., Mar. 24: 8:30 P.M.; W-26b: Sun., Mar. 26: 3:00 P.M.
In the city of Cavite, Philippines, people will do just about anything to survive. This is a bitter discovery for
Adam, a young Filipino-American called back to his native country for his father’s funeral. But on arrival at
the airport the purpose of his visit is dramatically altered by an anonymous phone call that will change the
course of his life. He’s told that his mother and sister are in the clutches of a terrorist group and will be
murdered unless he cooperates. This first-person verité nightmare is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with Adam
and his terrorist caller engaged in a battle of will and wits against the backdrop of a country rarely
represented in such rich detail. Cavite is bare-bones filmmaking at its finest and a tribute to cinematic
inventiveness.
Preceded by
Detail
Kanwal Sethi, Germany, 2005; 7 min.
Every day, in the town of Bet Omar in the West Bank, residents must negotiate a most unusual checkpoint.
SANGRE
Amat Escalante, Mexico/France, 2005; 90 min.
M-25b: Sat., Mar. 25: 5:45 P.M.; W-26d: Sun., Mar. 26: 8:15 P.M.
Diego and Blanca live out a mundane existence. Their jobs are menial and life at home consists of eating,
watching television, or having sex in various parts of the house. While the sex is
plentiful (Diego may come home and find Blanca naked on the floor, waiting for him), it seems to hold the
same allure for him as watching TV. When Diego’s grown daughter from a previous marriage shows up in
need of his help, Blanca’s jealous streak erupts. Suddenly, Diego can go nowhere and do nothing without
her suspicion being aroused. A minimalist first feature that explores an arid relationship and its
consequences, Sangre’s low-key approach builds to a horrific climax that takes us by surprise. Actors Cirilo
Recio and Laura Saldaña, as the couple that can only communicate through their flesh, take us to the limits
of a ritualized passion.
Preceded by
The Last Farm
Runar Runarsson. 2005, Iceland; 13 min.
A perfectly constructed tale of the last day on the last farm in an isolated part of Iceland.
MAN PUSH CART
Ramin Bahrani, USA, 2005; 87 min. - A Films Philos release.
W-25c: Sat., Mar. 25: 6:30 P.M.; M-26a: Sun., Mar. 26: 3:30 P.M.
In the indigo of a Manhattan dawn, Ahmad wheels, pushes, and coaxes a vending cart across town to
Madison Avenue, where he sells coffee and donuts. He has his customers, some regular, some not, but he is
alone; his life is one of solitary work on a particularly social corner of New York City. One day he meets a
successful and outgoing businessman from Pakistan, who, much to Ahmad’s discomfort, recognizes him as a
former pop star back home. Written and directed by North Carolinian Ramin Bahrani, who made his first film
Strangers (2000) in Iran, and starring first-time actor Ahmad Razvi as a man fleeing his past among the
urban multitudes, Man Push Cart captures the siren beauty of midtown Manhattan and the multicultural,
multiethnic complexity of life in a city that suddenly reneges on its comforting promise of anonymity.
A SOAP
Pernille Fischer Christensen, Denmark, 2006; 104 min.
M-25c: Sat., Mar. 25: 8:30 P.M.; W-27a: Mon., Mar. 27: 6 P.M.
This unconventional love story about two neighbors’ offbeat search for love and lust—and their panic when
they find both—is also a serious look at the nature of contemporary relationships and gender roles. Using the
enticing conventions of soap opera, newcomer Fischer Christensen deftly directs Kim Fupz Aakeson’s script
as a new kind of romance. Ill-tempered Charlotte has just split from her husband and finds herself living
above the promiscuous Ulrik (a.k.a. Veronica) who awaits a sex-change operation—and has his own family
problems to contend with. All the while a friendly narrator keeps us updated on the latest wrinkles in our
characters’ lives and their quest for a happy ending. The raw physicality of Trine Dyrholm’s fearless
performance Charlotte is beautifully contrasted with David Dencik’s reserved yet determined Ulrik/Veronica.
ELEVEN MEN OUT
Róbert I. Douglas, Iceland/Finland/United Kingdom, 2005; 90 min.
M-26b: Sun., Mar. 26: 6:00 P.M.; W-29b: Wed., Mar. 29: 8:30 P.M.
Óttar Thor is a champion soccer star, handsome and arrogant, who after winning a game casually tells a
journalist he’s gay. Imagine the surprise to his wife, a former Miss Iceland, his teenage son, already sullen
and troubled, and his father, Thor’s macho coach. A breezy and feisty dramatic comedy directed by Róbert I.
Douglas, this is a story about a man who, much to the chagrin of his family, exchanges one sort of
domesticity for another. After choosing a same-sex partner, he is kicked off the championship team where
players are presumably straight. But once a player, always a player, and Óttar is offered a spot on a team in
a basement soccer league that gay sportsmen from all over Iceland soon insist on joining. The ensemble
cast is pitch perfect, as is the tone in this lively account of the surprising accommodations people are
capable of making.
JOHN & JANE TOLL-FREE
Ashim Ahluwalia, India, 2005; 86 min. - An HBO Documentary Films presentation.
M27a: Mon., Mar. 27: 6:00 P.M.; W-30b: Thur., Mar. 30: 8:45 P.M.
A vast fluorescent-lit room in an anonymous compound in India–welcome to the world of overseas call
centers. Indian by day, American by night–so they can accommodate U.S. business hours–the young men and
women profiled here struggle to have their share of the American Dream as they sell products and
troubleshoot for consumers. These 1-800 workers learn to identify completely with their American aliases–
meet Glen, Sydney, and Naomi–and to reject their traditional values (until they return to their Indian homes
and to mothers urging them to eat). Ahluwalia’s revealing documentary plays like science fiction and shows a
consequence of globalization to be the outsourcing of souls as well as of goods. Cultural imperialism has
never looked scarier or more complete in this ferocious, funny, and ingeniously constructed film.
OLD JOY
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2006; 76 min.
W-27b: Mon., Mar. 27: 8:45 P.M.; M-29a: Wed., Mar. 29: 6:00 P.M.
Can an old friendship rekindle its spark? Kelly Reichardt’s luminous new film explores this theme with subtlety
and insight. Mark (Will Oldham) and Kurt (Daniel London), whose lives have gone in different directions,
reunite for one carefree weekend camping trip to the Oregon mountains. Kurt is still a free spirit, seemingly
unattached. Mark has a partner and a baby on the way. But these pals are in a ruminative mood, trying to
get hold of a common memory. As the terrain changes from urban to wilderness, so do they, registering a
range of emotions that define and redefine their relationship. Reichardt’s second film after her well-received
River of Grass (1994) is a Whitmanesque exploration of nature, both human and elemental, and the idea that
old joy can have new connotations. The musical score by Yo La Tengo is just right for the structure and
mood of this affecting study of male bonding.
Preceded by
The Wraith Of Cobble Hill
Adam Parrish King, USA, 2005; 15 min.
Young Felix gets an object lesson in responsibility as he grows up fast in this lovely animated fable.
IN BED
Matías Bize, Chile/Germany, 2005; 85 min.
M-27b: Mon., Mar. 27: 8:30 P.M.; W-28b: Tue., Mar. 28: 8:30 P.M.
A man and a woman meet and immediately fall into bed. They are intimate strangers, so unknown to each
other that they introduce themselves only after they’ve made love. Thus begins an emotional pas de deux
that takes place over the course of an entire night. As they get to know one another, they tell truths and lies,
explore loyalty and betrayal, come together and withdraw, all within the confines of a seedy motel room.
Matías Bize directs this close encounter as an erotic chamber piece, and also a study in voyeurism–just try
looking away. His choice of a cold setting for steamy romance affirms the complex nature of mutual attraction.
As brand new lovers who test the boundaries of trust, actors Blanca Lewin and Gonzalo Valenzuela bare
their souls and their bodies in two masterfully uninhibited performances. They spend their time literally and
figuratively naked, leaving us nowhere to go but into their deepest desires and fears.
IRON ISLAND
Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran, 2005; 90 min. - A Kino International release.
W-28a: Tue., Mar. 28: 6:00 P.M.; M-30b: Thur., Mar. 30: 9:30 P.M.
In a deserted stretch of ocean sits an enormous, rusting oil tanker, an “iron island” on which dozens of
families, some with their livestock, have taken up residence. The ship is their home, their school, their
mosque; some of the youngest residents have never lived anywhere else. Presiding over this behemoth is
the enigmatic Captain Nemat (well played by veteran actor Ali Nasirian), a stern but kindly, paternalist yet
absolute ruler who doesn’t hesitate to resort to cruelty if it suits his purposes. Supplies are bought by selling
off the barrels of oil still stored in the ship’s hull, or stripping parts of the ship itself for scrap. Yet despite
Nemat’s best efforts and hard work, there’s no negating a simple fact: the ship is sinking, and some kind of
plan has to be devised to move somewhere. Writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof’s immensely suggestive
tale is at its heart a tale of survival, a look at a group of people learning to live in even the most unlikely of
circumstances—and refusing to give up.
PAVEE LACKEEN
Perry Ogden, Ireland, 2005; 87 min.
W-29a: Wed., Mar. 29: 6:00 P.M.; M-31b: Fri., Mar. 31: 8:30 P.M.
Every country has its own itinerant population, those who live in a society, but are not really of it.
Photographer Perry Ogden’s feature film debut is a moving portrayal of the “Travellers” of Ireland. This is
neither a documentary nor a fictional film, but a hybrid that brilliantly plays with the fine line that exists
between the two; the work has, simply put, a core truthfulness to it. Using non-professional actors from the
Irish Traveller community, Ogden explores their lives through the eyes of ten-year-old Winnie, who lives with
her family on the industrialized outskirts of Dublin. Their home is a ramshackle trailer, and Winnie’s mother
spends much of her time jockeying between the possibility of buying a better mobile home or moving into a
house that social services is trying to foist on her. Winnie has her own troubles at school and has to deal with
a bureaucracy that doesn’t know how to deal with her. Ogden collaborated with his cast to create the
characters and the narrative that give cinematic life to the Travellers’ own stories.
FIRST ON THE MOON
Alexey Fedorchenko, Russia, 2005; 75 min.
M-29b: Wed., Mar. 29: 8:45 P.M.; W-1a: Sat., Apr. 1: 1:30 P.M.
Think it was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin? Well, think again, because as Alexey Fedorchenko’s unsettling
new film reveals, a Soviet cosmopilot, Ivan Kharlamov, actually went there and back in 1938, piloting his
experimental (and highly secretive) craft back to Chile, from where he undertook an arduous journey across
the Pacific, through China and Mongolia and finally into Mother Russia itself. Due to the sensitive nature of
his mission, Kharlamov disguised his true identity under a series of aliases, including Prince Alexander
Nevsky—the hero of a then-popular Soviet film—while his exploits were being filmed by the NKVD (Communist
Secret Police). Beyond being a kind of record of a sort of historical event, Fedorchenko’s film is a touching
expression of an unfettered utopian spirit—a sense of the limitless possibilities of human ingenuity and
imagination—that characterized many people’s vision of the Soviet experiment before its grim realities settled
in.
Preceded by
Still World
Elbert van Strien, The Netherlands, 2005; 30 min.
Sometimes stopping the world doesn’t make it any more manageable.
TEXAS
Fausto Paravidino, Italy, 2005; 104 min.
W-30a: Thur., Mar. 30: 6:00 P.M.; M-2a: Sun., Apr. 2: 1:00 P.M.
The hills of Piemonte aren’t precisely the rolling plains of the Lone Star state, yet the twenty-somethings who
populate Fausto Paravidino’s impressive debut feature would feel right at home in The Last Picture Show.
Underemployed, looking for a new thrill or just a way to get out, they gather on Saturdays, flirting, drinking
and occasionally threatening each other, but mainly getting whatever solace they can from feeling they’re not
alone. Yet cracks in the group are starting to emerge, especially when the handsome slacker Gianluca
begins cheating on his longtime girlfriend Cinzia with a married schoolteacher, Maria (Valeria Golino, in a
heartfelt performance). Assembling a cast of some of the most talented young actors in Italian cinema today,
Paravidino—who also appears in the film—creates in Texas a revealing portrait of a generation’s troubled
passage to an adulthood that seems to offer only limited horizons.
INTO GREAT SILENCE
Philip Gröning, Germany, 2005; 162 min.
M-30a: Thur., Mar. 30: 6:00 P.M.; W-2a: Sun., Apr. 2: 12:00 noon
As a novice filmmaker, Philip Gröning asked the Carthusian monks of the Grand Chartreuse, a monastery in
the French Alps, for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him.
They telephoned Gröning sixteen years and three dramatic features later. Gröning was invited, without crew
or artificial lighting, to record their daily lives, prayers, rituals, and rare outdoor excursions. Into Great Silence
is a delicate chronicle, impressionistic, meditative, and beautiful, of a year in and around the monastery,
where gardening, cooking, barbering, tailoring, and other monastic activities reveal the monks’ silent
communion with God. A tranquil contemplation about the possibility of transcendence for all.
TWELVE AND HOLDING
Michael Cuesta, 2005, USA; 90 min. - An IFC Films release.
W-31a: Fri., Mar. 31: 6:00 P.M.; M-1c: Sat., Apr. 1: 8:15 P.M.; W-2b: Sun., Apr 2: 3:45 P.M.
Michael Cuesta (L.I.E., ND/NF 2001) offers a powerful look into an adolescent world in which his characters’
still-growing bodies disguise the complexity of the emotional lives raging within them. Jacob and Rudy Carges
are 12-year-old twin brothers (both played by Conor Donovan, an exceptional young actor) who couldn’t be
more different—Rudy is athletic and outgoing, while Jacob hides behind a hockey mask. Malee, daughter of a
detached psychotherapist mother, develops a heart-breaking emotional attachment to one of her mother’s
patients. And overweight Leonard decides it’s time for his equally overweight mother to start slimming—by any
means necessary. Avoiding sensationalism or grand guignol theatrics, Cuesta never lets us lose sight of the
youth of his subjects—in the end they’re just kids trying to make their way in the world while discovering their
ability to affect that world and the lives of those around them.
13 TZAMETI
Gela Babluani, France, 2005; 93 min. - A Palm Pictures release
M-31a: Fri., Mar. 31: 6:00 P.M.; W-1b: Sat., Apr. 1: 4:15 P.M.; W-2d: Sun., Apr. 2: 8:45 P.M.
An extraordinarily assured debut feature, 13 Tzameti was warmly received at both Venice and Sundance,
where it won the top prize in the International Dramatic Competition. Owed money, and lacking any real
sense of direction in life, Sébastien (Georges Babluani, brother of director Gela) decides to take the place of
a dead man on a mysterious mission. Sébastien doesn’t know what the man did, but he does know that it was
awfully lucrative. Thus begins Sébastien’s journey towards a contemporary vision of hell, a world in which
anything, even one’s life, is simply another commodity to be bought, sold, or wagered on. With several
extraordinary scenes definitely not for the faint-hearted, 13 Tzameti is less shocking for what it shows than
for its portrait of a bleak, completely amoral world. The son of a major Georgian director, Gela Babluani, is a
talent to watch.
THINGS THAT HANG FROM TREES
Ido Mizrahy, USA, 2006; 98 min.
W-31b: Fri., Mar. 31: 8:30 P.M.; M-1b: Sat., Apr. 1: 5:30 P.M.
Twenty-four-year-old Ido Mizrahy’s haunting debut film, based on Aaron Louis Tordini’s novella, is set in
1969 in America’s oldest city, St. Augustine, Florida, in a neighborhood that has seen better days. But since
this insular community is imaginatively situated in Southern Gothic territory somewhere between hope and
desire, those days could be anywhere a live oak tree sends out its branches to engulf or devour. Tommy (the
extraordinary Cooper Musgrove) is an unusual boy, somewhat inured to misfortune, whose family is
downright peculiar. His dreamy mother, marvelously played by Deborah Kara Unger, tries to care for her son
but is often seen sitting as a mannequin in her own store window; Tom Sr. (Ray McKinnon), the absent
father, is a wild cowboy who could have been invented by Sam Shepard. The townspeople are a bunch of
oddballs and bullies, and Tommy has to navigate the terrain in his own ingenious way.
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
Laura Poitras, USA, 2006; 90 min.
M-1a: Sat., Apr. 1: 3:00 P.M.; W-2c: Sun., Apr. 2: 6:15 P.M.
Working alone in Iraq over eight months, filmmaker Laura Poitras created an extraordinarily intimate portrait
of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. Her principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six,
and Sunni political candidate. An outspoken critic of the occupation, Riyadh is equally passionate about the
need to establish democracy in Iraq; despite the misgivings of members of his family and his community, he
argues that Sunni participation in the elections is essential. Yet all around him, Dr. Riyadh sees only chaos,
as his waiting room fills each day with ordinary Iraqis showing the physical and mental effects of the ever-
increasing violence. The remarkable access that Poitras was able to gain into the Sunni community is
matched by her great skill as a filmmaker; never forcing an issue nor making cheap political points, Poitras
carefully assembles the images and sounds collected during her stay into a powerful mosaic of daily life in
Iraq that the mainstream media never come close to capturing.
WILD TIGERS I HAVE KNOWN
Cam Archer, USA, 2006; 93 min.
W-1c: Sat., Apr. 1: 6:45 P.M.; M-2b: Sun., Apr. 2: 3:45 P.M.
Archer’s explosive debut feature (executive produced by Gus Van Sant and Scott Rudin) may be the
millennium’s first example of a neo-American Underground film, ferocious, passionate, somewhat taboo in its
subject, and likely to divide contemporary audiences. A young boy and a loner, Logan develops a crush on
an older one, Rodeo, but must compete with the attention Rodeo gives his girlfriend. After school Logan
spends time in suggestive phone conversations phone, taking walks in the forest (where mountain lions
roam) and hanging out with his only friend who, like him, knows that he’s different. Made with a ragged
inventiveness on a miniscule budget, Wild Tigers is a fearless and original portrait of adolescent foolishness
and ache.
TOI ET MOI
Julie Lopes-Curval, France, 2005; 94 min.
W-1d: Sat., Apr. 1: 9:15 P.M.; M-2c: Sun., Apr. 2: 6:15 P.M.
Ah, the complications of romance! Sisters Ariane and Lena both have beaus, but new men are piquing their
interest. Lena’s in love with François, but has now met Mark, who tries his best to sweep her off her feet.
Ariane’s been dating Farid for two years, but he won’t commit, and she finds the charms of a Spanish
construction worker hard to resist. All these predicaments mirror the dilemmas of the characters in the “photo-
novels” that Ariane creates for a popular magazine. While Lena is serious and confused, Ariane is the loopy
one, walking into doors and playing out her desires, as well as her sister’s, in her writing. Director Julie Lopes-
Curval creates a delightful narrative of close encounters and near misses in a charming romance with a
playful style that perfectly suits the photo-novel genre. Winning performances by Marion Cotillard and Julie
Depardieu, as the siblings yearning for just the right match, grace this witty film in which fantasy and reality
commingle.
Preceded by
Phantom Canyon
Stacey Steers, USA, 2006; 10 min.
Meticulous handmade collages explore a woman’s fantastical journey through memories.
HBO Films Roundtable
“From Script to Screen: A Live Discussion”
Sun., Mar. 26: 12:30 P.M. at the Walter Reade Theater
Getting a film made is an achievement and a unique experience for each filmmaker. Talent, perseverance,
and luck play a part. But each individual emerging artist meets the challenges in a different way. This group
of promising newcomers agreed to share their road maps from original idea to New York premiere at New
Directors/New Films and destinations beyond. New Directors/New Films, now in its 35th year, has always
been interested in discovering and supporting new talent from around the world and this is a banner year in
this regard. The panel featured directors—including Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson), Ramin
Bahrani (Man Push Cart) and Sarah Wattas (Look Both Ways)—who told their stories and answered
questions.
ND/NF Classics: 10 Documentaries from 20 Years of New Directors/New Films
March 27–31
Detailed Program and Schedule Information
(All screenings at the Walter Reade Theater)
H-2 WORKER
Stephanie Black, USA, 1990; 70 min. - ND/NF 1990
Mon., Mar., 27: 1:30 P.M. (with intro by director)
This film is a powerful American documentary about the 10,000 men who are flown in yearly to Florida to do
work that no American will do: cutting sugar cane. H-2 Worker, which won a prize for Best Documentary at
the Sundance Film Festival, marks the debut of 28-year-old Stephanie Black, who, with a crew of mostly
women, clandestinely filmed a brutal season and amplified this footage with actual texts of the men’s personal
letters and amazing archival footage.
STREETWISE
Martin Bell, USA, 1984; 91 min. - ND/NF 1985
Mon., Mar. 27: 3:15 P.M. (with intro by director)
In April 1983, LIFE Magazine staff writer Cheryl McCall and photographer Mary Ellen Mark went to Seattle,
Washington, to research an article on runaway children. Published in the magazine’s July 1983 issue,
“Streets of the Lost” explored the environment of these street dwellers. The article was highly acclaimed,
winning a Robert F. Kennedy Award for Mark and the Canyon Photo Essayist Award; but McCall and Mark felt
the only way to communicate the full scope of what they found in these young lives was through the medium
of film. Moving quickly, before their potential subjects drifted to other cities, or were jailed or killed, McCall
and Mark returned to Seattle in mid-August 1983. With them was British director and cinematographer Martin
Bell, who is also Mark’s husband. McCall, Mark, and Bell scouted locations and renewed friendships with the
runaways of Pike Street. Filming began on Labor Day and lasted through Halloween, a two-month shoot that
required 14-hour days, talking with the children and waiting for something to happen....
Screening with
ERIN
Martin Bell, USA, 2005; 24 min.
In 2005 Bell and Mark, who had kept in touch with Erin (Tiny) all these years, went back to film her life. Today
she is married and the mother of nine kids. Erin incorporates some footage of the protagonist and her family
from 1983, 1990, and 2004. What emerges is a surprising second act.
SOUND AND FURY
Josh Aronson, USA, 1999; 80 min. - ND/NF 2000
Tue., Mar. 28: 1:00 P.M. (with intro by director)
An impassioned debate about a miraculous surgical procedure affects three generations of the Artinian
family in this powerful, emotionally searing exploration of the society and culture of the Deaf. Two brothers,
one who hears and one who is deaf, and their wives struggle to decide if their children should receive
cochlear implants. The hearing parents are convinced it will enable their son to hear and learn to speak; the
other parents believe the operation to be a cruel procedure that will destroy American Sign Language and an
established culture for the Deaf. In cinema verité style, filmmakers Josh Aronson and Roger Weisberg
thoughtfully capture the anguished, opposing views of the grandparents and parents as well as the vibrant
and affectionate children whose futures are everyone’s concern in this complex family. A film not to be
missed.
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato, USA, 1999; 79 min. - ND/ NF 2000
Tue., Mar. 28: 3:00 P.M.
This portrait of Tammy Faye Bakker, narrated by drag queen RuPaul and featuring chapter headings
announced by a pair of hand-puppets, is much more than a camp extravaganza. Directors Fenton Bailey and
Randy Barbato review Tammy Faye’s tragic and sometimes triumphant life, providing insight and perspective
on a woman whose name usually evokes no more than an image of smeared mascara. This highly
entertaining and revealing chronicle of one of our most controversial public figures gives us Tammy Faye’s
take on Jerry Falwell and the scandal that polarized Christians and sent her husband Jim to prison. Whatever
one thinks of her views and her mission, Tammy Faye is surely a fascinating subject for this expertly crafted
film.
GOSHOGAOKA
Sharon Lockhart, Japan/USA, 1997; 63 min. - ND/NF 1998
Wed., Mar. 29: 1:00 P.M.
Some of the most exciting films are those that appear the simplest, and so it is with Goshogaoka, a
mesmerizing work that refreshes the eye and ear as it liberates the mind. Not far outside Tokyo, there is
Goshogaoka, a junior high school with a girls basketball team. Lockhart, an American visual artist, attended
practice and recorded dead-on some of the routines that constitute the workout. Goshogaoka may be read
as pure ethnography, detached and calibrated, but that would be missing just about everything in this most
pleasurable film. Although there is no narrative, there is surprise, expectation, and even the creation of a
new entity: out of the synchronous behavior of the adolescent girls comes the group. The film invites
speculation on the notion of communal achievement, the melancholy of transience, and the beautiful sound
of footfalls.
PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS
Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky, USA, 1996; 150 min. - ND/NF 1996
Wed., Mar. 29: 2:30 P.M. (with intro by directors)
In 1993, the bodies of three eight-year-old boys, all brutally murdered, were found in a shallow creek in West
Memphis, Arkansas. A surprise confession implicated two teenagers known for their interest in the occult and
their penchant for black clothes and heavy metal music. With remarkable access to the suspects, their
families, and the victims’ families, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Brothers Keeper) have
created a richly detailed, intimate study of these emotionally charged trials as well as of that dark corner of
contemporary American life in which “difference” carries its own sentence.
A DAY ON THE GRAND CANAL WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA
Philip Haas, USA, 1988; 46 min. - ND/NF 1988
Thur., March 30: 1:00 P.M. (with intro by director)
With irrepressible delight, David Hockney unravels a 17th-century Chinese scroll and reveals how a vivid
story can emerge through the art of altered perspective and selective detail. Although not explicit, the film
provides us with a deeper understanding of Hockney’s own work. A witty conception, beautifully rendered.
Screening with
JOHN HUSTON AND THE DUBLINERS
Lilyan Sievernich, USA, 1987; 60 min.
It is fitting that Sievernich’s touching documentary on John Huston’s last film, The Dead, transcends the
genre of films on filmmaking. The power of Huston’s vision and personality and his sense of mortal irony are
unmistakable, as is the affectionate respect of his final colleagues. An intelligent and loving souvenir.
THE DEVIL NEVER SLEEPS / EL DIABLO NUNCA DUERME
Lourdes Portillo, USA, 1994; 87 min. - ND/NF 1995
Thur., Mar. 30: 3:30 P.M.
A nonfiction murder mystery in which the Chicana filmmaker Lourdes Portillo plays detective. Oscar, a
favorite uncle, has been shot, and Portillo returns to her hometown in Mexico to discover what happened. But
the devil has been very busy in Chihuahua, and the more she learns the less she knows. Far from the simple
man she remembered, Oscar, it turns out, had some volatile involvements, any one of which may have been
lethal. In investigating the life and times of Uncle Oscar, Portillo presents a fond melodrama of contemporary
Mexico, where the dead and living mingle and appearances count most.
WITNESS TO WAR
Deborah Shaffer & David Goodman, USA, 1984; 29 min. - ND/NF 1985
Fri., Mar. 31: 1:00 P.M. (with intro by the directors from both films)
So here we are 15 years later—a man (Charlie Clements) who came from a military family that had nothing but
the highest military ideals has come full circle. From sitting in the cockpit flying aircrafts in Vietnam, he’s
ended up with a backpack down in the jungle in El Salvador being bombed by the same airplanes he used to
fly.
Screening with
THE TIES THAT BIND
Su Friedrich, USA, 1984; 50 min.
“I had no intention of creating a general portrait of all Germans, or of all German women, nor did I intend to
explain the origins of the war or Naziism. The film began as a personal investigation of my mother’s life
before and during the war, primarily from age 10 to 28... I wanted to stay close to her text and work within the
confines of a single life... I restricted my found footage of Germany to that of Ulm, which I acquired on a trip in
1982. Even though nothing in the images distinguishes them as shots of Ulm, it was important for me to know
that it was her hometown rather than just ‘images of war’... I understood that she was courageous....” – Su
Friedrich
WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN?
Christine Choy & Renee Tajima, USA, 1988; 87 min. - ND/NF 1988
Fri., Mar. 31: 3:15 P.M. (with intro by director)
Vincent Chin’s murderer is known, and to an extent has accepted responsibility—but that’s not the incisive
point of this complex and ambitious documentary. The filmmakers, Tajima and Choy, chart the collision of two
American dreams outside a topless bar one hot Detroit night in 1982, and describe the labyrinthine course
that justice, susceptible to competing pressures, took over the next four years. Revealing interviews with the
surviving principals are integrated not only with newsreel and archival footage but with some of Motown’s own
sound. This independently made film places a single awful incident within the turbulent social network of an
America so deep in change that even its citizens, fearful of unemployment and of other races, don’t
understand what’s happening.
| NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS 3/22 - 4/2 2006 |
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