Films / Programs

Contemporary World Cinema

Take a whirlwind world tour in just 11 days – without leaving your seat. This year’s selection of Contemporary World Cinema whisks you from Iran to Italy, Cananda to Croatia, Japan to Mexico and beyond. As you broaden your horizons and soak up some local color, you’re bound to rediscover yourself – right here at SDFF 33.

American Falls
USA , 2010 , 55 min. In American Falls, experimental filmmaker Phil Solomon contemplates the gap between the American Dream and the historical reality, echoing the great unanswered question Charles Ives posed at the dawn of the last century: Whither America?... more
Bibliothèque Pascal
Hungary , 2010 , 111 min. Mona, recently returned from working in the sex trade in England, regales officials at a Romanian child welfare agency with fantastic tales of her misadventures in a bizarrely themed Liverpool brothel, hoping to regain custody of the young daughter she left behind.... more
The Black Panther
Mexico , 2010 , 108 min. Noir meets sci-fi meets classic Mexican cinema in director Iyeri Wertta’s surreal black-and-white pulp fantasy, where God, Death and a cryogenically frozen Pedro Infante all play a role in alcoholic gumshoe Nico Beamonte’s existential dilemma-and his quest for the mysterious Pantera Negra.... more
Blue Valentine
USA , 2010 , 120 min. In his long-awaited, emotionally charged second feature, University of Colorado graduate Derek Cianfrance examines the disintegration of a family, as boozy furniture mover Dean (Ryan Gosling) and discontented nurse Cindy (Michelle Williams) attempt to rekindle their young passion.... more
Carancho
Argentina , 2010 , 107 min. Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Trapero hits the gritty streets of Buenos Aires for this searing look at rampant corruption among predatory lawyers, crooked hospital administrators and dirty cops. Ricardo Darin and Martina Gusman star as doomed lovers amid the chaos.... more
Cephalopod
Mexico , 2010 , 90 min. Directed by Rubén Ímaz, this existential tale of love and loss follows young Basque-Mexican painter Sebastián from Spain to Mexico City to mourn the death of his girlfriend—and embark on a search for the legendary giant squid with which she was obsessed.... more
La Collectionneuse
France , 1967 , 85 min. The fourth episode in late French auteur Eric Rohmer's celebrated Six Moral Tales, set in sunny St. Tropez, follow an amoral young seductress (Haydee Politoff) and two male friends stubbornly determined not to fall prey to her charms. Bonne chance, boys.... more
Come Undone
Italy , 2010 , 126 min. In this erotic drama by writer/director Silvio Soldini (Burning in the Wind, SDFF26), Anna and Domenico meet by chance and are instantly smitten. Though married, they rush into a passionate love affair that threatens to ruin their heretofore placid lives.... more
The Crossing
Turkey , 2010 , 95 min. In this meditation on the loneliness of modern life, Turkish writer/director Selim Demirdelen paints a compelling portrait of a shy, middle-aged accountant who constructs an elaborate domestic fantasy from the ruins of family tragedy—while coming to the aid of others who have troubling secrets.... more
Dog Pound
France , 2009 , 88 min. French filmmaker Kim Chapiron goes inside the walls of a fictional Montana juvenile prison to reveal the dysfunction of the correctional system, encapsulated by the struggle of three disparate teenaged inmates to hone their dog-eat-dog survival skills.... more
Dog Sweat
Iran , 2009 , 90 min. Like their Western counterparts, the youths in Dog Sweat experiment with alcohol, sex and rock 'n' roll—only these rebels live in Tehran, where individual desire and societal mores are at dangerous odds.... more
The Drummond Will
United Kingdom , 2010 , 81 min. This rollicking British comedy about two brothers thrown together after years of estrangement has its dark side. Returning to the rural village where they grow up for their father’s funeral, they learn they’ve inherited his dilapidated cottage.... more
An Earthy Paradise for the Eyes
Czech Republic , 2009 , 114 min. An Earthy Paradise for the Eyes is a bittersweet comedy set against the deadly serious backdrop of the 1969 Soviet occupation of Czechlosavkia. Marta Hana’s family graciously yet defiantly struggles to live normal lives under the invasive scrutiny of the police state.... more
Erratum
Poland , 2010 , 90 min. Life is humming along for 34-year-old Michal—until an unplanned business trip offers him an opportunity to confront the possibility that he has made some big mistakes by choosing success in the corporate world over his passion for music.... more
A Family
Denmark , 2010 , 102 min. Danish filmmaker Pernille Fischer Christensen examines the emotional upheavals the middle-class Rheinwalds face, as well as the end-of life rituals in which they engage, when their proud, stubborn patriarch develops incurable cancer.... more
God's Land
USA , 2010 , 165 min. In this offbeat and bittersweet dramatic comedy based on a true story, a young Taiwanese family arrives in Garland, Texas, to join the God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation and await their rapturous transport into another dimension—while negotiating the ways of life in suburban America.... more
happythankyoumoreplease
USA , 2010 , 98 min. MUST END April 14 Winner! Starz People's Choice Award for Best Feature - SDFF33 35mm presentations - Josh Radnor wrote, directed and stars in happythankyoumoreplease a sharp comedy centered on a group of 20-something New Yorkers struggling to figure out themselves, their lives and th... more
Heartbeats
Finland , 2009 , 81 min. This series of vignettes about the everyday lives of several Helsinki women examines those moments of truth in which we receive the chance to reflect on our choices in life. Each scene was filmed in one take with a handheld camera.... more
How I Ended This Summer
Russia , 2010 , 124 min. Tension between grizzled Sergei and young Pavel, engaged in tedious work at a desolate meteorological research station near the Arctic Circle, mounts as slowly as the days pass. This stark character drama won three Silver Bears at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.... more
Hunting and Sons
Netherlands , 2010 , 93 min. In this dark drama from Sander Burger, Tako and Sandra live a seemingly contented life in rural Holland—until Sandra discovers she’s pregnant. As the reality of impending parenthood sets in, elation turns to anxiety—and then to tragedy.... more
I Love You Phillip Morris
USA , 2009 , 100 min. Hyperenergetic chameleon Jim Carrey stars as sociopathic conman Steven Russell, who discovers in midlife that he's gay—and finds his soulmate in the gentle title character (Ewan McGregor). The writing team behind cult comedy Bad Santa also direct this adaptation from a novel.... more
I Miss You
Argentina , 2010 , 96 min. A ruthless military regime ruled Argentina in the 1970s, waging a so-called dirty war that left 30,000 missing. Inspired by actual events in director Fabian Hofman’s own life, Te Extraño is the evocative and moving coming-of-age story of two brothers.... more
If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle
Romania , 2010 , 94 min. Florin Serban’s feature debut, in which a troubled yet sympathetic reform school inmate faces a family crisis and winds up taking a social worker hostage, reflects the growing strength of the cinematic New Wave in Romania, a nation still redefining itself in the post-Soviet era.... more
Kawasaki's Rose
Czech Republic , 2009 , 100 min. Frequent fest guest Jan Hrebejk (Shameless, SDFF32) tackles the touchy subject of the collaboration between Czech citizens and their former Communist government with a light, ironic touch in Kawasaki's Rose, the official Czech nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Academy Awards.... more
Little Rose
Poland , 2010 , 118 min. In 1960s Poland, against a backdrop of anti-Semitism, a beautiful young woman is recruited by her lover, a secret service agent, to woo a famous writer in order to expose his Jewish identity. But the more this reluctant informant learns about her mark, the more the plan spins out of control.... more
Made in Dagenham
United Kingdom , 2010 , 113 min. In 1968, it was a man’s world—until the women of Dagenham, England, seeking equal pay for equal work, had something to say about it. Sally Hawkins plays firebrand Rita O’Grady, a seamstress employed by the Ford Motor Company who sets the historic protests into motion.... more
Mama's Boy
Czech Republic , 2010 , 23 min. What is more dangerous for 14-year-old Petr—the growing distance between him and his single mom or his new friendship with a beautiful and sympathetic barmaid?... more
M*A*S*H
USA , 1970 , 116 min. Robert Altman’s 1970 black comedy about army surgeons who crack wise and flout authority to maintain their sanity near the frontline is set during the Korean War—but it remains as relevant as ever. Elliott Gould will be presented with the 2010 John Cassavetes Award following the film.... more
Men in Rut
Czech Republic , 2009 , 109 min. In this madcap satire, politics collide with small-town life when the residents of rural Mourinov host the 35th Anniversary Deer Calling Championship in the hope of enticing the Czechoslovakian prime minister to attend and grant them permission to build a highway that will finally put them on the ma... more
Monogamy
USA , 2010 , 96 min. MUST END March 24 at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax 35mm presentation - Thirty-somethings Theo (Chris Messina) and Nat (Rashida Jones) are engaged. He’s a wedding photographer, she’s an aspiring singer/songwriter, and together they live a picturesque life in a sprawling New York loft. T... more
My Tehran for Sale
Iran , 2009 , 95 min.
The New Year
USA , 2010 , 96 min. In this little character sketch with a big heart, would-be author Sunny devotes herself to her cancer-stricken father, a sweet but bland boyfriend, and the Pensacola bowling alley where she works—until Isaac shows up and inspires her to fill in the blanks of her life story.... more
Nice Guy Johnny
USA , 2010 , 90 min. Insisting he grow up and leave his beloved jock-radio job behind, Johnny’s no-nonsense fiancée arranges an interview with a manufacturing company in Manhattan. But in this romantic comedy, playboy Uncle Terry (writer/director Edward Burns) has other plans for his nephew.... more
Of Love and Other Demons
Costa Rica , 2009 , 97 min. This adaptation of the eponymous novel by Gabriel García Márquez has a dreamlike quality that captures the spirit of South American magic realism. In colonial Colombia, a pubescent girl is believed to be possessed by the devil—except by the priest assigned to her exorcism.... more
Poetry
South Korea , 2010 , 139 min. Marking a comeback after a long hiatus, South Korean actress Yoon Jeong-hee is brilliant in acclaimed filmmaker Lee Chang-dong’s quietly evocative drama about struggling grandmother Mija. As her life is increasingly beset by difficulties, she finds refuge—and a voice—in poetry class.... more
Puzzle
Argentina , 2010 , 88 min. In this delicately balanced family drama from Argentina, a suburban housewife’s passion for solving jigsaw puzzles leads to a new and exciting world of possibilities. She joins a suave bachelor in his posh city apartment to practice for an upcoming competition—to the dismay of her husband and sons.... more
Le Quattro Volte
Italy , 2010 , 88 min. In Michelangelo Frammartino's poetico-philosophical dreamscape, the soul of an ancient Calabrian shepherd passes to the body of a newborn goat, then to a fir tree, at last to a humble lump of coal. Thus does the Milan-born director fulfill the belief of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras.... more
Rainy Seasons
Iran , 2010 , 90 min. As his parents finalize their divorce, 16-year-old Sina is facing his own modern problems in present-day Iran. At every turn, they present him with choices that will shape the man he becomes. Rainy Seasons shows that the pain of adolescence is universal.... more
Salve
Iran , 2010 , 95 min. Aziz, a sickly but devoted old woman, tries to help her addict-granddaughter, Maryam, escape a world of trouble in Tehran. Refusing to give up on her loved one, she struggles to protect Maryam from the wrath of her father, her drug dealer and the police.... more
A Screaming Man
France , 2010 , 92 min. A former swimming champion in present-day Chad is humiliated when he loses his job as a pool attendant to his son. Can he regain his dignity without betraying his child? Quietly powerful, A Screaming Man won the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.... more
Shocking Blue
Netherlands , 2010 , 90 min. Thomas, Chris and Jacques are inseparable boyhood friends living in the Dutch countryside, where they entertain themselves by faking their own deaths and rating them for creativity—until, that is, a freak accident puts life itself in perspective.... more
A Somewhat Gentle Man
Norway , 2010 , 105 min. In this Norwegian comedy-drama, a seedy Swedish underworld boss tries to persuade Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård), fresh out of prison, to shoot the snitch who put him there. But after being locked up for 12 years, Ulrik would prefer to experience life’s pleasures.... more
Submarino
Denmark , 2010 , 112 min. Dogme 95 auteur Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, SDFF21) paints a relentlessly grim portrait of two emotionally damaged brothers—one a brusing ex-convict, the other a pale, dessicated junkie—struggling to overcome the terrors of their past on the bleak outskirts of Copenhagen.... more
Tehroun
Iran , 2009 , 95 min. Ibrahim comes to Tehran from the provinces hoping to make quick money for his growing family—but hope fades fast in the big city. Tehroun, slang for Tehran, reveals its namesake’s underbelly in this noir-style thriller.... more
There Are Things You Don't Know
Iran , 2010 , 92 min. The melancholy mood of late-night Tehran matches that of taciturn taxi driver Ali, who ferries passengers with their own problems around the capital cloaked in darkness. Iran’s precarious political situation lends social texture to first-time director Fardin Saheb-Zamani’s drama.... more
Tiny Furniture
USA , 2010 , 90 min. Newly graduated from college, Aura has returned home to New York City feeling that she should know what to do next—but doesn’t. This slyly unsettling coming-of-age comedy/drama stars writer/director Lena Dunham, who was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 200... more
To the Sea
Mexico , 2009 , 73 min. Lying somewhere between documentary and narrative, To the Sea poignantly views the world through the eyes of a child. Before returning to Rome with his Italian mother, five-year-old Natan spends an idyllic summer on a coral reef with his Mexican father.... more
Twisted Roots
Finland , 2009 , 99 min. From first-time director Saara Saarela comes a thoroughly Nordic, sensitive and moving drama about the impending death of a hard-working antiques dealer whose family faces the burden of inheritance, from the responsibilities it entails to the life-threatening illnesses it may engender.... more
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Thailand , 2010 , 114 min. A dying man returns home to the mystical Thai countryside to be among loved ones with an animistic understanding of the world—some of whom are long dead. The scale of writer/director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee—won the 2010 Palme d’Or at Cannes.... more
Venice
Poland , 2010 , 110 min. The magic of Venice is re-created in a basement in Poland by an 11-year-old boy whose vacation plans are crushed by the outbreak of war in 1939. Marek and his aunt escape the horrors of war to enter into a mythical subterranean world in this adaptation from a Polish novel.... more
Wallace Line
Germany , 2009 , 84 min. Franz Müller's witty dramatic comedy explores the hazards of modern romance as a pair of single parents meet in an Internet chat room and impulsively move in together—only to watch their relationship pale beside the unexpected first love between their own teenaged children.... more
We Are What We Are
Mexico , 2010 , 90 min. Digital presentation - The old cliché about a hard-working dad who brings home the bacon gets a disturbing new twist in Mexican director Jorge Michel Grau’s slow boil of a first feature. It begins with the death of an older, nondescript gentleman in a busy public walkway; after cleaning u... more
The White Meadows
Iran , 2009 , 92 min. In this magical-realist allegory of sociopolitical oppression, dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof follows middle-aged Rahmat as he sails around Lake Urmia on a mission to collect the tears of the heartbroken into a tiny pitcher.... more
Wild River
USA , 1960 , 110 min. Bathed in a crisp autumnal glow, Wild River may be Elia Kazan’s most affecting film. In 1935, a TVA agent (Montgomery Clift) must persuade an obstinate old woman to abandon her home before it is flooded for a public works project.... more

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