Dooman River (Korea/China, 2009, 89 min)
Director: Zhang Lu
In Korean and Mandarin with subtitles in English
Writer-director Zhang Lu’s fascinating window into a rarely seen corner of rural China revolves around 12- year-old Chang-ho, living with his grandfather and mute sister along the frozen river-border with North Korea. Although fraught with unemployment and other tensions, his community seems sympathetic toward the Korean refugees fleeing famine and misery; Chang-ho even bonds over soccer with one young border-crosser who comes scavenging food for a sibling. But he soon turns on his new friend as suspicions mount against the illegal immigrants and his sister reels from unexpected aggression, provoking a quandary over his loyalties in an exquisitely detailed story of compassion and strife across an uneasy geopolitical border.
Dooman River is co-presented by the Global Lens Initiative and is part of Global Lens 2011 film series.
Sunday, Oct 9, 4:00 pm, Cinefest-Georgia State University
Saturday, Oct 15, 4:00 pm, White Hall-Emory University
Piano In A Factory (China, 2010, 100 min)
Director: Meng Zheng
In Mandarin with English subtitles
When Chen's estranged wife reappears asking for a divorce and custody of their daughter, the musician girl decides she will live with whoever can provide her with a piano. Chen's struggle thus begins. When efforts to borrow money and even steal a piano fail, Chen concocts a preposterous plan - he'll make a piano from scratch! He persuades a bunch of reluctant, but loyal, misfit friends to help him forge the instrument in a derelict factory from a heap of scrap steel. Though crude in design and tune, the factory piano awaits its first and final performance from his little girl.
Saturday, Oct 22, 4:00 pm, White Hall-Emory University
Donor (Philippines, 2010, 84 min)
Director: Mark Meily
In Tagalog with English subtitles
In her desire to work abroad, Lizette, a seller of pirated DVDs, decides to sell her kidney to a wealthy Arabian kidney patient. When a law is announced banning organ transplants between Filipinos and foreigners, Lizette agrees to marry the Arab, a man she has never met , for the surgery to push through.
Sunday, Oct 9, 4:00 pm, GPC-Dunwoody NC-1100 Auditorium
Tuesday, Oct 11, 7:00 pm, Room 108.2, Campus Center Ballroom, University of West Georgia
1601 Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30118
Touch (USA, 2011, 109 min)
Director: Minh Duc Nguyen
In English/Vietnamese with English subtitles
Set against the vibrant and colorful backdrop of modern Los Angeles, an unexpected friendship blossoms between Tam (Porter Lynn), a newly hired manicurist at VIP Nails and Brendan (John Ruby), a timid, dejected mechanic. Brendan’s oil-stained hands are the basis of his wife’s rejections and he seeks Tam’s help in a desperate attempt to re-kindle the flame in his marriage. Through Tam’s advice and aid, Brendan’s marriage improves, but Tam and Brendan find themselves drawn to one another, an attraction which intensifies with each session. Meanwhile, Tam is forced to face her own demons and desires as well as her tumultuous relationship with her estranged father (Long Nguyen).
Special guests: Director Minh Dun Nguyen and Producer Mellisa Tong will be on hand to introduce the film and followed by post screening Q&A.
Saturday, Oct 8, 6:00 pm, Cinefest-Georgia State University
Sang Pemimpi / The Dreamer (Indonesia, 2009, 120 min)
Director: Riri Riza
In Bahasa with English subtitles
This film is a cinematic adaptation of Andrea Hirata’s hit novel, SANG PEMIMPI (The Dreamer), the second part of the LASKAR PELANGI (The Rainbow Troops) quartet, following the life of IKAL, son of a low-wage State Tin Company laborer on what was once one of the richest islands in Indonesia: Belitung.
THE DREAMER takes the audience through the adolescent years of Ikal, as well as his cousin ARAI and his friend JIMBRON. In order to continue their education, the boys must leave their village for the port city of Manggar—dozens of kilometers away from their families.
Under the supervision of a young and spirited teacher named Julian Balia, Ikal, Arai and Jimbron become inspired by his fresh ideas to pursue big dreams. They make a promise to stick together to reach their ambitious dream: studying in Paris and traveling the world.
THE DREAMER follows them through their teenage crises as they enter that golden, yet turbulent, high school phase of their lives. Arai comes down with an unbearable love for Zakiah Nurmala, a beautiful girl who is higher in social status, and Jimbron falls for a young, sullen girl working at a grass jelly factory who never, ever smiles. As for Ikal, the humiliation of being poor leads him to anger, and he begins to feel that their ambition is nothing but a big lie. His state of hopelessness not only strains his friendship with Arai and Jimbron, but it also breaks his father’s heart, who has always been nothing but proud of him.
Full of tales of marginalization and the heartbreaking struggle to reach dreams, this film shows the beauty of friendship and the genuine love between a father and child.
Saturday, Oct 8, 4:00 pm, Georgia Perimeter Colleg-Dunwoody , NC-1100 Auditorium
Mengejar Ombak / Chasing Waves (Documentary, Indonesia, 2009, 48 min)
Director: Tyrone LeBon and Dave Arnold
In Bahasa with English subtitiles
This feature length documentary follows the life of a young and very talented Indonesian surfer, Dede Suryana, as he embarks on his first full season of international competition.
Winner of the Best Emerging Filmmaker and the Best Original Score Awards at the prestigious X-Dance Film Festival 2009, Utah, USA.
Tuesday, Oct 11, 4:00 pm, Cinefest-Georgia State University
Hospitalité (Japan, 2010, 96 min)
Director: Koji Fukada
In Japanese with English subtitles
A dark comedy set in a small Tokyo neighborhood, HOSPITALITÉ is a satirical film about Japanese xenophobia and the fear of outsiders. Kobayashi Mikio lives with his young wife, daughter from a previous marriage, and newly returned sister in their inherited house that doubles as a small printing shop. Their existence is mundane and trivial, with the only recent excitement being the disappearance of their parakeet Pi-chan. When Kagawa Hanataro, a stranger who claims he has distant ties to Kobayashi’s father, winds up on their doorstep, he invites himself not only into their home, but also into their business and personal lives. His presence threatens to disrupt the peace and order of the Kobayashi household when he moves in with his mysterious, foreign wife Annabelle from Brazil, or Bosnia, or maybe someplace else. As a web of lies, secrets, and blackmail unfold, Kobayashi’s loveless marriage to the beautiful, delicate Natsuki is tested and the couple’s existence unravels as Kagawa brings guest after guest into their home. Meanwhile, the neighborhood watch and its ever-present paranoia looms over the activities at the Kobayashi residence. Through deadpan dialogue and awkward confrontations, Koji Fukada’s film redefines the meaning of HOSPITALITÉ.
Thursday, Oct 13, 7:00 pm, Room 108.2, Campus Center Ballroom, University of West Georgia
1601 Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30118
Love In A Puff (Hong Kong, 2010, 103 min)
Director: Pang Ho Cheung
In Cantonese with English subtitles
Jimmy is an advertising executive who befriended Cherie, a cosmetic sales girl, at a "Hot Pot Pack" shortly after Jimmy broke up with his girlfriend who cheated on him. Cherie's flirting with Jimmy during their cigarette breaks, through text messages and excursions at night eventually led to Cherie's break up with her lived-in boyfriend. This sudden change in their relationship, including a failed one night stand at a love motel, caused them to confront the change in their relationship and consider whether they are viewing each other as love interests or just a companion during lonely nights.
Saturday, Oct 15, 2:00 pm, GPC-Dunwoody , Room NA-2200
Juliets (Taiwan, 2010, 105 min)
Directors: Hou Chi-jan "Juliet's Choice"; Shen Ko-shang "Two Juliets"; Chen Yu-hsun "One More Juliet".
In Mandarin with English subtitles
In the 1970's Ju, who never fell in love, works in a printing store. One day a neat, good-looking boy comes to the store with banned articles in his hands, Ju's life is not monotonous anymore. Mei has just been through a breakup and is told a true story—in the 80's, a woman moved into a madhouse by faking insanity so that she could wait for her lover without being disturbed. In 2010, 40-year-old "Juliet" tries to commit suicide but a commercial-shooting crew gets in the way. Then "Juliet" meets someone who is more obstinate about love. What will be Juliet's final decision—to live or to die?
Saturday, Oct 15, 4:00 pm, GPC-Dunwoody Room NA-2200
Mumbhai Connection (USA, 2011, 90 min)
Director: Atlanta Nagendra
Producer: Rafiq Batcha
In Hindi and English, with English subtitles
Faisal is a hard working, honest Indian IT salesman living in Atlanta. When he gets laid off, he struggles to find a company that will sponsor his work visa and give him a job. Dejected, he plans to return to India but just then he runs into an old friend at a party. As luck would have it, his friend happens to be a recruiter for a new IT start-up company called BA-IT. His friend offers him a job and Faisal immediately accepts. Faisal is grateful and works hard at his new job. However things are not as they seem. BA-IT is run by a shady Indian, Kal, who belongs to the Mumbai underworld. Worse, Faisal is forced to sell IT services to the Atlanta mafia…but they are not buying! Even worse, Faisal is hounded by an eccentric undercover Indian cop to turn informer against Kal. Faisal’s parents are threatened by the Mumbai underworld and his own life is in danger. There is no way out except one…a path that is going to require all the persuasion and creativity he can muster, and to go boldly where no salesman has gone before.
Producer Rafiq Batcha will present the screening on Thursday Oct 13 and available for post-screening discussion at GSU-Cinefest.
Thursday, Oct 13, 7:00 pm, Cinefest-Georgia State University
The Mountain Thief (Philippines/USA, 2010, 78 min)
Director: Gerry Balasta
In Tagalog with English subtitles
Set in Manila’s Payatas area—the notorious dump that the government closed in December 2010—The Mountain Thief follows Julio and his sight-impaired son as they fight for survival as part of a community of scavengers. When Julio is wrongfully implicated in a murder, he must prove his innocence to avoid his family’s banishment. One witness, an outcast thief, holds the key to Julio’s vindication and his ultimate fate. The Mountain Thief reveals the unimaginable realities of people living in extreme poverty, and what happens when their tenuous hold on hope and survival is threatened. Winner of the Jury Prize at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Sunday, Oct 9, 2:00 pm, GPC-Dunwoody NC-1100 Auditorium
No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (Taiwan, 2008, 85 min)
Director: Leon Dai
In Hakka, Min Nan, Mandarin with English subtitles
A father's love for his child is unconditional, a bond that can't be broken. But sometimes government bureaucracy can interfere. Li Wu-hsiung lives in a harbor zone in Taiwan with his small daughter. He doesn't have a job, so he takes on risky tasks on boats to earn money. When he tries to do the right thing and enroll his daughter in a school, the government decides it's in the child's best interest to remove her from his care. He does everything he can to get her back, leading to a desperate standoff in front of the media and the world. Based on a true story, it conveys a quest of love that knows no bounds.
Sunday, Oct 16, 4:00 pm, GPC-Dunwoody Room NA-2200
