Archive of Past Screenings

Spring 2009

Winter 2009

Fall 2008

RELIGULOUS
Tues, Sept 30 @ 7:30pm

Armed with cameras and a bag full of zingers, comedian/talkshow host Bill Maher (REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, POLITICALLY INCORRECT) travels the world to try to make religion look, well, ridiculous. “Skeptics unite: You have nothing to lose but your inhibitions. That, in sum, is the underlying message of Bill Maher and Larry Charles’ brilliant, incendiary RELIGULOUS.” –VARIETY

DIRECTOR: Larry Charles (director of BORAT)
PRODUCERS: Bill Maher, Jonah Smith, Palmer West
FEATURING: Maher, Julie Maher, Kathie Maher, Andrew Newberg, John Westcott, Sen. Mark Pryor, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, Steve Berg, Mohammad Hourani, Father Reginald Foster, Rabbi Dovid Weiss, Propa-Gandhi.
A Lionsgate release
101 min.

AUGUST EVENING
Thurs, September 25 @ 7:30pm

Melnitz Movies and the Theater, Film and Television Alumni Screening Series in co-sponsorship with the Chicano Studies Research Center are proud to present a sneak preview of Chris Eska’s award-winning film AUGUST EVENING.

This stirring film follows an undocumented Mexican farm worker (Pedro Castaneda) and his widowed daughter-in-law (Veronica Loren) as their lives are thrown into upheaval. At the heart of the film is a moving meditation on the conflicts and bonds across families and different generations. Winner of the 2008 John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award and the Best Narrative Feature and the Best Ensemble Awards at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. Q&A with Chris Eska

Spring 2008

BATMAN (1989)
Directed by Tim Burton and starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton
Followed by a reception
Tuesday, June 3rd at 7:30PM

Gotham City: dark, dangerous, 'protected' only by a mostly corrupt police department. Despite the best efforts of D.A. Harvey Dent and police commissioner Jim Gordon, the city becomes increasingly unsafe...until a Dark Knight arises. We all know criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot...so his disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. He becomes a bat. Enter Vicky Vale, a prize-winning photo journalist who wants to uncover the secret of the mysterious "bat-man". And enter Jack Napier, one-time enforcer for Boss Grissom, horribly disfigured after a firefight in a chemical factory...who, devoid of the last vestiges of sanity, seizes control of Gotham's underworld as the psychotic, unpredictable Clown Prince of Crime...the Joker. Gotham's only hope, it seems, lies in this dark, brooding vigilante. And just how does billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne fit into all of this?

THE GO-GETTER
Q & A with director Martin Hynes!
Thursday, May 22nd at 7:30PM

Left with an aching instinctual itch to explore America after a traumatic loss, a curious teenager named Mercer suddenly steals a car in Oregon and develops a life-altering telephonic connection with the forgiving and mysterious girl he took it from. As he sets out with her phone calls as guidance, Mercer's motives find focus as he travels across the postmodern highways of the former Wild West to seek self-knowledge and a sense of belonging. Played with truth and nuance by Lou Taylor Pucci, young Mercer follows the clues and confronts struggles, both good and bad, on his spiritual journey toward manhood and an end to his grief.

Supporting him in a range of unlikely relationships and chance encounters is an eloquent set of performances that include Zooey Deschanel as the car's owner, Jena Malone as a precocious distraction in Reno, and Maura Tierney as his brother's old flame.Byron Shah's dreamlike cinematography and M. Ward's original soundtrack add to this "mix tape" of emotional discoveries. Perhaps most impressive is the way writer/director Martin Hynes vividly and creatively steers the viewer on this cinematic ride, where there are some roads still worth driving down. ---Joseph Beyer, Sundance Film Festival

POSTAL
Thursday, May 15th at 7:30PM

The outrageous political and social satire stars Zack Ward ("Transformers"), Dave Foley ("News Radio"), J.K. Simmons the ("Spiderman") trilogy, Jackie Tohn ("On the Lot"), Larry Thomas, the Soup Nazi from ("Seinfeld"), Erick Avari ("Mr. Deeds") and Verne Troyer ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"). A religious charlatan (Foley), his mild mannered nephew (Ward) and a gang of bosomy commandos face off against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in an epic battle that will determine the fate of the world in POSTAL, the latest film from controversial director Uwe Boll ("BloodRayne"). Boll roasts an entire herd of sacred cows and smashes taboos to smithereens in this over-the-top and hilariously subversive critique of modern day America. Inspired by the notorious videogame of the same name, POSTAL is a jaw-droppingly original spoof of contemporary culture and an equal opportunity offender, lampooning religious extremists, minorities, bureaucrats, immigrants, cops, women, the Holocaust, gun nuts and more with evenhanded abandon.

SANGRE DE MI SANGRE
Tuesday, May 13th at 7:30PM

Winner of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize!

A Mexican boy smuggles himself to Brooklyn to meet his long-lost father -only to have his identity stolen upon arrival by an impostor who seeks to steal the fathers' fortune.

AMERICAN CANNIBAL
Tuesday, May 6th at 7:30PM

American Cannibal pushes beyond Fahrenheit/911 and Supersize Me to break new ground in documentary territory.

Rather than forcing situations and twisting facts to tell a story, filmmakers Perry Grebin & Michael Nigro spent two and a half years twisting real life itself, and the result is the story.

The filmmakers began American Cannibal in 2004 as a bold social experiment with reality. The set in motion real events that allowed them unlimited access to the results, pushing their cameras deep into the glitterdome of reality-TV production to emerge with an equally bold exposé.

They watch as struggling writers earnestly pitch TV ideas, eventually selling out to the man behind the Paris Hilton sex tape. The sadistic, shameless reality show they churn out is documented from start to finish: from throwaway pitch to manic auditions through train-wreck production.

Alongside the drama, the filmmakers interview prominent producers, psychologists, network execs, celebrities and “D-lebrities,” who offer candid insight and scathing judgements on our society.

American Cannibal is a documentary as wild as the story behind it: a shocking, hilarious, bona fide portrait of our celebrity-driven culture and the appalling lengths we’ll go to for entertainment.

From this year’s SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL!
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER!
Q & A with the filmmakers!
Tuesday, April 29th - 7:30PM

Now a young man, Jack Brooks finds himself struggling to cope with a childhood trauma. Not only that, Jack also deals with a nagging girlfriend, therapy sessions that seem to resolve nothing, and night classes that barely hold his interest. Little does Jack know his new professor is the unwitting victim of an ancient curse. Soon enough Jack is forced to confront old demons... along with a few new ones.

Errol Morris’
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Q & A with special guest!

Co-Sponsored by Meaningful Media and The Documentary Salon Series

Thursday, April 24th - 7:30PM

***Winner of the Silver Bear Award at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics will open the picture theatrically in select U.S. cities on April 25th and nationally throughout May. In addition, a book by Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris will be published by Penguin with the release of the film later this Spring.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE is about a series of photographs that changed the world, changed the war, and changed America's image of itself. A hundred years from now, these photographs in all likelihood will define the war in Iraq - in particular, three iconic photographs taken by soldiers in the 372nd MP Company - Lynndie England posing with a prisoner on a leash; the Hooded Man standing on a box with wires attached to his fingers; and the pyramid of naked prisoners. In his new film, Errol Morris shows how the photographs served as both an expose and a cover-up. An expose, because the photographs offered us a glimpse of the horror of what was happening at Abu Ghraib; but cover-up because they seduced people into thinking what they saw was an aberration limited to a few rouge soldiers on the nightshift. Abu Ghraib was a dangerous, disordered place. Understaffed, undersupplied, under unremitting mortar attack, but nonetheless, it was no accident that these abuses happened. The film explores the context of these photographs. The story of the photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? Everybody knew about the photographs but no one knew what the photographs were about. Morris' goal here was to talk to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs - to understand the photographs and the people who took them. Finally, the film is about a group of young people sent to war. As such, it is a war story, a story of a cover-up, and a story of how a small group of lowly soldiers were blamed for policy decisions and a war out of control. Abu Ghraib was a world in which almost no one was trained for the tasks they were asked to perform, where everyone knew what was going on, and where no one wanted to blow the whistle. A world in which the rules were torn up, a world in which law was redefined as lawlessness. Morris says "My last film, 'The Fog of War,' was about a person that was at the apex of power, Robert McNamara. With this new one, I wanted to make a film about the people at the bottom of the pyramid, 'the little guys.' A story that I think the world needs to see and hear."

SON OF RAMBOW
Tuesday, April 22nd - 7:30PM

SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80's, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God's 'chosen ones' and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other 'worldlies,' listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will's mind is blown wide open and he's easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters' diabolical home movie. Will's imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter's complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.

SCREAMERS
Q & A with filmmaker Carla Garapedian!
Co-Sponsored by UCLA’s Armenian Graduate Student Association

Thursday, April 17th - 7:30PM

The Holocaust, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur … and every time a U.S. President, a British Prime Minister, a U.N. Secretary General says "Never again." Yet it happens - again, and again and again…

Multi-platinum, Grammy-award winning rock band, System of a Down's critically acclaimed political tour movie, is an impassioned synthesis of concert film and political expose about the rock group's intensely personal campaign to stop genocide.

Chronicling the band's efforts to persuade both the British and U.S. governments to recognize the Armenian genocide, Screamers also traces the history of modern-day genocide - and genocide denial - from the first occurrence in the 20th century in Turkey, to today in Darfur. Commentary and interviews with Pulitzer prize-winning author Samantha Power ("A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"), survivors from Turkey, Rwanda and Darfur, FBI whistleblowers, and the recently assassinated Hrant Dink, who was murdered in Turkey after appearing in this film, shed light on why genocides repeat.

Passive politicians and corporate interests have conspired to turn a blind eye to genocides as they are happening. We say 'never again' but we don't mean it.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television,
Melnitz Movies, and The International Documentary Association
present
Thanks to the generous support of Apple
A Documentary Salon very special screening

WHAT IS HAPPENING: THE BEATLES IN USA
A film by Brothers MAYSLES
Directors’ Cut

A humorous, freewheeling and candid account of The Beatles arrival in America in February 1964. The Maysles follow the Fab Four for five days, from the crazed JFK airport reception to unguarded moments inside the Plaza Hotel in preparation for their landmark Ed Sullivan Show appearance to their equally frenzied homecoming. Beatles in the U.S.A. was subsequently re-released by Apple Corp. in an edited version as THE BEATLES: THE FIRST US VISIT.

CHAOS THEORY
Q & A with producer and UCLA Alum Frederic Golchan, director Marcos Siega, & writer Daniel Taplitz
Tuesday, April 1st - 7:30PM

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Emily Morimer
Directed by Marcos Siega (PRETTY PERSUASION)

An obsessive organizer, Frank is a devoted husband, loving father, celebrated author--and a man who is consumed with making lists. There's a daily list for just about everything--ferry schedules, deadlines, dry cleaning--every detail of his life meticulously mapped out to keep life on track. His beautiful wife, Susan, and his 7-year-old daughter Jesse, find his obsessiveness charming, if not a little frustrating at times. After a misunderstanding with his wife reveals new truths about his family and best friend Buddy, Frank throws caution to the wind and embarks on living life by chance.

KING OF KONG A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS
Q & A with director Seth Gordon and producer Ed Cunningham!!
Tuesday, April 1st - 7:30PM

A middle-school science teacher and a hot sauce mogul vie for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic, Donkey Kong.

In 1982, LIFE Magazine assembled the worlds greatest gamers for a photo shoot that would become the center spread of their 1982 Year-In-Photos edition. Billy Mitchell, who would later be named the Gamer of the Century, was one of the invitees.

Mitchell, the World Record holder on Centipede, had been tracking the score on Donkey Kong, and knew he could take that title as well. In front of the 20 best gamers in the world, Billy scored 874,300 points, a record many thought would never be broken.

In 2003, 35 year old family man Steve Wiebe, after losing his job at Boeing, found solace in Donkey Kong. Steve stumbled upon Billy Mitchells record online, and set out to break it. He began perfecting his game every night after his wife and kids went to bed, and not only surpassed Billys record, but ended up with a thought-to-be-impossible 1,000,000 points.

A tidal wave of media coverage followed, and Steve Wiebe quickly became a celebrity in his hometown of Seattle, WA. He also rediscovered his love for teaching, and regained the respect of all who once doubted him. Meanwhile, back in Hollywood, FL, Billy Mitchell hatched a plan to reclaim his fallen Donkey Kong record

In the months that followed, Steve and Billy engaged in a cross-country duel to see who could set the high score that would be included in the 2007 Guinness World Records book and become The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Along the way, both men learned valuable lessons about what it means to be a father, a husband, and a true champion discovering that you dont always need to win to be a winner.

Winter 2008

HANK AND MIKE
Q & A with cast and filmmakers!!
*End of the Quarter Event
Complete with Easter candy, Easter Bunnies, Easter Egg hunt and more!

Tuesday, March 11th - 7:30PM

Hank and Mike are best friends – and Easter bunnies. They’re a kind of yin and yang - Felix and Oscar duo. Hank (Thomas Michael) smokes, swears and spends time with “ladies of the night”. His feelings about Easter can be summed up in his favorite saying: “Fuckin’ kids and their fuckin’ chocolate.” Mike (Paolo Mancini) is a bundle of insecurities whose entire life is defined by his job. He can’t even ask a girl out or stand up for himself without Hank’s help. As Easter Bunnies, they sneak into people’s houses at night and hand-deliver baskets of Easter eggs to little kids. They have worked for many years for Mr. Pan (Joe Mantegna) at Easter Enterprises, a division of a multi-national corporation that owns all holidays. In an effort to increase profits, the firm’s board of directors, have called in Conrad Hubriss (Chris Klein), an efficiency expert to trim fat and get the company’s profits back in order.

In spite of the service Hank and Mike have diligently (if not wholeheartedly) performed over the years, it is quickly apparent that as Easter Bunnies who work only one day a year for a “Tier 2” holiday (Christmas, Chanukah, Valentine’s Day being on the top tier) Hank and Mike are going to be a part of the downsizing campaign.

The news hits Hank and Mike hard. They are incredulous. No Easter Bunny has ever been fired! The strain on their friendship begins immediately as they are propelled into a bizarre downward spiral. They reluctantly head to the unemployment office (a source of major frustration) and end up with various odd jobs. No matter how hard they try to fit in, Hank and Mike can’t escape their “Easter Bunny-ness”. As Mike longs for love with his long-time crush (read obsession), Hank bonds with a classroom of children when he “tells ‘em like it is.”

After a hard kick in the ass by life, Hank and Mike come to realize that there is something far more important than their jobs… their friendship.

AMERICAN ZOMBIE
Q & A with director and UCLA alum Grace Lee!
Thursday, March 6th - 7:30PM

A ZOMBIE MOCKUMENTARY

Filmmakers and UCLA alum Grace Lee (“The Grace Lee Project”) and John Solomon (“Nonsense Man”) team up to shoot a documentary about high-functioning zombies living in Los Angeles and their struggles to gain acceptance in human society.

Despite their wildly different working styles, Grace and John manage to chronicle the hopes and dreams of four fascinating subjects: IVAN, a convenience-store clerk who longs for a career in publishing; LISA, a florist trying to recover her lost memories; JUDY, a hopeless romantic who learns to accept her true nature; and JOEL (pronounced “Ho-El”), a committed political activist striving for zombie rights. As Grace strives to get to know the zombies “on their own terms,” John is eager to uncover their darker side and rallies to get the crew permission to shoot at a three-day, zombies-only retreat called Live Dead where the documentary takes an unexpected – and dangerous – turn. What transpires there is beyond anything the filmmakers could imagine, as they are forced to re-evaluate their ideas about tolerance, identity politics and the future of the human race.

51 BIRCH STREET
Q & A with filmmaker Doug Block!
Co-Sponsored by the Documentary Salon Series
Thursday, February 28th - 7:30 PM

New York based documentary filmmaker Doug Block always thought his parents' 54-year marriage was a good one. But when his mother dies unexpectedly and his father swiftly marries a former secretary, he discovers a family history far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined.

51 Birch Street is a riveting personal documentary that explores a universal human question: How much about your parents do you really want to know?

51 Birch Street was named one of the top ten films of 2006 by the New York Times and Ebert & Roeper, and one of the top documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review and Rolling Stone Magazine.

BE KIND REWIND
Wednesday, February 20th - 7:30 PM

The fertile and irrepressible imagination of Michel Gondry is again on display in this wildly original comedy, Be Kind Rewind, a film whose simplicity of vision, inventiveness, and charm reminds us of why we first fell in love with film. It's a journey that begins in a New Jersey video store, a place that already seems nearly obsolete. When Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally erases all the tapes in the store because he has become magnetized (just stay with me on this…), he and his best friend Mike (Mos Def) decide to remake the lost movies to keep alive the ailing business of their temporarily absent boss, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). And when their peculiarly inspired versions of Hollywood classics become a surprise hit with their neighborhood clientele, they are soon in full-scale production, remaking everything from Ghostbusters to King Kong. This, of course, cannot be permitted by the powers that be, so the friends and their now-returned employer face losing the store unless they can come up with a plan. Whether it's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep, or Be Kind Rewind, Gondry, along with a remarkable artistic team, operates in a creative sphere that sets him apart. His ability to touch, stimulate, and entertain us is rare, really exceptional, and the mark of a filmmaker who clearly loves his craft.

CJ7
* PLUS Q & A with STEPHEN CHOW and XU JIAN!
Tuesday, February 19th - 7:30PMWritten, Directed by and Starring Stephen Chow

From Stephen Chow, the director and star of Kung Fu Hustle, comes "CJ7," a new comedy featuring Chow's trademark slapstick antics. Ti (Stephen Chow) is a poor father who works all day, everyday at a construction site to make sure his son Dicky Chow (Xu Jian) can attend an elite private school. Despite his father's good intentions to give his son the opportunities he never had, Dicky, with his dirty and tattered clothes and none of the "cool" toys stands out from his schoolmates like a sore thumb. Ti can't afford to buy Dicky any expensive toys and goes to the best place he knows to get new stuff for Dicky - the junk yard! While out "shopping" for a new toy for his son, Ti finds a mysterious orb and brings it home for Dicky to play with. To his surprise and disbelief, the orb reveals itself to Dicky as a bizarre "pet" with extraordinary powers. Armed with his "CJ7" Dicky seizes this chance to overcome his poor background and shabby clothes and impress his fellow schoolmates for the first time in his life. But CJ7 has other ideas and when Dicky brings it to class, chaos ensues.

CJ7 will be released on Friday, March 7th, 2008. In Chinese with English subtitles. 86 minutes. MPAA Rating - PG.

THE SIGNAL
Tuesday, February 12th - 7:30PM

It’s New Year’s Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year’s resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic transmission that preys on fear and desire driving everyone in the city to murder and madness. In a place once marked by conformity but now sent into complete anarchy, the rebellious Ben must save the woman he loves from the bedlam in the streets as well as her crazed sadistic husband. But the only way he can tell who to trust or who has given in to violence is by uncovering the true nature of THE SIGNAL.

Told in three parts from three unique perspectives by three visionary directors, THE SIGNAL was originally conceived as an experimental film project called Exquisite Corpse where one filmmaker would begin a story then hand it off to another filmmaker to continue and then to another and so on until the movie was complete. The story eventually took shape and evolved into a scifi/ horror/thriller that imagines a world where everyday anxieties become the catalyst for inhuman terror. THE SIGNAL is a horrific journey towards discovering that the most brutal monster might actually be within all of us.

THE SIGNAL was written and directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry and stars Anessa Ramsey, Sahr, AJ Bowen, Matt Stanton, Suehyla El-Attar, Justin Welborn, Cheri Christian, Scott Poythress, Christopher Thomas, Lindsey Garrett and Chad McKnight. An experimental horror film told in THREE PARTS by THREE DIFFERENT DIRECTORS with THREE DIFFERENT STYLES.

EAGLE VS. SHARK
Q & A with director Taika Cohen!
Tuesday, February 5th - 7:30 PM

In the vein of NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE, Miramax Films presents the wickedly offbeat love story EAGLE VS. SHARK, a funny, fractured romance between two total misfits woven into an all-consuming quest for revenge and shot through with the strange, sweet hilarity of the human condition. When Lily (Loren Horsley), a lonely, oddball fast-food waitress and hopeless romantic, and Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), another lonely oddball and video game clerk who has spent the last decade plotting revenge against a bully from high school, connect at a “dress as your favorite animal” party, it’s a match seemingly made in outcast heaven. But when Lily decides to risk everything for love, her hopes are nearly dashed as, after a brief fling, Jarrod dumps her because he’s too busy “training” for his all-important payback mission. But neither of them can anticipate the grit the steadfastly optimistic Lily will show in her heartbreak. As Jarrod’s day of reckoning arrives and everything hits the fan, Jarrod and Lily will find something that goes beyond romantic fantasies and revenge – faith in who they really are.

ANVIL! THE TRUE STORY OF ANVIL
*Q & A with director and UCLA alum Sacha Gervasi and producer Rebecca Yeldham.
And Appearance from LIPS!
Thursday, January 31st - 7:30 PM

PLAYED AT THIS YEAR’S SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL!

At 14, Toronto school friends Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, went on to become the “demigods of Canadian metal,” releasing one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982’s Metal on Metal. The album influenced a musical generation, including Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, and went on to sell millions of records. But Anvil’s career took a different path—straight to obscurity.

Director Sacha Gervasi has concocted a wonderful and often hilarious account of Anvil's last-ditch quest for elusive fame and fortune. His ingenious filmmaking may first lead you to think this a mockumentary, but it isn’t. Gervasi joined the legendary heavy-metal band as a roadie for a tour of Canadian hockey arenas, so he has intimate insight into the members' eccentricities. It's fascinating to see the reality of their day-to-day lives as they struggle to make ends meet, take a misguided European tour, and engage in antics on the road—which is not always lined with fans. Gervasi even finds a softer center to this raucous film, introducing us to band members' ever-supportive, but long-suffering, families. At its core, Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a timeless tale of survival and the unadulterated passion it takes to follow your dream, year after year. Anvil rocks—it has no other choice.

SUNDANCE BUZZ -
To say the audience was electric after the conclusion of Sunday's noon screening of Anvil! The Story of Anvil is an understatement. Sacha Gervasi's documentary about the world's hardest-working, most under-appreciated metal band certainly struck a chord with its Sundance audiences and should get purchased by a distributor before the conclusion of the festival. The band has been around for 30 years and these 50-something rockers are still trying to make it big. It could be that they finally have. —Nicole Sperling

Sacha Gervasi - London native Sacha Gervasi earned a degree in modern history from King's College London. After working for British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes at the Arvon Foundation, he attended the graduate screenwriting program at UCLA, where he twice won the BAFTA/LA scholarship. Gervasi's writing credits include The Terminal and The Big Tease (with Craig Ferguson). The last journalist to interview Hervé Villechaize, six days before the actor committed suicide in 1993, Gervasi will next write and direct the true story of Villechaize's final week.

CHARLIE BARTLETT
*Q & A with writer Gustin Nash and director Jon Poll
Tuesday, January 29th - 7:30 PM

Wealthy teenager Charlie Bartlett is failing miserably at fitting in at a new public high school run by the world-weary Principal Gardner. As he begins to better understand the social hierarchy, Charlie's honest charm and likability positions him as the resident "psychiatrist" dishing out advice, and the occasional prescription with his partner and fellow student, Murphy Bivens, to other students in need. Along the way, he decides to take some of his own advice, find romance, and learn to accept who he is, thus wielding a witty dark comedy about the angst-filled years before college.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Thursday, January 24th - 7:30 PM

Along with his older brother Frank (Sam Shepard) and his friends Robert (Casey Affleck) and Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell) and Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner), Jesse James (Brad Pitt) runs the most feared gang of outlaws in the nation. As they carry out one daring bank robbery after another, they must escape not only from the law, but also from the numerous everyday folks eager to get their hands on the growing reward money. With time, James and his gang become revered by many and are even viewed as rebel heroes thanks to friendly publicity. The charismatic and unpredictable Jesse James emerges as somewhat of a glorified celebrity. As his fame escalates and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a low profile, he surrounds himself only with those individuals he can trust the most. Unbeknownst to him, the young Robert Ford, who once idolized him as a personal hero, has grown incredibly resentful of Jesse. Along with his brother Charley, he has hatched a plot to murder James hoping to take over his place.

TEETH
Thursday, January 17th - 7:30 PM

Jess Weixler won the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival for a “juicy and jaw-dropping performance.”

High school student Dawn (Jess Weixler) works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad boy stepbrother Brad's (John Hensley) increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth.

ONCE
Thursday, January 10th - 7:30 PM

If you missed it in theaters before, be sure to see it now!

A modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin. Featuring Glen Hansard from the Irish band "The Frames," the film tells the story of a street musician and a Czech immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story.

PERSEPOLIS
Tuesday, January 8th - 7:30 PM

Official Selection 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
Official Selection 2007 Telluride Film Festival
Official Closing Night Selection 2007 New York Film Festival
OFFICIAL FRENCH SELECTION FOR THE 2007 BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM ACADEMY AWARDS

Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, presented at the 2007 Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals, and the Closing Night Film at this year’s upcoming New York Film Festival, PERSEPOLIS is the poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane is nine years old when the fundamentalists first take power – forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. She cleverly outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden, while living with the terror of government persecution and the Iran/Iraq war. She flees the country for her safety but eventually returns to Iran to be with her family, though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age twenty-four, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

Fall 2007

ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES
*Q & A with director of photography Tom Stern and music supervisor Bill Maxwell
Thursday, December 6th - 7:30 PM

Written and Directed by JOHN TURTURRO
Starring JAMES GANDOLFINI, SUSAN SARANDON, KATE WINSLETI

Written and directed by Turturro and executive produced and presented by Joel and Ethan Coen, ROMANCE & CIGARETTES is a star-studded, bawdy, boisterous, exuberant and ultimately poignant New York story set to classic pop songs of our time.

Turturro’s A-list, game-for-anything cast includes James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet (like you’ve never seen her before), Christopher Walken (in his second movie musical this year, following HAIRSPRAY), Steve Buscemi, Mary Louise Parker, Mandy Moore, Aida Turturro, Bobby Cannavale, Eddie Izzard and Elaine Stritch (as Gandolfini’s mother!). The songs are by James Brown, Janis Joplin, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, and Bruce Springsteen and they illuminate the working-class characters’ hopes, dreams, fantasies and, finally, the way life really is when a large man (Gandolfini) lives in a small house with his wife (Sarandon), two daughters (Parker and Moore) and a niece (Turturro) and ends up having a torrid affair with an oversexed underwear salesgirl (Winslet).

Romance and Cigarettes is a down-and-dirty musical love story set in the world of the working class. Nick (James Gandolfini) is an ironworker who builds and repairs bridges. He's married to Kitty (Susan Sarandon), a dressmaker, a strong and gentle woman with whom he has three daughters. He is carrying on a torrid affair with a redheaded woman named Tula (Kate Winslet). Nick is basically a good, hardworking man driven forward by will and blinded by his urges. Like Oedipus at Colonus, he is sent into exile and searches to find his way back through the damage he has done. In an imaginative, humorous, and touching way, Romance and Cigarettes explores the cost and value of a relationship through life and death. When the characters can no longer express themselves with language, they break into song, lip-synching the tunes lodged in their subconscious. It is their way to escape the harsh reality of their world - to dream, to remember, and to connect to another human being.

EL ORFANATO (THE ORPHANAGE)
Produced by Guillermo del Toro, maker of PAN’S LABYRINTH
Tuesday, December 4th - 7:30 PM

The children just want to come out and play, and so do the very clever filmmakers running "The Orphanage," a fastidiously grim ghost story that rattles the bones of the haunted-house genre and finds plenty of fresh (but not too bloody) meat. An unsettling Spanish synthesis of "The Innocents," "The Others" and every other cinematic chiller about a woman's psychic fixation with some not-so-innocent children, this macabre tale of maternal madness should be able to parlay critical acclaim and the imprimatur of producer Guillermo del Toro into robust arthouse returns, with otherworldly ancillary to follow.

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona
Written by Sergio G. Sanchez
Starring Belen Rueda and Fernanado Cayo
Produced by Alvaro Augustin, Joaquin Padro, Mar Targarona, Guillermo del Toro

THE WEATHER MAN (2005)
Q & A with director and UCLA Alum
GORE VERBINSKI
Thursday, November 29th - 7:30 PM
Co-Sponsored by the UCLA Film School

Dave Spritz is a local weatherman in his home town of Chicago, where his career is going well while his personal life -- his relationship with his perfectionist writer father, his neurotic ex-wife, and his now-separated children -- is spiraling downward. Despite being both loathed and loved by the local masses, Dave is a guy who doesn't seem to have it all together, and in this film, he begins to feel it. An attractive job offer presents Dave with a major question: to pursue his career in New York City, or to remain at home with his family.

Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema's most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of all time ($135,600,000) and grossed over $1 billion dollars worldwide.

He was born Gregor Verbinski on March 16, 1964, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. His father was of Polish descent, he worked as a nuclear physicist at the Oak Ridge Lab. In 1967 the Verbinski family moved to California, and young Gregor grew up near San Diego. His biggest influences as a kid were Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality. He started his professional career as a guitarist for punk-rock bands, such as The Daredevils and The Little Kings, and also made his first films together with friends. After having developed a passion for filmmaking, he sold his guitar to buy a Super-8mm camera. Then Verbinski attended the prestigious UCLA Film School, from which he graduated in 1987 with his BFA in Film. His first professional directing jobs were music videos for alternative bands, such as L7, Bad Religion, and Monster Magnet. Then he moved to advertising and directed commercials for Nike, Canon, Skittles, United airlines and Coca-Cola. In 1993 he created the renowned Budweiser advertising campaign featuring croaking frogs, for which he was awarded the advertising Silver Lion at Cannes and also received four Clio Awards.

Verbinski made his feature directorial debut with Mousehunt (1997), a remarkably visual cartoonish family comedy. His next effort, The Mexican (2001), came to a modest result. However, Verbinski bounced back with a hit thriller The Ring (2002), grossing over $230 million dollars worldwide. His biggest directorial success came with the Disney theme park ride based Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with a brilliant acting ensemble, grossing over $650 million dollars, and bringing five Oscar nominations and many other awards and nominations. Disney ordered two more films which Verbinski shot one after another on location in the Carribean islands, for which he had to endure both tetanus and typhoid immunization shots. After having survived several hurricanes, dealing with sick and injured actors, and troubleshooting after numerous technical difficulties of the epic-scale project, Verbinski delivered. He employed the same stellar cast in the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and the third installment of the 'Pirates' franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).

PROTAGONIST
Tuesday, November 27th - 7:30 PM
Q & A with Filmmaker Jessica Yu!
Co-Sponsored by the Documentary Salon Series

PROTAGONIST explores extremism through contrasting stories of personal revelation. The film features four individuals who have been devoted to personal odysseys - a cause, a quest, an ideal - to the point of total consumption. At first glance the characters appear disconnected: a former German terrorist, an "ex-gay" evangelist, a bank robber and a martial arts student. But as their stories unfold, one starts to see the parallels between the uncommon, common experience of these four men. Each character embarks on a journey for valid reasons, only to find himself so deeply embedded in the cause that he becomes the opposite of what he had intended. He is blind to this fact, though, until the forces of fate and character boil and distill to a single moment of dark epiphany. In telling this echoing story, the film asks: what is the path to extremism? In responding to the turmoil of life, where does one draw the line between the reasonable and the unreasonable? And how does one recover from the delusion of certainty?

The four stories in PROTAGONIST are told in parallel threads and structured like a multi-layered Greek drama. Directed by Jessica Yu and produced by Yu, Elise Pearlstein and Susan West, this adventurous documentary is inspired by the works of the 5th century playwright Euripides. The film uses quotes from his plays as thematic chapter headings, providing a provocative common link between our contemporary stories and lending them a timeless quality. Wooden rod puppets, modeled after ancient Greek theater masks and designed by Janie Geiser, stage both the play excerpts and scenes from our subjects' pasts. The film also features intricate title animation by Robert Conner, music by Jeff Beal and voiceover performance in ancient Greek by Marina Sirtis and Chris Diamantopolous.

PROTAGONIST received a nomination at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival!

By Kenneth Turan from the LA Times at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival:

“WHEN you're drawn to unusual subject matter, says documentary director Jessica Yu, to stories that lack obvious and abundant visual material, "those limitations make you order off the menu." In the case of "Protagonist," Yu's wonderfully accomplished, unexpected and challenging new work, those limitations sent her not just off the menu but to a different restaurant entirely.” Read the rest of the article at the Official Website, link above!

THE DIVING BELL AND BUTTERFLY
Tuesday, November 20th - 7:30 PM

Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.

WINNER - 2007 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

1. -Best Director - Julien Schnabel
2. -Technical Grand Prize - Janusz Kaminski

Directed by Julian Schnabel
Written by Ronald Harwood
Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Jon Kilik

EKLAVYA: THE ROYAL GUARD
*Q & A with director Vidhu Vinod Chopra and screenwriter Abhijat Joshi
Co-sponsored by the India Student Union
Tuesday, November 13th - 7:30 PM

India’s Official Entry to the Oscars

On the surface writer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya: The Royal Guard is vintage Hindi cinema melodrama, complete with fratricidal murder plots and aglorious final spasm of revenge. But there are Shakespearean ambitions animating this deep-dish entertainment. The Ranas of Devigarh, an ancient feudal clan of Rajisthani rulers, are a royal family stripped of all but ceremonial authority, and the revelation that drives the plot is diabolically well-chosen: an issue of paternity to gnaw at the vitals of the patriarchal system. The story’s central icon and title character, a bodyguard whose ancestors have protected the royals for nine generations, is a battered human relic played with effortless authority by aging superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Although Eklavya was filmed in two actual palaces the action feels morelike an intimate chamber drama, all intense two shots and vehement whispered exchanges. This is robust and engaging storytelling with blood and thunder pumping through its veins.

YI YI - Co-Sponsored by THE CRANK
In Tribute to Edward Yang
Thursday, November 8th - 7:30 PM

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank, his business partners make bad decisions against his advice, and he reconnects with his first love 30 years after he dumped her. His teenage daughter Ting-Ting watches emotions roil in their neighbors' flat and is experiencing the first stirrings of love. His 8-year-old son Yang-Yang is laconic like his dad and pursues truth with the help of a camera. "Why is the world so different from what we think it is?" asks Ting-Ting.

“In exchange for three hours of your time, YI YI will give you more life.” - A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4 October 2000

“Only rarely is a film this observant and tender about the ups and downs of daily existence.” -Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2 March 2001

“It’s a magical film -- an exquisitely made and exceedingly wise family drama that communicates a touching sense of the universality of the human condition, and leaves us with the rich emotional satisfaction we just don’t seem to get often at the movies anymore.” - William Arnold, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 19 January 2001

LIONS FOR LAMBS
Thursday, November 1st - 7:30 PM

Lions for Lambs begins after two determined students at a West Coast University, Arian (Derek Luke) and Ernest (Michael Pena), follow the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley (Robert Redford), and attempt to do something important with their lives. But when the two make the bold decision to join the battle in Afghanistan, Malley is both moved and distraught. Now, as Arian and Ernest fight for survival in the field, they become the string that binds together two disparate stories on opposite sides of America. In California, an anguished Dr. Malley attempts to reach a privileged but disaffected student (Andrew Garfield) who is the very opposite of Arian and Ernest. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. the charismatic Presidential hopeful, Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise), is about to give a bombshell story to a probing TV journalist (Meryl Streep) that may affect Arian and Ernest's fates.

THE KITE RUNNER
*Q & A with producer William Horberg
Tuesday, October 30th - 7:30 PM

After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble. Based on the best selling novel by Khaled Hosseini.

Directed by Marc Forster (STRANGER THAN FICTION, FINDING NEVERLAND)
Written by David Benioff
Produced by Walter Parkes, Rebecca Yeldham, William Horberg, E. Bennett Walsh, Pippa Harris

AMERICAN GANGSTER
Thursday, October 25th - 7:30 PM

In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country in the coffins of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War.

Starring: Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Steve Zaillian
Produced by: Brian Grazer, Ridley Scott

WAR/DANCE
Q & A with filmmakers Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
Reception to Follow
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd at 7:30 PM

Meaningful Media-Melnitz Movies Film Series Kick-Off Event

Meaningful Media is thrilled to announce the launch of our new screening series in association with UCLA's Melnitz Movies. Meaningful Media and Melnitz Movies will periodically co-host a free screening, Q & A and reception for a prominent new film that addresses social issues across the globe. We look forward to sharing these films with our members and the community at large, and hope to see you there.

Come see a free sneak preview of the WAR/DANCE, which won Best Documentary Directing Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival before it hits theaters next month. Listen to live African drumming, meet the filmmakers, and mingle with students and professionals interested in meaningful media at our catered event.

WAR/DANCE
(Documentary, 105 mins)
Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, War/Dance tells the story of three children whose families have been torn apart and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. When they are invited to compete in a music and dance festival, their historic journey to their nation's capital becomes an opportunity to regain part of their childhood and taste victory for the first time in their lives.

Meaningful Media is a non-profit network providing resources to inspire and empower those committed to improving our world through media. To sign up to receive updates and invitations from Meaningful Media, please send an email to connect@meaningfulmedia.org with "Subscribe" in the subject line.

PROTAGONIST
Tuesday, November 27th - 7:30 PM
Q & A with Filmmaker Jessica Yu!
Co-Sponsored by the Documentary Salon Series

PROTAGONIST explores extremism through contrasting stories of personal revelation. The film features four individuals who have been devoted to personal odysseys - a cause, a quest, an ideal - to the point of total consumption. At first glance the characters appear disconnected: a former German terrorist, an "ex-gay" evangelist, a bank robber and a martial arts student. But as their stories unfold, one starts to see the parallels between the uncommon, common experience of these four men. Each character embarks on a journey for valid reasons, only to find himself so deeply embedded in the cause that he becomes the opposite of what he had intended. He is blind to this fact, though, until the forces of fate and character boil and distill to a single moment of dark epiphany. In telling this echoing story, the film asks: what is the path to extremism? In responding to the turmoil of life, where does one draw the line between the reasonable and the unreasonable? And how does one recover from the delusion of certainty?

KING OF CALIFORNIA
Thursday, October 18th - 7:30 PM
*Followed by a Q & A with writer/director and UCLA Alum MIKE CAHILL

At the age of sixteen, Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood) has already had to live with her share of disappointments. Abandoned by her mother, she’s dropped out of school and has been supporting herself as an employee at McDonald’s while her father Charlie (Michael Douglas) resides in a mental institution.

When Charlie is released and sent back to their home, Miranda finds the relatively peaceful existence she’s built for herself completely disrupted. Charlie has become obsessed with the notion that the long-lost treasure of Spanish explorer Father Juan Florismarte Garces is buried somewhere near their suburban California housing unit. Armed with a metal detector and a stack of treasure-hunting books, Charlie soon finds reason to believe that the gold resides underneath the local Costco, and encourages Miranda to get a job there so that they can plan a way to excavate after hours.

Initially skeptical, Miranda soon finds herself joining in Charlie’s questionable antics in an effort to give him one last shot at accomplishing his dreams in this darkly funny, exciting and surprisingly hopeful take on the modern family and the American dream.

GONE BABY GONE
Tuesday, October 16th - 7:30 PM

When a young child goes missing, a police officer (Morgan Freeman) makes it his top priority to find the child. The case spirals downward and the appearance of a young private investigator (Casey Affleck) insisting his help only complicats the case. Based on the book by Dennis Lehane, who also penned Mystic River.

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Michelle Monaghan

Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Aaron Stockard, Ben Affleck
Producers: Ben Affleck, Sean Bailey, Alan Ladd Jr., Danton Rissner
Release Date: October 19, 2007 (limited)
Rated R; 115 minutes

BROKEN - Thursday, October 11th - 7:30 PM
* Followed by Q & A with producer Jerry Wayne

Deep in the Los Angeles night, Hope (Heather Graham) confronts all the wrong turns she's made since leaving Ohio. Ultimately she meets the biggest wrong turn of all in her ex-boyfiend Will (Jeremy Sisto). Will is determined to win back her love or die trying.

Starring: Heather Graham, Jeremy Sisto

Director: Alan White
Writer: Drew Pillsbury
Producer: Jerry Wayne and Brian Etting

RENDITION - Monday, October 8th - 7:30 PM
* Followed by Q & A with director GAVIN HOOD

When Egyptian born terrorism suspect, Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwalley) disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington DC, his American wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) travels to Washington to try and learn the reason for his disappearance. Meanwhile, at a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US, CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) is forced to question his assignment in an attempt to save thousands as he becomes a party to the unorthodox interrogation of El-Ibrahim.

STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin

Director: Gavin Hood
Writer: Kelley Sane
Producers: Steve Golin, David Kanter, Keith Redmon, Michael Sugar, Marcus Viscidi

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Thursday, October 4 - 7:30 pm

Written by Six Feet Under scribe Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl is a heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award nominated Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his Brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don’t know what to say to Lars or Bianca — because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who explains this is a delusion he’s created — for what reason she doesn’t yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Paul Schneider

Writer: Nancy Oliver
Director: Craig Gillespie
Producers: Sarah Aubrey, Sidney Kimmel, John Cameron

WEIRDSVILLE
Tuesday, October 2nd at 7:30 PM
* Followed by Q & A with producer Nicholas D. Tabarrok

From the director of EMPIRE RECORDS, WEIRDSVILLE is weird (in a good way, of course), offbeat, frantic (also in a good way) and very entertaining.

When Dexter (Speedman) and Royce (Bentley) mistakenly assume their friend Matilda (Manning) has overdosed, they figure they can't call the cops because she's OD'd on stolen drugs. So, they decide to bury her body themselves in the basement of the small town's Drive-In Theatre which is closed for the winter. The good news is she's not dead. The bad news is she wakes up just in time to interrupt a satanic cult performing a ritual sacrifice in the same place the guys were going to bury her. The three of them end up on the run from the Satanists, the drug dealer they stole the stash from and a gang of angry little people - all while trying to pull off a heist of their own. Its one crazy night in one crazy town!

Weirdsville screened as part of the Contemporary World Cinema section of the Toronto Film Festival. Earlier this year, Weirdsville was the Opening Night Film at the Slamdance Film Festival, where Variety gleefully noted it to be "a cleverly constructed, capably crafted and often uproarious shaggy-dog black comedy."

Writer: Willem Wennekers
Director: Allan Moyle
Producers: Nicholas Tabarrok

Winter - Spring 2007

ANIMAL HOUSE
End-of-year reception following screening

Director: John Landis
Cast: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst, Karen Allen, Donald Sutherland, Peter Riegert, Kevin Bacon

Decadence, debauchery, and delinquency prevail at Delta House, the scourge of Faber College in 1962. In an effort to rid himself of the troublesome brothers, Dean Wormer hatches a plan in cahoots with the brown-nosing Greg Marmalard of rival fraternity Omega to have the Deltas kicked off campus. Unfortunately for them, the determination and drive of the Deltas is more than anyone counted on. In their last stand against the uptight dean, the antiheroes of Delta drink, smoke, romp, frolic, and dance - going out with a bang.

LOW AND BEHOLD
Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Director Zack Godshall, Co-Writer/Producer/Actor Barlow Jacobs, Actors Eddie Rouse and Robert Longstreet, and reception, to follow screening

Director: Zack Godshall
Cast: Jude Cambise, Barlow Jacobs, Robert Longstreet, Glenn Robin, Eddie Rouse

Turner Stull (Barlow Jacobs), an uninspired young man arrives in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to work as an insurance claims adjuster. Greeted by his Uncle Stully (Robert Longstreet), a seasoned claim adjuster, he is quickly immersed in the routine: move fast, don't get emotionally involved, and make a lot of money. But Turner, not prepared to deal with people who have lost everything, is totally overwhelmed. In a moment of crisis, Turner agrees to help Nixon (Eddie Rouse), find his lost dog. In exchange, Nixon lends a hand with Turner's insurance claims. Turner and Nixon begin to navigate their way through the storm-ravaged city, a journey that will change both of their lives.

CRAZY LOVE

Director: Dan Klores

An unsettling true story about an obsessive relationship between a married man and a beautiful, single 20-year-old woman, which began in 1957 and continues today.

GOLDEN DOOR

Director: Emanuele Crialese
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato, Aurora Quattrocchi, Vincent Schiavelli

On a perilous steamship journey from his Sicilian village, the widower Salvatore (Vincenzo Amato) encounters a ravishing, mystery-shrouded Englishwoman, Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Science of Sleep) - as the Old World literally collides into the New with seductive results. Amid a harrowing crossing, an unexpected love story unfolds all the way to the halls of Ellis Island, where both Salvatore and Lucy will stop at nothing to make it through the Golden Door to the America of their imagination.

WRESTLING WITH ANGELS: PLAYWRIGHT TONY KUSHNER

* Q & A with Playwright Tony Kushner and Director Freida Lee Mock, and reception, to follow screening

Director: Freida Lee Mock

Considered one of today's greatest playwrights, Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner (ANGELS IN AMERICA, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, MUNICH) is featured in a new film by Academy Award winner Freida Lee Mock (MAYA LIN: A STRONG CLEAR VISION). The film takes us from Tony's childhood home in Louisiana to his development as a writer, politically active gay man and globe-trotting force for a more literate and compassionate universe. The film features Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden, Maurice Sendak, Mike Nichols, and others.

REPO MAN
Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Writer/Director Alex Cox (SID AND NANCY, STRAIGHT TO HELL, REPO MAN), and reception to follow screening

Director: Alex Cox
Cast: Emilio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton, Vonetta McGee, Olivia Barash

Otto (Emilio Estevez) is a Los Angeles punk, a loser with no direction and no role models who discovers a higher purpose when he joins a select group of latter-day knights: the repo men. And when a $20,000 bounty is placed on a mysterious missing car, Otto eludes the police, the feds, religious cultists, and other repo men in a frantic search for this holy grail. Could one man's destiny lie in the back of a 1964 Chevy Malibu?

DAY WATCH

Director: Timbor Bekmambetov
Cast: Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Menshov, Valery Zolotukhin, Maria Poroshina, Galina Tunina

Featuring the cinematic vision of cutting-edge Director/Writer Timur Bekmambetov, DAY WATCH is the next installment based on the best-selling sci-fi novels of Sergei Lukyanenko. The previous installment, NIGHT WATCH, became an instant smash hit breaking all film gross records in post-Soviet history. A dazzling mix of state-of-the-art visual effects, amazing action sequences, and nail-biting horror set in contemporary Moscow, DAY WATCH revolves around the conflict between the forces of light and darkness -- the result of a medieval truce between the opposing sides.

FAY GRIM

Director: Hal Hartley
Cast: Parker Posey, Jeff Goldblum, Leo Fitzpatrick, Chuck Montgomery

Fay Grim, a single Mom from Woodside, Queens, is afraid her 14 year old son, Ned, will grow up to be like his father, Henry, who has been missing for seven years. Fay's brother Simon is serving ten years in prison for aiding in Henry's escape from the law. In the quiet of his cell, Simon has had time to think about the tumultuous years of Henry's presence among them--chronicled in Hartley's earlier film HENRY FOOL (1998). He has come to suspect that Henry was not the man he appeared to be. His suspicions are validated when the CIA asks Fay to travel to Paris to retrieve Henry's property.

ANGEL-A

Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki, Kate Nauta, Serge Riaboukine

Down-on-his-luck petty criminal Andre (Jamel Debbouze) has reached the end of his rope. Irreversibly in debt to a local gangster, with no one to turn to, his only solution is to plunge himself into the Seine. Just as he is perched to do so, a fellow bridge-jumper beats him to the water. Diving in, he saves Angela (Rie Rasmussen), a beautiful, mysterious woman. As they pull themselves out the water, the two form a bond and venture into the streets of Paris determined to get Andre out of the hole he has found himself in.

THE WENDELL BAKER STORY

* Q & A with Writer/Actor/Co-Director Luke Wilson and Co-Director Andrew Wilson

Directors: Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson
Cast: Luke Wilson, Eva Mendes, Eddie Griffin, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton, Jacob Vargas, Seymour Cassel

In his return to writing and as director, Luke Wilson plays a good-hearted ex-con who gets a job in a retirement hotel where three elderly residents try to help him win back his girlfriend (Eva Mendes).

CRITICAL MEDIA FILM FESTIVAL

The first annual Critical Media Film Festival was created to showcase theoretical producers and practicing theorists. This year, eight short films were selected. Most films are visual essays and documentaries about media, technology, history, and media culture--with a few experiments in media production. The total program run is 2 hours. Intermission entertainment will be a rap and video installation by Jason Skonieczny.

WAITRESS

* Q & A with actor Jeremy Sisto (SIX FEET UNDER, KIDNAPPED, THIRTEEN)

Director: Adrienne Shelly
Cast: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Lew Temple

Jenna (Keri Russell) is a poor southern woman stuck in a bad marriage to her jealous jerk of a husband, Earl (Jeremy Sisto). Jenna works at Joe's Pie Diner, where every day she creates amazing pies that she titles after whatever's going on in her life. One day, she discovers she is pregnant and makes “I Don't Want Earl's Baby” pie. Then she meets Dr. Pomatter, the handsome new gynecologist in town. When a friend encourages her to write a letter to her unwanted baby, an unexpected love story develops that changes Jenna's life.

JOURNEY FROM THE FALL
Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Writer/Director Ham Tran and Reception

Director: Ham Tran
Cast: Kieu Chinh, Long Nguyen, Diem Lien, Jayvee Mai The Hiep

Thirteen years after the end of the Vietnam War, a family who was tragically affected by the war are forced to emigrate to America.

YEAR OF THE DOG

Director: Mike White (Writer: SCHOOL OF ROCK, CHUCK & BUCK, THE GOOD GIRL)
Cast: Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, John C. Reilly, Laura Dern

Peggy, a happy-go-lucky secretary lives alone with her adorable beagle, Pencil. Peggy and Pencil have a blissful relationship full of love, appreciation, and companionship. One night Pencil wakes up to go potty and unexpectedly sets off a chain of events that change the course of Peggy's life.

FIREHOUSE DOG

* Q & A with Director Todd Holland, Writers Claire-Dee Lim, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and Actress Bree Turner (all UCLA Theater, Film and Television alumni)

Director: Todd Holland
Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Bruce Greenwood, Bree Turner, Bill Nunn, Scotch Ellis Loring

Rexxx, Hollywood's top canine star, gets lost and is adopted into a shabby firehouse. He teams up with a young kid to get the station back on its feet.

THE 2006 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATED SHORTS

This year's Academy Award Nominated Short Films in both the Live Action and Animation categories. Including Academy Award winning shorts: WEST BANK STORY and THE DANISH POET, as well as BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA, LIFTED, THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL, THE SAVIOUR, NO TIME FOR NUTS and many other exceptional short films from around the world.

THE REFUGEE ALL-STARS

* Q & A with Director Zach Niles

Director: Zach Niles

A brutal, decade long civil war forced a band of Sierra Leonean musicians to live as refugees in the West African nation of the Republic of Guinea. The war took the lives of many of their loved ones and left them with physical and emotional scars that may never heal. Through music however, The Refugee All Stars have found a place of refuge, a sense of purpose and a source of power.

WILD TIGERS I HAVE KNOWN

* Q & A with Writer/Director Cam Archer and Cinematographer Aaron Platt

Director: Cam Archer
Cast: Malcolm Stumpf, Tom Gilroy, Fairuza Balk, Kim Dickens

A lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 13-year-old boy who learns to cope with his newfound sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school.

THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1981)
Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Director Penelope Spheeris

Director: Penelope Spheeris

A documentary focusing on the American Punk movement of the 1970s and '80s. This film features interviews with punk bands and offers unintentionally funny commentary on the underground movement. Accompanied by music, this quirky piece offers a glance at the roots of American punk. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

BLACK BOOK

Director: Paul Verhoeven (BASIC INSTINCT, ROBOCOP)
Cast: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman

Set during the end of World War II, BLACK BOOK is the story of a Dutch Jewish girl who narrowly survives the war in Holland. She joins the resistance to find out who betrayed her family, after all of them were killed in an attempt to reach the liberated south.

REIGN OVER ME

Director: Mike Binder
Cast: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle

A man (Sandler) who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate (Cheadle). Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

Director: Ken Loach (LAND AND FREEDOM, MY NAME IS JOE, BREAD AND ROSES)
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney

Ireland, 1920: workers unite to form volunteer guerrilla armies to face the ruthless “Black and Tan” squads that are being shipped from Britain to block Ireland's bid for independence. Shocked by atrocities he sees committed against friends and countrymen, Damien (Cillian Murphy) abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy (Pádraic Delaney) in a dangerous and violent campaign of resistance. As the freedom fighters' bold tactics bring the British to the breaking point, both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But internal debate over the treaty escalates into civil war, pitting Irishman against Irishman, brother against brother.

ZODIAC

Directors: David Fincher (SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB)
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Gary Oldman, Bijou Phillips, Chloe Sevigny

Based on one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation's history, ZODIAC is a thriller from David Fincher, director of SE7EN and FIGHT CLUB. As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his letters, the case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

OFFSIDE

Directors: Jafar Panahi (THE CIRCLE, THE WHITE BALLOON)
Cast: Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi, Golnaz Farmani

Many Iranian girls love soccer as much as their countrymen and sports fans all over the world, but they are prevented by law from attending live soccer matches in their country. Inspired by the day when his own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium in Iran, Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE follows a day in the life of a group of Iranian girls attempting to watch their team's World Cup qualifying match.

THE HOST (Gwoemul)

Directors: BONG Joon-ho
Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Byun Hee-Bong, Park Hae-Il

The talk of the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, THE HOST has already garnered a substantial amount of international buzz. Utilizing state-of-the-art special effects courtesy of a creative partnership between Weta Workshop (King Kong, The Lord of the Rings) and The Orphanage (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sin City), THE HOST is equal parts creature-feature thrill ride and poignant human drama.

FOUR EYED MONSTERS

* Q & A with Directors Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, and post-screening party

Directors/Writers/Cast: Susan Buice, Arin Crumley

Arin is a shy videographer who finds it too much to handle to go out and meet girls, so he sets up an account on meester.net. The flood of responses never comes, save for one email from Susan, a struggling artist who finds her job as a waitress stifling her creativity. Susan is also on the shy side and is seeking an alternative to the classic dating situation. When Arin and Susan finally meet, that alternative dating situation comes to life as the two refuse to communicate verbally, wanting to avoid bullshit small talk. Instead, when they do need to communicate to each other, they pass a pen and pad back and forth.

GAS, FOOD, LODGING (1992)
Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Director Allison Anders

Directed by: Allison Anders

Cast: Brooke Adams, Fairuza Balk, Ione Skye, James Brolin
Fairuza Balk stars as Shade, a girl living in a trailer park with her mom, Nora (Brooke Adams), doing her best to hold her volatile family together. While Shade's older sister, Trudi (Ione Skye), sleeps around and is filled with rage at men, her mother, and the world in general, Shade is a melancholy teen who spends time watching wildly romantic Mexican movies at the local cinema. She believes her mother will be happy if Shade can find her father, John Evans (in a moving performance by James Brolin), and reunite her family.

DAYS OF GLORY

Directed by: Rachid Bouchareb
Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Sami Bouajil

During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.

ARBAT SYMPHONY: FACES OF RUSSIA
Two documentaries by Marina Goldovskaya

* Q & A with Director Marina Goldovskaya

A HOUSE ON ARBAT STREET, 58 min, 1994

The story of the people who lived in a communal apartment building on Arbat Street, one of the most famous streets in Moscow, is a story of Russia in the 20th century.

ANATOLY RYBAKOV: THE RUSSIAN STORY, 52 min, 2006

The film profiles the best-selling novelist, the author of “The Children of the Arbat”, Anatoly Rybakov, whose personal life, like a plaster mold, represents the story of his country destroyed in Stalinist purges and battlefields of WW2. With Perestroika the calamities seem to have ended. Or haven't they?

AVENUE MONTAIGNE

Directed by: Daniele Thompson
Cast: Cecile de France, Claude Brasseur, Valerie Lemercier, Albert Dupontel, Laura Morante

Jessica (Cecile de France) a beautiful young woman from the provinces comes to Paris and lands a job waiting tables on fabled Avenue Montaigne, the city's nexus for art, music, theater and fashion. Jessica's customers include a popular TV actress (Valérie Lemercier) who is courting a major Hollywood director (Sydney Pollack); a wealthy art collector (Claude Brasseur); and an illustrious classical pianist (Albert Dupontel) who is at odds with his manager/wife (Laura Morante). Precisely because Jessica doesn't know how celebrated these people are, her guileless engagement in their lives has a transforming effect on them - and ultimately her.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast: Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck

Traces the gradual disillusionment of Captain Gerd Wiesler, a highly skilled officer who works for the Stasi, East Germany's all-powerful secret police. His mission is to spy on a celebrated writer and actress couple, Georg Dreyman and Christa-Maria Sieland.

THE MONASTERY: MR. VIG AND THE NUN

* Q & A with Director Pernille Rose Grønkjær

Directed by: Pernille Rose Grønkjær

Lovable, eccentric, and decidedly set in his ways, Mr. Vig is an 82-year-old virgin living alone in a dilapidated castle in the Danish countryside. All his life, Mr. Vig has dreamed of turning his castle into a Russian orthodox monastery. His dream may finally come true when the patriarchate agrees to send nuns and priests to appraise and develop the site. The delegation is led by Sister Ambrosija, a young, ambitious, headstrong Russian Orthodox nun, who has her own ideas about the way a monastery should look and be run.

BLACK SNAKE MOAN

* Q & A with Director Craig Brewer

Directed by: Craig Brewer
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake, John Cothran, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Banner, Adriane Lenox

Found lying on the side of the road, beaten and nearly dead, is Rae (Christina Ricci), a 22 year-old who has developed a reputation around town for having an insatiable “itch” for sex. Her rescuer is Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an ex-blues guitarist who has grown used to life's relentless strains of trouble and sorrow. Desperate for a change himself, Lazarus holds Rae prisoner, and sets out to “cure” her of her wicked ways. But to get to the deep, dark bottom of Rae's mystery, Lazarus will first have to face the demons that reside in both their hearts, especially when Rae's one true love Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), who was supposed to be headed for Iraq, comes looking for her.

SMOKIN' ACES

Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Cast: Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven

In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy “Aces” Israel (Piven) - a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody.

SMALL TOWN GAY BAR

* Q & A with Director Malcolm Ingram, moderated by Executive Producer Kevin Smith

Directed by: Malcolm Ingram

The fight for equal rights is far from over, and nowhere is this more evident than in small towns in the Deep South. Homosexuals in these communities lack the social outlets of their cosmopolitan brethren. Focusing primarily on two bars in Mississippi, Rumors and Crossroads, the film introduces us to their proprietors as they struggle to stand their ground in hostile terrain. Director Malcolm Ingram deftly balances the joy and pain of this world and crafts a film that will connect with anyone who has ever felt oppressed and found strength with a little help from their friends.

CATCH AND RELEASE

* Q & A with Director Susannah Grant (Screenwriter: CHARLOTTE'S WEB, IN HER SHOES, ERIN BROCKOVICH, 28 DAYS, EVER AFTER)

Directed by: Susannah Grant
Cast: Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Smith, Sonja Bennett

After the sudden death of her fiancé, Gray Wheeler finds comfort in the company of his friends: lighthearted Sam, hyper-responsible Dennis, and his old childhood buddy Fritz, an irresponsible playboy. As secrets about her supposedly perfect fiancé emerge, Gray comes to see new sides of the man she thought she knew, and at the same time, finds herself drawn to the last man she ever expected to fall for.

BETTER LUCK TOMORROW

Making It: The First Feature Series

* Q & A with Director Justin Lin

Directed by: Justin Lin
Cast: Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho

Ben is an overachiever focused on graduating at the top of his class, but when he struggles to achieve social success, he discovers his darker side. Ben and his friends begin to lead a double life to alleviate the pressures of perfection. As their adopted identity grows, the stakes are raised, and the gang tumbles into a shocking downward spiral.

ALPHA DOG

* Q & A with Director Nick Cassavetes

Directed by: Nick Cassavetes (THE NOTEBOOK, JOHN Q)
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin

Johnny controls the drugs in his well-manicured neighborhood. When Johnny's double-crossed by Jake, Johnny and his gang impulsively kidnap Jake's little brother, Zack, heading to Palm Springs. With no parents in sight, they grow used to having the kid around, and Zack enjoys an illicit summer of drinking, drugs, and girls. As the days tick by however, the options of how to get themselves out of their situation disappear, leading to a shocking conclusion. Based on a true story.

BREAKING AND ENTERING

Directed by: Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, COLD MOUNTAIN)
Cast: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn

A story about theft, “Breaking & Entering” follows three people whose lives intersect in the inner-city area of King's Cross, London. When a landscape architect's (Jude Law) offices in a seedy part of town are repeatedly burgled, his investigations launch him out of the safety of his familiar world.

Fall 2006

CHILDREN OF MEN

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN)
Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chjwetel Ejiofor, Peter Mullan

Based on a P.D. James science-fiction novel, CHILDREN OF MEN is set in a futuristic dsytopia where humankind is on the brink of extinction and a sole pregnant woman holds the key to survival.

THE GOOD GERMAN

* Q & A with producers Ben Cosgrove and Gregory Jacobs

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Toby Maguire, Tony Curran, Beau Bridges

U.S. Army war correspondent Jake Geismar (George Clooney) becomes embroiled with Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), a former lover who is trying to escape her past in post-WWII Berlin. Intrigue mounts as Jake tries to uncover the secrets Lena may be hiding in her desperation to get out of Berlin.

49 UP

* Q & A with director Michael Apted

Directed by: Michael Apted

49 UP is the seventh in a series of landmark documentaries inspired by the Jesuit maxim “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” UK based WORLD IN ACTION interviewed a diverse group of seven-year-old children, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Michael Apted has returned to interview the “children” every seven years since, at ages 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and now again at age 49.

RANG DE BASANTI

* Q & A with director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra

Directed by: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra
Cast: Aamir Khan (LAGAAN), Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor

Arriving in India, a UK graduate enlists a gang of college students to participate in a documentary about India's freedom fighters. Initially, these students scoff at the ideals of the past, but a sequence of events set in motion a merging of the past and present...

THE NATIVITY STORY

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke (THIRTEEN, THE LORDS OF DOGTOWN)
Cast: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Keisha Castle-Hughes

THE NATIVITY STORY focuses on the period in Mary and Joseph's life where they journeyed to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.

BOBBY

Directed by: Emilio Estevez
Cast: Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Shia Labeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, James Marsden, Demi Moore, Kip Pardue, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elijah Wood

Bobby revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. With an incredible ensemble cast portraying fictionalized characters from a cross-section of America, the film follows 22 individuals who share the common thread of anticipating Kennedy's arrival at the election night party.

CITIZEN RUTH

*Q & A with Writer/Director Alexander Payne

Directed by: Alexander Payne
Cast: Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Kurtwood Smith, Mary Kay Place. Kelly Preston, Tippi Hedren, Burt Reynolds

Ruth Stoops, a low-class, unfit mother of four discovers while in jail that she's pregnant again. The judge charges her with endangering the fetus, but tells her in confidence that he'll reduce the charges if she has an abortion. When word of this gets out, Ruth becomes caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between Pro-Lifers and Pro-Choicers, each of whom want to use Ruth to get their messages across. In the process Ruth is virtually forgotten about, that is, until she makes a decision about her pregnancy...

STRANGER THAN FICTION

Directed by: Marc Forster (MONSTER'S BALL, FINDING NEVERLAND)
Cast: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson

Karen Effiel is an author writing her latest novel about an isolated man named Harold Crick. What she doesn't know is that her fictionalized character is real. The real Harold Crick is an IRS agent who one day begins to hear Karen's voice as she narrates what Harold is doing. Harold enlists the help of a literary professor when he hears that Karen plans to kill him.

10 Items or Less

* Q & A with Writer/Director Brad Silberling

Directed by: Brad Silberling
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega
An ageing Hollywood icon whose fear of failure has dulled his once-luminous star strikes up an unlikely friendship with an acid tongued checkout clerk while researching his latest role.

Monster House

Directed by: Gil Kenan
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Spencer Locke, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder
A suburban home has become physically animated by a vengeful human soul looking to stir up trouble from beyond the grave, and it's up to three adventurous kids from the neighborhood to do battle with the structural golem in this comically frightful tale.

Step Up

* Q & A with Editor Nancy Richardson

Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Rachel Griffiths
Tyler is a rebel from the wrong side of the tracks. Nora is a privileged ballet dancer attending Baltimore's ultra-elite Maryland School of the Arts. When trouble with the law lands Tyler with a community service gig at the school, his skills as a street dancer draw Nora's attention. As sparks fly between them, both on-stage and off, Tyler realizes he has one chance to step up to a life larger than he ever imagined.

Catch a Fire

Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Cast: Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna
Powerfully telling the true story of a South African hero’s journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence).

Come Early Morning

Directed by: Joey Lauren Adams
Cast: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson, Laura Prepon
Come Early Morning is the story of a 30-something woman who keeps waking up with a stiff hangover and a guy she doesn't even want to look at. Fueled by a perfectly nuanced performance from Ashley Judd, Come Early Morning is about life transitions, the search for love, and the burdens we carry with us.

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple

* Q & A with Associate Producer and Survivors of Peoples Temple

Directed by: Stanley Nelson
On November 18, 1978, over 900 members of Peoples Temple died in the largest mass suicide/murder in history. Using never before seen archival footage and survivor interviews, Jonestown tells the story of the people who followed Jim Jones from Indiana to California, and finally to the remote jungles of Guyana, South America, in a misbegotten quest to build an ideal society.

Deliver Us From Evil

Directed by: Amy Berg
Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously active pedophile. Juxtaposing an extended, deeply unsettling interview with O'Grady himself with the tragic stories of his victims, filmmaker Amy Berg bravely exposes the deep corruption of the Catholic Church and the troubled mind of the man they sheltered.

Viva Zapatero!

* Reception sponsored by Cinecitta

Directed by: Sabina Guzzanti
With: Sabina Guzzanti, Rory Bremner, Daniele Luttazzi, Michele Santoro, Enzo Biagi, Fabrizio Morri, Valerio Terenzio, Andrea Salerno, Lucia Annunziata
Comedian Sabina Guzzanti criticizes the limitations on freedom of expression imposed by former Prime Minister Berlusconi on the Italian media.

Scarface

* Prizes and Giveaways courtesy of THX and Sierra Entertainment

Directed by: Brian DePalma
Screenplay: Oliver Stone
Cast: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, Noah Emmerich
Brian DePalma's remake of the 1932 film, which follows the rise of Tony Montana, a Cuban emigre who, with his friend Manny Ray, builds a criminal empire in early 1980's Miami.

Little Children

Directed by: Todd Field
Cast: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, Noah Emmerich
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Field (IN THE BEDROOM) adapts Tom Perrottas acclaimed novel concerning the suburban malaise experienced by a handful of small town individuals whose intersecting lives converge in a variety of surprising, and sometimes dangerous, ways.

Spring 2006

Wordplay

Directed by: Patrick Creadon
WORDPLAY focuses on the man most associated with crossword puzzles, New York Times puzzle editor and NPR puzzle-master Will Shortz. Director Patrick Creadon introduces us to this passionate hero, and to the inner workings of his brilliant and often hilarious contributors, including syndicated puzzle creator Merl Reagle. Along the way, the film presents interviews with celebrity crossword puzzlers such as Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, Mike Mussina and the Indigo Girls, who reveal their process, insight and the allure of the game. In addition to deconstructing this uniquely American institution, Wordplay takes us though the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament where almost five hundred competitors battled it out for the title Crossword Champ and showed their true colors along the way.

Say Uncle

Directed by: Peter Paige
Cast: Peter Paige, Kathy Najimy, Anthony Clark, Gabrielle Union, Melanie Lynskey
A young artist goes on a desperate search to replace the relationship with his godson, who has moved to Japan with his family. He tries a baby-sitting business, works in a toy store and spends his free time playing with kids at nearby playgrounds until catching the attention of a neighborhood mom who determines that Johnson is a danger to the community.

Mutual Appreciation

Directed by: Andrew Bujalski
Cast: Pamela Corkey, Andrew Bujalski, Justin Rice, Rachel Clift, Seung-Min Lee
Alan is a musician who leaves a busted-up band for New York, and a new musical voyage. He tries to stay focused and fends off all manner of distractions, including the attraction to his good friend's girlfriend.

Buffalo Boy (Mua len trau)

Directed by: Minh Nguyen-Vo
Entirely shot in Vietnam, this movie follows the passage of Kim, a 15-year old boy in charge of herding two buffaloes, into adulthood where he encounters the world of violence, alcohol, betrayal and death.

Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette)

Directed by: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Enzo Staiola, Lamberto Maggiorani, Lianella Carell, Enzo Stajola, Gino Saltamerenda The recipient of international acclaim, Vittorio de Sica's Italian Neorealist masterwork, THE BICYCLE THIEF (1948), is a treasure of world cinema. After nearly two years of unemployment, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) finally finds work posting bills. But he needs a bicycle to do the job. Unfortunately, he was forced to pawn his own bicycle long ago. In a humbling, tragic scene, Antonio exchanges his family's linen for his bicycle. But when the bike is stolen on his first day of work, he must comb the streets of Rome in search of the bike: his family's only means to survival. After three days of hunting, Antonio and his son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), find the thief (Vittorio Antonucci)--but without witnesses or evidence, the police are unwilling to help Antonio. Hopeless, Antonio and Bruno wander aimlessly through Rome, landing outside of a soccer stadium where hundreds of bicycles are parked. His will broken, Antonio attempts to steal a bike but is caught in the act. Thematically, Vittoria de Sica's THE BICYCLE THIEF details an everyman story of loss of innocence in the face of a destitute society, while the film's poignant acting and directing creates an individual and heart-wrenching tale of one man's struggle to feed his family. The film is often considered one of the masterpieces of 20th century cinema. Presented as part of the UCLA Transportation Services Bike-to-Campus Week

Abhijaan (The Expedition)

Directed by: Satyajit Ray
While virtually unknown this side of the Pacific Ocean, Abhijann (1962)is known as one of Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray's most popular films in his home country of India. The story takes place in rural Bihar around 1930 and follows a passionate taxi driver named Narsingh, who's license gets taken away after he races a government official. Narsingh gets an offer he cannot refuse to transport some goods, which turns out to opium, for a crooked merchant named Sukhanram. As well, Narsingh begins to court Neeli, a reserved Catholic schoolmistress, but quickly realizes that Neeli does not return the feelings he has for her. Narsingh then begins to fall for Gulabi, a beautiful woman forced to enter a job as a prostitute. Looking past her current circumstances and occupation, Narsingh falls in love with Gulabi for who she is, rather than what she does. Part of the Out of the Past film series with the UCLA AMIA Student Chapter and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Positively Naked

Directed by: Arlene Donnelly Nelson and David Nelson

Artist Spencer Tunick photographs a group 85 naked HIV positive people in a public restaurant in recognition of POZ magazine's 10th anniversary.

Ten Commandments: Tyler's Chance

Directed by: David Van Taylor

Acclaimed filmmaker David Van Taylor ("A Perfect Candidate," "With God on Our Side") teams up with Amanda McBaine ("Ghosts of Attica") for this documentary interpretation of the 10 commandments, in the tradition of Kieslowski's Decalogue. This verite take on the First Commandment explores small town Arkansas where a family wrestles with the false gods of football and methamphetamines. Presented in cooperation with the UCLA Documentary Salon Series.

Harolds Home Movies and Home Movie Day

Directed by: Jason Plourde and Sean David West
From the films of Harold O'Neal
A fascinating and rare selection of almost 50 years of amateur filmmaking. Based for most of his life in San Francisco, Harold O'Neal captured garden parties, drag shows and sexy weekends on the Russian River on camera, offering a unique insight into the private lives of gay men before gay liberation. Skillfully edited by Jason Plourde and Sean David West, Harold's Home Movies is a tribute to the 50-plus years of Harold O'Neal, his life partner, and their friends. The transfers come from a much larger collection that was recently preserved by the GLBT Historical Society through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Please click here for more information.

Living Room Cinema: Remarkable films from Home Movie Day 2003-2004

From: The Center for Home Movies

A selection of reels that surfaced at Home Movie Day events worldwide during the first two years. It reflects much of the breadth and variety we see in amateur films from across the decades. Through familiar situations--weddings, bar mitzvahs, and children's birthday parties all make appearances--we glimpse the variety of human experience. And through the more unusual selections--a home-grown Tarzan epic, an unusual post-childbirth ritual--we get a taste of amateur filmmakers' creativity, and how meaningful these captured memories can be. In Person: Snowden Becker and Brian Graney, co-founders of The Center for Home Movies. Part of the Out of the Past film series with the UCLA AMIA Student Chapter and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

The Proposition

Directed by: John Hillcoat
Cast: Tom Budge, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Ray Winstone
Set in rural Australia in the late nineteenth century. This film starts as Captain Stanley and his men capture two of the four Burns brother, Charlie and Mike. Their gang is held responsible for attacking the Hopkins farm, raping pregnant Mrs. Hopkins and murdering the whole family. Arthur Burns, the eldest brother and the gang's mastermind, remains at large has and has retreated to a mountain hideout. Capt. Stanley's proposition to Charlie, the middle brother, is to gain pardon and - more importantly - save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows by finding and killing Arthur within nine days. From a screenplay by Nick Cave.

Little Miss Sunshine

Directed by: Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
Cast: Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Alan Arkin
Tells the story of the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families ever seen on motion picture screens. Together, the motley six-member family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Presented in coopration with the UCLA School of Film, Theatre, and Television.

I Am a Sex Addict

Directed by: Caveh Zahedi
Cast: Rebecca Lord, Emily Morse, Amanda Henderson , Caveh Zahedi
A docu-drama about filmmaker Caveh Zahedi's addiction to prostitution. Zahedi begins by explaining that he is a recovering sex addict now dressed for his imminent (third) marriage. Taking his audience back to the start of his traumas in Paris in 1983, he explains he is playing out his re-enactment in San Francisco for budgetary reasons. He then acts out his breakup with first wife Caroline, which happens after he becomes fixated with a prostitute and, for the sake of honesty, tells his then spouse about all the women he is attracted to. Back in the US, his relationship with Christa similarly fails. Devin seems more sympathetic but her drinking problems only add to Zahedi's. Presented in coopration with the UCLA School of Film, Theatre, and Television.

Shakespeare Behind Bars

Directed by: Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller
A study of 20 male inmates who form the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troup, an acting company based in a Kentucky prison, as they prepare their performance of Shakespeare's final play, "The Tempest." Presented in cooperation with the UCLA Documentary Salon Series.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Part of the Out of the Past film series with the UCLA AMIA Student Chapter and the UCLA Film and Television Archive

Released in 1938, The Adventures of Robin Hood brought to life the legendary character of Robin Hood through the charismatic presence of Errol Flynn in glorious Technicolor. The Adventures of Robin Hood was the first truly successful three-strip Technicolor film released by Warner Brothers, which predated the Technicolor films The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind released the following year. Keep your eye out for a less visible but just as well known star--Maid Marian's horse, which went on to become Roy Rogers's Trigger. Warner Brothers recently restored this Oscar-nominated film utilizing traditional restoration techniques combined with their unique in-house digital restoration process known as edge detection which involved scanning the three original Technicolor negatives onto software that automatically realigned and reregistered each frame. Ned Price, Vice President of Mastering at Warner Brothers, will discuss this new restoration process that has also been used on titles including Singin' in the Rain, Meet Me in St. Louis and Gone With the Wind.

In Person: Ned Price, Vice President of Mastering, Warner Brothers

Zizek!

Directed by: Astra Taylor

The author of works on subjects as wide-ranging as Alfred Hitchcock, 9/11, opera, Christianity, Lenin and David Lynch, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek is one of the most important -- and outrageous -- cultural theorists working today. This captivating, erudite documentary explores the eccentric personality and esoteric work of this incomparable academic and writer, who has been called everything from "the Elvis of cultural theory" to "a one-person culture mulcher."

Coming Attractions

COMING ATTRACTIONS is a chronicle of movie marketing and a history of audience taste and cultural sensibility. This film-made for educational and research purposes only and distributed free of cost to academic and archival institutions worldwide-tells the untold story of the world's favorite advertising: the movie trailer. Based on interviews with trailer makers, film editors, copywriter, directors, marketing executives, collectors and scholars of the industry, this documentary examines the historical development, contemporary practice, cultural resonance and economic importance of trailer making. (128 minutes)

When Do We Eat?

Director: Salvador Litvak
Cast: Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Lerner, Max Greenfield, Shiri Appleby
This is the story of the "world's fastest Passover seder" gone horribly awry. It's about an old school dad who's as tough on his sons as his father is on him. On this night, however, one of the boys slips Dad a dose of special, hallucinogenic Ecstasy in order "to give him a new perspective." Meanwhile, Mom brings a handsome stranger to dinner and the kids take sides. By the end of the night, however, Dad's visions turn him into a modern day Moses intent on leading this hungry group to the promised land of family forgiveness. Of course they're all so stubborn, it would be easier to part the Red Sea.

Look Both Ways

Directed by: Sarah Watt
Cast: William McInnes, Justine Clarke, Anthony Hayes
Mixing animation and live action LOOK BOTH WAYS follows the misadventures of Meryl, a woman who imagines disaster everywhere. One day Meryl is witness to a real accident that connects her to the lives of others affected by the tragedy, among them Nick, a photographer emotionally inhibited by his own fears. As Meryl and Nick clumsily try to connect, the story is shot through with humor, whimsical insight, and compassion.

Winter 2006

Ask the Dust

Presented in cooperation with the UCLA School of Film and Television
*Q&A with director Robert Towne to follow the screening
Cast: Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Donald Sutherland, Charlie Hunnam, Eileen Atkins
A young man, full of ambition and shame for having been castigated in Colorado for his Italian heritage, comes to Los Angeles to become a novelist and meet a blonde beauty. As his writing flourishes, he meets and becomes obsessed with a Mexican barmaid.

Duck Season (Temporada de patos)

Directed by: Fernando Eimbcke
Cast: Enrique Arreola, Diego Catano, Daniel Miranda, Danny Perea

Flama and Moko are 14 years old and have been best friends since they were kids. They have everything they need to survive yet another boring Sunday: an apartment without parents, videogames, porn magazines, soft drinks and pizza delivery. Yet, there are forces that conspire to disrupt their serene existence -- namely, the electricity company; Rita, the neighbor; Ulises, the pizza deliveryman; eleven seconds, the Real Madrid-Manchester game; some chocolate brownies; and a horrible painting of ducks. As a result, they must face such issues as divorce, loneliness, the confusion between adolescent love and friendship and frustration in adult life.

Darwin's Nightmare

Presented in cooperation with the UCLA Documentary Salon Series
*Q&A with the filmmaker to follow the screening
Directed by: Hubert Sauper
An examination of the ever increasing strife between locals suffering from the ravages of war in Africa and those profiting from local fishing industries. The dusky blue waters of Lake Victoria stretch lazily across the Tanzanian plains, but beneath the placid surface a massacre has taken place. In the 1960s the Nile perch, an enormous variant of the American variety, was experimentally introduced into the lake and has wiped out practically all other life. Disastrous for local communities, the situation is a bonanza for the multinational factories that process and ship tons of perch abroad. Thus does globalization feed its lucrative foreign markets while the locals starve to death.

Abstraction and Visual Music: Contemporary Animation from Los Angeles Artists

Artists have long explored Abstraction and Visual Music using techniques such as film animation, video synthesis, and computer graphics. Developments in one medium have become common in others, as with the burgeoning VJ scene which combines popular music, experimental imaging techniques, and live performance.
Los Angeles, a city famous for mainstream media, also is home to a vital and diverse community of alternative media artists. The iotaCenter presents films by local artists who in most cases will be present to discuss their work, including Mar Elepano (Winter, 1984), Jim Ellis (Believer, 1999), and Vibeke Sorensen (NLoops, 1989). Images at left are by Michael Scroggins (Power Spot, 1986), Kathy Smith (Indefinable Moods, 2001), and JWalt Adamczyk (In the Moment, 2003). Also shown will be works by Jules Engel (The Meadow, 1994) and Adam Beckett (Kitsch in Synch, 1975). Although varied, these films are united by their expressive approach to cinema. As paintings in motion, or music made visual, they transcend conventional film form with personal freedom and technical virtuosity. The iotaCenter is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and celebration of the art of abstraction in the moving image. For more information, see www.iotacenter.org.

The Spook Who Sat By the Door

Presented in cooperation with STEM-PLEDGE
*Q&A with writer Sam Greenlee to follow the screening
Cast: Paula Kelly, Lawrence Cook, Johnny Williams
Based on Sam Greenlee's novel of political unrest. A congressman hoping to attract African-American voters during an election year decides to make political hay by pointing out that the Central Intelligence Agency has no black agents. Bowing to subsequent public pressure, the CIA admits a number of black applicants to their training program, but they purposefully make the process difficult and unpleasant enough to winnow out nearly all the African-American students. Dan Freeman, a strong, intelligent but soft-spoken man, somehow makes it through the gauntlet to become the black CIA agent; however, rather than being given important field assignments, Freeman is put in charge of the agency's copying machines and gives tours of their facilities to give the offices a progressive front for visitors. After a few years, Freeman leaves the agency to move back to his hometown of Chicago and do work with the community...at least that's what he tells his superiors. In fact, Freeman used his time at the CIA collecting information on how to launch a political revolution, and not long after he arrives in the Windy City, he begins recruiting an army of leftist radicals and black nationalists fed up with the system. With their help, Freeman launches the first stage of an armed revolt with the stated goal of bringing the white-dominated power structure to its knees.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Directed by: Michel Gondry
Cast: Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Dante 'Mos Def' Smith, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli
'Dave Chappelle's Block Party' spotlights comedy superstar Dave Chappelle in all-new freestyle standup material, and also one-time-only performances by Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Jill Scott, and The Roots, among others. The combination of comedy and music was shot on location, as Chappelle threw a party in downtown Brooklyn, inviting local residents and cameras. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michel Gondry and cinematographer Ellen Kuras captured the performances.

Body Heat

Presented in cooperation with the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Special appearance by cinematographer Richard H. Kline to follow the screening
Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson
Originally released in 1981, this film follows the story of Ned Racine, a seedy small-town Florida lawyer. During a searing heatwave he's picked up by married Matty Walker. A passionate affair commences but it isn't long before they realise the only thing standing in their way is Matty's rich husband Edmund.

Harold & Maude

Directed by: Hal Ashby
Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort
Spend Valentine's Day with Harold and Maude 1971...the first floppy disc is introduced, "Stairway to Heaven" is the nation's number one single ("What's Going On" No. 2, "Imagine" No.3, & "American Pie" No.12, yeah, music used to mean something), the first German McDonald's opens--also becoming the first Micky D's to sell beer, and Nixon is in the Whitehouse. A Clockwork Orange, Bananas, The French Connection, Fiddler on the Roof, and Harold & Maude light up movie screens across the country. Over thirty-four years later this last film becomes the much-anticipated Melnitz Movie's choice for our Valentine's Day feature. Bud Cort. Music by Cat Stevens. The love of a jaded kid whose primary occupation is faux suicide and a cock-eyed-optimist on the eve of her 80th birthday. Timeless comedy noir. What else you gonna do, have a romantic, candlelit dinner on the beach? C'mon....

Winter Passing

Directed by: Adam Rapp
Cast: Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Amelia Warner, Amy Madigan, Rachel Dratch
Playwright/novelist Adam Rapp offers a complex story of confrontation and reconciliation in his film directing debut. Actress Reese Holden is approached by an assertive book editor who offers her a fortune if she consents to the publication the love letters that her father, a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. To secure the letters, Reese returns to her father in Michigan. There she finds her father is more interested in his new housemates--an ex-grad student and a would-be musician--than he is in his own health and well-being.

Sophie Scholl

Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Department of Germanic Languages and German Club

Directed by: Marc Rothemund
Cast: Julia Jentsch, Alexander Held, Andre Hennicke, Fabian Hinrichs
In 1943, as Hitler continues to wage war across Europe, a group of college students mount an underground resistance movement in Munich. Dedicated expressly to the downfall of the monolithic Third Reich war machine, they call themselves the White Rose. Its only female member, Sophie Scholl, is captured during a dangerous mission to distribute pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to the White Rose, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility. The true story re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life: a journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence.

Groundhog Day

Presented in collaboration with GradBar

Directed by: Harold Ramis
Brought to you by Harold Ramis (you all remember Egon from Ghostbusters) and Danny Rubin, this existential (really) comedy showcases Bill Murray at his scoundrelly, hilarious best as a callous, yuppie weatherman whose cold cynicism is transformed into staggering benevolence through his love for, uh, his producer (played with questionable aplomb and pluck--(I've always wanted to write that)--by Andie MacDowell). Set in glorious, exotic, Pennsylvania, this is the film that shows us all that, could we only transcend the fabric of time, we'd not only be able to win the hearts of our most hopeless crushes but also...learn to play piano! Lessons for all!

Good Night, And Good Luck.

Q&A with editor Stephen Mirrione after the screening.

Directed by: George Clooney
Cast: David Strathairn, Robert Downey Jr, Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise, Frank Langella
Taking place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950's America, a chronicle of the real-life conflict between television news man Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public, Murrow, and his dedicated staff--headed by his producer Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba in the CBS newsroom--defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist witch-hunts. A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on regardless and their tenacity eventually pays off when McCarthy is brought before the Senate and made powerless as his lies and bullying tactics are finally uncovered.

Imagine Me & You

Directed by: David Zeiger
Heck (Matthew Goode) and Rachel (Piper Perabo) are a happy young couple about to embark on life together. But at the church, Rachel catches the eye of an unexpected guest. In that moment, she realizes that maybe Heck isn't the one for her. Of course, they will never know for sure unless they give it a shot.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story

Directed by: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Jeremy Northam, James Fleet, Robert Brydon, Dylan Moran, Keeley Hawes
Flipping back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmakers, Tristram Shandy is the making of a movie adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece. Crammed with literary jokes and dark humor, Shandy's warped childhood tales are constantly interrupted by his family and household, inadvertently revealing far more about himself than any conventional autobiography. At the dramatic moment of Tristram's birth, the first assistant director calls cut, marking the end of a filming day on the. We then see Steve Coogan, the other actors and crew through the course of a chaotic evening on set.

My Date With Drew

Q&A with the filmmaker after the screening.

Directed by: Brian Herzlinger, Brett Winn, and Jon Gunn
Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Now, 20 years later he's decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. Brian and his film school pals decide to do everything they can think of to convince Barrymore to go out with him and to document their quest along the way. Equipped with a video camera and the $1,100 Brian won on a game show, they've got one month to accomplish their mission. To succeed, they'll need to negotiate an army of publicists, agents, producers and assistants who surround the star so Brian can pop the question.

Sir No Sir!

Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Documentary Salon Series. Q&A with director David Zeiger to follow the screening.

This is the story of one of the most vibrant and widespread upheavals of the 1960's-one that had a profound impact on American society, yet has been virtually obliterated from the collective memory of that time.

AFTER INNOCENCE

Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Documentary Salon Series. Special Q&A to follow the screening.

Directed by: Jessica Sanders
After Innocence tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated - innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence. The film focuses on the gripping story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives. Included are a police officer, an army sergeant and a young father sent to prison and even death row for decades for crimes they did not commit.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Directed by: David Cronenberg and Josh Olson
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes
A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen as a pillar of a small town community who runs a diner and lives a happy and quiet life with his wife (Maria Bello) and two children. But their lives are forever changed when Mortensen thwarts an attempted robbery and is lauded as a hero by the media, attracting the attention of some mobsters (William Hurt and Ed Harris) who believe he is someone else.

Fall 2005

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Presented in collaboration with the UCLA School of Film and Television Alumni Screening Series
*Q&A with editor and UCLA TFT alum, Pietro Scalia, after the screening, followed by a reception.

Directed by: Rob Marshall
Cast: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Yoki Kudo
The story of Nitta Sayuri, sold to a geisha house at the age of 9, the training she goes through to become a geisha, and the life she leads as one.

MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS

Directed by: Steven Frears
Cast: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, William Young, Christopher Guest, Kelly Reilly
This is the story of Laura Henderson, one of the most prominent and eccentric figures in pre-WWII London society and the founder of the historic Windmill Theater.

FAVELA RISING

*Q&A with director Jeff Zimbalis after the screening

Directed by: Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist
This vibrant documentary is about social revolutionary Anderson Sa, founder of Rio de Janeiro's grassroots Afro Reggae movement.

STEWIE GRIFFIN: THE UNTOLD STORY!

*Q&A with the writer Steve Callaghan after the screening

Directed by: Pete Michels and Peter Shin
Stewie, the maniacal baby genius, is distracted from his plans for world domination when he sees a man who looks just like him on television. Convinced that this man must be his real father (after all, how could he possibly share genetic material with the dimwitted Peter?), Stewie sets off on a cross-country road trip to find him. But his incredible journey leads him to discoveries far more vile and shocking than anything found in his diaper.

HOLY LOLA

*Q&A with the director Bertrand Tavernier after the screening

Directed by: James Mangold
Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Isabelle Carre, Bruno Putzulu, Frederic Pierrot, Maria Pitarresi
Holy Lola follows a childless French couple as they head to south-east Asia in the mistaken belief they can easily adopt a baby. However, on arrival they discover there are no children available and find a Phnom Penh hotel full of couples in the same situation. Soon they spend their daytime hours competing with other French couples in a countrywide chase from orphanage to hostel to agency. Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Master Class Series, the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies, and On Set With French Cinema.

WALK THE LINE

*Q&A with the director of photography after the screening

Directed by: James Mangold
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Shelby Lynne, Robert Patrick

He picked cotton, sold door to door, and served in the Air Force. He was a voice of rebellion that changed the face of rock and roll. An outlaw before today's rebels were born - and an icon they would never forget. He did all this before turning 30. And his name was Johnny Cash. WALK THE LINE explores the early years of the music legend, an artist who transcended musical boundaries to touch people around the globe. As his music changed the world, Cash's own world was rocked by the woman who became the love of his life: June Carter. Presented by the UCLA School of Film and Television.

ELLIE PARKER

*Q&A with writer/director Scott Coffey after the screening

Cast: Naomi Watts, Rebecca Rigg, Scott Coffey, Mark Pellegrino, Blair Mastbaum, Chevy Chase

A comic portrait of a young woman's struggle for integrity, happiness and a Hollywood acting career. The film started as a 16 minute short that premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, also starring Naomi Watts as Ellie Parker. Writer/director Scott Coffey then expanded the script to feature length.

RUSSIAN DOLLS (Les Poupees russes)

*Q&A with director Cedric Klapisch after the screening

Director: Cedric Klapisch
Cast: Romain Duris, Kelly Reilly, Audrey Tautou, Cecile De France, Kevin Bishop

Five years after their year together in Barcelona, "The Spanish Apartment" team of Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle, reunite for a Russian wedding. With their carefree student days behind them, the characters are close to 30 and dealing with weightier career and relationship issues. Xavier is a freelance writer at a crossroads in his career and having trouble finding the right girl, though there are plenty on offer. He is still in contact with his ex Martine who has a child from a man she no longer sees and his lesbian friend Isabelle who is about to conquer the stockbroking world. Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Master Class Series, the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies, and On Set With French Cinema.

NOTES TOWARDS AN AFRICAN ORESTES

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

A documentary about a feature film project that never came to fruition, the rarely-seen Notes for an African Orestes is a collage-like notebook-on-film chronicling Pasolini's efforts to bring a modern-day version of Aeschylus's Orestes to the screen. Pasolini saw parallels between the classical Greek tragedy and 20th-century Africa's movement from tribalism to democracy, and he had hoped to shoot his film in Uganda and Tanzania, with Kampala and Dar es Salaam standing in for ancient Athens. Presented in cooperation with the UCLA Film and Television Archive as a part of the Pier Paolo Pasolini and the City Symposium

THE CHUMSCRUBBER

Q&A and Reception with the filmakers and cast to follow the screening.

Director: Arie Posin
Cast: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Rory Culkin, William Fichtner, Ralph Fiennes, John Heard, Lauren Holly, Jason Isaacs, Allison Janney, Carrie-Anne Moss, Rita Wilson

While Dean Stiffle shrugs his way through high school wearing a psychic cloak of invisibility, the death of Troy - Dean's best friend and the school's leading drug dealer - throws the community's carefully maintained psychotherapeutic balance into disarray.

THE WEATHER MAN

Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Hope Davis, Gemmenne Pena, Nicholas Hoult

Popular Chicago weatherman, Dave Spirtz, has a shot at the big time when a national morning television show calls him for an audition. Professionally, Dave is on top of the world, but his personal life is in complete disarray. Dave's painful divorce, his dad's illness and trouble with his kids have him poised on the knife's edge between stability and disaster. The harder he tries to control events, the more he finds life, like the weather, is completely unpredictable. Presented in colaboration with the UCLA TFT Alumni Screening Series.

THE DYING GAUL

Director: Craig Lucas
Cast: Campbell Scott, Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson, Robin Bartlett, Bill Camp

A psychological thriller set in the Hollywood elite. A fledgling screenwriter (Sarsgaard) is offered a million dollars by a slick and ruthless studio exec (Scott) for his script - a personal story about his lover who died of AIDS. The only catch is that he has to change the film's male character into a female. The grieving writer is seduced both creatively and emotionally into a Faustian decision.

I LOVE YOUR WORK

Director: Adam Goldberg
Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Franka Potente, Joshua Jackson, Marisa Coughlan, Christina Ricci

In this dark psychological drama, as movie star Gray Evans finds his marriage falling apart, and his mental condition wearing thin, he becomes obsessed with a young film student who reminds him of what his life was like before he became famous.

JAMES DEAN: FOREVER YOUNG

Directed by: Michael J. Sheridan
Narrated by: Martin Sheen
This September marks the 50th anniversary of Hollywood legend James Dean's death. This is a unique documentary that utilizes archival footage to explore five years of James Dean's life, honing his craft as an actor in 37 Television Shows and 3 major Motion Pictures. Presented in collaboration with the Documentary Salon Series and the UCLA Alumni Screening Series.

THREE...EXTREMES

Directed by: Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Park Chan-wook
Cast: Kyoko Hasegawa, Atsuro Watabe, Bai Ling, Pauline Lau, Tony Leung Ka-Fei
A beautiful female novelist, still guilt-ridden over the childhood death of her twin sister, receives a mysterious invitation to meet at the site of her sister's demise. A retired actress longing to retain her beauty seeks the rejuvenating effects of a doctor's "special" dumplings, only to discover they contain one horrifying ingredient. A film director is abducted by a vengeful stranger and forced to make an impossible choice that will change his life forever.

ELIZABETHTOWN

Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel, Judy Greer
After causing the Oregon shoe company he works for to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, Drew Baylor is fired for his mistake, and promptly also dumped by his girlfriend, Ellen. On the verge of suicide, Drew is oddly given a new purpose in life when he is brought back to his family's small Kentucky hometown of Elizabethtown following the death of his father, Mitch, as it falls to him to make sure that his dying wishes are fulfilled. On the way home, Drew meets a flight attendant, Claire, with whom he falls in love, in a romance that helps his life get back on track.

INNOCENT VOICES

Director: Luis Mandoki
Cast: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Munoz, Jose Maraa Yazpik
Set in war-torn El Salvador in the mid-1980s, an eleven-year-old boy must decide between joining the army and fighting alongside the guerrillas.

CORPSE BRIDE

Q&A with director Mike Johnson to follow the screening.
Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson.
Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Paul Whitehouse
Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Although life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love.

THE PROTOCOLS OF ZION

Q&A with director Marc Levin to follow the screening.
This film explores the growth of anti-Semitism since 9/11 and challenges those who believe Jews were responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center.

WAITING

Q&A with director/writer Rob McKittrick
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Anna Faris, David Koechner, Wendie Malick
A waiter for four years since high school, Dean has never questioned his job at Shenanigan's. But when he learns that Chett, a high school classmate, now has a lucrative career in electrical engineering, he's thrown into turmoil about his dead-end life. Dean's friend Monty is in exactly the same boat, but he couldn't care less. More concerned with partying, Monty is put in charge of training Mitch, a shy new employee. Over the course of one chaotic shift, Mitch gets to know the rest of Shenanigan's quirky staff: Monty's tough-talking ex-girlfriend, Serena, Shenanigan's over-zealous manager, Dan, and head cook Raddimus, who's obsessed with a senseless staff-wide competition known only as "The Game."

Spring 2005

WINTER SOLSTICE

Sneak Preview

dir: Josh Sternfeld. cast: Allison Janney, Anthony LaPaglia, Aaron Stanford, Mark Webber, Ron Livingston.

A widowed father struggles to raise his two sons. When the eldest son leaves home, the family tries to come to grips with his departure.

AMEN

Co-presented by the UCLA French Deptartment

dir: Costa Gavras. cast: Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Muehe, Ion Caramitru, Marcel Iures.

Kurt Gerstein, a brilliant German scientist, is recruited into the SS during the opening years of the Second World War. Assigned as a sanitation engineer, Gerstein is sent to the Eastern Front to supervise water purification for the German Army. Soon after, however, he is asked to help with a project involving fumigation of "vermin infested" areas behind the front lines. Gerstein develops Zyklon-B, a deadly chemical gas which Gerstein believes will be put to use killing rats, lice, and other disease carrying creatures. However, when Gerstein realizes that his invention will be used to kill not animals but people, he begins an emotional search of his Christian values and ultimately decides to betray the SS and attempt to expose the Holocaust by informing the Catholic Church. In French, with English subtitles.

SUNRISE (1927)

Part of the "OUT OF THE PAST" series presented in collaboration with the MIAS Program, AMIA Student Chapter, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

*Guest speaker: Mike Pogorcelski, head of the Academy Film Archive.

dir: F.W. Murnau. cast: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.

"Sunrise" chronicles the murderous desires--and ultimate repentance--of a wayward husband. Deeply attracted by a sophisticated vamp who worms her way into the couple's simple country existence, the man agrees to take his wife into the city by rowboat...with plans to drown her on the way. In the midst of their journey, however, he realizes he cannot go through with the act. But the pure and innocent wife has already understood what he meant to do. Heartbroken, and with tear-filled eyes, she stumbles away from him through the city streets. Now he must find some way to win her back -- and prevent the fates from punishing him for his misdeeds

MONDOVINO

Sneak Preview

Co-presented by the Documentary Salon Series.

dir: Jonathan Nossiter.

This documentary looks into the magic transformation of grapes into wine. It also explores the conflicts of succession going from the all-powerful Mondavis de Napa in California to the three generations of Montille in Burgundy, France, fighting to defend their remaining acreage of ancestral ground.

ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM

Sneak Preview

Co-presented by the Documentary Salon Series.

dir: Alex Gibney.

The suspenseful, darkly comic, and ultimately tragic inside-story of one of history's greatest business scandals.

VODKA LEMON

Co-presented by the UCLA Armenian Graduate Student Association.

dir: Hiner Saleem. cast: Roman Avinian, Lala Sarkissian, Ivan Franek, Ruzan Mesropyan.

An Armenian film about a town dying an economic death in the wake of the end of the Soviet Union. In Armenian, with English subtitles.

KILLER OF SHEEP, preceded by SEVERAL FRIENDS

Part of the OUT OF THE PAST SERIES (in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Student AMIA, and the Moving Image Archive Studies program)

SEVERAL FRIENDS (1969) Directed by Charles Burnett

Burnett's little-known debut film is a vignette of daily life. This short gem shows in raw sketch form the early power of Burnett's vision and compellingly lays the groundwork for his subsequent work as a major auteur.

KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) Directed by Charles Burnett

Now recognized as a landmark independent filmmaker, Charles Burnett shot his first feature film on the streets of South Central Los Angeles in the early 1970s. KILLER OF SHEEP is a stunning example of American urban neo-realism at its best, depicting the lives of an impoverished family.

Rather than sensationalizing its "inner-city" setting, the film provides one of the most unforgettable visions of working-class life in American cinema. UCLA restorationist Ross Lipman will discuss the challenges of preserving Burnett's gritty original 16mm cinematography and mood-evocative location sound recording.

Producer: Charles Burnett. Cinematographer: Charles Burnett. Editor: Charles Burnett. Cast: Henry Gayle Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett.

BRØDRE (BROTHERS)

Sneak Preview

*Winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award (World Cinema - Dramatic)

dir: Susanne Bier. cast: Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Tomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas.

Michael has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing in action - presumed dead - and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same. In Danish, with English subtitles.

SOMETIMES IN APRIL

Co-presented with the UCLA Darfur Action Committee.

*Q&A session to follow with Agrippa Ezozo, the President of the African Diaspora Foundation and Jean-Baptiste Rudatsikira, a UCLA student who is Rwandan and will share his family's personal experiences. Both speakers will relate the Rwandan genocide to the current genocide in Darfur.

dir: Rauol Peck. cast: Idris Elba, Oris Erhuero, Noah Emmerich, Debra Winger.

HBO pushes the envelope once again with this dramatization of the brutal events that befell the citizens of Rwanda in April 1994. Director Raoul Peck shot the bulk of the picture in Rwanda, adding an incredible feeling of poignancy to his film by revisiting many of the sites where the unthinkable acts of genocide occurred. Peck focuses his cameras on two Hutu brothers, a military man and a DJ. The Hutu's were responsible for the estimated 800,000 deaths of their Tutsi countrymen during this period; the violence was sparked when Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana--also a Hutu--was killed after his plane was shot down on April 6th. As the gruesome events unfold, the two brothers lives are immeasurably changed in ways they never thought possible.

MAD HOT BALLROOM

Sneak Preview

Presented in association with the Documentary Salon Series.

dir: Marilyn Agrelo.

Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes hilarious perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition. Providing unique insight into the incredible cultural diversity that is New York City, this film profiles several kids from three schools (out of 60) at the dynamic age when becoming that "cool" teenager vies for position with familiar innocence, while they learn the merengue, rumba, tango, the foxtrot and swing.

MONSIEUR IBRAHIM

Co-presented by the UCLA Department of French and Francophone studies.

dir: François Dupeyron. cast: Omar Sharif, Pierre Boulanger, Gilbert Melki.

During the early 1960s, Paris was an explosion of life. As the old gave way to the new, everything was in flux and the city was filled with an energy that promised cultural shifts and social change. Against this backgound, in a working class neighborhood, two unlikely characters--a young Jew and an elderly Muslim--begin a friendship. When we meet Moise, also known as Momo, he is in effect an orphan even tough he lives with his failed father; he is more drawn to the local prostitutes who treat him with genuine affection. Momo buys his groceries at the neighborhood shop, a crowded dark space owned and run by Ibrahim, a silent exotic looking man who sees and knows more than he lets on, telling Momo that he "knows what is in his Koran". After Momo is abandoned by his father, Ibrahim becomes the one grownup in Momo's life. Together they begin a journey that will change their lives forever. In French, with English subtitles.

MYSTERIOUS SKIN

Sneak Preview

*Official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival

*Q&A with Brady Corbet and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to follow.

dir: Gregg Araki. cast: Brady Corbet, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elisabeth Shue.

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

CAROUSEL

Part of the OUT OF THE PAST SERIES (in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Student AMIA, and the Moving Image Archive Studies program)

*In person: Schawn Belston - 20th Century Fox

*Reception to follow

dir: Henry King. cast: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones.

Spectacular staging dots this widescreen deluxe Rodgers and Hammerstein musical as Gordon MacRae brings a blustery energy to the lead role of Billy Bigelow, a drifter and ne’er-do-well carnival barker. The troubled soul finally settles down with a good woman (Shirley Jones) but then gets stabbed to death while committing a robbery. Many years later, an angel offers the roustabout the chance to return to earth for just one day to makes things right for his unhappy wife and the daughter he never had the chance to meet. Based on the French play LILION by Ferene Molnar, CAROUSEL ranks among the better Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, making it a classic by any standard. To boot, the film’s tale of love between Bigelow and wife Julie rivals that of any other 1950s musical. Songs from the outstanding score include "If I Loved You," "June Is Busting Out All Over," and "You’ll Never Walk Alone."

PRESERVING AMATEUR FILM

Part of the OUT OF THE PAST SERIES (in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Student AMIA, and the Moving Image Archive Studies program)

*In person: Snowden Becker, Robert Dirig, Lynn Kirste, Ross Lipman, Chris Travers.

*Reception to follow.

In 1923, the first 16mm cameras were marketed to amateur moviemakers and were instantly popular. The cine-camera's popularity and ease of use, along with continual technological improvements, ensured that 20th-century life would be captured not only in snapshots but also in moving pictures. Accordingly, amateur footage of events both historical (the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination) and ephemeral (scenes of everyday life in Cologne, MN and Kannapolis, NC) has been placed in the National Film Registry alongside CITIZEN KANE and STAR WARS. This evening's program will provide a rare opportunity to see historic amateur film works from four Souther California collections--from color footage of Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII to an award-winning short by San Diego cine-club genius Sid Laverents.

RIZE

Sneak Preview

dir: David LaChapelle. cast: Tommy the Clown, Lil Tommy, Larry, Lil C, Dragon, Tight Eyez, Baby Tight Eyez, Miss Prissy, Swoop, El Nino, Daisy, Big X, La Nina, and Quinesha.

A documentary look at "krumping," a dance-form emanating from the streets of South Central Los Angeles, with movements including quick syncopated body gyrations fast enough to warrant a disclaimer that the film was not sped up. It centers around Tommy the Clown (Tommy Johnson), who first created the style as a response to the 1992 Rodney King riots, and focuses on the form of an expression as a positive alternative to the stereotypical hip-hop images and criminal pursuits.

MURDERBALL

Presented in association with the Documentary Salon Series.

*Winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Audience Choice Award (Documentary)

dir: Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro.

Like any other great sports story, Murderball features fierce rivalry, stopwatch suspense, dazzling athletic prowess, larger-than-life personalities and triumph over daunting odds. But "Murderball," the original name for the full-contact sport now known as quad rugby, is played by quadriplegics in armored wheelchairs. 'Murderball' is a story like no other, told by men who see the world from a different angle. Quad rugby players have suffered injuries that have left them with limited function in all four limbs. Whether by car wreck, gunshot, fist fight, rogue bacteria or any of an endless list of possible misadventures, quad rugby's young men= have found their lives dramatically altered. Watching them in action -- both on court and off -- smashes every stereotype one has ever had about the handicapped.

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW

Sneak Preview

*Winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision.

*Q&A with writer/director Miranda July and star John Hawkes to follow.

dir: Miranda July. cast: Ellen Greer, John Hawkes, Brad Henke, Miranda July.

A lonely shoe salesman and an eccentric performance artist struggle to connect in this unique take on contemporary life.

Winter 2005

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

*Q&A with screenwriter/UCLA alum Kevin Kennedy to follow.

Dir: Neils Mueller. Cast: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle.

Based on real life events, Assassination is set in 1974 and centers on a businessman (Penn) who decides to take extreme measures to achieve his American dream.

In the Realms of the Unreal

*Q&A to be determined.

Dir: Jessica Yu.

A documentary on Henry Darger, visionary artist, janitor, and novelist. For more than 60 years, Darger created a massive literary and graphic body of work, including The Realms of the Unreal, an epic, fifteen-thousand-page novel with hundreds of paintings that recounts the wars between nations on an enormous unnamed planet. Darger's keen sense of composition and vivid colors allowed him to create incredibly intense and beautiful illustrations which are often disturbingly violent. Consciously excluding art experts and psychologists, Yu presents impressions of Darger's work only from the people who knew him, letting the audience make up their own minds about the man. The film parallels his real life with his fantasies, making the oddness of his fantasy world more accessible.

CLOSER

*Winner of 2 Golden Globe Awards.

Dir: Mike Nichols. Cast: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen.

An intriguing story of passion, drama, love, and abandonment involving two couples, which only gets more complicated when the man from the first couple gets acquainted with the woman from the second.

BORN INTO BROTHELS: CALCUTTA'S RED LIGHT KIDS

SNEAK PREVIEW

Presented in association with the Documentary Salon Series.

*Winner of the Audience Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Dir: Zana Briski; Ross Kauffman.

Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.

TASUMA

Presented in association with the UCLA French Department.

Dir: Kollo Sanu. Cast: Serge Henri, Ai Keita, Besani Rauol Khalil.

A comedy set in contemporary Burkina Faso, Tasuma tells the story of a World War II veteran who has been trying for more than 50 years to obtain his well-deserved military pension. Convinced that he will be paid shortly, Sogo buys a mill on credit for the village. But the money does not arrive. When Sogo is put in prison because he cannot reimburse his loan, the women of the village rally to set him free. In French, with English subtitles.

NOBODY KNOWS

*Nominated for the Golden Palm at 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Cast: Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu, Hanae Kan.

Four children are forced to rely on one another after they are abandoned by their mother. Despite their mother's abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. But when they have no choice but to engage with the world outside the apartment, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. In Japanese with English subtitles.

MEET THE FOCKERS

*Q&A with screenwriter/UCLA alum James Herzfeld to follow.

Dir: Jay Roach. Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo.

Having given permission to male nurse Greg Focker (Stiller) to wed his daughter (Polo), ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes (De Niro) and his wife (Danner) travel to Detroit to meet Mr. and Mrs. Focker (Hoffman and Streisand), who are as different from the Byrnses as can be.

RORY O'SHEA WAS HERE

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Damien O'Donnell. Cast: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai.

When the kinetic Rory moves into a home for the disabled, he changes the life of a young man with cerebral palsy, encouraging him to experience life outside the confines of 'the system.' Michael (Robertson) has cerebal palsy, and lives a quiet, and dull, life in Carrigmore Residential Home. When a newcomer to the home, Rory (McAvoy), befriends him, he proceeds to show Michael how to live past the disability. Despite, or maybe because of, Rory's crippling disability, he is fiercely independent, and extremely rebellious. His affect upon the quiet and reserved Michael is spectacular, and the two soon leave the care home to set up lives in the outside world, where they recruit the help of Siobhan (Garai) as a care assistant.

HISTORIC VISIONS: GLIMPSES OF OUR PAST

AN EVENING OF FILM SHORTS IN CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

*Q&A with directors to follow

Presented in association with the Black Graduate Student Association.

BID ‘EM IN

Director: Neal Sopata

Co-Producer: Ayapa Biddanda

Set to a haunting performance by legendary jazz vocalist Oscar Brown, Jr., BID ‘EM IN is a stark animated depiction spotlighting the dehumanizing cruelty of a 19th century slave auction. The film juxtaposes themes of freedom and captivity, hope and despair.

STONE MANSION

Director: J.J. Goldberger

Dr. Marcus and Mabel Stone have a choice to make: They can stay and defend their beautiful home or run with nothing but their lives from a mob hell-bent on destroying them on the eve of the 1921 Tulsa Oklahoma race riot, the most heinous in the history of the United States.

GIFT FOR THE LIVING

Director: Tamika Miller

Inspired by the O. Henry short story “Gift of the Magi”, GIFT FOR THE LIVING is a story about a grandmother and her granddaughter who, without the other’s knowledge, sell their most treasured possession in order to buy the other a birthday gift. In the granddaughter’s quest for the perfect gift, she discovers her grandmother’s rich and unique history – a history her grandmother never spoke of. GIFT FOR THE LIVING is a story about love, friendship, loss and sacrifice.

CUZIN SISTA

Director: Layla Sewell

Cuzin Sista is an intimate and heartwarming story of one Gullah woman’s journey through life, the struggles she endures and the many lives she touches along the way. Set in Charleston, South Carolina, this documentary examines the life and times of Louise Washington, descendent of West Africans who marooned on the coasts of South Carolina (better known as the Gullah Islands), her story echoes the strength and determination of her ancestors from whom the Geechee/Gullah culture was derived. Taking an especially close look at gentrification, assimilation and integration within the Charleston community, this film chronicles Cuzin Sista’s triumphant journey through it all.

CROOKED FRAMES

Director: Karyl-Lyn Sanderson

Set to Nina Simone’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, this film examines the history of imprisonment in the African American community and its connection to the painful legacy of slavery in the United States.

THE MEMO

Director: Dahéli Hall

The story of a memo that starts the revolution and the one brotha who didn’t get... THE MEMO!

MACHUCA

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Winner of several awards worldwide, including the audience award at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Dir: Andrés Wood.

Chile, 1973. Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca are 11-year-olds living in Santiago, one in a rich district and the other in a humble nearby town--two worlds separated by a great invisible wall that some, in their eagerness to make reality the dreams in a time of revolutionary hopes, want to demolish. One of them, Father McEnroe, the director of a private religious school, integrates boys of the poor town's families into the elite school with the firm resolution that they all learn mutual respect. Pedro is put in the same class as Gonzalo, and among them a friendship is born of discoveries and surprises, set against the backdrop of Chile's climate of open social confrontation. In Spanish with English subtitles.

ART & LIFE: FINDING THE THREAD

Presented in association with the Documentary Salon Series.

*Q&A with Peter Sellars and director Marina Goldovskaya to follow.

Dir: Marina Goldovskaya.

An intimate portrait of the famous avant-garde, controversial theater and opera director Peter Sellars. Marina Goldovskaya offers an unusual look into the complex world of this fascinating artist. In observing Peter’s close collaboration with friends, students and artists the filmmaker finds an organic connecting thread between Art and Life. The film also gives a glimpse into the delicate process of ethics in documentary filmmaking.

SWIMMING POOL

Presented in association with the UCLA French Department.

*Nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Dir: François Ozon. Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance

Sarah Morton is a famous British mystery author. Tired of London and seeking inspiration for her new novel, she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload to stay at his home in Luberon, in the South of France. It is the off-season, and Sarah finds that the beautiful country locale and unhurried pace is just the tonic for her--until late one night, when John's indolent and insouciant French daughter Julie unexpectedly arrives. Sarah's prim and steely English reserve is jarred by Julie's reckless, sexually charged lifestyle. Their interactions set off an increasingly unsettling series of events, as Sarah's creative process and a possible real-life murder begin to blend dangerously together.

SHULTZE GETS THE BLUES

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Winner of special jury award at the Venice Film Festival, 2003.

Dir: Michael Schorr. Cast: Nan.

Schultze is an accordion player and newly unemployed. When the local music club celebrates its 50th anniversary, his taste of music changes unexpectedly. In German with English subtitles.

MILLIONS

SNEAK PREVIEW

Reception and Q&A with director Danny Boyle to follow.

Dir: Danny Boyle. Cast: Alexander Nathan Etel, Lewis Owen McGibbon, Jane Hogarth, James Nesbitt.

Starting anew after the death of their mother, 9-year-old Anthony is ever practical, while his 7-year-old brother Damian uses imagination, fantasy, and faith to make sense of his confusing world. When a suitcase full of money falls out of the sky at Damian's feet, it sets the boys on the adventure of a lifetime that leads them to realize that true wealth has nothing to do with money.

UP & DOWN (Horem Padem)

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Jan Hrebejk. Cast: Petr Forman, Emilia Vasaryova, Jan Triska, Ingrid Timkova, Kristyna Bokova.

Unable to adopt, a desperate couple purchases a baby from pair of criminals that smuggle illegal aliens in from India. In Czech with English subtitles.

LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Presented in association with the UCLA Master Class Series.

Dir: Brad Silberling. Cast: Jim Carrey, Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, Meryl Streep.

This is the story of the Bauedelaires, three young orphans, Viole, Klaus and Sunny, looking for a new home. They are taken in by a series of odd relatives, starting with the cunning and dastardly Count Olaf, who hopes to snatch their inheritance from them. Violet is the oldest of the Baudelaires at 14, and is their brave and fast-thinking leader. Middle child Klaus, 12, is intensely intelligent and obsessed with words. The youngest is infant Sunny, who speaks in a language only her siblings can understand, and she has a tendency to... bite.

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Mike Binder. Cast: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt.

After being abandoned by her husband, a woman finds her life changed when a once-great baseball star steps in as her drinking buddy and becomes an ad-hoc member of the dysfunctional family.

DOT THE I

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with director Matthew Parkhill to follow.

Dir: Matthew Parkhill. Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Natalia Verbeke, James D'Arcy.

This is the story of Carmen (Verbeke), a young Spanish flamenco dancer living in London, who meets Kit (Bernal), a Brazilian actor, the night before her wedding (to D'Arcy) and ends up kissing him. What ensues is a plot of subterfuge to cover up their newfound affair.

OLDBOY

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Chan-wook Park. Cast: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kim.

An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that not only does his kidnapper still haveplans for him, but that those plans will serve as the even worse finale to 15 years of imprisonment. In Korean with English subtitles.

IN MY COUNTRY

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Panel discussion to follow, details TBA.

Dir: John Boorman. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Juliette Binoche, Brendan Gleeson.

Langston Whitfield is a Washington Post journalist whose editor sends him to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, in which the perpetrators of murder and torture on both sides during Apartheid are invited to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the unvarnished truth and expressing contrition, they may be granted amnesty. Can the deep wounds of Apartheid be healed through reconciliation? Langston is deeply skeptical. He tracks down Col. De Jager, the most notorious torturer in the SA Police and tries to penetrate the mind of a monster, an experience that forces him to confront his own demons.

THE BALLAD OF JACK & ROSE

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Rebecca Miller. Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Catherine Keener, Camilla Belle, Jason Lee, Jena Malone.

Jack lives on the site of his abandoned island commune with his 16-year-old daughter Rose. Jack has sheltered Rose from the influences of the outside world, but now Rose's emerging womanhood poses troubling questions about the days ahead. A man who has lived a life motivated by environmentalism and other altruistic causes, Jack now rages at those who do not share his concerns, like developer Marty Rance, who is building a housing tract on the edge of his property. When Jack invites his girlfriend Kathleen and her sons to live with them, Rose feels betrayed and the situation quickly becomes precarious. Rose acts out wildly, creating chaos. As everything flies out of control, Jack finds himself trapped in an impossible place and is forced to take action.

Fall 2004

SIDEWAYS

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with director Alexander Payne to follow.

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Virginia Madsen

Failed writer Miles Faymond, takes his best friend, Jack, a former actor, on a weeklong drive up to California's wine country. There they explore the nature of their failures and question their relationships. Jack, about to get married, has an affair and wonders whether he should call off the wedding off. While Miles, recently divorced, questions whether he made the right choice.

Stage Beauty

SNEAK PREVIEW

*2004 Toronto Film Festival selection.

Dir: Richard Eyre. Cast: Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, Tom Wilkinson.

Set in the 17th Century at a time when women's roles in live theater were played by men, Ned Kynaston (Crudup) is England's most celebrated leading lady, using his beauty and skill to make the great female roles his own. But when King Charles II is tired of seeing the same old performers, the ruler allows real women to perform and men may no longer play women's parts. Ned becomes a nobody almost overnight, and seems headed for suicide until his ex-dresser turned actress Maria (Danes) takes it upon herself to make a man of him again.

Eulogy

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with alumnus/producer Richard Lewis and director Michael Clancy to follow.

Dir: Michael Clancy. Cast: Hank Azaria, Jesse Bradford, Zooey Deschanel, Glenne Headley, Famke Janssen, Ray Romano, Rip Torn, Debra Winger.

A black comedy following three generations of a family, who come together for the funeral of the patriarch - unveiling a litany of family secrets and covert relationships.

The Machinist

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with screenwriter and UCLA alum Scott Kosar to follow.

Dir: Brad Anderson. Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The story follows Trevor Reznik (Bale), a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. Occupational hazards are common enough in a machine shop under normal circumstances, yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by his inability to sleep. But this is no ordinary insomnia: Trevor is living in a nightmare of strange deja vu and ominous signs.

Cyrano de Bergerac

*Winner of Oscar, Golden Globe, and Cesar awards

Dir: Jean-Paul Rappeneau. Cast: Gerard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez, Jacques Weber.

Melnitz Movies, in collaboration with the UCLA Master Class Series, presents Rappeneau's award-winning 1991 version of classic French love story featuring Gerard Depardieu in the title role. The film tells the tale of the soulful poet/philosopher and expert duelist named Cyrano who falls in love with the fair Roxanne. Ashamed to woo her because of his large nose, he instead writes love letters for the slow-witted, but handsome Christian in order to win her hand for him. She falls deeply in love with the author, but doesn't know the words were written by Cyrano. (In French with English subtitles)

Undertow

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Nominated for the Grand Special Prize at the Deauville, France film festival.

Dir: David Gordon Green. Cast: Jamie Bell, Devon Alan, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulrooney, Kristen Stewart.

The Munn family, John and his sons Chris and Tim, make a new home in the woods of rural Georgia. Their life together is disrupted by the arrival of Uncle Deel and a tragedy that ensues, causing the sons to run away from home.

Primer

SNEAK PREVIEW

*2003 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner.

Dir: Shane Carruth. Cast: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya.

A psychological sci-fi thriller about a group of four tech entrepreneurs who have successfully created error-checking systems for their clients. But their recent work unexpectedly seems to have created a seemingly impossible side-effect: Suddenly, two members of the group realize they are in possession of a device that can double the space-time continuum of anything that enters it. What seems like a windfall of astronomical proportions at first, eventually proves to be much more than they bargained for, as the duo attempt to manipulate time for their own ends.

The Professional (aka Leon)

*Presented in collaboration with the UCLA Master Class Series.

Dir: Luc Besson. Cast: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello

Leon, a professional assassin, reluctantly takes in his 12-year-old neighbor Mathilda after her entire family is gunned down by a corrupt cop, Lt. Stansfield, over a drug dispute. Not used to parenting, let alone having any companionship, Leon finds himself teaching Mathilda the tools of his trade, while trying to protect her from the ruthless and relentless Stansfield.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004).

*Q&A with screenwriter and UCLA alumnus Daniel Pyne to follow.

Dir: Jonathan Demme. Cast: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schrieber.

When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Turning the incident into his political gain, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Iraq. As Marco investigates, he begins to wonder if it the entire unit was actually kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House. Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

*Co-sponsored by the the Documentary Salon Series.

*Q&A with director Xan Cassevetes will follow the screening.

A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based channel's eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television. Film includes appearences by Robert Altman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jim Jarmusch, Penelope Spheeris, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Verhoven, and James Woods.

Finding Neverland

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Please note: this is a Friday night screening.

Dir: Marc Forster. Cast: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Dustin Hoffman.

An author's experiences in befriending four boys who have no fathers inspires him to write a book about children who don't want to grow up. This is the story of how J.M. Barrie came to write the children's classic, "Peter Pan".

Spartacus -- Presented in association with Universal Studios

*Kirk Douglas in person to receive an honor.

Dir: Stanley Kubrick. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis.

A slave named Spartacus defies his master and eventually leads a full-scale rebellion for freedom against the Roman empire. Spartacus' revolt also fuels a power struggle between two Roman senators, the corrupt Crassus and the moderate Gracchus, who both attempt to influence the outcome of the rebellion for their own ends.

Kinsey

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with writer/director Bill Condon to follow the screening.

Dir: Bill Condon. Cast: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell

A look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research. His 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior, creating both success and controversy for Kinsey.

Overnight

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Q&A with directors Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith to follow.

Dir: Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana.

This documentary chronicles the mercurial rise and fall of Troy Duffy, the bartender-turned-filmmaker who was swept up by Miramax's Harvey Weinstein to turn his script for The Boondock Saints into a feature film. Featuring interviews with Willem Dafoe, Billy Connolly, and Duffy.

Bad Education

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Nominated for Best Actor and Best Director in the European film awards

Dir: Pedro Almodovar. Cast: Gael García Bernal, Fele Martinez, Daniel Gimenez Cacho.

Celebrated Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar's latest is a classic film noir set in Madrid, 1960 - 1980. Two kids, Ignacio and Enrique, discover love, cinema and fear in a religious school. Father Manolo, the school principal and their literature teacher, is witness to and part of these discoveries. The three characters meet twice again, at the end of the 70s and in the 80s. The re-encounter will mark the life and death of some of them. In Spanish with English subtitles.

A Very Long Engagement

SNEAK PREVIEW (in collaboration with the UCLA Master Class Series)

*Q&A with Jean-Pierre Jeunet to follow the screening.

Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Dominique Pinon.

In desperation, five soldiers shoot themselves in order to be relieved from the horrifying front line at the Somme in WWI. A court-martial decides to punish them by leaving them between the trenches, in no-man's land, where they would be killed in the crossfire. When all hell breaks loose, they all die--or so it appears. The fiancée of one of the condemned receives information leading her to suspect he might have gotten away alive. So she undertakes a long, arduous journey to discover the truth. In French with English subtitles.

National Treasure

Dir: Jon Turtletaub. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha.

Benjamin Franklin Gates descends from a family of treasure-seekers who have all hunted for the same thing: a war chest hidden by the Founding Fathers after the Revolutionary War. Ben is close to discovering its whereabouts, as is his competition, but the FBI is also hip to the hunt.

Tell Them Who You Are

SNEAK PREVIEW

*Presented in association with the Documentary Salon Series. *Q&A with director Mark Wexler to follow.

Dir: Mark Wexler.

The son of acclaimed cinematographer Haskell Wexler -- who filmed In The Heat of the Night, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, among others -- confronts his complex father by turning the camera on him. What results is a portrait of a difficult genius and a son's path out of the shadow of a famous father.

Beyond the Sea

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Kevin Spacey. Cast: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Greta Scacchi.

Performing was Bobby Darin's life. He came alive onstage, even when he was near collapse offstage. At age seven, Bobby got rheumatic fever that damaged his heart forever. Modern medicine and determination kept him alive, and by 20, with the help of his best friend turned manager he worked his way up from tacky clubs to performing in Vegas with the hope of becoming a legend by 25. Singing "Mack the Knife" made him a star but for him it was only the beginning...

The Green Butchers

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Anders Thomas Jensen. Cast: Line Kruse, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mads Mikkelsen, Nicolas Bro.

Svend and Bjarne work for a butcher in a small Danish town. Svend has great ambition driven by an equally great inferiority complex, while Bjarne hardly cares about anything else at all apart from Astrid, his girlfriend. Starting their own butcher shop enables them to escape from their vicious boss, Holger, but the shop doesn't succeed until a bizarre coincidence leads Svend to concoct a special new dish. In Danish with English subtitles.

The Sea Inside

SNEAK PREVIEW

Dir: Alejandro Amenabar. Cast: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Duenas, Mabel Rivera.

"The Sea Inside" is the real life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign in favor of his right to die with dignity. Two women try to change his life - Julia is a lawyer who supports his cause, and Rosa is a neighbor who wants to convince him that life is worth living. The two women's encounters with the charismatic Ramon lead to change in their own lives. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

The Woodsman

SNEAK PREVIEW (in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive)

Dir: Nicole Kassell. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Eve, Mos Def.

After 12 years in prison, Walter moves into a small apartment across from an elementary school, gets a job at a lumberyard, and mostly keeps to himself. He finds unexpected solace from Vicki, a tough-talking woman who promises not to judge him. But Walter cannot escape his past. A convicted sex offender, he is shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious police detective. After befriending a young girl in a neighborhood park, Walter must also grapple with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons.