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Being John Malkovich
Thursday, April 6
A contemporary fun-house ride that turns identity inside out. —New York Times
In this funny and original film, a frustrated puppeteer finds a secret passageway into actor John Malkovich’s mind. Stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener.
(Spike Jonze, 1999, 112 min.)
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The Emperor and the Assassin
Thursday, April 13
This is glorious filmmaking. —Time
Celebrated Chinese director Chen Kaige and actress Gong Li (Farewell My Concubine) reunite in this sweeping historical epic about the powerful and ruthless Ying Zheng, China’s first emperor. The most expensive Asian film ever produced.
(1999, 160 min.)
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Felicia’s Journey
Thursday, April 20
One of the year’s riskiest, yet most effective films. —Los Angeles Times
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s (The Sweet Hereafter) brilliant psychological thriller about an Irish teenager in search of her lover in England. Stars Bob Hoskins and Elaine Cassidy.
(1999, 94 min.)
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Show Me Love
The best teen movie of the year. —Village Voice
The Brandon Teena Story
Passionate and persuasive. —New Yorker
Wednesday, April 26
Screening together: a tender and intelligent Swedish film about two adolescent girls sorting out their mutual attraction, and an award-winning documentary based on the shocking murder of a young Nebraska woman who lived as a man. (Show Me: Lukas Moodysson, 1999, 89 min.; Brandon: Susan Muska & Gréta Ólafsdottir, 1998, 90 min.)
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Autumn Tale
Thursday, April 27
As sublimely warming as the autumn sun. —New York Times
The friendship of two middle-aged women takes center stage in this elegant film from veteran French filmmaker Eric Rohmer. Filled with complicated characters, lively conversation and romantic yearning.
(1998, 112 min.)
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Kadosh
Sunday, April 30
Developed with impeccable clarity and a simplicity that is rich in detail. —Toronto Film Festival
Set in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood Mea Shearim, this controversial Israeli film examines the devastating impact of untempered religious zeal on the human heart.
(Amos Gitaï, 1999, 110 min.)
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Regret to Inform
Poetic and powerful. —Los Angeles Times
On the Ropes
Inspirational. Heartbreaking, yet joyful. —Interview
Monday, May 1
Two Oscar-nominated documentaries. The first film is about the long-term effects of war on Vietnamese and American women who lost their husbands during the Vietnam War. The second film is an absorbing chronicle of the personal struggles and triumphs of three young athletes who train at Brooklyn’s famed Bed-Stuy Boxing Center. (Regret: Barbara Sonneborn, 1998, 72 min.; Ropes: Nanette Burstein & Brett Morgen, 1999, 90 min.)
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A Moment of Innocence
Brilliant, humorous and moving. —New York Times
The Silence
A sensuous symphony of sound and color. —New York Times
Sunday, May 7
Two masterful films from renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh). In Moment, the director explores his early life as a political rebel, and in Silence, a blind boy in Tajikistan hears music in everything he experiences. (Moment: 1996, 78 min.; Silence: 1998, 77 min.)
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The Straight Story
Friday, May 12
Eloquently simple, deeply emotional. —New York Times
In this inspirational road movie/redemption story, an elderly man drives his lawnmower on a six week journey through the American heartland to visit his ailling brother. Stars Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek.
(David Lynch, 1999, 111 min.)
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American Movie
Sunday, May 14
Immensely entertaining. —USA Today
A hilarious documentary about a young Wisconsin cemetery caretaker/filmmaker’s manic quest to complete his no-budget film project. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
(Chris Smith, 1999, 107 min.)
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Black Cat, White Cat
Thursday, May 18
A gleefully hysterical farce. —Vogue
This wildly inventive fable features Gypsy mobsters, dirty deals, shotgun weddings and feigned deaths. From the iconoclastic Bosnia-born director Emir Kusturica (Underground). Introduced by folklorist and Roma scholar Carol Silverman.
(1998, 129 min.)
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All About My Mother
Sunday, May 21
Stirring, warm and eminently empathetic. —TimeOut New York
Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar was Cannes’ best director with this engaging and bawdy film that interweaves the lives of a desperate single mother, a transvestite father with AIDS, a pregnant nun and a heroin-addicted lesbian actress. Stars Cecilia Roth, Penelope Cruz and Marisa Paredes.
(1999, 101 min.)
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The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
It is holy and surreal. —San Francisco Examiner
Identity Pieces
A gentle, wry mixture of fable, irony and gritty naturalism. —Houston Chronicle
Monday, May 22
Two wonderful African films: the masterful last work of one of Africa’s leading directors about a heroic street child making her way in a Dakar marketplace; and an appealing fable from Congo, filled with zany characters, about the venerable King of the Bakongo and his quest to find his long-lost daughter in Belgium. (Girl: Djibril Diop Mambety, 1999, 45 min.; Pieces: Mweze Ngangura, 1998, 94 min.)
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South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition
Special screening with live piano music by Michael Mortilla
Thursday, May 25
This amazing, newly restored silent film classic chronicles a captain’s heroic efforts to save his crew when their ship gets caught in Antarctic pack ice in 1912. Composed of actual footage shot during Shackleton’s spectacular adventure. Tickets available in advance and at the door.
(Frank Hurley, 1919, 88 min.)
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For more information about each film, please see our Spring Films News Release.
Courtesy of the UCSB Bookstore, copies of books by the presenter will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Films sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent, K-LITE 101.7 FM, Blue Agave, KCSB 91.9 FM., Daily Nexus, Mercury Lounge and Santa Barbara Video Productions. Autumn Tale is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Cultural Ministry of France. |
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