Grips you like a dream that won’t let go.
—Rolling Stone

David Lynch directs this ambiguous, mordant tale of a perky blonde, a slinky brunette, loopy obsessions, hot sex, fetid Hollywood and alternate realities. Starring Naomi Watts and Laura Harring. (2001, 146 minutes)

Montand’s portrayal...is a star performance radiant with macho glamour. —The New York Times

Yves Montand commands the screen as an Italian fisherman struggling to survive. Gillo (The Battle of Algiers) Pontecorvo’s first film, making its belated U.S. debut, is a starkly beautiful morality tale. (1957, 99 minutes)

An exuberant blast of rock & roll defiance.
—Rolling Stone

An electric mix of Bowie, Rocky Horror and Spinal Tap, Hedwig is the touching, funny film of John Cameron Mitchell’s off-Broadway musical about a botched sex change victim/plucky rock star wannabe. (2001, 95 minutes)

An Afghanistan few outsiders have seen.
—The Guardian

Winner of the Nestor Almendros Prize at the 2001 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, this documentary looks at the human toll of 20 years of war in Afghanistan. (Fabrizio Lazzaretti, Alberto Vendemmiati, 2000, 114 minutes)

Lively, energetic, marked by ethereal harmonies...songs you don’t want to end.
—Los Angeles Times

An all-star roster of country, bluegrass and old time musicians, including Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch, perform songs from and inspired by the Coens’ film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker, 2001, 98 minutes)

Co-presented with Sings Like Hell

Evidence of how healthy Iranian cinema is.
—Chicago Sun Times

Three inter-linking tales—each one a powerful story about the struggle for female independence—comprise this affectionate, heartbreaking, graceful debut film by Iranian director Marzieh Meshkini. (2001, 78 minutes)5 minutes)

Emphatically entertaining, provocatively self-assured...it may well be the best re-release of this year. —BBC

Jean-Luc Godard directed this playful gangster film about two men trying to persuade a beautiful girl—the inimitable Anna Karina—to help commit a robbery. (1964, 97 minutes)

A work of poetic grandeur. —Los Angeles Times

Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern) directs this gorgeously filmed love story starring the exquisite Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. (2000, 100 minutes)

Both eloquent and down to earth. —Chicago Tribune

A look at globalization from the point of view of Jamaican workers and government officials. Jamaica Kincaid narrates; music by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and others. (Stephanie Black, 2000, 86 minutes)

Featuring the world’s best films on mountain subjects, the Banff Festival Tour inspires audiences with thrills and grandeur captured in exotic locations, from Antarctica to Africa. An entirely different program screens each evening.

General public $12 / UCSB students and youths 16 and under $8

A tale that’s harrowing and inspirational.
—San Francisco Chronicle

A documentary about the ill-fated polar exploration by Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 28, presented through still photographs and film footage shot during the expedition, present-day clips and gripping re-creations. (George Butler, 2001, 93 minutes)

General public $10 / UCSB students $8

Visually impressive and packed with astonishing suspense, Sorcerer follows four mercenaries hired to drive nitroglycerine trucks across treacherous roads in Latin America. Friedkin will answer questions after the screening. (1977, 121 minutes)

An elegant narrative of moral musical chairs.
—Time Out

After Pandora’s Box, legendary German director G.W. Pabst and American silent screen siren Louise Brooks reunited for this still shocking tale. (1929, 110 minutes)

Gentle, ravishingly beautiful and awash in everyday sensuality. —Los Angeles Times

A Chekhovian look at Vietnamese sisters coping with their parents’ deaths and the tenuous balance between daily life and unbridled passions. Directed by Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya). (2000, 112 minutes)