4th of March "Tony Takitani" from Japan

Tony Takitani (2004) Japanese movie directed by Jun Ichikawa.

Summery: Due to his Western name, Tony was shunned by other kids and spent a solitary childhood. Though gifted as an artist, his drawings lacked feeling, so as an adult, he carved a career as a technical illustrator. Then in middle age, Tony suddenly falls for a pretty young woman, Eiko Konuma, who visits him one day on business. Eiko is like an angel in Tony's daily existence, and for the first time in his life, he feels connected to the outside world. However, Eiko does have one fault: she's a clothing shopaholic. Confusion also begins to develop when it appears that Eiko has a double. Written by Sujit R. Varma

 

25th of Febuary "Man of Aran"

Man of Aran by Robert J. Felaherty (1934) Black and White

For the last 200 years the Aran Islands have exercised a powerfully romantic fascination on the outside world which is without equal anywhere else in the country. They were believed to contain the essence of the ancient Irish life, represented by a pure uncorrupted peasant existence centred around the struggle between man and his hostile but magnificent surroundings. This myth, strengthened by the writings of Yeats and especially Synge was hugely expanded by the release in 1934 of Man of Aran, a documentary on the life of the Island people. This film won international acclaim and explained in no small way why so many different nationalities walk the surface of Aran in their thousands between May and October each year.

The film was made by renowned American director Robert Flaherty who was already established at the time as having virtually founded the documentary film form. In 1923 he screened his Nanook of the North which was a portrait of the lives of the Eskimo peoples of the Belcher Islands off Canada. This film celebrated the primeval duel between man and Nature which was the central motif in all his later work. Find more ...

18th of Febuary 2010 "When Father was Away on Business"

When Father was Away on Business (1985) Tito's break-up with Stalin in 1948 marked the beginning of not only confusing, but also very dangerous years for many hard-core Yugoslav communists. A careless remark about the newspaper cartoon is enough for Mesha to join many arrested unfortunates. His family is now forced to cope with the situation and wait for his release from prison. The story is told from the perspective of Malik, his young son who believes the mother's story about father being "away on business". Written by Dragan Antulov

11th of Febuary 2010 "Central Station" from Brazil

Central Station (1998)
Dora, a dour old woman, works at a Rio de Janeiro central station, writing letters for customers and mailing them. She hates customers and calls them 'trash'. Josue is a 9-year-old boy who never met his father. His mother is sending letters to his father through Dora. When she dies in a car accident, Dora takes Josue and takes a trip with him to find his father.

We had a very interesting discussion after the film, especially by attendance of a Brazilian guy who was familiar with the socio-cultural background of the story. The main topics of debates were as followed:

• 
  
  Caring for others
• 
  
  Being positive and see the half full of the glass rather than to be negative and cynical
• 
  
  The relationship of being poor and religion
• 
  
  Comparing Brazil Central Station to Mumbei Rail Road

04 Febuary 2010 "Jean de Florette"

"Jean de Florette" is a 1986 French historical drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is part of a duology, and is followed by Manon des Sources. The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited property. The movie starred three of France's most prominent actors – Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, who won a BAFTA award for his performance, and Yves Montand in one of the last roles before his death.

28th January 2010 "La pelota vasca: la piel contra la piedra"

English: The Basque Ball: Skin Against Stone; Basque: Euskal pilota: larrua harriaren kontra

La pelota vasca: la piel contra la piedrais a 2003 documentary film written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Julio Médem. The film's purported intention is to create a bridge between the different political positions that coexist, sometimes violently, in the Basque Country. In order to do so, Medem edits the interviews giving a sense of dialogue between parties that refused to sit down and talk.

21st January "Still Life"

"Still Life" (Chinese: 三峡好人; pinyin: Sānxiá hǎorén; literally "Good people of the Three Gorges") is a 2006 Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke. Shot in the old village of Fengjie, a small town on the Yangtze River which is slowly being destroyed by the building of the Three Gorges Dam, Still Life tells the story of two people in search of their spouses. Still Life is a co-production between the Shanghai Film Studio and Hong Kong-based Pictures. The film premiered at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and was a surprise winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film.[2] The film premiered at a handful of other film festivals, and received a limited commercial release in the United States on January 18, 2008 in New York City. Like The World, Jia Zhangke's previous film, Still Life was accepted by Chinese authorities and was shown uncensored in both mainland China and abroad.

10th of December "Blackboards" by Samira Makhmalbaf (2000)

“Blackboards” is Samira Makhmalbaf’s second movie which is well received by critics and awarded many prizes in 2000. The screenplay was written by Samira Makhmalbaf and her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf who is also a director.

The story is about two journeys of two teachers in the remote areas of Iran borders with Iraq (Kurdestan) who are desperately searching to find some students. They carry their blackboards on their shoulders and during the way the use them as shelter, splint, stretcher, camouflage and as shields from gunfire.

The life situation, fear and hardship of the people they have met show the irrelevance of education.

you can find more information in:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboards

http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.php?dvd=ART198DVD&plugs&qt=false&wm=true



The topics we have discussed on 10th of December:

• The life situation of Kurds in Iran, Iraq and Turkey
• Looking for homeland and nationality
• Surviving needs and poverty
• Fictions and realities in the movie

The Age of Stupid, 3/12/09

Tollcross Community Centre's cinema club is pleased to announce the screening of The Age of Stupid this Thursday, 3rd December, at 6.15pm.

From the film's website:
'The Age of Stupid is a 2008 film by Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out)
Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?'

From Wikipedia:
'Shot in seven countries over a period of three years, the film features six separate documentary stories, archive footage and lots of animation from, amongst others, Passion Pictures, creators of the Gorillaz animations. The original rough cut did not include the archivist which was added later to frame the story and better tie together the six parts.'

'The film was "crowd-funded", with the £450,000 budget being raised by selling “shares” to 223 individuals and groups who donated between £500 and £35,000. These groups range from a hockey team to a women’s health centre. This is mostly to give it the best chance of reaching a mainstream multiplex audience, but also to retain complete editorial control. These investors all own a percentage of the film and will receive a pro-rata share in any profits, alongside the 105 crew who worked for survival wages^'.


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Last Thursday our cinema club goers had the opportunity to watch and to discuss The Flower of My Secret, a film from Pedro Almodovar. This was the second session of the the International Cinema Club's new season.
The film was well received by our audience who enjoyed the  wounded passion and the unfulfilled desire of Leo (Marisa Paredes), the main character of the film, and her fight to find herself amongst the emotional labyrinth of her broken marriage.
Almodovar's exaggerated situations and acid sense of humor made us roar with laughter in a few occasions too!

New Series of the International Cinema Club in November 2009

Hi Every body

We start the new season of our movie programme at The Welcoming International Cinema Club.

On Thursady November 19th we have seen the movie "Ten" By Abbas Kiarostami and had a short discussion afterwards.

We have discussed the worldwide issue of "love", sence of attachment and belongingness. The dynamic quality of modern women in Iran by shooting the female main character in an automobile, the nowadays power of childern in societies and especially in Iran among other issues were the most topics of this discussion.



This Thurday, 26th of November we will watch a movie from Spain "The Flower of My Secret" by Pedro Almodovar.

Hope you can make it and join us for the discussion.