2nd of June "The Secret in Their Eyes" (Argantin/Spain, 2009)

"The secret in their eyes" is a story of Benjamin Espósito a retired Argentinian federal justice agent who is writing a novel. The novel is based on a real case involved the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. In addition to seeing the extreme grief of the victim's husband Ricardo Morales, Benjamín, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly hired department chief Irene Menéndez-Hastings were personally affected by the case as Benjamín and Pablo tracked the killer, hence the reason why the unsatisfactory ending to the case has always bothered him. Despite the department already having two other suspects, Benjamín and Pablo ultimately were certain that a man named Isidoro Gómez is the real killer. Although he is aware that historical accuracy is not paramount for the novel, the process of revisiting the case is more an issue of closure for him. He tries to speak to the key players in the case, most specifically Irene. For more information click here.

Director: Juan José Campanella
Writers: Eduardo Sacheri, Juan José Campanella
Stars: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago

26th of May "Three Colours: White" (France/Poland, 1994)

Synopsis: The second feature in filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, the black comedy White features Zbigniew Zamachowski as Karol Karol, an expatriate Polish hairdresser whose French wife (the breathtaking Julie Delpy) divorces him after just six months of marriage because of his impotency. Penniless and devoid of his passport, Karol must journey back to Poland by hiding in a trunk. Upon his return, he slowly begins amassing a considerable fortune, ultimately hatching a perverse plot for revenge. Often unjustly dismissed as the weak link in the trilogy, White grows in strength upon repeated viewings. An allegory about equality, the film is mordantly witty, a cynical look at power, marriage and capitalism.

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writers: Krzysztof Kieslowski (scenario), Krzysztof Piesiewicz (scenario)
Stars:Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy and Janusz Gajos
For more information check here.

19th of May "The Dancer Upstairs" (Spain, 2002)

This week cinema club will be hosted by Nicaraguan group with a film from Spain.

The Dancer Upstairs is the story of a detective Agustín Rejas (Bardem) who is tracking the self-styled President Ezequiel (Abel Folk), a Marxist-influenced guerrilla waging a brutal terrorist campaign against the corrupt-yet-democratic government of an unnamed Latin American country. Contrasting with the violence and death in his professional life, Rejas begins to fall for Yolanda (Laura Morante) - his daughter's beautiful ballet teacher. But she may not be all she appears, and his growing attraction to her brings him in direct conflict with his prey.

Director: John Malkovich

Writers: Nicholas Shakespeare (novel), Nicholas Shakespeare (screenplay)

Stars:Javier Bardem, Laura Morante and Juan Diego Botto

You can find more here.

12th of May "Machuca" (2004, Chile)

This week we will watch Machuca which is part of The Smallest Latin American Festival and taken place in May all over the world. 
Plot: Santiago, Chile, 1973: Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) is a poor boy of tribal descent, brought into an upper class private school during Chile’s brief socialist era. Gonzalo (Matias Quer), the well-to-do boy seated a row ahead, befriends Pedro against the bullying will of his classmates. In so doing, he discovers a raw, thrilling but wildly complicated world outside his own previously sheltered homelife. Pedro’s fierce, attractive young neighbor Silvana (Manuela Martelli) by turns mocks Gonzalo’s pampered background, only to fondly lead both boys in a number of kissing games. All around them, Chile drifts toward civil war. Protest marches fill the Santiago streets with zealots of the right and left. At school, their humane headmaster Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) comes under an hysteria-driven attack by parents for his charity toward poor students.
...

Director: 

Andrés Wood

Writers: 

Mamoun Hassan, Andrés Wood

Stars:

 Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna and Manuela Martelli

Read more about Machuca here.

28th of April "Gregory's Girl" (Scotland, 1981)

Gregory's Girl is a 1981 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth. It is set in Scotland.

Sixteen year old Gregory is an awkward, gangly Scottish lad who is in the midst of the throngs of puberty. The object of his affection is Dorothy, despite or in part because she is a talented striker who took his place on the school's boys' football team, he now demoted to distracted goalkeeper. Gregory tries to insinuate himself as much as possible in her life through her interests, such as learning the Italian language, without ever directly coming out and telling her that he likes her. Gregory's male friends are of no help in advising him on how to get into a relationship with Dorothy. The only person with whom he confides that provides any constructive advice is his ten-year old sister, Madeline. When Gregory finally gets the nerve to ask Dorothy out on a date, the outcome of the question is not quite what he expects. He learns that Dorothy talks to her girlfriends about such issues as much as Gregory does with his friends, each side strategizing to their own desired end.

Director: Bill Forsyth

Writer: Bill Forsyth
Stars:John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Jake D'Arcy

For more information check here.

21st of April: Short films from students in Edinburgh Napier University

 This thurday, we will enjoy wacthing shortfilms made by students of Napier University. It will be an experimetal evening where we'll have the chance to explore the new cinema.

 
• HOW MACBETH IS BEEN TAGHT by Pollyana Davison and Karel Dolak
•  WOMAN'S CASE  by Nelisa Alcalde. It's about a special woman's dream

•  CLICHE by nelisa alcalde, Jessi Salomen, Sophie Turnet and Katri Vantahalao. With this film we  want to say to all these women who are afraid to love:let it go.....

• OLD LAND by Nick Gibbon.
• TWO GALLANTS by David Borbas (12 min)
• EXILE ON CANVAS by Edgar Wittek (10 min)

14th of April "Latcho Drom" (France, 1993)

Latcho Drom is a French documentary film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Latcho Drom (rom for "safe journey") describes the travels, singing and dancing of Romany groups from Rajahstan (India), Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain. Some scenes are acted, but there is no dialogue or narration--only partial translation of some songs. The film illustrates the variety of conditions in which the Romany people live--earthbound nomads in the hot deserts of Asia, ironsmiths and abjectly poor tree-dwellers in the frozen plains of Eastern Europe, and craftspeople and traders in the hills and seasides of north Africa and western Europe. It also illustrates the similarities in travel habits, musical tones (spoons, open drums, and string-based rhythms) and song themes (celebration of travel and perceived rejection by sedentary locals).

07th of April "Run Lola Run" (1998, Germany)

"Run Lola Run" is a German crime thriller. The f ilm begins with Lola (Franka Potente) receiving a phone call from her distraught boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). He is a small-time criminal and has lost 100,000 marks belonging to his boss by accidentally leaving it on a train (Lola was supposed to pick him up, but her moped was stolen while she was buying cigarettes). After the doors of the train closed, he saw a homeless man pick up the bag of money but he was unable to get back onto the train before it left the station. Upon not seeing any trace of his money or the homeless man at the next station, Manni assumes the money is long gone.

Manni has to get the money within 20 minutes before his boss finds out, and plans to rob a nearby supermarket. Lola urges him to wait and tells him she will sort out the money. She decides to ask her father (Herbert Knaup), who is a bank manager.

The main part of the film is divided in three "runs". Each run starts from the same situation but develops differently and has a different outcome. Each run contains various flash-forward sequences, showing how the lives of the people that Lola bumps into develop after the encounter. In each run, those people are affected in different ways.

Director: 

Tom Tykwer

Writer: 

Tom Tykwer

Stars:

 Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Herbert Knaup

for more click here.

31st of March "the Dinner Game" (France,1998)

"Le Diner de Cons" or the dinner game is the story of Pierre Brochant, a Parisian publisher, attends a weekly "idiots' dinner", where guests, who are prominent Parisian businessmen, must bring along an "idiot" who the other guests can ridicule. At the end of the dinner, the evening's champion idiot is selected.
With the help of an "idiot scout", Brochant manages to find a "gem", François Pignon, a Finance Ministry employee whose passion is building replicas of landmarks with matchsticks. When Brochant starts to suffer from a bad back, his wife, Christine, leaves him shortly before Pignon arrives at his apartment. Brochant initially wants Pignon to leave, but instead becomes reliant on him, because of his back problem and his need to resolve his relationship problems.
He solicits Pignon's assistance in making a series of telephone calls to locate his wife, but Pignon gaffes each time, including revealing the existence of Brochant's mistress, Marlene Sasseur, to his wife Christine and inviting Lucien Cheval, a tax inspector, to Brochant's house where, in an attempt to disguise his tax evasion, Brochant is forced to quickly hide most of his valuables.
In the meantime, Brochant is able to make amends with an old friend, Just LeBlanc, from whom he stole Christine, and through the evening's events is forced to reassess his mistakes.

 Director: Francis Veber

Writer: Francis Veber

Stars:Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret and Francis Huster

24th of March "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966, USA)

"Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is about a bitter aging couple with the help of alcohol, use a young couple to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other.


This is the only film to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards. Each of the four actors was nominated for an Oscar but only Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis won, for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively. The film also won the Black and White Cinematography award for Haskell Wexler's stark, black-and-white camera work (it was the last film to win before the category was eliminated) and for Best Art Direction (Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins). It was the first film to have its entire credited cast be nominated for acting Oscars, a feat only accomplished twice more with Sleuth in 1972 and Give 'em Hell, Harry! in 1975.

The film received the BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source.
In AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ranked #67.

Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Edward Albee (play), Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
Stars:Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and George Segal
For more information click here.