Images Cinema

Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup

Malik, the 19-year-old French-Arab criminal enters prison as an uneducated naïf. But by the time he leaves jail, he will know how to read — and how to kill. Jacques Audiard’s intricate study of the bloody rules and rituals behind bars never once glorifies the shocking violence that becomes a rite of passage for Malik, who, friendless, feels he must do the savage bidding of a ferocious Corsican crime boss in exchange for protection. Instead, the director (sometimes referred to as the “French Scorsese”) examines prison as its own specific social system, its corruption, cronyism, and racism a reflection of France at large.

• Director: Jacques Audiard
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 2 hours 29 minutes
• Genre: Drama

Starring: Alex Descas, Mati Diop

An homage to Yasujiro Ozu’s similarly themed Late Spring (1949), 35 Shots is Denis’s warmest, most radiant work, honoring a family of two’s extreme closeness while suggesting its potential for suffocation. 35 Shots is firmly rooted in place, several scenes unfolding in an apartment building in a run-down section of Paris’s 18th arrondissement, home to Lionel and Joséphine; Gabrielle, an ex of Lionel’s who still aches for him; and Noé, nursing a crush on Joséphine. Dyads align, shift, break, and regroup among the foursome.

• Director: Claire Denis
• Rating: Not Rated
• Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Genre: Drama

Starring: Christopher Lambert, Isaach De Bankolé, Isabelle Huppert

White Material unfolds as a fever dream, a haunting, enigmatic look at the horrors of colonialism’s legacy, a subject that Denis first explored in her semiautobiographical debut feature, Chocolat (1988). Set in an unnamed African country during an unspecified time, White Material centers on Maria Vial, a coffee-plantation owner who is blindly determined to continue her business while civil war rages on around her. Chaos engulfs the nation, but Maria implores her workers, many of whom have already fled, to stay and harvest the coffee crop. Amid the increasingly violent anarchy, an injured rebel leader known only as “the Boxer” takes refuge at Maria’s farm.

• Director: Claire Denis
• Rating: Not Rated
• Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
• Genre: Drama

Starring: Firat Ayverdi, Vincent Lindon

Bilal, a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has struggled his way through Europe for the last three months, trying to reunite with his girlfriend, who recently emigrated to England. But his journey comes to an abrupt halt when he is stopped by authorities in Calais, on the French side of the Channel. Left with no other alternatives, he decides to swim across. Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train, where he meets Simon, a middle-aged swimming instructor in turmoil over his imminent divorce. Simon agrees to help Bilal, hoping to win back the affection of his wife, who does volunteer work helping immigrants. But what begins as a relationship based on self interest, develops into something much bigger than Simon could ever have imagined, as he too will ultimately risk everything to reach happiness.

• Director: Philippe Lioret
• Rating: Not Rated
• Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Genre: Drama

Lotte, a happy girl-puppy, lives in a village by the sea. All the villagers are inventors. Lotte's father is the most famous of all. But this year he is rivaled by Adalbert the rabbit. There are lots and lots of inventions and one which takes Lotte and her friends all the way to Japan.

A festival winner in its native Estonia as well as Berlin, New York and Mill Valley, Lotte has won honors everywhere it has shown! (All ages)

• Director: Heiki Ernits and Janno Põldma
• Rating: For all ages
• Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes
• Genre: Animation

Sunday/Dimanche – 10 minutes – English – Patrick Doyon
Every Sunday, it’s the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – 15 minutes – No Dialogue – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

La Luna – 7 minutes – English – Enrico Casaroasa

A fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family’s most unusual line of work.

A Morning Stroll – 7 minutes – No Dialogue – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we’re left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.

Wild Life – 13 minutes – English – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Calgary, 1909: an Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.

• Rating: Not Rated
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Genre: Animation

Starring: Voices by Max von Sydow Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård

Debuted at the Cannes Film Festival

One day Moomintroll notices that something strange has happened in the Moomin Valley - everything is grey; not just the sky and the river, but the trees, the ground, the Moominhouse, too! Moomintroll runs to ask the well-read Muskrat if he knows what is happening. Muskrat declares that this is the way things tend to look like before the earth faces an awful fate coming from the sky... With the help of his father, Moominpappa, Moomintroll and his worried friends build the best raft ever and start on a challenging journey to the observatory.

• Director: Maria Lindberg
• Runtime: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Genre: Stop Motion Animation

Starring: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis and Takeshi Kaneshiro

Set in the neon-washed underworld of present-day Hong Kong, Fallen Angels intertwines two exhilarating tales of love and isolation in a blitz of ultra-hip style and classical cinematic sensibilities.

• Director: Wong Kar Wai
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Genre: Neo-noir

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Chow Mo-wan rents a room in a Hong Kong apartment building. It's sheer coincidence that he moves in the same day that Su Li-zhen moves in next door. They never have a real conversation until Mr. Chow realizes that their respective spouses are having an affair.

• Director: Wong Kar Wai
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
• Genre: Drama, Romance

Haili Kong (PhD in comparative literature), professor of Chinese, has been teaching Chinese language, literature, and cinema since 1994 at Swarthmore College. His publication includes The Melancholic Northeasterner (1998), One Hundred Years of Chinese Cinema (2006), and Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City (2007).