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7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation

Momoko (pop idol Kyoko Fukada, pictured above) yearns to live in 18-century Versailles than in her back-country hometown of Shimotsuma, heartland of the yakuza. To escape, she loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like fashions of the “Lolita” scene. Her idol is Akinori Isobe, chief designer of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright—her favorite Lolita design hose. She travels all the way to Tokyo to shop at their store.

One languid summer, to help fund her expensive hobby, Momoko runs a classified ad of brand-name knock-off clothes (produced by her dad) for sale.She encounters a buyer named Ichiko (the real name is Ichigo), who happens to live in her neighborhood.

Super-rebel Ichiko (model and J-rock icon Anna Tsuchiya, pictured below), is a “Yankee”-style member of the Ponytails motorbike gang, one of Ibaraki’s “Wild speed tribes,” whose teeth-rattling customized bikes are decked out with fiberglass shields and bannered backrests.

Somewhat against Momoko’s will, she and Ichigo slowly develop a strong friendship as they share their feelings on the odd goings-ons around them.

Directed by Nakashima Tetsuya
Starring Kyôko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya and Hiroyuki Miyasako
Japanese w/English subtitles
103 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbFEPS8PPic&feature=related

In this dreamlike yet earthbound film, Rahmat the boatman navigates the increasingly brackish waters of a coastal land, collecting the heartaches and tears of its inhabitants. But he remains powerless against their misguided attempts to appease the gods and make the land green again, whether by offering a bride to the sea or forcibly “treating” the eyes of a painter who sees in different colors. Drawing firsthand on the challenges faced by Iranian artists of today, writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof’s deeply atmospheric and poetical film is a gorgeous allegory of intolerance, brutality and mystified routine that resonates far beyond any one state’s borders.

Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Farsi w/English subtitles, Iran
93 min

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2011/the-white-meadows-keshtzar-haye-sepid.html

Despite a recent wave of violent crime in the city, manual laborer and night student Valter lives a relatively content life with his family in working-class São Paulo. But when three young criminals move in next door, a bunker mentality sets in and Valter soon discovers he is not the only one perversely affected by the mounting chaos of a city under siege, or the unsettling presence of his new neighbors. Building tension throughout with stylish sequences that blend reality and fevered imagination, Sérgio Bianchi’s gripping domestic thriller offers a shrewd portrait of the social and psychological impact of urban violence, depicting a community beset yet also aroused by a permeating atmosphere of destruction.

Dir. Sérgio Bianchi
Portuguese w/English subtitles, Brazil
103 min

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2011/the-tenants-os-inquilinos.html

A watchman and his wife living at an abandoned mine find themselves trapped in the brutal schemes of their tyrannical landlord in this suspenseful, visually striking drama set on the urban outskirts of Delhi. When the landlord offers his daughter to a wealthy potential buyer of the mine, she and her lower-caste lover run away. The watchman reluctantly helps them, but a sinister masked killer dispatched to hunt down the runaways endangers them all. A searing take on the politics of caste and money in a rapidly developing economy, Sidharth Srinivasan’s eccentric thriller delves into the dark interstices between Indian modernity and tradition.

Dir. Sidharth Srinivasan
Hindi w/English subtitles, India
98 min

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2011/soul-of-sand-pairon-talle.html

In this colorful modern-day parable of good and evil, a humble village electrician devotes his compassion and ingenuity to destitute neighbors in a wind-swept valley of Kyrgyzstan. Played with wry humanity by writer-director Aktan Arym Kubat, the trusting Mr. Light strikes a suspect bargain with a rich developer running for local office, as unemployment threatens the survival of the community. Stoking a dream to supply wind-generated electricity to the whole valley, the modest visionary comes up against an increasingly dark cloud of corruption in this affecting tale of solidarity and ordinary decency amid the injustices and hardships of a changing world.

Dir. Aktan Arym Kubat
Kyrgyz w/English subtitles, Kyrgyzstan
80 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2011/the-light-thief-svet-ake.html

Setyo and Siti live a peaceful life as husband and wife, selling earthenware in their village. But when Setyo is called away on business, a flirtatious butcher, Ludiro, takes advantage of Siti’s loneliness to seduce her. Tempted by song and dance, Siti initially refuses his advances but acquiesces in a moment of weakness, setting the stage for an epic battle between the two men. Located in lush forests and on pristine beaches of Java, director Garin Nugroho bases his deeply imagistic and dazzling visual narrative on the The Abduction of Sita, from the Hindu epic, The Ramayana.

Directed by Garin Nugroho
Indonesian w/English subtitles, Indonesia
120 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/opera-jawa.html

Global Lens 2011 Film Series sponsored by The Global Film Initiative

Ruveyda is like most residents of the Belvedere refugee camp: a widow yearning to forget the tragedy of war, fifteen years after the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But unlike those around her, she spends most of her days in a bittersweet routine of caring for her extended family, and searching for the remains of her husband and son—both of which offer a precarious hope that is one day tested when her nephew is selected to participate in a reality show in a former enemy enclave. An emotionally rich portrait of war’s troubled aftermath, director Ahmed Imamovic’s film paints an uncommon image of patience, faith, love, and above all, forgiveness.

Directed by Ahmed Imamovic
Bosnian w/English subtitles, Bosnia & Herzegovina
90 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://catalogue.globalfilm.org/global-lens-collection/global-lens-2011/belvedere.html

This low-budget freak show/cult classic/cultural institution concerns the misadventures of Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) inside a strange mansion that they come across on a rainy night. After the wholesome pair profess their love through an opening song, their car breaks down in the woods, and they seek refuge in a towering castle nearby. Greeting them at the door is a ghoulish butler named Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien), who introduces them to a bacchanalian collection of partygoers dressed in outfits from some sort of interplanetary thrift shop.

Directed by Jim Sharman
Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick
100 min

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEBQ3haBi3c&feature=related

7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation

Nanami Ishikawa (Lena Tanaka) travels to Hiroshima to investigate her father’s frequent trips there. As she explores the city, she finds out about a woman named Minami (Kumiko Aso), an atomic bomb survivor whose pursuit of love in the mid-1950s would have a profound impact on Nanami’s own life decades later.

Directed by Sasabe Kiyoshi
Starring Rena Tanaka, Kumiko Aso and Hisashi Yoshizawa
Japanese w/English subtitles
118 min, 35 mm

FREE FOR EVERYONE!

The film follows an extraordinary group of young and inspiring musicians, AnDa Union, on a journey through the distant Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. In the vibrant capital of Hohhot the group have made a life around performing and creating traditional music for a contemporary audience. The rituals of their daily lives have adapted to the modern city and indeed modern living has shaped their music in new and exciting ways.

From the city, Anda Union embark on an adventure to the wild and varied landscapes of the Inner Mongolian grasslands and mountains, where they discover the secrets of their haunting and beautiful music, and a rapidly changing environment. The personal stories of each of the members of the group develop as they encounter childhood friends, long-lost family members, proud nomads, devoted priests and extravagant musicians as they continue to learn about the rich and turbulent roots of Mongolian culture in China.

A film by Tim Pearce
93 min
FREE FOR EVERYONE!
Join us Friday, October 28 at 9:30 pm for an introduction by the filmmaker!

Trailer: http://www.andafilm.com/film.html

CAB and Bijou Cinema present Midnight Movie Series at the Englert!
Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is having grisly Nightmares. Something monstrous wants to kill her. Meanwhile, her high school friends, who are having the very same dream, are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared nightmare. When the police ignore her explanation, she herself must confront the killer in his shadowy realm.

Featuring John Saxon (Enter The Dragon) and Johnny Depp in his first starring role as well as mind-bending special effects, this horror classic gave birth to one of the most infamous undead villains in cinematic history. Reportedly naming Freddy Krueger after a kid who had bullied him in school, writer-director Craven hatches a shock-fest that goes straight to the heart of terror.

Directed by Wes Craven
Starring Heather Lagenkamp, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund
91 min

Free for students (w/ID) and $3 for community

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adgp0v_mfTk

FREE FOR EVERYONE
7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation

Miyazaki Aoi, whose role as the young girl in Eureka was highly acclaimed, here plays a junior high school girl who is determined to choose her own way of life amidst the cruel tricks of fate, even if this isolates her from her environment. At the 2001 Festival des 3 Continents the film won the Special Jury Award and the Best Actress Award. Affected by the commotion surrounding her mother’s suicide attempt, Sachiko (Miyazaki Aoi) loses touch with her classmates. She no longer goes to school and wanders the streets, spending her time as she pleases.

One day she meets Takao (Sawaki Tetsu) and the vagrant Kyuzo (Ishikawa Hiroshi). They have nothing in particular to do, but that makes the leisured passage of time they experience most precious. Meanwhile, we find out about a love affair between Sachiko and Ogata, a teacher from when she was in elementary school. However, Takao gets involved in some sort of trouble and disappears, putting a sudden stop to Sachiko’s leisured passage of time. She starts to go back to school, but troubles await her there as well.

Directed by Shiota Akihiko
Starring Aoi Miyazaki, Seiichi Tanabe and Tetsu Sawaki
Japanese w/English subtitles
92 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhjffR2eiH4

In 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham’s three daughters died in a Corsicana, Texas house fire. Tried and convicted for their arson murders, Willingham was executed in February 2004 despite overwhelming expert criticism of the prosecution’s arson evidence. Today, Willingham’s name has become a call for reform in the field of forensics and a rallying cry for the anti-death penalty movement; yet he remains an indisputable “monster” in the eyes of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who ignored the science that could have saved Willingham’s life. Equal parts murder mystery, forensic investigation and political drama, INCENDIARY documents the haunted legacy of a prosecution built on “folklore.”

A film by Steve Mims and Joe Bailey, Jr.
104 min, DCP

“Incendiary leaves it up to views to decide whether justice was served.” – Joe Leydon (Variety)

Trailer: http://www.incendiarymovie.com/INCENDIARY/trailer.html

“Piled Higher and Deeper” The Movie is a live-action adaptation of the popular online comic strip by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com). It was filmed on location at and was produced in partnership with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

The film introduces audiences to the unique and funny culture of Academia and follows four graduate students (Cecilia, Mike, Tajel and the “Nameless Grad Student”) as they struggle to find balance between research, teaching and their personal lives with humor and heart.

Made by the creators of PHD Comics
67 min, blu-ray

Trailer: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1433

Greetings Bijou goers! Please be aware that the Q&A session hosted by Stew and Heidi will occur only on Wednesday, October 12 after PASSING STRANGE: THE MOVIE. The film will be shown as planned on Thursday, October 13, but there will not be a Q&A session after.

Inspired by actual events, Kathy (Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz) is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations of helping to rebuild a devastated country are dashed when she uncovers a dangerous reality of corruption, cover-up and intrigue amid a world of private contractors and multinational diplomatic doubletalk. Directed by first time filmmaker Larysa Kondracki, the film also stars Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci and Academy Award nominee David Strathairn.
Directed by Larysa Kondracki; Starring Rachel Weisz, Monica Bellucci and Vanessa Redgrave
“A harrowingly effective thriller.” -Justin Chang, Variety
112 min, 35 mm
Trailer: http://www.thewhistleblower-movie.com/

FREE FOR ALL!

7th Annual Japan Foundation Film Series: Young Starlets of Japanese Cinemas
Presented by the Center for Asian Pacific Studies, the Institute of Cinema and Culture, UI International Programs and the Japan Foundation

Yuki Tanada takes the road movie to a completely off-the-beaten-path track, tuning into the fears and dreams of the devil-may-care freeter generation and the universal yearnings of young people with few friends and no jobs.

The film is the hopelessly endearing exile story of ne’er-do-well 21-year-old Suzuko (Aoi Yu, Hula Girl), an impossibly endearing type who is herself, somewhat hopeless, but also wise to the ways of the world and by no means dumb enough to be happy with her lot.

After a bad pick of roommate lands her a brief stay at the police station, Suzuko decides that enough is enough: she hits the road alone with a tiny suitcase, a determined but restless heart, and a mission: save ¥1 million ($10,000), go away… repeat. Hopping from place to place, she ekes out a living taking on different temp jobs. As she crosses paths with various people whose lives she changes, will love finally come her way?

Directed by Tanada Yuki
Starring Yu Aoi, Mirai Moriyama and Pierre Taki
Japanese w/English subtitles
121 min, 35 mm

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMx_Kvg2j-g

Filmmakers David Weissman and Bill Weber co-directed the 2001 documentary, The Cockettes, chronicling San Francisco’s legendary theater troupe of hippies and drag queens, 1969 – 1972. We Were Here revisits San Francisco a decade later, as its flourishing gay community is hit with an unimaginable disaster.

We Were Here is the first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. It explores how the City’s inhabitants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamitous epidemic.

Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond AIDS itself. It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occasion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.

A film by David Weissman
90 min, blu-ray

“There is no turning away from the screen.” -Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle)

Trailer: http://wewereherefilm.com/

Free and open to the public

Saturday, October 29 @ 8 pm, Englert Theater

A screening of silent films on ancient stories with live piano music by Andrew Earle Simpson (http://www.andrewesimpson.com/SilentFilm.html).
Films will include: LA CADUTA DI TROIA (“The Fall of Troy” 1911), CUPID AND PSYCHE (1897), BEN HUR (1907), and A ROMAN SCANDAL (Mutt and Jeff cartoon). The program will be approximately 90 minutes in length.
This event is part of the program for “Re-Creation: Musical Reception of Classical Antiquity,” a conference sponsored by the Department of Classics and the School of Music at the University of Iowa October 27-30.  For complete conference information, go to http://www.uiowa.edu/~classics/events/music_classics_conf.html or visit Re-Creation on Facebook.

Hancher and Bijou Cinema present
Passing Strange the Movie is a tour-de-force of creative collaboration and inspiration. In this breathtaking film, Spike Lee captures the highly-acclaimed Broadway musical show written by singer/songwriter Stew (with music co-written by his creative partner, Heidi Rodewald). The original show, winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, also won: Best Musical: Drama Desk Award; Best Musical: New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award; Best New American Theater Piece: Obie Award; and Best Ensemble Performance: Obie Award. The show was universally applauded for its originality, its deep emotional resonance, and its powerful, often high-octane, music. The highly acclaimed music doesn’t just comment on the action like a typical rock musical, but actually tells the story and advances the narrative through its lyrics.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 12 – After the film a Q&A will be hosted by Stew and Heidi Rodewald. Catch Stew again when he visits Iowa City in February 2012 to perform Stew & The Negro Problem.

A film by Spike Lee
136 min, blu-ray

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgiguUKQ4S0