<< June 8 - 14, 2007 >>>

Discuss this series with other film fans on:
http://www.myspace.com/americancinematheque

With the support of the Goethe Institut Los Angeles; Holland Film; the Consulate General of the Netherlands, Los Angeles; the Italian Cultural Institute Los Angeles; the Italian Trade Commission; the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland; the French Film and TV Office, Consulate General of France in Los Angeles.

When one says European Cinema, one often thinks of major film movements. German Expressionism, Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, the Czech New Wave, the Polish Film School, the New German Cinema, Dogme 95 - filmmaking more in the auteur tradition than American Cinema.

Yet to be defined, today’s European Cinema is very much alive, although it often has difficulties finding access to American screens. Film critics travelling the festival world always talk about all the amazing films that do not make it to LA. This is a showcase for a few of those festival favorites that have yet to appear on the big screens of Los Angeles -- and most likely will not.

With films by many acclaimed filmmakers: from Ireland’s John Boormans is THE TIGER’S TAIL is a smart black comedy thriller with the "haves" and the "have-nots" on center stage; to Holland’s Alex van Warmerdam's WAITER, a delightfully deadpan comedy on a writer and his character, to France’s Claire Denis’s TOWARD MATHILDE, a documentary "pas de deux" and an exploration of dance; Greece’s Theo Angelopolous’ TRILOGY: WEEPING MEADOW, a historical tableau of the 20^th century with the resonance of a classic Greek tragedy; and a few discoveries like Belgium’s first time director Fien Troch's SOMEONE ELSE'S HAPPINESS, a dramatic portrait of human loneliness in post-industrialized civilization; Germany’s Stefan Krohmer’s second feature SUMMER ‘04, a Rohmerien tale of a family summer vacation and Poland’s Michal Rosa’s WHAT SUN HAS SEEN, a patchwork that captures the texture of life in Poland today as ordinary people struggle for dignity. And not to be missed LA TERRA, an astonishing Italian Noir, the eighth film of Sergio Rubini.

This series would not have been possible without the support of ELMA -- European Languages and Movies in America -- a new non-profit organization supporting the presentation of European movies in Los Angeles and the support of all the various Consulates and European cultural organizations.

Friday, June 8 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere! SUMMER ‘04 (SOMMER ’04 AN DER SCHLEI), 2007, Germany, The Cinema Guild, 97 min. Dir. Stefan Krohmer. Miriam (Martina Gedeck) and her husband André (Peter Davor), are joined on their holiday by their 15-year-old son, Nils (Lucas Kotaranin) and his young precocious girlfriend, Livia (Svea Lohde). Though it seems that there are no taboos in Miriam’s life, the flirtatious Livia, with the handsome intruder Bill (Robert Seeliger), challenge her liberal principles. It’s difficult to predict where this story of five people on a stressful seaside idyll will go. A successfull drama evoking the moral tales of Eric Rohmer. In German with English subtitles. "A very subtle dramedy of manners and emotions, played out during a vacation on Germany's Baltic coast, SUMMER ’04 more than confirms the promise of young Teuton helmer Stefan Krohmer... With a tip-top cast, headed by well-known actress Martina Gedeck in one of her most nuanced perfs to date." -- Variety NOT ON DVD

Los Angeles Premiere! SOMEONE ELSE'S HAPPINESS (EEN ANDER ZIJN GELUK), 2005, Belgium, Celluloid Dreams, 98 min. Flemish female writer-director Fien Troch's debut feature film has received enormous acclaim at prestigious international film festivals. With superb cinemascope compositions, Troch examines the life of a small village after a child is killed in a hit-and-run accident, and the inhabitants start looking at each other suspiciously. What could be a bleak and distant tale filled with silences, turns into a gripping illustration of human loneliness and an inability to communicate. With veteran actor Jan Decleir. "Fien Troch's triumph as a tyro European filmmaker couldn't be more complete than it is with a superbly staged rendering of the shock felt by a Belgian suburb after a boy is killed in a hit-and-run incident. Made with the precision of a Michael Haneke and the social scope of a Jean Renoir, this powerfully resonant expression of life in post-industrialized civilization would serve as an ideal time capsule item for future generations." -- Robert Koehler, Variety In Dutch with English subtitles. * Stefan Krohmer will not be coming for discussion in between films with director Stefan Krohmer (SUMMER 04) as was originally announced. NOT ON DVD

Saturday, June 9 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere! WAITER (OBER), 2006, Netherlands, Fortissimo Films, 97 min. Take elements of ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, throw in a little of director Charlie Kaufman, infuse with an off-kilter sense of humor and add a pinch of surrealism, and you may have an idea of what awaits you in king of Dutch deadpan comedy writer-director Alex van Warmerdam's delightfully sophisticated black comedy. Edgar, a waiter (van Warmerdam himself), quietly takes life's indignities ranging from belligerent customers to a chronically ill wife and his demanding mistress. Until he gets plain fed-up, when the waiter then goes to complain about his miserable existence to his creator. Some of the jokes are belly-laugh funny and many more are moments of wry intelligence. Great performances, including Ariane Schluter as Edgar’s demanding mistress. In Dutch with English subtitles. NOT ON DVD

THE TIGER'S TAIL, 2007, Ireland, Moviehouse Entertainment, 103 min. A beautiful, intelligent black comedy thriller by writer, director, producer John Boorman. Liam O’Leary (Boorman’s long time collaborator Brendan Gleeson, THE GENERAL), an Irish property developer of humble origins, made it big and fast on the back of the Celtic Tiger. Wildly over-extended, Liam finds himself struggling in a receding market. Stressed, he seems on the verge of a mental breakdown when he sees his doppelganger. "A top-form Brendan Gleeson returns to John Boorman's lopsided modern world in THE TIGER'S TAIL, arguably the director's most appealing entry since THE GENERAL. Playing dual roles as a rich Irish businessman riding the economic boom and his down-and-out twin, Gleeson animates Boorman's amusing Prince and the Pauper screenplay, which sports a dark social underbelly that puts Ireland's rich-poor divide centerstage." -- Deborah Young, Variety Preceded by Run Wrake’s "Rabbit" (UK, 9 min, 2006). Eye-catching animated black comedy about two children who have much to learn….and to lose. NOT ON DVD

Sunday, June 10 – 5:00 PM

Los Angeles Premiere! TOWARDS MATHILDE (VERS MATHILDE), 2005, France, Celluloid Dreams, 84 min. Director Claire Denis (I CAN’T SLEEP; BEAU TRAVAIL), whose feature films have been often described as choreographed, transcends mere documentary in a film that explores the birth, formulation, and performance of a radically new dance piece. Claire Denis, with 8mm and a 16mm cameras, follows the creation of a work-in-progress by Mathilde Monnier, a choregrapher trained in post-modern dance by Viola Farber -- neither abstract nor minimalist, a kinetic investigator par excellence. In French with English subtitles. "The glimpses we get of the characters' professional process -- refining an experimental dance piece featuring rubber tubes and flexible, womb-like apparatuses -- are tantalizing. No contemporary filmmaker understands body language like Denis: under her gaze, necks and knees can seem loquacious." Eye Weekly; "Offering a meeting of minds between two bracingly oblique artists, pic finds Monnier and Denis performing an intellectual pas de deux as they discuss theories of dance, intercut with footage of Monnier rehearsing with her ensemble and dancing alone to songs by alt rocker P.J. Harvey." -- Variety Presented in association with Dance Camera West. NOT ON DVD

Sunday, June 10 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere! TRILOGY: WEEPING MEADOW (TRILOGIA I: TO LIVADI POU DAKRYZEI), 2004, Greece, New Yorker Films, 170 min. Greek master Theodoros Angelopoulos’ new film is a vast historical tableau with the narrative split between big history and personal drama. Eleni (Alexandra Aidini) is a Greek immigrant from Russia who has run off with the unnamed Young Man (Nikos Poursanidis) to Thessaloniki. There, he tries his luck as a musician while she raises their two sons. In search of a better life for his family, the Young Man departs to America. Eleni is left behind in Greece to suffer the ravages of World War II and the Greek Civil War. In Greek with English subtitles. "The first in a projected trilogy by the Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, THE WEEPING MEADOW is a beautiful and devastating meditation on war, history and loss." -- Dana Stevens, The New York Times; "Angelopoulos has given his modern story the devastating emotional impact and resonance of a classic Greek tragedy." -- Ed Scheid, Box Office; "It's a typically poetic film, rich in powerful imagery, which sees a bitter personal tragedy unfold against the major events of 20th century Greece. It's a pleasure to sit through nearly three hours of perfectly controlled, visually evocative filmmaking." -- Hollywood Reporter NOT ON DVD

Wednesday, June 13 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere! LA TERRA, 2006, Italy, Film Italia, 92 min. A remarkable piece of cross-genre Italian cinema from the director of THE STATION with a clever screenplay, some astonishing performances and very colorful scenery. Luigi Di Santo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), exiled after killing his father as a teenager, returns to his native Puglia for some legal paperwork and is thrown into the violence of the south. Director Sergio Rubini brilliantly plays the wife-beating nightclub owner Tonino. In Italian with English subtitles. "A compulsively watchable combo of lop-sided Italian comedy and Southern film noir. Fabio Cianchetti's exhilarating lensing echoes classic spaghetti westerns in the burnt landscapes of Nardo, Lecce, Mesagne and Brindisi. The recurring pizzicato in Pino Donaggio's humorously over-the-top score recalls Leone's favorite composer, Ennio Morricone, doing Elio Petri's political thrillers." -- Deborah Young, Variety NOT ON DVD

WHAT SUN HAS SEEN (CO SLONKO WIDZIALO), 2006, Poland, 108 min. Unknown to each other, little boy Seba (Damian Hryniewicz), young teenage girl Marta (Dominika Kluzniak) and fifty-year-old Jozef (Krzysztof Stroinski) are each desperate to raise a certain amount of money. Set in a large Silesian city in southern Poland, director Michal Rosa’s third feature follows them in their determination to succeed in spite of all the obstacles and disappointments that befall them along the way, and eventually their lives begin to intertwine. Based on newspaper articles and scenes he observed on the street, these tales create a touching portrait of the struggle for human dignity in a land that still bears the scars of war. "Solid Polish criss-crossing melodrama impresses with its sure-footed but deliberate pacing. Strong performances based in gritty realism and appealing lensing make this ideal fest fare." -- Russell Edwards, Variety In Polish and Norwegian with English subtitles. NOT ON DVD