Aruba International Film Festival

OFFICIAL 2010 PROGRAM

 

3 Idiots

Year: 2009

Country: India

Language: Hindi

Genre: Comedy with music

Directed by: Rajkumar Hirani

Written by: Abhijat Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani based on a novel by Chetan Bhagat

Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani

 

About the Film:

 

The story, told in intermittent flashbacks, involves the exploits of three friends pursuing an Engineering Degree. Two of them are reluctant students, but the third, Rancho, is an irrepressible free-thinker who is driven by a love of learning. In a series of comic episodes dotted with musical numbers, Rancho challenges the system and its teachers, and is labeled an idiot. After graduation, Rancho has disappeared and the two friends embark on a quest to find him. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why did he leave? On this journey, they encounter a long forgotten bet, a wedding they must crash, and a funeral that goes impossibly out of control. As they make their way through the beautiful misty mountains, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend - the vital and inspiring Rancho who is unique way, touched and changed their lives. A laugh-riot that talks about he most important of human pursuits: self-actualization, 3 Idiots has become the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time in India, breaking all opening box office records on its release.

 

              

 

Abel 

Genre: Drama

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Language: English

Directed by: Diego Luna

Written by: Augusto Mendoza, Diego Luna

Cast: Yuri Belyayev, Ryan James, Stanislav Jiranek, Alena Streblova

 

About the Film:

Abel is a warm drama about a young boy whose emotional problems take him in an unexpected direction. Abel is an unstable child whose concepts of reality and fantasy often blur. His problems have only gotten worse since his father walked out on the family. No one in the household is sure what to do for Abel or how they should behave around him, and a stay in a mental hospital does little to ground him. However, one day Abel wakes up and decides he's the man of the house and being acting like his absent father rather than the youngest child. To the surprise of everyone, adult responsibilities agree with Abel, and everyone seems significantly happier with his new personality. But this proves to be short-lived when Abel's real dad unexpectedly, and the two view for the status of head of the household.

 

 

Amsterdam

Genre: Drama

Year: 2009

Country: The Netherlands

Language: Dutch/German/English/French/Arabic

Directed by: Ivo van Hove

Written by: Jeroen Planting

Cast: Mimoun Oaïsa, Ilias Addab, Katja Herbers

 

 

About the Film:

The paths of five different groups of people intertwine in Amsterdam. A rich American couple, a family of Dutch criminals, a French gay couple, a working class German family and two Moroccan youths come across each other in the city, leading to a dramatic, life-altering climax.

 

            

 

A NY Thing

Genre: Comedy

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Language: English

Directed and Written by: Oliver Lecot

Cast: Jonathan Zaccai, Fanny Valette, Greta Gerwig, Leo Fitzpatrick

 

About the Film:

Three days in New York. Three days during which Antoine will pretend to be John, while staying with Arthur, who dates Alice, whom Antoine desperately loves. Three days to see that not all women are as romantic as he is. Three days to test his potential as a comic, his talent as a liar, and his charm as a Frenchman. Three days to love New York and be loved in return. A French romantic follows the objective of his desire to New York, where over the course of three crazy days he must convince her of the authenticity of his love in a comic and melancholy journey where love reveals its peculiar nature.

 

            

 

 

Barry Munday

Genre: Comedy

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Languages: English

Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

Directed by: Chris D'Arienzo

Written by: Chris D'Arienzo (screenplay) and Frank Turner Hollon (novel)

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Judy Greer, Colin Hanks, Mae Whitman, Chloe Sevigny, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Cybil Shepherd

 

About the Film:

Barry Munday wakes up after being attacked to realize he's missing his family jewels. To make matters worse, he learns he's facing a paternity suit filmed by a woman he can't remember having sex with. Womanizer Barry Munday (Patrick Wilson) spends his time scanning local establishments for his next conquest. While on such a mission at a movie theater, his lucks runs out and he soon finds himself in a hospital bed receiving the news that both his testicles have been amputated. Based on a book Life is a Strange Place by Frank Turner Hollon, Barry Munday chronicles the unexpected turn one man's lie takes after, according to Hollon at the SXSW screening Q&A, he loses the two things he values most. Shortly thereafter, Barry is contacted by the lawyer of Ms. Ginger Farley (played by Judy Greer), who claims she is pregnant with his child. While Ginger seems determined to repel Barry despite her efforts to contact him, and though he can't remember her or their encounter at the local bar Snatchers, the prospect of fatherhood now takes on new meaning in the light of his recent accident.

 

 

            

 

Black Death

Genre: Drama/Horror

Year: 2010

Country: United Kingdom

Language: English

Directed by: Christopher Smith

Written by: Dario Poloni

Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten

 

About the Film:

A brutal and terrifying epic that guarantees to chill the blood and stir the soul. Medieval England has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. Amidst the panicked pulic response to the Plague, a young monk called Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), is charged in leading a fearsome knight Ulric (Sean Bean), and his group of mercenaries to a remote village where the inhabitants are unaffected by the deadly pestilence. He is charged with learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life, a mission that pulls hi towards a village rule who has made a dark pact with evil forces. His quest is to hunt down a necromancer - someone who brings the dead back to life. Torn between his love of God and the love of young woman, Osmund discovers the necromancer, a mysterious beauty called Langiva (Carice van Houten). After Langiva reveals her Stanic identity and offers Osmund his heart's desire, the horror of his real journey begins.

 

 

              

 

Boy Ecury

Genre: Biography/Drama/Thriller

Year: 2003

Country: The Netherlands

Language: Dutch

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Frans Weisz

Written by: Arthur Japin

Cast: Felix de Rooy, Steve Hooi, Johnny de Mol, Gabby Milder

 

About the Film:

 

When Boy was fifteen years old, his father, businessman Dundun Ecury from Aruba, sent him to boarding school in The Netherlands. When the 2nd World War breaks out, Boy joins the resistance. Just before the liberation, he is executed by the Germans. Ten years later Dundun Ecury arrives in the post-war Netherlands to search for the body of his son. He has only one thing to go on: Boy died with a smile on his face. Dundun's search leads to a confrontation with Ewoud, the suspected murderer of his son. He realizes, to his annoyance, that he starts to project the care and love for Boy onto Ewoud. Then Ewoud makes a painful revelation.

 

            

 

Cairo Time

Genre: Drama/Romance

Year: 2009

Country: Canada/Ireland/Egypt

Language: English/Arabic

Runtime: 90 minutes

Written and Directed by: Ruba Nadda

Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Tom McCamus, Alexander Siddig

 

About the Film:

 

Juliette (Patricia Clarkson), a magazine editor, travels to Cairo to meet her husband, Mark (Tom McCamus), a UN official working in Gaza, for a three week vacation. Unable to meet Juliette when she lands, but knowing she is an independednt woman who is likely to head off on her own, Mark sends his fried Tareq (Alexander Siddig), who has been his security officer for many years, to care for her. Later, alone at the hotel, Juliette learns that the simple activities of everyday living in Canada, like walking across the street, become a test of wills in Cairo. And so she turns to Tareq who shows her first, Cairo, and then herself. The last thing anyone expects is that they will fall in love.

 

              

 

 

 

Christina

Genre: Drama

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Language: English

Written and Directed by: Larry Brand

Cast: Nikki Aycox, Jordan Belfi, Stephen Lang

 

About the Film:

 

Based on a true story, Christina is about a young German woman getting ready to escape the war with her fiancé, who is an American G.I. Before she can leave, though, she encounters a police inspector who forces her to reconcile with the secrets of her past.

 

              

 

Cyrus

Genre: Comedy

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Language: English

Written and Directed by: Jay and Mark Duplass

Cast: John C. Reilly, Catherine Keener, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill

 

 

About the Film:

Down on his luck divorcee John (John C. Reilly) has a friendly relationship with his ex (Catherine Keener) until she finds out his engaged to a new man. He goes into a tailspin, but then meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) who seems to be everything he ever wanted. The wrinkle is that she has a somewhat strange son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill), who doesn't exactly like the idea of a new man in the house. An insightful and funny look at love and family in contemporary Los Angeles.

 

              

 

Delhi 6

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Year: 2009

Country: India

Language: Hindi, English

Runtime: 141 minutes

Directed by: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra

Written by: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey

Cast: Waheeda Rehman, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri 

 

About the Film:

U.S.-based Roshan Mehra's mother, Fatima, is Muslim, while his dad is Hindu. When his ailing grandmother, Annapurna, wants to re-locate to Delhi to spend her last days, he accompanies her. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Ali Beg, who wanted to marry Fatima, but was not able to disclose his feelings to her. He also gets to meet the Sharma family, who hope that he will wed Rama, the daughter of Madan, who is busy looking for a groom for his other rather rebellious daughter, Bittu, who wants to be the next Indian Idol. He also gets to meet assorted Muslim and Hindus, who welcome him with open arms, and he gets to witness that lower caste Indians are still being shunned despite of modern technology and the launching of satellites. When reports of a Kala Bandhar terrorizing the community increases, Hindus start to suspect that it may be a Muslim terrorist, while the Muslims fear that it may be a Hindu political ploy to demolish a mosque.

 

              

 

 

El secreto de sus ojos

Genre: Crime/Romance/Thriller

Year: 2009

Country: Argentina/Spain

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 127 minutes

Written and Directed by Juan Jose Campanella

Cast: Soledad Villami, Ricardo Darin, Carla Quevedo, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino

 

About the Film:

 

In 1999, retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. That case is 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, who still works in the justice department and who he has always been attracted to but never pursued due to the differences in their ages and social classes. The other issue is that Gómez is still at large, no one aware if he is alive or dead. But as Pablo at the time mentioned that passion is one thing that cannot be changed in behavior, Benjamín learns now that that premise still holds true.

 

              

 

Hachiko

Genre: Drama/Family

Year: 2009

Country: USA

Language: English

Directed by: Lasse Hallström

Written by: Stephen P. Lindsey and Kaneto Shindô

Cast: Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Sarah Roemer

 

 

 

 

About the Film:

When a professor finds an abandoned dog at a train station, he takes the animal home with him, hoping to return the dog to its owner. However, he finds out that the dog is an Akita and when no one claims the animal, he and his family decide to keep it and name the dog Hachiko.

 

              

 

 

Happy Family

Genre: Comedy

Year: 2010

Country: Italy

Language: Italian

Directed by: Gabriele Salvatores

Written by: Alessandro Genovesi

Cast: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Marghertia Buy, Valeria Bilello, Fabio De Luigi

 

About the Film:

 

Happy Family is adapted from a play and follows the two families as they intersect and evolve. After a traffic accident, Ezio find himself caught up in the conflict of two families that are populated by love children, neurotic parents and absent-minded grandparents.

 

              

 

 

Holly Rollers

Genre: Crime/Drama

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Language: English

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Kevin Asch

Written by: Antonio Macia

Cast: Jesse Eisengerg, Justin Bartha, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ari Graynor

 

About the Film:

 

In Brooklyn in the late 1990s, a young man from an Orthodox Jewish family becomes an ecstasy drug dealer because one of his friend's is involved with an Israeli drug cartel. Based on a true story, Holly Rollers follows the young man as he and his friends help smuggle ecstasy into the country and begin dealing drugs.

 

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You

Genre: Drama

Year: 2009

Country: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 75 minutes

Written and Directed by: Karim Ainouz, Marcelo gomes

Cast: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Marghertia Buy, Valeria Bilello, Fabio De Luigi

 

About the Film:

 

Jose Renato is a geologist working in an isolated part of northeastern Brazil. While conducting his research, he is filled with a sense of loneliness and isolation and finds himself missing his former wife and wanting nothing else but to return home. The loneliness that Jose feels is echoed by the barrenness of the land his is working in.

 

              

 

Lucky Country

Genre: Drama

Year: 2009

Country: Australia

Language: English

Directed by: Kriv Stenders

Written by: Andy Cox

Cast: Aden Young, Toby Wallace, Hanna Mangan Lawrence

 

About the Film:

1902...the Australian Federation is a year old. 12-year-old Tom's beloved father Nat has dragged him and his sister Sarah to an isolated far at the edge of the woods. But Nat's dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at the cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence. "Your mother always said never turn away strangers, they may be angels in disguise..." But their presence becomes more mincing when one of them reveals a secret: he's found gold. As the lure of gold infects everyone around him, the cabin becomes a psychological battleground in which Tom and Sarah's loyalty is put to the ultimate test.

 

             

 

Mine Vaganti

English Title: "Loose Cannons"

Genre: Comedy

Country: Italy

Year: 2010

Language: Italian

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Ferzan Ozpetek

Written by: Ferzan Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo

Cast: Riccardo Scamarcio, Alesandro Preziosi, Nicole Grimaudo, Lunetta Savino

 

About the Film:

Italian to its core, this coming-out comedy set in Italy's deep south has a bittersweet tone and a sunny outlook. The film focuses on the extended Cantone family who make pasta on an industrial scale. Riccardo Scamarcio stars as Tommaso, the youngest son of a family of industrial pasta-makers. He returns home from Rome, where he is studying, to celebrate the take-over of the family business and decides he will finally tell his family he's gay. But that evening, Tommaso is trumped by his older brother Antonio, who manages the pasta factory. Just as Tommaso is about to announce his secret, Antonio steps in and drops his own bombshell - he himself is gay, and has been having an affair with a worker at the factory. Unbelieving and then incensed, the family patriarch Vincenzo casts Antonio out of the family nest, and then suffers a minor heart attack - at which point Tommaso is forced to put his own revelations on hold and step into the family business he's been trying all his life to get away from.

 

         

 

My Queen Karo

Genre: Drama

Country: The Netherlands/Belgium

Year: 2009

Language: Dutch/French

Runtime: 101 minutes

Director: Dorothee van Den Berghe

Screenplay: Dorothee van Den Berghe, Peter van Kraaij

Cast: Anna Franziska Jager, Deborah Francois, Matthias Schoenaerts, Maria Kraakman

 

About the Film:

Amsterdam's squatter culture is as famous a utopian experiment as American communes, but seen far less often in films. Dorothee van den Berghe draws from her own experiences growing up in Amsterdam's bohemian environment in M Queen Karo, her spirited second feature. If property is evil, what can be said about the possessiveness that comes with love and family? It begins as the most incredible adventure. In 1974, Karo (Anna Franziska Jager) sets out from Belgium with her dad, Raven (Matthias Schoenaerts), and her mom, Dalia (Deborah Francois), to start a new life in Amsterdam. They join a group that is taking over a vacant building and setting up a new society based around the vast common room they all share. No walls, no rules - only love. Raven builds huge, fantastical see-saw constructions on which Karo and her friends can play. Karo even gets a swing in the common room, which gives her a delirious view of the adults below: eating, bathing and debating together, forging an alternative to conventional morality both in their own bodies and in their daily lives. But when Raven begins a flirtation with a new Dutch woman, he puts his ideals in defense of his desire. How can his wife put an exclusive claim on him? How can Karo insist on loyalty to her mother? "We came here to be free, and already you're laying down rules?" he asks. And so the tight unit of mother, father and daughter that left Belgium begins to fray as the forces of free love and jealousy threaten to pull it apart in Amsterdam.

The easy path from this premise would be a morality tale about how conventional ethics are conventional for good reason. But van den Berghe, perhaps because she once lived in this world, see far more nuance. She allows any moral judgments - from scenes of children witnessing their parents' physical affection, for example - to rest with the viewer. In fact, My Queen Karo holds on to only one conclusion: that for new social alternatives to take root, they must first contend with old human emotions.

 

                                                       

 

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Genre: Comedy/Family

Year: 2010

Country: UK/France/USA

Language: English

Runtime: 109 minutes

Directed by: Susanna White

Written by: Emma Thompson

Cast: Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maggie Smith, Rhys Ifans

About the Film:

 

Based on the series by Christianna Brand, the film is set on a farm in Britain during World War II. Mrs. Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is driven to her wits end by her hectic life. Between trying to keep the family farm up and running and her job in the village shop, aided by the elderly and slightly mad Mrs. Doherty (Maggie Smith), she also has three boisterous children to look after. So when her children's two spoiled cousins, Cyril and Celia are sent to live on their farm and another war is being fought between the two sets of children, she is in need of a little magic. Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) arrives to take matters into her own hands. At first, the children do not listen and carry on fighting, but after a bang of Nanny McPhee's stick, they soon learn to tolerate each other. Meanwhile, Mrs. Green's brother in law, Uncle Phil (Rhys Ifans), has gambled away the farm and is being chased down by two hit women. He desperately attempts to make Mrs. Green sell her half of the farm, using many mean and spiteful schemes to make Mrs Green have no choice but to sell the farm. It is Nanny McPhee who helps tame the children and save the family's livelihood.

 

              

 

Penso Che Un Sogno Così

English Title: "I Imagine a Dream Like That"

Genre: Drama

Country: Italy

Year: 2009

Language: Italian

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Marco De Luca

Cast: Elisa Alessandro, Giovanni Izzo, Helene Nardini, Marina Rocco, Paolo Stella

 

About the Film:

 

Elisa is la young girl living a content life in Rome. Though she has problems at university and a trouble relationship with her mother, her life is generally calm. Until her existence is shaken by the news that she and her friends are going on a trip by the sea. At her parents villa by the beach she discovers the true nature of her relationships.

 

 

 

              

 

Questione Di Cuore

English title: "A Stroke of Luck"

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Country: Italy

Year: 2009

Language: Italian

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Francesca Archibugi

Written by: Umberto Contarello (novel) and Francesce Archibugi (story) and Guido Iuculano

Cast: Kim Rossi Stuart, Antonio Albanese, Micaela Ramazzotti, Francesca Inaudi

 

About the Film:

 

Question Di Coure tells the story of two men, Angelo and Alberto, who strike up a friendship when they happen to be hospitalized on the same night in the same clinic. When they share a room in the hospital, they begin to forge a friendship.

 

 

              

 

Sell Out!

Genre: Musical

Year: 2008

Country: Malaysia

Language: English

Runtime: 106 minutes

Written by and Directed by: Yeo Joon Han

Cast: Jerrica Lai, Kee Thuan Chye, Peter Davis

 

About the Film:

 

Her name is Rafflesia Pong (Rafflesia = largest flower in the world, which reeks of animal carcass; Pong = stink). She's a bottom-ranking arts show host who's disillusioned with those overrated underachievers we call "artists". He's Eric Tan (Eric = Eric, Tan = typical Chinese surname), a product designer who's just about to learn that it doesn't pay to be creative. They both work for FONY, a multinational conglomerate whose mission statement, copied from a Taiwanese company, is to be original. In the face of such pressure, Eric and Rafflesia is questioned whether they will retain their artistic integrity or will they finally sell out to fame, fortune or some other nasty thing that also starts with "F".

 

            

 

The Burning Plain

Genre: Drama/Romance

Year: 2008

Country: USA/Mexico

Language: English

Directed by: Guillermo Arriaga

Written by: Guillermo Arriaga

Cast: Charlize Theron, John Corbett, Gray Eubank, Robin Tunney

 

About the Film:

"The Burning Plain" follows the story of several different people separated by time and space: Sylvia, a woman in Oregon who must undertake an emotional odyssey to rid herself of her past; Mariana and Santiago, two teenagers trying to piece together the shattered lives of their parents in a New Mexico border town; Maria, a little girl who goes on a border0crossing voyage to help her parents find redemption, forgiveness, and love; and Gina and Nick, a couple who must deal with an intense and clandestine affair... because they are both married.

 

The film is told in a non-linear narrative, where events are revealed out of sequence. The picture is constructed on two completely separate time levels, a generation apart sun-blasted vistas of sorghum fields, deserts and mountains, while fellow lenser John Toll's wintry Portland segs provide welcome relief with grays, blacks and blues.

 

 

              

 

Venezzia

Year: 2009

Country: Venezuela

Language: Spanish, English

Runtime: 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Haik Gazarian

Written by: Jorg Hiller, Valentina Rendon

Cast: Alfonso Herrera, Ruddy Rodriguez, Valentina Rendon

 

 

About the Film:

Venezzia is based on an original story of Haik Gazarian, which is about love in times of war and focuses specifically on the events in Venezuela during the Second World War in 1942 when a tanker sand near the coasts of the country. It features two of Latin America's most exciting film and television stars, Alfonso Herrera and Ruddy Rodriguez, marks the directorial debut of filmmaker Haik Gazarian. The background of the film involves an espionage program which the United States had begun in South America due to the potential thread of Nazi submarines in the Caribbean. A team of Allied military technicians arrives off the coast to patrol enemy German U-boats. Frank Moore, an American communications specialist in WWII had orders to find the Nazi spy amidst the Venezuelan Army. While in Venezuela Frank meets Venezzia and falls in love, unaware that she is married to his superior. Longing to escape from her domineering husband, Venezzia feels an instant mutual attraction to Frank. Despite their love, their plans for a new life change as Frank is accused of being a spy.