Miami International Film Festival Announces Program

The Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), presented by Miami Dade College (MDC), announced today the full schedule of films for the 22nd annual Festival to be held February 4-13, 2005.

118 Films—87 Features and 31 Shorts—from 47 Countries Highlight 2005 Festival
Including 7 World Premieres, 15 International, North American
& U.S. Premieres, and 33 East Coast Premieres

Unveiled today for the 2005 program were 118 films from 47 countries, including 7 World Premieres, 15 International, North American, and U.S. Premieres, and 33 East Coast Premieres. Two dramatic feature competition categories, World and Ibero-American feature first and second-time filmmakers. A documentary feature competition category features emerging and established filmmakers, while out-of competition categories, shorts programs, and special programs showcase a wide range of stories from emerging to established filmmakers.

"I am proud to bring a program to Miami this year of the highest cinematic diversity, scope, and quality—a rich tapestry of independent cinema from around the world, both dramatic and non-fiction, and many premieres," said Festival director Nicole Guillemet. "I was especially touched by the number of films this year with very personal, human stories and poignant emotion, as well as the large increase in films about the predicament of our time."

17 films will premiere at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts while 13 films will be competing in the Dramatic Features - World Cinema Competition, 13 films in the Dramatic Features - Ibero-American Cinema Competition and 15 films in the Documentary Features – World & Ibero-American Cinema Competition round out the categories. The Festival will screen 17 films out of competition, including both dramatic and documentary films. The Shorts Programs comprise the balance of the schedule with a total of 31 short films.

On Tuesday, February 8, MIFF will honor Liv Ullmann with the Career Achievement Tribute for her distinguished body of work as both actor and director. MIFF will present a celebration of the life and films of Jean Rouch in partnership with the University of Miami and the French Consulate. Also, for the third year, the Festival will present Encuentros, a program designed to bring original projects from Spain and Latin America to meet with US industry professionals. A full program of panels and discussions along with Opening Night and Closing Night parties will be held throughout the 10-day festival.

“The 2005 Miami International Film Festival will bring us a program that explores where and who we are in the world, our place not only here in South Florida, but also in the Americas and beyond,” said MDC president Eduardo J. Padrón. “The measure of the growth and success of the Festival is the spirit and the community support that we receive every year at this event.”

Screenings will take place at six venues throughout the city: The Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, Regal South Beach Cinema in South Beach, Tower Theater in Little Havana, Sunrise Intracoastal Cinema in North Miami Beach, Bill Cosford Cinema at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, and The Wolfsonian in Miami Beach.

MIFF also announced today that art from French artist Hervé di Rosa will adorn the cover of the 2005 film catalogue and the 2005 MIFF poster. Di Rosa occupies a singular position in the world of contemporary art. Non-traditional, simple and colorful, his art evokes comic book art, but has a strong fabulist bent. By turns, his work is confrontational, splashy and humorous—and it always defies expectation. Di Rosa has exhibited his work in more than 30 countries, and in such prestigious venues as the Louis Carré gallery and the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris. His art hangs in fine art galleries throughout the United States, in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Miami International Film Festival 2005

Gusman Premieres

OPENING NIGHT: “Modigliani” (Regional Premiere)
In a Paris shell-shocked by the Great War, one painter dared to challenge Pablo Picasso in defining the greatest art movement of the 20th century. Andy Garcia captures the sensual self-destruction of Amedeo Modigliani, a towering figure of Modernism whose passions fueled his work but consumed his soul. (UK/Germany/Romania/France/Italy)
Director/Writer: Mick Davis
Producers: Philippe Martinez, Stephanie Martinez-Campeau, Andre Djaoui, Alan Latham
Cast: Andy Garcia, Elsa Zylberstein, Omid Djalili

CLOSING NIGHT: “Unconscious” (“Inconscientes”) (East Coast Premiere)
An uptight doctor and his modernist sister-in-law search for her husband in a seemingly buttoned-down 1913 Barcelona, and discover a lurid world of porn shoots, transvestite parties and Freudianism. Sending up everything from psycho-analysis to detective stories, this Spanish farce plays like a Masterpiece Theatre episode written by early Almodovar. (Spain/Germany/Portugal/Italy)
Director: Joaquín Oristrell
Executive Producers: Marta Esteban, Mariela Besuievsky
Producer: Gerardo Herrero
Writer: Joaquín Oristrell, Teresa de Pelegrí, Dominic Harari
Cast: Leonor Watling, Luis Tosar, Mercedes Sampietro, Juanjo Puigcorbé, Núria Prims, Alex Brendemühl

“The Ballad of Jack and Rose” (East Coast Premiere)
Daniel Day-Lewis is a single father, committed environmentalist and terminally ill man fighting to care for his daughter and his land. The film is a story of the love between father and daughter and of how ideals are passed between generations. With Catherine Keener, Beau Bridges and the wild beauty of Canada’s coastline. (USA)
Director: Rebecca Miller
Executive Producers: Jonathan Sehring, Caroline Kaplan, Graham King
Producer: Lemore Syvan
Writer: Rebecca Miller, Michael Rohatyn
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano

“Bombón: The Dog” (“Bombón: El Perro”) (US Premiere)
A middle-aged man loses his job but finds unexpected fortune when the dog he was given as a gift turns out to be a prize-winning purebred. Set against the beauty of Patagonia, Carlos Sorin’s film employs sharp wit to craft a sweet gem from the most unexpected material. (Argentina/Spain)
Director/Writer: Carlos Sorin
Producer: Oscar Kramer
Cast: Juan Villegas, Walter Donado, Gregorio, Micol Estevez, Kita Ca, Pascual Condito

“Deep Blue” (East Coast Premiere)
Discover the marvels of ocean depths and shallows with Deep Blue, the latest from the producers of the award-winning BBC series The Blue Planet. In the tradition of Winged Migration and Microcosmos, this scintillating film, shot over three years and 30,000 miles, captures a never-before-seen, mysterious world that delights the senses. (UK/Germany)
Directors/Writers: Alastair Fothergill, Andy Byatt
Executive Producers: Andre Sikojev, Nikolaus Weil, Stefan Beitn, Mike Phillips
Producer: Alix Tidmarsh, Sophokles Tasioulis

“Ferpect Crime” (“Crimen Ferpecto”) (East Coast Premiere)
How far would you go to get what you want? For a lothario department store salesman eager for promotion, it means murder—until the homely wallflower he’s always ignored catches him in the act and squeezes him for all the affection she can, in this pitch-black comedy sensation from Spain. (Spain)
Director: Alex de la Iglesia
Executive Producer: Juanma Pagazaurtundua
Producer: Ander Sistiaga
Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Alex de la Iglesia
Cast: Guillermo Toledo, Mónica Cervera, Luis Varela, Enrique Villén, Fernando Tejero, Kira Miró


“Heights” (East Coast Premiere)
Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks and James Marsden lead an outstanding ensemble cast in this splendidly subtle romantic drama set in a New York City that lives, breathes and reveals itself as gloriously complex—just like the lost souls who inhabit it. From producers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. (USA)
Director: Chris Terrio
Executive Producers: Richard Hawley, James Ivory, Ismail Merchant
Producers: Pierre Proner, John P. Scholz
Writer: Amy Fox, Chris Terrio
Cast: Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Isabella Rossellini

“Innocent Voices” (“Voces Inocentes”) (East Coast Premiere)
El Salvador’s decade-long civil war ravaged the country’s population—and transformed countless kids into unwitting soldiers. Luis Mandoki revisits the horror through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy forced by a deadbeat dad to become the man of the house while dodging an army hungry for fresh meat. (Mexico/USA/Puerto Rico)
Director: Luis Mandoki
Executive Producers: Monica Lozano; Miguel Necoechea ;Anna Roth
Producers: Lawrence Bender, Alejandro Soberon
Writer: Oscar Torres
Cast: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ofelia Median, Jose Maria Yazpik

“Ladies in Lavender” (East Coast Premiere)
The incomparable Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith grace this wistful period drama about the delayed dreams and sexual fantasies of an older woman. In 1936 coastal Cornwall, two elderly sisters’ proper lives are upset, and their emotions awakened, by the arrival of a young Jewish violinist (Daniel Brühl, Good Bye, Lenin!) fleeing war-torn Europe. (UK)
Director/Writer: Charles Dance
Executive Producers: Robert Jones, Emma Hayter, Bill Allan, Charles Dance
Producers: Nicolas Brown, Elizabeth Karlsen, Nik Powell
Cast: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Brühl

“Layer Cake” (Regional Premiere)
This stylized noir thriller from the U.K. burns with the unsentimental intensity of a Jim Thompson novel and seethes with the effortless cool of a Mike Hodges film. A bad man navigates a labyrinth of drug deals, double-crosses and hired hits that he hopes will lead to his salvation. (UK)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Producers: Adam Bohling, David Reid, Matthew Vaughn
Writer: J.J. Connolly
Cast: Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Louis Cranham, Jason Flemyng

“Look at Me” (“Comme Une Image”) (Regional Premiere)
Directed by and starring “the French female Woody Allen,” Agnès Jaoui’s Look at Me skewers a leisure class roasting in its own importance. A young woman struggles in a world where only the thin, glamorous and self-promoting succeed. Winner of Cannes’ Best Screenplay award, it opened this year’s New York Film Festival. (France)
Director: Agnès Jaoui
Producers: Jean-Phillipe Andraca, Christian Berard, Judith Havas
Writer: Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
Cast: Marilou Berry, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui, Virginie Desarnauts

“Nobody Knows” (“Daremo Shiranai”) (East Coast Premiere)
The director of After Life and Distance adapts this true story of a family of small children abandoned in an apartment for six months. Winner of Cannes’ Best Actor Award for its 12-year-old star, it’s a luminous vision of the invisible worlds kids create when no one is around. (Japan)
Director/Writer: Kore-Eda Hirokazu
Executive Producers: Shigenobu Yutaka
Producer: Kore-Eda Hirokazu
Cast: Yagira Yuya, Kitaura Ayu, Kimura Hiei, Shimizu Momoko, Kan Hanae

“Old Boy” (East Coast Premiere)
Imagine awakening in a hotel room transformed into a prison cell and learning that your wife was ruthlessly killed—with no rhyme or reason to any of it. An innocent man is guided by a mysterious hand through shock, grief and finally vengeance in one of the year’s most bracing thrillers. (South Korea)
Director: Park Chanwook
Executive Producers: Kim Jang-wook
Producer: Kim Dong-joo
Writer: Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Joon-hyung, Park Chanwook
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Gang Hye-jung, Chi Dae-han, Oh Dal-su

“Roma” (East Coast Premiere)
An exiled author narrates his personal, political and romantic adventures to a young student in this sweeping portrait of four decades of Argentinean history. Moving from childhood dreams to adult disappointments, Roma unveils an Argentina of dreamers and lovers, protestors and agitators, and, especially, of mothers and sons. (Argentina)
Director: Adolfo Aristarain
Producer: Jose Antonio Felez
Writer: Adolfo Aristarain, Mario Camus, Kathy Saavedra
Cast: Juan Diego Botto, Susú Pecoraro, José Sacristán, Agustín Garvie, Vando Villamil, Marcela Kloosterboer, Maximiliano Ghione, Marina Glezer, Gustavo Garzón, Carla Crespo, Marcos Mundstock

“Saraband” Special Career Achievement Tribute Presentation
This sequel to the internationally acclaimed Scenes from a Marriage revisits Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and Johan (Erland Josephson) 32 years after their divorce. When Marianne decides to visit Johan at his summer home, they become embroiled in a volatile family drama between Johan’s widowed son and granddaughter. (Sweden)
Director/Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Executive Producer: Pia Ehrnvall
Cast: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Borjie Ahlstedt, Julia Dufvenius

“Sequins” (“Brodeuses”) (US Premiere)
A pregnant teenage girl finds refuge in an embroidery studio run by a grieving woman, and begins a relationship as uncertain as it is necessary. This beautifully photographed French tale—comparable to Girl with a Pearl Earring for its painterly use of light and shadows—follows an unlikely friendship between two women. (France)
Director: Eleonore Faucher
Producer: Alain Benguigui
Writer: Eleonore Faucher, Gaelle Mace
Cast: Lola Naymark, Ariane Ascaride, Marie Felix, Thomas Laroppe

“Sucker Free City” (US Premiere)
Sucker Free City is Spike Lee’s riveting look at the seductive, dangerous world of San Francisco’s street gang culture, where young kids from all backgrounds engage in daily clashes. The Hollywood Reporter says, “…the subtle though tough-minded approach to an unnerving subject here makes this one of the best films in Lee’s career.” The screening on the last Saturday afternoon of the Festival is free. (USA)
Director: Spike Lee
Executive Producers: Spike Lee, Sam Kitt
Producer: Preston Holmes
Writer: Alex Tse
Cast: Ben Crowley, Ken Leung, Anthony Mackie, Laura Allen, Malieek Straughter, Kathy Baker, Darris Love

“Twin Sisters” (“De Tweeling”) (Florida Premiere)
A 2004 Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Twin Sisters concerns two sisters separated at age 6 and reunited in adulthood. In Ben Sombogaart’s epic narrative, Anna, married to a Nazi soldier, and Lotte, married to a Jewish pianist, struggle to reconcile nature and nurture, revealing that blood ultimately runs deeper than ideology. (The Netherlands)
Director: Ben Sombogaart
Executive Producers: Mandelon Veldhuizen
Producers: Hanneke Niens, Anton Smit
Writer: Marieke van der Pol
Cast: Thekla Reuten, Nadja Uhl, Ellen Vogel, Gudrun Okras, Jeroen Spitzenberger


Dramatic Features—World Cinema Competition

“Day and Night” (“Dag og Nat”) (East Coast Premiere)
This Nordic update of Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry narrows in on the moral and social issues of suicide by focusing on one man, one day and one car. Filmed entirely within an automobile, this Dogme-like work (produced by Lars Von Trier’s company) follows a man on the last day of his life. (Denmark)
Director: Simon Staho
Producer: Anne Katrine Andersen
Writer: Simon Staho, Peter Asmussen
Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Sam Kessel, Maria Bonnevie, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Endre, Hans Alfredson, Pernilla August, Fares Fares, Marie Göranzon, Tuva Novotny, Erland Josephson


“Deadlines” (East Coast Premiere)
A harrowing, sometimes darkly comic thriller set in Beirut in 1983, Deadlines tells the story of a rookie war correspondent who gets in way over his head. The movie captures the uncertainty and complexity of both the war and its reporting. (UK/France/Tunisia)
Director: Ludi Boeken, Michael Alan Lerner
Producers: Ludi Boeken, Eric Dussart
Writer: Michael Alan Lerner
Cast: Stephen Moyer, Anne Parillaud, Omid Djalili, Georges Siatidis

“The Edukators” (North American Premiere)
A German Jules and Jim for today’s anti-capitalist, and yesterday’s as well, starring Daniel Brühl (Good Bye, Lenin!). “The Edukators” are two men who break into villas and rearrange the belongings of the elite. But things change when they “accidentally” kidnap a wealthy businessman and fall in love with the same woman. (Germany/Austria)
Director: Hans Weingartner
Producers: Hans Weingartner, Antonin Svoboda
Writer: Katharina Held, Hans Weingartner
Cast: Daniel Bruhl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg

“Kontroll” (Regional Premiere)
Set in the nightmare world of the Budapest subway system, Kontroll follows five ticket inspectors as they dodge speeding trains, shake down eccentric passengers and pursue a hooded serial killer. Nimrod Antal’s hypnotic, darkly comic debut feature was a box office hit across Europe and scored top honors at the 2004 Chicago Film Festival. (Hungary)
Director/Writer: Nimród Antal
Producer: Tamás Hutlassa
Cast: Sandor Csanyi, Zoltan Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch, Sandor Badar, Eszter Balla

“Lila Says” (“Lila Dit Ça”) (East Coast Premiere)
Quentin Tarantino’s longtime cameraman (West Beirut) presents this sexy, extremely French look at the erotic battlefields between young women and men, played out in the mean streets of Marseille. Lila, a gorgeous blonde teenager, has moved to a predominantly Arabic neighborhood, where she attracts both a quiet poet and a loudmouthed punk. (France)
Director/Writer: Ziad Doueiri
Producers: Marina Gefter, Huit Et Demi Productions
Cast: Vahina Giacante, Mohammed Khouas, Karim lben Haddou

“Mitchellville” (East Coast Premiere)
Mitchellville tells the story of two solitary men imprisoned by their tragic pasts. When Gabriel, a handsome, ambitous attorney, takes music lessons from Ken, a talented aging jazz musician, the two learn that both their pasts and their futures are dramatically intertwined. (USA)
Director/Writer: John D. Harkrider
Executive Producer: Joe Morton
Producer: Eve Annenberg
Cast: John D. Harkrider, Herb Lovelle, Michael Voyer, Wendell Pierce, Anna Lodej

“The Overture” (“Hoam Rong”) (East Coast Premiere)
This unabashedly entertaining biography of one of Thailand’s greatest musicians and folk heroes moves from rural Siam in the late 19th century to urban Bangkok in the 1940s. One man’s story and several exhilarating performances chronicle fifty years of dramatic cultural change—and crackdown. (Thailand)
Director: Itthisoontorn Vichailak
Executive Producers: Chatrichalerm Yukol, Nonzee Nimibutr, Duangkamol Limcharoen
Producers: Itthisoontorn Vichailak, Pisamai Laodara
Writer: Dolkamol Sattatip, Peerasak Saksiri, Itthisoontorn Vichailak
Cast: Anuchit Saphanphong, Adul Dulyarat, Arratee Tanmahapran

“Producing Adults” (“Lapsia Ja Aikuisia”) (Regional Premiere)
This love story (Finland’s Academy Award submission for Best Foreign Film) tackles the question “what is a relationship in the 21st century?” with more twists and turns than the average thriller. Venla wants a baby; her boyfriend Antero doesn’t. They both secretly plot to get their way, but find their lives heading in some very unexpected directions. (Finland/Sweden)
Director: Aleksi Salmenperä
Producers: Petri Jokiranta, Tero Kaukomaa
Writer: Pekko Pesonen
Cast: Minna Haapkylä, Kari-Pekka Toivonen, Minttu Mustakallio, Tommi Eronen, Pekka Strang, Dick Idman, Antti Raivio, Saara Pakkasvirta


“Red Dust” (East Coast Premiere)
Hilary Swank stars as a lawyer responsible for unwrapping a murder mystery at the core of a South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission tribunal. Shot in sumptuous widescreen, Tom Hooper’s gripping drama explores that country’s singular effort to heal the deep wounds of apartheid through confessions of atrocities. (South Africa/UK)
Director: Tom Hooper
Producers: Ruth Caleb, David M. Thompson, Anant Singh, Helena Spring
Writer: Troy Kennedy Martin
Cast: Hilary Swank, Chiwetel Ejiofor

“Somersault” (East Coast Premiere)
The wintry landscape of Australia’s Lake Jindabyne provides the backdrop for a young girl’s exploration, and exploitation, of her own sexuality. Sixteen years old and already promiscuous, Heidi runs away from home to a swinging ski resort, where she meets a young man intrigued, and threatened, by her erotic willpower. (Australia)
Director/Writer: Cate Shortland
Executive Producer: Jan Chapman
Producer: Anthony Anderson
Cast: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington

“Stray Dogs” (Regional Premiere)
Two siblings—whose mother and father are in separate prisons—tote around a rescued mutt while scheming ways to join their mom by getting arrested themselves. Simply told and stunningly executed, Marziyeh Meshkini’s peek into post-Taliban Afghanistan is a feast of arresting, surreal vignettes that deliver a potent mix of humor and pathos. (Iran/France)
Director/Writer: Marziyeh Meshkini
Executive Producers: Mohammad Ahmadi, Fakhruddin Ayyam
Producer: Maysam Makhmalbaf
Cast: Gol Ghoti, Zahed, Twiggy the Dog

“Symmetry” (“Symetria”) (Regional Premiere)
When justice fails, there is only survival—so believes one young man who is picked up and sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit. Now in prison, and with little chance of a reprieve, he must challenge his own notions of dignity and civility in order to win back his freedom. (Poland)
Director/Writer: Konrad Niewolski
Producer: Artur Zgadzaj
Cast: Arek Detmer, Andrzej Chyra, Janusz Bukowski, Borys Szyc, Mariusz Jakus, Marcin Jedrzejewski

“A Way of Life” (US Premiere)
Sympathy comes hard in working-class South Wales, where an unmarried teen mother struggles to take care of her infant while lashing out at the community that wants to forget her. Amma Asante’s gritty, clear-eyed film examines the nature of sacrifice and the forces of intolerance. (UK)
Director/Writer: Amma Asante
Executive Producers: Paul Trijbits, Tristan Whalley
Producers: Charlie Hanson, Patrick Cassavetti, Peter Edwards
Cast: Stephanie James, Nathan Jones, Gary Sheppeard, Dean Wong, Sara Gregory, Oliver Haden, Brenda Blethyn


Dramatic Features—Ibero-American Cinema Competition

“Alicia's Names” (“Los Nombres de Alicia”) (World Premiere)
A young English teacher arrives mysteriously in a small Spanish coastal town for a live-in position, and quickly becomes the fascination of each member of her "new family." This psychological drama tells the story of a woman trapped in a world of her own creation which she ultimately cannot escape. (Spain)
Director: Pilar Ruiz Gutiérrez
Executive Producer: Santiago Matallana
Producer: Marta Crespo
Writer: Pilar Ruiz Gutiérrez, Jorge Goldenberg, Gabriel Olivares
Cast: Pep Molina, Ana Moreira, Gracia Olayo, Santiago Ramos, Carolina Pettersson, Héctor Tomás, Pepa López, Airto Mazo


“Body Confusion” (“Fuera del Cuerpo”) (North American Premiere)
A luckless cop stumbles across a crew that’s filming his own life in this mind-bending Spanish answer to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Adaptation. The coke-addled Bruno finds his worst fears realized: His life is a terrible script and his ex-wife a worse actress. (Spain)
Director/Writer: Vicente Peñarrocha
Executive Producer: Mario Pedraza
Producer: Eduardo Campoy
Cast: Gustavo Salmerón, José Coronado, Goya Toledo, Juan Sanz, Rocío Muñoz, Elia Galera

“Crónicas” (East Coast Premiere)
John Leguizamo heads a powerhouse pan-Latino production group in this politically charged thriller that crosses the lines of justice, reality and entertainment. A serial killer is on the loose in Ecuador, and a Miami-based tabloid reporter flies there to capture “the truth,” or at least a better-selling version of it. (Ecuador/Mexico)
Director/Writer: Sebastian Cordero
Executive Producer: Frida Torresblanco
Producers: Jorge Vergara, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro, Berta Navarro, Isabel Dávalos
Cast: John Leguizamo, Leonor Watling

“Days of Santiago” (“Días de Santiago”) (East Coast Premiere)
An ex-soldier adjusts to civilian life in Lima’s slums. Unable to find a job, a former Navy Seal instead prowls the sun-dazed, dusty streets of a claustrophobic city, always on the look-out, and always ready to explode. (Perú)
Director/Writer: Josué Méndez
Producer: Enid Campos
Cast: Pietro Sibille, Milagros Vidal, Marisela Puicon, Alheli Castillo, Lili Urbina, Erick Garcia, Ivy La Noire

“The Dead” (“Los Muertos”) (US Premiere)
A man gets out jail intent on finding his now-adult daughter, who lives in a remote, swampy area. His journey takes him through a nearly impenetrable jungle and downriver in a small boat. (Argentina/Netherlands/France)
Director/Writer: Lisandro Alonso
Executive Producers: Vanessa Ragone, Florencia Enghel
Producers: Lisandro Alonso, Marianne Slot
Cast: Argentino Vargas

“Diary Of A Provincial Girl” (“Vida de Menina”) (East Coast Premiere)
The director of Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business returns with this adaptation of a classic Brazilian novel. A free-spirited girl comes of age during the first years of Brazil’s republic, taking refuge in books, writing and fantasy. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2004 Rio de Janeiro Film Festival. (Brazil)
Director: Helena Solberg
Producer: David Meyer
Writer: Elena Soáres
Cast: Ludmila Dayer, Daniela Escobar, Dalton Vigh, Camilo Bevilacqua, Ligia Cortez, Maria de Sá, Lolô Souza Pinto, Benjamin Abras

“Duck Season” (“Temporada de Patos”) (East Coast Premiere)
Two 14-year-old friends pass a lazy Mexico City afternoon playing video games and eating pizza until they’re interrupted by two interlopers and a rolling blackout. Winner of seven major awards at the recent Guadalajara Film Festival, debut director Fernando Eimbcke’s film captures the energy and ennui of being a young adult. (Mexico)
Director/Writer: Fernando Eimbcke:
Producer: Christian Valdelièvre
Cast: Enrique Arreola, Diego Cataño, Daniel Miranda, Danny Perea

“The Holy Girl” (“La Niña Santa”) (Regional Premiere)
Stirrings of pubescent desire propel this Argentinean coming-of-age drama, a meditation on friendship between two teenage girls and how their physical attraction to the opposite sex redefines their allegiance. Lucrecia Martel’s second film builds tension with a subtle, steady hand, transforming even the most seemingly trivial moment into a revelation. (Argentina/Spain/Italy)
Director/Writer: Lucrecia Martel
Executive Producers: Pedro Almodovar, Agustín Almodovar, Esther Garcia
Producer: Lita Stantic
Cast: Mercedes Morán, Carlos Belloso, Alejandro Urdapilleta


“Kidnap Express” (“Secuestro Express”) (East Coast Premiere)
Debut director Jonathan Jakubowicz offers a chilling, stylized account of a young couple in Venezuela abducted during a romantic stroll. The film, which assumes the victims’ point of view, deals not only with the act but its aftermath, shedding light on an all-too-common crime in Latin America. Featuring Ruben Blades. (Venezuela)
Director/Writer: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Executive Producers: Elizabeth Avellán, Eduardo Jakubowicz
Producers: Sandra Condito, Salomón Jakubowicz, Jonathan Jakubowicz
Cast: Mia Maestro, Carlos Julio Molina, Pedro Perez, Carlos Madera, Jean Paul Leroux, Rubén Blades

“La Cárcel de La Victoria: The Fourth Man” (North American Premiere)
The Dominican Republic cinematically arrives with this revenge drama, filmed entirely in La Victoria prison, one of the world’s worst. Part-pulp crime, part-searing documentary of prison conditions, it follows a man who enters La Victoria seeking vengeance on his son’s murderer, instead entering a world beyond control or comprehension.
(Dominican Republic)
Director/Writer: Jose E. Pintor
Executive Producers: M.Mario Perez
Producer: M. Mario Perez
Cast: Paco Luque, Julio Mota, Richard Douglas, Luchi Estevez

“Live-In Maid” (“Cama Adentro”) (East Coast Premiere)
This droll and moving film by Jorge Gaggero explores identity and class relations through an intimate portrait of two women—Beba (Norma Aleandro), a socialite fallen on hard times, and Dora (Norma Argentina), her live-in maid of 30 years. Argentina's financial debacle of the early '90s becomes the great equalizer. (Argentina)
Director/Writer: Jorge Gaggero
Executive Producer: Verónica Cura
Cast: Norma Alejandro, Norma Argentina, Marcos Mundstock

“Nina” (Regional Premiere)
Skid-row desperation and psychological instability drive this dark, ravishing Brazilian drama, an update of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment that fuses hair-raising chiaroscuro animation with eerie cinematography and set design to create a glimpse into the mind of a good-hearted woman pushed over the brink. (Brazil)
Director: Heitor Dhalia
Executive Producers: Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane
Writer: Marçal Aquino, Heitor Dhalia
Cast: Guta Stresser, Myriam Muniz, Sabrina Greve, Luíza Mariani, Juliana Galdino, Milhem Cortaz, Guilherme Weber, Abrahão Farc, Wagner Moura, Selton Mello, Renata Sorrah, Lázaro Ramos, Matheus Nachtergaele

“Whisky” (East Coast Premiere)
In the dry and intoxicating Whisky a septuagenarian sock manufacturer persuades his employee to play wife while his estranged brother visits. This campy plot contrivance becomes an unlikely vehicle for quiet despair, hopeful longing and meditative acceptance. Deadpan hilarity on the rocks. (Uruguay/Argentina/Germany)
Director: Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll
Producer: Fernando Epstein
Writer: Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll, Gonzalo Delgado Galiana
Cast: Andrés Pazos, Mirella Pascual, Jorge Bolani, Ana Katz, Daniel Hendler


Documentary Features—World & Ibero-American Cinema Competition

“Along the Pathways” (“Por los Caminos”) (World Premiere)
Gabriel Traversari took to the streets of his native Nicaragua with no more than a digital camera. Over the course of 24 hours, he captured the essence of a proud but troubled people searching for identity in a harsh and beautiful world. (Nicaragua)
Director: Gabriel Traversari
Executive Producers: Gabriel Traversari, Julia Sevilla Hopping

“Cocaine Cowboys” (World Premiere)
In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence not seen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago. Cocaine Cowboys is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen. (USA)
Director: Billy Corben
Executive Producers: Bruno del Granado, Daniela Mana
Producer: Alfred Spellman, Billy Corben


“CODE 33” (World Premiere)
This engrossing documentary follows two Cuban-American detectives in their 2003 hunt for an unknown man—the notorious Miami-Dade serial killer. From the directors of Horns and Halos, this film reveals the diverse culture and strong moral fabric of a shocked, scared and outraged community. (USA)
Director: Zachary Werner, David Beilinson, Michael Galinski, Suki Hawley
Producers: David Beilinson, Zachary Werner

“Dense Death” (“Morte Densa”) (North American Premiere)
What do you feel after you kill someone? Are murderers haunted by the ghosts of those they have slain? Dense Death presents the testimony of eight admitted murderers—abused spouses, wronged siblings, avenging children—revealing the meaning of the act and its consequences in a way that gets beyond media sensationalism. (Brazil)
Director: Jurandir Müller, Kiko Goifman
Producer: Claudia Priscilla
Writer: Claudia Priscilla

“Estamira” (North American Premiere)
From the producer of Bus 174 , Estamira reveals the anguish of poverty and psychological disorder in this chilling, philosophical portrait of a 63-year-old schizophrenic who spends her days railing against reality at the sprawling Jardim Gramacho dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. (Brazil)
Director: Marcos Prado
Producers: José Padilha, Marcos Prado

“Gunner Palace” (East Coast Premiere)
Gunner Palace reveals an angle of the Iraq occupation rarely seen on the nightly news: that every soldier has a complex, deeply human story of survival. This chilling chronicle of the U.S. Army’s “Roughriders,” stationed in a former palace of Uday Hussein, is a candid look at wartime life. (Germany/USA)
Director: Michael Tucker, Petra Epperlein
Producers: Michael Tucker, Petra Epperlein

“La Cueca Sola” (Regional