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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Spring 2006 Foreign Film Fest Starts This Month


The ESOL and Foreign Languages Department and the Global Union International Students Association invite students, staff and members of the Rochester community to attend the screening of six foreign language films, as follows:

Tuesday, April 25 at the Damon City Campus, Room 4013
"Nueba Yol," Dominican Republic, 1995. 106 minutes. Comedy in Spanish. Not Rated. This is an upside-down and witty look at U.S. culture as seen from the perspective of a Dominican immigrant, determined to come to the city of his dreams and make his fortune. Nueba Yol will tickle your funny bone in addition to opening your heart to a completely different point of view of American life. Our hero, contrary to his and most people's point of view, does not find the answer to all his dreams in "Nueba Yol" (or New York). Instead, he has one mishap after another, some with wierd outcomes. The quest for his fortune brings him in touch with the usual losers and street folks who share a strange wisdom with him and appreciate him in unusual ways.

"Beyond Silence (Jenseits der Stille)," Germany, 1996. 107 minutes. Drama in German and German Sign Language. Rated PG-13. Laura is a dutiful daughter to her deaf parents, Martin and Kai -- sometimes to the detriment of her own needs. When an aunt gives the young girl a clarinet, Laura discovers a hidden talent, and as a teen she attends a Berlin music school on a scholarship against her father's wishes and falls in love.

Thursday, April 27, at the Warshof Conference Center, Flynn Campus Center (Monroe A and B), Brighton Campus
"The Star Maker (L'uomo delle stelle)," Italy, 1995. 107 minutes. Drama in Italian. Rated R.  This Oscar-nominated film follows a self-described talent scout as he travels the back roads of Sicily. Armed with a camera, he sells screen tests to poor village folk, who are only too eager to fall for the promise of movie stardom. Men, women and children swarm to him, turning their tests into confessions that are tragic, comic, rhapsodic and revealing. But the gambit takes an unexpected turn when Beata, an orphan girl, enters the picture...

"Hero (Ying Xioing)," China, 2002. 99 minutes. Drama in Chinese. Rated PG-13.  The Qin King has long been obsessed with conquering all of China and becoming her first Emperor -- which makes him the target of three legendary assassins. To anyone who defeats the assassins, the King promises great power, mountains of gold and a private audience with the King himself. The story is being told from three different point of views. Very stylish film with outstanding cinematography. The colors are amazing, a treat to the visual senses.

Thursday, May 4, at the Warshof Conference Center, Flynn Campus Center (Monroe A and B), Brighton Campus
"Por si no te vuelvo a ver (If I Never See You Again)," Mexico, 1997. 96 minutes. Comedy in Spanish. Not Rated. Five elderly men dream of being part of a band and playing for live audiences, but a concert for friends at a nursing home is not exactly what they have in mind. When bandleader Bruno finds the courage to fulfill his lover's dying wish and takes her ashes back to Tijuana, the other men are inspired to escape from the nursing home and go play backup for a group of strippers in a nightclub -- sending their families and the police in pursuit.

"The Syrian Bride (Ha Kala Ha Surit)," Israel, 2004. 98 minutes. Drama in Arabic and Hebrew. Not Rated. This well-crafted and multilayered film digs into the Middle East conflict with the tale of a Druze woman who lives with her family in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Her family makes plans for her to marry a Syrian television star from Damascus, but the wedding must take place at the border, and once she marries and crosses into Syria, she'll never be able to return home.  The drama is both local and universal in its poignant examination of people caught in the crossfire of tribal, national, and gender struggles.

Thursday, May 11, at the Warshof Conference Center, Flynn Campus Center (Monroe A and B), Brighton Campus
"The Chorus (Les choristes)," France, 2004. 97 minutes. Drama in French. Rated PG-13. In this gentle French drama, music teacher Monsieur Mathieu lands a job at a boys' boarding school populated by delinquents and orphans, and run by a harsh, disciplinarian headmaster. Sensing potential in the rambunctious ruffians, Mathieu forms a choir to rein in his charges through the transforming power of song … even at the probable cost of his career. The performances of the boys in the film -- many of them not actors but boys drawn from an actual French choir -- are remarkable. An inspirational and moving film.

"Beyond Silence (Jenseits der Stille)," Germany, 1996. 107 minutes. Drama in German and German Sign Language. Rated PG-13. Laura is a dutiful daughter to her deaf parents, Martin and Kai  -- sometimes to the detriment of her own needs. When an aunt gives the young girl a clarinet, Laura discovers a hidden talent, and as a teen she attends a Berlin music school on a scholarship against her father's wishes and falls in love.

Arrive at 6:00 p.m. to mingle and enjoy some ethnic nibbles and food sampling. The films will be introduced at 6:30 p.m. Two films will be shown concurrently on each of the specified dates. All films have English subtitles. The Foreign Film Fest is free and open to the public.

 
 

Louis Silvers
ESOL and Foreign Languages Department
04/03/2006