Days of Glory
The First French Army recruited in Africa included 130,000 "indigenes” (natives) including 110,000 North Africans and 20,000 Africans. The rest were made up of two-thirds “pieds- noirs” (French colonials) and one-third young frenchmen who fled the occupation. Days of Glory relates the forgotten story of the soldiers known as “Indigènes” following the epics of four soldiers in a mobile corps, renowned for their endurance, ground sense and courage in close combat. They are sent to the front line. Each is in pursuit of a different objective throughout their passage across France, which they liberate, arms in hand.
C.R.A.Z.Y.
C.R.A.Z.Y. is set in the turbulent Québec of the 1960s and 1970s. Zachary Beaulieu is raised among four other brothers and struggles to define his own identity, and deal with the conflict between his emerging sexuality and his intense desire to please his strict, temperamental and conservative father. One of the film's themes is the waning influence of the Catholic Church in Québec society during the Quiet Revolution.
Turkish Delight
Olga picks up Eric when he is hitchhiking and they immediately hit it off sexually and spiritually. They live together and marry against the wishes of Olga's mother. She does not approve of this Bohemian sculptor, who lives poorly off of his occasional commissions. After a number of adventures, Olga suddenly starts acting strangely. Turkish Delight is as controversial today as it was in the 1970s and it gives foreigners a sense of why the Dutch have the reputation for being so “liberal.”
The Kite Runner
Adapted from Khaled Hosseini's first novel (2003) of the same name. The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend, Hassan. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events: from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, to the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
The Island
During World War II, the Nazis offer Anatoly* the choice to shoot his friend, Tikhon, and live, or not shoot Tikhon and die. Anatoly reluctantly shoots his friend and then becomes a furnace stoker at a monastery, during which period, he is perpetually overcome with guilt. Thirty years pass and Anatoly develops the gift of clairvoyance and healing. People come to see him for cures and guidance even as he remains in a perpetual state of repentance. A strange twist of events, however, allows Anatoly to confront his past and find unexpected redemption.
* Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character and was one of the few rock musicians in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and now lives in an isolated village. Pavel Lungin said of Mamonov that "to a large extent, he played himself."
A Sunday in Kigali
A Sunday in Kigali is the story of Bernard Valcourt, a documentary film maker and journalist who falls in love with a young Rwandan woman, Gentille, who works at the Hôtel Des Mille Collines. The brutal violence of the Rwandan genocide separates them; a few months later, Bernard returns to Rwanda seeking Gentille. The film is based on the novel, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali (Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali), published in 2000 by Montreal author, Gil Courtemanche.
The First French Army recruited in Africa included 130,000 "indigenes” (natives) including 110,000 North Africans and 20,000 Africans. The rest were made up of two-thirds “pieds- noirs” (French colonials) and one-third young frenchmen who fled the occupation. Days of Glory relates the forgotten story of the soldiers known as “Indigènes” following the epics of four soldiers in a mobile corps, renowned for their endurance, ground sense and courage in close combat. They are sent to the front line. Each is in pursuit of a different objective throughout their passage across France, which they liberate, arms in hand.
C.R.A.Z.Y.
C.R.A.Z.Y. is set in the turbulent Québec of the 1960s and 1970s. Zachary Beaulieu is raised among four other brothers and struggles to define his own identity, and deal with the conflict between his emerging sexuality and his intense desire to please his strict, temperamental and conservative father. One of the film's themes is the waning influence of the Catholic Church in Québec society during the Quiet Revolution.
Turkish Delight
Olga picks up Eric when he is hitchhiking and they immediately hit it off sexually and spiritually. They live together and marry against the wishes of Olga's mother. She does not approve of this Bohemian sculptor, who lives poorly off of his occasional commissions. After a number of adventures, Olga suddenly starts acting strangely. Turkish Delight is as controversial today as it was in the 1970s and it gives foreigners a sense of why the Dutch have the reputation for being so “liberal.”
The Kite Runner
Adapted from Khaled Hosseini's first novel (2003) of the same name. The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend, Hassan. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events: from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, to the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
The Island
During World War II, the Nazis offer Anatoly* the choice to shoot his friend, Tikhon, and live, or not shoot Tikhon and die. Anatoly reluctantly shoots his friend and then becomes a furnace stoker at a monastery, during which period, he is perpetually overcome with guilt. Thirty years pass and Anatoly develops the gift of clairvoyance and healing. People come to see him for cures and guidance even as he remains in a perpetual state of repentance. A strange twist of events, however, allows Anatoly to confront his past and find unexpected redemption.
* Pyotr Mamonov, who plays the lead character and was one of the few rock musicians in the USSR, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the 1990s and now lives in an isolated village. Pavel Lungin said of Mamonov that "to a large extent, he played himself."
A Sunday in Kigali
A Sunday in Kigali is the story of Bernard Valcourt, a documentary film maker and journalist who falls in love with a young Rwandan woman, Gentille, who works at the Hôtel Des Mille Collines. The brutal violence of the Rwandan genocide separates them; a few months later, Bernard returns to Rwanda seeking Gentille. The film is based on the novel, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali (Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali), published in 2000 by Montreal author, Gil Courtemanche.
