June 11–July 11
 
Films will be shown Monday and Wednesday evenings, beginning at 7:30 p.m., in the Illini Tower cafeteria.

All films have English subtitles.

 

Monday, June 11
PORCELAIN DOLL (Hungary, 2005, 75 min)

Director: Péter Gárdos

Cast: Lajos Bertok, Sandor Csanyi, Judit Nemeth

Adapted from the novel Star Farm by Hungarian writer Ervin Lazar, the stories focus on life, death, and resurrection. The first involves a gawky but athletic teenager who bests a series of visiting soldiers in various athletic competitions. In the second, a visiting state official promises he can resurrect the dead, prompting the villagers to exhume four bodies with startling results. Finally, an elderly couple outwits the authorities who want them to relocate with a highly unusual trick.

Wednesday, June 13
THE STEAMROLLER AND THE VIOLIN (USSR, 1960, 43 min)

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Cast: Igor Fomchenko, V. Zamansky, N. Arhangelskaya

At the center of this film is the unlikely friendship between Sasha, a young boy who loves to play the violin, and Sergey, the macho driver of a steamroller. The film sidesteps sentimentality to give us a warm yet ironic look at two individuals who bridge differences in generations to form a powerful bond.

Monday, June 18
EUROPA EUROPA (Germany, 1990, 112 min)

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Cast: Marco Hofschneider, Julie Delpy, René Hofschneider

Based on the true story of a young Jewish boy, Solomon Perel, who flees east at the start of Word War II and falls into the hands of the Germans, where he pretends he is of Aryan German origin.

Wednesday, June 20
SELECTIONS OF ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA (USSR, 1924-84, 146 min)

Director: Various
From a recently released 4-disc set of animated Soviet propaganda, philosopher Igor Kokarev guides viewers through the atmosphere and mindset in which these works were first produced.

Monday, June 25
LUNA PAPA (Tajikistan (in Russian), 1999, 105 min)

Director: Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov
Cast: Chulpan Khamatova, Moritz Bleibtreu, Merab Ninidze
In a small village, 17-year-old Mamlakat dreams of becoming an actress. One moonlit night, she is seduced by a mysterious stranger who claims to be a friend of “Tom Cruise.” He then disappears, leaving Mamlakat pregnant. Her father, Safar, and brother, Nasreddin, set out to find the culprit and restore the family’s honour. From inside the womb, Khabibulla, who was conceived that night, provides a commentary on the incredible adventures and bizarre mishaps that befall the threesome on their search for his father.

Wednesday, June 27
LOVING GLANCES (Serbia, 2003, 97 min)

Director: Srdjan Karanovic
Cast: Senad Alihodzic, Jelena Djokic, Ivana Bolanca
Set in 1995 Belgrade. Despite a war raging in the background, young people throughout the country are trying in vain to fall in love and get married, as they feel a normal life would ensconce them. When refugee Labud, a draft-dodging Serbian student, comes to the city without a job or a dime to his name, he turns to a marriage broker to help him find the woman of his dreams. He is paired with Romana, a pretty Belgrader who, despite a sophisticated façade, is also a penniless refugee.

Monday, July 2
UP AND DOWN (Czech Republic, 2004, 113 min)

Director: Jan Hrebejk
Cast: Petr Forman, Emília Vášáryová, Jan Tríska
A dysfunctional family reunion between a college professor, his long-estranged son and the lover they both shared. Two petty pickpockets who attempt to rob a black belt in karate. A dimwitted soccer hooligan whose wife buys a baby in a pawnshop. These are just a few of the unconnected strangers who find a common connection in this comedy.

Wednesday, July 4
No film

Monday, July 9
THE ITALIAN (Russia, 2005, 99 min)

Director: Andrei Kravchuk

Cast: Kolya Spiridonov, Maria Kuznetsova, Nikolai Reutov

For most Russian orphans, the chance to be adopted is a dream come true. But 6-year-old Vanya Solntsev has other hopes. After discovering his mother is still alive, the abandoned boy teaches himself to read so as to learn her address from his personal files. Before a wealthy Italian couple can claim him for their own, Vanya sets off on a perilous journey to find his only remaining family, Pursued by orphanage staff and the police, the determined runaway must now face the most difficult challenge of his young life. Inspired by true events.

Wednesday, July 11
NO MAN’S LAND (Bosnia Herzegovina, 2001, 98 min)

Director: Danis Tanovic

Cast: Branko Djuri , Rene Bitorajac, Filip Šovagovi

Set in the unforgiving trenches of the Bosnian-Serb conflict, this film follows the story of three soldiers caught between two fighting lines. Fleeing enemy fire, an injured Bosnian soldier retreats to a trench, where he finds himself trapped with a wounded comrade and worse…a Serbian. With no way to escape, and with his fellow soldier lying on a spring-loaded bomb set to explode if he moves, the soldier realizes he must do the unthinkable – trust his enemy – if he wants to survive.