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23.2.2012		:"Das Leben der Anderen", "The Lives of Others" "A man who has devoted his life to ferreting out "dangerous" characters is thrown into a quandary when he investigates a man who poses no threat in this drama, the first feature from German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It's 1984, and Capt. Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is an agent of the Stasi, the East German Secret Police. Weisler carefully and dispassionately investigates people who might be deemed some sort of threat to the state. Shortly after Weisler's former classmate, Lt. Col. Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), invites him to a theatrical piece by celebrated East German playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme) informs Weisler that he suspects Dreyman of political dissidence, and wonders if this renowned patriot is all that he seems to be. As it turns out, Hempf has something of an ulterior motive for trying to pin something on Dreyman: a deep-seated infatuation with Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), Dreyman's girlfriend. Nevertheless, Grubitz, who is anxious to further his career, appoints Weisler to spy on the gentleman with his help. Weisler plants listening devices in Dreyman's apartment and begins shadowing the writer. As Weisler monitors Dreyman's daily life, however (from a secret surveillance station in the gentleman's attic), he discovers the writer is one of the few East Germans who genuinely believes in his leaders. This changes over time, however, as Dreyman discovers that Christa-Maria is being blackmailed into a sexual relationship with Hempf, and one of Dreyman's friends, stage director Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), is driven to suicide after himself being blackballed by the government. Dreyman's loyalty thus shifts away from the East German government, and he anonymously posts an anti-establishment piece in a major newspaper which rouses the fury of government officials. Meanwhile, Weisler becomes deeply emotionally drawn into the lives of Dreyman and Sieland, and becomes something of an anti-establishment figure himself, embracing freedom of thought and expression." - Rotten Tomatoes 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's suspenseful thriller drama, "The Lives of Others" (in German, "Das Leben der Anderen").
16.2.2012		DREI From the director of RUN LOLA RUN and THE INTERNATIONAL comes a sexy romantic drama, but one that is more refreshing than any classic Hollywood screwball comedy. Hanna and Simon, a couple in their early forties, live together in Berlin. With their 20th anniversary looming, they both become restless despite being truly and deeply in love. Unbeknownst to one another, they become acquainted with Adam, a younger man, and fall in love with him. Clearly not your typical 1930's romp, this reinvention of those classic films with Tykwer's sleek direction is a playful update: an intellectual study of a modern couple looking for redefinition in a world of absolutes.
9.2.2012		Midnight in Paris is a cinematic soufflé that rises to perfection, a wry, funny, touching picture, pursuing some of Woody Allen's favourite tropes and themes but with sufficient asperity to give a sting to the nostalgia it embraces. Standing in for Allen himself and dressed similarly in plaid shirt and khaki trousers, Owen Wilson plays Gil, a youngish Hollywood screenwriter and would-be novelist best known for his skills at rewrites, a diffident, humorous man with a great respect for high culture and a love of popular art but deeply suspicious of pretension and academic condescension. He's visiting Paris with his egocentric social-climbing fiancee, Inez (Rachel McAdams), and her wealthy, neo-xenophobic parents... Recent Allen films have tended towards the perfunctory, often looking like a succession of clumsy first takes. In Midnight in Paris he is relaxed and confident. The rhythms of the editing are perfect. The framing and grouping of the characters is comfortable. The actors are relaxed and confident in their movements. The boyishly bewildered, sheepishly vulnerable all-American charm of Owen Wilson has never been better used. Working in conjunction, the cinematographer Darius Khondji, the production designer Anne Seibel and the costume designer Sonia Grande have done a splendid job in giving the film distinct textures for its three different periods. The recreation of Gertrude Stein's apartment is a little gem, and when Kathy Bates sits beneath Picasso's famous portrait of Stein she looks at home. Directed by: Woody Allen Cast: Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Tom Hiddleston
2.2.2012		SENNA Audiences don't need to be familiar with or give a damn about Formula One racing to get drawn into Senna, a finely wrought documentary about Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, known both for his incredible talent and his death at age 34 at the infamous 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Senna is considered one of motorsporting's greats, but Asif Kapadia's film also makes it clear he was a sort of artist, his talent accompanied by an unquenchable thirst for excellence and a belief that racing offered him a connection to God. Senna was such an innately dramatic personality that every race he took part in feels like the most intense possible. Until you see the next one. Perhaps his most emotional race was the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix, an event which Senna, a national hero in his home country, was desperate to win. The emotions and physical strain this exceptionally arduous competition put him through beggars belief. Speaking at Sundance, where the film won the world documentary audience award, screenwriter Pandey talked about showing the film to Ron Dennis, the head of the McLaren Group that Senna raced for, a man known for being unemotional and for being so conscious of not wasting time that he has a car and driver waiting for him everywhere he goes. "After the film ended, Ron Dennis cried for 10 minutes," Pandey remembers. "Then he sat and talked about Senna for two hours." Such is the power of this man, and this film. Director: Asif Kapadia Cast: Documentary
26.1.2012		The Skin I live in Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed a further three things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig...a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession." (Sony) Awards: Was nominated for Golden Globe's "Best Foreign Language Film", has won another 4 awards and got 31 nominations. Duration: 1 hr 57 min Starring: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet Language: Spanish with English subtitles
19.1.2012		A Separation Iran/2011/123mins/colour/ Farsi with English subtitles With rare subtlety and transforming art, the remarkable writer-director Asghar Farhadi takes us into the emotional heart of modern Iran. Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) are a middle-class couple seeking a divorce. She wants to move abroad with their 11-year-old daughter, Termeh. He wants Termeh to stay. With the male-dominated state on his side, Nader makes a home with Termeh and his dementia-afflicted father, as well as the father's nurse, Razieh (Sareh Bayat), who supports an unemployed husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), and a daughter of her own. When Nader accuses the pregnant Razieh of abusing his father, violence erupts. As the tension builds in court, Farhadi reveals his country in microcosm, divided by gender, class, religion and invisible borders of destruction. The actors do wonders, uncovering rich depths in their characters. A Separation is a landmark film. No way will you be able to get it out of your head.
12.1.2012		The Trip Fear of mortality, anxiousness, jealousy, and celebrity impressions all take their rightful place on the comedy buffet line in Michael Winterbottom's immensely enjoyable The Trip, a condensed director's cut of the six-part series of the same name that Winterbottom directed for the BBC last year. As much a sparring match as a buddy comedy, the film takes us on a tour of distinguished eateries in Northern England with two comic impresarios, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, as our tour guides, essentially playing half-true versions of themselves. But as in all good comedy, there are dark, serious matters percolating below the surface of their volleying impersonations of Michael Caine, Woody Allen, and Sean Connery.
22.12.		Melancholia is a 2011 film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland. The narrative revolves around two sisters during and shortly after the wedding party of one of them, while Earth is about to collide with an approaching rogue planet. The film prominently features music from Richard Wagner's prelude to his opera Tristan und Isolde. Trier's initial inspiration for the film came from a depressive episode he suffered and the insight that depressed people remain calm in stressful situations. The film is a Danish production by Zentropa, with international co-producers in Sweden, France, Germany and Italy. Filming took place in Sweden. The film premiered in May 2011 at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. Dunst received the festival's Best Actress Award for her performance.
15.12.2011		Fatih Akin: Soul Kitchen Spaghetti, spinach and French fries, all smothered in cream sauce: the menu at Soul Kitchen, a decrepit restaurant in a converted warehouse in an industrial section of Hamburg, Germany, may not be to everyone's palate. But the place attracts a scraggly following of regulars who exit in a huff after its manager, Zinos Kazantsakis (Adam Bousdoukos), hires Shayn (Birol Ünel), a snooty culinary prima donna, as its new chef. Its insistent zaniness makes "Soul Kitchen" very different in spirit from Mr. Akin's two previous films, "Head-On" and "The Edge of Heaven," which established him as a major European filmmaker. Seriously silly, it evokes the same high-spirited, pan-European multiculturalism in which people of all ages and backgrounds blithely traverse national borders as they aggressively pursue their destinies.
6.12.2011		Parvez Imam's "The Waterfall" Five random travelers come together to trek to a waterfall in Hampi - a serene heartland in Southern India, famous for its ruins, temples and a river. They trudge across the surreal landscape, happily disconnected from their routine lives. To recharge their energies after walking for sometime they stop under a rock shelter. An innocuous discussion begins to change the trajectory of their thoughts. Meanwhile, in yet another part of Hampi, an Israeli photographer is searching for peace through meditation when most other backpackers choose drugs. And, a young Palestinian doctor, travels half the globe to a small country in South America, hoping to make others understand the routine challenges of life in her homeland. 'The Waterfall' is a journey that brings together all these people, as they share their hopes and angst while searching for answers
24.11.2011		Mexican Narcotics officer Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas has to interrupt his honeymoon on the Mexican-US border when an American building contractor is killed after someone places a bomb in his car. He's killed on the US side of the border but it's clear that the bomb was planted on the Mexican side. As a result, Vargas delays his return to Mexico City where he has been mounting a case against the Grandi family crime and narcotics syndicate. Police Captain Hank Quinlan is in charge on the US side and he soon has a suspect, a Mexican named Manolo Sanchez. Vargas is soon onto Quinlan and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies, when he catches them planting evidence to convict Sanchez. With his new American wife, Susie, safely tucked away in a hotel on the US side of the border - or so he thinks - he starts to review Quinlan's earlier cases. While concentrating on the corrupt policeman however, the Grandis have their own plans for Vargas and they start with his wife Susie.
17.11.2011		Submarine When you're a 15-year-old kid, your perception of yourself is rarely the same as the way the rest of the world views you. Such is the case with 15-year-old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) in director Richard Ayoade's feature film debut Submarine. Based on the 2008 novel by Joe Dunthorne and produced by Ben Stiller, "Submarine" follows the aforementioned Oliver, who fancies himself a cool, well-liked literary genius but in reality is socially awkward and unpopular. With his 16th birthday on the horizon, Oliver wants to do just two things: lose his virginity to his arsonist girlfriend Jordana and prevent his mom, whom he suspects of banging her New Age life/dance coach Graham, from leaving his depressed father. And so he sets out to break up his mother's affair and save his family... all while pursing the seemingly impossible dream of cashing in his V card.
10.11.2011		This Thursday Walfly screens Elia Kazan's 1954 classic On the Waterfront. On the Waterfront is a classic, award-winning, controversial film directed by Elia Kazan - a part drama and part gangster film. The film is set on New York's oppressive waterfront docks, where dock workers struggled for work, dignity, and to make ends meet under the control of hard-knuckled, mob-run labor unions that would force them to submit to daily 'shape-ups' by cruel hiring bosses.
3.11.2011		There has arguably never been a funnier or more appealing movie than A Fish Called Wanda. Cleese's gag-packed screenplay had audiences on both sides of the Atlantic cracking up, and no wonder. Even cruelty to animals and putting the frighteners on old ladies is hilarious in this wonderful heist romp, so tremendous are the performances of each of the main players. Kevin Kline was never better than in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Otto, the philosophy-quoting psychopath. Michael Palin, seldom seen in the comedy arena these days, is brilliant as stammering creature-comforter Ken. Jamie Lee Curtis displays a surprising comic talent as triple-crossing seductress Wanda. And then, of course, there's Cleese himself as the superbly-pompous defense` barrister Archie Leach (which, as an interesting aside, is the real name of one Cary Grant). Directed by: Charles Crichton
20.10.2011 27.10.2011		Writer and performer Eve Ensler created a one-woman show that she began performing off-off-Broadway in 1996. Her show, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, spoke of women's bodies covering subjects often considered taboo, risque, and threateningly empowering. The show was a revelation which would become one of the most popular theater pieces of its time. This performance is an intimate look into Ensler's original run of the show.
29.9.2011		Harishchandrachi Factory (2009) 96 min - Biography \| Comedy \| Drama Director: Paresh Mokashi Officially, this was India's entry for the Oscars. It failed to make it to the nominations list, but that does not detract from the beauty and vibrancy of the Marathi film (with English subtitles) that creates a whole new matrix for the biopic. Indeed, it must have been an arduous journey that Dundiraj Govind Phalke aka Dadasaheb Phalke underwent before he managed to bring the Williamson to India and shoot Raja Harishchandra, the epic mythological that has become a milestone in movielore. Yet, the toil, the sweat and the tears have been totally dispensed with for a lightness of being that enthuses the film with an incandescence and a sense of crackling wit and humour. .... A must-see film, with a delicious sense of humour, Harishchandrachi Factory boasts of some sterling performances by the lead actors (Nandu Madhav and Vibhawari Deshpande) as Mr and Mrs Phalke who end up as the most chilled out couple of the early 20th century. The film works as a period drama too, with an exquisite eye for detail. But most importantly, it lays down the mantra of Indian movie lore. When someone asks Dadasaheb what kind of movies he would like to make, he replies: The one's which are resplendent with our culture and ethos.
22.9.2011		Amadeus Winner of 8 Oscars Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century.
15.9.2011		Sita Sings the Blues Director: Nina Paley's Her delightfully subversive feminist musical version of the "Ramayana," spans continents and millennia in parallel stories of two wives being unfairly dumped, one in the American autobiographical present, the other in the mythical Indian past. Punctuated with classic bluesy ballads mouthed by a highly stylized Betty Boop-ish "Sita" and sung by '20s jazz icon Annette Hanshaw via vintage 78s, Paley's feature, along with Bill Plympton's "Idiots & Angels," constitutes an irrefutable argument for classic 2-D animation as a viable, vibrant low-budget arthouse medium for adults.
8.9.2011		City of Photos Director: Nishtha Jain CITY OF PHOTOS explores the little known ethos of neighborhood photo studios in Indian cities, discovering entire imaginary worlds in the smallest of spaces. Tiny, shabby studios that appear stuck in a time warp turn out to be places throbbing with energy. As full of surprises as the people who frequent these studios are the backdrops they enjoy posing against and the props they choose. These afford fascinating glimpses into individual fantasies and popular tastes. Yet beneath the fun and games runs an undercurrent of foreboding. Not everyone enjoys being photographed; not every backdrop is beautiful; not all photos are taken on happy occasions.
1.9.2011		I've loved you so long Director: Phillipe Claudel This powerful story of familial struggles and redemption follows a shell-shocked Juliette (Scott-Thomas), who returns to live with her young sister Lea (Zylberstein) after being banished from the family for 15 years. Kristin Scott Thomas' performance in "I've Loved You So Long" is one of a small handful of highlights by which people will remember this movie. This is acting at its most exalted. This is film being used for its supreme purpose and function, to show us, moment by moment, the grand movements of a soul.
25.8.2011		Good by Lenin Director: Wolfgang Becker It's 1989. Alex Kerner (Daniel Brühl) and his single, divorced mom Christine (Katrin Sass) live in a tiny 79 sq.m. apartment in East Berlin. Shortly before the Berlin Wall falls and East Germany (the "DDR") becomes history, Alex's mother, a dedicated party activist and DDR supporter, has a heart attack and falls into a coma—and misses the triumph of capitalism. Eight months later, her miraculous awakening and recovery present Alex with a dilemma: How to protect his mother's weakened heart from the shock of Coca-Cola, Burger King, Audis and Mercedes.
18.8.2011		The Terrorist Director: Santosh Sivan "The Terrorist", a 1998 Santosh Sivan film about a young female suicide bomber on a mission
11.8.2011		Trikal Director:Director : Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal's Trikal (Past, Present, Future), a darkly comic soap opera set in a turbulent time in Goa's history as the Portuguese are preparing to leave and the Indian army stands at the borders ready to to move in
4.8. 2011		The Battle of Algiers Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo 1966 "A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it."
28.7. 2011		Tournee, Director: by Mathieu Amaric a 2010 French Burlesque comedy
21.7. 2011	The Launch of Wallfly	FallenArt Fish& theMonk Je T'aime John Wayne - Toby McDonald (2003) Short Film_ _Shanu Taxi_ Pt.