Nine films are scheduled this spring.
This is England, March 9, is a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award-winning 2007 film directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Shane Meadows. The semi-autobiographical film captures the uneasy times of Thatcherite England, following a 12-year-old boy who is street-smart beyond his years as he falls in with an anarchic group of older boys. It is a coming-of-age tale that captures the tenor of England's working-class youth in the 1980s.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, March 16, is an Academy Award-nominated 2007 French film directed by Julian Schnabel. Schnabel constructs a biopic about Jean-Dominique Bauby, the world-renowned editor of Elle Magazine in France, who suffered a paralyzing stroke at the age of 43. Conveying Bauby's internal life through striking cinematography and poetic visuals, the film is equal parts heartbreak and hope.
The Passenger, March 23, is a memorial screening in honor of the influential Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni (1912 - 2007). The film showcases Antonioni's suspenseful thriller about a man trying to escape his own life. This haunting 1975 film is a portrait of a journalist (Jack Nicholson) whose deliverance is an identity exchange with a dead man.
The Prize of the Pole, April 6, combines biography and history as it follows the Inuit hunter Hivshu on a quest to trace the story of his great grandfather, explorer Robert E. Peary, and his other ancestors, including the Eskimo family Peary brought back with him to New York in 1897 as part of an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. The 2006 film gradually uncovers the mysterious relationship between Peary and the sole survivor of this ill-fated exhibition, a 6-year-old Inuit boy named Minik. It explores controversial issues of cultural identity and appropriation. A special guest speaker will introduce the film on behalf of the University of Delaware International Polar Year Committee.
The Devil Came On Horseback, April 13, is both a primer on the complexities of the situation in Darfur and a harrowing first-person account of one man's drive to chip away at caustic apathy. This 2007 Sudanese film follows Marine Capt. Brian Steidle, an unarmed military observer working for the African Union, as he collects evidence of a horrific humanitarian crisis and learns to change the world through peaceful means. The film is co-sponsored by STAND, the national student anti-genocide coalition, which has a chapter at UD. Viewers are invited to stay for a discussion following the screening.
OSS 117: Cairo--Nest of Spies, April 20, was a box-office sensation in France. This 2006 film parody features Special Agent OSS 117, who arrives in Cairo in 1955 to monitor the Suez Canal, check up on the Brits and Soviets, burnish France's reputation, quell a fundamentalist rebellion and broker peace in the Middle East. The film can be best described as James Bond crossed with Maxwell Smart, with a little bit of The Naked Gun antics thrown in for good measure.
The Orphanage, April 27, follows a woman who discovers dark secrets hidden within her childhood home. This supernatural drama, produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, tells an elegant, ghost story that explores the places where human longing and loss intersect.
Lust, Caution, May 4, is a provocative espionage thriller by Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee. It centers on the fate of an ordinary woman during the World War II Japanese occupation of Shanghai. Controversial for its depiction of graphic sensuality and violence, the film has broken box office records in China. A special guest speaker will introduce this 2007 Taiwanese epic.
Persepolis, May 11, is based on a bestselling graphic novel. This original Academy Award-nominated 2007 film presents a portrait of a spunky Iranian girl who surmounts many obstacles to grow into a wise young adult. A personal coming-of-age story, it is equal parts history lesson and animated adventure tale.
The International Film Series is made possible by the generous support of the Committee on Cultural Activities and Public Events (CAPE) and is run by an interdisciplinary committee of UD faculty, staff and students.
For more information on the series and the spring 2008 lineup, visit [www.english.udel.edu/film_series.htm]. To receive e-mail updates and reminders about the series, e-mail [mtwchk@udel.edu].
