New Directors/New Films
March 24–April 4, 2004

Now in its thirty-third year, the renowned New Directors/New Films festival, jointly presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art, introduces New York audiences to the work of emerging or not-yet-established filmmakers from around the world, many of whom introduce their films. This year, the festival will take place at three venues: Alice Tully Hall, Walter Reade Theater (both at Lincoln Center), and MoMA at The Gramercy Theatre. Five films made in 2003 have already been selected for the 2004 edition of the festival: Pjer Zalica’s Fuse (Bosnia/Herzegovina); Heiner Saleem’s Vodka Lemon (Armenia); Vicente Amorim’s The Middle of the World (Brazil); Kim Ki-Duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...Spring (South Korea); and Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni’s The Story of the Weeping Camel (Mongolia/Germany). See www.filmlinc.com for further details. A complete schedule is available in the three theater lobbies and at MoMA QNS. Series and individual tickets are available at a reduced price for members of MoMA and The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

New Directors/New Films was organized by a selection committee consisting of Mary Lea Bandy, Chief Curator, Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, and Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film and Media, The Museum of Modern Art; and Marian Masone, Associate Director of Programming, Joanna Ney, Producer, Special Projects, and Richard Peña, Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. The festival is sponsored by National Geographic Traveler. Additional support is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Julien J. Studley Foundation, The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

[ATH = Alice Tully Hall; WRT = Walter Reade Theater; GRAM = MoMA Gramercy]

Everyday People. Raskin's is the kind of neighborhood Brooklyn restaurant where young and old, black and white, artists and professionals have mingled for generations. But now everything is about to change. Faced with a business slump, Ira, the stressed-out Jewish owner (Jordan Gelber) decides to shut down—or rather, sell out—to a corporate gentrification plan implemented by Ron (Ron Butler), an ambitious young black real estate developer. Smack in the middle of the controversy is Arthur (Stephen Henderson), the loyal maitre-d' and the restaurant's oldest employee. The story follows these three, as well as waiters and kitchen staff, over the course of a single tense day as all face an uncertain future with very mixed emotions and from diverse ethnic and cultural perspectives. Writer/director Jim McKay (Our Song, ND/NF 2000) is our populist poet of everyday life and he weaves together many diverse characters who, in their complexity, make up the fabric of a beautiful, multicultural New York. USA, 2003. 91 min. An HBO Films release.

Wednesday, March 24, 8:00 p.m., ATH; Thursday, March 25, 6:00, GRAM               

Strong Shoulders. At a special school for athletes, where intense physical training is the curriculum, fifteen-year-old Sabine (an extraordinary performance by Louise Szpindel) is determined to become a world-class runner. Not the best female runner, but simply the best. She therefore wants to run with the men in the 400 meters. The methods of her coach (French film star Jean-François Stévenin) don't suit her, so she goes her own way. But in addition to fighting the notion that she can't compete with men, she must also struggle with her maturing body and sexual awakening. And it doesn't help that her boyfriend is faster than she is. She wants to be a high-performance machine, but her body and heart may not cooperate. Ursula Meier's debut feature film is a rare achievement—a moving, vibrant portrait of young female athletes who have full and complex inner lives.   Switzerland/France/Belgium, 2003. 96 min.

Thursday, March 25, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Saturday, March 27, 3:30 p.m., GRAM; Sunday, March 28, 8:45 p.m., WRT

The Middle of the World. Thoroughly charming but with a tough and determined undercurrent, this captivating story (based on true events) follows a family of seven as they bicycle 3,200 kilometers from Paraiba in the north of Brazil to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a better life. As the landscape changes, the inner workings of the family subtly shift. As each member becomes a fully defined character, director Vicente Amorim lets the tension between the open road and the bonds of family work its magic. Amorim often had to film under difficult circumstances, but with handheld camera he elicits marvelous performances from everyone, especially the unforgettable Cláudia Abreu. Brazil, 2003. 85 min. A Film Movement release.

Thursday, March 25, 8:30 p.m., GRAM; Friday, March 26, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Saturday, March 27 at 3:30PM WRT

In Your Hands. An insightful drama about a woman caught in a moral wilderness. Anna, a theologian desperate to have a child, takes a temporary job as a prison chaplain. While she tries to lead her new flock on the path of righteousness, she encounters inmates who turn her world upside down, especially Kate, an outsider who really gets under her skin. Director Annette Olesen takes advantage of the Danish Dogma movement's approach to narrative, stripping her story of any distraction and focusing on strong performances in which seemingly ambivalent motives lead to frightening consequences. Unsettling and provocative, the film features complex, intensely human desires and failings that cannot be easily dismissed. Denmark, 2004. 101 min.  

Thursday, March 25, 8:30 p.m., WRT; Saturday, March 27, 6:00 p.m., GRAM; Sunday, March 28, 1:00 p.m., WRT

The Story of the Weeping Camel. Living a way of life that may be nearing extinction, the nomadic shepherds of Mongolia take great care of their camels, their livelihood and only asset. When one of the animals rejects her newborn calf, the shepherds try everything they can think of to connect the two since without its mother's milk the baby will die. Finally the nomads send their two young sons on a journey from the desert to the city to find a special musician, one whose music may reach the mother camel's heart. Filmmakers Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni have meticulously woven fact and fiction to capture the harsh realities of nomadic life, and the rugged beauty of both the Gobi desert and the actual ritual that these nomads use to save their herd—and, yes, the camels do weep. A stunning achievement and a unique cinematic experience. Germany/Mongolia, 2003. 93 min. A THINKFilm release.

Friday, March 26, 6:00 p.m., GRAM; Saturday, March 27, 12:30 p.m., ATH

Seducing Doctor Lewis. This rollicking story describes in witty detail how a ragtag community on a small island in Quebec attempts to snare a young doctor who craves cosmopolitan cuisine and foreign sporting activity from the big city. (To say more would be criminal). Reminiscent of Britain's glorious Ealing comedies, like the classic Tight Little Island, Jean-François Pouliot's beguiling and sophisticated debut feature proves that with pluck and imagination, anything can be made irresistible. Not only may Doctor Lewis be seduced, but judging from the public who voted it the Audience Award at Sundance, so will everyone else who sees it. Canada, 2003. 110 min.

Preceded by Post Card. Inspired by vintage postcards, Anna Matysik constructs a brief but poignant history of life. Germany, 2003. 9 min.

Friday, March 26, 8:30 p.m., GRAM; Saturday, March 27, 6:00 p.m., ATH

Dig! A rousing chronicle that is as much about contemporary American rock as the bad behavior of rock stars, Dig! follows the spectacular ascents and descents of Anton Newcombe, leader of indie band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. For over seven years filmmaker Ondi Timoner had unmediated access to Newcombe, a self-styled Brian Jones acolyte, and her film is a raw, energetic portrait of an artist and his nose for trouble. Newcombe's fervent notion of integrity takes him to the brink of self-destruction and to the limits of friendship with the film's narrator, Courtney Taylor, leader of the Dandy Warhols, who sees Newcombe as his "greatest inspiration, and ultimately, greatest regret." Replete with handheld concert footage and great music, Dig! Is the ultimate backstage pass. USA, 2004. 105 min. A Palm Pictures release.

Friday, March 26, 8:30 p.m., WRT; Sunday, March 28, 12:30 p.m., GRAM

Eager Bodies. Xavier Giannoli makes an audacious feature debut with this complex love triangle. Charlotte and Paul are attractive, fun-loving and cool twenty-somethings-in-love. Then Charlotte discovers she has lung cancer. Paul is determined to see his girlfriend through this crisis but Charlotte, frightened and angry, doesn't make it easy. In the midst of tests and treatments, enter Charlotte's cousin Ninon. A bond develops among the three, complicated by Charlotte's doubt and jealousy. Her erratic behavior only succeeds in fueling the mutual attraction that Paul and Ninon, in their isolation, begin to feel for each other. Less concerned with plot than mood and emotion, the film develops a deep compassion for three characters caught in a dilemma beyond their control. France, 2003. 94 min.

Saturday, March 27, 1:00 p.m., WRT; Saturday, March 27, 9:00 p.m., WRT; Sunday, March 28, 9:00 p.m., GRAM

Fuse. Pjer Zalica's debut feature starts with a jolt emblematic of the dangers buried beneath the surface of a small rustic village, where, two years after the civil war has officially ended, Serbs and Muslims try to live and work together. A dryly humorous tone and a shrewd sense of reality, even in the tragic legacy of post war Bosnia, balance this beautifully wrought political satire. Times are tough indeed, and everyone in town seems to make their living the unlawful way. It's an unflinchingly honest and funny look at the plight of a poor, corrupt community struggling to hide its illegal activities and unhappy alliances and establish democracy-'cause President Clinton is coming to visit! Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2003. 105 min.

Saturday, March 27, 3:00 p.m., ATH; Sunday, March 28, 6:00 p.m., WRT

B-Happy. Kathy is fourteen years old and lives with the hope that her life's about to get better; her father will get out of jail, and things at home will be normal. Gradually, though, she realizes that this is not meant to be: her family life, already fragile, will disintegrate, and she'll be on her own. Yet with that realization comes another: she's a lot stronger than she imagined. Maybe she can even use adversity to her advantage. Working with a remarkable young actress (Manuela Martelli), Gonzalo Justiniano avoids the romance and sentimentality associated with the coming-of-age genre and instead gives a clear-eyed look at how someone digs deep within themselves to find the strength to carry on. Chile/Spain/Venezuela, 2003. 90 min.

Preceded by Gowanus, Brooklyn. In Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's taut drama, a 12-year-old girl begins an investigation into the hidden lives of adults after discovering her teacher's dark secret. USA, 2003. 19 min.  

Saturday, March 27, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Sunday, March 28, 3:15 p.m., GRAM; Tuesday, March 30, 8:30 p.m., WRT

Captive. Fifteen-year-old Cristina lives a charmed life in Buenos Aires in the early 90s. Happy, and as well-adjusted as a teenager can be, she loves her parents and has many friends. Her biggest problem is coping with her strict Catholic school. One day, out of the blue, she is informed that her real parents were, in fact, political prisoners of Argentina's "dirty war" who disappeared soon after her birth. Her world changes in an instant. Suddenly, Cristina becomes Sofia, and is forced to live with people she doesn't know. In trying to establish her true identity, she questions everything: the couple she believed were her parents, how she came to them, and her place in the world. In this political coming-of-age drama, director Gaston Biraben spotlights his country's struggle to come to terms with a national nightmare. Argentina, 2003. 115 min.  

Saturday, March 27, 9:00 p.m., ATH; Sunday, March 28, 6:00 p.m., GRAM

No. 17. A suicide bomb attack outside Tel Aviv leaves seventeen people dead. Sixteen victims are claimed and identified, yet weeks after the incident no one has come forward with information on the seventeenth victim, a man mutilated beyond recognition who lies in an unmarked grave. With the determination of a homicide detective, documentary filmmaker David Ofek sets out to discover who this mystery man might have been. Was he connected in some way to the attackers, or simply an unfortunate soul without friends or family? The only definite piece of information the filmmaker has is that the man was traveling with a tent. Interviews with police, survivors, and witnesses create a revealing, unsettling portrait of a society accustomed to living in the shadow of death. Israel, 2003. 75 min.  

Saturday, March 27, 9:00, GRAM; Sunday, March 28, 3:45 p.m., WRT

Three Step Dancing. Salvatore Mereu's richly textured first feature is as timeless as its earthy Sardinian setting, and marks a new direction for Italian cinema today. The magic of childhood is depicted in scenes of Andrea and his frisky buddies as they go for a wild ride and encounter the spectacle of the sea for the first time. Michele, a handsome young shepherd, loses his virginity to a glamorous aviatrix. Simona, a Carmelite nun, comes home with mixed feelings for a bustling (and stormy) family wedding. And Old Giorgio sets a fancy table for a tryst with the town tramp. The events mirror the changing seasons, photographed in delectable, sensual colors, the characters coming together in a life-affirming Felliniesque finale that borders on the mythic. A work of intense beauty and startling originality. Italy, 2003. 107 min.  

Monday, March 29, 6:00 p.m., ATH; Wednesday, March 31, 9:00 p.m., GRAM

Untold Scandal. This masterfully crafted costume drama is a luscious, sexy, and sly retelling of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, brilliantly transposed to Korea during the eighteenth-century Chosun dynasty. More a comedy of manners than a savage satire, director E J-yong's adaptation concentrates on the hypocrisy of a society in which slander, seduction and gossip have a field day among the aristocrats. For this visually gifted filmmaker, a single barbed remark or sidelong glance conjures up a world ruled by artifice. Korean TV idol Bae Yong-jun makes his big screen debut as the philandering aristocrat, the stunning Lee Mi-Suk is charming and chilling as his royal cousin and arch manipulator, and Jeon Do-yeon elicits sympathy as the pure young widow who is the object of the scheming. South Korea, 2003. 124 min.

Monday, March 29, 8:45 p.m., ATH; Wednesday, March 31, 6:00 p.m., GRAM

Silent Waters. A woman's fragile destiny provides a rare window on a tumultuous period in Pakistani history—the late 1970s, when the country, under military rule, swung toward Islamic extremism. Ayesha, an impoverished woman with liberal values, supports herself by giving Koran lessons to girls in her small village and dedicates herself to her 18-year-old son Saleem. Saleem secretly loves Zoubida, an upper-class girl following a traditional path. Unwilling to submit to a rural life like his mother, Saleem looks to further his ambitions in town, where student activism is taking hold. As tensions tighten Ayesha's painful past returns to haunt her. Gritty yet exquisite in its picturesque setting and assured pacing, this powerful drama is cast with gifted non-actors, guided by documentarian Sabiha Sumar in her feature film debut. Pakistan/France/Germany 2003. 99 min. A First Run Features release.

Tuesday, March 30, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Thursday, April 1, 8:30 p.m., WRT; Friday, April 2, 8:15 p.m., GRAM

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. In a beautiful temple on a secluded lake live an old monk and his young charge, a boy barely of school age. Under the old monk's tutelage, the youngster learns the secrets and lessons of the world around him. When he gleefully ties stones to a fish, a frog and a snake, his master binds a rock to the child's back. As a teenage boy, the young monk experiences carnal passion and attachment; as an adult, jealousy and profound despair. He leaves and returns cyclically, each season a stage in his progress from novice to enlightened human being. This ravishingly beautiful film never leaves the floating monastery and its breathtaking vistas, yet its seemingly hermetic world is a window on life's mysteries. Director Kim Ki-duk has created a deeply personal work of extraordinary elegance and spiritual feeling. South Korea, 2003. 103 min. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Wednesday, March 31, 6:00 p.m. & 8:45 p.m., WRT; Thursday, April 1, 6:00 p.m., GRAM

Vodka Lemon. Rarely has a potentially grim predicament been treated with more humor and insight. In a remote, isolated village in post-Soviet Armenia, Hamo, a widower with a pitiful pension and three worthless sons, travels daily to his wife's grave. There he meets the lovely Nina, who is communing with her late husband. The two are penniless—she works in a local bar that is about to close down, while he has been forced to start selling his meager possessions, including his prized military suit. Could anything be bleaker? Yet as Hamo begins to court Nina, they are revitalized by their unexpected union. Director Hiner Saleem invests each incident with marvelous sight gags (one thinks of Otar Iosseliani) and a sense that these quirky inhabitants cannot help but endure. France, 2003. 88 min.

Preceded by Tango Octogenario. A bickering elderly couple find a unique method of reconnecting to each other in David Licata's urban fable. USA, 2003, 6 min.  

Thursday, April 1, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Friday, April 2, 8:30 p.m., WRT; Saturday, April 3, 9:00 p.m., GRAM

Checkpoint. Three million Palestinians live in the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Scattered throughout the region are dozens of checkpoints where Israeli soldiers detain Palestinians trying to get home, visit relatives, or receive medical treatment. Israeli documentary filmmaker Yoav Shamir filmed at various checkpoints from 2001 to 2003 and the images are a powerful testament to the impasses that have been created. A young Israeli soldier describes his job as "putting on a show" and at times that is how the encounters between top dog and underdog appear. The guards inconvenience, humiliate, and otherwise make the desperate, defensive pilgrims as uncomfortable as possible. The Palestinians, in turn, are by turns obedient, reproachful, imploring, and belligerent. "Terrorists don't come through checkpoints," one man insists as he is turned away. This extraordinary documentary is a chilling look at the destructive impact of enforced boundaries on both societies. Israel, 2003. 80 min.  

Thursday, April 1, 8:45 p.m., GRAM; Saturday, April 3, 3:45 p.m., GRAM

Le Monde Vivant. This fairy tale is a witty medieval romance of the human heart in modern guise, a living world that mixes castles and ogres with knights in blue jeans and a lion played by a golden retriever. The narrative, alternately quaint and ironic, is set in a lush French landscape of rolling green fields and enchanted trees. Nicolas, a young man on a quest into the unknown, has many adventures, by turns surreal, touching, and wryly amusing. Reinventing the world of damsels, troubadors and monsters to his own purpose, theater director Eugène Green creates a visually stunning, intellectually stimulating meditation that will appeal to children of all ages—a minimalist medieval epic that startles as it delights. France, 2003. 75 min.

Preceded by Dysenchanted. Waiting for your Prince Charming to come along? Terri Edda Miller's therapy group will disabuse hopefuls of any notions of knights in shining armor. USA, 2003, 8 min.

Friday, April 2, 6:00 p.m., GRAM; Sunday, April 4, 3:30 p.m., GRAM

Control Room. With amazing access and great curiosity, Jehane Noujaim explores the inner workings of the Middle Eastern news agency Al Jazeera. Reporters and editors at the news network speak frankly about their views of journalistic integrity, world politics, and humanitarian responsibility. Several exchanges with the U.S. military's Central Command highlight the differences in perspective and place in context Al Jazeera's belief in a counter-narrative that foregrounds the pain and suffering of the victims of the war. By challenging our assumptions and cataloguing countless differences in coverage, the film shrewdly exposes the myth of journalistic impartiality during wartime is exposed. Noujaim offers food for thought and endless discussion with this timely film. USA/Egypt, 2003. 83 min.

Friday, April 2, 6:00 p.m., WRT; Sunday, April 4, 1:00 p.m., GRAM

Kounandi. A stranger appears in an African village, gives birth to a baby girl, and dies. The child becomes a young woman who is cursed and blessed. So begins Apolline Traoré's elemental and timeless story about the transformative power of love and magic. Traoré's direction is at once direct and subtle. Her telling invites rich ambiguities that speak to the cycle of life and the need to belong. Burkina Faso, 2003. 49 min.

Preceded by Porter. Day after day a Peruvian porter carries provisions for tourists up and down the Andes. Burdened with his load, he muses about what meaning his life may have, and the filmmaker, Juan Alejandro Ramirez, records these musings as a kind of transcendental poetry in a work that approaches the sublime. Peru, 2003. 20 min.  

Saturday, April 3, 1:30 p.m., GRAM; Sunday, April 4, 6:00 p.m., GRAM

Berlin Blues. A wry and disarming story set in Kreuzberg, West Berlin's slacker Bohemia, just weeks before the fall of the Wall in 1989. In this lively city quarter inhabited by misfits, dropouts, and hungry but determined artists, Frank is prince. Except for a standoff with a local dog and the unwelcome knowledge that his thirtieth birthday, if not his next girlfriend, are just round the corner, Frank is a relaxed guy. Then life happens. Everything, but everything, changes—surprisingly, speedily, and irrevocably. Director Leander Haussmann takes pleasure both in charting Frank's reluctant adjustments and recreating a yesterday, now spiritually vanished, that sported its own ragged virtues. Germany, 2003. 105 min.

Preceded by The Arousing Adventures of Sailor Boy. Hey, sailor—come here often? A naïve mariner is out on the town in Jenny Bisch's romp with a hermaphrodite. Canada, 2002, 8 min.

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