MONSOON FILM FESTIVAL JULY 30 -AUG 2 2008

schedule

July 30 wed 7.00 pm
Travellers and Magicians (Bhutanese)
9.30 pm
The Kite Runner
(Persian with English subtitles )
June 31 thurs 9.30 pm
Miracle on 1st street
(Korean with English subtitles )
Aug 1 fri 9.30 pm
Munich (English)
Aug 2 Sat 9.30 pm
The Shawshank redemption (English)

Previews
The Shawshank redemption (1994)
Language: English
Director: Frank Darabont
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
Genre: drama
Runtime: 142 min.
Andy Dufresne, is sent to Shawshank Prison for the murder of his wife and secret lover. Set in the 1940's, the film shows how Andy, with the help of his friend Red, the prison entrepreneur, turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner. His spirit and determination, leads us into a world full of imagination, filled with courage and desire. The movie combines a number of archetypal human characterizations to create a compelling and moralistic story about the survival and liberation of the human spirit.

The Kite Runner (2007)
Language: Persian –Dari with English subtitles
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi
Genre: drama
Runtime: 128 min.
Based one on of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, it is a profoundly emotional tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban's iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right.

Munich (2006)
Language: English
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig
Run Time: 164 min.
Genre: drama
It is a powerful and thoughtful drama about the human costs of international terrorism. The 1972 Olympics in Munich were supposed to be a peaceful gathering of outstanding athletes from around the world, but on September 5, the games took a sinister turn when eight masked Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and abducting nine others. The kidnappers demanded safe passage out of Germany in addition to the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli and German prisons, but when they arrived at the Munich airport they were met by German police and military forces, and in the melee that followed, all nine hostages were killed. In the wake of the killings, the Israeli government gave Mossad, the nation's intelligence agency, a special assignment -- to track down and eliminate the Palestinians responsible for the death of the Israeli athletes. A young and idealistic Mossad agent is assigned to the four-man unit created to wipe out the Olympic terrorists, but while he believes in serving his country, as their bloody work goes on he begins to buckle under the weight of his work and wonders if he can morally justify his nation's acts of revenge.

Miracle on 1st street (2007)
Language: Korean with English subtitles
Starring: Ha Ji-weon, Im Chang-jeong
Director: Yun Je-gyun
Run Time: 113 min
Genre: Comedy- Drama
It’s a Capra-influenced comedy drama about a gangster who is trying to scare people to move out from their property so that they can clear out the area to make way for corporate construction. Pil-je arrives on a mission to persuade the First Street locals to relinquish their shoddily constructed homes in the name of progress; he is met with unanimous resistance. The person most fiercely opposed to Pil-je's proposal is tough-but-lovely Myung-ran, a pretty pugilist who longs to become a champion just like her brain-damaged father - a former boxer. Convinced that he is in for an extended battle, he gets to know her and the locals more. Pil Je senses himself changing, changing enough for a miracle to happen?


Travellers and Magicians (2005)
Language: Bhutanese
Director: Khyentse Norbu
Cast: Tsewang Dandup, Sonam Lhamo, Lhakpa Dorji
Genre: Adventure-Drama
Runtime: 108 mins
Two men embark on parallel and separate journeys. Their yearning is a common one--for a better and different life. Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup, and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam. The cataclysmic conclusion of the monk's tale leaves Dondup with a dilemma--is the grass truly greener on the other side?

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL AUGUST 02 - 03, 2008

IGNFA MOVIE CLUB
in association with
GOETHE INSTITUTE, MAX MUELLER BHAVAN, KOLKATA
proudly presents
GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL
AUGUST 02 - 03, 2008

PREVIEWS
AUG 02 3.00 p.m The Miracle of Bern
(German title: Das Wunder von Bern)Director: Sönke Wortmann, colour, 117 min., 2003
In 1954, nine years after Germany had lost WW II a man is coming home to his family from Russia, where he had suffered as a prisoner of war for many years. The man has difficulty coming to terms with his family and his former work in a coal mine in the industrial core area of Germany (“Ruhrpott”). He does not like the fact that his wife and daughter are operating a bar to earn the families living. His younger son Matthias admires the local football player Helmut Rahn who is becoming a member of the German team for the World Championship in Bern (Switzerland). At the end of a dramatic tournament Germany surprisingly wins the final. It is a very German film describing the situation when Germany was recovering from the lost war and starting to become a leading industrial nation again.

AUG 02 5.30 p.m The Voyager
(German title: Homo Faber)
Director: Volker Schlöndorff, colour, 109 min., 1991
The famous German filmmaker Schlöndorff adapted the story from the novel “Homo Faber” written by the Swiss novelist Max Frisch in 1957.
The film tells the fictional story of the 50 year old engineer Walter Faber, played by Sam Shepard - a man portrayed as devoted to saving the world through development of massive dams. Set in 1960, the film begins with Faber surviving a plane crash in Mexico. Through a series of coincidences, Faber then meets a woman in her early twenties, played by Julie Delpy. This person strongly reminds him of his former girl-friend in Germany (before WW II) and he begrudgingly acknowledges the attraction. The film beautifully illustrates their travels across Europe (France, Italy, and Greece) together. Well regarded by critics and telling a coherent and unusual story, The Voyager has an explosive theme - revealed only in the ironic twist ending.

AUG 03 3.00 p.m Lumber Kings
(German title: Die Könige der Nutzholzgewinnung)
Director: Matthias Keilich, colour, 94 min., 2004
The likable good-for-nothing Krischan comes back to the village he hails from after 12 years. There he finds his old friends and former colleagues in a desperate situation of unemployment. They all had been lumberjacks before the reunification of Germany but lost their jobs due to the restructuring of the forest service. Krischan suggests to organise a lumberjack competition in order to attract tourists and earn some money. After a series of technical difficulties and personal problems his idea becomes a success. The film nicely reflects the present situation of huge parts of former Eastern Germany (“German Democratic Republic”) where many jobs got lost after the reunification in 1990. It also gives a good impression of forests and forest work in a German mountain area.

AUG 02 5.30 p.m Jacob the Liar
(German title: Jakob der Lügner)
Executing Producer: Robin Williams, colour, 116 min., 2004
The story in based on a book of the German author Jurek Becker. Location is a Jewish ghetto in Poland during WW II. The German occupants torment the Jewish people. Jacob occasionally hears some radio news about the progress of the Russian troops fighting aganst Hitler´s army. He tells a friend about this. The news is immediately spread and creates hope for a soon liberation. To keep optimism alive in the desperate situation of the people around him Jacob creates new good stories. Finally the Germans hear about such news and want to find out who illegally owns a radio.

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED

IGNFA New Hostel Auditorium

Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA)

FRI Campus, Dehradun