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Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Thursday, October 18, 2007
All Thursday Screenings Held at Venue #1: Crandell Theatre
Thursday, 1:30pm
My Country, My Country
Peabody Award–winner Laura Poitras spent eight months alone in Iraq making this documentary that focuses on the 2005 elections, although it has larger implications for the American occupation. The central figure is Sunni electoral candidate and doctor Dr. Riyadh and assorted U.S. and U.N. officials, as well as private contractors. Selected by the Berlin and Edinburgh Film Festivals as well as the Museum of Modern Art's prestigious New Directors/New Films series. Directed by Laura Poitras. Documentary. 90 minutes. Not rated
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: Honored
Director Stephanie Fischette 
Thursday, 3:00pm
Terror’s Advocate
A powerful, disturbing documentary on attorney Jacques Verges who, in addition to being a chum of Pol Pot when the two were students at the Sorbonne, is famous worldwide for defending Klaus Barbie. When asked if he would defend Hitler, Verges is reputed to have replied, "I'd even defend Bush." Directed by Barbet Schroeder, whose documentary on Idi Amin was similarly controversial. 138 minutes. Not rated
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Thursday, 5:30pm
Things We Lost in the Fire
The first English language film by Danish director Susanne Bier, whose After the Wedding was nominated for an Oscar last year, Things boasts an all-star cast that includes Halle Berry, Benicio del Toro, and David Duchovny. The film tells the story of a woman who takes her husband’s best friend into her home after her husband dies in an act of random violence. The problem is, he’s a heroin addict and has destroyed everything around him. Drama. R
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Thursday, 8:00pm
SOLD OUT! Margot at the Wedding SOLD OUT!
Noah Baumbach’s eagerly anticipated follow up to The Squid and The Whale, a 2005 FilmColumbia selection. Starring Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and John Turturro, the new picture takes a magnifying glass to a bitchy but funny Kidman who tortures her sister (Leigh) engaged to a man (Black) she dislikes. Think Ingmar Bergman with a sense of humor. Selected by the Toronto and New York Film Festivals. Drama. 93 minutes. R
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: The Meatrix
Director Louis Fox
Friday, October 19, 2007
VENUE #1: CRANDELL THEATRE 
Friday, Noon
Radiant City
Imagine a documentary on out-of-control development/suburban sprawl that doesn't feel like a documentary and is fun to watch, and you have Radiant City, from Canadian filmmaker Gary Burns. This is a message movie whose message is artfully delivered through a melange of clever pop cultural artifacts. Animated graphics by Columbia County's own Frank & Caroline Mouris. Selected by the Toronto Film Festival. 93 minutes. Not rated
Offcial website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Friday, 2:30pm
Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains
Former president Jimmy Carter's recent book on the Middle East, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, stirred up a hornets nest when he compared Israeli policies towards the Palestinians to the those of the former white South African government towards its oppressed black underclass. Feature (The Manchurian Candidate) and documentary (The Agronomist) director Jonathan Demme followed Carter on his book tour, as the Nobel Peace Prize–winner patiently confronted angry critics hurling epithets at him–liar, bigot, anti-Semite, etc. Selected by Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. 120 minutes. G
Friday, 5:00pm
SOLD OUT! THE BAND'S VISIT SOLD OUT!
Comedy/Drama. 85 minutes. Subtitles. PG-13
Short: Shadow Puppets of Doom
Director Michael McLaughlin 
Friday, 7:30pm
SOLD OUT! Cassandra’s Dream SOLD OUT!
Woody Allen’s latest, this dark and twisted drama ventures boldly into James M. Cain territory, with spectacular results. Stars Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell playing brothers in straightened circumstances who aspire to a better life and will do anything to get it. Belonging to Allen’s British period, it was shot in London and is more Match Point than Scoop. Selected by the Toronto Film Festival. Drama. 108 minutes. PG-13
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Friday, 10:00pm
Reservation Road
In an actual and metaphorical collision between two families, one loses a ten-year-old musical prodigy in a hit-and-run, while the others live with the consequences, an unexpected mix of revenge and redemption. Reservation Road is directed by Terry George, who gave us the sensational Hotel Rwanda, and features Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, and Mira Sorvino. Selected by the Toronto Film Festival. Drama. 102 minutes. R
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VENUE #2: MORRIS MEMORIAL 
Friday, 5:30pm
Kamp Katrina
Kamp Katrina follows the lives of a small group of people who have taken refuge in a backyard garden transformed into a tent city by a New Orleans couple. The film focuses on their struggle to pick up their lives in the face of loss and grief–and without basic infrastructure supports. Documentary. Not rated
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2007 VENUE #1: CRANDELL THEATRE Saturday, 10:00am
Children’s Program
Featuring a kaleidoscope of the best children’s short films from around the world, this program will delight the kid in all of us. Produced by Patti Greaney of GIRALDI Productions in NYC. G 
Saturday, Noon
Taxi to the Dark Side
The most powerful documentary to come out of the Iraq war so far, this film by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), analyzes the process by which American boys and girls barely out of adolescence have been transformed into torturers by the U.S. military. It begins with the case of an Afghan cab driver who ended up dead five days after he was captured and taken to Bagram Air Force base, and then moves to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison where the methods perfected in Afghanistan were turned on Iraqis. Gibney meticulously but never gratuitously documents the culture of torture in a film that should be seen by everyone concerned about the abuses committed in the name of the U.S. Documentary. 108 mins. Not rated, but contains nudity and sexual humiliation
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: Little White Flowers
Director Chris Messina 
Saturday, 2:30pm
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
This 2007 Cannes Festival Palme d’Or winner, directed and written by Cristian Mongiu, is set in Bucharest in the twilight years of the Soviet bloc, and is this year’s Lives of Others. The story concerns the arduous and humiliating efforts of a young woman to get an abortion, illegal under the Ceausescu regime. Selected by the NY Film Festival. Drama. Subtitles. 113 minutes. Not rated
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Saturday, 5:00pm
SOLD OUT! Lars and the Real Girl SOLD OUT!
Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) stars in this off-beat love story about a lonely guy who falls for a plastic sex doll he buys on the internet. Lars is convinced it’s (she’s?) human. He calls her Bianca, talks to her, and takes her to the doctor. Thanks to a little help from a stellar supporting cast that includes Patricia Clarkson and Emily Mortimer, Lars is shaping up to be one of this year’s best indies. Selected by the Toronto Film Festival. Bingham Ray will be on hand to field questions. Comedy/Drama. Not rated
Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Saturday, 8:00pm
SOLD OUT! ATONEMENT SOLD OUT!
Already being acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, this picture has played all the major festivals. Promises to be one of the most outstanding sneaks we've screened to date. Drama. R
VENUE #2: MORRIS MEMORIAL 
Saturday, 1:00pm
Animation Program For GrownUps
FilmColumbia is proud to present award-winning, cutting-edge animation by the best in the industry. Programmed by Gary Leib, animator for American Splendor. This is not kid stuff! R
Saturday, 3:00pm
Next Generation Program
Short: Trigger Finger
Director Marc Marino
Short: Red Light
Smuggled out of Cuba. A tour-de-force of filmmaking. Not to be missed. Not rated, contains adult scenes Columbia University Shorts
Short: The Second Line
Director John Magary
Short: Security
Director Matthew Linnell
Short: Rattlesnakes
Director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson
Saturday, 5:30pm
Zahira’s Peace
Director Nina Rosenblum documents Zahira Obaya’s brave struggle to heal physically and emotionally after surviving the Madrid terrorist attack on March 11, 2004. 80 min. Not rated | BACK TO TOP
Short: Where's Herbie?
A riveting profile of a 90 plus year-old lobster fisherman from Maine. Director Jenny Mackenzie. 13 minutes
Sunday, October 21, 2007
VENUE #1: CRANDELL THEATRE Sunday, 10:30am
Young Filmmakers Contest
The anticipated announcement of FilmColumbia’s regional contest for young
filmmakers–who will be the three young filmmakers to see their film on the big screen and win the prize money? Come and find out. The Chatham Middle School's Film Project: Hairy Potter and the Flashlight of Fire (Regge Life: filmmaker/mentor) will also be screened.
Sunday, Noon
Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments
Edgar B. Howard and Tom Piper's fascinating and meticulous documentary on the work of Ellsworth Kelly, one of the masters of the postwar abstract movement, a virtuoso of distilled form and color. The filmmakers accompany Kelly back to Paris, where he relives his time there during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and explores the influences that shape his work. It also catches him in the act of creation–a commission for the new U.S. embassy in Beijing to be installed in the summer of 2008. Documentary. 65 minutes. Not rated | BACK TO TOP
Sunday, 2:00pm
Persepolis
Based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir of growing up Iranian in the grip of post-Shah fundamentalism (think Maus, Persian-style), this animated drama follows her trials and tribulations as she takes the veil, but discovers Western music. She evades the thought police until her parents emigrate to Austria where she endures persecution of a different sort. She returns to Iran, only to leave again, finally settling in France. Voiced by Sean Penn, Iggy Pop, Gena Rowlands, and Catherine Deneuve, among others, Persepolis closed this year’s New York Film Festival, and was also selected by the Toronto Film Festival. Animated drama. 95 minutes. Not rated
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: Why It’s Bad to Break the Law
Director Nathan Udall
Sunday, 4:00pm
War/Dance
Northern Uganda has been the site of a protracted and bloody guerrilla war between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, which makes a practice of abducting children, arming them, and transforming them into fighters. This documentary, made by Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, at once horrifying and profoundly moving, follows three children from the Patongo refugee camp as they make their way across a forbidding war zone to perform in a national music and dance competition. Selected by the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. Documentary. 105 minutes. Not rated
Watch the trailer
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Sunday, 6:00pm
SOLD OUT! Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead SOLD OUT!
Brothers played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke become ensnared in a particularly bizarre crime, and in an attempt to save themselves, simply proceed from bad to worse. Director Sidney Lumet returns to form in this taut psychological thriller. Also stars Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei. Selected by the New York and Toronto Film Festivals. Drama. 123 minutes. Rated R | BACK TO TOP
Sunday, 8:30pm
SOLD OUT! The Kite Runner SOLD OUT!
Based on the best seller by Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner is directed by Marc Foster, who gave us Monster’s Ball and Stranger Than Fiction, and is now making the new James Bond movie. The story, focusing on Amir, the scion of a wealthy family who betrays his best friend Hassan, the son of his father’s loyal servant, unfolds against the backdrop of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban. Drama. 122 minutes. Rated PG-13
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
VENUE #2: MORRIS MEMORIAL 
Sunday, 2:00pm
The Descendant
After his mother's death, a man visits his grandparent's secluded farmhouse for the first time in 20 years, uncovering his past and a shameful family secret, in this historically-inspired ghost story. Director Phillippe Spurrell. 95 min
Official website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: Letting Go
Director Dan Masucci
Sunday, 4:30pm
Kings
Two ex-friends set out on a journey in search of a long lost childhood relic lost over a tragic event that sent them spinning in very different directions. Director Chad Matthew Hursa. Shot in Columbia County and features Main Street, Chatham and such local attractions as Crandell Theatre (Although the release of The Kite Runner has been delayed by the film's distributors, film festivals fall under a different category. We have been assured that the film will be screened as scheduled.) Not rated
Website | Watch the trailer | BACK TO TOP
Short: A Driving Lesson
Director C. Frazer Press
Website | Watch the trailer
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