Coates Library Cinema Series

In October 2008, the library will host its fifth series of international and independent films selected by film festival organizers and jurists from across the globe. 

Screenings begin at 7pm each evening in Northrup Hall room 040 (click here for a campus map).  Admission is free and open to the public. 

All films are subtitled in English.

Wednesday
October 8

Days and Clouds

(Italy)

Well-to-do, sophisticated couple, Elsa and Michele, have a 20 year-old daughter, Alice, and enough money for Elsa to leave her job and fulfill an old dream of studying art history. After she graduates, however, their lives change. Michele confesses he hasn't worked in two months and was fired by the company he founded years ago. Elsa overcomes her initial shock by pouring extra energy into facing the crisis while Michele, exhausted by an unsuccessful job hunt, lets himself go, alternating between vivacity and apathy. The growing distance between them eventually leads to a break-up. Only when they are apart will they realize that they risk losing
their most precious possession. (115 minutes)

Days and Clouds received Best Actress honors at the David di Donatello Awards, the Moscow International Film Festival, and the Nastri d'Argento Awards.  Along with receiving numerous other nominations, the film was screened at Toronto International Film Festival, as well as festivals in Rome, London, and Newport. 
 

Wednesday
October 15

XXY
 
(Argentina)

For just about everybody, adolescence means having to confront a number of choices and life decisions, but rarely any as monumental as the one facing 15 year-old Alex (Ines Efron,) who was born an intersex child. As Alex begins to explore her sexuality, her mother invites friends from Buenos Aires to come for a visit at their house on the gorgeous Uruguayan shore, along with their 16-year-old son Álvaro (Martin Piroyanski.) Alex is immediately attracted to the young man, which adds yet another level of complexity to her personal search for identity, and forces both families to face their worst fears. (91 minutes)

XXY received the Best Foreign Spanish Language Film at the 2008 Goya Awards.  It was the recipient of "Best Film" awards at the Athens International Film Festival and the Bangkok International Film Festival.  It received the Critic's Week Grand Prize at Cannes and garnered numerous other awards and and festival screenings.

 

October 22

The Grocer's Son

(France)


 

It is summer, and thirty-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provence. His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed—driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants. Accompanied by Claire, a friend from Paris whom he has a secret crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing.  (96 minutes)

 

October 29

Ben X

(Belgium)

Ben is different. His life is a universe all to itself, where he avidly plays his favorite on-line computer game in an attempt to train for and block out the reality of his daily experiences. Ben has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism that prevents normal communication and makes him ideal fodder for all the school bullies. As the bullies' relentless attacks push him over the edge and out of control, his on-line dream girl, Scarlite, appears to him and helps him devise a perfect plan to confront the bullies and make them pay for their torment. Director Nic Balthazar's dazzling debut blends fantasy and harsh social realism, based on a true story, to bring us an utterly original and important film. (93 minutes)

Ben X received the Audience Award at the Montreal Film Festival, and received screenings at festivals in Palm Springs, Berlin, and Cleveland. The film was Belgium's submission for consideration in the Best Foreign Film category at this year's Academy Awards.

 

 

Showtimes: 7pm-9pm

Location:  Northrup Hall room 040

Admission:  Free and open to the public

More information: contact the library help
                                   desk at 999-7213