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In Bruges
Hiding out in the Belgian city of Bruges after a hit-job in London results in the accidental death of a child, gunman Ray (Farrell) and his mentor Ken (Gleeson) try to pass the time as they await judgement by their gang boss Harry (Fiennes). In a witty script, the pair discuss life and the nature…
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Transamerica
Transamerica’s Bree, (Huffman), is a pre-operative transsexual who is forced to take a journey across America to bail out a son she didn’t know shed fathered. This multi-award winning film is director/writer Duncan Tucker’s first feature. He picks a tricky topic for his comedy drama. Transgender issues are not inherently funny, but critics, audiences and…
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We Are Together
Pupils at the Agape School for AIDS Orphans form a choir and start to fundraise for their school when a disaster strikes. The film documents the choirs efforts to resuscitate plans to raise money for their cause and at the same time reveals the human stories of the pupils. We Are Together showcases the acapella…
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Souzhou River
Suzhou River mixes love story and crime genres in a modern film noir. Set in the urban decay of post-industrial Shanghai the film is peopled with gangsters, street hustlers and nightclub denizens. In a plot that twists and turns the narrator keeps us guessing whether the central story is about his love for Meimei (Xun…
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Once
In this Oscar-winning film, Guy (Hansard) is a Dublin street musician. His music attracts an immigrant Girl (Irglova). She’s a musician too and plays for him on display piano in a music store. He repairs vacuum cleaners for a day job she’s got a Hoover that needs mending. Kismet. But she’s also got a canny…
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Persepolis
This Oscar-nominated, multi-award-winning animation tells the story of the coming of age of a young Iranian girl, Marji. Finding a way to express your teenage self with all its contradictions, mini-rebellions and leanings towards Western pop culture isn’t easy in the middle of an Islamic revolution. With the full implications of the mullahs crackdown on…
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A Pig’s Tale
When swine fever infects the Haitian black pig, American Aid steps in to help. The Americans set up a programme to eradicate the black pig population, both diseased and healthy animals. To help further the USA introduced huge American pigs, which as local people complained, needed better living conditions than Haitian people were used to.…
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Caramel
Caramel delightfully weaves together a comedy about the daily lives of five Lebanese women. Each woman has a romantic problem and they play out their dramas against the backdrop of Layal’s (Nadine Labaki) Beirut beauty salon. Will one resolve a relationship with a married man, will another marry while trying to cover up her past,…
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The Class
The leading actor in The Class, Bégaudeau, is a man of many parts novelist, actor, screenplay writer and former teacher. The film is loosely based on a Bégaudeau’s fictionalised account of his experience as an idealistic, novice teacher. Director, Cantet, whose parents were teachers, workshopped the script with Bégaudeau and a group of teenage pupils…
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Gomorra
Gomorra caused quite a buzz on release in the US and across Europe. The gritty realism used in telling the story of Naples much bigger and wealthier version of the Mafia, the Camorra, explodes the myth of Hollywood’s treatment of mob drama, which often suffuses the violence with a romantic glow of period nostalgia or…