Nashville for Free

Sexual orientation isn’t just an issue in America. Life for the gay community can be difficult all over the world; it can be a struggle. One place where you don’t really think about the issue is the Middle East, especially Jerusalem. It’s something strangely unexpected. City of Borders is a documentary that surrounds that very culture in the Holy Land.

Here’s the synopsis:

In the heart of Jerusalem stands an unusual symbol of unity that defies generations of segregation, violence, and prejudice: a gay bar called Shushan. This documentary follows the lives of five Israeli and Palestinian patrons as they navigate the minefield of politics, religion, and discrimination in order to live and love openly in a world of conflict.

City of Borders is tonight’s International Lens film. Like usual, it’s being shown at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7:30pm.

A new semester at Vanderbilt means new movies for their International Film Series! I believe things actually kicked off last week, but I didn’t get the email in time to post about it, but now we’re back on track!

Tonight The Strange Case of Angelica is showing at 7:30pm (make note of the later start time) at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema. It’s in Portuguese with English subtitles, and the synopsis is as follows:

A well-to-do family hires a young photographer to take the last photograph of their deceased daughter. Upon seeing her, he falls deeply in love and soon finds her returning to life in his camera lens.

The movie has a pretty excellent 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you’re curious. Also, the whole thing might sound kind of spooky, but the reviews throw out some terms like “fairy tale” and “magical,” so don’t be expecting a ghost story.

-Emily

Whelp, the semester at Vanderbilt is almost over, which means International Lens is heading for a little break. The last film of the year is The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema. No, it’s not rated X or any junk like that. It’s a documentary that films from a psychoanalytic theoretical perspective, including Psycho, The Matrix, and Blue Velvet. Here’s the official summary:

Acclaimed philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek delves into the hidden language of cinema. Whether he is untangling the baffling films of David Lynch, or overturning everything you thought you knew about Hitchcock, Zizek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect, and unfailing sense of humor.

As always, the film gets started at the Sarratt Cinema on Vanderbilt’s campus at 7pm. It’s over 2 hours long, so you might want to bring a few refreshments. You can usually find free street parking on West End, which really isn’t far.

-Emily

School’s official back in session, and above everything else it means that International Lens, the free community film series that focuses on international films, is back. Yep, my job has officially gotten that much easier.

This season’s first non-midnight film is one that was filmed in Nashville by Vanderbilt students with Vanderbilt students and community members staring. It’s called Musica Campesina and here’s the official synopsis:

 A brokenhearted Chilean thirtysomething works to regain his equilibrium on the streets of Nashville. He loves America. Will America love him back?

The screening starts at 7pm at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema.  Immediately following the screening there will be a Q&A session with Producer, Sarah Childress and Director of Photography, Ashley Zeiger.

-Emily

I think you all could probably guess how I feel about International Lens. Free movies every week? What’s there to complain about, I think it’s a great series and I’m glad Vanderbilt does it every school year.

But all good things must come to an end, and as Vanderbilt students get ready for exams and summer International Lens has to come to an end tonight. The last screening of the school year is a film called The Barbarian Invasions. Here’s the plot summary:

Seventeen years after the Decline of the American Empire, a group of left-wing Québec intellectual friends reunite around their friend suffering from terminal cancer. A melancholic retrospective on the utopian ideals of Québecois society in the 1960s and 70s.

Oh yeah, and this movie one the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004. That means it’s probably good. Also, it means that it’s subtitled, but reading is a small price to pay for a really good movie. It screens tonight at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7pm.

America’s health care system has its problems, but at least treating patients isn’t a constant struggle for our doctors.

In Lesotho in Africa it’s a different story. The money is bad, the benefits are few, and it’s terribly hard work. The HIV/AIDS rate is out of the roof and there are other epidemics that the doctors have to find a way to treat. Many doctors from Lesotho move to South Africa, where the work is easier and the money is better, but for those who stay it’s a constant struggle.

Mountains of Hope is a 30 minute documentary made by Boston medical students about the situation is Lesotho. It’s being screened tonight at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7pm as part of the International Lens film series.

-Emily

You know what I like? Movies. I watch all kinds, good movies, old movies, Lifetime movies, I just like watching movies. That’s why I like International Lens. They show movies every week, and for free. That’s right, every week International Lens at Vanderbilt shows movies that you probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Take Moloch Tropical, the movie they’re screening tonight at the Sarratt Cinema at 7pm. It’s about a fictional Haitian president (based on Henri-Christophe, the first King of independent Haiti) and is about on the last days of his reign before a violent revolution erupts around him.

Hey, that actually sounds pretty interesting. It promises a Haitian take on Alexander Sokurov’s Hitler pic Moloch, which I haven’t seen, but I’ve heard that it one several awards in Russia. As for Moloch Tropical, director Raoul Peck offers a critique of absolute power in an apparently beautifully shot film.

Now, before you go running to RottenTomatoes you check the rating you should know that this was not a film that has been released in theater, but if you’ve ever been to a film festival you’ll know that this doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie, it just means most critics aren’t going to rate it. Hell, Tribeca Film Festival thought it worthy to give a screening to, and so did International Lens. And that means masterpiece or not, it’s probably worth seeing, especially for free.

-Emily

As some of you may know (I didn’t), Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan.

You may then assume that this movie’s focus is there, and you would be correct.

The film Kandahar, which was released in 2001, follows a woman named Nafas. She’s a reporter who was born in Afghanistan, but fled with her family to Canada when she was young. She made it out safely, but her sister lost legs to a land mine when she was young and was accidentally left behind. Apparently they still converse, and one day Nafas gets a letter from her sister where her sister threatens suicide. Nafas makes the decision to return to Afghanistan to save her sister, where she “gets a clear and disturbing portrait of the toll the Taliban regime has taken upon its people.”

The film is playing tonight at 7pm at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema. It has a rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you’re into that kind of thing.

-Emily

If you’re from Jacksonville, Florida or ever call anyone from there then you’ll know that 904 is the city’s area code. If you’re from there you might also know that Jacksonville is the Sunshine State’s murder capitol and has been for nine years.

That’s where the documentary The 904 comes in. It documents the “real-life story of a city’s effort to stem the tide of violence threatening to consume it” through a woman named Beverly McClain. Beverly’s son was murdered two years before this film was released and it made her realize the magnitude of Jacksonville’s problem. She hasn’t found out who murdered her son, but she has made it her life’s mission to help comfort grieving families, consult with the police about killers, and work to raise awareness and funds for Families of Slain Children Center, the center she one day hopes to open.

This film will be screening for free at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema tomorrow, Tuesday February 1st at 7pm. It’s not rated and the running time is 66 minutes long.

Jim Jarmusch has been a seminal director in American independent cinema for over 20 years, and he’s definitely still in his prime. Probably most well known for his work with Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton in 2005′s Broken Flowers, Jarmusch has always enthused his films with fantastic personalities and brutally honest performances. Whether it’s the odd couple pairing of Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni (1986′s cult hit Down by Law), or his generation-spanning vignette Coffee and Cigarettes (the White Stripes were in it), his films are more an exploration of charismatic characters than calculated drama. And as dynamic as his work is, there has always been a constant attention to cinematic beauty and a storytelling patience, sometimes at the expense of a driving plot. But coming from a diehard Terrence Mallick fan, I say, screw driving plots.

Jarmusch’s latest, being screened for the first time in Nashville tomorrow evening–for free–follows a lone assassin (called just that, “Lone Assassin”) through Spain on a secret mission. As such, the film is largely meditative and features the beautiful locales just as prominently as Isaach De Bankolé’s brilliant performance. Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton also make appearances as characters named “American” and “Blonde” respectively. A cryptic plot leaves the audience roughly out-of-the-loop and plays joyfully with metaphors reminiscent of a David Lynch mindf***. As such, it’s bound to be a fascinating experience, and you’ll likely be scratching your head on the way out. That being said, it’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy thrilling cinematography, awesome soundtracks and a pace that leaves room for pondering, The Limits of Control is right up your alley.

Check out The Limits of Control as a part of Vanderbilt’s International Lens Series. The screening is this Wednesday at 7pm at the Sarratt Cinema.