March 9 April 13 February 16 Hirschfield Nostalgia for the I Wish Jane Eyre Light International (Cary Fukunaga, UK/USA, (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan, (Patricio Guzmán, France/ 2011, 128 minutes) 2011, 120 minutes) Germany/Chile/Spain/USA, 2010, 90 minutes) Two young brothers separated by divorce embark on an Mia Wasikowska newly incarnates the plain governess who The stark, stunning landscape falls in love with her thorny employer (Michael Fassbender), odyssey to reunite their family by wishing on the energy of of the Atacama Desert serves a new bullet-train line. Brimming with a sense of magical only to find her happiness jeopardized by a Gothic secret. as the convergence point for Cary Fukunaga crafts a smoldering, meticulously paced version time and overflowing with charming subplots, this Japanese Film celestial glory, archaeological film offers more than an update of The Parent Trap. Director of Brontë’s classic that “respects the book lavishly without investigations, and buried following it blindly”—The Telegraph. Hirokazu Koreeda of Nobody Knows captures the fragile details memories of political that render the experience of childhood so evocative and Series 2012–13 violence. In this meditation on the past overlapping with the universal. In Japanese with English subtitles. Sponsored by present, Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán sculpts a “rare the Hirschfield International Film Series and Japanese Studies documentary that’s as thrilling as art as it is as reportage, February 23 Program. a marvelously shaped thesis that’s both disquieting and The Intouchables humbling”—Slant Magazine. In Spanish with English subtitles. (Olivier Nakache and Eric Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. Toledano, France, 2011, April 20 112 minutes) March 16 Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman, USA, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo is a white, wealthy entrepreneur left Little Birds 2010, 91 minutes) quadriplegic following a devastating accident. Driss is a young, Discussion with coproducer undereducated, pot-smoking, black man living in the projects. Stefan Nowicki ’02 When Borgo hires Driss as a caretaker, they find they have (Elgin James, USA, 2011, a lot more in common than expected in this comedy-laced, 94 minutes) bittersweet film based on a true story. In French with English From documentary master Frederick Wiseman (Central Park, subtitles. Sponsored by the Department of French. An official Sundance Selection, Little Birds centers on the Ballet), Boxing Gym explores the rich anonymity of diverse relationship between two 15-year-old girls, Lily and Allison, boxers at Lord’s Gym in Austin, Texas. There, gritty textures who leave their sheltered town and run away to Los Angeles mix with the graceful rhythms of athletes’ bodies, regardless of in pursuit of a gang of skateboarders. While Lily craves escape, age, color, or gender. “Wiseman simply brings the audience March 2 Saturdays Allison longs for security. The dangers of their flight put their along as he bears witness to the individuals who regularly Tuesday, After friendship to the test. U.S. film; sponsored by the Hirschfield gather at this scruffy, mirrored mecca”—Washington Post. U.S. International Film Series. Christmas film; sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. 3:00 p.m. & 8:00 p.m. (Radu Muntean, Romania, Middlebury College 2010, 99 minutes) Dana Auditorium Sunderland Hall April 6 April 27 College Street After beginning an affair with his daughter’s dentist, a middle-aged man must choose between breaking his family In Darkness Le Havre Middlebury, VT apart or abandoning his new love—by Christmas. This (Agnieszka Holland, Poland/ (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland/ domestic drama reinvents a common premise to offer “a Germany/Canada, 2011, France/Germany, 2011, Extraordinary foreign and remarkable, pitch-perfect work, as convincing and affecting a 145 minutes) 93 minutes) portrayal of the subtleties of modern life and marriage as you’ll independent films, plus special open to the public. find on the screen”—Los Angeles Times. In Romanian with events and lectures. Free and In German-occupied Ukraine, a blunt, opportunistic sewer English subtitles. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International An underdog shoeshine man chances upon an illegal African Film Series and Russian and East European Studies Program. worker takes bribes to help Jews evade capture in a network immigrant and tries to shield the boy from intensifying police of subterranean tunnels, but eventually grows committed pressures. Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki expands his style Some of the works in this series to saving their lives. Even amidst the obscure, harrowing may be inappropriate for children; to encompass a social awareness that results in a film worthy we regretto preview that we the are material. unable architecture of the underground world, Polish director of the best tradition of French cinema’s lyrical, unblinking Agnieszka Holland portrays the continuing life cycles of humanity. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored by the go.middlebury.edu/hirschfield despair and renewal among the hidden. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. Holocaust Film Fund. September 15 Beginners (Mike Mills, USA, 2010, 105 Special Events minutes) October 20 November 10 Shortly after the death of his mother, Oliver A Screaming Man Habemus Papam faces another shock: his (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, (Nanni Moretti, Italy/France, 75-year-old father, Hal, announces that he is gay. Pulled France/Belgium/Chad, 2010, 92 2011, 102 minutes) Thursday, October 18 into Hal’s proud exploration of the identity so long denied minutes) A Dynamic Frame: to him, Oliver attempts to infuse his own romance with his The Vatican has a problem: In civil-strife-ridden Chad, former swimming star Adam an unlikely new pope Camera Movement in father’s joie de vivre. Christopher Plummer won an Oscar for best supporting actor, “bringing a rare wit, compassion and works at a posh hotel as a pool attendant. When Adam loses panics and wants to bail out. Enter an unconventional Hollywood Cinema sanctimonious grace to the role of Hal”—The Guardian. his job to his son, the father’s loss of status sparks a bitter psychologist, instructed to cure the patient “in front of the 4:30 pm, Axinn Center, Room 232 U.S. film; sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film division between the two men. Winner of the 2010 Cannes entire conclave,” as the Hollywood Reporter explains, “just don’t Lecture by Patrick Keating, Series and Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Jury Prize, Mahamat-Salet Haroun’s examination of cloaked mention sex, mother, fantasies, desires or dreams, please.” assistant professor at Trinity hostility catapulted Chad’s budding cinema to international Nanni Moretti’s gently satirical film delves into the challenges prominence. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film of an unassuming individual buckling under the weight of University, San Antonio, Texas. September 22 Keating is the author of the award- Series and the African Studies Program. infallibility. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film winning book Hollywood Lighting: The Kid with a Bike Series and Department of Italian. From the Silent Era to Film Noir. He (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc received his PhD in communication arts from the University Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy, October 27 of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA in film production from 2011, 87 minutes) November 17 the University of Southern California. Sponsored by the Oxhide II Department of Film and Media Culture. A young boy, abandoned by his father, bonds with Discussion with Margaret the town hairdresser, who agrees to foster him on weekends. director/writer (Kenneth Lonergan, USA, 2011, The latest picture by the acclaimed Dardennes brothers and Liu Jiayin 150 minutes) winner of the 2011 Cannes Grand Jury Prize, The Kid with a (Liu Jiayin, China, 2009, Tuesday, October 9 Bike is “unafraid of emotion, unafraid of plunging into basic 132 minutes) A tempestuous Manhattan Handmade Multiculturalism: Remixing human ideas: the need for trust, and the search for love” Special time: 5:00 pm, teenager copes with remorse Mass Media —The Guardian. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored Dana Auditorium after witnessing an accident that she may have caused. 7:30 pm, Sunderland 110 by the Department of French. Shot in real time, this Chinese film follows a family of three as Delayed for several years due to studio contentions, director Lecture and multimedia presentation by Francesca Coppa, they eat a dinner of dumplings and discuss everyday problems. Kenneth Longergan’s film offers a mesmerizing, messy professor of English and the founding director of film September 29 Beneath this simple premise, Oxhide II “rides high on process, look into the consequences of self-absorption and delivers studies at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. on the pleasure one takes in seeing things assembled, made, “a phoenix of a film, risen from the ashes of what looked Coppa is also a founding member of the Organization for Pina slowly come to together”—Notebook. Presented in conjunction alarmingly like failure. . . . It needs to be seen”—The Transformative Works, a nonprofit group that advocates for (Wim Wenders, Germany/France/UK, with the exhibition China Modern: Designing 20th-Century Telegraph. Starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, and Mark fan works and fan culture. Sponsored by the Department of 2011, 103 minutes) Popular Culture. Sponsored by the Department of Chinese, Ruffalo. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Film and Media Culture. Few choreographers have had more East Asian Studies Program, Rohatyn Center for International influence in the world of modern Affairs, and Committee on the Arts. Series. dance than the late German artist Pina Bausch. This incendiary documentary film by Wim Wender explores Thursday, November 15 Bausch’s life and work while we see her company perform December 1 November 3 I Love a Mystery: her most notable creations, where basic things like water, Footnote dirt, and even gravity take on otherworldly qualities. Pina A Separation Narrative Innovation in (Joseph Cedar, Israel, “should be read less as a polite memorial than as a palpitating (Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011, 2011, 103 minutes) 1940s Hollywood Cinema act of resurrection”— The New Yorker. A Clifford Symposium 123 minutes) 4:30 pm, McCardell Bicentennial Presentation. Hall, Room 216 Lecture by David Bordwell, October 6 In this 2012 Academy Award-winning film, an Iranian In this surprisingly lively peek into the pettiness of academic one of the world’s most prolific, husband and wife clash when forced to decide whether to Take Shelter rivalry, a professor of Talmudic studies must confront his prominent, and influential film scholars. He is the Jacques leave their home country. Dragged into a courtroom, their jealousy when his scholarly son beats him out for a coveted (Jeff Nichols, USA, 2011, Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the University conflict blurs into moral muddiness. “With great power prize. “Joseph Cedar shifts sympathies back and forth as 120 minutes) of Wisconsin–Madison, and author of over a dozen books and subtlety, Farhadi transforms this ugly quarrel into a frequently as he changes tone from jokey to bitter, skewering on topics ranging from narrative theory to Hong Kong contemporary tragedy”—The Guardian. In Persian with ivory tower blindness with some wit and, just occasionally, Jeff Nichols’s second film revolves around a man, haunted by cinema. Recently he has emerged as an innovator in digital English subtitles. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International emotion”—Variety. Israeli film; in Hebrew with English apocalyptic visions, who resolves to build an elaborate storm publishing, with accessible essays and eBooks. Sponsored by Film Series and Middle East Studies Program. subtitles. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film shelter—a decision that threatens the fabric of his family and the Department of Film and Media Culture. Series. his sanity. Roger Ebert lauded this work as “a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading…. This is masterful filmmaking.” U.S. film; sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series.