The Messenger AMREEKA Let’s Make Money Director(s): Director(s): Director(s): Oren Moverman Cherien Dabis Erwin Wagenhofer Screenwriter(s): Screenwriter(s): Editor: Oren Moverman, Alessandro Cherien Dabis Paul M. Sedlacek Camon Executive Producers: Music: Producers: Alicia Sams, Cherien Dabis Helmut Neugebauer Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Producers: Sound: Zach Miller Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin Lisa Ganser Coproducer: Coproducers: Consultant: Gwen Bialic Liz Jarvis, Al-Zain Al-Sabah Corinna Milborn Production Designer: Cinematographer: Assistant Director: Steven Beatrice Tobias Datum Lisa Ganser Composer: Editor: Nathan Larson Keith Reamer Sound: Composer: Leslie Shatz, Javier Bennassar Kareem Roustom Editor: Alex Hall 87 Afghanistan/United Kingdom, 2008 US Narrative Feature Films US Narrative Feature U.S.A. 2009, 84 mins, color International Films Documentary Feature mins., color Intl Documentary Short United Kingdom, 2008, 10 mins., color , First Thursday. September 3 2009. 7pm First Thursday. November 5 2009. 7pm First Thursday. November 5 2009. 7pm With three months left in the service, Will (Ben Foster) has spent Director Cherien Dabis’s auspicious debut feature, Amreeka, is a Erwin Wagenhofer has crafted a momentous and chilling work of report- a good deal of time in army hospitals, healing scars from his warm and lighthearted film about one Palestinian family’s tumultu- age in this documentary that maps and analyzes the contemporary time in Iraq. To make things worse, the girl he left behind (Jena ous journey into Diaspora amidst the cultural fallout of America’s global financial system.Shuttled around the world in private limousines Malone) has moved on with her life. Ironically, his chance at a war in Iraq. Muna Farah, a Palestinian single mom, struggles and welcomed to corporate offices atop gleaming towers, we are fresh start lies in working shoulder to shoulder with Tony (Woody to maintain her optimistic spirit in the daily grind of intimidating treated to a litany of explanations by people close to the action, outlining Harrelson), a senior officer who teaches him the ropes of his new West Bank checkpoints, the constant nagging of a controlling how the financial world works and where it stands. It is unsurprising for post with the Casualty Notification Office. Will, who narrowly es- mother, and the haunting shadows of a failed marriage. Everything many to learn that capitalism is ruthless. More alarming is the degree to caped death, must now break the news about those who didn’t. changes one day when she receives a letter informing her that her which the financial (ad)ventures of an unaccountable and often-invisible Between assignments, these two soldiers form a unique bond family has been granted a U.S. green card. Reluctant to leave her few are facilitated by public policies and monies and arcane schemes atrium. that helps them in their struggle to get back to “”normal”” life, fully homeland, but realizing it may be the only way to secure a future that drain vast quantities of wealth away from civilizations into private knowing nothing will ever really be normal again.Proving himself a for Fadi, her teenage son, Muna decides to quit her job at the hands. In settings ranging from India to Austria, from Burkina Faso to cinematic craftsman, director Oren Moverman deliberately hasn’t bank and visit her relatives in Illinois to see about a new life in a Washington, D.C., the legacies of decades of relaxed credit, deregula- made a political film. The Messenger isn’t even about the military land that gives newcomers a run for their money.Dabis weaves an tion of markets, and privatization of public facilities are illustrated by workshops and discussions. at its core; it’s about people choosing to live life and finding the abundance of humor and levity into this tale of struggle, displace- concrete examples so bizarre, outsized, and chilling that you’d expect light and humor at the end of the tunnel. Harrelson and Foster ment, and nostalgia and draws an absorbing and irresistibly to find them in a science-fiction movie rather than a documentary. The infuse these complex characters with the necessary pathos to charming performance from actress Nisreen Faour as Muna, who testimonies of economic theorists, proponents of offshore tax havens, raise their story to a new level of compassion. Foster adds yet stands at the heart of this tale. Amreeka glows with the truth and and even one “”economic hit man”” combine to create a portrait of high another layer when Will faces an ethical dilemma because he is magic of everyday life and signals the arrival of an exciting, new stakes and shortsightedness, with war, mass migration, and ecological drawn to one of the young widows, played by Samantha Morton. directorial talent. disaster as only a few of the downsides.Viewed in such volatile econom- She rounds out this powerhouse cast in a moving and elegant ic times as these, this prescient, shocking, and expertly crafted primer film that is an elegy of our time. will spark many urgent debates. The VCUQatar Annual Film Nights are a venue for featuring talented emerging film The VCUQatar Annual Film Nights are Unless otherwise specified, all events are held on the VCUQatar campus in main Unless otherwise specified, all events are makers in the middle east as well as a showcase for important cinematic works from makers in the middle east as well a showcase for important cinematic works from around the world. These evening events feature short and feature length films, lectures, length films, lectures, short and feature the world. These evening events feature around Bio Bio Bio Born and raised in Israel, Oren Cherien Dabis is a 2004 Erwin Wagenhofer was born Moverman now lives and works in graduate of Columbia Uni- in Amstetten, Austria, and New York. He has had an extensive versity’s MFA film program. studied at the Vienna Institute of career as a screenwriter. He cowrote Her short film, Make A Wish, Technology. He has worked as Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan biopic, screened at the 2007 Sundance an assistant director, assistant I’m Not There, and collaborated with Film Festival, the Berlinale, and cameraman, writer, and director Ira Sachs on the films Married Life the Clermont-Ferrand Short and has lectured at the Univer- and the upcoming The Goodbye Film Festival, where it picked up sity of Applied Arts in Vienna. People. He also wrote the screen- the press prize and an honor- His body of work includes plays for two other upcoming films: able mention from the jury. The documentaries and features Phillip Kaufman’s Interrupted about film also won major awards for broadcasting corporations, legendary director Nicholas Ray, and in Dubai, Rotterdam, Cairo, commercials, and short films. Steve Buscemi’s William Burroughs’ and Aspen. An alumnus of the Queer. Moverman first appeared at Sundance Middle East Screen- the Sundance Film Festival with the writers Lab, the FIND Directors Erwin Wagenhofer Wagenhofer Erwin Oren Moverman Oren Moverman screenplay for Face, which played Cherien Dabis Lab, and Tribeca All Access, at the 2002 Festival. He both wrote Dabis is the recipient of grants and served as associate producer from the Jerome Foundation for Jesus’ Son. The Messenger is and National Geographic. his first film as a director. VCU Qatar Presents Burma VJ Director(s): Anders Ostergaard Screenwriter(s): Anders Ostergaard, Jan Krogsgaard Coproducers: Fredrik Gertten, Torstein Nyboe, Helle Ulsteen Cinematographer: Simon Plum Editors: Janus Billeskov Jansen, Thomas Papapetros Composer: Conny C-A Malmqvist Sound design: 20 Martin Hennel Executive Producer/Producer: Lise Lense-Møller Nights 10 US Short Films U.S.A., 2008, 23 mins., color First Thursday. April 1 2010. 7pm Please remove admin ticket and present at front desk at front admin ticket and present Please remove 12345678910 Armed with pocket-sized video cameras, a tenacious band of Burmese reporters face down death to expose the repressive regime controlling their Admin 123 country. In 2007, after decades of self-imposed silence, Burma became headline news across the globe when peaceful Buddhist monks led a mas- sive rebellion. More than 100,000 people took to the streets protesting a Film cruel dictatorship that has held the country hostage for more than 40 years. Foreign news crews were banned, the Internet was shut down, and Burma was closed to the outside world. So how did we witness these events? Enter the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), aka the Burma VJs. Compiled from the shaky handheld footage of the DVB, acclaimed filmmaker Anders Ostergaard’s Burma VJ pulls us into the heat of the moment as the VJs themselves become the target of the Burmese government. Their tactical 12345678910 leader, code-named Joshua, oversees operations from a safe hiding place in Thailand. Via clandestine phone calls, Joshua dispenses his posse of video warriors, who covertly film the abuses in their country, then smuggle their footage across the border into Thailand. Joshua ships the footage to Norway, To:......................................................... Address:................................................ .............................................................. .............................................................. where it is broadcast back to Burma and the world via satellite. Burma VJ plays like a thriller, all the more scary because it is true. For more information visit our website: www.qatar.vcu.edu/film For more Recipient of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award. Bio Anders Østergaard was born in 1965 in Copenhagen and gradu- ated from the Danish School of Journalism in 1991. After five years in advertising and public relations, he wrote and directed his first documentary, Johannes- burg Revisited. An international 20 breakthrough followed in 2004 with Tintin and Me, and in 2006 he launched Gasolin’—the best- selling documentary in the history of Danish cinema. Both Tintin and Me and Gasolin’ won the Bodil Award for the best documentary 11 Anders Ostergaard film of their year..