Come sweet death Komm suesser tod Austria, 107 min. Color, DVD Thriller, 2000 German w/english subtitles RATED: 16 Director: Wolfgang Murnberger

In this dark comedy, Brenner, with an appetite for liquor and drugs, is trying to make it as an ambulance driver after burning his bridges as a detective. When a nurse is brutally murdered, however, he decides to use his experience as a detective and the help of his friends to track down the killer.
 

Community (The) La comunidad Spain, 110 min. Color, DVD Comedy/Thriller/Crime, 2000 Language: Spanish w/english subtitles Director: Alex de la Iglesia

Julia, a 40-ish real estate agent, finds 300 million pesetas hidden in a recently-dead tenant’s apartment. She decides to keep it, but little does she realize that the other residents have plans of their own. A hilariously dark tale of murderous greed ensues as the neighbors try to reclaim the fortune.
 

Con game (The) Doble juego Peru/Argentina/Cuba, 90 min. Color Comedy/Drama, 2004 Language: Spanish w/english subtitles Director: Alberto Durant

Aberto “Chicho” Durant, tackles the corruption rampant in Peruvian society since the collapse of President Fujimori’s criminal government. He introduces seven unscrupulous characters from different classes, each dreaming of getting ahead in Lima’s stifled economy: a divorced broker, a “kept” woman, an aspiring director, a taxi driver, a hotel clerk, a maid and a security guard whose paths cross when a master swindler lures them into his grand scheme. It is interesting to see their eagerness as they are led by the con man’s empty promises and the high they derive from basking in the glow of his plentiful and multiplying lies. The con game turns into a two-way street, requiring willing gullibility on one side and wily audacity on the other. As the illusionist seduces with his sleazy charm, each character begins to deceive and manipulate as well. They become both victims and accomplices in the amazing game.

Spirited, ironic and packed with superb performances by an ensemble of Peru’s most celebrated actors, THE CON GAME concocts a deliciously slippery allegory for a world where cheating and stealing are often rewarded.
 

Guiana 1838 USA/Guyana, 2hr. 10min. Color Historic Docu-Drama, 2004 Language: English RATED: Not rated Director: Rohit Jagessar

The abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean in 1834 prompts Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Company in Calcutta, a part of the East India Company, to recruit Coolies from India to fill the resulting labor void. The company hires Sinha, a fierce small-timer to sell dreams of El Dorado to the unsuspecting, impoverished Coolies who are signed to five-year contracts as indentured servants.

King of Bollywood (The) UK/India, Color Comedy, 2004 Language: English RATED: 12 Director: Piyush Jha

Karan Kumar (better known as KK), a star well past his heyday still believes he is the King of Bollywood. But when Crystal Chaurasia, a documentary filmmaker, arrives in Mumbai to film her favorite Bollywood actor, KK sadly realizes that he is past his prime. At the urging of his secretary, KK tries to convince his 25-year-old son Rahul to carry on his legacy. But Rahul wants absolutely nothing to do with Bollywood. At a dead end, KK decides to relaunch himself with a film he will direct and star in. A new sure-to-succeed “Super Duper Hit” is launched starring KK, Mandira, Rahul and Crystal as the never-say-die KK grandly poses for a “Happy Family Picture.”
 

Kisna: The warrior poet IIndia, 170 min. Color, 2004 Language: English & Hindi w/english subtitles RATED: PG Director: Subhash Ghai

Set in 1947, Kisna is the extraordinary story of a warrior poet. During this tumultuous period in India’s history when nationalists fighting for the country's independence rose up against the British, Kisna, a, young Indian, befriends and then shields a British girl, Katherine from an enraged mob of nationalists (including Kisna's own uncle and brother). Kisna takes it upon himself to escort Katherine, the young daughter of a ruthless British collector, to the safety of the British High Commission in New Delhi. A tender attraction develops between the two during the journey, a love story that is torn between “Karma” (the noble deed) and “Dharma” (duty). Laxmi, Kisna’s Indian fiancé, forms the third point in an emotional triangle involving the Indo-British couple.
 

Olive Harvest (The) Palestina/Israel, 89 min. Color Drama, 2003 Language: Arabic w/english subtitles Director: Hanna Elias

Upon his release from an Israeli prison, older brother Mazen develops romantic feelings for his childhood friend, Raeda. Raeda, however, is already engaged to Mazen's younger brother, Taher, their love kept a secret because of the tradition for the eldest brother to wed first. The two brothers become estranged soon after reuniting as they struggle to win over Raeda's heart. Mazen, with his romantic poetry and simple love for the olive groves that provide his community and family with their livelihood, shares in Raeda's dreams to remain in the village and harvest the olives.

Taher, on the other hand, prefers to live in the city and ambitiously seeks to contain the growing Jewish settlement of the territories as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Although his love for Raeda is strong, Taher's devotion to this cause leads him to neglect his commitment to her. Unsure of her true feelings, the beautiful Raeda is forced into making a decision by the feuding brothers and her authoritative father. Each of the three central characters finds themselves painfully torn between love and loyalty to family, to those that they love, and to the land to which they are connected.
 

Our Country Swades India, 210 min. Color Drama, 2004 Language: Hindi w/english subtitles RATED: G Director: Ashutosh Gowariker

Set in modern day India, OUR COUNTRY tackles the issues being faced by its citizenry as the country grapples with the problems brought on by development. The India of OUR COUNTRY is colorful, heterogeneous and complex, with people of diverse cultures and attitudes. It is to this environment that Mohan Bhargava, a bright young scientist with NASA, returns in search of his childhood nanny. While attempting to persuade Kaveriamma to return to America with him, he gets drawn into the life of the village and finds himself searching for answers to the questions of progress and development that the village is facing. His curiosity is also piqued by Gita, an admirable young woman teaching in the village primary school, who chooses to live there despite problems like casteism, prejudice and a lack of basic amenities.

The film shows the contrasts between highly developed world of NASA, which has been at the forefront of advances in space research, and the world back home in India, which is at the crossroads of development. What was a simple mission, prompted by nostalgia and affection, turns into a journey into the heartland of rural India and a quest, both literally and metaphorically for that metaphysical and elusive place called “home.”
 

Red passport Pasaporte rojo Dominican Republic, 103 min. Color, DVD Action, 2003 Language: English/Spanish w/english subtitles Director: Albert Xavier

The film tells the story of Fabio Reyes, a former counterfeiter who after serving 10 years of a 25-year sentence wants nothing more than to live in peace and rekindle a relationship with his long-lost daughter. But fate has other plans as Fabio embarks on a roller-coaster ride of deception, lies, suspense and murder.
 

Rolling family Familia rodante Argentina/Brazil/UK/France/Germany/Spain, 103 min. Color Comedy, 2004 Language: Spanish w/english subtitles RATED: 15 Director: Pablo Trapero

The family gathers to honor Grandma on her 84th birthday unaware of the bombshell she has in store: she’s been invited to be the matron of honor at her niece’s wedding in a remote village--over a thousand kilometers away!--and expects them all to go with her. Unable to resist the heavy dose of emotional blackmail she lays on them, thirteen members of the same family cram into the back of a twenty-year-old camper van and set off. In this confined space, as the days pass and the van hobbles its way towards its destination, emotions start riding high and old grudges and jealousies resurface, along with well-kept secrets and sexual tensions, new and old. Excruciating and hilarious in equal measure in its raw depiction of family politics, director Pablo Trapero’s own grandmother, a non-professional actress, plays the family matriarch lending the film reality, charm and sympathy.
 

Story of an african farm (The) South Africa, 97 min. Color Drama, 2004 Language: English Director: David Lister

Life in 1870s South Africa is normal at the farm on the slopes of a Karoo Kopje: fat Tant Sannie looks after her charges, sweet Em and independent Lyndall, with a firm Biblical hand--Em’s father’s dying wish; gentle Otto, manages the farm and cares for his son, Waldo, his son; bright Waldo is busy designing a sheep-shearing machine that he hopes will make them all rich. Things change, however, when the sinister and eccentric Bonaparte Blenkins arrives. Believing that Tant Sannie is wealthy--after all she owns a farm—he commences a whirlwind courtship with the narrow-minded but simple woman. Enamored, she doesn’t notice his cruelty to the children and his destruction of Otto. However, Lyndall suggests a trap for Bonaparte. Believing that the visiting Trana is even wealthier than Tant Sannie, Bonaparte plans her seduction unaware that Tant Sannie is within earshot. He’s exposed as a fraud and is forced to make an undignified exit from the farm hotly pursued by Tant Sannie, a delighted maid, Waldo’s dog and Oswald the ostrich.
 

U R 4 Given USA, Color Drama, 2004 Language: English Director: Cinque Lee

A fictional tale about Monica, a 27-year-old woman suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome as a result of being sexually abused in childhood. Her symptoms include dual personality, flashbacks and severe migraines. Lee has decided to make a documentary to show victims of this type of crime that they are not alone and to expose some of the aggressors before the camera.
 

Out of Season Fuera de Temporada Argentina 94 min., Color Drama, 2003/2004 Language: Spanish w/ English Subtitles RATED: R Director: Leonardo Maldonado

The story takes place in November at a Mar de Plata chalet where Antonio, an unscrupulous businessman, is spending a few days with Patricia, his 30-something lover, and Frederica, his 20-year-old daughter. Frederica is aware of her father’s affair with Patricia, but is unconcerned since it is Antonio’s second wife that he’s cheating on. She also knows that her father doesn’t love Patricia and eventually plans to leave her. The drama begins when Martin, a mysterious young man, arrives at the house to bury his dog in the garden. Upon finding the chalet occupied, he asks permission from the occupants. He tells them that he spent a summer there as a child when he found the dog abandoned on the beach. Patricia is moved and lets him in. A huge storm is forecast and she invites him to spend the night with them. From there the four of them begin to relate to each other in different ways: they will know each other, spy on each other, desire each other, fall in love with each other, give themselves to each other and hurt each other…all but share secrets with each other…