ICFFCY 2006

The Programme of Screenings & Workshops

The Films and their synopsis

 

FANTASIA (Opening ceremony)

1940, (30 minutes extract), USA, Animation

Director: Walt Disney

Cast: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Julietta Novis, Corey Burton, Walt Disney

Disney animators set pictures to classical music as Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who oversteps his limits. "The Rite of Spring" tells the story of evolution, from single-celled animals to the death of the dinosaurs. "Dance of the Hours" is a comic ballet performed by ostriches, hippos, elephants and alligators. "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria" set the forces of darkness and light against each other as a devilish revel is interrupted by the coming of a new day.

“Groundbreaking on several counts, not the least of which was an innovative use of animation and stereophonic sound, this ambitious Disney feature has lost nothing to time since its release in 1940.”

KIRIKOU AND THE WILD BEASTS (KIRIKOU ET LES BETES SAUVAGES)

(Closing ceremony)

2005, 75 minutes, France/Belgium, Animation

Director: Michel Ocelot and Benedicte Gallup

Cast (voices): Pierre-Ndoffé Sarr, Awa Sene Sarr, Robert Liensol

The grandfather, reigning in his blue grotto, explains: “The story of “Kirikou and the Sorceress” was too short. We didn’t have time to recount everything that Kirikou managed to accomplish. And he really did accomplish some terrific things that we mustn’t forget. Listen, I’ll tell you…” And he tells us how inventive Kirikou became a gardener, detective, potter, merchant, traveler, and doctor, always the smallest but bravest hero.

“It appears that Kirikou and the Wild Beasts is not a sequel of Kirikou and the Sorceress per se, but more of a parallel story, one that happens sometime during the timeline of the first film. It is a brilliant film just like his director who mines the same sort of ecological conscious, morally complex stories as does the Japanese Master, Miyazaki.”

THE CIRCUS

1928, 210 minutes, USA

Director: Charlie Chaplin

Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy

Charlie's Tramp character finds himself at a circus where he is promptly gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the bigtop, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The ringmaster/owner immediately hires him, but discovers the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor just happens to always in the Bigtop at showtime. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls for the owner's lovely acrobatic daughter, who is abused by her father. His chances seem good, until a dashing rival comes in and Charlies feels he has to compete with him.

“ Although The Circus is marred by the rather hackneyed and (even in 1928) stale melodramatic device of the cruel father and imploring daughter, it scores high on its slapstick content, with routines involving a hall of mirrors and a mishap with a magician's equipment demonstrating Chaplin's dazzling ability to choreograph apparently improvised mayhem.”

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (MAJO NO TAKKYUBIN)

1989, 105 minutes, Japan (Animation)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Cast (voices): Kirsten Dunst, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service. Kiki is thirteen and on her own. Once a witch turns thirteen, it is time for her to go out and find a city to settle in for a year to complete her witches study. It is this time for her and we get to go along as she attempts to survive in the world on her own.

“Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the picture-postcard seaside town of red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets only add to the sense of wonder. This charming animated fantasy is a wholesome, life-affirming picture that doesn't speak down to kids or up to adults.”

FLY AWAY HOME

1996, 107 minutes, USA

Director: Carroll Ballard

Cast: Jeff Daniels, Anna Paquin, Dana Delany

Father and daughter decide to attempt to lead a flock of orphaned Canada Geese south by air. Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed in an auto wreck in New Zealand. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor whom she barely knows. Amy is miserable in her new life...that is until she discovers a nest of goose eggs that were abandoned when developers began tearing up a local forest. The eggs hatch and Amy becomes "Mama Goose". The young birds must fly south for the winter, but who will lead them there? With a pair of ultralight airplanes, Amy, her dad and their friends must find a way to do it...

“Sensitively directed and stunningly photographed, the movie has flying sequences that are nothing short of astonishing, and Daniels and Paquin (Oscar winner for The Piano) make a delightful father-daughter duo.”

CINEMA PARADISO

1989, 170 minutes, France

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Cast: Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale, Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio,

Jacques Perrin

Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film about a little boy's love affair with the movies deservedly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Philippe Noiret plays a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck. This isn't just one of those films for people who are already in love with the cinema. But if you are one of those folks, the emotional resonance between the action in Tornatore's world and the images on Noiret's screen will seem all the greater--and the finale all the more powerful.

GOSHU THE CELLIST (SERO HIKI NO GOSHU)

1981, 63 minutes, Japan

Director: Isao Takahata

Cast (voices): Hideki Sasaki, Fuyumi Shiraishi, Masashi Amenomori

Goshu, adapted from the poem by Kenji Miyazawa, is a small-town musician with a passion for playing the cello, and is a dedicated member of the local orchestra. With an important performance in a matter of weeks, the group practices daily to hone their skills. But lately, Goshu's musical ability has been lacking, and to get it back, he must accept help from the unlikeliest of kin -- the furry and feathered friends who dwell on his land…

“What a moving, entrancing movie is Goshu the Cellist. It is another sterling example of the very best Japanese animation has to offer. At its core, this movie is a love letter to classical music and pre-war rural Japan, but is so much more!”

THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL (INGEL NUMSIL)

2003, 87 minutes, Mongolia

Director: Byambasuren Davaa &Luigi Falorni

Cast: Janchiv Ayurzana, Chimed Ohin, Amgaabazar Gonson, Zeveljamz Nyam, Ikhbayar Amgaabazar, Odgerel Ayusch

Springtime in the Gobi Desert, South Mongolia. A family of nomadic shepherds assists the births of their camel herd. One of the camels has an excruciatingly difficult delivery but, with help from the family, out comes a rare white colt. Despite the efforts of the shepherds, the mother rejects the newborn, refusing it her milk and her motherly love. When any hope for the little one seems to have vanished, the nomads send their two young boys on a journey through the desert, to a backwater town in search of a musician who is their only hope for saving the colt's life.

“An enchanting tale about a family of herders in Mongolia's Gobi desert who face a crisis when a mother camel unexpectedly rejects her newborn calf. Uniquely composed of equal parts reality, drama and magic, the movie provides a window into a different way of life and the universal terrain of the heart.”

THE EMERALD FOREST

1985, 110 minutes, USA-Great Britain

Director: John Boorman

Cast: Powers Booth, Meg Foster, Charley Boorman

Based on a true story, Powers Boothe plays an American dam engineer in Brazil. Boothe's son is kidnapped by a rain forest tribe, and raised as one of their own. Boothe continues to look for him and after many trials and adventures, stumbles upon him.

“John Boorman's 1985 South American epic never quite gets all of its gears working simultaneously, but it remains an often startling work with an extraordinary performance by the director's own son, Charley Boorman. Powers Boothe plays an American engineer working on a dam project in Brazil. When his young son is seemingly absorbed one day into the dense perils and beauty of the Amazon rain forest, Boothe's character goes on a protracted, 10-year search for him. In the interim, Boorman puts his full storytelling powers to work by characteristically exploring the arcane rhythms and dangers of an indigenous world hidden from ordinary view.”

LOULOU

2003, 28 minutes, French

Director: Serge Elissalde

Cast (voices): Lorant Deutsch

For the creator of Loulou, the book on which the film is based, it is a story where reason is stronger than instinct. Go beyond old traditional beliefs, get over your own violence, channel it to reach higher perspective, and perhaps learn to live with yourself too. But mainly learn how to live within the other’s society. To fit in, reach harmony. It is exactly what is experiencing our young wolf along this powerful fable.

“If Grégoire Solotareff's humorous stamp is still very present, this program is also a discovery of modern animation. The graphical design, of an amazing creativity, accompanies very original short stories.”

SUMMER-WINTER FABLES (FABLES D’ETE-FABLES D’HIVER)

The Elephant and the snail (De Olifant en de Slak)

2002, 6.30 minutes, Holland (Animation)

Director: Christa Moesker

Cast (voices): Serge Fallu

An elephant and a snail meet in a forest. When it starts raining, the snail offers his home to the elephant who accepts this kind hospitality with joy. But is it reasonable?

Based on the story ‘Slowly, as fast as they could’ by Toon Tellegen.

Fellows (Bonhommes)

2003, 8.30 minutes, France/Belgium (Animation)

Director: Cécilia Marreiros Marum

One day, a 5 year old little boy decides to create his new playmate, a snowman. He puts all his energy and all his hope but “Fellow” does not seem to be ready to bear the ups and downs of life…

The Acrobats (Les voltigeurs)

2003, 5.50 minutes, Switzerland

Director: Isabelle Favez

A couple of birds are happily married. Only one problem, the stork does not bring any eggs in their love nest. A candidate for adoption suddenly appears.

Evening Screenings:

AMONG THE THORNS (BLAND TISTLAR)

2005, 46 minutes, Sweden

Director: Uzi et Lotta Geffenblad

Franz goes with his father to a music summer camp. He would like to play an instrument but he is still too small. However it is he who, to save the concert, will help the solist, victim of the other children’s spite. In music, the stories will develop around this trio, going from laughter to tears.

THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT (LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT)

1966, 125 minutes, France

Director: Jacques Demy

Music: Michel Legrand

Cast: Francoise Dorleac, Catherine Deneuve, George Chakiris, Gene Kelly, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrin

Delphine and Solange are two sisters living in Rochefort. Delphine is a dancing teacher and Solange composes and teaches the piano. Maxence is a poet and a painter. He is doing his military service. Simon owns a music shop, he left Paris once month ago to come back where he fell in love 10 years ago. They are looking for love, looking for each other, without being aware that their ideal partner is very close... A film whose scenario is much less important than its feeling of euphory, according to the director Jacques Demy.

“There is a sunny, daffy spirit to this movie that becomes positively infectious. It deserves to be better known.”

THE WAY HOME (JIBURO)

2002, 80 minutes, South Korea

Director: Jeong-hyang Lee

Cast: Eul-boon Kim, Seung-ho Yu, Hyo-hee Dong, Kyung-hyun Min,

Eun-kyung Yim

This touching, funny and beautiful South Korean film is directed by Jeong-hyang Lee. The story is about a mischievous seven year old boy, Sang-Woo (Seung-ho Yu), who is forced to spend several months with his mute and deaf grandmother (Eul-boon Kim) while his single mother (Hyo-hee Dong) searches for a stable job. Although the boy has trouble adjusting to his grandmother's way of life, they eventually bond later on. The young boy in the lead role is very good and has an amazingly expressive face. Even though the grandma never speaks, her acting is equally good, as she expresses herself well with her face and hands.

“The screenplay is sensitively written, with never a dull moment. As well as the main storyline, there is a sweet subplot of Sang-Woo having a crush on a young girl. Editing is smooth and crisp and the cinematography of the Korean countryside is breathtaking.”

KING KONG

1933, 104 minutes, USA

Directors:Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

Cast,Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy

A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal giant gorilla who takes a shine to their female blonde star. An expedition exploring a remote island capture a gigantic ape and bring him back to New York for exhibition. A beautiful actress who accompanies them is menaced when the monster's love for her causes him to break out.

“Seeking a backer for his movie, Merian C. Cooper approached a top Hollywood mogul. "You know what a 50-foot gorilla would see in a five-foot girl?" the mogul asked. "His breakfast!" The studio chief wasn't buying but the public was. King Kong saved RKO from bankruptcy and became an all-time classic, ranking 43rd on the American Film Institute's list of Top-100 American Movies.”

THE MAGIC FLUTE (Trollflöjten)

1975, 135 minutes, Sweden

Director: Ingmar Bergmann

Cast: Birgit Nordin, Irma Urrila, Josef Köstlinger, Ulrik Cold, Håkan Hagegård

We only see Bergman, we only hear Mozart!

The Queen of the Night (Birgit Nordin) offers his daughter Pamina (Irma Urrila) to Tamino (Josef Köstlinger), but he has to bring her back from her father and priest Sarastro (Ulrik Cold). She gives a magic flute to Tamino and magic bells to the bird hunter Papageno (Håkan Hagegård), who follows Tamino and wants to find a wife. The duo travels in a journey of love and knowledge.

“Ingmar Bergman's vision of The Magic Flute (sung here in Swedish) remains one of the indisputable classics in the opera-as-film catalog, its charm and enchantment undiminished since the film's initial release in the 1970s.”

THE BOY CALLED TWIST

2004, 115 minutes, South Africa

Director: Tim Greene

Cast: Peter Butler, Bill Curr, Goliath Davids, Kim Engelbrecht, Lesley Fong

Boy Called Twist is the harrowing tale of a South African street-kid's search for love, based on Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist. Growing up neglected in a rural orphanage, Twist escapes to the unpredictable freedom of Cape Town, where he falls in with Fagin's gang of street urchins. With a gritty honesty steeped in its vibrant characters, Boy called Twist superbly captures the contemporary equivalents of Dickens' seedy individuals as it shadows the timeless tale in its own inimitable style.

“So many street children are really faced with such an existence. What is good about the movie is that despite the poverty and bleakness, there is sense of hope.”

SCARAMOUCHE

1952, 111 minutes, USA

Director: George Sydney

Cast: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer

Andre-Louis Moreau is a nobleman's bastard in the days of the French revolution. Noel, the Marquis de Mayne, a nobleman in love with the Queen, is ordered to seek the hand of a young ingenue, Aline, in marriage. Andre also meets Aline, and forms an interest in her. But when the marquis kills his best friend Andre declares himself the Marquis's enemy and vows to avenge his friend. He hides out, a wanted man, as an actor in a commedia troupe, and spends his days learning how to handle a sword. When de Maynes becomes a spadassinicide, challenging opposing National Assembly members to duels they have no hope of winning, Andre becomes a politician to protect the third estate (and hopefully ventilate de Maynes).

“George Sidney directs as if making an MGM musical, only with swashbuckling instead of song-and-dance. The unlikely casting of Granger and Mel Ferrer as overripe nemeses proves delightful. Cameraman Charles (Sunrise) Rosher's Technicolor palette alternates commedia dell'arte garishness and misty, Watteau-like imagery, and the climactic six-and-a-half-minute duel all over a Parisian theater is a tour de force.”

UNNA AND NUUK (UNNA JA NUUK)

2006, 83 minutes, Finland

Director: Saara Cantel

Cast: Rosa Salomaa, Toni Leppe, Esko Salminen, Meri Nenonen,

Jenni Banerjee, Tommi Korpela

One day 11-year-old Unna feels a stab of pain in her chest – she senses that her beloved Granddad is in danger. Unna calls her grandfather, who has had a case of illness, and saves his life. At the hospital Unna´s grandfather reveals that Unna has shaman blood in her veins and that the gift to heal has been passed on to her. Granddad tells Unna where to find the shaman´s book and magic drum. When beaten three times, the drum will move its owner to another time and place, and so begins Unna´s adventure in the Finnish Stone Age.

CINEMA PARADISO

1989, 170 minutes, France

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Cast: Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale, Philippe Noiret,

Salvatore Cascio, Jacques Perrin

Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film about a little boy's love affair with the movies deservedly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Philippe Noiret plays a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck. This isn't just one of those films for people who are already in love with the cinema. But if you are one of those folks, the emotional resonance between the action in Tornatore's world and the images on Noiret's screen will seem all the greater--and the finale all the more powerful.