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Manuale d’amore (Manual of Love) |
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Friday (Opening Night)
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 Rated: M / Italy 2005 / directed by Giovanni Veronesi / 116 mins
Various aspects of love, Italian style, are exposed in this film through the experiences of four couples: obsessive love, love at crisis point, betrayal, disappointment, but also recovery. It is a humorous, bittersweet look at the human heart and has been nominated for eleven Italian Oscars. |
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Friday (Opening Night)
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 Rated: MA / France 2005 / directed by Michael Haneke / 117 mins
Michael Haneke's latest film is an award-winning thriller starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche, a married couple who are terrorised by the videotapes they find on their front porch. It will satisfy audiences on many levels and keep them in suspense until the end. Highly recommended. |
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Saturday
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 Rated: M / Senegal 2004 / directed by Ousmane Sembene / 120 min
The 82 year old, highly-esteemed Senegalese film-maker treats the contentious topic of female circumcision in his latest film. You will be drawn into the powerful emotions and issues involved when a courageous woman opposes convention by refusing to have her daughter circumcised. |
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Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... and Spring) |
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Saturday
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 Rated: MA / Korea 2003 / directed by Ki-duk Kim / 103 mins
This visually spectacular film is a beautiful portrayal of the teachings of Buddhism. An old monk imparts his wisdom to a young male over many years until he finally attains maturity. It is an unforgettable journey. |
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Saturday
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 Rated: M / India 2005 / directed by Siddharth Anand / 158 mins
Amber from Bangalore has moved to Melbourne to study medicine or does she just try to avoid meeting a seemingly endless line of possible marriage partners her parents come up with? Nick’s move to Melbourne gives him the freedom to become a chef rather than being trapped in his studies of architecture back home in India. The two meet, fall in love, move in together and then realise that the old India and the new Australia make for an interesting and sometimes explosive mix. This Bollywood movie was mainly shot in Melbourne. It is superbly acted and often hilarious. |
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Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows) |
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Saturday
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 Rated: M / Japan 2004 / directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda / 141 mins
This highly acclaimed and moving film tells the story of four siblings living happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo unbeknown to their landlord who does not allow children. The children’s lives change when their mother abandons them, leaving just a note and some money. Nobody knows about their peril as they try to survive in a society with which they had no prior contact, a society which ultimately fails them. |
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Saturday
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 Rated: MA15+ / Denmark 2004 / directed by Susanne Bier / 117 mins
Two brothers, Jannik, released prisoner, alcoholic and the black sheep of the family, and Michael, soldier and family man, assumed dead while on duty in Afghanistan, form the basis for this acclaimed film from Denmark. Love, sexual tension, redemption and unexpected maturity make for a gripping tale, wonderfully acted and directed. |
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Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) |
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Saturday
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 Rated: MA / Russia 2004 / directed by Timur Bekmambetov / 114 mins
This film has to be seen at night! Oscillating between science fiction and the reality of modern Moscow, a battle takes place between the "Others" with supernatural powers and the normal humans. A "Night Watch", among them Anton, the movie's protagonist, try to control the dark forces within the "Others". |
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Die weiße Masai (The White Masai) |
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Sunday
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 Rated: M / Germany 2005 / directed by Hermine Huntgeburth / 128 mins
This film is a visually stunning and captivating romance of a Swiss woman falling in love and marrying a Masai warrior. Will they find a way to find a common ground despite their cultural differences? The film is based on the bestselling autobiographical novel by Corinne Hofmann. |
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Va, vis et deviens (Live and Become) |
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Sunday
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 Rated: M / Israel/France 2005 / directed by Radu Mihaileanu / 149 mins
In 1984 the Israeli secret service is airlifting thousands of Ethiopian Jews discplaced by civil war and famine to Israel. A non Jewish-Ethiopian boy is rescued during Operation Moses and sent to Israel under an assumed Jewish identity and adoped by a loving Israeli family. Will the promised land hold its promise? |
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Ada apa dengan Cinta? (What’s up with Love?) |
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Sunday
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 Rated: PG / Indonesia 2002 / directed by Rudy Soedjarw / 112 mins
This popular Indonesian "chick flick" with an upbeat soundtrack by Melly Goeslaw centres around Cinta (Dian Sastrowardoyo; her character's name means "love") and her four friends. Cinta develops a love-hate relationship with the brooding Rangga (Nicholas Saputra), whose father is a persecuted political dissident. While Cinta is distracted by Rangga, her friend Alia is trying to deal with domestic violence. This film does deal with some serious issues, but does so in a popular way - the focus is on Cinta and Rangga's romance. Light-hearted humour and popular music are counterweights to the heavier themes and make the film both enjoyable and easy to watch. |
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Hong gao liang (Red Sorghum) |
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Sunday
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 Rated: M / China 1987 / directed by Yimou Zhang / 92 mins
Set in the northern province of Shandong during the 1920s and early 30s, a young bride, on her way to a prearranged future with the leprous owner of a wine distillery, avoids rape and then abduction, is seduced, takes over her mysteriously dead husband's business, is captured, then ransomed and ultimately perishes during the Manchurian invasion by the Japanese. |
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Bombón El Perro (The Dog) |
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Sunday
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 Rated: M / Argentina/Spain 2005 / directed by Carlos Sorin / 97 mins
52-year old Juan Villegas, a mechanic in Patagonia, is down on his luck, until he is presented with an unusual gift – a pedigree dog called Bombón. A moving, warm-hearted drama about the richness of humanity showing itself in the roughest places. |
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2006 Festival Programme 
