Poland 2007 / directed by Andrzej Wajda / 116 mins / rated MA15+

Katyn describes the tragedy of a generation. The film follows the story of four Polish families whose lives are torn apart when, at the outset of WWII, a great number of Polish soldiers (who are also fathers, husbands and brothers) fall into the hands of Soviet troops and later brutally become victims of Stalinism. The film also underlines the complicated circumstances of Poland's position both in the war and after.

Italy 2008 / directed by Matteo Garrone / 115 mins / rated MA15+

I"Gomorrah" is a contemporary Neapolitan mob drama that exposes Italy's criminal underbelly by telling five stories of individuals who think they can make their own compact with Camorra, the area's Mafia. The movie opens with the shootings of some gangsters whilst relaxing in a tanning salon. The movie then intertwines five separate stories of Italians whose lives are touched by organized crime.

France 2008 / directed by Jean-Piere Dardenne and Luc Dardenne/ 105 mins / rated MA15+

In order to become the owner of a snack bar with her boyfriend, Lorna, a young Albanian woman living in Belgium, becomes an accomplice to a diabolical plan devised by mobster Fabio. Fabio has orchestrated a sham marriage between her and Claudy. The marriage allows her to obtain Belgian citizenship and then marry a Russian Mafioso willing to pay a lot of money to acquire the same quickly. However, for this second marriage to be possible, Fabio has planned to kill Claudy. Will Lorna keep silent?

France 2008 / directed by Dany Boon/ 106 mins / rated PG

Although living a comfortable life in Salon-de-Provence, a charming town in the South of France, Julie has been feeling depressed for a while. To please her, Philippe Abrams, a post office administrator, her husband, tries to obtain a transfer to a seaside town, on the French Riviera, at any cost. The trouble is that he is caught red-handed while trying to scam an inspector. Philippe is immediately banished to the distant unheard of town of Bergues, in the Far North of France. Leaving his child and wife behind, the crucified man leaves for his frightening destination, a dreadfully cold place inhabited by hard-drinking, unemployed rednecks, speaking an incomprehensible dialect called Ch'ti. Philippe soon realizes that all these ideas were nothing but prejudices and that Bergues is not synonymous with hell

Finland 2008 / directed by Petri Kotwica / 110 mins / rated MA

Saara is a middle-aged doctor who one day finds out that his architect-husband Leo is having an affair with a younger woman, Tuuli. Instead of revealing her true identity, Saara pretends to be someone else end makes friends with Tuuli. At the same time she is planning the best way to revenge his husband and her lover.

France 2008 / directed by Philiippe Claudel / 117 mins / rated M

This powerful story of familial struggles and redemption follows a shell-shocked Juliette (Scott-Thomas), who returns to live with he young sister Lea (Zylberstein) after being banished from the family for 15 years. An enormous critical and box office success in France, Scott-Thomas' phenomenal performance has highly praised by critics.

A fundraiser for the 6th Armidale International Film Festival.

THURSDAY, 30th April 2009, 7.00 pm - SOLD OUT

Iran 2007 / directed by Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi / 96 mins / rated M

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs.