MLLC Film Series

Friday 1 October 2010, 19:30, AS 202: City of God (2004) by Fernando Meirelles

Taking place over the course of over two decades, City of God tells the story of Cidade de Deus (Portuguese for City of God), a lower class quarter west of Rio de Janeiro. The film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket (Busca pé in Portuguese) who grows up there as a fishmonger's son, and demonstrates the desperation and violence inherent in the slums. Based on a real story, the movie depicts drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy's struggle to free himself from the slums' grasp. [www.imdb.com]

Friday 5 November 2010, 19:30, AS 204: Gomorrah (2008) by Matteo Garrone

Based on the best-selling, controversial novel by Roberto Saviano, Gomorrah exposes the depths and connections of organized crime in the provinces outside Naples. By focusing on five interconnected stories, this compelling and disturbing film shows how everyone is affected by the ideals of power, money and blood. Gomorrah won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best European Film Award in 2008.

Monday 17 January 2011, 19:30, AS 204: The Counterfeiters (2007) by Stefan Ruzowitzky

The film fictionalizes “Operation Berhard”, a secret plan by the Nazis to destabilize Great Britain by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England notes. The film centres on a Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch, who is coerced into assisting the Nazi operation at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The film is based on a memoir written by Adolf Burger a Jewish Slovak typographer who was imprisoned in 1942 for forging baptismal certificates to save Jews from deportation, and later interned at Sachsenhausen to work on “Operation Berhard”. The film won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the Academy Awards in 2008.

Monday 7 February 2011, 19:30, AS 204: L'Esquive (2004) by Abdellatif Kechiche

 In the outskirts housing projects of Paris, Krimo attempts to get closer to Lydia, the lead actress in their high-school theatre team. As the rehearsals of Marivaux’s 18^th century play The Game of Love and Chance move forward, the group of North African teenagers find themselves similarly entangled in conflicted emotions, issues of social identity and class divisions. French slang and rap music are at the core of this powerful comedy in which love and chance face a reality check. L’Esquive won four French Academy Awards in 2005 (Best Movie, Best Film Maker, Best Scenario, and Best Actress).

ALL STUDENTS AND FACULTY ARE WELCOME!