AMOUR

France/Germany/Austria | Dir: Michael Haneke

Related Links: Trailer

Sat. Oct 6, 6:15 pm, Vogue
Mon. Oct 8, 3:00 pm, Vogue
Fri. Oct 12, 6:45 pm, Granville 7

Michael Haneke became one of the very few directors to cop the Palme d’Or at Cannes for a second time with this brilliantly acted, profoundly affecting exploration of love, starring three of France’s greatest thespians, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert. Trintignant and Riva are a couple in their 80s forced to face an uncertain future after she has an attack… Winner, Palme d’Or, Cannes 2012.

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ANNELIE

Germany/Switzerland | Dir: Antej Farac

Related Links: Trailer | Official Website

North American Premiere

Mon. Oct 8, 9:15 pm, Vancity
Fri. Oct 12, 4:20 pm, Granville 2

The dilapidated yet incredibly cinematic Annelie Pension is the only place where dozens of miscreants and outcasts have ever found acceptance. Consequently, when it’s threatened with closure, the residents opt to go down swinging. In turns chaotic and compassionate, Antej Farac’s mesmerizing debut reminds us to beware the man who has nothing to lose.

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BARBARA

Germany | Dir: Christian Petzold

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Fri. Oct 5, 9:15 pm, Granville 3
Thu. Oct 11, 3:00 pm, Granville 3

Christian Petzold’s (Dreileben: Beats Being Dead, Yella) masterful direction and Nina Hoss’ tightly wound, wonderful performance as the titular character anchor this taut drama about a sophisticated East German doctor (Hoss) exiled to a small village in 1980, who finds her plans to escape to the West complicated by a burgeoning romance. Winner, Best Director, Berlin 2012.

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THE FLAT

(HaDira)

Israel/Germany | Dir: Arnon Goldfinger

Related Links: Trailer | Official Website

Canadian Premiere

Tue. Oct 2, 3:15 pm, Granville 1

A Nazi newspaper, found in the Tel Aviv apartment of the director [Arnon Goldfinger’s] grandmother after her death at 98… promises plenty of surprises… about Goldfinger’s grandparents and their long-standing relationship with a high-ranking SS propaganda minister… [But] it’s the helmer’s relationship with his denial-cloaked mother, Hannah, that increasingly takes centerstage. Fascinating…—Variety

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GARDEN IN THE SEA

(Jardin en el mar)

Mexico/Germany | Dir: Thomas Riedelsheimer

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Wed. Oct 3, 6:30 pm, Granville 7
Mon. Oct 8, 10:30 am, Granville 7
Fri. Oct 12, 4:00 pm, Vancity

VIFF favourite Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound) returns with another visually transfixing exploration of art and nature, this time chronicling the efforts of Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias as she installs an environmentally enhancing and aesthetically daring sculpture in the Sea of Cortez at Candelor Bay.

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HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH

(Herz des Himmels, Herz der Erde)

Germany/USA/Guatemala | Dir: Frauke Sandig, Eric Black

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

North American Premiere

Mon. Oct 1, 6:00 pm, Granville 4
Wed. Oct 3, 3:30 pm, Granville 1

The location of the world’s largest—and possibly toxic—gold-mine pit, Guatemala is also the homeland of the Maya and their decidedly holistic cosmology. Frauke Sandig and Eric Black’s kaleidoscopically beautiful documentary follows the daily and ceremonial lives of six articulate young Maya as they struggle to maintain their way of life.

Guest In Attendance

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HOME FOR THE WEEKEND

(Was Bleibt)

Germany | Dir: Hans-Christian Schmid

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Wed. Oct 10, 9:15 pm, Granville 3
Thu. Oct 11, 9:00 pm, Granville 3

The ties that bind start to loosen when the unstable mother of a bourgeois clan announces at a family gathering that she has stopped taking her medication… An acute, wonderfully acted work from Hans-Christian Schmid. "How refreshing to see a family-in-crisis drama in which the usual angst and hysteria take a back seat to quiet perceptiveness and sensitivity."—Hollywood Reporter

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HUNTER’S BRIDE

(Der Freischütz)

Switzerland | Dir: Jens Neubert

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Mon. Oct 1, 7:00 pm, Vancity
Fri. Oct 12, 12:15 pm, Granville 7

Illustrious opera soloists Juliane Banse, Michael König, Michael Volle and René Pape are united in this lavish adaptation of Carl Maria von Weber’s landmark Der Freischütz. Shooting in glorious 35mm in remarkable sets and locations, director Jens Neubert lends another dimension of uncanny beauty to this dark, deeply romantic fairy tale concerning a young soldier’s deal with the devil.

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THE IRAN JOB

USA/Germany/Iran | Dir: Till Schauder

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Canadian Premiere

Classification: PG—Coarse language; nudity

Fri. Oct 5, 12:20 pm, Granville 1
Sun. Oct 7, 8:45 pm, Granville 5
Tue. Oct 9, 11:00 am, Vancity

As a mercenary, second-tier basketball player, itinerant American Kevin Sheppard has no qualms about joining Iran’s upstart Super League. However, he also hasn’t a clue about the culture clashes and political turmoil that await. As Till Schauder’s documentary unfolds, a Bad News Bears-style sports movie gets swept up in Iran’s Green Wave. This film has been classified so that those under 18 may attend. Classification: PG—coarse language; nudity.

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KARAJAN—THE SECOND LIFE

(Karajan—das zweite Leben)

Germany | Dir: Eric Schulz

North American Premiere

Tue. Oct 2, 6:30 pm, Granville 4
Wed. Oct 3, 2:30 pm, Granville 4

Herbert von Karajan famously professed, "Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low." A swirling mélange of previously unreleased footage and private recordings, Eric Schulz’s vibrant documentary applauds the brilliant orchestra conductor’s swashbuckling private life and creative ambition, delves into his exacting creative process and questions what his legacy might ultimately be.

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LORE

Australia/Germany | Dir: Cate Shortland

Related Links: Trailer

Mon. Oct 1, 4:00 pm, Granville 7
Wed. Oct 3, 9:30 pm, Granville 7

In the wake of WWII, an OSS officer’s teenage daughter (Saskia Rosendahl) leads her siblings on a perilous trek through a Germany that’s descended into chaos. Cate Shortland’s thoughtful direction ensures that "the deep-feeling Rosendahl makes a major impression… We see the Nazi disaster filtered through her teenage decency and incomprehension."—Screen. Winner, Audience Award, Locarno 2012.

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MORE THAN HONEY

Switzerland/Germany/Austria | Dir: Markus Imhoof

Related Links: Trailer

Tue. Oct 2, 3:00 pm, Granville 3
Thu. Oct 4, 6:20 pm, Granville 3

Millions of bees have disappeared worldwide over the past few years. Given the importance of bees to life on earth, are we facing a total system collapse? Looking for answers, Markus Imhoof travels from the Alps to the Arizona desert, interviewing experts ranging from beekeepers to scientists. Unlike earlier films on the subject, Imhoof’s offers up a possible solution…

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PARABETON—PIER LUIGI NERVI AND ROMAN CONCRETE

(Parabeton—Pier Luigi Nervi und römischer Beton)

Germany | Dir: Heinz Emigholz

Related Links: Official Website

North American Premiere

Wed. Oct 3, 4:00 pm, Vancity

Large screen. Bright light. Superb architecture. Faultless framing. The Eternal City’s ancient buildings are examined alongside their imposing modernist neighbours created by Pier Luigi Nervi. "The art of concrete as a medium rivets the eye of the film world’s most acute observer of architecture, Heinz Emigholz."—Variety

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PARADISE: LOVE

(Paradies: Liebe)

Austria/Germany/France | Dir: Ulrich Seidl

Related Links: Director’s Website

Mon. Oct 1, 9:15 pm, Granville 7
Thu. Oct 4, 1:15 pm, Granville 7

The first installment in Ulrich Seidl’s (Import/Export) Paradise trilogy focuses on Teresa (the very game Margarethe Tiesl), a plump middle-aged Austrian vacationing on a “comfort safari” to Kenya, a land of zebra-costumed troubadours, wild monkeys, and “beach boys.” A dark culture-clash comedy where the exchange of sex for money raises questions about just who is "colonizing" whom…?

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PERRET IN FRANCE AND ALGERIA

(Perret in Frankreich und Algerien)

Germany | Dir: Heinz Emigholz

Related Links: Official Website

Wed. Oct 10, 9:15 pm, Vancity
Fri. Oct 12, 1:30 pm, Vancity

The last film in Heinz Emigholz’s (see also Parabeton at this year’s VIFF) groundbreaking and spellbinding "Architecture as Autobiography" series, and the second in his series "The Decampment of Modernism," is the first film ever made on French architect brothers Auguste and Gustave Perret, presenting 30 of their projects in chronological order. And it may be perfect.

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RAISING RESISTANCE

Germany/Switzerland | Dir: Bettina Borgfeld, David Bernet

Related Links: Trailer | Official Website

North American Premiere

Mon. Oct 1, 3:30 pm, Granville 1

Genetically modified soy has been taking over more and more farmland in Paraguay—a situation that has put enormous strain on subsistence-farming campesinos determined to provide for their families the old-fashioned way. Bettina Borgfeld and David Bernet’s cogent documentary explores the big business model vs. traditional methods with an insight that leads to universal truths.

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REVISION

Germany | Dir: Philip Scheffner

Related Links: Official Website

Tue. Oct 2, 9:00 pm, Granville 3
Fri. Oct 5, 11:40 am, Granville 3

A stunning documentary that… [unearths the 1992] case of… two Romanian refugees killed mysteriously in a cornfield along the German–Polish border at a time of intensified post-Wall racism, ethnocentrism, and illegal border-crossing… [Director Philip] Scheffner uses a wealth of nonfiction techniques to question the occurrence, its aftermath, and the changing contours of Europe.—Film Quarterly

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I, ANNA

UK/Germany/France | Dir: Barnaby Southcombe

Related Links: Trailer

North American Premiere

Sat. Oct 6, 7:00 pm, Vancity
Sun. Oct 7, 6:45 pm, Granville 7
Wed. Oct 10, 1:15 pm, Granville 7

Charlotte Rampling is at her commanding peak in this stylish crime thriller, directed by her son Barnaby Southcombe. She is the titular Anna, a femme fatale entangled in a murder who falls for the very detective (the ace Gabriel Byrne) investigating the death. London is the perfect background for this lovingly rendered—and beautifully acted—homage to classic film noir.

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THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA

Germany | Dir: Marten Persiel

Related Links: Official Website | Director’s Website | Trailer

Mon. Oct 1, 9:30 pm, Granville 2
Tue. Oct 2, 12:30 pm, Granville 2
Sat. Oct 6, 10:30 am, Granville 2

You don’t have to care one whit about skateboarding to be dazzled, astonished and supremely entertained by Marten Persiel’s remarkable chronicle of 1980s East German rebels whose love of the board and its accompanying lifestyle presaged the sweeping changes about to hit Eastern Bloc nations. A delight from beginning to end. Winner, Dialogue en Perspective prize, Berlin 2012.

Guest In Attendance

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TABU

Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France | Dir: Miguel Gomes

Related Links: Trailer | Review

Tue. Oct 2, 1:15 pm, Granville 7
Thu. Oct 4, 6:15 pm, Vancity

Gloriously lyrical, sumptuously shot, occasionally funny and unabashedly romantic—Miguel Gomes’ (Our Beloved Month of August) latest "moves from modern-day Lisbon to a rapturous evocation of romance in colonial Africa. But no plot description can do justice to the idiosyncratic poetry of director Miguel Gomes."—Sight & Sound. Winner, FIPRESCI prize, Alfred Bauer Prize for Innovation, Berlin 2012.

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