PSIFF 2012
Movies we saw at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
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37 titles
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsPayman MaadiLeila HatamiSareh BayatA married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
- DirectorPeter LuisiStarsFabian KrügerIrene BrüggerBeat SchlatterOne fine morning, Benno finds sand in his bed. While he tries to ignore this at first, he soon must realize that he himself is loosing the sand. Day after day the sand increases and soon his time literally starts running short. Finally he is left no choice but to ask Sandra for help, who runs a small coffee shop under his apartment. Although Benno hates her with a passion, he started having dreams of her every night. What could Sandra and the dreams have to do with the sand?
- DirectorVeit HelmerStarsAlexander AsochakovMarie de VillepinSitora FarmonovaIskander, a young man living on the Kazakh steppes, finds French astronaut Julie after her capsule crashes. Julie now has amnesia, but Iskander convinces her they are engaged. (Russian with English subtitles)
- DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsThomas DoretCécile de FranceJérémie RenierAbandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
- DirectorNuri Bilge CeylanStarsMuhammet UzunerYilmaz ErdoganTaner BirselA group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
- DirectorHenry BarrialStarsRudolf MartinHeather AnkenyKeith DiamondA man wakes up alone in the middle of the desert with a black hood on his head and his hands tied behind his back. At death's door, he is discovered by a woman living alone in the desert and is nursed back to health. Upon regaining consciousness, the man realizes he has amnesia, and has no idea who he is. His only clue, a piece of paper in his pocket with the name "Manny Elder" on it, sends him on a journey to Los Angeles to discover his past. But things and people are not what they seem and clues lead to something bigger and more unusual than the man could have ever imagined.
- DirectorSascha RiceStarsTom BrokawJerry BrownWillie BrownCALIFORNIA STATE OF MIND tells the story of how one man rose against seemingly insurmountable obstacles and shaped the future of modern California. Rather than lionizing Brown as "the Architect of the Golden State," the film looks critically at Pat Brown's odyssey to build a "Super State," raising issues that transcend eras and geographic borders. As the Vietnam War shifts the nation's consciousness, Brown is caught in the middle of the cataclysmic 1960s, with the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, fiery race riots in Los Angeles, and the United Farm Workers Movement in the Central Valley. Brown's epic battle against capital punishment unleashes an international uproar. Finally, a telegenic Ronald Reagan steps onto the world stage promising to sweep all that away. Brown's tenure ends as a new "era of limits" begins. Told from his granddaughter's perspective, Brown's struggle to overcome humble beginnings reveals a dynamic American Dream story - a compelling journey that unfolds through interviews, archival footage, home movies, and cinema verite as the filmmaker wrestles with the inherited optimism of her grandfather's legacy. The issues Brown faced have urgent relevance now - in the West and nationwide: failing education, crumbling infrastructure, gridlocked traffic, and water threatening to become the next oil. This intimate portrait of Pat Brown has the power to ignite optimism and provide a template for what we can and should expect from leaders today.
- DirectorMorten TyldumStarsAksel HennieSynnøve Macody LundNikolaj Coster-WaldauAn accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsMarcin DorocinskiAgata KuleszaMalwina BussRose, a German widow, hides from Russian soldiers who like to rape women and fights off Polish refugees who will steal everything she has. She gets help when Tadeusz, a former Polish officer, arrives looking to hide from his past.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsRobert WieckiewiczBenno FürmannAgnieszka GrochowskaA dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.
- DirectorRoschdy ZemStarsSami BouajilaDenis PodalydèsMaurice BénichouIn the summer of 1991 an elderly woman Ghislaine Marchal is found murdered in the basement of her home with the message "Omar M'a Tuer" (Omar has kill me) written beside in her own blood. Despite a lack of forensic or DNA evidence, her Moroccan gardener Omar Raddad is found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in a French prison. Shocked by the case, and convinced of his innocence, journalist Pierre-Emmanuel Vaugrenard moves to Nice to investigate, and uncover the truth... A powerful and gripping French crime drama depicting a remarkable true story.
- DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsVanessa ParadisKevin ParentHélène FlorentA love story between a man and woman. And between a mother and her son. A mystical and fantastical odyssey on love.
- DirectorZal BatmanglijStarsChristopher DenhamNicole ViciusBrit MarlingTwo documentary filmmakers attempt to penetrate a cult who worships a woman who claims to be from the future.
- DirectorKen ScottStarsPatrick HuardJulie LeBretonAntoine BertrandAs his lover announces her pregnancy, a fortysomething slacker receives other life-changing news: 142 people, all of them the result of artificial insemination, have filed a class action lawsuit against him, their biological father.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaStarsWagner MouraIrandhir SantosAndré RamiroAfter a prison riot, former-Captain Nascimento, now a high ranking security officer in Rio de Janeiro, is swept into a bloody political dispute that involves government officials and paramilitary groups.
- DirectorIgnacio FerrerasStarsTacho GonzálezÁlvaro GuevaraMabel RiveraAn astonishing cocktail of friendship, resistance and life set among the unexpected landscape of an elderly care facility.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsAndy LauDeannie IpHailu QinAfter suffering a stroke, an altruistic maid announces that she wants to quit her job and move into an old people's home.
- DirectorValérie DonzelliStarsValérie DonzelliJérémie ElkaïmCésar DesseixWhen their young son is diagnosed with a brain tumor, young parents Roméo and Juliette unite in the fight for his survival.
- DirectorMichaël R. RoskamStarsMatthias SchoenaertsJeroen PercevalJeanne DandoySint-Truiden, Belgium. Jacky, a young cattle farmer who is constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, is approached by a veterinarian to make a deal with a notorious beef trader.
- DirectorRob HolderStarsPaul RhysClaire SkinnerGeorgia KingWhen stolen secret tapes land on his desk, a washed up British spy , Archie Cookson, becomes the target for a psychopathic hit-man sent to retrieve them.
- DirectorShoaib MansoorStarsHumaima MalikManzar SehbaiShafqat CheemaA female convict on death row, her last wish is to tell her story to the media.
- DirectorTomás LunákStarsMiroslav KrobotMarie LudvíkováKarel RodenA train dispatcher encounters a mute stranger who appears out of nowhere, and finds himself mysteriously involved with a murder in Poland.
- DirectorKenya MarquezStarsDamián AlcázarMarisol CentenoAna Ofelia MurguíaRamona's compulsive life becomes a wreck when she finds out, after a long search that Osvaldo, her only son, has died.
- DirectorJoshua MarstonStarsTristan HalilajSindi LacejRefet AbaziAn Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that makes eldest son Nik a prime target and forces his sister, eldest daughter Rudina, to leave school in order to take over the family business.
- DirectorViktor ChouchkovStarsYavor BaharovRadina KardjilovaOvanes TorosianTILT is a love story set against the backdrop of the changing political and social environment in Europe in the late 1980s and early '90s. Can this love survive the challenges of emigration, a violent homeland and immoral social atmosphere thanks to a gang of adventurous friends?
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsAndré WilmsBlondin MiguelJean-Pierre DarroussinWhen an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home.
- DirectorNancy BuirskiStarsJane AlexanderLindsay Almond Jr.Edward L. AyersA racially charged trial and a heartrending love story converge in this documentary about Mildred and Richard Loving, set during the Civil Rights era.
- DirectorSameh ZoabiStarsRazi ShawahdehLoai NofiBassem Loulou
- DirectorCharles EveredStarsMichael O'KeefeOlesya RulinJames Van PattenA stranger with a haunted past shows up unannounced at the home of Hollywood's hottest horror director, and is determined to teach him what real horror is all about.
- DirectorPablo GiorgelliStarsGermán De SilvaHebe DuarteNayra Calle MamaniReluctantly, a dour long-distance truck driver agrees to give a lift to a Paraguayan single mother and her five-month-old daughter to Buenos Aires. Can the palpable silence soften up the taciturn trucker's sullen heart?
- DirectorJeffrey SchwarzStarsPhyllis AntonellisGeorge BancroftRichard BarriosThe story of Vito Russo, founding father of the gay liberation movement, author of "The Celluloid Closet," and vociferous AIDS activist in the 1980s.
- DirectorPhilippe FalardeauStarsMohamed FellagSophie NélisseÉmilien NéronAt a Montréal public grade school, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace a popular teacher who committed suicide in her classroom. While helping his students deal with their grief, his own recent loss is revealed.
- DirectorMarcus O. RosenmüllerStarsGedeon BurkhardCatherine FlemmingGudrun LandgrebeThree musically talented children look to the future, but their hopes crumble when Germany and Russia enter into war.
- DirectorVincent GarenqStarsPhilippe TorretonWladimir YordanoffNoémie LvovskyA family man battles to prove his innocence after being accused of a heinous crime.
- DirectorGeoffrey EnthovenStarsCharlotte TimmersRoos Van VlaenderenRobrecht Vanden ThorenThree guys in their twenties love wine and women but they are still virgins. Under the guise of a wine tour they embark on a journey to Spain hoping to have their first sexual experience. Jozef is blind, Philip is paralyzed from the neck down and Lars is in a wheelchair with a brain tumor, but they're not going to let anything stand in their way...