Foreign Film Friday: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Oplev
(2009, 2h 33m, Sweden, Thriller/Crime by Niels Arden Oplev)
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson’s novel about disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and genius hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) who investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of Harriet Vanger from her wealthy, dysfunctional family. They uncover a dark history of serial murders, neo-Nazism, and sexual violence, ultimately solving the cold case while Salander seeks vengeance against her own abusive guardian.
BAFTA Awards: Won Best Film Not in the English Language.
Empire Awards: Won Best Actress (Noomi Rapace) and Best Thriller.
Satellite Awards: Won Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language Film.
Foreign Film Friday: “Life is Beautiful” (La vita è bella) by Benigni
(“La vita è bella”) (1997, 1h 58m, Italy, War/Comedy by Roberto Benigni)
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosue are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosue that their time in the camp is merely a game.
Academy Awards (Oscars) – 1999
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three:
Best Actor: Roberto Benigni
Best Foreign Language Film: Italy
Best Original Dramatic Score: Nicola Piovani
Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Roberto Benigni), Best Original Screenplay (Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni), and Film Editing.
Cannes Film Festival – 1998
Grand Prix (Grand Jury Prize): Roberto Benigni
David di Donatello Awards (Italy) – 1998
Best Film
Best Director: Roberto Benigni
Best Actor: Roberto Benigni
Best Script: Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami
Best Producer: Elda Ferri, Gianluigi Braschi
Best Production Design: Danilo Donati
Best Costumes: Danilo Donati
Best Cinematography: Tonino Delli Colli
Best Editing: Simona Paggi
Other Major Awards
BAFTA Awards (1999): Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)
European Film Awards (1998): Best Film, Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)
Nastro d’Argento (Italy – 1999): Best Director, Best Actor, Best Script
César Awards (France – 1999): Best Foreign Film
Golden Ciak Awards (1998): Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress (Nicoletta Braschi)
Critics’ Choice Movie Awards (1999): Best Foreign Language Film
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Foreign Film Friday: “Paris, je t’aime”
R 2006 ‧ Romance/Comedy ‧ 2 hours
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Foreign Film Friday: “A Pact with the Devil” by Jozef Zachar
(1967, 1h 27m, Czech Republic, Comedy by Jozef Zachar)
Five high-school senior girls, who because of a prank, are falsely accused of signing a pact with the devil to lose their virginity before they graduate.
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Foreign Film Friday: “Like Water for Chocolate” by Alfonso Arau
(Year, 1h 45m, Mexico, Romantic Drama by Alfonso Arau)
Based on the novel by Laura Esquivel, this magical realist film portrays the youngest daughter in her family, the beautiful Tita (Lumi Cavazos), who is forbidden to marry her true love, Pedro (Marco Leonardi). Since tradition dictates that Tita must care for her mother, Pedro weds her older sister, Rosaura (Yareli Arizmendi), though he still loves Tita. The situation creates much tension in the family, and Tita’s powerful emotions begin to surface in fantastical ways.
27 awards and 14 nominations
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Foreign Film Friday: “The White Ribbon” by Michael Haneke
(2009, 2h 24m, Germany, Mystery/Thriller by Michael Haneke)
Set in a village in Protestant northern Germany on the eve of World War I, THE WHITE RIBBON delineates a microcosm of society: the schoolteacher, the pastor, the local aristocracy, the steward, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers, and their extended families. Increasingly frequent bizarre incidents gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual. Who is responsible? Haneke’s apocalyptic vision takes on classic dimensions in this elegant, black and white drama, likened to the most mesmerizing films of Carl Dreyer.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and nominated for two Academy Awards
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Foreign Film Friday: “City of Men” by Morelli
(2007, 1h 46m, Brazil, Drama by Paulo Morelli)
A spin-off from City of God, following teenage best friends Acerola and Laranjinha in Rio’s favelas as they face imminent adulthood, fatherhood, and discovering their absentee fathers’ pasts, forcing them to confront their bond amid gang violence, exploring themes of identity, responsibility, and friendship with a more humane perspective than its predecessor.
Foreign Film Fridays • 7:00pm
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center
Centrally located just off I-240 Exit 8; River Ridge Business Center, Suite 1200, 802 Fairview Rd, Asheville 28803 (behind Hamrick’s and Sun Soo Martial Arts, next to Hot Yoga Asheville and Asheville Dance Theater)
Foreign Film Friday: “Heart of Glass” by Herzog
(1976, 1h 34m, West Germany, Drama/Experimental by Werner Herzog)
In an 18th century Bavarian village, which relies on a blown glass factory, the master craftsman dies taking the secret of the famous red glass with him. The community is shocked all over, from the unstable aristocracy to the proletarian drunkards. An oracle foretells the slew of troubles time will bring. Every actor in every scene performed while hypnotized, with the exception of the oracle character Hias and the professional glassblowers who appear in the film. Herzog intended the strange performances to suggest the trance-like state of the obsessed townspeople in the story.
Foreign Film Fridays • 7:00pm
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center
Centrally located just off I-240 Exit 8; River Ridge Business Center, Suite 1200, 802 Fairview Rd, Asheville 28803 (behind Hamrick’s and Sun Soo Martial Arts, next to Hot Yoga Asheville and Asheville Dance Theater)
Foreign Film Friday: “The Butcher of Prague (Lidice)” by Nikolaev
(2011, 2h 6m, Czech Republic, War/Drama by Petr Nikolaev)
The story of the Czech village of Lidice, which was razed in 1942 in reprisal for the assassination in Prague of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, is familiar the world over. The film of the same name takes a look beyond the story, however, and allows the viewer to follow the lives of specific individuals associated with the village. It also demonstrates the timelessness of human qualities and failings – even behind unimaginable tragedy there is always a concrete decision which has its precise causes.
Foreign Film Fridays • 7:00pm
Classic movies from around the world every Friday!
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center
Centrally located just off I-240 Exit 8; River Ridge Business Center, Suite 1200, 802 Fairview Rd, Asheville 28803 (behind Hamrick’s and Sun Soo Martial Arts, next to Hot Yoga Asheville and Asheville Dance Theater)
Foreign Film Fridays: “Where the Green Ants Dream”
Classic movies from around the world!
“Where the Green Ants Dream” (1984, 1h 40m, West Germany/Australia, by Werner Herzog)
A surveying team led by Australian geologist Lance Hackett (Bruce Spence) is setting off subterranean explosions deep in the outback, searching for possible uranium mining sites. Hackett’s work is interrupted by Aboriginals Miliritbi (Wandjuk Marika) and Dayipu (Roy Marika), who claim that green ants dream underneath this land, and, if the insects’ slumbers are interrupted, the world will come to an end. The dispute between the two sides becomes both a court case and a philosophical debate.
Donation-based admission. Light refreshments available.