20th annual Cine-World Film Fests begins

Nov. 5--Travel around the world from the comfort of a movie theater seat during the 20th annual Cine-World Film Festival. The fest, which showcases a weeklong assortment of intriguing international and domestic films, kicks off Saturday at Burns Court Cinemas. Several films also will be screened at Lakewood Ranch Cinemas.

Selections include a sampling of the best screen projects from Spain, Israel, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, India, Argentina and more.

The longevity of the film festival shows that the hunger for foreign films is great among residents in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Yet a good chunk of the festival attendees come from as far as Tampa and St. Petersburg, said Michael Kayatta, marketing director for the Sarasota Film Society, which hosts the event. It also draws people from outside Florida.

That's evident from the crowds. Last year, the festival attracted an estimated 10,000 people, Kayatta said.

Cine-World will stick to the successful, condensed format it began last year with 30 films in one week as opposed to 50 films in two weeks.

"It's quality over quantity," Kayatta said. "We've shaved our festival down so that every single film choice is an interesting choice."

Cine-World's opening night film is "Everybody's Fine," a remake of "Stanno Tutti Bene." It stars Robert De Niro as a widower who travels across the country to reconnect with his children.

Other film highlights include "The Young Victoria," a British film about Queen Victoria (starring Emily Blunt from "The Devil Wears Prada") and her romance with Prince Albert; Lee Daniels' highly anticipated "Precious," about a pregnant, overweight, illiterate black teen in Harlem who suddenly finds hope through a special teacher starring Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey; and the closing night film, "An Education," a British film about a 16-year-old trying to get into Oxford with the help of a high-class older man.

Also, local resident Ken Son's documentary "Special O' Laughics," which premiered at the 2008 Sarasota Film Festival, will be screened, followed by a Q&A session with the director.

Film screenings are at Burns Court, 506 Burns Court, Sarasota, unless otherwise noted. Those films will be screened at Lakewood Ranch Cinemas, 10715 Rodeo Drive, Lakewood Ranch.

DOMESTIC:

"44 INCH CHEST"

D. Malcolm Venville, UK, 94m

Colin Diamond discovers that his wife of twenty years is having an affair with a good-looking younger man. When his motley group of friends decide to kidnap the young man, Colin must wrestle with his conscience.

8:15 p.m. Saturday and 3:15 Tuesday

Lakewood Ranch times: 7:45 p.m. Monday

"AN EDUCATION"

D. Lone Sherfig, UK, 93m

Set in the early 60s, the film tells the tale of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a sharp 16-year-old with sights set on entry to Oxford at the encouragement of her father Jack (Alfred Molina). She meets a handsome older man named David (Peter Sarsgaard), whose position on the social ladder and passion for high-class enjoyment enraptures both her and her parents and is the catalyst for a budding romance.

7:30 p.m. Nov. 12

"BLIND DATE"

D. Stanley Tucci, USA, 80m

Two parents talk, flirt and fight with each other to try and cope with the loss of their young daughter. They go on a series of "blind dates," each placing personal ads in the paper and pretending to be strangers when they meet. They do this over and over again, both playing a series of different roles, in a desperate attempt to overcome their buried grief and rebuild their shattered relationship.

1:15 p.m. Sunday and 5:45 p.m. Wednesday

"CALVIN MARSHALL"

D. Gary Lundren, USA, 93m

Calvin Marshall is a charismatic student at Bayford City College. When he tries out for the baseball team for the third straight year, ex-minor leaguer Coach Little is exasperated by Calvin's persistence despite his lack of baseball skills. Determined to make the team, Calvin wins Little over with pure heart and love of the game.

1 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Lakewood Ranch: 7:45 p.m. Nov. 12

OPENING NIGHT FILM

"EVERYBODY'S FINE"

D. Kirk Jones, USA, 100m

"Everybody's Fine," a remake of Giuseppe Tornatore's "Stanno Tutti Bene," follows a widower (De Niro) who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children only to discover that their lives are far from picture perfect.

8:45 p.m. Friday

"LOOKING FOR PALLADIN"

D. Andrzej Krakowski, USA, 115m

Arrogant Hollywood talent agent, Josh Ross (David Moscow, is sent to Guatemala to find two-time Oscar winner actor Jack Palladin (Ben Gazzara). Although they'd never met, the search is emotionally complicated as the long-time retired star was once married to Josh's late mother. The young agent's contempt for the 'old' actor mirrors his comedic distaste for the local community, whose help he desperately needs to find him. What Josh hopes will be a quick and lucrative deal turns into a soul-searching journey.

3:15 p.m Friday and 8 p.m. Monday

Lakewood Ranch: 7:45 p.m. Wednesday

"PRECIOUS"

D. Lee Daniels, USA, 109m

Clareece "Precious" Jones is an overweight, illiterate African-American teen in Harlem. Just as she's about to give birth to her second child, Jones is accepted into an alternative school where a teacher helps her find a new path in her life.

6 p.m. Saturday and 3:15 p.m. Sunday

"SERIOUS MOONLIGHT"

D. Cheryl Hines, USA, 84m

After she arrives at her country home for a romantic weekend getaway, things don't go exactly as planned for high-powered Manhattan lawyer Louise (Meg Ryan): Her husband of 13 years, Ian (Timothy Hutton), tells her he's leaving her for a younger woman (Kristen Bell). Soon Ian finds himself held captive by an oddly cool Louise, who explains that she won't release him until he commits to working on their marriage.

5:15 p.m. Sunday and 3:15 p.m. Wednesday

Lakewood Ranch: 7:45 p.m. Tuesday

"THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE"

D. Rebecca Miller, USA, 93m

As a teenager nearly driven mad by her complacent pastor father Des and bipolar mother Suky, whose neurotic behavior is precipitated by an addiction to amphetamines, Pippa Sarkissian runs away from her rural home and seeks refuge with her father's sister Trish in New York City. She is startled to discover her aunt is a lesbian and living with Kit, a dominatrix who specializes in photographing sadomasochistic scenes.

8:30 p.m. Saturday

Lakewood Ranch: 7:45 p.m. Sunday

"YOUNG VICTORIA"

D. Jean-Marc Vallee, UK, 100m

Cinema previously celebrated an aging Queen Victoria with MRS. BROWN, but this costume drama looks at the monarch's early life. Emily Blunt (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) stars as the queen in this story that chronicles her rise to the crown and her romance with Prince Albert. THE YOUNG VICTORIA also stars Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, and Rupert Friend.

8 p.m. Sunday

Lakewood Ranch: 7:45 p.m. Saturday

FOREIGN:

"35 SHOTS OF RUM"

D. Claire Denis, France/Germany (in French/German w/English subtitles),100m

Lionel and his daughter, Josephine, live in a tidy and comfortable apartment in a high-rise housing project on the outskirts of Paris. Lionel, a widower and a man of few words, works for the commuter rail system, while Josephine studies social sciences at university. She and her classmates debate about colonialism, resistance and relations between the industrialized world as they try to make sense of a world that is both distant and immediate.

1:15 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Monday

"CLOUD 9"

D. Andreas Dresen, Germany, (in German with English subtitles), 98m

Inge (Ursula Werner), a dumpy, plain-looking woman in her 60s who does clothing repairs from her home, suddenly decides to deliver a pair of pants personally to its owner. No sooner she's inside the apartment of 70-something Karl (Horst Westphal) than they're making passionate love in his lounge.

7:45 p.m. Monday and 1:15 p.m. Tuesday

"FOR MY FATHER"

D. Dror Zahavi, Israel, (Hebrew w/English subtitles) 100 m

The story takes place during one weekend in Tel-Aviv, in three main spots that lead to Carmel Market. There are three protagonists : 1. Tarek , a Palestinian youth from Nablus. 2. Katz , an embittered old fellow. 3. Keren , a 17 year old girl , who grew up in a strictly religious family , left her home to become a secular youngster. The three "heroes" are loners, driven by their past and by their inner conviction.

8:30 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Tuesday

"HOME"

D. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, France, (in French with English subtitles), 118 min.

Narrated by Glenn Close and featuring the provocative and uniquely jaw-dropping aerial photography of famed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, this soaring trip across planet Earth allows viewers to experience their home as never before.

1 p.m. Saturday and 5:30 p.m. Monday

"LOS PARONICOS"

D. Gabriel Medina, Argentina, (in Spanish with English subtitles), 98 min.

Luciano is a screenwriter who writes his first feature just as his friend Manuel returns from Spain with his girlfriend, Sofia. Manuel is everything Luciano is not and though he tries to be helpful in his career and love-life, he only makes things worse. When Manuel leaves Sofia with Luciano for two days, she is seduced by the qualities Manuel rejects in his friend as weaknesses.

3:30 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

"MAMMOTH"

D. Lukas Moodysson, Sweden/Denmark, (in English/Tagalog/Thai w/English subtitles), 125m

While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.

3:15 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Nov. 12

"NORTHFACE"

D. Philipp Stölzl, Germany/France, (in German/French with English subtitles), 126 min.

Summer 1936. Toni and Andi are passionate mountain climbers. There's one mountain in particular that fascinates them: the Eiger North Face, the most dangerous rock face in the Alps, which has yet to be scaled. Being the first means not only a longed-for boost of their social standing, but also Olympic gold. As they get ready for their climb, they meet Luise, Toni's childhood sweetheart, a journalist who has been sent to report about the conquest of the mountain with her fellow reporter Arau, a Nazi follower.

5:45 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Wednesday

"RICKY"

D. François Ozon, France, (in French with English subtitles), 90 min.

When Katie, an ordinary woman, meets Paco, an ordinary man, something magical happens: a love story. From this union an extraordinary child is born: Ricky.

1 p.m. Monday and 5:30 p.m. Nov. 12

"SHAMELESS"

D. Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic, (in Czech/Slovak with English subtitles), 88m

Oskar is a television weatherman. Like many forty-somethings, he tries to ward off his midlife crisis and his increasingly dissatisfying marriage with a steady stream of affairs. When he manipulates a weather report for the sake of flirting, the repercussions are quick to follow.

5:45 p.m. Monday and 3:30 Nov. 12

"TERRIBLY HAPPY"

D. Henrik Ruben Genz, Denmark, (in Danish with English subtitles), 90 min.

Tightly wound 30-ish cop Robert (Jakob Cedergren) is transferred to the small border town of Skarrild after a mental breakdown and an initially unspecified infraction. It's a place where the clannish locals scorn by-the-book law enforcement, relying instead on their own unique brand of frontier justice, and outsiders either adapt or disappear. By the yarn's end, the refrain "It's not how we do things here" has become both sinister and cynical.

1 p.m. Sunday and 3:45 p.m. Wednesday

"THE SILENCE BEFORE BACH"

D. Pere Portabella, Spain, (Spanish w/English subtitles), 102m

Real-life drama and documentary-style filmmaking blend with surrealistic whimsy in director Pere Portabella's passionate look at the ties between classical music and the construction of contemporary Europe. From a scene of Bach patiently teaching his son Christoph Friedrich how to play the piano to a truck driver who plays the composer's music on his harmonica, a pianist who plays the Goldberg Variations while rolling through his enormous loft, a Bach impersonator leading tourists through Leipzig, and Felix Mendelssohn's curious discovery of the St. Matthew Passion via a piece of meat wrapped in sheet music, this puckish, almost kitsch collection of skits takes a playful look at the legacy of a classical composer whose music still retains the power to inspire and influence.

7:45 p.m. Tuesday and 1:15 p.m. Thursday

"THE THORN IN THE HEART"

D. Michel Gondry, France, (in French with English subtitles), 86m

Michel Gondry documents the life of his schoolteacher aunt, Suzette in this edgy but still rather Gondry-style eccentric family documentary. It begins as a tribute but ends in more testing territory by shedding light on a strong, proud woman's awkward relationship with her son, Gondry's slacker cousin, Jean.

6:15 Saturday and 1:15 p.m. Wednesday

"ZERO BRIDGE"

D. Tariq Tapa, India, (in Urdu with English subtitles), 96 min.

Dreams and disappointment bring two young people together in this independent drama. After being abandoned by his mother, seventeen-year-old Dilawar was taken in by his uncle Ali, a strict and unforgiving man who earns his living as a mason. Dilawar dreams of finding his mother and being reunited with her, but until that day he works as Ali's apprentice.

6 p.m. Tuesday and 1 p.m. Nov. 12

DOCUMENTARY:

DEFAMATION

D. Yoav Shamir, Israel, 91m

Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir tackles the thorny and provocative issue of anti-Semitism in his documentary "Defamation" and finds a deep divide between Jews who see it everywhere and Jews who find it nowhere, least of all in America.

1:15 p.m. Saturday and 5:15 p.m. Wednesday

DELTA RISING

D. Michael Afendakis, Laura Bernieri, USA, 72m

Delta Rising is a fascinating film that documents the history of the blues, and more specifically, the birthplace of the blues, Clarksdale, Mississippi. The film not only delves deeply into the historical signposts of who, where and what came first, but more interestingly why in Clarksdale.

*Filmmakers in attendance.

5:45 p.m. Sunday

GUBERNATORIOUS

USA, 87m

It was once said that politics is the art of the possible -- and in California for eight short weeks in 2003, 130 Americans without a lick of political experience ran for Governor hoping to defy that statement. This comedy about democracy follows 5 first-time candidates in their quests to be heard as they vie for attention in an electorate gone mad.

7:30 p.m. Sunday and 3 p.m. Tuesday

OH MY GOD

D. Peter Rodger, USA, 93m

Filmmaker Peter Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative non-fiction feature "Oh My God." This visual odyssey travels the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday people, spiritual leaders and celebrities.

3 p.m. Sunday and 5:45 p.m. Nov. 12

SHOOTING BEAUTY

D. George Kachadorian, USA, 62m

Aspiring fashion photographer Courtney Bent's career takes an unexpected turn when she discovers a hidden world of beauty at a center for people living with significant disabilities. When Courtney begins inventing cameras her new friends can use, an unforgettable story unfolds that will make you rethink what it means to live with a disability -- and without one.

6 p.m. Friday and 1:15 p.m. Monday

SPECIAL O'LAUGHICS

D. Ken Sons, USA, 73m

Sarasota filmmaker Ken Sons returns with SPECIAL O'LAUGHICS, a documentary that follows the story of 10 mentally challenged adults as they follow their dream to become stand up comedians. Comedy club owner Les McCurdy creates a nurturing environment and adapts his teaching style to allow each student to reach higher than they ever expected. The film is a hilarious and touching look at McCurdy's students as they prepare for a sold-out evening of stand-up comedy. With a surprising blend of emotions and humor, these students to stand in the spotlight and shine.

*Q&A With the director after the film.

3:30 p.m. Saturday

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD

D. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, USA, 87m

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are "The Yes Men," two guys who combine political activism, performance art and the love of a good prank in the name of demanding the private sector take responsibility for the damage it's done to the world and its people. Bichlbaum and Bonanno specialize in setting up realistic looking mock web sites that claim to represent famous and powerful multi-national corporations, and when they're contacted to speak on the companies' behalf, they deliver absurd satirical presentations that sometimes fool their audiences into believing they've seen the real thing.

3:15 p.m. Monday and 7:45 p.m. Wednesday

WILLIAM KUNSTLER

D. Emily & Sarah Kunstler, USA, 85m

During the second half of the 20th Century, William Kunstler was one of the most admired attorneys in America -- and one of the most hated. Kunstler was a man who thrived on controversial cases; in the 1960's, he specialized in defending clients who ran afoul of the law on civil rights and free speech issues, and he spoke on behalf of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Lenny Bruce, members of the Black Panther Party, Native American activists and prisoner's rights groups.

8:15 p.m. Tuesday and 3:15 p.m. Nov. 12

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