32ND March 26 - April 6, 2003 presented by THE DEPARTMENT OF FILM AND MEDIA, THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART and the FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER film descriptions all past films photo: my architect FILMMAKERS: You may enter the 2004 festival now: here are links to our printable html application form: Part 1     Part 2      Part 3: Regulations You may also download our pdf version HERE. New Directors/New Films is sponsored by National Geographic Traveler Magazine and Kenneth Cole Productions. This program is made possible, in part, by grants from the Irene Diamond Fund, The Julien J. Studley Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art. Special support provided by the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A New Directors calendar in pdf format can be downloaded here. An alphabetical listing of all New Directors films from past festivals can be viewed here. 2003 New Directors/New Films Program Please note: Showings whose code number begins with a "T" take place in Alice Tully Hall. Showings whose code number begins with a "W" take place at the Walter Reade Theater. Showings whose code number begins with a "G" take place at MoMA's Gramercy Theater. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS. This remarkable feature debut by Peter Sollett (Five Feet High and Rising¸ NDNF 2000) captures adolescence at its most tender and hilarious. Manhattan's Lower East Side is the sweltering playground for Victor, a self-styled teenage Casanova who, despite his devil-may-care attitude, has a lot to learn about love. Scared that he'll lose street cred when his friends find out he's been sleeping with his overweight neighbor, Victor sets out to get a new girl. Judy finds herself the target of his relentless affections, much to her annoyance. Victor juggles family commitments (he lives with two younger siblings and his old-fashioned Dominican grandmother) while he tries to bypass Judy's cold shoulder and reach her heart. USA, 2002. 88 min. A Samuel Goldwyn Films/Fireworks Pictures release. T26A. Wed. March 26 at 8PM W27B. Thurs. March 27 at 9PM BUS 174. Unfolding virtually in real time, director José Padilha's harrowing account of a Rio de Janeiro hijacking in 2000 interweaves news footage and interviews with survivors, law enforcement officials, and journalists with the hijacker's personal history. What emerges is not only a detailed, up-close account of a siege that turns into disaster when the police fail to keep things under control, but a compassionate examination of why Brazil and countries with similar social problems are so violent. An explosive film, indicting a society where the only kind of visibility left for the poor is acts of televised crime. Brazil, 2002. 122 min. T27A. Thurs. March 27 at 6PM W28B. Fri. March 28 at 9PM INFERNAL AFFAIRS. A blockbuster in Asia, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, co-directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, is hailed as the best example of new Hong Kong film. Recruited by the triads as a teenager, Ming (Andy Lau) is a mole working in the police department's Criminal Intelligence Bureau. After being thrown out of the police academy, Yan (Tony Leung) moves into the criminal underworld while secretly working for the police. These two double agents are on a collision course that finally will leave only one man standing. Visually dazzling - ace cinematographer Christopher Doyle served as visual consultant - INFERNAL AFFAIRS trades the high-octane ballistics of earlier Hong Kong films for a cooler, crisper style and plot twists that keep you guessing until the very end. Hong Kong, 2002. 100 min. Preceded by A NINJA PAYS HALF MY RENT by Steven K. Tsuchida.. Well, you can't always pick your roommates. USA, 2002. 6 min. W27A. Thurs. March 27 at 6PM T28B. Fri. March 28 at 9PM MONDAYS IN THE SUN. The Spanish port city of Vigo is the backdrop for this powerful third feature by Fernando León de Aranoa (Barrio, NDNF 1999). Javier Bardem leads an ensemble of superb performers who portray working class men who suffer a rude awakening when they are laid off from the local shipyard - the only work they've known. No longer needed, they spend their days in a seesaw of denial and anger. Santa (Bardem) idly beds women and improbably turns to babysitting for cash, his friend Jose comes to terms with his wife's new role as the family's breadwinner, and their friends apply for jobs they'll never get. Misadventures ensue as they try to put their lives back on course. Spain, 2002. 113 min. A Lions Gate Entertainment release. T27B. Thurs. March 27 at 9PM W28A. Fri. March 28 at 6PM RESPIRO. On Lampedusa, a sun-swept island near western Sicily, life can be as cruel as it is seductive, as oppressive as it is blissful. Vibrant and full of life, Grazia (the magnificent Valeria Golino) is an affectionate young mother of three whose behavior is often wild and unpredictable. At first her husband stands by her in the face of the islanders' gossip, but as her antics become more reckless only the fierce love of her eldest son can protect her. Director Emanuele Crialese creates a sensual atmosphere that combines the physical beauty and harshness of the setting with the complex relationships of a loving family. Winner of Critic's Week at the 2002 Cannes Festival. Italy, 2002. 95min. A Sony Pictures Classics release. T28A. Fri. March 28 at 6PM W29C. Sat. March 29 at 9PM ANGEL ON THE RIGHT. An unrepentant prodigal son straight out of a Russian jail returns to his hometown, Asht, to help his mother die with dignity. But his debts in his hometown are many and long overdue, the townspeople are tough as nails, and he soon gets more than he expected from the quiet village. In this dark comedy, his third feature, writer-director Jamshed Usmonov cast the population of Asht as its own persuasive self and his own mother and brother as the fractured yet formidable domestic couple. Tadjikistan/Italy/Switzerland/France, 2002. 89 min. Preceded by this is JOHN by Jay Duplass. Perfecting the art of answering machine greetings. USA, 2002. 8 min. T29A. Sat. March 29 at 1pm G30C. Sun. March 30 at 6PM THE DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET. Although it is now illegal, the custom of female circumcision continues in Kenya today. This dreadful practice is brought into focus in Kim Longinotto's intimate and sensitive documentary. While she gives us a no-holds-barred sense of the horror and pain of this procedure, she also allows the older women of that society to defend their traditions. More than simply listing outrage upon outrage, the film takes a hopeful path as it follows one brave nurse who tries to turn the tide, as well as a group of children who defy their parents and go to court to try to protect themselves. It's clear that the clash between law and tradition will continue, but the film offers a vision of hope for these girls and others. UK, 2002. 92 min. A Women Make Movies release. W29A. Sat. March 29 at 2PM W29B. Sat. March 29 at 6PM W30A. Sun. March 30 at 4PM W30B. Sun. March 30 at 7PM TICKET TO JERUSALEM. Writer/director Rashid Masharawi's inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction begins in a refugee camp near Ramallah. Jabber runs a mobile cinema from his old truck throughout the West Bank while his wife works to bring emergency medical care to Palestinians. Both navigate endless checkpoints and other obstacles by looking for creative solutions. When Jabber is invited by a spirited schoolteacher to make an open-air screening in the old city of Jerusalem, he becomes obsessed with the idea of this pilgrimage and begins to investigate the possibilities-even though it is illegal for him to enter Jerusalem. Palestine/Netherlands/France, 2002. 85 min. A Global Film Initiative release. Preceded by SHORT BEFORE THE MOVIE. Janet Merewether's trip to the crossroads of cinema, where art, commerce, and home movies meet. Australia, 2003. 6 min. T29B. Sat. March 29 at 3:30PM G30D. Sun. March 30 at 8:30PM MY ARCHITECT. Louis Kahn, a giant among twentieth-century architects, left a legacy of brilliantly designed and engineered buildings that have a tough beauty and deep spirit. His work challenges us to discover an astonishing sensibility and poetry through light, space, and texture. Kahn's personal life was even more mysterious, and his death, alone and unidentified in Penn Station in 1974, revealed that he led not a double but a triple life, shuttling between his legitimate family and two women and the children they bore him. One of these, his son Nathaniel, takes us on a personal journey to consider the contradictions of this complicated genius and eccentric parent. A wonderfully engaging, astute, keenly felt investigation, Nathaniel Kahn's first feature film delights even as it delivers its emotional punches. World Premiere. USA, 2003. 116 min. T29C. Sat. March 29 at 6PM G30A. Sun. March 30 at 12 noon THE EMBALMER. Working as a waiter, Valerio slides through life comfortably but with few prospects for the future. Then he meets Peppino, a very short, very gregarious man with a quick smile and infectious laugh. A taxidermist and embalmer, he invites Valerio to learn the trade. Valerio soon discovers that working with Peppino requires more commitment than he imagined. A taut atmospheric thriller with strains of black comedy, Matteo Garrone's fourth film, a box office smash in Italy, captures its characters' quiet desperation and intense emotional longing as their world becomes increasingly macabre. Italy, 2002. 101 min. A First Run Features release. T29D. Sat. March 29 at 9PM G30B. Sun. March 30 at 3PM A RED BEAR. Combining domestic drama and contemporary crime thriller, writer/director Israel Adrian Caetano's stylish film crosses social realism with a healthy dose of western outlaw morality. Out on parole, the unpredictable and violent Oso (Bear) has not seen his daughter since he was arrested on her first birthday seven years before. His primary goal is get to know her and take care of his family, but he's also intent on looking up the people who owe him from before. Veteran actor Julio Chavez brings colorful dimension to Oso's personal brands of nobility and justice. Argentina/France/Spain, 2002. 94 min. T31A. Mon. March 31 at 6PM W1B. Tues. April 1 at 9PM THE GLOW. Successful businessman and former general Uriel Morag heads to the country to spend a quiet weekend with old army buddies and his young girlfriend Mona. More than years separate the couple, though, and each wonders about their future together. Finding the area under a security alert, Morag tries to summon extra patrols, but the phones are dead, the radio emits a strange hum, and an eerie glow is moving across the nearby hills. A provocative take on a society rife with generational, sexual and political conflicts - and one obsessed with the question of "Who's an alien?" - Igal Bursztyn's THE GLOW offers further evidence of an exciting new Israeli cinema. Israel, 2002. 86 min. G31A. Mon. March 31 at 6PM T1B. Tues. April 1 at 9PM WILD BERRIES. A comedy of surprising twists and turns, WILD BERRIES follows a dysfunctional family on its road to perdition. Beautifully paced, the film creates absurd yet believable incidents to get at deeper truths about contemporary Japanese middle-class culture. Lies and evasions are everywhere (especially at the funeral parlor) as each character pursues a new life, while all are trapped by family ties. Director Miwa Nishikawa's highly entertaining debut is enriched as she centers whatever moral values survive in the heart-wrenching depiction of the daughter, the only member of this crazy family with clarity of vision, and the ability to love and yet do the right thing. Japan, 2002. 108 min. Preceded by BOUNCER by Michael Baig Clifford. They protect the club from crashers; who protects them? UK, 2002. 10 min. T31B. Mon. March 31 at 9PM W1A. Tues. April 1 at 6PM BLACK TAPE: The Videotape Fariborz Kamkari Found in the Garbage. Parviz marries Goli and a camera enters their lives, at first like a watchful pet, recording the absurdist beginnings of their relationship through Goli's pregnancy, as Parviz makes a deal that she bear him a child. But Goli is a Kurd, her father was a rebel, and Parviz is a tyrant. Using the handheld camera as narrator, witness, and participant, director Kamkari's BLACK TAPE turns from beauty to cruelty, laughter to savage struggle on its dizzying, take-no-prisoners ride. Goli and Parviz play a game neither can win, as truths are flung about in this highly daring tale. A stunning debut. Iran, 2002. 83 min. Preceded by ASYLUM. Sandy McLeod documents a Ghanian woman's flight from forced genital mutilation. USA, 2002. 20 min. G31B. Mon. March 31 at 9PM T1A. Tues. April 1 at 6PM THE GUYS. Based on the experiences of journalist Anne Nelson, who helped a fire captain write eulogies for the eight men in his company who died at the World Trade Center, THE GUYS is a powerfully moving first feature written and directed by Jim Simpson, whose previous extensive experience has been in the theater. Sigourney Weaver plays the journalist with insight and compassion and Anthony LaPaglia delivers a tour de force performance as the bereaved fire captain. As their collaboration progresses, the two form an unexpected bond and we rediscover the quiet heroism that has become part of our daily lives since 9/11. USA, 2002. 88 min. A Focus Features release. T2A. Wed. April 2 at 6:30PM W3B. Thurs. April 3 at 9PM THE MISSING GUN. Looking like no other film from China, Lu Chuan's debut feature is a firecracker revelation. Wild, original, and comic, THE MISSING GUN is a postmodern film noir in which a small-town policeman wakes one morning to find his loaded gun missing. Since gun ownership in China is strictly forbidden and the gun is state property, the disappearance of the weapon is a serious matter. As the policeman navigates between dishonor and jail (losing his gun is a crime), he attempts his own hapless investigation. This high-energy whodunit becomes a roiling journey into a surprisingly modern provincial China where nothing is as it seems. China, 2002. 87 min. A Columbia Pictures/Film Production Asia release. Preceded by HERE WAS THE ANTHEM. A pot bust turns deadly serious for a couple of rich kids in a new kind of morality story by Sergio Umansky. Mexico, 2002. 21 min. T2B. Wed. April 2 at 9PM W3A. Thurs. April 3 at 6PM AUTUMN SPRING. A refreshingly positive and often hilarious perspective on aging about a pensioner who amuses himself by concocting elaborate practical jokes. The games backfire when his funeral savings are jeopardized and his wife of 44 years seeks a divorce. The three lead actors' combined 125 years of experience is affirmed by their sublime characterizations under Vladimír Michálek's assured direction. This delightful movie confronts society's stereotypes of the elderly with wry observations on marriage, friendship, and hypocrisy, gently persuading us how to live until we die. Czech Republic, 2002, 97 min. A First Look Pictures release. Preceded by TUNANOODA. A casserole is served by grandpa with a tale of heroism at the beach in David Zackin's delicious animated film. USA, 2002. 10 min. T3A. Thurs. April 3 at 6PM W4B. Fri. April 4 at 9PM GUARDIAN OF THE FRONTIER. A trio of stunning students on summer break, bored with partying, decide to take a canoe trip down the river Kolpa. Their pleasure cruise becomes a journey into fear, tinged perhaps with the supernatural, when the young women discover that the woods hide not only the border between Slovenia and Croatia, but also that between the permissible and the forbidden. This erotic and menacing fairy tale is a dazzling debut by Maja Weiss, whose eye is equally keen for color and incident, fantasy and politics and the intimate landscape along the river as it is for contemporary life in her country in tough times. Slovenia, 2002. 100 min. T3B. Thurs. April 3 at 9PM W4A. Fri. April 4 at 6PM ANGELA. As Mafia wives go, Carmela Soprano has nothing on Angela. Married to an older, drug-dealing don, she dutifully runs her husband's shoe store, but subtly takes on other duties as she hides drugs inside shoe boxes and makes deliveries in the sleazier districts of Palermo. She observes her husband's cronies with a poker face. No one would know that she longs for more. And then one day she gets more - Masino, her husband's lieutenant. The lust and desire are palpable, and they both do their best to avoid their desires, until finally they succumb. Now things really heat up. Passion battles power in Roberta Torre's tale of love run amok in the underworld. A First Look Pictures release. Italy, 2002. 87 min. Preceded by SCRATCH by Julia Solomonoff. A young woman, alone in the city, finds a willing accomplice in her shoplifting schemes. USA, 2002. 25 min. T4A. Fri. April 4 at 6PM G5C. Sat. April 5 at 6PM CAMP. "You've got nothing to hit but the heights", goes the Sondheim lyric, and the terrific young cast in this dynamite first feature by Todd Graff hits those heights again and again. At Camp Ovation, a bus ride from New York City, talented young performers spend the summer rehearsing for potential careers in American musical theater by putting on Broadway shows. The camp is thrown into a tizzy by two new arrivals - a straight boy flush with enthusiasm and an embittered composer/lyricist who had a single hit show many years ago. A clear-eyed look at hopes and dreams, CAMP is tuneful, wise and simply exhilarating. USA, 2003. 115 min. An IFC Films release. T4B. Fri. April 4 at 9PM G6B. Sun. April 6 at 3PM HUKKLE. Writer/director György Pálfi's daringly inventive debut features stunning cinematography and a gloriously imaginative soundscape punctuated by an old man's hiccups ('hukkle' in Hungarian!). As we are brought into the life of plants, animals, and people in a small village, we slowly realize that we're in the middle of a murder mystery. A technical tour de force in which the director organically teases complexity from simplicity, HUKKLE. is graced by a wealth of visual surprises and endless delight. Hungary, 2002. 75 min. Preceded by (A)TORSION. A choir on its way to perform interacts with a traumatized cow struggling to give birth in this gem by Stefan Arsenijevic. Bosnia/Herzegovina, 2002, l4 min. G5A. Sat. April 5 at 1PM G6D. Sun. April 6 at 9PM ABOUNA. In a hot, dusty town near the border of Chad and Cameroon, a father abandons his family, changing the lives of his two young sons forever. When he fails to appear for their amateur soccer match, they search for him high and low. One day at the local cinema, the boys believe they see him on screen, and steal a reel of the film as proof. Beside herself, their mother sends them off to a strict boarding school where things become increasingly intolerable. Director Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Bye Bye Africa) has brought us an accomplished and ultimately optimistic work, with outstanding charismatic performances by the young actors. Chad/France, 2002. 84 min. Preceded by MBOUTOUKOU. A twelve-year-old boy proves his worth to his family in Victor Viyuoh's coming-of-age tale. Cameroon/USA, 2002. 14 min. G5B. Sat April 5 at 3:30PM G6C. Sun. April 6 at 6PM THE CLAY BIRD. A gentle marvel, Tareque Masud's first feature is set during the brutal 1971 civil war in which East Pakistan emerged as Bangladesh. The events that tear family and homeland apart are seen through the eyes, playful and irrepressible, of a young boy, Anu, whose father trades his European ways for a stricter Islamic life. Anu is sent to a Koranic school but remains fascinated by the Hindu rituals of which his father has become so suspicious. Although originally banned at home, the reception to The Clay Bird abroad has been so positive that it became the first film officially submitted by Bangladesh for Academy Award consideration for Best Foreign-Language Film. Bangladesh/France, 2002. 98 min. Preceded by A LOVE SUPREME. Director Nilesh Patel pays tribute to his mother's nurturing ways through the seemingly simple preparation of samosas. UK, 2001. 10 min. G5D. Sat. April 5 at 9PM G6A. Sun. April 6 at 12 noon