Co-sponsored with the Museum of Modern Art, New Directors / New Films has earned an international reputation as the foremost forum for film art that breaks or re-makes the cinematic mold. As a festival dedicated to discovering emerging and overlooked artists, newcomers on the verge of mainstream success and distinguished veterans whose work deserves wider public attention, New Directors nurtures directorial talent by creating an invaluable opportunity for that talent to win public support and acceptance. Since its beginning in 1972, New Directors' audiences have been treated to an early preview of such diverse talents as Wim Wenders, Steven Spielberg, John Sayles, Spike Lee, Sally Potter, Pedro Almodóvar, Chen Kaige, Ken Burns, Peter Greenaway and Whit Stillman. New Directors/ New Films is sponsored by Interview Magazine, A | X Armani Exchange, National Geographic Traveler Magazine, Dewars and Julien J. Studley, Inc. Additional support provided by grants from the Irene Diamond Fund, The Junior Associates of the Museum of Modern Art, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

JUDY BERLIN RUN LOLA RUN OF FREAKS AND MEN BIRTH OF A BUTTERFLY VICTOR

1999 new directors program JUDY BERLIN. On the day of a solar eclipse in Babylon, Long Island, dysfunctional families and friends reach out for understanding and compassion, if not love, in Eric Mendelsohn's brilliantly perceptive, quietly hilarious debut film. Darkly comic yet gently melancholy, its mood befits the unsettling twilight atmosphere that has turned into suburban "space explorers" such eccentric residents as Barbara Barrie, Bob Dishy, Edie Falco, Madeline Kahn, and Julie Kavner. Their singular sensibilities, deftly rendered, spark instant recognition of the frailty and loneliness of souls in isolation. The splendid cast yearns to interconnect in a remarkably original, if limited, universe keenly observed and beautifully rendered in black and white, and packed with wit and wonder. Written and directed by Eric Mendelsohn. USA, 1999. 97 min. 26C. Fri. March 26 at 6:00 PM at Titus One 26C. Fri. March 26 at 6:30 PM at Titus Two 27B. Sat. March 27 at 3:30 PM RUN LOLA RUN. Lola and Manni are in their twenties, too cool to live, and madly in love. When Manni, a gofer for a local crime boss, loses a bag full of money, he's got twenty minutes to come up with it, or else. Desperate and clueless as to what he should do, he calls on Lola. She's got some ideas, and so she takes off to save him, with the clock ticking madly. Director Tom Tykwer (Deadly Maria, ND/NF, 1995) races Lola through the paces of three variations on a solution. What initially reads as a dynamic action-adventure story with a high-tech bent, this movie-as-ultimate chase scene also creates a place for us to ponder the nature of fate and choice. It will leave you breathless. Germany, 1998. 87 min. A Sony Pictures Classics Release. 26D. Fri. March 26 at 9:00 PM 27A. Sat. March 27 at 1:00 PM WEST BEIRUT. No matter what war may be raging outside, boys will be boys and hormones will rage. Tarek, a good-natured yet incorrigible student is tossed from class just in time to witness the first official act of the Lebanese civil war. School is closed indefinitely. Mom wants to leave; Dad won't budge. With time on his hands, and two friends at his side - the tough Omar whose once secular Muslim father becomes increasingly orthodox; and the beautiful Christian girl May who just arrived in the neighborhood - Tarek takes off on a journey through familiar territory that has now become a dangerous no-man's-land. The teens' exploits, which range from falling down funny to downright terrifying, underline the determination of youth to live their lives, no matter what. Using a dazzling mix of cinematic styles, director Ziad Doueiri brings us to a clear understanding of home and the world. Lebanon/France, 1998. 105 min. 27C. Sat. March 27 at 6:00PM 28B. Sun. March 28 at 3:00 PM OF FREAKS AND MEN. Alexei Balabanov, an innovative and iconoclastic filmmaker, discovered a cache of aesthetically-charged vintage erotic photographs of flagellation, and conceived the idea for this provocative film. Two families in turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg are corrupted by sex when Johann, an abominable person and not-bad photographer, and Victor, his assistant, insuinate themselves into their lives. That the families include an evil maid, a blind wife, and Siamese twins indicate how quirky is this sepia-tinted extravaganza of days gone by. It is also a funny and marvellously stylish moral tale that charms the audience. Russia, 1998. 93 min. 27D. Sat. March 27 at 9:00 PM 28A. Sun. March 28 at 12:15 PM BIRTH OF A BUTTERFLY. Shot in breathtaking mountainous landscapes in northwest Iran, BIRTH OF A BUTTERFLY is a rarity within contemporary Iranian cinema: an openly religious work, three episodes about the testing of one's faith. In the first, a man whose wife is critically ill must make peace with his stepchildren; the second follows a boy on a religious pilgrimage, whose chance encounter with a stranger challenges his perspective on life. The third tells of a teacher who leaves the city to work in a remote village; when a flood threatens to destroy their world, the inhabitants turn to him as a spiritual guide-a role he reluctantly accepts. Director Mojtaba Raei gets beautifully nuanced performances from his large cast, powerfully underlining the themes of his parables through dynamic visual compositions that weave together color, landscapes and human figures. Iran, 1998. 98 min. 28C. Sun. March 28 at 5:45 PM 29D. Mon. March 29 at 9:00 PM VICTOR. On a cold winter's night, a young boy runs away from his parents' kinky sexual fantasies and winds up spinning on the merry-go-round of a carnival that's come to town. After fainting in the arms of Mick, one of the workers at the fair grounds, he is taken to the home of Trish, a young prostitute who doesn't really know what to do with this young thing - she's got problems of her own. But Victor seems to be the impetus for Trish to take control of her life, and likewise, Victor comes to life in her - maternal - arms. Director Sandrine Veysset (Will it Snow at Christmas) finds the poetry in reality in this down-to-earth fairytale, and turns the concept of family on its head. France, 1998. 98 min. Preceded by SIESTA. A foreigner and a street urchin have a brief but meaningful awakening in a Buenos Aires park. Directed by Julia Solomonoff. Argentina/USA, 1998, 21 min. 28D. Sun. March 28 at 8:30 PM 29C. Mon. March 29 at 6:00 PM

THE WOUNDS PASSION ORPHANS FOLLOWING

PASSION. The stylish atmospheric creepiness of this screen version of James M. Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice is heightened by an ultra-noir thirties Hungarian setting. Detailing the couple's insatiable affair and the complications that follow their crime, director György Fehér's second feature lives up to its well-chosen title in more ways than one. Every shot is deliberate, with luminous, grainy, black and white compositions. The handheld shooting style creates a palpably claustrophobic environment of provincial squalor and eerie bureaucratic machinations. An ambitious, poetic interpretation of the familiar story as powerfully original as its maverick auteur. Hungary, 1998. 136 min. 30D. Tues. March 30 at 8:30 PM 31C. Wed. March 31 at 6:00 PM THE WOUNDS. A clever pair of teenage criminals, by turns brilliantly entreprenurial and murderously callous, flippantly rise to destructive success in this stunning film, directed by Srdjan Dragojevic, which is set in war-torn Bosnia. Comical and cruel, Pinkie and Trout master the use of violence to achieve the power and fame they crave. Their celebrity owes much to a glamorous, cynical talk-show host who senses the youths' ability to entice viewers as much as they attract her, until things get out of control. In a world in which humanity and morality seem to have vanished, the boys grow quickly and willingly take their mentors' places, yet perversely put childish antics and a desire to prove their toughness ahead of survival. Based on actual events, this is a fast-paced portrait of a wounded country and its people not to be missed. Yugoslavia/France, 1998. 103 min. 1D. Thurs. April 1 at 8:30 PM 4A. Sun. April 4 at 12:30 PM ORPHANS. Glasgow's a tough town with a strong sense of community, where wit and compassion and knowing your way around the pub are essential. Such is a premise of the powerful and funny directorial debut of Peter Mullan, who earned best actor honors in 1998 at Cannes for his portrayal of a recovering alcoholic in Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe. Inspired by his late mother's unconditional love, Mullan brings together four siblings to mourn their mother's death, and the new orphans don't take readily to their new status. Events follow in rollicking form as the three stubbornly individualistic brothers get deeper into ever-crazier messes of their own making, while their fragile sister must fend for herself. Passionate and tender, the film explores sin and forgiveness in most unusual ways. UK, 1998. 100 min. 2C. Fri. April 2 at 6:00 PM 4B. Sun. April 4 at 3:30 PM FOLLOWING. Bill, a wannabe writer, spends his considerable free time tailing people, picked at random, through the streets of London. Although it begins innocently enough, with self-imposed regulations to keep it on the up-and-up, he soon finds himself breaking his own rules, and this harmless hobby becomes obsession. Consequently Bill is "busted" by one of his victims, who turns out to be a suave, debonair burglar. Cobb, part mentor and part evil twin, introduces Bill to a voyeuristic world of breaking and entering, where prying into peoples' lives takes precedence over stealing objects. Through an ingenious series of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and counter-flashbacks, first-time feature director Christopher Nolan ensnares his characters and his viewers in a cinematic labyrinth that keeps us guessing and on our toes. A wickedly clever debut. United Kingdom, 1998. 70 min. A Zeitgeist Films Release. 2D. Fri. April 2 at 9:00 PM 3A. Sat. April 3 at 1:30 PM Two young men try to establish their own identity in two separate and stylistically different films. In LIKE FATHER LIKE SON, whose script emerged out of a series of regional writing workshops. Bernard is determined that his future will not be in the steel industry despite his father's leading position in the factory union and his assumption his son will also work there. Bernard has other ideas and it is how he implements them that is the very moving subject of this neatly observed, real life drama, cast with the actual inhabitants of the town of Maubeuge and co-directed by Christophe Restiau and Johan Roger. France, 1998. 39 min. In OPEN BODIES, 18-year-old Rémi, son of a French mother and a North African father, studies commerce, works part-time in an Arab grocery, and, answering an ad for film actors, finds himself in a relationship with Marc, the director. His sexual identity, however, is as "open" as his cultural one. Director Sébastien Lifshitz's careful observation of a young man whose being is still fluid is rich both in its austerity and romanticism. France, 1997. 47 min. 30C. Tues. March 30 at 6:00 PM 31D. Wed. March 31 at 9:15 PM

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON THRANE'S METHOD BARRIO TOKYO EYES

THRANE'S METHOD. On a sunny afternoon, after moving into his new apartment, Thrane sees his neighbor, Mol, and decides he will stay long enough to at least decorate the place. Mol is an exceptionally beautiful woman, with a warmth and a smile that captivate all who meet her, and she is married. Thrane's architect friend is also smitten by her loveliness, yet the director keeps the story focused on the pursuer and the pursued, subtly shifting from the rootless Thrane's desire for love to his fear of happiness. Based on a prize-winning Norwegian novel, this is Unni Straume's third feature, in which she reveals a cinematic delicacy of touch, an ability to sustain characters' moods and motivations in unexpected ways, and a radiant intensity. Surprisingly forceful and fascinatingly different, the unfolding of Thrane's unusual methods is a true delight. Norway, 1998. 84 min. Preceded by IMMERSION. Shot entirely underwater, this breathtaking dance film capture's the spirit's passing. Directed by Jodi Kaplan. USA, 1999, 10 min. 1C. Thurs. April 1 at 6:00 PM 3B. Sat. April 3 at 3:30 PM BARRIO. It's hot in Madrid in August, and it feels even hotter if you're dreaming about the vacations you might have spent with the girls you might have met. So Rai, Manu and Javi--three teenagers living in the concrete high-rises surrounding Madrid--while away their time, working odd jobs, watching TV full blast, and trying to figure out how they can avoid the dead-end lives that have trapped their parents and siblings. One of the most promising Spanish directors to have debuted this decade, Fernando León de Aranoa (Familia) renders the world of his young protagonists with startling immediacy; one viscerally feels the texture of these lives, and comes to understand without condescension or moralizing the decisions each young man will be forced to make. Spain, 1998. 99 min. 3C. Sat. April 3 at 6:00 PM 5D. Mon. April 5 at 8:30 PM TOKYO EYES. K is a young Japanese GenXer who has decided that the only way to deal with his idea of unacceptable behavior is to shoot the miscreants. He hooks up with Hinano, a ditzy hairdresser, who recognizes him from a portrait held by her brother, the cop working on the case. K and Hinano develop a somewhat tenuous sexual relationship while Hinano is conflicted about her attraction to K and the knowledge that she should tell her brother she has found him. Working in Japanese with a cast that includes two current teen idols, French director Jean-Pierre Limosin offers an affectionate salute to New Wave Asian cinema, while taking us on a dizzying tour of Tokyo's tangled geography. France/ Japan, 1998. 97 min. 3D. Sat. April 3 at 9:00 PM 5C. Mon. April 5 at 6:00 PM DRIBBLING FATE. A lovely, touching story about coming to terms with the disappointed dreams of youth, DRIBBLING FATE was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1998 Naples Film Festival-quite a distinction for one of the first films to have emerged from the Cape Verde Islands, as well as for debut director Fernando Vendrell. At 50, Mané seems worn out, locked into a daily routine of domestic life and tending his small shop. Yet as a young man, Mané was a soccer player of enormous promise, with offers to play professionally. The chance to confront his past comes one day with an invitation to Portugal to see his favorite team, Benefica, play in the finals. The direction is beautifully understated throughout; even in the quietest scenes, one is always aware of the powerful emotional currents running just below the surface. Portugal / Cape Verde, 1997. 82 min. 4C. Sun. April 4 at 6:00 PM 6D. Tues. April 6 at 8:30 PM BUTTONERS. Reminiscent of Buñuel, Petr Zelenka's wicked black comedy cleverly interweaves six episodes that explore the balance between chance and destiny. The first takes place on August 6, 1943 in Kokura, Japan, the island that would have received the first atomic bomb if weather conditions had been better. From here we travel to present-day Prague, visiting a selection of its alternately hilarious and bizarre inhabitants whose lives are connected in ways they scarcely imagine. The film's title refers to an astonishing and erotic method of removing upholstery buttons! Czech Republic, 1997. 100 min. 4D. Sun. April 4 at 8:30 PM 6C. Tues. April 6 at 6:00 PM HEAD ON. Ari's family is on his back - get married, get a job. They have no clue as to his sexually obsessive life-style. Ari Dimitriade's (Ari) hits his stride with a brilliant, powerful performance as a reckless seeker of instant sexual gratification, still emotionally bound to his traditionally Greek family. This bold, uncompromising feature by Greek-Australian director, Ana Kokkinos (Only the Brave, ND/NF, 1995), propels us at a whirlwind pace through Ari's various exploits over a 24-hour period, which include several gay encounters as well as a moving sequence where he attempts to have sex with the mixed-up sister of his best friend. In poignant contrast is a scene where he dances with his mother and sister, a reminder of how things used to be. Australia, 1998. 104 min. A Strand Releasing Film. 7C. Wed. April 7 at 6:00 PM 8D. Thurs. April 8 at 9:00 PM

DRIBBLING FATE LOVERS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE SITCOM LEAF ON A PILLOW TRANS XIAO WU

LOVERS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. The director of Cows (ND/NF '93), Julio Medem returns with this beguiling celebration of the power and mystery of love. While chasing a soccer ball in the playground, Otto's eyes meet those of Ana; instantly, it's clear they'll always be together. Their blossoming romance comes to a halt, however, when Otto's father meets Ana's mother, falls in love, and moves in with her. Now, Otto and Ana are something like brother and sister, yet neither time, nor distance, nor even the force of nature can stop this couple from keeping their date with an all-powerful destiny. Alternating the narration between his protagonists, Medem creates several major plot lines which ingeniously come together in a remarkable conclusion set in the frozen landscapes of Lapland. A tour-de-force, as well as the most romantic movie of the year. Spain, 1998. 114 min. A Fine Line Features Release. 7D. Wed. April 7 at 9:00 PM 8C. Thurs. April 8 at 6:00 PM SITCOM. Last year young François Ozon gave New Directors/New Films its most suspenseful contribution with See the Sea. This year he's back with arguably its most controversial, SITCOM. Taking the stylistic cues of an American situation comedy - unflappable generic characters, outrageous situations and an uninflected television style - Ozon imagines a super-bourgeois family in a super-cataclysmic situation of its own making. He at once subverts the notion of nuclear domestic happiness and merrily celebrates the deconstruction of traditional family values - and not just French. A small family lives in apparent harmony until one day, out of the blue, father brings home an unlikely pet. The wit is fierce, the plot perverse, the cast gung-ho, the situation Voltaire, and the comedy radically unsafe. Not for the squeamish. France, 1998. 85 min. A Leisure Time Features Release. Preceded by ANTHRAKITIS. Dolly's been hoarding coal. All the neighbors want to share - drastic measures are called for! Directed by Sara Sugarman. UK, 1998, 14 min. 9C. Fri. April 9 at 6:00 PM at Titus One 9C. Fri. April 9 at 6:30 PM at Titus Two 11D. Sun. April 11 at 8:30 PM TWIN FALLS IDAHO. Rarely has an American independent filmmaker emerged with such a spellbinding first feature. In a dark and unnamed city a desperate woman, Penny, is en route to a seedy hotel for an assignation. Whom she finds there is at first astounds her, but then beguiles her -- Francis and Blake Falls, softspoken conjoined twins, played by Michael and Mark Polish, 27-year-old identical twins, the film's creators. Michael directed the film, and Mark and Michael wrote it, keeping the tone at once precise and dreamlike. The film unfolds its fabulous tale gently allowing the brothers separate emotional lives where nature confused their bodies. The film is about support rather than dependence, about caring rather than exploitation. Whether seen as a spiritual fairytale, a meditation on love, or simply a most unusual narrative, TWIN FALLS IDAHO is a deeply haunting film that works its audience into believing the most extraordinary story. USA, 1999. 110 mins. A Sony Pictures Classics Release. 9D. Fri. April 9 at 9:00 PM at Titus One 9D. Fri. April 9 at 9:30 PM at Titus Two 10A. Sat. April 10 at 12:00 Noon LEAF ON A PILLOW. Indonesia may be one of the most populous nations on earth but its cinema is virtually unknown here. This moving film introduces to Americans not only its leading director, Garin Nugroho, and actress, Christine Hakim, but sobering images of Jakarta, home of more than eight million people and "the centre of Javanese royal traditions". This latter description, however, is ironic, for the film's focus on the city's murderous underbelly, and the homeless kids who with childish optimism and energy, try to get by. Schemes are devised, friendships are formed, affection is sought. Christine Hakim plays Asik, a batik merchant with little means herself, who shelters some of the children. Suggested by a documentary Nugroho made earlier, and acted easily and naturally by actual street kids who know these stories only too well, LEAF ON A PILLOW depicts with candor a sad and disturbing aspect of urban life the world over. Indonesia, 1998. 83 min. 10B. Sat. April 10 at 3:00 PM 11C. Sun. April 11 at 6:00 PM TRANS. A stylistic tour-de-force. A young man escapes from a juvenile prison and is recaptured in the Florida swamplands. He goes from nowhere to nowhere, and with great visual originality and control, Julian Goldberger's first feature delineates not only the young man's physical journey but his mental and emotional ones as well. The film's impact is enhanced by the astonishing central performance of Ryan Daugherty in his debut. An edgy restlessness and unusual quietness defines how he observes his environment - the neon lights, the street lamps, car beams, flickering signs - that are as much a prison as were the steel bars. USA, 1998. 82 min. 10C. Sat. April 10 at 6:00 PM 11B. Sun. April 11 at 3:00 PM XIAO WU. In a provincial Chinese backwater a petty thief leads a tentative existence. He resists any emotional display but this is natural in a social environment that has neither understanding or compassion for individuality. Gradually though through various everyday encounters, Xiao Wu, the title character, has his soul revealed, and the film ends with an emotional power rarely achieved by more experienced filmmakers. The triumph is that the director, Jia Zhangke, is fresh from the Beijing Film Academy, and has cast his gritty feature with non-professional actors who only add to the convincing realism of the film. An extraordinary portrait of contemporary Chinese life. China, 1997. 107 min. 10D. Sat. April 10 at 9:00 PM 11A. Sun. April 11 at 12:00 Noon