THE GLOBAL LENS COLLECTION 2007

ANOTHER MAN'S GARDEN
Joao Luis Sol de Carvalho
Mozambique, 2006

For a young girl who wants to study medicine in Mozambique, the obstacles extend far beyond the distractions of her boyfriend and her family. A moment of weakness or an error in judgment can cost her a place at the university, an irretrievable loss in a country with so few opportunities for women. Sol de Carvalho dedicates this film to the courage of young women who continue to strive against the odds, proving that educating a girl is not a waste of time in a land where it is perceived that “sending a girl to school is like watering another man's garden.”

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DAM STREET
Li Yu
China, 2005

During a time of rigid moral code in China, a sixteen year old girl living in small riverside town discovers she is pregnant. The community is stunned, her family loses face and she and her boyfriend are expelled from their school; in the aftermath, her boyfriend leaves her, and she is forced to put her child up for adoption. Ten years later, she is reduced to working as a singer in a local song and dance troupe, her only friend a young boy who protects her from the critical eyes of the community... until a marriage proposal probes the limits of their friendship and the depth of her unresolved past.

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ENOUGH!
Djamila Sahraoui
Algeria / France, 2006

Set in war–torn Algeria in the 1990s, Enough! follows two women on the dangerous search for the younger woman's husband, a journalist whose writings resulted in his disappearance. Both women represent anachronisms in Islamist Algeria: the younger woman is a doctor, the older a nurse with vivid memories of Algeria's fight for independence. Ignoring curfews and the constant threat of ambush by armed militias, the two women challenge the men they encounter to accept them and help them with their search. Their journey leads them across the picturesque landscapes of Algeria, to a deeper understanding of how their lives were shaped by their country's history.

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FINE DEAD GIRLS
Dalibor Matanic
Croatia, 2002

Iva and Marija, a lesbian couple, rent an apartment in a seemingly quiet building in Zagreb, but what initially appears as a safe love haven quickly turns into a nightmare. A winner of the Best Croatian Film Award, FINE DEAD GIRLS has been named one of the best Croatian movies of the last decade, and garnered much attention due to its controversial, provocative themes.

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KILOMETRE ZERO
Hineer Saleem
Iraqi Kurdistan, 2005

The first Iraqi film to be chosen to compete in the prestigious Palme d'Or competition at Cannes, KILOMETRE ZERO is a darkly humorous story about a Kurdish soldier and an Iraqi taxi driver who join together to return the body of a fallen soldier to his family, on the other side of the country. Featuring Belcim Bilgin, an ELLE cover girl in Turkey.

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ON EACH SIDE
Hugo Grosso
Argentina, 2006

There are moments when I feel like stepping into each of their stories, says the photographer hired to document construction of a bridge that will connect Victoria with Rosario—two towns on either side of a river. Building the bridge takes years, transforming lives on both sides of the river. It brings engineers and construction workers, even creates its own legend—it is said that until they finish, it is not going to rain. Two carefree boys grow into teenagers on the river, as the bridge takes shape; a mysterious engineer touches the lives of the elderly sisters who rent him a room. The photographer's pictures document the process of change, but even he is unprepared for the transformation that only begins when the bridge is complete.

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OF LOVE AND EGGS
Garin Nugroho
Indonesia, 2004

In frustration, a young woman calls out to her father, who stands no more than twenty feet away from her in a crowded mosque, Speak to me! I can't hear you! A teacher hands the anguished father a microphone, whispering, Use this. She'll hear you when you use this. To the cheers of the crowd, the father speaks into the microphone, telling his daughter how much he loves her. This film brings this gentle humor to complex relationships between parents and children, and to social and religious issues of life in and around a Jakarta mosque, through the eyes and voices of children, and the powerful imagery of a prayer rug, young love—and eggs.

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THE SACRED FAMILY
Sebastián Campos
Chile, 2005

Sometimes we're so asleep we don't know what we're up to, Marco's mother says, explaining why she must rush to Santiago to see a friend who was hurt in a car accident. Family is family, she says, but for a friend you have a commitment, even on Good Friday, when her son's friends will be houseguests for Easter. Using improvised dialogue and hand–held camera–work, the film captures the disintegration of the family's polite appearances at the hands of Marco's sensual and outspoken girlfriend. Adding to this potent mixture are Marco's friends—two university students facing exams, and a mysterious young woman with a vow of silence, guests for a weekend on the beach that will change all their lives.

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A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT
Arsen Anton Ostojic
Croatia, 2004

The setting is a ghetto in the medieval city of Split, where several stories unfold between ten o'clock and midnight on New Year's Eve. While crowds gather in the old square to listen to a rock concert, three American sailors wander the streets and alleys looking for a prostitute and a drug pusher double–crosses his dealer. A widow and her grieving child, and an addict desperate for a fix, are pulled into a scheme to ship heroin to Munich, and a young couple plots a rendezvous before midnight. Lives are unraveled on this “wonderful night,” amid fireworks and the countdown to midnight.

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