Virtual International Film Club
Virtual International Film Club: Nana
We will be discussing the following film: Nana Synopsis: Live-in nannies Leidy, Fina and Clara leave their children in distant towns to be raised by relatives while they move away to the city to care for somebody else’s child. In a love chain, where mother figures are substituted and duplicated, bonds grow strong between kids and their nannies, and between the nannies’ children and the grandmothers or aunts who care for them. Is there just one way of defining motherly love? Going back and forth between urban and rural scenarios in Dominican Republic and Miami, ‘Nana’ goes deep into the conflicts faced by live-in nannies. Free and available online at https://princeton.kanopy.com/video/about-elly-0 (PUID required) Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkXUMoffZ28
Virtual International Film Club: The Women’s Balcony
The Women’s Balcony 1h 40 min | Drama/Comedy | 2016 (Israel, Hebrew) Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy link Trailer: trailer Synopsis: An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a rift between the men and women in a devout community in Jerusalem in this rousing, good-hearted comedy. Awash with Jerusalem's distinctive glow, THE WOMEN'S BALCONY is a warm, poignant portrait of a modern
Virtual International Film Club: Cold Sweat
Next movie for our Virtual International Film Club will be Iranian film “Cold Sweat”. We will have a special guest, a post-doctoral fellow, Sheida Dayani from the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies who selected the movie for us and will be moderating our discussion. Big THNAK YOU to Becky Parnian who helped organize this special session! We hope you will enjoy watching it and will join us for a discussion! Film title: Cold Sweat Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYTNf6Ivyek Available at Kanopy: https://princeton.kanopy.com/video/cold-sweat (PUID required) Synopsis: Afrooz is the captain of the Iranian National Futsal Team, a women’s indoor soccer team. A long-held dream to play the Asian Games final is shattered when Afrooz’ husband imposes a travel restriction on her. Furious, Afrooz stands up against the patriarchal Iranian system. But will she win this battle? About the director: Soheil Beiraghi is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. "Me" (2016), "Cold Sweat" (2018) and "Unpopular" (2020) are the works of this young director. He started working in cinema as an assistant director in 2005 and after a decade of work as a programmer and assistant director in various films, he directed his first feature film called "Me" (2016). Beiraghi also has a background in theater directing and play writing.
Virtual International Film Club: Boy
Next movie for our Virtual International Film Club will be a comedy-drama from New Zealand “Boy”. We hope you will enjoy the move and join us for a Zoom discussion this Friday. Film title: Boy Trailer: https://youtu.be/ESD3mlgpSwM Available at Kanopy: https://princeton.kanopy.com/video/boy (PUID required) Synopsis: Out of nowhere, Boy's Dad (Waititi) rolls up in a vintage car with his "gang", and turns Boy's life upside down. There are treasure hunts, fistfights, and falling-outs, as Boy grapples to learn why his Dad left the family so long ago. Waititi adopts a fanciful deadpan tone that's part Wes Anderson and part Flight of the Conchords, complete with child-like animations and hilarious re-enactments of Michael Jackson music videos. It's one of the most creative comedies you'll see all year. Awards: Winner of Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and nominated for the Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema - Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival. About the director: Taika Waititi is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. His feature films Boy (2010) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) have each been the top-grossing New Zealand film. Waititi's 2003 short film Two Cars, One Night earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. He co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the horror comedy film What We Do in the Shadows (2014) with Jemaine Clement, which was adapted into a television series of the same name (2019–present). The series has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. His most recent directing credits include the superhero film Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the black comedy film Jojo Rabbit (2019), the latter of which he also wrote and starred in as an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler. Jojo Rabbit received six Academy Award nominations and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Waititi also earned a Grammy Award for producing the film's soundtrack.
Virtual International Film Club: The Farewell
In celebration of the Lunar New Year this February, IEGAP and AS@P are cosponsoring the next Virtual International Film Club. The movie for February will be the American film, "The Farewell" by Lulu Wang. We hope you will enjoy watching it and that you will join us for a discussion on Friday, February 11, at noon. Film title: The Farewell Trailer: https://youtu.be/RofpAjqwMa8 Available at Kanopy: https://princeton.kanopy.com/video/farewell-1 (PUID required) Synopsis: In this funny, heartfelt story, Billi's (Awkwafina) family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch--the only person that doesn't know she only has a few weeks to live. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there's a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken.
Virtual International Film Club: East Side Sushi
In celebration of the International Women’s Day on March 8, IEGAP will be co-hosting next Virtual International Film Club with Women of Princeton Employee Resource Group (WERG). We will be watching “East Side Sushi", a film directed by Anthony Lucero.We hope you will enjoy watching it and will join us for a discussion on Friday, March 11, at noon. We are looking forward to seeing WERG members on Friday’s Zoom discussion. Film title: East Side Sushi Trailer: https://youtu.be/RofpAjqwMa8 Available at Kanopy: https://princeton.kanopy.com/video/east-side-sushi (PUID required) Synopsis: Single mom Juana can slice and dice anything with great speed and precision. After working at a fruit-vending cart for years, she decides to take a job at a local Japanese restaurant. Intrigued by the food, she learns to make a multitude of sushi on her own. Eventually she attempts to become a sushi chef, but is unable to because she is the 'wrong' race and gender. Against all odds, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, determined to not let anyone stop her from achieving her dream. This critically acclaimed indie favorite was the winner of awards at 9 different film festivals, including Best Narrative Feature at SF Indie Fest.
Virtual International Film Club: Bicycle Thieves
Hello IEGAP friends, For our next Film Club discussion we selected an Italian classic, “Bicycle Thieves”, directed by Vittorio De Sica. We hope you will enjoy watching it and will join us for a discussion on Friday, May 20, at noon. We are looking forward to seeing you on Zoom! Film title: BICYCLE THIEVES Join a discussion on Zoom Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax6eL_Rfv9g Available at Kanopy: https://www.kanopy.com/en/princeton/video/219410 (PUID required) Synopsis: Hailed around the world as one of the greatest movies ever made, the Academy Award–winning BICYCLE THIEVES, directed by Vittorio De Sica, defined an era in cinema. In poverty-stricken postwar Rome, a man is on his first day of a new job that offers hope of salvation for his desperate family when his bicycle, which he needs for work, is stolen. With his young son in tow, he sets off to track down the thief. Simple in construction and profoundly rich in human insight, BICYCLE THIEVES embodies the greatest strengths of the Italian neorealist movement: emotional clarity, social rectitude, and brutal honesty. About the director: Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: Sciuscià and Bicycle Thieves (honorary), while Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Il giardino dei Finzi Contini won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Indeed, the great critical success of Sciuscià (the first foreign film to be so recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Bicycle Thieves helped establish the permanent Best Foreign Film Award. These two films are considered part of the canon of classic cinema. Bicycle Thieves was cited by Turner Classic Movies as one of the 15 most influential films in cinema history.
Virtual International Film Club: Double Life of Veronique
The Double Life of Veronique (French: La double vie de Véronique, Polish: Podwójne życie Weroniki) is a 1991 drama directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Irène Jacob. The film explores the themes of identity, love, and human intuition through the characters of Weronika, a Polish choir soprano, and her double, Véronique, a French music teacher. The two women do not know each other, and yet they share a mysterious and emotional bond that transcends language and geography. The Double Life of Véronique was Kieślowski’s first film to be produced partly outside his native Poland. It won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Actress Award for Jacob. Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy link Trailer: trailer Join the meeting on zoom: https://princeton.zoom.us/j/98677707084?pwd=a1dMWnR4WGZadkQrRkVmZFNwZ2IvUT09
Virtual International Film Club: City of God
In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Phellipe Haagensen) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood. José "Zé" Pequeno (Douglas Silva) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, "Knockout Ned" (Leandro Firmino da Hora). The film was shot on location in Rio's poorest neighborhoods. City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) was released in Brazil in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. Bráulio Mantovani adapted the story from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, but the plot is loosely based on real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s, with the film's closure depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and vigilante-turned-criminal Knockout Ned. The tagline is "If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you." The film received critical acclaim and garnered four nominations at the 76th Academy Awards; Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Director (Meirelles), Best Film Editing (Daniel Rezende), and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mantovani). In 2003, it was Brazil's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not end up being nominated as one of the five finalists. It is frequently listed by many critics and audiences as one of the greatest films of the 21st century and one of the best films of all time.