The Ellison Center

2009 Seattle International Film Festival

East European Films
(Alphabetical Order by name)

For more information visit SIFF

33 Scenes from Life

Poland/Germany, 2008 (95 minutes)
Director: Malgoska Szumowska
Cast: Julia Jentsch, Peter Gantzler, Maciej Stuhr, Malgorzata Hajewska, Andrzej Hudziak
Julia is a successful photographer whose marriage to a famous composer begins to fall apart at the very same time her parents pass away. Trouble comes in 33 scenes in this poetic film from Malgośka Szumowska, a rising star of Polish cinema, with impeccable editing, an award-winning soundtrack, and a strong ensemble cast.
4:30 PM, Tuesday, June 02, Harvard Exit
9:30 PM, Friday, June 05, Harvard Exit
 

Alisa’s Birthday
 

North American Premiere
Russia, 2008 (94 minutes)
Director: Sergei Seregin
Cast: Featuring the Voices of: Yasya Nikilaeva, Evgeniy Stychkin, Alexey Kolgan
School is out for summer and Alisa is leaving futuristic Moscow for the planet Koleida where she’ll embark on an adventure in time travel to save the people of the planet’s previous society. With surprising creative characters and incredible energy, ALISA’S BIRTHDAY is a new family film worth celebrating. English subtitles will be read aloud at the June 14 screening.
11:00 AM, Sunday, June 07, Kirkland Performance Center
7:00 PM, Tuesday, June 09, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
11:00 AM, Sunday, June 14, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
 

Black Dogs Barking

North American Premiere
Turkey, 2009 (88 minutes)
Directors: Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Gorbach
Cast: Cemal Toktas, Volga Sorgu Tekinglu, Erkan Can, Ayfer Dönmez, Taylan Ertugrul
This dynamic directorial debut does for Istanbul what Scorsese did for Little Italy. With an inventive shooting style and an authentic ear for the city’s slang, director Mehmet Bahadir Er tells the intimate story of two friends who get into deep trouble in Istanbul’s chaotic underground scene.
4:30 PM, Tuesday, May 26, Uptown Theater
9:30 PM, Wednesday, May 27, Uptown Theater
 

Buick Riviera
 

Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Germany/USA, 2008 (86 minutes)
Director: Goran Rušinović
Cast: Leon Lučev, Slavko Štimac, Aime Klein
After fleeing war-torn Bosnia 17 years ago, Hasan seeks a new beginning in the American Midwest. He meets a fellow Balkan in the States, but rather than finding common ground, old resentments flare up, proving that ancient feuds transcend political boundaries. Based on a novel by Miljenko Jergovic, BUICK RIVIERA explores an émigré’s ability to survive in and out of cultural and historical bounds.
7:00 PM, Tuesday, May 26, Harvard Exit
4:30 PM, Wednesday, June 10, Uptown Theater
 

Captive
 

Russia/Bulgaria, 2008 (80 minutes)
Director: Alexei Uchitel
Cast: Vyacheslav Krikunov, Pyotr Logachev, Irakli Mskhalaia
When a convoy of Russian troops gets lost in the Chechen mountains, two soldiers capture a handsome young local to lead them to safety. But as the three men trek across the rugged landscape, complex relationships develop that transcend the dynamics of captor and captive.
11:00 AM, Saturday, May 23, Egyptian Theatre
9:30 PM, Sunday, May 31, Egyptian Theatre
 

The Country Teacher

Czech Republic/Germany/France, 2008 (113 minutes)
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Cast: Pavel Liška, Zuzana Bydžovská, Ladislav Šedivý, Marek Daniel, Tereza Voríšková
Director Bodhan Sláma’s subtle tale contemplates nature, sexuality, and love, as closeted gay schoolteacher Petr moves to a bucolic Czech village to teach natural science. The finely balanced relationship between Petr and his new landlady Marie and her comely son is fraught with repressed desire.
7:00 PM, Thursday, June 04, Harvard Exit
1:30 PM, Saturday, June 06, Harvard Exit
 

Egon & Dönci
 

Hungary, 2008 (75 minutes)
Director: Ádám Magyar
This charming animated film features Egon, an amateur scientist, and his meddling cat Dönci, as they plan to leave their home planet for a trip to explore Earth. Director Ádám Magyar uses sounds and gestures, rather than dialogue, to communicate his characters’ thoughts and ideas in this delightful interplanetary adventure.
11:00 AM, Sunday, May 31, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
11:00 AM, Friday, June 05, Pacific Place Cinemas 11

Hooked
 

Romania/France, 2008 (84 minutes)
Director: Adrian Sitaru
Cast: Adrian Titieni, Ioana Flora, Maria Dinulescu
HOOKED is a close-up look at a cracked love relationship being wedged apart by Ana, a prostitute who the lovers accidentally hit with their car. After waking, Ana infiltrates their relationship and exploits their weaknesses, wreaking havoc either for revenge or pleasure. Winner of the New Director Prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
1:30 PM, Friday, May 22, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
9:15 PM, Sunday, June 07, SIFF Cinema
4:30 PM, Tuesday, June 09, Admiral

The Karamazovs
 

Czech Republic/Poland, 2008 (100 minutes)
Director: Petr Zelenka
Cast: Ivan Trojan, Igor Chmela, Martin Myšička, David Novotný, Rodek Holub
Petr Zelenka expertly layers Dostoyevsky’s questions of morality, atheism, and their consequences through the interplay of novel, play, film, and “real life.” A Czech theater troupe puts on an alternative production of “The Brothers Karamazov” at a Polish steel mill, but as the play unfolds, offstage subplots interlace and reflect the themes portrayed onstage. Official Academy Award Submission for Best Foreign Language Film.
9:15 PM, Wednesday, June 03, Harvard Exit
11:00 AM, Sunday, June 07, Harvard Exit
 

Live and Remember
 

North American Premiere
Russia, 2008 (100 minutes)
Director: Alexander Proshkin
Cast: Daria Moroz, Mikhail Evlanov, Sergei Makovetski, Anna Mikhalkova, Yevgenia Glushenko
In the final months of World War II, deserting soldier Andrei returns from the battlefront and hides out near his tradition-bound Siberian village, forcing his wife to lead a double-life. The striking frozen landscapes bring to life Alexander Proshkin’s small but profound portrait of hardscrabble peasant life.
9:30 PM, Saturday, June 13, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
1:30 PM, Sunday, June 14, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
 

The Other Bank
 

North American Premiere
Georgia/Kazakhstan, 2009 (90 minutes)
Director: George Ovashvili
Cast: Tedo Bekhauri, Galoba Gambaria, Nika Alajajev, Tamara Meskhi, Archil Tabukashvili
A 12-year-old Georgian refugee travels back to war-torn Abkhazia to find his father and a second chance at life. His odyssey takes him across physical and emotional borders, where nationalism and revenge are the way of life. A riveting story about a boy with grownup cares who finds a path to living bravely.
9:30 PM, Thursday, June 11, Harvard Exit
11:00 AM, Saturday, June 13, Harvard Exit
 

Scratch
 

Poland, 2008 (89 minutes)
Director: Michal Rosa
Cast: Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak, Zrzysztof Stroinski, Ewa Telega, Miroslawa Marcheluk, Teresa Marczewska
Joanna and Jan, an older couple in Krakow, have enjoyed a long and satisfying marriage. But when Joanna receives a videotape alleging that Jan was once an informer for the Polish secret service, seeds of doubt begin to erode the trust between them. An intimate drama that explores the effects of state intervention in private life from the days of Communist rule.
7:15 PM, Monday, June 08, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
11:00 AM, Friday, June 12, Pacific Place Cinemas 11

Snow
 

Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany/France/Iran, 2008 (99 minutes)
Director: Aida Begic
Cast: Zana Marjanovic, Jasna Ornela Bery, Sadzida Setic, Vesna Masic, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic
The women of a remote Bosnian village attempt to move on with their lives after most of the men were killed in the 1992-95 civil war. But a visit from developers during the first snowstorm of the season reopens painful wounds and creates a dilemma that threatens the town’s future. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival Critics Week Grand Prize.
7:00 PM, Friday, May 22, Uptown Theater
1:30 PM, Friday, May 29, Pacific Place Cinemas 11
 

Spring 1941
 

US Premiere
Israel/Poland, 2008 (122 minutes)
Director: Uri Barbash
Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Clare Higgins, Kelly Harrison, Neve McIntosh, Maria Pakulnis
A world famous cellist returns to Poland 30 years after World War II to visit the places that still haunt her. A tragic love story unfolds as a Jewish family hides in the shelter of a remote Polish farm where individuals are shocked out of the everyday and into a world where every moment could be your last.
6:30 PM, Sunday, June 07, Egyptian Theatre
4:00 PM, Monday, June 08, Egyptian Theatre

Sügisball
 

Estonia, 2007 (123 minutes)
Director: Veiko Öunpuu
Cast: Rain Tolk, Taavi Eelmaa, Tiina Tauraite
Set among a complex of Soviet-era tower blocks in Estonia, SÜGISBALL is a character study of loneliness and yearning. The lives of six residents—a writer, an architect, their estranged wives, a single mother, and a barber—intersect through a series of miscommunications in this sophisticated black comedy.
9:30 PM, Monday, May 25, Harvard Exit
4:00 PM, Wednesday, May 27, Uptown Theater

Tengri: Blue Heavens
 

Kyrgyzstan/France/Germany, 2008 (104 minutes)
Director: Marie Jaoul de Poncheville
Cast: Albina Imacheva, Ilimbek Kalmouratov, Hélène Patarot, Taalaikan Abazova, Nikolai Marousitch
Temur returns to his traditional Kyrgyz village looking for his father, but instead finds love with married Amira. When her husband, a fighter with the MUJAHIDEEN in Afghanistan, hears of the betrayal, he stops waging jihad to track down the lovers across the rugged country. TENGRI offers a classic lovers-on-the-run melodrama set amid spectacular widescreen backdrops.
4:00 PM, Monday, May 25, Neptune Theatre
9:45 PM, Thursday, May 28, SIFF Cinema
 

The Wild Bees
 

Czech Republic, 2001 (94 minutes)
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Cast: Tatiana Vilhelmová, Zdenek Rauser, Pavel Liska, Vanda Hybernová, Marek Daniel
Emerging Master Bhodan Sláma’s charmingly bittersweet feature film follows the fortunes of two brothers trapped in an eccentric, rural Czech village in their quest for love and happiness. Deliberately evoking the creative heritage of the Czech New Wave, Sláma crafts a touching, personal film illustrates how community fuels the wildest hopes and dreams of the individual.
11:00 AM, Saturday, June 06, Harvard Exit
 

Wild Field
 

Russia, 2008 (104 minutes)
Director: Mikhail Kalatozishvili
Cast: Oleg Dolin, Alexandr Ilyin Sr., Alexandr Ilyin Jr., Roman Madyanov, Irina Butanayeva
The Kazakh steppe provides a mesmerizing backdrop to Mikhail Kalatozishvili’s story of an introspective doctor and the hardscrabble community that comes to him for medical and emotional aid. Brilliant cinematography captures the harsh beauty of the landscape, while a host of outstanding performances build a complex picture of the post-Soviet psyche.
1:30 PM, Saturday, May 23, Uptown Theater
7:00 PM, Monday, May 25, Harvard Exit
 

Zift
 

Bulgaria, 2008 (92 minutes)
Director: Javor Gardev
Cast: Zachary Baharov, Tanya Ilieva, Vladimir Penev, Mihail Mutafov, Djoko Rossich
Moth has been locked up in the Sofia Penitentiary for a murder he didn’t commit and is about to be released on parole. He plans to set out for the tropics, but everything changes when his partner in crime shows up with some unfinished business. A witty noir thriller set in totalitarian Bulgaria, ZIFT won Best Director at the Moscow International Film Festival.
9:15 PM, Tuesday, May 26, Harvard Exit
4:00 PM, Monday, June 01, SIFF Cinema