The 2003-04 season of REDCAT's Film and Video Series comes to a close with the traveling festival Global Lens: New Cinema from the Developing World, a selection of 10 narrative films made in countries from Tajikistan to Brazil. The festival is organized by the Global Film Initiative, a foundation that promotes cross-cultural understanding through the medium of cinema. Each year, the Initiative, working in consultation with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, distributes a series of features that represent some of the best filmmaking in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The festival opened in November at MoMA Film at the Gramercy Theatre and has since embarked on a tour of 12 other venues across the United States. In addition to REDCAT, these include the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The Initiative also develops standards-based study guides for several of the films to support high school and higher education curricula. This year, the films selected for the education program are Rashid Masharawi's Ticket to Jerusalem, Djamshed Usmonov's Fararishtay kitfi rost ("Angel on the Right"), Manijeh Hekmat's Zendan-e zanan ("Women's Prison"), and Renato Falcão's A Festa de Margarette ("Margarette's Feast").

As the festival comes to REDCAT, the education component is coordinated by the Community Arts Partnership (CAP), a collaboration between CalArts and 17 community-based arts organizations that provides college-level arts education to middle and high school students. The education component features free screenings and focused discussions conducted by the filmmakers and the curators of the series. High school students, teachers and parents are invited to attend, individually or in groups. For information, contact CAP Public Programs Coordinator Sayda Trujillo at 661 222-2710 or trujillo@calarts.edu.

ALL PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

For Double Feature Pricing Information, Please Contact The REDCAT Box Office: 213.237.2800

SOLD OUT

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

7:30 p.m.

Yamina Bachir-Chouikh: Rachida

Algeria, 2002, 100 min., Arabic and French with English subtitles Followed by Q & A with Yamina Bachir-Chouikh, schedule permitting

During the period of Islamist terror in Algeria, the protagonist, Rachida, teaches in a popular neighborhood of Algiers, where she goes to work without the veil imposed by the fundamentalists. One morning, she is kidnapped by a group of extremists, who demand that she plant a bomb in the school. When she refuses, the gang leader shoots her in the stomach. Miraculously, Rachida survives, and seeks refuge in a small village only to find fundamentalists active there as well. Rachida, the feature film debut by Yamina Bachir-Chouikh, has had an extraordinary impact in Algeria. Loosely inspired by real events, the film will be remembered for the protagonist's anguished cry for help: "How can you remain silent when the entire country is in agony?"

Directed, written and edited by Yamina Bachir-Chouikh; produced by Thierry Lenouvel; cinematography by Mustapha Belmihoub; music by Anne-Olga de Pass. WITH: Ibtissem Djouadi, Bahira Rachedi, Hamid Ramas, Rachida Messaouden, Aida Kechoud, Amel Chouikh and Abdelkader Belmokadem.

Yamina Bachir-Chouikh was born in 1954 in Algiers. She entered the Centre National du Cinéma Algérien in 1973 and specialized in editing. Since then, she has collaborated with filmmakers such as Merzak Allouache, Ahmed Rachedi, Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina and Mohamed Chouikh (La Citadelle, 1988).

Brazil, 2002, 100 min., Portuguese with English subtitles
Adult content

Guaranteed to shock even jaded viewers, Cláudio Assis' debut feature is seeped in bold, sun-drenched colors. It is a provocative tale of low-rent losers set in the coastal town of Recife, Brazil. Assis' characters seemingly stem from some Carnival hell-a macho butcher and his born-again wife, a forlorn barmaid, a sinister sadist and the gay manager of a flophouse called the Hotel Texas. A cleverly interconnected script propels the action in this highly original film, distinguished by its perfect confluence of style and story.

Directed by Cláudio Assis; produced by Assis and Paulo Sacramento; written by Hilton Lacerda; cinematography by Walter Carvalho; production design by Renata Pinheiro; music by Lúcio Maia and Jorge Du Peixe. WITH: Matheus Nachtergaele, Jonas Bloch, Dira Paes, Chico Diaz and Leona Cavalli.

Cláudio Assis was born in Caruaru in the state of Pernambuco. His short films Henrique (1987), Soneto do Desmantelo Blue (1993) and Texas Hotel (1999) have received numerous awards at film festivals across Brazil. He was also the production manager of Baile Perfumado (1997), the grand winner of the Brasília Film Festival.

Cuba, 2001, 88 min., Spanish with English subtitles

A remarkable debut feature, Nada takes a comic look at Cuban bureaucracy as it presents us with a story of fictional shenanigans that go on at a Havana post office. Carla is a bored young postal clerk who dreams of leaving the country to join her parents in Miami. In the meantime, she steals and rewrites letters in order to brighten the lives of the letters' recipients. Intermittently bursting into song and cleverly mimicking various cinematic styles, the film signals the arrival of an important new Cuban filmmaker.

Directed by Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti; produced by Camilo Vives, Thierry Forte, Sarah Halouia and Antonio Pérez Perez; written by Malberti and Manolito Rodríguez; cinematography by Raúl Rodríguez Cabrera; edited by Antonio Pérez Reina; production design by Guillermo Ramirez Malberti. WITH: Thaïs Valdés, Nacho Lugo, Daisy Granados, Veronica Lopez, Paula Alí and Luis Manuel Iglesias.

Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti was born in 1961. He began his career as an actor, writer and director of children's television programs for the Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión. He received a Guggenheim grant in 1996, in part in recognition of his short film Oscuros Rinocerontes Enjaulados (1990).

Palestine, 2002, 85 min., Arabic with English subtitles

Writer-director Rashid Masharawi's inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction begins in a refugee camp near Ramallah. Jabir runs a mobile cinema from his old truck throughout the West Bank while his wife Sana works to bring emergency medical care to Palestinians. They navigate endless checkpoints, patiently showing their identification cards to the ever-present Israeli soldiers. When Jabir is invited by a spirited teacher to arrange an open-air screening in East Jerusalem, he becomes obsessed with the idea of a pilgrimage to a city that denies entry to Palestinians.

Written and directed by Rashid Masharawi; produced by Masharawi, Areen Omary and Peter Van Vogelpoel; cinematography by Baudouin Koenig; edited by Jan Hendriks and Nestor Sanz; production design by Ala' Abu Ghoush and Barbara Wijnveld; sound by Hanna Abu Sada; music by Samir Jubran. WITH: Ghassan Abbas, Areen Omary, Reem Ilo, George Ibrahim and Imad Farageen.

Rashid Masharawi was born in 1962 in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. He later founded the Mobile Cinema Project to screen films in refugee camps. He has directed shorts as well as television documentaries such as Travel Document (86) and Long Days in Gaza (1991). His first feature was the award-winning Curfew (1993), followed by Haïfa (1997), which was named Best Foreign Film at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

Tajikistan, 2002, 88 min., Tajik with English subtitles

Hamro, a prodigal son who had left 10 years earlier to try his luck in Russia, returns to his hometown to help his mother, Halima, to die with dignity. To make the journey, he had to borrow money from conmen, hoping to repay them by selling his mother's house. Yet Halima does not die, and other surprises lie in wait for Hamro. Writer-director Djamshed Usmonov shot this dark comedy in his native village, Asht, where fact and fiction intermingle. He cast his own brother and mother as Hamro and Halima, and gave additional roles to his father, uncle and cousin, as well as to a number of Asht residents.

Written and directed by Djamshed Usmonov; produced by Elise Jalladeau and Marco Müller; cinematography by Pascal Lagriffoul; edited by Jacques Comets; sound by Dana Farzanehour; sound edited by Waldir Xavier; sound mix by Eric Bonnard and Martin Stricker. WITH: Uktamoi Miyasarova, Maruf Pulodzoda, Maljqat Maqsumova, Kova Tilavpur and Mardonqul Qulbobo.

Born in Asht, Tajikistan, in 1965, Djamshed Usmonov has been working as a director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actor in a variety of narrative, animation and documentary films for nearly 20 years. He has directed the features Parvaz-e zanbur (1998) and Choh (1991). Usmonov currently divides his time between Paris, Moscow and Tajikistan.

Iran, 2002, 106 min., Farsi with English subtitles

This seminal film is based on Manijeh Hekmat's long fieldwork among women prisoners. She depicts the lives of Iran's lost generation since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, using the claustrophobic life of women behind bars as a metaphor for the entire society. Set over a 20-year span, the film depicts the troubled relationship between a prison guard, Tahereh, and Mitra, sentenced to life for the murder of her stepfather. The filmmaker has cast her own daughter, Pegah Ahangarani, in three different roles, each one representing a different stratum of society. A partial loosening of censorship allowed Hekmat to make this film, although its showing was prohibited at the 2002 Fajr Festival in Iran.

Directed by Manijeh Hekmat; produced by Hekmat, Hamid-Reza Kaka, and Sirus Taslimi; written by Farid Mostafavi; cinematography by Dariush Ayyari; edited by Mostafa Khergheh-Poush; art direction by Jamshid Ahangarani; sound by Mahmoud Sammakbashi. WITH: Roya Nonahali, Roya Taymourian, Pegah Ahangarani, Golab Adineh and Maryam Boobani.

Having started out as a script girl, Manijeh Hekmat is a prolific figure in Iranian cinema. She has served as assistant director on 11 feature films and producer on five, including the award-winning Dokhtari ba kafshhaye-katani ("The Girl in Sneakers" [1999]) and Bunch of Grass, a German film made in Iranian Kurdistan.

Brazil, 2003, 80 min., silent

Followed by Q & A with Renato Falcão, schedule permitting
Reality and fantasy blur in this silent, black-and-white movie that harks back to Chaplin's socially critical comedies. The phenomenal Hique Gomez plays Pedro, a laid-off factory worker who wants to organize a party for his wife. Daydreams turn to delusion when he embarks on a road trip with his family and neighbors. Full of humor and affection, this stunning debut feature is a vivid and sometimes darkly surreal portrait of life on the fringes of Brazilian society. Falcão makes dazzling use of Brazilian music, intentionally under-lit photography and exuberant acting styles.

Written, photographed, directed and edited by Renato Falcão; produced by Regina Datria; production design by Rodrigo Lopez; music by Hique Gomez; production managed by Dimitre Lucho. WITH: Hique Gomez, Ilana Kaplan, Carmen Silva, Jefferson Silveira, Isis Medeiros and Pedro Gil.

Renato Falcão was born in Passo Fundo, Brazil, in 1963. He has directed the shorts Presságio (1993) and Save Me (1994), as well as the documentary Um Ato de Amor à Vida (1992)-an important piece promoting AIDS prevention in Brazil. A Festa de Margarette is his first feature film.

Brazil, 2002, 100 min., Portuguese with English subtitles
Adult content

See program notes above.

Tajikistan, 2002, 88 min., Tajik with English subtitles

See program notes above.

Tunisia, 2002, 100 min., French with English subtitles

Jilani Saadi's unusual parody is set in the small village of Bizerte. With his red-blonde hair, green jacket and quirky personal habits, Khorma is perceived by the townspeople as a big, well-meaning lug. His guardian is crafty old Bou Khaleb, the official announcer of births, deaths and marriages. When the increasingly hard-of-hearing old man mistakenly announces the death of a woman rather than her daughter's marriage, the film immerses us in the often-hilarious power struggles amongst the practitioners of the "religion business."

Written and directed by Jilani Saadi; produced by Pierre Javaux and Dominique Janne; cinematography by Gilles Porte; editing and production design by Philippe Ravoet; sound by Eric De Vos; music by Khaled Namlaghi. WITH: Med Graya, Med Morali, Ramzi Brari, Hassen Khalssi and Dalila Meftahi.

Jilani Saadi was born in Bizerte, Tunisia, and studied film in Paris. He has directed the short films Marchandage nocturne (1994) and Cafè-Hôtel de l'Avenir (1997). Khorma, enfant du cimetière is his first feature film.

Palestine, 2002, 85 min., Arabic with English subtitles

See program notes above.

Philippines, 2001, 102 min., Tagalog with English subtitles
Adult content

Set in the Philippines in the early 1990s, during the short, ill-fated reign of Joseph Estrada, Hubog exudes an atmosphere of drenched claustrophobia and paranoia. Vanessa is a cosmetics consultant who is forced to care for her troubled, mentally challenged sister after the sudden death of their mother. This fiercely provocative film juxtaposes turbulent relationships and intoxicating colors with the tragic manipulation of impoverished Filipinos. The film's largely outdoor setting in the cramped streets and stalls of Manila captures people and society at the breaking point.

Directed by Joel Lamangan; produced by Lily Y. Montererde and Roselle Monteverde; written by Roy Iglesias; cinematography by Romula Araojo; edited by Tara Illenberger; production design by Larry Matic; sound by Michael Idioma; music by Jesse Lasaten. WITH: Alessandra de Rossi, Assunta de Rossi, Jay Manolo and Wendell Ramos.

Joel Lamangan studied at theater, television and film schools in the Philippines, as well as in Southeast Asia, Germany, Cuba and Australia. He acted and directed for stage and television before moving on to feature films. His films include the award-winning Pangako ng Kahapon (1994), The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995) and Bulaklak ng Maynila (1999).

Tunisia, 2002, 100 min., French with English subtitles

See program notes above.

Algeria, 2002, 100 min., Arabic and French with English subtitles

See program notes above.

Philippines, 2001, 102 min., Filipino with English subtitles
Adult content

See program notes above.

Brazil, 2003, 80 min., silent

See program notes above.