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Sundance Film Festival · 2007

Sundance Film Festival 2007

World Cinema Competition: Dramatic

Showcasing 16 films by independent filmmakers from across the globe, 2007's World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize went to Sweet Mud. The Audience Award was scooped by Irish film and a Special Jury Prize was given to .

Programme

16 films · 7 reviews

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Blame It On Fidel (La Faute Fidel)

The effect of political activism on the life of a young girl in 1970s Paris.

(Country: France; Director: Julie Gavras)

Buried Dreams (Rêves de Poussière, Dreams Of Dust)

Review preview for Buried Dreams

This film will not be to everyone's taste ... but there is a haunting quality to Mocktar's story.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A man tries to escape the memory of his past in the harsh mining environment of Burkina Faso.

(Country: Burkina Faso, Canada, France; Year: 2006; Director: Laurent Salgues; Writer: Laurent Salgues; Stars: Makena Diop, Fatou Tall-Salgues, Rasmane Ouedraogo, Souleymane Souré, Joseph B. Tapsoba)

Full review

Drained (O Cheiro Do Ralo)

A pawn shop proprietor buys used goods from desperate locals-as much to play perverse power games as for his own livelihood, but when the perfect rump and a backed-up toilet enter his life, he loses all control.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2006; Director: Heitor Dhalia; Writer: Marçal Aquino, Heitor Dhalia; Stars: Selton Mello, Paula Braun, Paulo Alves, Susana Alves, Roberto Audio, Flavio Bauraqui, Boi, Alice Braga, Calico, Jorge Cerruti, Milhem Cortaz)

Driving With My Wife's Lover (Ane-eui Aein-eul Mannada)

When a mild-mannered South Korean man decides to track down the cab driver having an affair with his wife, a strange bond develops between the pair during a long-distance drive.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2006; Director: Kim Tai-sik ; Writer: Kim Jun-han, Kim Tai-sik ; Stars: Park Kwang-jung, Jeong Bo-seok, Jo Eun-ji, Kim Sung-mi, Oh Dal-su, Yoo Yun-soo, Park Chul, Jin Mi-sun, Kim Hyo-jeong, Michael Arnold, Woo Yoo-jung )

Eagle vs Shark

Review preview for Eagle vs Shark

What follows is another trip into the middle of nowhere, which in some respects you can't help but feel you've seen before.

Ben Sillis · 3 out of 5
Socially awkward adventures in love.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2007; Director: Taika Cohen; Writer: Taika Cohen; Stars: Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement, David Fane, Chelsie Preston-Crayford, Tanea Heke, Taika Cohen)

Full review

Ezra

A young ex-child soldier in Sierra Leone attempts to return to a normal life after the civil war which devastated his country.

(Country: France; Year: 2007; Director: Newton I Aduaka; Writer: Newton I Aduaka, Alain-Michel Blanc; Stars: Mamoudu Turay Kamara, Mariame N'Diaye, Mamusu Kallon, Richard Gant, Mercy Ojelade, Emile Abossolo M'bo, Merveille Lukeba, Wale Ojo, , , )

Ghosts

Review preview for Ghosts

Finely balanced and well-argued, this is a work, which like its protagonist Ai Qin, has a quiet strength.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The life of an illegal Chinese immigrant, based on a true story.

(Country: UK; Year: 2006; Director: Nick Broomfield; Writer: Nick Broomfield, Jez Lewis; Stars: Ai Qin Lin, Zhan Yu, Zhe Wei, Man Qin Wei, Wen Buo Zhai, Devi Zhu)

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2007: Day 6

How Is Your Fish Today? (Jin tian de yu zen me yang?)

Review preview for How Is Your Fish Today?

A fascinating film for anyone interested in China or progressive documentary filmmaking.

George Williamson · 3.5 out of 5
Critical documentary in dramatic camouflage?

(Year: 2006; Director: Xiaolu Guo; Writer: Xiaolu Guo, Hui Rao; Stars: Rao Hui, Zang Yulang,)

Full review

How She Move

Review preview for How She Move

Feels as if it has been lifted wholesale from an after school special.

Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
A troubled teenager tries to prove herself through dance.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Ian Iqbal Rashid; Writer: Annmarie Morais; Stars: Rutina Wesley, Tre Armstrong, Brennan Gademans, Cle Bennett, Kevin Duhaney, Shawn Desman, Tristan D Lalla, Daniel Morrison, Romina D'Urgo, Tanisa Scott, Conrad Coates, Melanie Nicholls-King, Kardinal Offishall, Djanet Sears, Alison Sealy-Smith, Mya, Dwain Murphy)

Full review

The Island (Ostrov)

Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2007; Director: Pavel Lounguine; Writer: Dmitri Sobolev)

Khadak

Set in the frozen steppes of Mongolia, this is the epic story of Bagi, a young nomad confronted with his destiny after animals fall victim to a plague which threatens to eradicate nomadism.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2006; Director: Peter Brosens, Jessica Hope Woodworth; Writer: Peter Brosens, Jessica Hope Woodworth; Stars: Batzul Khayankhyarvaa, Tsetsegee Byamba, Banzar Damchaa, Tserendarizav Dashnyam, Dugarsuren Dagvadorj, Uuriintuya Enkhtaivan, Otgontogos Namsrai, Gereisukh Otgon, Bat-Erdene Damdinsuren, , )

Legacy (L'Héritage)

Review preview for Legacy

Legacy is a brave and curious film, taking a popular premise and turning it on its head.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Three French friends traveling in Georgia are horrified and intrigued when they encounter a man who is scheduled to be killed in an attempt to end an ancient blood feud.

(Country: Georgia, France; Year: 2006; Director: Géla Babluani, Temur Babluani; Writer: Géla Babluani, Temur Babluani; Stars: Pascal Bongard, Sylvie Testud, Stanislas Merhar, Olga Legrand, George Babluani, Leo Gaparidze, Augustin Legrand) , Official site

Full review

The Night Buffalo (El Bufalo de la noche)

A 22-year-old schizophrenic commits suicide after his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend. Before killing himself, he lays out a plan that will drive the lovers into an abyss of madness.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2007; Director: Jorge Hernandez Aldana; Writer: Guillermo Arriaga, Jorge Hernandez Aldana; Stars: Hugo Albores, Irene Azuela, Walther Cantú, Francisco Cardoso, Emilio Echevarría, Liz Gallardo, Gabriel González, Armando Hernández, Verónica Langer, Diego Luna, Claudia Schmidt)

Noise

A young cop, beset with doubt and afflicted with tinnitus (ear-ringing), is pitched into the chaos that follows a mass murder on a suburban train. He struggles to clear the screaming in his head while the surrounding community deals with the after effects of the terrible crime.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2007; Director: Matthew Saville; Writer: Matthew Saville; Stars: Brendan Cowell, Maia Thomas, Henry Nixon, Nicholas Bell, Katie Wall, Fiona MacLeod, Maud Davey, Luke Elliot, Richard Cawthorne, Simon King, Aaron Mcloughlin)

Once

Review preview for Once

Like the best works of art, John Carney’s Once is both melancholy and beautiful, a fragile poem that seems almost too delicate for the big screen.

The Exile · 5 out of 5
Guy meets Girl and makes beautiful - and Oscar-winning - music with her.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2006; Director: John Carney; Writer: John Carney, with music by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová; Stars: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Hugh Walsh, Gerry Hendrick, Alastair Foley, Geoff Minogue, Bill Hodnett, Danuse Ktrestova) , Official site

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2006: Day 9

Sweet Mud (Adama Meshuga'at)

On a kibbutz in southern Israel in the 1970s, Dvir Avni realizes that his mother is mentally ill. In this closed community, bound by rigid rules, Dvir must navigate between the kibbutz motto of equality and the stinging reality that his mother has, in effect, been abandoned by the community.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2006; Director: Dror Shaul; Writer: Dror Shaul; Stars: Tomer Steinhof, Ronit Yudkevitz, Shai Avivi, Pini Tavger, Gal Zaid, Henri Garcin, Daniel Kitsis, Idit Tzur, Joseph Korman, Sharon Zuckerman, Rivka Neuman)