MEET THE DIRECTOR ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 7TH!

Why do we exist and what are we supposed to do about it?  What started the Universe and was it a mistake?  Does God exist and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives?
I wrote the toughest 85 questions I could think of, about our purpose and the nature of existence, and then asked hundreds of people all over the globe, such as: Indian holy man Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (The Art of Living), evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), 24th generation Chinese Taoist Master Zhang Chengda, Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind (co-discoverer of string theory), wrestler Rob Adonis (founder of Ultimate Christian Wrestling), confrontational evangelist Brother Jed Smock, novelist Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), director Irvin Kershner (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), Stonehenge Druids Rollo Maughfling & King Arthur Pendragon and many more… How would YOU answer?
Roger Nygard
Filmmaker

Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, this tense, naturalistic thriller follows 17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence, The Burning Plain) as she confronts the local criminal underworld and the harsh Ozark wilderness in order to track down her father, who has put up the family homestead for his bail. Featuring a star-making performance by Lawrence, Winter's Bone is one of the most-critically acclaimed films of the year. Directed and co-written by Debra Granik.

Three women's lives share a common core: they have all been profoundly affected by adoption. Karen (Annette Bening) had a baby at 14, gave her up at birth, and has been haunted ever since by the daughter she never knew. Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) grew up as an adopted child; she's a bright and ambitious lawyer, but a flinty loner in her personal life. Lucy (Kerry Washington) is just embarking with her husband on the adoption odyssey, looking for a baby to become their own. The men in their lives offer support (and, in one instance, disappointment): Karen’s attentive, generous co-worker Paco (Jimmy Smits); Elizabeth’s older boss and lover Paul (Samuel L. Jackson); and Lucy’s patient husband Joseph (David Ramsey). With both humor and pathos, Mother and Child brings this ensemble together to reveal the emotional complexity of families lost and found. Written and directed by Rodrigo García (“In Treatment,” Nine Lives).

Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of—an RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts, recorded during the filming of an RV sales video, circulated underground on VHS tapes in the 1990s before turning into a full-blown internet phenomenon. Today, the 4-minute "Winnebago Man" video has been seen by more than 20 million people worldwide, and is regarded as one of the first and funniest viral videos. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer goes in search of Rebney—and finds him living alone on a mountain top, unaware of his fame. Winnebago Man is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man's response to unintended celebrity.

First it was a mine that exploded in the middle of the Moroccan desert. Years later, it was a stray bullet that lodged in his brain.... Bazil (Dany Boon) doesn't have much luck with weapons. The first made him an orphan, the second holds him on the brink of sudden, instant death. Released from the hospital after his accident, Bazil is homeless. Luckily, our inspired and gentle-natured dreamer is quickly taken in by a motley crew of junkyard dealers living in a veritable Ali Baba's cave. The group's talents and aspirations are as surprisi ng as they are diverse: Remington, Calculator, Buster, Slammer, Elastic Girl, Tiny Pete and Mama Chow. Then one day, walking by two huge buildings, Bazil recognizes the logos of the weapons manufacturers that caused all of his misfortune. He sets out to take revenge, with the help of his faithful gang of wacky friends. Underdogs battling heartless industrial giants, our gang relive the battle of David and Goliath, with all the imagination and fantasy of Buster Keaton. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, The City of Lost Children). (Fully subtitled)

In the highly anticipated second installment of the Millennium Trilogy, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is a wanted woman. A researcher and a Millennium journalist about to expose the truth about the sex trade in Sweden are brutally murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behavior makes her an official danger to society—but no one can find her anywhere. Meanwhile, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), editor-in-chief of Millennium, will not believe what he hears on the news. Knowing Salander to be fierce when fearful, he is desperate to get to her before she is cornered and alone. As he fits the pieces of the puzzle together, he comes up against some hardened criminals, including the chainsaw-wielding 'blond giant' (Micke Spreitz)—a fearsomely huge thug who can feel no pain. Digging deeper, Blomkvist also unearths some heart-wrenching facts about Salander’s past life. Committed to psychiatric care aged 12, declared legally incompetent at 18, this is a messed-up young woman who is the product of an unjust and corrupt system. Yet Lisbeth is more avenging angel than helpless victim. (Fully subtitled)

Get Low is inspired by the true story of Felix "Bush" Breazeale, who attracted national attention when he threw himself a living funeral party in 1938 in Roane County, Tennessee. For years, townsfolk have been terrified of the backwoods recluse known as Felix Bush (Robert Duvall). One day, Felix rides to town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy a funeral—a "living funeral," in which anyone who ever had heard a story about him will come to tell it, while he takes it all in. Sensing a big payday in the offing, fast-talking funeral home owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) enlists his gentlemanly young apprentice, Buddy Robinson (Lucas Black), to win over Felix's business. Buddy discovers that behind Felix's surreal plan lies a very real and long-held secret that must get out. As the funeral approaches, the mystery—which involves the widow Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), the only person in town who ever got close to Felix, and the Illinois preacher Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs), who refuses to speak at his former friend's funeral—only deepens. But on the big day, Felix is in no mood to listen to other people spinning made-up anecdotes about him. From Aaron Schneider, director of the Academy Award-winning short Two Soldiers.

Solitary Man tells the story of Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas), a fifty-something New Yorker and former successful car dealer, who through his own bad choices lost his entire business. Ben's on the verge of a comeback, but some of the same motivations that led to his demise are threatening to take him down again. He's divorced from Nancy (Susan Sarandon), his college sweetheart and the one person who knows him better than anyone. Although he still finds the time to hang out with his daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer) and his adoring grandson, she breaks off contact when she discovers he's seeing one of her friends. His girlfriend Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) is the daughter of a very influential businessman who's on the board of a major auto manufacturer. If Ben can just keep his hubris in check for a little while longer, he will be back as big as ever. But circumstances place him in very close proximity with the one girl he shouldn't touch, throwing everything into jeopardy. Co-starring Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and Danny DeVito.

Fritz Lang's science fiction masterpiece has been restored to its most complete version ever, with 25 minutes of lost footage not seen since the film’s debut in 1927. Seldom has the rediscovery of a cache of lost footage ignited such widespread curiosity as did the announcement, in July 2008, that an essentially complete copy of Fritz Lang's Metropolis had been found. When it was first screened in Berlin on January 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere engagement, in an effort to maximize the film's commercial potential, the film's distributors drastically shortened Metropolis, which had been a major disappointment at the box office. By the time it debuted in the states later that year, the film ran approximately 90 minutes. Metropolis went on to become one of the cornerstones of science fiction cinema, foreshadowing Blade Runner and The Matrix to name just two recent examples. Testament to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone numerous restorations in the intervening decades, but none have been as celebrated as this new 147-minute version, which also features Gottfried Huppertz’s magnificent original score.

"All you need is a girl and a gun." —Jean-Luc Godard. Paris, Film Noir, Sex and Cool have never been more beautifully evoked than in these ninety minutes which shook the world. Godard's first feature film, written by François Truffaut (with Claude Chabrol as technical advisor), the harbinger of the French New Wave, was both a jazz-like improvisation on American crime thrillers (it's dedicated to Monogram Pictures)...and a revolution. Featuring now-legendary performances from Jean-Paul Belmondo as the Bogart-inspired small-time hood living on the edge and Jean Seberg as la petite américaine who casually sleeps with him and just as casually betrays hi m, Breathless is funny and daring and just as much a breath of fresh air today as it was on its release five decades ago. Audaciously reinventing the grammar of movies, Breathless transformed cinema overnight and instantly put Godard in the rarified company of Picasso, Joyce, Brecht, Stravinsky, et al. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Breathless, Rialto Pictures is presenting a stunning new 35mm restoration—the first ever in the film's history. (Fully subtitled)

In the enchanting fantasy Ondine, Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a simple fisherman who catches a beautiful and mysterious woman (Alicja Bachleda) in his trawler's nets. At first the woman seems to be dead, but then she comes alive before Syracuse's eyes. With the help of his ailing yet irrepressible daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), he comes to believe that the fantastical might be possible and that the woman, Ondine, might be the manifestation of a myth come true. Ondine and Syracuse fall passionately in love, but just as we think the fairytale might go on forever, the real world intercedes. Only after a terrible accident, and the return of a dark and violent figure from Ondine's past, is hope renewed and a new beginning presented to Syracuse, Ondine and Annie. Directed by Neil Jordan (The Good Thief, Michael Collins, The Crying Game).

The Eclipse tells the story of Michael Farr (Ciarán Hinds), a teacher raising his two kids alone since his wife died two years earlier. Lately he has been seeing and hearing strange things late at night in his house. He isn't sure if he is simply having terrifying nightmares or if his house is haunted. Each year, the seaside town where Michael lives hosts an international literary festival, attracting writers from all over the world. Michael works as a volunteer for the festival and is assigned the attractive Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), an author of books about ghosts and the supernatural, to look after. They become friendly and he eagerly tells her of his experiences. For the first time he has met someone who can accept the reality of what has been happening to him. However, Lena’s attention is pulled elsewhere. She has come to the festival at the bidding of world-renowned novelist Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), with whom she had a brief affair the previous year. He has fallen in love with Lena and is going through a turbulent time, eager to leave his wife to be with her. But all Lena is trying to do is extricate herself from this mess and just get through the next few days. As the festival progresses, the trajectories of these three people draw them into a life-altering collision. Embellished by the supernatural, The Eclipse is a film about the challenges of love, fear of the unknown and release from the burden of grief. Written and directed by Conor McPherson.

The First Lebanon War—June, 1982. A lone tank is dispatched to search a hostile town that has already been bombarded by the Israeli Air Force. What seems to be a simple mission gradually spins out of control. The four members of the tank crew are twenty-something boys who have never fought in a war and are now operating a killing machine. Trying to remain brave, the boys are pushed to their mental limits as they struggle to survive in a situation that they cannot contain. Motivated by fear and the basic instinct of survival, they desperately try not to lose their humanity in the chaos of war. Writer/director Samuel Maoz's raw and visceral film is based on his own experiences as a novice solider serving in the Israeli army during the Lebanon war. Using his own vivid recollections to bring us inside an Israeli tank during the first 24 hours of the invasion, Maoz restricts the film’s action entirely to the tank's interior and shows us the outside world—as the four young soldiers themselves see it—through the lens of a periscopic gunsight. (Fully subtitled)

A wallet lost and found opens the door—slightly—to romantic adventure in Wild Grass, an appealing, absurd comedy/drama directed by legendary French filmmaker Alain Resnais, fifty years after Hiroshima Mon Amour. After examining the ID of its owner, it is not a simple matter for Georges (André Dussollier, Micmacs and Tell No One) to turn in to the police the red wallet he has found. Nor can Marguerite (Sabine Azéma, La Bûche and Life and Nothing But) retrieve her wallet without being piqued with curiosity about the person who found it. Georges, who has always been fascinated with flying, is intrigued to see that she has a pilot’s license. What sort of woman is she? She phones to thank him, and he returns the call, as well as several letters, and soon has escalated the simple encounter to an extreme. Resnais uses a speculative light touch and a delightful candy-colored palette to create an effervescent flight of fancy, full of possibilities. Co-starring Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos. (Fully subtitled)

After a run of bad luck, John (Steve Buscemi), a compulsive gambler, runs away from Las Vegas and into the straight world, taking a nondescript position in an auto insurance company in Albuquerque. When his boss, Mr. Townsend (Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent), asks John to accompany his top fraud debunker, Virgil (Romany Malco), on an investigation of a dubious car "accident" near Vegas, John sees an opportunity to get a promotion, though he's concerned about returning to the gambling game. Before leaving he becomes involved with his eccentric co-worker Jill (Sarah Silverman), a dalliance that has the potential to become a real relationship. Soon John is on the road with Virgil, where they encounter a series of offbeat characters, including a wheelchair-bound stripper (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a nude militant (Tim Blake Nelson), a park Ranger (Jesse Garcia), and a carnival human torch (John Cho). First time writer/d irector Hue Rhodes' Saint John of Las Vegas follows the wild and funny trip a guy has to take to discover there's more than one way to hit the jackpot in life.

Creation is the powerful and true-life tale of Charles Darwin and the most explosive idea in history. A world-renowned scientist, and a dedicated family man struggling to accept his daughter’s death, Darwin (Paul Bettany) is torn between his love for his deeply religious wife (Jennifer Connelly) and his own growing belief in a world where God has no place. He finds himself caught in a battle between faith and reason, love and truth. This is the extraordinary story of Charles Darwin and how his masterwork The Origin of Species came to light. It tells of a global revolution played out in the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most provocative idea in history—evolution; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child. John Collee wrote the screen adaptation, based on the book Annie's Box by Randal Keynes, the great, great-grandson of Charles Darwin. Described by director Jon Amiel as part ghost story, part psychological thriller, part heart-wrenching love story, the film promises a Charles Darwin as you've never seen him before.

Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia), who previously filmed Neil Young for Heart of Gold, once again captures Young’s musical and spiritual soul—this time during two shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania during the Chrome Dreams II tour. Young surrounds himself with his favorite instruments, played at whim, and a stage set filled with personal icons: a small-scale model of a guitar shop, a red phone and other items. The feeling on the stage is of a favorite place where Young is able to create his music exactly as he wants, supported by long-time touring band friends Ben Keith, Ralph Molina, Rick Rosas, Pegi Young and Anthony "Sweet Pea" Crawford, plus an onstage painter portrayed by Eric Johnson. There are delicately offered acoustic numbers like "Sad Movies" and "Mexico"; mesmerizing electric travelogues into the artist's psyche ("No Hidden Path"); searing, chaotic anthems including "Like a Hurricane" and "Cinnamon Girl"; and rarely performed pieces like "Kansas" and "Ambulance Blues" that provide glimpses of Young's less public persona.

In the Melbourne underworld, armed robber Pope Cody (Ben Mendelsohn) is in hiding, on the run from a gang of renegade detectives who want him dead. His business partner and best friend, Barry 'Baz' Brown (Joel Edgerton), wants out of the game, recognizing that their days of old-school banditry are all but over. Pope's younger brother, the speed-addicted and volatile Craig Cody (Sullivan Stapleton), is making a fortune in the illicit substances trade while the youngest Cody brother, Darren (Luke Ford), naively navigates his way through this criminal world—the only world his family has ever known. And into this world arrives their nephew, Joshua 'J' Cody (James Frecheville). Following the death of his mother, J finds himself living with his estranged family, under the watchful eye of his doting grandmother, Smurf (Jacki Weaver), mother to the Cody boys. When tensions between family and police reach a bloody peak, J finds himself at the center of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns the family upside down. One senior cop, Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce), must lure J into the police fold and then shepherd him through a complex minefield of witness protection, corrupt cops, slippery lawyers and a paranoid and vengeful underworld. Directed by David Michôd.

At the Theatre Des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Igor Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen, Flame and Citron) premieres his ballet The Rite Of Spring. Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis) attends the premiere and is mesmerized. But the revolutionary work is too modern, too radical: the enraged audience boos and jeers, and a near riot ensues. Stravinsky is inconsolable. Seven years later, now rich, respected and successful, Coco Chanel meets Stravinsky again—a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution. The attraction between them is immediate and electric. Coco offers Stravinsky the use of her villa in Garches so that he will be able to work, and he moves in straight away, with his children and consumptive wife. And so a passionate, intense love affair between two creative giants begins. Directed by Jan Kounen. (Partially subtitled)