International Connections

Having recently lost his father, 16-year-old Paul shows up uninvited to visit his relatives at their idyllic suburban home. In search of stability, he intrudes upon the seemingly ideal family; his uncle Stefan is a successful businessman, his aunt Anna a model housewife and mother, and his cousin Robert a talented pianist. After rejecting him at first, Anna gradually gets him on her side as Paul is drawn into the family power struggles. Paul finds himself attracted to Anna and, only after it is too late, has been drawn under her control. German with English subtitles, 92 min Presented by Cothe Goethe-Institut Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: TBD

Popular television chat show host, Yan Shouyi, has it all: a great job, a devoted wife, and a beautiful young lover. He depends on his cell phone to keep his world organized. Yan’s world begins to unravel when he accidentally forgets his cell phone at home and his wife answers a call on his phone from his mistress. His phone, once his most trusted accessory, betrays him sending him deeper into a web of deception and lies. Feng’s social satire explores the ways in which new technologies impact contemporary relationships and generate innovative methods of deception with conventional outcomes. Mandarin with English subtitles. 107 min. Presented by the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Hank Sartin, Film Editor, TimeOut Chicago

When Spring Comes presents the tale of a disillusioned music teacher who leaves the big city and finds renewal at a rural junior high. To middle-aged, still-single trumpeteer Lee Hyeon-woo life seems to remain forever locked in winter. His professional and emotional life stalled in Seoul, out of desperation Hyeon-Woo signs up for a position teaching a children's wind ensemble at a junior high school in a small mining town. Worn-out instruments, tarnished trophies, and frayed certificates testify to the poor conditions of this ragtag group. Together with his students, Hyeon-Woo takes on a seemingly impossible challenge to find their place and themselves. Korean with English subtitles, 102 min Presented by the Korean Consulate General in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: TBD

The Rocket follows the extraordinary story of hockey legend Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, whose immense talent and tireless fight against discrimination on and off the ice ignited and forever changed a generation. As a young boy from blue collar Quebec, Richard dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League. Beneath his soft-spoken, working-class exterior burned a passion that transformed this young machinist into “The Rocket”, the most prolific goal-scorer of his era and the first player to ever score 500 goals in his career. Although a man of few words, Richard begins to speak his mind about organizational injustices. His actions incite a league-wide conflict, which culminates in his infamous 1955 season suspension and an ethnic riot in protest. In the face of these challenges, Richard must decide where his loyalties lie. English and French with English subtitles, 124 min Presented by the Consulate General of Canada in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Dr. James T McHugh, Professor of Political Science and Chair of Legal Studies, Roosevelt University

Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao Hsien's rapturously beautiful cinematic masterpiece Three Times evokes a sentimental tale of unfulfilled love. The film presents the same lead actors in three stories set in three distinct time periods - 1966, 1911, 2005. In “A Time for Love” (1966), a young woman and a soldier struggle to maintain contact, seeking solace in stolen moments together. “A Time for Freedom” (1911) presents a diplomat’s modern moral struggle, as he must make a choice between loyalty to his wife and the affection of a courtesan. In “A Time for Youth” (2005), a young bisexual woman becomes involved in a three-way love affair. Against the backdrop of the social milieu of each period, rendered with stylistic detail and beauty, Hou poignantly evokes the intricacies of love in its many forms. Mandarin with English subtitles. 139 min. Presented by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Dr. Michael Raine, Assistant Professor in Japanese Cinema, University of Chicago

Everything that Lorenzo has achieved, he has earned with great determination and without looking back. Just as he is about to undertake a business deal that will make him very rich, he is faced with his own mortality as a sudden blackout lands him in the hospital. Waiting for his diagnosis with the possible prognosis of a malignant brain tumor isn’t easy, particularly as friends and family are unable to cope with his situation. Only Giovanni, a fellow patient, understands him and comforts him with a much-needed dose of patience and humor. One out of Two is a human comedy that explores the values of patience, compassion, and friendship in the face of the uncertainty of life. Italian with English subtitles, 100 min Presented by the Italian Cultural institute in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Ron Falzone, Professor, Columbia College

An irresistible romantic comedy that is genuinely romantic and undeniably comic, Could This Be Love? shines from beginning to end. 43-year-old Lucas (Vincent Lindon), a wealthy, divorced industrialist, is irresistibly attracted to 38-year-old Elsa (Sandrine Bonnaire), a renowned ceramist whom he has commissioned to create a fresco for his office foyer. But, still stinging from a recent disappointment in love, he asks Roland Christin, a private detective with his company, to discover the reasons why this lovely woman is still single. Without the slightest scruple, Roland puts the most modern of surveillance methods into operation. Lucas better beware if Elsa finds out. French with English Subtitles. 90 minutes. Presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, and Cinema/Chicago Special guest speaker: Alison Cuddy, Senior Producer and Host, Chicago Public Radio

Ruža left Serbia for Switzerland full of hope for a better life. Thirty years later she has only one passion left: money. Mila, Ruža’s long-time employee, is different. She has lived in Switzerland with her family for decades, working hard with the aim of fulfilling her dream of owning a home back in Croatia. Ruža and Mila’s daily lives are a succession of repetitive activities until twenty-something Ana arrives from Sarajevo and upsets their painstakingly organized world. Fraulein, an intimate portrait of three strong-minded women and the relationships that develop between them, explores the various consequences of the migration of people across national, cultural, and religious boundaries.. Swiss-German, German, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian with English subtitles, 81 min Presented by the Consulate General of Switzerland in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Jan Lisa Huttner, columnist, JUF News

Suite Dreams gathers a wacky cast of characters in one hotel for a hilarious night of escapades. It’s New Year’s Eve and hotel manager (Koji Yakusho) once again finds himself face to face with his long-separated wife. The hotel bellboy, abandoning his dream of becoming a singer, has decided to return home when he meets an old friend now working as a flight attendant. Meanwhile, the former mistress of a high level politician holes up as a maid in the hotel to avoid the eyes of the public after the scandal breaks even as the politician, trying to sidestep the pending news that he's involved with the mob, sneaks into the hotel and meets up with a call girl. Suite Dreams presents a frothy mix of comedy and drama where, in the course of a single night, everyone seems to run into, away from, or even over everyone else while learning a bit about life. \Japanese with English subtitles, 136 min Presented by the Japan Information Center and Cinema/Chicago Special guest speaker: Dr. Michael Raine, Assistant Professor in Japanese Cinema, University of Chicago

A captivating romantic comedy, Columbian Love chronicles the complex relationships of three friends trying to bridge the gap between lust, love, and marriage. Intense but detached Omer is finding it difficult to go along with his wife's plans to have a baby. She's his first love, but is she his true love? Sentimental Ori, unable to break away from his domineering father, must make a decision when his new wife presents him with an ultimatum. Meanwhile, the free-spirited Zydan sets out on a journey to find true love. Director Shay Kanot presents a compelling and intelligent look into the different faces of the Israeli male as he struggles with love and relationships. Hebrew with English subtitles. 90 min. Presented by the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago Special guest speaker: Dr. Liora Sion, postdoctoral fellow, Northwestern University

When Camiel, a gay dentist, and Simon, a carefree café owner, collide in a traffic accident, their lives become intrinsically entwined. When they bump into each other fourteen years later, Simon is severely ill. Camiel experiences at close range how Simon and those around him come to terms with his illness. The strength and humor that Simon shows in this difficult time leave a lasting impression on Camiel. Simon is a sexy, witty, emotional and life-affirming story of friendship and family, which shows that even through difficult times the love, strength, and humor of the ones closest to you can make life, no matter how brief, worth living. Dutch with English subtitles. 102 min. Presented by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Richard Knight Jr, Film Critic, Windy City Times

Forever Never Anywhere is a claustrophobic situational drama presenting an unlikely trio of men who become closer than they ever hoped or even imagined. Rafael and his brother-in-law, heading home from the opening of a wine store, have just picked up a stranded traveling performer when their car runs off the road and into a ravine. The men find themselves stuck in each other’s company and at each other’s mercy as the car becomes wedged between two trees, trapping them all inside. Their one hope for salvation appears in the figure of eccentric schoolboy Toni whose sadistic machinations instead add a metaphysical aspect to the already inadvertent social experiment of men trapped like rats. Their dryly toxic repartee creates an unsettling but compelling portrait of three individuals forced to exchange unwanted intimacies as they are pushed to their physical and emotional limits. German with English subtitles. 88 min. Presented by the Austrian Consulate General in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Adam Kempenaar, Filmspotting/Chicago Public Radio

*This event will take place at the Instituto Cervantes, 33 E. Ohio Street Santiago makes a modest living acting, his latest role being that of supporting player in a conventional farce, which finds him cast opposite his decidedly younger live-in girlfriend, Ana. When his thirty-something long-estranged son Guillermo suddenly reappears, Santiago is more upset at having a stranger in the house than he is moved by paternal affection. Despite Ana’s protests, Santiago does everything he can to get rid of him. It soon becomes clear that the freeloading Guillermo is also compulsive liar who uses his good looks to get whatever he wants. Yet, the roles of father and son begin to shift as Santiago falls into a self-destructive pattern of impotence and self-pity and Guillermo finds himself responsible for his troubled father. By turns humorous and poignant Victor García León’s satirical drama chronicles the dynamics of a strained but evolving father-son relationship. Spanish with English subtitles. 90 min. Presented by the Instituto Cervantes in Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: Clayton Brown, Lecturer, Northwestern University

Nerdy carwash manager Aldo is not out to change his life. He likes having everything under control, from his employees and his diet to his videocassettes and his remote control. Who could love such a man? Statuesque photographer Andrea has spent the last fifteen years traveling the world. Open to life’s possibilities, she finds herself pregnant, uncertain and unconcerned of the identity of the father. Who would fall for such a woman? When Andrea arrives in Aldo’s life, renting the neighboring apartment, she turns his obsessively ordered existence upside down. Who Says It’s Easy is a romantic comedy about a square whose life turns heart-shaped. Spanish with English subtitles. 108 min. Presented by the Consulate General of the Argentine Republic, the Chicago Cultural Center and Cinema/Chicago. Special guest speaker: TBD