Pin Boy / Parapalos

Adrian (Adrian Suarez) works as a pin-setter in one of Buenos Aires’ fading
bowling alleys, daily darting the hurtling bowling balls and racing
against time to set the pins in time for the customer’s next round.
It’s a fast fading occupation as the age of automation begins to take
over. Despite this, Adrian does his job with a fastidious dedication
that lovingly unravels the idiosyncrasies of daily working life,
listens to the stories of his co-workers, particular the bum and
wanderer Nippur and then returns home to the tiny cramped flat he
shares with his cousin Nancy. Poliak pays careful attention to her
characters and observes the minute details of their lives in a
minimalist and graceful manner.

Won First Prize at the Buenos Aires Film Festival 2004.

Director: Ana Poliak

Country:Argentina

Duration: 93min

Year: 2004

Rating: Not available at press time.

--

Stray Dogs

Set in Afghanistan, ‘Stray Dogs’ concerns brother and sister Zahed and Gol
Ghoti who rescue a dog from the clutches of a group of kids bent on
killing it on the premise that it belongs to one of their enemies –
British, Soviet or American. The Ghoti siblings are virtual orphans,
with both parents in jail. While their father was a Taliban fighter,
their mother is arrested for remarrying in order to avoid starvation
and poverty. As Zahed and Ghoti are homeless, they frequently visit
their mother in prison and eventually, one of the guards allows them to
spend nights with her. When the warden puts an end to this arrangement,
insisting it is not an orphanage, they try their hand at petty crime
just to be able to gain entrance into prison and a life off the
streets. Ironic, beautifully shot in the characteristic style of the
Makhmalbaf Film House and filled with pathos for a struggling people,
Meshkini shows herself to be an exquisite filmmaker in her own right.

Director: Marziyeh Meshkini

Country: Iran

Duration: 93min

Year: 2003

Rating: Not available at press time

Samaritan Girl

Made during the same year as 3-Iron, the prolific Korean director Kim
Ki-duk’s ‘Samaritan Girl’ is an interesting continuation to Spring,
Summer…(SIFF 2004), exploring themes of religion, suffering and
absolution. Teenager Yeo-jin (Kwak Ji-min) and her best friend
Jae-young (Seo Min-jung) want to save money for a trip to Europe for
which they have devised an unusually self-compromising system.
Jae-young earns money as a sex worker while her friend manages her
clientele of older men. Jae-young’s rationale is curiously
philosophical: she compares herself to Vasumitra – the prostitute in
Indian legend who turned the men she slept with into faithful
Buddhists. But this acquired detachment and equanimity does not stand
the test of pain – both emotional and physical – which Jae-young
inevitably leaves herself open to. As ever, Kim Ki-duk’s work is
daring, discomforting and powerful. Winner of the Silver Bear at the
Berlin International Film Festival 2004.

Director: Kim Ki-duk

Country:Korea

Duration: 95min

Year: 2004

Rating: Not available at press time.

The Five Obstructions / De Fem Benspaend

Together with Jorgen Leth (Sunday in Hell 1976, Haiti. Untitled 1996), Dogme
filmmaker Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark, Dogville) enters the
world of documentary filmmaking and challenges the conventional
methodology that dictates the genre. In 1967, Leth made a 13-minute
short called The Perfect Human – a document on human behaviour. In the
year 2000, Trier challenged Leth to undertake five re-makes of this
film. Trier’s condition comes in the form of five obstructions, which
constrain Leth to rethink the story, characters and method of remaking
the original. It is a game full of traps and vicious turns and one in
which two brilliant filmmakers attempt to outwit each other. In the
end, The Five Obstructions is an investigation into the very phenomenon
of filmmaking.

Won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Zagreb Motovun Film Festival 2004 and the
Best Documentary Award at the Durban International Film Festival.

Director: Lars Von Trier / Jorgen Leth

Country:Denmark

Duration: 90min

Year: 2003

Rating: NC-16

--