Engaging World Cinema - Global Lens Film Series 2013

We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Global Lens Films Initiative to showcase ten wonderful movies from across the world under the banner of Engaging World Cinema. We have already screened About 111 Girls from Iraq, Beijing Flickers from China, and The Fantastic World of Juan Orol from Mexico. We regret that we were unable to present the film Cairo 678 due to reasons beyond our control, but we intend to show it sometime later this year. In its place, we were able to show the Argentine film The Prize.



For our August 4 program, the library will show a Chilean film Life Kills Me (La Vida Me Mata) by Sebastian Silva, the director's first feature film. This is a story about an unlikely friendship between a grieving cinematographer and a morbidly obsessed drifter. At work on a schlocky, low-budget horror film, Gaspar is still reeling from the untimely death of his beloved older brother when he meets Alvaro at yet another premature funeral. A mildly sociopathic young man with an unyielding curiosity for the dark side, Alvaro soon coaxes Gaspar out of his shell in unexpected ways in a debut film that pulses with a sure cinematic style as it channels a compassionate vision of frail, formidable, unforgettable lives.



On August 11, the library will screen the highly awaited Modest Reception (Paziraie Sadeh) by Mani Haghighi, the internationally acclaimed Iranian director of Men at Work. Modest Reception is about Leila and Kaveh, a mysterious pair from Tehran, who travel the mountainous countryside in their Lexus coupe to push big bags of money on the locals. This turns out to be not so easy, but fascinating to watch, as the cagey couple invent increasingly brazen stratagems to place cash in the hands of the wary, proud or indifferent. Will they push things too far? Are they losing sight of their mission? What exactly is their mission? Led by riveting performances from Taraneh Alidoosti and writer-director Mani Haghighi, this bold comedy-drama unfurls with unexpected force amid subtle themes of power, privilege and corruption.

Over the following four Sundays the library will show the following films: The Parade (Serbia), Shyamal Uncle Turns Off the Lights (India), Southwest (Brazil), and Student (Kazakhstan).

All the movies will be shown on Sundays at 1:00 PM in the Koret Auditorium of the Main Library of the San Francisco Public Library.  All programs at the Library are free and open to the public.