The American Cinema Foundation 8th Annual Festival

The American Cinema Foundation (ACF), in cooperation with the Goethe-Institute Los Angeles (GILA), presents the eighth edition of its yearly festival celebrating cinema from central and eastern Europe, May 19-21, at GILA, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. #100, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (admission free). The Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize, given annually by the ACF during the Berlin International Film Festival, celebrates the relationship between two great film cities, Berlin and Los Angeles. FFF 2005 highlights two winners of this prize – Andreas Dresen and famed Czech animator, Jan Svankmajer. In focus this year is a quarter century of dramatic change in Europe presented by a quartet of groundbreaking films from ex-Yugoslav directors, and including a premiere of a short documentary specially produced for the festival, with never before seen footage from 1957-1980 newsreel archives.

All films are presented in their original language with English subtitles. Festival information is available at (310) 286-9420 or on the website at www.cinemafoundation.com.

Thursday, May 19, 2005
6:30pm Free reception (open to public)
7:30pm – NACHTGESTALTEN (Night Shapes), 2001, directed by Andreas Dresen, winner of the Wajda Prize in 2002. Dresen’s films are informed by the experience of life in the DDR—east Germany—and a gentle humanism that opens a window into the hearts and minds of ordinary people facing—yet not always surmounting—life’s challenges. 104 minutes. Preceded by THE DEATH OF STALINISM, 1990, by animator Jan Svankmajer, Wajda Prize winner in 2000. 10 minutes.

Friday, May 20, 2005
7pm – DIE POLIZISTIN (The Policewoman) directed by Andreas Dresen. A wry, sad comedy of real urban life. For Dresen, portraying the human condition with compassion and insight is itself a political act. 95 minutes. 9pm – ALICE(1989). Jan Svankmajer’s strikingly original interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale. 84 minutes.

Saturday May 21st from 2 pm to 10 pm will feature a mini-marathon of European films, curated by ex-Yugoslav film critic Vera Mijojlic who also produced a short documentary, TITO ARCHIVES, which will screen thorughout the day. This year’s case study is Yugoslavia, which ironically was once a showcase of inter-ethnic cooperation and tolerance. Belgrade’s charismatic WWII leader Josip Broz Tito somehow managed to hold that fractious country together until his death in 1980, a critical year in German and American politics as well. Brief intros before each screening will provide the historical context. We look back at controversial, prize-winning films about the Tito era, a piece of European history that holds warnings for the present and future. In Rajko Grlic’s THE MELODY HAUNTS MY REVERIE (1981), a young idealistic partisan war hero becomes a leader in the emerging socialist society, and finds adjustment to the "new Yugoslavia" extremely difficult.

This was voted the third best Yugoslav film ever made. In the highly entertaining doc TITO AMONG THE SERBS FOR THE SECOND TIME (1993, directed by Zelimir Zilnik), an actor dresses up as (the late) Marshal Tito, and walks among the crowds asking passersby their opinions of Yugoslavian politics since his death. Academy Award ™ nominee, winner of 30 international awards including Best Film at Venice ’94, BEFORE THE RAIN, directed by Milcho Manchevski, tells three interlocking stories that highlight the insane lengths to which men can be driven by belief and prejudice. Following the screening, a free reception will be available to all festgoers. The 2005 Freedom Film Festival closes with Goran Markovic’s warm and touching TITO AND ME (1992), a satire about a 10 year old boy obsessed with Marshal Tito.

The American Cinema Foundation founded the Freedom Film Festival in 1997 to honor filmmakers from the new democracies of Europe, those former Communist countries that are now in a state of political transition. These are filmmakers whom we celebrate for their creativity, visual talent, and storytelling skill, and whom we can also honor for their integrity and sense of social concern. It’s our hope that this work will inspire thoughts about history and the future, in addition to providing purely cinematic enjoyment.

For additional information: www.cinemafoundation.com.