feature-length films

The Necessities of Life

 

Showtime: Friday, January 15, 2010, 7:30pm

The Necessities of LifeDirected by: Benoit Pilon
Country: Canada

In 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner), stricken with tuberculosis, leaves his northern home and family to recuperate in a sanitarium near Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his land and his loved ones, unable to speak French and faced with a completely alien world, Tivii becomes despondent. He refuses to eat and expresses a wish to die. He finds his fading will to live suddenly reinvigorated after his nurse, Carole (Éveline Gélinas), arranges for another young Inuit to be transferred to the same hospital. The boy, an orphan named Kaki (Paul-André Brasseur), is also sick, but he has experience with both worlds and over time he manages to help Tivii grow more comfortable with his surroundings. Read more »

Departures

 

Showtime: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 2:00pm

DeparturesDirector: Yojiro Takita
Original Title: Okuribito
Country: Japan

Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved, is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency, only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life.
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Munyurangabo

 

Showtime: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 10:00am

MunyurangaboDirector: Lee Isaac Chung
Country: Rwanda

After stealing a machete from a market in Kigali, Munyurangabo and his friend, Sangwa, leave the city on a journey tied to their pasts. Munyurangabo wants justice for his parents who were killed in the genocide, and Sangwa wants to visit the home he deserted years ago. Though they plan to visit Sangwa's home for just a few hours, the boys stay for several days. From two separate ethnic groups, their friendship is tested when Sangwa's wary parents disapprove of Munyurangabo, warning that "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies." Read more »

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