Based on a play by Jean-Marie Besset, The Girl on the Train is inspired by one of the most media-blitzed and polarizing events in recent French history: a young woman’s lie about being the victim of an anti-semitic attack on a Paris suburban train.

Jobless, soul-searching, and rollerblading Jeanne lives in a Paris suburb with her widowed mother Louise, who makes a living as a baby-sitter. Louise helps her daughter get a job with her old flame Samuel Bleistein, now a famous lawyer and Jewish activist. When Jeanne’s budding relationship with aspiring wrestler Franck is shattered by a violent turn of events, Jeanne and Bleistein’s opposite worlds get set on a collision course, as the film becomes a complex psychological drama raising issues of race, religion, and identity.

“A seductive drama.” Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Starring Catherine Deneuve, Émilie Dequenne, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Michel Blanc, and David Barbas
Directed by André Téchiné, 2010
RT: 105 min.
Official Site

“First, I didn’t like their decision, unbelievable, wasn’t it? You know those clowns we got on there. I tell you, I hope I outlive the bastards.”—President Richard M. Nixon (in conversation with J. Edgar Hoover, on the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the ongoing publication of the Pentagon Papers, July 1, 1971)

“I just say that we’ve got to keep our eye on the main ball. The main ball is Ellsberg. We’ve got to get this son-of-a-bitch.”—Nixon (in conversation with Attorney General John Mitchell, June 29, 1971)

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to the New York Times, making headlines around the world.

A riveting story of how one man’s profound change of heart creates a landmark struggle involving America’s newspapers, its president, and Supreme Court. A political thriller whose events lead directly to Watergate, Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War

Nominated for a 2010 Best Documentary Academy Award.

“It pulses with the suspense and momentum of a sleek thriller-a wily caper flick that just happens to revolve around one of the most crucial chapters in recent American history.” Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, 2009
RT: 92 min.
Official Site

A man writes, lives, and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life. This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena.

In the present day, Harry Caine lives thanks to the scripts he writes and to the help he gets from his faithful former production manager, Judit García, and from her son Diego, his secretary, typist and guide. Since he decided to live and tell stories, Harry is an active, attractive blind man who has developed all his other senses in order to enjoy life, on a basis of irony and self-induced amnesia. He has erased from his biography any trace of his first identity, Mateo Blanco. One night Diego has an accidental interaction of recreational drugs, and Harry takes care of him (his mother, Judit, is out of Madrid and they decide not to tell her anything so as not to alarm her). During the first nights of his convalescence, Diego asks him about the time when he answered to the name of Mateo Blanco, after a moment of astonishment Harry can’t refuse and he tells Diego what happened fourteen years before with the idea of entertaining him, just as a father tells his little child a story so that he’ll fall asleep.

Starring Penélope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, and Lluís Homar
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, 2010
RT: 128 min.
Official Site

At a politically correct prep school in Washington, D.C. two girls—one black, one white—go toe to toe. Jesse is a privileged but troubled white girl whose slutty tendencies pull her towards self-destructive behavior. Tosha is a fiercely determined African-American from Anacostia, one of DC’s most impoverished areas. Both new seniors and star players on their school’s lacrosse team, the two girls click despite their differences. But, soon, the girls’ relationship degenerates into mutual hatred.

“An unusually honest, compassionate and challenging view of contemporary youth, neither sugarcoated nor prurient.” A.O. Scott, New York Times

Starring Sonequa Martin, Louisa Krause, and Ally Walker
Directed by Emily Abt, 2010
RT: 104 min.

Young Brendan lives in the Abbey of Kells, a remote medieval outpost under siege from raiding barbarians. One day a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest, where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him along the way. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan’s determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil?

“With its jewel-bright colors and intricate use of lines, the result is absolutely luscious to behold.” Leslie Felperin, Variety

Directed by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey
RT: 75 min.
Official Site

Though almost forgotten today, Veit Harlan was one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious filmmakers. Millions all across occupied Europe saw his films, the most perfidious of which was the treacherous anti-Semitic propaganda film Jew Süss—required viewing for all SS members. An unrepentant and blindly obsessive craftsman, no figure—save for Leni Riefenstahl—is as closely associated with the cinema of the Holocaust years as that of Joseph Goebbels’ top director. Harlan was also the only artist from the Nazi era to be charged with war crimes.

With never-before-seen archival footage, unearthed film excerpts, rare home movies and new interviews, Harlan: In the Shadow of “Jew Süss” is indeed a searing portrait of the controversial filmmaker and an eye-opening examination of World War II film history. But it also shows how Veit Harlan’s family—especially the youngest generation—struggles even today with the dark myth of his artistic immorality. It’s the story of a German family from the Third Reich to the present, one that is marked by reckoning, denial and liberation.

In German with English subtitles. 

“Although his focus remains on Veit Harlan, Mr. Moeller directly engages, if again not deeply, questions about German mass guilt and the responsibility of succeeding generations.” Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Directed by Felix Moeller, 2010
RT: 99 min.
Official Site

The charismatic Gianni Di Gregorio stars in his directorial debut Mid-August Lunch—an utterly charming tale of good food, feisty ladies, and unlikely friendships during a very Roman holiday. Broke, and armed with only a glass of wine and a wry sense of humor, middle-aged Gianni resides with his 93-year-old mother in their ancient apartment. The condo debts are mounting, but if Gianni looks after the building manager’s mother during the Pranzo di Ferragosto (Italy’s biggest summer holiday, and the Feast of the Assumption), all will be forgiven. Then the manager also shows up with an auntie, and then a doctor friend appears with his mother in tow…Can Gianni keep four such lively mamas well fed and happy in these cramped quarters?

Winner of numerous prizes at international festivals, Mid-August Lunch is both a warmly vibrant family drama and a delicately balanced comedy of manners.

In Italian with English subtitles.

“A surefire pleaser… (its) gentle feel-good vibes and Cassavetes-inspired camerawork can straddle both popular and critical tastes.” Jay Weissberg, Variety

Starring Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, and Marina Cacciotti
Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio, 2010
RT: 75 min.
Official Site