Cinema Updates

Sunday, August 14, 2011

THE GARIBALDI BOY and LIBERTY the Italian Institute of Culture in Zamalek at 9:00 PM
Italian with English subtitles.

IL PICCOLO GARIBALDINO - (THE GARIBALDI BOY)
Directed by Filote Albertin.
Italy, 1909. B/W. Runtime: 12 min.
The film tells of a young man killed during the military campaign led by Garibaldi's 1860 'Expedition of a Thousand.'

BRONTE - CRONACA DI UN MASSACRO CHE I LIBRI DI STORIA NON HANNO RACCONTATO (LIBERTY)
Directed by Florestano Vancini.
Starring: Ivo Garrani, Mariano Rigillo, Ilija Dzuvalekovski, Rudolf Kukié, Modrag Loncar, Philip Scelzo, Loris Bazzocchi.
Historical, Runtime: 126 min. - Italy 1972.

The film reconstructs the stages of a dramatic incident in Bronte, a town near Catania, shortly after the 'Expedition of the Thousand.' One hundred and fifty people were arrested, summarily tried and shot. The film shows how Sicily has remained the same, with its privileged men, arrogant nobles and beggars, exploited people. Sicily, 1860.

Monday August 15, 2011

FUNNY GAMES at Cinema el Fourn, at Darb 17 18, 10:00 PM
(1997) – Austria, Dir: Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke’s controversial thriller watches an affluent couple, their child and dog as they arrive at their lakeside vacation home. Settling into their holiday routine, the family is visited by a pair of clean-cut young men in tennis whites and gloves, who inexplicably turn ruthless and brutal, forcing the family into playing their “funny games.” Haneke then plays his own games, turning the audience into an active participant and radically shifting the film’s narrative.
* Mature audiences only (thriller)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

GIGI* at the Cairo Opera House Open Air Theater at 9:30 PM
1958
Directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Featuring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan

Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long.

*(This was indicated in the Cairo Opera House Ramadan Festival, but not in the monthly calendar)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Following at Cinema el Fourn, at Darb 17 18, 10:00 PM
1998 / UK,
Directed by Christopher Nolan

An unemployed aspiring "writer" Bill (Jeremy Theobald) has a peculiar hobby: shadowing strangers at random in the streets of London. When Cobb (Alex Haw), a man Bill has been following, catches him in the act, Bill is drawn into Cobb's world of breaking into flats and prying into the personal lives of their victims. In Bob, Bill finds a strange companion - part mentor, part confessor and part evil twin. With an ingenious structure that involves flash forwards and doubling back, the film tests our knowledge and understanding just as the protagonist is being duped into an elaborate triple-cross. Following is the independently-produced, feature debut of director Christopher Nolan, who would go on to develop his innovative style in films like Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Inception.