Another New Film Fest: Dialogue of Cultures

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 14 October 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The inaugural Dialogue of Cultures International Film Festival (DCIFF) is taking place October 20 - 27, 2011 at The Quad and the SVA Theaters in Manhattan, New York City.

Dialogue of Cultures is the world’s first film festival dedicated to the impact of globalization. As millions of people are compelled to move to different countries, confronting or embracing new cultures, DCIFF focuses on this international spirit.

The Festival intends to launch a real dialogue between cultures through the universal language of cinema. After this first edition, the Festival will be held in a different country every year, with Paris, France scheduled for next year's location.

One might ask, what on earth does New York City need with yet another documentary film festival? Don‛t they already have several world-class festivals?

Indeed. But while the vast majority of documentary films are either expository, historical, or probe crime, corruption, abuse and other justice issues, as well as exploring relationships, this Festival is different:

The emphasis here is on how different people from other cultures relate to each other, as opposed to just us Americans. We are used to thinking the word "immigrant" refers to people coming here to the US, and tend to forget that thousands of people who leave home do not necessarily try to enter the States.

The films are intended to explore characters "who find themselves dealing with different cultures from their own in various dramatic ways."  Not one of these films is about anyone coming to America.

The Opening Night film is the East Coast premiere of Cirkus Columbia (Bosnia-Herzegovina), directed by Danis Tanovic, who is expected to attend.
After the fall of the Communist regime in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991, a man returns to his former home after a 20-year exile in Germany.

A Special Screening is Bride Flight (Netherlands, Luxembourg), directed by Ben Sombogaart, and starring Anna Drijver, Karina Smulders, Elise Schaap and Rutger Hauer (who is attending)
Inspired by the true story of the 1953 "Last Great Air Race" from London to Christchurch, New Zealand, three young women are eager to escape post-WWII Holland and emigrate to New Zealand for what they hope will be a better life.

The Closing Night film is Sketch of Mujo (Japan), directed by Koichi Omiya (attending). "After the earth shook and the tsunami swept, what remains? One month has passed since the Great East Japan earthquake."

Some of the other films are:

Dance of Time (South Korea)
directed by Song Il-gon
"Back in 1905, just before the onset of the Japanese military occupation over Joseon (present day Korea), about 300 people fled to Cuba via Mexico. With hopes of returning home wealthy, they worked tenaciously at henequen farms. They established their own Korean schools and sent money back to finance the independence movements against Japan." Some of them later participated in the revolution of Che Guevara.

Shahada (Germany)
directed by Burkhan Qurbani
In today‛s Berlin, during a razzia for clandestine employees in a warehouse, "the fates of three young German-born Muslims collide."

Hi-So (Thailand)
directed by Aditya Assarat
A student returns home from studying abroad and, for lack of other ideas at first, he tries acting in a new movie for a famous director. During the filming, his girlfriend from University arrives for a visit, but soon finds herself frustrated there.

For more information, go to www.dciff.net.

Dialogue of Cultures International Film Festival
October 20 - 27, 2011

The Quad
34 West 13th St.
New York City
212-255-8800
www.quadcinema.com

SVA Theatre
School of Visual Arts
333 West 23rd St.
New York City
212-592-2980
www.svatheatre.com

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