Film Festivals 2006
Another eclectic clutch of fine cinema from around the world. The 30th Telecom International Festival kicked off this year with Ken Loach's 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', exploring tense Anglo-Irish relations in the 1920s; auteur Terrence Malick returned to filmmaking with a different story of colonialism, an eerily dream-like re-telling of the Pocahontas story and the 'conquering' of 'The New World'. Speaking of dreams, the innovative Michel Gondry gave us the enchanting 'The Science of Sleep', Richard Linklater came out with the animated 'A Scanner Darkly' and Korean Joon-ho Bong revisited the monster movie nightmare with fan favourite, 'The Host'. More personal stories included the excellent Canadian coming of age flick 'CRAZY', Tommy Lee Jones's 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'; low-key thriller 'Keane' and a blackly humourous tale of the prodigal son, 'Lonesome Jim'.
Sicko (2007)
8/10
Director: Michael Moore
Starring: Michael Moore
Michael Moore's scathing dissection of America's Health Insurance system showcases his characteristic combination of shock and humour, as he compares... Read more
Romulus, My Father (2007)
6.7/10
Director: Richard Roxburgh
Starring: Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Russell Dykstra, Jac...
Eric Bana and Franka Potente star in this adaptation of Raimond Gaita's childhood memoir, relating the experience of his immigrant family's struggle f... Read more
Quinceanera (2006)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Chalo Gonzalez, Jesse Garcia, Emily Rios
As Magdalena's (Emily Rios) 15th birthday approaches, her working class family prepares for the all-important Quinceanera - a lavish coming-of-age cel... Read more
A Lion in the House (2006)
8.9/10
Director: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
How does a family with a cancer-stricken child persevere in the face of the heart-wrenching challenges that emerge every day? Five such families are p... Read more
Waves (2006)
6.7/10
Director: Li Tao
Follows brief periods in the lives of four Chinese teenagers attending high school in New Zealand, achieving a rare level of intimacy that keeps you f... Read more
Four Minutes (2006)
6.9/10
Director: Chris Kraus
Starring: Monica Bleibtreu, Hannah Herzsprung
Former pianist Traude Kruger (Monica Bleibtreu) has been driving to the same women's prison at Luckau almost every morning since 1944. She teaches her... Read more
Black Gold (2006)
7.2/10
Director: Marc Francis, Nick Francis
Multinational coffee companies rule our shopping malls and dominate an industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commod... Read more
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006)
7.9/10
Director: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
An astoundingly sobering and unashamedly apocalyptic documentary about the world's obsession with oil, when it's going to run out, and what will happe... Read more
Princess (2006)
6.8/10
Director: Anders Morgenthaler
A visually striking animated feature from Denmark with a missionary priest named August abandoning his profession after the death of his drug-addicted... Read more
Ten Canoes (2006)
7/10
Director: Rolf de Heer, Peter Djiggir
Starring: David Gulpilil, (Voice of) , Peter Minygululu, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbir...
Rolf de Heer's uniquely enchanting and humourous fable is the first film spoken entirely in Aboriginal languages. Set before the time of Western cont... Read more