International Cinema at Eckerd College
Films are screened in the Dan and Mary Miller Auditorium. All programs are free and open to the public unless otherwise
stated. No tickets required. Eckerd College is located at 4200 54th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida. Click here for driving directions and maps to Eckerd College. For further information, please contact the Eckerd College Office of Communications at 727-864-7979. The International Cinema Series is coordinated by Nathan Andersen, Associate Professor of Philosophy.
Voted "Best Local Film Series" by Creative Loafing's Best of the Bay 2007.
Spring Semester 2009
February 6, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Mind Game
Directed by Masaaki Yuasa, in Japanese, 103 min., 2004.
This mind-bending and innovative Japanese animation feature follows Nishi, a loser with a crush on his childhood girlfriend, on a psychedelic journey to heaven and back, chased by Yakuza. Definitely not for children. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation and coordinated by Eileen Mikals-Adachi, Assistant Professor of Japanese.
February 13, 2009, Asian Hit Men double feature: Ashes of Time Redux and Postman Blues
February 13, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Ashes of Time Redux
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai, in Mandarin and Catonese, 93 min., 2008.
Hong Kong Auteur Wong Kar-Wai brings his exuberant and innovative style to the Chinese "Wuxia" (fantastic martial arts, whose best known variant in the West is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) film. Because the initial print of his Ashes of Time was damaged and the edit was rushed, Wong Kar-Wai and collaborator Chris Doyle sat down and cleaned up and reworked the film, adding a bit more coherence to the plot but more importantly restoring some of the most cinematically brilliant sequences ever filmed to life in Ashes of Time Redux.
February 13, 2009, 9:00 pm
 Postman Blues
Directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka, in Japanese, 110 min., 1997.
Sawaki is a postman, bored with his way of life until it all changes when his old schoolmate, who has just joined the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) smuggles a few items into his friend's bag. Now the police are after him, and a series of coincidences convince them that this seemingly mild-mannered postal worker is a seriously dangerous man. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation and coordinated by Eileen Mikals-Adachi, Assistant Professor of Japanese.
Thursday, February 19, 2009, 7:00 pm
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Directed by by Mikio Naruse, in Japanese w/ English subtitles, 86 min., 1960.
A classic and elegant study of the difficulties that face a widowed woman who hopes to retain her virtue and dignity.
February 20, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Silent Light
Directed by Carlos Reygadas, in German, Spanish, French and English, 136 min., 2007.
A Mennonite family is disrupted when the father finds himself unable to let go of his infatuation with another woman. Slow-paced and meditative in style, with stunning visual imagery, the film pays homage to Carl Dreyer's spiritual classic film Ordet.
February 21-28, 2009
Environmental Film Festival
February 27, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Tulpan
Directed by Sergey Dvorsevoy, in Kazakh and Russian, 100 min., 2008.
Celebrated Kazakh documentary filmmaker Sergey Dvorsevoy won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes for this, his first dramatic feature. Astonishing in its simplicity and for its intimate depiction of rural life, the film is also surprisingly funny. Asa, a young nomad who, having completed his military service, wants to return home and become a sheep farmer. The problem is he must first be married and the only eligible woman within many miles is not interested. Co-sponsored by the Environmental Film Festival.
Thursday, March 5, 2009, 7:00 pm
Cure
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japanese w/ English subtitles, 115 min., 1997.
A police detective investigates a series of murders in which the victims are all marked in the same way, but have quite distinct killers, all of whom are apparently baffled by what they have done. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is one of the most consistently inventive of contemporary Japanese filmmakers, and this is widely heralded as among his most intriguing films. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation and coordinated by Eileen Mikals-Adachi, Assistant Professor of Japanese.
March 6, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Who Does She Think She Is?
Directed by Pamela Tanner Boll and Nancy Kennedy, in English, 82 min., 2008.
Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll, Who Does She Think She Is? features five fierce women who refuse to choose between being artists and becoming mothers. Through their lives, the film explores the connection between mothering and creativity, partnering and independence, economics and art. Sponsored by the Eckerd College Women's Resource Center and coordinated by Eckerd Alumna Grace-Anne Alfiero ’05.
March 13 and March 20 - Spring Break
March 27, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Let the Right One In
Directed by Tomas Alfredson, in Swedish, 114 min., 2008.
Tomas, a lonely kid who tends to be the usual target for bullies, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but strange girl who turns out to be a vampire.
April 3, 2009, 7:00 pm
A Christmas Tale
Directed by Arnaud Desplechin, in French, 150 min., 2008.
By the same director as the International Cinema hit Kings and Queen, his latest employs his playful and experimental cinematic style to examine the strange bonds that exist within a family: funny, absurd, pathetic and tragic by turns.
April 10, 2009 - Good Friday, No Film
April 17, 2009, 7:00 pm
 Time Crimes
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo, in Spanish, 92 min., 2008.
An ordinary man accidentally climbs into a time machine, travelling backwards in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters with unforeseeable consequences. Says International Cinema Series Coordinator Nathan Andersen, "This was easily the most intense and exhilarating film I saw at Sundance 2008."
April 24, 2009, 7:00 pm
 My Winnipeg
Directed by Guy Maddin
Inventive Canadian director Guy Maddin reinvents his own childhood in this "docu-fantasia" that combines local and personal history with surrealist images and metaphorical myths. "My Winnipeg" is Maddin's most personal film and a truly unique cinematic experience, winning the best Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival and was the opening night selection of the Berlin Film Festival's Forum.
May 1 , 2009, 7:00 pm
 Old Partner
Directed by Lee Chung-ryoul
Korean with English subtitles, 77 min., 2008
In the face of technological developments, an old farmer is wedded to his old ways, especially to the aging ox whose impending death leads him to contemplate his own mortality. Knowing the connection he has with the tired ox who has sustained them over 30 years, his wife feels alternates between empathy and jealousy.
Philosophy Professor Nathan Andersen, coordinator of the International Cinema Series, writes, "This was my favorite documentary at the Sundance film festival this year - which happened to be a very good year for documentaries. Old Partner is an easy-paced and meditative cinema-verite documentary, a beautiful and moving piece that didn't get any of the hype of some of the bigger pictures but had more heart and mind to it than anything I've seen in a long time. Seemingly without trying the film manages to be a profound meditation on life and death, on marriage and family, on our relationship with animals and with the land, on changes in the seasons and on the changes that have been wrought in our lifestyles by modern technology."
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