International Film Series 2007-2008

The 2007-2008 International Film Series theme is the "ROAD MOVIE," featuring a diverse eight-film program that includes internationally acclaimed comedies and dramas.*

Films are shown during the fall and spring semesters on the SECOND MONDAY of every month in the Hoff Theater in the Stamp Student Union. Each film begins at 7 pm with a brief introduction by a University of Maryland faculty member. All films are FREE, open to the public, and are subtitled in English.

*Schedule subject to change.

Sept. 10: PARIS, TEXAS, Wim Wenders, 1984 (USA/Germany)
Hosted by professor Peter Beicken, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC)

Oct. 8: THIEVES' HIGHWAY, Jules Dassin, 1949, (USA)
Hosted by professor Myron Lounsbury, American Studies, and George Pelecanos, acclaimed novelist and co-producer of the HBO series The Wire, will introduce a short documentary on the screenwriter A. I. Bezzerides.

George Pelecanos, university alumnus, noted D.C. Noir author, and co-producer of HBO’s The Wire, will introduce The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides, the biography of the Armenian-born novelist and scriptwriter who drew from his personal experiences to capture the story of truckers carrying produce to the packing houses of Northern California. Dassin’s film, the director’s last American movie before being blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer, represents an evocative Noir journey of a Navy veteran who encounters corrupt bossism, a femme fatale, and hard-working laborers in his quest to avenge his Greek-American father crippled during his dangerous nighttime travels on the road.

Reda, summoned to accompany his father on a pilgrimage to Mecca, complies reluctantly - he is preparing for his baccalaureat and, even more important, has a secret love relationship. The trip across Europe in a broken-down car is also a departure for his father: upon arrival in Mecca, both Reda and his father are not the characters they were at the start of the movie.

Dec. 10: BYE-BYE BLUE BIRD, Katrin Ottarsdóttir, 2000 (Denmark)
Hosted by professor Rose-Marie Oster

This funny and melancholy film, directed by Danish film director Katrin Ottarsdottir, tells about two young girls who after years abroad return to their native Faeroe Islands. Feeling estranged form their homelands they come back with an attitude of superiority and disdain. But the real purpose of their trip is to resolve unfinished family problems and in doing so they encounter local fishermen and drifters, missionary grandparents, and a number of skeletons in the family closet

Feb. 11: THE RETURN (Vozvrashchenie), Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003 (Russia)
Hosted by professor Elizabeth Papazian, SLLC

A father returns after a twelve-year absence and takes his two sons on a “vacation” to a remote island in the north of Russia. This unflinching--even devastating --look at the father-son dynamic becomes, in the best Russian tradition, a poetic reflection on existence itself.

March 10: CENTRAL STATION (Central do Brasil), Walter Salles (Brazil/France)
Hosted by professor Regina Igel, SLLC

Dora, a dour old woman, works at a Rio de Janeiro central station, writing letters for customers and mailing them. She hates her customers, and calls them 'trash'. Josue is a 9-year-old boy who has never met his father. His mother sends letters to the father through Dora. When the mother dies in a car accident, Dora takes Josue and travels with him to find his father

April 14: JAMON,JAMON, Bigas Luna, 1992 (Spain)
Hosted by professor José María Naharro-Calderón, SLLC

May 12: HAPPY TOGETHER (Chun gwong cha sit), Wong Kar-Wai, 1997 (Hong Kong)
Hosted by professor Jianmei Liu, SLLC

Yiu-Fai and Po-Wing arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and take to the road for a holiday. Something is wrong and their relationship goes adrift. A disillusioned Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to save up for his trip home. When a beaten and bruised Po-Wing reappears, Yiu-Fai is empathetic, but unable to enter a more intimate relationship.

2006-2007 Series: Satire, Comedy, Irony
View the list of films screened for the series "Satire, Comedy, Irony" or download PDF brochure

2005-2006 Series: The Outsider
View a list of all films that were shown in the 2005-6 "The Outsider" Film Series. Download a PDF brochure of the 2005-6 Film Series.

Each academic year, the Hoff Theater, the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Office of International Programs organize an International Film Series.
Films are shown during the fall and spring semesters on the first Tuesday of every month (except for September, when the film screens on the second Wednesday, and January, when there is no film) in the Hoff Theater in the Stamp Student Union.If you would like to be notified of the schedule, please send an email to international-info@umd.edu and request to be added to the film series contact list.