The 2015 Trenton International Film Festival will take place April 9-11 with all films shown at Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 East Front Street in Trenton. Admission $8 per film or $25 for pass to all films. Here is a look at the films being presented.
Thursday, April 9, 7:30 pm
Felix and Meira
(Quebec, Maxime Giroux 2014, 105 mins)
Meira, a young wife and mother, longs to experience life outside the strict confines of her Orthodox Jewish community. Felix, who lives in the same Montreal neighborhood, feels lost after the death of his wealthy father, from whom he was estranged. The two find comfort in their unexpected friendship, but are faced with the challenge of coming from vastly different worlds.
Friday, April 10, 7:30 pm
Gueros
(Mexico, Alonso Ruizpalacios 2014, 106 mins)
Tomás is sent away to live with his older brother, Sombra, who is studying in Mexico City. Arriving in the midst of a student strike that has shut down the university, he finds his slacker brother with his roommate Santos aimless with nothing to do, until Tomás decides they should travel around the city in search of his hero, their late father’s favorite folk-rock singer Epigmenio Cruz.
Saturday, April 11, 12:00 pm
I For Iran
(Belgium/Iran, Sanaz Azari 2014, 50 mins)
Filmmaker Sanaz Azari, who emigrated from Iran to Belgium as a child, documents learning how to read and write Persian as an adult. Taught by an older Iranian exile using an elementary textbook from the Islamic Revolution, these basic language classes become anything-but-basic lessons on life before and after Iran’s upheaval in 1979.
Saturday, April 11, 1:45 pm
In The Crosswind
(Estonia, Martti Helde 2014, 87 mins)
Estonian director Martti Helde creates a heartbreaking portrait of the 1941 Soviet mass deportation of Baltic citizens to Siberia. Based on the diary of a young wife and mother struggling to find her way home, scenes are recreated as dream-like black and white tableaux vivants in which the actors stand motionless while the camera remains in motion.
Saturday, April 11, 3:45 pm
Songs From The North
(US/South Korea, Soon-Mi Yoo 2014, 72 min)
Weaving together songs and archival footage from North Korean propagandist cinema and television, everyday scenes of workers and schoolchildren in the North, and interviews with her father who had lived through the dividing of his country, South Korean-born director Soon-Mi Yoo creates an intriguing visual essay of this enigmatic nation and its people.
Saturday, April 11, 5:30 pm
Charlie’s Country
(Australia, Rolf de Heer 2013, 108 mins)
David Gulpilil (Walkabout) won a Best Actor award at Cannes for his portrayal of Charlie, an aborigine who feels out of place in his own country. After the police confiscate his handmade spear, Charlie goes into the bush to find freedom from white rule, only to run afoul of the law again when illness brings him back to civilization.
Saturday, April 11, 7:45 pm
Two Shots Fired
(Argentina, Martín Rejtman 2014, 105 min)
In this absurdist black comedy by veteran Argentine director Martín Rejtman (his first feature in 10 years), 16-year-old Mariano comes home one night and inexplicably shoots himself twice, once in the head and once in the stomach. More inexplicably, he isn’t even injured. From this irrational beginning, random events unwind for Mariano and his family and friends.
