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Show i li inn ill I ii mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmm. ' ' , ; " - i H ...' ,t 't ' t 7 Tv I !f; " -V iv 1 i ; ? v i v 1 f 1 -i I p ( -' F - -.: -V. , ;k V .7 - f ' '"" f ':0ff f A Inside this section Foreign Showcase Bl Tickets B2 "Falcon" Premier B2 Directors Showcase B3 "Way Down East." B3 Competing Dramas B4 Competing Documentaries B5 Schedule B6-7 Seminars B8 Premiers B8 Popcorn Guide B8 Independent films span the globe The horrors of the Khmer Houge revolution bring a painful moment of separation for Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor, middle) in "The Killing Fields." "Times" writer Sidney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) watches, (right). by Rick Broueh We call it the U.S. Film Festival, so why does the festival feature 25 films that are a virtual United Nations of movies from around the world? Because independents aren't just Americans! For instance, there's more to Japanese film than Akira Kurosawa, as good as he is. There are British films besides "Gandhi" and Mad Max isn't the only hero in Australian movies. Here are the films in the Showcase for the 1985 festival that comes to -Park City Jan. 19-27. (These notes, are based on comments ""from Tony Safford, director of the festival. ) Between Wars In this Australian film, a doctor (Corin Redgrave) becomes interested interest-ed in psychoanalysis after treating shell-shocked soldiers. While he sets up a practice he sees the rumblings of the next big war. The film deals with two important developments in Australia's history that happened at the same time the emergence of Freudian theory and Australia's movement into the modern age. Brady's Escape Jon Savage is an Allied pilot shot down over Hungary in World War n, and rescued by "csikos," Hungarian cowboys fighting the Nazis. This is a fun adventure co-starring Kelly Reno, the young hero of "The Black Stallion." Far Thunder The young hero of this Japanese film grows tomatoes in the shadow of a huge apartment complex, and he must deal with tensions among his family and friends. The problem goes beyond his vegetable plot, to Japan as a country growing with no planning or direction. Gold Diggers Celeste is a typist at a bank who becomes preoccupied with finding, roots, money and capital. Julie Christie is Ruby, a woman seeking her own identity in a search that is also involved with legendary images of women in film. The Go Masters The film is the first Japanes-Chin-ese co-production, and tells of a young Chinese in the 1920s sent to a Japanese master to learn the Oriental game of Go. As war erupts between the two countries and divides master from student, the game comes to represent those elements that unite people regardless regard-less of nationality. The Hit Two hardened killers find a gangland witness in Spain and start to take him home for execution, but from there nothing happens according accord-ing to plan The victim (Terence Stamp) is blissful now that his years of anxious waiting are over. But the hitmen (one play by John Hurt) become increasingly frustrated as they are held up by detours, police pursuit and an unexpected hostage. This could be one of the sleepers of the festival. The Illusionist This is a film, without dialogue, about a magician who tries to rese.v his younger, retarded brother from a hospital. "This is one of the most unusual and amazing films in the festival, if you get into it," said Safford. A Joke of Destiny Lina Wertmuller directed this political satire that takes place in virtually one location. The Italian Minister of the Interior (the country's law and order head) becomes trapped in his maximum-security maximum-security limousine. The car stalls outside the home of a political adversary, who can't take advantage of the national anarchy because domestic hell is breaking loose in his home. The Killing Fields Based on a true story, the film stars Sam Westerson as American foreign journalist Sidney Schanberg. When the Khmer Rouge come to power in Cambodia, Schanberg is saved by his friend interpreter Dith Pran (Haing Ngor). But when Pran himself disappears into the forced labor camps, Schanberg launches a four-year search to find his friend. You may be surprised by this Dutch entry, a science-fiction spoof about a killer elevator controlled by a ""'Japanese computer. The undaunted ' hero is a maintenance man. A Love In Germany Noted Polish director Andrzej Wajda directed this film. The story shows an investigation in the '60s that looks back to the love affair between a German housewife (Hanna Schygulla) and a Polish laborer during World War II. Low Visibility While an amnesiac is taken into a hospital, the police, media and psychiatrist try to figure out his history. When the puzzle is finally pieced together, the result is a very strange climax. This enigmatic Canadian film is not for everyone. Monkey Grip The film is set in Australia but the dark low-life world of artists and writers here could be found in many countries. Heroine Nora is a sexually-independent woman trying to deal with her brooding lover Javo. Mosquito on the Tenth Floor This is a funny, wacky Japanese film about a burnt-out policeman who is pressed for money by his ex-wife and daughter. Even his one solace, a home computer, starts to become a drain on his pocketbook. Mother's Meat and Freud's Flesh If any film causes trouble at the festival, this could be the one. In a cross between European art and American porno styles, the story is about a pomo actor who becomes obsessed with his mother. She, in turn, is abnormally devoted to him. Moving Out This has been called a "Karate Kid" movie without the karate. Gino starts out as a jerky Australian kid who finds his free-wheeling lifestyle is coming to an end when his parents move from the city to the country. But he comes to realize this is the moment for him to grow up. The Night the Prowler This too, is an Australian film about the moment of growing up. But here, it comes on the night when a prowler invades a young girl's bedroom. We never know what happened but not knowing is part of being an adult too. Director Jim ;, Sharman makes a different film frorn, his previous movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ' ' Not for Publication In another film from weird Paul Bartel, Nancy Allen works for both a reform-minded mayor (Laurence Luckinbill) and a supermarket paper that specializes in stories about baby triplets that look like frogs. Soon she finds the two worlds aren't that far . apart. It also stars the "Dr. Pepper" guy, David Naughton. Pebbles This is a specialized but richly felt film from Australia about an Austrian Jewish woman and a German man haunted by the horrors of the past. Secret Honor In a film by Robert Altman, Richard Nixon (Phillip Baker Hall) looks back at his past, vents his rage at Eisenhower and Kissinger and claims Watergate was just a ploy to derail the even-worse plans of the Committee of 100. Ragii g into a tape recorder and surrounded by four closed-circuit TV screens, Baker's version of Nixon is a monumentally scared, piteous figure. Silver City This film tells of Eastern European refugees placed in a camp in Australia. The heroine, Nina, falls in love with her best friend's husband, a romance that is doomed from the start. Squizzy Taylor The 1919 influenza epidemic has hit Melbourne, and only our hero Squizzy (David Atkins) would have the gall to use a germ mask over his face to disguise his criminal activities. He rises throughout the 1920s, but he is ultimately tripped up in the rivalry betwen two police detectives. Strikebound This film tells the story of a coal miners' strike in 1927 Australia. The strike leaders, Agnes and Wattie Doig, were real, and we see them as the oldsters in documentary footage. Tattoo Here is another Japanese film that goes against the sterotype of the solemn, fierce Japanese movie. The s toryT'aTSbuT an aspiring bandit, has been compared to "Dog Day Afternoon." Where the Green Ants Dream This film is directed by Werner Herzog. While not his best work, Safford said, "Anything Herzog does is interesting." The film examines the conflict between a uranium mining company and the aborigines who don't want it to mine on their tribal holy grounds where the green ants gather. In addition to these movies, the festival features a special collection of four films from British filmmaker Chris Petit. Petit's films often start with a murder or some kind of thriller premise, but his stories develop to show a world where answers aren't easily forthcoming. In his first film, "Radio On," (to be shown here) the hero sets out on a journey to discover why his brother has died in a bathtub. But his travels are really a disillusioned wandering. The goal of a Petit film, said Tony Safford, is to see that the journey is more intriguing than the answer to the mystery. "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" is the most conventional of the Petit films here. The heroine, Cordelia Grey, takes over a detective agency after the suicide of her boss. The other two films to be shown are "Chinese Boxes" and "Flight to Berlin," involving characters wrapped wrap-ped up in murders and enigmas in the German city. 7 S7:7: j,7 '''SiWf : ' . 7 7s7,..: 7 T ' A '"-- - - I . ' ' ' ; f 77' it 471,. I . ... y : ' - ,yV f i .7 . . - . ij . "' : :; ;'.... I i- tr j rsx' 1 i'.'W-: ' Niis f m ...,...,..,.. 1 1 . My X S ' ' Olj-' ' '7 I " ' t ' . . f - .,ma-Vli i -' ,11,1 , s Innocence and horror are hard to separate in the World War II tale "A Love in Germany," from Polish director Andrze j Wajda. An Italian minister finds it a tad stuffy when he's trapped inside his high-tech limousine in "A Joke of Destiny." |