September 12-14
MAUDIE. Canada/Ireland, 2016 (biography, 115 min.) Dir.: Aisling Walsh. With: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Gabrielle Rose. Maud Lewis, an arthritic Nova Scotia woman, works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes famous as well as a beloved figure in the community.
NERUDA*. Chile/Argentina/France/Spain/USA, 2016 (drama, 108 min.) Dir.: Pablo Larraín. With: Luis Gnecco, Gael Garcia Bernal, Mercedes Morán. An inspector hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s for joining the Communist Party. Nominee Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language, Golden Globes 2017.
October 3-5
THE SALESMAN/FORUSHANDE*. Iran/France, 2016 (drama, 125 min.) Dir.: Asghar Farhadi. With: Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini. While participating in a production of Death of a Salesman, a married couple move into a temporary home. When his wife is assaulted there by an intruder, Emad is determined to find the perpetrator despite his traumatized wife's objections. Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2017.
JULIETA*. Spain, 2016 (drama, 99 min.) Dir.: Pedro Almodovar. With: Emma Suárez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta. After a casual encounter with her daughter’s childhood friend, a brokenhearted woman decides to confront her life and the most important events leading to her daughter’s disappearance. Nominee Best Film not in the English Language, BAFTA 2017.
November 7-9
FRANTZ*. France/Germany, 2016 (drama, 113 min.) Dir.: François Ozon. With: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner. In the aftermath of WWI, a young German woman grieves the death of her fiancé while living with his equally devastated parents. One day, she meets a mysterious Frenchman who travelled to Germany to visit her fiancé's grave.
THE WEDDING PLAN/LAAVOR ET HAKIR*. Israel, 2016 (comedy-drama, 110 min.) Dir.: Rama Burshtein. With: Noa Koler, Irit Sheleg, Oz Zehavi. When her fiancé bows out shortly before her wedding, Michal, an Orthodox Jew, refuses to cancel the ceremony. She insists that God will find her a husband just in time for the wedding.
December 12-14
LE HAVRE*. Finland/France/Denmark, 2011 (comedy-drama, 93 min.) Dir.: Aki Kaurismaki. With: André Wilms, Blondin Miguel, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. When an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home.
THE DRESSMAKER. Australia, 2015 (comedy-drama, 118 min.) Dir.: Jocelyn Moorhouse. With: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth. A glamorous woman returns to her small town in rural Australia. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.
January 9-11
A MAN CALLED OVE/EN MAN SOM HETER OVE*. Sweden, 2016 (comedy-drama, 116 min.) Dir.: Hannes Holm. With: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Filip Berg. Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife's grave, has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbours. Nominee Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2017.
LAND OF MINE/UNDER SANDET*. Denmark, 2015 (drama, 100 min.) Dir.: Martin Zandvliet. With: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman. In post-WWII Denmark, a group of young German POWs is forced to clear a beach of thousands of landmines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight. Nominee Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2017.
February 6-8
I, DANIEL BLAKE*. UK, 2016 (drama, 100 min.) Dir.: Ken Loach. With: Hayley Squires, Dave Johns. After having suffered a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight the bureaucratic forces of the system in order to receive his Employment and Support Allowance. Palme d'Or, Cannes 2016.
LOVING. UK/USA 2016 (biography-drama, 123 min.) Dir.: Jeff Nichols. With: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, Will Dalton. The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.
March 6-8
THE HANDMAIDEN/AH-GA-SSI*. South Korea, 2016 (psychological thriller, 144 min.) Dir.: Park Chan-wook. With: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong. A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her. Nominee Palme d'Or, Cannes 2016.
April 3-5
THE INNOCENTS/LES INNOCENTES*. France/Poland, 2016 (drama, 115 min.) Dir.: Anne Fontaine. With: Lou de Laâge, Agata Kulesza. In 1945, shortly after the end of WWII, a young French Red Cross doctor arrives in Poland to assist the survivors of the German camps. She discovers that the nuns in a nearby convent are dealing with a crisis and desperately need her help.
AFTER THE STORM/UMI YORI MO MADA FAKAKU*. Japan, 2016 (drama, 117 min.) Dir.: Hirokazu Koreeda. With: Hiroshi Abe, Yôko Maki, Satomi Kobayashi. Following the death of his father, a dissolute private detective and writer attempts to reconnect with his son and ex-wife, with a little help from his mother.
May 1-3
THEIR FINEST. UK, 2016 (comedy-drama, 117 min.) Dir.: Lone Scherfig. With: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy. In 1940, a young woman from Wales finds a job in wartime London as a scriptwriter for British propaganda films. Between German air raids, she participates with the cast and crew in the production of a major film.
LION*. USA, 2016 (biography-drama, 118 min.) Dir.: Garth Davis. With: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara. A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. Nominee Best Film Oscar 2017.