Thursday, Feb. 26 @7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Directors: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Belgium/France / 2014
French with English subtitles / 95 minutes

Sandra (Marion Cotillard) loses her job, but she can get it back if her co-workers at the factory will choose for her to return rather than for a bonus payment to themselves. She has one weekend to
convince her 16 teammates to vote in her favour. The story
envelopes us in Sandra’s world, through long takes and hand-held shots, putting a human face on Europe’s economic crisis. Despite the high stakes and mounting tension, we’re reminded that — whether it’s enjoying an ice cream in the park, or the simple act of listening to others — there’s much that can be savoured in two days and one night.

See the trailer here.

Presented in partnership with Shadows of the Mind Film Festival.

Thursday, Feb. 5 @7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Stéphane Lafleur
Canada / 2014
French with English subtitles / 93 minutes

At 22, Nicole (Julianne Côté) is adrift, working a dead-end job in her small hometown and lazing away her summer evenings with her best pal (Catherine St-Laurent). But when her brother (Marc-André
Grodin) unexpectedly returns with his bandmates in tow it becomes clear that something has to change. Displaying his trademark
absurdist humour and sense of ennui, Lafleur brilliantly captures that stage where the fading attachments of childhood seem far more appealing than the sterility of the grown-up world. Shot in luminous black and white, this is an affecting, eccentric, and funny coming-of-age film.

See the trailer here.

Thursday, Jan.29 @7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Ira Sachs
USA/France/ 2014
English/ 98 minutes

In this captivating modern-day love story, painter Ben (John Lithgow) and Catholic school choir director George (Alfred Molina) have been partners for nearly four decades. But when the couple get married under new US same-sex marriage laws, George is let go from the teaching post he’s held for years and the pair has to uproot their lives. Lithgow and Molina are noteperfect in this intimate drama by one of the most perceptive and personal directors working in American cinema. A thoughtful, heartbreaking, and beautifully realized ode to love, family, and both the struggles and rewards of age.

See the trailer here.

Thursday, Jan.8 @7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Ruben Östlund
Sweden/Norway/Denmark/France / 2014
English, Swedish & French with English subtitles / 118 mins.

While on a skiing vacation in the French Alps, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are enjoying lunch with their two children when an avalanche comes thundering down the mountain. An impulsive decision in this moment of crisis shakes the family to its core. The remainder of the film monitors the fallout from this fateful incident as the family evaluates their roles and assumptions. In this gripping moral drama, Östlund turns a keenly analytic eye on those principles we supposedly live by, creating a film that is both psychologically and sociologically acute.

See the trailer here.

Thursday, Nov.13 @ 7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Michael Warchus
UK / 2014
English, 120 mins.

It’s the summer of 1984 in England. Margaret Thatcher is in power and more than 20,000 miners are on strike. A group of London-based gay and lesbian activists, who are also threatened by Thatcher’s policies, offer financial assistance to the miners’ families but are rebuffed by the Miners’ Union. Undeterred, the group sets off to a small village in Wales to offer direct support to a community. As the strike drags on, the two groups discover that standing together makes for the strongest union of all. Inspired by a true story, PRIDE is funny, touching, and uplifting food for the soul.

See the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIh0v7nQcXw

Thursday, Nov. 6 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director:  Michael Winterbottom
UK / Italy, 2014
English, 108 mins.

Last seen together touring the culinary circuit of Northern England’s Lake District, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return for seconds in this much-anticipated sequel. Partly retracing the steps of the great Romantic poets Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, the pals pile in to a quintessentially Italian Mini and take off along the glorious Italian coastline. Between bites of succulent seafood and mounds of pasta, these gifted mimics offer a repertoire of wickedly and hilariously accurate celebrity impersonations. A savoury mixture of character comedy, spectacular landscapes, and beautiful food, The Trip to Italy is marvellous, witty fun.

See the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtlEQ6y8Rp8

Thursday, Oct. 16 @ 7pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: John Michael McDonagh
Ireland/UK   2014
English  100 mins.

This darkly funny and powerfully moving mystery set in a sleepy village in Ireland focuses on local parish priest Father James (Brendan Gleeson) who receives a death threat from one of his parishioners during confession. One by one, the assorted villagers (and potential suspects) tell their variously unhappy stories. In each encounter, the benevolent priest patiently argues for the value of the Church – and faith in general – in a society increasingly skeptical of this seemingly archaic institution. Featuring lively performances, spectacular scenery, and crackling dialogue, Calvary is a must-see for believers and agnostics alike.

See the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGM5rq_vX4U

Thursday, Oct.9 @ 7pm / Galaxy Cinemas/Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Richard Linklater
USA 2014
English/163 mins.

A coming-of-age epic of unparalleled depth and scope, this understated drama was shot chronologically, at regular intervals over a twelve-year period; as the story progresses, the actors age and mature along with their characters.  Mason (Ellar Coltrane) grows up before our eyes from the age of five to eighteen, and along with him we experience the formative moments of his life as well as the seemingly inconsequential ones.  The  result is a moving series of vignettes that add up to a lifetime.  Brilliantly blurring lines between life and art, BOYHOOD is extrordinary, touching and sincere.

Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter:  “A unique work in American cinema, shot in 39 days over the course of 12 years,  BOYHOOD is an epic about the ordinary: growing up, the banality of family life, and forging an identity…never has the long arc of the journey from childhood to COLLEGE been portrayed as cohesively and convincingly as Richard Linklater has done in a film that can be plain on a moment-to-moment basis but is something quite special in its entirety…”

IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065073/?ref_=nv_sr_1
See the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-mbHXyWX4

Thursday, Oct. 2 @ 7pm / Galaxy Cinema/Sault Ste. Marie

Director:  Pawel Pawlikowski
Poland 2013
Polish with English subtitles

In 1960s Poland, Anna, a novitiate num about to take her vows, is instructed to meet her aunt, Wanda, prior to withdrawing  into religious life.  This launches a remarkable journey into the countryside, where the women’s search for details about their family’s past illuminates some of the darkest corners of Poland’s history under both fascist occupation and communist autocracy.  Elegantly shot in black and white, brilliantly structured, and impeccably executed, IDA is one the year’s most powerful and affecting films.

Godfrey Chesire, RogerEbert.com: “Riveting, original and breathtakingly accomplished on every level, “Ida” would be a masterpiece in any era, in any country.”

IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2718492/?ref_=nv_sr_1
See the trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-mbHXyWX4

Thursday, Sept.11 @ 7pm / Galaxy Cinema/Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Wes Anderson
USA  2014
English; 100 mins

Director Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom) returns with his highly fanciful world view and a wide range of  incredible acting talent including many from his usual ensemble in this 1930’s-set caper.  THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL tells the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at an elegant spa hotel in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka , and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

While the film appears on the surface as `a cinematic confection’, it `does grapple with the very raw and real stuff of humanity from an unusual but highly illuminating angle’.  `THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is a movie about the masks we conjure to suit our aspirations, and the cost of keeping up appearances’.   `Anderson the illusion-maker is dazzling, and with this movie he’s created an art-refuge that consoles and commiserates.  It’s an illusion, but it’s not a lie.’ (Glenn Kenny, Roger Ebert.com)

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: “His (Anderson) abiding love for a vanished past, real and imagined, is at the core of The Grand Budapest Hotel. The thrill comes in watching as this rare talent gives his movie wings.”

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/