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

Director: Petra Volpe
Switzerland; 2017
German with English subtitles; 96 minutes
Rating: 14A

In 1971 Swiss women didn’t have the right to vote and couldn’t
get a job without their husband’s permission. Frustrated by her
dependence on her husband Hans (Maximilian Simonischek), and
the decisions being made by the men in her life, quiet Nora (Marie
Leuenberger) gets involved in the budding women’s movement.
As the women in her small town gradually dare to take more control
over their lives, opposition to their stance mounts. Filled with gentle
humour, The Divine Order offers an uplifting story of grassroots
community activism set on a foundation of friendship and support.

The Divine Order radiates an infectious admiration for the courage shown by its heroines in the face of immense obstacles.
Nick Schager, Variety

Petra Volpe’s direction is crisp, her screenplay is smart and well-paced, and the acting is superb. Paul Weissman, Film-Forward

Leuenberger brings a vulnerability and defiance to Nora that elevates the film past dogma or sentimentality. Tom Long, Detroit News

Thursday, Apr. 19 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Director: Robert Guédiguian
France; 2017
French with English subtitles; 107 minutes

In this tragic tale of family discord, three adult siblings, Angèle
(Ariane Ascaride), Joseph (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), and Armand (Gérard Meylan), gather at their childhood home to attend to their father (Fred Ulysse) who has suffered a debilitating stroke. After years apart, the siblings reflect on who they’ve become and what they’ve inherited. A rich tapestry of culture, the film examines how the local relates to the global and what it means to live life based on values. One of the peaks in Guédiguian’s illustrious career, the House by the Sea is a mournful tribute to a fading lifestyle.

The House by the Sea feels like the work of a filmmaker gazing back over his own filmography as one might across a sparkling blue sea, and observing its tides. Jessica Klang, Variety

Thursday, Mar. 22 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Italy/France/Brazil; 2017
English/Italian/French/German with English subtitles; 130 minutes
Rating: R for sexual content, nudity and some language

In this Oscar-nominated film, 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is spending the summer at a beautiful Italian villa with his translator mother (Amira Casar) and Greco-Roman professor father (Michael Stuhlbar). Each summer, his father takes on an academic assistant. This year’s guest, Oliver (Armie Hammer), resembles the Greek
statues he studies and it’s not long before an attraction simmers
between the young adult and the graduate student. Offering ripe,
glowing  visual details, Call Me by Your Name drenches us with  the
golden heat of a Northern Italian summer in this sensual
masterpiece.

Even as he beguiles us with mystery, Guadagnino recreates Elio’s life-changing summer with such intensity that we might as well be
experiencing it first-hand. It’s a rare gift that earns him a place in the
pantheon alongside such masters of sensuality as Pedro Amodóvar and François Ozon. Peter Debruge, Variety

The direction by Luca Guadagnino is reminiscent of Bertolucci’s
sensitivity at its best, the fabulous cinematography by Sayombhu
Mukdeeprom rapturously captures the rich work of art that is Italy in
summer, and the actors are to die for. Rex Reed, New York Observer

One of the very best films of the year. Guadagnino, a master cinema
sensualist, and his award-caliber actors Chalamet, Hammer and Stuhlbarg create a love story for the ages and a new film classic.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Thursday, Mar. 1 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Presented in partnership with Shadows of the Mind Film Festival
Feb. 26 – Mar. 4, 2018
http://www.shadowsfilmfest.com/

Director: Ruben Östlund
Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark 2017
English/Swedish /Danish / 145 minutes
Rating: 14A for language, some strong sexual content, and brief
violence

An audacious satire of the postmodern art world, The Square follows
Christian (Claes Bang), the imperious, self-centred, and hopelessly
befuddled curator of Sweden’s most cutting-edge art museum and
his increasingly desperate attempts to promote his exhibits. Full of
brilliant and dazzling set pieces, including one of the year’s most
indelible onscreen moments, the film highlights the challenges that
face artists as they examine the increasingly complex and absurd
world we live in. Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes,
this film is one of the most undaunted examples of the comedy of
extreme discomfort and social collapse.

Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund takes modern society’s
temperature and finds it dangerously overheated in the madly
ambitious and frequently disquieting The Square.
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

It’s laugh-out-loud funny and occasionally just plain silly. But it asks
a serious question that seems more urgent with every passing day:
“How much inhumanity does it take before we access your humanity?”
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

The argument in favor of The Square is not that it’s great fun to watch, but that it’s very entertaining to ponder after viewing. It lingers, both amusingly and disturbingly. Mark Jenkins, NPR

Director: Werner Herzog
USA 2016
English / 98 minutes
Rating: PG

An eccentric, entertaining, and enlightening meditation on our
digital world, Lo and Behold investigates the internet’s integration
into every aspect of our lives. Through interviews with scientists
and entrepreneurs at the cutting edge of digital technologies,
Herzog considers the new possibilities opened up by the internet, and  speculates on how humanity and the world will be impacted
by these developments. But the promises of a bright future are
tempered by some darker realities. The film refrains from any final
judgments, leaving the viewer to consider the implications on their own lives and hopes for the future.

This documentary is one of Herzog’s best; it’s thoughtful yet entertaining, amusing yet heartbreaking, and sometimes simply beautiful. Jeffrey M. Anderson, Common Sense Media

Herzog’s observations, however, are steeped in optimism, an embrace
of the mystic, and, even, good humor. Ray Pride, Newcity

The shape of things to come is a subject very dear to the hearts of the high-tech evangelists Herzog talks to, and it accounts for the pulse of freakish comedy that beats through Lo and Behold. Anthony Lane, New Yorker

Director: Xavier Dolan
Canada/France 2016
French with English subtitles / 95 minutes
Rating: PG

Apologies for the technical difficulties.

After receiving a terminal diagnosis, Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) returns home, ending a 12-year absence. But his homecoming is tainted by lingering resentment. His attempts to inform his mother (Nathalie Baye), sister (Léa Seydoux), brother (Vincent Cassel), and sister-in-law (Marion Cotillard) of his illness are repeatedly sabotaged by the surfacing tensions between family members. Shot in intimate close-ups, the film is claustrophobic and oppressive, brilliantly conveying the characters’ dysfunction. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, this is a thunderous drama about family roots.

Dolan has made a film that is at once his most restrained and withholding work while still being remarkably indulgent. A whole film told in tight close-ups on anguished faces. Grace Sharkey, 4:3

Dolan has found a way to exasperate and exhaust his audience, but he has also achieved a completely unexpected catharsis at the end of an
agonizing hour and a half.  Standing there on the grave of dreams, he knows why the caged bird sings. Peter Debruge, Variety

It’s not an easy film to watch – and it doesn’t try to be. Pablo Villaça, Cinema em Cena

Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan 2015
Japanese with English subtitles / 128 minutes
Rating: PG

The Koda sisters have been on their own since their mother
moved away shortly after her husband left her for another woman. Now in their twenties, the three sisters still live together. When they
receive news of their father’s death, they’re surprised to discover that they have a 13-year-old half-sister, who gratefully accepts her sisters’ offer to live with them. The presence of the girl, for whom the loss of her father is still a fresh wound, stirs long-dormant
memories of their father. This tender and restrained film is a subtle but deeply affecting meditation on absence and loss.

Kore-eda makes thrilling the rich inner lives of four young women trying to navigate rocky emotional terrain in the wake of their father’s death. Barbara Van Denburgh, Arizona Republic

If you succumb to Kore-eda’s slow rhythms – the climbs up a hill to find a magnificent view, the walks along the beach, the simple peace of a shared meal – this is the kind of movie that will leave you feeling restored, maybe a little misty-eyed as well. Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Our Little Sister is a tender and restrained feature that flows by like a gentle stream, lulling you with its melodic cadence and drawing you into its beauty. Bob Bloom, Journal & Courier (Lafayette)

Director: Matt Ross
USA 2015
English / 120 minutes
Rating: R (brief nudity and language)

Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife have raised their six kids deep
in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, away from the modern world. But when tragedy strikes, Ben and his clan are forced to leave their counterculture paradise. Both heartbreak and hilarity ensue as the kids face some of their first social interactions with the wider world. Best known for his heavy-duty dramatic roles, Mortensen
reveals a wonderful gift for comedy and his interactions with the children yield some truly laugh-out-loud moments. A delightfully offbeat and heartwarming tale.

He bears the nickname of a comic book hero, the brains of a scholar,
the soul of a rebel.  His story is a richly rewarding film experience.
Mara Reinstein, US Weekly

It’s a rare movie that asks such big questions – about parenting, about family, about modern-day America – and comes up with answers that
are moving and meaningful, that make you laugh and cry. Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

A fiercely original, pleasantly unpredictable character piece. This is a gang of outsiders with something valuable to say about the world we
live in. Helen O’Hara, Empire Magazine

Thursday Sept. 29 @ 7:00 pm / GALAXY CINEMAS / Sault Ste. Marie

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
France/Germany/Turkey/Qatar  2015
Turkish with English subtitles / 97 minutes
Rating: PG (mature perspective strongly advised)

In a remote Turkish village on the Black Sea, five free-spirited
teenaged sisters splash on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are innocent, a neighbor reports what she
considers to be illicit behavior to the girls’ family. The family reacts by removing all “instruments of corruption” such as cell phones and computers. Their home is progressively transformed into a prison and instruction in homemaking replaces school. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones resolve to avoid the same fate. Ergüven’s debut is a powerful portrait of female empowerment.

Mustang is astonishing; staying with you long after viewing.
Blake Howard, Graffiti with Punctuation

Part of a welcome international wave of films made by women directors that focus on girls growing up in worlds of men – and on what they look like when no one’s looking. Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The filmmakers approach their characters not as political objects but as rare humans grappling with that unique moment when childhood gives way – painfully but sometimes beautifully – to brutal realities.
Noah Gittell, Washington City Paper