Thursday, Sept. 27 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas / Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Director: Sadaf Foroughi
Iran/Canada/Qatar; 2017
Farsi with English subtitles; 103 minutes
Rating: PG

Coming of age in Iran, Ava (Mahour Jabbari) faces pressure to meet the expectations of her parents, teachers, and friends. After an act
of betrayal by her mother, Ava rebels. And when she learns that her
parents were once flagrant rule breakers themselves, her rebellious
behaviour escalates, leading to life-altering choices. Foroughi’s
masterful direction vividly renders Ava’s internal turmoil, creating
one of the strongest, most richly developed female leads seen this
year. An exquisitely composed and gripping drama.

It’s a gripping, steely performance, complex and smart in a way you don’t often seen teen girls portrayed – anywhere. Janet Smith, Georgia Straight

Foroughi’s shrewd filmmaking uses the frame to advantage: the
tightening of Ava’s constraints is matched by the mise en scène around her. Mallory Andrews, Cinema Scope

Ava is a layered, complex character, and one that anyone who was ever a teenager can identify with. Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

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

Director: Desiree Akhavan
USA; 2017
English; 90 minutes
Rating: 14A

High school student Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) seems to fit in perfectly with her conservative community, until she’s caught in the back seat of a car with another girl. Cameron is shipped off to a religious conversion therapy center where she’s subjected to
outlandish discipline and “de-gaying” methods. But the center also
unexpectedly provides a community she can connect with. Through
its stellar cast and thoughtful direction, The Miseducation of Cameron
Post tells its coming-of-age story with wit and compassion.

Chloë Grace Moretz puts in a career-best turn as a teen sent to ‘pray away the gay’ at a Christian camp in Desiree Akhavan’s compassionate LGBT story. Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian

This is a lovely, richly shaded portrait of adolescence in all its shifting moods, shot through with a melancholy sweetness and sly, intoxicating humour. Edward Lawrenson, The Big Issue

The sort of film that stays with you. Powerful in its restraint, and
unfailingly full of light. Hannah Woodhead, Little White Lies

New Date: WEDNESDAY, May 16 @ 7 pm / Galaxy Cinemas /
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

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, 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, 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