WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESENTS FALL FILM SERIES

Westchester Community College’s Fall 2008 season of the Friday Night Film Series features six outstanding films. It includes a brief introduction to each film, program notes, and discussions. Performances begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Academic Arts Theatre. A season subscription costs only $48; for Westchester Community College students, staff, and seniors over 60, the cost is $42. A single admission, when available, is $9 ($8 for seniors). Professor Bill Costanzo is your host. For further information, call 914-606-6700. Infrared listening devices are available at the box office. For campus closings due to weather, see the web site (sunywcc.edu) or call 914-606-6900.

THE GOLDEN DOOR on September 5 (Italy, 2007). Emanuele Crialese, the young Italian filmmaker who learned his trade at NYU’s film school, returns to Sicily again five years after Respiro. Set during the great wave of late nineteenth-century immigration to America, Crialese’s beautifully photographed, deeply felt story follows Salvatore, a poor farmer who dreams of bringing his ragged family across the Atlantic. The director portrays striking moments of stark realism and magical imagery as well as a shipboard romance. English and Italian with English subtitles (112 minutes).

BLACK BOOK on September 12 (Netherlands, 2007). Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is known for his fast-paced, sexy, violent American thrillers (RoboCop, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers). After 20 years of Hollywood, he returned home for the creative freedom to make Black Book, a film set in Nazi occupied Holland. It removes the usual moral partitions between Resistance fighters and the Gestapo. Dutch, German, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles (145 minutes).

MY BEST FRIEND on September 19 (France, 2007). Forever shifting genres and always entertaining, French director Patrice Leconte (The Widow of St. Pierre, Man on the Train, Intimate Strangers) offers a nimble little comedy on the underrated topic of male friendship. Daniel Auteuil is François, a self-centered antiques dealer who is more interested in things than people. When he hears himself described as pitifully friendless, he takes up the challenge and begins a ten-day search for a boon companion. French with English subtitles (95 minutes).

BROTHERS on September 26 (Denmark, 2005). Michael is a responsible family man, respected and beloved. His younger brother, Jannick, is a jobless ne’er-do-well, just released from jail. But when Michael leaves home to serve in Afghanistan, their roles begin to change dramatically. Danish with English subtitles (110 minutes).

THE LIVES OF OTHERS on October 3 (Germany, 2007). Winner of last year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut film offers a rare look inside East Germany’s secret Stasi from 1984 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Ulrich Műhe delivers a haunting performance as Wiesler, the brilliant spy who burrows into the lives of his countrymen but must also face the hollowness of his own life. German, with English subtitles (137 minutes).

THE BEST OF YOUTH on October 10 (Italy, 2003). The saga of the Carati brothers and their personal journey concludes through two more decades of Italy’s recent history. The final two-hour segment of the popular series begins with the aftermath of Christmas, 1983 and follows the family to Tuscany, Palermo, and Norway while a new generation comes of age. Italian with English subtitles (120 minutes).