The Palm Springs International Film Festival put the emphasis on International when it announced its films in competition and its new African Cinema section on Friday.
Besides 13 new films made in Africa or telling African stories, PSIFF will be presenting a remarkable 40 of the 65 official submissions in the Academy's Foreign-Language category, with a slate ranging from Argentina's "Carancho" to Venezuela's "Hermano," and from the Finnish steam-bath documentary "Steam of Life" (left) to the Chinese epic "Aftershock."
Other entries at the fest include "Beyond," the directorial debut from Swedish actress Pernilla August'; the acclaimed British documentary "The Arbor"; and "As If I Am Not There," a Bosnian-set drama about sexual slavery from Irish director Juanita Wilson, who was nominated for an Oscar last year for her short film "The Door."
The festival, which will also serve as 2011's first major showcase for awards contenders including Javier Bardem, Robert Duvall, Colin Firth, Jennifer Lawrence, Carey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, David O. Russell and Diane Warren, all of whom will be saluted at the fest's Awards Gala on January 8.
PSIFF runs from January 6 through January 17, 2011 in the desert resort east of Los Angeles. More information is available at www.psfilmfest.org.
The lineup of entries, from the PSIFF press release:
AWARDS BUZZ
The Awards Buzz section features screenings of 40 of the 65 official submissions to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Foreign Language Film.
Carancho (Argentina), Director: Pablo Trapero
Illegal (Belgium), Director: Olivier Masset-Depasse
Cirkus Columbia (Bosnia/Herzegovina), Director: Danis Tanovic
Lula, the Son of Brazil (Brazil), Director: Fabio Barreto
Eastern Plays (Bulgaria), Director: Kamen Kalev
The Life of Fish (Chile), Director: Matias Bize
Aftershock (China), Director: Feng Xiaogang
Of Love and Other Demons (Costa Rica), Director: Hilda Hidalgo
Kawasaki’s Rose (Czech Republic), Director: Jan Hrebejk
The Athlete (Ethiopia), Directors: Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew
Steam of Life (Finland), Directors: Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen
Of Gods and Men (France), Director: Xavier Beauvois
Street Days (Georgia), Director: Levan Koguashvili
When We Leave (Germany), Director: Feo Aladag
Nuummioq (Greenland), Directors: Otto Rosing and Torben Bech
Bibliotheque Pascal (Hungary), Director: Szabolcs Hajdu
Peepli Live (India), Director: Anusha Rizvi
Son of Babylon (Iraq), Director: Mohamed Al-Daradji
The Human Resources Manager (Israel), Director: Eran Riklis
The First Beautiful Thing (Italy), Director: Paolo Virzi
Confessions (Japan), Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
The Light Thief (Kyrgyzstan), Director: Aktan Arym Kubat
The Angel (Norway), Director: Margreth Olin
Undertow (Peru), Director: Javier Fuentes-Leon
Noy (Philippines), Directors: Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno
All That I Love (Poland), Director: Jacek Borcuch
If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (Romania), Director: Florin Serban
The Edge (Russia), Director: Alexey Uchitel
Solemn Promise (Serbia), Director: Srdjan Karanovic
The Border (Slovakia), Director: Jaroslav Vojtek
9:06 (Slovenia), Director: Igor Sterk
Life, Above All (South Africa), Director: Oliver Schmitz
A Barefoot Dream (South Korea), Director: Tae-kyun Kim
Even the Rain (Spain), Director: Iciar Bollain
Simple Simon (Sweden), Director: Andreas Ohman
The Little Room (Switzerland), Directors: Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond
Monga (Taiwan), Director: Chen-zer Niu
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand), Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Honey (Turkey), Director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Hermano (Venezuela) Director: Marcel Rasquin
CINEMA SAFARI: A SHOWCASE OF AFRICAN CINEMA
Africa United (United Kingdom/South Africa/Rwanda) - Two young Rwandan soccer players undertake the 3,000-mile trip to South Africa for the World Cup in this exuberant, hopeful and supremely entertaining road movie that, while not whitewashing the myriad problems faced by modern Africans, shows how fast things are changing.
