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Check out the latest exclusive engagements and premieres, including the best in new indies, foreign films, documentaries and restored classics, by downloading a PDF of Landmark’s San Diego Film Calendar, with all-new programming from February 19 through May 20! |

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An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Ajami is a brave, apolitical look at Jews and Arabs in Jaffa's multi-ethnic Ajami neighborhood—a searing debut by Israeli and Palestinian co-directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, whose balanced perspective and use of non-professional local actors lend a palpable authenticity to a complex, cross-cultural drama. Shakespearian in its scope and themes—revenge, loyalty, hope and despair—the film draws us into the lives of two brothers fearing assassination; a young Palestinian refugee working illegally to cover his mother's medical expenses; and a Jewish cop obsessed with finding his missing brother. Through its unprecedented authenticity and immediacy, Ajami forces us to look at the Middle East conflict through the commonality of the human condition—and the tragic consequences of enemies living as neighbors. Official Web Site Dan Bennett's North County Times review... |
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A love story at its core, The Yellow Handkerchief is about three strangers of two generations who embark on a road trip through post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. Brett Hanson (William Hurt), dealing with a painful past, crosses paths with Martine (Kristen Stewart), a troubled teenager, and her new "ride" Gordy (Eddie Redmayne). The trio head out together, each motivated by their own reasons: Brett must decide whether he wants to return to the uncertainty of his life and his ex-wife May (Maria Bello) for whom he longs, Martine yearns to escape her family, and Gordy hopes to get close to Martine. Along the way, relationships forge and change in a myriad of ways, leading to the possibility of second chances at life and love. Directed by Udayan Prasad (My Son the Fanatic). Official Web Site Dan Bennett's North County Times review... |

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Red Riding: 1974 is the first entry in an ambitious, dark and thrilling trilogy of interlinking films set in Northern England in the 1970s and ‘80s. 1974 in Yorkshire is a time of paranoia, mistrust and institutionalized police corruption. Rookie journalist Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) is determined to search for the truth in an increasingly complex maze of lies and deceit that characterizes a police investigation into a series of child abductions. Based on the true-life manhunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Also starring Rebecca Hall, Sean Bean, David Morrissey and John Bradshaw. Directed by Julian Jarrold (Brideshead Revisited, Becoming Jane). Official Web Site Alison Gang's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |

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Red Riding: 1980 is the second entry in an ambitious, dark and thrilling trilogy of interlinking films set in Northern England in the 1970s and ‘80s. In 1980, the “Ripper” has tyrannized Yorkshire for six long years and with the local police failing to make any progress, the Home Office sends in Manchester officer Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine) to review the investigation. Having previously made enemies in the Yorkshire force while investigating a shooting incident in 1974, Hunter finds himself increasingly isolated when his version of events challenges their official line on the Ripper. Also starring Warren Clarke, Maxine Peake, David Morrissey and Eddie Marsan. Directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire, The King). Official Web Site Alison Gang's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |

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Red Riding: 1983 is the third entry in an ambitious, dark and thrilling trilogy of interlinking films set in Northern England in the 1970s and ‘80s. In 1983, another young girl has disappeared and Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson (David Morrissey) recognizes some alarming similarities to the abductions in 1974, forcing him to come to terms with the fact that he may have helped convict the wrong man as being the Yorkshire Ripper. When local solicitor John Piggott (Mark Addy) is persuaded to fight this miscarriage of justice he finds himself slowly uncovering a catalogue of cover ups. Also starring Sean Bean, Warren Clarke, Shaun Dooley, Lisa Howard, Jim Carter, Sean Harris and Michelle Dockery. Directed by Anand Tucker (When Did You Last See Your Father?, Hilary and Jackie). Official Web Site Alison Gang's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |

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Condemned to six years in prison, 19-year-old Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), part Arab, part Corsican, cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang who rules the prison, he is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. But Malik is brave and a fast learner, daring to secretly develop his own plans. Directed and co-written by Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Read My Lips). Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Official Web Site Director Jacques Audiard on the common language of film David Germain's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |
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Roman Polanski directs this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller based on the novel The Ghost by Robert Harris. When a successful British ghostwriter, The Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it's the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident. The Ghost flies to the East Coast of the United States to work on the project, but the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), and his personal assistant, Amelia (Kim Cattrall). As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Also starring Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach, Tom Wilkinson and James Belushi. Official Web Site David Elliott's San Diego News Network review... |

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This thrilling, intense mountain climbing cliffhanger tells of an attempt to climb the unconquered sheer north face of the Eiger (known as “the Murder Wall”), the hardest challenge of the Alps. It’s 1936, and Nazi propaganda trumpets the need for a mountaineering triumph prior to the Berlin Olympics. Ace Bavarian climbers Toni (Benno Fürmann) and Andi (Florian Lukas) are reluctantly drawn to the challenge, despite their lack of enthusiasm for the publicity. Their childhood friend Luise (Johanna Wokalek, The Baader Meinhof Complex), a rookie photographer who hopes their climb might make her name, is dispatched to cover the story with her Hitler-loving boss. With breathtaking irony, the life and death struggle of the climbers takes place within easy view of a luxury hotel, where tourists watch the drama while sipping champagne. Once the climbers are on the mountain, everything possible goes wrong and the weather worsens, escalating the tension to a nerve-wracking climax. Spectacularly filmed on location, North Face is one of the most exciting mountain movies ever made. Official Web Site |

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After almost fifty years of marriage, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), the devoted wife, passionate lover, muse and
secretary of Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), suddenly finds her entire world turned upside down. In the name
of his newly created religion, the great Russian novelist has renounced his
noble title, his property and even his family in favor of poverty, vegetarianism
and even celibacy. When Sofya then discovers that Tolstoy's trusted disciple,
Chertkov (Paul Giamatti)—whom she despises—may have secretly convinced
her husband to sign a new will, leaving the rights to his iconic novels to
the Russian people rather than his very own family, she is consumed by righteous
outrage. Into this minefield wanders Tolstoy's worshipful new assistant, the
young, gullible Valentin (James McAvoy). In no time, he becomes a pawn, first
of the scheming Chertkov and then of the wounded, vengeful Sofya as each plots
to undermine the other's gains. Complicating Valentin's life even further
is the overwhelming passion he feels for the beautiful, spirited Marsha (Kerry
Condon), a free thinking adherent of Tolstoy's new religion whose unconventional
attitudes about sex and love both compel and confuse him. A tale of two romances,
one beginning, one near its end, The Last Station is a complex, funny,
rich and emotional story about the difficulty of living with love and the
impossibility of living without it. Official
Web Site Alison Gang's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |
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| An Education is the story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in 1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous, more liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) stands on the brink of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old whose suburban life is about to be blown apart by the utterly unsuitable 30-something David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour). David introduces Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny's girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Just as Jenny's family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Written by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) and directed by Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners). Official Web Site |

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Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges stars
as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut
feature film from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down,
hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too
many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet,
Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie
Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.
As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just
how tough life can be on one man’s crazy heart. Co-starring Colin Farrell
and Robert Duvall. Official
Web Site George Varga's San Diego Union-Tribune review... |
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Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, A
Single Man is the story of George Falconer (Colin Firth), a 52-year-old British
college professor who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the
death of his longtime partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). George dwells on the
past and cannot see his future as we follow him through a single day, where
a series of events and encounters ultimately leads him to decide if there
is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend Charley
(Julianne Moore), a 48-year-old beauty who is wrestling with her own questions
about the future. A young student of George's, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), who
is coming to terms with his true nature, stalks George as he feels in him
a kindred spirit. A Single Man is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the
isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately
the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life. Directed and co-written
by acclaimed fashion designer Tom Ford (making his feature debut), based on
the novel by Christopher Isherwood. Official
Web Site Jill Lawless's SanDiego.com interview with director Tom Ford... |

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The most popular European film of 2009, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
is an award-winning mystery thriller based on Stieg Larsson's international
best-selling novel about a disgraced journalist and a troubled young female
computer hacker who investigate the mysterious disappearance of an industrialist's
niece. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering
on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was
never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer
is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced
financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvis) and the tattooed, ruthless
computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair
link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost
forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.
But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about
to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. Official
Web Site Director Niels Arden Oplev on making the best possible film |

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| Co-winner of the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review, Winner of the Special Jury Award at IDFA, and an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, The Most Dangerous Man in America tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, who in 1971 concluded that the war is based on decades of lies, and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times—a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. A riveting story of how this one man’s profound change of heart created a landmark struggle involving America’s newspapers, its president and Supreme Court. With Daniel Ellsberg, Patricia Ellsberg, Tony Russo, Howard Zinn, Hedrick Smith, John Dean and, from the secret White House tapes, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, who called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America.” Narrated by Ellsberg. Official Web Site |

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| The latest film from award-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) is a unique murder mystery about a mother's primal love for her son. Mother is a devoted single parent to her simple-minded twenty-seven-year-old son, Do-joon. Often a source of anxiety to his mother, Do-joon behaves in foolish or simply dangerous ways. One night, while walking home drunk, he encounters a school girl who he follows for a while before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and Do-joon is accused of her murder. An inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force result in a speedy conviction. His mother refuses to believe her beloved son is guilty and immediately undertakes her own investigation to find the girl’s killer. In her obsessive quest to clear her son’s name, Mother steps into a world of unimaginable chaos and shocking revelations. Official Web Site |

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The Hurt Locker is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. Three members of the Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and one another as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it’s anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche is a fictional tale inspired by real events by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to “the hurt locker.” Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together groundbreaking realistic action and intimate human drama in a landmark film starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty, with cameo appearances by Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly and Guy Pearce. Winner of 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Official
Web Site Director Kathryn Bigelow on the importance of casting the perfect actor |
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Greenberg brings actor Ben Stiller together with Academy Award-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) to tell the funny and moving tale of Roger Greenberg (Stiller). Single, fortyish and at a crossroads in his life, he finds himself in Los Angeles, house-sitting for six weeks for his more successful/married-with-children brother. In search of a place to restart his life, Greenberg tries to reconnect with old friends including his former bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans). But old friends aren’t necessarily still best friends, and Greenberg soon finds himself spending more and more time with his brother’s personal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), an aspiring singer and also something of a lost soul. Despite his best attempts not to be drawn in, Greenberg and Florence manage to forge a connection, and Greenberg realizes he may at last have found a reason to be happy. Official
Web Site Read a brief Q&A with writer/director Noah Baumbach |
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Director Atom Egoyan (Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter) reinterprets the French thriller Nathalie... in
this drama about a family on the road to self-destruction. Catherine
(Julianne Moore) and David (Liam Neeson)
are a seemingly happy, professional couple with a teenage son. But Catherine,
suspicious after her husband is a no-show to his surprise birthday
party due to a missed flight, hires Chloe, a prostitute (Amanda Seyfried)
to find out whether he is cheating on her. To test his fidelity, Catherine
orders Chloe's to seduce David in a series of encounters. As Chloe's reports
become more and more graphic, Catherine's orchestrations get increasingly
out of control, throwing the family further into jeopardy. Official
Web Site Director Atom Egoyan on marriage, eroticism, fidelity and trust |

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In 1922 Dr. Albert C. Barnes created The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, five miles outside of Philadelphia. His astounding collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art, intended to serve as an educational institution, includes 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 16 Modiglianis, and 7 Van Goghs. Dr. Barnes deliberately built his Foundation away from the city and cultural elite who scorned his collection as "horrible, debased art." But tastes changed, and soon the very people who belittled Barnes wanted access to his collection. When Barnes died in 1951, he left control of his collection to Lincoln University, a small African-American college, with strict instructions that the paintings may never be removed. More than fifty years later, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court in a rancorous, Machiavellian attempt to take the art—recently valued at more than $25 billion—and move it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Official Web Site Director Don Argott on the passion of Dr. Albert C. Barnes |

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| Prodigal Sons tells the story of three fascinating siblings: filmmaker Kim, a transgender woman; Todd, a gay man; and Marc, their adopted brother who discovers hes the grandson of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. The bond between longtime rivals Marc and Kim, which defies both Kims gender and Marcs pedigree, exists as the fascinating heart of the film, and is orbited by a colorful, articulate cast of characters, including jailhouse chaplains, Montana farmers, intrigued high school classmates, and Orson Welles soul-mate Oja Kodar, among others. Carol, the remarkably resilient mother who accepts her childrens surprises with grace and optimism, provides a strong backbone for the family, as well as a clear-eyed entry-point to this drama of Wellesian proportions. All along the way surprising revelations abound: Marcs innate savant ability to play the piano, Kims smooth acceptance from schoolmates and community, and their younger brother Todds well-adjusted attitude about being gay. After pulling for this family through its trials and tribulations, we learn that a poignant sense of hope will carry them through. Official Web Site |
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| The Room is an electrifying American black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies, starring writer/director Tommy Wiseau as a successful banker with a great respect for—and dedication to—the people in his life, especially his future wife Lisa (Juliette Danielle). As the film depicts friendships and relationships in the lives of its five major characters, it raises life's real and most-asked question: "Can you really trust anyone?" A midnight cult sensation, this quirky black comedy has been running for over 6 years in Los Angeles and is ready to take the rest of the country by storm. You'll want to be there for the devastation it will leave in its wake! Official Web Site |