Celebrating its 34th anniversary this year, Ottawa is one of the world’s premiere showcases for new animation. The entertaining “Best of Ottawa” program presents 13 festival award winners, audience favorites, and other innovative entries in a wide variety of genres and forms. The program includes: 2010 OIAF SIGNAL FILM (J.J. Sedelmaier, US); PLAYTIME (Steven Woloshen, Canada); THIS IS LOVE (Lei Lei, China); LGFUAD (Kelsey Stark, US); LITTLE DEATHS (Ruth Lingford, US); SORRY FILM NOT READY (Janet Perlman, Canada); MIDTOWN TWIST (Gary Leib, US); ANGRY MAN (Anita Killi, Norway); A GUM BOY (Masaki Okuda, Japan); LA TRAVERSÉE (Elise Simard, Canada); LOVE AND THEFT (Andreas Hykade, Germany); PRAYERS FOR PEACE (Dustin Grella, US); and THE EXTERNAL WORLD (David O’Reilly, Ireland). (85 mins.)

Mature audiences.

“Napoli is one of those places where after fresh air, food, and shelter, music is an essential ingredient for the survival of the people. There are places that do something to you, deep down in your unconscious, in your soul. Naples is that for me, as it has been for so many other people in the arts—poets, writers, painters, and musicians throughout the ages. We journey through one of the biggest jukeboxes in the world, a treasure chest of songs, from 1200 to now, conjuring distant stories and myths that still live, a repertoire that speaks of love, sex, jealousy, and social protest. This musical adventure, traversing the city, comes out of the people, the walls that surround them, and the land they inhabit. The performers, some from Napoli and some from abroad, are not just singers in the film, but storytellers.”—John Turturro. “A cinematic love letter to the sounds of the city and the city itself.”—Variety. (95 mins.)

With Kate Winslet in the title role, MILDRED PIERCE brings to life the memorable character introduced in James M. Cain’s classic 1941 novel. The five-part drama—made as a series for HBO—offers an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced during the Depression years, as she struggles to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The screenplay, co-written by Haynes and Portland’s Jon Raymond, explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationships she shares with the indolent men in her life. “A saga of unrequited star worship, terminal class envy, failed self-empowerment, and self-immolating smother love, Haynes’ MILDRED is a nightmare as American as Mom and apple pie.”—Village Voice. (330 mins. with one intermission.)

TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT THE DOOR THE NIGHT OF THE SCREENING.

Presented courtesy of Home Box Office.

On July 24, Todd Haynes and producer Christine Vachon will be on hand to discuss their longtime partnership, show clips from various projects (including MILDRED PIERCE), and talk about the world of independent film production.

VISITING ARTISTS—The boundaries between high and low dissolve in this program of work by artists who push animation beyond traditional conventions and into the intersection with visual art experimentation. Presented in conjunction with Pacific Northwest College of Art’s Boundary Crossings: An Institute in Contemporary Animated Arts, these films embrace new digital technologies as readily as the earliest animated techniques. The program includes Casandra C. Jones’ EVENTIDE (2004), a snap-motion re-animation of the sunset; Jacob Ciocci’s THE PEACE TAPE (2008), a frenetic remix of old and new “found” video; Marieke Verbiesen’s RELOADED (2010), an mini-epic in which a scientific experiment goes terribly, terribly wrong; Duncan Malashock’s TWO THINGS (2010), a video game narrative that considers the convergence of social and personal concerns; and Marina Zurkow’s MESCOSM (2011), an animated landscape portrait representing one year of real time on the moors of Northumberland. (70 mins.)

Filmmakers Marina Zurkow, Marieke Verbiesen, and Rose Bond will be on hand to talk about their work.

The debut feature from brothers Daniel and Diego Vega Vidal won the Jury Prize from the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section. Lone wolf moneylender Clemente returns home one night to discover that someone has paid him back—with interest—by breaking in and leaving behind a baby girl in a basket. While the hapless Clemente searches for the baby’s mother among the prostitutes he frequents, he employs his neighbor Sofia, another solitary soul, to care for the baby and look after his home and office. With the coming of the October celebration of Our Lord of the Miracles, Clemente and Sofia’s mutual dependence on one another takes on humorous and heartwarming qualities as a minor miracle unfolds. “The Vegas’ expressionist style, restrained emotional palette, and delicate humor herald the arrival of promising young talents.”—Variety. “A breath of Rossellini’s VOYAGE TO ITALY in 21st century Lima.”—Carlos Reygadas, SILENT LIGHT. (93 mins.)

Adapted from the classic novel by Georges Bernanos, Bresson worked directly from original dialogue and Bernanos’ own diaries to chronicle the tormented soul of a young country priest scorned by his parish. A simple voice-over accompanies images of the priest’s journal entries to illuminate his progression from torment to grace. “DIARY marked Bresson’s breakout onto the international scene, with three awards at Venice, the prestigious Prix Louis-Delluc (honoring the best French film of the year), and an enduring influence on a generation of filmmakers (Bresson scholar/TAXI DRIVER screenwriter Paul Schrader purportedly based Travis Bickle’s spartan regimen on the priest’s own meager lifestyle). The new 60th anniversary print restoration features all-new subtitles, clarifying the dialogue like never before.”—Film Forum. (114 mins.)

In the final installment of the trilogy that includes the award-winning documentaries THE EYE OF THE DAY (2001) and SHAPE OF THE MOON (2004), Helmrich concludes his in-depth portrait of Indonesia as seen through the eyes of one family living in the slums of Jakarta. Grandmother Rumidjah, a poor old Christian woman, weathers a changing society and the influence of globalization reflected in the lives of her juvenile granddaughter Tari and her sons Bakti and Dwi, who are Muslims. In a modern-day Indonesia entrenched in a tug-of-war between Christianity and Islam, young and old, rich and poor, and beset by encroaching globalization, the simple life that Rumidjah knows so well is quickly disappearing. Employing uninterrupted shots and forgoing interviews and voice-over narration, Helmrich’s film offers a rich, vérité cultural mosaic. (109 mins.)

Best Documentary, International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, and World Cinema Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival.

Bathed in eerie sepia tones, STALKER is a disturbing scientific meditation on the possibility of human happiness and the search for truth. Since the fall of perhaps a meteorite, inexplicable mutation on both the landscape and nearby inhabitants have caused the devastated area to become a no-man’s land, its borders sealed and zealously patrolled by the government. Three men—a scientist, a thrill-seeking writer, and a “stalker” or guide—travel into this forbidden, post-apocalyptic wasteland. The mysterious zone conceals “the room,” a secret place where “the strongest and sincerest wish can come true.” The three undergo terrible ordeals before attaining the goal of their journey, but once their wishes come true, will they really know happiness? “A cultural event. ... No one interested in the world of cinema should miss it.”—J. Hoberman, Village Voice. (163 mins.)

Men in general, and especially Finnish men, are notorious for keeping their feelings bottled up. But in the almost dreamlike environment of a steam-filled sauna, Finnish men’s deepest feelings about life, love, and family are easily liberated. STEAM OF LIFE allows the viewer to become a fly on the wall, listening in on (naked) men talking to each other and sharing like girls in the sanctuary of the country’s ubiquitous saunas. From the rusted interior of an old converted camper to beautifully appointed wooden steam rooms and even a roadside phone booth fashioned into an impromptu hotbox, the stories ring with profoundly universal truth. “The Finnish sauna documentary had a reputation for being a tear-jerker. I didn’t believe it until I went to see it myself and all the men in the cinema were in tears.”—BBC. (81 mins.)

This year’s Finnish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Vivid and colorful, Frammartino’s four-part meditation on man and nature traces the cycle of life through the humble daily rituals of rural existence in the southern Italian region of Calabria. “An elderly shepherd ingests the dust from a church floor to treat his cough; a baby goat from his flock tentatively ventures out to pasture; a majestic fir tree is felled and repurposed as the centerpiece of a village celebration; finally, its logs are transformed into wood charcoal through the ancient methods of the local workers. Connecting the dots among animal, vegetable, mineral, and dust, the film is both concrete and cosmic, and it features what may be the most impressive single shot of the year: a masterfully orchestrated long take involving a religious procession, a herd of goats, a runaway truck, and a truly awe-inspiring dog.”—New York Film Festival. (88 mins.)

The Italian title of the film, I SOLITI IGNOTI, roughly translates to “the usual nobodies,” referring to the ragtag collection of inept criminals—each with his own wacky back story—who set out to perform the perfect heist. There’s the cameraless photographer (Marcello Mastroianni) suddenly cast into single fatherhood with his colicky infant daughter while his wife does time for smuggling cigarettes; the handsome, glass-jawed prize fighter (Vittorio Gassman); and the allegedly expert safe cracker played with aplomb by the much revered silent screen star Totò. As their best-laid plans meet hilarious roadblocks at each turn, the endearing characters bicker and persevere. (106 mins.)

Join us for this special outdoor screening in the courtyard of the beautiful Hotel Modera (515 SW Clay), featuring a wine tasting from Willamette Valley Vineyards, a strolling accordionist, and a classic Italian film, all to benefit next year’s PIFF 35.

Admission: $25. Seating is limited.

German sculptor Anselm Kiefer’s manufactured landscapes and monumental installations are informed by one of the most provocative and rigorous minds in contemporary art. Fiennes’ striking film takes us into his singular world in exhilarating fashion, in the process creating a work as intriguing as its subject. Shot at Kiefer’s La Ribitte, his sprawling studio/estate in Barjac, France, which was once a silk factory, process and product find equal fascination. Here, Kiefer has worked on a series of elaborate installations and paintings—above and below ground—constructing and devising with earth, ash, gold, acid, glass, concrete, and lead; wielding blowtorches, brooms, and bulldozers as need be; and orchestrating a fleet of assistants—all with a magic creativity. “At once the place where his paintings and sculptures are housed and displayed and a colossal, architectural artwork in itself.”—Peter Bradshaw. (105 mins.)