Date Palm Film Festival

6 September 2005

Date Palm Film Festival

Thurs: In Casablanca the Angels Don’t Fly 7.30pm

Fri: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land 6pm

A Man in Our House 8pm

Sat: Return to the Land of Wonders 2pm

Until When… 4pm Mama’s Guest 6pm

Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets 8pm

Mon: Mama’s Guest 8.15pm

Tues: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land 6pm

Until When… 8pm

Wed: Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets 6pm

Private 8pm

YOUNG ADAM (R18) 98 minutes

Thurs-Sat: 2.30pm,4.30pm, 6.30pm, 8.30pm

Sun: 1.45pm, 3.45pm, 5.50pm, 7.50pm

Mon-Wed: 2.30pm,4.30pm, 6.30pm, 8.30pm

FESTIVAL EXPRESS (M) 90 minutes

Thurs-Sat: 4.15pm, 8.45pm Sun: 3.55pm, 8.15pm

Mon-Wed: 4.15pm, 8.45pm

THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY (M) 137 minutes

Thurs-Sat: 1.45pm, 6.15pm Sun: 1.15pm, 5.45pm

Mon-Wed: 1.45pm, 6.15pm

HEIGHTS (M) 93 minutes

Thurs & Fri: 2.00pm, 4.00pm Sun: 2.00pm

Mon-Wed: 2.00pm, 4.00pm

FOR INFORMATION ON FILMS IN THE DATE PALM FESTIVAL, SEE THE BROCHURE.

YOUNG ADAM Young Adam is a thriller that is not really a thriller. Ewan McGregor plays Joe, a seemingly harmless young man who prefers reading a book to drinking at the pub.

He is currently employed by husband and wife Les and Ella (Mullan and Swinton) on their barge that they pilot through the rivers and canals of Scotland. The film opens with Joe and Les dragging the scantily clad body of a woman from the water.

Within hours Les is down the pub boasting about the find, which has made the local papers. Joe stays on the barge with the intention of seducing Ella. The pair are soon embroiled in an intensely sexual relationship which leads to Ella announcing her intention to divorce Les. Joe then cools their relationship and turns his attentions to Ella’s newly widowed sister. Meanwhile the investigation into the body Joe and Les discovered takes an unsettling turn.

FESTIVAL EXPRESS In 1970 a Canadian music promoter organized a series of concerts across the country. With unique insight he hired a train to move the entire event from one city to the next, throwing together some of the greatest musical talent of all time. It was evident from the start that the concerts would be a financial disaster, but the organizers kept going, allowing the musicians a unique opportunity to meet and jam together. Outside the concerts protesters demanded that the music be given free and clashed with police. But the concerts went on and the film shows performances from such legends as The Grateful Dead, The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers. But the highlight is Janis Joplin, two months before her death, giving a performance of Cry Baby for the ages.

THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY "Bui Doi", meaning less than dust, is a term used for Vietnamese children with American fathers. Binh (Damien Ngyuen) is one of these unfortunates. In a small Vietnamese village Binh is treated like a slave by his foster family. When a relative lets slip that his mother is still alive in Saigon, he packs his bags and sets off. Armed only with a photograph of her and his American father in front of a distinctive building, Binh amazingly manages to find his mother and half brother, Tam. But a tragic accident makes staying impossible, and Binh embarks on what turns out to be an epic journey to find his American father.

HEIGHTS Over 24 hours five central characters are involved in each other's lives, if only they knew it. Diana (Glenn Close), an actress currently portraying Lady Macbeth is the mother of Isabel (Elizabeth Banks), a photographer who is engaged to Jonathan (James Marsden).

Meanwhile, Jonathan has been contacted by Peter (John Light), who is interviewing the subjects of a British photo exhibition in which a photograph of Jonathan suggests that Isabel should think twice, or three times, before marrying him. At an audition, Diana meets Alec, (Jesse Bradford) a young actor who lives in the same building as Isabel and Jonathan...

ENDS

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