FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (9/04)
Contact: Contact: Dr. Jeff Hendricks, Faculty Director, 318-869-5254 or jhendric@centenary.edu, or Lynn Stewart or Kelsey Johnson, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120.

Centenary Film Society Announces Fall 2004 Season

SHREVEPORT, LA —The Centenary Film Society will begin its 21st season on Tuesday, Sept. 28, and Thursday, Sept. 30, with the internationally acclaimed Canadian film The Barbarian Invasions.

Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film of 2004, The Barbarian Invasions is the story of a man who, at the end of his life, comes to realize the importance of family, friends and memories. Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune has called the film "a brilliant entertainment, full of bemused skepticism and reckless, prodigal love."

All Centenary Film Society movies are open to the public at no charge. The films are shown in Carlile Auditorium in Mickle Hall of Science at 7 p.m.

Fall 2004 Film Schedule:

• The Barbarian Invasions- Sept. 28 & 30
  (Canada, 2003. Dir. Denys Arcand; in English and French w/subtitles; 99 mins)
• City of God- Oct. 5 & 7
  (Brazil, 2002. Dir. Fernando Meirelles; in Portuguese w/subtitles; 130 mins)
• Dirty Pretty Things- Oct. 12 & 14
  (UK, 2002. Dir. Stephen Frears; in English and Samoli w/subtitles; 97 mins)
• Lost in La Mancha- Oct. 21
  (UK, 2002. Dirs. Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe; in English; 93 mins)
• Super Size Me- Oct. 26 & 28
  (USA, 2004. Dir. Morgan Spurlock; in English; 96 mins)
• The Station Agent- Nov. 2 & 4
  (USA, 2003. Dir. Thomas McCarthy; in English; 88 mins)
• Osama- Nov. 9 & 11
  (Afghanistan, 2003. Dir. Siddiq Barmak; in Pashtu & Dari w/subtitles; 83 mins)
• Girl With a Pearl Earring- Nov. 16 & 18
  (USA, 2003. Dir. Peter Webber; in English; 95 mins)

The Barbarian Invasions- Sept. 28 & 30
(Canada, 2003. Dir. Denys Arcand; in English and French w/subtitles; 99 mins)
Remy is a man that loves life, women, and good wine. His life becomes permanently altered as he is faced with the reality that he is dying from cancer. As he nears death he attempts to reconnect with his former wife, his estranged son and old friends. Though Remy is tormented by his illness, the film is a celebration of his boisterous life and the relationships he created along the way. 2004 Winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and winner of over 25 other awards at international film festivals, this film is hailed as "a brilliant entertainment, full of bemused skepticism and reckless, prodigal love" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune).

City of God- Oct. 5 & 7
(Brazil, 2002. Dir. Fernando Meirelles; in Portuguese w/subtitles; 130 mins)
Rocket, a good-natured boy who comically learns that he's not cut out to be a hoodlum, decides instead to become a photojournalist. He's the film's audience/author surrogate, narrator and moral center. Li'l Dice, meanwhile, is a natural-born killer, a sociopath who craves power and loves violence. He grows up, changes his name to Li'l Ze, and takes over most of the city's drug trade. They're surrounded by an assortment of colorful, well-drawn characters, each of whom eventually has to confront the consequences of their violent lifestyle. Nominated for four Academy Awards and winner of over 40 awards at international film festivals, Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian hails this film as "an exhilarating slap in the face, bracing and sexy, smart and visceral, stylish and raw -- the advent of a fabulously exciting new moviemaking talent."

Dirty Pretty Things- Oct. 12 & 14
(UK, 2002. Dir. Stephen Frears; in English and Samoli w/subtitles; 97 mins)
Okwe, a Nigerian doctor living illegally in London, works in a seedy hotel that doubles as a black market organ business. He rents space in the hotel from a Turkish immigrant named Senay (Audrey Tautou) who is attempting to escape an arranged marriage. The film reveals the dark world in which these immigrants live. Winner of awards at the Venice, San Diego, and London international film festivals, Chris Kaltenbach of the Baltimore Sun calls it "a crackerjack thriller, laced with labyrinthine mysteries, moral quandaries and unspeakable evil."

Lost in La Mancha- Oct. 21
(UK, 2002. Dirs. Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe; in English; 93 mins)
Jeff Bridges narrates this hugely entertaining documentary about the unmaking of Terry Gilliam's (Brazil; 12 Monkeys) dream project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which went before the cameras in Spain only to be knocked out of production because of various problems including a sick star, a flood that washed away sets and scenery and noise from military planes that flew training runs overhead. This is a sad and funny true-life tale that speaks volumes about the difficulties of independent filmmaking. "An excruciatingly entertaining portrait of the filmmaking process that no Hollywood studio would ever allow to be shown" (David Ansen, Newsweek).

Super Size Me- Oct. 26 & 28
(USA, 2004. Dir. Morgan Spurlock; in English; 96 mins)
What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life. The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must wolf three squares a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once, and supersize his meal if asked. Spurlock treks across the country interviewing a host of experts on fast food and an equal number of regular folk while chowing down at the Golden Arches. Winner of Director's Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, this "movie is zippy, laugh-out-loud funny, persuasive and at times horrifying, as Spurlock undergoes his unpleasant changes with good humor and bad tummy aches" (Marc Caro, Chicago Tribune).

The Station Agent- Nov. 2 & 4
(USA, 2003. Dir. Thomas McCarthy; in English; 88 mins)
Finbar McBride is a young man affected with dwarfism who inherits a train depot from his best friend and co-worker. He moves into the abandoned depot and tries to lead the life of a recluse. His attempt fails after he reluctantly becomes friends with a woman attempting to cope with death of her son and a talkative Cuban hot dog vendor. Winner of more than 18 awards at international film festivals, including Sundance, Stockholm, and San Sebastian, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times deems it a "charming story of the delicate intersection of three highly individual lives."

Osama- Nov. 9 & 11
(Afghanistan, 2003. Dir. Siddiq Barmak; in Pashtu & Dari w/subtitles; 83 mins)
A 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital where they work. The Taliban have also forbidden women to leave their houses without a male "legal companion." With her husband and brother dead, there is no one left to support the family. Without being able to leave the house, the mother has nowhere to turn. Feeling that she has been left no other choice, she disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called "Osama," the girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity. Inspired by a true story, Osama is the first entirely Afghan film shot since the fall of the Taliban. Winner of 11 awards at international film festivals, including three at Cannes, "the movie is a rare uncensored postcard from a ruined place, a document at once depressing and hideously beautiful that sketches the real hardships of trampled people -- specifically women -- with authority and compelling simplicity" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly).

Girl With a Pearl Earring- Nov. 16 & 18
(USA, 2003. Dir. Peter Webber; in English; 95 mins)
Set in Holland, in 1665, the story revolves around 16 year-old Griet (Scarlett Johansson), the modest Calvinist daughter of a Delft tilemaker, who is hired as a servant in the tempestuous Catholic household of Vermeer (Colin Firth). As she's dutifully cleaning the artist's attic studio, she becomes fascinated by the interaction of light, space and color. Gratified by her interest in his craft, he teaches her how to mix paints, but their intimacy arouses his wife's (Essie Davis) jealousy and his mother-in-law's (Judy Parfitt) ire. Tension is escalated when Vermeer's conniving patron, Master van Ruijven (Tom Wilkerson), demands that he, secretly, paint a portrait of Griet, who is psychologically tormented as she's also being courted by the butcher's son (Cillian Murphy). Winner of awards at the Los Angeles, San Sebastian, and San Diego film festivals, David Sterritt of Christian Science Monitor hails the film's "combination of refined filmmaking and Johansson's exquisitely understated acting."

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