January 9: Waltz With Bashir Screening

Sony Pictures Classics and ASIFA-Hollywood invite members and a guest to a screening of...


WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Friday, January 9, 2008 7:30 p.m.
Sony Studios Backstage Theater
10202 W Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

Immediately following the screening will be a Q&A with Writer/Director Ari Folman. Please park at the Madison gate of the Sony Studios lot.Seating is limited. Members only. Reservations required. Please see your email box for RSVP instructions.

Please Note: It's important for members to keep their email addresses current on our mailing list. Most correspondence between ASIFA-Hollywood and its members goes out via email. To update your contact info, please email membership@asifa-hollywood.org.

ABOUT THE FILM

This mesmerizing and gripping animated documentary begins one night at a bar, when an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images...

Rated R - 87 min. - In Hebrew with English subtitles
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OCT 9th: Members Only Persepolis Screening

Sony Pictures Classics presents
PERSEPOLIS
Tuesday, October 9th at 7:30 PM
Mann's Chinese Theatre
Hollywood, CA
RSVP Required: Members, see your email box for details

Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, presented at the 2007 Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals, and the Closing Night Film at this year's upcoming New York Film Festival, "Persepolis" is the poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution. We meet nine-year-old Marjane when the fundamentalists first take power- forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands; follow her as she cleverly outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden, while living with the terror of government persecution and the Iran/Iraq war; then on to Austria as a teenager, where h er parents send her to school in fear for her safety and, she has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape.

Marjane eventually gains acceptance in Europe but finds herself alone and horribly homesick, and returns to Iran to be with her family, though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age twenty-four, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud co-wrote and co-directed the film, which is produced by Marc-Antoine Robert and Xavier Rigault of 2.4.7. Films, and executive produced by Kathleen Kennedy of The Kennedy/Marshall Company in co-production with France 3 Cinema, Franche Connection Animations and Diaphana Distribution; in association with Celluloid Dreams, Sony Pictures Classics, Sofica Soficinema and Sofica Europacorp. Rated PG -13. 95 minutes.

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Follow Up: Jerry Beck On Surf's Up

Jerry Beck posts a quick review of last night's ASIFA screening of Surf's Up at Cartoon Brew. (He likes it.)
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