Cinematic gems from cultures far, far away

Friday, January 7, 2005

By SEAN AXMAKER
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

The Seattle International Film Festival may be months away, but for the next two weeks, Seattle will be host to a small bounty of cinematic riches from cultures rarely seen on local screens.

COMING UP

GLOBAL LENS SERIES

WHEN: Today through Jan. 20

WHERE: Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave.

TICKETS: $10 ($9 for Cinema Seattle or Northwest Film Forum members); full series pass $75

INFORMATION: 206-464-5830, www.seattlefilm.com

Global Lens, a traveling collection of 10 films from developing countries, was developed by The Global Film Initiative, a New York-based non-profit organization created to "promote cross-cultural understanding through cinema." The two-week run in Seattle, co-sponsored by Cinema Seattle in association with the Northwest Film Forum, is the American debut of the Global Film Initiative's 2005 series.

The delightfully droll "Whisky," a deadpan comedy from Uruguay about a middle-age man with a rattle-trap sock factory who asks his senior employee to pose as his wife when his successful brother visits, opens the series today and plays through the first week.

Director Minh Nguyen-Vo is scheduled to appear with his Vietnamese drama "Buffalo Boy," a coming-of-age tale set in the impoverished rural wetlands of 1940 French-occupied Vietnam, on Jan. 14 (the film plays through the second week).

In between are award-winning films plucked from festivals and showcases around the world. The dark-edged social satire "Fuse," from Bosnia and Herzegovina, took prizes at the Locarno and Alexandria film festivals. Also featured are "Daughter of Keltoum," from Algeria, about the homecoming of a young Swiss-raised Algerian woman; the drama "Hollow City" from Angola; the comedy "Lili's Apron" and the drama "Today and Tomorrow" from Argentina; the "Uniform" from China (featured at SIFF 2004); "Kabala" from Mali; and the comedy "What's a Human, Anyway?" from Turkey.

The schedule:

Today: 7 p.m. "Whisky"; 9 p.m. "Kabala"

Tomorrow: 3 and 7 p.m. "Whisky"; 5 p.m. "Daughter of Keltoum"; 9 p.m. "What's a Human, Anyway?"

Sunday: 2:30 p.m., "Kabala"; 4:30 p.m. What's a Human, Anyway?"; 7 p.m. "Whisky"; 9 p.m. "Daughter of Keltoum"

Tuesday: 7 p.m. "Whisky"

Wednesday: 7 p.m. "Whisky"; 9 p.m. "Uniform"

Thursday: 7 p.m. "Whisky"; 9 p.m. "Hollow City"

Jan. 14: 3 p.m. "Uniforms"; 5 p.m. "Lili's Apron"; 7 p.m. "Buffalo Boy"; 9 p.m. "Today and Tomorrow"

Jan. 15: 3 p.m. "Buffalo Boy"; 5 p.m. "Hollow City"; 7 p.m. "Buffalo Boy"; 9 p.m. "Fuse"

Jan.16: 3 p.m. "Today and Tomorrow"; 5 p.m. "Fuse"; 7 p.m. "Buffalo Boy"; 9 p.m. "Lili's Apron"

Jan. 18, 19 and 20: 7 p.m. "Buffalo Boy"

Sean Axmaker is a movie reviewer and freelance film writer based in Seattle. He can be reached via e-mail at seanax@hotmail.com.