Movie Additions

These movies have recently been added to the IPC library. They're popular so you may need to reserve them.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Academy award nomination 2005 for Best Documentary. Set in the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia, a family of nomadic camel herders faces a crisis when a white calf is rejected by its mother. Two young boys go on a journey through the desert, in search of a musician. A traditional violinist is summoned to the camp and a breathtaking ritual is performed. Though slow to start for viewers used to more action, it is a delight. It is beautifully filmed and gives insights into a very different way of life - but the viewer will recognise that some things are the same the world over.

Beyond Borders

The reviewers have been unkind, but despite its flaws the story will hold your interest. A bored American woman (Angelina Jolie) falls in love with a compassionate aid-worker who works in war ravaged countries of the Third World. Set against the backdrops of Ethiopia, Chechnya and Cambodia. After reading teh script, Angelina Jolie brgan work for the UNHCR.

Together

This is a touching story of a father and his 13-year-old son, a shy violin prodigy, in modern day China. The father sacrifices everything for his son to have the opportunity to audition for one of Beijing's most prestigious music schools. The music is wonderful, the story uplifting and the acting is great.

The Constant Gardener

This is compelling viewing. A British diplomat in Kenya becomes obsessed with uncovering the secrets that lie behind his wife's murder. Using his privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he risks his own life and will stop at nothing to expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than he could ever have imagined.

Told in a series of flashbacks it touches on issues such as poverty and disease in Africa, corrupt corporations, and the downside of free-market globalization but never preaches about them. A love story, a thriller a mystery ....it's a definite "must see".

The House of Sand and Fog

An intriguing movie, with Ben Kingsley starring as Massoud Amir Behrani, formerly a Colonel with the Iranian army - now living in America with his wife and son, and forced to work two menial jobs just to make ends meet. He thinks his luck is changing after he successfully bids at auction for an old summer house. But he has unwittingly put himself and his family in the middle of a legal tussle which turns into a personal confrontation, with tragic results.

Hawking

'Hawking' follows the life of young theoretical physicist, 21-year-old Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease prior to commencing his PhD at Oxford, and told that he would be dead in two years. This drama records the next two extraordinary years culminating in one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of any age. Like the discoveries of Galileo, Darwin and Einstein, it changed the way we think about ourselves and our universe.

The Take

Writer Naomi Klein (of the bestseller No Logo) and director Avi Lewis have created a political thriller as they documented the story of unemployed Argentinian workers. In 2001 groups of workers in Buenos Aries frustrated by the dramatic economic collapse that had closed their factories walk in to their old work places and refuse to leave, simply wanting to re-start their silent machines. The film illustrates the workers' inspiring struggle for dignity amidst injustice.

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