Comedy

“Sex and complications -- and stealing...I think my film is a kind of speech for the defense of the right not to be perfect.” – Johan Kling, Director

Award-winning director Filippos Tsitos’ wonderfully quirky new feature, “serious in its sly comedy and amusing in its tragedy”, challenges the ideologies of four xenophobic sidewalk philosophers and longtime friends when they learn that one of them is not what he seems.  Within the Athenian neighborhood of Plato's Academy, one narrow-minded man learns the truth about his Albanian ancestry, a discovery that threatens to destroy his closest friendships and upend his worldview. 

Acclaimed Icelandic filmmaker Fredrik Thor Fredrikson (Angels of the Universe) returns with a clever, affecting semi-autobiographical tale of a film director’s relationship with his aging mother. Suffused with allusions to other films, Mamma Gógó makes sharp observations about the film industry as well as contemporary Icelandic society.

One man's plan to visit his girlfriend in Paris goes horribly awry in this comedic romp through the streets of Taipei.  After saying goodbye to his girlfriend, Kai dedicates himself to learning French at the local bookstore, so that he might better prepare himself for a future visit.  His plans quickly disintegrate, and it's not long before Kai's trip to save his relationship is interrupted by a run-in with some mobsters.  

The mayor of a tiny Czech village hatches a plan to quite literally put his town on the map.  With the aid of local businessman, Janta, Mayor Hanacek hopes that staging the 35^th Annual International Deer Calling Championships will attract the attention of the prime minister and bring a much-needed highway to his isolated city.  All he has to do is settle a dispute with the current stag-calling champion, Franta, and keep the local parliament member continually, and excessively, drunk.  This madcap feature from Czech director Robert Sedlácek is sure to leave moviegoers chuckling long after they leave their seats, as he brings back the droll and sly humor of Milos Forman’s ‘60’s classics such as The Firemen’s Ball. 

Director Morgan Spurlock Present

Celebrated filmmaker and ace provocateur, Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), is back with yet another tongue-in-cheek exposé about the more unappealing aspects of American life.

Director/Comedian Ahmed Ahmed Present

If there's one thing that culturally binds us all, it's that we all love a good laugh.  Just Like Us subscribes to that philosophy wholeheartedly, as the film uses the power of stand-up comedy to break down barriers between the west and the east.  This documentary sees acclaimed standup comedian Ahmed Ahmed travel to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt, demonstrating comedy's ability to unite, not to mention his own comedic chops.  Oft-documented himself on numerous talk shows, this film sees Ahmed turning an astute camera on himself, and his witty eye on the viewer.

This is a film about two stand-up comedians –two men joined by spirit and separated by repression. Maung Thura, better known as Zarganar, is Burma’s greatest living comic. Relentlessly victimized by the military junta, he is now in prison. Michael Mittermeier, in stark contrast, is free to practice his art of humor and provocation as one of Germany’s leading stand-up comics.

On the last sultry night of summer, four teenagers roam the suburban Detroit streets in search of elusive first kisses, wild parties, and cigarettes. David Robert Mitchell’s lauded feature debut is a dreamy, impressionistic mood piece that perfectly captures the longings and rebellions of the teenage years. Like those heady exploits of adolescence, the particulars of the plot are not as important as their mere existence.