BOATS OUT OF WATERMELON RINDS
Directed by Ahmet Ulucay, 2005

In his award-winning debut feature film, director Ahmet Ulucay portrays the innocence of childhood and the lure of the cinema for two teens in a small Turkish village. Working for a watermelon seller by day, Remet spends his evenings trying to rebuild a film projector with his friend Mehmet. Both have big dreams to be famous film directors one day. In Turkish with English subtitles.

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THE CLOUD-CAPPED STAR
Directed by Ritwik Ghatak, 1960

Ritwik Ghatak, a forgotten auteur of the Indian cinema, directed this searing drama about a refugee family barely surviving on the outskirts of Calcutta. Like Ghatak, the family is a victim of Partition, the legal separation of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Oldest daughter Nita struggles as the family breadwinner though she longs to marry a young scientist working far away from the poverty and despair of their neighborhood. In the meantime, her lazy brother shirks his responsibilities to daydream about being a great singer. In Bengali with English subtitles.

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JOURNEY TO THE SUN
Directed by Yesim Ustaoglu, 1999

An unlikely friendship forms the basis of this powerful story of loyalty and courage. Mehmet, a cheerful young man from western Turkey, and Berzan, a Kurdish rebel in the underground, become fast friends while living in Istanbul. Mehmet is unjustly arrested, but the experience makes him aware of his country's political realities. When the situation heats up, and Berzan is involved, Mehmet embarks on a sweeping, spiritual journey across Turkey to his friend's Kurdish homeland. Turkish and Kurdish with English subtitles.

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LONG LIVE PAKISTAN
Directed by Pascale Lamche, 2007

Produced for the 60th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan, this compelling documentary explores the country’s brief but turbulent past in order to understand its volatile present. Pakistan has always been a prisoner of its geo-political situation, and this documentary reveals how this has hampered the country’s political and economic development.

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A PERFECT DAY
Directed by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, 2005

A haunting drama about loss and reconciliation, A Perfect Day illustrates a day in the life of a woman and her son who have been permanently scarred by the Lebanese Civil War of 15 years ago. Claudia and her son, Malek, wake up to a typical morning, which quickly turns sour when the topic of conversation turns to the family’s patriarch. Claudia’s husband and Malek’s father has been missing since the war, and the two debate over whether to have him declared legally dead. Once the decision is made, the two move on with their lives in different ways. In Arabic with English subtitles.

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A RIVER CALLED TITAS
Directed by Ritwik Ghatak, 1973

Based on an autobiographical novel by Advaita Malla Barman, A River Called Titas details the daily life of a fishing community along the Titus River in East Bengal and then chronicles its destruction through the forces of change. A source of promise and disaster, the river offers a livelihood to the residents of the community, but it also brings bandits who kidnap women and children. Additional threats include the drying up of the river, which could spell the end for their rural culture. And, if natural causes don't destroy the village, men from the big city move in to take over the land for paddy fields.

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WAITING FOR THE CLOUDS
Directed by Yesim Ustaoglu, 2004

Along Turkey's northeastern Black Sea coast, beautiful valleys shrouded in mist hide terrible secrets about the country's bloody past. An elderly woman looks back on her long life after the death of her sister. For over 50 years, she has carefully guarded a secret about her distant past, but grief threatens to expose that she and her sister are Greek, not Turkish. In Turkish with English subtitles.

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