FOCUS: Wael Shawky Interview

Wael Shawky explores the ambiguities between history and myth in order to challenge history’s authority. His projects, which include film, sculpture, and drawing, also raise questions about the role of history—and the biases held by those writing it—in forming longstanding national identities.

Inequality for All

In the wake of the U.S. economic crisis, the widening gap between the rich and the poor has gained unprecedented public awareness. Our narrator and guide, UC Berkeley professor and noted economic policy expert Robert Reich, helps us understand how the extreme inequality we are now facing has roots in economic and policy changes that began over 30 years ago. Punctuated by moments that allow us to know Reich personally, we also see his unwavering passion to return our society to one in which the American dream is possible for everyone.
PG, 99 minutes

Oscar-Nominated Short Films

For the 16th consecutive year, Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films. With all three categories offered—Animated, Live Action, and Documentary—this is your annual chance to predict the winners (and have the edge in your Oscar pool)! Don’t miss this perennial hit with audiences around the country and world. The Academy Awards take place Sunday, April 25.  

Shirin Neshat

I am sending-
my warmest greetings to the sun,
and to the tender rivers that streamed in my veins,
and the raining clouds that forever carried- my endless dreams-
to the other side.

—excerpt from “I Will Greet the Sun Again” by Forugh Farrokhzad

The Truffle Hunters

Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, 70 or 80 years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science's efforts at cultivation. They're guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly trained dogs. They live a simpler, slower way of life, in harmony with their loyal animals and their picture-perfect land, seemingly straight out of a fairy tale.

French Exit

“My plan was to die before the money ran out,” says 60-year-old penniless Manhattan socialite Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), but things didn’t go as planned. Her husband Franklin has been dead for 12 years and with his vast inheritance gone, she cashes in the last of her possessions and resolves to live out her twilight days anonymously in a borrowed apartment in Paris, accompanied by her directionless son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) and a cat named Small Frank—who may or may not embody the spirit of Frances’s dead husband.
R; 110 minutes