THE GASPARILLA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL HOSTS A GLOBAL LENS MINI-SERIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on December 11, 2008 under Gasparilla Film Festival | 
The Gasparilla International Film Festival will offer five films from the prestigious Global Lens Film Series to the students, faculty and film lovers at the University of Tampa. The event, which is open to the public, is Saturday, December 13th from 11am-9pm at UT’s Reeves Theatre (Univ. of Tampa Vaughn Center). The Series is sponsored by Knopik Varner Moore Law Firm and was recently chosen ’Best Film Series’ by the Creative Loafing, Critic’s Pick, 2008 ‘Loafies’ Awards. Ticket prices are $8 for a single film, $12 for two films, $15 for three. The event is free for Gasparilla International Film Festival members.
The film schedule is as follows:
11am Opera Jawa (Indonesia)
1pm Kept & Dreamless (Argentina)
3pm Let the Wind Blow (India)
5pm Luxury Car (China)
7pm The Custodian (Argentina)
OPERA JAWA:
Setyo and Siti live a peaceful life as husband and wife, selling earthenware in their village. But when Setyo is called away on business, a flirtatious butcher, Ludiro, takes advantage of Siti’s loneliness to seduce her. Tempted by song and dance, Siti initially refuses his advances but acquiesces in a moment of weakness, setting the stage for an epic battle between the two men. Located in lush forests and on pristine beaches of Java, director Garin Nugroho bases his deeply imagistic and dazzling visual narrative on the “The Abduction of Sita,” from the Hindu epic, The Ramayana.
KEPT & DREAMLESS:
During Argentina’s economic crisis of the ’90s, nine year-old Eugenia and her mother, Florencia, live a seemingly colorful life surrounded by eclectic neighbors and an offbeat collection of family. But for Eugenia, who must deal with her mother’s dysfunctional and drug-addled lifestyle, life is anything but pleasant in this darkly inspiring story of expectation, acceptance and nontraditional family, led by standout performances from director Vera Fogwill and young actress Lucía Snieg.
LET THE WIND BLOW:
At the height of nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, Arjun and his best friend, Chabia, weigh their options for the future against the reality of life on the streets of Mumbai. Enticed by the promise of wealth and opportunity in the Persian Gulf, Chabia is eager to leave his job as a mechanic. But for Arjun, who must finish college and care for his mother, the decision is not so easy in director Partho Sen-Gupta’s gritty, apocalyptic interpretation of Krishna’s counsel to Arjuna, from theBhagavad Gita.
LUXURY CAR:
In this emotionally taut narrative, Li Qi Ming travels from his small village to the city of Wuhan, determined to fulfill his wife’s last wish of seeing her son. But instead of finding his son, he discovers his daughter working as a karaoke bar escort, forcing him to come to terms with their long-estranged relationship and the tenuous future of his family. Director Wang Chao uses Li Qi Ming to represent the painful reality of thousands of parents who have lost contact with their children through rural exodus and political upheaval in China.
THE CUSTODIAN:
As a bodyguard for a high profile politician, Ruben is reduced to a mere shadow of a man: every action in his life is regulated by a series of mundane routines, and everywhere his boss goes he must follow, watching but never speaking. Resigned to his invisibility, his life is a series of days without meaning, punctuated only by visits to a prostitute, in this compelling chronicle by first-time director Rodrigo Moreno of a man without any true identity or connection to the world in which he lives.
More information on these and other Global Film Initiative features is available at www.globalfilm.org.
Update 12-11-2008: Due to commencement ceremonies at The University of Tampa, the first two films scheduled Saturday, December 13th, 2008 (”Opera Jawa” and “Kept & Dreamless”) will be rescheduled to an alternate date. The original December 13th schedule, beginning with “Let the Wind Blow” at 3pm, will continue as planned.
