Dialogue Of Cultures Festival

The first edition of the Dialogue of Cultures International Film Festival, the world’s first film festival dedicated to the impact of globalization, unfurls in New York City this week at the Quad Cinema and SVA Theater in Manhattan. The event, which will showcase 16 world cinema features and documentaries, runs through October 27. The festival’s goal is to jumpstart a dialogue between cultures through the universal language of cinema. After this first edition, the festival will move to a different country every year, with Paris slated to be next year’s location.

Opening the festivities on Thursday evening is the East Coast premiere of CIRKUS COLUMBIA, the newest film from Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, whose 2001 film NO MAN’S LAND was an international arthouse hit and won various awards in North America and Europe. In this tale set after the fall of the Communist regime in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991, a Bosnian refugee returns to his former home after a 20-year exile in Germany to find that the scars of war still run deep. Closing the Festival on October 27 is the New York Premiere of THE SKETCH OF MUJO by Japanese director Koichi Omiya, which explores the aftermath of last year’s earthquake and tsunami that continue to alter everyday life at all levels of Japanese society.  The Festival is also showcasing  the theatrical release of TRANSIT CITIES by Jordanian director Mohammad Al Hushki, a timely film about the return from abroad of a woman who attempts to construct a new life in a land and culture that she barely recognizes.  There will also be a special presentation of the Dutch film BRIDE FLIGHT, a 1950s-set story about three young women who emigrate to New Zealand from postwar Holland hoping for a better life. Rutger Hauer, the great Dutch movie star, will appear at the screening. Other films in the series hail from Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, India, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, France, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, Israel, Iran, Australia and the United Kingdom. Tickets are a very affordable $5.00 per screening. To view the entire schedule, visit:  www.dciff.net

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