The East Lansing Film Festival - ELFF

Synopsis: A totally riveting documentary about the Arab-run Al Jazeera Network's presentation of the second Iraq war and its contrast to the news offered by the US news media. Filmed from the build-up to war to the fall of Baghdad, this doc takes an unusually balanced look at the consistently unbalanced news coverage of the Iraq war. A must-see for those who want to be informed, enlightened, and outraged before voting in November.

Synopsis: Don Cheadle (in an incredible performance) stars in the true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees in their struggle to survive in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Winner of the Toronto Film Festival and the AFI film festival Audience Choice Awards, this moving film brings attention to one of the most amazing acts of courage that occurred during the genocide of the Tutsis. Also starring Nick Nolte and Sophie Okonedo. An MGM release opening in limited release nationally on December 22. On the Best 10 Films of the Year list, National Board of Reviews.

Synopsis: A wonderfully droll and sly absurdist comedy set in the early 1950's. The Home Research Institute in Sweden sends 18 observers to a rural district of Norway, with its surplus of bachelors, to study the kitchen routines of single men. The story focuses on the particular relationship between a lonely observer and his lonely host. You will laugh out loud and cry inside at this touching, quirky film about an unlikely friendship and the human heart.

Synopsis: This very timely film follows two Sudanese teenagers who are relocated from Africa's plateaus to the plains of the American West. Orphaned by the devastating civil war in Sudan, Peter and Santino have become two of the so-called "Lost Boys", a group of over 20,000 young men who have fled to find refuge in neighboring countries. Their experiences of culture shock, assimilation and loneliness are eye-opening and a test to the myth of "The American Dream".

Synopsis: An Academy Award-nominated and critically acclaimed docoumentary, this memorable film tells the story of an illegitimate son's world-wide journey to understand and explore the complex life of his father, the legendary architect Louis I. Kahn. With remarkable balance and insight, Kahn reveals the vagaries of genius, the transience of life, the pain of family conflicts and the almost sublime power of great architecture or great art. Shown in collaboration with the Kresge Art Museum.

Synopsis: May moves into her son's swanky London home after her husband dies. She is adrift, almost invisible, until she has an affair with a man half her age who is her daughter's lover. This sparks dormant feelings of sexuality, womanhood and self-realization. Anna Reid, accomplished British stage actress, is remarkable in this very difficult role evoking empathy, sympathy, and a bit of shock in her unsparing and unsentimental portrayal. Winner of Best Actress of the Year award from the British Film Academy. Discussion following.

Synopsis: This divinely eccentric, wildly inventive animated film is so full of original, imaginative native images, a fabulous Django Reinhardt-inspired soundtrack and memorable characters that you'll want to see it more than once. A doting grandmother enlists the help of three jazz jge singers, the title's Triplets, to help her find her grandson who was kidnapped after completing the Tour de France. Nominated for an Oscar, praised by critics, and a film festival favorite, Triplets is a surreal, hilarious, ingenious madcap cinematic adventure.