2. Sun Feb 5 – MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – 1 hr 39 min – R.  Michelle Williams’ performance as Marilyn Monroe and Kenneth Branagh’s performance as Sir Laurence Olivier are highly favored to receive Academy Award nominations.  In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl,’ the film that famously united Olivier and Marilyn Monroe, who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller. Nearly 40 years later, Clark’s diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn – this is the story of that week. It happened when Arthur Miller left England, and Colin introduced Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic getaway week during which she left her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work behind. “Highest Rating! I understood something, through Michelle Williams' performance, that I'd never fully grasped: Marilyn's power wasn't just sexual power. It was the power to light up the sky.” –Mick LaSalle, S.F. Chronicle.

3. Sun Feb 12 @ 7:00 pm – THE OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST SHORT ANIMATED FILM 2012.
“Dimanche/Sunday” – Canada – 9 min. Every Sunday, it's the same old routine! The train clatters through the village and almost shakes the pictures off the wall. In the church, Dad dreams about his toolbox. And of course later Grandma will get a visit and the animals will meet their fate.
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” – USA – 17 min. Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques
(miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) co-directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and MGM Technicolor musicals. Morris Lessmore is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.
“La Luna” – USA – 7 min. “La Luna” is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work. Should he follow the
example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?
“A Morning Stroll” – UK – 7 min.  When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we are left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
“Wild Life” – Canada – 14 min. Calgary, 1909. An Englishman moves to the Canadian frontier, but is singularly unsuited to it. His letters home are much sunnier than the reality. Intertitles compare his fate to that of a comet.

4. Sun Feb. 19 @ 7:00 pm – THE OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM 2012.
“Pentacost” – Ireland – 11 min. When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo or serve an extended ban from his passion in life, football.
“Raju” – Germany & India – 24 min.  A German couple adopts in Kolkata an Indian orphan. Their child suddenly disappears and they realize that they are part of the problem.
“The Shore” – Northern Ireland – 30 min. THE SHORE is the uplifting story of two boyhood best friends - Joe (Ciarán Hinds) and Paddy (Conleth Hill) divided for 25
years by the tumult of "The Troubles". When Joe returns home to Northern Ireland, his daughter Patricia brings the two men together for a reunion, with unexpected results. What happened all those years ago? Can old wounds be healed? The answer is both hilarious and moving. THE SHORE is about one of the small personal reconciliations that coincide with a national reconciliation.
“Time Freak” – USA – 11 min. A neurotic inventor creates a time machine, only to get caught up traveling around yesterday.
“Tuba Atlantic” – Norway – 25 min. When seventy-year-old Oskar is told that he has only six days left to live, he wants to put things right with his brother who
lives in New Jersey. Inger, a public “death angel” is sent out to help Oscar through his remaining days. A huge horn stands at the edge of the sea, built by the brothers when they were kids. Will its sound cross the Atlantic?

5. Sun Feb 26 – MY REINCARNATION – 1 hr 40 min – Not Rated.  Filmed over a period of twenty years by acclaimed documentarian Jennifer Fox, My Reincarnation chronicles the epic story of the high Tibetan Buddhist Master, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, and his western-born son, Yeshi. The film follows Namkhai Norbu’s rise to greatness as a Buddhist teacher in the West, while his son, Yeshi, recognized at birth as the reincarnation of a famous spiritual master, breaks away from his father’s tradition to embrace the modern world. Can the father convince his son to keep the family's threatened spiritual legacy alive or will Yeshi choose to pursue his career in information-technology management? Never before has a high Tibetan Master allowed such complete access to his private life and it is doubtful that another ever will. With her signature intimate entry to both family and icons including the Dalai Lama, Fox expertly distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation, and destiny.  “It offers a rare look at the everyday life of a spiritual leader… a compelling, universal film.” –Mark Mohan, Portland Oregonian.

6. Sun Mar 4 – IN THE LAND OF BLOOD & HONEY – 2 hrs 7 min – In Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian language with English subtitles - R.  Nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.  Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" tells the story of Danijel and Ajla, two people from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, and Ajla, a Bosnian held captive in the camp he oversees, knew each other before the war, and could have found love with each other. But as the armed conflict takes hold of their lives, their relationship grows darker, their motives and connection to one another ambiguous, their allegiances uncertain.  Angelina Jolie, making her debut as a writer-director, leaves her critics in the dust with this unflinching portrayal of the incredible emotional, moral and physical toll that the war exerts both on individuals and people as a whole.  “It’s as a director that Jolie shines.  Her live-wire movie is out to shake us.  That it does.” –Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. “Rather than a glossy, superficial movie-star vanity project, In the Land of Blood and Honey feels like the sober, hard-hitting work of a humanitarian.” –Claudia Puig, USA Today.

7. Sun Mar 11 – SILENT SOULS – 1 hr 15 min – Not rated – In Russian with English subtitles.  When Miron’s beloved wife Tanya passes away, he asks his best friend Aist to help him say goodbye to her according to the rituals of the Merja culture, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from Lake Nero, a picturesque region in West-Central Russia. Although the Merja people assimilated into Russians in the 17th century, their myths and traditions live on in their descendants’ modern life. The two men set out on a roadtrip thousands of miles across the boundless lands.  Along the way, as is custom for the Merjas, Miron shares intimate memories of his conjugal life. But as they reach the banks of the sacred lake where they will forever part with the body, he realizes he wasn’t the only one in love with Tanya… “4 Stars. Highest Rating! This profound and immensely touching film achieves the profundity of an epic.” –Roger Ebert.  “Highest Rating! A mystical masterpiece...an astonishing and ultimately beautiful road-trip movie.” –David Lewis, S.F. Chronicle.

8. Sun Mar 18 – LADS & JOCKEYS – 1 hr 40 min - Not Rated – In French with English subtitles. Benjamin Marquet’s documentary takes us to a very special boarding school near Paris, where 14-year-old boys and girls begin training for a future career in horseracing.  The film focuses on Steve, Florian and Flavien during their first year of apprenticeship.  For these young boys, the transition between their comfortable family environment and this new harsh world is brutal.  They enter a world where the hard work of taking care of the horses exhausts them daily and where their first race atop a galloping thousand-pound animal looms everpresent and somewhat terrifying in their minds.  “There’s something about the combination of unstable rider, nervous steed and swiftly traveling camera that generates awe here.” –John Anderson, Variety.  “Here’s a different film.  We found that spending time with these ambitious yet vulnerable kids as they forge ahead through physical difficulties and mental challenges was quite fascinating.” –Mike and Barbara Getz