Focus: Romania Romania is poised to become the national cinema of choice among film aficionados. Three new award-winning films give a snapshot of life before, during and after the1989 revolution: The Way I Spent the End of the World, The Paper Will Be Blue and California Dreamin' (Endless).

Focus: Germany New German cinema includes some of the world’s most talented directors including Doris Dörrie (How to Cook Your Life); Christian Wagner (Warchild) and Christian Petzold (Yella).

Focus: India With support from American Airlines, MVFF is proud to present Focus: India, featuring five new features. The North American premiere of Madhusree Dutta’s 7 Islands and a Metro is a poetically charged meditation on the past, present, and future of the seven-island city of Mumbai. Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, whose previous films Two Women and Long Live Life! were featured at MVFF, return with the world premiere of Possession, which explores variations on the theme of the battle between fear and faith. In Riding Solo to the Top of the World, Indian documentarian Gaurav Jani is director, actor and explorer—on a motorcycle trek to the highest habitable place on earth. India and its environs are also seen through the eyes of others: Bay Area filmmaker Rosemary Rawcliffe presents the world premiere of her second in a trilogy, Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution, which tells the inspiring story of the Tibetan Women’s Uprising against the Chinese invasion in 1959; and on Opening Night, there is a special screening of Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman as estranged brothers who take a train voyage across India. Sponsored By:

Active Cinema Movement This category offers a selection of films by filmmakers whose work is committed to the causes their stories portray, even beyond the screen. These films have the potential to inspire audiences to connect and get involved. This year’s selection: Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy; Djanta; Soldiers of Conscience; Strong Love; Women of Tibet: A Quiet Revolution and the documentary shorts program Bee-ing Me.

Other countries and regions strongly represented this year include Africa, Iran, Israel and Sweden.