SpIFF schedule

All films will be shown at River Park Square Cinemas. Individual tickets are $8, five-film passes are available for $35 and full festival passes for $80. Only at spokane7.com are links to each film’s Web site. For more information, call 624-2615 or access www.caaspokane.org/spiff.htm.

Tonight

5:30 p.m. – “Vibrator” (2003, Japan), directed by Hiroki Ryuchi, 1:35, in Japanese with English subtitles: On impulse, a young woman gets into the cab of a cross-country truck driver. What results resembles Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris,” though the sex is less graphic and the characters are more empathetic. And you get to see a side of Japan that most Westerners never do. Preceded by “Commentary: On” (Canada) by Rob Lindsay and Rudolf Mammitsch, :09.

8:30 p.m. – “David Hockney: The Color of Music” (2004, U.S./France), directed by Maryte Kavaliauskas and Seth Schneidman, 1:25: British artist Hockney already had gained international fame when, in 1966, he began designing sets for various theatrical productions, especially opera, including everything from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” to Puccini’s “Turnadot.” Co-directors Kavaliauskas and Schneidman, augmenting their film with Hockney’s home movies, capture the process of a genius at work, even as he becomes physically unable to do the job. Kavaliauskas is expected to appear with the film. Preceded by “Through My Thick Glasses” (Canada/Norway) by Pjotr Sapegin, :13.

Saturday

5:30 p.m. – “Angel on the Right” (2002, Tajikistan), directed by Djamshed Usmonov, 1:29, in Tajik with English subtitles: Set in director Usmonov’s village and featuring his mother, this dark comedy tells the tale of a career criminal, just out of jail, who returns home to bury his mother. But the village has a few surprises in store for this unrepentant black sheep. Preceded by “Fetch” (Australia) by Lynn Maree Danzey, :05.

8:30 p.m. – “Captive” (2003, Argentina), directed by Gaston Biraben, 1:55, in Spanish with English subtitles: Director Biraben, who is expected to make an appearance, tells the story of a 15-year-old Argentine girl who wakes up one day as the pampered daughter of a retired policeman then goes to sleep utterly confused, having been told by government authorities that all she knows of life is fake. Her real parents, it seems, “disappeared” on the night of her birth. Director Biraben tells another story, like last year’s “Kamchatka” and 1985’s Oscar-winning “The Official Story,” about the human side of the infamous military dictatorship that ruled Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

Sunday

5:30 p.m. – “On the Sunny Side” (2003, Slovenia, U.S. premiere), directed by Miha Hocevar, 1:32, in Slovenian with English subtitles: In the Slovenian capital city of Lubljana for the summer to visit their aunt and uncle, two Bosnian brothers run through the normal set of boyhood experiences. They make friends, chase girls, flirt with trouble and relax now that they are far from the war at home. But the war hasn’t left them completely. Preceded by “Dysenchanted” (United States) by Terri Edda Miller, :13.

8:30 p.m. – “Green Hat” (2004, China, U.S. premiere), directed by Liu Fendou, 1:38, in Mandarin with English subtitles: Robbers and cops, a standoff that turns deadly, a policeman who is being cuckolded (which, in China, is known as “wearing the green hat”), the same policeman fighting impotence, the man’s wife spending her birthday with her lover who just happens to offer her a bigger cake than her husband did … it’s all a mix of humor and pathos that director Liu offers as a poignant look at love and the lengths to which it can lead us. Preceded by “The Old Man and the Studio” (United States) by Eric Champnella, :13.

Monday

5:30 p.m. – “Nobody Knows” (2004, Japan, U.S. premiere), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2:21, in Japanese with English subtitles: After being abandoned by their strange-acting mother, four children struggle to survive in a small apartment on their own. But without money, without support, without any real sense of hope, their future isn’t bright. Fourteen-year-old Yuya Yagira, who plays the 12-year-old eldest sibling, was named Best Actor at the 2004 Cannes Film festival.

8:30 p.m. – “The Thin Man” (1934, U.S.), directed by W.S. Van Dyke, 1:33: William Powell and Myrna Loy play Nick and Nora Charles, the socialite detectives who, along with their dog, Asta, find themselves investigating the murder of an inventor. This first in a series of six “Thin Man” films was based, very loosely, on the novel by Dashiell Hammett. Preceded by “Stick Up” (Canada) by Douglas Newell, :09.

Tuesday

5:30 p.m. – “Arahan” (2004, South Korea), directed by Ryu Seung-wan, 1:54, in Korean with English subtitles: Tired of being a pushover, a policeman in Seoul with a strong chi seeks out the masters of an ancient martial arts form. With their help, he embarks on the road to become the next Maruchi, or supreme master. And he’ll need the help, for Heun-un, a master who has turned to the dark side, is back and seeking to control the world.

8:30 p.m. – “Antares” (2004, Austria), directed by Gotz Spielmann, 2:00, in German with English subtitles: Taking his title from the lead star in the constellation of Scorpio, director Spielmann interweaves the stories of three women into a narrative that explores the lives of characters who are as desperate as they are unhappy. One is having an affair, one is worried that her husband is cheating on her and the third has trouble shedding her ex-husband. Spielmann’s film features graphic sex in exploring a world that, as one critic put it, is an example of “the extremes of joy and anguish to which love can lead.”

Wednesday

5:30 p.m. – “Heir to an Execution” (2004, U.S.), directed by Ivy Meeropol, 1:39: Director Meeropol is the eldest granddaughter of the late Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 after being convicted of handing over A-bomb plans to the Soviet Union. Her documentary film is a personal look that seeks not to clear her grandparents but to show what happened to the two boys, ages 4 and 7, that they left behind. Morton Sobell, 88, who was prosecuted along with the Rosenbergs and served 19 years in prison, is expected to appear with the film. Preceded by “All the Teachers I Have Known” (Canada) by Brian Stockton, :02.

8:30 p.m. – “Run Lola Run” (1998, Germany), directed by Tom Tykwer, 1:21, in German with English subtitles: Lola’s boyfriend Manni has just 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 marks or he’s dead. And so Lola runs … and runs and runs and runs. One of the more inventive films of the ‘90s, and the film that made Franka Potente a star, director Tykwer’s groundbreaking movie uses every filmmaking technique imaginable to make its point about fate and the power we have to shape it. This is the first of a three-film retrospective celebrating Tykwer and his work.

Thursday

5:30 p.m. – “The Princess and the Warrior” (2000, Germany), directed by Tom Tykwer, 2:10, in German with English subtitles: After being saved by a mysterious stranger, an inhibited young nurse (Franka Potente) seeks out her savior, only to find that his interior life and family history are as complex and twisted as hers is. The question is, can they find in each other the strength that will lead to something better?

8:30 p.m. – “Heaven” (2002, Germany), directed by Tom Tykwer, 1:36, in English and Italian with English subtitles: Responsible for the deaths of four innocent people, a woman (Cate Blanchett) finds herself in the clutches of corrupt Italian officials. A love-struck young Carabinieri officer (Giovanni Ribisi) helps her escape, but she finds that she can’t run away from her own sense of guilt. Preceded by two Tykwer shorts: “Epilogue” (1992), :10, and “Because” (1990), :34.