Greece's Best Foreign Language Film entry for the 2012 Academy Awards, Attenberg is an offbeat coming-of-age tale about Marina, a shy, 23-year-old who lives in a small, factory town by the sea. Her only company is her father, a once-prominent architect who is slowly dying, and her best friend Bella, a sexually liberated young woman who differs from Marina's introverted nature. Marina keeps her distance from others, spending time by herself watching David Attenborough's documentaries on mammals. Bored with her life, she continues to go through her typical day-to-day routine until an engineer visits her sleepy town and wakes her up — with Bella's help.

"Attenberg is a three-layered love story, anatomizing the mysterious emotions of grief, friendship, and erotic attraction," said The New York Times film critic A.O. Scott.

The film was written, directed, and produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari – considered a figure to watch in the up-and-coming new wave of Greek cinema – and was filmed in her native country of Greece. "Greece is an unknown country, even to its citizens, and I want to discover it for myself," Tsangari said.

Attenberg garnered a lot of attention at the Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for the top prize. The film stars Ariane Labed, who plays Marina and won the award for Best Actress in Venice. Critics have praised the film for its sincerity, playfulness, and intelligence.

Attenberg is presented in Greek with English subtitles.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, April 13 at 9 p.m.
Saturday, April 14 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 15 at 6 p.m.

Time: 7 p.m.

Discussion Featuring:
TBA


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Featuring a tour de force performance by Tild Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin, explores the controversial, age-old debate of nature vs. nurture and leaves stunned audiences to question: "How does a child became evil – was it his environment, or was he born that way?

Swinton stars as Eva, a mother struggling to understand the increasingly strange acts of her teenage son Kevin (Ezra Miller). Through a series of flashbacks, she is seen becoming more and more detached and fearful of her own child, made worse by her oblivious husband (John C. Reilly) shrugging off his son's behavior and reassuring Eva that he's just a sweet little boy. However, it reaches a point where Kevin's acts can no longer be ignored; when he does the unspeakable, Eva must come to terms with her son's shocking behavior .

The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival and received rave reviews from critics.

"We Need to Talk About Kevin is confrontational cinema that will leave you speechless," said Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver, the film features a musical score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. Don't miss this psychological thriller!

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, March 23 at 9 p.m.
Saturday, March 24 at 3:30 p.m. & 7:45 p.m.
Sunday, March 25 at 1 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.

Time: 7 p.m.

Discussion Featuring:
University of Miami Prof. Tom Musca, Motion Pictures, and Barry University Prof. Meryl Shriver-Rice, Humanities


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A cross between a gripping documentary and police procedural, Granito examines the turbulent history of Guatemala, including the 1982 genocidal "Scorched Earth" campaign which exterminated 200,000 Mayans, and how that tragic past has shaped the humble nation's present and future. The film features modern-day heroes whose destinies collide and are connected by the Guatemala of 1982 as they sift for clues buried in archives of mind and place, and historical memory, seeking to uncover a narrative that could unlock the past and settle matters of life and death today. As if a watchful Maya god were weaving back together threads of a story unraveled by the passage of time, forgotten by most, these heroes become instrumental in piecing together the wrongs done and the justice sought, each adding their granito – their tiny grain of sand – to the epic tale. "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator...' doesn't simply relate history; it is also part of history," says film critic Stephen Holder, The New York Times.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, Feb. 3 at 9 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m.

Time: 7 p.m. Free snacks and refreshments before the screening!

Q&A Featuring:
Granito Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis


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From French director Céline Sciamma of the critically-acclaimed film, Water Lilies comes Tomboy, a charming tale of childhood memories, relationships between children, children and parents, and the one between one's heart and body. To the neighborhood, Mikael is the new kid in town, but Mikael has a secret: Mikael is really Laure, a 10-year-old girl who is mistaken for a boy by the local kids because of her short haircut and tomboy ways. She decides to go with the ruse and pass herself off as a boy like the others, but she's different enough to catch the attention of leader of the pack Lisa, who becomes smitten with him. Finding resourceful ways to hide her true self, Laure takes advantage of her new identity as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret. Winner of the Best Feature Award at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best Feature at the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 2011, "Tomboy has more depth and heart than perhaps any film in the last several years," raves Examiner.com. This film is presented in French with English subtitles.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, Jan. 27
Saturday, Jan. 28
Sunday, Jan. 29

*For showtimes, visit www.cosfordcinema.com

Time: 7 p.m. Free snacks and refreshments before the screening!

Discussion Featuring:
University of Miami Prof. Steve Butterman, director of Women and Gender Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences and UM Assoc. Prof. Gema Pèrez-Sànchez, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, an expert in transgender theory.


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During the 1960s, Los Zafiros (The Sapphires) caused a musical sensation in Havana, Cuba. Set against the backdrop of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, their story begins when two youths from the tough musical district of Cayo Hueso decide to form a vocal group. Molded by their time and place, the Sapphires charm audiences with their mix of American-inspired Doo-wop touched with Afro-cuban rhythms, Salsa, and other forms of world music. Though they toured widely throughout Eastern & Western Europe, the group remained relatively obscure outside of Cuba, a result of the political climate of the Cold War, up until their breakup in the mid-1970s. Thirty years later, the two surviving members, including multiple-Grammy winner and Buena Vista Social Club alumnus Manuel Galban, reunite in the streets of present day Havana. Los Zafiros: Music from the Edge of Time includes archival films and recordings of the group, historical newsreels, rousing performance footage, and original interviews with family members, fellow artists, and friends to create a stirring and definitive portrait of The Sapphires for a whole new generation. "Emotion-charged . . . a beautiful, tender film," raves The Los Angeles Times.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, December 9
Saturday, December 10
Sunday, December 11

*For showtimes, visit www.cosfordcinema.com

Time: 7:00 p.m. Free reception with Cuban food and music before the screening.

Q&A Featuring:
Miguel Cancio, Zafiros band member, and his son, Hugo Cancio, a creative consultant on the film.


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In the psychological film Melancholia, directed by Lars von Trier, two sisters with an already strained relationship are challenged by an impending disaster when a mysterious planet is set to collide with earth. Justine (Kirsten Dunst), who has had a hard time finding her place in the world, now feels more at home with the end of the world drawing near. Her sister Clair (Charlotte Gainsbourg), thrives in the world and does not want to see it go. The film is split into two parts; the first part follows the melancholic Justine, who is seized by doubts and a wedding she imposed upon herself. The second part follows Claire, a woman who slowly falls apart because she has something to lose—her son. "Stunning. A movie that leaves the viewer in a state of ecstasy. A moving masterpiece . . .” raves Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly. Melancholia, named one of the year’s best films by The New York Times, also stars Kiefer Sutherland and Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood).

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, November 18
Saturday, November 19
Sunday, November 20

Time: 7:00 pm

Discussion Featuring:
TBA


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Mozart’s Sister is the story of Maria Anna Mozart, living in the shadow of her younger brother Wolfgang Amadeus and yet a musical prodigy in her own right. Approaching marriageable age and now forbidden to play the violin or compose, she chafes at the limitations imposed on her gender. Inspired by her friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV, Maria Anna challenges the established sexual and social order. “The movie is an uncommonly knowledgeable portrait of the way musical gifts could lift people of ordinary backgrounds into high circles,” said Film Critic Roger Ebert.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, October 21
Saturday, October 22
Sunday, October 23

Time: 7:30 pm

Discussion Featuring:
Esther Jane Hardenberg, Vocal Performance Program Director, Frost School of Music at the University of Miami


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Featured at the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance, !Women Art Revolution (!W. A. R.) is an entertaining and revelatory “secret history” of Feminist Art. With this film, artist, and filmmaker, Lynn Hershman Leeson has compiled a gripping documentary that is more than four decades in the making. Drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with visionary artists, historians, curators, and critics to present an intimate picture of their fight to break down barriers facing women in the art world and in society at large. Through her interviews, Leeson traces the history of the Feminist Art movement from its relationship to the anti-war and civil rights forces of the 1960s, through its groundbreaking contributions to women’s art of the 1970s, to the emergence of the Guerilla Girls. “I felt a tremendous responsibility to find the story inside the raw footage and to honor the women who struggled to invent themselves,” Leeson says.

Also Playing: (Film only)
Friday, September 23 at 9 pm
Saturday, September 24 at 2 pm & 6 pm
Sunday, September 25 at 2:45 pm & 6:15 pm

Time: 7:30 pm (Followed by panel)

Discussion Featuring:
Yvonne McCormack-Lyons, President and Founder of the Women's International Film & Arts Festival (WIFF)

Christina Lane, UM Motion Pictures Professor and Director of the Norton Herrick Film Archive

Rina Carvajal, curator and art critic

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