The 33rd Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) Screens Oscar Nominees

CLICK HERE for the full Festival Schedule

The 33rd Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) will provide Portland audiences with an early look at four of this year’s 2010 Oscar Nominees including two films in the Foreign Language Film category (AJAMI and A PROPHET) and two Short Film nominees, a Live Action and Animated (MIRACLE FISH and GRANNY O’GRIMM’S SLEEPING BEAUTY). Last year’s 32nd Portland International Film Festival opened with nominee CORALINE in the Animated Feature category and included IL DIVO, nominated for Make-up. BURMA VJ, nominated for Best Documentary Feature screened in the Northwest Film Center’s annual Human Rights on film series last October.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year AJAMI DIRECTOR: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani - ISRAEL Winner of the Best Film, Director, and Screenplay awards at this year’s Israeli Film Academy ceremony, this powerful collaboration between Shani (Israeli) and Copti (Palestinian) offers a unique perspective on the myriad complexities of the greater Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ajami is a tough Jaffa neighborhood, rife with tension. In this multi-ethnic stew, a powerful Bedouin clan wages a violent vendetta against a poor family that has offended its honor. A teenage worker from the occupied territories desperately tries to raise money to help his ailing mother. A Jewish police detective struggles with the disappearance of his brother. An affluent Palestinian and his Jewish girlfriend dream about the future. As these gripping stories intersect, we witness the dramatic collisions in a world of sustained, machismo-fueled chaos. (120 mins.) Sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest. SHOWTIMES: 2/13, 8:45pm Regal Broadway 3; 2/16, 9:15pm Regal Broadway 4; and 2/17, 6pm Regal Broadway 1.

A PROPHET DIRECTOR: Jacques Audiard - FRANCE Frenchman Malik El Djebena, part Arab, part Corsican, is condemned to six years in prison. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is 19 years old and cannot read or write. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang currently ruling the prison, he is given a number of “missions” to carry out, which toughen him up and gain the gang leader’s confidence in the process. Malik is a fast learner and rises up the prison ranks, all the while secretly devising his own plans. “Audiard’s rich thriller is elegantly structured, arresting in its detailing of a little-known subculture, filled with fascinating characters, and gripping from beginning to end.”—Film Comment. (150 mins.) Co-sponsored by Alliance Française de Portland and TV5MONDE, and with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. SHOWTIMES: 2/13, 8:00pm Whitsell Auditorium and 2/15, 7pm Whitsell Auditorium.

Best Short Film, Live Action MIRACLE FISH DIRECTOR: Luke Doolan - (Australia) Eight-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he wishes everyone would just go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality. (18 mins.) SHOWTIMES: 2/22, 6:00pm Whitsell Auditorium and 2/27, 12:30pm Whitsell Auditorium.

Best Short Film, Animated GRANNY O’GRIMM’S SLEEPING BEAUTY DIRECTOR: Nicky Phelan - (Ireland) Granny O’Grimm, a seemingly sweet old lady, loses the plot as she tells her version of Sleeping Beauty to her terrified granddaughter. (6 mins.) SHOWTIMES: 2/13, 12:30pm Whitsell Auditorium and 2/15, 1:45pm Whitsell Auditorium.

The Festival is produced by the Northwest Film Center, a regional media arts resource and service organization founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilization of the moving image arts, foster their artistic and professional excellence, and to help create a climate in which they flourish. In addition to the Portland International Film Festival, the Center produces the annual Northwest Film & Video Festival, Portland Jewish Film Festival and a variety of year-round of film and video exhibition, educational and information programs serving Oregon and residents of the Northwest.

Festival Screening Locations: Regal Broadway Metroplex, 1000 SW Broadway Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Avenue NW Film Center, Whitsell Auditorium-Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue

Admission Prices: $10 General, $9 Portland Art Museum Members, $7 Silver Screen Friends Opening Night $25 general, $20 Silver Screen Friends Various Festival Passes available.

CLICK HERE for the full Festival Schedule