2020 Virtual Summer Film Festival Lineup

Join us from the comfort of your home as we watch seven films from around the world that focus on the theme “Love in the Time of Cinema.”  

The annual SGS summer film festival kicks off on Wednesday, July 8 and will run most Wednesdays until September 2. 

Watch the film from home at a time that works for your schedule, then join us on Zoom for a post-screening discussion on the dates listed below. Viewing options and Zoom links will be sent with RSVP. Some movies may require a fee to view.

Sign up for the film festival mailing list.

 


 

July 8

José

Directed by Li Cheng (Guatemala, 2018)

Q&A with film director Li Cheng at 3:30 pm

A 19-year-old's life in Guatemala City is routine and aimless, until he finds passion, pain, and self-reflection through a relationship with a Caribbean migrant. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies

Watch a recording of the Q&A

Password: 4Q??e?6K


 

July 22

When Monaliza Smiled

Directed by Fadi G. Haddad (Jordan, 2012)

Q&A with film director Fadi Haddad; and Ramzi Salti, Stanford University at 8:30 pm

A Jordanian young woman named Monaliza, who sees no reason to smile, falls in love with cheerful Hamdi, an Egyptian immigrant and the “tea guy” of the office. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies

RSVP here

 

 


 

August 5

Eat Drink Man Woman

Directed by Ang Lee (Taiwan, 1994)

Q&A with Elise Huerta, Stanford University

Master Chef Chu is semi-retired and lives with his three unmarried daughters. His life revolves around preparing and eating an elaborate dinner every Sunday, which gives them strength as they deal with relationships and disappointments. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies

RSVP here

 

 

August 12

Cold War

Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland, 2018)

Q&A TBA

A passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

RSVP here

 

 

August 19

Maqbool

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj (India, 2003)

Q&A with Ankita Deb, Stanford University

An adaptation of Macbeth, set in Mumbai's mafia underworld. Maqbool is the right-hand man of a powerful underworld don, Abba Ji. Maqbool is torn between his love for Nimmi, the don's mistress, and his loyalty to Abba Ji. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Center for South Asia

RSVP here

 

 

August 26

Tel Aviv on Fire

Directed by Sameh Zoabi (Israel, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, 2019)

Q&A with Oren Kroll-Zeldin, University of San Francisco

Salam, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem, works on a popular soap opera. He gets ideas for the show from the commander at the check point he passes through each day, and his career takes off. View the trailer.

Sponsored by The Taube Center for Jewish Studies

 

 

September 2

Chicken With Plums

Directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud (France, 2011)

Q&A with film director and writer Marjane Satrapi

Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he waits for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous. View the trailer.

Sponsored by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies and the France-Stanford Center