Expressed in many different ways, there is a creative impulse that drives the artist to do what they do. It can even become a compulsion. For Mountain Shadow’s October selection, we chose and offered our audiences two new film releases. One is a contemporary tale of two fictional characters in “The Artist’s Wife;” whose life stories authentically reflect some very common, gripping issues and challenges for the aging couple. The other film is a bio-pic that enlists the filmmaker’s imagination to fill in those spaces left open by missing historical facts of Ludwig von Beethoven’s exceptional life. To read our brief review of these great films, click on the graphic above.

Our 24-member volunteer Jury previewed 465 submissions to select 13 outstanding short films for this year’s annual short film competition! The 2-hour online show included a variety of animated, documentary and live-action narrative films. Each was preceded by the filmmaker’s brief recorded introduction. Following each of the two screenings, audience members engaged the filmmakers with an online Q&A. To read the full wrap-up, click on the image above.

Some say you can’t go home again. Others are drawn to try, in order to find a way to settle something that may be still unresolved after all these years. The Scandinavian film, OUT STEALING HORSES is just such a tale. Based on Per Petterson’s 2007 NYT best-seller by the same title, director/screenwriter Hans Petter Moland has created one of those meditative journeys of self-reflection and remembrance that characterize this type of foreign filmmaking; along with some of the most beautifully extraordinary cinematography you’ll find, depicted in nature. To read a review of Mountain Shadow’s selection for August, 2020, click on the image above.

“Free Trip to Egypt” - A Canadian-born Muslim, who is now a software entrepreneur living in Switzerland, randomly reaches out to some Americans he’s never met, but who fear this stranger. He invites them on an all-expense-paid 10-day trip to Egypt in July, 2017. As a non-judgmental, hopeful idealist, he makes a documentary that ends up being the most extraordinary travelogue you’ll ever see. To read the review of Mountain Shadow’s selection for July, 2020, click on the image above.

In Wolf’s documentary, “Spaceship Earth,” so-called synergists first traipse around the world, gathering all sorts of plants and animals to accompany eight “biospherians” into a massive time capsule they call “Biosphere 2.” It’s their modern version of Noah’s Ark, where they strive to escape the flood of environmental destruction humans have wrought upon this old earth, and undertake a fresh start; armed with a vast amount of accumulated human knowledge, goodwill, and more than a little optimism. What could possibly go wrong? In the midst of a world-wide pandemic, with everyone sheltering in place, this film was Mountain Shadow’s selection for June, 2020. To read the Commentary / Review, click on the image above.

When I first saw Ken Loach’s newest film at the Mill Valley Film Fest last October, litte did I know six months later our world would be turned upside down; with one working-class family’s struggles in this film so powerfully depicting the present socio-economic plight and universal tale we collectively now face world-wide. “Sorry We Missed You,” was Mountain Shadow’s selection for May, 2020. To read the full review, click on the image above.

With a script written by a duo from Chicago and rural Minnesota, and ably directed by Andrew Ahn, “Drivewys” should resonate with plenty of viewers who might reminisce about their own childhood; but recognize this simple, straightforward story as some modern-day version of an American classic. A brief review of Mountain Shadow’s selection for April, 2020, can be read by clicking on the image above.

In the film, Noah Land, a son strives to honor his terminally ill father’s last wish to be buried under a tree the father planted as a child; but clashes with villagers who claim the tree is in fact a holy relic planted by Noah after the legendary flood. This film was Mountain Shadow’s exclusive screening of this film for January, 2020. You can read the Mountain Shadow review by clicking on the image above.

“Cyrano, My Love” - Akin to “Shakespeare in Love,” playwright and filmmaker, Alexis Michalik imagines how Edmond Rostand came to write one of the most well-known plays of the French theater. This lighthearted comic drama was Mountain Shadow’s monthly selection for the 2019 December holidays! To read the Review, click on the image above.

A sad story only becomes a true tragedy when the characters in such a tale fail to grasp the opportunity to somehow redeem the situation. Things may still go very badly. But the larger story can elude becoming deemed as tragic, depending upon the choices one makes; holding fast to what one cherishes most in life. The remarkable full-length animated French film (Mountain Shadows selection for November, 2019), provides such life events that are common, universal and eternal to our human story. To read the full review, click on the image above.

Film director Michael Bully Herbig tells a tale of what is surely the most spectacular escape from East Germany in his gripping movie thriller, BALLOON. And, like the best and most credible thrillers, it is based on a true story of the ordinary lives of two ordinary families who represent, once more, what is indomitable in the human spirit. BALLON was Mountain Shadow’s film selection for October, 2019. You can read the Mountain Shadow’s film review by clicking on the image above.

September’s show is always the annual Short Film Competition, and this year’s eleven Finalists, selected from 635 submissions, provided an outstanding combination of live-action, animated and documentary works. You can read the full review by clicking on the image above, and watch a video wrap up HERE.

Mountain Shadow’s film selection for August, 2019, takes as its premise the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and then proceeds to bill itself as a romantic comedy with such an inflammatory title as “Tel Aviv on Fire.” Dubbed by several critics as a biting satire poking fun at ethnic and political divisions that are nonetheless infatuated with the twists and turns of the same soap operas on television, Sameh Zoabi’s film goes deeper. To read the full Review, click on the image above.

“In the Aisles” is a quiet little film about the lives of ordinary people. Based on a short story by Clement Meyers, it is told with subtle humor, pathos and charm. It was Mountains Shadow’s film selection for July, 2019. To read the Mountain Shadow review, click on the image above.

Many of us are probably familiar with at least one variation of the Harry Truman quote, “I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.” Perhaps less well known is Truman’s even more telling observation, “The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.” Both of these sayings came to mind after previewing Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar’s film, “The Silence of Others.” This was Mountain Shadow’s selection for June, 2019, and you can read the full review by clicking on the image above.

ONE LAST DEAL - An elderly art dealer, Olavi ,is about to retire, but he cannot imagine life without work. At an auction, an old painting catches his attention. Olavi suspects it is worth much more than its starting price, which is low because its authenticity hasn’t been confirmed. Olavi’s instincts kick in. He decides to make one last deal, with the help of his estranged grandson. This touching film from Finland was Mountain Shadow’s selection for May, 2019. Click on the image above to read our Review.

In Christian Petzold’s film TRANSIT, the main character Georg has assumed the identity of a controversial dead writer, in his attempt to obtain a travel visa and escape a fascist regime that is closing in. While the film is adapted from a 1944 novel by the same name, the film takes place today in the city of Marseille; as if to suggest refugees seeking political asylum still occurs …. The film was Mountain Shadow’s selection for April, 2019, and the review can be read by clicking on the image above.

“Capernaum” (“Chaos”) won Jury Prize at Cannes, and was a 2019 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. It was Mountain Shadow’s selection for April, 2019. While it is not based on a true story, it is the truest possible story; because all the people who portray all the fictional characters in the film Nadine Labaki wrote and directed are not professional actors, but ordinary, real people who depict what it means to be human. Capernaum is a tough, gritty, episodic film to watch; where the best and worst in human-kind are exposed in the chaos humans can experience, inflict on one another, and endure. Click on the image above to read the full Mountain Shadow Review.

Like all bio-pics PAULA combines historical fact about the early 20th century expressionis artist with a filmmaker’s imagination that fills in those places of unknowing with universal themes found in what is most common and familiar to the human story. It is in this sense that PAULA is far more than an early women’s empowerment story, or pictorial lecture in art history. To read a Mountain Shadow review of our January selection, click on the photo above.

In the comedic British film, “Swimming with Men,” stayin’ alive is the challenge facing Eric, a middle-aged accountant executive whose hum-drum career, marriage and family life has become so utterly and predictably dull and meaningless that his only escape is swimming solo laps after work. That is, until one day he finds himself sinking – both literally and metaphorically -- to the bottom of the pool. Then he opens his eyes and sees before him the unlikeliest form of re-immersion, initiation and rebirth. His revelatory discovery is that it’s all about coming alive once again, while he’s in the water. To read the full Mountain Shadow review, click on the image above.