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Five
friends fill their idle hours with petty crime. One day, a
professional gangsta and his charming girlfriend convince them
to participate in a major bank heist. When the authorities
appear
on the scene, the youngsters - who
are in over their heads - are caught. The youths are surprised
when, instead of being punished with the
usual imprisonment in juvenile hall or jail, they are sentenced
to serve a year and a half at an experimental reform school.
Directed by Theo Van Gogh
89 mins. / Dutch/Arabic with
English, Spanish and French subtitles
"This truly independent, exciting, and honest film transports
us through the looking glass of hip-hop culture, at
every turn wryly demolishing clichés about youth and
what youth anoints as cool, ethnic marginalization, assimilation,
and the glamorization of crime. A film that bubbles with
authentic energy."
MONTREAL FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA
"Movies about juvenile delinquents
have always loomed as one of cinema's more disreputable but
exhilarating subgenres — and with each new generation
of moviemakers comes a vivid update. Shortly before his shocking
murder in November 2004, the controversial director Theo Van
Gogh completed this raw, fatalistic view of Amsterdam kids
caught up in the street ethos, moving in time to a hip-hop
beat that glamorizes the gangsta lifestyle to which they carelessly
subscribe. "
Joe Baltake, PHILADELPHIA FILM
FESTIVAL
"Cool! defies us to look at
the flip side of pop culture's bright surfaces, particularly
the rift between the glamorization of gangsta life and its
brutal reality. Far from preaching, however, it retains a deliciously
subtle, mocking tone throughout. With searing insight, Cool!
slyly challenges commonplace notions about teenagers and what
constitutes "cool."
Dmitri Eipides, TORONTO INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER
- Jury Award for Best Director
2005 Philadelphia Int'l
Film Festival
Nominee
- Best Director - Theo van Gogh
2004 Netherlands Film Festival
 2004
Toronto Int'l Film Festival (World Premiere)
2004
Films By The Sea Festival Panorama – Opening Film
2004
Montreal Festival of New Cinema – Special Presentation
2004
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
2004
Tallin Black Nights International Film Festival
2005
Rotterdam International Film Festival Dutch Perspective
2005
Dublin International Film Festival
2005
Belgrade International Film Festival
2005
Karlovy Vary Int’l Film Festival
2005 Munich Int'l Film Festival
2005 Moscow Film Festival
Las Palmas Int'l Film Festival
Sofia Int'l Film Festival
Eilat Int'l Film Festival
Philadelphia Film Festival
Split Int'l Film Festival
Music
video
Widescreen
Presentation
Coming
Attractions
Dolby
5.1/2.0 Surround Sound
Optional
English, Spanish and French subtitles
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