Milk

Dir - Gus Van Sant
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin.

"Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of LGBT rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and one of the first three in the United States as a whole, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The film was released to much acclaim and earned numerous accolades from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, it received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, winning two for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Penn and Best Original Screenplay." (quote from wikipeadia film)

Disgrace

Dir - Steve Jacobs
John Malkovich, Jessica Haines,

Disgrace is a film adaptation of the booker Prize winning novel by J. M. Coetzee.

BFI: She, A Chinese

Dir - Xiaolu Guo
Lu Huang, Wei Yi Bo, Geoffrey Hutchings

"This is the story of Mei, a young woman on a trip from East to West after her escape from her provincial Chinese village. Beginning in Chongqing and a disastrous factory job, Mei soon heads out for London and a marriage to an older man where her entrapment begins anew." (synopsis by Pusan International Film Festival)

BFI: Women Without Men (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan)

Dir - Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat's first feature-length film is based on a magic-realist novel written by Iranian author Sharnush Parsipur.
"Shortly after the 1989 publication of Women Without Men in her native iran, Shahrnush Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women's sexuality. Now banned in iran, along with the rest of this brave and prolific writer's work, this small masterpiece was eventually translated into several languages, and introduces English-speaking readers to the work of a brilliant Persian writer." (review of book on Amazon)

"Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship." (synopsis by imdb)

BFI: We Live in Public

Dir - Ondi Timoner
Josh Harris

On the 40th anniversary of the Internet, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC tells the story of the effect the web is having on our society as seen through the eyes of the greatest Internet pioneer youve never heard of, visionary Josh Harris. Award-winning director, Ondi Timoner (DIG!), documented his tumultuous life for more than a decade, to create a riveting, cautionary tale of what to expect as the virtual world inevitably takes control of our lives. (synopsis by sxsw)