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This documentary features Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, in his directorial debut, along with a host of critically acclaimed international stand-up comedians. Just Like Us exemplifies their goal of reintroducing socially relevant issues to the world in an effort to build cultural bridges in this age of greater tolerance, understanding and acceptance. The film documents four countries in the Middle East, showcasing the cultures of Dubai, Lebanon, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Egypt with sold out crowds totaling over 20,000 people. Contemporary stand-up comedy has the powerful ability to provide relief, encourage a younger generation, break down barriers and serves as a platform for cross cultural dialogue. This art form is very new to the Middle East and older generations did not have the opportunity to appreciate this creative platform. However, through the current Internet age stand-up comedy has flourished in the Arab region over the past few years, and continues to show us that laughter is the common language of the world. Through a celebration of culture and comedy, this film uproots the widely held misconception that Arabs have no sense of humor-when in fact they laugh, and are, just like us.

In 1963, Charles Xavier starts up a school and later a team, for humans with superhuman abilities. Among them is Erik Lensherr, his best friend… and future archenemy.

Midnight in Paris, a new romantic comedy from writer/director Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), tells the story of a family that travels to the picturesque French capital on business. The party includes two young people (Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams) who are engaged to be married in the fall and have experiences there that change their lives forever. It’s about a young man’s great love for a great city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better. Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Michael Sheen and Carla Bruni also star. Official Selection (Opening Night Film) at the Cannes International Film Festival.

A champion marathon runner leads a double life as a serial bank robber, sprinting between heists (and away from police cars) as many as three times a day. Based on the real-life story of Johann Kastenberger (changed to Rettenberger for the film), Austriaas most-wanted bank robber of the 1980s, Benjamin Heisenbergas thriller is a lean, visceral study of pathological compulsion, featuring a riveting central performance by Andreas Lust (Revanche). Known as aPump-gun Ronniea because of his weapon and the Ronald Reagan mask he slips on during stickups, Rettenberger is portrayed here as an obsessive loner, more concerned with his lap times than other human beings. Once he falls into a relationship with his social worker, Erika (Franziska Weisz), it becomes impossible to hide his crimes, and the violence he reserved for his robberies starts seeping into his daily life. Ending in an epic chase over highways and through the woods, The Robber is filled with ingenious jolts of action that will leave you gasping! (Fully subtitled)

Loud music. Pornography. Burning stuff to the ground. These are a few of Hesher’s favorite things. And they are what Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) brings into the lives of TJ (Devin Brochu) and his father Paul (Rainn Wilson) when he takes up residence in their garage uninvited. Grief-stricken by the loss of TJ’s mother in a car accident, Paul can’t muster the strength to evict the strange squatter, and soon the long-haired, tattooed Hesher becomes a fixture in the household. Like a force of nature, Hesher’s anarchy shakes the family out of their grief and helps them embrace life once more. Also starring Natalie Portman (Black Swan). Directed and co-written by Spencer Susser.

Gorgeously filmed along the back roads of rural Mexico, Circo follows the Ponce family’s hardscrabble circus as it struggles to stay together despite mounting debt, dwindling audiences and a simmering family conflict. Tino, the ringmaster, is driven by his dream to lead his parents’ circus to success and corrals the energy of his whole family, including his four young children, towards this singular goal. But his wife Ivonne is determined to make a change. Feeling exploited by her in-laws, she longs to return to her kids a childhood lost to laboring in the circus. Through this intricately woven story of a marriage in trouble and of a century-old family tradition that hangs in the balance, Circo opens the viewer to the luminous world of a traveling circus while examining the universal themes of family bonds, filial responsibility and the weight of cultural inheritance. Original music by Calexico. Winner of the Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary at the 2010 Hamptons Film Festival. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Winner of 5 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture, The Human Resources Manager is a witty and heartfelt look at how one man, on a mission to restore his company’s reputation, inadvertently restores his own humanity. The Human Resources Manager (Mark Ivanir, The Good Shepherd, Schindler’s List) of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter, and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker, is killed in a suicide bombing, the bakery is accused of indifference, and the HR Manager is sent to the victim’s hometown in Romania to make amends. Far from home, on a mission to honor a woman he didn’t even know but has somehow grown to admire, the HR Manager rediscovers his own humanity and his ability to truly care for human resources. Winner of the Audience Award at the Locarno Film Festival. Directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride). (Fully subtitled)

For his new film master director Patricio Guzman, famed for his political documentaries (THE BATTLE OF CHILE, THE PINOCHET CASE), travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe.

The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners, “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the military coup of September, 1973.

So while astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, women, surviving relatives of the disappeared whose bodies were dumped here, search, even after twenty-five years, for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families’ histories.

Melding the celestial quest of the astronomers and the earthly one of the women, NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT is a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey.

Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor, The Station Agent) once again explores the depths and nuances of human relationships in his new film about the allegiances and bonds between unlikely characters. Disheartened attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), who moonlights as a high school wrestling coach, stumbles across a star athlete (Alex Shaffer) through some questionable business dealings while trying to support his family. Just as it looks like he will get a double payday, the boy’s mother (Melanie Lynskey) shows up fresh from rehab and flat broke, threatening to derail everything. McCarthy’s deft touch with balancing drama and comedy, broken hearts and poignant humanity is at play in Win Win. Also starring Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) and Bobby Cannavale (The Station Agent).