Co-Presented With The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

In early 1944, a number of movie stars went to 20th Century Fox Studios to see what a small group of foreign journalists, reporting from Hollywood back to their homelands, had found to be especially interesting and worthwhile during the turbulent preceding year. Lunch was served in the commissary, and all applauded when THE SONG OF BERNADETTE was declared best motion picture and Jennifer Jones and Paul Lukas took home the honors (in the form of scrolls) in the leading actress/actor categories. The journalists, all members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, decided that this would be a yearly event for the purpose of delivering an impartial view on motion pictures and their impact. In order not to be swayed and influenced by the powers in Hollywood--not even the Academy Award choices--it was important to them that they give their awards before the Oscars. The basic awards for motion picture, leading and supporting actors and actresses were supplemented with a director's award the second year, an award that became permanent. Since 1955, the Golden Globes have honored achievement in television as well as film. By 1962, the general public was invited to share in the celebration when KTTV in Los Angeles first televised the awards. The Golden Globes Awards, from the very first, were born out of a wish to create bridges between countries and cultures all around the globe and have, over the years, kept alive a feeling of celebration rather than competition.

We’re happy to be hosting this series of screenings devoted to the films and filmmakers nominated for the Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film Awards. Five films will be spotlighted. Please also join us for the free Golden Globe Foreign Language Nominees Seminar, featuring all of the nominated filmmakers, at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, January 14 at 1:00 PM. For more information visit: www.goldenglobes.org and www.hfpa.org

Golden Globe Foreign Language Nominee:

APOCALYPTO (2006, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, 139 min.), directed by Mel Gibson. The decline is near for the Mayan civilization as they build more temples and engage in rampant human sacrifice, believing it will please the gods and bring a prosperous future. Jaguar Paw’s (Rudy Youngblood) peaceful existence in the jungle is brutally interrupted when barbaric Mayans pillage his village and he is captured for sacrifice with many of his fellow tribesmen. Through a twist of fate he avoids execution and makes a desperate attempt to escape, motivated by his love for his pregnant wife and toddler son. Jaguar Paw transcends fear and uses all his wit and skill as a hunter in a bloody, harrowing journey to take back the jungle of his ancestors and to resume his way of life. In Yukatek (Mayan) with English subtitles.

Golden Globe Foreign Language Nominee

VOLVER (2006, Sony Pictures Classics, 121 min.), directed by Pedro Almodovar. The supposedly deceased mother (Carmen Maura) of adult sisters Raimunda (Pénelope Cruz) and Sole (Lola Dueñas) appears to them to resolve family matters and to reveal long term village secrets. But is she a ghost or was it someone else who perished in a fire with her husband? Almovodar returns to his favorite themes of motherhood, women’s relationships and black comedy in this exploration of the culture of death in his native La Mancha where the dead co-exist amongst the living. In Spanish with English subtitles.

PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006, Picturehouse, 119 min.), directed by Guillermo del Toro. In this gothic fairytale, 11-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels to a remote rural military outpost (in post WW II Franco Spain) with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) to join her cruel new step-father Captain Vidal (Seri Lopez). Ofelia’s precious books of fairytales are her solace from the bleak, frightening and lonely circumstances she finds herself in. While Vidal ruthlessly pursues resistance fighters hiding in the woods, Ofelia is approached by magical creatures who lure her into a secret world to perform tasks that they tell her will restore her position as the princess daughter of the King of the Underworld. In Spanish with English subtitles.

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006, Warner Bros. Pictures, 141 min.), directed by Clint Eastwood. Sixty-one years ago, US and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. From Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood ("Million Dollar Baby," "Unforgiven") comes the untold story of the Japanese soldiers and their General who, 61 years ago, defended against the invading American forces on the island of Iwo Jima. In an effort to explore an event that continues to resonate with both cultures, Clint Eastwood was haunted by the sense that making only one film -- "Flags of Our Fathers" -- would be telling only half the story. With this unprecedented dual film project, shot back-to-back to be released in sequence, Eastwood seeks to reveal the battle of Iwo Jima -- and, by implication, the war in the Pacific -- as a clash not only of arms but of cultures. While they tell separate stories from different perspectives and in different languages, "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Flags of Our Fathers" are Eastwood's tribute to those who lost lives on both sides of the conflict. The director hopes to tell both sides of the story and, with any luck, collectively reveal a new way of looking at this profoundly affecting moment in our shared history. In Japanese with English subititles.