Films are shown at 7:15 PM on five consecutive Tuesday evenings at The Garland Theatre.

A German high school teacher demonstrates to his students how easily a society could fall into fascism. The story is based on a seemingly innocent experience that was conducted at a high school in Palo Alto, California. Viewers will be drawn into the film in the same way as the students. Dennis Gansel, the director, probes the individual psychologies that bring about uncontrollable collective movement, and how personal lives are transformed by it. The Wave is a powerful movie, provocative and engaging, and desperately relevant.

Paloma, an eleven year old girl, makes plans to kill herself on her 12th birthday. A grumpy janitor and an elegant neighbor help Paloma question her rather pessimistic outlook on life. Viewers will be enchanted by these three simple, plain, but magical characters. As Paloma questions her life, she discovers what matters most isn't the fact of dying or when you die. It's what you're doing at that precise moment. This is a perfect example of a French film where very little happens but it absorbs one's mind completely, and doesn't let go till the very end.

The film begins with the tragedy of the Tangshan earthquake (1976), which lasted just 23 seconds, leveled the city and resulted in a death toll of more than 240,000. The special effects of the earthquake are on par with Hollywood. The story begins as a mother is forced to decide between the lives of her son and her daughter; it then leaps forward to see how the survivors lead their lives, still haunted by the day of the quake, right up to the present day, 32 years later. Behind the backdrop of landmark events such as Chairman Mao's death and another more recent quake, the film captures the permanent injuries and lasting emotional effects of natural disasters, and leaves the viewer to ponder on the meaning of human existence.

In Israel gays may not always be out of the closet but that macho country happily has no problems with gays in the army. Not only that, but gay men and hetero men can joke around with one another without anyone’s fearing that there must be something sexual about the horseplay. The film is a character study of a closeted doctor, Yossi, who crosses paths with a group of soldiers. One of the soldiers, Tom, helps Yossi be comfortable with who he is. The film conveys a message that embraces openness. The film is a delicate drama with a degree of elegance and poise, a heartfelt, warming tale of the healing power of companionship and mutual attraction.

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, they encounter local people rising up against plans to privatize the water supply. The uprising closely documents the true events of 2000 when local Bolivians fought for rights to their own water supply. The title of this epic film refers to an actual law the made it illegal for anyone to access water, “even the rain.” The story, a movie inside a movie, reveals parallels between indigenous resistance 500 years ago and today. Through many stunning, powerful scenes, this epic film becomes a keen observation of how history repeats itself. Gael Garcia Bernal, well known for his social and political activism, stars in this film that makes you question if life in Latin America has really changed that much since the time of Columbus.