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Once We Were Strangers

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Original title

Year

1997

Running time

96 min.

Country

United States

Director

Emanuele Crialese

Screenwriter

Emanuele Crialese, John P. Adams, Ray Zorhed

Cast

Cinematography

Sam Selva

Producer

Co-production United States-Italy;

Backpain Productions, Acquario Films, Videa

Genre

Comedy. Romance | Romantic Comedy. Independent Film (US)

Synopsis

Antonio is a seductive, charismatic Sicilian living illegally in New York. He wanders from job to job, lives as a squatter and enjoys a carefree romantic tryst with a wealthy art dealer. When he falls in love with Ellen, a strong-willed radio talk-show host who is set to move to Paris within a few days, he decides he must find a way to keep her from leaving. Meanwhile, Antonio's friend Apu faces a love challenge of his own. Apu is a young Indian-turned-New Yorker who was sent from his homeland with his family's life savings to find the American dream of success and fulfillment. He works hard at odds jobs-- from being a guinea pig in a drug-testing lab to dubbing porno films. Then his life is completely uprooted on the day his pre-arranged wife from India arrives in New York--the woman chosen by their families when they were children, one he hasn't seen since he was 8 and she was 4. Apu is caught between the old world and the new--trying to find love and happiness within the confines of his pre-determined destiny. The film is about what happens when cultures clash--about expectations and reality, dreams of love and money, and life when the timing is way off.

Awards: 1998: Sundance Film Festival: Nominated for Grand Jury Prize

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