Anita Lee Movies

Sarah Polley's documentary Stories We Tell finds the director/actress exploring a family secret. She had discovered a few years earlier that her biological father was not actually the person she knew as her father; in an effort to fully understand this long-held family secret, Polley interviews every member of her family, and had the man she thought of as her dad write his version of events and record it, using him reading his story as a recurring voiceover throughout the film. Stories We Tell screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

This animated adventure for kids stars Barbie as surfing hotshot Merliah, a Malibu girl who gets truly wrapped up in her sport when she turns into a mermaid. Teamed up with her best friend - a dolphin named Zuma - she embarks on a mission to rescue the queen of the undersea world of Oceana. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

As the last survivors to remember a unified Korea gradually succumb to the ravages of time - many without ever seeing their grandchildren on the other side of the DMZ - filmmaker Lee Min Sook draws on her journalistic insight to better understand the reasons that her homeland as been divided for more than fifty years. When the Soviet-occupied North and the American-ruled South went to war in the 1950s, generations of Korean families were hopelessly torn apart. In the following decades, those families have been forbidden to have even the most cursory contact with their long lost loved ones. With this film, Lee attempts to gain a better understanding of the country she left when she was just a young girl by examining the lives of those most profoundly affected by this deeply divisive conflict. From the South Korean tour guide who continually relives her harrowing escape from the North for curious tourists to the lucky family that won a rare, state-sanctioned family reunion at a remote North Korean facility, these are the stories of the people whose lives have been forever changed by forces far beyond their control. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A 59-year-old workaholic and two-time divorcée enters into the world of competitive bodybuilding, and filmmaker Bryan Friedman's camera is present to capture every moment of his estranged father's startling transformation. As a young boy, Bryan never really got to know his father, Bill, yet by following the geriatric bodybuilder as his obsession takes hold and his muscles begin to bulge, the embittered son begins learning more about his old man than he ever thought possible. Bill Friedman was an out-of-shape lawyer who had never really been there for his family, and sank into a deep depression after his second divorce. In the months that followed, Bill would sell his house, abandon the firm, and devote his entire existence to his workout routine. While there's still 26 years of lingering tension between father and son, by following his dad through tanning sessions, choreography lessons, and the basic quest for sculpted perfection, Bryan begins to understand the restorative power of failure and the relief that seems to come even with reluctant forgiveness. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Canadian filmmaker John Greyson teams up with South African activist Jack Lewis to direct the period romantic drama Proteus. Based on a true story from 1735, the story involves a forbidden love affair between two prisoners in a colony near Cape Town. Black servant Claas Blank (Rouxnet Brown) is arrested for stealing back his own cattle from a white man. Because he has learned to speak English and Dutch, he is allowed to help European botanist Virgil Niven (Shaun Smyth) cultivate flowers. Part of his punishment is fetching water with white Dutch prisoner Jacobsz (Neil Sandilands), who eventually becomes his lover. After Niven leaves the colony, Blank and Jacobsz are caught and forced to confess. Proteus was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi