Stepping High

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

STEPPING OUT Sima, while stunningly beautiful, has failed to fulfill her dreams as a professional dancer. She is on the wrong side of thirty, being aged out, and is forced to take a job as a teacher at a conservative local high school. Much to her surprise, it sparks the choreographer in her — a talent she has been nurturing in private not only to battle her self-doubt and depression but to create a new and unique fusion of belly and ballroom styles.

I giardini dell’Eden

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Alessandro D’Alatri directed this Italian drama about Jesus Christ, covering his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, an 18-year span not chronicled in the Bible. The film uses names of the period instead of names given in the Bible. The adult Jeoshua (Kim Rossi Stuart) reflects on past events — his journey into the desert, baptism, acceptance into the Essenes’ community, Jewish life in Galilee, his yeshiva studies, education from his father Josef (Omar Chenbod), and his spiritual growth. After seeing slavery, crucifixions, the stoning of an adulteress, and brutal Roman soldiers, Jeoshua turns to God for answers, leaves the village, and is betrayed by his friend Aziz (Said Taghmaoui), who leaves him to die in the desert. Issues such as carnality bring Jeoshua in conflict with the Essenes, yet he speaks out on behalf of the Essene David (popular Italian singer Lorenzo Cherubini).

Kassandra Voyagis – MRQE

Stepping High

I giardini dell’Eden