Though the hype that arises from Cannes tends to ripple briefly Stateside, most of these works are hit or miss. Regardless, there is something unique about last year's Grand Jury Prize winner. Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention might prove it deserves its overwhelmingly positive response. Based on the opera Tosca, Suleiman paints a vivid, biting, and absurdist portrait of love, dreams, and the nightmares of life with the ongoing strife between Israelis and Palestinians serving as its unsettling backdrop. The protagonist, Suleiman himself, faces a dying father, unrequited love with a beautiful Palestinian, and border guards all in his hometown of Nazareth. Rather than exploit the aura of death that abounds, Suleiman supplants sappy drama with dark, spiky wit, allowing his characters to subvert the invasive restrictions of their land with hilarious, provocative results. This is atypical film at its brightest. Check out its final screening at Cinema Paradiso (503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale). Call 954-525-3456 or visit www.cinemaparadiso.org. -- Kiran Aditham
SAT 7/5
LAUTREC
PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
In the latest edition of its "Summer Saturday Film Series," the Boca Raton Museum of Art (501 Plaza Real, Mizner Park, Boca Raton) presents Toulouse-Lautrec: Portrait of an Artist at 3 p.m. If you can't see the film, here's a quick primer of Henri's life: He was born, broke his legs, they stopped growing but the rest of him didn't, he drank, he painted, he drank some more, he hung out in cabarets, he drank way too much, he died. The movie is free with museum admission, which is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, $4 for students, and free for children younger than 12. Call 561-392-2500. -- Dan Sweeney
FRI 7/4
Original Art
The Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art (601 Lake Ave., Lake Worth) presents its latest exhibit, "New Art: The South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Arts 2003," beginning Friday and carrying on through August 17. Despite the lengthy name, the exhibit features only 11 artists, each of whom has recently been given awards by the South Florida Cultural Consortium, an umbrella group of arts organizations from Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties that assists artists by awarding grants. After all, if there's one thing most artists could use, it would be cash. They don't call them "starving artists" for nothing, you know. This year's artists who will eat well include Hernan Bas, Fran Bitett Beck, Natalia Benedetti, Pip Brant, Ivan Toth Depena, Blane de St. Croix, Jacek J. Kolasinski, Jorge Pantoja, Shari Schemmel, Sara Stites, and Frank Wick. Call 561-582-0006. -- Dan Sweeney