TASK DEFINITION: You will be given a summary of a story. You need to create a question that can be answered from the story. You can create a question about characters, events, facts and beliefs, etc. Your question should be specific, try not to use pronouns instead of full names. As the stories are sometimes movie plots, they will contain actor names in parentheses. You should not use those names. Only use character names. Try to ask a question about all parts of the plot, not just the beginning.
PROBLEM:  Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a New York City rare book dealer, makes his living conning people into selling him valuable antique books for a low price, and then re-selling them to private collectors. Corso meets with wealthy book collector Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), who has recently acquired a copy of the (fictional) book The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th-century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three extant copies. The book is an adaptation of one written by the Devil himself and purportedly contains the means to summon the Devil and acquire invincibility and immortality. Balkan believes two of the copies are forgeries. He hires Corso to check all three, and acquire the legitimate one by any means necessary.
Balkan's copy was acquired from Andrew Telfer (Willy Holt), who killed himself soon after. Telfer's widow Liana (Lena Olin) seduces Corso, in a failed attempt to get the book back. Meanwhile, Corso leaves the book for safekeeping with bookseller Bernie Rothstein (James Russo), who is then murdered; his corpse is found posed like an engraving in The Nine Gates.
Corso travels to Toledo, Spain. The Ceniza brothers, book restorers, show him that three of the engravings are signed "LCF". Corso deduces that Lucifer himself designed and cut them. Corso travels to Sintra, Portugal, to compare Victor Fargas' (Jack Taylor) copy of the book to Balkan's. To Corso's surprise, he discovers that the signature "LCF" is found in three different engravings, which vary in small but significant details from the images in the Balkan copy. The next morning, a mysterious young woman (identified only as "the Girl") (Emmanuelle Seigner) who appears to have been shadowing Corso since Balkan hired him, awakens Corso and leads him to Fargas' house. He finds the old man murdered and the "LCF"-signed engravings ripped out of that copy.
In Paris, Corso visits the Baroness Kessler (Barbara Jefford), who owns the third copy. At first the Baroness refuses to cooperate, but Corso intrigues her with evidence that the engravings differ among the three copies. He explains his idea: each copy contains three different "LCF"-signed engravings, therefore all three copies are required for the ritual. Corso finds "LCF" on three different engravings in the Baroness's book confirming his theory.
Kessler is killed, and the Girl rescues Corso from Liana's bodyguard. When Liana steals Balkan's copy from Corso's hotel room, he follows her, and witnesses her using the book in a Satanist ceremony. Balkan suddenly interrupts the ceremony, kills Liana, and leaves with the engraved pages and his own intact copy.
Corso pursues Balkan to a remote castle, depicted in one of the engravings, and finds Balkan preparing the final ritual. After a struggle, Balkan traps Corso in a hole in the floor. Balkan performs his summoning ritual: he arranges the engravings on a makeshift altar, and recites a series of phrases related to each of the nine engravings. Balkan then douses the floor and himself with gasoline and sets it alight, believing himself to be immune to suffering. Balkan's invocation fails, and he screams in pain as the flames engulf him. Corso frees himself, kills Balkan, takes the engravings, and escapes.
Outside, the Girl appears and has sex with him by the light of the burning castle. She tells him that Balkan failed because the ninth engraving he had used was a forgery. On her suggestion, Corso returns to the Ceniza brothers' now vacant shop. By chance he finds the authentic ninth engraving. On it, there is a likeness of the Girl. With the last engraving in hand, Corso returns to the castle. He has completed the ritual requirements, and he crosses through the Ninth Gate into the light.

SOLUTION: What is so special about the ninth engraving?

PROBLEM:  The film opens with violinist Roberta Guaspari having been deserted by her US Navy husband and feeling devastated, almost suicidal. Encouraged by her mother, she attempts to rebuild her life and a friend from student days recommends her to the head teacher of a school in the tough New York City area of East Harlem. Despite a degree in music education, she has little experience in actual music teaching, but she's taken on as a substitute violin teacher. With a combination of toughness and determination, she inspires a group of kids, and their initially skeptical parents. The program slowly develops and attracts publicity.
Ten years later, the string program is still running successfully at three schools, but suddenly the school budget is cut and Roberta is out of a job. Determined to fight the cuts, she enlists the support of former pupils, parents and teachers and plans a grand fund-raising concert, 'Fiddlefest', to raise money so that the program can continue. But with a few weeks to go and all participants furiously rehearsing, they lose the venue. Fortunately, the husband of a publicist friend is a violinist in the Guarneri Quartet, and he enlists the support of other well-known musicians, including Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman. They arrange for the concert to be mounted at Carnegie Hall.
Other famous musicians, including Mark O'Connor, Michael Tree, Charles Veal Jr., Arnold Steinhardt, Karen Briggs, Sandra Park, Diane Monroe, and Joshua Bell, join in the performance, which is a resounding success.
The film's end credits declare that the Opus 118 program is still running successfully. They also report that the school's funding was restored during the making of the film.

SOLUTION: What is the purpose of the fiddlefest concert?

PROBLEM:  The film begins with Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov) arriving in America. They were former criminals and, after getting out of prison, have come to the U.S. to claim their part of a bank heist in Russia (or somewhere in Czech Republic). Within minutes of arriving, Oleg steals a video camera from a Make-Your-Own-Movie establishment. They go to the run-down apartment of their old partner and demand their share. He doesn't have it so Emil stabs him and his wife to death as Oleg tapes it with the camera. The couple's friend, Czech immigrant Daphne Handlova (Vera Farmiga), witnesses the murders from the bathroom; but she escapes before they can kill her, too. To hide the crime, Emil burns down the apartment.
Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) is an arson investigator and is called to the case. Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro) is a much celebrated detective who is also called to the scene. Flemming is such a high-profile celebrity detective that he is even followed around by the local tabloid TV show Top Story. Everywhere he goes, the townspeople cheer him on. Flemming and Warsaw decide to help each other out and work the case together. While checking out the crowd outside, Warsaw spots Daphne trying to get his attention. When he finally gets to where she was, she's gone.
Emil calls an escort service from a business card he found in the girl's wallet and asks for a "Czech girl". When Honey (Noelle Evans), a regular call girl arrives, he kills her but not before getting the address of the escort service. Oleg tapes the murder. In fact, he tapes everything he can, trying to be the next Frank Capra.
Flemming and Warsaw investigate her murder and also visit the escort service. Rose Hearn (Charlize Theron) runs the service and tells them that the girl they're looking for doesn't work for her but rather a local hairdresser. She also mentions a couple of other guys who just asked her the same questions. Flemming and Warsaw rush to the hairdresser, but they arrive just after Emil and Oleg warn Daphne to keep quiet. As Flemming puts the girl into his squad car, he notices Oleg taping them from across the street. A foot chase begins, culminating in Flemming's regular partner Leon Jackson (Avery Brooks) being hit with a glass bottle and his wallet stolen. Emil finds a card with Flemming's name and address in it. He is jealous of Flemming's celebrity status and is convinced that anyone in America can do whatever they want and get away with it.
On the night that Flemming is to propose to his girlfriend Nicolette Karas (Melina Kanakaredes), Oleg and Emil sneak into his house and tape him to a chair. While Oleg is recording, Emil explains his plan to Flemming: He will kill him and sell the tape to Top Story. After being committed to an insane asylum, he will declare that he is actually sane. Since he can't be tried again, he will get off, collecting the royalties from his books and movies. Flemming starts attacking them with his chair (while still taped to it) and almost gets them, but Emil gets the upper-hand and stabs him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Emil then suffocates him with the pillow and kills him. The entire city is in mourning, and Emil calls Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer), the host of Top Story, to tell him he has a tape of the killing and is willing to sell it. Robert pays him $1 million for the tape. Warsaw and the entire police force are furious at Robert, as they can't believe that he would air it, especially since his main reporter is Nicolette.
On the night it is aired, Emil and Oleg sit in a Planet Hollywood to watch it with the rest of the public. Halfway through the airing, the other spectators realize that Emil and Oleg are right there with them and panic. The police come and arrest Emil, while Oleg escapes. They put Emil in Warsaw's squad car but instead of taking him to the police station, Warsaw takes him to an abandoned warehouse where he is going to kill him. The police arrive just in time and take Emil away. Everything goes as planned as Emil is now a celebrity and is pleading insanity. His lawyer agrees to work for 30% of the royalties Emil will receive for his story. Meanwhile, Oleg is jealous of the notoriety that Emil is receiving.
While being led away with his lawyer and all the media, Warsaw gets into an argument with the lawyer, with the Top Story crew taping the whole thing. Oleg gives Robert the tape of Emil explaining his plan to Flemming, proving he was sane the whole time. Robert shouts out to Emil and explains to him the evidence he now has. Emil pushes a policeman down, takes his gun and shoots Oleg. Emil grabs Nicolette, who is covering the story, and threatens to shoot her. He is finally cornered by the police and Warsaw. Against orders, Warsaw shoots Emil a dozen times in the chest. An officer shouts that Oleg is still alive. Robert rushes to him to get footage, just as Oleg says the final few words to the movie he's taping just before he dies. Warsaw punches out Robert and leaves the scene as the police all smile with approval.

SOLUTION:
What proves Emil's sanity?