21 Mar 2018 Director: Mohamed Diab Egypt, France, Germany 2016 97 min Clash is a tense, harrowing, state-of-the-nation drama. Set in 2013, it pitches the audience into the turmoil of the mass protests in Egypt that toppled the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. In the crushing heat of an already fraught day, rival demonstrators, innocent bystanders, allies… Continue reading Clash
Category: Film season 2017-2018
Loving Vincent
4 Apr 2018 Directors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman UK, Poland 2017 95 min Animator Hugh Welchman and his wife, Dorota Kobiela, have brought together 65 000 oil painted frames produced by 115 professional artists to form this stunning cinematic achievement billed as the first fully painted feature film in the world. On the 29th July… Continue reading Loving Vincent
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
20 Sept 2017 Director: Taika Waititi New Zealand 2016 101 min Raised on hip-hop and in and out of foster homes, rebellious and defiant city kid Ricky gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside. He quickly finds himself at home with a new foster family; the loving Aunt Bella, cantankerous Uncle Hec and… Continue reading Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Letters from Baghdad
18 Oct 2017 Directors: Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum USA, UK, France 2016 95 min Voiced by Tilda Swinton, this fascinating documentary explores the remarkable life of English writer, archaeologist, diplomat and spy, Gertrude Bell. As a young woman, Bell travelled extensively throughout the Middle East producing maps and scholarly works. Eventually, her extraordinary talents… Continue reading Letters from Baghdad
Under the Shadow
15 Nov 2017 Director: Babak Anvari UK/Jordan/Qatar 2016 84 min Focusing on a mother and daughter besieged by forces both worldly and otherwise in a Tehran apartment block, Under the Shadow presents a gripping portrait of an independently spirited woman shackled by sharia law. She becomes more scared of the demonic forces tormenting her daughter… Continue reading Under the Shadow
Graduation
4 Oct 2017 Director: Cristian Mungiu Romania 2016 128 min The latest work from Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) deservedly won him Best Director at Cannes. Masterful in its construction, this is a gripping drama in which good intentions and guilty secrets gradually erode the moral certainties of a middle-class family.… Continue reading Graduation
The Other Side of Hope
1 Nov 2017 Director: Aki Kaurismäki Finland 2016 98 min Six years after the sublime, award-winning Le Havre, director Kaurismäki returns with his second film in a planned trilogy focusing on port cities. In this eccentric and cuttingly poignant comedy-drama, Wikstrom, a poker-playing restaurateur and former travelling salesman, crosses paths with Syrian stowaway Khaled who… Continue reading The Other Side of Hope
La Strada
29 Nov 2017 Director: Federico Fellini Italy 1954 108 min Winner of the first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957, Federico Fellini’s heartbreaking tale of broken outsiders has lost none of its power to move audiences. Giulietta Masina plays Gelsomina, a naïve young woman sold, by her poverty-stricken and desperate mother, to boorish… Continue reading La Strada
My Life as a Courgette
13 Dec 2017 Director: Claude Barras Switzerland, France 2016 66 min Claude Barras brings us a little miracle of gentleness, tenderness and intense, traditional Frenchness in this beguiling story about Icare, a little boy fond of kites and nicknamed Courgette. A terrible accident means that he is taken to a care home in the country… Continue reading My Life as a Courgette
Frantz
24 Jan 2018 Director: François Ozon France, Germany 2016 114 min François Ozon breaks fresh ground with this touching, beautifully crafted period drama set in the aftermath of World War One. In a small German town, Anna mourns her fiancé, Frantz, who was killed in combat. She finds comfort in the arrival of a charming… Continue reading Frantz