23 Oct 2019 Director: Matt Tyrnauer USA 2016 92 mins Legendary writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs fought aDavid-and-Goliath battle against New York City ‘master builder’Robert Moses. Her quest was to preserve the historicneighbourhoods of Greenwich Village, Soho and Little Italy againstMoses’ plans to divide and destroy them with expressways. Herbook, The Death and Life… Continue reading Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Tag: 2016
Alone in Berlin
20 Nov 2019 Director: Vincent Pérez France, Germany, UK 2016 101 mins Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson play an ordinary working-class German couple who quietly wage a personal campaign of anti-Nazi resistance. Uninterested in politics and content to keep to themselves, factory foreman Otto and his dutiful wife Anna are unlikely dissidents. When their son… Continue reading Alone in Berlin
Aquarius
06 Feb 2019 Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho Brazil, France 2016 146 min Neighbouring Sounds director Kleber Mendonça Filho returns with another intriguing insight into the state of modern Brazil that also provides a magnificent central role for Sonia Braga, so fondly remembered for Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Braga plays Clara, a retired music critic, who… Continue reading Aquarius
Clash
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
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
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
The Eagle Huntress
7 Feb 2018 Director: Otto Bell Mongolia, UK, USA 2016 84 min For two thousand years, the Kazakh people of Western Mongolia have practised a tradition of hunting with golden eagles. Rather than conform to traditional female roles, young Aisholpan is determined to follow in her father’s footsteps as an Eagle Hunter, providing for her… Continue reading The Eagle Huntress
I Am Not Your Negro
7 Mar 2018 Director: Raoul Peck USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland 2016 93 min Fifty years after the Civil Rights movement, race remains a defining issue in the United States of America. James Baldwin’s final book, Remember This House, was due to address the lives and assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin… Continue reading I Am Not Your Negro
Julieta
15 Mar 2017 Director: Pedro Almodóvar Spain 2016 99 min Pedro Almodóvar is back on familiar ground with this sombre and ravishing study of grief, guilt and burden. Told over 30 years with two actresses (Emma Suárez and the younger Adriana Ugarte) playing one woman, this is the story of Julieta who is facing family… Continue reading Julieta
I, Daniel Blake
29 Mar 2017 Director: Ken Loach UK 2016 100 min Daniel Blake is an older resident of Newcastle and, after suffering a heart attack, he can no longer do his job. However, a mobility test by the Department of Work and Pensions declares him fit for work and, while he waits for his appeal, Daniel… Continue reading I, Daniel Blake