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
Tag: UK
The White Crow
19 Feb 2020 Director: Ralph Fiennes UK 2018 122 min The White Crow is a thrilling, ambitious biopic of the virtuosic Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev whose defection from the USSR to the west stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. Starring Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko as Nureyev in his screen debut,… Continue reading The White Crow
The Party
19 Dec 2018 Director: Sally Potter UK 2017 71 min Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet – the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) are celebrating with a few close friends when the party takes an unexpected… Continue reading The Party
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
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
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, 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
Theeb
4 Jan 2017 Director: Naji Abu Nowar Jordan, UK, UAE, Qatar 2014 100 min Set in 1916, on the eve of the great Arab revolt, Theeb unravels in the ruthless heat of Jordan’s desert. In a forgotten corner of the Ottoman Empire, during World War I, lies the campsite of a Bedouin tribe where orphaned… Continue reading Theeb
Still Life
30 Mar 2016 Director: Uberto Pasolini UK, Italy 2014 92 min Eddie Marsan gives a wonderfully restrained and brilliant performance as he plays the unassuming and meticulous council worker John May in this poignant and beautifully observed film. For the past twenty two years, John May has worked tirelessly to locate the next of kin… Continue reading Still Life