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COLD WAR [ZIMNA WOJNA – POLAND] – THU 28 FEBRUARY, 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

We’ve had massive audiences this season and have had to turn people away.

Anticipating huge interest in the two upcoming films that have been nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film [among other awards]

and to avoid further disappointment, we have added screenings for these films:

Cold War [Zimna Wojna – Poland], Thursday 28 February at 6pm and 8pm.

Box office opens for first screening at 5:30pm.

A chilling Soviet-era drama of wounded love and state sponsored fear in 1950s Poland from the director of Ida, which won the 2015 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film. Best Director prize winner at Cannes.

Without any hyperbole, it is one of the films of the year, and possibly of the last decade. – Irish Independent   ★★★★★

Paweł Pawlikowski follows his Oscar-winning Ida with the stunning Cold War, an epic romance set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Sumptuously shot in luminous black and white, it spans decades and nations to tell a love story that is as tragic as it is moving, and as transportive as it is honest.

In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor and Zula fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever. As the years march on in the wake of that moment, Wiktor and Zula watch the world changing around them, always struggling to find their moment in time.

Pawlikowski melds the personal with the political to exquisite effect. Set to a soundtrack that takes you from the rustic folk songs of rural Poland to the sultry jazz of a Paris basement bar, it’s a wistful and dreamlike journey through a divided continent – and a heartbreaking portrait of ill-fated love.

Irish Times – One of the Best Films of 2018. ★★★★★

Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski’s exquisitely chilling Soviet-era drama maps the dark heart of Poland itself. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Poland, 2018 |Language: Polish | 88 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Cast:  Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Cedric Kahn

 

January 27, 2018
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SHOPLIFTERS [JAPAN], THU 7 MARCH, 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

We’ve had massive audiences this season and have had to turn people away.

Anticipating huge interest in the two upcoming films that have been nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film [among other awards]

and to avoid further disappointment, we have added screenings for these films:

Shoplifters [Japan], Thursday 7 March at 5:45pm and 8pm.

Box office for first screening opens at 5:15pm.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2018.  A drama of rare complexity and quality about the forces holding a struggling family together, it reveals a Japan rarely seen. 

A masterpiece – The Irish Times ★★★★★

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

A film by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, the director of Still Walking, Like Father, Like Son and Nobody Knows.

A film of rare depth and quality that explores the meaning of family, and suggests that real parenthood is not given, but earned. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Kore-eda’s great subject is the contemporary family, a topic that gives him an immensity of themes, including loss, love, class, alienation in the modern world…a perfect story about being human. – The New York Times

Japan, 2017 | Language:  Japanese | 121 minutes | Cert: 15A

Director:  Hirokazu Koreeda

Cast:  Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Moemi Katayama

 

January 26, 2018
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WAJIB [PALESTINE], THU 14 MARCH, 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

An estranged father-son relationship set in the vibrant city of Nazareth makes for an immensely entertaining comedy-drama that interweaves simmering tension with moments of terrific humour.

Shadi returns from Italy to his native Nazareth for his sister’s upcoming marriage. He has reluctantly agreed to honour his “wajib” or duty, to accompany his father in hand-delivering invitations for the wedding. Forced to spend time together after many years apart, past tensions and differences between father and son come to the surface. But as their journey continues, both men also begin to understand each other better.

Acting together for the first time, real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri infuse their characters with warmth and humour. The result is a poignant yet entertaining drama.

A sprightly, accessible comedy-drama by established Palestinian writer-director Annemarie Jaci – The Guardian ★★★★★

Sensitive and imaginative…a fine testimony to the director’s powers. – The New York Times

Palestine, 2017 | Language: Arabic | 96 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director:  Annemarie Jacir

Cast:  Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik, Rana Alamuddin

January 25, 2018
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PILI [TANZANIA], THU 21 MARCH, 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm.  Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

The result of a ground-breaking collaboration with the women of Tanzania: 65% of the cast of non-actors are HIV positive. Both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, it’s an authentic view of their hard lives.

Pili is a young woman who provides for her two small children by tilling the local fields. Her husband has deserted her because she has a HIV condition that she keeps secret from the rest of her small community. Pili dreams of a better life for her family, so when she is offered the chance to take over a village market stall, she desperately tries to raise the cash for the required deposit.

Set and filmed in Tanzania, Leanne Welham’s debut feature is the result of a ground-breaking collaboration with the women of Miono, Tanzania, with 65% of the cast of non-actors being themselves HIV positive. Heartwarming and heartwrenching, Pili provides an honest, authentic view of Tanzanian life.

A young mother faces difficult decisions when offered the chance of a better life in Leanne Welham’s thoughtful drama. – The Guardian ★★★

HIV positive cast star in a film shining a light on the struggles of Tanzanian women living with HIV. – The Telegraph

With a compassionate and imaginative boldness, first-time British feature director Leanne Welham has shot a film about HIV in Tanzania. A drama that arose from what was originally a documentary project, Pili uses mostly non-professionals, many in just the same situation as their characters. – The Guardian  ★★★

Tanzania, 2017 | Language: Swahili | 83 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Leanne Welham

Cast: Bello Rashid, Sekujua Rashid, Mwanaidi Omari Sefi, Sesilia Florian Kilimila, Siwazurio Mchuka, N’kwabi Elias Ng’andgasamala

January 24, 2018
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THE GUILTY [DEN SKYLDIGE – DENMARK], THU 28 MARCH, 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm.  Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

Taking place in just two rooms, this nerve-jangling thriller about an emergency police dispatcher and one fateful call uses minimal ingredients to devastating effect.  World Cinema Audience Award, Sundance.

Alarm dispatcher and former police officer, Asger Holm, answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins.  With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to save the endangered woman.  But soon he realizes that he is dealing with a crime that is far bigger than he first thought.

So taut, you almost forget to breathe. – The Guardian  ★★★★★

Smartly constructed and tautened with regular twists, but if it were merely clever, it wouldn’t test your nerves as it does. – The New Yorker

A cinematic study in tension, sound design, and how to make a thrilling movie with a limited tool box. – RogerEbert.com

Gustav Möller’s taut debut never leaves the confines of the call center, but builds a vivid aural suspense narrative. – Variety

A pulse-pounding, twisty crime thriller that masterfully ratchets up tension with chillingly effective results. – Hollywood Reporter

Denmark, 2018 | Language: Danish | 85 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director:  Gustav Möller

Cast:  Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen

 

January 23, 2018
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MOUNTAIN [AUSTRALIA – Documentary], THU 4 APRIL 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm.  Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

A spectacular documentary that asks what mountains mean to us and why we are compelled to conquer them.  It features adrenaline-rushing footage and music by the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Only three centuries ago, setting out to climb a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty, an upper world to be shunned, not sought out. Why do mountains now hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion, often at the cost of our lives?

From Tibet to Australia, Alaska to Norway armed with drones, Go-Pros and helicopters, director Jennifer Peedom has fashioned an astonishing symphony of mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, heliskiers, snowboarders, wingsuiters and parachuting mountain bikers.

Willem Dafoe provides a narration sampled from British mountaineer Robert Macfarlane’s acclaimed memoir Mountains of the Mind, and a classical score from the Australian Chamber Orchestra accompanies this majestic cinematic experience.

A truly amazing view from the top. – The Guardian ★★★★

For those terrified of heights, Mountain will be a nonstop nightmare. Yet big scares are a small price for the awe-inspiring footage you’ll see. – The New York Times

How the hell did they film that? – The Irish Times ★★★★

A ravishing feat of vertiginous filmmaking. – The Hollywood Reporter

A sublime rush of adrenaline and orchestral beauty…not for the faint-hearted. – The Guardian ★★★★

Australia, 2017 | Language: English | 76 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Jennifer Peedom

Narrator:  Willem DeFoe

Music: Australian Chamber Orchestra

January 22, 2018
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1945 [HUNGARY], THU 11 APRIL 8PM

By archive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm.  Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

An Orthodox Jewish man and his son arrive in a Hungarian village at the end of WWII, upsetting the inhabitants who must confront the recent horrors they’ve experienced, perpetrated, or tolerated.

When two black clad men arrive at a country railway station, a classic western set up appears to be unfolding. But it’s 1945 in Soviet-occupied Hungary in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and by their appearance the men are Orthodox Jews. As the men make their way to town and word of their arrival spreads, there’s a growing panic among some of the more prominent townsfolk – especially town clerk, whose son’s wedding is later that day.

This difficult time in Hungary is rarely dealt with in cinema, and certainly not with as much clarity, economy and nuance as Ferenc Török displays here. A rare subject too, the grave and sobering issue of how the Gentile population of Nazi-occupied countries behaved towards Jewish neighbours, and how they have, or have not, come to terms with a life based on guilt and betrayal. With its monochrome splendour and striking soundtrack, morally compromised townspeople and its tick-tock narrative towards an unknown conclusion, we’re reminded of Fred Zinnemann’s taut and masterful High Noon.

1945 is a tense, chilling, beautifully nuanced take on a little-known slice of history based on the acclaimed short story Homecoming by Gábor T. Szántó.

★★★★★

A sombre, accomplished skilled drama. – The Guardian ★★★

Marvellously directed and acted. – RTE.ie ★★★★

Török’s engaging, imperfect feature has important and timely things to say about historical guilt and remembrance.  – The Irish Times ★★★

Hungary, 2017 | Language: Hungarian | 91 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director:  Ferenc Török

Cast: Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Dóra Sztarenki

January 21, 2018
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JEUNE FEMME [FRANCE], THU 27 SEPTEMBER, 8PM

By archive

A superbly sympathetic and spikily comedic portrait of a rudderless young woman in search of an identity.  She’s determined to make a new start with style. 

Winner, Camera d’Or for best first feature film, Cannes Film Festival 2017.

Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she’s determined to make a new start – and she’ll do it with style and panache.

Director Léonor Serraille deservedly scooped the Camera d’Or prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for this debut feature. Jeune Femme impresses with it sheer vivacity and the powerhouse central performance of actress Laetitia Dosch as Paula provides the wild heart of the film. This is cinema that is funny, moving and hugely invigorating.

Comedy with a soaring, free-spirited lead…A white-knuckle sense of emotional freefall powers every fraught scene. – The Irish Times ★★★★★

Laetitia Dosch dazzles in Léonor Serraille’s debut feature as a young Parisian woman struggling to work out who she is. – The Guardian ★★★★★

The film plays like an assured American comedy with its quick-fire pacing and conventional, redemptive arc. But the film is pure French in its tone and atmosphere. – Little White Lies, Cannes Film Festival 2017

France, 2017 |Language: France | 98 minutes | Cert: 15

Director:   Léonor Serraille

Cast:  Laetitia Dosch, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye, Grégoire Monsaingeon

January 10, 2018
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SUMMER 1993 [ESTIU 1993 – SPAIN], THU 4 OCTOBER, 8PM

By archive

Six-year-old Frida faces the death of her parents and integration into a new nuclear family during a long Catalonian summer.  Beguiling, unsentimental and deeply personal.  

Winner, Best First Feature, Berlin Film Festival 2017.

In the summer 1993, following the death of her parents, six-year-old Frida moves from Barcelona to the Catalan province to live with her aunt and uncle, who are now her new legal guardians. The country life is a challenge for Frida – time passes differently in her new home and the nature that surrounds her is mysterious and estranging. She now has a little sister she has to take care of and must deal with new feelings, such as jealousy. Often, Frida is naively convinced that running away would be the best solution to her problems.

The family does what it can to achieve a fragile new balance and bring normality to their life. Occasional family outings to a local fiesta or a swimming pool, cooking or listening to jazz in the garden bring them moments of happiness. Slowly, Frida realizes that she is there to stay and has to adapt to the new environment.

Stunning drama of a childhood ripped apart…Carla Simón’s brilliantly realised story of a six-year-old traumatised by the death of her parents features miraculous child performances. – The Guardian ★★★★★ 

A film that movingly looks at an orphaned six-year-old’s loneliness and confusion without the usual dip into sentimentality. – Variety

Childhood memoirs always are under threat from self-indulgence and sentimentality, but 1993 successfully sidesteps both, establishing Simon as a talent to watch.  A delicately crafted, moving filmic memoir. True and captivating. – The Hollywood Reporter

Spain, 2017 |Language: Catalan | 97 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director:   Carla Simón

Cast:  Laia Artigas, Paula Robles, Bruna Cusí

January 9, 2018
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ZAMA [ARGENTINA], THU 11 OCTOBER, 8PM

By archive

Set in 18th century Paraguay, Zama is a dissatisfied magistrate assigned to a remote colony.  This stunning and bold piece of filmmaking, full of wit and striking visuals, casts a powerful spell.

Don Diego de Zama is a magistrate in a remote Spanish colony in South America. He dutifully does his job, hoping to persuade his superiors to approve a transfer to Buenos Aires. As the months pass, and he grows increasingly desperate, the unhinged Zama hopes that a dangerous mission to capture a notorious outlaw will finally guarantee his long-awaited relocation.

The first film in almost a decade from Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel (The Headless Woman) is very much worth the wait: This is a stunning, strange and bold piece of filmmaking,

Desire and despair at the end of the world. In Lucrecia Martel’s magnificent drama, a Spanish officer stuck at a remote South American outpost numbs his burgeoning panic with erotic reveries. –  The Guardian  ★★★★★

This surreal period piece is 2018’s best film so far. Lucrecia Martel’s Paraguay-set drama finds pathos and grim humor in colonial South America. – Vanity Fair Magazine

Lucrecia Martel, one of the greatest directors in the world right now, gets a well earned retrospective at Lincoln Center in New York City. – Vogue Magazine

Click here for The Irish Times review.

95% rating from Rotten Tomatoes

Argentina, 2017 |Language: Spanish | 115 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Lucrecia Martel

Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele

 

 

January 8, 2018
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