Hull Independent Cinema: Lyra

Raised in working-class Belfast, investigative journalist Lyra McKee highlighted the consequences of the Troubles, seeking justice for crimes that had been forgotten since the Good Friday Agreement. Her murder by dissident Republicans in 2019 sent shockwaves across the world. This wonderfully crafted film seeks answers to Lyra’s senseless killing through her own work and words. The result is a complex picture of Northern Ireland’s political history, bringing into sharp focus the ways in which the promise of peace has yet to be realised.

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Cork Film Fest: Winner, Audience Award
Sheffield DocFest: Winner, Tim Hetherington Award

Hull Independent Cinema: Aftersun

At a fading vacation resort in the late 1990s, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (BAFTA winner Paul Mescal, Normal People).

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At a fading vacation resort in the late 1990s, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (BAFTA winner Paul Mescal, Normal People). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood.

Twenty years later, Sophie’s tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t, in Charlotte Wells’ superb and searingly emotional debut film.

HIC: The Gravediggers Wife

Guled and Nasra are a loving couple, living in the outskirts of Djibouti city with their teenage son Mahad. However, they are facing difficult times: Nasra urgently needs an expensive operation to treat chronic kidney disease. Guled is already working hard as a gravedigger to make ends meet: how will they find the money to save Nasra and keep the family together? A tender tribute to the power of family, movingly depicting resilience in the face of adversity.

Starring Omar Abdi, Yasmin Warsame, Kadar Abdoul-Aziz Ibrahim

Dir. Khader Ayderus Ahmed | 2021 | Finland / Germany / France / Somalia / Qatar

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

African Movie Academy Awards: Winner, Best Actor, Best Film; Nominee, Best Director
Cannes Film Fest: Nominee, Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Golden Camera
Luxor African Film Fest: Winner, FIPRESCI Prize, Jury Prize
Somalian submission for Best International Film at 2023 Academy Awards

Hull Independent Cinema: Three Day Millionaire

THREE DAY MILLIONAIRE + Q&A at Vue Cinema

After weeks at sea working for Grimsby’s last remaining trawler, three friends return home to have the ultimate three-day-long celebration. However, when they discover the company owner hasn’t been paying the workers and plans to shut the company’s doors forever, they realize they must save their company, save their friends, and most importantly, save their way of life. With the help of an unexpected confidant, the three lads attempt to carry out the greatest heist Grimsby has ever seen – what could possibly go wrong?

From the pen of local writer Paul Stephenson, shot entirely just across the water in Grimsby and featuring hundreds of local extras, THREE DAY MILLIONAIRE is a comedy that pays tribute to the spirit of our region and its people.

Starring Colm Meaney, Jonas Armstrong, Robbie Gee, James Burrows and Michael Kinsley.

AWARDS & REVIEWS

“A gripping, hilarious journey…What a gem of a film… A film this Country needs right now” Joe.co.uk

Image credit to Signature Entertainment

Maritime Tales Week

Running from Saturday 22 to Saturday 29 October, a packed programme of maritime themed activities will entertain children of all ages and their families.

This year’s programme will feature in person events as well as some digital content, meaning no one need miss out on the fun.

The city’s rich seafaring history will be brought to life through live theatre performances by local theatre company ‘Theatre on the Edge’ and storytelling sessions ‘Fisherwomen’s Tales of the Sea’ in various library venues across the city.

Head to Hull’s Old Town to check out our Whitefriargate Windowscape, where stories from this historic street’s maritime past are brought to life through a series of custom-made window displays by local artist Alex Hunt. Drawing inspiration from the objects that make up Hull Maritime’s collections and the architecture of Whitefriargate, the window displays invite you to notice and explore the maritime tales hidden all around you – and to get creative yourselves. Pick up an activity sheet from Ferens Art Gallery, the Museum Quarter or businesses along Whitefriargate to join in the fun and enter our window art competition for the chance to win prizes. And remember to look up, down and all around…

Hull Independent Cinema presents: Vampire Double Bill

Hull Independent Cinema presents, as part of the BFI In Dreams Are Monsters season:

A VAMPIRE DOUBLE BILL at Hull Minster: a screening of NOSFERATU (1922) with live piano and violin score; a panel discussion exploring the role of the vampire on screen; and a screening of A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014).

Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022, NOSFERATU is a towering masterpiece whose legacy is truly incalculable and remains as mesmerising – and haunting – as ever.

Estate agent Thomas Hutter travels to the Transylvanian castle of mysterious Count Orlok, who is interested in property in the German town of Wisbourg. Why do the locals refuse to help Hutter get to his destination? Why, when he makes it, does Hutter feel a strange presence in the castle? Why does Orlok spend his days asleep? And why is he so interested in Hutter’s wife, Ellen? Once Hutter realises the truth, he faces a race against time to save his home town and Ellen from Orlok’s clutches.

Presented with an improvised live score by Jonny Best (piano) and Irine Røsnes (violin).

Starring Max Schrek, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder

“To watch ‘Nosferatu’ is to see the vampire movie before it had really seen itself. Here is the story of Dracula before it was buried alive in clichés, jokes, TV skits, cartoons and more than 30 other films. The film is in awe of its material. It seems to really believe in vampires.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“The startling eeriness of Murnau’s vision comes from its studied dismantling of the titular monster’s humanism, and in its canny way of making the creature a haunting, potent presence without giving away the mystery of his existence in the narrative. ★★★★” – Chris Cabin, Slant Magazine

“Nosferatu should be experienced before a screen in darkness, with the film flooding your senses. It is a powerful, atmospheric film.” – Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk

In the Iranian ghost town of Bad City, Arash tries his best to make a living working as a gardener. Unknown to him and the townspeople, the city is inhabited by a young vampire who acts as a sort of vigilante, choosing to feed from those who she considers “bad”, killing them without mercy. But when one night she runs into Arash, she will finally know the possibilities that love offers, in a genre-defying film brimming with visual and musical style.

Cinema’s first Iranian vampire western, Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature basks in the sheer pleasure of pulp. A joyful mash-up of genre, archetype, and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave. Amped by a mix of Iranian rock, techno, and Morricone-inspired riffs, its airy, anamorphic, black-and-white aesthetic and artfully drawn-out scenes combine the simmering tension of Sergio Leone with the weird surrealism of David Lynch.

Starring Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi

Deauville Film Fest: Winner, Revelations Prize
London Film Fest: Nominee, Best Film
Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominee, Best First Feature, Best Cinematography

“It’s a spooky, moody doozy of a debut, shot in a radiant monochrome that somehow makes even the darkness sparkle.” – Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

The Mark of Zorro

A swashbuckling opening night in Hull for the fifth Yorkshire Silent Film Festival!

Who is the mysterious Zorro? Nobody knows…

Appearing as if from nowhere, clad head-to-toe in black, sword flashing, he defends the weak and carves his trademark ‘Z’ into the cheek of every villain he conquers.

Douglas Fairbanks is the prototype rough-tough Hollywood action man, complete with romantic streak and a roguish twinkle. Errol Flynn took the archetype into the sound era in the 1930s, and Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas reinvented it in the 1980s. But it’s Fairbanks who had the most fun with it – his zippy, irrepressible playfulness is impossible to resist.

Daredevilry, romance, and comedy swirl together in Zorro – the perfect way to begin the fifth Yorkshire Silent Film Festival!

The Music: pianist Jonny Best will improvise a musical score. Jonny is one of the UK’s leading silent film pianists and has performed at BFI Southbank, Leeds International Film Festival, International Film Festival of India, and at concert venues, theatres, and cinemas around the UK.

Part of the fifth Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.

Hull Independent Cinema: Decision To Leave

Hull Independent Cinema presents: Emily at Vue Cinema.

This romantic crime mystery follows Hae-jun, a detective investigating the discovery of a man’s body in the mountains, a death that has the authorities baffled. Soon, Hae-jun meets the dead man’s enigmatic wife, Seo-rae, and becomes fascinated by her. Will his suspicions about the role she may have played in her husband’s death be enough to stop him pursuing his romantic curiosity in her? An edgy, beautifully shot noirish thriller from the maker of The Handmaiden and Oldboy.

Starring Tang Wei, Park Hae-il, Go Kyung-Pyo

Dir Park Chan-wook | 2022 | South Korea | 138 min | 15 | Korean with English language subtitles

Hull Independent Cinema: Triangle Of Sadness

Hull Independent Cinema presents: Triangle Of Sadness at Vue Cinema.

In Ruben Östlund’s wickedly funny Palme d’Or winner, social hierarchy is turned upside down, revealing the tawdry relationship between power and beauty. Celebrity model couple Carl and Yaya are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain. What first appeared instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival. An outrageous, blackly humorous swipe at the obscenely affluent, full of sharp social observations.

Starring Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson, Charlbi Dean

Dir Ruben Östlund | 2022 | Sweden / France / UK / Germany / Turkey / Greece | 147 min | English language

Hull Independent Cinema: Emily

Hull Independent Cinema presents: Emily at Vue Cinema.

A partly historic, partly speculative look at the life of one of the world’s most famous authors, Emily Brontë, as she finds her voice and writes the literary classic Wuthering Heights. Follows her transformative journey to womanhood and explores the relationships that inspired her – her raw, passionate sisterhood with Charlotte and Anne; her first aching, forbidden love; and her care for the maverick brother she idolises. This boldly atmospheric, psychologically incisive film from Frances O’Connor (GOD’S OWN COUNTRY) helps us celebrate a life lived all too briefly.

Starring
Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead

Hull Independent Cinema: Girl Picture

Hull Independent Cinema presents: Girl Picture at Vue Cinema.

Cheeky and unfiltered best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö experience a series of firsts while navigating the rocky road from adolescence to womanhood. Seeking adventure outside their humdrum work selling smoothies, Mimmi encounters Emma, an ambitious figure skater. Emma’s training for the competition gets mixed up in her new relationship with Mimmi. In the meantime, while Mimmi is looking for love, Rönkkö is on the search for pleasure as the three young women defy the persistent winter darkness in this refreshingly original Sundance award winner.

Starring Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen, Linnea Leino

Dir Alli Haapasalo | 2022 | Finland | 100 min | 15 | Finnish, French with English subtitles