Event Categories: Film

Dir Jim Archer | UK | 2022 | 15 TBC | 90 mins | English language

Brian is a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he’s invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a funny and heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

Starring David Earl, Chris Hayward

Dir Ninja Thyberg | Sweden / Netherlands / France | 2021 | 18 | 109 mins | English and Swedish language with English subtitles

Bella Cherry arrives in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming an adult film star. She soon learns that fame won’t come easy, and she must harness all her ambition and cunning to rise to the top of this mesmerizing and singular world. Provocative on more than one level, Pleasure peels back the curtain on the adult film industry in a compelling and persuasive manner, with Sofia Kappel’s powerful performance leading the way.

Starring Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire.

Dir. Sophie Hyde | 2022 | UK | 97 mins | 15 | English language

Retired widow Nancy Stokes hires a good-looking young sex worker called Leo Grande, in the hope of enjoying a night of pleasure and self-discovery after an unfulfilling married life. As Nancy embarks on a post-marital sexual awakening and Leo draws on his skills and charm, together they find a surprising human connection. Written by comic Katy Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde (ANIMALS), this is a thoughtful film that combines comedy with a refreshingly positive and healthy message about sex, led by a peerless performance from Emma Thompson.

Starring Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack

Dir Andrew Gaynord | 2021 | Uk | 94 mins | 15 | English language

It’s Pete’s birthday and the old gang from college are throwing him a party out in the country. During what’s meant to be a joyful weekend reunion, Pete finds himself increasingly unnerved by his friends’ inside jokes and snarky comments. As the atmosphere goes from awkward to terrifying to downright surreal, is Pete being paranoid or is he the butt of some elaborate joke? A satire on social mores that marries awkward comedy with the tension of a great horror movie.

Starring
Tom Stourton, Georgina Campbell, Dustin Demri-Burns

Dir Mia Hansen-Løve | 2021 | France / Belgium / Germany / Sweden / Monaco | 112 mins | 15 | English / French / Swedish with English subtitles

A couple of American filmmakers, Chris and Tony, retreat to the mythical Fårö island for the summer. In this wild, breathtaking landscape where Bergman lived and shot his most celebrated pieces, they hope to find inspiration for their upcoming films. Days spent separately pass by, and Chris becomes fascinated by the island and the memories of her first love that it sparks in her. As the lines between reality and fiction blur, can their relationship survive?

Starring Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska

Dir Eskil Vogt | 2021 | Norway / Sweden / Denmark / Finland / France / UK | 117 mins | Norwegian with English subtitles

In a pleasant residential estate near Oslo, nine-year-old Ida is tasked with looking after her sister Anna. As they play outside, Ida meets Ben, who can make objects fly through the air without touching them, while Anna strikes up a friendship with Aisha, who is telepathic. The sisters learn to harness these powers themselves, but as the long summer days drag on, what began as innocent party pieces become forces of evil in a chilling film that blurs the lines between horror and social drama.

Starring
Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim

Dir Colm Bairéad | 2021 | Ireland | 95 mins | 12A | Irish Gaelic with English subtitles

Based on the renowned story Foster by Claire Keegan. In rural Ireland, 1981, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her overcrowded, dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer. She blossoms in their care, but in this house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one painful truth. Colm Bairéad’s remarkable debut feature is both an empathetic examination of loss and a quiet celebration of human kindness.

Starring
Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett

Dir Gasper Noe | 2021 | France / Belgium | 142 mins | 15 | French with English language subtitles

A retired psychiatrist with dementia and a struggling author with a heart condition live their final days together in an apartment. Director Gaspar Noé uses an intriguing split-screen device to show us each partner’s experiences of and reactions to one another – the wife’s disorientation as she struggles to recognise her husband; the husband’s increasing frustrations at his wife’s deterioration. A vital, painful and ultimately touching depiction of ageing and death.

Starring Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun, Alex Lutz

Dir. Terrence Davies | 2021 | UK/USA | 137 mins | 12A | English language

The turbulent life of WWI soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was decorated for bravery and became a star of the London literary scene. But behind the façade, he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality and was broken by the horrors of war, turning his life into a quest for salvation through the conformity of marriage and religion. A sumptuous, thoughtful and quietly scathing work from acclaimed filmmaker Terence Davies.

Starring Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Simon Russell Beale

Dir. Laura Wandel | 2021 | Belgium | 72 mins | 15 | French language with English subtitles

Nora has just started school and is struggling to fit in. She hopes big brother Abel will be her guardian in the playground, but one day she notices him bullied by other kids, and it is she who has to protect him as he endures humiliation and harassment by his peers. Innovatively shot entirely from a child’s-eye-view, Playground paints an empathetic and visceral portrait of the cruelty of children, and the failure of adults to protect them.

Starring Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret

Premiering in the UK at SAFAR Film Festival

When a magic trick goes awry at a child’s birthday party, the authoritative father of a family gets turned into a chicken. The mother, whose mundane life was dedicated to her husband and children, is urged to come to the fore, moving heaven and earth to bring her husband back and secure their survival.

Cast: Demyana Nassar, Samy Bassiouny

Festivals and awards: Winner, Critics Week Grand Prize, FIPRESCI Prize; Nominee, Golden Camera: Cannes Film Fest | Winner, Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Debut, Best Actress: Carthage Film Fest

“Tremendously impressive … casually gorgeous camerawork [sets] the perfect stage on which to play out this compellingly absurdist, increasingly dark narrative of slow-acting liberation.” Jessica Kiang, Variety

“Omar El Zohairy’s darkly humorous debut feature is a film of biting social satire, wry chuckles and unsettling oddity.” Allan Hunter, Screen International

“The film’s slow-burn, dark comedy makes it an impressively mounted outing but it is Feathers’ piercing, unsparing indictment of a nation that needs to be saved from itself that is its most effective weapon.” Poulomi Das, News9 Live

Gossip and violence run rampant deep in the labyrinthine alleys of East Amman. Ali, a hustler pretending to be a businessman, has to keep his relationship with Lana a secret in order to hide from society’s judgemental eye. Things start to fall apart when Lana’s mother, Aseel, is blackmailed by an unknown voyeur who has filmed the young couple.

The film will be followed by a live in-person Q&A featuring the film’s Director, Bassel Ghandour.

Bassel Ghandour | 2021 | Jordan | NC18+ | 116m | Arabic language | Thriller