Luo Hongwu returns to Kaili, the hometown from which he fled 12 years earlier. As memories of an enigmatic and beautiful woman resurface – a woman he loved and whom he has never been able to forget – Luo Hongwu begins his search for her.
Past and present, reality and dream interweave in Bi Gan’s stunningly beautiful and highly innovative film noir, featuring an incredible 3D finale
SO LONG, MY SON traces the lives of two families over three decades of social, political and human upheaval in China. Following the loss of a child in a tragic accident, their paths separate. Yet even as their lives diverge, a common search for truth and reconciliation around the tragedy remains.
Intimate in focus yet epic in size and scope, SO LONG, MY SON sets a heartbreaking saga of family tragedy against the changing face of modern China.
Based on his own experiences, Shia LaBeouf’s script tells of a young actor’s stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father through cinema and dreams, fictionalising his childhood ascent to stardom, and crash-landing into rehab. LaBeouf takes on the daring and therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father.
Har’el’s feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as therapy and imagination as hope.
In 1820s Australia, a young convict suffers a terrible crime at the hands of her abusive master. To seek revenge, she enlists the help of an Aboriginal tracker, a man dealing with his own traumas. Their journey leads them deep into the wilderness, where they must learn to trust each other.
Writer / Director Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) taps into a rich vein of palpable rage to tell a war story that leaves a bruising impact as it targets toxic masculinity and the legacy of colonialism
In a bizarre version of suburbia, soccer moms and best friends Jill and Lisa are locked in a passive-aggressive battle of the wills. Things only get weirder when Jill’s husband develops a taste for pool water and Lisa becomes pregnant with a football.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in this hilariously demented satire destined to be a cult classic.
In a bizarre version of suburbia, soccer moms and best friends Jill and Lisa are locked in a passive-aggressive battle of the wills. Things only get weirder when Jill’s husband develops a taste for pool water and Lisa becomes pregnant with a football.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in this hilariously demented satire destined to be a cult classic.
On a remote mountaintop, a rebel group of commandos perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner (Julianne Nicholson) for a shadowy force known only as ‘The Organization’. After a series of unexpected events drives them deep into the jungle, fracturing their intricate bond, their mission slowly begins to collapse.
Set in a beautiful but dangerous landscape, this awe-inspiring film is a breathtakingly epic vision that will leave you mesmerised and utterly gripped.
Spanish, English with English subtitles.
Dir: Jake Scott| USA / UK | 2019 | 112 min | Drama
In rural Pennsylvania, Deb Callahan’s life is forever changed when her teenage daughter mysteriously disappears. Deb is left to raise her young grandson while navigating the trials and tribulations of subsequent years and ultimately to the long-awaited discovery of the truth.
Sienna Miller gives a career-best performance in this captivating drama that pulls us deep into the lives of these good, flawed, ordinary people.
For more information on Hull Independent Cinema and to purchase an annual membership card visit www.hullindependentcinema.com
DO THE RIGHT THING (Spike Lee, 1989)
Middleton Hall, 1600-1830
Tickets: free
With a short introduction by Dr James Zborowski, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies
Spike Lee’s multi-award-winning masterpiece, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, uses a story of simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighbourhood to examine the ethics of protest, resistance, and violence.
Biopic based on the autobiography of Jimmy Boyle, the notorious former gangster from the Gorbals in Glasgow who was reputed to be Scotland’s most violent man. Boyle turned to art during his incarceration at Barlinnie prison where the Special Unit he was admitted to placed an emphasis on rehabilitation, and after his release Boyle became a sculptor and novelist. Please note attendees must be over 18.
81 mins | certificate 18
Directed by John Mackenzie
Julie is a young film student struggling to find a firm direction in life when she meets the seemingly unwavering and decisive Anthony. The two immediately take to one another and an intense romance blossoms between them. However, as the relationship develops it becomes clear that Anthony is not being honest about all aspects of himself and Julie slowly discovers that they could have potentially devastating consequences for them both.
One of Britain’s most distinctive filmmakers, Joanna Hogg (Archipelago, Unrelated) presents a deeply personal examination of her own youthful experiences in this beautifully crafted portrait of self-discovery.
Starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Neil Young, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade.
Awards and Reviews
Winner – Grand Jury Prize World Cinema, Sundance Film Festival; Nominee – Best British Film, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Sydney Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival Official Selections
“Refrigerated and mysterious, uncompromising, uningratiating; an artefact in the highest auteur register, but a film that creeps up on you – from behind.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“Joanna Hogg paints a precise picture of a woman trying to develop her own artistic vision while caught in the slipstream of a toxic relationship. An understated, exquisite gem of a film.” – Empire Magazine
Certificate
THE SOUVENIR is rated 15. Visit the BBFC website for full details (may include plot spoilers).
One of the most beautiful portraits of love, work, and life that you’ll see in nonfiction film this year.
In a deserted Macedonian village, Hatidze, a 50-something woman, trudges up a hillside to check her bee colonies nestled in the rocks. Serenading them with a secret chant, she gently maneuvers the honeycomb without netting or gloves. Back at her homestead, Hatidze tends to her handmade hives and her bedridden mother, occasionally heading to the capital to market her wares.
One day, an itinerant family installs itself next door, and Hatidze’s peaceful kingdom gives way to roaring engines, seven shrieking children, and 150 cows. Yet Hatidze welcomes the camaraderie, and she holds nothing back—not her tried-and-true beekeeping advice, not her affection, not her special brandy. But soon Hussein, the itinerant family’s patriarch, makes a series of decisions that could destroy Hatidze’s way of life forever.
For more information on Hull Independent Cinema and to purchase an annual membership card visit www.hullindependentcinema.com
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in Nicolas Roeg’s brilliantly atmospheric adaptation of the short story by Daphne du Maurier. Following the death of their daughter, John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice where he is to oversee the restoration of an old church. Here they encounter a pair of elderly sisters: one of them a blind psychic who claims to have been in communication with the couple’s dead child. Whilst Laura is intrigued, John resists the idea, despite the possibility that he is having his own visions that threaten to put his life in danger. Genuinely unsettling, DON’T LOOK NOW is widely acknowledged as perhaps Roeg’s finest film and one of the best British films ever made.
Starring Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason .
Awards and Reviews
Winner – Best Cinematography, BAFTA Film Awards 1974; Nominee – Best Actress, Best Directions, Best Film, Best Actor, BAFTA Film Awards 1974
“It’s a ghost story; it’s a meditation on time, memory and the poignancy of married love. And it’s a masterpiece.” – The Guardian
“Every frame is calculated perfection.” – Little White Lies
Certificate
DON’T LOOK NOW is rated 15. Visit the BBFC website for full details (may include plot spoilers).
THE BEACH BUM follows the hilarious misadventures of Moondog, a wasted cosmic poet par excellence who always lives life by his own rules, balancing the demands of a family that includes a fed-up well-to-do wife, while living life in a booze-soaked Margaritaville of the Mind.
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Zac Efron, Martin Lawrence, Jimmy Buffett.
Awards and Reviews
SXSW Official Selection (World Premiere)
“With the film, Harmony Korine solidifies his position as the premier cartographer of the Sunshine State as a place of unhurried pursuits.” – Slate
“There is a lot of fun to be had living in Moondog’s world for 95 minutes, and the film goes down suspiciously easy for something so ugly and amoral.” – Associated Press
Certificate
THE BEACH BUM is rated 18. Check the BBFC website for details (may contain plot spoilers).
In a small, blue-collar town in Pennsylvania, a 32-year-old Deb Callaghan’s teenage daughter goes missing and she is left to raise her infant grandson alone. The story is told over the course of 11 years, from the time her daughter vanishes, through the the trials and tribulations of subsequent years looking for closure, leading up the long-awaited discovery of the truth.
Sienna Miller gives a career-best performance in this captivating drama that pulls us deep into the lives of these good, flawed, ordinary people.
Starring Sienna Miller, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Paul
AMERICAN WOMAN is rated 15
A modern Mark Twain style adventure story, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON tells the story of Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck. A strange turn of events pairs him on the road with Tyler, a small time outlaw on the run, who becomes Zak’s unlikely coach and ally. Together they wind through deltas, elude capture, drink whisky, find God, catch fish, and convince Eleanor, a kind nursing home employee charged with Zak’s return, to join them on their journey.
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, Zack Gottsagen, Thomas Hayden Church.
Awards and Reviews
Winner – Winner – Audience Award Narrative Spotlight, SXSW Film Festival; Winner – Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature, Nantucket Film Festival
“LaBeouf brings the soul to “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” while Gottsagen brings the spirit. He has an undeniably charming screen presence, and the actor takes to this starring role with gusto.” – Los Angeles Times
“LaBeouf holds the screen with natural allure, making every twinge of his character’s self-reproach, and every instant of his dawning joy, achingly felt. His nuanced performance propels this journey.” – Hollywood Reporter
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