Event Categories: Film

HULL PREMIERE

Chronicling the extraordinary rise of one of the most colorful and controversial religious movements in American history, Hail Satan? is an inspiring and entertaining new feature documentary from acclaimed director Penny Lane (Nuts!, Our Nixon).

When media-savvy members of the Satanic Temple organize a series of public actions designed to advocate for religious freedom and challenge corrupt authority, they prove that with little more than a clever idea, a mischievous sense of humor, and a few rebellious friends, you can speak truth to power in some truly profound ways.

As charming and funny as it is thought-provoking, Hail Satan? offers a timely look at a group of often misunderstood outsiders whose unwavering commitment to social and political justice has empowered thousands of people around the world.

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Would-be writer Laura and her free-spirited bestie Tyler share a messy Dublin apartment and a hearty appetite for booze, Molly and one-night stands. Yet when Laura falls for Jim, a charming but straitlaced classical pianist, Tyler worries that the party may soon be over.

Adapted by Emma Jane Unsworth from her acclaimed 2014 novel of the same name, Animals explores the long hangover between adolescence and adulthood through a bittersweet tale of two friends growing up and growing apart. Sophie Hyde, whose debut feature, 52 Tuesdays, won a best directing award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, takes a refreshingly non-judgmental look at this fraught friendship, following Laura and Tyler through their hedonistic highs and soul-searching lows. Shawkat’s live-wire performance gives Tyler an anarchic comic edge that perfectly complements Grainger’s soulful turn as the conflicted and creatively blocked Laura. The duo are supported by a stellar cast, including Dermot Murphy as a dreamy, drug-addled suitor and Amy Molloy as Grainger’s weary but loving sister.

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet reunite with acclaimed director Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria) for this wry, slyly seductive tale of sex, lies, and literature.

Set amidst the bohemian intelligentsia of the Parisian publishing world, NON-FICTION traces the romantic and emotional fallout that results when a controversial writer (Vincent Macaigne) begins blurring the line between fact and fiction, using his real-life love affairs—including a passionate fling with an actress (Binoche) who happens to be married to his editor (Canet)—as fodder for his explosive new novel.

Balancing dry wit with keen observations on the tensions between art, commerce, and technology, NON-FICTION is a buoyant, breezy delight from a master director at his most effortlessly brilliant.

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Based on a prescient epic poem by Swedish Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson, Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja’s astounding and eerie ANIARA charts the fate of the human race after they have destroyed the planet.

One of several ships launched into space to start anew on Mars, ANIARA is designed to meet the needs of a species that has just consumed its birthplace: it’s a giant shopping mall. When an accident knocks the ship off course and disables its steering, the likelihood that these once-sanguine colonizers will ever reach their destination gradually begins to shrink.

A caustic portrait of humanity’s capacity for self-delusion, self-abuse, and consumption, ANIARA follows the ship’s passengers as they deal with uncertainty and dread but continue to indulge their appetites whenever and however they can.

“Swedish existential dread in outer space, with a suicidal AI, ritualistic orgies and a giant galactic shopping mall: this striking first feature is a work of daunting ambition.”

– Wendy Ide, Screen International

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Rafi works hard to stay afloat as a photographer in Mumbai. Sharing his modest accommodation with other unmarried men, he sends his money home to pay off his father’s debts and dreams of a better life.

One day he takes a picture of a young woman in front of the Gateway of India – and from this moment on he can think of nothing else. Miloni is a model student attending a school for auditors and is headed for university. Theirs are two irreconcilable worlds. When Rafi’s grandmother arrives, determined to marry off her grandson, Miloni agrees to masquerade as Rafi’s girlfriend. As the two begin to meet more and more often, Rafi shows Miloni, who has led a sheltered existence, unknown facets of their city.

Ritesh Batra, who caused a sensation with his debut film The Lunchbox, returns to his hometown Mumbai for this bittersweet romance. In atmospheric images that exude a quiet charm, he almost casually depicts how social stratification divides Indian society and creates a sensitive portrait of everyday life in this megacity caught between tradition and progress.

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

A gripping true story of humanity and heroism, vividly recounting the 2008 siege of the famed Taj Hotel by a group of terrorists in Mumbai, India.

Refusing to leave their guests, the renowned chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and a waiter (Academy Award-Nominee Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire) choose to risk their lives to keep everyone safe. As the world watches on, a desperate couple (Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name and Nazanin Boniadi, “Homeland”) is forced to make unthinkable sacrifices to protect their newborn child.

“A chilling and valuable reminder of acts of madness, and acts of heroism, that should never be forgotten.”

– Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

HULL PREMIERE

The inspiring documentary chronicles the eight-year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland outside of Los Angeles and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature.

Through dogged perseverance and embracing the opportunity provided by nature’s conflicts, the Chester’s unlock and uncover a biodiverse design for living that exists far beyond their farm, its seasons, and our wildest imagination.

Featuring breathtaking cinematography, captivating animals, and an urgent message to heed Mother Nature’s call, THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM provides us all a vital blueprint for better living and a healthier planet.

“It’s a must see that can only truly be appreciated in a theatre – don’t wait to see it at home. Surely, it’s one of the year’s best documentaries.”

– Brent Goldman, Film Inquiry

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Yann Gonzalez’s deliriously kinky queer horror thriller stars Vanessa Paradis and is set in 1970s Paris, following the dramatic breakdown of a relationship and the messy aftermath. Paradis plays gay porn producer Anne, who, after a break-up, launches herself into her latest and most ambitious film production. But as shooting gets underway, one of her stars is brutally murdered. Soon it becomes terrifyingly clear that a homicidal maniac is intent on bumping off the cast, one by one.

An erotically kitsch love letter to European Giallo, American grindhouse cinema and ’70s gay pornography, the film was shot on 35mm and is accompanied by a throbbing soundtrack from M83.

“This magical, erotic, disco-tinged horror-thriller is like cinematic candy.”

– Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

After waking up in a body bag, a mysterious John Doe disappears and finds his way to the hospital’s psychiatric ward, where he becomes the charge of a devoted doctor (Shane Carruth) who is fascinated by the man’s claims of being controlled by a “blackness” inside of him. Meanwhile, a curious medical examiner (Bill Feehely) searches for clues into the cause of the man’s disappearance. As the two men are drawn deeper John Doe’s psychosis they start to realize that the truth might be more sinister and ancient than they ever dared imagine.

The Dead Center takes on complex ideas about life, death and immortality, infusing them with a slick and unsettling injection of classic hospital paranoia. Bolstered by a riveting performance from Shane Carruth (Upstream Color), The Dead Center is a much-needed reminder that the most frightening moments can come from the most human of places.

“A creepy collision of the psychological and the supernatural…a masterclass in rising tension.”

– Anton Bitel, SciFi Now

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

In the stark beauty of 19th Century Snowdonia a young girl tries desperately to hold her home together. Struggling with her mother’s mysterious illness, her father’s absence and a ruthless mining company encroaching on their land. A growing darkness begins to take grip of her home, and the suspicious local community turns on Gwen and her family. Anchored by terrific performances, Gwen is a stylish, atmospheric anti-patriarchal take on folk horror.

“Clever, beautiful and well-acted, Gwen proves to be an unexpected delight. It’s a slow burn, but one worth seeking out.”

 

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

Femi, a British boy of Nigerian heritage, enjoys a happy childhood in Lincolnshire, where he’s raised by doting foster mother Mary and surrounded by a tight-knit group of friends – until his real mum reclaims him and deposits him into a very different life in her small inner-London flat. With little emotional bond to his mother and no remembrance of their cultural heritage, Femi struggles to adapt. As he gets used to his new environment, Femi hardens himself, pulling away from the wishes of both of his ‘mothers’ and forging ahead in a brazen attempt to build his own identity.

Writer/director Shola Amoo pairs a lived-in honesty with a fresh, exciting stylistic panache in this depiction of the crooked –and at times perilous – path to manhood. The lyrical texture of Amoo’s filmmaking both visually and aurally expresses the changes in Femi’s internal state, while this unflinchingly unsentimental coming-of-age film consistently defies our expectations of what will happen next.

“Thoughtfully alternates universal adolescent insecurities with urgently specific minority politics.”

– Guy Lodge, Variety

As fascism spreads, German refugee Georg (Franz Rogowski) flees to Marseille and assumes the identity of the dead writer whose transit papers he is carrying. Living among refugees from around the world, Georg falls for Marie (Paula Beer), a mysterious woman searching for her husband–the man whose identity he has stolen.

Adapted from Anna Segher’s 1942 novel, TRANSIT transposes the original story to the present, blurring periods to create a timeless exploration of the plight of displaced people.

YORKSHIRE PREMIERE

The Scotland of 1952 is no place for the fainthearted. When mill worker Lydia (Holliday Grainger) is abandoned by her philandering husband, she struggles to pay the rent and feed herself and son
Charlie (Gregor Selkirk). Local doctor Jean (Anna Paquin) is one of the few to help and a friendship develops that blossoms into a romance that will scandalise the town.

Director Annabel Jankel has crafted a sensitive adaptation of the Fiona Shaw novel that captures oppressive small-town life and the way love has the power to challenge narrow minds and deep-rooted prejudices.

“A sweet but sedate romance, anchored by a terrific turn from Holliday Grainger.”

– Lewis Knight, Daily Mirror