Hull Independent Cinema: Corsage

Empress Elisabeth of Austria is idolised for her beauty, but as she passes forty she must fight to maintain her public image. While Elisabeth’s role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative, her hunger for knowledge and zest for life makes her more and more restless in Vienna. With a future of strictly ceremonial duties laid out in front of her, Elizabeth rebels. A funny, refreshingly irreverent spin on the period biopic formula.
Starring Vicky Krieps, Colin Morgan, Ivana Urban

Dir Marie Kreutzer | 2022 | Austria / Luxembourg / Germany / France

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Cannes Film Festival: Winner, Un Certain Regard – Best Performance; Nominee, Un Certain Regard Award – Best Director
Chicago International Film Festival: Best Performance; Best Feature
Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominee, Best International Film
Gotham Awards: Nominee, Best International Feature
London Film Festival: Winner, Best Film

Hull Independent Cinema: Piggy

For Sara, summertime means dealing with a barrage of mockery from the other girls in her village. But when a mysterious man arrives in the village and kidnaps her tormentors, it seems someone has finally stood up for her. But Sara saw the kidnapping, and the kidnapper has seen her; they are locked in a wordless pact neither will betray. She’s an accomplice now. What if she is found out? What’s happened to the girls? What if the unknown man returns?

Starring Laura Galán, Richard Holmes, Carmen Machi

Dir Carlota Pereda | 2022 | Spain | 99 mins | 18 | Spanish and English language with English subtitles

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Goya Awards: Nominee, Best New Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best New Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
Grimmfest: Winner, Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actress
Sundance Film Festival, Seattle Int’l Film Festival, Frightfest Official Selections

Hull Independent Cinema: Tori & Lokita

In modern Belgium, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the cruel conditions of their exile. Hoping for a better life in Europe, they instead face impenetrable bureaucracy, corruption, child labour and abuse from those they thought would help them. Anchored by two remarkable, engaging lead performances, the film speaks to important contemporary global themes but never lets politics overwhelm the importance of character and narrative.

Starring Pablo Schils, Joely Mbundu

Dir The Dardenne Brothers | 2022 | Belguim / France | 98 mins | 15 | French and Afrikaans language with English subtitles

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Cannes Film Fest: Winner, 75th Anniversary Prize; Nominee, Palme d’Or
Jerusalem Film Fest: Winner, Best International Film; Nominee, Best International Film
Leeds Int’l Film Festival, London Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival Official Selections

Hull Independent Cinema: No Bears

Two intriguing, parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. Both an examination of the hidden complexity of an apparently simple story, and a metafictional portrayal of Panahi’s own work while under house arrest and banned from making films by the Iranian regime, this is a piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist working in impossible conditions. Brave and defiant filmmaking, and more important now than ever.

Starring Naser Hashemi, Reza Heydari, Mina Kavani

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Venice Film Fest: Winner, Special Jury Prize; Nominee, Best Film
Chicago Int’l Film Fest: Winner, Award for Cinematic Bravery; Nominee, Best Feature
Toronto Int’l Film Fest & London Film Festival Official Selections

Dir Jafar Panahi | 2022 | Iran | 106 mins | 12A | Persian, Azerbaijani language with English subtitles

REVIEWS

“A piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist who is not afraid to depict himself and his craft as aloof or insular.” Mark Kemode, The Observer

“Panahi’s courageousness as an agitator is matched only by his inventiveness as a filmmaker.” ★★★★★ Christopher Machell, CineVue

“A dark postmodern satire about the unexpected film that emerges within a film about making a film.” Kevin Maher, The Times

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.

Dir Alison Millar | 2022 | UK / Ireland | 92 mins | 15 | English language | Documentary

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).

Read the full synopsis
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

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Big Lebowski

25th Anniversary screening

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Big Lebowski at Social

The night has the perfect mix of Thieving Harry’s food, free film quiz, prize raffle and custom-made alternative movie posters.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

From the Academy Award-winning Coen brothers, The Big Lebowski is a hilariously quirky comedy about bowling, a severed toe, White Russians and a guy named…The Dude.

Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski doesn’t want any drama in his life…heck, he can’t even be bothered with a job. But, he must embark on a quest with his bowling buddies after his rug is destroyed in a twisted case of mistaken identity.

Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro, experience the cultural phenomenon of The Dude in the “#1 cult film of all time!” (The Boston Globe)

Seat choice is unallocated, first come, first served when you arrive at the venue.

Social, Humber Street.

Cult Cinema Sunday: True Romance

Cult Cinema Sunday: True Romance at Social. 30th Anniversary Anti-Valentine’s screening of the Director’s Cut.

The night has the perfect mix of Thieving Harry’s food, free film quiz, prize raffle and custom-made alternative movie posters.

TRUE ROMANCE: In 1993, action movie supremo Tony Scott teamed up with a hot new screenwriter named Quentin Tarantino to bring True Romance to the screen, one of the most beloved and widely-quoted films of the decade.

Breathtaking action set pieces and unforgettably snappy dialogue combine with a murderers’ row of sensational performances from a stunning ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken and Val Kilmer, and an iconic score from Hans Zimmer in Scott and Tarantino’s blood-soaked, bullet-riddled valentine.

Stealing. Cheating. Killing. Who says romance is dead?

Social, Humber Street.

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Blues Brothers

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Blues Brothers at Social.

Comedy icons John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star in the outrageously funny musical comedy, The Blues Brothers. After the release of Jake Blues (Belushi) from prison, he and brother Elwood (Aykroyd) take their blues band back on the road in an attempt to raise money for the orphanage where they were raised.

Havoc ensues as the brothers seek redemption on their “mission from God”, with everyone else against them – and that includes a bunch of Country and Western rednecks, an angry chapter of neo-Nazi thugs, the massed ranks of the Chicago police force, and Jake’s psychotic ex-girlfriend Camille (Carrie Fisher).

The night has the perfect mix of Thieving Harry’s food, free film quiz, prize raffle and custom-made alternative movie posters.

Seat choice is unallocated, first come, first served when you arrive at the venue.

Social, Humber Street.

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

Social On Humber Street

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Room

After an epic 8 years of previous screenings at Cult Cinema Sunday, The Room is back! THE best audience participation cinema experience you will ever have!

THE ROOM
‘The Room’ is a San Francisco-set love triangle involving a banker named Johnny (writer/director/screenwriter/ producer Tommy Wiseau), his friend Mark, and Johnny’s fiancée Lisa, who is sleeping with both men.

The film has built up a notorious cult reputation and has audience participation screenings in cinemas around the world still to this day. It truly defines so-bad-it’s good filmmaking, with laugh out loud bad dialogue, acting, direction, and story. There are lengthy, unerotic sex scenes; all of which clearly makes the film that more enjoyable.

Social, Humber Street.

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).

NOSFERATU with live score
Dir F.W. Murnau | 1922 | Germany | 94 mins | PG | Silent with English intertitles and live score

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

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
Dir Ana Lily Amipour | 2014 | Iran | 101 mins | 15 | Persian with English language subtitles

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.

Social On Humber Street

Cult Cinema Sunday: “They Live”

CULT CINEMA SUNDAY at Social

Horror master John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) directs this heart-pounding action thriller.

They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They Live.

*The night has the perfect mix of Thieving Harry’s food, free film quiz, prize raffle and custom made alternative movie posters.