Our partnership with largest film festival of Switzerland and the second oldest one in the world started in 2019, when our writer Redmond Bacon attended the event for the first time. We have since provided in loco coverage of this diverse and international film bonanza. Not an easy task. Locarno showcases on average more than 200 films per year. In 2023, the 11-day film marathon included 350 screenings divided into 12 sections (three competitive and nine non-competitive ones), talks, events, art exhibitions, parties, and a lot more. Each evening, up to 8,000 people gathered on the Piazza Grande, Europe’s largest open-air theatre, in order to watch international film premieres under the starry sky of the mountainous region of Ticino (Switzerland’s only entirely Italian-speaking canton). As Redmond decided to seek pastures green with his own endeavour, I attended the Festival myself for the first time. What an incredible ride I was in for!
I carried out most of the work in loco, with a couple of remote helping hands helping me out in order maximise our coverage. Still no easy task. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by diversity of the selection, and the allure of so many film auteurs. Quentin Dupieux, Ken Loach, Radu Jude, Lav Diaz – just where does one begin? Not to mention the genuinely refined selection of short films in the Pardi di Domani (“the leopards of tomorrow”, in free translation).
My dirty favourites in the main Competition (Consorso Internazionale) this year were Quentin Dupieux’s Yannick (pictured above), a hilarious metacomedy that liberates viewers inconveniently bound to their seats, and Laura Ferres’s The Permanent Picture, a dark portrait of Spain now and under Franco (with an aesthetic touch of Ulrich Seidl). In the Pardi di Domani section, the biggest standouts were Julian McKinnon and Fiume’s La Vedova Nera, a dirtylicious Franco-Italian tribute to giallo, and Urša Kastelic’s Remember, Broken Crayons Colour too, a deeply poetic Swiss documentary about a Jamaican trans woman. They all left empty-handed.
The Golden Leopard went to Ali Ahmadzadeh’s Iranian drama Critical Zone (review to follow soon), while the Special Jury Prize of the Cities of Ascona and Losone went to Radu Jude’s Don’t Expect Much from the End of the World, a highly inventive comedy and a caustic satire of Romania (pictured below). Best Direction went to Maryna Vroda for Stepne, a sombre and sullen Ukrainian drama about a man returning to his native village in order to care for his ailing mother. The two Performances Leopards went to Renée Soutendijk in Ena Sendijarevic’s Sweet Dreams, a profound period drama about Dutch colonial relations, and Dimitra Vlagopouloufor Sofia Exarchou’s Animal. The Special Mention Award went to Sylvain George’s Obscure Night – Goodbye Here, Anywhere, a very long documentary that exoticises Moroccan boys living in the Spanish exclave of Melilla.
Ken Loach attended the event in person, and showcased his new creationThe Old Oak, which premiered in Cannes three months earlier. The film is an authentic and captivating portrayal of poverty, xenophobia and failed refugee integration in Northern England. The social realist director gets to the roots of racism without condoning it. He received a warm ovation as he presented his film at the Piazza Grande, while also remaining loyal to his socialist values in his speech (he criticised the Festival for counting a bank among its sponsors). He won the UBS Prix du Public Audience Award.
The Locarno Film Festival returns once again for its 75th edition, providing its characteristic and eclectic mix of arthouse cinema and crowd-pleasing fare. Whether you’re an arduous cinephile or someone just looking for a good time, the cinemas alongside the Lago Maggiore — stretching from the magical Piazza Grande to more intimate indoor theatres — have a little something for everyone.
If 2021 was testing the waters within strict coronavirus protocols, 2022 promises to be even more relaxed, fully returning to the traditional hustle and bustle that characterises the joy and discovery of in-person film festivals. Giona A. Nazzaro returns as artistic director for a second year, providing a steady hand to an event steeped in tradition but still committed to pursuing new and exciting art forms.
Consider the contrast between the opening film and my most anticipated competition inclusion. The opening ceremony is yet another American action film, David Leitch’s unavoidable Bullet Train. Starring Brad Pitt as an assassin on a high-speed Japanese rail-line, I have been subjected to the trailer at least 100 times in cinemas; so many times in fact, that it gives off the impression that it simply won’t be very good.
Meanwhile in the Concorso internazionale, legendary Russian director Alexander Sokurov returns after seven years with Skazka (Fairytale) — pictured below. It’s a mysterious hybrid effort blending archive and newly-shot material that comments on both dictators and the fate of the planet. Rejected by Cannes due to political reasons, it sounds like a fascinating experiment that is sorely needed as the Russian state is slowly collapsing.
If Sokurov is the big name on the arthouse scene, the other directors in the competition are unknown to me, stretching from Italy to Brazil to Indonesia. All promise fascinating perspectives: there is a COVID-19 immigrant drama in the form of Mahesh Narayanan’s Ariyippu; a study of toxic masculinity in Bowling Saturne (Saturn Bowling); sea-bound drama in Human Flowers of Flesh; and a look at modern faith in the Austrian Catholic boarding school film Serviam – Ich will dienen (Serviam – I Will Serve).
More populist efforts can be found back on Piazza Grande with the Daisy Edgar-Jones starring Where the Crawdads Sing (which I’ll save for streaming) and My Neighbor Adolf, which, yes, sounds exactly like its title suggests. For those more interested in cinematic history, Douglas Sirk’s exquisite Imitation of Life (1958) plays on 35mm (as part of a wider retrospective), while New Wave-heads can get their kicks with Laurie Anderson’s 1986 Avantgarde concert movie Home of the Brave.
It’s usually around the edges that a festival truly comes to life. (Last year, my most notable experience was a Peter Greenaway film that didn’t even play officially at the festival.) For first and second-time directors, Concorso Cineasti del presente provides a chance to discover emerging talents, while the truly out there Fuori concorso section promises a zone where cinema is set free from any expectations or tradition.
I never try to read too much into what is playing, enjoying the thrill of the new upon walking into a cinema with little idea of what to expect; making the Locarno Film Festival such a unique experience. I shall be attending between 8th-12th August to report from the frontlines, providing reviews and insights from one of the best film festivals in the world.
If you judge a festival by the wider impact it had on the cinema scene, then last year’s bed-bound Berlinale seemed to break through its digital confines and become an unmitigated success. Radu Jude’s Bad Luck Banging, or Loony Porn (2021) had a fairly decent American release, Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) was a petite, tear-provoking miracle, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze, 2021) became the unofficial film of Euro 2020, and I’m Your Man (Maria Schrader, 2021) was a rare cross-cultural German hit. It’s a reminder that good films are still good no matter how you watch them.
This year the organisers seem keen to repeat their success, so an all-star Berlinale competition team have arrived. There’s Denis Côté with That Kind of Summer, perhaps promising something substantial after his last few amusing trifles. There’s Claire Denis with Both Sides of The Blade (pictured above), probably poised for a hit by reuniting with Juliette Binoche. François Ozon is gender-flipping Fassbinder with Peter Von Kant. Ulrich Seidl is returning to Austria with Rimini. And Hong Sangsoo is, well, making a Hong Sang-soo film with The Novelist’s Film.
While Claire Denis is actually a newcomer, there’s a whole host of repeat offenders in the competition, with editor Natalia Lopez Gallardo the only debutant in competition with Robe of Gems. France is well-represented with seven films; Germany with four; and there’s an American entry in the 60s feminist drama Call Jane (Phyllis Nagy). Further afield, there’s Dark Glasses from Dario Argento in the Berlinale Special, Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet in Encounters, and Alain Guiraudie is opening Panorama with Nobody’s Hero.
With a coronavirus-prevention regime that the Chinese Olympic committee would appreciate — three vaccinations, full FFP2 masking, daily tests, no parties (at least, I got no invites), booking your tickets in advance, and 50% capacity screenings — the Berlinale is actually going beyond the requirements of the QR code-happy Berlin state to promise a truly virus-free Festival. If your phone dies, it’s basically game over, so I’m bringing two charger packs.
The time has probably passed to write something like “cinema is back” — it actually never went away, it just got smaller. But Germany’s biggest festival is brave to mount anything in-person at all, especially as Sundance and Rotterdam succumbed to Omicron-inspired digital editions. I’m hoping for cinematic excellence, a dozen negative tests and a return to the kind of buzz and vibe that only a physical festival can bring.
The Berlinale Film Festival runs from 10-20th February. Follow DMovies for all the coverage you need.
The UK’s favourite indie films festival returns on October 27th for 10 days. The action takes place in seven cinemas across the British capital (Curzon Hoxton, Curzon Soho, Curzon Mayfair, Genesis Cinema, Regent Street Cinema, Bertha DocHouse) and also online (in fact, the event pioneered online screenings between between 2006 and 2011).
Below are 10 dirty films carefully selected and analysed by our writers exclusively for you. They are a combination of movies we viewed earlier in the year, and some reviewed specifically for Raindance. Most importantly: they are dirty movies that will hit you like a ton of bricks. They are listed alphabetically. Click on the film title in order to accede to each individual review.
This bumbling, lo-fi take on Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999), turns up this fantastic sensibility to a truly absurd degree.In Diego’s (Eli Vargas) job interview for the mysterious company Data-Mart, his erratic boss-to-be Vasquez (Luis Deveze) touts the power of typists — saying that no amount of monkeys could ever compose anything approaching a sonnet. Despite only being able to type over 50 words per minute, Diego is hired. The staffing shortage is real. The timing of the film is apt, coming at a moment when people are debating whether or not we need to actually be in an office to do our work.
Tekehentahkhwa (Kiawentiio) prefers the nickname Beans to her actual birth name. She is on the cusp of adolescence, and grappling with decision whether to leave the Mohawk reserve in order to further her education. Suddenly, she is engulfed by an armed stand-off between the indigenous people and the neighbouring white communities over land control. The incident, which became known as the Oka crisis, eventually led to the reserve being isolated and vilified. An arduous fight for survival ensued.
Michael Caine is a cranky writer on a tour from hell, in Raindance’s opening film. Lucy Stanbridge (Aubrey Plaza) is desperate for a bestseller. Without one, she’ll be forced to sell the publishing house she inherited from her father. When she discovers an old contract that says the reclusive one time author Harris Shaw (Caine) owes her a book, Lucy sees an opportunity to hold onto her father’s legacy. Dragged along reluctantly on a book tour to promote his new novel, the first in more than 40 years, she struggles to prevent Harris’s antisocial outbursts going viral. As the two grow closer, secrets threaten their newfound relationship.
Richard (the late Nicholas Tucci) mutters to himself “broomstick and everything”, as his car, leaving the driveway, passes neighbour Mrs Start (Colleen Heidemann) clearing snow from the driveway with her brush. It is easy to see how this old woman, with her shock of upright grey hair, her single working eye, her strange mannerisms and indeed her interest in the occult, might be regarded as a witch, but Richard’s hearing-impaired young son Michael (Keaton Tetlow) rather likes her, even if, like many an artistic, imaginative boy of his age, he is scared of near everything else.
The darkness outside their snowbound house in the woods, the lightning from storms, the monster that may be lurking under or even on the bed – all these terrify little Michael, whose anxious point-of-view largely dominates Ben Charles Edwards’s Father of Flies.
The “most hated man in Britain” is never afraid to be the first on the frontline in struggle for LGBT+ justice and equality. Stephen Fry succinctly describes Britain most (in)famous gay activist: “Peter is a performance artist. He deserves an award for his extraordinary contribution to the lives of those who never heard of him”. The 90-minute documentary that follows, narrated by Ian McKellen and exec produced by Elton John and and his husband David Furnish, provides irrefutable evidence that the English actor is indeed right.
Peter Tatchell was born in Australia in a neopentecostal family, which he describes as “close to fundamentalism”. His stepfather was particularly controlling and homophobic. He feared his parents would report him to the police, at a time when homosexuality was a crime punishable with imprisonment. Peter moved to Britain both because of his family and because he wanted to dodge the compulsory military service, which was at odds with his strong anti-war views. He joined the Gay Liberation Front within just days of arriving in London.
Whatever supposedly makes Britain “great” — a moniker blasted upon countless placards when you arrive into a port of entry — it is not our approach to our migrant population, which must be one of the cruellest on the planet. Hostile, set during the boiling point of the coronavirus pandemic, shows how successive governments are slowing destroying British hospitality from the inside, creating an environment of fear and loathing amongst its most valued citizens.
Combining testimony — featuring immigration experts and Labour politicians — with stories from the ground, Hostile is a heartfelt and bitter exploration of policies that are downright evil. It does a fine job of explaining the context of empire and how it relates to crises ranging from the EU referendum to the Windrush scandal.
Portuguese couple in London engage in a battle against social services in order to save their three children from forced adoption, in this very Loachian family drama. Bela and (Lucia Moniz) and Jota (Ruben Garcia) live somewhere in suburban London with their three children, aged between 12 months and 12 years. The family struggles in order to make ends meet, with Bela unable to buy a new hearing aid for her daughter, and having to shoplift for home essentials. Bela’s mother in Portugal is unable to wire the money for her granddaughter’s device, instead suggesting that they request support from social services. Butthose who were intended to help the hapless family soon turn out to be their worse enemies. Listen won two major prizes last it at the Venice International Film Festival.
In this probing confessional, a frightened Lebanese gay man makes peace with his past – documentary premieres at Raindance. Although he was best known for his comedies, Oscar Wilde’s most honest came in the form of a letter, later published under the title De Profundis. Fuelled by the betrayal of his loved ones and his family, Wilde committed many of his most unvarnished thoughts onto paper as a way of exorcising any demons that were still swirling in his brain. Fast forward one hundred years, and another gay man uses this same method to move on from his past failings. What makes Miguel’s War so astonishing to watch is its unflinching resolve to allow Miguel Jeleaty the chance to tell his story without shame or embarrassment. The son of a strict Catholic father, Jeleaty watched streets demolished during the Lebanese War. Like many gay men growing up in a war zone, Jeleaty had no one to trust, and couldn’t turn to the support of his Syrian mother. We don’t often get to see someone speak so nakedly about their lives, and Jeleaty’s story is extraordinarily brave to watch.
There are films that feel like they’re telling a story, then there are those that feel like acts of creative expression. Philippe Grégoire’s Canadian drama, The Noise of Engines emphasises the latter. It liberates itself from storytelling, from inside the narrative structure, and employs an art house aesthetic to boldly express itself. Alexandre (Robert Naylor), a fire arms instructor at the Canadian customs training facility returns to his hometown in Quebec after being placed on compulsory leave. When sexually explicit drawings that include him begin to appear around town, the police suspect that he’s responsible. Meanwhile, he strikes up a friendship with a female drag racer.
A failed marriage proposal stunt unleashes a number of unexpected events on a young German couple, in this exquisite debut feature. It’s his younger brother’s wedding, and Julian has an announcement: love is such a wonderful thing, something he sees every time he looks at his girlfriend Marie, with whom everything is fun, with whom everything makes sense. As guests ready their phones, taking her hands in his, Julian proposes to Marie. *Hushed gasps* Aww, how romantic! No, nein, nicht, wrong: public proposals are never good. Add this scene to the pile of evidence for that conclusion.
Second Thoughts is also pictured at the top of this article.
For 11 days, from October 27th to November 6th, Raindance will return to the British capital in its physical format. The action will take place in the following cinemas: Curzon Hoxton, Curzon Soho, Curzon Mayfair, Genesis Cinema, Regent Street Cinema, Bertha DocHouse.
The Festival will also cater for audiences elsewhere in the UK. Last year, the event was held entirely online, and they are not letting their keen digital viewers down! That’s why their full programme will be available online through their new partners at Curzon Home Cinema. Films in the Official selection will get two digital screenings!
The opening night on October 27th will present Canadian Best Sellers (pictured at the top of this article), Lina Roessler’s debut feature. It stars a cranky Michael Caine as a writer seeking a publisher for his very last work.
The closing night will showcase Brazilian Medusa, by Anita Rocha da Silveira, a movie that wowed audiences and critics alike three months ago at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
Raindance is a competitive event, with a number of awards to follow. The choice of female directors at both the opening and the closing gala might suggest that women will shine this year at Raindance, just as they did at the Oscars, Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian (all festivals bestowed their top prizes on talented female filmmakers). In fact the Festival has an entire strand dedicated the Female Gaze.
Watch out for these two ladies: Portuguese filmmaker Ana Rocha’s Listen (pictured above) appears in the Homegrown section. The British drama about forced adoption, à la Ken Loach, won two prizes last year in Venice, moving the director to tears. And Latvian Helmer Laila Pakalnina delivers the “selfie-movie” In the Mirror (pictured below) – guaranteed to have you spinning around vertiginously.
Stay tuned for more detailed information in our Top 10 dirty movies from the Raindance Film Festival soon!
Other strands include Absurdities (with the most ferociously innovative, weird and downright filthy movies), Boomerang (with the most upbeat indie dramas). Discovery (first-time directors), Generation (Millennials and Generation Z), Icons (Biopics) and much more, demonstrating the breadth and depth and the independent cinema.
Raindance founder Elliot Grove encourages every single one of you to join the action and support independent cinema: “Now that cinemas have reopened, Raindance is ready to reconnect with the energy, vibrancy and insurgent spirit of indie film. We hope you will join us too!!!”
Festivals are constantly evolving, having to adapt to new forms of cinematic languages and formats. I’ve covered London, SXSW, Berlinale and several short film festivals from the comfort of my own bedroom, all the while craving the intimacy and distraction-free nature of a proper event. While digital festivals are great for expanding accessibility, they miss the same sense of immersion and discovery, creating moments that stick with you due to the context within which they’re seen.
Newly-appointed artistic director Giona Nazzaro, previously General Delegate of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week, has a huge challenge ahead to defend Locarno’s claim as one of the most fascinating international arthouse film festivals in the world.
It’s great to see that Locarno is screening over 200 films in cinemas perched on the gorgeous Lago Maggiore. Nazarro agrees, but to a more orthodox degree, telling DMovies that: “If a festival takes place online, it’s not a festival… a festival is an expression of the community.”
Vortex, Gaspar Noé
And what a great community Locarno is — look past the extortionate prices and you see a cosy bustling town filled with cute cafés, homely grottoes and stunning vistas, all without the queuing stress typically found in a festival of this magnitude. It’s tempting to call it my first “post-pandemic festival,” yet this wouldn’t be entirely accurate. I’ll expect more vigilance, less handshakes, and a constant checking of vaccination documents. It’s an unnerving world right now, with international cinema caught between commerciality and artistic integrity, accessibility and glamour, safety and community.
Nonetheless, the flashy headlines of Cannes or the Oscar-bait of Venice or Toronto, Locarno still appeals to the more discerning cinephile. The Concorso internazionale is the main event, featuring the much hyped gay drama Cop Secret from Iceland, legendary Serbian director Srđan Dragojević (best known for The Wounds) with Nebesa, the return of Russian director Alexander Zeldovich after 10 years since Mishen with tragedy Medea, and Zeros and Ones, the new film from auteur Abel Ferrara starring Ethan Hawke that concerns, because of course it does: “A war between history and the future.”
For those really interested in cinema that breaks down conventions, Concorso presente is one of the most vital film programmes in European cinema. I was particularly impressed last time by those visions which expertly blended the line between documentary and fiction. While I can’t claim to know the names of any of the directors featured this year, this programme promises to provide new films that redefine the capabilities of what cinema can achieve, given past entries such as Space Dogs (Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, 2019) and Ivana the Terrible (Ivana Mladenovic, 2019).
Nazarro has also talked about expanding the popular aspects of the festival, with this year offering crowdpleasers in the form of the Ryan Reynolds-starring (and smirking) Free Guy (Shawn Levy, pictured above),everyone’s favourite shlock-auteur Gaspar Noé with Vortex and even reruns of National Lampoon’s Animal House (John Lanfis, 1978) and The Terminator (James Cameron, 1985) to provide those popcorn pleasureson the Piazza Grande screen (pictured at the top). Those looking for under-appreciated directors from ages past will enjoy the retrospective of the late Alberto Lattuada, a genre-hopping auteur described as a master of Italian cinema. Meanwhile, the three-year focus on Asian cinema continues with the Open Doors features and shorts, spanning films from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.
I am very excited, but due to a combination of lockdown, the Euros and an adorable new dog, I haven’t actually been to a cinema since February, making me a little trepidatious about jumping right in. In an attempt to reacquaint myself with the physicality and tactile nature of the cinema screen, I’m avoiding the soul-and-mind-destroying direct flight to Milan in favour of a slow train and bus journey via Baden-Württemberg, Austria, Liechtenstein and Zurich; my Berlin-accented Hochdeutsch becoming more useless with every further destination until switching to my non-existent Italian at the festival proper. I have absolutely no doubt that both trip and final destination will serve up a buffet of different cultures and ideas, with the new leadership more than capable of reaffirming the magic of in-person discovery. Forza cinema!
Dmovies will be at Locarno Film Festival from 9-13th of August. Check our page regularly for live reviews from the event.
This is has been a very special year for the Festival, as it opened up a side event called KinoFF in Eastern the cities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve. Narva is fright on the border with Russia, and nearly 95% of the population is ethnically Russian, while Kohtla-Järve is more or less evenly split between ethnic Russians and Estonians. This may seem an unremarkable event in any other country, but in Estonia it acquires an entire different dimension. That’s because the two communities have a history of division and resentment, with little prospect of inregration.
We spoke to the Hannes Aava (pictured below), the Programmer and Head of Press and Communicatiosn at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, in order to learn a little bit about the recent history of Estonian cinema, how KinoFF began, , and whether cinema can indeed work as a bridge between two historically segregated communities!
…
.
Victor Fraga – Can you please tell about the connection between the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and ethnic Russians? Have your overcome a lots of barriers?
Hannes Aava – Just over a quarter, 26%, of the population of Estonia is Russian. We have screened in Eastern Estonia before. We used to screen in 11 cities around the country, but we had to drop most of them when we got the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) A-category status. We are only allowed to screen in one city, and we need to apply for extension, for side festivals. Fiapf is a very powerful organisation because the global producers are behind it!
Russian audiences have been the most devoted fans because Russian films are doing very well. Russian audiences naturally tend to watch more Russian films, and there are a lot of good Russian films. Narva and Kohtla-Järve were the first cities that agreed to support us. It would be financially impraticable for us to launch a brand new festival in these cities, so we needed their support. Kohtla-Järve is home to out the mining and oil shale industry, our primary source of energy. Approximately 60% of our energy comes from there. That itself is a very interesting and controversial topic because that’s the dirtiest way of getting energy. Only Estonia and China do that in a large scale.
VF – Can you please tell us where the initiative came from?
HA – It’s a shifting mindset. There was a lot of Russophobia when the country became independent in the 1990s. The Russians didn’t feel very safe here. This is the first time in about 25 years that the Estonians are realising that we shouldn’t neglect the Russian minority.
We have been talking integration for a very long time. The word integration itself is a very problematic word. We should instead talk about peaceful co-existence, so that people don’t lose their identity. The integration narrative always had this secret clause that one should become the other. It suggests that Russians can’t keep their identity as it it, that they should adopt Estonian culture instead. Language is also a very painful topic in our society right now. They are very protective of their language. I think there’s this mindset now: we need to rediscover Narva because it’s a border town. It’s not good for us socially – culturally and politically – that Narva should stay isolated.
VF – At DMovies, we believe that cinema as a tool that unites people. Has Estonian cinema served as a bridge between ethnic Russian and Estonians?
HA – That’s a very good question. Estonia has always had a representation issue in cinema. We have no LGBT movies. I don’t know any Estonian film where the protagonist is LGBT. There’s a short film, but that’s it. Same thing with Russian cinema. The Russians are underrepresented in Estonian film, but this is now beginning to change. There’s a TV series called Burning Land with a Russian cast, that’s something new. It’s shot mostly in Russian language with Russian characters. Something that would never happen 10 years ago.
We still haven’t had a film that connects the two communities. We have very good distribution network for Russian cinema. All the main mainstream comedies, action and auteur films reach the screen and are very popular amongst Russians. But there hasn’t been a story that captures both sides.
VF – The movie Golden Voices (Evgeny Ruman), which is showing at your Festival in Competition this year, deals with the Russian community in Israel. Russians have their own separate video store and cinema culture. Does the same apply to Estonia?
HA – The only sign of physical segregation here is that one fifth of Tallinn’s population lives in Lasnamäe. That’s where you find the Soviet-era concrete blocks. In the heart of the city there is not such segregation, and there are no film stores and cinemas targeted exclusively at Russians. Russians films are totally mixed. However, I can say the Russians in Estonia live in the Russian mediasphere.
VF – In a bubble?
HA – I guess you could say that. That might become a political problem. Because Russian state controls all of the media. Medusa is one large news channel, and their moved their offices to Riga, in Latvia, in order to remain free of state pressure. That could be a liability.
HA – The Soviet Union’s position towards small countries such as Estonia, on one hand they encouraged the narrative of ethnic independence. On the other hand, there were a lot of restrictions. We couldn’t express ourselves freely. The Soviet Union still determined how Estonians could perform their identity.
The 1990s were a very interesting time because we gained our independence. We actually got cut off from the world because we were no longer part of the Soviet regime, but we weren’t integrated with the West, either. It was a a very harsh period from an economic perspective. All the cinemas closed down. In the end of the 1990s, we had less than 10 functional cinema screens in the country. But things began to change once the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival was established in 1997. We were one of the organisations that pushed for the reopening and digitalisation of cinemas. Now there are 70 or 80 cinema screens around the country.
VF – Narva has been called “the next Donbass”, and there is a lot of speculation about a possible Russian invasion. Have you encountered and hostility towards the Festival? Or could KinoFF help to build bridges and heal wounds from the past?
HA – We have never encountered hostility. We have been greeted with open arms. I was there for the opening ceremony of the Kohtla-Jarve Festival and they asked me: “Why didn’t you come sooner???”. It was a very positive message.
This Festival – along with other initiatives such as music events, musicals and operas that moved towards the East – is not going to be this magical bridge. The two communities won’t immediately extend their hand and agree peace. It’s more about giving them a selection of culture that they can consume at home. Culture is making the world a better place, as long as it’s not controlled by state propaganda.
The picture at the top of this article if from KinoFF at Kohtla-Järve. The two at the bottom are from KinoFF at Kohtla-Järve
The 39th edition of the Cambridge Film Festival starts this week. This year’s diverse programme includes over 150 titles from 30 countries from all continents. They range thrillers and dramas to comedies and documentaries created by the very best of both established (such as Ken Loach, Francois Ozon and Werner Herzog) and emerging filmmakers (such as Mati Diop and Aaron Schimberg).
We asked a few questions to the Stella Frangleton, who is currently the Festival’s Marketing Coordinator. She previously reviewed submissions for the event. She also runs a Young Film Programmers Group at The Abbeygate Cinema in Bury St Edmunds, and holds a degree in English and Film from King’s College London.
Victor Fraga – You are the third-longest running film festival in the UK, and you are now in your 39th edition. Please tell us a little about the relationship between city of Cambridge and film.
Stella Frangleton – Cambridge is a very cinematic city with well known films and series such as The Theory of Everything (James Marsh, 2015), the Netflix drama series The Crown and ITV’s Grantchester being filmed in and around Cambridge. The Cambridge Film Festival has been a staple of the Cambridge cultural scene since 1977 and has been joined by other film festivals such as the Cambridge African Film Festival in 2002 and the Watersprite Student Film Festival in 2010. We have a vibrant community of film students at both Anglia Ruskin and Cambridge University, many of whom go on to work at the city’s various film events. Boasting three cinemas, this city is certainly one of film lovers.
VF – This year you are screening more than 150 titles from 30 countries. How many people are involved in the curatorial process, and do they work throughout the entire year?
SF – We have a pool of around 10 programmers who select films in a variety of ways. Some attend film festivals all year round to discover the latest and most inspiring films from around the world, whereas others create very specific programmes and are only with us for a small portion of the year. By having a variety of programmers who work in very different ways, our programme achieves an extremely high quality of content across the board and you’ll notice the high level of curation involved. We are well known for our strands such as Camera Catalonia, the Cambridge African Film Festival and the Family Film Festival as well as the great selection of previews and premieres on offer every year.
VF – Are there anecdotes from the past few years that you would like to share?
SF – We have had some very acclaimed directors submit short films to the festival in their fledgling years. Christopher Nolan had a short film accepted in the festival in 1996 and has gone on to become one of the best-known directors in the world having directed such films as Dunkirk (2017), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Inception (2010), Memento (2000), and his films have gone on to gross over $4.7 billion worldwide. Likewise, acclaimed British directors Andrea Arnold (2016′ American Honey, 2009’s Fish Tank) and Shane Meadows (This Is England, 2007) also had shorts screened at the festival before going on to have massively acclaimed careers.
VF – The Festival is run by the Cambridge Film Trust. Could Please tell us about the Trust activities outside the Festival?
SF – At Cambridge Film Trust we believe passionately about great cinema and making it accessible to all. We really feel that cinema can expose people to new perspectives and ideas, aiding cross-cultural understanding and contributing to community engagement and well being. To that end we have lots of events outside the festival throughout the year. Our most well known is Movie on the Meadows, one of the biggest outdoor cinema events in the UK which takes place every August and sees around 3,000 people enjoy amazing cinema in the picturesque location of the Grantchester Meadows. We run a large amount of free community screenings around Cambridge where we bring the latest blockbusters in the heart of communities for people who may not be able to access cinemas due to money, mobility or other social factors. We have brought in a Pay What You Can Afford scheme to our “A Film I Love” seasons at the Arts Picturehouse. We invite special guests to choose a film close to their heart and audiences can choose how much they pay. We are very proud of our year round activities and hope to continue to make greats films available to all.
VF – You have given out an Audience Award since 2015. Are there any plans to expand this, and to include, for example, a jury award?
SF – We are very proud of our Audience Award and have expanded to have a Youth Jury award as well. We recruit a jury of young people who learn about all different aspects of the film industry and watch and critique the film of the festival. We think these awards make the community feel included and we hope the Youth Jury award fosters future film talent.
VF – What’s your advice to both emerging and established filmmakers who want their work showcased at the Cambridge Film Festival?
SF – It may sound obvious but we really are excited about bringing the best cinema we can to our audiences. We welcome submissions from filmmakers at any stage in their career and our submissions team works through the massive amount of submissions rigorously from around March until September. We show submissions from student filmmakers, big name directors, with tiny budgets and with big ones. We just love great film and we feel that shows in our programme and the reputation the festival has for always having such a strong film selection.
All the images on this article are property of the Cambridge Film Festival.
The Cambridge Film Festival is now nearly four decades old, making it the third longest-running film festival in the country!
This year’s diverse programme includes over 150 titles from 30 countries from all continents. They range thrillers and dramas to comedies and documentaries created by the very best of both established (such as Ken Loach, Francois Ozon and Werner Herzog) and emerging filmmakers (such as Mati Diop and Aaron Schimberg).
Now in its 39th year, the Cambridge Film Festival celebrates cinema in all its forms while also tackling some of the critical issues facing our world today, including climate change, human rights, women’s rights, prison conditions and mental health.
Because it’s always to decide where to begin in such a large film event, we have decided to lend you a little helping hand. Below are our top 10 dirty picks from the Festival, chosen exclusively for you. Don’t forget to click on the film title in order to accede to exclusive dirty reviews (where available). These are listed in alphabetical order.
Ada (Mama Sané) and Souleiman (Ibrahima Traoré) are young and in love with each other. They walk along the beach and gaze into each other’s eyes. They hold hands and kiss. The next day Souleiman sets off on a primitive pirogue towards Spain, like many other refugees have done. Ada is left to contend with an arranged marriage to wealthy and arrogant Omar, whom she despises. After the ostentatious wedding ceremony, however, strange things begin to happen, such as the nuptial bed that suddenly catches on fire. The police suspect that Souleiman never left and is involved in the arson, and Ada is his accomplice.
This may sound like your traditional love story, but it isn’t. In reality, Atlantics is a an eerie ghost story imbued with religious, social and political commentary. Djinns (supernatural creatures in Islamic mythology) haunt the locals. The dead return in order to seek justice for their loves ones. Perhaps Soulemain died at sea and his ghost is playing tricks with the living?
Atlantics won the Grand Prix at the latest Cannes Film Festival.
Francois Ozon is best remembered for his psychological dramas, psychosexual thrillers and twisted comedies. He has now moved into an almost entirely new territory: Catholic faith and paedophilia. The outcome is nothing short of magnificent. The director paints a profoundly humanistic portrayal of the sexual abuse victims of real-life priest Father Bernard Preynat (Bernard Verley), thereby denouncing the silence and the complacence of the Catholic hierarchy.
By the Grace of God, which won the Silver Bear at the latest Berlinale, follows the steps of 40-year-old father-of-five and respectable professional Alexandre (Melvil Poupard). He decides to confront Father Preynat, who abused him 30 years earlier, upon finding out in 2014 that the priest still working closely with children. The problem is that the crime took place in 1991 and it has now prescribed (exceeding the 20-year threshold for legal action), and so Alexandre searches for more recent victims of Father Preynat, in a Goliath versus David battle against the extremely powerful and millenary Catholic Church.
Ozon’s latest film is also pictured at the top of this article.
Aaron Schimberg’s film about a European auteur directing their first English language movie was never going to be an average movie. In this American film, the bucolic blond Mabel (Jess Weixler)is a beguiling beauty who struggles working with a co-star who is anything but the epitome of conventional beauty. Although she plays the blind lead who falls disgracefully in love with a facially disfigured man (Rosenthal, played by British actor Adam Pearson, who has an actual facial disfigurement), her real-life interactions showcase a Draconian demeanour out of character with the charitable character she inhabits onscreen. It’s one of the many canny references swimming in Chained For Life, a work steeped in residual reference.
This distinctive film strives for originality. Schimberg is unashamed at displaying his innate knowledge of cinema, commencing with the silhouetted opening titles. Opening with one of Pauline Kael’s sparkier quotes, the movie is overtly proud of its understanding of the world of cinema, peering behind, before and between the goings on of a film.
Iranian cinema can be as well defined by what it doesn’t show as by what it does. Women’s hair is never seen, characters never drink and sex is never depicted. Filmmakers, like Jafar Panahi (still technically under house arrest), must find novel ways to skirt restrictions to say what they want about life and society. What’s truly incredible is that despite these restrictions, Iran can lay claim to one of the richest cinematic cultures in the world.
Style follows form, the government’s rigid censorship paradoxically leading to some remarkably powerful works. Could the metafictional stylings of Abbas Kiarostami or the tightly wound social dramas of Asghar Farhadi have come out of a more liberated society? Perhaps I have been thinking about it all wrong. As the documentary Filmfarsi shows — surveying popular Iranian cinema up until the Islamic revolution of 1979 — Iranian cinema has always been characterised by wild invention, improvising with what you have and melding genres together.
This a sensory experience. One that you feel with your skin. Feel the heat, feel the fog, feel the humidity. Director Oliver Laxe and his crew received fire training in order to join the Galician forest brigade as they battle the very large fires that routinely castigate the Northeastern nation of Spain. A very audacious feat. You will be caught right in the middle of hell, surrounded by collapsing trees and gigantic flames. Laxe didn’t even know whether his film equipment would survive. Fortunately for us, it did. Despite this, plus the fact that the actors use their real names, Fire Will Come (which won the Jury Prize for the Un Certain Regard strand of Cannes) is not a documentary.
This is as close as you will ever get to a tropical Douglas Sirk. Karim Ainouz’s eighth feature film and the second one to premiere in Cannes (after Madame Sata in 2001) has all the ingredients of a melodrama. The 145-minute movie – based on the eponymous novel by Martha Batalha – is punctuated with tragic relationships, epic misfortunes, fortuitous separations and untimely deaths. All skilfully wrapped together by an entirely instrumental and magnificent music score.
The titular character (Carol Duarte) and her sister Guida Gusmao (Julia Stockler) live with their traditional parents. Their Portuguese father Antonio is rude and formidable, while their Brazilian mother Ana is quiet and passive. The action takes place in the charming and quaint Rio the Janeiro of the 1950s.
A mother sends her children to her widowed father for fear of losing them to the New York foster system. A frosty man by nature, he agrees to care for them in the Mexican rustic desert, while his daughter fights for her right to live as an American citizen. It’s not the most original of stories, but it offers moments of raw, impactful soulfulness, proving that blood is indeed thicker than water.
This slow-burn drama is deftly punctuated by Pedro Damian’s steely lead, a no-nonsense grandpa none-too-impressed by his child’s request to unsettle his blissful boat rides by minding her three children. His gruff demeanour is a country away from the metropolitan lifestyle they have become accustomed to.
The story takes place in 1770 in rural Brittany. An Italian aristocrat (Valeria Golino) has found a wedding partner for her beautiful young daughter Heloise (Adele Haenel), who just returned from a convent to live with her mother is her enormous estate house. Her husband-to-be lives in Milan, and Heloise has never met him. Her mother commissions Marianne (Noemie Merlant) to paint her daughter in secret because Heloise would never consent to it (presumably because the picture will be sent to her prospective husband). Marianne pretends to be Heloise’s mere companion, working alongside the housemaid Sophie (Luana Bajrami). Heloise’s sister has recently committed suicide, likely due to the prospect of a similar marital arrangement. This means that the burden on Marianne is enormous. Could Heloise too attempt to take her own life?
This is a film almost entirely made by women. The writer director is female, and so is the cinematographer (Claire Mathion). Virtually all the characters are female, too. Men are only seen in the end of this 119-minute movie,
Though it advertises itself an attempt to document the long-range effects cinema brought to Italy, this film is much more interested and successfully in representing the social history it so readily represents. From the profuse luxuriance explored on the screen, it was the penpushers, the workers and the everyday women who made this possible. In its own way, it’s a tribute to Italy, Italian cinema and the indomitable nature of the Italian woman.
The film’s ambitious time-lapse method, converging from the present to the past, is presented in an assemblage of photo clips, showing the women both in their prime and in the fortunes of their Autumnal years. As is the nature of time, these subjects won’t likely be here to detail their story of a sensational decade when the next sensational decade begins.
Last but not least on out least is Ken Loach’s latest heart-wrenching drama. Ricky (Kris Hitchen) is a building worker with an impeccable CV, living with his family somewhere in suburban Newcastle. He persuades his wife Abbie (Debbie Honeywood) to sell off her car in order to raise £1,000 so that he can buy a van and move into the delivery industry. A franchise owner promises Ricky that he’ll be independent and “own his own business”, and earn up to £1,200 a week.
The reality couldn’t be more different. Ricky ends up working up to 14 hours a day six days a week. He literally has no time to pee, and instead urinates in a bottle inside him own vehicle (I would hazard a guess that Amazon’s infamous practices inspired scriptwriter Paul Laverty). His draconian delivery targets and inflexible ETAs (estimated time of arrival) turn him into a delivery robot. A small handheld delivery device containing delivery instructions virtually controls his life. Ricky has been conned. His “independence” is but an illusion. He might own his car, his company and his insurance, yet he’s entirely at the mercy of his franchiser.
For nine days, nearly 100 movies made by Indigenous filmmakers in every corner of the planet will be showcased in a variety of London venues. They include Nigerian Yoruba, Filipino T’boli, Yakutian horsebreeders from Russia, and a even a very transgressive Indiqueer Canadian Cree filmmaker. Many artists will attend the Festival, showcase their work, and debate the challenges of Indigenous life and filmmaking with an enthusiastic audience of Indigenous people, activists, researchers and film lovers in general. The action kicks off on Saturday, October 12th, Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the US.
Native Spirit Film Festival was founded by Mapuche filmmaker Freddy Treuquil in 2005. It is the UK’s first and only independent annual festival promoting contemporary Indigenous Cinema, MediaMakers and Artists and are event participants with Unesco International Year of Indigenous languages.
Below are the some of the most important Festival highlights. Click on the titles in order to accede to the individual reviews. You can see the full programme either on our calendar, on Native Spirit’s Facebook page or Eventbrite, where you can also purchase your ticket.
Thirza Jean Cuthand was born in Saskatchewan and grew up in Saskatoon, and she is of Cree origin. Starting in 1995, Cuthand began exploring short experimental narrative videos and films about sexuality, madness, youth, love, and race, using national, sexual and Indigenous experiences to showcase in unfiltered raw exteriors.
Make no mistake, there is purity at play here. Collecting the confines, conditions and contractions of Cuthand’s milieu, the varied works slip together into one continuous narrative written years, even decades, apart. More to the point, the essays cross genres from the pointedly visual into the realms of performance arts.
Young T’boli princess K’Na (Mara Lopez) finds herself trapped in an undesirable dilemma, as she has to balance realising her personal dreams with her duties as a village dream-weaver. Chosen by her town-folk to fill the vacant position, K’na is freighted with delivering visions through colourful abaca fibres. Tied to the boughs that hold her village afloat, K’na fancies the courtship from the broad-shouldered Silaw (RK Bagatsing), before Royal duties divide her impressionable intentions from her personal. The tribes follow tradition with the punishing reverence of survival, but K’na and Silaw share some moments of unbridled flirtation. Animalistic in their desire, their collegiality needs to be subdued.
The highs and lows of extreme rural living are expertly depicted in 24 Snow, a documentary that dives into life in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. Alternating scenes of natural beauty with a down-to-earth character portrait of an middle-aged Yakut horse breeder, it celebrates traditional forms of living while lamenting their slow erosion to the forces of modernisation.
Sergey Loukin’s story takes place in the area around Sakkyryr, Russia, one of the coldest inhabited places on earth, where temperatures regularly plummet below minus fifty degrees. It’s so cold in the winter that sheets of ice cling to the horse’s fur and must be removed with axes, and reindeer and husky-pulled sleds remain the only form of transportation. There is no electricity, no internet and no shops for miles around. Sergei must make do with his immediate surroundings alone. We follow him for around a year, from snow to summer to snow again.
Jazz creole artist Etienne Charles is one of the genre’s most inventive musicians, garnering acclaim for three impressive and well-received albums for his own Culture Shock Music imprint. A man still in his twenties, Charles understands the vitality and power Creole music holds on those who listen to it, inviting audiences to see, listen and feel the music he espouses on a daily basis. His style of raw playing has been hailed hailed by The New York Times as “an auteur” and by Jazz Times as “a daring improviser who delivers with heart wrenching lyricism”.
Through a trilogy of short films, Charles shows the beauty Trinidad holds in both its visual and musical form. Charles’ blend of improvisation and first-class musicianship has an infectious quality that attracts fans of all ages. The films capture the artists pure spontaneity, thriving and diving through the Trinidad streets.
They are black, they are aboriginal and they are queer. They are the new Queens of the Desert. Six Aboriginal drag queens (one of which is pictured above) will open up the 12th Native Spirit Film Festival, as the Australian documentary Black Divaz kick-starts the event. The action takes place between October 11th and 21st in Bloomsbury (Central London).
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The event includes more than 50 films from all continents, more than half directed by Indigenous filmmakers. The event will also include a number of talks and debates. Artists and speakers include:Ingrid Pumayalla (Peru), Greta Morton Elangué (Indigenous Australian) and founder of the Festival of Indigenous Australian Cinema in Paris), Jules Koostachin (Cree, Canada), Red Haircrow (Chiricahua Apachean award-winning writer), Suming Rupi (Amis-Taiwanese singer and songwriter), Ado’ Kaliting Pacidal (Amis, Taiwan), Lin Guo-ting (Amis, Taiwan), Sara Kautolonga (Tonga), Peiman Zekavat (Director of Timbo) and Alex Browning (African Diaspora).
There will also be an exhibition held at The Crypt entitled Life Blood, featuring Cara Romero Photography in collaboration with Bloomsbury Festival’s theme Activists and Architects of Change.
Crystal Love takes to the stage, gargantuan in gown and appearance. Describing herself as a whale, Love refers to the audience as a bunch of “cunts”. It’s a hysterical moment in a series of moments which details the empowerment a Drag Queen Pageant can bring to a person. Love admits later of being reinvigorated, while Isla refers to the transformation as one which changes their attitude from being masculine to more girly more easily. Behind the costumes, flowing hair and choreography is the story of empowerment, invigoration and humanity, all told with the cheekiest of tongues.
Politics and art mix in Burkinabè Rising, a deep dive into the way culture informs, comments upon and even provokes societal change. Looking at how Burkina Faso has changed since the popular uprising of 2014, it is a sprawling mosaic of a movie that seems to take in the whole country in its generous, inquisitive approach.
The key event is the 2014 ousting of Blaise Compaoré, considered by many to have led the country over the past 27 years in an undemocratic fashion. He took over from the pan-African revolutionary Thomas Sankara, who is widely considered to be Africa’s answer to Che Guevara (for one thing, he sells as many T-shirts in that region). More an African icon than a mere Burkinabé mortal, the spirit of Sankara is constantly evoked in this restless look at the country’s contemporary art and culture.
Two Taiwanese aboriginal musicians Suming and Baobu, are invited to New Caledonia, by the Director for a trip. During this voyage, they made friends with local Kanak musician, played music, lived together, and sometimes composed together. A film about language barriers and music´s ability to cross cultural differences.
.
4. Suming Carrying the Flag (Jau-Horne Sen, 2017):
Suming, a young Amis man from eastern Taiwan, is part of the first generation of Indigenous people forced to lose their native language. Singing in the Amis language, Suming has worked his way to the forefront of Taiwan’s popular music scene, while simultaneously leading the Indigenous (Amis) youth to rediscover their tribal identity and uniting his people behind the creation of Amis Music Festival.
.
5. 7th Generation (John L Voth, 2017):
The film is about Oglala Lakota tribal member Jim Warne’s efforts in helping Tribal Nations find a way to succeed in a contemporary American system and still remain Indian at heart.
After the Wounded Knee Massacre a Lakota medicine man named Black Elk had a prophecy, “It will take 7 generations to heal our sacred hoop.”
.
6. Yvy Maraey (Juan Carlos Valvidia, 2013):
A well-off metropolitan filmmaker hoping to retrace the trail of an early Swedish documentarian travels to the Bolivian highlands in search of savages. Once there, however, he finds his privileged cultural position met with ire more often than awe. Including allusions to documentary classics like Nanook of the North, Valdivia’s film moves beyond the plot itself to probe larger questions of memory, the politics of representation, and the power of cinema.
.
7. Forget Winnetou: Loving the Wrong Way (Red Haircrow, 2018):
It may be the only film of its kind, for we explore the roots of racism and colonialism, apathy and adoration in German society from Native perspectives and through their experiences. Germany is a microcosm of struggles taking place across the world both against and for decolonization, and the correction of systematic racism and white supremacy that’s still dividing and destroying our world.
