Tag Archives: Foreign language

Cold War (2018) Zimna wojna

4:45pm, Saturday 16 March, Opera House

Year: 2018
Running Time: 1 hour 30 mins
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Genre: Romance, Drama, War
Language: French, Polish (English subtitles)
Awards: Best Director, 2018 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for 3 Academy Awards

 

Paweł Pawlikowski directs the stunning film Cold War, starring Tomasz Kot as Wiktor a music director who falls in love with singer Zula played by Joanna Kulig. This is an epic romance set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Sumptuously shot in luminous black and white, it spans decades and nations to tell a love story that is as tragic as it is moving.

 

In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor and Zula fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever. As the years march on in the wake of that moment, Wiktor and Zula watch the world changing around them, always struggling to find their moment in time. Cold War is a passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other.

 

Winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival 2018, Pawlikowski melds the personal with the political to exquisite effect. Set to a soundtrack that takes you from the rustic folk songs of rural Poland to the sultry jazz of a Paris basement bar, it’s a wistful and dreamlike journey through a divided continent – and a heartbreaking portrait of ill-fated love.

Tickets £5
Book before 14 Feb for a 20% early bird discount.

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5 star reviews :

  • “Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski’s exquisitely chilling soviet-era drama maps the dark heart of Poland itself.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
  • “A beautifully composed tone poem to doomed love.” John Bleasdale, Cinevue
  • “A glorious throwback…made with a verve and lyricism which rekindles memories of the glory days of european new wave cinema.” Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent
  • “Kulig, as effervescent in her way as the young Jeanne Moreau, is the film’s life force.” Tim Tobey, The Telegraph

 

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Güeros (2014)

5:30pm, Saturday 17 March 2018, Grand Foyer

Year: 2014
Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Cert: 15

Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale follows two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an ageing legendary musician.

Tomás is too much for his lone mother so she sends him to live with his older brother Federico, (aka Sombra) and his roommate Santos, in Mexico City.

Both are students at the university, but they spend most of their time hanging out at home having boycotted school for the past few months as part of an ongoing student strike. Boredom leads the trio to embark on an unusual mission when they find out that their late father’s musical hero, Epigmenio Cruz is dying.

Travelling through the city in their rusty car soon becomes a voyage of self-discovery in this road movie in which the travellers barely manage to leave town.

With witty dialogue and crisp black and white cinematography, Güeros is a must for fans of New Wave cinema and anyone looking to experience new Mexican film-making at its best.

Winner of 21 awards including Best First Feature, Berlin International Film Festival 2014 Winner Best Cinematography Tribeca Film Festival 2014 Winner of 5 Mexican Ariel “Academy Awards”, including Best Film and Best Director.

Tickets £5.00 

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Embrace of the Serpent (2016)

Saturday 4 February: Introductory talk: 7:40pm, Grand Foyer. Screening: 8:15pm, Opera House

Year: 2016  Running Time: 125 mins
Director: Ciro Guerra
Starring: Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar, Yauenku Miguee
Cert: 12
Language: Spanish, Portuguese, German, Catalan and Latin.
Subtitles: English
Awards: Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 2016

“Before he can become a warrior a man has to leave everything behind and go into the jungle guided only by his dreams. In that journey he has to discover completely alone, who he really is. Some get lost and never come back”

Karamakate, a warrior shaman and last of his tribe, transcends the worlds of men and seeks truth through their dreams. He alone knows how to find the mysterious and psychedelic Yakruna plant; for some it has life-saving properties, for others it is a commodity waiting to be exploited. Two scientists, in two different times with very different agendas enlist Karamakate on their individual quests in an epic adventure into the heart of the Colombian Amazon to find this mythical plant.

This Oscar nominated film is seen through Karamakate’s eyes and bears witness to the effects of colonialism, religion and the exploitation of rubber, that affect indigenous traditions and the environment to which they are inextricably linked.

“The film is inspired by the travel diaries of Theodor Koch Grunberg (1879–1924) and Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001). These diaries are the only known accounts of many Amazonian cultures. This film is dedicated to all the peoples whose song we will never know.” Ciro Guerra (Director)

simon-enatahua-150x150We are pleased to announce a short introductory talk from author and explorer Simon Chapman in the Grand Foyer at 7:40pm. 

Simon has been entertaining adults and children with stories of his real-life adventures since 2001.  He has recently returned from exploring the Enatahua River in Bolivia. 

See the Facebook event page.

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Rashomon (1950)

6pm, Saturday 4 February, Opera House

Year: 1950  Running Time: 87 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Takashi Shimura
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Cert: 12
Awards 

  • Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 1951
  • Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 1953

Rashomon is a Japanese classic widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Based on two short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, it centres on a terrible crime which is recounted through four conflicting accounts. This gripping psychological thriller looks into the meaning of justice and raises questions about the nature of truth.

Set in feudal Japan, the film depicts the murder of  a samurai and the rape of his wife from four different – and contradictory – points of view. Which account is true? Who can be believed – if anyone?

Akira Kurosawa brings us striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks; and this new digital restoration makes Kazuo Miyagawa’s lush cinematography as vivid as if it were made today.

Rashomon is considered a masterpiece of cinema and one of the most influential films of all time introducing Japanese cinema to the wider world.

Take a look at the Facebook event.

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