season – The Cultural Exposé

Somewhere you should go… Paris Seen By… Film Season at the Institut Français

Apostolos Kostoulas — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 09:47:15 +0000

With the British sun playing its traditional hide and seek for yet another summer, cinema’s ability to transport the viewer to idyllic places from all over the world should be fully exploited. So if you are interested in a quick trip across the pond, Ciné Lumière promises to offer you some of the most beautiful depictions of the City of Light ever to appear on the big screen.

Hôtel du Nord

The Paris Seen By…. season is a compilation of an eclectic list of films shot by French, European and American directors that highlight the impeccable romanticism of the French capital which has given birth to millions of love stories throughout the centuries. Take for example, Marcel Carné’s Hôtel du Nord, a masterpiece of the French poetic realism. It uses the titular hotel on the banks of the Canal St. Martin, whose main occupants are crooks and prostitutes, as the background for two powerful love stories, one concerning a gangster and a prostitute and the other, a young couple who have checked into the hotel to carry out a suicide pact. French Cancan, by the great Jean Renoir, transfers us to a more glamorous locale: in the late 19th-century Montmartre, theatre impresario Henri Danglard (Jean Gabin) turns a lovely young washerwoman called Nini Françoise Arnoul into the star of his new club, Moulin Rouge. The Gallic director shoots this archetypal “rise to stardom” story with his characteristic visual flair, presenting us with an irresistible view of that era’s nightlife.
Another heavyweight of French Cinema, Jean-Luc Godard, gives us a more modern look into the grey Parisian suburbs, with Bande à part, offering a handful of classic scenes like the one where the three main characters run through the Louvre. That scene is referenced in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, a love letter to Paris in the sixties with an incredibly photogenic cast that includes Eva Green and and Louis Garrel.

Midnight in Paris

The winning formula of Paris + beautiful stars had already been applied with great success by Hollywood during its classic era. In Charade for example we have Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn falling in love in the French Capital. Add to this an engaging sense of suspense that brings to mind the best Hitchcock’s offerings and you have a truly enjoyable romantic thriller. Another iconic American film star, Gene Kelly, plays the role of Jerry Mulligan a former GI who comes to the City of Light to pursue his artistic aspirations and finds love in the shape of Leslie Caron in An American in Paris. It’s arguably the best musical ever made with the glorious music of George Gershwin reminding us what love is all about.
The essence of love and romance is also at the heart of two more recent films. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris – undoubtedly his best film in years- uses the plot device of time travelling in an intriguing way ( in Paris after midnight you can be transferred to the 1920s and the 1980s and socialise with Zelda Fitzgerald, Picasso and Dali) posing the question whether romance is dead in the age we live in. Finally, for those of you who prefer your film couples to express their love for each other through interesting conversations – rather than being all googly eyed – you must do yourself a favour and follow the romantic story of Jesse and Celine. Before Sunset is the middle part of the critically acclaimed trilogy that follows the lovely couple of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as they stroll along the Seine and share some fascinating discussions about love, hopes and reality.
Enjoy then a season of escapist love stories in the most romantic city of the world and remind yourself whenever you are feeling blue the immortal words of Bogie: “We’ll always have Paris”. (Words: Apostolos Kostoulas)

Paris seen by. takes place at Ciné Lumière from 20 June to 20 July. To accompany the screenings an exhibition entitled The Discovery of Paris, Watercolours by British Artists opens at the Wallace Collection on 20 June. For more information go to www.institut-francais.org.uk/cine-lumiere/whats-on/festivals-series/paris-seen-by

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Somewhere you should go… Sci-Fi London East

The Cultural Exposé — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:00:58 +0000

After a summer of sport, the Olympic Park passes the baton to Picturehouse Cinemas in Stratford for Sci-Fi London East, a weekend of dystopian nightmares, adventurous weaponry, and surreal hyper-violence from 9-11 November. As well as 9 metaphysical and infectious cinematic traumas (including 3 UK premieres), the festival is hosting a masterclass in disaster survival, forums with sci-fi writers, and an end-of-the-world pub quiz held in association with the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club.

Billed as ‘the post-apocolympic event’, Sci-Fi London East itself opens with a race, the UK premiere of The Human Race directed by Paul Hough. In the film, people from different ethnic backgrounds, different generations, different sexes, and different physical capacities are chosen by an anonymous force, instantly disappearing from whence they came to appear on a path, ready for the race. Friday evening closes with Crawlspace, a tense and claustrophobic blend of sci-fi and horror which sees the producers of Wolf Creek return to the Australian outback, this time to top secret underground military compound Pine Gap.

In Antiviral, the feature debut of Brandon Cronenberg, competing private clinics specialise in infecting patients with genetically modified illnesses harvested directly from celebrities. What better way for fans to get closer to their idols? Set in the vacuously antiseptic clinics made famous by his father David in his early body horror films, identities transform and bodies mutate when a salesman injects himself with the latest virus. It is a biting satire, in the most literal sense, on the contemporary obsession with celebrity culture. Other highlights on Saturday include the UK premiere of Cory Mcabee’s Crazy and Thief, an Anime all-nighter and a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 all-nighter.
Sunday opens with Flight of the Navigator, Disney’s child-friendly sci-fi with a Beach Boys soundtrack, ahead of its Blu-Ray release on November 19. The festival comes to an end with screenings of Metamorphosis, an adaptation of Kafka’s classic short story, and finally Carre Blanc, a gravely stylish vision of the future inspired by Chris Marker and Jean Luc Godard’s Alphaville. (Words: Chris Fennell)

Sci-Fi London East runs from November 9-11. For more info, visit www.sci-fi-london.com

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Somewhere you should go… the Russian Film Festival

The Cultural Exposé — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:00:14 +0000

The Russian Film Festival has returned to venues across London for the sixth year running. Through original and perceptive features and politically charged documentaries, the festival champions the creativity, imagination and vision of the most established Russian directors as well as a new generation of emerging filmmakers.

This season’s international film festivals, which also include Film Africa (previewed here) and the London Korean Film Festival, are programmed to reflect the native contemporary experiences of their compatriots in a Western setting where they might be devalued or misunderstood. The Russian fest, in a feature programme selected by Andrei Plakhov, calls upon the past, present and future to broadly explore the diversity and paradoxes of modern Russia. Till Night Do Us Part, which opened the festival, is a comedy-of-manners based on real-life conversations overhead at an opulent Moscow restaurant. Pavel Lungin, the winner of the Best Director prize at Cannes in 1990, will also premiere his new film, The Conductor, a musical parable about a man who takes the oratorio St Matthew Passion to Jerusalem, and who undergoes a pilgrimage himself.
Documentarian Vitaly Mansky, who attempts to grasp 100 years of television history in 100 minutes in his own Iconoscope, curates the non-fiction section. Notable selections include: Winter, Go Away!, a two month project from 10 Russian film school graduates chronicling the winter protests that preceded the recent re-election of Vladimir Putin, and Anton Is Right Here, critic-turned-director Lyubov Arkus’s poignant and effective documentary about autism.

The festival is organised by Academia Rossica and the Russian Cinema Fund in collaboration with the Apollo Cinema Piccadilly and the Institute of Contemporary Art. As well as Q&A’s, discussions, and masterclasses with world-renowned directors, actors and producers, the festival will also host the Russian-British Co-Production and Distribution Forum, organised with the British Film Institute and the Russian Cinema Fund, and a retrospective of Andrei Konchalovsky. All films will be shown in Russian with English subtitles. (Words: Chris Fennell)

For more info, visit: www.academia-rossica.org/en/film/russian-film-festival/6-russian-film-festival

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A guide to the 56th BFI London Film Festival

Apostolos Kostoulas — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:00:03 +0000

If you take a quick look at this year’s programme, you will see that it has undergone some significant changes – it’s only 12 days long (instead of its usual 16 days duration) and the French Revolution section is no more – but there is no reason to panic. The shorter duration of the festival is more than compensated for by the increase in the number of the relevant venues. In addition to the Leicester Square cinemas and the BFI Southbank, now for the first time, festival screenings are taking place at some of our favourite independent cinemas, from the Renoir in Bloomsbury to the Ritzy in Brixton. As for the festival’s sections, new categories have been introduced with titles such as love, laugh, debate and thrill, making it much easier for the public to navigate through the festival’s ever-eclectic selection of more than 200 films. If you need any additional help though, here is a timetable of what we believe will be the festival’s highlights:

DAY 1, Wednesday October 10th

Keeping in line with the general spirit of renovation, the festival kick starts with the European Premiere of Frankenweenie that finds Tim Burton expanding on his 1984 live-action short film of the same name. With a story that focuses on the attempts of a little boy to bring his beloved dog Sparky back from the dead, the film promises to be a return to form for the director who seemed to have lost something of his wonderfully gloomy touch with his recent offerings. The film will be screened simultaneously at 19:00 at the Odeon Leicester Square and at the IMAX where the public will be able to fully enjoy this gloriously crafted, stop-motion 3D animation.

DAY 2, Thursday October 11th

Cinema has an unparalleled power to transfer you to places (geographical or emotional ones) that are far away from your ordinary life. A fascinating case in point is Wadjda (15:30 VUE 7), the debut feature of female director Haifaa Al Mansour. It offers us a unique glimpse into everyday life in a country where cinemas have been banned for over 30 years, through the story of a little girl who challenges the traditions of the Saudi society in the capital city of Riyadh. Laurence Anyways (18:00 VUE 7) has an equally exciting premise, examining through an impressive visual style how the unexpected decision of Laurence (the wonderful Melvil Poupaud) to make the transition from male to female affects his relationship with his long term girlfriend. If your heart has not yet been broken to pieces by this exquisite melodrama then have a go at the gala screening of Amour (20:45 Mayfair 1). The recent Palm d’Or winner tells the story of Georges and Anne, a loving couple who are both in their 80s. When Anne suffers a stroke that leaves her partly paralysed and speechless they both try to cope with this new challenge, never losing their love for each other. Featuring incredible performances by the legendary actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, Amour is the first film in the oeuvre of Michael Haneke that will engage both your mind and your heart.

DAY 3, Friday October 12th

Takashi Miike’s For Love’s Sake (12:00 NFT1) may have the word love in its title but as we have come to expect from this eccentric director, it is certainly not soppy. With his frenetic visual style, Miike offers an explosive mix of violence, romance and music galore with the characters singing and dancing to vintage Japanese pop songs. Gimme the Loot (18:15 VUE 7) will offer the perfect antidote to Miike’s delirium. The debut feature of Adam Leon follows the adventures of two Bronx kids, Malcolm and Sofia determined to make a mark on the city by tagging the famous NY Mets home-run apple. This subtle gentle little tale with a big heart earned the Grand Jury Prize at the South by Southwest festival and is a bonafide crowd pleaser. As far as heart-warming experiences go though, it will be really difficult to find a more sensational film released this year than Beasts of the Southern Wild (20:30 OWE 2). It blends the escapist power of fantasy with the harsh reality of life at a remote southern delta community – and with a performance from five- year – old actress Quvenzhané Wallis that has to be seen to be believed, the film has easily gained the glowing acclaim of both the public and the critics, receiving major awards at both Sundance and Cannes.

DAY 4, Saturday October 13th

Continuing with films that have been praised at some of the biggest film festivals in the world, The Hunt (18:30 OWE 1), which has been hailed as a return to form for Danish director Thomas Vinterberg deals with the taboo subject of paedophilia (a much –loved kindergarden teacher is accused by a young girl in his class of sexually abusing her) with the same raw emotional ferocity and complexity that made his debut Festen a difficult but essential viewing experience. Jacques Audiard on the other hand, has never put a foot wrong and his latest film Rust and Bone (20:30 OWE 2) is an excellent example of how a film with a paraplegic main character (Marion Cotillard in a strong performance) can offer genuine emotions without succumbing to sentimentality.

DAY 5, Sunday October 14th

The We and the I (15:00 VUE 5), the latest film from Michel Gondry, presents to us the hopes and dreams of a number of students at a Bronx high school on the last day of term, in his usual utterly charming way. Moving from hope to nightmare, the documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (18:15 NFT 1) explores the controversial issue of paedophilia in the Catholic Church using as a starting point the shocking accusations against the Catholic priest Lawrence C Murphy of molesting as many as 200 boys for more than 25 years at St John’s School for the Deaf in St Francis Wisconsin. The Oscar –winning filmmaker Alex Gibney wil discuss this film and his overall career in what will surely be a fascinating screen talk on Tuesday 16 at 18:15 at NFT 2.

DAY 6, Monday October 15th

As its title suggests Love, Marilyn (12:30 OWE 2) is an affecting homage to the legendary Hollywood actress by the Academy Award nominated director Liz Garbus who has collected an impressive array of home movies and photographs of Monroe. But perhaps more intriguingly, she has also filmed a diverse range of contemporary Hollywood stars and starlets from Ellen Burstyn to Lindsay Lohan doing performative readings of extracts from the recently published Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn. Stanley Kubrick may have never received the same amount of worship as Marilyn – but his undisputed genius and the air of mysticism that surrounded him throughout his life has earned him a significant cult following and has made him the subject of a continuing growing number of intense debates and well thought essays. Room 237 (14:00 ICA) tries to uncover the hidden meanings and mystic codes within one of the great filmmaker’s most celebrated works The Shining. That it manages to do so with an engaging combination of wit and intellect makes this documentary an unexpected delight.

DAY 7, Tuesday October 16th

Death of a Man in the Balkans (14:00 ICA) brings a much needed breath of fresh air into the tired found film footage premise. Shot in only nine takes, this highly inventive Serbian film is presented via a webcam that was set up by a lonely composer just before committing suicide. As we watch a great set of characters, from the neighbours to the undertaker, entering a flat after they have heard gunshots, we become witnesses of not just a perfect example of black comedy but also of a sharp critic of the absurd reality we live in. Hyde Park on Hudson (18:45 Empire) may not share an equally inventive visual style but it is directed by the always dependable Roger Michell (The Mother) and besides, the chance to watch Bill Murray in the role of American president Franklin D Roosevelt is worth the admission fee alone. And now for something completely different. A Liar’s Autobiography (21:00 Empire) is a lovely animated tribute to the late Graham Chapman filled with the Pythons’ legendary bonkers style and the best film that Chapman has been in after he died.

DAY 8, Wednesday October 17th

There are many things to enjoy in the Sundance sensation The Sessions (12:30 VUE 5). John Hawkes and Helen Hunt both give extremely moving performances in this story about a 38-year old paraplegic who wants to lose his virginity and his sexual surrogate who helps him with his endeavour. The film’s strongest merit however is the wonderfully written script by writer-director Ben Lewis, based on a true story, which walks the thin line between comedy and drama, despair and hope, with enviable ease. Argo (19:00 OLS) makes another strong case in support of the notion that reality is often far more exciting than fiction. The incredible true story of a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist who, during the Iranian revolution, came up with the imaginative plan to go to Tehran pretending to be a producer of a sci-fi movie scouting for location, is helmed by Ben Affleck, who has made an astonishing transition from a mediocre actor to a well-respected director.

DAY 9, Thursday October 18th

In his latest film, Everyday (15:00 OWE 2), the renowned and impressively productive British director, Michael Winterbottom captures the effects that the imprisonment of a man for drug smuggling has on his hard-working wife and their four children over the course of five years with an acutely observational style, a perfect accompaniment to the deceptively simple script. That said, simplicity is one of the few qualities that you would not associate with The Rolling Stones. The legendary band has been writing rock history for 50 years now and Crossfire Hurricane, which will have its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square at 19:00 promises to be the definite documentary about the Stones and a fitting celebration of the group’s anniversary.

DAY 10, Friday October 19th

Why not start your afternoon with an emotional punch in your guts courtesy of Craig Zobel’s much talked about Compliance (15:00 OWE 2)? Based on true facts, the film is about a prank call that gradually breaks every moral code known to men. Then, get some much wanted comic relief by watching Seven Psychopaths (18:00 OWE 2) Martin Mc Donagh’s highly anticipated follow up to the cult masterpiece In Bruges. It offers another endlessly witty script and a cast to die for (Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken). Then finish your day in style with the world premiere of the restored version of Alfred Hitchcock’s classy silent melodrama The Manxman (20:30 Empire) that will bring the BFI’s grand scale project “The Genius of Hitchcock” to a glamorous end.

DAY 11, Saturday October 20th

Slavoj Žižek is finally back. After six years, the sui generis Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic returns to the big screen with The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (18:00 OWE 2). Be prepared to see popular films, from The Sound of Music to The Dark Knight, from a completely different perspective and give it your best shot to refrain yourself from bursting into laughter. Another welcome return is that of Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Kill List). Sightseers (21:00 OWE 2) follows the romantic trip of two lovers that soon becomes a murder spree. The bloodshed that prevails in Wheatley’s previous efforts is still very much present but for the first time romance is thrown into the mix. The final result should be really interesting.

DAY 12, Wednesday October 21st

What a great way to start the last day of the festival by watching (or re-watching) Robert Aldrich’s cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (15:00 Hackney) and marvel at the Grand Guignol fight to the death between decaying divas Joan Crawford and Bette Davies who blur the line between performance and reality. Compared to these highly deranged characters, Miss Havisham is an exemplary human being who just does not cope so well with rejection. Still Miss Havisham remains one of Dickens’ most fascinating creations and she is definitely a perfect match for the perennial gloomy Helena Bonham Carter. She is surrounded by equally aspiring choices of actors (Ralph Fiennes in the role of Magwitch, Jason Flemyng as Joe) that make this latest adaptation of Great Expectations (19:00 OLS) by Mike Newell not just a must-watch film but a fitting melancholic choice to close this year’s festival. (Words: Apostolos Kostoulas)

The 56th BFI London Film Festival takes place from 10-21 October. Tickets go on sale September 24th, but for more info about the programme go to www.bfi.org.uk/lff

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Somewhere you should go… the Raindance Film Festival

Apostolos Kostoulas — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:00:52 +0000

Diversity is one of the major selling points for attending a film festival. Take away though, all the films that focus on dysfunctional families, awkward romances and the tranquillity of youth and the line-up of even major film festivals becomes significantly slimmer. Raindance Film Festival is an exciting exception. Ever since 1992, Raindance has been one of the most zealous and prominent supporters of genuinely independent cinema from all over the world and now in its 20th year it promises to showcase- in addition to all the special events and distinguished guest- once again an eclectic selection of truly original and ferociously adventurous films.
Opening this year’s festival, the Mexican horror film, Here Comes the Devil is definitely not for the faint-hearted, but it never succumbs to easy scare tactics, by building a mysterious and unsettling atmosphere in the vein of Nicolas Roeg’s classic Don’t Look Now. But the appearance of the cult music group The Real Tuesday Weld at the opening night after-party will help you leave all bad thoughts behind with their cabaret style music that recalls the wonderfully romantic oeuvre of Cole Porter.

The rest of the festival’s programme is filled with films with uber cool premises. String Caesar places legendary Shakespearean actor Derek Jacobi alongside real life prisoners in a modern retelling of the Bard’s Julius Caesar. In an equally daring venture, the renowned minimalist composer Michael Nyman attempts to make an updated version of Dziga Vertov’s revolutionary documentary Man with a Movie Camera. The selection of documentaries in this year’s festival is especially strong, with Me@ the Zoo offering an intriguing look in the endlessly self-recorded life of transgendered man Chris Crocker, and Zero Killed giving us a rare view of the darkest corners of the human mind as director Michal Kosakowski asks people from various backgrounds about their murder fantasies and then gives them the chance to stage them as short films.
Add to the mix a list of international shorts with A-list stars such as Charlotte Rampling, Jenifer Lopez, Malcolm McDowell and Phil Jupitus and retrospectives that celebrate the genius of the French avant guardist Chris Maker (whose short film La Jetée became the inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys) and the eccentric work of Trent Harris, best known for Plan 10 From Outer Space, a low- budget sensation with the unbeatable combo of aliens and Mormons and you will understand what a diverse film festival experience feels like. (Words: Apostolos Kostoulas)
The 20th Riverside Film Festival takes place from 26 September-7 October at the West End’s Apollo Cinema. For further information visit www.raindance.co.uk

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Somewhere you should go… East in East: Euro 2012, Rich Mix

The Cultural Exposé — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:08:53 +0000

Fresh off a wonderful weekend of celebrations to honour our beloved Queen comes the next major event to put our loyalties to GB to the test – Euro 2012. But with most sporting events, there’s no harm in showing love to another worthy team (cough, Spain) – while this particular fest is opting to pay homage to our comrades from the Eastern Bloc with 20 days and nights of live music, exhibitions, films and spoken-word, brought to you by the best Eastern European artists and musicians based in the capital. There’s plenty of football of course, will all the matches being screened live starting with Poland v Greece on June 8th – but whatever the outcome, it’ll be worth sticking around after each game to check out acts like the folksy Csergo Band & Monooka (June 8th), party starters Stephunk T (pictured) & Charlotte Michelle (June 9th), mesmerising singer-songwriter Tanja Tzarkovska (June 12th) and the funky Radio Gagarin Crew (June 15th). Oh, and did we mention all these Eurocentric festivities were FREE? One for the diary we think…

East in East runs until July 1st. For more info, visit www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/festival/euro-2012-festival

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Somewhere You Should Go… World Stages

Lucy Palmer — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:00:25 +0000

Later this month, World Stages London – a unique season of international theatre – will be looking to bring together the melting pot of London’s cultures with the capital’s renowned theatre scene. Each show celebrates the diversity of London and its rich history, drawing inspiration from all over the globe including the UK, India, China, France, South Africa, Germany, Estonia, Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria, the Middle East and the US.

Taking place from April onwards, in conjunction with the best theatres including the Battersea Arts Centre, Bush Theatre and the Young Vic, this will also reinforce the diversity of the festival. Shows I’m particularly excited to see include the Wah! Wah! Girls featuring the Mujra dancers and is a mixture of dance sequences and romance, set in the modern British-Asian community , as well as Babel, created to be shown outside in the gorgeous Caledonian Park, Islington.

And for those interested in the background of theatre, there are public talks such as ‘Never Waste A Good Crisis – the pleasures of collaboration’, which will give you a chance to hear how the directors coordinated and conducted World Stages. There’s also ‘As Everyday As Breathing? Translating across cultures’ covering the impact of translating across cultures and ‘Live and Digital – digital technology and international performance’. For a technology lover like me, I’ll be going to this one as it looks at how technology influences live performances and the ways theatre can incorporate modern devices into their shows. But to find out more of what’s in store, visit www.worldstageslondon.com. (Words: Lucy Palmer)

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