 S P E C I A L S C R E E N I N G S |
| Sat 3 Jun • LEEF Showcase
1st London East End Film Makers (LEEF) Cluster Screening 1.30 Tractor Films & The East End Film Society present the first in a series of cutting edge shorts made up of the very best of East End talent. For more info contact either becky@tractorfilms.co.uk or duncan@filmacademy.co.uk £3.00 non-LEEF members/LEEF members free |
||||||||||
 Mon 5 Jun • Matinee
ARMY IN THE SHADOWS (L’armée des Ombres) (12A) 3.00 (France 1969) dir.Jean-Pierre Melville 143m. New Print. Subtitles. “Discretion is the better part of valour, they say. And you couldn’t imagine a more discreet tribute to the heroes of the wartime French Resistance than this terrific late-’60s thriller by the ex-Maquis member Melville. Tracing the self-sacrificial exploits from October 1942 to February 1943 of a small group of field operatives – the acerbic Lino Ventura’s ex-engineer, Simone Signoret’s iron-nerved Mathilde among them – Melville’s film adopts a formal essentialism to outline the codes and manners of impassive-looking ‘warriors’. Of the themes with which the director deals so superbly – disguised emotion, organisation, trust, quiet courage, betrayal and grief – the most important is that of loyalty. The film boasts a startling visual quality, and it is laced with moments of dry, sardonic wit that serve only to emphasise its devastating emotional core even more. Superb.” £5.50/£4.50 Concs & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s |
||||||||||
| Sun 25 Jun • Hackney Refugee Week 19-25 Jun
Hackney Refugee & Migrant Support Group present
(UK 2003) dir.Michael Winterbottom 90m. Subtitles. “Winterbottom's film is distinguished by its simplicity. Two Afghan refugees from a teeming camp in western Pakistan make an illicit, expensive and incredibly arduous overland journey towards a prospective new life as asylum seekers in Britain. The widescreen DV camera records it all, as they evade Iranian security forces, trek over snowy mountains into Turkey and brave a nightmare passage in a container ship across the Mediterranean. Knowing we're watching genuine Afghans playing themselves intensifies sympathy for their plight, though wondering whether this evidently compassionate production is exploiting their situation for dramatic effect slightly nullifies the film's piercing effectiveness. An eye-opener none the less.” + (UK 2006) dir.Jan Dun 99m. “Britain’s first Dogme-95 vow of chastity approved movie, this tells – from three points of view – a tale of Margate life as experienced by a second-generation Irish family and the disruption and change within it when a beautiful Czech Romany refugee comes into their lives. It’s a well-meaning exploration of familial tensions, marital stasis and the everyday practice of racism.” £7.50/£5.50 Concessions |
||||||||||
 Fri 30 Jun, Sat 1 & Mon 3 Jul • Matinees
BALLETS RUSSES (PG) 1.00 (US 2006) dirs.Daniel Geller & Dayna Goldfine 119m. Documentary. “To those, like me, who know nothing about ballet, this is unexpectedly riveting stuff: the story of how the world's greatest ballet company carried on after the death of Serge Diaghilev in the 1920s, and how great performers, musicians, designers and choreographers took the message of ballet all around the world. Basically, the brand-name splintered: two opposing impresarios managed the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo and the ‘original’ Ballet Russe. One ran out of money; the other shrewdly hired American dancers and gained a foothold in Hollywood. Both companies found that they were inspiring other, competing outfits everywhere, which undermined their monopoly. This movie has wonderful, moving interviews with the elderly dancers now – sprightly in their 80s and 90s and still passionate about their art.” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) £5.50/£4.50 Concs & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s |
||||||||||
Fri 30 Jun • Late Night Shorts Future Shorts (15) 11.30pm Future Shorts is back this June with a cracking feature collection of Short films and music videos. Highlights this month include 'The Open Doors', a beautiful tale of intrigue and mystery starring Michael Sheen and 'Le Gateau', an ingenious animated short about a Cowboy, an Indian and a Horse. See and feel different cinema. Short film is where it's at. + a free beer with ticket FILMS
LE SIGNALEUR |
||||||||||
 Fri 7 Jul • Late Night Show
THE UNKNOWN (PG) 11.30pm (US 1927) dir.Tod Browning 47m. Following last year's Nosferatu spectacular, Nacho Martin returns to the Rio to re-score a lost classic... THE UNKNOWN stars Lon Chaney as a circus knife-thrower with no arms, in love with Joan Crawford's bareback rider. He throws knives with his feet, she cannot stand men's hands. What happens next? A truly unique picture, climaxing in one of the most emotionally intense moments ever committed to film, and with a live electronic score to match. The night will include sideshow ambience, skewed surprises and a free drink on admission. Don't miss it. £5.50/£4.50 Concessions |
||||||||||
 Sat 8 Jul • Matinee
ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES (15) 1.15 (US 2005) dir.John Turturro 106m. “Turturro’s third film as a writer-director, is one of the most personal, deliciously fresh American films of recent years. The theatricality, complete with characters breaking into dance is appropriate, even though the protagonist, Nick, is a New York ironworker who shares his unremarkable suburban home with wife Kitty and three grown-up daughters. Appropriate because for Nick life has become all about performance: when Kitty finds he’s having an affair and his family turn against him, there’s the matter of whether he’ll be able to act his way out of trouble. Turturro pulls off a very tricky balancing act, by trusting in the expertise of his performers and by infusing the whole film with energy and affection.” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out) £5.50/£4.50 Concs |
||||||||||
 Sat 15 Jul • Matinee
HELL (L’enfer) (15) 1.45 (France 2005) dir.Danis Tanovic 102m. “The late Kieslowski's last testament was an idea for a projected trilogy – Heaven, Purgatory and Hell – devised jointly with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, who has written the three finished screenplays. Young Bosnian director Danis Tanovic has tackled HELL. The result is a scintillating triumph and by any standards an exhilarating, poised movie. The story is set in Paris, and the acting has that superbly finished, pristine quality I associate with the best French cinema. HELL is inhabited by three sisters: Sophie, Céline and Anne. Each is locked in her own unhappiness, nursing a secret flower of misery, the seed for which was planted by their late father with a terrible incident in their girlhood. A worthy addition to the Kieslowski canon. What will PURGATORY be like?” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) £5.50/£4.50 Concs |
||||||||||
 Sat 22 Jul • Matinee
PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT (12A) 1.15 (France 1961) dir.Jacques Rivette 141m. New print. Subtitles. “As a harbinger of Rivette’s unique cinematic concerns and a time-capsule of Left Bank Paris,this film remains a fascinating artefact. We’re in the realm of corduroy, pipe-smokers and print dresses as a group of intellectuals circulates between parties in tiny apartments, a theatre director rehearses his no-budget production of Shakespeare’s ‘Pericles’, and a student ponders the connection between her neighbour’s disappearance and the suicide of an avant-garde guitarist much admired by this social circle. An auspicious beginning to Rivette’s monumental œuvre.” (Trevor Johnston, Time Out) £5.50/£4.50 Concs & Under 15’s |
||||||||||
Fri 28 Jul * Late Night Shorts Future Shorts (15) 11.15pm Future Shorts is back this July with another cracking feature collection of short films and music videos. Highlights include RABBIT by animator Run Wrake, a dark exploration of the world of children's picture books and NOODLES by director Jordan Feldman, a story of love and pasta. These are evenings that redefine the role of short film in international cinema. See and feel different cinema. Short film is where it's at. |
||||||||||
IN THIS WORLD (15) 1.45
GYPO (15) 3.35
THE OPEN DOORS 
107
Kingsland High Street E8
(corner John Campbell Road)
Tel 020 7241 9410
|
|||
