Canterbury Film Society - Screenings 2016
Mondays 7:30pm Academy Gold Cinema
29-Feb-16
CONTEMPORARY CINEMA
Wadjda
Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia/Germany 2012 (PG cert)
The first-ever feature to be made entirely in Saudi Arabia is directed by a Saudi woman – a smart and funny tale of a
sassy girl with her heart set on owning a bike. “A stunningly assured debut, a slyly subversive delight.” – Slate
7-Mar-16
CULINARY CINEMA
Babette’s Feast (Babettes gæstebud)
Gabriel Axel, Denmark 1987 (PG cert)
Cinematic, gastronomic treat starring Stéphane Audran as a French cook fleeing the tribulations of 19th-century
Europe to a remote corner of Scandanavia. Winner Best Foreign Language Film 1987 Academy Awards.
14-Mar-16
CULINARY CINEMA
Eat Drink Man Woman (Yi shi nan nu)
Ang Lee, Taiwan 1994 (PG sexual references)
Sophisticated inter-generational comedy revolving around the dinner table a widowed master chef shares with his
three unmarried daughters. “Wonderfully seductive, and nicely knowing about all of its characters’ appetites.” – NY
Times
21-Mar-16
CONTEMPORARY CINEMA
Weekend
Andrew Haigh, UK 2011 (R16 drug use, sex scenes, offensive language)
A brief encounter proves mutually disarming for two young men in a salty, insightful love story buoyed by sex, drugs
and testing differences of opinion. “A deftly-played and beautifully-paced little romance.” – The Guardian
28-Mar-16
CLASSICS
The Palm Beach Story
Preston Sturges, USA 1942 (G cert)
This blazing battle-of-the-sexes comedy stars Claudette Colbert, who abandons her failing hubby (Joel McCrea) to seek
a fortune, preferably from a wealthy man, or even ‘the world’s richest’ (Rudy Vallee).
4-Apr-16
CULINARY CINEMA
Tampopo
Itami Juzo, Japan 1985 (M sex scenes)
Dubbed a ‘ramen western’ on release, this offbeat comedy about the search for the perfect bowl of noodles offers an
anarchic celebration of food and sex. “Wildly original… this is definitely not a film to see on an empty stomach.” – Peter
Scarlet
11-Apr-16
CLASSICS
The Go-Between
Joseph Losey, UK 1971 (M cert)
The past is a foreign country in this evocative adaptation of LP Hartley’s tale of thwarted love and class prejudice set
against the halcyon British summer of 1900. “Strong on atmosphere, performance and moral nuance.” – Time Out
18-Apr-16
CLASSICS
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
David Lynch, France/USA 1992 (R16 cert)
This oft-maligned prequel to Lynch’s cult TV show traces the last days of Laura Palmer and is ripe for rediscovery. “In
its own singular, deeply strange way, Fire Walk with Me is David Lynch’s masterpiece.” – Village Voice
25-Apr-16
NEW ZEALAND DOCUMENTARY
Early Days Yet
Shirley Horrocks, 2001 PG
“Early Days Yet, directed by Shirley Horrocks, is a documentary about New Zealand poet Allen Curnow, made in the
last months of his life. The poet talks about his life and work, and visits the places of some of his most important
poems. It includes interviews with other New Zealand poets about Curnow’s significance as an advocate for New
Zealand poetry. As Curnow famously mused in front of a moa skeleton displayed in Canterbury Museum: “Not I, some
child, born in a marvellous year / Will learn the trick of standing upright here.”
2-May-16
BRITISH WOMEN DIRECTORS
Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold, UK 2009 (R16 sex scenes, offensive language, content may disturb)
Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender star in this invigorating tale about a disaffected girl living on a grimy council
estate. “Highly intelligent, involving film from one of the most powerful voices in British cinema.” – The Guardian
9-May-16
CLASSICS
Night of the Demon
Jacques Tourneur, UK 1957 (R16 cert)
“One of the finest thrillers made in England during the 50s… MR James’s short story ‘Casting the Runes’ [is] the basis
for a marvellous cinematic dialogue between belief and scepticism, fantasy and reality.” – Time Out
16-May-16
BRITISH WOMEN DIRECTORS
Dreams of a Life
Carol Morley, UK 2011 (M offensive language, sexual references, drug use)
Haunting behind-the-headlines portrait of the life of vivacious London woman Joyce Vincent, whose disappearance
went unnoticed for almost three years. “Riveting to watch and revealing to ponder long after it ends.” – The Observer
23-May-16
BRITISH WOMEN DIRECTORS
The Arbor
Clio Barnard, UK 2010 (M offensive language, sexual references)
Revelatory, complex and moving documentary about the legacy of British playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue & Bob
Too) whose incisive portrayals of working class life, from the time she was 16, mirrored her own.
30-May-16
DOCUMENTARY
Until Then + Lemonade
Dahna Abourahme, 2004
Set during the current Intifada, this documentary follows four Palestinian families living in Dheisheh Refugee Camp
near Bethlehem.
6-Jun-16
GERMAN CINEMA
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari)
Robert Wiene, Germany 1920 (PG some scenes may scare very young children)
This masterpiece of German Expressionism crafts a sinister tale of psychosis and murder against a stunningly
designed Gothic landscape. “Undoubtedly one of the most exciting and inspired horror movies ever made” – Time Out
13-Jun-16
NEW ZEALAND CINEMA
Two Little Boys
Robert Sarkies, New Zealand 2012 (R16 offensive language, several scenes may disturb)
This eccentric and increasingly black comedy pushes the concept of mateship to its limits. When Bret McKenzie (Flight
of the Conchords) gets involved in a fatal hit-and-run he calls on his monstrous buddy Hamish Blake for ‘help’.
20-Jun-16
NEW ZEALAND DOCUMENTARY
Ever the Land
Sarah Grohnert, New Zealand 2016
Observing the planning and construction of New Zealand’s first ‘living building’, Te Wharehou o Tūhoe, Sarah
Grohnert draws on images of incredible beauty to portray the profound connection between Ngāi Tūhoe and the land.
27-Jun-16
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN
Dust in the Wind (Lien lien feng chen)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan 1987 (PG cert)
A poignantly fatalistic story of first love between a young couple who leave their village for a new life in Taipei. “A
heartbreaking film of profound humanity, the high point of an enormously gifted director in mid-career” – Evans Chan
4-Jul-16
ITALIAN CINEMA
Every Blessed Day (Tutti i santi giorni)
Paolo Virzì, Italy 2012 (M sex scenes, offensive language, nudity)
Bookish Guido works as a night porter; Antonia works days at a car rental company, but their happy relationship is
tested when they try to conceive. A lively comedy about the lengths a couple will go in order to become parents.
11-Jul-16
CLASSICS
Medium Cool
Haskell Wexler, USA 1969 (R16 cert)
Famed cinematographer Wexler audaciously set his documentary-style fiction against the tumultuous 1968
Democratic Convention in Chicago. “Must be seen by anyone who cares about the development of modern movies.” –
Newsweek
18-Jul-16
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN
A Time to Live and a Time to Die (Tong nien wang shi)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Taiwan 1985 (PG cert)
Hou’s masterful memoir to his own youth in the 1950s. “A film of dazzling grandeur and simplicity… the brilliantly
directed cast hardly seem like actors at all. The film has a glow of unforced compassion unlike any other film now on.”
– Financial Times
25-Jul-16
GERMAN CINEMA
Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg)
Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany 2014 (PG adult themes)
Fourteen-year-old Maria resolves on a life of self-denial in a provocatively ambiguous drama, edged with satire, about
a German family dedicated to an ultra-conservative strand of Catholicism. “Remarkable.” – Hollywood Reporter
1-Aug-16
CONTEMPORARY CINEMA
The Grandmaster (Yi dai zong shi)
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong/China 2013 (M violence, offensive language)
A moody and spectacular epic five years in the making. “An exercise in pure cinematic style filled with the most
ravishing images… Wong applies his impeccable visual style to the martial arts genre with potent results.” – LA Times
29-Aug-16
ITALIAN CINEMA
The Chair of Happiness (La sedia della felicità)
Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy 2013 (M offensive language)
This smart and bittersweet romantic comedy sees a tattoo artist and a beautician team up for an unlikely treasure
hunt in the snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites in northeastern Italy.
5-Sep-16
FRENCH CINEMA
Timbuktu
Abderrahmane Sissako, France/Mauritania 2014 (M violence, content may disturb)
Set in the early days of the jihadist takeover of northern Mali, this drama delivers a deeply humane condemnation of
religious intolerance. “Passionate and visually beautiful…. A cry from the heart.” – The Guardian
12-Sep-16
GERMAN CINEMA
The Divided Heaven (Der geteilte Himmel)
Konrad Wolf, East Germany 1964 (censors rating tbc)
Adapted from a novel by Christa Wolf (no relation), this intimate drama examines the early East-West divide of Berlin
shortly before the Wall was built as a young woman travels to the West to persuade her lover to return.
19-Sep-16
GERMAN CINEMA
Goya or the Hard Road of Knowledge (Goya oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis)
Konrad Wolf, East Germany/USSR 1971 (PG cert)
This provocative and stylish biopic of the controversial Spanish painter, coproduced by East Germany and the USSR
and shot in Bulgaria, traces Goya’s evolution from bon vivant court painter to enlightened free thinker.
26-Sep-16
ITALIAN CINEMA
9x10 Novanta
Marco Bonfanti, Sara Fgaier, Claudio Giovanessi, Alina Marazzi, Pietro Marcello, Giovanni Piperno, Costanza Quatriglio,
Paola Randi, Alice Rohrwacher, Roland Sejko, Italy 2014
A spectacular, diverse vision of Italy created by nine rising Italian filmmakers, who each made a 10-minute film drawn
from the vast archives of the Instituto Luce, to celebrate its 90th anniversary.
3-Oct-16
ITALIAN CINEMA
The Human Factor (La variable umana)
Bruno Oliviero, Italy 2013 (censors rating tbc)
Silvio Orlando stars as a police inspector tasked with solving the complex murder of a rich contractor in this neo-noir
detective film set in Milan’s seedy underbelly, in this auspicious feature debut for documentarian Oliviero.
10-Oct-16
CONTEMPORARY CINEMA
Blancanieves
Pablo Berger, Spain 2012 (M adult themes)
This acclaimed and fabulously stylish Spanish film transplants a classic fairy tale to 1920s Seville. “Lavishly
upholstered in silvery black and white… a grotesquely beautiful new take on the Snow White fable.” – NPR