Holmfirth Film Festival

Dir. Ken Hughes (UK 1970, 157mins 12)

Richard Harris (Cromwell) and Sir Alec Guinness (Charles 1st) star in the last of the British film industry epics.  The divine crowned King involved in a power struggle with Parliament that leads to Civil War. We know how it ends.

Dir. Edward Berger (Germany 2022, 143mins 15)

Visually stunning, impassioned and gripping, Erich Maria Remarque’s epic anti-war novel of a naïve young German soldier on the Western front in the last days of the First World War is brought to the big screen with the permission of Netflix.

Dir. Will Haynes & Dan Hobson (UK 2022, 72mins 15)

In a chaotic house move, Roy’s girlfriend gives him 60 minutes to walk out on his dysfunctional family in order to start a new life with her.  A callous, yet simple task, soon spirals out of control as he discovers there can be no ‘clean break’. An exceedingly well-produced first feature from Holme Valley film-makers Will and Dan.

Dir. Todd Field (US 2022, 158mins 15)

Cate Blanchett is outstanding in a delirious, sensual Oscar-nominated drama as the ’monster’ composer/conductor who, at the height of her creative powers in the classical world, sees her life rapidly fall apart.

Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland 2022, 88mins 15)

Unique mix of the absurd and the profound. A grey donkey encounters the good and bad of humans on his trip through life. Breathtaking imagery, bizarre, deeply moving and thought provoking.

Dir. Andrzej Wajda (Poland 1958, 103mins 12)

HFF Director introduces a classic of East European cinema. James Dean-like Zbigniew Cybulski stars in the beautiful and complex climax of Wajda’s trilogy on the Second World War. Communist officials and Polish resistance fighters meet in May 1945 but reconciliation proves impossible.

All proceeds to the Ukraine Red Cross

Dir. Sarah Beddington (UK 2022, 83mins 15)

Deeply affecting and compelling documentary filmed over many years.  A Palestinian refugee in Lebanon sets out to find the ancient tree which bore witness to her family’s displacement from their homeland. In the background are the birds who migrate freely in the sky above.

Dir. Blerta Basholli (Kosovo 2021, 83mins 15)

Outstanding, inspiring and searing debut drama based on a true story that won the audience award at Sundance. Fahrije’s husband is missing from the War in Kosovo, she and other women set up a co-operative business selling honey but are immediately met with misogyny and hostility by the remaining men in the village.

Dir. Jim Archer (UK 2022, 90mins PG)

Utterly charming odd-couple comedy set in Wales. Delightfully ridiculous and poignant, a lonely, oddball inventor constructs a seven-foot, cabbage eating robot from various spare parts. The surprise hit of the year.

Dir. Shaunak Sen (India 2023, 91mins 12)

Amid the darkening backdrop of Delhi’s apocalyptic air and escalating violence two brothers devote their lives to protecting a majestic black kite. This Oscar nominated, best documentary of the year is a whimsical, wonderous, beautiful sliver of hope.