Festival Films at Hepworth Village Hall
Dir. Maren Ade. Germany/Austria, 2016
The best foreign language film of the year. A practical joking father tries to connect with his hard working daughter. Surreal, very, very funny, very German, and, ultimately, tragic.
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen, Denmark, 2016
Weirdly entertaining, this dark, strange tale of two brothers and their surreal, bizarre relatives stays just the right side of wackiness with exceptional performances from Mads Mikkelsen and other Danish favourites.
Dir. Asghar Farhadi, Iran/France, 2016
Best Foreign Film Oscar winner. One of the world's best directors with a potent, intelligent and suspenseful plot, turning the mysteries of personality into a gripping and disquieting drama.
Dir. Petra Vople (Switzerland 2017, 97mins 12)
Unbelievably, Swiss women did not have the vote in 1970, then a demur housewife in a small time village decided to get political and win the vote for women. This fictionalised entertaining crowd-pleaser delivers a genuine and rousing sense of sisterhood in Switzerland's entry to the Oscars.
Dir. Angela Robinson (US 2017, 108mins 15)
The true story of the writer of the feminist superheroine Wonder Woman, the secret life shared by him, his wife and their female lover, and the attacks on the wartime comic for sexual perversity.
Dir. Maysaloun Hamoud (Israel/France 2016, 102mins 15)
This exhilarating first feature from Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud caused a sensation in Israel for her depiction of three free-spirited and joyful modern Palestinian women living in Tel Aviv. She extracts wonderful performances from the actors in this slyly subversive award-winning feminist drama.
THE PARTY
Dir. Sally Potter (UK 2017, 68mins 15)
Potter's short, sharp and at times disconcerting dark comedy about Middle Class mores showcases British acting at its best with great performances and sparkling dialogue from Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson and Timothy Spall.
GLORY
Dir. Kristinia Grozeva & Peter Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece 2017 99mins 12)
Beautifully acted and often very funny fable about a honest and innocent railworker who comes across a large cache of money and sets off a tale of corruption and eventual tragedy as the hard-edged PR people (a wonderful Margita Gosheva) take over. Another gem from these Bulgarian directors (The Lesson, 2015).
Dir. Martin Provost (France 2017, 117mins 12)
Two outstanding performances from two of France's greatest actresses, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot, as the still wild but dying former mistress of her father and the inhibited and hurt daughter, now a midwife, who meet again after thirty years. A moving film of warmth, depth and emotion that is entirely a pleasure.
Friday 25 May 2018
Dir. Paul McGuigan (UK 2017 105mins 15)
Superb award-winning performances from the ever wonderful Annette Bening, the excellent Jaime Bell and Julie Walters based on the true story of the Hollywood actress, Gloria Grahame, who finds romance and happiness with a young man even after a life changing event that takes place in Liverpool in the early 1980s.
THIS FILM IS BEING SCREENED AS PART OF OUR LUNCH AND FILM EVENT. TICKETS FOR LUNCH PLUS FILM £15 AVAILABLE ONLY FROM PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS:
Film only tickets £6 available from Holmfirth Picturedrome (online) or Box Office Bar (in person)
Lunches start 12 noon, film starts 2.30pm
Dir. Martin MacDonagh (US/UK 2017 115mins 12)
Multi-Oscar winning film with a great central performance from the ever reliable Frances McDormand as the plucky and stubborn vigilante who confronts the police and exacts cinder-black revenge for the tragedy of her daughters' death by erecting three billboards to her grief and rage.
Dir. Michael Gracey (US 2017, 105mins PG)
The audience hit of the year. Auto-tuned and full of CGI, it makes no difference to the sensational reception of this exuberant celebration of the life of T.P. Barnum (Hugh Jackman). But don't forget the theme of discrimination, the excellent Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Keala Settle and the brilliant costumes of Ellen Mirojnick.
Dir. Petra Vople (Switzerland 2017, 97mins 12)
Unbelievably, Swiss women did not have the vote in 1970, then a demur housewife in a small time village decided to get political and win the vote for women. This fictionalised entertaining crowd-pleaser delivers a genuine and rousing sense of sisterhood in Switzerland's entry to the Oscars.
Saturday 26 May 2018
Dir. Dorota Kobiela/Hugh Welchman (Poland/UK/US 2017, 94mins 12)
Oscar nominated, the world's first entirely painted feature is a labour of love and creativity. An awe inspiring and stunning visual animated life of the artist Vincent van Gogh.
Dir. Henry Koster (US 1953, 98mins PG)
Marvellous passionate romance based on Daphne du Maurier's gothic novel about an anguished cousin (the first Hollywood role for Richard Burton) who tries to unravel the suspicious circumstances of the sudden death of his Cornish uncle, a man of property, and the involvement of his mysterious wife (Olivia de Havilland).
Dir. Angela Robinson (US 2017, 108mins 15)
The true story of the writer of the feminist superheroine Wonder Woman, the secret life shared by him, his wife and their female lover, and the attacks on the wartime comic for sexual perversity.
Dir. Ildiko Enyedi (Hungary 2017, 116mins 15)
Film of the year? Great originality, exquisite and beautifully composed direction in an eccentric but moving romantic and sometimes brutal drama that has the look of an Edward Hopper painting about how two people connect with each other in life and in dreams in a love without rules. The winner of the Berlin prize and Hungary's Oscar entry for best foreign language film.
Dir. David Butler (US 1953, 101mins U)
Shout it from the highest hill, the Deadwood stagecoach is coming over the black hills of Holmfirth. An entirely enjoyable whip-crack-away, gun totin', technicolour Doris Day musical. Sing-along it's no secret anymore...
Prize for best dressed cowgirl of the night.
Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite (US 2017, 112mins 12)
Known as Megan Leavey in the United States, this turned out to be one of the big films of the year which audiences absolutely loved. The uplifting true story of a young female Marine (Megan Leavey played by Kate Mara) and her combat dog with whom she develops a unique bond. After 100 successful missions, both were wounded by IED explosions in Iraq (2006). Leavey was awarded the Purple Star but what happened next leaves everyone in tears.
Dir. Maysaloun Hamoud (Israel/France 2016, 102mins 15)
This exhilarating first feature from Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud caused a sensation in Israel for her depiction of three free-spirited and joyful modern Palestinian women living in Tel Aviv. She extracts wonderful performances from the actors in this slyly subversive award-winning feminist drama.
Sunday 27 May 2018
Dir. Alexandra Dean (US 2017, 90min 12)
Very enjoyable and intriguing documentary about the beautiful Austrian-born Hollywood actress infamous for her marriages and affairs (JFK) who was also a brilliant scientist who just happened to co-invent wireless technology in the 1940s.
Dir. Rob Curry & Tim Plester (UK 2017, 94mins PG)
Wonderful, warm documentary on the life and work of folk music icon, Shirley Collins, who was central to the genre's revival in the 1960s through her rediscovery of old songs both here and in the United States. Now promoting a new highly praised album at the age of 82.
THE PARTY
Dir. Sally Potter (UK 2017, 68mins 15)
Potter's short, sharp and at times disconcerting dark comedy about Middle Class mores showcases British acting at its best with great performances and sparkling dialogue from Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson and Timothy Spall.
GLORY
Dir. Kristinia Grozeva & Peter Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece 2017 99mins 12)
Beautifully acted and often very funny fable about a honest and innocent railworker who comes across a large cache of money and sets off a tale of corruption and eventual tragedy as the hard-edged PR people (a wonderful Margita Gosheva) take over. Another gem from these Bulgarian directors (The Lesson, 2015).
Dir. Steven Spielberg, (US 2017, 117mins 12)
A nuanced and brilliant performance from multi Oscar winner Meryl Streep as Kathrine Graham, the first female publisher of a major US newspaper (Washington Post), and the attempt with her editor (Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee) to publish during the Nixon era the Pentagon Papers, the secret government documents on the Vietnam war leaked by Daniel Ellsberg. Entertaining and entirely relevant to our times.
Dir. Aaron Sorkin (US 2017, 140mins 12)
A force-of-nature performance from Jessica Chastain in the Bafta nominated true story of Molly Brown, the glamourous former Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker games before being arrested by the FBI. Scorching dialogue from Sorkin in his directorial debut.
Dir. Martin Provost (France 2017, 117mins 12)
Two outstanding performances from two of France's greatest actresses, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot, as the still wild but dying former mistress of her father and the inhibited and hurt daughter, now a midwife, who meet again after thirty years. A moving film of warmth, depth and emotion that is entirely a pleasure.
Great Holmfirth stuff here:
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