Documentary short Horse Riders won the inaugural Academy Awards qualifying Grand Prix Documentary Short Award at the 64th Cork Film Festival. The film, directed by Anna Gawlita, now joins the longlist for the Academy Awards in 2021.
Cork Film Festival
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THE LAST RIGHT, THE CAVE, and SWALLOW Win at 64th Cork Film Festival
The Last Right directed by Aoife Crehan
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Cork Film Festival Unveils 2019 Lineup, THE CAVE and THE LAST RIGHT as Gala Films
The Last Right directed by Aoife Crehan Three more Irish premiere Galas have been added to the 64th Cork Film Festival, which runs from November 7 to 17. The Irish premiere of Feras Fayyad’s gripping film on war-torn Syria The Cave will be featured as the Documentary Gala, the Irish Gala is Aoife Crehan’s comedy-drama debut The Last Right, and the Family Gala is Disney’s long-awaited Frozen 2, ahead of its general release. This brings to five the number of Galas at this year’s festival, with Opening Gala Ordinary Love and Closing Gala The Other Lamb.
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ORDINARY LOVE Starring Liam Neeson will Open Cork Film Festival
Ordinary Love starring Liam Neeson The much-anticipated drama Ordinary Love, starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, will have its Irish premiere as the opening night film of the 64th Cork Film Festival on Thursday, November 7. Based on a script by award-winning Irish playwright Owen McCafferty, Ordinary Love will launch an outstanding 2019 program of over 120 feature films presented at Ireland’s first and largest film festival. Closing the 11-day festival will be the Irish premiere of new Irish-Belgian drama, The Other Lamb, direct from its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, starring Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman and Denise Gough, on Sunday, November 17.
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FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, BORDER, BLACK SHEEP Win at 63rd Cork Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_31993" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Float Like a Butterfly[/caption]
Float Like a Butterfly, written and directed by Carmel Winters, which had its European Premiere as the Opening Night Gala film at the 63rd Cork Film Festival, went on to win the The Audience Award at the festival. On winning the award, Carmel Winters said: “Winning the audience prize at the oldest and largest festival in Ireland is the greatest gift I could wish for. So many of us bared heart and soul to make this film. Thank you, thank you, thank you Cork for championing the right of all of us to be our truest and best selves.”
The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile / Spirit of The Festival Award went to Ali Abbasi’s Border (Gräns). Based on a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the author of Let the Right One In, Ali Abbasi’s second feature is one of the year’s great discoveries – an extraordinary, highly original work that melds modern Nordic noir with the region’s folklore.
Irish short Stigma, directed by Helen Warner, won the prestigious award of Grand Prix Irish Short Award, and now join the longlist for the Academy Awards® in 2020 in the Live Action Short Film category.
The Festival’s second Academy Awards® qualifying award, for the Grand Prix International Short Award, was Maria Eriksson’s Schoolyard Blues (Skolstartssorg) a Swedish short film which the judges recognised as being “both uplifting and heart-breaking and prompts us to consider continuity and change, the struggle for survival on the margins and the enduring and potentially restorative power of love”.
The Cork Film Festival Short Film Candidate for the 2019 European Film Awards is Black Sheep, directed by Ed Perkins, and produced by Academy Awards® winners Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn. This short documentary is about a young man who finds himself the target of extreme racial abuse, and follows his decision to become more like the people who hated him.
The award for Documentary Short went to Black Line, directed by Mark Olexa and Francesca Scalisi (Switzerland), and the Best Cork Short Award, proudly presented by Media Partner RedFM, was won by Megan K Fox for her film, The Shift, set in the final disco of the Gaeltacht, and one 15-year-old who is determined to get the shift against all odds.
The new award for Best Director: Irish Short, supported by Screen Directors’ Guild Ireland, went to Oonagh Kearney, for her short Five Letters for the Stanger Who Will Dissect My Brain. The film provides an insight into the soul-searching journey of first-year medical student Viv, whose first encounter with a cadaver in the anatomy room sends her on a quest into the nature of what it means to be alive.
Other prize winners announced at the Awards ceremony included Hale County This Morning, This Evening, directed by RaMell Ross, which won the Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise / Award for Cinematic Documentary. The film presents an intimate and heart-breaking depiction of the Southern African American experience and was the recipient of the Special Documentary Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year too.
The Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award went to Crystal Swan (Khrustal), directed by Darya Zhuk, who attended the Festival to present her debut film, a fascinating study of post-communist youth.
Speaking on the 63rd edition of the Cork Film Festival, Cork Film Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark stated: “It has been an inspiring 10 days of exceptional cinema in Cork. From the high calibre of award winners, to the strength of the Opening and Closing Gala films, and with over 250 Irish and international features and shorts in between, this year’s Festival has been an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. We welcomed over 170 filmmakers and special guests to Cork this year and 18,000 people joined them for many sold-out screenings.
“We look forward to building on this success for 2019 and beyond, and would like to thank all our funders, sponsors, partners, friends, jurors, filmmakers and audience who together make Cork Film Festival possible.”
63rd Cork Film Festival Award Winners
Stigma, directed by Helen Warner — Grand Prix Irish Short Award Schoolyard Blues (Skolstartssorg), directed by Maria Eriksson — Grand Prix International Short Award Float Like a Butterfly, written and directed by Carmel Winters — Audience Award Border (Gräns) , directed by Ali Abbasi — Gradam Spiorad na Féile (Spirit of the Festival Award) Black Sheep, directed by Ed Perkins — Cork Film Festival Candidate for the European Film Awards 2019 Black Line, directed by Mark Olexa and Francesca Scalisi — Documentary Short Award The Shift, directed by Megan K Fox — Best Cork Short Award Oonagh Kearney (Five Letters for the Stranger Who Will Dissect My Brain) — Best Director: Irish Short Hale County This Morning, This Evening, directed by RaMell Ross — Gradam na Féile do Scannáin Faisnéise (Award for Cinematic Documentary) Crystal Swan (Khrustal), directed by Darya Zhuk — Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award
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63rd Cork Film Festival to Showcase Films with a Focus on Current Global Issues
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Sissy Spacek and Robert Redford in The Old Man and the Gun.[/caption]
The 63rd Cork Film Festival, running from November 9 to 18, 2018, will showcase Irish and international films with a focus on current global issues.
The 2018 program for Ireland’s first and largest film festival, launched today features films with themes centered on LGBT, mental health, child poverty, gender equality, and human rights. Over 250 Irish and international features and shorts will be screened across the Festival, with 90% being Irish premieres.
Speaking on today’s program launch, Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “Our mission is to bring people together through an outstanding program of films and events and to create an unforgettable festival experience over 10 days in Cork.
“As a destination for great storytelling on film, this year’s program includes numerous award-winners from the 2018 international festival circuit, alongside fresh new voices, together showcasing the latest and best independent cinema. For many films presented, this is the only opportunity to see them on the big screen in Cork and Ireland.”
Special presentations include a cine concert of the 1920s silent horror Nosferatu (November 13) at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, with a new score by Cork composers Irene and Linda Buckley. This year’s collaboration with the National Sculpture Factory is Alan Butler’s On Exactitude in Science (November 12 – 14) a work comprising Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1983) in synchronicity with Butler’s 2017 remake.
Speaking on the representation of Irish film in the Festival, program Director Michael Hayden stated: “It is fantastic that we can open the Festival with a film with such distinct Cork connections. Carmel Winters’ highly anticipated and award-winning second feature Float like a Butterfly is a special film that fiercely challenges patriarchy and stereotypes. Carmel, and many of the cast and crew, will be in attendance for this European premiere on 9 November.
“Selecting Float like a Butterfly as the Opening Gala is indicative of the Festival’s commitment to celebrating Irish film, and we have secured some of the most celebrated films of the year. These include the Irish premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos’ feminist comedy The Favourite on 10 November, produced by Element Pictures and starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz; and The Dig, directed by Ryan and Andrew Tohill, starring Moe Dunford, which was awarded Best Irish Feature at Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year.”
The Closing Night Gala will also feature the work of an outstanding female director, with the Irish premiere of Nadine Labaki’s multi-award-winning Capernaum (November 18). This urgent and important film is on child poverty and the denial of an individual’s human rights. Other Irish premieres of international features include The Old Man and the Gun, starring Robert Redford as a septuagenarian bank robber; Peter Strickland’s sumptuous and spooky tale, In Fabric; and Wash Westmoreland’s period biopic, Colette, starring Keira Knightley.
The program features 40 documentaries, with highlights to include veteran auteur Frederick Wiseman’s Monrovia, Indiana, and Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev, cementing Cork Film Festival as the destination festival for documentary in Ireland.
Illuminate, the Festival’s unique series of film and discussion events exploring mental health and wellbeing, is presented in association with Arts+Minds, the HSE Cork Mental Health Service and Irish Rail Iarnród Éireann. Screenings include Trauma is a Time Machine, For the Birds, and Ordinary People.
The fun-packed family strand will be screened throughout the Festival at The Gate Cinema. The program includes the highly-anticipated family friendly animations, The Grinch (November 10) and The Overcoat (November 17), which features the voice of Cork actor Cillian Murphy.
In total, 117 world-class shorts will be presented across the 10 days and will be considered for either the Grand Prix Irish Short or the Grand Prix International Short Awards. The winners of both, announced at the Awards Ceremony on November 18 at the Triskel, will be automatically longlisted for the Oscars®.
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FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY to Open, CAPERNAUM to Close 2018 Cork Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_31993" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Float Like a Butterfly[/caption]
The European premiere of the award-winning Irish film, Float like a Butterfly from writer and director Carmel Winters, will be this year’s Opening Night Gala film of the 63rd Cork Film Festival on November 9. This year’s Closing Night Gala is the Irish premiere of Nadine Labaki’s multi-award-winning film Capernaum on November 18.
Float Like a Butterfly is an inspirational coming-of-age story of an Irish girl from the Travelling community and the pursuit of her dream to be a boxer. It won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize for the Discovery program at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.
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Capernaum[/caption]
Nadine Labaki’s sensational film Capernaum, which took the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and Audience Awards at further international festivals, is set in Beirut and tells the courageous story of a 12-year-old boy who sues his parents for bringing him into a world of poverty.
Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “We are thrilled to be premiering these two significant films, directed by two outstanding female directors, in Cork. Their stories reflect and resonate with the times we live in – life on the margins of society seen through the eyes of a child; the reality of personal and social struggles; and the human need to achieve a sense of belonging. We are honoured to share these films with our audience at the 63rd Cork Film Festival.”
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Cork Film Festival 2017 Awards – Irish Short Film WAVE Wins Grand Prix Irish Short
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Wave[/caption]
Irish short film Wave is the winner of the Grand Prix Irish Short at the Cork Film Festival 2017 Awards Ceremony. Benjamin Cleary and TJ O’Grady Peyton’s winning short will now go on the longlist for the 90th Academy Awards in the Live Action Short Film category.
Wave tells the story of Gasper Rubicon, who wakes from a coma speaking a fully formed but unrecognizable language. Cleary’s 2015 short, Stutterer won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short at the 88th Academy Awards.
The winner of the Grand Prix International Short Award, Mahdi Fleifel’s A Drowning Man (Denmark, Greece, UK), will also automatically qualify for the Academy Awards longlist.
Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Cork Film Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “Wave is a very deserving winner, and is a worthy inclusion on the Academy Awards’ longlist. The quality of shorts within this year’s Festival program has been exceptional, highlighting creativity and diversity in both subject matter and form.
The Shorts Jury, chaired by BAFTA nominated producer Farah Abushwesha, also selected Linda Curtin’s Everything Alive is in Movement, as the winner of the Best Cork Short, while Best Documentary Short went to Mia Mullarkey’s Mother & Baby, a documentary on survivors of the Tuam mother and baby home, which had its world premiere as part of the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board World Premiere Shorts program.
Other prize winners include Untitled directed by Michael Glawogger and Monika Will, which won the Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise / Award for Cinematic Documentary. The film was created two years after the sudden death of Michael Glawogger by editor Monika Willi who took footage produced during Michael’s filming in the Balkans, Italy, and Northwest and West Africa.
The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile / Spirit of The Festival Award went to Rima Das’ Village Rockstars. It follows a young village girl in northeast India who wants to start her own rock band. An honorable mention went to Dafydd Flynn for his performance in Frank Berry’s Michael Inside.
The Cork Film Festival Nomination for the 2018 European Short Film Awards was Sebastian Lang’s Container.
The Audience Award was won by Frank Berry’s acclaimed Michael Inside, telling the story of an 18-year-old living in Dublin who is sentenced to three months in prison after he is caught hiding drugs for his friend’s older brother.
The Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award went to Last Man in Aleppo, directed by Feras Fayyad. The film allows the viewers to experience the rescue work of Syrian volunteers, The White Helmets.
Ms Clark added: “This year audiences had an opportunity to see 115 features, 34 documentaries and 116 shorts. For the majority of the films shown, this was the only chance to see them on the big screen in Cork.”
The Cork Film Festival will return for its 63rd edition in November 2018.
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62nd Cork Film Festival to Open with Irish Premiere of THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS
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The Man Who Invented Christmas[/caption]
Taking place across 10 days from November 10 to 19, 2017, this year’s 62nd Cork Film Festival, will screen more than 200 films, with the majority being Irish premieres.
Opening the 2017 Cork Film Festival is the Irish premiere of The Man Who Invented Christmas on Friday, November 10th. Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens assumes the role of Charles Dickens in Bharat Nalluri’s film, a festive romp that recounts how Dickens’ iconic A Christmas Carol was created.
The Irish premiere of Alexander Payne’s science-fiction road movie Downsizing will close the Festival on Sunday November 19th. It stars Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig as a husband and wife who decide to shrink themselves to simplify their lives, though things don’t go to plan. Other highlights include Ruben Östlund’s The Square, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and Documentary Gala, Promised Land, directed by Eugene Jurecki. The film looks at how America has changed since Elvis Presley died 40 years ago.
Celebrating the best of home-grown talent, some of the most celebrated Irish films of the year feature across the 10 days. The screening of Frank Berry’s acclaimed Michael Inside takes place on 16 November, telling the story of an 18-year-old living in Dublin who is sentenced to three months in prison after he is caught hiding drugs for his friend’s older brother. Following its successful screening at the Toronto Film Festival, the Irish premiere of gothic horror The Lodgers, takes place on November 12.
The Festival will present the world premiere screening of short films produced under the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board’s Focus Shorts and Real Shorts schemes. Over 50 Irish short films feature in the program, and for the first time, a selection will be invited to feature on the RTÉ Player post-Festival, as part of RTÉ’s principal media partnership. Shorts submissions, both nationally and internationally, exceeded 3,200 and the Cork Film Festival is the only Irish festival to have two awards with Academy Awards® accreditation. The winner of the Grand Prix Irish Short, presented by RTÉ Supporting the Arts, and the winner of the Grand Prix International Short, will automatically qualify for the Academy Awards® longlist.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Cork Film Festival Producer Fiona Clark said: “The 2017 program is a unique opportunity to see some of the best established and emerging talent working in film today.”
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2015 Cork Film Festival Award Winners; TANGERINE Wins Best Film
Tangerine won the prize for best feature film, Gradam Spiorad na Féile / Spirit of the Festival Award at the 60th edition of the Cork Film Festival. Sean Baker’s feature is a twisted, high-energy Christmas tale, which casts an unflinching and comical eye on LA’s sex industry and trans community.
UK / Ukranian documentary The Russian Woodpecker was selected as the winner of the inaugural Gradam na Féile do Scannáin Faisnéise / Award for Cinematic Documentary. Described as an original and terrifying look at the legacy of the Soviet Union, it was directed by Chad Gracia. This new award, which carries a €1,000 prize, was chosen by a jury chaired by Claire Aguilar, Sheffield DocFest’s Director of Programming and Industry Engagement.
Irish short film Love is a Sting is in with a chance of Oscars® glory, after being selected as the Grand Prix Irish short film winner. Vincent Gallagher’s film will go forward to the Academy Awards® longlist in the Live Action Short Film / Animated Short Film category. The Cork Film Festival achieved the status of Academy Award® Qualifying Festival last year.
The film follows struggling writer Harold Finch, played by Séan T. Ó Meallaigh, who has an unexpected house guest in the form of Anabel – a hyper-intelligent mosquito who has literally been the fly on the wall throughout history. She is determined to communicate to Harold even if it kills her.
The Finland/Denmark-made short film Listen, was chosen as the winner of the Grand Prix International and will also go forward to the Oscars ®longlist. Listen takes place in a Copenhagen police station where a woman wearing a burqa is filing a complaint for domestic violence but her translator is unwilling to report her story.
Jonas Carpignano’s acclaimed Mediterranea – a gripping and humanizing film about the refugee crisis – was chosen as the Cork nomination to the European Parliament’s LUX Film Prize.
Romanian feature film Aferim! – Radu Jude’s Berlin Film Festival’s Silver Bear winner – won the Youth Jury Award. Naomi Kawase’s drama An – about a 75 year old Japanese woman who starts work as an assistant in a pastry kiosk – was selected as the winner of the Audience Award.
Complete list of 2015 Cork Film Festival Award Winners
Grand Prix Irish
Love is a Sting (Ireland)
Grand Prix International
Listen (Finland/Denmark)
Cork Short Award
The Great Wide Open (Cork)
Gradam Spiorad na Féile/Spirit of the Festival Award
Tangerine (US)
Gradam na Féile do Scannáin Faisnéise/Award for Cinematic Documentary
The Russian Woodpecker (UK/Ukraine)
European Parliament LUX Film Prize
Mediterranea (US)
Youth Jury Award
Aferim! ( Romania)
Cork Film Festival Nomination for the 2016 European Film Academy
90 Degrees North (Germany)
Audience Award
An – Red Bean Paste (Japan/France/Germany)
Irish Music Video Award
Bob Gallagher for Girl Band’s Paul
International Music Video Award
Eric Teidt for Simon Fagan’s Lost to the Deep
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“Mediterranea” “Toto and His Sisters” “The Lesson” to Compete for 2015 LUX Film Prize at Cork Film Festival
Three films, Mediterranea (pictured above), Toto and His Sisters and The Lesson/UROK, will compete for the 2015 LUX Film Prize at the 60TH Cork Film Festival. The festival runs November 06 to 15, 2015, in Cork, Ireland.
This European Parliament LUX Film Prize places a spotlight on films which go to the heart of European Public Debate. Cork Film Festival, along with the European Parliament, believe that cinema can be used as a medium to discuss and debate topical issues.
Mediterranea tells the tale of Ayiva who travels from his native Burkina Faso to Italy in search of a way to provide for his sister and daughter. He takes advantage of his position in an illegal smuggling operation to get himself and his best friend off the continent. It is massively topical given the current refugee crisis. There will also be a Q & A with cast and crew live from the film’s Brussels presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaALVBbde_A
Toto and His Sisters is the compelling story of three siblings whose mother is imprisoned. During this time Toto passionately learns dancing, reading and writing all the while his sisters try to cope and keep the family together. The film explores topics like poverty, drugs and the importance of family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXtjJbB1Oh4
Finally, The Lesson/UROK, is set in Bulgaria and centres around a young teacher searching for a robber in her class while at the same time she is falling into further debt with loan sharks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIQvmTMQr0
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Ukranian Sign Language Film “The Tribe” Wins Top Award at Cork Film Festival
The TribeThe closing gala and awards ceremony of the 59th Cork Film Festival took place on Sunday night and the Gradam Spiorad na Féile (Spirit of the Festival Award), which was inaugurated at the Festival this year, was won by The Tribe, by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (Ukraine). The Tribe is a powerful dramatic thriller, entirely in Ukrainian Sign Language, with no subtitles, yet made for a hearing audience.
The Festival Award Features Jury was comprised of filmmaker and photographer Conor Horgan (Ireland), the Cork Film Festival 2013 Grand Prix International Award winning filmmaker Martin Rath (Poland) and the Festival Director of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival Gráinne Humphreys (Ireland), who chaired the jury.
The Spirit of the Festival Award honors films which take risks and push boundaries, and the first year of it saw The Tribe beat a very strong group of fellow nominees: Cherry Pie by Lorenz Merz (Switzerland), Hide and Seek by Joanna Coates (UK), El Futuro by Luis Lopez Carrasco (Spain), Yximalloo by Tadhg O’Sullivan and Feargal Ward (Ireland), and Manakamana by Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez (UK, Nepal).
Speaking about Gradam Spiorad na Féile, Mr Mullighan said: “The Cork Film Festival prides itself in celebrating filmmakers who find new and brave ways to tell great stories, and this award is the first of its kind at the Cork Film Festival to recognise exactly that. The calibre of films in this category was exceptional, and The Tribe is a well deserving winner.”
The Irish Shorts Jury comprised Ana David (Portugal), Julie Kelleher (Ireland, jury chair) and Niall McKay (USA), who chose the Grand Prix Irish Award and also the winner of the CorkShorts Award,Tadhg McSweeney, Painter – A Film Portrait, by Dónal Ó Céilleachair. Speaking of the winning CorkShorts film, the jury commented “We are delighted to award filmmaker Dónal Ó Céilleachair for the outstanding way in which he captures the talent and spirit of this artist.”
The International Shorts Jury comprised Frank Berry (Ireland), Fanny Corcelle (France) and John Kelleher (Ireland, jury chair), who chose the Cork Film Festival Nomination for the 2015 European Film Academy Awards, Field Study, and the Grand Prix International Award, More Than Two Hours. Speaking of More Than Two Hours, the jury commented: “The strength of this compelling film is its simplicity. The director skillfully builds tension as we share in the turmoil of a young couple caught in a human crisis.”
The winning films of the Grand Prix Irish Award and Grand Prix International Award at the Cork Film Festival will be eligible for consideration in the Live Action Short Film or Animated Short Film categories of the Academy Awards®, it was announced at the closing gala, as the festival has this very week achieved the status of Academy Awards® qualifying festival.
The Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award was presented to 52 Tuesdays by Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde.
The winner of the Audience Award was Patrick’s Day, directed by Terry McMahon.
Closing the festival, James Mullighan said: “The 59th Cork Film Festival displayed a previously unsurpassed depth of creativity and talent. It covered more than 180 films and events in just 10 days, bringing to Cork films of every genre, style and era. It has been a very successful festival, culminating in the announcement that it is now recognised as an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for the Live Action Short Film and Animated Short Film categories.”
“We look forward to welcoming everyone back next year to celebrate the great occasion of the 60th year of the Cork Film Festival,” he added.
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New Films incl. ‘SAVING MR. BANKS’ ‘FROZEN 3D’ Added to 2013 Cork Film Festival
FROZEN 3DA ‘raft of exciting new titles’ have been added to the 58th Cork Film Festival taking place November 9 to 17, 2013 in Cork, Ireland. Two major new Disney pictures FROZEN 3D and SAVING MR. BANKS lead the new films. In the big-screen animation comedy adventure, FROZEN 3D, directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, fearless optimist Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) sets off on an epic journey – teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven – to find her sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf (voice of Josh Gad), Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s SAVING MR. BANKS, directed by John Lee Hancock, and inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic Mary Poppins made it to the screen.
The Festival adds to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy with a presentation of New Yorker journalist Peter Landesman’s directorial debut PARKLAND, described as a tense and poetic recounting of the chaotic events that occurred at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital on that fateful day. Amongst the star-studded cast are Zac Efron, Billy Bob Thornton, Marcia Gay Harden and Paul Giamatti (once more).
Fresh from its Gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival comes that Institute’s new restoration of Captain John Noel’s 1924 the EPIC OF EVEREST. The official film record of the legendary 1924 attempt to conquer the highest mountain in the world is one of the most remarkable films in the BFI National Archive. This legendary expedition culminated in the deaths of two of the finest climbers of their generation, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, and sparked an on-going debate over whether or not they did indeed reach the summit.
Epic Irish documentary THE SUMMIT is the last film playing in the Cork Opera House during the Festival. In the summer of 2008, some 70 people from 15 separate expeditions braved the pilgrimage to the world’s second highest summit, on what became the deadliest day in mountaineering history. Together with writer Mark Monroe (the Cove), Irish director Nick Ryan creates a compelling narrative made up of multiple perspectives, time frames, actual video documentation, and beautifully recreated footage documenting K2’s deadliest day.
MILIUS is described as the fascinating and hilarious biography of John Milius, the ‘fourth horseman of the 70s Hollywood apocalypse’ with Lucas, Spielberg and Coppola. Millius wrote and directed Conan the Barbarian – launching the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger – and wrote Apocalypse Now.
Greek filmmakers Zoe Mavrousi and Augustine Zenakos’ new documentary about the criminalization of HIV, RUINS: A CHRONICLE OF AN HIV WITCH-HUNT, tells the story of a group of HIV-positive women who were detained by the Greek Police, forcibly tested, charged with a felony, imprisoned and publicly exposed, when their mug shots and personal data were published in the media, in the run-up to the country’s 2012 national elections.
Other new films include five choice picks from the 2013 BFI London film Festival:
Bruno Dumont’s (La vie de Jesus, Flandres) 2013 Berlinale Golden Bear nominee CAMILLE CLAUDEL (1915) see Camille Claudel (Juliet Binoche) confined by her family to a mental asylum in the south of France – where she will no longer sculpt – and living a reclusive life while waiting for a visit from her brother.
Set in Singapore Anthony Chen’s ILO ILO (awards at the Cannes and London Film festivals) chronicles the relationship between a family of three and their newly arrived Filipino maid, Teresa, who has come like many other Filipino women in search of a better life.
In Xavier Dolan’s deviously sexy psychological thriller TOM AT THE FARM (nominations at both the Venice and London Film festivals), Tom attends the funeral of his deceased boyfriend, only to find the family were not even aware of the relationship.
Co-directors Ben Rivers’s and Ben Russell’s hybrid documentary A SPELL TO WARD OF DARKNESS follows pagan re-enactors to failed communes, black metal festivals to Arctic hermits, and the forever Golden Hour to the Northern Lights, and explores the possibilities of a spiritual existence within an increasingly secular Western culture.
Quebecois debutant writer / director Chloe Robichaud’s impressively controlled SARAH PREFERS TO RUN (nominations at both the Cannes and London Film festivals) features a compelling performance from Sophie Desmarais, an emerging track and field star whose grip on life gets progressively greasy.
Dark family secrets abound in Chris Sullivan’s 14-year-labour-of-love rural Gothic fantasia CONSUMING SPIRITS. Featuring a variety of animation styles, all shot frame-by-frame on 16mm, ranging from evocative charcoal sketch work, collage and paper cut-outs and 3D models, in order to peel back the layers of the sad and lonely lives of horticulturalist Earl Gray; newspaper typesetter, museum guide and bus driver Gentian Violet; and her gentleman friend and fellow newspaper employee Victor Blue.