The Great Beauty - Sunday 15th December 5pm

We picked this week's film as a potential 'best film of the season' when we set up the programme, so I hope you can all get along to see 'The Great Beauty' on Sunday. Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian compared it in style to Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' and Antonioni's 'La Notte' and said it is 'a gorgeous movie, the film equivalent of a magnificent banquet composed of 78 sweet courses'.

Starting on Jep Gambardella's totally over the top 65th birthday celebrations, we follow Jep around Rome as he reviews his playboy life. Realising how decadent he has become, he sees how beautiful Rome is - as do we, through the eye of master cinematographer Luca Bigazzi.

The film has won 7 awards around Europe and director Paolo Sorrentino gained his fifth nomination for the Cannes Palme D'Or. An all round 'Great Beauty' by the sounds of it.

I Am Nasrine - Sunday 8th December 5:00 PM

From a well-established Iranian Director in Abbas Kiarostami last Sunday, we move this week, to the debut of the Iranian-exile, Tina Gharavi, with I Am Nasrine.

On limited release, the film has received some interesting reviews. The List stated:
 "The low-budget I am Nasrine is not without flaws....... yet Gharavi should be commended for her clandestine filming in the Iranian capital - she herself had to smuggle out the subsequent footage - and the film, thanks partly to Micsha Sadeghi's engaging performance (in the title role), captures Nasrine's sense of excitement at creating a new life in spite of so many obstacles. Alongside the forbidding tower blocks and cramped interiors, Gharavi finds an element of poetry in the wide-open spaces of the North East countryside through which Nasrine passes in her journey of self-discovery."

All neatly summed up by View London:
"With its recognisable soundtrack, impressive script and a strong performance from Micsha Sadeghi, I Am Nasrine makes for an interesting and engaging film that's worth a watch."

 The film runs for some 93 minutes.

Like Someone In Love - Sunday 1st December 5pm

We keep with highly acclaimed films for this Sunday; 'Like Someone in Love' was also nominated for the Cannes Palme D'Or. The director, Abas Kiarostami spent much of his life in his home country of Iran where he learnt to be subtle to beat the censors ('Taste of Cherry' being his most famous film). Since then he has made films in France (we had 'Certified Copy' at the club in 2011) and now Japan. He likes to get inside his characters to bring out their feelings; in this case we have the story of a young, poor female student who has been forced to become a call girl to pay her way. She goes to meet a new client, but is surprised to find he is both old and more interested in love than sex. Her relationship with him, and her boyfriend is the central theme of the story. Kiarostami is recognized as a world master of cinema, but his subtle methods do cause some debate. For instance, Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian says 'The way this film ends is perfect', whilst Andrew Shenker in Little White Lies thinks it '...really is baffling...', even though, overall, he goes on to say it is 'A major statement from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers'. So, as always in Keswick, we can expect some disagreement after the film!

Beyond the Hills - Sunday 24th November 5pm

After introducing ourselves to two, new British Directors on Sunday, we look forward to renewing acquaintance with a long-established Romanian Director, Christian Mungiu, this week.

Beyond the Hills is set to be as powerful as "4 months, 3 weeks and 2days" which we screened at Keswick after its release in 2007. According to Boston.com "The film has all the hallmarks of the Romanian New Wave: scrupulous realism, long camera movements, a lack of soundtrack music, and drama that slowly builds to an unbearable pitch. It's a deceptively impersonal style, because "Beyond the Hills" seethes with astonishment and rage at a broken society marooned between the 21st century and the 16th."

The film was also a candidate at Cannes, where Peter Bradshaw wrote "Beyond the Hills is an agonising, mysterious movie — it is the first event at this year's festival which has come close to providing any controversy: there were whistles and jeers at the final blackout. But I found it enthralling, mysterious and intimately upsetting – a terrible demonstration of how poverty creates a space which irrational fear must fill."

The Film has a running time of 150 minutes and should therefore finish about 7.40pm.

UK Directors Day - Sunday 17th November

We have a mid-season special for you this Sunday; two films by two new UK Directors plus BOTH of the directors will be with us to answer questions and share a drink with us between films...and all for the price of ONE FILM!

At 2.00pm, we start with 'Damaged Goods', a 'British social realist' film, in the mould of 'Kes'. In this case director Mike Tweddle brings us the story of of a boy and girl finding a dog which has been involved in the dog fighting 'sport' world. The film is 12A, so dont expect gruesome dog fighting; it is more of a drama about what happens to the three of them once they are together - 'we have made a family drama that portrays a dark subject with both compassion and empathy', say Mike Tweddle, who will be available around 3.30 to answer questions, before we break for a glass of wine.

Director Stephen Brown should also be arriving around that time. He will introduce his film - 'The Sea' at 5.00pm. 'The Sea' is based on John Banville's acclaimed book of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by the author himself. It follows a man (Ciaran Hinds) back to the sea where he spent his youth as he tries to get over the loss of his wife. Also starring Charlotte Rampling, SInead Cussack and Rufus Sewell, this will be complementary to 'Damaged Goods', which has a cast of new up-and-coming actors, giving us two very different films to enjoy. To round off what should be a good afternoon, Stephen Brown will be around to answer questions about 6.30.