Screeings Of "Lights, Camera...Alhambra"

Keswick Film Club, in partnership with the Alhambra Cinema, has produced a short film to mark the Centenary of the Alhambra Cinema. The film lasts about 30 minutes and features recollections from local people from silent films, the first talkie until the present day.

The film will be screened during the festival (all screenings will take place at the Alhambra) at the following times:

• Friday 28th February at 6.00pm with the filmmaker Joel Baker 
• Saturday 1st March at 5.00pm
• Wednesday 5th March at 2.00pm before The Clouded Yellow
• Thursday 6th March at 2.00pm before Swallows and Amazons

We would like to thank the funders of the film and the background research:

• Keswick Neighbourhood Forum
• Keswick Town Council
• The Lake District Communities Fund

15th Keswick Film Festival

The 15th Keswick Film Festival starts on Thursday night with a party and Felix - the latest film from Dame Janet Suzman (who is also our guest) and go through to Sunday evening with over 30 films to choose from. Then the centenary celebrations continue through until Thursday with free screenings of films from each decade at The Alhambra, including The Godfather Parts 1&2, Lawrence of Arabia and Vertigo.

The Patience Stone - Sunday 23rd February 7pm

Coming hard on the heels of Wadjda (and indeed Circumstance and About Elly from last year’s festival), The Patience Stone, our film for this Sunday, (don’t forget at 7.00pm) again reflects on the position and role of women in Muslim societies.

The Patience Stone is a drama from French-Afghan director Atiq Rahimi and based on his own prizewinning novel and adapted by French screenwriting legend Jean-Claude Carriere.

It is described by The List as follows: “In an unnamed town in what could be Afghanistan, a young woman tends to her injured husband. A religious war is being fought around them, and while battling alongside his Muslim brothers the husband has taken a stray bullet in the neck. Now he is breathing and not much else; he lies staring into space, not moving and completely unresponsive. His silence prompts the woman to speak – 'You’re compelling me to talk', she says – and as the surrounding violence escalates she begins to tell him all the thoughts, resentments and deep secrets that he has never listened to during their marriage.

This is a striking and provocative film, and essential to its success is Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, giving a deeply layered performance as the woman. She is both liberated and falling apart, at once a victim and fiercely in control, and Farahani ensures her actions are never predictable but always believable. Her expression in the film’s final enigmatic frame is one of the best parting shots in cinema this year.”

Child's Pose - Sunday 16th February 5pm

As I was researching information for the brochure this year, I realised that many of the films we had chosen had great reviews for the leading female actress. Our film this week, 'Child's Pose', from Romania, stars Luminita Gheorghiu, who adds to these reviews - 'A taut modern morality tale from Romania with a knock-out lead performance from Luminita Gheorghiu.' - David Jenkins, Little White Lies.

How far would a mother go to protect her child? How far should she go? And, underneath it all, is she really protecting herself even more? 'A spellbinding drama of social commentary and psychological realism, this caustic look into the corrupt heart of the Eastern European bourgeoisie twists into a brilliantly ambiguous study of obsessive motherly love.' - Rotten Tomatoes.

The film was Romania's nomination for the Best Foreign Film at this year's Oscars, and has already won the Golden Bear at Berlin... good film, good acting...a good night out? Let's hope so! 

Gloria - Sunday 9th February 5pm

Our film on Sunday sees a return to Chile for Gloria, a film directed by Sebastian Lelio and produced by Pablo Larrain, whose own films have been regularly screened at KFC.

The BFi website summarises the feel of the film as follows:

“The first time the viewer sees Paulina García’s Gloria at the bar of a crowded nightclub for middle-aged singles, the sound of Frecuencia Mod’s upbeat ‘Duele, duele tu amor’ (‘Your Love Hurts’) rings out. With a glass of pisco sour in her hand and her arm positioned confidently on the bar, she casts her eye around the room and then swings purposefully across the dance floor to introduce herself to a potential new partner as Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ resonates across the room. The sonic commentary offered by the two opening numbers sets the scene for Sebastián Lelio’s perceptive and entertaining study of a feisty, free-spirited 58-year-old divorcee, putting aside the pain of past relationships in her search for passion, companionship and a partner who shares her zeal for dance.”