New Directors Day: 2 Films & Guests - Sunday 12th October 5pm

We come to one of our favourite weeks of the season; our attempt to support new British directors and give you the chance to meet people behind the films. This Sunday we start at 2.00pm with the documentary Next Goal Wins, which follows the attempts of ‘the world’s worst football team’ to improve before the last world cup. Not standard Keswick fare, true, but before you decide it is not for you either, take a look at these reviews:-

‘A triumph-of-the-underdog documentary so amusing and inspirational you'll have to Google events to ensure it's not a mockumentary’  (Jamie Graham, Total Film)

 ‘I could not possibly care less about football, and I fell hopelessly in love with this movie, and with the can-do amateur team it introduces us to’ (MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher)

 ‘Even if you have no interest in football, you will be swept along by the emotional pull of this story, willing the team on to experience the joy of scoring their first goal never mind winning a match’ (Allan Hunter, Daily Express).

Overall, it scored a very rare 100% for all critics on Rotten Tomatoes, which made us think it had to be worth seeing! Unfortunately for us, on the back of this film, the directors have now got another movie to make so cannot attend our showing, but they are recording an ‘interview’ for us from their location in Iceland (!), which we will show after the film.

We’ll then have a free glass of wine to take us to 5.00pm, when we will show Here and Now. This returns to more traditional Keswick fare -  town girl meets country boy and they both discover there is more to the world than they thought. The director, Lisle Turner and one of the stars will be here to discuss the film afterwards.

We have had some very different films in this spot in the past and we hope these two add to our understanding of what drives new people to make a film. PLUS you get all this for the price of one film! See you there!

Three Hours - Sunday 5th October 5pm

We have a problem introducing the film this week; ‘Three Hours’ is a German film chosen with the help of one of our members who speaks German; we cant find any reviews in English! Sam argued that we should have more from Germany, which we were happy to agree with. The film has no distributor in this country so we getting a possibly unique showing!

The story is based on the 3 hours following the revelation by Martin at Munich airport that he loves Isabel. She is about to fly off to Africa; what should she do now? Director Boris Kunz produces an ‘off the wall’ comedy based round this, but don't expect just a ‘rom-com’; you will have to be there to see what else is on offer.

(We also struggled to find an English trailer, there is a small subtitled trailer on the distributors website)

AGM Reminder: This Sunday 4pm

A reminder for members - the club AGM will be in the Alhambra at 4.00pm on Sunday just before the film. Please come along if you can!

The Lunchbox - Sunday 28th September 5pm

This week we have The Lunchbox, "a real charmer of a film: a wry and gently comic Mumbai-set drama with a level of quiet observation that rekindles memories of Bill Forsyth in his prime", as Geoffrey McNab says in the Independent. The Dabbawallas in Mumbai deliver lunchboxes from home to work for thousands of families every day. Ila decides to try to rekindle her marriage by sending her husband a special lunchbox, but it is delivered to the wrong man, Saajan, a lonely office worker.

The film follows the notes they send each other with the lunchboxes, as the two strangers each share their problems and hopes. First-time director Ritesh Batra has received praise from film festivals around the world (including Cannes and London). With both the leading actors also getting great reviews (‘Irrfan Khan... proves here that he may be one of the greatest living actors in the world right now’ – David Jenkins, Little White Lies), we are in for a gentle but rewarding experience.

Omar - Sunday 21st September 5pm

Our second film of the season takes us, very timely, to Palestine. We join ‘Omar’ as he climbs the wall into Israel to see his lover, and to do his bit to free his country; whether he is a freedom fighter or a terrorist depends on which side of the wall he stands on.

Director Hany Abu-Assad has created a gripping thriller from this plot but he is equally interested in the effects on the characters’ normal lives as he is on the morals and politics of the situation. The resulting movie is ‘A tense, involving combination of love story and thriller’, as Allan Hunter says in the Express...Will he be caught? What would his friends and family think? What does his lover think? The film was nominated for ‘Best Foreign Film’ at the Oscars this year and should give us a thought-provoking night out.