Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Coronavirus Update - End Of Season

We'd already decided that we couldn't go ahead with our final two films of the season before the Alhambra closed. It is a shame to end the season on such a sad note, especially as it has been a successful year for the club. We hope you have enjoyed the films overall and will be raring to go when we start up again.

Meanwhile we are all going to have to plan out a very different Summer to the one we may have thought. Some of you will be in 'lockdown', others will be trying to stay safe whilst having some life outside the home. Please try to help each other as much as you can and take a look at Keswick Community Emergency Recovery Partnership Facebook page for more information on how to help and get help.

Monday, March 09, 2020

A Hidden Life - Sunday 15th March 4:30pm

Poster for A Hidden Life

Terrence Malick is back to his best: "A Hidden Life is a lucid and profoundly defiant portrait of faith in crisis. It's an intimate epic about the immense strength required for resistance, and the courage that it takes for one to hold fast to their virtue during a crisis of faith, and in a world that may never reward them for it. It is, without question, the best thing that Malick has made since 'The Tree of Life'" - David Ehrlich, IndieWire.

Please note the earlier start time of 4:30pm to allow for the longer running time (2hrs 53mins)


Thursday, March 05, 2020

A Review of the Festival

Over four days this past weekend, the Keswick Film Festival showed 28 feature films across three venues - Alhambra, Theatre by the Lake and Rheged. The films were remarkable for their range and many were pre-release having their first UK showing here in Keswick.

One of the films that played to a full house was “Parasite”, a South Korean film that has just won the Best Film Oscar – the first not in English. The Festival team had noted the film some time ago and so it was booked long before the Oscars. For those that missed it, you can catch it at the Alhambra next week.

A moving and thought-provoking film from Syria, “For Sama” gave the highest score ever from the audience. It was introduced by the Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group and showed the appalling suffering against a very human story.

The screening of an old Ken Russell film, “Dance of the Seven Veils” was a unique event and made the national news, as it was the first showing since it was banned after just one show fifty years ago. The film was made in Borrowdale and several people who worked as extras were in the audience including one who had travelled 200 miles to see it. The evening was introduced by Lisi Tribble, Ken’s wife, who had a great store of interesting background stories.

A moment of serendipity came with the showing of “No Fathers in Kashmir” when it was discovered that the star of the film, Zara Webb, was in the audience with her extended family, seeing it for the first time. She gamely stepped up and told us about the making of the film – an interesting story given that it is a subversive film made in a war zone.

A special part of the Festival has always been the Osprey Awards. These are given for short films with a Cumbrian connection and again showed the terrific range and creativity among filmmakers, particularly some of the younger ones.

The audience award for the best film of the Festival went to “The Personal History of David Copperfield”. It’s a very funny, lively take on the Dickens classic, so do see it as it’s now on general release.

Roger Gook

Monday, March 02, 2020

The Third Wife - Sunday 8th March 5pm

Poster for The Third Wife

The Third Wife is a very beautiful film about a forbidden topic; a young girl, May, taken as Hung's third wife, after Ha and Xuan, finds herself having to compete to exist.
"What we have here is a small, delicate mini-masterpiece, and bright new talent behind the camera." G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle