Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

So we have had our last film for the season, but we will be back on Sunday 8 January with 'Aftersun', about a woman's memories of a holiday with her father which has had huge critical acclaim. The full program will be published here shortly; watch this space.

Whilst we had some great films as always this season, the post-covid feeling of  'not wanting to go out' has kept the numbers down, with less than 70 people coming on average. We do understand this reticence (indeed, we are suffering the same dilemma), lets hope more people venture to the club films in the Spring... and the Keswick Film Festival from 23 to 26 February. The festival programme is now online and tickets and passes are available to buy from the Alhambra. 

Meanwhile, we hope you have a great festive season! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone - see you in January at the Alhambra for World Cinema.

Strawberry Mansion - Sunday 18th December 5pm

Imagine a world where everything is taxed, where product placement happens in your dreams. Imagine a world where these dreams are all recorded online via an 'air-stick' next to your bed... so that these can be taxed too.

James Preble is a tax man whose job is to audit your dreams. He calls on Bella, an old lady, who has no tax records; she hasn't updated her hardware. So far so simple (!?) What happens when he starts to audit her dreams takes him (and us) into a world of dreams where pretty much anything can happen, including falling in love...

"Beneath the crazy candy-coloured palette, there is actually some real human warmth in the love story, and the acting ensemble features some great comic performers in supporting roles..." - Leslie Felperin, Guardian

 

Decision To Leave - Sunday 11th December 5pm

 

Park Chan-wook won Best Director at Cannes this year for his latest film, and an array of great reviews: 

"A world-class artist at the top of his game" – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter.

"It's a gorgeously and grippingly made picture and Tang Wei is magnificent" – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian. 

"One of the smartest, most satisfying murder mysteries in years." - Adam Graham, Detroit News

Triangle Of Sadness - Sunday 4th December 5pm

In Triangle Of Sadness we follow two 'beautiful people' onto a freebie aboard a fabulously rich yacht with VERY wealthy people aboard, including some capitalist Russians. Captained by a disillusioned Marxist (Woody Harrelson), the crew have been told they cannot say 'no' to any request. All goes, well, swimmingly, until a huge storm hits and their worlds are turned upside down...

"An absurd, iconoclastic riot. Ruben Östlund's point may be blunt — yep, rich people are bad — but his telling of it is hilariously, breathlessly entertaining." - John Nugent, Empire Magazine

The Gravedigger's Wife - Sunday 27th November 5pm

Winner of many awards around the world's film festivals and the Somali entry for the Oscars, "The Gravedigger's Wife is a beautiful love letter to the power of family" (Marya E Gates, RogerEbert.com)

"A handsome, widescreen fable about family bonds and financial insecurity, this Somali-language film’s simplicity and economy is its power." - Wendy Ide, The Observer

 

 

Vesper - Sunday 20th November 5pm

Vesper is a 13-year-old girl trying to rebuild a dying world. "Set in 'the new dark ages' — a ruined tomorrow in which the engineered viruses and organisms that humanity created in order to stem the planet's ecological crisis have escaped into the wild and remade life on Earth into a dreary (but awesome) Cronenbergian wasteland full of fleshy droids, bioluminescent critters, and trees whose spores try to suck out your internal tissue while you sleep — Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper's 'Vesper' has already drawn several comparisons to the likes of 'Stalker' and the Andrei Tarkovsky-inspired 'Annihilation.' It’s easy to see why.

The Woman King - Sunday 13th November 5pm

This week we are taken back to Africa, the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1823 when the Agojie defended the kingdom against the Oyo Empire. 'So what?' you might say, but the Agojie were an elite unit of ALL FEMALE warriors. On one level, this is a blockbuster historic war movie, disguising a black feminist story; a big hitter with a social conscience.

"The Woman King isn't intended to be any ordinary account of history. It is a vibrant, restorative celebration of Black womanhood in all its glory" - Clarisse Loughrey, Independent.

The Innocents - Sunday 6th November 5pm

A future supernatural classic for you? Shown at The Alhambra as part of their Summer World Cinema season we thought The Innocents deserved another chance because not enough people saw it.

We start in "a pleasant, if featureless residential development in Romsås, Oslo, with 60s-style high-rise buildings near an artificial lake and picturesque woodland. Ida is a moody nine-year-old who resents her mum and dad paying so much attention to her elder sister Anna, who is autistic. As the long hot summer drags on, Ida is left to play outside, and tasked with looking after Anna. But Ida leaves her sister alone on the swings one day while she goes off with a new friend: a boy called Ben who shows her a strange mental trick he can do, making a bottle cap fly through the air without touching it. Meanwhile, Anna strikes up a friendship with a girl called Aisha, who has telepathic powers to match Ben's telekinesis...

"The Innocents’ is a nightmare unfolding in cold, clear daylight" – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

 "A complex piece of storytelling, both visually and narratively." - Brian Tallerico, Rogerebert.com

 

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash - Sunday 30th October 5pm

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash is an Indonesian action movie with a lot to say.

"Pulpy yet swooningly romantic, Edwin's entertaining thriller has perhaps the coolest film title in recent years; it also won the Golden Leopard at last year's Locarno film festival.
...
An adrenaline-pumping action fest that is ironic in many respects, 'Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash' swerves towards the mystical and the spiritual in the latter half, becoming an earnest and potent critique on the trappings of masculinity" - Phuong Le, Guardian.

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A later start and an extra new short film this Sunday

A reminder that we start at 5.30 this week, as the Alhambra is showing La Boheme during the afternoon. Then we have two films for you! In case you are worried just how long this will go on, both are short, so we should still finish by about 7.20pm.

We start by showcasing a new short, animated film, 'THE FELL WE CLIMB', produced by young Cumbrians in collaboration with mentors from Anti-Racist Cumbria, based on their own experiences of "what it's like growing up in Cumbria if you aren’t white". The film will be introduced by Keswick school pupil Millie Williams, and lead animator, Lou Kneath of +3K Animation. This took the best part of a year to produce and should be interesting from both a 'black lives matter' perspective and as a great way to support young talent.

The film is about 15 minutes long so we should be into the main feature, QUEEN OF GLOR' by 6.00.  One of the highlights of the current programme, this film is 'a dry comedy' about the problems of Ghanaian people living in New York so they slot together very well.

Queen Of Glory - Sunday 23rd October 5:30pm

A slightly later start time of 5:30pm for our film this week. "Actress Nana Mensah makes an impressive debut as a writer-director with 'Queen of Glory', a dry comedy of culture clashes, both ethnic and generational. Mensah fondly depicts the world of a Ghanaian American who has for the most part kept her heritage at a distance. But even in New York City, far from her homeland, she inevitably reconnects with tradition" – Pat Padua, Washington Post.

“Remember the name Nana Mensah — as an actor, writer and director, Queen Of Glory is a hugely impressive calling card.” - John Nugent, Empire Magazine

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Leave No Traces - Sunday 16th October 5pm

Leave No Traces was chosen as the Polish entry to the Oscars. Based on a true story from Communist Poland in 1983 when the Warsaw police beat to death an 18-year-old student and then covered this up right to the highest level of government. Whilst possibly hard to believe for us then, it seems a lot more believable with the recent swathe of police violence in the USA.

“[A] meticulously detailed thriller...” - Wendy Ide, Observer

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A Chiara - Sunday 9th October 5pm

 

This week our film is the the third part of a loose Calabrian trilogy by director Jonas Carpignano. 

"At once a coming-of-age story and a mafia thriller, 'A Chiara' takes a look at organized crime in Southern Italy from the unique perspective of a teenage girl, Chiara (Swamy Rotolo). Her world is turned upside down after her father disappears and she tumbles down the rabbit hole after him, discovering he's a member of the 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate'" – Katie Walsh, The Wrap.

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Official Competition - Sunday 2nd October 5pm

Put two actors who dislike each other in a film and you might have a disaster on your hands, but this is what Lola deliberately decides to do when given limitless money to make a movie in Official Competition.

"A sly satire of cinema that also manages to be a showcase for the comedic chops of its stars" - Michael O'sullivan, Washington Post

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Anaïs In Love - Sunday 25th September 5:00 PM

 

Girl leaves boy, meets boy, falls in love with...his wife. That is the only thing that is 'simple' about the life of Anaïs, who flits from one drama to the next... but can you resist her appeal?

"Set to be a sure-fire comfort hit for many generations to come." - Jasmine Valentine, Little White Lies

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The Big Hit - Sunday 18th September 5pm

"Emmanuel Courcol channels the feel-good energy of films like 'The Full Monty' for his latest, which fictionalises the true story of Swedish actor Jan Jönson's attempt to help prisoners stage a version of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting For Godot'". - Eye For Film

The film will be preceded by our 2022 AGM at 4:30pm which will be a short meeting.

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Eiffel - Sunday 11th September 5PM

We are back! We hope you have all enjoyed your summer, but, like us, you are looking forward to watching great World Cinema again. We are starting out with EIFFEL this Sunday 11th at 5pm

Construction of the Eiffel Tower might not have made an opening night movie, but the writers here have invented a back story about the muse that inspired the brilliant engineer to greater heights and changed the film to a love story; have they devised a good plot? That is up to you to decide.

"Taken as a speculative romance, and in the right matinee spirit, it’s lushly engaging, with a star pairing that – appropriately – rivets" – Tim Robey, Telegraph.

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We Are Back

It has been a long time since we showed films to a full house; Covid has dominated our lives for what seems like forever. We are starting this new season with high hopes of being 'back to normal', so no social distancing, no masks, drinks on the opening night and even paper voting slips! We do hope you are looking forward to a new season of films as much as we are.

One thing we are not bringing back yet is the brochure; we have booked films until the end of October and we will produce a shortened handout showing the details of these which you will be able to pick up from the Alhambra. We will do the same for the rest of the season during October.

So what can you look forward to?  We are starting with a 'French September' - three films from France to get us going again (Eiffel, The Big Hit and Anaïs In Love). Then a quick trip round Europe (Spain, Italy, Poland)before heading to the US and Indonesia to finish the first half of the season.

The end of a restricted, but successful year

With the end of the Festival, our Film Club year comes to an end again. Covid meant we had a very restricted capacity, but we at least managed to keep going. We saw 21 films throughout the year, albeit with an average audience of only 65. Whilst Covid seems to be on the rise at the moment, let us hope that it continues to be beaten back and we can have next year without social distancing. The highest scoring Club film was 'The Father' with nearly 89% - the top scores are on the website.

Our thanks go to all who helped keep the club afloat - the committee, volunteers and, of course, the Alhambra.

So now we can hope to enjoy a good summer. Make the most of those glorious sunny days! We will be back in September with a new season of films to start our 24th year - watch this space for details - and, if all goes well, maybe a brochure for the first time in a while. We will also bring you occasional news of Alhambra films we think you might enjoy. Not only is their program now much more extensive (with two screen to fill!), but they are also going to put on some 'world cinema' films that David Miller and Jonathan Porter are choosing - we have agreed to email you the details as they come up.

Enjoy your summer everyone - see you in September!

22nd Keswick Film Festival

Our season of Sunday evening films has come to an end but we'll be back at the Alhambra, Theatre By The Lake and Rheged from Thursday for the 22nd Keswick Film Festival.

Opening with Clio Barnard's ALI & AVA, there are 24 feature length films to choose from over the weekend with the critically acclaimed THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD bringing the festival to a close on Sunday evening. The award winning DRIVE MY CAR and HIVE are two highlights on Friday with a fundraising screening of the Ukrainian film OLGA in support of Red Cross and Unicef. 

Saturday sees the Osprey Short Film Awards, an online Q&A with Mark Cousins after his latest film THE STORY OF LOOKING,  mesmerising animation BELLE on Rheged's big screen and Almodovar and Cruz together again for PARALLEL MOTHERS.

Sight & Sound's Film of 2021 THE SOUVERNIR: PART II starts the Sunday alongside Jacques Audiard latest film PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT which was co-written by PETITE MAMAN's (showing on Friday) Céline Sciamma. There's a choice of two different Finnish films in the afternoon; COMPARTMENT NO 6 and MASTER CHENG. Animated documentary FLEE rounds off the day at Rheged whilst another film from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY is on at the Alhambra.

That's only some of films so do check out the festival website, Facebook page and Twitter for even more on all of the films showing.

Memory Box - Sunday 20th March 5pm

 

In Memory Box a postman arrives at the house of Lebanese Maia and her daughter Alex with a large box from France. "It contains the pictures and notebooks she sent to her best friend Liza circa 1983 after the girl moved to Paris, minutely recounting her daily life during the civil war. Now Liza is dead and the 'memory box' has been returned to sender" -Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter. Alex is intrigued but Maia doesn’t want her to look. Inevitably, Alex cannot resist and the film follows her discovery of her mother's past. Why was Maia so insistent on not looking back..?

"A real sense of cinematic alchemy.” - Steph Green, Little White Lies

Lingui,The Sacred Bonds - Sunday 13th March 5pm

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's latest film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and is the third of his films to be shown in Keswick ('Abouna' in 2003 and 'A Screaming Man' in 2011) "A perennial festival favourite, Haroun's deeply humanist films generally explore facets of manhood in his home country of Chad. Taking a chance outside his comfort zone, with 'Lingui, The Sacred Bonds' Haroun focuses on the strength and resilience of women in the face of a dangerously patriarchal society.

“The intense, focused performances from the two central women keep this drama in a hyper-alert state...” - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

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C'mon C'mon - Sunday 6th March 5pm

 

Our rescheduled screening of C'mon C'mon takes place this Sunday. Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny who hits the road across the States with his nephew Jesse who he is looking after while his sister Viv is away.

"C'mon C'mon is a great big bear hug wrapped in celluloid. Mike Mills, is a master of intimate, unforced emotion and the kind of simple wisdom that always sounds best when it’s coming from the minds of children. They come out with the kind of gold that screenwriters would spend many a sleepless night trying to chase after" - Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

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The Tragedy of Macbeth - Sunday 27th February 4:45pm

A slightly earlier start this week at 4:45pm to make room for live broadcast of The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde at 7pm.

The Tragedy Of Macbeth is Joel Coen's first film on his own without his brother and it is a bold one; stripping away all the Coen Brothers normal detail – even shooting in black and white.

"zeroing in on the essential details of Shakespeare's tale of how a hunger for power can curdle into madness and death... his adaptation cuts the play down to a lean 105 minutes of Macbeth plotting, killing, and unravelling as he faces his ultimate downfall, trying to cling to the prophecies that propelled him to power. The sparseness of the script matches the modesty of the staging." - David Sims, The Atlantic

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Memoria - Sunday 20th February 5:00 PM

 

Memoria split our reviewers and will probably not be to everyone's taste, but it felt too big to ignore: Voted as fourth best film of the year by Sight and Sound, and winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, we decided you had to be given the chance to see it.

Don't expect a plot, but do expect a magical experience, lead by the queen of the unexpected, Tilda Swinton. She plays Jessica who hears a strange booming noise which leads her throughout the film... but to where?

"Designed and deserving to be seen big and loud, Memoria is a hypnotic, unquantifiable, occasionally inpenetrable sonic odyssey from a unique cinematic voice" – Jake Cunningham, Empire Magazine

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A Hero - Sunday 13th February 5pm

A Hero is the latest from one of Keswick's favourite directors since we showed Oscar-winning 'A Separation' in 2012. Could this be another Oscar for Asghar? Several reviewers think so.

"Like all Farhadi's work, 'A Hero' operates as a calmly agonizing procedural, where one evasion or deception naturally squirms into the form of another, and another..." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

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There Is No Evil - Sunday 6th February 5pm

There Is No Evil brings us 4 tales about men faced with a simple yet unthinkable choice - to follow orders to enforce the death penalty, or resist and risk everything. This is not a film about capital punishment, instead it investigates the effect it has on those carrying out the punishment or their families.

“The film has a devastating cumulative power that grows with each story.” - Wendy Ide, Observer

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C'mon C'mon - Sunday 30th January 5pm

 

In C'mon C'mon Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny who hits the road across the States with his nephew Jesse who he is looking after while his sister Viv is away.

"C'mon C'mon is a great big bear hug wrapped in celluloid. Mike Mills, is a master of intimate, unforced emotion and the kind of simple wisdom that always sounds best when it’s coming from the minds of children. They come out with the kind of gold that screenwriters would spend many a sleepless night trying to chase after" - Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

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You Will Die At Twenty - Sunday 23rd January 5pm

 

In our film this week, a young man growing up in a small Sudanese village attempts to live his life while grappling with a holy man's prediction that he will die when he turns twenty.

"Sudanese film-maker Amjad Abu Alala's radiant drama dares to wonder if death could inspire courage rather than fear." - Simran Hans Observer.

"The film is a parable about the dangers of blind faith in religion and authority, but it's also warmly compassionate and accepting of human nature." - Cath Clarke, Guardian.

“Its quiet profundity strikes you hours, days after viewing.” - David Jenkins, Little White Lies

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Dear Comrades! - Sunday 16th January 5pm

 

Dear Comrades! is Russia's entry for the Oscars and based on real events in a small Russian town in 1962 that were not acknowledged for 30 years. This dramatic account of a workers strike and the horrific response - filmed in black and white to add to the realism – feels like a real Film Club film in the mould of Pawel Pawlikowski's 'Cold War'.

"A passionate drama of fear and rage." - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

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Being The Ricardos - Sunday 9th January 5pm

We hope you have all had a great Festive Season and are now looking for amusements and diversions to stop you thinking about the winter months ahead; how about joining Keswick Film Club to see Being the Ricardos this Sunday at the Alhambra Cinema at 5.00pm? An interesting story with a great script and some fine actors; what a start to 2022!

What is it all about? There is one week to go before the first ‘I love Lucy’ show is due to air; will it be good enough for the audience? Lucille Ball is accused of being a Communist (this is 1950s America); will she be arrested? Desi Arnaz, her husband on and off screen, is accused of having an affair; will their marriage survive?

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We have booked five films so far this season; two from the USA, one from Russia, one from Sudan and one from Iran. The stories are as varied as the countries so we think there is something for everyone.

We hope that sounds good to you. We are still operating social distancing so you will need to book a seat. Just visit www.keswickalhambra.co.uk and follow the links. It is a great time, too, to either join Keswick Film Club or become a Friend of the Alhambra; both will now save you money on all our films! Looking forward to seeing you there.