This humorous and melancholic films follows Charles (Tim Key) an eccentric lottery winner living alone on a remote island who dreams of getting his favourite folk duo back together for a gig with an audience of just one. Carey Mulligan stars as part of the once almost famous band and returns from west coast USA where she now makes chutney along with her bird watching husband who tows along for the reunion. Tim Basden plays the other part of the duo and wrote the music for the film.
A powerful and beautiful story of family , friendship and identity
Holy Cow is the feature debut from director Louise Courvoisier. A part time farmer herself, Courvoisier is at home with the reality of rural life in the Jura region of France.
The cast are non professional and take us right into a life that is intrinsically hard. Clément Faveau plays an 18 year old lad whose interests are girls, beer and mopeds. While this doesn’t change, he unexpectedly finds himself alone caring for his 7 year old sister. How do you brush her hair? Get her to school Make money? How indeed? His answer is; learn to make prize winning cheese!
We are making this a special night. High Weald Dairy from Horsted Keynes will visit us. Many of you will know their cheeses in Ditchling and Hassocks as they are brought to our Farmers’ Market by The Sussex Peasant. They will bring tasting samples and cheeses to sell and will talk about cheese making and also their successful and sustainable farming methods.
It will be a convivial evening, and nicely accompanied by a selection of fine wines.
French with English subtitles. 90m. Director Louise Courvoisier. Awards: César Award for Most Promising Actress , César Award for Best First Film , Un Certain Regard Youth Prize .
Acclaimed conductor Thibaut has leukaemia and needs a bone marrow donor. Learning he was adopted, he finds an older brother, a musician and factory worker. Their reunion sparks a fraternal, musical journey amidst the town’s factory closure. It has echoes of Brassed Off with its exploration of the impact of unemployment on a whole community. This is a delightful, at times hilarious, other times poignant, exploration of who we are and where we come from.
French with English subtitles. 103m. Directed by Emmanuel Courcol
Even to come and sit with friends, and possibly with a glass of wine in the comfort of Ditchling Village Hall and view My Favourite Cake, is a kind of political act, given the nature and history of this remarkable film. Now imagine you live in Iran, the Authorities have refused the film a public viewing licence: the film’s directors are under suspended sentence for spreading lies and producing vulgar content. They’ve had all their film making equipment confiscated. Viewing the film in private, if you managed to get hold of a copy, risks falling foul of the Morality Police.
Now you begin to get a sense of the context within which My Favourite Cake was made, why it was made and the supreme artistry of its attack on the Regime’s on going repression of women’s rights. You take, as the film’s central character an elderly woman. In itself this is an affront – you just don’t do that in Iranian cinema. Now you charge your central character with powerful feelings, not just of the isolation that has come to her with the passing years, but with a longing for life that refuses to lie down, and yes lust, and her determination to do something about it.
There is a wonderfully comedic irony about her choice of partner, a hapless taxi driver of her own age and every step in their whirlwind “romance” adds insult and injury to the official cultural version of how the elderly should behave.
This is powerful cinema, delivered with a gentleness and sense of ridicule that makes for an unexpected evening’s viewing.
Persian with English subtitles. 97m Directed by Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha
A personal view by guest critic Beth Travers
Ah yes, My Favourite Cake – though I would have appreciated a slice or two to comfort me after this film. It is a gut-wrenching portrayal of loneliness and isolation of two, single 70-year-olds living in the hustle of modern-day Tehran. This award-winning Iranian film follows seventy-year-old Mahin and her attempt to revitalise her life after the loss of her husband. From a hilarious depiction of female friendships, to heroism in the face of the oppressive Iranian morality police, co-directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha beautifully capture a revival of love and romance.
The question arises from the beginning of the film – is it possible to find love once again at such an age? Mahin proves quite easily that it is, even under the constraints of the Islamic Republic regime. She determinedly sets her heart on rediscovering life with a partner, unabashedly inviting cab driver and military veteran, Faramarz (played by Esmail Mehrabi ) into her home for some of her “favourite cake”. Admittedly I felt dazzled by her boldness, Lili Farhadpour magically captured that universal excitement and enjoyment of female pursuit typically associated with young, carefree (and predominantly western) women. She proved the desire to be seen and for physical touch never dies as we grow older.
Esmail won my heart with his loveable, charming smile and dance moves that had viewers (such as myself) crying on their sofas still with no cake in sight…
Played by Mads Mikkelsen, Martin is a high school teacher in a mid life crisis. He and his three colleagues embark on an “study” to see what level of alcohol makes them better people.
Measuring social and professional performance they drink only during working hours. Intoxicating, very funny and sobering. The film won a Bafta for Best Film not in the English Language and an Oscar for best international feature.
Directed by Thomas Vintenburg. Danish with English Subtitles.
