Ventnor Film Society returns with a new season of current award-winning films from the UK and around the world on Monday 3rd and Wednesday 5th February.
As usual, we will be screening each film at Ventnor Arts Club on two evenings, but this season our pattern of dates will be slightly different, with some Mondays as well as Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Also, not all the films will be screened at fortnightly intervals, so please check the dates carefully. Everyone is welcome to come along; there is no need to be a member of the Arts Club to come to our films.
Interesting and critically acclaimed films
This season we have picked some interesting and critically acclaimed films from the UK, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Kenya, Russia and Macedonia. You will find political thrillers, romance, music, futuristic and documentary dramas, coming together in a programme that we hope everyone will enjoy, in English and in the original languages with subtitles.
Our policy is to screen English language films with subtitles on Wednesdays when possible, but unfortunately there are none available for this season’s English language films, Sorry We Missed You and Rafiki.
Loache’s Sorry We Missed You
Our first choice is the latest film from Ken Loach, the follow-up to the popular I, Daniel Blake. This hard-hitting film is a powerful exploration of Britain’s gig economy and the challenges faced by a family trying to hold it all together. Ricky and his family face debt and he takes on a zero hours job as a self-employed delivery driver.
However, the family is pushed to breaking point as Ricky becomes increasingly stressed by the tight schedules and fines imposed by the firm, as well as the demands of his wayward teenage son.
Germany’s Transit
Nominated for Berlin’s Golden Bear Award, Transit is Christian Petzold’s brilliant and haunting modern-day adaptation of Anna Seghers’s 1944 novel. Georg, a German refugee, flees to Marseille, stealing the identity of a recently deceased writer whose papers he is carrying.
There he delves into the refugee community, becoming enmeshed in the lives of a young mother and son and falling for the mysterious Marie.
Down to Argentina
Rojo is set in Argentina in 1975, where Claudio, a prominent local lawyer, leads a comfortable life, turning a blind eye to the practices of Isabel Peron’s corrupt regime.
At a restaurant one evening, he is violently attacked by a stranger and the altercation unleashes a drama of secrets, silences and death.
Off to Kenya for Rafiki
We travel next to Kenya for Rafiki, a sweet and engaging tale of two Kenyan girls, Kena and Ziki, living very different lives in Nairobi. Football-loving Kena, who works in her father’s shop and plans to start nursing school, meets colourful Ziki, who spends her days hanging out with her friends and making up dance routines.
Soon their friendship grows to romance, but they face prejudice and ignorance in a country where LGBT relationships are still illegal.
Pain and Glory from Almodovar
From Spain, comes Pedro Almodovar’s latest work, Pain and Glory, which has been sweeping the board at this year’s award ceremonies, with Antonio Banderas Oscar nominated for his role as an aging film director.
As he recalls his childhood in Valencia of the 60s, his first love in 1980s Madrid, and his discovery of film and music, he finds a way to come to terms with his life’s choices.
Honeylands in Macedonia
A surprising success on the film festival circuit was the drama-documentary Honeylands, the Oscar entry from Macedonia. Nestled in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, Hatidze ekes out a living farming honey.
Her peaceful existence is disrupted by the arrival of a family with seven unruly children and a herd of cattle, which reveals the delicate balance between humankind and nature, a glimpse at a fast disappearing way of life, and becomes an unforgettable testament to one extraordinary woman’s resilience.
Russian underground music scene
The Russian drama Leto is based on the true story of Zoopark, of one of the most popular bands in the underground music scene of 1980s Leningrad, fuelled by punk, rock and new wave from the West.
He basks in his celebrity with glamorous girlfriend Natasha until his biggest fan, Viktor, a gifted singer-songwriter, arrives on the music scene, and the three become embroiled in a volatile love triangle.
Find out more
Further information about this season’s programme will be found our own Website which has full details of all films and links to reviews and trailers. All films are also listed with Events OnTheWight.
Where and when
Ventnor Film Society meets in Ventnor Arts Club, 13 High Street, Ventnor.
To be sure of a place, please book a seat by emailing [email protected], but local viewers can always take a chance and turn up on the night.
Screenings take place on either Mondays or Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Entrance is £6, payable at the door, (cash only) with under-25s enjoying a discount of £3, and the bar is open from 6.30pm.
We look forward to seeing all our regulars in February, but if you have never been before, please come along and enjoy!
News shared by Lin on behalf of Ventnor Film Society. Ed
