Ventnor Film Society is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, having shown our first season of films at Ventnor Botanic Gardens in 2005.
We are back for our Autumn Season on Monday 29th September with another programme of recent, award-winning films from around the world.
Alternate Mondays
This season, our films will be shown on alternate Mondays, at 2.30pm and 7.30pm at Ventnor Arts Club. We are pleased to say that we will again be charging £6 for tickets.
Anyone is welcome to attend our film screenings; you don’t need to be a member of Ventnor Arts Club. We love to see new faces! The bar will be open for drinks, tea, coffee, and ice cream until five minutes before the film begins.
A variety of international films
For this season, we’ve selected a variety of international films, including political thrillers, romantic comedies, dramas, crime, and animation.
The films are from China, Iran, Latvia, France, Tibet, and Brazil and will be shown in their original languages with subtitles. We hope you’ll find something you enjoy.
Latvian animation: Flow
Our first film, Flow, is a Latvian animation which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. After a great flood devastates a post-apocalyptic world, a lone cat finds refuge on a boat with a strange crew of animals: a capybara, a secretary bird, a dog, and a lemur.
Told in the animals’ own natural voices, this award-winning animated fable follows the group as they navigate a flooded world and learn to work together to survive. Monday 29th September.
Brazilian thriller: I’m Still Here
Our next film, I’m Still Here, is a gripping and powerful thriller from Brazil, which tells the true story of Eunice Paiva, who, for decades, sought the truth about the disappearance of her husband, congressman Rubens Paiva, after he was arrested by Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1971.
Despite enduring torture and brutality from the regime, she remained steadfast in her search for justice and to protect her family. Monday 13th October.
French romantic comedy: The Tasting
We travel next to the picturesque medieval town of Troyes for The Tasting, a heartwarming French romantic comedy. A kind-hearted midwife named Hortense meets Jacques, a grumpy wine merchant, and an unlikely romance blossoms.
As their connection deepens, the emotional scars they both carry threaten to spoil their chance at happiness. Monday 27th October.
Chinese film noir: Only the River Flows
Next up is Only the River Flows, a tense Chinese film noir set in 1990s rural China, where a police chief investigates a series of murders. Though an arrest is made, he doubts the suspect’s guilt, and uncovers disturbing secrets in the town.
As the investigation continues and strange new clues appear, the pressure of the case and family anxieties start to affect the chief’s mental state, and the search for the truth descends into paranoia. Monday 10th November.
Tibetan-language drama: Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard is set high in the Tibetan Plateau, where a herder’s desire for revenge clashes with his family’s sacred beliefs after he traps a snow leopard that killed his rams. The arrival of the authorities and a TV crew further complicates their emotional struggle, forcing them to confront the divide between tradition and modern life.
The elusive snow leopard is brought to life with beautiful animated sequences that lend a dreamlike quality. Monday 24th November.
Iranian drama: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Our last selection, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, filmed secretly and smuggled out of Iran, is a powerful condemnation of a tyrannical regime. Newly appointed as an investigating judge in Tehran, Iman soon learns that his role isn’t to seek justice but to approve the harsh verdicts of his superiors, including death sentences.
As public unrest swells, his paranoia intensifies and he turns his brutal interrogation methods on his own wife and daughters, Monday 8th December.
Our website has full details of all films and links to reviews and trailers.
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].
Evening screenings take place at 7.30pm prompt and matinees at 2.30pm. Entrance is £6, payable at the door (cash only).
The bar will be open, so please arrive in good time if you would like to buy drinks. We look forward to seeing both our familiar faces and newcomers.
News shared by Lin on behalf of Ventnor Film Society. Ed
