RETROSPECTIVES
26th Leeds International Film Festival Box Office: 0113 224 3801
Mother
Kinuyo Tanaka Dir. Kinuyo Tanaka, Japan, 1952, 98 mins, ST Sun 4, 13:45, HYDE A rarely screened film from Japanese master Mikio Naruse, Mother is a poised study of a woman’s fight to keep her family afloat in the face of increasingly difficult personal and economic circumstances. When illness strikes down both eldest son and father, Tanaka’s matriarch is forced to shoulder the entire parental and financial burdens of her family. Mother offers true depth by focusing on Tanaka’s affecting portrayal of a woman struggling to cope with the personal sacrifices and emotional restraint demanded of her by patriarchal family culture. (35mm print)
My Night with Maud
Partners in Cinematography Dir. Eric Rohmer, France, 1969, 110 mins, ST Sun 4, 13:00, TOWNHALL1 Director Eric Rohmer and cinematographer Nestor Almendros’s breakthrough film is a classic of modern French cinema, cerebral, sexy and stylish in equal measure with expressive performances by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Francoise Fabian. Chaste and conservative Jean-Louis sees a woman that he believes will be his perfect match whilst attending church. But when he unwittingly spends the night at the apartment of the worldly and spirited divorcée Maud, the moral certainties of his life are suddenly thrown into question.
Ne Change Rien Portuguese Cinema
Dir. Pedro Costa, Portugal/France, 2006, 100 mins, ST Fri 9, 14:00, HYDE Portuguese master Pedro Costa’s most recent film is a mesmerising, hybrid documentary fixated on French actress/ singer Jeanne Balibar. We witness her rehearsing, recording, performing and practicing with a singing coach for an opera. Costa himself is a friend of Balibar’s and did all the camera work himself, utilising his trademark long, static shots to extraordinary effect, giving patient attention to the details of the performance and revealing the nuances of her creative process. (35mm print)
A Nest of Gentlefolk Andrei Konchalovsky
Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky, Soviet Union, 1969, 111 mins, ST Thu 15, 13:30, HYDE Ivan Turgenev’s classic novel is brought to life with luscious cinematography and set design in Andrei Konchalovsky’s third feature A Nest of Gentlefolk. Disenchanted with the superficial glitter of Parisian society and with his frivolous wife, Fyodor Lavretsky returns to his long neglected estate in Russia in the decadent days of the aristocracy shortly before the Revolution. He reflects on his past, sorting through rooms full of dusty ornaments and memorabilia and falls unrequitedly in love with his neighbour’s daughter.
HIFI - HiFi Club
UNI - University of Leeds
SAVILE - Saviles Hall
ESA - East Street Arts
COTTAGE - Cottage Road Cinema
27