4-27 AUG 2023
CELEBRATE WITH US
• PREVIEWS & PREMIERES
• FILMMAKER Q&A’S (BLANCHETT, BONNEVILLE, MCGOVERN & MORE)
• JEAN-LUC GODARD
• LINDSAY ANDERSON
• SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
• ALL THAT JAZZ
• PATRICIA HIGHSMITH
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Phew! We have reached the 31st edition of the Chichester International Film Festival – and this is my last. What an extraordinary journey it has been, from those modest beginnings in 1992 to this year’s event. With a record number of more than 25 UK premieres, and with so many film makers coming to Chichester to present their work, it must indeed be our biggest Festival yet.
We are honoured that Hugh Bonneville is to introduce ‘To Olivia’ – in which he plays Roald Dahl – as part of the first major retrospective of HB’s work. Although he is renowned for ‘Paddington’ and ‘Downton Abbey’, we have concentrated on his other films and a rich selection of his TV work.
As part of her retrospective, we are delighted to welcome Cate Blanchett for a Q&A after the screening of the superb ‘Tár’: for me, the best film of the year – and was she not robbed of the Oscar?
Writing this piece at the end of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and surveying our programme, I noticed connections between the films, some accidental (subconscious?) and others deliberate. Several of the selections reflect Russian culture: ‘Tchaikovsky’s Wife’, from dissident director Kiril Serebrennikov, portrays the tumultuous relationship between the composer and his obsessive spouse. It was shown at last year’s Cannes and now receives its UK premiere. As an interesting comparison, I have included Ken Russell’s equally feverish ‘The Music Lovers’, starring the late Glenda Jackson as Nina. To mark the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth, Tony Palmer will introduce his outstanding
documentary, subtitled ‘The Harvest of Sorrow’; and we also have Rudolf Nureyev’s 1981 film of ‘Don Quixote’, starring Robert Helpmann.
From Austria we present the art of Vienna at the turn of the 19th century with two lavish biopics, both directed by Dieter Berner: ‘Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden’ and ‘Oscar and Alma’ (a UK premiere). Isabelle Huppert features in ‘By Heart’, a fascinating fly-on-thewall documentary from the Avignon Festival, where she is seen rehearsing Chekhov’s unforgettable heroine in ‘The Cherry Orchard’, while Fabrice Luchini recites Nietzsche. Huppert is in three other films: ‘Slow Motion’,
part of a tribute to Jean-Luc Godard; ‘About Joan’, recollections of a tempestuous life; and Chabrol’s ‘Merci pour la chocolat’, a portrait of pure evil from Huppert and one of my most cherished movies.
As this is my swan-song, I have indulged myself in selecting some favourites. I must emphasise that these are not the ‘best’, or ‘greatest’, films ever made; indeed, I doubt if many are in the latest ‘Sight and Sound’ decennial poll of the 100 greatest, which we will debate in one of our illustrated talks. My personal list ranges from ‘Fantasia’ to ‘The Wild Bunch’. Another of my ‘faves’ is Hitchcock, who looms elsewhere: ‘Strangers on a Train’ is part of the ‘Loving Highsmith’ strand; ‘Madeleine Collins’, enjoying its UK
ROGER GIBSON EGON SCHIELE THE WILD BUNCHpremiere, has echoes of ‘Vertigo’; and it will be interesting to see Mark Cousins’ re-examination of Hitch in the new documentary ‘My Name is Alfred Hitchcock’. Once I thought documentaries remained suitable only for television – sorry, Mr Grierson – but they continue to evolve into a major cinema genre. They are strongly represented in the Festival, with many UK premieres. I especially recommend ‘I’m Still Here’, a thought-provoking plea for compassion towards the homeless, and we are delighted that Elizabeth Healey (co-director) and Elizabeth McGovern (producer) will attend the screening for a Q&A. From Ukraine, Serge Krutsenko’s ‘The Address on the Wall’ was initially to be confined to the 1941 Babyn Yar Massacres, but it became overtaken by the Russian invasion of his country in March 2022. In his touching and quietly humorous ‘Much Ado about Dying’, Simon Chambers records how he became the carer of his uncle, David Gale, an octogenarian former Shakespearean actor: it is discomfiting but life-affirming. We are proud to have the first UK screening of the important and timely ‘Afghanistan’, which chronicles a British soldier’s return to the country amid the Taliban takeover. In contrast we have two enjoyable mockumentaries: ‘Ufologists’, a credible TV profile of four members of Cornwall Ufologists pursuing their quest for a close encounter; and, hot from Sundance accolades, ‘Theater Camp’, a hilarious send-up of drama instructors, in the style of Christopher Guest.
Humour is not far away elsewhere, with a bittersweet Belgian/Swiss comedy, ‘Last Dance’, in which an elderly widower joins an experimental avant-garde troupe beloved by his late wife. There are films by Woody Allen and Jacques Tati; Miloš Forman ‘s wonderful comedy ‘The Firemen’s Ball’; and classic silents, including Harold Lloyd’s ‘Safety Last!’. Neil Brand presents the story of Laurel and Hardy with clips and live accompaniment. John Sweeney’s piano wizardry will accompany René Clair’s charming ‘The Italian Straw Hat’ in the Guildhall, Priory Park. Ben Hall returns to give us the creeps playing organ to Lon Chaney’ s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ in St John’s Chapel; and, also in the Guildhall, Buster Keaton’s ‘Steamboat Bill, Jr.’ will be afforded the jazz treatment by the Buster plays Buster quartet. Finally, our regular event combining a documentary with live jazz will focus on Ronnie Scott’s Club. With a terrific quintet led by Andrew Cleyndert, this promises to be another great evening of jazz – and a highlight of CIFF 2023.
Please note with so many UK premieres, we are adding the symbol ‘Film Festival Exclusive’ for films that have been imported especially for our Festival. So, catch them here as they are unlikely to return.
We would like to thank our continued partnership with the Institut Français who are providing us with three outstanding French previews.
My heartfelt thanks to the incredible Cinema staff, including Patrick Hargood and the education team, along with the enthusiastic volunteers who over the years have made these marathons possible. I would especially like to thank Walter Francisco who works miracles, and I would also like to extend my thanks to John Coldstream who has been so helpful to me with this Festival. As the Festival has grown and developed so has my stress and grumpiness. I must therefore pay tribute to my wife Josephine for her patience and all her enthusiastic support.
Roger Gibson (Artistic Director) July 2023 JOSEPHINE & ROGER GIBSON AFGHANISTAN
u Gates open 19:00
u Films start at Dusk (approx 20:40)
u Bring a Picnic Blanket or Chair, and a Picnic Basket filled with your favourite goodies
u Fenwick’s Cafe will be open for Drinks & Snacks
Wes Anderson dips a toe into the world of ‘50s kitsch. With an incredible cast and beautiful pastel colours, this looks to become one of Anderson’s most dazzling, rich and playfully self-reflective films to date. Set in a fictional American desert town c.1955. The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/ Space Cadet convention (organised to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events, including atombomb tests taking place just kilometres away. Anderson taps into the paranoia of the time, with the government and military involved in the reliably madcap proceedings. Yet he also captures the nation’s aspirations and inventiveness through the teenagers at the convention. “There is so much fun to be had and such delight be taken from this film. Though it seems as light as a soufflé, this is more substantial fare than Anderson has been dishing out recently. It merits second, and possibly third, helpings.” (Evening Standard)
Fri 4 Aug 20:40 (approx) at Priory Park
The outstanding cast includes many of Wes Anderson’s trusted favourites, among them Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Willem Defoe and Edward Norton, joined by Anderson debutants Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Steve Carrel and Matt Dillon. A sure sign that this is the one current director all actors are clamouring to work with. Prepare to submit to Wes Anderson’s unique charm.
USA 2023 WES ANDERSON 104M
Sat 5 Aug 20:40 (approx) at Priory Park
Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Finding himself in a new era and approaching retirement, Indy wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artefact doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. The titular MacGuffin can alter history and now the Nazis are after it. It is 15 years since ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ and this time the stellar cast includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Indy’s goddaughter and Mads Mikkelsen in villainous mode, as well as John Rhys-Davies and Antonio Banderas. This is an exuberant action flick highlighted by the charm and charisma of Harrison Ford, and it contains lots of satisfying fan service. From old friends popping up, to familiar situations unfolding in different ways, to a nice little spin on the iconic scene from the first film where our intrepid archaeologist lies bruised and battered. His girlfriend commented on how many years he’s been doing the punishing gig, and Indy ad-libbed, “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.”
USA 2023 JAMES MANGOLD 142M
An original new feature film from Pixar Studios (‘Toy Story’) set in Element City, where the creatures of the four elements – fire, water, earth and air – have come together to live, if not exactly in harmony, at least in a kind of boisterous acceptance. The fiery Lumens (Bernie, his wife Cinder, and their tough and quick-witted young daughter Ember), have left their families behind to start a new urban life for themselves. No one knows how to pronounce their names, and in a city primarily occupied by inhabitants comprised of water, they’re unwelcome. Years later, after much sacrifice, fiery Ember is ready to inherit the family business from her aging father. When one of her outbursts results in a broken pipe, water seeps its way into the shop, as does the highly emotional and charismatic Wade, a water element working as an inspector for the city, who decides to shut the Fireplace down. When Ember makes her appeal to Wade to reconsider, he chooses to help her, taking them on a journey where opposites attract and the two elements who physically cannot be together (literally, they cannot touch, as she’ll evaporate him, and he’ll extinguish her if they do) will come to realise just how compatible they truly are.
Sun 6 Aug 20:40 (approx)
USA 2023 PETER
SOHN 93M
‘Amadeus’ meets ‘Dangerous Liaisons’. Looking for work as a violinist, Josef Mysliveček, a friend of Mozart, comes into the orbit of a rich young woman. She introduces him to a hedonistic existence. Josef is given an incredible commission: to write an opera for the San Carlo opera house.
Thu 10 Aug 18:30
Dinner from 18:30 / Film from 20:30
Also screening Fri 11 Aug 13:45 (Film Only – Normal Price)
We are proud to present this UK premiere for our Gala opening. This prestigious film has been selected as the Czech nomination for next year’s Foreign Language Oscar. It captures the glorious decadence of 18th century Italy inhabited by Czech composer Josef Mysliveček (Vojtech Dyk), nicknamed Il Boemo. Decay acts as a counterpoint: when we meet Mysliveček shortly before his death just shy of his 44th birthday. Václav shows how the Czech, who moved to Italy in search of fame, was much less volatile than the younger composer whom he influenced. He appears driven less by his carnal appetites than by an overwhelming desire to see his music performed – although that didn’t stop him adopting a hedonistic lifestyle. It is the squalor beneath the sublime, the grime beneath the grandeur, that is at the heart of ‘Il Boemo’, a sumptuous period piece that’s also an ambitious slice of musical archaeology. Václav (‘The Way Out’, ‘We Are Never Alone’) spent 12 years as writer and director on this project which unearths the forgotten biography of a composer and his work. The latter re-emerges to glorious effect in a visually and musically vivid film that largely transcends staid period drama conventions with its ripely conceived backstage and bedroom intrigue. Magnifique! (Subtitles)
130M
Our thanks to Loco Films for this screening.
Hosted by BRASSERIE BLANC – Thu 10 Aug 18:30 & Sun 27 Aug 18:30
The cinema has forged an excellent relationship with Brasserie Blanc over the last twelve years and continues the tradition of holding both Gala Dinners at the restaurant, continuing this year for our 31st anniversary. The chefs offer two special set meals for each Gala dinner with a glass of wine included in the price, the menu highlighting chef owner Raymond Blanc’s classic dishes with strong French regional influences of his youth. We are grateful for the generous support of Brasserie Blanc and its manager Dave Gillard and staff, who look forward to sharing the evenings with you.
Dinner will be from 18:30, followed by the film at 20:30. Book your place early to avoid disappointment. Tickets £39.
A sweeping melodrama, beginning in the aftermath of World War II and unfolding over two decades, Katell Quillévéré’s follow-up to ‘Heal the Living’ examines a mutually advantageous marriage of convenience that, against the odds, grows into real love. This is a substantial, involving drama that evocatively tallies the costs of living on the wrong side of social and sexual conventions in the 1950s and ‘60s. The inspiration for the story came from Quillévéré’s own family background. She belatedly discovered that her grandmother had conceived a child with a German soldier and had guarded this secret throughout her life. From here, Quillévéré weaves a tale of guilt and unsuccessfully repressed desires. With Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste in the leading roles, it’s fullblooded, sexy stuff.
Sun 27 Aug 18:30
Dinner from 18:30 / Film from 20:30
Also screening Sun 27 Aug 10:00 (Film Only – Normal Price)
The switch from black-and-white to colour, and the saturated, slightly exaggerated palette of a vintage postcard, comes when Madeleine (Demoustier) meets wealthy, somewhat directionless student François (Lacoste) in 1947. He’s unlike anyone she has met. He studies archaeology at the Sorbonne and, when he slips her a covert glass of champagne at the hotel where she waitresses, he toasts in ancient Greek. She is open about her past; he, less so. Period details are manifest not just in costume and production design, but also by a social conservatism that colours characters who are too ashamed to admit core truths. Selected direct from this year’s Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes. (Subtitles)
Our thanks to Charades for this screening
Woody Allen’s romantic comedy tells the story of Yardley College sweethearts Gatsby Welles (Timothée Chalamet) and Ashleigh Enright (Elle Fanning).
Gatsby learns that Ashleigh is to travel to Manhattan to interview the cult director Roland Pollard (Jude Law) for the college paper and he plans a romantic weekend with her. His hopes are dashed as quickly as the sunlight turns into showers. The two are parted and each has a series of chance meetings and comical adventures while on their own.
Considering the general reviews surrounding this film, and the long delay in its release, it would be easy to assume that it isn’t very good. It may not be ‘Annie Hall’ or ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’, but it is still well worth seeing. It certainly has all the ingredients; the Manhattan location, Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography, a “Woody Allen-like” protagonist, wearing the obligatory cord clothes and sneakers. He likes gambling, the seedy side of life and jazz (soundtrack by the fabulous Erroll Garner). There is romance, cynicism, humour and a great cast, with the two leads in particular excellent, but with good work from the rest, including Law and Liev Schreiber. Chalamet plays the selfdoubting, eccentric art-loving nonconformist intellectual that Allen would play in his own films. While the latter may not be at the top of his game, even a lesser film from him is still more interesting than the bulk of other releases. It was never distributed theatrically in the UK, so here is a rare chance to enjoy it on the big screen.
USA 2019 WOODY ALLEN 92M
UK Premiere
Two couples plan a car-share to attend a wedding. When one half of each couple drops out, the “plus ones” make the long trip from Wales to East Sussex together. This feature-length debut by the Brighton- based writer/director/editor James Card is a modest road movie distinguished by fine performances from Roisin Rae and Brooks Livermore. Their dialogue and their interactions, much of them improvised from a conversation-free script outline of just 16 pages, are entirely credible and there are hints of Linklater’s ‘Before Trilogy’ in this impressive exercise in understatement by a filmmaker who has long wanted to make a work in the “mumblecore” subgenre.
UK 2023 JAMES CARD 80M
Fri 18 Aug 20:45 – Auditorium Sat 19 Aug 14:00 – Auditorium
This Christopher Guest-style comedy is an affectionate salute to the outsider kids who find community and shared passion in their love of the stage.
It stars Ben Platt and Molly Gordon as daffily over-serious instructors captured by an unseen documentary crew at a rundown theatre camp in upstate New York. The lakeside community is in turmoil after its cash-strapped matriarch, Joan (Amy Sedaris), slips into a strobe-light-induced coma at a middle-school production of ‘Bye Bye Birdie’; her blogger son Troy (YouTube star Jimmy Tatro), a caricature of a socialmedia hypeman and with zero knowledge of musical theatre, steps in to “en-troy-preneur” the place. Much of ‘Theater Camp’ feels improvised and works because the jokes that land outweigh the ones that don’t. It certainly has a high gag-per-minute ratio, jumping from concept to concept, and prioritising the humour over all else. The songs have some of the silliest lyrics imaginable, but the kids in the cast (plus one surprise adult star) sing the hell out of them and, somehow, they’re almost catchy. It’s simultaneously a mess and inspired.
USA 2023 MOLLY GORDON, NICK LIEBERMAN 96M Our thanks to Disney/Fox for this screening.
Fri 18 Aug 11:00 – Studio
The truth is out there. Well – in Cornwall anyway!
Intrepid television reporter Ellie Thornton dives deep into the lives of a four-man UFO investigation team who are convinced that Bodmin Moor and the rugged Cornish coast are the hottest spot in the UK for sightings of visits by aliens: a rival to Nevada’s Area 51. The imperative is ‘Witness–Experience-Accept’. What might in other hands justify no more than a 20-minute sketch is sustained to feature length in Jason Gregg’s mockumentary, thanks to a delicious script, immaculate casting, fine photography and a perfectly pitched score. A little gem.
UK 2022 JASON GREGG 96M
Sarah and Tom, a successful London professional couple, panic after their friend Jessica kills herself in their garden just as they are on the brink of selling the house for some urgently-needed cash. Their situation takes a terrifying nosedive with the sudden death of their uninvited guest, Jessica (Indira Varma). Panicking that the buyer will pull out of the sale if they find out what happened, Sarah (Shirley Henderson) and Tom (Alan Tudyk) persuade their best friends, Richard (Rufus Sewell) and Beth (Olivia Williams), to help them relocate Jessica’s body. Faced with the moral dilemma of their lives, they make a series of choices that could be either their salvation or their destruction. This is a delicious black comedy, and as the title suggests, it has echoes of Hitchcock’s ‘The Trouble with Harry’.
UK 2022 MATT WINN 90M
We welcome the director Matt Winn to introduce this UK premiere and follow the screening with a Q&A.
Our thanks to Parkland Pictures for this screening.
A Special Festival Screening on 35mm
This new film from Christopher Nolan (‘Inception’, ‘Dunkirk’) delves deep into the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), a brilliant scientist whose involvement in the Manhattan Project changed the course of history.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, the film uncovers the complex motivations and dilemmas faced by Oppenheimer and his team as they race against time to develop a weapon capable of ending the war. As they unlock the destructive power of the atom, they must confront the ethical implications of their actions and grapple with the devastating aftermath. The incredible cast includes Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Gustaf Skarsgård, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek and Casey Affleck. NB. Another aspect of this subject concerns Ted Hall, a young physicist working for the Manhattan Project, which is explored in the outstanding documentary ‘A Compassionate Spy’. See pg36 for details.
USA 2023 CHRISTOPHER NOLAN 179M
A rare opportunity to see this film in the 35mm format as preferred by director Christopher Nolan.
Brought to you by:
Wed 23 Aug 17:45 – Auditorium
Thu 24 Aug 13:30 – Auditorium
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are separated after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
The rare love story that’s both impossibly romantic and crushingly pragmatic, ‘Past Lives’ follows two people who might be soulmates, even though they have never kissed and haven’t been in the same city for two decades. Making an utterly assured feature debut, writerdirector Celine Song modulates perfectly the delicate tonal balance of this wise, wistful film, dividing her narrative into three distinct segments and following the characters when they’re roughly 12, 24 and 36 – with each passage more moving than the last. There are three superb performances at the picture’s centre, but none is more radiant than that of Greta Lee, gracefully capturing the spirit of a searching soul who seems to understand things about the nuances of love that are beyond the grasp of the rest of us. Premiered at both Sundance and Berlin to rave reviews. (Subtitles)
USA 2022 CELINE SONG 106M
Our thanks to StudioCanal for this screening.
Sat
A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS
‘Dracula the Messiah’ is a quartet of films which together form an epic adaptation, four years in the making, of Bram Stoker’s novel. Dark and original, this is located in that part of the psyche where mankind revolts against God and death. Gregory Motton’s four films constitute the most substantial adaptation of the 200-plus that have been made since 1922 and is perhaps one of the closest in spirit and detail to Stoker’s story. Moreover, the development of the theme of a rebellion against God and death puts this film into the Gothic and darkly romantic mood from which the book itself came. This first part, starts with Dracula’s death in 1475 (featuring some dialogue in Old High German!) and tells the story of Lilith (Åslög Von Roos), a prostitute summoning up the appearance of Dracula; then Jonathan Harker’s (Brendan Kjellberg- Motton) journey and visit to Dracula’s castle. An innovative approach to the classic Dracula themes, shot in striking black-and-white.
UK 2021 GREGORY MOTTON 76M + Q&A
We are pleased to welcome writer/director Gregory Motton for an intro and Q&A.
Don’t forget to vote for your film on the way out of your screening
Fri 25 Aug 18:00 – Auditorium Sat 26 Aug 13:00 – Auditorium
A heart-warming story of friendship and survival set against the backdrop of the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak. Bea Roberts’ twohander about male friendship and a dying way of life is small but beautifully observed. Director Statement: “Bea Roberts’ awardwinning ‘And Then Come the Nightjars’ is a rare find. It’s a story that’s as moving as it is funny, nostalgic as it is incisive, personal as it is political. I had the immense pleasure of directing the stage play when it premiered in London in 2015 – to reviews you couldn’t have written yourself – and was struck then by the potential it had for a captivating film. It also brilliantly examines the little-mined tragedy of the foot and mouth crisis, which devastated farming communities and changed the face of UK farming forever. Bea explores the crisis from an entirely human, personal angle, making our characters’ struggle accessible, however familiar or not the audience might be with rural life. But she also does this with a finger on our funny bones at all times”.
UK 2023 PAUL ROBINSON 81M
We are delighted to welcome the two main actors, David Fielder and Nigel Hastings, and director Paul Robinson to introduce their film, with a Q&A after the screenings.
Alyona Mikhailova is tremendous as Antonina Miliukova, whose naivety and narcissism fester in the rubble of her marriage to the homosexual composer. Writer-director Kirill Serebrennikov (a Russian dissident and no friend of Putin’s) brings his intense sympathies to the unhappy figure of Antonina, the role taken by Glenda Jackson in Ken Russell’s 1971 film ‘The Music Lovers’ (which we are also screening). The year is 1872, Antonina is desperate to meet the famous composer and at a party has the chance to briefly acquaint herself with him. There is no denying the ambition or craft of this visually virtuosic film, with elaborate long takes that play disorientating games with time and space. Who wins with the wonderful feverish, hysterical OTT filmmaking: Serebrennikov or Russell? (Subtitles)
RUSSIA 2022 KIRILL SEREBRENNIKOV 143M
Our thanks to Sovereign Film Distribution for this screening.
Ken Russell’s 1970 production stars Glenda Jackson as Tchaikovsky’s wife and makes for an interesting comparison with the new Serebrennikov Russian version, which has its UK premiere in our festival.
Ken Russell depicts the composer (Richard Chamberlain) as a closet homosexual who is haunted by the past and present. In order to obtain social acceptance, he marries Tina, a nymphomaniac (Glenda Jackson). Their marriage proves a disaster and Peter flees, isolating himself in the countryside to compose music for Madame Von Meck (Isabella Telezynska), a rich aristocrat and widow. When she is informed of his sexual past, she immediately distances herself from him. The script was partly written by Melvyn Bragg. Unless you are seeking the whole truth, ‘The Music Lovers’ is well worth watching, if only for its being so gloriously over the top! Our screening is a tribute to the late Glenda Jackson.
UK 1970 KEN RUSSELL 123M
Thu 10 Aug 18:30 (Opening Gala Dinner & Film)
Fri 11 Aug 13:45 (Film Only)
See Galas on Pg8 for full details.
Sat 12 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Sun 13 Aug 11:00 – Auditorium
Cioma Schönhaus, a 21-year-old Jew, escapes the Gestapo and saves lives thanks to his ability to forge passports. He turns his talent to forging his own identity. Berlin, 1940. Cioma (Louis Hofmann, star of the hit Neflix series ‘Dark’) will not let anyone take away his zest for life, especially not the Nazis. Since the best hiding places are in plain sight, he audaciously adopts the identity of a marine officer to escape being deported, as his family were. Drawing on his art school background, he joins a network of underground rescuers and becomes infamous for his masterfully forged IDs –created with just a brush, some ink and a steady hand – that save the lives of hundreds of Jews by allowing them to escape the country. Meanwhile, he throws himself into the city’s nightlife and even finds a fragile hope for love during the darkest moments of the war. His talent and propensity for boldness put him in more and more danger, however, until his only chance of survival is one last forged document – with his own name on it. To achieve the period detail in the film, Maggie Peren and her crew immerse the viewer in 1940s Berlin, with its wartime nightlife and the dour restaurant that only takes ration cards for payment. The shifts from warm to cool tones in Christian Stangassinger’s cinematography keep the film visually arresting, just as Robert Sterna’s brisk editing heightens the suspense. (Subtitles)
GERMANY
Our thanks to Beta for this screening.
What if, at the end of World War II, an economic crisis had spread to every nation, including those that had not directly taken part in hostilities?
Such is the basis of this accomplished political thriller from the multiple-awardwinning Portuguese director Bruno Gascon. It is set in the 1980s in an unnamed country where the protagonist, Rocky, is under constant surveillance by the secret police. His assertion of basic human rights leads him and a small group of clandestine freedom fighters into conflict with thugs from the extreme right. The consequences are grim. This tense film’s epigraph is from Victor Hugo: “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”(Subtitles)
PORTUGAL 2022 BRUNO GASCON 81M
Fri 11 Aug 11:30
Thu 17 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Fri 18 Aug 16:00 – Auditorium
A delightfully bittersweet Swiss Belgian comedy drama starring François Berléand as Germain, a po-faced widower coping with the loss of his wife Lisa and the unwanted intrusion of his well-meaning loved ones. The 75-year-old’s grief is sudden and heartfelt, but he hardly has time to recover, what with the constant intrusive phone calls to check on his well-being, not to mention the stream of unsolicited pies and casseroles (which he duly feeds to the cat). Family visits never seem to end and he wonders why his kids are unable to stick to their weekly visiting rota that he could really do without (Carole is Tuesday, Matthieu Friday – or was it the other way round?). Lise (Dominique Reymond), his much-loved wife of 50 years, was heavily into volunteering and experimental dance in a troupe led by the domineering choreographer La Ribot (playing herself) and in a bid to show willing, Germain feels obliged to take Lise’s place. However, he puts his foot down at the idea of taking on the mentorship of a young student until his daughter insists it will be good for his “mental health”. With a witty script, this is a deadpan tongue-incheek story about a man who resolutely refuses to mourn, in the conventional sense, after a lifetime of happiness with his lost love. (Subtitles)
Our thanks to Charades for this screening.
Sat 12 Aug 11:00
A young pastor returns from the capital to a small provincial town where he takes temporary custody of the church at which his late father-in-law presided. Ignoring an early warning of potential trouble, he perseveres amid indifference (during his ministry the building is as the title implies), injustice and corruption. Eventually he is confronted by a dilemma, on the resolution of which depends not only his own future but also that of the entire community. Thanks to sensitive direction and fine acting, Maks Maksimov has delivered an unexpected feelgood movie with a strong sense of Christian values. (Subtitles)
BELARUS 2023 MAKS MAKSIMOV 101M
Brought to you by:
Biopic of the controversial Viennese artist whose erotic expressionist paintings were inspired by his sister Gerti and, later, by the red-haired Wally – immortalised in ‘Death and the Maiden’.
The movie is based on Hilde Berger’s novel and depicts Schiele (Noah Saavedra) as a charming young man completely obsessed with painting and unconcerned with contemporary sexual taboos. One of the most important women in his life, and his first nude model, is his younger sister Gerti (Maresi Riegner). His relationship with her is warm, possessive, even slightly incestuous. Gerti enjoys sitting for her brother and jealously guards his relationships with the other models. She remains loyal to him throughout his life and even nurses him during the last days before his tragic death in 1918 at the age of 28.
The second key female figure in Schiele’s life is Wally (Valerie Pachner), introduced to him as a young girl by Gustav Klimt. They soon become lovers and form perhaps the closest relationship Schiele has with any woman other than his sister. It is Wally who is depicted in the 1915 painting that marked Schiele’s rise to his all-too-short-lived success in Vienna. Like Gerti, Wally is fiercely loyal to Schiele and even saves him from imprisonment by testifying in his favour when he is arrested for engaging children as nude models. But Schiele’s own loyalty is primarily towards himself and his painting. This is the first of two films on Austrian painters, both directed by Dieter Bemer. (Subtitles)
AUSTRIA/LUXEMBURG 2016 DIETER BEMER 105M Booking Ref
NAO SOU NADA
A ‘Cinenigma’ is the apt description by Edgar Pêra of his remarkable voyage into the mind and writings of Fernando Pessoa. The poet has been called Portugal’s bestkept secret and “unquestionably the most complex artist of words of his time’. Visually and sonically arresting throughout, Pêra’s psychological thriller animates the multitude of heteronyms, or uber-pseudonyms, under which Pessoa also published. A fine cast, headed by Miguel Borges and with Victoria Guerra as a bewitching nurse named Ophelya, is superbly choreographed by a director whose approach seems at times to honour both Magritte and Charlie Kaufman. ‘The Nothingness Club’ was in competition at the Rotterdam international Film Festival this year. N.B. Contains flashing images. (Subtitles)
PORTUGAL 2022 EDGAR PÊRA 92M
Booking
Ref
From award-winning director Cristian Mungiu (‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days’) comes a gripping, non-judgmental portrait of ethnic and economic resentments tearing at the fabric of a small mountain town. After suffering racial abuse, Matthias (Marin Grigore) leaves his job in Germany to return to his small Romanian village, a place festering with outrage over the arrival of workers taking jobs most locals don’t want to do. Matthias is not perfect: a married father, he is having an affair with Csilla (Judith Slate), who runs the bakery where newlyhired Sri Lankan employees work. Mungiu has put his hand on the pulse of a nation – and the globe. He doesn’t deal in heroes and villains; he is more interested in revealing how easily anyone can be both. It is one of the best, most passionate films of the year and leaves you with much to think about. (Subtitles)
ROMANIA 2022 CRISTIAN MUNGIU 125M
Sun 20 Aug 12:45 – Auditorium
Tue 22 Aug 20:45 – Auditorium
Booking Ref
Our thanks to Picturehouse Entertainment for this screening.
MAVKA. LISOVA PISNYA
A beautiful Ukrainian animation based on a well-known story from Slavic mythology that celebrates the power of love, and the harmony between humankind and the natural world. After a long-forgotten war between humans and the spirits of the forest that sees the mountains declared forbidden to humans, Lucas is tasked by the evil Kylina to find the tree of healing that caused the war. Young and naive forest nymph Mavka takes a shine to village artist Lucas, to the strong disapproval of the rest of the forest spirits and humans alike. There are strong ecological themes here, as well as some good old-fashioned fairytale morals about vanity and selfishness. There’s not a hint of postmodern irony in this production, which is a pleasant change from Hollywood’s trend, and also benefits from some lively Ukrainian folk music with striking close harmonies. Free for Ukrainian nationals. (Subtitles)
UKRAINE 2023 OLEH MALAMUZH & OLEKSANDRA RUBAN 99M
Tue 22 Aug 13:00 – Auditorium
Join us after the screening for Ukrainian snacks and music hosted by Yuliana Korochentseva (Mrs Universe Ukraine).
Sun 20 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Passionate love affairs between exceptional artists might only be brief, but they are remembered for far longer. That was certainly the case with the stormy romance between pianist and composer Alma Mahler and painter Oskar Kokoschka, some 110 years ago in Vienna.
In his new film the Austrian-German director Dieter Berner continues to explore the public perception of the private lives of great artists, which he probed in his previous feature, ‘Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden’ (also screening in this Festival). We meet Alma Mahler (Emily Cox) on a tour of the United States with her husband, Gustav, who uses her as his assistant and represses her artistic ambitions. She admits that she has started an affair with the German architect Walter Gropius (Anton von Lucke). When the great composer dies shortly after the tour, the multi-talented and provocative artist Oskar Kokoschka (Valentin Postlmayr,) comes to their home to make a face-mask of Gustav for one of his many artistic projects. The relationship blossoms when Alma hires Kokoschka to paint a portrait of her, leading to a passionate and volatile affair. There is much attention to detail that can be both seen and heard, such as the pristine production and costume design, captured beautifully in the seamless melange of analogue and digital cinematography, while the score by Stefan Will suitably relies on Gustav Mahler’s opuses. An enthralling historical biopic.
AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, CZECH REPUBLIC 2022 DIETER BERNER 88M
Renata, a high-flying producer on Russian television, is beset by a crisis of conscience. Her son, Nikita, a superstar rapper, has gone off the rails and is now a drug addict. Renata must decide whether or not to submit him to a radical procedure called psycho-correction, in which the personality is ‘re-formatted’. The price for Nikita? The complete rejection of his former life. The price for Renata? Every bit as high. Yuri Moroz’s dystopian portrait of a moneyed milieu, where the young no longer believe in a bright future, is extremely well rendered, with lavish photography and superior acting. (Subtitles)
RUSSIA 2023 YURI MOROZ 86M
Tue 22 Aug 15:30 – Auditorium
Wed 23 Aug 15:45 – Auditorium
‘Tarrac’ puts a new set of oars into an oldfashioned sporting underdog story: naomhóg racing is not widely known outside Ireland and even there, an all-women racing team, in this rowing boat made from wood, tar and canvas, is niche. Yet it’s the star of Declan Recks’ entertaining drama – alongside the four ladies determined to win the regional (Munster) finals for their small Irish-speaking Kerry village for the first time in 22 years. Aoife Ní Bhraoin returns home to help her father, Breandán ‘The Bear’ Ó Braoin, recover from a heart attack. Day to day they get along just fine. As we dig a little deeper we find that much has been left unsaid about the loss of Aoife’s mother. Using familiar building blocks, Recks confidently builds to an emotional finale amid a nuanced fatherdaughter relationship. The combination of female solidarity of these ‘sisters of the sea’ and a sharp focus on festering family wounds, helps this feelgood feature sail over the waves of predictability for a sweet landing on solid home ground. The lingering Irish theme of children who leave and parents who mourn them gets a thorough airing here, this time in the Irish language. (Subtitles)
Our thanks to Parkland Pictures for this screening.
Leah, a newly bereaved and reclusive artist, invites lifelong friends to her remote farm in Andalucia. A weekend of revelation and fateful decision-making ensues. This full-length narrative debut by a specialist in arts documentary is an extremely polished chamber piece, redolent of fierce heat from the Spanish sun and an atmosphere ripe with secrets and lies. The film is graced by an immaculate central performance from Tara Lynn Orr. Director Statement: “Films that have left a big impression on me: ‘La Règle du Jeu,’ ‘Persona,’ ‘Knife in the Water,’ ‘The Big Chill,’ and ‘Festen’ are all movies that rely on great performances, the excavation of memory and a claustrophobic world that heightens sexual and dramatic tension.” Nathan Buck GERMANY 2023 NATHAN BUCK 90M
Wed 23 Aug 11:15 – Studio
Brought to you by:
Thu 24 Aug 15:45 – Auditorium
Emotions run high among a group of friends in a holiday home by the Baltic as the parched forest around them catches fire. (Christian Petzold’s film won the Silver Bear at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival.)
A car breaks down in the middle of nowhere; two young men have to carry their luggage the rest of the way; one of them suggests a shortcut. Leon seems more sceptical, while Felix leads the way to his family’s summer house. Inside, suspicions rise as the pair encounter signs of someone already living there: last night’s plates and glasses on the table, food leftovers, the buzz of the washing machine, a red pair of high heels and purple underwear on the floor. While, on one level, it seems to belong to international cinema’s increasingly prevalent strain of climate catastrophe dramas, on another it’s a brittle character piece, a comedy of social embarrassment with a dark and ultimately tragic undertow. Until, that is, a coda ties it off in another register entirely. As in the best Petzold films (‘Barbara’, ‘Undine’), complications build quietly. Small revelations provide insights into human nature that each viewer may interpret differently. But build they do, until we are fairly devastated by the film’s conclusion. Engrossing, provocative, captivating and refreshingly un-Hollywood with shades of Eric Rohmer’s romantic films. (Subtitles)
GERMANY 2022 CHRISTIAN PETZOLD 103M
Our thanks to Curzon Film for this screening.
31 bedrooms | 2 AA Rosette Sea School
Restaurant | Marwick’s Brasserie
Outdoor dining terrace | Afternoon teas
Non-residents welcome
The Millstream Hotel, Bosham Lane
Bosham, Chichester PO18 8HL
01243 573234 | millstreamhotel.com
Mon 21 Aug 14:30
Sun
Sat
Tue 22 August 18:15
Tue 15 Aug 21:00
Thu 17 Aug 20:45
Sun 13 Aug 19:00
Fri 25 August 21:00
Cate Blanchett Q&A following TÁR Hugh Bonneville & Director John Hay 20 Aug 15:30 Elizabeth McGovern, F. Vissers & E. Healey 19 Aug 11:30 Buster Plays Buster STEAMBOAT BILL JR PHANTOM OF THE OPERA w. Ben Hall AN EVENING AT RONNIE’S with Live Jazz Gig Neil Brand Presents LAUREL AND HARDY John Sweeney on Piano THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT
Institut Français in partnership with the Chichester International Film Festival are pleased to preview three new French films. In addition we present a further five quality French releases, including our Closing Gala ‘Along Came Love.’
Wed 16 Aug 16:15 – Auditorium
Thu 24 Aug 21:00 – Auditorium
Overwhelmed when a figure from her past re-emerges, Joan Verra (Isabelle Huppert) retreats to the countryside with her son Nathan. There she experiences fragmented recollections of her past romantic encounters.
On a Paris street corner Joan runs into her first love, a once young Irishman. Non-plussed, she leaves for her country house and revisits the last 40 years, building a fantasised picture of her life. Her son Nathan, just back from Montreal, accompanies her in these moments. In several passages of a long-awaited but liberating journey about coming to terms with the stories we tell ourselves Huppert narrates as Joan, speaking directly to the audience, controlling the moderation of her own story, although, because of a bombshell revelation in the third act, she can’t quite explain where we stop, start and transition. Huppert is as amusing as ever and there is a lilting, melancholic tone to her performance, especially as Joan in the present. When remembering her first love, the Irish rascal Doug (Eanna Hardwicke), she sends us back to 1970 Dublin, where most of the first act takes place. There is a lavish texture across each landscape and period, perhaps all seemingly attenuated for Huppert, but also delivering a rich visual flavour. Whether she is dancing in a German club or lounging morosely in the forest outside her home, it’s a beautifully shot showcase for her (and her various hair-dos), especially considering production took place in the early stages of the pandemic and spans three different periods across three different countries. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 2021 LAURENT LARIVIÈRE 101M
NB. Isabelle Huppert appears in two more films in the Festival: ‘By Heart’ (see pg34), and Chabrol’s ‘Merci pour le Chocolat’ (see pg77).
Annie becomes pregnant. Since she doesn’t want to keep the child, she becomes involved with a movement that performs illegal abortions. It is the ’70s and Annie will encounter both allies and opponents along the way.
A village in France, 1974. When she accidentally becomes pregnant, Annie, a working mother of two teenagers, joins the Movement for the Liberation of Abortion and Contraception (MLAC): a network of doctors and women who carry out illegal abortions, but practise a free, safe and respectful method. The process is explained to her thoroughly, calmly and without judgement by two volunteers, Hélène and Monique, and performed by a liberal, sympathetic doctor. The experience, along with a personal tragedy, inspires her to help other women receive the same care, and she soon finds herself a dedicated member of MLAC, juggling a new purpose in life and existing obligations at home with her husband Philippe. Blandine Lenoir’s film is not too concerned with the political aspect of the quest to legalise abortions in 1970s France, but instead offers a gentle insight into the compassion, bravery and care the women and men of MLAC. (Subtitles)
Marion Barbeau, a Paris Opera dancer making her acting debut, is terrific as an injured performer who finds strength in a contemporary dance company. Élise thought she had the perfect life: an ideal boyfriend and a promising career as a ballet dancer. It all falls apart the day she catches him cheating on her; and after she suffers an injury on stage, it seems like she might not be able to dance again. The path to physical and emotional recovery will lead her away from Paris to Brittany – where her friends, a new love and the freedom of contemporary dance will help her reconnect with her father and most importantly, herself. A heartwarming and inspiring story that tells us how, sometimes, the worst thing that could happen may turn out to be the best. “For a first-time actor in a feature film, Barbeau, a trained ballet dancer in the Paris Opera, gives a beautiful performance that communicates the emotional interiority that exists in the physicality of dancing – bringing to mind Moira Shearer in ‘The Red Shoes’.” (Subtitles)
FRANCE 2021 CÉDRIC KLAPISCH 120M
Brought to you by:
Mon 14 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Tue 15 Aug 14:00 – Auditorium
Writer-director Alice Winocour offers an engaging account of severe PTSD and a possible path to recovery. ‘Paris Memories’ is a drama based on a terrorist attack and the profound marks left on those who survived, undeniably bringing to mind the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan tragedies. Three months after being caught in a Paris bistro during the attack, Mia (Virginie Efira), a Russian translator, remains in limbo, a stranger to herself and to the city. By returning to the place where it all happened and where she hid for nearly two hours, she makes an effort to remember the details that will allow her to heal and move forward. Her taciturn accumulation of emotions finds some illumination in the optimism of Thomas (Benoît Magimel), another survivor who was celebrating his birthday on that fateful evening. Circumspectly shot, this heartbreaking description of how to overcome trauma is centred on the victims, not the murderers. The images are poignant, the sound is effective and Efira’s Mia shines as an emotionally adrift survivor in a drama that, while fictionalised, channels postBataclan sentiment with tact and humanity. It provides a soulful look at learning how to live again when you have miraculously escaped dying. ‘Revoir Paris’ was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 2022 ALICE WINOCOUR 105M
A middle school vice-principal Sabri Lahlali is prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure that his son will achieve the best possible academic record. But he has no idea just how far his plan will take him.
‘The Principal’ explores not only the theme of cheating and education, but also family relationships and ambitions. Secondary characters, such as Estelle and Sabri’s brother, Said, bring extra depth to the story by shedding light on the different facets of Sabri’s life. Visually and verbally, this character seems inscrutable. The film shows him indulging in a race in the woods, symbolising his constant quest to surpass himself. The relationship between Sabri and Estelle, is particularly touching. Estelle represents support and understanding in a world where Sabri often feels isolated because he stands apart from his fellow teachers. Chad Chenouga’s film is a fascinating exploration of moral dilemmas, family relationships and challenges. The combination of a captivating script, powerful performances and skilful staging makes it a fascinating work for anyone interested in questions of ethics, honesty and the quest for success. (Subtitles)
Wed 16 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Thu 17 Aug 14:30 – Auditorium
FRANCE 2022 CHAD CHENOUGA 82M
Our thanks to Wild Bunch for this screening.
Wed 16 Aug 20:30 – Auditorium
Mon 21 Aug 12:00 – Auditorium
After agreeing to be the brand ambassador for a famous cognac celebrating its bicentennial, novelist Stéphane Belcourt returns to his hometown for the first time in many years. What is fiction but a collection of memories, experiences and ideas rehashed, shaped and embellished? Many writers will tell you that while their work is framed by their imagination, nuggets of reality creep into every story they write, including unspoken thoughts, past pain and lost loves. Oliver Peyton’s exquisite adaptation of Philippe Besson’s autobiographical novel adds new layers as we follow the successful author Stéphane Belcourt on a the long-overdue trip back to his hometown. The stunning screenplay dovetails moments of exquisitely timed comedy with deep emotional undercurrents in a movie that takes you from laughter to tears at the click of its fingers. Peyton’s character-focused direction. ‘Lie with Me’ is a stunning exploration of love found, lost and regained through blood memory, prose and a need for shared healing and individual closure. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 2022 OLIVER PEYTON 98M
Our thanks to Peccadillo Pictures for this screening.
Judith has a husband and two sons. She also has a lover and a daughter – and a second identity. Entangled in secrets and lies, her double life begins to shatter.
Fri 25 Aug 13:00 – Auditorium
Sat 26 Aug 18:15 – Auditorium
Virginie Efira’s character is a duplicitous woman attempting vainly to reconcile herself to others’ expectations. As Margot Soriano, she lives in Switzerland with her partner Abdel (Quim Gutiérrez) and their little girl, Ninon. But when she travels, ostensibly for work, it’s often to her husband, Melvil (Bruno Salomone), in France. There she goes by the name Judith Fauvet and has two more children. As the veil is skilfully and progressively lifted on the double life of a woman split between two households in two countries, an atmosphere of discomfort and mystery builds and builds. Thanks to the film’s solid construction and Efira’s superbly detailed rendering of a complicated woman, the film feels utterly coherent. With echoes of Patricia Highsmith and Hitchcockian tonality (‘Vertigo’), ‘Madeleine Collins’ slowly reveals itself to be a bewitching exploration of a woman’s torments. A great performer was required to play such a troubled personality: Efira is perfect. A woman hinting at vast and inscrutable depths beneath a perfect mask of beauty. (Subtitles). (Subtitles)
Our thanks to Charades for this screening.
A sweeping melodrama, beginning in the aftermath of World War II and unfolding over two decades.
Sun 27 Aug 18:30 (Closing Gala Dinner & Film)
Sun 27 Aug 10:00 (Film Only)
See Galas on pg9 for full details.
The Chichester International Film Festival was launched in 1992 as the the Festival of Chichester, a summer programme of the arts in the city. Roger Gibson has programmed every edition since its inception, and has seen the Festival grow
Find out more Festival Facts throughout this brochure. Or visit: festival-archive
When a media storm threatens the marriage between a vicar and his Samoan boyfriend, something extraordinary happens.
‘Mysterious Ways’ tells the story of Peter Simmons, a vicar who wants a church wedding with his Samoan boyfriend Jason. For Anglicans, this is not allowed, and homosexuality itself is still taboo in Samoan culture. When news of the marriage makes headlines, a storm erupts in the media and God is forced to step in! It’s a side of the rainbow community not often explored on the screen despite the impact of religion on millions of LGBTQ+ people around the world. At its heart, ‘Mysterious Ways’ is an interracial love story. There was real chemistry between the leads, British actor Richard Short and screen newcomer Nick Afoa – who bravely takes on the controversial role after a successful stage career, most famously as Simba in the West End production of ‘The Lion King’. Afoa, who is of Samoan and Croatian heritage, was drawn to the role, saying: “This film bravely confronts issues around sexuality and religion.”
Our thanks to Peccadillo Pictures for this screening.
Francis and Michael, sons of Caribbean immigrants, face questions of masculinity, identity and family amid the pulsing beat of Toronto’s early hip-hop scene. Adapted from David Chariandy’s awardwinning novel of the same name and propelled by the energy of Toronto’s early hip-hop culture, ‘Brother’ follows the story of Francis (Lamar Johnson) and Michael (Aaron Pierre) as they mature into young men. During the sweltering summer of 1991 escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever. The questions of what exactly happened to Francis and why, and how deeply it affected his doting younger brother are left deliberately ambiguous by the film’s ambitious, time-shifting structure. This is a timely story about the profound bond between siblings, the resilience of community and the irrepressible power of music. Clement Virgo unabashedly admires the work of Barry Jenkins, particularly ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, and there’s a dash of Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ movies in here too.
Our thanks to Curzon Film for this screening.
Wed 16 Aug 11:30 – Studio
Three film directors battle against the odds as they try to realise their most difficult projects to date.
The first, wishing to emigrate, learns that his lead actor has been condemned to death, so decides to make a movie about the execution. The second, a woman, wishes to examine abuse, but her husband objects. The third, told by his doctor that he has cancer, determines to make his last definitive work. With this portmanteau in three sections, Ghaderi offers an absorbing insight into Iran’s creative community and its restrictions, using economical music, unflashy photography and authoritative acting to underscore the clash between ideals and practicality. (Subtitles)
IRAN 2023 MEHDI FARD GHADERI 81M
Sun 20 Aug 20:45 – Studio
Tue 22 Aug 13:30 – Pic Palace
See Cate Blanchett Retrospective on pg54 for full details.
Sun 27 Aug 12:30 –Auditorium
See Special Events on pg83 for full details.
Mon 14 Aug 16:00 – Studio
Tue 15 Aug 13:15 – Pic Palace
We welcome Ian Christie to introduce the film.
See Documentary strand on pg37 for full details.
Mon 14 Aug 11:15 – Studio
See Animation strand on pg86 for full details.
Wed 23 Aug 13:30 – Auditorium
See Bonneville strand on pg50 for full details.
Sat 19 Aug 21:00 – Auditorium
Mon 21 Aug 21:00 – Auditorium
Sergio Leone on the Kazakh Steppe. The Kazakh village of Karatas is terrorised by a criminal boss called Poshaev, a muscular no-neck thug. As the self-proclaimed ruler of his territory, he is surrounded by a group of armed, merciless killers tasked with punishing anyone who dares to question his unwritten laws.
Set in a dramatic landscape with naked mountains and open grassland, ‘Goliath’ is a modern Western with nasty cowboys and fearful locals whose options to survive are reduced to doing what they are told, or fleeing. The humour is downsized, the characters almost as sinister as their deeds. Daniyar Alshinov, a regular in Adikhan Yerzhanov’s movies, shines in his role of as a ruthless mobster who is never far from his Kalashnikov. The film is a direct reaction to the global resurgence of autocracies and dictatorships, seen from the perspective of a small community. Politicians, the representatives of law and order, and even clerics are painted as corrupt cowards who stand aside and let things happen out of personal interest. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ ‘No Country for Old Men’.
KAZAKHSTAN/RUSSIA 2022 ADILKHAN YERZHANOV 93M
Our thanks to Jinga films for this screening
Roger has attracted many very special guests to Chichester: Inc. Alec Guinness, Kathleen Turner, Daniel Brühl, Ralph Fiennes, Simon
Callow, Elaine Page, Mike Leigh, Derek Malcolm, Ken Russell, Ronald Harwood, Stephen Poliakoff, Carl Davis, Derek Jacobi, Tony Palmer, Nick Moran, John Lithgow, Steve Coogan, Virginia McKenna, Cate Blanchett, Phylis Logan, Timothy Spall, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville and many more.
A rare treat for fans of Isabelle Huppert and Fabriice Luchini, this revealing documentary is a fly-on-the-wall portrait of their talents, both of them inadvertently performing a version of themselves as actors.
Isabelle Huppert is one of the most iconic actresses of her generation. An artist on a stage, we get a close-up portrait of her over a hot summer as she prepares for a role in Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’ on a large outdoor stage in Avignon. We are with her both onstage and behind the scenes, as the always stylish Huppert rehearses with fellow actor Fabrice Luchini. Interviewed with a handheld camera, much of which takes place in a moving vehicle, Huppert learns her lines and offers an oblique peek at her thoughts and feelings while preparing for an upcoming stage production. A vivid, elegant and unmistakably French portrait with an attentive eye for all the little details that have made Huppert something as rare as an arthouse superstar. Is Isabelle Huppert as cool and charismatic behind the scenes as she is in front of a camera? Mais oui! (Subtitles)
FRANCE 2022 BENOÎT JACQUOT 76M
David Gale, a terminally ill 83-year-old actor obsessed with King Lear, summons his nephew, Simon Chambers, from India to help him achieve a perfect end to his life. Doing his best to oblige, the younger man, a successful documentary-maker, embarks on a “five-year odyssey of craziness” as he and the cantankerous octogenarian, who lives in unspeakable squalor, engage with neighbours, sundry crumbling public services, the dreaded care home and a “hot Brazilian guy” to whom Uncle David wishes to give away all his money. This profoundly intimate film, a study in indomitability, is often discomforting, but with its big heart and quiet humour it is life-affirming.
IRELAND 2022 SIMON CHAMBERS 86M
A programme introducing a ‘Godard evening’ commissioned in 1983 by Channel Four.
Mon 14 Aug 13:30 – Studio
Tue 15 Aug 13:15 – Pic Palace
For full details on this film and Ian Christie’s Talk see Jean-Luc Godard Retrospective on pg65.
Gina Beck
Until 3 Sep
Tickets from £15
Book at cft.org.uk
Sponsored by
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
Suggested by The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp
2022 marks the 100-year anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s first feature. A century on, Hitchcock remains one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. But how does his vast body of work and legacy hold up in today’s society?
Mon 14 Aug 16:00 – Auditorium
Wed 23 Aug 18:00 – Studio
Mark Cousins, the award-winning filmmaker behind ‘The Story of Film: An Odyssey,’ ‘The Eyes of Orson Welles’ and ‘The Story of Film: A New Generation,’ tackles this question and looks at the auteur with a new and radical approach: through the use of the auteur’s own voice. As Hitchcock rewatches his films, we are taken on an odyssey through his vast career – his vivid silent films, the legendary films of the 1950s and 60s and his later works – in playful and revealing ways.
UK 2022 MARK COUSINS 120M
Steve James’s engrossing documentary tells the story of Manhattan Project scientist Ted Hall, a young physicist who leaked nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union in order to protect the future of mankind.
Ted Hall was recruited to join the Manhattan Project when he was still a teenager. A brilliant young physicist, Ted went to Los Alamos with no clue as to what he would be working on, but when he learned the nature of the weapon being designed, he began to worry that if only the United States possessed nuclear technology, the post-war risks might be great. It was only 1944, but Ted Hall was already imagining the potential for a nuclear holocaust after Germany’s inevitable surrender, so he began to pass information – significant details about the implosion bomb later known as “Fat Man” –to the Soviet Union. After the war, he met and married fellow University of Chicago student Joan. Then, as the Cold War escalated and the arrest of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg stoked national paranoia, the FBI started investigating and the family’s life changed forever. Much of the film is illustrated through interviews with Joan, who remains feisty, introspective and largely unapologetic about what she views through the prism of a multi-decade love story. The film borrows the look and feel of a historical espionage thriller and builds some momentum and moral complexity along the way, but it finds its real potency as a generational family drama.
USA 2022 STEVE JAMES 102MTue 15 Aug 18:30 – Auditorium
Wed 16 Aug 14:00 – Auditorium
Our thanks to Autlook Films for this screening.
Mon 14 Aug 16:00 – Studio (inc Intro)
Tue 15 Aug 13:15 – Pic Palace Booking Ref
An essay film by Ian Christie and Chiemi Shimada about Eisenstein’s 1931 visit to Mexico. “In 2012, I managed to visit and film Hacienda Tetlapayac, where Eisenstein spent much of 1931, frantically reading and writing as well as filming. Unexpectedly, Tetlapayac remains just as it appears in Eisenstein and Tisse’s footage, having served as a location for a surprising range of films, as we now know. Our film draws on these, following the idiosyncratic twists and turns in Eisenstein’s memoir ‘Beyond the Stars’. Like this, it has a large cast of characters and references that runs from Douglas Fairbanks as the first screen Zorro, stirring the young Sergei’s interest in cinema, up to Antonio Banderas as his most recent incarnation. Other guest appearances include Leon Trotsky, Spencer Tracy, Serge Daney and Derek Jarman, filming his ‘Imagining October’ in Moscow with Peter Wollen, just before the start of Gorbachev’s perestroika”. – Ian Christie
UK/JAPAN
SHIMADA 50M
We welcome Ian Christie to introduce the film.
A timely new documentary chronicles
James Glancy, a British solder’s return to Afghanistan, just as US. troops pulled out of the country amid a Taliban takeover. James Glancy, a filmmaker and former British Royal Marine commando who was decorated for his actions in combat, returns to Afghanistan with a small, handpicked team to help him answer the question that has haunted him for ten years. Was it worth it? Dramatically, midway through filming, President Joe Biden announces that the US will be pulling troops out by 9/11, starting a Taliban offensive that leads to the dramatic fall of the Afghanistan Government, amidst chaotic evacuation scenes in Kabul, as American forces withdraw. “The US. announced their complete withdrawal and we found ourselves in a war-torn country that was collapsing around us. The Taliban took complete control, and our own mission changed from filming to helping Afghan friends evacuate from certain death. The Taliban symbolically announced their new government on September 11, 2021, exactly twenty years after the attack on the World Trade Centre, and we are now some of the last people to document life in the old Afghanistan and the events that lead to the return of the Taliban”. – James Glancy.
We are delighted to welcome James Clancy to introduce his film followed by a Q&A after the screening.
Fri 18 Aug 18:00 – Auditorium (plus Q&A)
Our thanks to Westend Films UK for this screening.
An object lesson in how to campaign quietly and effectively, this thought-provoking documentary is as much an historical record as a plea for compassion towards the homeless.
Shot from March 2020, when London first became a dystopian cityscape, until May 2021 and the end of the third lockdown, it follows the work of volunteers from a Covent Garden collective called Under One Sky as they help those sleeping rough on streets deserted for weeks on end. Among the heroes of the story is the owner of the Punjab Restaurant who calculates that he and his team produced some 175,000 meals for customers who never sat at one of his tables. A heart-warming experience.
UK
We are delighted to welcome Executive Producer Elizabeth McGovern (‘Downton Abbey’) together with co-directors Franc Vissers and Elizabeth Healey for a Q&A after the film.
History’s longest sustained mass demonstration, the Greenham Common Women’s Peace camp, is recalled by one of its ‘founding mothers’, Thalia Campbell. The camp was established in 1981 at the RAF base in Berkshire and continued for 19 years, including the eight when American cruise missiles were installed there. Campbell, an artist, applied her skill to stitching banners (hence the documentary’s punning title). Important as a political and social record, this quiet first feature by a Spanish-born filmmaker resonates strongly in today’s volatile climate of protest.
UK 2022 RAKEL AGUIRRE 69M
Sergey Krutsenko was a Ukrainian musician, composer and film producer who died in January 2023 shortly after this documentary, his debut as a director, has its first festival screening.
His passion project about the Babyn Yar massacres near Kyiv in 1941 was overtaken by the Russian invasion of his country in March 2022 and he found himself visiting towns, not far from the capital, where similar atrocities had been carried out by Putin’s forces. Despite the close parallels, he asserts in his introduction that “the light will win because it always defeats the darkness”. What he shows, both in contemporary footage and reconstruction, makes us hope against hope that he was correct. Outstanding and harrowing. (Subtitles)
UKRAINE 2022 SERGEY KRUTSENKO 60MTue 22 Aug 11:30 – Studio
Wed 23 Aug 14:00 – Pic Palace
This urban documentary is based on upcoming, UK-based rapper, Proph, who is destined for the very top – an area currently populated by individuals such as Stormzy, Dave and Little Simz. Join host Lawrie Wilson as he embarks on a captivating journey alongside rising UK rapper Proph in this enthralling short documentary. Delve into the heart of Proph’s artistry as Lawrie accompanies him to significant locations that have shaped his past, define his present, and hold the key to his future. From gritty street corners where Proph honed his lyrical skills to the vibrant recording studios where his creativity blossoms, witness the raw energy and passion that fuels his music. Gain exclusive access to the people and places that have influenced Proph’s unique style, as Lawrie unravels the stories behind the artist’s life. As they navigate the vibrant tapestry of Proph’s world, Lawrie and Proph explore the intertwining threads of personal struggle, cultural heritage and creative expression. Through intimate interviews and powerful performances, this documentary immerses viewers in the authenticity and intensity of Proph’s artistry.
We hope to welcome Lawrie Wilson and director Mark Jones to introduce their documentary and discuss this project after the screening.
JAZZ
Fri 11 Aug 14:00 – Studio
Sat 12 Aug 18:00 – Pic Palace
See Roger’s Favourites for full details on pg74.
Sun 13 Aug 19:00 –Auditorium
See All that Jazz for full details on pg72.
Sat 12 Aug 16:00 –Auditorium
See 150th Anniversary of Rachmaninoff for full details on pg71.
We are proud to present the first major retrospective of the distinguished British actor Hugh Bonneville, best known for his roles in ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Paddington’. These titles are established favourites, so we have decided to focus instead on those with which our audience may not be so familiar. We are particularly delighted that we have permission to screen some of Hugh’s TV work theatrically in our Cinema. Hugh has kindly supplied us with personal notes on all the films being screened, and we are delighted to welcome him to Chichester to attend the screening of ‘To Olivia’, when he will be joined by its director, John Hay, for a Q&A. A full list of Hugh’s ‘back catalogue’ can be found at www.hughbonneville.uk
Fri 11 Aug 16:15 – Auditorium
Tue 15 Aug 11:30 – Auditorium
Dramatisation of the romantic life and professional relationships of the poet Philip Larkin (Hugh Bonneville), from his arrival as librarian at Hull University in 1955 to his death in 1985. Bonneville brings to life the many layers of the complex main character: his prudish mother, his unresolved issues with his father and his inability to commit to one woman. Larkin’s poetry is interlaced throughout, and it is not difficult to see where his attraction lay for the many women who fell in love with him (and who knew about each other, yet continued to see him!). Cerebral, fun-loving, jazz aficionado, loyal friend: it is always more than looks. Women moved beyond the baldness, deafness and short sightedness. And a beautifully nuanced performance by Eileen Atkins as his mum is a bonus.
UK 2003 SUSANNE WHITE 75M BBC2
Hugh Bonneville writes: “I’m really proud of this BBC2 film, which has never been repeated, put on iPlayer, nor released on DVD – so come and see it while you can! We shot it in 12 days, on a shoestring. Deep snow one day, brilliant sunshine the next, just when it mattered, which made it look like we’d filmed in different seasons and had a huge budget. I love the script by Rick Cottan, Susanna White’s direction is pitch perfect and the cast is superb – and it was the second time I got to call Eileen Atkins ‘mother’ (the first being in a BBC adaptation of ‘Madame Bovary’).”
Our thanks to the BBC and the BFI National TV Archive for this screening.
2011 Episodes 1-3
A dry-as-a-shaken-martini BBC mockumentary about the organising committee for the 2012 Olympics in London. Bonneville plays Ian Fletcher, the harried Head of Deliverance for the 2012 Games –a guy so well versed in corporate-speak he can put a positive spin on any situation. And in his new position, there’s a whole lot of awful to go around, what with all the pressure to deliver an Olympics that fulfils buzzwords like “Sustainability and Legacy”.
UK 2011 EPISODES 1-3 JOHN MORTON 90M BBC4
Hugh Bonneville writes: “John Morton’s wickedly smart mockumentary is probably the hardest material I’ve ever had to learn because (along with ‘W1A’) the text was so precise, every ‘um’ and ‘er’ being scripted. The group scenes were musical in tone and rhythm: hit one bum note and the whole thing went off key and we’d have to start again. John’s recurring directorial comment was ‘go faster and don’t smile’. The show proved eerily prophetic: not only did some athletes spend hours on a coach getting lost on their way to the Olympic village, as happened in one of our episodes, but our first episode – about the countdown clock going awry – aired on the day the real countdown clock was unveiled in Trafalgar Square and promptly broke down.”
Our thanks to the BBC for this screening.
1-3
Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), formerly the Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, has taken up the position of Head of Values at the BBC.
The natural career change for ‘Twenty Twelve’s Olympics supremo Ian Fletcher was an executive position at another of the great talking-shops, the BBC itself. Thus ‘W1A’ continues in the footprints of its predecessor, with Fletcher at the centre of the middle of things at the Beeb, quickly becoming the spokesperson and whipping boy for a number of topical-at-the-time scandals. Now with the title “Head of Values” he is soon involved with a similar group of headless deadbeats talking lots but saying little.
UK 2014 EPISODES 1-3 JOHN MORTON 90M BBC2
Hugh Bonneville writes: “As with its predecessor, ‘W1A’ proved to be strangely prophetic: Jeremy Clarkson causing headaches for senior management and problems with a tricky ‘Match of the Day’ presenter… I lost count of the number of BBC employees who sidled up to me when we were filming at Broadcasting House and said, “I hope you realise you’re making a documentary, not a comedy?”
Our thanks to the BBC for this screening.
An engrossing thriller that follows a young graffiti artist who discovers a shocking secret that would put him and the ones closest to him in danger. This will be a surprise and is not the Hugh Bonneville you know from ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Paddington’. Very realistic plot with solid performances by all the cast, especially those from Bonneville, as a judge, and Kelly MacDonald as the young man’s mother. Bonneville is magnificently oily as Blake, a man who has convinced the world he is a nice guy, although every now and then the mask slips and we see the anger and bigotry bubbling beneath. George MacKay is Toby, the graffiti artist who ‘tags’ the homes of England’s wealthy elite.
UK 2022 BABAK ANVARI 110M NETFLIX
Hugh Bonneville writes: “Babak Anvari’s script took me completely by surprise. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on the story it turns left, then right, continually subverting expectations. Hitchcock, film noir, refreshingly contemporary.”
Our thanks to Netflix for this first theatrical screening.
Sun 20 Aug 15:30 – Auditorium Inc Q&A – Tickets £13.50 Fri 25 Aug 11:00 – Auditorium
2021
The story charts a significant period in the tumultuous marriage between actress Patricia Neal (Keeley Hawes) and renowned writer Roald Dahl (Hugh Bonneville).
Hugh Bonneville is perfect as Dahl, and the relationship between him and his wife is full of warmth, love, and humour. There are plenty of hints towards the origins of his many books and the pace is perfect for the subject matter. Never released theatrically due to Covid.
Hugh Bonneville writes: “John Hay’s account of a tragic chapter in the marriage of Roald Dahl and his American film star wife, Patricia Neal, came out during the pandemic and so went straight onto the Sky platform, never getting its intended theatrical release. It’s a delicate, poignant film about grief. I’m thrilled it’s being shown in public for the first time in the UK.”
We are delighted to welcome Hugh Bonneville and director John Hay to introduce their film followed by a Q&A.
Our thanks to Sky for this screening.
2023 Episode 1
BBC Drama series inspired by true events surrounding the 1983 Brink’s-Mat heist and its remarkable aftermath. ‘The Gold’ takes a pulsating journey into a 1980s world awash with cheap money and loosened morals. This is the real-life story of the gang who burgled a security deposit near Heathrow, stumbled upon £26 million worth of gold bars and inadvertently carried out the largest robbery in history. The crime had huge ramifications in London itself, not least on the Docklands development in the 1980s, and left controversy and murder in its wake.
UK 2023 NEIL FORSYTH 60M BBC
Hugh Bonneville writes: “This opening episode of the 6-part BBC series was directed by Oscar winner Aniel Karia, with cinematography by Stuart Bentley, film makers with a great eye for mood and period detail. On set I remember a couple of the younger members of the cast being mesmerised by the rotary dial telephones and Rolodexes, which made me feel very old. I think the soundtrack on this production lifts it to another level.”
Our thanks to the BBC and the BFI National TV Archive for this screening.
This movie, based on the life of the revered British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch (Judi Dench), is a story of unlikely yet enduring love.
As a young academic teaching at Oxford, Murdoch (Kate Winslet) falls in love with fellow professor John Bayley (Hugh Bonneville), a man whose awkwardness seems in stark opposition to the spirited self-confidence of his future wife. The story unfolds as snippets of time, seen through the eyes of the older Bayley (Jim Broadbent). They portray Murdoch as a vibrant young woman with great intellect and are contrasted with the novelist’s later life, after the effects of Alzheimer’s disease have ravaged her. Murdoch’s great mind deteriorates unable to perform simple tasks and completely reliant on her devoted husband.
UK 2001 RICHARD EYRE 91M
Hugh Bonneville writes: “Written by Charles Wood and director Richard Eyre, this deeply affecting story charts the journey of Iris Murdoch into the fog of dementia as her husband John Bayley tries to come to terms with her decline. It was a privilege working opposite Kate Winslet – utterly natural and spontaneous in the role of young Iris, she taught me a lot about screen acting.”
Thu 17 Aug 16:15 – Studio
Wed 23 Aug 15:30 – Studio
2004
Based in the world of London’s theatres in the 1660s, Richard Eyre’s film is about the laws governing the employment of actresses on the stage.
Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) is the assumedly gay cross-dressing actor who has been playing female parts in plays for years, particularly Desdemona in ‘Othello’. He also has a close relationship with a member of Charles II’s Court, the Duke of Buckingham. When an aspiring actress, Maria (Claire Danes), auditions for Kynaston’s praised role, Desdemona, the King (Rupert Everett) decrees that all female roles should be played only by women. Maria becomes a star, while Ned finds himself out of work. The amazing cast includes Richard Griffiths, Tom Wilkinson, Edward Fox, and Hugh Bonneville as Samuel Pepys.
UK 2004 RICHARD EYRE 106M
Hugh Bonneville writes: “My second film with director Richard Eyre. With echoes of ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ this is a romantic romp about the fickleness of theatre stardom, as women take to the stage for the first time after the Restoration. I remember a very warm day filming at Hatfield House: the corpulent Richard Griffiths in full costume, sweating in the heat of the long gallery, windows blacked out, candles lit, a portable air conditioning unit blowing at him on maximum power.”
On a single afternoon in one of London’s most famous – and occasionally infamous –locations, the relationships of seven couples are examined with poignancy and wit. Hampstead Heath, where Andrew Lincoln’s wife catches him drooling over a nubile French student; Catherine Tate and Adrian Lester amble through the most amicable divorce ever; Ewan McGregor promises his partner Douglas Hodge that he’ll stop straying; Tom Hardy’s chancer tries his hand with the stressed Sophie Okonedo; Gina McKee and Hugh Bonneville struggle through a blind date picnic; and old timers Eileen Aitkins and Benjamin Whitrow find themselves wandering into the past. This entertaining, intelligent and beautifully wrought film is a veritable showcase of some of Britain’s finest actors.
UK 2006 ED BLUM 91M
Wed 16 Aug 18:45 – Studio
Thu 17 Aug 21:00 – Studio
Hugh Bonneville writes: “Featuring a then little-known Tom Hardy among its large cast, this is a kaleidoscope of duets about loves sought, won, missed and lost. I think each pair of actors filmed for one day. Talk about micro-budget – thank God it didn’t rain for my scene with Gina McKee as there was no plan B.“
Our thanks to Martin Myers for this screening.
Booking Ref
A comedy about how French and English cultures differ in their attitudes to relationships. Jed (Hugh Bonneville) prepares to interview a French director and self-appointed expert on the nature of love, Thierry Grimandi (Eric Cantona). The worldly and somewhat jaded Jed is dead-set on dismissing the auteur’s musings as pompous and, well, French, until his own relationship with Cheryl starts to fall apart. Soon everyone is talking about love: his relationship counsellor; drinking buddy Marcus; and Marcus’ girlfriend Sophie. Beginnings, endings, tricks… could the French be on to something?
UK 20O8 JACKIE OUDNEY 85M
Hugh Bonneville writes: “The script by Aschlin Ditta had me laughing on page one. I didn’t think for a second that the producers would secure the services of football legend Eric Cantona, but they did… and he was fantastic to work with. Before Eric’s arrival on set the Exec Producer addressed the company, asking everyone to treat him as just another actor. Fat chance. Within seconds there was a queue of electricians asking for his autograph, keen to discuss the finer points of his career at Manchester United.”
Fri 18 Aug 15:45 – Studio Sat 19 Aug 18:15 – Studio
Our thanks to Vertigo for this screening.
The inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease.
When Robin (Andrew Garfield) is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he is confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana’s (Claire Foy’s) twin brothers (Tom Hollander) and the ground-breaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek out a full and passionate life together, raising their young son, travelling and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients.
UK 2017 ANDY SERKIS 120M
Hugh Bonneville writes: “An inspiring story based on the life of producer Jonathan Cavendish’s father, Robin, who contracted polio and was destined for a short, institutionalised life on a respirator. However, Robin and his wife’s remarkable grit allowed him to live a full and spirited life for many, many years. In one scene, family friends carry Robin and his bed from the house out into the garden. I suppose if they’d really put their minds to it the props department could have found a heavier cast iron bed, but they would have been hard pushed. It weighed an absolute ton.”
The final Viceroy of India (Hugh Bonneville) is tasked with overseeing the transition of British India to independence. New Delhi, 1947. The huge and stately Viceroy’s Palace is like a beehive. Its 500 employees are busy preparing the coming of Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who has just been appointed new (and last) Viceroy by Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Mountbatten arrives accompanied by Edwina (Gillian Anderson), his liberal-minded wife and his 18-year-old daughter Pamela (Lily Travers). Matters will prove to be extremely difficult on both the geopolitical and personal level.
UK
Wed 23 Aug 13:30 –
Fri 25 Aug 20:15 – Studio
Sat 26 Aug 18:30 – Pic Palace
Hugh Bonneville writes: “I said yes to this almost before I’d finished reading the script. Director Gurinder Chadha is a ball of energy, I love India and was delighted to re-visit Rajasthan for the first time in 30 years. The House of the title is still a government building, so the Umaid Bhawan hotel in Jodhpur was our principal location. Stayed there, too. Shortest commute to work I’ve ever had. But the hotel remained open throughout filming and so, with hundreds of extras assembled on the magnificent steps, red carpet in place, ready for the arrival of the new Viceroy, we had to stop everything and wait while two guests in white towelling robes and fluffy slippers padded their way down the steps on their way to the hotel pool.”
George Clooney’s film brings together both stars of our two retrospectives: Cate Blanchett and Hugh Bonneville.
In the last months of the war, with the Third Reich teetering on the brink of collapse, the German army is ordered to destroy every piece of looted art in its possession. In a race against time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt mobilises a seven-man platoon comprising museum directors and art historians to rescue the cream of the world’s artistic and cultural treasures from the hands of the enemy and return them to their rightful owners. But with no previous experience of weapons and tactics, the hastily assembled group soon face a rude awakening. All-star cast includes Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin.
USA 2014 GEORGE CLOONEY 118M
Hugh Bonneville writes: “We shot part of the Normandy landing sequence at Camber Sands, near Rye. Nearby, in Winchelsea’s New Inn, we filmed a moment at a bar when my character is recruited to the team. There’s also a voice-over in the film – a letter my character has written home: George Clooney, the Sound Recordist and me, hunkered down in a B&B bedroom above the pub.”
The Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett has forged an impressive, and singular, career on stage and screen. She has worked with some of the world’s foremost directors, consistently crafting impeccable performances in critically acclaimed films, and not skimping on making her presence felt in box office blockbusters. Born in Melbourne, she began her career on the Sydney stage and is a former artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company. Her breakthrough roles came in 1997’s ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ (Gillian Armstrong) playing opposite Ralph Fiennes, and her imperious turn as the young queen in Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Elizabeth’ (1998).
Her Oscar wins came for embodying Katharine Hepburn in ‘The Aviator’ (Martin Scorsese, 2004) and a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in ‘Blue Jasmine’ (Woody Allen, 2013). She has been nominated by the Academy a further six times. In addition, she has four Baftas and four Golden Globes. Her most notable small-screen role came as the unscrupulous anti-feminist activist Phylllis Schlafly in the FX miniseries ‘Mrs America’.
Having triumphed in her homeland, in Hollywood and in European art cinema, as well as on Broadway and the London stage, Blanchett now lives in Sussex. She continues to work around the world, creating some of the screen’s most compelling and idiosyncratic screen characters. Her recent Oscar-nominated performance as the malignant conductor at the heart of Todd Field’s ‘Tár’ proves that she is one of the bravest actresses working in cinema today, unafraid to push boundaries and play women who are hard to like but impossible to ignore. – Pamela
Cate Blanchett won her second Oscar for her portrayal of the ‘Virgin Queen’ in Shekhar Kapur’s ravishing study of Elizabeth I’s ascension to the throne and her early reign. Essentially the story of Elizabeth’s transformation from sensual young hothead to hard-hearted queen, evolving sub plots also explore issues of femininity, power and high politics. The film begins with the brutalised and cynical ‘Bloody Mary’ (Kathy Burke) persecuting Protestants, while her half-sister Elizabeth is a happy-go-lucky young woman enjoying the first flushes of love with the Earl of Leicester (Joseph Fiennes). Fearing Elizabeth’s Protestant leanings, Mary imprisons her and plots to have her killed. On her deathbed, Mary has a change of heart and Elizabeth ascends to the throne. Thrust into an edgy world of political and religious flux she struggles to protect her power, life and independence as the court boils with intrigue and conspiracy. Despite flashing eyes and sumptuous court finery, this intelligent period drama skilfully avoids the swamp of nostalgic fantasy. Kapur draws the best from an outstanding cast (including Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough and Christopher Eccleston) and delivers both an atmospheric romance and a mature exploration of a big theme – the dark duplicity, betrayal and grubby ambition that run through Britain’s bloodthirsty history. UK 1998 SHEKHAR KAPUR 124M
Fri 18 Aug 10:30 – Auditorium
Fast-paced biopic documenting the life of one of the most colourful Americans of the 20th century, Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his relationship with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett).
Hughes was a risk-taker who spent several fortunes before eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan Am, the airline owned by his great rival, Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin). When Trippe’s politico Senator Ralph Owen Brewster accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it’s Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life, including Hepburn, with whom he had a long relationship. Blanchett’s interpretation seems spot on, and anyone familiar with the late actress’s mannerisms will appreciate the hard work that clearly went into the re-creation. Scorsese has crafted a riproaringly gorgeous-looking, beautifully acted biographical epic. The star cast also includes Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner and Jude Law as Errol Flynn.
USA/GERMANY 2004 MARTIN SCORSESE 170M
Patricia Highsmith’s first Ripley novel shows Ripley in the process of inventing himself and finding his life’s work. A poor man who wanted to be rich.
A 1950s Manhattan lavatory attendant, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), borrows a Princeton jacket to play piano at a garden party. When the wealthy father of a recent Princeton graduate chats Tom up, the latter pretends to know the son and is soon offered $1,000 to go to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) to return home. In Italy, Tom attaches himself to Dickie and Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), Dickie’s cultured fiancée, pretending to love jazz and harbouring homoerotic hopes as he soaks in luxury. Anthony Minghella creates a beautiful, intricate and suspenseful story that enhances the thriller dimensions of Highsmith’s novel into a far more significant, emotionally tangled experience. When Tom’s elaborately constructed fantasy catches up with him, the result is just as heartbreaking for the viewer as it is for the character. The cast also includes Cate Blanchett as Meredith, a character not in the original novel. Part of our Festival strand ‘Loving Highsmith’ – see pg67. USA 1999 ANTHONY MINGHELLA 137M
CAROL
An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seminal novel we follow two women from very different backgrounds who find themselves in an unexpected love affair in 1950s New York.
Wed 23 Aug 11:00 – Auditorium
For full details see Loving Highsmith strand on pg67.
Booking Ref
A sharp psychological thriller from Richard Eyre, with an outstanding cast led by Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.
Booking Ref
Sun 13 Aug 17:15 – Studio
Tue 22 Aug 15:45 – Studio
Barbara Covet (Dench), a veteran history teacher at a London school, is captivated by new art instructor and kindred spirit Sheba Hart (Blanchett). The younger woman’s charisma intensely draws in the older, and the two become friends, but when Barbara learns of Sheba’s affair with a teenage student her moral outrage turns to narcissistic manipulation as she tries to conceal their secret. Eyre (‘The Dresser’, ‘Atonement’) directs the film beautifully, with great support from an insistent, ever-present score by Philip Glass. This is an original, unpredictable film, erotic and surprisingly intense, with a cast that also includes Bill Nighy and a young Juno Temple.
UK 2006 RICHARD EYRE 98M
Loosely based upon ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, this is one of Woody Allen’s finest films, featuring an outstanding performance by Cate Blanchett.
Booking Ref
Fri 18 Aug 18:15 – Studio
Thu 24 Aug 16:00 – Studio
Jasmine French used to be on the top of the heap as a New York socialite, but now returns to her estranged sister in San Francisco utterly ruined. As she struggles with haunting memories of a privileged past bearing dark realities she ignored, she tries to recover. It proves a losing battle as her narcissistic hang-ups and their consequences begin to overwhelm her. Cate Blanchett, who played Blanche on Broadway only a few years previously, gives one of the most complicated and demanding performances of her movie career.
USA 2013 WOODY ALLEN 98M
From the acclaimed visual artist Julian Rosefeldt, featuringCate Blanchett in 13 vignettes incorporating 20th-century art movements.
Sun 20 Aug 20:45 – Studio
Tue 22 Aug 13:30 – Pic Palace
This film draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Suprematists, Dogma 95 and other groups, as well as the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers, ultimately questioning the role of the artist in society today. Blanchett inhabits 13 different personas – among them a puppeteer, a newsreader, and a homeless man – Blanchett imbues new dramatic life into these famous words. ‘Manifesto’ may not adhere to any conventional narrative structure, but it’s compulsively watchable all the same. This is a brilliant display of Blanchett’s unstoppable talent and Rosefeldt’s ability to use one art form – filmmaking – to explore so many others.
AUSTRALIA/GERMANY 2015 JULIAN ROSEFELDT 95M
Tue 22 Aug 10:00 –
A grifter (Bradley Cooper), working his way up from his low-ranking carnival worker to lauded psychic medium, matches his wits with a psychologist (Cate Blanchett) bent on exposing him.
Stanton Carlisle is a drifter with a talent for theatrics and hustling people out of their money. He lands a job at a carnival where he learns the essentials of mentalism from a pair of masters of the art. He also meets the love of his life and the two of them leave the carnival to take his act on the road. Then he meets a psychologist who sees through his façade. Cate Blanchett’s performance as the psychologist is outstanding and the production design one of the most stunning that you’ll ever see; it certainly earned its Academy Award nomination. Cooper gives a multi-dimensional performance that helps carry the film and he gets plenty of help; this film noir boasts a formidable acting lineup (Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Mary Steenburgen, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins), stunning period detail and is handsomely shot. Underrated on its release, Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece needs another viewing to appreciate its richness.
USA 2021 GUILLERMO DEL TORO 150M
An illustrated talk by Pamela Hutchinson
So compelling – yet so awful! From the young Queen Elizabeth to brutal Lydia Tár, the seductive older women in ‘Carol’ and ‘Notes on a Scandal’, and the high-society hysteric of ‘Blue Jasmine’, Cate Blanchett makes a habit of embodying the most captivatingly imperious, and often cruel, women that the screen has ever witnessed. This illustrated talk will explore her singular career and examine some of her very best performances. Find out why she is one of the most fascinating actresses working in world cinema today and how she creates such unforgettably powerful characters.
Pamela Hutchinson is a freelance critic, curator and film historian, based in West Sussex. She writes for titles including ‘Sight and Sound’, ‘Empire’ and the ‘Guardian’ and regularly appears on BBC Radio. Her publications include BFI Film Classics on ‘The Red Shoes’ and ‘Pandora’s Box,’ as well as essays in edited collections.
90M
Mon 21 Aug 14:30 – Auditorium (Plus Q&A)
Tickets £13.50
Set in the international world of Western classical music the film centres on Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), considered the greatest living composer/conductor and the very first female Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Having achieved an enviable career few could even dream of, Lydia Tár is at the top of her game. As a conductor, she not only orchestrates, she also manipulates. As a trailblazer, the passionate virtuoso leads the way in the male-dominated classical music industry. She is taking on one of her most significant challenges: a live recording of Gustav Mahler ’s Symphony No. 5; and, while juggling work and family, she is also preparing for the release of her memoir. However, forces that even the imperious maestro can’t control slowly chip away at her elaborate facade, revealing the genius’s dirty secrets and the insidious, corrosive nature of power. What if life knocks Lydia off her pedestal? ‘Tár’ marks yet another career peak for Blanchett – many will argue her greatest – but, disgracefully, did not bring her the deserved Oscar.
“No one but Blanchett could have delivered the imperious hauteur necessary for portraying a great musician heading for a crack-up or a creative epiphany. No one but Blanchett has the right way of wearing a two-piece black suit with an opennecked white shirt, the way of shaking her hair loose at moments of abandon, the way of letting her face become a Tutankhamun mask of contempt.” – Peter Bradshaw
We are delighted to welcome Cate Blanchett for a Q&A after this screening.
Booking Ref
We celebrate the work of a filmmaker who rejuvenated British cinema in the 1960s and whose satires tore into the foundations of the country’s establishment. Like his Gallic peers in the French New Wave, Lindsay Anderson began his film career as a critic, often bemoaning the lack of objectivity in the profession and espousing strident political opinions that would make their way into his work both as a filmmaker and an acclaimed theatre director. He was a key member of Free Cinema, a loose collective of documentary filmmakers who challenged the way everyday lives were represented on the screen. And his importance as a filmmaker would only increase as part of the British New Wave, whose work, including his ‘This Sporting Life’ (1963), would raise the profile of the ‘kitchen sink’ drama and its focus on the working class. But it was with ‘If….’ (1968) that Anderson produced one of the classics of British cinema – an iconoclastic masterpiece that has lost little of its power. This season covers Anderson’s early documentary work, his two classics, the satires ‘O Lucky Man!’ (1973) and’ Britannia Hospital’ (1982), alongside the lesser known ‘The White Bus’ (1967) and his final narrative feature, the elegiac ‘The Whales of August’ (1987). With a contextual talk that will also encompass his theatre and written work, this retrospective not only looks back on Anderson’s career, it also reflects on cinema’s power to provoke as well as entertain.
Tue 15 Aug 13:30 – Studio
An illustrated talk by Ian Haydn Smith
Lindsay Anderson was a dominant force in British cinema for three decades, both as a critic and filmmaker. As his career as a director was taking off, he also branched into theatre. He established the Royal Court as a base for radical experimentation and political provocation, his views about Britain and British life also playing a crucial role in much of his film work.
Ian Haydn Smith will not only discuss Anderson’s films within the context of the era in which they were made, he will also locate the director’s work within the wider landscape of world cinema. From his early documentary shorts through to the critical highpoint of the 1960s and early ’70s, this talk will also examine how working across various art forms gave Anderson’s work a vitality whose spark still burns brightly today. He will use excerpts from Anderson’s films and will open with a screening of one of the finest, the short ‘O Dreamland’ (1956).
90M
Fri 11 Aug 10:30 – Auditorium
Anderson’s debut feature is a ruthless portrait of a professional rugby player and his brutish world. Richard Harris’ first starring role and his career breakthrough came with this slice of Northern grit. He plays Frank Machin, a hardened and bitter coal miner in West Riding, whose pent-up aggression makes him perfect for the local rugby league team. He rents a room in a house owned by Margaret Hammond (an excellent Rachel Roberts), a widow whom Frank attempts to woo. But a fatalistic streak makes Frank a danger to all those around him. Adapted by David Storey from his novel, ‘This Sporting Life’ is an extraordinary debut by Anderson and one of the finest British films of the 1960s.
UK 1963 LINDSAY ANDERSON 134M
THE WHITE BUS AND EVERY DAY EXCEPT CHRISTMAS
A pair of Anderson’s wonderful short films –‘The White Bus’ is a cult classic observation of a woman’s trip round Manchester. ‘Every Day Except Christmas’ is an evocative day in the life of Covent Garden Market.
THE WHITE BUS
Written by Shelagh Delaney (‘A Taste of Honey’), ‘The White Bus’ tells the story of an unnamed young woman (Patricia Healey) who has moved from Salford to work in London but returns for a day to board a double-decker bus and take a sightseeing tour of her home city. It’s a fascinating snapshot of an era and includes the screen debut of Anthony Hopkins.
UK 1967 LINDSAY ANDERSON 46M
EVERY DAY EXCEPT CHRISTMAS
‘Every Day Except Christmas’ is Anderson’s rich and moving portrait of Covent Garden when it was London’s major flower market. Compassionate and poetic, it is one of the high points of the Free Cinema movement and showcased Anderson’s skill as a filmmaker.
Tue 15 Aug 16:00 – Studio
Fri 25 Aug 15:00 – Pic Palace
UK 1957 LINDSAY ANDERSON 41M
Anderson’s cinematic magnum opus and one of the most essential films of the 1960s, ‘If….’ was a litmus test of the mores, political landscape and temperament of British society.
Malcolm McDowell, in a role he was born to play, is Mick Travis, a rebellious pupil at a public school. Inspired by writer David Sherwin’s own time at Tonbridge (location filming was done at Anderson’s alma mater, Cheltenham College, and Aldenham School) and drawing heavily from Jean Vigo’s uproarious 1933 short ‘Zéro de Conduit’, the film charts the gradual disintegration of order within the establishment, as Travis and his cohort rebel against the constraints of a regimented life.
Roger has brought countless UK premieres to Chichester, including 25 this year alone. Many films that would not normally get a release in this country have been given an audience, with some later being picked up by UK distributors. Over 31 editions, Roger has lifted the Chichester international Film Festival to the nationally revered and celebrated event that it is today.
VISIT: chichesterfilmfestival.co.uk/ festival-archive
Booking Ref
Booking Ref
Sun 13 Aug 19:30 – Studio
Anderson’s third feature is a provocative look at British society. A bold medley of surrealism, satire, polemic and spy film. Malcolm McDowell would return to the screen twice to play Mick Travis, a cinematic everyman whose character arc across three films is less important than Anderson’s desire to crack the veneer of ‘respectable’ British society. In this journey through the British hinterland, Travis starts out as a travelling salesman, only to become implicated in armsdealing and radical medical experimentation, before the film reaches its gleefully knowing conclusion (featuring the only on-screen appearance by Anderson in one of his films). This broad satire that succeeds in hitting a number of its many targets also features an early appearance by Helen Mirren.
UK 1973 LINDSAY ANDERSON 178M
Malcolm McDowell’s final outing as Mick Travis finds him donning the role of an investigative journalist, secretly filming in the eponymous hospital just as it plays host to a visit by the Queen.
A group of protesters encircle the building, outraged that a notorious African dictator is receiving private medical treatment there, while Professor Millar (Graham Crowden), a specialist working in a new wing, appears to be employing radical procedures to improve humankind. Characters from the previous two Travis films make appearances here, while Anderson and screenwriter David Sherwin take potshots at both the establishment and the way the National Health Service has been treated.
Booking Ref
Mon 14 Aug 19:45 – Studio
Wed 16 Aug 18:15 – Pic Palace
UK 1982 LINDSAY ANDERSON 116M
A deeply moving drama about two elderly sisters who discover that it’s never too late to change.
Mon 21 Aug 16:15 – Studio
Tue 22 Aug 18:30 – Studio
Anderson’s final narrative feature brought together two Hollywood legends from a bygone era: the silent star Lillian Gish and Bette Davis, one of the firebrands of Hollywood’s golden age. They play widowed sisters from Philadelphia, who spend their summers together on the coast of Maine. The surroundings cause them to reflect on their lives and the events that came to define them. Even though they didn’t get along on set, the two actors make for a compelling screen presence, their characters’ relationship bolstered by the performances of veterans Vincent Price, Harry Carey Jr and Ann Southern, who was nominated for an Oscar.
USA 1987 LINDSAY ANDERSON 90M
The director who created one of the most influential, challenging, and debated bodies of work in cinema history.
Was there a watershed in cinema: before and after Godard? That was certainly how it seemed during the 20 or so years after his debut in 1960. As the leading figure in France’s New Wave, his influence was felt far and wide, encouraging a generation of filmmakers to reject the styles of their elders, and instead create a new personal cinema. Soon his influence could be seen in Eastern Europe, in Italy, in Scandinavia and even in Britain. Would Dick Lester’s two Beatles films have been as formally exciting without the example of Godard? Would Vilgot Sjöman’s once-notorious ‘I Am Curious’ films have been as boldly personal without Godard? But however widely his influence could be seen, Godard himself never stood still, challenging his admirers with each new film and setting a pace that few could match.
The revolutionary uprisings of 1968 created a watershed in Godard’s own life and career. Turning his back on the art cinema that he had reshaped, he threw himself into a period of political agitation and, even after he returned to making movies with major stars during the 1970s and ‘80s, these were never as influential as his early films. There was also the challenge of television and working with video, which Godard embraced before most filmmakers of his generation, inaugurating a new phase in his work from ‘Sauve qui peut’/’Slow Motion’ (1980) onwards. Back in his native Switzerland, Godard became a reclusive guru, often controversial, but continuing to experiment and provoke. – Ian Christie
Sat 12 Aug 20:45 – Studio
Sun 13 Aug 17:30 – Pic Palace
Jean-Luc Godard’s gritty and engaging first feature had an almost revolutionary impact when first released in 1960. There is simply no other film which demonstrates so perfectly what it feels like to be young and in love.
Small-time thief (Jean-Paul Belmondo) steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he reunites with a hip American journalism student (Jean Seberg) and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy. Widely regarded as the ground zero of the French New Wave movement and clearly hugely influential and standout in terms of narrative and attitude, the film feels cuttingly original and has an aura of edge and freedom. Godard paid homage to the pace and energy of American gangster B-movies of the 1940s. He took his plotline from a news item supplied by Truffaut, in which a cop-killer was harboured by his girlfriend and casually betrayed for the reward money. The thin, conventional storyline is swept along by the imaginative, urgent style with its then innovative jump cuts, overlapping dialogue and handheld camerawork. A landmark film, it forever changed perceptions of cinema. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 1960 JEAN-LUC GODARD 90M
Fri 18 Aug 20:30 – Studio
Aka ‘The Little Soldier’
During the Algerian War of Independence, a young Frenchman living in Geneva and belonging to a right-wing terrorist group falls in love with a young woman from a left-wing terrorist group.
‘Le Petit Soldat’ is a controversial spyromance, which was banned in France for three years on account of its unflinching portrayal of the Franco-Algerian conflict. The film follows Bruno (Michel Subor), a disillusioned young deserter who becomes involved in the French nationalist movement despite his lack of deep political beliefs. Under orders, he kills an Algerian sympathiser and is then captured and tortured. When he meets and falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Veronica Dreyer (Anna Karina appearing in her first film role), he does not realise that she is fighting for the other side. Godard, in 1960, making a film about the Algerian War, was portraying the sort of intellectual and moral confusion that good men have when they confront senseless events. Given this attitude, it might seem strange that ‘Le Petit Soldat’ is funny, but it is, for long stretches. Banned until the censoring French ruling party was overthrown, it is as relevant today as it was in 1963. It is impossible to watch without thinking of Guantanamo, of extraordinary rendition and (explicitly) of waterboarding. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 1960/63 JEAN-LUC GODARD 88M
Aka ‘Contempt’
A sumptuously stylish study of a rocky marriage and fraught professional relationships, Godard’s unusually straightforward adaptation of a novel by Moravia is also his most hauntingly beautiful film. Starring Brigitte Bardot, Fritz Lang, Jack Palance and Michel Piccoli.
On a movie adaptation of Homer’s epic poem ‘The Odyssey’, an aspiring playwright, Paul Javal (Piccoli), finds himself caught between the creative director (Lang) and the crass American producer, Jeremy Prokosch (Palance). While the director wants to faithfully recreate Homer’s world artistically, the producer demands a more commercial feature and waves his mighty chequebook to make it happen. When Paul finds himself swayed by the power of the producer’s money, he sees that his wife Camille (Bardot) is beginning to regard him with increasing contempt. Making the most of Raoul Coutard’s luscious Scope images and Georges Delerue’s achingly lovely score, Godard ensures that we care about this troubled couple even as he illuminates, with incisive wit, the corrosive compromises often inherent in filmmaking. This monumental achievement, which combines the classical with the radical, is presented here in a new 4k digitally restored print. (Subtitles)
FRANCE/ITALY 1963 JEAN-LUC GODARD 103M
Booking Ref
One of Godard’s most sheerly enjoyable movies: a dazzling amalgam of film noir and science fiction.
Booking Ref
Thu 17 Aug 18:45 – Studio
Fri 18 Aug 14:00 – Pic Palace
The plot is not unlike that of ‘1984,’ with Eddie Constantine playing Lemmy Caution, a spy sent to eliminate the creator of a “Big Brother” computer called “Alpha 60” which controls the lives, thoughts and actions of the Alphaville metropolis. Lemmy assumes the identity of a reporter, then meets up and falls in love with Anna Karina’s Natasha Von Braun (the daughter of the dictator of Alphaville who Lemmy is there to assassinate). The cinematography, direction and editing of ‘Alphaville’ is mesmerising; every image is full of movement, inventive camera angles and surreal imagery. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 1965 JEAN-LUC GODARD 100M
Booking Ref
Mon 14 Aug 18:15 – Pic Palace
Wed 16 Aug 20:45 – Studio
A surreal tale of a couple going on a road trip to visit the wife’s parents with the intention of killing them for the inheritance. A breakthrough in narrative cinema. ‘Weekend’ remains one of the most legendary, audacious and acclaimed films of Godard’s distinguished career. It follows a bickering, scheming, bourgeois couple who leave Paris for the French countryside to claim an inheritance by nefarious means. Famed for its virtuoso cinematography, Godard’s dystopian road movie is a ferocious attack on consumerism. A towering and exhilarating piece of cinema that seems to embody the social upheaval of the 1960s in one bracing, often shocking, cinematic experience. (Subtitles)
FRANCE 1967 JEAN-LUC GODARD 105M
SAUVE QUI PEUT (LA VIE)
An examination of sexual relationships in which the lives of a man, a woman and a prostitute intersect. Godard dubbed this his “Second First Film”.
Sat 19 Aug 20:45 – Studio
Sun 20 Aug 18:00 – Pic Palace
A film about three people whose lives are all at a turning point: a country girl turned city prostitute (Isabelle Huppert), a city woman who moves to the country (Nathalie Baye), and a washed-up television director falling into despair (Jacques Dutronc). The film exhibits familiar Godard traits such as attentiveness to the rhythm and textures of city life and the innovative approach to sound. An amazingly dense and complex film – almost every scene is full of visual & audio innovation, most obviously in the use of slow motion and stop-motion to create striking images of everyday actions.
FRANCE 1980 JEAN-LUC GODARD 87M
Mon 14 Aug 13:30 – Studio Inc. ‘Godard: History: Passion’ short
An illustrated talk by Ian Christie plus short documentary on Godard by Ian Christie. When Jean-Luc Godard died last year, the response divided along generational lines. Many older cinephiles found themselves thinking back to their youth and recalling the impact of his early work. But what did he mean to those who had grown up in the age of video or streaming? The first half-dozen films have become classics, and many of his later works seem to anticipate what are now called ‘essay films’. Indeed, Godard often spoke of making films as an alternative form of writing novels or essays. It’s certainly much too early to attempt any definitive verdict on his career – except to say there will never be another like it in the history of cinema, since cinema itself has changed irrevocably. But maybe we can use Godard’s vast output, and his fluctuating reputation across the decades, to map what may prove to be the final half-century of that institution? 90M
‘Visions’ was an innovative early Channel Four series about cinema. In 1983 it was commissioned to make a programme introducing a ‘Godard evening’ on C4 –something hard to imagine on today’s TV, but indicative of the regard in which Godard was still held.
For this, Keith Griffiths and I interviewed a cross-section of people who had all been strongly influenced by Godard in different ways – critics and filmmakers who recalled the controversy around his early work, and with contrasting opinions about his continued relevance. Among the interviewees were Nina Hibbin, then director of the Tyneside Cinema, novelist Angela Carter, critics Tom Milne and Chris Auty, and producers Mark Shivas and Peter Sainsbury. Unfortunately this isn’t a high-quality recording of the programme, but it makes for an intriguing and historic time capsule.
– Ian ChristieUK 1983 KEITH GRIFFITHS / IAN CHRISTIE 30M
Opening Times
February 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
March to October 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
November 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
With the excellent new documentary on Patricia Highsmith, we are supporting this with four films adapted from her novels, and an illustrated talk. This strand includes Eva Vitija’s new documentary about the American author whose books inspired so many memorable films, together with screenings of four film adaptations and a richly illustrated talk.
Ever since Alfred Hitchcock’s memorable adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel, ‘Strangers on a Train,’ her dark, disturbing yet often grimly hilarious work has proved a magnet for filmmakers. Among the work by those in Europe who took over the baton from Hitchcock were the first two adaptations of the Ripley novels, her pentalogy about the sophisticated serial killer. Perhaps the best is Wim Wenders’ radical reimagining of Ripley #3, ‘Ripley’s Game’, retitled ‘The American Friend’, with Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz. The success of Anthony Minghella’s all-star version of ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’, with Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett, rekindled the interest of filmmakers in Highsmith, resulting in a number of further adaptations in the 21st century. Outstanding among these is ‘Carol’, Todd Haynes’s striking period lesbian romance based on her second novel and also featuring Blanchett. To complement the screening of the four feature films we are excited to present Eva Vitija’s new documentary, ‘Loving Highsmith’, and ‘The Dark Angel on Screen’, a talk reflecting on the entire range of film and TV adaptations of the novelist’s work, which will include clips from 20 different film and TV versions. – Patrick Hargood
Tue 15 Aug 18:00 – Studio
Wed 23 Aug 20:30 – Studio
Is there someone in your life who would be better off dead? Bruno has the answer to your problem in Hitchcock’s wickedly funny adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel. On its release in 1951 this was an adaptation of a story by a young unknown, made by a director whose career was on the wane after a series of flops; it also lacked any major stars. But ‘Strangers on a Train’ revived the career of Alfred Hitchcock and set him on the path to his most successful period in the 1950s and early ’60s, while launching the career of Patricia Highsmith. Hitchcock may have taken some liberties with the beautifully constructed plot (some of them forced on him by the censors), but he delivered a masterpiece of black comedy with a superlative performance from Robert Walker as Highsmith’s prototype psychopath Bruno Antony. A chance meeting on a train with tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) offers Bruno the opportunity to inveigle Guy into his scheme to swap murders. Highsmith has rarely been so well served on screen.
USA 1951 ALFRED HITCHCOCK 101M
In Wim Wenders’ audacious reimagining of the third Ripley novel, friendship has never been so toxic.
When a forceful directorial personality like Wim Wenders adapts a book, the last thing one should expect is a respectful, faithful rendering. The American friend of the title is Ripley himself, played here by maverick actor/director Dennis Hopper, living in Hamburg and working a scam based on forged artworks. Bruno Ganz is Zimmermann, a terminally ill picture framer who becomes drawn into Ripley’s schemes. Wenders delivers an action-packed thriller in which ‘who did what to whom’ is less important than ‘who seems to be what he is not’. Arguably the best of the five Ripley films.
WEST GERMANY/FRANCE 1977 WIM WENDERS
128M
Sun 20 Aug 10:15 – Auditorium
A chance meeting in a department store has life-changing consequences for shopgirl Therese and glamorous divorcée Carol. A masterpiece of elegant restraint, Todd Haynes’s version of Highsmith’s second novel is not concerned with crime, but transgression of a different kind. This is the classic romantic trope of forbidden lesbian love, featuring outstanding performances from Cate Blanchett as the wealthy housewife of the title, playfully predatory with blond furs, deep voice and slanting eyes, and Rooney Mara’s Therese, a tender, enraptured shopgirl, gradually emboldened by love and suffering. Highsmith’s writing has rarely been so well served on the big screen.
UK/USA/AUSTRALIA 2015 TODD HAYNES 118M
Wed 23 Aug 11:00 – Auditorium
Mistaken identity leads to impersonation and envy leads to murder in Anthony Minghella’s sumptuous Highsmith adaptation.
Fri 18 Aug 10:30 – Auditorium
See Cate Blanchett retrospective on pg53 for full details.
A documentary about Patricia Highsmith, drawing on her diaries, journals and interviews and the memories of her friends and lovers. Part of the ‘Loving Highsmith’ strand.
As a writer Patricia Highsmith deservedly enjoys an exalted reputation; as a person, rather less so. As time went on she became almost as well known for her cantankerous behaviour and misanthropy as for her literary gifts. But Swiss writer/director Eva Vitija has here created what she calls a “love biography”, drawing extensively on Highsmith’s diaries and notebooks and on the memories of three lovers in particular: the American writer Marijane Meaker, the French teacher and translator Monique Buffet and the late German actor, director and costume designer Tabea Blumenschein. Some clips from the film adaptations of Highsmith’s work are included (for a much wider range of these see the talk ‘The Dark Angel on Screen’), but this film is less about these and the books she authored and more about the woman herself, her quest for love and her often elusive identity.
A talk featuring clips from 20 film and TV adaptations of Patricia Highsmith’s novels and short stories – part of the ‘Loving Highsmith’ strand.
When her debut novel, ‘Strangers on a Train’, was made into a hugely successful film by Alfred Hitchcock, Patricia Highsmith was still in her 20s. In this talk, illustrated by a wealth of clips, Patrick Hargood, our Education Officer, will be looking back at eight decades of subsequent Highsmith adaptations, including European films by the likes of Wenders, Chabrol and Clément, and other versions of her work – many by British directors filming with American stars in Europe – such as Anthony Minghella’s ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ (with Damon, Law, Paltrow and Blanchett). Twenty years after her death, Todd Haynes became only the second American director to film one of her novels; ‘Carol’, starring Cate Blanchett, ranks among the very finest of the adaptations. All these and more will feature in this talk, from the familiar to the forgotten, such as the Oscarnominated ‘The Glass Cell’, from Germany’s Hans Geissendörfer.
100M (INC
Tony Palmer’s outstanding documentary, made with the full participation of the composer’s late grandson, Alexandre Rachmaninoff.
The film celebrates the life and work of a remarkable musician and composer of genius who, forced into exile in 1917, became the greatest pianist of his day. It features soloists Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Mikhail Pletnev (with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado, and his own Russian National Orchestra), Valentina Igoshina, Peter Jablonski, Nikolai Putilin and the Kirov Orchestra and the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg conducted by Valery Gergiev. With Rachmaninoff’s own words spoken by Sir John Gielgud, this is a unique and loving insight into a world long gone, but definitely not forgotten. We are supporting this anniversary with a screening of ‘Brief Encounter’, where the soundtrack used extensive extracts of Rachmaninoff’s ‘Piano Concerto No 2’, which greatly popularised the piece with audiences worldwide.
Sat
Auditorium Fri
We hope to welcome Tony Palmer to introduce his documentary.
The extensive use of Rachmaninoff’s ‘Piano Concerto No 2’ created the perfect romantic and melancholic mood to enhance the film. A masterstroke!
Based on Noël Coward’s play ‘Still Life’, ‘Brief Encounter’ is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and begin an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The pair immediately get on, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes and fears about their lives, marriages and children. It was Coward, as producer as well as screenwriter, who insisted on the use of his favourite piece of music, despite there being a composer, Muir Mathieson, waiting in the wings to create an original score. In the event, the Rachmaninoff, played by Australian pianist Eileen Joyce and the National Symphony Orchestra, raised the film’s emotional level sky-high.
“Ronnie’s’ made me cheer, laugh and weep. It’s a revelation! Aside from being a superb piece of filmmaking and storytelling it’s an important film. In my estimation an incredibly important film.” - Stephen Fry
A celebration of the legacy of Ronnie Scott and his world-famous jazz club, ‘Ronnie’s’ features previously unseen and rare performances from Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison, Chet Baker, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis. These are accompanied by new interviews with the likes of Giles Peterson, Michael Parkinson, Val Wilmer, Chris King (son of the club’s co- founder, Pete King) and Ronnie’s daughter Rebecca, as well as with some of the most iconic figures in music, including Quincy Jones, Georgie Fame and Sonny Rollins. The film explores the club’s 60-year history and shines a light on the uncompromising men and women who built it and who took to its stage. ‘Ronnie’s’ is an exceptional story about one of London’s greatest institutions – one of the last remaining vestiges of old, bohemian Soho. Chronicling an incredible journey through late ’50s and early ’60s Soho, the film is not just for jazz fans; it also tells the extraordinary story of how two working-class Londoners (Scott and King) contributed to the cultural life of the capital. A vital social document and a film for any self-respecting lover of music.
After a 30-minute interval there will be a live gig with a jazz quintet led by Andrew Cleyndert playing music associated with the musicians who performed at Ronnie’s.
Ian Shaw – Vocals, Mornington Lockett –Tenor Saxophone, Gareth Williams – Piano, Andrew Cleyndert – Double Bass, Joel Barford – Drums
Following the success of last year’s Mingus evening, Andrew Cleyndert has put together a powerhouse quintet to reflect on the music of saxophonist/club owner Ronnie Scott and the institution of “The Club” under Ronnie and coowner Pete King. Ian Shaw, an international star, performed regularly at Ronnie’s from early in his career. Both Mornington Lockett and Andrew Cleyndert worked with Scott in his longstanding Sextet and Quartet – which also featured Dick Pierce, Martin Drew and John Critchinson – as well as playing in many different bands in the club over the years. Likewise, Gareth Williams has been a pivotal pianist on the UK jazz scene, appeared often at the club and recorded his own live trio album there. Completing the quintet is the outstanding young drummer Joel Barford, representative of the new generation that Ronnie was dedicated to encouraging. The group will perform music associated with Ronnie during his career as an outstanding saxophonist, as well as delving into the catalogue of some of the myriad international artists that have performed under his roof. Cleyndert and Co. will also, no doubt, have an anecdote or dozen to share.
And now… a documentary which will take you back to a swinging Chicago era, peppered with contributions by some of its most illustrious figures, including Herbie Hancock and Barbra Streisand.
David is the son and nephew to the late Marienthal brothers, George and Oscar, who conceived and operated three ground-breaking nightclubs. The London House was opened in 1946, followed by Mister Kelly’s in 1953 and the Happy Medium Theatre in 1960. These venues launched the careers of such stars-to-be as Streisand, Hancock, Bette Midler, Ramsey Lewis, Lenny Bruce, Lily Tomlin, Mort Sahl and Joan Rivers. More than 30 live albums were recorded at the clubs, by such immortal artists as Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, the Smothers Brothers, Freddie Prinze and Flip Wilson. Interviews, recordings, photos and memorabilia tell the story of the movements for free speech, civil rights, women’s liberation and peace that happened alongside the fabulous entertainment provided by jazz and alternative comedy.
USA 2022 THEODORE BOGOSIAN 83M
BILL JR
Thu 17 Aug 20:45 – Guildhall Priory Park
See Special Events/Silent Cinema on pg81 for full details.
Fri 11 Aug 14:00 – Studio
Sat 12 Aug 18:00 – Pic Palace
See Roger’s Favourites on pg74 for full details.
As this is my last Festival, I am indulging myself by sharing some of my favourite films. I must emphasise that these choices are not the best or greatest films – just some of my favourites. Otherwise, I would of course have selected some from the pantheon: Eisenstein, Lang, Stroheim, Buñuel, Welles, Lynch, etc. I hope to pop in to introduce some of the films. Most are being screened in the Studio.
Ambitious 1940 animated epic from Walt Disney Productions, which includes sequences set to music by – among others – Bach, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Schubert and Beethoven.
USA 1940 SAMUEL ARMSTRONG, JAMES ALGAR, BILL ROBERTS, PAUL SATTERFIELD, HAMILTON LUSKE 120M
“This was my first ‘event’ film. I saw it with my father in South Africa when I was about eight and it left a lasting impression on me. Some of the sequences are dated now, others kitsch, and Beethoven’s cute Pastoral is difficult to watch today. However, I loved the ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, the scary ‘A Night on the Bare Mountain’ (Mussorgsky) and especially the dinosaurs in ‘The Rite of Spring’, which turned me on to modern music. Most of all I loved the abbreviated Stravinsky score. In many ways it was a very courageous thing for Disney to do in 1940.” – RG
For full details see the Animation strand on pg86.
‘Jazz on a Summer’s Day’ is widely regarded as being one of the greatest jazz movies ever made. It was shot over the four days of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Here are truly memorable performances from some of the greatest players and singers of the time, including Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Dinah Washington Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day and Bob Brookmeyer. The film concludes with the peerless gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
USA 1958 BERT STERN 85M
“To me jazz and film are the finest art forms created in the 20th century. Patrons will be aware of the jazz documentaries and live events presented at the Festival each year (don’t miss this year’s, on Ronnie Scott). Many fine documentaries have been made and we have shown most of them, but ‘Jazz on a Summer’s Day’ presents complete performances without interruptions and with no voiceover. Bert Stern lets the music speak for itself. And the film is beautifully shot.” – RG
Sun 20 Aug 18:15 – Studio
Fri 25 Aug 13:15 – Studio
It’s the annual firemen’s ball, and the organisers decide to liven up the usually dull event with a raffle and a beauty contest. With thievery and bribery, the event rapidly descends into farce, and that is before a fire breaks out. The last film that Milos Forman (‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, ‘Amadeus’) made in his native country and language is a sparkling comedy and also one of the best showcases of the director’s uncanny ability to extract flawless performances out of a entirely non-professional cast. Although it was nominated for an Oscar, the Czech authorities were so convinced the film was a satirical allegory about official incompetence that it was banned. It’s now regarded as one of the greatest of all Czech films. (Subtitles)
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1967 MILOS FORMAN 73M
“I have always enjoyed the droll and sometimes black humour in Czech films, and this is one of the best. Apparently Forman and two regular collaborators wrote it after witnessing a real ball in a local town where they were holed up writing a screenplay. They were so transfixed by the comic possibilities that they produced this script, knowing that the natural satire would spell out the required message to their audience. Although the film was considered a deeply comic political satire at the time, with the country under communism, I saw it more as a critique of Czech officialdom, bureaucracy and blundering incompetence. It needs to be better known.” – RG
This ranks among the most scathing satires of Hollywood and the cruel fickleness of movie fandom. Intense, enthralling and unforgettable, it stars Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent-movie star, and William Holden as Joe Gillis, a down-onhis-luck screenwriter whom she enlists to help her make her triumphant return to the screen. Most of the actors were to a large extent playing themselves. Swanson plays the ageing star attempting to make a comeback – which was true. Erich von Stroheim plays a failed film director working as Desmond’s butler who once directed her in a careerending movie – which was also true. There are cameos from a number of well-known figures such as Cecil B. DeMille, who plays the director on whom Swanson sets her sights as the man to help revive her career; DeMille had directed Swanson during the silent era. USA 1950 BILLY WILDER 110M
Thu 17 Aug 13:30 – Studio
Sun 20 Aug 15:45 – Studio
“So difficult to choose a film noir from so many of my favourites, including ‘Double Identity’, ‘The Big Sleep’, etc, but this film also explores different areas not portrayed in this wonderful genre, especially that of the film industry itself, with stars playing parodies of themselves. But the hard-boiled dialogue, voiceover, cynicism, expressionist visual style and Franz Waxman’s score are all potent elements of typical film-noir tropes.” – RG
Booking Ref
Jacques Tati’s ‘Jour de Fête’ is still one of the most truly delightful comedies ever made. It was expanded from his marvellous short, ‘L’École des Facteurs’ (‘School for Postmen’), made two years earlier. The majority of the film is a beautifully observed portrait of a small village as it gets ready for and enjoys its annual Bastille Day fair.
There’s not much plot, just a series of little vignettes – trying to raise a flagpole; an unspoken flirtation between the merrygo-round man and a local girl under the watchful eye of his wife; a jukebox that won’t work; paint that won’t dry – while a crookbacked old goose woman passes the odd comment. Yet it’s filled with beautiful sight gags, with the whole town, its animals and even balloons and bicycles seeming, with their uncanny comic timing, to conspire with the filmmaker.
FRANCE 1949 JACQUES TATI 70M
Wed 16 Aug 16:30 – (B&W Version) Studio Thu 17 Aug 15:45 – (Colour Version) Pic Palace
“I was immediately attracted to the silent humour of Jacques Tati many years ago. I loved the character he created in Monsieur Hulot and consider ‘Playtime’ an absolute masterpiece. Some of his films have unfortunately become a little dated, so I have gone back and selected his debut feature, which is still so fresh and imaginative. I would also have chosen a Woody Allen film, but there are already two examples elsewhere in the programme.” – RG
A classic Powell and Pressburger film in which an RAF pilot (David Niven) must argue for his life in a celestial trial.
National stereotypes are lampooned as the angelic justices squabble over his fate. In a neat reversal of expectations, the heaven sequences are black and white, while Earth is seen in technicolour. Daring cinematography mixes including time-lapse images, and even toys with background ‘time freezes’ 50 years before ‘The Matrix’. Kim Hunter also stars in what is one of the undoubted jewels of British cinema.
UK 1946 MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER 106M
Sun 13 Aug 12:45 – Studio
Fri 25 Aug 10:45 – Studio
“I have always loved the extraordinary imagination of Powell and Pressburger, the predecessors to Ken Russell, who might have been another favourite, but we already have ‘The Music Lovers’ elsewhere in the programme. I had the privilege of inviting Michael Powell to Chichester for a day school on censorship more than 40 years ago. This was much before Martin Scorsese promoted Powell – such a charming man – unlike Ken Russell, with whom I also tried to have a Q&A at one of our Festivals. He was irascible and mischievous but such fun!” – RG
Sat 19 Aug 16:15 – Studio
Sun 20 Aug 13:15 – Pic Palace
Claude Chabrol’s thriller, starring a superb Isabelle Huppert, is based on Charlotte Armstrong’s novel ‘The Chocolate Cobweb’. In Chabrol’s hands it becomes a vehicle for the unsettling, disturbed qualities of Huppert, who has been one of his most important muses over the years. She plays Mika, married to a world-class concert pianist André (Jacques Dutronc). She is the owner of a Swiss chocolate factory obsessive about making the family’s drinking chocolate, and it soon becomes clear that Mika is damaged goods. When her husband acquires a piano student (Anna Mougalis), Mika escalates her secret agenda. Huppert is fascinating throughout in this sinewy and, clever film, evoking shades of Hitchcock and Clouzot.
FRANCE 2000 CLAUDE CHABROL 101M
“Of all the French New Wave directors that emerged in the ‘60s I enjoyed Claude Chabrol the most, although he was the least revolutionary. I think he was less appreciated than his contemporaries. He is definitely the French Hitchcock, and not surprisingly wrote the first book on Hitch (in French) long before the latter became fashionable as an “auteur”. Many of Chabrol’s films are shamefully unavailable to license, but ‘Merci pour le Chocolat’ is one of his best.” – RG
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor. This disturbing 1988 Dutch thriller revolves around the simple premise of a young Dutch couple who go on holiday, only for the woman to mysteriously disappear. Cut to three years later, and the man is still trying desperately to find out what happened to her. He (and we the audience) duly find out over the course of this riveting and disturbing thriller. (Subtitles)
NETHERLANDS 1988 GEORGE SLUIZER 107M
“Practically from the beginning of the film, we know more than the husband does, and yet the more we know, the more we wonder and fear. Everything leads up to a climax that is as horrifying as it is probably inevitable. Is this a thriller or a horror film?
Tue 22 Aug 20:30 – Studio
Wed 23 Aug 13:15 – Studio
Although I am very fond of the latter genre, its films rarely scare me, but when I saw this originally in 1988, it was one of the most frightening, disturbing and creepy movies I had ever seen. There was quite a controversy about it being given only a 12 certificate, but the BBFC defended their decision not to have given it an 18 as there were no “graphic” images. More recently it has been upgraded to a 15 for video.” – RG
Booking Ref
Instead of screening a complete Hitchcock favourite – too many to choose from – I have decided to show extracts highlighting the humour in his films.
Although he is known for being “the master of suspense”, we sometimes forget how much humour most of his work contains, and how he was a practical joker with his actors. I will include clips from ‘The Lady Vanishes’, ‘The Trouble with Harry’ (an actual black comedy), ‘North by Northwest’, ‘Strangers on a Train’ (which we are screening complete in our Patricia Highsmith retrospective), as well as trailers, featuring Hitchcock and his witty comments, for ‘The Birds’, ‘Frenzy’ and ‘Psycho’ – he always spoke of ‘Psycho’ as a black comedy! I will conclude with a complete 30-minute short film from his TV series ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ with his humorous introductions. Do not forget Mark Cousins’ new documentary on Hitchcock screening in this Festival. See pg36 for full details.
120M
This 1969 film, directed by the great Sam Peckinpah, is widely regarded as one of the finest Westerns.
Set in 1913, when motor cars are just appearing and German military men are advising corrupt Mexican Federales, Pike Bishop (William Holden) and his ‘bunch’ of ageing, dissolute outlaws, eke out a living by robbing increasingly well-defended targets. The brilliant cast also includes Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien and Warren Oates.
USA SAM PECKINPAH 145M
“There are many directors that have made great Westerns that I admire, among them Anthony Mann, John Ford, Howard Hawks and Sergio Leone, but Peckinpah’s film was always one of my favourites. I always appreciate the incredible editing and, looking at that opening gun battle with all the cross-cutting, it was pure Eisenstein montage, while the slow-motion deaths followed Kurosawa’s example. I first saw this with my father, who also enjoyed the genre, but he had difficulty in understanding the flashbacks and I realised how film language had moved on. This is being presented in the main auditorium as Peckinpah’s masterpiece really needs to be shown on the largest screen to fully appreciate the full sound and stunning ‘scope’ visuals”. – RG
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The Film Festival has not been confined to Chichester Cinema at New Park - founded by Roger in 1979. Open Air Screenings began in 2009 with ‘Oklahoma’ at the Cathedral green, moving the following year to Priory Park; a Drive-In at the CFT car park‘Casablanca’; many film & live music events at St John’s Chapel and the Guildhall; plus other screenings around the region.
VISIT: chichesterfilmfestival.co.uk/ festival-archive
The amazing John Sweeney on piano brings to life Rene Clair’s delicious satire made in 1927.
A horse sparks off a bizarre and humorous chain of events when he eats a hat in this silent satire of the petit bourgeoisie of the 20s. Those who can appreciate comedy that skewers and at the same time celebrates social mores. that relies on visual humour rather than jokes, and that doesn’t need to resort to bathroom vulgarisms to get a laugh will appreciate this masterpiece. “This was my first introduction to a silent comedy that was different – more sophisticated than the silent classics of Chaplin and Keaton. How will it stand up after over 50 years ago when I first saw it.“ –
Roger Gibson
FRANCE 1928 RENE CLAIR 108M
Making a movie is the art of the impossible. Who are these strange magicians who create movies from a blank page through to a film which will be seen by millions across the world? These mysterious alchemists who bring together an extraordinary band of highly talented craftsmen to defy the odds and aim for the skies? Here is an opportunity to meet three of these multi award-winning filmmakers: producers Douglas Rae and Robert Bernstein of Ecosse Films and celebrated writer, Jeremy Brock. Together they have produced three high profile movies, and in this presentation will show excerpts from each one to discuss the process behind them. Mrs Brown (1997) – The story of the remarkable friendship between the most powerful ruler in the world, Queen Victoria – played by Dame Judi Dench – and her highland servant John Brown – played by Billy Connolly. It was a friendship that would save the monarchy from becoming a republic.
Charlotte Gray (2001) – An adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’ World War Two bestseller, starring Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as the young woman dropped behind enemy lines in France to help the French resistance.
Brideshead Revisited (2007) – Evelyn Waugh’s masterpiece novel about class, Catholic guilt and a young man who flew too close to the sun. Starring Ben Whishaw, Matthew Goode, Hayley Attwell and double Oscar winner, Emma Thompson. Douglas, Robert and Jeremy will discuss their roles as producers and writer respectively; how they brought these films to life from page to screen and, for anyone looking to get into the industry themselves, how to embark on a career in film and TV.
105M
Thu
Tickets £1 5
A first-class jazz quartet featuring musicians of the highest calibre performing live to a screening of a Buster Keaton classic silent movie. Featuring Jo Fooks – saxophone; Neil Casey – piano; Pete Ringrose – bass; Buster Birch – drums.
Since its debut in March 2011 ‘Buster plays Buster’ has been delighting audiences with its magic and charm. One for all the family, young and old, jazz enthusiasts and otherwise have all thoroughly enjoyed this well produced show. The music is specifically arranged for the group, scored out and synced to the movie, but also features plenty of improvised solos from these great jazz musicians, which creates a cohesive work merging the two art forms into a unique experience for the audience.
The film will be preceded by a 30-minute set of swinging jazz standards performed by this first-class quartet.
110M: 30M (GIG) + 10M INTERVAL + 70M (FILM/MUSIC)
This epic Buster Keaton silent movie from 1928 was the last feature length film Keaton ever made (wrote, directed and starred in) with complete artist freedom and marks the end of his golden era.
It features the hapless young Buster trying to win the approval of his long-lost father, the rough and tough steamboat captain Bill Sr, who loses his business and liberty. A violent storm and hurricane are the backdrop for Buster’s chance to redeem himself with daring deeds of rescue and provide the opportunity for some of Keaton’s most famous scenes. Knowing it is his last roll of the dice Keaton throws everything into this movie. He builds an entire town only to destroy it. And there are many deathdefying stunts, including a 2-tonne house facade falling on him, which he only survives by standing in the space of an open window.
USA 1928 CHARLES REISNER/BUSTER KEATON 70M
Booking Ref
Focus on Silent Cinema SAFETY LAST!
Centenary Anniversary
Harold’ Lloyd’s ultimate thrill feature... his memorable ‘clock-dangling’ sequence shows comedy timing at its very best! Wiry, athletic, bespectacled Harold Lloyd may rank third after Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in “silent age” comedy polls, but when it comes to perilous, pulse-racing, gravity-defying stunt work, he’s the “King of the World!”
Sun 13 Aug 13:30
Studio
The aptly titled ‘Safety Last’ is without a doubt Lloyd’s signature film. The indelible still taken of Harold dangling from the minute hand of that Big Ben-looking clock is definitive silent screen imagery. Isn’t it amazing that despite knowing the outcome of this movie, knowing that Lloyd survived all these crazy stunts, your heart still skips a beat every time he scales that 12-story building, floor by floor, encountering every obstacle imaginable... or unimaginable? Those pesky pigeons, the mouse, the flagpole, the painters, the rope, the mad dog and, of course, the clock. What adds to the intrigue is knowing he did his own stunts, that he had lost fingers prior to this filming in another movie mishap, that there were no safety nets underneath, and that there was no trick photography used.
USA 1923 FRED NEWMAYER & SAM TAYLOR 74M
Three of our Surprise Films have recently won the Audience Award for Best Film. So do not miss what will surely be an exciting and unforgettable film experience.
Following the launch of a Surprise Film in the Festival in 2012, we continue this idea where you settle down for a film, not knowing what it will be, and finding out along with your fellow patrons once the opening scene or credits give it away. In past years our surprise films have included ‘Untouchable’ (which became the most popular French film in 2012), ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘Julie & Julia’, ‘Blue Jasmine’ (screening in this Festival) and ‘Pride’. Join in the fun and take the opportunity to gamble by booking in advance for hopefully a very worthwhile surprise!
Thu 24 Aug 18:00 – Auditorium
THU 24 AUG 18:00 – AUDITORIUM
MAVKA: THE FLOWER SONG
A wonderful Ukrainian animation followed by Ukrainian snacks and music.
Tue 22 Aug 13:00 - Auditorium
See Europe Calling on pg20 for full details.
After the national success of his longrunning show ‘Neil Brand Presents Buster Keaton’, the composer/writer/broadcaster/ musician returns with an all-new show about the immortal comedy duo recently portrayed in the hit film ‘Stan and Ollie’. Neil will tell the touching story of the world’s greatest comedy team, who could not have been two more different men! Fully illustrated with stills, clips (both silent and sound) and Neil’s superlative piano accompaniment and culminating in two of the Boys’ best silent short films, ‘Big Business’ and ‘Liberty’, this is a show that promises gales of laughter throughout, as well as getting under the skin of two warm, funny men who continue to make the world laugh when it needs it most. 105M INCLUDING INTERVAL
Tue 22 August 18:15 – Auditorium
Tickets £1 5
AKA ‘THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM’
A film adaptation of the Ludwig Minkus ballet, completely re-orchestrated and with additional music by John Lanchbery.
Sun 27 Aug 12:30 – Auditorium
Tickets £1 5
Filmed in 1973 in an airport hangar in 40 degrees over 25 days, Rudolf Nureyev and Sir Robert Helpmann, along with The Australian Ballet, created ‘Don Quixote’, the film. With cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and Bob Fosse’s ‘Cabaret’), the film has been acclaimed worldwide as the best dance film ever made! To celebrate the 50th anniversary, for the first time cinema audiences around the world will be able to enjoy the remastered, restored and re-orchestrated film. Nureyev, regarded as the greatest male ballet dancer of all time, was at the peak of his career when this film was made. The conducting has authority and a sense of pulse, keeping things alive on stage while not rushing things through. Nureyev is definitely the performer you will remember most, he is so charismatic and expressive and dances so gracefully and powerfully. Robert Helpmann is very dignified in the title role and Lucette Aldous is a very charming and elegantly Kitri, a really nice surprise. For Nureyev and ballet fans this Quixote is a gem.
AUSTRALIA 1973 ROBERT HELPMANN/RUDOLF
NUREYEV 128M
Fri 25 August 21:00 – St John’s Chapel
Tickets £1 5
We started this series of Gothic films in the Chapel with ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with Ben Hall on organ in 2012, thirteen years ago. One of the most eminent horror films ever made and perhaps even the most famous silent horror movie from that time. Lon Chaney starred in over 150 films (most of them silent ones) but he’ll always be remembered best for his personification of Erik, the Phantom. And justified! Even though this role was played by many respectable actors afterwards (like Claude Rains, Herbert Lom and Robert Englund) Lon Chaney is – and remains – the one and only Phantom of the Opera. The film itself is depressing and dark, with terrific photography and settings. Deep down the catacombs of the Parisian Opera building, the phantom reigns in forgotten dungeons and underground lakes. After all these years of dwelling in the opera, he has fallen in love with the unsuccessful singer, Christine.
USA 1925 RUPERT JULIAN, + LON CHANEY & ERNST LAEMMLE (UNCREDITED) 101M
Sun 20 Aug 15:30 – Auditorium
Tickets £13.50
See Hugh Bonneville Retrospective on pg44 for full details.
Mon 21 Aug 14:30 – Auditorium
Tickets £13.50
See Cate Blanchett Retrospective on pg56 for full details.
We present a debate around ‘Sight and Sound’ magazine’s controversial critics’ poll, supported by a screening of ‘Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles’, voted the greatest film of all time.
Three days in the life of a Belgian housewife, mother and part-time sex worker. This avant-garde film by Belgian feminist director Chantal Akerman lasts well over three hours and contains little in the way of what is normally considered dramatic action. If you are looking for some reassuring, escapist entertainment to kill a few hours on a summer’s day, this is not for you. If, however, you would like to see a radical, daring film which foregrounds the life of an “ordinary” woman, with a memorable and hypnotising central performance by Delphine Seyrig as the title character, then you are in for an unforgettable experience. Akerman’s depiction of the slow, inexorable unravelling of Dielman’s life over three days, culminating in a single, shocking event, is riveting. Slow cinema has rarely been this compelling. The 2022 ‘Sight and Sound’ poll saw it overtake ‘Citizen Kane’ and ‘Vertigo’ to reach the number one spot as the Greatest Film of All Time; it now awaits your verdict!
The Sight and Sound Critics’ Poll, a decennial event since 1952 and a reliable barometer of critical acclaim, underwent a seismic change in 2022. Join us for a panel discussion about what actually happened and why.
Have you seen ‘Jeanne Dielman’, Chantal Akerman’s 1975 film about a housewife and part-time sex worker? If not, you are not alone. When in December 2022 it was voted the greatest film of all time in a poll of 1,639 film critics, curators and programmers, many film buffs scratched their heads and admitted never having heard of it. Further inspection of the poll reveals huge increases in the number of votes for films by female directors and directors of colour. So, have film critics finally woken up to the amazing quality of many films not directed by white men?
A panel including Martine Pierquin, Ellen Cheshire, Patrick Hargood and Sandy Guthrie, chaired by Festival Director Roger Gibson, will debate the list with the audience!
105M
Admission free but please book tickets in advance.
Sat 12 Aug 13:15 – Studio Sun 13 Aug 14:00 – Pic Palace
Ambitious 1940 animated epic from Disney studios, which includes sequences set to music by – amongst others – Bach, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Schubert and Beethoven. Also featured is the famous ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ routine, in which Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt himself for the last time) creates magical mayhem when he tries to get his chores done with the aid of a spell or two. It now appears very dated; the colours are garish, Stokowski’s arrangements and conducting idiosyncratic and the dancing animals now seem incongruous. Where ‘Fantasia’ excels is in its ambition, forging a new status for animation in the early decades of the twentieth century. Whilst it received mixed critical reaction and failed to make a profit on its release, it established animation (and Disney animation in particular) as something of an art form. ‘Fantasia’ remains a fascinating achievement for 1940 when colour and cartoon films were still in their infancy. It remains a beguiling testament to the potential of cinema, a breathtaking synaesthetic experience, and a landmark in animation and what was later to become music video.
Mon 14 Aug 11:15 – Studio
When his father is killed in an unspecified conflict, a boy, his mother and siblings leave their village for the city, where they lodge with cousins. Saleem, our hero, finds a map. So begins a charmingly realised animated fable in which the age-old plot device of a quest for hidden treasure is given new life by a director who evidently respects the form, the matter and her young potential audience. If there is an inevitability about the treasure turning out to be more valuable than gold, the journey is treated none the less with flair. This is a comparatively rare opportunity to see an animated film made in the Middle East for the young. (Subtitles)
A beautiful Ukrainian animation based on Slavic mythology, followed by Ukrainian snacks and music hosted by Yuliana Korochentseva (Mrs Universe Ukraine).
Tue 22 Aug 13:00 – Auditorium
See Europe Calling on pg20 for full details.
Be sure to check the Festival Website, and join the Email List, to get all the up-to-date Festival News, Amends and Additions.
The Staff and Trustees of Chichester Cinema at New Park acknowledge and thank the outstanding team of Cinema and Bar Volunteers both during the 2023 Chichester International Film Festival and throughout the cinematic year. A very special thank you also goes out to the Members of the Cinema whose support makes this Cinema and Festival what it is today, and the New Park Centre for providing a wonderful venue for the Festival.
Trustees Debbie Ford (Chair), Roger Harrison (Vice-Chair), AnneMarie Flynn, Patrick Hargood, Lynton Morgan, Michael Schurch. Claire Dakin (Company Secretary).
Festival Artistic Director Roger Gibson
Cinema Director & Programmer
Walter Francisco
Projection James Stokes – Senior Projectionist; Paul Stanley & Bob Bregazzi – Assistant Projectionists.
Operations Manager Richard Warburton
Operations Assistant Mark Hoare & Paul Gainford
FESTIVAL SPONSORS
Box Office Ninian McGuffie, Eleanor Witcomb & Abi Exelby.
Education Officer Patrick Hargood
Accounts Eva Buzquier
PR Brightword
Hospitality and Patron Relations
Carol Godsmark
Film Transport Bob Sainsbury
Programme Design TGDH
Proof Reading John Coldstream & Janie Foote
Gala Catering Brasserie Blanc
This Festival has been enabled by the BFI, FilmHub South East and Greenwood Wealth Solutions.
Our deepest thanks go to this year’s Festival Patrons and Film Partners:
FESTIVAL PATRONS: Edmunds, G; Baker, his Hon M; Coldstream, J & S; Davies, J; Heathfield, R; Lowe, V & S; Sloane, P; Papworth, G & S; Todd, A & H; Vincent-Townend, J & P; Zeber, C & S.
FILM PARTNERS: Axford, R & S; Coleman, J; Deane, M; Froydenlund, M; Gabriel, D; Gale, H; Gernat, V; Hakim, A; Leask, B & P; Marsh, S & L; McDonnell, E & L; Mitchelson, D; Morton, Lady S; Rudge, S; Steel, D & Escott, R; Stoakley, P; Tudor, L; Ward, S; Weeks, J; Wilde, I & D; Wilson, B & Clough, P. and others wishing to remain anonymous.
And a very special thank you to all the Film Distributors who have allowed us to screen the 130+ films this year.
Booking in advance is strongly recommended during the Film Festival, as many screenings are likely to sell out. All tickets can be booked either in person, by telephone, by email or through the post. A booking fee of 50p per ticket will be charged to all phone and internet bookings, unless you are a Friend of the cinema, whereby there is no fee for internet bookings. Payments can be made by cash, major credit/debit cards, or cheque (payable to Chichester Cinema at New Park). For postal bookings, please send the booking form below with payment to: Chichester Cinema at New Park, New Park Road, Chichester, PO19 7XY, along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you would like your tickets sent to you. Box Office Hours during the Film Festival are 10:30 to 20:30, and 12:30pm to 20:30pm outside of the Festival. Please note that during the busy half-hour sales period before each screening, we may not be able to deal with advance bookings, and we thank you in advance for your understanding.
ADMISSION PRICES
£10.50 Auditorium Screenings
£7.00 (Studio) Talks & Screenings
£7.00 Picture Palace
Special Events as individually priced
TICKET RETURNS
*SPECIAL OFFERS
Buy 8 Films – Get 2 more Free This offer above excludes Special Events plus Opening and Closing Galas.
(Cheapest tickets will be counted as the Free tickets) Youth Prices – £4.50 within 24 hours of screening
Please note that we cannot refund or credit your account during the Film Festival, However we can still exchange your ticket for another film during this period.
*Please mention any offer before booking.
Please note that there are no Friends, Senior Citizens, Students, Unwaged or Young Screen Scene discounts available during the Film Festival unless otherwise stated.
CHICHESTERCINEMA.ORG
NAPOLEON - Ridley Scott
DUNE: PART 2 - Denis Villeneuve
THE OLD OAK - Ken Loach
NEXT GOAL WINS - Taika Waititi
WONKA - Paul King
THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER - Joanna Hogg
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON - Martin Scorsese
... and many more
OPEN 15 mins before 1st film –8.30pm every day (11-27 Aug). 12.30pm – 8.30pm outside of Festival dates
Friends Priority booking from Fri 21 Jul 2023. General Public from Mon 24 Jul 2023.
Wheelchair users welcome but as space is limited it is essential to book. The auditorium is fitted with an induction loop. Guide dogs welcome
Ticket Prices & Booking Form Page 93.
Advance booking of tickets (reserved seating) is available by phone, in person, online or by post. For the latter, please send payment and SAE to:
Chichester Cinema at New Park New Park Road Chichester, PO19 7XY Cheques payable to: Chichester Cinema at New Park
Tickets cannot be refunded, but credit can be added to your account if you cancel or exchange your tickets. A minimum of 24 hours’ notice prior to the films performance is required.
Programme Mailing (£10 p.a) Posting of our film programmes.
TRAIN & BUS INFORMATION
Train:
Alight at Chichester Train Station. Walk north along South Street to the Chichester Cross, and then turn into East Street.
Street Bus: 700 Bus to Chichester alighting at the corner of Market Avenue and East Street or 55 Bus along New Park Road.
Buy Chichester Cinema at New Park gift vouchers from the Box Office!
Vice Presidents
Dame Maggie Smith and Kenneth Branagh
Artistic Director Roger Gibson
Cinema Director Walter Francisco
Registered Charity No. 1099780
Films presented by Registered Charity Chichester Cinema at New Park Limited. No. 1099780
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Design: The Graphic Design House • www.tgdh.co.uk • 023 9233 4971
Major credit and debit cards accepted. Subject to 50p per ticket charge (as telephone booking). Become a Member: book online, no booking fee to pay!
The cinema gratefully acknowledges the generous support of:
