The BAFTA qualifying Cambridge Film Festival (CFF) prepares to kick off its milestone 40th edition next week with a bumper programme of UK premieres.
The UK’s third longest running film festival and one of Europe’s largest international film festivals, CFF40 will take place over eight days as an in-person event at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse from Thursday November 18th with special events also taking place in the Howard Theatre, Downing College and Jesus College, University of Cambridge.
In addition, CFF will host its first ever solo UK-wide digital programme from November 21st to December 5th, giving audiences nationwide the opportunity to experience Cambridge Film Festival and to watch many of the films they cannot see elsewhere or have not yet been released.
Combined, the in-venue and online programmes will present over 100 titles from 44 countries, with more than half of the films having their UK premieres at Cambridge. This year for the first time, the CFF team are proud to highlight that 50% of the programme is female directed.
Commenting ahead of the launch, Isabelle McNeill, Cambridge Film Trust's Chair said: “I’m so excited to be returning to an in-person Festival experience and can’t wait to share incredible films with audiences at the cinema and online.”
Matthew Webb, Cambridge Film Trust's Executive Director said: “The 40th anniversary programme is packed with timely and topical films and voices. Issues such as climate change and social justice provide a core thread through the programme as well as joy, love and empathy to bring us together.”
The Festival is building its reputation for focusing on accessibility and affordability by offering tickets for all morning showings for £3.
Film highlights include the striking Cannes Palme D'Or winner, TITANE; Céline Sciamma’s multi-award winning, PETITE MAMAN; the main prize winner at Tallinn Black Nights Festival, FEAR; Jessica Chastain is hotly tipped in the Oscar’s race for her performance in THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Eight features have been nominated for the Oscars since being programmed for CFF40.
The Festival is made possible by BFI’s Film Audience Network, with the support of The National Lottery.
As it enters its fifth decade, Cambridge is living up to its reputation for presenting an expansive film programme with new features, insightful documentaries, discovery titles and a diverse array of short films. As ever, the hugely popular Film Festival presents a diverse programme that organisers promise has something suitable for all tastes from thrillers and horror, to romance and comedy.
As the Festival returns after a year away, the line-up includes a brand new Gala Screenings strand, presenting some of the most high-profile films in the programme; International Festival Highlights, showcasing exceptional award-winning cinema from the world's festival circuit; the ever-popular Camera Catalonia strand; a Japan Season which offers a special window into contemporary Japanese cinema; a selection of films embracing the emotional complexities of life; a series of screenings that explore the world of eco-farming, migration, racism, politics, and unity; and a curated programme of short films from around the world, amongst many others.
OPENING & CLOSING FILMS:
The University City of Cambridge is very proud of its Film Festival and Opening Night is always a big deal and this year is no exception with the screening of the feature film, ALI & AVA. Adeel Akhtar (FOUR LIONS, BIG SICK, EBOLA HOLES, ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN) delivers another stand-out performance as the complex, multi-layered, musical, vibrant and kind Ali. As Ali comes to terms with the breakdown of his marriage, he encounters Ava played by Claire Rushbrook (AMMONITE, ENOLA HOLMES), another lost soul trying to emerge from the shadow left by her former, now deceased, husband. Clio Bernard's latest film explores themes of happiness & belonging.
The Festival’s closing night film delivers another big hitter with the feature film THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN. An all-star cast led by Claire Foy and Benedict Cumberbatch, narrated by Olivia Colman, and featuring a trove of household names such as Taika Waititi, Richard Ayoade, Aimee Lou Wood, and Nick Cave. Adeel Akhtar also makes his second appearance in the Festival (also in ALI & AVA). Director Will Sharpe, a Cambridge Footlights alumnus, highlights both Louis Wain's eccentricities as well as his role in popularising cats through his prolific painting efforts.
GALA SCREENINGS:
This strand includes remarkable stories of mystical journeys, queer sexual liberation, the fight for recognition at work and the fall from stardom. The return to the big screen would not be complete without experiencing performances from Tilda Swinton, Franz Rogowski, Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Benedict Cumberbatch, Honor Swinton Byrne and Richard Ayoade.
Six top films headline this element of the Festival, led by director Michael Showalter’s remarkable THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE which is the Gala Screenings Opening Film, a glorious biopic charting the rise and ultimate fall of a TV evangelist. Also showing: BLUE BAYOU starring Alicia Vikander, Cannes prize-winning GREAT FREEDOM, MEMORIA which stars Cambridge graduate Tilda Swinton who also headlines THE SOUVENIR PART TWO. The thrilling French film TITANE completes the line-up.
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:
A showcase of exceptional award-winning cinema with several UK premieres from the world’s festival circuit and film markets, taking us from Denmark to Turkey, from Beirut to France and beyond. Discover noteworthy debuts from filmmakers such as Laura Samani and Laura Wandel and venture into the latest films from acclaimed directors including Nisan Dağ, Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Céline Sciamma. Highlights include:
LUZZU foregrounds the stunning, bucolic Maltese vistas in Alex Camilleri's daring and authentic portrayal of a dying way of life. Sundance Film Festival acting award-winner Jesmark Scicluna, a professional fisherman by day, is cast as a character of the same name, who is hurled into the dark underworld of illicit swordfish trading and illegal markets to keep his young family afloat.
FEAR gets its UK Premiere. Directed by Ivaylo Hristov, this is an exceptional combination of dark comedy and theatre. Tallinn Black Nights grand prize winner, set in a rural village in Bulgaria, follows a lone black refugee Bamba (Michael Fleming) greeted at the edge of a forest by Svetla (Svetlana Yancheva) and her shotgun. An exceptional, heart-warming, deeply affecting and funny story ensues as one begins to consider life beyond the small confines and attitudes of the village and what the village represents.
Also enjoying its UK Premiere is WHEN I'M DONE DYING in which director Nisan Dağ takes us into the buzzing rap scene in Istanbul and a glorious combination of music, composed by Da Poet, and colour provided by the neon lights so characteristic of the global music scene and Istanbul inner-city streets. Love and heartbreak follow.
From France comes PETITE MAMAN in which a poetic and sweeping opening sequence sets the scene as Nelly (Joséphine Sanzal) comes to terms with loss and finds solace in friendship.
FLEE tells the story of Amin, a successful academic and with a loving partner, recalls fleeing Afghanistan to start his new life in Denmark. A documentary genre-defying approach sees Amin and long-time friend in conversation as animated characters, bringing not only themselves, their homes, and even the recording equipment into the frame.
ROARING 20'S gets its first UK showing. Elisabeth Vogler's first feature is a seamlessly choreographed single take along the glorious Parisian streets and a beautiful reflection on human connection. An ensemble cast featuring Noémie Schmidt, Alice de Lencquesaing, and a host of new faces, are linked in a continuous passage and dialogue through the city.
MEMORY BOX is a timely reflection on the zeitgeist of 1980s Beirut through the lens of a mysterious trove of photos, notebooks, and recordings that arrive one Christmas Eve .
In SMALL BODY, Laura Samani takes us on an epic journey over mountains and seas in this beautiful period drama set in Italy in 1900, shot in Friuli Venezia-Giulia and featuring dialect from the region. It follows the quiet and determined Agata (Celeste Cescutti) as she makes her way through many hazards and dangers whilst travelling to a remote region to perform a miracle for her stillborn child.
PLAYGROUND is an award-winning debut by Laura Wandel in which Abel (Günter Duret) and Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) are starting a new school but it's not easy. A startling portrayal of the difficulties in fitting in and the lengths humans will go to become part of the group.
CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTION:
Highlights in this strand include KARNAWAL, directed by Juan Pablo Felix, is part thriller/road movie/family drama and coming-of-age story; lauded director Niki Karimi brings a fresh perspective to Iranian cinema in ATABAI, a film about generations and communities, and BEYTO is a poignant story set in Switzerland about a seemingly impossible love.
Further offerings include the UK Premiere of THE LAUREATE about esteemed war poet Robert Graves played by Tom Hughes; the International Premiere of THE SEED, an emotional tour de force from Germany directed by Mia Meyer; and UK Premiere of THE MASSACRE OF ANRÖCHTE, a blend of meticulously framed shots, a razor-sharp script and German techno beats; and European Premiere EVERYTHING IN THE END, a poetic take on the quiet apocalypse story.
CAMERA CATALONIA:
CFF is delighted to bring back this strand to the big screen. Our journey through the best of recent Catalan cinema will take us as far as the Dominican Republic, sailing through the Mediterranean waters with stories full of pathos and drama, but without forgetting the necessary snippets of comedy and humour that can be found in everyday life. Highlights include:
THE BELLY OF THE SEA which gets its UK Premiere. Camera Catalonia's favourite, Agustí Villaronga, returns to the Festival with a hard-hitting court drama that pits a surviving officer and a sailor from the French ship Medusa, which sank off the coast of present-day Mauritania, in a moral and historical confrontation. Villaronga's emotive and distinctive style places the events from 1816 into a modern narrative that challenges whether the same would and is happening today.
THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS in which Cesc Gay (Truman, Ficció) writes and directs a highly entertaining romp, which delves into love, sex and relationships, through an excruciatingly funny evening with two very different couples.
Fresh from opening the DocsBarcelona Festival, BALANDRAU, FROZEN HELL sensitively portrays the real tragedy during a storm in the Catalan Pyrenees. It's a story of survival, sorrow and guilt. The beauty of the mountains, captured in gorgeous widescreen photography, contrasts with the merciless rage of natural disasters like this one.
Following hot on the heels of the world Premiere in Locarno, Neus Ballús (LA PLAGA, STAFF ONLY) continues to explore her cinematic combination of reality and fiction in a distinctively personal way in THE ODD-JOB MEN.
15 HOURS, a ravaging story about domestic abuse, also receives its UK premiere at CFF. Director Judith Colell will be part of a Q&A session following the film. Set in the Dominican Republic, this story of domestic abuse highlights the difficulty in raising women's voices when confronting domestic abuse in the context of traditional family values and the complexity of navigating government support agencies. Aura's painful journey and escape from her abuser is also a path to self-discovery and freedom.
JAPAN 2021:
In partnership with the BFI, CFF is proud to present a window onto contemporary Japanese cinema in the BFI Japan 2021 Season strand, part of the BFI’s major UK-wide celebration of Japanese film this autumn, featuring a selection of exciting new films by Japanese directors. Delve into tales of blossoming new relationships, the societal pressure of excessive working and the latest Haruki Murkami adaptation. Highlights include:
POUPELLE OF CHIMNEY TOWN is based on Akihiro Nishino's bestselling book of the same name and is a beautiful and touching story of a young boy Lubicchi (played by child actor Mana Ashida) who refuses to believe that the world in enshrined in smoke and that there are instead worlds and stars beyond. Immediately post COP26 in Glasgow this year, there is a strong and timely ecological message that we can always live more in harmony with the environment and with each other. CFF40 will screen the original Japanese language version with English subtitles as well as the just completed English version.
DRIVE MY CAR is based on Murakami's short story, ‘Men without Women’, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Cannes Film Festival award-winning screenplay examines relationships, responsibility, and guilt.
WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY is another sleek and stylish film by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi in which the finale presents a school reunion and chance encounter between two people who vaguely remember one another. As their encounter develops, they enact the roles of people they thought they were. Winner of the 2021 Silver Bear Grand Jury prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.
CLOSE-KNIT is Naoko Ogigami's multi-award-winning feature, which centres around 11-year-old Tomo who, after being neglected by her mother, is taken in by her uncle Makio and his transgender girlfriend. Together they create a loving home for the young girl.
JUST THE TWO OF US gets its UK Premiere. A talented artist, Shunsaka (Masatoshi Nagase) is left immobile by a car accident and is cared for by his father Gohei Takagi (Motomi Makiguchi). Frustrated with his life, he resorts to insults and appalling behaviour towards anyone who cares for him. Hanae Hirahara (Shiori Doi), who has been completely blind for the last five years, becomes Shunsaku's carer and delivers a dose of reality that challenges him to look at his situation differently.
In SALARYMAN, a harrowing and insightful documentary, Costa Rican artist Allegra Pacheco, explores the reality and myth of the 'salaryman' in Japan. These people are typically white-collar workers expected to commit excessive hours to work, at the compromise of home and social lives.
CREATIVITY ON FILM:
From the archiving of cinema to improvisation lockdown theatre, celebrate the talent and innovation behind all art forms. In this strand, audiences can encounter an absorbing, meditative performance within the Serpentine Gallery in 512 Hours, refresh their memory of the ballet COPPELIA retold through modern animation, experience a rare screening of a new 35mm print recalling stories from the golden age of cinema in THE AFTERLIGHT, understand the importance of film preservation from the likes of Ken Loach and Wim Wenders in FILM, THE LIVING RECORD OF OUR MEMORY.
NATURE AND COMMUNITY:
The urgency of global warming and climate change is at the forefront of this programme of fiction films and documentaries. Highlights include:
COW in which Andrea Arnold returns to CFF with a thought-provoking non-sentimental look at these majestic animals and the roles that they play in our lives, whether on the dinner table or in the dairy yard. The vibrant GROWTH WITH HOPE, which gets its European Premiere at CFF, embraces the beauty of eco-farming. SON OF MONARCHS is a rare movie that centres science within a very personal, moving narrative. Multiple awards include the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize for scientifically themed work at the Sundance Film Festival. FORCED CHANGE is a feature documentary that uses the path of destruction left behind by Hurricane Katrina as a vehicle to bring to life unique human stories that shed light on what it means to be home.
LIBERTY:
CFF presents a collection of stories on migration, racism, politics and unity that have called attention to injustices and the work that is still required to create a fair and just society. The strand includes documentaries reflecting on government policies, surviving the Holocaust and collective protest, to fiction features about searching for courage after feeling excluded from society. Films include:
The first UK screening for FERGUSON RISES. In 2014, Darren Wilson, a white police officer, fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed. This led to protests across the state and caused a ripple effect throughout the USA and beyond. Another film getting its UK Premiere at Cambridge 2021 is Jordy Sank's (ATLANTA, DURBAN) multiple award-winning I AM HERE, which centres on the occasion of Ella Blumenthal's 98th birthday.
Sonita Gale's documentary HOSTILE takes a deep dive into Britain's complicated relationship with immigration. NICO is a further UK Premiere. In summertime in Germany, Nico enjoys the carefree balance of her work as a nurse and hanging out with friends. Heading home one evening, she is racially attacked and hospitalised. Feeling helpless from the incident, Nico decides to take up martial arts to regain her confidence.
Special events:
PRODUCING DURING THE PANDEMIC:
A two-day event at the Howard Theatre in Downing College will feature a live Q&A with Ai Weiwei and Wang Fen to discuss their prolific filmmaking efforts during the pandemic and digital-first release strategy. This will be accompanied by screenings of CORONATION which chronicles an unprecedented health crisis that spilled into the rest of the world in 2020 and COCKROACH, a poignant and dramatic visual record of the pro-democracy protests on the streets of Hong Kong. There will also be a screening of ROHINGYA, which spotlights the plight of refugees.
DEVELOPING YOUR VOICE:
Keen to support new filmmakers, DEVELOPING YOUR VOICE is a three-part session held by Jesus College which features a screening of Short films by first-time filmmakers introduced by Sonita Alleyne OBE, Master of Jesus College. Screenwriter James McCarthy will host an industry panel of screenwriters, film directors and producers to help new filmmakers work towards making their first feature and Hitomi Shinozaki, Programme Advisor for the CFF40 Japan Season, will introduce a screening of Keita Fujimoto’s engaging drama JUST THE TWO OF US.
SHORTFUSION:
Another milestone for CFF, this year marks 20 years since ShortFusion was added as a major element of the programme with the aim to showcase a collection of outstanding contemporary short films from across the globe. Threading together 44 fiction, documentary and animation stories across seven shorts strands, the festival presents Shorts to: Cheer, Debate, Contemplate, Embrace, Expand, Journey and Unnerve. These works reflect on true stories of communities coming together, lost love and reconciliation, and finding closure after devastating incidents.
This series of carefully curated shorts feature works from seasoned directors who have mastered their craft, such as Andrew Köttting's DISEASED AND DISORDERLY, to fresh newcomers presenting their debut films to the public, including Cassiah Joski-Jethi's CATCH A BUTCHER. Audiences can also discover the latest works by local Cambridge filmmakers, including TO ERR directed by Nancy Cruz, BANSHEE directed by Matt Ditko and GUIDE ME HOME directed by CFF regular Stefan Georgiou.
Notable performances come from Philip Glenister, Gemma Arterton, Nathaniel Parker, Joel Beckett, Richard Crehan and Melanie Nicholls-King.
