18/11/2021 - 25/11/2021
The Oscars are coming to the Cambridge Film Festival, 18th-25th November.
Matthew Webb 22/11/21
In an earlier post, I introduced four of the eight films that have been nominated for the Academy Awards since being programmed for the 40th Cambridge Film Festival. Drive My Car, Luzzu, Fear, and Playground complete this set. Booking via camfilmfest.com
Drive My Car, Japan
© Modern Films
Based on Murakami's short story, ‘Men without Women’, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Cannes Film Festival award-winning screenplay examines relationships, responsibility, and guilt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oH0riVY-M
Luzzu, Malta
The stunning, bucolic Maltese vistas feature is Alex Camilleri's daring and authentic portrayal of a dying way of life in Luzzu. 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImsbY9MdWFc
Fear, Bulgaria
Fear gets its UK Premiere in the Festival. 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osh2HC0gIy4
Playground, Belgium
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. Abel does not make friends and is regularly set upon by the other boys in his year. Whilst Nora makes more progress, she is soon cast in the same light as her brother. A startling portrayal of the difficulties in fitting in and the lengths humans will go to, to become part of the group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALmrNgx0tXc
Notes: Keep up to date with the latest Cambridge Film Festival news on the University Arms Journal. Further information is available via camfilmfest.com and social media @camfilmfest (Twitter & Instagram) /cambridgefilmfestival (Facebook).
Matthew Webb is the Executive Director for the Cambridge Film Trust, which runs the annual Cambridge Film Festival and year-round films events.