Writers: Sara Azcárate ,Cecilia Bartolomé and Concha Romero Director: Cecilia Bartolomé From 1978 ¡Vámonos, Bárbara! is something of a passion project for the ¡Viva! Festival which has hunted down a print and sorted out subtitles for the UK Premiere. The film is shown as a tribute to director Cecilia Bartolomé, one of the first female graduates from Spain’s Official Film School whose career was blighted by Franco’s censorious regime. ¡Vámonos, Bárbara!, therefore, concerns the pros and cons of embracing change and the intimidating impact of freedom. Despite the reservations of her parents and siblings Ana (Amparo Soler Leal) resolves to…
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The disappearance of a child is fertile ground for drama. Yet director Marta Minorowicz (who co-wrote the film with Piotr Borkowski) sets events in Illusion at the point where characters who have experienced such loss have drifted into a state of ennui and are now almost going through the motions of grief. The shock caused by the disappearance of Karolina, teenage daughter of schoolteacher Hanna (Agata Buzek) and doctor Piotr (Marcin Czarnik), has begun to fade. There is no indication how much time has passed since the disappearance, but this is typical for a film in which hard facts are…
Writer and Director: Adrian Goiginger The Fox released in time for the watchAUT Austrian Film Festival, is a heart-breakingly beautiful film about a young man in the Second World War. A soldier in the Austrian army, Franz Streitberger comes across a wounded fox cub in the forest, yelping helplessly beside the body of its dead mother. Franz smuggles the cub back into camp to mend its damaged paw. As the creature immediately adopts him, purring like a kitten, Franz can’t bear to part with it. For the next few months the fox becomes the closest the lonely Franz comes to…
Writer and Director: Phil Blattenberger As an adventure film Condor’s Nest is a sort of comic romp. It begins stylishly, however. It’s 1944 in eastern France. First we’re in a trench with German soldiers, then we’re in the cockpit of a B-27 bomber when it’s shot down. All but two of the airmen survive. Most tumble out of the plane without a scratch, but one of them, Will Spalding, played with tense ferocity by Jacob Keohane, is traumatised. He alone is in hiding when he witnesses the sadistic cruelty of a German SS officer who interrogates the other survivors, shooting…
Writer: Louisa May Alcott Adaptor: Jenny Wicks and Hannah Churchill Director: Jenny Wicks While the audience is still talking, the house lights suddenly lower, and harried young woman blusters in with billowing sleeves and flyaway hair. She forcefully paces the stage, which is dressed simply, but effectively, with four large trunks and a structural support that is part beam, part books. She scrambles at papers on the floor, and lets out a cry of exasperation. So the scene is set, and the iconic tomboy Jo March is embodied. Adapted by Jenny Wicks and Hannah Churchill, this one-woman play (plus one…
Writers: Caroline Deruas-Garrel, Stéphane Freiss and Audrey Gordon Director: Stéphane Freiss One might assume religious faith has secular as well as spiritual benefits, offering a sense of community from socialising with people who share your beliefs. Esther Zelnik (Lou de Laâge), the central character of Where Life Begins finds her community is becoming so stifling as to force her to reconsider her faith. But, as she defines herself by her faith, Esther must challenge her entire purpose of life. Esther is part of an ultra-orthodox Jewish family from Aix-les-Bains in France who make an annual pilgrimage to a farm in…
Writers: Kim Han-min and Yun Hong-gi Director: Kim Han-min Hansan: Rising Dragon is prequel to the spectacular sea-conflict tale The Admiral: Roaring Currents. As the latter opened with an ailing Admiral Yi Sun-sin being restored from ignominy to try and rectify a desperate situation one might imagine the prequel would concern the events leading to his fall from grace. This is not the case, Hansan: Rising Dragon starts even earlier focusing on the battle which established Yi Sun-sin’s reputation in the first place. The challenge for sequels/ prequels is to avoid duplicating the first movie while also resisting the temptation…
Writers: Jeon Chul-hong and Kim Han-min Director: Kim Han-min The Admiral: Roaring Currents tells an epic story and does not disappoint in portraying convincingly the sheer scale of events. In 1597 Japan is bent on expanding their empire. A series of defeats has left the Korean armed forces close to collapse. In desperation disgraced naval commander Yi Sun-sin (Choi Min-sik) is reinstated and ordered to guard the strategic port of Joseon against invaders. The odds are against Yi Sun-sin who, it is established early in the film, is not in good health. The invading fleet comprises over 300 vessels while…