1  ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: A non-fiction film festival screening four films based around the theme of unseen and hidden stories. The festival has been organised by a few students on the Film Studies MA course. With their shared interest in non-fiction and documentary film genre as well as world cinema the festival organization was born. The four films chosen; ' This is Not a Film' (dir. Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2012), 'Life in Day' (dir.Kevin MacDonald & produced by Ridley Scott, 2012), 'Waste Land' (dir. Lucy Walker, 2012) and 'The First Movie' (dir. Mark Cousins) are films that we believe would not normally have had the exposure they deserve, so please do come and see these fantastic films.

Nehir Tosun

The First Movie – dir. Mark Cousins, 2009 (E)

Day: Wednesday June 6th 2012 Time: 16.00 Venue: Marlowe Lecture Theatre 2

Students Only

Along with Tilda Swinton, Mark Cousins created the Nairn Film festival; an ongoing experiment in reinventing cinema as a grassroots audience experience. And there is something of this spirit in his, The First Movie, a title which may have something of a playful twist on Dennis Hopper’s 1971 cult classic, The Last Movie.

His film which records his visit to Goptapa in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, serves as part documentary, part essay and part memoir. The basis being that Cousins shows four films, Alone In The World, The Boot, The Singing Ringing Tree and ET to children who have never seen a movie before. He then hands out video cameras and asks them to make their own films. The children are joyful, wild, eccentric, and the results are powerful; from testimonies of mothers and grandmothers of the chemical war raged by Saddam Hussein, to one child’s fascinating fable of a boy without friends or toys, who confides his hopes and dreams to the mud. All the while the narrative is interwoven with Cousins’ own experiences of childhood in war torn Northern Ireland.

Despite living in a landscape of conflict, the minds of the children are like an Aladdin’s Cave. An open-hearted and engaging film that shows that the life of the imagination is what is real – more real than war. By Katerina Flint-Nicol

2  Shot exclusively on the grounds of Panahi’s Tehran apartment the film explores the themes of isolation, imprisonment and restriction, using the confines of the apartment complex as a literal and metaphorical prison as the acclaimed director was under house arrest by the Iranian government during this time for unclear reasons. The two directors came together to explore what happens when a director who cannot make films is locked up.

Day: Wednesday June 6th 2012 Time: 19.30 Venue: The Gulbenkian  

Day: Thursday June 7th 2012 Time: 17.00 Venue: Marlowe Lecture Theatre 2

Students Only  

This is Not a Film – Dir: Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2012 (15)

The film was almost literally a ‘sight unseen’, famously having to be smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick, hidden inside a birthday cake. During the film, he details part of the scenario of a film he intends to make to Mirtahmasb, and the viewer gets a glimpse into the frustration of an artist who is stunted by his own government. As the title indicates, the film explores what film itself is, and the power that documentary can have. But it really questions why Panahi needs to make films at all – is it his only recourse, or his need to rebel against an oppressive regime? Or is it his nature as an artist? This is Not a Film is an important document of a man trapped, and struggling to be free.

By Nick Dunmore

Waste Land – dir. Laura Walker, 2010 (PG)

Laura Walker’s Waste Land is a moving tale following Vic Muniz’s journey to the largest rubbish dump in the world, Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Whilst showing you the artist at work, the film demonstrates the lives of the “catadores” – the recycling pickers and their emotional ups and downs as they begin to recognise the possibility of another way of living. The documentary is a sensitive examination of the effects of consumerism; through beautiful sweeping camera shots we survey the magnitude of the waste within the dump. The film explores how Gramacho is a metaphor for life as all items, regardless of their value, will end up there.

The film adds a dimension to Muniz’s photographs as it explores the lives of the “catadores” behind the photos taking us to their homes and families, an aspect which is perhaps unique to the medium. We see how they try to make the best of a difficult environment and lifestyle and are constantly reminded that the only alternatives are drugs and prostitution.

 This film has to be seen.

By Rebecca Medlock

 3  

“If Life in a Day is any measure, we are a quirky, likable, unpredictable and yet predictable bunch.” - The Los Angeles Times' Betsy Sharkey

Day: Thursday June 7th 2012 Time: 19.30 Venue: The Gulbenkian  

Director Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) and producer Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator) team up to offer this candid snapshot of a single day on planet Earth. Compiled from over 80,000 YouTube submissions by contributors in 192 countries, Life in a Day presents a microcosmic view of our daily experiences as a global society. From the mundane to the profound, everything has its place as we spend 90 minutes gaining greater insight into the lives of people who may be more like us than we ever suspected, despite the fact that we're separated by incredible distances.

Tickets

19.30 showings at The Gulbenkian :

Full £7/ Concessions £6 /GulbCard £5 / Students £4 / GulbCard Students £3.50

16.30 & 17.00 showings at Marlowe Lecture Theatre 2

Student only event: FREE

For further information please email us at : 2or3sightsunseen@gmail.com

Or check out our facebook page

www.facebook.com/2or3sightsunseen  

Many Thanks Too…

And

Dr. Tamar Jeffers McDonald

for making this all possible.

Life in a Day – Dir: Kevin MacDonald 2011 (15)

By Elina Simanovits

*Each film will be introduced by one of our MA students with a 5 minute talk about the films intentions as well as their makers.