22 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival

Variationson a theme

Young Americans

l Prince AvalancheEMILE Hirsche and Paul Ruddteam up to re-paint the lineson the roads after the Texasforest fires in 1988. Overallclad with questionable facialhair, the odd duo form astrange kind of attachment inthis burnt down world voidof other people as they trackback and forth, splodging theroads with strips of yellow.A post-apocalyptic roadmovie, charred and vacant,it is searching, moving butabove all funny. A quirky turnfor Rudd and floppy fringedHirsch, you’ll be reaching foryour own set of dungarees bythe end.Today, 10.45pm, Monday, Sept23, 3.45pm

l Only the YoungA BLUR of documentary filmedlike fiction, Only the Youngis directors Jason Tippet andElizabeth Mims’ movie debut.Three teens in the throwsof graduation – Christianskaters Garrison and Kevin,plus Garrison’s sometimegirlfriend Skye – skate abouttown, hunting throughabandoned houses in theSouthern Californian desert,pottering about empty poolsand soaking up the sunshineon a neglected mini-goldcourse, talking all the whileto a soundtrack of old schoolR&B. Adventurous, boundlessand honest, it tears apart thethought that adulthood mightbe a place you could call safe.Saturday, Sept 21, 3.30pm,Sunday, Sept 22, 8.30pm

l A TeacherWHAT was a thrill-laden flingbetween a teacher, DianaWatts, and her student, EricTull, descends into a spiral ofobsession and obscure desires– on Diana’s part at least. Ericinstead wanders happily fromrelationship to relationshipunaware of the volatile feelingsof his tutor. Directed by27-year-old Hannah Fiddell,this is dark, concerning andbrilliantly nuanced, exploringthe pleasure of the illicit, andthe damning consequences of

crossing the line.UK premiere, Friday, Sept 20,6.30pm

l Ain’t Them Bodies SaintsSTARRING the wonderfullybrittle Casey Affleck as anoutlaw racing across the Texancountryside to find his wife,the stunning Rooney Mara,Ain’t Them Bodies Saintsstarts with the end: a Bonnieand Clyde shoot out withthe police. Bubbling withlonging, anguish and need,it repeatedly nods to TerenceMalick’s painfully touchingBadlands and spools outtensely as fate creeps up onthe protagonists. It’ll leave youfraught and hollow – in a goodway.Monday, Sept 23,3.30pm/8.45pm, Cineworld,Wednesday, Sept 25, 10.45pm

ContemporaryGerman Cinema

l Dust on our HeartsKATHI is a struggling 30-year-old wannabe actress witha 4-year-old son (whomshe momentarily loses), anoverbearing mother who usesher career as a life-coach todiagnose (i.e. nosy her wayinto) Kathi’s problems, thenher long lost father turns upcausing all sorts of trouble.

Shot through with love, Duston our Hearts will makeyou laugh, take a sidewaysglance at your own family andconsider where you stand inthe world.UK premiere, Monday, Sept23, 6.15pm, Tuesday, Sept 24,1.15pm. Actress StephanieStremler will make anappearance.

l Free FallPoliceman Marc has a babyon the way and a mortgageto pay. Then he goes and fallsin love with new colleagueKay on a training meeting.Emotionally charged anddangerously torn, Marc losescontrol, free-wheeling throughhis life, hurtling by people anddamaging them on his waydown. Is there any way back?Gripping, unsettling, withpulses of hope too, Free Fallwill make you question everysense of duty you possess.UK premiere, Tuesday, Sept24, 7pm, Wednesday, Sept 25,1.30pm, Cineworld. DirectorStephan Lacant will make anappearance.

l Ludwig IILUDWIG II, King of Bavaria,is the topic of this biopicon a man who was muchmore interested in spendinghis country’s budget on the

production of Wagner’s operasthan on weapons (and whynot?). Sabin Tambrea – tippedfor great things – stars asLudwig, informed by thelatest historical research onthe rather eccentric, but wellloved, character. It is also thelast film from director PeterSehr who died this spring –don’t miss it.UK premiere, Sunday, Sept 22,3.15pm, Wednesday, Sept 25,3pm, Cineworld

Eastern View

lOf Snails and MenBASED on a true story – anda very bizarre one at that –Of Snails and Men takes apeek into the microcosm ofa Romanian factory whoseworkers, when threatenedwith privatisation, decideto donate their sperm toraise the necessary cashto save jobs. Set againstthe backdrop of 1992when Michael Jackson’sDangerous tour visitedRomania, it’s slightlymental, filled with crazyideas and a whole lot ofheart. Then the factory’sCEO goes and makes adeal with a French snailcompany… as you do.Sunday, Sept 29,6.30pm

� Cold (Turkey, 2013)In actor-turned-director Ugur Yucel’s Cold,Kars’ sparse, chilly climes serve as a severebut also visually arresting backdrop to anabsorbing tale of lust, guilt, and revenge. Inthe wake of inebriated wedding celebrations,morally conservative rail worker Balabey andhis bloodyminded younger brother Enver fall inwith a trio of Russian sisters who are workingas prostitutes in Kars, but who are set onrepatriation to their motherland at the earliestopportunity. With his wife pregnant at homeand his conscience weighing heavy, Balabeynevertheless becomes infatuated withthe youngest sister, while fiery Enver only stirsup further trouble. Played out against stunningshots of the icy Caucasian tundra, Balabey’sobsession leads inevitably towards a tragic andviolent conclusion.UK premiere. Saturday, Sept 28, 4pm.

� Coming Forth By Day (Egypt, UnitedArab Emirates, 2012)Cairo. A small, dusty apartment, barelytouched by sunlight, and home to threesilent, sombre figures. Soad’s life is entirelydominated by caring for her sickly father,left helpless by a stroke. Her mother is anurse, whose night-shifts leave her little ableto share the burden. Unfolding at a serene,measured pace reflective of the oppressivequietude, the film follows Soad’s dailyroutine, depicting the apartment as a placeisolated from the outside world. Her eventualforay out of her crypt-like home is a breathof air, and her spontaneous exploration ofCairo’s nightlife a string of precious, stolenmoments. Meditating on notions of mortality,duty, and gender-rolesin today’s Middle-East, Lotfy’s filmmakingvoice — heavily inflected with Europeanart-house tradition — is a very promisingaddition to Arab cinema.Thursday, Sept 26, 3.45pm.

� The Crash Reel (USA, 2013)Aged 18, Kevin Pearce was a starlet of theprofessional snowboarding circuit. Havingracked up numerous championships and high-profile sponsorships thanks to his aerial wizardry,he was considered a shoo-in for the 2010 USWinter Olympics team—his only competition forpodium places coming in the shape of long-termrival Shaun White. But just weeks before theOlympics, the unthinkable happened: Pearcesuffered a horrific accident in training, leavinghim with serious damage to his brain and oneof his eyes. Despite a lengthy rehabilitationprocess, and the risk that any further traumacould have fatal consequences, Pearce insistedhe would return to the sport, against the wishesof his loved ones. Immersing herself within bothsnowboarding culture, and Pearce’s close-knitfamily group, this is an incisive insight by LucyWalker into the world of extreme sports, wheredanger is the criterion of value.Friday, Sept 20, 8.45pm, Saturday, Sept 21,5.30pm (Sawston Cinema), Sunday, Sept 22,1pm.

� Dead Cat (UK, 2013)Michael and Kristen were childhoodsweethearts, but haven’t spoken in 10 years.Thrown back together as they both begintheir thirties, is there still anything betweenthem? With only a gang of hilariouslydysfunctional friends as allies, the formerlovers attempt to work out whether theirchance reunion constitutes love or justnostalgia. Directed by Stefan Georgiou andstarring Sebastian Armesto (both hotly tippedin Screen International’s Star of Tomorrow2011), Dead Cat is a winsome, entertainingtake on contemporary relationships, and abreezy shot in the arm for British comedy.With a soundtrack featuring promising UKartists such as Dry The River, Sound ofGuns and Chad Valley, and a cast includingTom Mison (One Day, Salmon Fishing in theYemen) and Johnny Palmeiro (Bonded ByBlood, The Kid), the film brings togethersome of the finest emerging British talent.Saturday, Sept 21, 8pm (Sawston Cinema),Wednesday, Sept 25, 11pm, Friday, Sept 27,1.15pm.

Festival Choice

Ever the eclectic programmers, CambridgeFilm Festival has lined up a collection of quirky,educational and suitably stunning themed filmstrands, featuring classic revivals and shorts, as wellas in depth focus on German, Catalonian and Iraniancinema and all things gothic. ELLA WALKER picks thehighlights

NOW YOUSEE HIM:The MachineWhich MakesEverythingDisappear

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 19, 2013 | 23

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @CamWhatsOn

l The Machine Which MakesEverything DisappearDIRECTOR Tinatin Gurchiani(expected to make anappearance after thescreening) asked 15-23-year-old Georgians to get in touch,and then she went and filmedthem. The result is a piecemade up of fragmented storiesincluding; a young womangetting married, a boy re-enacting Little Red RidingHood and a local governorpreparing his older villagersahead of his move to the city.

It builds andencompassesa society,overlapping

loves,worries,fears

and the

happiness to be found incommunity.UK premiere. Saturday, Sept 28,3.30pm

Visions of Iran

l Fireworks WednesdaySCREENED in Farsi withEnglish subtitles, FireworksWednesday explorestroublesome relationships andgender roles when a younglady stumbles into a screamingmatch between a couplewhose house she’s meant to becleaning. Manners, morals andjudgement rear up as you areasked to detangle the momentand answer: what wouldyou have done in the samesituation?Sunday, Sept 22, 1.30am,Tuesday, Sept 24, 3pm

Gothic and horror

IF you’re in need of ascare, you can

shriek your waythrough twoterrifyingfilm strands;FrightFestand Gothic

on Tour,

both running at Cineworld.FrightFest will weave togethera selection of old and newhorror films, from animalsacrifice and witches inThe Paranormal Diaries, totongue in cheek grind-househomage Machete Kills and theclassic, unsettling Nosferatu(practically a Dracula remake).Gothic on Tour promises moretwisted psychology and slightlyless gore with a slew of classics:The Shining, The Exorcist andThe Wicker Man.

Camera Catalonia

l The ForestDIRECTED by Oscar Aibarin the style of del Toro’s Pan’sLabyrinth, this is a tale of afamily bracing themselves forescape as the Spanish CivilWar threatens to consumetheir home. As the fightingdraws nearer, lights appearin the forest surroundingtheir farmhouse, offering –according to family tradition –a route into another world, butthere is no coming back afterstepping through the portal…UK premiere. Thursday, Sept 26,4pm, Cineworld, Saturday, Sept28, 9pm. Producer Roman Vidal

will attend the screening.

Roland Klick

A TRIBUTE to the cult Germanfilmmaker who has a knackfor creating disturbingdystopian vistas, namelypunk rock odysseys,psychedelic westerns anddestructive, youth fuelledcrime dramas. Dark, druggyand often mind-bending,Klick’s films are rarely showntoday (his hey-day being the1970s and early 80s), catchthree of his masterpieces: thebizarre acid western Deadlock,unhinged synthpunk movieWhite Star and crook drivenSupermarkt.

Short Fusion

ASIDE from Iranian, Germanand Estonian shorts for theconnoisseurs among you,there are also five dedicatedshort strands – littered withUK premieres – that focus onlove and loss, growing pains,nostalgia, existentialism anddistorted lives. See snippets ofbeautifully crafted films fromIreland, Canada, Australia,Britain and Malaysia.

Festival Choice� Delight (UK, 2013)Described as ‘a war film without violence’,Delight is the second film of a trilogy exploringthe connection between creativity and libido,following veteran screenwriter Gareth Jones’2009 feature debut Desire. Inspired partlyby the experiences of Jones’ father, a formerBBC foreign correspondent who retired to theWelsh village where Delight itself is set, thefilm explores the cost and the psychologicalscars of war reportage through the prism ofEcho (Balibar), a photographer whose searchfor a former colleague and lover brings herinstead into contact with his son. The intenselove affair that ensues between the pair triggersthe return of old, painful memories for Echo– memories with consequences both for herand her children. With nothing but the Welshcountryside and her young lover to consoleher, Echo is forced to confront her past. GarethJones will be attending the screening.Saturday, Sept 28, 6pm.

� Dirty Wars (USA, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya,Somalia, Yemen)If the procession of statistics and grim newsreports emitting from the frontline of the Waron Terror has induced a level of ennui amongstUS and UK audiences, the incendiary evidencecollected by investigative reporter Jeremy Scahilloffers a much needed tonic. Dirty Wars is a sharp,incisive and smartly composed documentary,exposing the dark truth of covert US militaryactivity. The list of charges includes indiscriminateattacks against Afghan peasants, the backingof warlords in Mogadishu, and drone strikeslaunched on the barest suspicions againsttargets in Yemen – a country with whom the USis not officially at war. The film follows Scahill ashe tracks down sources, often at great personaldanger, to bring us shocking tales of impunityamongst the of shady wings of the US military,and of their disregard for sovereignties andinternational laws.Thursday, Sept 26, 8.30pm.

� Don Hertzfeldt (special programme)Don Hertzfeldt is, in all likelihood, the bestanimator you’ve never heard of. Starting outwith short films in the 1990s, the Texas-basedartist’s chosen medium is stop-motion stickmen. Coupled with Hertzfeldt’s surreal, funnyand wonderfully intuitive wit, the minimalistline-drawn figures are invested with astupendous degree of character and humanity.His earlier work was more acerbic; after hisfirst shorts got him noticed by advertiserswho commissioned him to make TV spots forthem, the staunchly anti-commercial Hertzfeldtresponded with a series of zany and hilariouslyunsuitable cartoons. But the animator’s stylehas developed over the years, and possiblythe pinnacle of his career is the 62 minuteopus It’s Such A Beautiful Day: a beautifullymelancholic, tremendously expressive taleof psychologically troubled stick-man Bill –with grand existential overtones that belieHertzfeldt’s modest means.Monday, Sept 23, 6.45pm (Emmanuel College),Friday, Sept 27, 6.30pm, (Emmanuel College).

� Dummy Jim (UK, Norway, Sweden, USA,Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France,2013)After his mother sent him the curious memoirs ofdeaf cyclist James Duthie, filmmaker Matt Hulsewas compelled to give the maverick Scotsman’sstory the recognition it deserved.Twelve years in the making, the resulting film tellsthe remarkable tale of ‘Dummy’ Jim’s attempt,in total defiance of his impairment, to cycle fromScotland to Morocco – a journey which took himinstead to the Arctic Circle.Hulse blends conventional narrative anddocumentary to retrace the path through NorthernEurope with deaf actor Samuel Hore, whilealso following present-day events in Duthie’shometown, where the community set aboutbuilding a fitting memorial to their local hero. Whilean absorbing, layered sound-scape providesa feast for the ears, Hulse has clearly also kepthearing-impaired audiences in mind: offering aplethora of visual stimuli.Saturday, Sept 21, 8.30pm.

FILM FORCE: Fromleft, Of Snails andMen, Nosferatu andDust on our Hearts

FOR THELOVE OFWAGNER:Ludwig II