Festivals and Events

Cannes favourite Timbuktu is Abderrahmane Sissako’s depiction of the Malian city’s brief occupation by Ansar Dine militias in 2012. Kidane, a Tuareg , has settled with his wife, daughter and a young shepherd he looks after, in the dunes just outside Timbuktu, hoping to steer clear of the invading jihadists. They live in relative peace, herding cows, until Kidane confronts a fisherman responsible for killing one of his cows; tragedy ensues and Kidane comes up against the chaotic, obtuse and (…)

Creased whispers that fold out of mouths shrouded in darkness. One of the most aurally tactile films I have seen in a long time; a lady, Vitalina, only speaks in whispers, of past tragedies and celebrations. Monolithic black consumes an entire two thirds of the frame, as Ventura, a man imprisoned or hospitalised or sectioned, wanders empty. The Cape Verdian immigrants in this film-poem almost disappear in the blackness and the silence. They are ghosts remembering times fuller. (…)

Screenwriter and director Justin Simien follows the lives of four African-American co-eds on an elite university campus to explore media representation, black authenticity and white privilege in 2014. As a UC Berkeley alum (go Bears!), this was somewhat relatable, and as someone interested in racism and racial politics I was delighted to see characters who, despite being groomed for a privileged life by their upwardly mobile parents, found themselves balancing a need to find a sense of self (…)

The theme was love but not the warm ’n’ fuzzy kind. Families are dysfunctional, grief is consuming, humour comes from pain. Lovely. Before the LFF reel came on screen, someone in the front row set the tone by abusing a very helpful usher and announcing ’I hate this cinema’. Nice to feel at home. Three of the films fell short in their various contrivances, although the Chilean animation (Bear Story) was lavishly, indeed lovingly rendered. An American tale of brothers (For Spacious Sky) had (…)

The Encounters Festival presents the viewing public with more than the darkened, flickering embrace of countless feature length screening events, in which back-to-back short film and animation programmes douse one’s mind with such wit and artistry that by the end excellence feels so common place, real world experience of film and television are a sorrow disappointment. I write specifically about the Encounters’ workshop and lecture programme, where I feel the true substance of the (…)

It’s impossible not to fall in love with a film which includes the line ‘but heteroman, your arguments fall light as leaves cause your g spot is in your ass’. This mix of queer criticism and autumnal imagery is actually a line from a song, delivered in melodic unison by four queer superheroes in a ramshackle community centre which reminded me of the set of a Swedish Byker Grove. There’s a lot to love about this homespun film which offers wonderfully comic and imaginative means by which to (…)

Pay it No Mind is a loving documentary tribute to the late queer rights activist and ‘saint’ Marsha P. Johnson, built around archive footage of a 1992 interview with the legend herself. ‘Pay it No Mind’ is what Marsha P. Johnson would answer whenever asked what the ‘P.’ stood for. It is no coincidence that the songs of Antony and the Johnsons are used on the soundtrack of this soulful documentary: the band was named after her, and a track on their first album, movingly and fittingly used (…)