Programme 2011-2012
Download a pdf of the printed programme of this season's films.
The full programme will be added here as soon as possible.
List of Films
Friday 2nd December 2011 8pm Woman of the Dunes IMDB
Japan B&W 15 123 min 1964
Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
"As beguiling, enigmatic and timeless as the shifting sands" Eye for Film
An entomologist from Tokyo is lured into an escape-proof sand-pit by tribal villagers and forced to cohabit with the young widow living there. Set in the 1950s, this classic film is a haunting allegory about the meaning of freedom and human relationships, and won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1964.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 9th December 2011 8pm Planeat IMDB
UK/USA Colour U 87 min 2011
Director: Shelley Lee Davies, Or Shlomi
"Step away from the Big Mac!"
What can you eat that is good for your health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet? With a cast of pioneering chefs and some of the best cooking you have ever seen, the scientists and doctors in the film present a convincing case for the West to re-examine its love affair with meat and dairy.
A Transition Forest Row film event
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 16th December 2011 8pm Benda Bilili! IMDB
Democratic Republic of the Congo / France Colour PG 85 min 2010
Director: Renaud Barret, Florent de La Tullaye
"An exuberant blend of blues and African rumba. It's the noise of the discarded: picked up, brushed down and made precious again" The Guardian
From the lawless streets of Kinshasa, Congo, comes one of the most incredible stories ever committed to film. Five years in the making, Benda Bilili! follows a group of street musicians as they struggle to record their first album.
Further Reading
Trailer
Thursday 29th December 2011 3pm The Wizard of Oz IMDB
USA Colour U 98 min 1939
Director: Victor Fleming
"Don't miss this restored 1939 classic. There's nothing to beat the incredible sugar-rush of that shift from sepia-monochrome to full colour as Dorothy realises she's not in Kansas any more. It's a movie that speaks of Hollywood's unacknowledged fascination with the exotic, the mad, the unreal. Despite its earnest endorsement of the idea that there's no place like home ... well, frankly there are plenty of places like boring old home, but nothing's like Oz. It's a wonderful trip behind the lines of thinkability, and the talking apple trees that slap you when you try to pick their fruit are the equal of anything in Lewis Carroll. A solid-gold Christmas treat." The Guardian
A Transition Forest Row film event
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 6th January 2012 8pm Journey of the Universe IMDB
USA Colour NR 56 min 2011
Director: David John Kennard, Patsy Northcutt
In Journey of the Universe, mathematical cosmologist Brian Swimme connects such big picture issues as the birth of the cosmos 14 billion years ago – to the invisible frontiers of the human genome – as well as to our current impact on Earth’s evolutionary dynamics. Produced by one of the directors of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series for the US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), this is a fascinating and wonderful start to the new year.
A Transition Forest Row event: This film is a replacement for I Am as we were unable to obtain a copy and/or licence for UK screening by this date.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 13th January 2012 8pm Three Colours: Blue IMDB
France/Poland Colour 15 98 min 1993
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
"if film aspires to be part of culture, it should do the things great literature, music and art do: elevate the spirit, help us understand ourselves and the world around us and give people the feeling they are not alone" Krzysztof Kieslowski
One of the greatest, most moving films ever made, starring Juliette Binoche, and with a fantastic score by Zbigniew Preisner.
Further Reading
Trailer
Note: This trailer is without subtitles, but does convey the wonderful beauty of the film, and of the amazing score.
Sunday 15th January 2012 3pm Moomins and the Comet Chase IMDB
Finland Colour U 75 min 2011
Director: Maria Lindberg
In this charming animation based on the books by Tove Jansson, Moomintroll and his family and friends are alarmed by the threatening appearance of a comet in the sky. Younger children will love this delightful film and its characters, and adults will relish a nostalgic journey back to the imagination of their own childhood.
And, for added interest, it has a song by Bjork, plus voice parts by Max von Sydow and Mads Mikkelsen.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 20th January 2012 8pm John Rabe IMDB
Germany Colour 15 129 min 2009
Director: Florian Gallenberger
When the Imperial Japanese Army invaded China and occupied Nanking in 1937, John Rabe, German manager of Siemens' China branch, risked his life to save 200,000 civilians. A powerful and, at times, brutal film with great performances from Ulrich Tukur, Steve Buscemi and Anne Consigny.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 3rd February 2012 8pm Nosferatu IMDB
Germany B&W PG 94 min 1922
Director: F.W. Murnau
“Watching Nosferatu is like standing in the same room as death itself, a brooding chamber piece of gothic ruminations and occult imagery, of the flickering light of the world waging a losing battle against the overwhelming darkness.” Slant magazine
"Based illegally on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, F. W. Murnau’s film is undeniably the best and probably the most faithful of the myriad of films based on the novel." Senses of Cinema
"Murnau's classic vampire movie remains one of the most poetic of all horror films. Its power derives partly from Schreck's almost literally sub-human portrayal of the Count, respelendent with long ears and fingers and a wizened, skeletal face, partly from the sexual undercurrents coursing through the movie which suggest that the vampire is a threat not only to bougeois society and its emphasis upon scientific rationality, but also to the very marriage of the Harker couple." Time Out
The first great vampire film, and it still remains one of the scariest with its expressionist aesthetic and Max Schreck as Count Orlok.
Further Reading
Trailer
Saturday 4th February 2012 3pm The Great White Silence IMDB
UK B&W U 108 min 1924
Director: Herbert G. Ponting
Even after a hundred years, Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to the South Pole remains a moving monument to courage and adventure. Equally startling is this official film of the expedition, now beautifully restored by the BFI to commemorate the centenary of the expedition reaching the South Pole on 17 January 1912.
Further Reading
Trailer
Saturday 4th February 2012 8pm The Passion of Joan of Arc IMDB
France B&W PG 82 min 1928
Director: Carl Dreyer
"Dreyer's most universally acclaimed masterpiece remains one of the most staggeringly intense films ever made. ... it's magisterial cinema, and almost unbearably moving." Time Out
"Stunning in its power, uncompromising in its severity and seriousness, Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent masterpiece from 1928 all but scorches a hole in the screen.... The Passion of Joan of Arc is one of the very few films that turns the audience into witnesses or congregants at an extraordinary spiritual event." The Guardian
With its stunning imagery and close-ups, Dreyer’s film is an incredible depiction of faith, suffering, and redemption. Drawing on the transcripts of the original trial, it is Joan’s pain and anguish that is its main focus, with Maria Falconetti giving one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film.
Further Reading
- Time Out
- The Carl Dreyer site: The definitive set of materials about the film and the director
- Chicago Sun-Times
- The Guardian
- Senses of Cinema
- Empire
Extract
This version only has French intertitles, but our screening will, of course, include English subtitles.
Sunday 5th February 2012 3pm The Adventures of Prince Achmed IMDB
Germany B&W PG 65 min 1926
Director: Lotte Reiniger
“A masterpiece” Jean Renoir
Loosely based on A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, this beautiful and unique film was hailed as history’s first animated (silhouette) feature, primitive and utterly sophisticated at the same time.
Further Reading
Extract
Friday 10th February 2012 8pm Kinky Boots IMDB
UK Colour 12A 106 min 2005
Director: Julian Jarrold
Charlie Price has inherited a failing Northampton shoe factory, but transvestite Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) inspires him to extend his product range. A winkingly naughty bit of British comedy for a dark February evening.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 17th February 2012 8pm The Farmer and the Horse IMDB
USA Colour NR 77 min 2010
Director: Jared Flesher
In a world where the production of food is hugely dependent on the availability of cheap liquid fuels and where, in the UK, the average age of farmers is 58, this film follows three young people trying to get into agriculture in New Jersey, each of whom has a passion for working with horses.
A Transition Forest Row film event. Screening at Emerson College
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 2nd March 2012 8pm Poetry IMDB
South Korea Colour 12A 139 min 2010
Director: Lee Chang-dong
“Gorgeously photographed and exquisitely acted, Poetry takes a story almost buckling under the weight of its sadness, and from it magics a work at once mysterious and luminous, suffused with anger and patience, endowed with poetry.” Daily Telegraph
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 9th March 2012 8pm Queen of the Sun IMDB
USA Colour NR 83 min 2010
Director: Taggart Siegel
From the director of The Real Dirt on Farmer John comes a profound look at the tragic global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, and farmers. Queen of the Sun weaves a dramatic story which uncovers the problems and solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.
A Transition Forest Row film event
Further Reading
Trailer
Sunday 11th March 2012 3pm The Secret Garden IMDB
UK Colour U 97 min 1993
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Based on the popular children’s classic, The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary, who is orphaned and arrives at her new ‘home’, a large remote house where a sick child is kept a secret, and her guardian is stricken with a mysterious grief.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 16th March 2012 8pm Of Gods and Men IMDB
France Colour 15 122 min 2010
Director: Xavier Beauvois
“Nothing less than sublime” Wall Street Journal
“a spellbinder drama about courage and faith and a fascinating take on global extremism” Empire
“Severe, austere and deeply moving” The Guardian
Inspired by true events, this powerful and affecting film tells the story of a group of Cistercian monks living in the mountains of north Africa. When an Islamic fundamentalist group massacres some foreign workers, the brothers have to decide what to do. Winner of the Grand prix at Cannes, 2010, and several Césars last year.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 23rd March 2012 8pm Ivan the Terrible IMDB
USSR B&W PG 99 min 1944
Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
“One of the most distinctive great films in the history of cinema” Jonathan Rosenbaum
Ivan the Terrible is a complex study of the corruption associated with absolute power, how it functions within tyranny, and the process by which it changes hands. One of Eisenstein's greatest films, and with a stunning score by Prokofiev.
Further Reading
Extract
This clip has subtitles in French.
Friday 30th March 2012 8pm Offside IMDB
Iran Colour PG 93 min 2006
Director: Jafar Panahi
“One of the finest football films ever made” Empire
This delightful, at times hilarious, comedy is based on the arrest of a girl for trying to sneak into Teheran football stadium dressed as a boy. A sharp commentary on the situation of women in Iran, Jafar Panahi is now in prison and banned from making films. The film won the Silver Bear at Berlin.
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 13th April 2012 8pm In Transition 2.0
UK Colour 2012
Director: Emma Goude
In Transition 2.0 is the new film from Transition Network, capturing inspiring stories of Transition initiatives around the world, responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and 'engaged optimism'.
A Transition Forest Row film event
Further Reading
Trailer
Friday 4th May 2012 8pm Opening Night IMDB
USA Colour 15 144 min 1977
Director: John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes, the cinematic poet of middle-class inner turmoil, explores the angst-ridden world of a famous actress unable to admit she is aging, masterfully played by his wife Gena Rowlands.
Further Reading
- Time Out
- Peter Bogdanovich
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Broader article in Senses of Cinema
- Wikipedia on Cassavetes
Clip
Friday 11th May 2012 8pm Robinson in Ruins IMDB
UK Colour U 101 min 2010
Director: Patrick Keiller
Not a documentary, this film sees a shadowy, somewhat eccentric researcher embark on a tour of ‘sites of scientific and historical interest’ in and around Oxford. The witty, revealing script weaves together philosophy, the arts, history, politics, economics, science, agriculture, architecture and much else, imbued with a deep love of the natural world. With narration by Vanessa Redgrave.
A Transition Forest Row film event