Atash (Thirst)
Tawfik Abu Wael, Israel/Palestine, 2004, 110 mins
Abu Shukri (Hussein Yassin Mahajne) is so ashamed of his eldest daughter’s ill-deserved reputation as a woman of loose morals that he’s moved his family into a hovel in the Palestinian desert, far from town. A stern patriarch whose work as a charcoal-burner only just makes ends meet, he insists his son Shukri (Ahamad Abed) forego school and help him collect timber from forests run by the Israeli authorities. This tyranny, along with his attitude towards the ‘dishonoured’ Gamila (Roba Blal) and his refusal to return to town, provokes the disapproval of his wife Um Shukri (Amal Bweerat).
Tempers are frayed; maybe building a pipeline to bring water to their remote home will cool things down a little…
‘This debut feature from Palestinian Tawfik Abu Wael has a lot going for it: Assaf Sudry’s striking cinematography, Wissam Gibran’s fine music, and strong first-time performances from a cast of non-professionals. Also impressive is the way the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is allowed to cast a shadow over the familial tensions even though it’s never explicitly depicted or alluded to. Rather, while it’s a film about freedom and rebellion, need and desire, fear and oppression, tradition and change, its milieu feels mythic rather than contemporary, poetic rather than a realistic reflection of everyday life.’ Source: Time Out
"Atash is undoubtedly a beautiful film. Abu Wael is arguably the most exciting film-maker to have emerged in more than a decade" Sight and Sound
Official website: www.axiomfilms.co.uk
Be With Me
Eric Khoo, Singapore, 2005, 93 mins
'I was one of the twelve folk who gave Eric Khoo's very gentle, sweet-natured film an 'A' vote after viewing for the second time at the South West's Topsham viewing session in November 2006 - twenty six voters resulted in an RI of 76%. It warranted a repeated viewing - Khoo's use of very little dialogue (indeed it is mainly silent) I found gave a profound insight into the truly extraordinary life of Theresa Chan (the film is based on her autobiography), a 61-year-old teacher of disabled children in Singapore who fights every minute to live a normal life despite herself suffering deafness at the age of 12 and blindness two years later. Mrs Chan plays herself, Khoo unostentatiously interleaving her real life with three separate fictional tales of love, and so we begin by turns to see the thematic and spiritual connection she has with the other characters.' Paul Schilling, BFFS SW Regional Group
“Love and hope triumph in the face of tragedy in this profoundly moving, genuinely intriguing movie” **** The Works
Official website: www.zhaowei.com
Beyond Hatred (Au dela de la Haine)
Olivier Meyrou, France, 2005, 86 mins
‘It's unlikely to appeal to your mainstream moviegoer, but this French documentary achieves remarkable things with a depressing subject. It concerns the brutal murder of a young, gay man named Bruno Chenu by a trio of skinheads in a park in Rheims, but it avoids all the obvious routes. We never see the faces of the victim or his killers. There are no reconstructions or political investigations or cinematic flourishes. Instead, we spend time listening to Chenu's family, two years after the murder, as they prepare for the trial. And what an intelligent, reflective, dignified family they turn out to be. As the title suggests, they have taken great pains to get beyond grief and anger and "the hatred on which you rebuild yourself", and towards a constructive understanding. They even write sympathetic letters to their son's killers.There are echoes of Nicolas Philibert's classroom documentary Etre et Avoir in the film's delicate, patient tone. Out of such miserable circumstances, it's a film that ultimately empowers society's victims, and leaves a feeling that there's hope for civilised society - in France, at least.’ Steve Rose, The Guardian
“Utterly absorbing… profoundly moving film” Sight and Sound
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros
Auraeus Solito, Philippines, 2005, 100 mins
Shooting in the makeshift buildings and noisy streets of Sampaloc in Manila (in his own back yard), first-time director Auraeus Solito could almost be channelling the spirit of the late Lino Brocka. The 12-year-old Maximo ('Maxi,' played by the entirely disarming Nathan Lopez) lives with his criminal father and two macho 'brothers' and effectively replaces his late, lamented mother. It's not just that he does most of the housework and cooking, but also that he likes dressing in women's clothes.
Everything is fine until Maxi strikes up a friendship with a figure of a kind never seen before in Sampaloc: an honest, righteous cop, good looking in his way, somewhat bemused by the constant attentions of a young transvestite. The problem, of course, is that policeman Victor is dedicated to jailing Maxi's father and his boys, and to making an honest man of Maxi himself. Superbly acted and directed (Solito comes from theatre but knows his movies - don't miss the brilliant Third Man quote), this is a delightful surprise at all levels. Tony Rayns, London Film Festival"A fresh and moving little charmer of a film" Daily Express
Official website: www.peccadillopictures.com
Born and Bred (Nacido y criado)
Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Italy/UK, 2007, 100 mins
Born and Bred tells the story of Santiago (Guillermo Pfening), a successful interior designer, husband to Milli (Martina Gusman) and loving father to daughter, Josefina (Victoria Vescio). His translucent veneer of urban contentment in Buenos Aires is torn away when tragedy strikes unexpectedly. Re-appearing in the frozen landscapes of Patagonia, and changed beyond recognition, Santiago begins a self-imposed penance in a wilderness of outsiders. Yet a warm camaraderie and humour characterise the friendships formed, offering hope to a soul tormented by the ghosts of an unalterable past. Santiago must re-engage with the present to remain one step ahead of insanity. From the director of Mundo Grúa, El Bonaerense and Familia Rodante. Source: www.axiomfilms.co.uk
"Another intelligent, deeply involving piece of cinema" **** Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Official website: www.axiomfilms.co.uk
The Bridesmaid (La demoiselle d’honneur)
Claude Chabrol, France/Italy/Germany, 2004, 106 mins
If, like Japan, France could nominate its artists as "national living treasures," Claude Chabrol would surely be among the first filmmakers so honoured. In a career that spans almost fifty years, Chabrol has meticulously exposed the darker, seamy underside of the well-ordered world of the French middle class. Once again adapting a novel by Ruth Rendell (whose A Judgment in Stone became La Céremonie) Chabrol tells the story of Philippe Tardieu (Benoît Magimel), an ambitious, somewhat straitlaced young man living with his mother and two sisters near the Atlantic coast. His older sister, Sophie, is getting married, and it’s at her wedding that Philippe meets Senta, one of the bridesmaids. Their attraction is obvious, and soon they get together, but the more time he spends with her, the more he begins to wonder about her. Their passion is real, but Senta seems given to telling fantastic tales. When one day she asks Philippe for a terrible proof of his love, Philippe must come to terms with who his lover might really be.“Macabre and claustrophobic, the dark tale of l’amour fou is highly recommended” The Times
China Blue
Micha X. Peled, USA, 2005, 86 mins
Sometime around 1950, blue jeans went from farm wear to iconoclastic statement, becoming a kind of low-rise, boot-cut shorthand for free-market capitalism. There's a terrible irony, then, to the designer jeans uniformly worn by the teenage labourers featured in China Blue, Micha X. Peled's meticulously livid exposé of a sweatshop in southern China. Jasmine, 16, is one of the tens of millions of Chinese who have left their rural villages in search of work. At the Lifeng factory, she and the girls snip threads and sew zippers for pennies on the hour (sometimes purchasing "energy medicine" on the street to work all night). They are beholden to a deadbeat boss (Mr. Lam prefers "docile and obedient" female workers) who is himself beholden to the criminally low-balled purchase orders coming in from all over the world, for clients like Levi and Wal-Mart. Shot at the peril of Peled and his crew, China Blue feels stage-managed at times, but the conditions of this 750-person factory are heartbreaking, as are the wistful faces of the girls as they stumble back to their 12-person dorm room and wonder who could possibly fit into the fat ass jeans they are literally slaving to produce. Don't look now, but it might be you. Michelle Orange, Village Voice“Heartbreaking, truly unforgettable” Boston Phoenix
Official website: www.docspace.org.uk
Esma's Secret (Grbavica)
Jasmila Zbanic, Austria/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany/Croatia, 2006, 90 mins
Esma's Secret is a terrific drama, written and directed by Jasmila Zbanic, about the lingering and corrosive after-effects of war in the Balkans. Mirjana Karanovic plays Esma, an industrious single mother working in a night-club who is struggling to feed and clothe her feisty 12-year-old daughter Sara (Luna Mijovic). They live in Grbavica, a part of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, that is surrounded by mass graves. Sara believes her father is a war martyr that, it turns out, is a fiction that she has been fed to protect her from a truth altogether more awful for her to grasp. The city and its inhabitants are shown in a period of reconstruction. But violence, although rarely visualised, is never far away. Gangsters, one of whom is attracted to Esma, are fighting for underworld mastery. The women, many bereaved and still shell shocked, are trying to adapt. The film, never flash or melodramatic, shows them trying to find cures for the physical and mental abuse they have suffered. The two lead female performances are very strong, with Zbanic especially moving as a mother who has left a trail of secrets and lies behind her. Source: www.telegraph.co.uk“A striking debut feature” Evening Standard
“A lyrical love letter to the women of Sarajevo” Independent
