Welcome to Close-Up!
Showing This Weekend
Sunday 20 October: Le Franc + La Petite vendeuse de soleil
We're thrilled to present a double-bill of the first two films in Djibril Diop Mambéty's incomplete Histoires de petites gens trilogy. Le Franc and La Petite vendeuse de soleil are shown here in new digital restorations courtesy of Waka Films.
Sunday 20 October: The Asthenic Syndrome
Muratova cleverly drags her audience through this masterpiece of glasnost by tragi-comic means, creating a window into the future of post-communist Russia through the lens of affliction – an entire society taken by the Asthenic Syndrome, once known as hypochondria. Banned by the Soviet government for obscenity, this caustic and allegorical epic uses colour and its absence to great effect.
Showing Next Week
Monday 21 October: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
In the early 1970s, Fassbinder discovered the American melodramas of Douglas Sirk and was inspired by them to begin working in a new, more intensely emotional register. One of the first and best-loved films of this period in his career is The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which balances a realistic depiction of tormented romance with staging that remains true to the director’s roots in experimental theater.
Tuesday 22 October: The Long Farewell
Ostensibly the story of the strained relationship between a divorced translator and her teenaged son, who would rather live with his father in Siberia. Muratova’s important early feature, scripted by prominent feminist Natalya Ryazantseva, was deemed too aesthetic, personal and elitist by Soviet authorities, and was subsequently banned and its director was ejected from the filmmakers’ union.
Wednesday 23 October: The Wild Boys
Early 20th century La Réunion: five delinquent boys commit a ghastly crime at school. Their punishment? A mysterious disciplinary on a cruel captain’s ship. Yet when the boys arrive on the shores of a gorgeous paradise island, they succumb to the earthly delights of its unusually sexy, luxurious and sticky vegetation, leading to a metamorphosis that is less body horror more body ecstasy.
Friday 25 October: Arboretum Cycle
“I didn’t want to make a film that depicted a garden or plants or flowers, but one where the film itself became like a plant that could fill with light.” – Nathaniel Dorsky
Saturday 26 October: Fox and His Friends
A lottery win leads not to financial and emotional freedom but to social captivity, in this wildly cynical classic about love and exploitation by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Casting himself against type, the director plays a suggestible working-class innocent who lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends, leading to the kind of resonant misery that only Fassbinder could create.
Saturday 26 October: Eternal Homecoming
In her last film, made at the age of 78, Muratova brings together her favourite actors to act in a film about casting. But this is no ordinary film about acting, as the director employs a variety of cinematic devices to play with – even trick – her audience. Through her much-loved use of the refrain and repetition, Muratova proves she continues to be fascinated with the aesthetic possibilities of the cinema.
Sunday 27 October: Jürgen Böttcher: A New Way of Seeing
A selection of Jürgen Böttcher's early films, from Three of Many (1961) his personal portrait of three artist friends in Dresden, to Laundry Women (1972), his second film about women at work. The screening will be introduced by Diana Mavroleon.
Sunday 27 October: Jürgen Böttcher: Outsiders
A programme focusing on the relationship between Jürgen Böttcher's films and his equally important work as a painter. Three variations of painted Transformations on film and a sensitive portrait of an older colleague, the contructivist artist Hermann Glöckner. The screening will be introduced by Diana Mavroleon.
Coming Soon
29 October 2019: DAM PROJECTS present New Moving Image 1
Organised by DAM PROJECTS (Morgan Quaintance & Amanprit Sandhu), New Moving Image is a quarterly series of screening programmes featuring new work by emerging artists. Each hour-long programme will be followed by a panel discussion with participating filmmakers. Programme One features work by Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Seecum Cheung, Mathew Parkin, Will Pham, and Rhea Storr.
12 - 17 November 2019: 21st Century Žilnik
The first UK survey of the work of the pioneering Yugoslav-Serbian filmmaker Želimir Žilnik. With a career that began in the 1960s, Žilnik is one of the genuine legends of European cinema, particularly a radical, engaged, independent, humanist cinema. This contemporary overview focuses on the urgency and vitality of Žilnik’s 21st century work, and includes the UK premiere of his most recent film, The Most Beautiful Country in the World.
Calendar
Sun 20 Oct 5:30pm
Le Franc + La Petite vendeuse de soleil
Le Franc + La Petite vendeuse de soleil
Sun 20 Oct 7:30pm
The Asthenic Syndrome
The Asthenic Syndrome
Mon 21 Oct 8:15pm
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
Tue 22 Oct 8:15pm
The Long Farewell
The Long Farewell
Wed 23 Oct 8:15pm
The Wild Boys
The Wild Boys
Fri 25 Oct 7:30pm
Arboretum Cycle
Arboretum Cycle
Sat 26 Oct 5:30pm
Fox and His Friends
Fox and His Friends
Sat 26 Oct 8:00pm
Eternal Homecoming
Eternal Homecoming
Sun 27 Oct 6:00pm
Jürgen Böttcher: A New Way of Seeing
Jürgen Böttcher: A New Way of Seeing
Sun 27 Oct 8:15pm
Jürgen Böttcher: Outsiders
Jürgen Böttcher: Outsiders
Mon 28 Oct 8:15pm
Martha
Martha
Tue 29 Oct 7:00pm
DAM PROJECTS present New Moving Image 1
DAM PROJECTS present New Moving Image 1
Wed 30 Oct 8:30pm
Katzelmacher
Katzelmacher
Fri 01 Nov 8:15pm
The Marriage of Maria Braun
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Sat 02 Nov 6:00pm
Berlin Super 80: Films from the West German Underground
Berlin Super 80: Films from the West German Underground
Sat 02 Nov 8:30pm
The Third Generation
The Third Generation
Sun 03 Nov 5:30pm
Jürgen Böttcher: A Deeper Dialetic
Jürgen Böttcher: A Deeper Dialetic
Sun 03 Nov 8:30pm
Four Parts of a Folding Screen
Four Parts of a Folding Screen
Mon 04 Nov 7:00pm
Film Course: Surrealism and Cinema
Film Course: Surrealism and Cinema
Wed 06 Nov 8:30pm
Veronika Voss
Veronika Voss
Fri 08 Nov 8:00pm
LKFF: A Hometown of the Heart
LKFF: A Hometown of the Heart
Sat 09 Nov 5:30pm
Lola
Lola
Sat 09 Nov 8:00pm
LKFF: Piagol
LKFF: Piagol
