Bantry Arthouse Week 17th to 23rd September 2021

Seven Spectacular Films over 7 Days

Dream Horse

Showing Friday 17th,September @ 8:30

113 Minutes, uk, 2020, Cert: PG

Director: Euros Lyn

Language: English

Cast:Toni Collette, Damien Lewis, Joanna Page, Peter Davison

Trailer: Dream Horse Official trailer

 The film tells the true story of Jan Vokes (Academy Award® nominee Toni Colette), a Welsh cleaner and bartender, who decides to breed and rear a race horse. She persuades her neighbors and friends to contribute financially to the scheme. The group’s unlikely investment plan pays off as the horse rises through the ranks and puts them in a race for the national championship.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Showing Saturday 18th,September @ 8:30

117 minutes, USA, 2021, Cert:12A

Director: Questlove

Language: English

Cast: Reverend Jesse Jackson, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone

 Trailer: Summer of Soul - Official Trailer

  Summer 1969: more than 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival; a summer concert series which took place over 6 consecutive weekends. Overshadowed by Woodstock, which happened that same year, the event and its filmed footage were forgotten …

 Questlove’s acclaimed directorial debut transports us back to this extraordinary gathering - rediscovering incredible performances from, among others, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Nina Simone.

 Much more than just a music documentary, Summer of Soul reflects on the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Malcom X and Martin Luther King, the Moon Landing and the Black Panthers’ movement. It is a glorious celebration of Black history and culture, punctuated by some truly uplifting musical performances.

 Festivals:

Sundance Film Festival 2021

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2021

Sheffield DocFest 2021

 Awards:

Winner - Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2021

Winner - Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2021

Another Round (Druk)

Showing Sunday 19th,September @ 8:30

116 minutes, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands 2020, Cert: 12A

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Language: Danish/Swedish

Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Bonnevie, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe

 Trailer:  ANOTHER ROUND Trailer

 Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and his three teacher friends all seem to have hit a middle-age rut in their lives. When one of the group tells the others about an obscure philosophy proposing that humans aren’t born with enough alcohol in their blood and so cannot reach their full potential, the men decide to test the theory for themselves. As each of the gang initially observes positive benefits from maintaining the required blood-alcohol level of 0.05%, it is not long before they decide to push the boundaries of their experiment …

 Another Round reunites Mikkelsen with award-winning director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) in this entertaining but ultimately through-provoking drama, which explores friendship, masculinity and what it means to be happy.

Festivals:

Toronto International Film Festival 2020

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2020

BFI London Film Festival 2020

Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2021 

Awards:

Winner - Silver Shell For Best Actor, San Sebastián International Film Festival 2020

Winner - Best Film, BFI London Film Festival 2020

Winner - European Film, The European Film Awards 2020

Winner - European Actor, The European Film Awards 2020

Winner - European Director, The European Film Awards 2020

Winner - Film Not in the English Language, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - International Feature Film, Academy Awards 2021 

Nomadland

Showing Monday 20th,September @ 8:30

107 minutes, USA, 2020, Cert:12A

Director: Chloé Zhao

Language: English

Cast: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May

Trailer:  NOMADLAND | Official Trailer |  

  In Chloé Zhao’s multiple award-winning feature, Frances McDormand plays Fern, a displaced woman in her 60’s, who, having lost her husband and her home, sets off on the road to explore life as a modern-day nomad. A mixture of fiction and documentary filmmaking, Nomadland features a cast of real life nomads: people living on the road, travelling for seasonal work, unencumbered by many of life’s obligations. There is freedom and comradery in their community, mirroring the same openness as their vast American landscapes, and Fern finds joy and acceptance there. Zhao gently balances the precarious reality of a life without safety nets, against Fern’s power to continue to make her own choices in a world that assumes she has none.

 Festivals:

Toronto International Film Festival 2020

Venice International Film Festival 2020

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2020

BFI London Film Festival 2020 

Awards:

Winner - People’s Choice Award, Toronto International Film Festival 2020

Winner - Golden Lion for Best Film, Venice International Film Festival 2020

Winner - Best Picture Drama, Golden Globes 2021

Winner - Best Director Motion Picture, Golden Globes 2021

Winner - Best Film, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Director, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Cinematography, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Leading Actress, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Best Picture, Academy Awards 2021

Winner - Directing, Academy Awards 2021

Winner - Actress in a Leading Role, Academy Awards 2021 

Quotes:

“★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is an utterly inspired docu-fictional hybrid, like her previous feature The Rider. It is a gentle, compassionate, questioning film about the American soul.” - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

 “Through the lens of cinematographer Joshua James Richards, nature is magisterial, otherworldly, healing. … At its centre is McDormand, one of the few bona fide Hollywood stars who can pull off humble, ragged characters without magically transforming into an unrecognisable version of herself.” - Beatrice Loayza, Sight & Sound

LIMBO

Showing Tuesday 21st,September @ 8:30

107 minutes, USA, 2020, Cert: 15A

Director: Ben Sharrock

Language: English / Arabic

Cast: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Kenneth Collard, Amir El-Masry, Vikash Bhai

Trailer:  LIMBO - Official Trailer

Ben Sharrock’s critically adored deadpan comedy-drama Limbo is a wry, funny and poignant cross-cultural satire that subtly sews together the hardship and hope of the refugee experience, shining a light on the hearts and lives of those at the centre of a crisis that is mostly only experienced through the headlines. Set on a fictional remote Scottish island, Limbo tells the story of a group of new arrivals awaiting the results of their asylum claims. It centers on Omar (played by rising star Amir El-Masry), a young Syrian musician who, thousands of miles from home, finds himself trapped by guilt, regret and the grief that he carries for the loss of his former identity. Separated from his family and burdened by a plaster cast on his arm, Omar wanders the epic landscapes searching for answers to a complex past and daunting future.But while he is stuck there, he isn’t alone. In between brief long-distance conversations with his parents and passing interactions with oddball locals, Omar and his new flatmates attend outrageously misjudged ‘cultural awareness’ classes, binge Friends boxsets, and debate attending the local open mic night, all the while waiting for the delivery of letters that will ultimately determine their future.

The Father

Showing Wednesday 22th,September @ 8:30

97 minutes, UK, France, 2020, Cert:12A

Director: Florian Zeller

Language: English

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Coleman, Olivia Williams, Rufus Sewell 

Trailer:  THE FATHER | Official Trailer

  Adapted by French director and writer Florian Zeller from his own award-winning play, The Father features an Oscar-winning performance from Anthony Hopkins as an elderly man battling with the onset of dementia. Told from the main character’s point of view, the experience of this powerful, moving feature film debut will stay with the viewer long after leaving the cinema.

 Festivals:

Sundance Film Festival 2020

Toronto International Film Festival 2020

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2020

 Awards:

Winner - Audience Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival 2020

Winner - Leading Actor, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Adapted Screenplay, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Actor in a Leading Role, Academy Awards 2021

Winner - Adapted Screenplay, Academy Awards 2021

Minari

Showing Thursday 23rd,September @ 8:30

116 minutes, USA, 2021, Cert: 12A

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Language: Korean / English

Cast: Steven Yuen, Yeri Han, Yuh-Jung Youn, Alan Kim, Will Patton

Trailer: Minari Official Trailer

Originally from South Korea, Jacob and his family have relocated from California to Arkansas, so pursue a dream of owning a farm. As the family tried to adapt to living in rural America, further changes arise with the arrival of Jacob’s mother-in-law, who doesn’t speak any English, but brings with her the seeds of a minari plant.

 Festivals:

Sundance Film Festival 2020

Busan International Film Festival 2020

Sydney Film Festival 2021

Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2021

 Awards:

Winner - Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2020

Winner - U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2020

Winner – Best Picture Foreign Language, Golden Globes 2021

Winner - Audience Award, Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival 2021

Winner - Supporting Actress, BAFTAs 2021

Winner - Actress In a Supporting Role, Academy Awards 2021