The White Ribbon is a stark, contemplative and hauntingly brilliant film set in a rural farming community in 1913. The film effectively utilizes tension and a bleak atmosphere to deliver a thought-provoking examination of nascent fascism. Unlike conventional thrillers, this film does not restore a moral order to the universe. Rather, it questions it. It must be seen.
The traditional lifestyle of nomadic sheep herders on the harsh Kazakh steppe provides quietly sensational drama in ‘Tulpan’. This engrossing tale of a 20-ish youth who can't achieve a long-cherished dream of tending his own flock without first acquiring a wife is both a lovely and unsentimental story. It's easy to see why Tulpan has been so well-received at film festivals. Superlatives are hard to avoid: original, raw, authentic, genuine, funny, joyous, honest. A must see.
An intimate and moving account of one family's extraordinary courage in the face of overwhelming injustice and brutality. This is a true story based on the experiences of Michael Campbell who faced with intimidation and aggression, chose to put up a fight for his land, taking the unprecedented step of challenging Mugabe before the South African Development Community's international court. Filmed covertly in a country where a press ban exists, Mugabe and the White African provides a valuable, unsettling insight into the reality of life under Mugabe's dictatorship.
Winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Departures tells the story of a concert cellist named Daigo who undergoes a transformation following the death of his father and the dissolution of his Tokyo orchestra. Daigo retreats to his picturesque hometown in northern Japan to look for work and responds to an ad for a company called “Departures,” thinking it’s a travel agency. ‘Departures’ is a tonally eccentric, lushly-scored, moving and funny drama that uses the rituals of death to foster a greater appreciation of life. Excellent film, really enjoyed by all members.
Wednesday 8th December 2010 at 8pm Brogans Inn Bandon.
The next screening of the Bandon Film Society on the 8th December is the Italian Film 'I am Love / Lo Sono L’Amore'.
An melodrama about power, family, trust and self-discovery. Its a story about repression in relationships and breaking free. Set in Milan’s upper classes, in the Art Deco villa of a family of great wealth. A wonderfully absorbing film in the true classic Italian style offering magnificent cinematography, production design, costumes and score – by American opera composer John Adams.
The cast is led by the British Academy award winning actress Tilda Swinton as Emma Recchi. Co-producers Swinton and Guadagnino developed the movie together over an 11-year period. The film premiered in the United States at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and premiered in both the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. Date 8th December, 8.15pm.
New members always welcome.
Time: 9pm
Next Friday the 15th October Bandon Film Society in association with Partnership for Change a not for profit climate change initiative will be screening the acclaimed 1931 film Dracula in St Peters Church Bandon with the renowned composer Dr Eric Sweeney to raise funds for flood and humanitarian relief in Pakistan. All proceeds from the event are being donated to the Karachi Relief Trust.
According to the UN the number of people suffering in Pakistan is double the combined total of the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The total number affected by the recent floods is 20 million.
Two years ago I met Ayesha Siddiqi, a young Pakistan graduate at a climate change conference. Little did I know that within two years both our countries would be hit by natural disasters as a result of extreme weather events. Our towns and cities have largely been rebuilt, nobody perished in the floods, we have survived one catastrophe to witness another economic crisis. But this pails into insignificance to what the people of Pakistan are currently experiencing. The earthquake that hit northern Pakistan in 2005 killed 85,000 people, made more than 3million homeless with more than 1000 hospitals destroyed. Now less than five years later they are suffering the worst humanitarian crisis to befall a nation in modern times. The floods devastated the already flimsy public health system destroying hundreds of clinics and inundated an area more than twice the size of Ireland, crippling Pakistan’s agriculture and its economy.
Ayesha is currently working with Karachi Relief, a Pakistan Disaster Management Voluntary Organization (www.karachirelief.org) supported by civic minded volunteers. She contacted me recently appealing for help. They have set up camps in some of the worst affected areas and are providing food sanitation, shelter, medical supplies and clean drinking water. The organisation is entirely run and managed by unpaid professionals like Ayesha, volunteering their time and resources in an attempt to make a difference.
