November - I AM NOT A WITCH - Coast Cafe, Monday 12th

November's film from Welsh-born/Zambian director Rungano Nyoni is
I AM NOT A WITCH (2017). 

Doors open: 7.30pm

Film: 8pm

Tickets: free to members / £4 for everyone else.

Back at Coast on Monday 12th November

A bewilderingly funny tragi-comic tale that veers into magical surrealism. 8-year-old Shula (played by newcomer, Margaret Mulubwa) is accused of witchcraft; faced with the options of accepting her supernatural branding and living life as a sorceress, or being transformed into a goat, Shula ends up at the local “witch camp”.

Winner of the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer this film draws on the director's mixed heritage and boldly scrunitises the modern-day persecution of Zambian and Ghanian witches with dark cruel humour and raw emotion.

With stunning cinematography under the masterful hand of DOP David Gallego (Embrace of the Serpent) the film weaves its brutal and beautiful magic whilst we see our protagonist face trial for crimes of black magic, with her fate in the hands of others. 

Nyoni delivers a taut storyline whilst skilfully balancing moments of surrealist humour, of fleeting happiness and abject fear. Nyoni does an excellent job of keeping an absurd tone while losing none of the gravity of the situation. A gripping tale which we cant recommend highly enough. 

Don't miss it! Watch the trailer.

+Margaret Mulubwa is a mesmerising presence+ Mark Kermode

+a blend of sorrow, anger and humour, marking debuting writer-director Nyoni as an exciting new talent. + Rotten Tomatoes

The film is free to Worthing Film Club members (£25 a year - email Caroline at worthingfilmclub@gmail.com to join) or £4 for a ticket, cash on the door.  For more details on membership, see here.



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October - The Rider (2017) - Connaught Studio - Monday 1st October

Our next screening is the Cannes award winning THE RIDER (2017), a contemporary western that offers a rare female perspective on masculinity in crisis. 

 

The film is screening at 8.15pm on Monday the 1st of October at Connaught Studio Cinema. 

From director Chloé Zhao this acclaimed drama won the top prize at the Directors Fortnight at Cannes 2017. We follow a young rodeo cowboy who is coming to terms with life after a near-fatal accident. The film's star is real-life cowboy Brady Jandreau, from South Dakota (where the film is set), who blurs the line between fiction and documentary with his honest raw lead performance.  

 

The film was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, and has been declared one for the years best by critics stateside. Expect a nuanced take on the American heartlands and stunning cinematography from DoP Joshua James Richards, who also shot last years stunning GODS OWN COUNTRY, which makes the South Dakota landscape a character in itself.

The use of non profession actors adds to the films realism. Brady Jandreau plays Brady, Lilly Jandreau plays his sister Lilly, and so on. Almost all the cast seem to be playing variations of themselves, and use their own names. This cast bring their own experiences to the film, and it's all tied together by a script from director Zhao. It’s a prime example of a modern western from an exciting new talent, we can’t wait! 

"Impressive, stylish bronco rider drama bucks the trend” - **** The Guardian 

"Chloe Zhao’s hushed neo western offers a feminist perspective on a man in crisis.” - Little White Lies 

“A very nuanced portrait of the hopelessness and lack of opportunity abounding in America’s hinterlands.” - Sight and Sound 

The film is free to Worthing Film Club members (£25 a year - email Caroline at worthingfilmclub@gmail.com to join) or £7 for a ticket, which are available from Connaught now (https://worthingtheatres.co.uk/show/the-rider-15tbc/). For more details on membership, see here.

See the Trailer here

SEPTEMBER -The Square - Monday 3rd September Cellar Arts Club

STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!
This month we will be changing venues and will be screening The Square at the Cellar Arts Club down Prospect Place, just off the seafront, behind The View cafe/bar on Marine Parade. see their facebook page here.

Doors open at 7.30pm
Film at 8pm.
Free entry to Film Club members and £4 for others.

September's film is the highly acclaimed art satire The Square.
Force Majeure's director Reuben Ostlund comes up trumps with this dark comic satire on the art world and the world of male privilege.

This Palme D'Or winner brings international class actors together in this bizarre intense story of Ballardian dystopia as a prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit. The fabulous and versatile Elizabeth Moss (Top of the Lake, The Handmaid's Tale) opposite Danish lead Claes Bung (The Bridge) with solid support from  Dominic West (The Wire, Pride, Testament of Youth) give us great performances in this dark delight of a film.

Catch the trailer here.

If you like your cinematic dish served piccante with sour backnotes, washed down with dysfunctional bile then the Square is the filmic feast for you! Believe - this film is a brave brilliant concoction with Ostlung's conjuring up a superb film after giving us the unnerving Force Majeure where Swedish family learn so much more than survival when confronted with a devastating avalanche on a skiing holiday.

*** "This is high wire cinema." Peter Bradshaw - Guardian***
*** "...channels the influence of Hitchcock, Buñuel, Fellini, and Östlund's deadpan compatriot, Roy Andersson."  Empire ***
***"The Square is a strange mix of pop and profundity: archly entertaining, occasionally grating and consistently uncomfortable." Mark Kermode ***

Membership is £25 per year for free entry to 12 screenings, at various venues and Connaught studio cinema. join on the night or email Caroline on worthingfilmclub@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

AUGUST film- Still Walking (2008)

Our next screening is the charming STILL WALKING (2008) on Monday the 6th of August at Coast. 

From acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won the Palme d’Or this year for his upcoming film SHOPLIFTERS, STILL WALKING is a masterful small scale family drama. It’s a portrait of a family over a few days, as they commemorate the death of the eldest son. All told through nostalgia, humour, sadness and tension, as their memories are shared and ceremonies are performed.

Kore-eda uses dialogue in such an honest and naturalistic way, that makes it universal in it’s storytelling, and often a reflection of our everyday lives. He is also one of the finest directors of children working today, and this film is another fine example of that talent. In his 4 out of 4 review of the film, Roger Ebert said of Kore-eda that "None of his films elevate the temperature with melodrama. They draw us inward with concern. Kore-Eda is a tender humanist, and that fits well with his elegant visual style”. It's measured filmmaking that creeps up on you and takes your breath away, and with Kore-eda’s latest film SHOPLIFTERS winning the top prize at Cannes, here’s hoping his films get seen by a wider audience. 

"Koreeda’s almost sage-like understanding of what makes modern families tick places him and this wonderful film in the league of Japan’s grand master, Ozu” - ***** Time Out

"Still Walking steals up on you quietly and stays with you forever.” - ***** Financial Times 

"This is a higher order of storytelling, and this gentle, lovely film is impossible to watch without a lump in the throat.” - **** The Guardian 

Doors open at 7.30pm, film starts at 8pm. The film is free to Worthing Film Club members (£25 a year - email Caroline at worthingfilmclub@gmail.com to join) or £4 for a ticket, which will be available on the door at Coast. for more details on membership, see here.

See the Trailer here

JULY FILM - CLEO de 5 a 7 - Coast - 8pm, Monday 9th July

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Our next screening is 

CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962) on Monday the 9th of July at Coast, from the doyenne of the French New Wave, Agnes Varda. With stunning cinematography and an evocative soundtrack by the great Michel Legrand (Umbrellas of Cherbourg / The Young Girls of Rochefort) this film offers more than a glimpse into the chic world of 1960s Paris highlife. We follow Cleo, a successful pop star whose glitzy lifestyle is flipped on its head when she becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer, and awaits test results from her doctor. 

The film not only uses the brushstrokes of Cinéma Vérité, but also delves deep into existential exploration as Cleo faces her own mortality and place in the world. By doing so she transforms from the shallow object of men’s desire to the brazen lone woman who inverts the male gaze upon itself. Subtle in its layering of multiple meanings, and its commentary on women in French society, CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 is a true gem of the French New Wave cinema and not to be missed!

CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 was nominated for Palme d’or at the 1962 Cannes festival and won Best Film award at the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics in 1963.

"A brilliant, pioneering film of French New Wave” - ***** The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw

"In moving pictures, she (Varda) has an ability to capture the essence of her characters not only through plot and dialogue, but even more in their placement in space and light” - 4/4 Robert Ebert

"One of the Nouvelle Vague's boldest achievements" - ***** Empire Magazine 

Doors open at 7.30pm, film starts at 8. The film is free to Worthing Film Club members (£25 a year - email Caroline at worthingfilmclub@gmail.com to join) or £4 for a ticket, which will be available on the door at Coast. 

For more details on joining click here

JUNE film: My Winnipeg (2007) Coast Monday 11th June

Our June screening is the gloriously playful and utterly unique MY WINNIPEG (2007), 

Monday 11th of June at Coast at 8pm (doors at 7.30pm). 

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert named MY WINNIPEG the tenth best film of its decade, so two massive thumbs up. 

Director Guy Maddin's "docu-fantasia” is a surrealist mockumentary that melds personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesising! It exists in a style all of Maddin’s own, a part pastiche, (mainly) black and white film that utilises old fashioned title cards, fast cutting, recycled footage and unusual staging. It's all mixed together to tell fictional histories and autobiographical 'reconstructions', whilst our narrator desperately tries to escape from Winnipeg. It’s often gloriously funny, and is a constant reminder of the magical power of truly original cinematic storytelling. A modern classic. 

"If you love movies in the very sinews of your imagination, you should experience the work of Guy Maddin” - Roger Ebert

"My Winnipeg is a joyous, mischievous, hilarious flight of fancy”- Jonathan Romney (The Independent)

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9BtROpNQ4  

Tickets: 

The film is free to Worthing Film Club members, please email Caroline at worthingfilmclub@gmail.com to join. Membership costs £25 for the year which entitles you to 12 screening in the year, currently we are screening nine films at Coast and three at the Connaught. You also get access to our extensive DVD library, and entry to our fabulous Christmas party. Alternatively tickets are £4 per person, which will be available on the door on the 11th. 

Cheers, WFC (Stef, Caroline and Sam) x

MAY : 120 Battements Par Minute (120bpm)

Our next screening is the absolutely unmissable 120 BPM, on Monday 14th May at the Connaught cinema at 8.15pm.

120 BPM has been a critics favourite since it won Grand Prix (second prize) at Cannes, and it went on to win six awards at the Césars (French Oscars), including Best Film, Actor, Screenplay and Editing.

This stunning film from director Robin Campillo is set in early 90s Paris, where we follow the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). ACT UP were a direct action organisation fighting the AIDS pandemic and helped to bring about legislation, medical research, and ultimately treatment and policy changes. It's written and performed with an incredible confidence and energy, and it's no surprise that Writer/Director Campillo also wrote the excellent Palme d'Or winning THE CLASS (2008). During the film we follow one relationship, as the film merges the personal and the political to devastatingly powerful effect. 120 BPM is a vital account of that time in history, and is definitely not to be missed.

"This film has what its title implies: a heartbeat. It is full of cinematic life." ***** - The Guardian

"this is pure cinema - an enthralling, enveloping experience” ***** - Empire

"it deploys not just righteous anger but a bustling and vibrant visual language” - Sight & Sound

Watch the trailer here

Free to members 

(£25 a year, more info here: http://worthingfilmclub.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/welcome-to-worthing-film-club.html) 

£7 for a ticket, which are selling fast and currently available here: https://worthingtheatres.co.uk/120-bpm-15/

See you on the 14th, WFC (Stef, Caroline and Sam) x

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