Aberfeldy Film Festival - 2014
"Calling the Shots: Scottish Film Makers in World Cinema"
Friday 14 November
The Birks Cinema 19.30 Housekeeping (UK 1987, Cert PG, 113 mins ) Dir. Bill Forsyth. 1950s Idaho: two young sisters grow up with their eccentric aunt who sits in the dark and sleeps in the park. Comedy about impossible attachments and doomed affection in a world divided between two kinds of people. Live Event Bill Forsyth will be joining us for a discussion after the film. Saturday 15 November The Birks Cinema 11.00 Childrens Film Brave (USA 2012,Cert PG, 90mins) Some scary scenes! Dirs. Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman. A Scottish princess defies an age old custom and follows her own path in life, causing chaos in the kingdom, family disagreements, and inadvertently turning her mother into a bear. In the end she achieves reconciliation and her dreams. The Birks Cinema 14.00 Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life (UK 1996, Cert PG, 23mins ) Dir. Peter Capaldi. Short comic film. Franz Kafka is struggling to start his novel Metamorphosis, constantly interrupted by the most ridiculous characters and dreams, until he finds an insect which inspires him. Showing with: Donkeys (UK 2010, Cert 15, 77 mins) Dir. Morag McKinnon. Jet black comedy about an old man coming to terms with his impending death. A tangled tale of friendship, forgiveness and family secrets set in Glasgow. Dewars World of Whisky 17.00 Palme-Dewar Short Film Competition View the finalists’ films in this competition for Scottish film makers, cast your vote and congratulate the winner. The Birks Cinema 20.00 Exchange and Mart (UK 2014, no cert – suggest PG 15 mins ) Dirs. Cara Connolly & Martin Clark. A self defence exercise in the woods doesn’t go according to plan at a Highlands Boarding School for girls ... Live Event Connolly and Clark had been planning to join us for a discussion after the film but their attendance has had to be postponed because they are instead attending the BAFTA awards, as the film is nominated for an award there. Showing with: Big Banana Feet (UK 1977, no cert- suggest 15+, 77 mins) Dir. Murray Grigor & Cinematographer David Peat. Documentary following Billy Connolly on his 1975 IrishTour. A fascinating time capsule of the young Connolly at the height of his powers. Sunday 16 November Locus Centre,The Square,Aberfeldy 10.30 – 15.30 Introductory ANIMATION WORKSHOPS for children and young people (see back page for details). The Birks Cinema 11.30 FREE FILM WORKSHOP: Making a social document focusing on people (see back page for details). Following the workshop we will be showing 2 films illustrating the theme. 12.30 Clavel (UK 2013, no cert – suggest PG, 30 mins) Dir. Shona Main. A portrait of James Robert Sinclair, an 84-year-old Shetland crofter who, despite having moved to sheltered housing, keeps the croft and his sheep thanks to the help of his friends and neighbours. Showing with: Hugh MacDiarmid: A Portrait (UK 1964, no cert - suggest PG 8 min 13) Dir. Margaret Tait. An affectionate portrait of Scotland’s controversial and influential poet. Live Event Shona Main will remain with us for a discussion after the films. The Birks Cinema 14.00 The Devil’s Plantation (UK 2013, no cert – suggest PG, 93 mins) Dir. May Miles Thomas. 66 films, 2 life stories and an ancient secret revealed. A search for the soul of Glasgow and for the magic in ordinary places. Live Event Miles Thomas will be joining us for a discussion after the film. The Birks Cinema 16.30 I love Luci (UK 2010, no cert – suggest PG, 13 mins ) Dir. Colin Kennedy. A comedy of missing teeth, unrequited love and one dog’s potential to shape the fortunes of a couple designed never to be together... Live Event Kennedy will be joining us for a discussion after the film. Showing with: The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (UK 2000, Cert 15, 84 mins) Dir. Gillies MacKinnon. Judy Dench reunites a wartime swing band in this musical comedy. Joan Sims’ last film, Ramola Garai’s first and Judy Dench on Sax - something for everyone? Last year for the first time we were able to show most of our films in the Birks Cinema, which has been completely redeveloped internally to a very high standard and sits in the heart of Aberfeldy on the main square. The finalists in the Palme Dewar Shorts Competition are judged during the festival and the shortlisted films are also viewed by the public at Dewar’s Distillery Aberfeldy late on the Saturday afternoon (15th Nov) - before the overall winner is announced there shortly afterwards. We had a very exciting line-up of films for the festival weekend last year - under the overall theme "Our Nature" enabling a wide repertoire of film types to be showcased including some you may well have missed. The festival opened on Friday evening (15th) at Dewar's World Of Whisky with a free event. Here the focus was on John Muir - including the screening of a full length feature film on his early life, preceded by an introduction from our guest speaker from the John Muir Trust. Saturday's programme opened with a great children's film 'The Black Stallion" in the Birks Cinema, at special reduced prices. That afternoon, also at The Birks, we then screened "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea" a fascinating story with great cinematography ... and immediately afterwards we set up a live Q & A session in a transatlantic link with one of the film's co-directors - a first for the Aberfeldy Film Festival. Then it was a swift relocation along the road to Dewar's World of Whisky for a very special double-bill that evening. First we screened the finalists' films in the Palme-Dewar short film competition, followed by voting and presentations to the winners. After a short interlude and light buffet the evening at Dewar's continued with a screening of the classic film Deliverance ... wrapping up the Dewar's part of our programme. Sunday (17th) there were two animation workshops held - morning and afternoon - at the Locus Centre. These sessions with Red Kite have always proved very popular with youngsters and the numbers of places were limited so booking ahead was recommended - as it is for all of our film screenings. On the Sunday early afternoon we were back at The Birks for a fascinating and visually stunning film set in Greenland - The Village at the end of the World". The 2013 film festival ended bon Sunday evening at The Birks with a screening of "For those in peril" - a brand new Scottish film release getting its first screening here in Scotland after being very well reviewed in Cannes earlier this year. Tickets for the animation workshops and the film screenings at Dewar's were on sale at the Visitor Information Centres in Aberfeldy and Pitlcohry. Tickets for all the festival weekend films being shown at The Birks Cinema were sold directly through the cinema - via its on-line ticketing, telephone sales or in person at the box office. DIscounted ticket prices for HFS members will be given. For details go to the cinema website http://www.birkscinema.co.uk As you can see tthe above programme offered something to suit everyone hopefully, and this will also be the case for our forthcoming 2014 festival on 14-16 November - and should make it another memorable film festival weekend in Aberfeldy. You can read about previous festivals here. |
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