Scottish Film Event Highlights – May 2016
In Edinburgh and Glasgow's cinemas this month, catch a retrospective of cinema's great visual poet, Andrei Tarkovsky, plus the best of Ibero-American documentary and the return of the Film Folk Gathering
Which filmmaker's special effects leave you most in awe? You might be tempted to suggest one of the great blockbuster specialists, say Steven Spielberg or James Cameron, but neither can hold a candle to Andrei Tarkovsky. The Russian visionary’s command of his images seems closer to magic than filmmaking: nature seems to bend to his will and real world locations look like photorealistic CGI vistas, made decades before such technology was available. This month, full retrospectives of his seven feature films, from debut Ivan's Childhood to swan song The Sacrifice, begin screening at Glasgow Film Theatre (from 22 May) and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse (from 23 May). Don’t miss this chance to see these shimmering masterpieces on the big screen.
The Ibero-American Documentary Festival (or IberoDocs) returns to Filmhouse between 4-8 May for its third edition, promoting “a message of freedom and rebellion.” The festival is bookended by docs focusing on men who went from humble beginnings to figures loved by millions (namely, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez and Uruguayan president Pepe Mujica). In between you’ll find All of Me (6 May), an insight into the women who help feed migrants travelling atop the freight train through central America on their way to the US, and a series of short docs from the Ibero-American nations.
Song of the Sea screens at Filmhouse as part of the Folk Film Gathering
Talking of shorts, the Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) team are screening programme Queers in the City on 13 May at GMAC Film. Made up of contemporary British shorts – including Erskine by Glasgow-based Nicola O’Reilly (who will be around for a Q&A on the night), Flabzilla by Kayleigh O’Keefe, and The Very Last Plea From My Heart by Olivia Sparrow – these films recognise the unique place of LGBTQ people within the city space.
We’re excited to see new monthly film night Braw Cinema Club pop up in Edinburgh this month at The Banshee Labyrinth on 12 May. Their admirable aim is to unearth forgotten gems from yesteryear, and they're kicking off with a cracker: Nagisa Oshima’s 1986 oddity Max mon amour. Written by Jean-Claude Carrière (who creates a story as surreal as anything he wrote with Buñuel), this bone-dry comedy concerns an affair between an English diplomat's wife (Charlotte Rampling) and a chimpanzee. As opening gambits go, it’s a bold one.
Finally, the Folk Film Gathering continues at Filmhouse. The festival explores the ways in which world cinema engages with folk culture – “as living tradition, as people’s history, and as working class culture and experience.” Highlights include Jean Rouch’s landmark documentary The Lion Hunters (5 May), the Taviani brothers’ earthy Palme d’Or winner Padre Padrone (6 May) and Song of the Sea, animator Tom Moore’s ravishing Irish folklore fantasy (7 May).
If you've a film event you'd like us to know about, send details to jamie@theskinny.co.uk