Viva Brighton Issue #45 November 2016

FILM
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Cinecity
Gimme Danger... and a three-hour German comedy
The much-loved Brighton film festival Cinecity returns
for its 14th year this month. Co-director Tim
Brown shares some of this year’s highlights…
This year’s theme is ‘adventures in world cinema’,
which is what we have been championing for
the last few years. In this year, of all years, it seems
even more important to be exploring and absorbing
other cultures.
There’s such a broad range of countries represented
this year - Afghanistan, Nepal, Japan, Singapore,
Brazil, Cape Verde, Albania, Romania, Egypt,
South Korea, Iran. And most of the films come
garlanded with awards from other international
festivals - it’s the cream of the international crop.
This is an area of cinema that needs a bit of
nurturing and support. There is so much good
foreign-language stuff being produced, but there is
a lack of screen space for it, which means it can be
hard for these films to find an audience. Fortunately,
we know there is an audience for them in Brighton.
We like to focus on films that are inherently
cinematic - in other words, works that can only
be properly appreciated on the big screen. We also
place an emphasis on first features and debuts, which
can be a challenge when it comes to marketing.
What we’re often saying is, ‘this is a film by a director
you’ve never heard of and featuring a cast you
don’t recognise, but trust us - it’s worth watching.’
There’s a lot of talk these days about ‘event cinema’,
and in some cases Cinecity is a pure form of
that. This is probably the only chance UK audiences
will have to see certain films, for example, The Wolf
and the Sheep (pictured), which doesn’t have a UK
distributor. It’s a fantastic film set in a rural Afghan
community where the children are the masters of
the village. It’s made by 27-year-old Shahrbanoo
Sadat, who’s the first female feature director to come
from Afghanistan.
Then there’s Limite, one of our archive screenings,
which is a really beautiful and fascinating film
made in 1931 by Mexican director Mario Peixoto
when he was just 21. It turned out to be the only
film he ever made. It was lost for decades until a
recent restoration, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever
seen - hallucinatory, evocative and intense.
I wouldn’t say I had a favourite genre, although I
really enjoy watching documentaries at the moment.
Gimme Danger, the Jim Jarmusch documentary
we’re showing on Iggy and the Stooges, is especially
great, and is exactly what you want a music documentary
to be.
The film I’d recommend everyone sees is a
three-hour German comedy called Toni Erdmann
that we’re keeping for our closing night. I
know it doesn’t sound appealing, but I promise you
it’s fantastic. It was a massive hit in Cannes, and in
fact got the highest critical rating any film has ever
had there. This is a great chance to see what lots of
people are saying will be the film of next year.
As told to Nione Meakin
CineCity, various locations in Brighton & Hove, 11th–
27th. cine-city.co.uk
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