Forest Row Film Society

Programme 2008-2009

Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev

New digital equipment

www.forestrowfilmsociety.org Whitehead Pottery Studio moved to Forest Row

PIANO LESSONS

Qualified, experienced, friendly teacher.

Four students max All ages and stages. 2 hour sessions Affordable cost Marion Maidment-Evans LTCL, MA Ring for a chat on 01342 824609 T. 01342 321225

Forest Row Village Hall CHAIRS

Thank you to everyone who has donated for the first batch of new chairs. We hope you agree that they make watching films more comfortable We would like to replace all the old chairs, so if you would like to make a donation, “We are delighted to support please contact us Forest Row Film Society” Cheques payable to Forest Row Village Hall Management Committee. Please gift aid your donation; forms available on the website 14-15 Hartfield Road Forest Row http://forestrowvillagehall.org/ 01342 824961 01342 825577 A new season and new digital equipment Welcome to the new season. There are big changes this year with a new projector, sound system and a big screen. The first screening with it will be the marvellously uplifting Caramel on 17th October. Our first two films will use the existing 16mm equipment. See the website to read more about all the films, or to see trailers. All screenings start off with coffee, tea and cake.

19th September 2008: Ginger and Fred

Director: Federico Fellini, Italy-France-West Germany 1986, Colour (15) 127 min After a long separation, Amelia (Giuletta Masina) and Pippo (Marcello Mastroianni) are brought together again to appear in an extremely low- brow TV variety show After some crazy goings on, we see them on the stage among a crowd of vulgar would-be celebrities getting ever more lonely and fragile as they are caught in a flood of crass freaks, unable to fight off being relegated to novelty status. One feels their pain and frustration of being trapped in an alien world. Beside a broad critique of television the real theme of the movie is the displacement of the artist once their chosen form is rendered obsolete.

3rd October 2008: Uncle Vanya

Director: Andrei Konchalovsky, USSR 1971, Colour (A) 102 min Most of the characters in this 1971 adaptation of Chekhov's play are consumed with lethargy, boredom, and regret over their unsatisfactory lives. They include Vanya himself, an embittered estate manager, Serebryakov, a once-worshipped scholar that Vanya has discovered to be a charlatan, Astrov, the brooding and introspective doctor who is disappointed in love and life, and also the mysterious and beautiful Yelena, Serebryakov’s young second wife. Konchalovsky allows the film to proceed at Chekhov's own pace: the camera, which has the presence of a household intimate, captures the pathos, pain and tragi-comedy of this volatile household. 17th October 2008: Caramel

Director: Nadine Labaki, Lebanon 2008, Colour (PG) 95 min Caramel is the most internationally acclaimed Lebanese film to date. A simple but effective story of five Lebanese women tackling binding traditions, forbidden love, repressed sexuality, duty versus desire, and the struggle to accept the natural process of age. Labaki's film is unique for not showcasing a war-ravaged Beirut but rather a warm and inviting exotic locale where people deal with universal issues. The title Caramel refers to an epilation method used in the Middle East that consists of heating sugar, water and lemon juice. In the film Labaki also symbolically implies the "idea of sweet and salt, sweet and sour" as everyday relations can sometimes be, but ultimately the sisterhood shared between the central female characters prevails.

“a lovely film. ... it’s lovingly shaped and deeply felt, a happy-sad charmer which deserves a wide audience.” Time Out “A universal treat. Caramel is a subtle delicacy and one to be savored.” Washington Post This is the first screening with our new equipment. Come along for a glass of wine beforehand and celebrate. http://www.caramelmovie.co.uk/ 7th November 2008: Son of Man

Director: Mark Dornford-May, South Africa 2006, Colour (12A) 91 min Set in a fictional African Judea, Son of Man is a retelling of the story of Christ by the South African theatre group, Dimpho Di Kopane, who also produced U-Carmen eKhayelitsha. Filmed in a South African township, it is a musical allegory against the background of a brutal civil war. Amid the conflict a child is born to a poor couple. As he grows up, he sets out to save the people from oppression through an ethic of non-violent protest. Amazing to look at and with a powerful soundtrack, Son of Man is a remarkable story of revolution and justice. “A vivid, thrilling, visually awe-inspiring piece of cinema” Daily Telegraph The film will be introduced by Flora Smith, who, together with director Mark Dornford-May, produced the original theatre version.

14th November 2008: Ashes and Diamonds

Director: Andrej Wajda, Poland 1959, B&W (12) 109 min On the last day of World War Two in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, a youth psychologically deformed by war (played by the ‘European James Dean’, Zbigniew Cybulski), has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna, a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, Ashes and Diamonds masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time. Wajda’s film displays a deep understanding and human sympathy with both sides, or rather for the people on both sides who are inspired by honest motives. 28th November 2008, 7.30pm: Andrei Rublev

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR 1973, B&W/Colour (12) 182 min Widely regarded as Tarkovsky's finest film, Andrei Rublev charts the life of this icon painter in eight imaginary episodes through a violent period of fifteenth century Russia. Reduced to silence by the horrors he witnesses under the Tartar invasion, the Christ-like visionary monk finally regains the will to speak and paint, and the film ends in a stunning montage of Rublev's surviving icons. Note early start time.

13th December 2008, 2.30pm: The Muppets Take Manhattan

Director: Frank Oz, USA 1984, Colour (U) 94 min In The Muppets Take Manhattan the muppets have created a successful show which they try and sell to a Broadway producer. After a string of failures, however, they split up and resort to various odd jobs until Kermit finally strikes lucky and gets their show 'Manhattan Melodies' on stage. The film stars all of the favourite muppet crew who are accompanied by a large cast of celebrity cameos including Joan Rivers, Liza Minnelli and the then-mayor of New York, Ed Koch. This is a fun caper that builds on the structure of the television series and will appeal to muppet fans and others of all ages.

See our listings of all films on locally: http://forestrowfilmsociety.org/listings.html Bishops Home Hardware - Violin and Viola Cookware, Ironmongers & Gardening Tuition Global Adventurer - Clothing & Wednesdays in Uckfield footwear for the outdoor walking enthusiast

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An independent family business offering three different services, 30 years experience, kindly and delivering excellence in all! enthusiastic teacher accepts any age, beginners, later starters and The Square, Forest Row, East Sussex, advanced levels. RH18 5ES Tel: (01342) 822740 Sundari Heller LRAM 01342 823099 9th January 2009: Son of Rambow

Director: Garth Jennings, UK 2008, Colour (12A) 95 min During a long summer two boys form an unlikely friendship. Will, brought up in a strict religious household, is forbidden TV and music. Lee, a school troublemaker, enthuses his friend with a pirate copy of Rambo. Lee is making a home movie, and persuades Will to act in it: they plot stunt after stunt, all the while avoiding teachers and family to finish the masterpiece in time to enter it for a national amateur film competition. With Eric Sykes in a cameo role, this is a nostalgic and heartwarming comedy, directed by Garth Jennings (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) about two boys with great ambitions.

23rd January 2009: Lancelot du Lac

Director: Robert Bresson, France 1975, Colour (PG) 83 min This is Bresson's very personal vision of the Arthurian legend, stripped of all romance. Camelot is a bleak expanse of gloomy muddy forest where the knights of the Round Table clank around in their unwieldy armour. The characters, far from chivalrous, are proud, cruel and lonely. The defining joust sequence is a turmoil of pounding hooves, thrusting lances, mud and blood. And yet the film is strangely beautiful and utterly mesmerising.

13th February 2009: Under the Bombs

Director: Philippe Aractingi, Lebanon 2008, Colour (15) 98 min Filmed in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon in 2006, Under the Bombs is a road movie in a war zone. Zeina, a shi'ite, returns to Beirut to find her son who has been living with her sister. She persuades Toni, a christian taxi driver, to take her to the south to search for her family. Their relationship, initially frosty, gradually develops into a strong rapport as their quest progresses. With moments of humour, and the beautiful landscapes contrasting with the troubles of living in Lebanon, Under the Bombs was filmed using documentary techniques and won a prize at last year's Venice Film Festival.

27th February 2009: Caravaggio

Director: Derek Jarman, UK 1986, Colour (18) 92 min As Michelangelo da Caravaggio lies dying at Porto Ecole in 1610, his mind drifts back to a life of extraordinary passion, his relationship with his model Ranuccio Thomasoni and with Ranuccio's mistress, Lena. In the film, Jarman proposes a murderous intensity as the mainspring for both Caravaggio's love life and for his painting. Derek Jarman struggled for seven years to bring his portrait of the seventeenth century artist Caravaggio to the screen. The result was worth the wait, and was greeted with critical acclaim. The film centres on an imagined love triangle and conjures up some of the artist's most famous paintings through elaborate and beautiful photography. Followed by the AGM.

13th March 2009: Blackboards

Director: Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran 2000, Colour (PG) 85 min At 21 Samira Makhmalbaf was the youngest director to win the Jury Prize at Cannes for Blackboards. Her supremely thought-provoking, intelligent and sophisticated films have secured her prominence in the wave of the new Iranian cinema. A group of teachers in Kurdistan brave the Iran–Iraq border with blackboards strapped to their backs. Their mobile teaching methods take them deep into the mountainous terrain, searching for would-be pupils whom they seek to educate. Reeboir infiltrates a group of child smugglers while Saïd joins a group of nomads, struggling to find their way home across the border to Iraq. Their mission provides a pessimistic insight into the lives of the dispossessed. The image of a straggling group, clumsily shouldering blackboards through the sienna-coloured mountains, is at first startling, then surreal. The teachers soon learn that the harshest lesson of the day is one of survival. 27th March 2009: Persepolis

Director: Vincent Paronnaud; Marjane Satrapi, France 2008, Colour (12A) 95 min An animated coming of age story, comic, elegant and simple, based on Satrapi's graphic novel. A little girl, growing up in pre-revolutionary Iran in the 1970s, is the indulged and adored daughter of well-to-do secular leftists who campaign against the shah. Marjane as a little girl is a funny, smart, cheerful and vulnerable character with a love of western trash culture. She is close to her mother, closer still to her witty, wise and worldly grandmother. As she grows into her teens, Marjane is sent abroad for a chaotic education in Europe. Her experiences help to reshape her expectations of life, and Marjane finds a gravitational pull to return to a homeland that rejects free-thinking women and sexual liberalism. Persepolis won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes festival.

1st May 2009: After the Wedding

Director: Susanne Bier, Denmark 2006 Colour (15) 123 min Jacob Peterson is a man who has dedicated his life to helping the street children of India but sadly the orphanage he runs is faced with bankruptcy. He visits Jorgan, a Danish businessman and receives an unusual proposal, the award of four million dollars, but given with two conditions. First, Jacob must return and live in Denmark and, secondly, he must attend the wedding of Jorgan’s daughter, Anna. The wedding, and all that is revealed after the ceremony, is a critical point between past and present, forcing Jacob into making one of the most difficult decisions of his life. A most amazing film that will leave you stunned, especially in the way it works out the fates of its troubled yet believable characters.

15th May 2009: To be confirmed Our final screening of the season will be a surprise. Maybe a popular favourite, or a new release. Sign up to our email list to find out. Film Society Fundraising Film Screenings in Sussex

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Supported by

and with thanks to all our members who donated Forest Row Film Society 2008-2009 31st year

Freshfield Hall, Forest Row, mostly Fridays at 8pm

19th September Ginger and Fred 3rd October Uncle Vanya 17th October Caramel 7th November Son of Man 14th November Ashes and Diamonds 28th November (7.30pm) Andrei Rublev Saturday 13th December (2.30pm: all seats £3) The Muppets Take Manhattan 9th January Son of Rambow 23rd January Lancelot du Lac 13th February Under the Bombs 27th February Caravaggio 13th March Blackboards 27th March Persepolis 1st May After the Wedding 15th May TBC

Membership for a year: £6/£4 (concessions) Admission to each film: £4/£3.50 (concessions) Day membership including admissions: £5/£4 (concessions)

All performances start at 8 pm and doors open at 7.30pm, except where indicated. Coffee, tea and cake is available from 7.30pm. All foreign language films are shown in their original language with English subtitles.

Secretary and treasurer: Marie-Claire Thomson (tel: 01342 823424) Email: [email protected] Read more about the films at www.forestrowfilmsociety.org where you can sign up to receive an email reminder a week before each screening and receive further reading about all the films.