Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Cheltenham >> 2023 >> Features
Fantastic Machine and Lord Of The Flies
The 9th Step
(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2022; Director: Irma Puzauskaite; Writer: Egle Vertelyte; Stars: Valentin Novopolskij, Gerda Ciuraite, Kristupas Birzietis, Lina Brazau, Romas Buozys, Karolis Butvilas, Tauras Cizas, Algirdas Dainavicius, Angelina Daukaite, Jonas Golubovskis, Povilas Jatkevicius, Laurynas Jurgelis, Aleksas Kazanavicius, Viola Klimciauskaite, Andrius Kucinskas)
After a decade of addiction, a man's life is back on track... but then he finds himself living with his estranged teenage daughter.
Ajoomma
(Country: Singapore; Year: 2022; Director: He Shuming; Writer: He Shuming, Kris Ong; Stars: Hong Huifang, Kang Hyoung-suk, Jung Dong-hwan, Yeo Jin-gu)
A widow obsessed with Korean soap operas travels abroad for the first time in her life to Seoul and finds more than she had bargained for.
Amusia
(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Marescotti Ruspoli; Stars: Fanny Ardant, Maurizio Lombardi, Adriano Chiaramida, Carlotta Gamba, Giampiero De Concilio)
A love story between a girl who "escapes" from music and a boy who "survives" thanks to music.
Backwards (Subuk)
(Country: Poland; Year: 2022; Director: Jacek Lusinski; Stars: Malgorzata Gorol, Andrzej Seweryn, Marta Malikowsku)
A woman spends two decades battling to secure a proper education for her severely autistic son.
Between The Rains
(Country: Kenya; Year: 2023; Director: Andrew H Brown, Moses Thuranira)
A coming-of-age documentary following a young member of a formerly nomadic northern Kenyan community as they deal with the environmental and psychological effects of climate change.
Riceboy Sleeps and The Spirit Of The Beehive
Beyond The Summit
(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2022; Director: Ibon Cormenzana; Stars: Javier Rey, Blana Apilanez, Kandido Uranga)
Two mountaineers, one of whom already owes his life to the other, take on the Himalayan mountain Annapurna.
BlackBerry
(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Matt Johnson; Writer: Matt Johnson and Matthew Miller, based on the book by Jacquie McNish; Stars: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Rich Sommer)
The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.
Bolan's Shoes
(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Ian Puleston-Davies; Stars: Timothy Spall, Leanne Best, Mathew Horne, Ian Puleston-Davies, Mark Lewis Jones)
A woman decides to go on a pilgrimage to Bolan’s shrine in London in honour of what would have been his 75th birthday, bringing back painful memories.
Breaking The Ice
(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Clara Stern; Writer: Clara Stern; Stars: Alina Schaller, Judith Altenberger, Tobias Samuel Resch, Pia Hierzegger, Wolfgang Böck)
An Austrian woman escapes from the pressure of running her family’s vineyard by playing ice hockey. Then a new player arrives to challenge her rigid worldview, leading to a life-changing night on the streets of Vienna.
Cora Bora
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Hannah Pearl Utt; Writer: Rhianon Jones; Stars: Megan Stalter, Jojo T Gibbs, Manny Jacinto, Ayden Mayeri, Thomas Mann, Chrissie Fit, Andre Hyland, Chelsea Peretti, Margaret Cho, Darrell Hammond)
Cora senses her open relationship is on the rocks. When the struggling musician and messy millennial goes home to Portland to win her girlfriend back, she realizes it’s much more than her love life that needs salvaging.
Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Remember To Blink
The Eternal Daughter
(Country: UK, US; Year: 2022; Director: Joanna Hogg; Writer: Joanna Hogg; Stars: Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies)
A ghost story about a middle-aged daughter and her elderly mother must confront long-buried secrets when they return to their former family home, a once-grand manor that has become a nearly vacant hotel brimming with mystery.
Fantastic Machine (And The King Said, What A Fantastic Machine)
(Country: Sweden, Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck)
From the first camera to 45 billion cameras worldwide today, the visual sociologist filmmakers widen their lens to expose both humanity’s unique obsession with the camera’s image and the social consequences that lay ahead.
Fathers And Mothers
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2022; Director: Paprika Steen; Stars: Lisa Loven Kongsli, Nikolaj Lie Kass, Amanda Collin)
Competitive parents resort to increasingly childlike behaviour on a school camping trip.
Fremont
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Babak Jalali; Writer: Babak Jalali; Stars: Anaita Wali Zada, Jeremy Allen White, Gregg Turkington)
Donya works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie.
Grand Expectations
(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Sylvain Desclous; Stars: Rebecca Marder, Benjamin Lavernhe, Emmanuelle Bercot, Marc Barbé, Pascal Elso,
Cédric Appietto)
A Corsican road rage incident which goes fatally wrong changes the destiny of an ambitious young woman.
Breaking The Ice and Il Boemo
Il Boemo
(Country: Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia; Year: 2022; Director: Petr Václav; Writer: Petr Václav; Stars: Vojtech Dyk, Karel Roden, Lino Musella, Barbara Ronchi, Lenka Vlasáková, Martina Babisova, Salvatore Langella, Lana Vlady, Zdenek Godla, Cristiano Donati, Diego Pagotto, Philippe Jaroussky, Philip Amadeus Hahn, Emöke Baráth, Raffaella Milanesi)
Biopic of composer Josef Mysliveček.
Klondike
(Country: Ukraine, Turkey; Year: 2022; Director: Maryna Er Gorbach; Writer: Maryna Er Gorbach; Stars: Evgeniy Efremov, Oleg Shcherbina, Oksana Cherkashyna, Oleg Shevchuk, Artur Aramyan)
The story of a Ukrainian family living on the border of Russia - Ukraine during the start of war. Irka refuses to leave her house even as the village gets captured by armed forces. Shortly after, they find themselves at the center of an air crash catastrophe on July 17, 2014.
Last Dance
(Country: Switzerland, Belgium; Year: 2022; Director: Delphine Lehericey; Stars: François Berléand, Kacey Mottet Klein, La Ribot)
A 75-year-old man finds new meaning in life when he secretly joins a contemporary dance group.
Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels)
(Country: UK; Year: 1997; Director: Guy Ritchie; Writer: Guy Ritchie; Stars: Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Statham, Steven Mackintosh, Nicholas Rowe, Nick Marcq, Charles Forbes, Vinnie Jones, Lenny McLean, Peter McNicholl, Vas Blackwood)
After losing in a card game a London con has to make the money back fast.
Luise
(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2023; Director: Matthias Luthardt; Stars: Luise Aschenbrenner, Christa Théret, Leonard Kunz)
During the First World War, a recently bereaved young farmer offers shelter to two strangers. When she begins to fall for one of them, the other becomes jealous.
Klondike and The Old Oak
Lord Of The Flies
(Country: UK; Year: 1963; Director: Peter Brook; Writer: Peter Brook, based on the book by William Golding.; Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin, Tom Gaman)
A group a schoolboys stranded on an island quickly turn to savagery and fiercely hierarchical behaviour in this adaptation of William Golding's classic tale.
Mamma Mia!
(Country: UK, US, Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Phyllida Lloyd; Writer: Catherine Johnson; Stars: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Nancy Baldwin, Rachel McDowell, Colin Davis), Official Site, Trailer
When her daughter wants to get married, Donna has to explain that any one of three men could be her father.
The Miracle Club
(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Thaddeus O'Sullivan; Writer: Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, Jimmy Smallhorne; Stars: Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Agnes O’Casey, Stephen Rea)
Three close friends who have never left the outskirts of Dublin get the journey of a lifetime - a visit to Lourdes, the picturesque French town and place of miracles.
Nightsiren
(Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic; Year: 2022; Director: Tereza Nvotová; Writer: Barbora Namerova, Tereza Nvotová; Stars: Natalia Germani, Eva Mores, Juliana Olhová, Iva Bittová, Jane Olhová)
A young woman returns to her native mountain village, searching for answers about her troubled childhood, but as she tries to uncover the truth, ancient superstitions lead the villagers to accuse her of witchcraft and murder.
No Dogs Or Italians Allowed
(Country: France, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Alain Ughetto; Stars: Ariane Ascaride, Alain Ughetto, Stefano Paganini)
An animated story about the director's grandparents as they left their home in Ughettera and survive war, famine, flu and fascism as they sought to build a new life in France.
Between The Rains and Nightsiren
The Old Oak
(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Ken Loach; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Debbie Honeywood, Andy Dawson, Reuben Bainbridge, Col Tait, Rob Kirtley)
A musing on the future of The Old Oak, the last remaining pub in a village in Northeast England, where people are leaving the land as the mines are closed. Houses are cheap and available, thus making it an ideal location for Syrian refugees.
On The Ftinge
(Country: Spain, Belgium; Year: 2022; Director: Juan Diego Botto; Stars: Penelope Cruz, Luis Tosar, Christian Checa)
A lawyer activist strives to help people who are about to be evicted from their homes, but also struggles financially.
Prison 77 (Modelo 77)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Alberto Rodríguez; Writer: Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodríguez; Stars: Iñigo Aranburu, Javier Beltrán, Carlos Bernardino, Polo Camino, José Gabriel Campos, Jesús Carroza, Víctor Castilla, Víctor Castillo, Iñigo de la Iglesia, Javier Gutiérrez, Miguel Herrán, Javier Lago, Alfonso Lara, Daniel Mantero, Ana Cecilia Mendes)
Modelo Prison. Barcelona, 1977. A young accountant awaiting trial for embezzlement, joins forces with his cellmate and a collective fighting for the rights of ordinary prisoners.
Property (Propriedade)
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2022; Director: Daniel Bandeira; Stars: Malu Galli, Zuleika Ferreira, Tavinho Teixeira, Samuel Santos, Edilson Silva)
When rebelling workers occupy Teresa’s family estate, she flees at the last minute into an armoured car. She is trapped, but refuses to negotiate.
Remember To Blink (Per Arti, The Family)
(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2022; Director: Austeja Urbaite; Writer: Austeja Urbaite; Stars: Dovile Kundrotaite, Anne Azoulay, Arthur Igual, Inesa Sionova, Ajus Antanavicius)
A young woman engaged to help a pair of children fit into their new French family engages in a battle of wills with their new mum.
BlackBerry and Fremont
Riceboy Sleeps
(Country: Canada; Year: 2022; Director: Anthony Shim; Writer: Anthony Shim; Stars: Choi Seung-yoon, Ethan Hwang, Dohyun Noel Hwang, Anthony Shim, Hunter Dillon)
A Korean single mother raises her young son in the suburbs of Nineties Canada, determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind.
The Spirit Of The Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)
(Country: Spain; Year: 1973; Director: Víctor Erice; Writer: Víctor Erice, Ángel Fernández Santos, Francisco J Querejeta; Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería, Ketty de la Cámara, Estanis González, José Villasante, Juan Margallo, Laly Soldevila, Miguel Picazo)
A screening of James Whale's Frankenstein alters how an impressionable young girl sees her world in 1940s Spain.
Time Out (Temps Mort)
(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2023; Director: Eve Duchemin; Stars: Karim Leklou, Issaka Sawadogo, Jarod Cousyns)
Three prisoners nearing the end of their sentences go back to their communities on 48 hour leave.
Tristana
(Country: Spain, Italy, France; Year: 1970; Director: Luis Buñuel; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero)
Chaos ensues when the young ward of an infatuated nobleman begins to assert her independence.
The Trouble With Jessica
(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Matt Winn; Stars: Rufus Sewell, Indira Varma , Shirley Henderson, Olivia Williams, Alan Tudyk, Ann Reid)
Just when a couple are celebrating the long awaited sale of their home, a writer attending their dinner party is inconveniently found dead in the garden.
Mamma Mia! and Prison 77
Typist Artist Pirate King
(Country: UK; Year: 2022; Director: Carol Morley; Writer: Carol Morley; Stars: Monica Dolan, Kelly Macdonald, Gina McKee, Kieran Bew, Christine Bottomley, Judith Chandler, Gary Bates, Orla Cottingham, Dawn Butler, Kya Brame, Anand Toora, Pauline Whitaker, Neal Barry, Issam Al Ghussain, Gavin Kitchen)
A road movie which draws from the archives of artist Audrey Amiss.
Vasil
(Country: Spain, Bulgaria; Year: 2023; Director: Avelina Prat; Stars: Ivan Barnev, Karra Elejalde, Alexandra Jimenez)
A Bulgarian immigrant who is gifted when it comes to bridge and chess is offered a place to stay by a young Spaniard, whose family disapproves.
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios)
(Country: Spain; Year: 1988; Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Writer: Pedro Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Jean Cocteau; Stars: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Rossy de Palma, Kiti Mánver, Guillermo Montesinos, Chus Lampreave, Eduardo Calvo, Loles León, Ángel López de Andrés, Fernando Guillén, Juan Lombardero, José Antonio Navarro, Ana Leza)
As she doggedly searches for her inconstant lover, protagonist Pepa serves as the common thread linking absurd situations with insights into the bizarre lives of numerous characters.
The Way To Happiness
(Country: Belgium, France, Luxumbourg; Year: 2021; Director: Nicholas Steil; Stars: Simon Abkarian, Pascale Arbillot, Django Schrevens)
A man who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, whose best friend fled Pinochet's Chile, falls for a cinema projectionist.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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