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Bradford International Film Festival · 2013

Bradford International Film Festival 2013

New Features

Programme

31 films · 19 reviews

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A film about unconditional love and the freedom that goes with it as two adolescents who fall hopelessly for one another.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2011; Director: Joost van Ginkel; Writer: Joost van Ginkel; Stars: Gaite Jansen, Michael Muller, Eva van Heijningen, Ariane Schluter, Porgy Franssen, Robert de Hoog, Hugo Haenen, Baue van Leyden, Valerie Pos)

UK premiere. European Features Competition

An Anthropological Television Myth (Un mito antropologico televisivo)

Review preview for An Anthropological Television Myth

Has montage been this aggressive and politicised in recent years? It’s difficult to recall a comparator.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
Collage of fragments culled from an independent Sicilian TV station's output in the mid-90s.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2012; Director: Maria Helene Bertino, Dario Castelli, Alessandro Gagliardo)

Full review

UK premiere

Babylon

Review preview for Babylon

As a testimonial on the daily grind and ongoing uncertainty experienced by refugees at a particular historical moment, this epic documentary captures and presents events in a suitably gruelling manner.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
Chronicle of a temporary refugee camp in Tunisia.

(Country: Tunisia; Year: 2012; Director: Ismael Chebbi, Youssef Chebbi, Ala Eddine Slim)

Full review

UK premiere

Cursed Be The Phosphate

When a strike in an obscure Tunisian mining-town in 2008 was brutally suppressed by government forces, the local people fought back - and paid a heavy price.

(Country: Tunisia, UAE, Lebanon, Qatar; Year: 2012; Director: Sami Tlili)

UK premiere

Dragonflies With Birds And Snake (Trollsländor med Fåglar och Orm)

Not a scientific film, but rather a meditation, a contemplation on being itself.

(Country: Sweden / Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Wolfgang Lehmann)

UK premiere

A Dream's Merchant (Un gând, un vis, Doyle... si-un pix)

Review preview for A Dream's Merchant

Long and demanding, intimate and heartfelt.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
This true-life 'Motorcycle Diary' recounts the epic trek of genial, thirtyish photographer Mihai Barbu as he rumbles to the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator - and back.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2012; Director: Bogdan Ilie-Micu; Writer: Mihai Barbu, Bogdan Ilie-Micu; Stars: Mihai Barbu, Ionut Kivu)

Full review

UK premiere

East Hastings Pharmacy

Review preview for East Hastings Pharmacy

With its considered compositions and emphasis upon real-life re-enactment, East Hastings Pharmacy has a vague resemblance to Soderbergh’s Bubble.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
An introduction to the various people who visit a methadone clinic over the course of a day.

(Year: 2012; Director: Antoine Bourges; Stars: Shauna Hansen, Luis Figueroa)

Full review

Faith, Love And Whiskey (Faith Love & Whiskey)

Review preview for Faith, Love And Whiskey

At a lean 75 minutes, the film does well to paint that age-old dilemma between the romances of impulse and the disappointments of real life.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
Young Neli abandons a secure future in with a wealthy, straight-laced fiancé for one last fling with her passionate but boozily self destructive ex-boyfriend.

(Country: Bulgaria; Year: 2012; Director: Kristina Nikolova; Writer: Paul Dalio, Kristina Nikolova; Stars: Yavor Baharov, Lidia Indjova, John Keabler, Ana Stojanovska, Valeri Yordanov)

Full review

UK premiere

Gone Wild

Review preview for Gone Wild

Though his parallels are subtly evoked by a voice-over that is barely a whisper, Curean’s “non-interventionist” approach risks accusations of complicity in the casual animal cruelty he documents.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
In a landscape now largely abandoned by humans, wild horses face gradual extinction.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2012; Director: Dan Curean) , Trailer

Full review

UK premiere

A Hijacking (Kapringen)

Review preview for A Hijacking

Stark, beautifully observed, genuinely captivating, A Hijacking grabs its audience and does not let go.

Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
A brutal drama about a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and the subsequent struggles for survival and freedom.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2012; Director: Tobias Lindholm; Writer: Tobias Lindholm; Stars: Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling, Dar Salim)

Full review

I Have Always Been A Dreamer

Review preview for I Have Always Been A Dreamer

A quietly remarkable film that benefits from well-selected interviews with historians, businesspeople, artists and scholars.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
A documentary travelogue and portrait of two cities in contrasting states: Dubai and Detroit.

(Country: US, United Arab Emirates; Year: 2012; Director: Sabine Gruffat; Stars: Jerry Herron, George Karyotidis, Mitch Cope, Constance Bodurow, Freda G. Sampson, Colin Branson, Co-lab Creative, Matt Kelson, Douglas Crawford, Toufic Araman) , Trailer

Full review

UK premiere

Kill Me (Töte mich)

Review preview for Kill Me

The moments of satisfying personal drama and suspense are built slowly rather than thumped out with high intensity.

Paul Griffiths · 2.5 out of 5
A suicidal teenager agrees to help a murderer on the run if he will kill her afterwards, but as they flee, he finds himself beginning to care for her.

(Country: Germany, France, Switzerland; Year: 2012; Director: Emily Atef, Esther Bernstorff; Writer: Emily Atef; Stars: Maria Dragus, Roeland Wiesksnekker, Wolfram Koch, Christine Citti, Jean-Jérome Esposito)

Full review

European Features Competition

The Last Dogs Of Winter

In 1976, Ladoon began a lifelong mission to protect and preserve the beautiful Canadian Eskimo dog – qimmiq – which is the rarest registered breed of dog in the world. This documentary tells Ladoon’s story and that of Caleb Ross, a young New Zealand actor who travelled to Churchill, Manitoba in search of adventure and stayed three years.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2011; Director: Costa Botes; Stars: Brian Ladoon, Caleb Ross)

Little World (Món petit)

(Year: 2012)

UK premiere

Love Is All You Need (Den Skaldede Frisør)

Having just lost her hair to cancer and her husband to another woman, a hairdresser travels to Italy for her daughter's wedding and meets a man with troubles of his own.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Susanne Bier; Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen, Susanne Bier; Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Kim Bodnia, Trine Dyrholm, Paprika Steen, Sebastian Jessen)

The Love Songs Of Tiedan

Review preview for The Love Songs Of Tiedan

An on-paper melodrama imbued with musical energy and comical mischief by an excellent ensemble cast.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
The film recounts a romantic obsession that spans several decades. In a poor Shanxi Province village, six-year old Tiedan falls in love with May, the beautiful neighbor who practices a traditional form of singing, Er-ren-tai, and this love will never die.

(Country: China; Year: 2012; Director: Hie Jao; Writer: Hie Jao; Stars: Feng Si, Ye Lan, Feng Yun, Li Yuqin, Hao Guoying, Du Huanrong, Ge Xia)

Full review

UK premiere

Magpie

Review preview for Magpie

Magpie stretches a short-subject premise to narrative length that does well to tell at least four different stories in one digestible whole.

Michael Pattison · 2.5 out of 5
Aided by two of their friends, a former couple steal their dead son's body and set off to drive it to Cornwall, but nothing goes to plan.

(Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Marc Price; Writer: Marc Price; Stars: Daisy Aitkens, Craig Russell, Phil Deguara, Alastair Kirton, Les Kenny-Green, Carina Wan, Richard Corgan, Veronica Aitkens, David Day, Mick Robinson, Alicia Gray, Vanessa Everts, John Hendren, Shaun Collins, James Groom)

Full review

World premiere

Me And You (Io E Te)

Review preview for Me And You

Everything here is meticulously planned yet the effect is of something effortless.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
An introverted teenager forges a bond with his step-sister as he hides out in his family's basement.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2012; Director: Bernardo Bertolucci; Writer: Niccolò Ammaniti, Bernardo Bertolucci, Niccolò Ammaniti, Umberto Contarello, Francesca Marciano; Stars: Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori, Sonia Bergamasco, Veronica Lazar, Tommaso Ragno, Pippo Delbono, Francesca De Martini)

Full review

UK premiere

Much Ado About Nothing

Review preview for Much Ado About Nothing

An emotionally complex and moving tale that more than justifies itself.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A fresh take on Shakespeare's romantic comedy about sparring couples.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Joss Whedon; Writer: Joss Whedon, based on the play by William Shakespeare.; Stars: Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Reed Diamond, Ashley Johnson, Spencer Treat Clark)

Full review See: Joss Whedon interview about Much Ado About Nothing , Article about the Glasgow Film Festival 2013

My House Without Me (Mój Dom)

Review preview for My House Without Me

Szymków interweaves her subjects’ testimonies to paint an image of ongoing loss.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary looking at two women permanently displaced as a result of the Second World War.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2012; Director: Magdalena Szymków; Writer: Magdalena Szymków)

Full review

A Night Too Young (Prílis mladá noc)

Two adolescent boys, on the first day of the New Year, meet their school teacher and her two male friends, with emotional consequences.

(Country: Czech Republic, Slovenia; Year: 2012; Director: Olmo Omerzu; Writer: Bruno Hájek, Jakub Felcman, Olmo Omerzu; Stars: Martin Pechlát, Jirí Cerny, Natálie Rehorová, Vojtech Machuta, Jan Vasi)

European Features Competition

La Playa DC

Review preview for La Playa DC

A refreshingly low-key and visually distinct work.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
Tomás is trying to make his way in Bogota. Looking for his young brother Jairo, he sets out on a journey that will test his ability to deal with the fear and wounds of the past.

(Country: Colombia, Brazil, France; Year: 2012; Director: Juan Andrés Arango; Writer: Juan Andrés Arango; Stars: Luis Carlos Guevara, Jamés Solís, Andrés Murillo)

Full review

Something In The Air (Après mai)

Review preview for Something In The Air

Most real, and at once divine, are the scenes in nature.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
An 18-year-old man reacts to the social changes of late 1960s Europe.

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Olivier Assayas; Writer: Olivier Assayas; Stars: Lola Créton, Dolores Chaplin, India Menuez, Carole Combes, Clement Metayer, Victoria Ley, Felix Armand, Nathanjohn Carter, Mathias Renou, Nick Donald, Félix de Givry)

Full review See: Olivier Assayas interview about Something In The Air (Apres Mai)

Somebody Up There Likes Me

Review preview for Somebody Up There Likes Me

A fast, furious and occasionally hilarious angster comedy.

Michael Pattison · 3 out of 5
Dark comedy tracks happy-go-lucky slacker Max across three decades.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Bob Byington; Writer: Bob Byington; Stars: Nick Offerman, Keith Poulson, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Marshall Bell, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kevin Corrigan, Jonathan Togo, Megan Mullally, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Ted Beck, Allison Latta, Bob Schneider, Chris Doubek, Mike Wachs)

Full review

UK premiere

This Ain't California

A hymn to the subversive power of vitality, this fast-paced documentary takes us on a trip through the strange unknown world of the ‘Rollbrettfahrer’ as skateboarders were known in the GDR, a country where besides those loyal to the regime, there was also an avowed political resistance. Apart from this, there was also a movement of young rebels whose only raison d’être was the illusion of staying young, immortal and non-committal. In THIS AIN’T CALIFORNIA three kids discover their love of skateboarding on the cracked asphalt of the GDR – a madcap, even unacceptable sport that was perhaps so incredibly exciting because of its nuttiness. This punk fairytale created by a bunch of kids who luckily possessed sufficiently manic levels of energy to record their lives on Super-8mm film, shows us life in the GDR life as it has never been seen before. The film follows its three main protagonists from their childhood in the seventies, through their turbulent teens in the eighties right up to that autumn of 1989 when they were twenty and suddenly, everything they had known up to that point was about to change forever.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Marten Persiel; Writer: Marten Persiel, Ira Wedel)

Tokyo Waka

Review preview for Tokyo Waka

Subtly symphonic.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about the life and culture of Tokyo.

(Country: US, Japan; Year: 2012; Director: John Haptas, Kristine Samuelson)

Full review

UK premiere

Tower

Review preview for Tower

If you're looking for something personal, something that dares to explore what is often avoided, this is well worth seeking out.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An isolated, nerdy man with poor social skills embarks on a romantic relationship, but can it help him connect to the wider world?

(Country: Canada; Year: 2012; Director: Kazik Radwanski; Writer: Kazik Radwanski; Stars: Derek Bogart, Nicole Fairbairn, Deborah Sawyer)

Full review

UK premiere

To Kill A Beaver (Zabic bobra)

Hiding out in his rural safe-house while awaiting his next job, ice-cold hitman Eryk is startled to find that a teenaged runaway has moved in during his absence.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2012; Director: Jan Jakub Kolski; Writer: Jan Jakub Kolski; Stars: Eryk Lubos, Agnieszka Pawelkiewicz, Alexandra Michael, Marek Kasprzyk, Mariusz Bonaszewski, Mateusz Król, Daniel Misiewicz, Maciej Maciejewski, Kamil Pardo, Tomasz Pietryga, Kamil Sonta, Sylwester Zawadzki, Zuzanna Romanska, Bongos Romanski)

European Features Competition

Under The Weight Of Clouds

Elena (Tanja Otolski), a young woman from Ukraine enmeshed in the grim world of human-trafficking and forced prostitution. Taking responsibility for a colleague's infant child, Elena finds herself facing a nightmarish dilemma.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2012; Director: Martijn Maria Smits; Writer: Martijn Maria Smits, Lenina Ungari; Stars: Juda Goslinga, Valentijn Dhaenens, Tanja Otolski, Golda de Leon, Spataru Daniela)

International premiere

Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning

John takes on an army of genetically enhanced fighters, while being pursued by a UniSol.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: John Hyams; Writer: John Hyams, Doug Magnuson, Jon Greenhalgh, John Hyams, Moshe Diamant, Richard Rothstein, Christopher Leitch, Dean Devlin; Stars: Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mariah Bonner, Tony Jarreau, Craig Walker, Andrew Sikking, James DuMont, David Jensen, Audrey P. Scott, Rus Blackwell, Dane Rhodes, Susan Mansur, Kristopher Van Varenberg)

Vegetarian Cannibal

A ruthless gynaecologist will stop at nothing to get his own way.

(Country: Croatia; Year: 2012; Director: Branko Schmidt; Writer: Branko Schmidt; Stars: Rene Bitorajac, Zrinka Cvitešić, Leon Lučev)

European Features Competition