Skip to main content

Bradford International Film Festival · 2014

Bradford International Film Festival 2014

Official Selection

Programme

37 films · 15 reviews

Jump to a film

American Promise

This intimate documentary follows the 12-year journey of two African-American families pursuing the promise of opportunity through the education of their sons.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)

Out of competition

Barre'$ Silence

Review preview for Barre'$ Silence

The camerawork is rough around the edges but Ahmadpour and Peyda aren't scared to get in the thick of the action and they also show a keen eye for a framing shot.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary on bullfighting, Iranian style.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2013; Director: Mehrdad Ahmadpour, Morvarid Peyda )

Full review

Out of competition

Before The Winter Chill (Avant L'Hiver)

A woman suspects her neurosurgeon husband of having an affair, but the truth is something darker.

(Country: France, Luxembourg; Year: 2013; Director: Philippe Claudel; Writer: Philippe Claudel; Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, Leïla Bekhti)

Out of competition

Believe

Review preview for Believe

Parents whose eight year olds have just gone crazy watching their first World Cup would be well advised to take them along, as they'll probably love it.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Matt Busby comes out of retirement to help a young football team.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: David Scheinmann; Writer: Massimiliano Durante, Carmelo Pennisi, David Scheinmann; Stars: Natascha McElhone, Brian Cox, Kate Ashfield, Toby Stephens, James Callis, Anne Reid, Philip Jackson, Richard Strange, Jon-Paul Gates, Lee Starkey, Paul Bergquist, Eirian Cohen, Tony Sweeney, Danny Scheinmann, David Annen) , Trailer

Full review

Out of competition

Beyond The Edge

Review preview for Beyond The Edge

Pooley and cinematographer Richard Bluck bring the story to life - along with the vivid possibility of death - and the big screen is the place to see it.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A docudrama about Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary's historic ascent of Everest.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2013; Director: Leanne Pooley; Writer: Matthew Metcalfe, Leanne Pooley; Stars: Chad Moffitt, Sonam Sherpa, John Wraight)

Full review

Out of competition

Blue Ruin

Review preview for Blue Ruin

Visually arresting, impressively taut and enjoyably idiosyncratic.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Unexpected news transforms an easy-going vagrant into a man bent on revenge.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jeremy Saulnier; Writer: Jeremy Saulnier; Stars: Devin Ratray, Eve Plumb, Amy Hargreaves, David W Thompson, Bonnie Johnson)

Full review

Out of competition

A Bouquet Of Cactus (un ramo de cactus)

A Spanish farmer tries to protect his grandson from his money-driven family.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Pablo Llorca; Writer: Pablo Llorca; Stars: Pedro Casablanc, Juan Codina, Carmen García Lorca, María Pedroviejo, Amanda Recacha, Alfonso Torregrosa)

Brother

The story of a baby faced ex-soldier who arrives in the former Leningrad to stay with his older brother.

(Country: Russia; Year: 1997; Director: Aleksey Balabanov; Writer: Aleksey Balabanov; Stars: Sergey Bodrov Jr., Viktor Sukhorukov, Svetlana Pismichenko, Mariya Zhukova, Yuriy Kuznetsov, Vyacheslav Butusov, Irina Rakshina, Sergei Murzin, Anatoliy Zhuravlyov, Igor Shibanov, Andrey Fedortsov, Sergei Debizhev, Aleksei Sevostyanov, Rinat Ibragimov, Vladimir Ermilov)

Out of competition

Calvary

Review preview for Calvary

Although displaying much of the barbed wit of his first film, this is a more measured and moving work.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A priest finds himself under threat.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2014; Director: John Michael McDonagh; Writer: John Michael McDonagh; Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, M Emmet Walsh, Isaach De Bankolé, Marie-Josee Croze, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wilmot)

Full review See: Conversation with John Michael McDonagh, Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd and Joyce Carol Oates about Calvary , Conversation with Kelly Reilly about Calvary

Out of competition

Class Enemy (Razredni sovraznik)

Review preview for Class Enemy

Rok Biček's film shows that the drive to go against the grain can have as much to do with running with the pack as with embracing individuality.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A teacher finds his class start to turn on him after tragedy strikes the school.

(Country: Slovenia; Year: 2013; Director: Rok Bicek; Writer: Rok Bicek, Nejc Gazvoda, Janez Lapajne; Stars: Igor Samobor, Natasa Barbara Grancer, Tjaa Zeleznik, Masa Derganc, Voranc Boh, Dasa Cupevski)

Full review

The Coal Miner's Day (Le jour du mineur)

Documentary about coal mining in Ukraine.

(Country: France, Ukraine; Year: 2013; Director: Gaël Mocaër; Writer: Gaël Mocaër)

Out of competition

Coast Of Death (Costa da Morte)

Review preview for Coast Of Death

A complex, multi-faceted portrait of the director's home region of Galicia, in north-west Spain, with imagery that is awe-inspiring in the proper sense of the term.

Rebecca Naughten · 5 out of 5
Documentary about an area of Galicia considered to be the end of the world by the Romans.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Lois Patiño)

Full review

Diego Star

Trouble brews on a broken down cargo ship.

(Country: Canada, Belgium; Year: 2013; Director: Frédérick Pelletier; Writer: Frédérick Pelletier; Stars: Isaka Sawadogo, Chloé Bourgeois, Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Nicole-Sylvie Lagarde, Marie-Claude Guérin, Patrick Caux, Jean-Sébastien Courchesne, Yassine Fadel, Artur Gorishti, Benoit Priest)

Out of competition

Double Play

Dual portrait of Wisconsin director James Benning and his great pal, the versatile Texan writer-director Richard Linklater.

(Country: France, Portugal, US; Year: 2013; Director: Gabe Klinger; Writer: Gabe Klinger, Eugenio Renzi; Stars: Sandra Adair, James Benning, Richard Linklater)

Out of competition

El Futuro

Partygoers discuss the fall of Franco.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Luis López Carrasco; Writer: Brays Efe, Luis López Carrasco, Luis E. Parés; Stars: Lucía Alonso, Rafael Ayuso, Marta Bassols, Marina Blanco, Manuel Calvo, Sara Campos, Juan Ceacero, Borja Domínguez, Brays Efe, Susana Ford, Queta Herrero, Sergio Jiménez, Marta Loza Alonso, Alberto López, Andrea Noceda)

Out of competition

Everybody Street

A documentary about the life and work of New York street photographers.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Cheryl Dunn; Stars: Boogie, Martha Cooper, Bruce Davidson)

Out of competition

Exhibition

Review preview for Exhibition

The scripting is loose and Albertine - best known as the former guitarist with punk group The Slits - and real-life conceptual artist Gillick have the rawness that comes with first-time acting.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Examination of the relationship between a middle-aged couple who are planning a move.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Joanna Hogg; Writer: Joanna Hogg; Stars: Viv Albertine, Liam Gillick, Tom Hiddleston)

Full review See: Interview with Liam Gillick about Exhibition , Joanna Hogg on Exhibition

Out of competition

A Fallible Girl

Drama examining globalisation from the perspective of two women who run a mushroom farm.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Conrad Clark; Writer: Conrad Clark; Stars: Sang Juan, Lu Huang)

Here I Am, Here I'm Not (Aqui Estoy, Aqui No)

A depressed hack is hired to write the biography of a rock idol.

(Country: Argentina, Chile; Year: 2013; Director: Elisa Eliash; Writer: Elisa Eliash; Stars: Juan Pablo Correa, María José Siebald, Constanza Alemparte, Carla Casali, Hugo Eliash, Elvis Fuentes, Alessandra Guerzoni, Valeria Jara, Victor Montero, Marcelo Pertier, Jorge Rodríguez)

Out of competition

The Joycean Society

Documentary intimately observes a Finnegans Wake reading group in Switzerland.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2013; Director: Dora Garcia )

Karaoke Girl (Sao Karaoke)

Blurring the line between documentary and drama, this visually powerful movie relates the story of Sa, a Thai village girl who works in the Bangkok sex trade in order to support her family back home.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2013; Director: Visra Vichit-Vadakan)

Out of competition

Lilting

Review preview for Lilting

Although the pacing is sometimes poor, the sentiment - while occasionally straying towards the sentimental - is heartfelt and sweet spirited.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A bereaved mother and the boyfriend of her son find a connection.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Hong Khaou; Writer: Hong Khaou; Stars: Ben Whishaw, Leila Wong, Morven Christie, Peter Bowles, Shane Salter, Pei-pei Cheng, Peter E. Hopkins, Andrew Leung, John Matthews)

Full review See: Sundance 2014: Lilting and Whiplash

Out of competition

Locke

Review preview for Locke

It's like a suicide. And there's nothing to look at

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2 out of 5
A man drives through the night, listening to mobile phone calls, as his life falls apart.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Steven Knight; Writer: Steven Knight; Stars: Tom Hardy, voices of Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott, Tom Holland, Ben Daniels, Bill Milner, Alice Lowe, Danny Webb, Lee Ross, Silas Carson, Kirsty Dillon)

Full review

Out of competition

Looking for Light: Jane Bown

A documentary portrait of the celebrated photographer.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Luke Dodd, Michael Whyte; Stars: Jane Bown, John Rankin Waddell, Don McCullin)

Out of competition

The Lunchbox (Dabba)

Review preview for The Lunchbox

Sheer unadulterated pleasure often comes from the most unexpected quarters.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A mistakenly delivered lunchbox sparks romance between two lonely people.

(Country: India; Year: 2013; Director: Ritesh Batra; Writer: Ritesh Batra; Stars: Irrfan Khan, Bharati Achrekar, Nimrat Kaur, Denzil Smith)

Full review

Out of competition

Mother, I Love You (Mammu, Es Tevi Milu)

Review preview for Mother, I Love You

Nords gets an excellent performance from Konovalovs - contrasting the enjoyment of the wide open spaces of his home city at night with the stress that waits for him inside his home or school.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Desperate not to disappoint his mother, an introverted boy gets into increasingly difficult situations.

(Country: Latvia; Year: 2013; Director: Janis Nords; Stars: Kristofers Konovalovs, Vita Varpina, Matiss Livcans, Indra Brike)

Full review

Mouton (Sheep)

Story of the friends of a man who was murdered.

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Gilles Deroo, Marianne Pistone; Writer: Gilles Deroo, Marianne Pistone; Stars: David Merabet, Michael Mormentyn, Cindy Dumont, Benjamin Cordier, Emmanuel Legrand)

Moving (Ohikkoshi)

In one of Somai's most acclaimed films, a young girl must adjust to her new life after the divorce of her parents. Physically separated from her father and at odds with her distraught mother, the girl must negotiate her own passage to maturity. Print courtesy of Yomiuri-TV Enterprise LTD.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1993; Director: Shinji Somai)

Out of competition

Never Die (Mai Morire)

A woman returns to her hometown to look after her elderly mother.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2012; Director: Enrique Rivero; Writer: Enrique Rivero)

Out of competition

Powerless

The battle against electricity theft in Konpur is complicated by local resentment of perceived profiteering.

(Country: India; Year: 2013; Director: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar)

Out of competition

Ricardo Bär

Experimental documentary about a man living on the border of Brazil and Argentina and his quest to become a minister.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2013; Director: Gerardo Naumann, Nele Wohlatz; Writer: Gerardo Naumann, Nele Wohlatz; Stars: Inés Bär, Ricardo Bär, Samuel Bär, Fabio Fibke, Diego Littmann)

Out of competition

Route Of The Moon (Ruta de la luna)

Comedy about an unorthodox father-son relationship.

(Country: Panama, Ecuador; Year: 2013; Director: Juan Sebastian Jacome; Writer: Irina Caballero, Juan Sebastian Jacome, Rocco Melillo; Stars: Jimmy David Suarez, Luis Antonio Gotti, Victoria Greco, Ernesto Leonardo Fields, Carlos Bromley, María Antonia Taylor)

Out of competition

The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears (L'étrange Couleur Des Larmes De Ton Corps, The Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears)

Review preview for The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears

For all that its often said "they don't make them like they used to" this is very, very close.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman's disappearance forms the central mystery in this visually stylish neo-giallo.

(Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2013; Director: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Writer: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Stars: Klaus Tange, Jean-Michel Vovk, Sylvia Camarda, Sam Louwyck, Anna D'annunzio, Manon Beuchot)

Full review

Out of competition

A Story Of Children And Film

Review preview for A Story Of Children And Film

We're transported into a world of cinema; some of it is known, much of it unknown, which surely fires the imagination of any viewing cinephile.

Robert Munro · 4.5 out of 5
A look at the way children have been represented in film from around the world.

(Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Mark Cousins; Writer: Mark Cousins)

Full review

Out of competition

Tracks

Review preview for Tracks

Visually the film has emotional qualities that contribute to the feeling of admiration for Robyn's quest

Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
Based on the true story of Robyn Davidson who in 1977 undertook an extraordinary solo trek across the harsh Australian outback.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: John Curran; Writer: Marion Nelson; Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Emma Booth, Jessica Tovey, Rainer Bock, Melanie Zanetti, Robert Coleby, Lily Pearl)

Full review

Out of competition

The Triplet (Il gemello)

Prison documentary.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2012; Director: Vincenzo Marra; Writer: Vincenzo Marra; Stars: Raffaele Costagliola, Domenico Manzi)

Out of competition

Velorama

Documentary about the history of the bicycle.

(Year: 2014; Director: Daisy Asquith )

Out of competition