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London Film Festival · 2017

London Film Festival 2017

Debate

Programme

23 films · 6 reviews

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Adriana's Pact (El Pacto de Adriana)

When beloved Aunt Adriana is suddenly charged with having worked for the Chilean secret police under Pinochet, her niece picks up her camera and searches for answers.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2017; Director: Lissette Orozco; Stars: Adriana Rivas, Lissette Orozco)

Azmaish: A Journey Through The Subcontinent

A transnational journey through India and Pakistan.

(Country: Pakistan; Year: 2017; Director: Sabiha Sumar; Stars: Kalki Koechlin)

Beauty And The Dogs (Aala Kaf Ifrit)

Review preview for Beauty And The Dogs

A tremendously powerful piece of cinema.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A woman meets a mysterious stranger at a party and leaves with him... it's the beginning of a long night in which she will have to fight for her rights and her dignity.

(Country: Tunisia, France, Sweden; Year: 2017; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Mariam Al Ferjani, Neder Ghouati)

Full review See: Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on connections to Beauty And The Dogs and her Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin

Birds Are Singing In Kigali ( Ptaki śpiewają W Kigali)

We meet ornithologist Anna in 1994 just as genocide is raging in Rwanda, perpetrated by the majority Hutus against the Tutsis. Anna manages to save the daughter of a colleague whose family has been murdered, and she takes her to Poland. But the woman returns to Rwanda to visit the graves of her loved ones.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2017; Director: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze)

Custody (Jusqu'à la garde)

Review preview for Custody

Though a short film, even one of half-an-hour as Legrand’s was, can be carried almost solely on this sort of tension, a feature needs something more.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A couple embark on a bitter custody battle for their son.

(Year: 2017; Director: Xavier Legrand; Writer: Xavier Legrand; Stars: Léa Drucker, Denis Ménochet, Thomas Gioria, Mathilde Auneveux, Mathieu Saikaly, Florence Janas, Saadia Bentaïeb, Coralie Russier, Sophie Pincemaille, Emilie Incerti-Formentini, Jérome Care-Aulanier, Jenny Bellay, Martine Vandeville, Jean-Marie Winling, Martine Schambacher)

Full review See: Interview with Xavier Legrand about Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde)

The Climb

Documentary about six women who illegally climbed the tallest building in Europe.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Woodward)

Devil's Freedom (La libertad del diablo)

Stories behind the news headlines about those who have lost their lives in Mexico's drug wars.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2017; Director: Everardo González)

Dolores

Review preview for Dolores

Significant both in raising the profile of a woman too long overlooked and - crucially - in giving her back control over her own story.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary portrait of the woman who started America's first farm worker's union and fought for economic, racial and gender justice.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Peter Bratt; Stars: Dolores Huerta)

Full review

The Dumb Girl Of Portici (A Muda de Portici)

A poor girl falls in love with a nobleman.

(Country: US; Year: 1916; Director: Phillips Smalley, Lois Weber; Writer: Germain Delavigne, Eugène Scribe, Lois Weber; Stars: Anna Pavlova, Rupert Julian, Wadsworth Harris, Douglas Gerrard, Jack Holt, Betty Schade, Edna Maison, Jack Hoxie, William Wolbert, Laura Oakley, Nigel De Brulier, George A. Williams, Lois Wilson, Lina Basquette)

Foxtrot

Review preview for Foxtrot

Samuel Maoz steps into the rhythm of the foxtrot to give structure to the three separate chapters of his intense, reverberating film.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A family's world is rocked when they are told about the death of their son.

(Country: Israel, France, Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Samuel Maoz; Writer: Samuel Maoz; Stars: Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonatan Shiray, Karin Ugowski, Yehuda Almagor, Shira Haas, Dekel Adin, Shaul Amir, Gefen Barkai)

Full review See: Samuel Maoz in conversation on numbers, colours, coincidence, chaos, and Foxtrot , Samuel Maoz and Lior Ashkenazi in conversation on Foxtrot , Lior Ashkenazi in conversation on Foxtrot feature

Strand gala

The Forgiven

Story of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's post-Apartheid meeting with Piet Blomfield.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Roland Joffé; Writer: Michael Ashton; Stars: Forest Whitaker, Eric Bana, Jeff Gum, Vince Vaughn, Morné Visser, Terry Norton, Rob Gough, Debbie Sherman, Warrick Grier, David Butler, Michael MacKenzie, Dominika Jablonska, Shane John Kruger, Robert Hobbs)

Island

Review preview for Island

This is an unflinching portrayal and, those who are recently bereaved or are in that large group of the populace - including myself - who have ever watched a loved one succumb to terminal illness, should approach it with extreme caution.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about terminally ill patients.

(Country: UK; Year: 2017; Director: Steven Eastwood)

Full review

The Light Of The Moon

After being assaulted, a young New Yorker struggles to regain control of her life.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Jessica M Thompson; Writer: Jessica M Thompson; Stars: Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David, Catherine Curtin, Conrad Ricamora, Cindy Cheung, Susan Heyward, Craig Walker, Olga Merediz, Heather Simms, Jessica M. Thompson, Mike Ivers, Katie Kopajtic, Christian Barber, Michael Cuomo, Cara Loften)

A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot

Documentary about present-day paramilitary activity in Ireland.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2017; Director: Sinéad O'Shea)

No Stone Unturned

Investigation of a pub massacre in 1994, when six men were gunned down and five wounded while watching a World Cup soccer match in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland.

(Country: Northern Ireland, US; Year: 2017; Director: Alex Gibney)

Oh, Sun (Soleil O)

A Mauritanian encounters little but prejudice when he tries to build a better life for himself in Paris.

(Country: France, Mauritania; Year: 1970; Director: Med Hondo; Writer: Med Hondo; Stars: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissant, Mabousso Lo, Bernard Fresson, Gilles Ségal, Yane Barry, Greg Germain, Armand Meffre)

Razzia

The streets of Casablanca provide the centerpiece for five separate narratives that all collide.

(Country: France, Belgium, Morocco; Year: 2017; Director: Nabil Ayouch; Writer: Nabil Ayouch, Maryam Touzani; Stars: Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine, Abdellah Didane, Saadia Ladib, Younes Bouab, Maha Boukhari, Nezha Tebbai, David El Baz, Marwa Tiyane, Fatim-Zahra Lahouitar, Dejjiti El Housseine, Aïcha Laghchim)

The Song Of Scorpions

Revenge fantasy sees a camel driver fall for a woman who can heal scorpion stings.

(Country: Switzerland, France; Year: 2017; Director: Anup Singh; Writer: Juhi Chaturvedi, Anup Singh; Stars: Golshifteh Farahani, Irrfan Khan, Waheeda Rehman, Shashank Arora, Tillotama Shome, Sara Arjun, Shefali Bhushan, Kritika Pande)

A Sort Of Family (Una especie de familia)

An phone call about the imminent birth of a baby takes a doctor on an uncertain physical and emotionally journey.

(Country: Argentina, Brazil, France, Poland, Germany, Denmark; Year: 2017; Director: Diego Lerman; Writer: Diego Lerman, María Meira; Stars: Bárbara Lennie, Daniel Aráoz, Claudio Tolcachir, Yanina Ávila, Paula Cohen)

Spoor (Pokot)

Review preview for Spoor

It has the ungainly but attractive ambience of an old fairy tale being passed down through the generations, becoming more and more embellished on each retelling.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An elderly woman is convinced she knows what lies behind a spate of mysterious crimes... but nobody will believe her.

(Country: Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia; Year: 2017; Director: Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik; Writer: Agnieszka Holland, Stepán Hulík, Olga Tokarczuk; Stars: Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka, Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszal, Patrycja Volny, Miroslav Krobot, Borys Szyc, Tomasz Kot, Andrzej Grabowski, Katarzyna Herman, Marcin Bosak, Andrzej Konopka, Sebastian Pawlak, Katarzyna Skarzanka, Monika Anna Wojtyllo, David Ali Hamade)

Full review

This Is Our Land (Chez Nous)

Political drama about a woman who becomes involved with the far right.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Lucas Belvaux; Writer: Lucas Belvaux, Jérôme Leroy; Stars: Émilie Dequenne, André Dussollier, Guillaume Gouix, Catherine Jacob, Anne Marivin, Patrick Descamps, Charlotte Talpaert, Mateo Debaets, Coline Marcourt, Corentin Lobet, Thibault Roux, Michel Ferracci, Stéphane Caillard, Cyril Descours, Julien Roy)

The Truth (La verite)

Drama follows a woman on trial for murder

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 1960; Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot; Writer: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Simone Drieu, Michèle Perrein, Jérôme Géronimi, Christiane Rochefort, Véra Clouzot; Stars: Brigitte Bardot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel, Sami Frey, Marie-José Nat, Jean-Loup Reynold, André Oumansky, Claude Berri, Jacques Perrin, Barbara Sommers, Louis Seigner, Raymond Meunier, René Blancard, Paul Bonifas, Hubert de Lapparent)

The Venerable W (Le vénérable W.)

Portrait of Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of an anti-Muslim movement.

(Country: France, Switzerland; Year: 2017; Director: Barbet Schroeder; Writer: Barbet Schroeder; Stars: U. Zanitar, Kyaw Zayar Htun, U. Kaylar Sa, Matthew Smith, Abdul Rasheed, Carlos Sardiña-Galache, U. Galonni, Bulle Ogier, Barbet Schroeder, Ashin Wirathu)