SEPTEMBER 2010 @ RBCFT

September Quick View - click on film for full film details:

This heart-warming comedy drama is a certified crowd pleaser. Andrei Filipov lost his position as conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra because of his refusal to fire the orchestra’s Jewish musicians. 25 years later, he still works at the Bolshoi, but as a cleaner. One day he intercepts an invitation for the orchestra to play at the prestigious Theatre du Chatelet - and the former leader hatches a plan to play alongside his old musicians posing as the real orchestra.

Witty, uplifting and full of humanity, the tear-jerking finale where the ragtag musicians play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major is a sublime musical miracle worth the ticket price alone

A writer visits his isolated family home to say goodbye to his dying father, but memories of his beautiful twin sister awaken long buried secrets from their past.

Actress Rachel Ward’s debut feature is a handsome and intense love story, a gothic tale of buried guilt and family dysfunction set in the sparse and spectacular Flinders Ranges of South Australia. Mesmerising.

Visionary graphic artist Sfar makes his directorial debut with this inventive take on one of France's greatest mavericks, the illustrious Serge Gainsbourg. It traces Gainsbourg's (an uncanny Eric Elmosnino) life from Nazi-occupied Paris through to his heyday as a songwriter in the 60s until his death in 1991. He juggled women (France Gall, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin), provoked the establishment and wrestled with his demons - literally running from an enormous, frightening, invisible anti- Semitic alter ego that haunts him throughout his life. It is these flourishes of surrealist fantasy - mixing actors with animation, puppets and flashbacks - that put the film head and shoulders above your average biopic. Lavishly original.

With live music by The Southwell Collective Jean Epstein’s 1928 masterpiece of this gripping classic story by Edgar Alan Poe is full of suspense and as with all Epstein’s films is visually stunning.

Screening with short film ‘Ghosts Before Breakfast’, by Hans Richter, in which ordinary objects behave in unusual, unexpected ways.

The new score for this performance is written and performed by The Southwell Collective
www.thesouthwellcollective.co.uk.

Film Club, 6.30pm on Monday 6th September

Set in Ladakh in a sensitive border area of India, ‘Frozen’ depicts the life of a family whose dream–like existence is interrupted when the army moves in on their doorstep. This visually stunning film shot in black and white has a contemporary music score, punctuated by elements of traditional culture.

Screening with two rare films from the Tibet Film Archive showing Tibetans adjusting to their new lives in the early days of exile in India, Tashi Writes a Letter Home (15m) and A Home Away from Home (16m).

Tibet Film Festival
The RBC is excited to host a small selection of inspiring films from the Tibet Film Festival that celebrate Tibetan art and culture, whilst offering an in-depth and timely critical insight into the Tibet issue.

A moving portrait of the nuns of the Kala Rongo Monastery in Nangchen in Kham, Tibet, offering a glimpse into their vibrant community and an insight into their extraordinary lives.

Screening with short film ‘History of Momos’ (Dir. Tsetan Choklay, 11m) about the making of the much–loved Tibetan delicacy, momos.

Tibet Film Festival
The RBC is excited to host a small selection of inspiring films from the Tibet Film Festival that celebrate Tibetan art and culture, whilst offering an in-depth and timely critical insight into the Tibet issue.

Paris 1913, and composer Igor Stravinsky’s (Mads Mikkelson) revolutionary The Rite of Spring causes a riot at its premiere, its audience deeming it too modern, too radical. At least one person in the audience, however, is enthralled: designer Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis).

Seven years later the pair meet again and their attraction is immediate. Chanel invites the penniless Stravinsky, his sick wife and four children to live in her villa, where they embark on a barely concealed tempestuous affair. Sexy, elegant and packed with gorgeous Art Deco flourishes, this is a lavish depiction of the brief affair enjoyed by two creative giants of the 20th Century.

Coffee Club - 10.45am on Thursday 16 September

Join film lecturer Darren Connor over two Saturdays to discuss Inception’s Christopher Nolan’s back catalogue and debate whether he can be called a true ‘auteur’ of cinema.

> 11 Sept: ‘Following’ (1998, 1h9m) + discussion
> 18 Sept: ‘Memento’ (2000, 1h53m) + discussion

Start time 11am. Course price for both screenings £12, includes light lunch.

Inventive British black comedy about a couple of closet skeleton-chasing exorcists and the secrets that lie beneath their curious professions. Winner of the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

We are delighted to welcome the film’s producer Paul Welsh and production designer James Lapsley who will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A session after the screening.

Film Club, 6.30pm on Monday 13th September

Kristin Scott Thomas (‘I’ve Loved You So Long’) takes on another demanding role as Suzanne, a repressed, bored housewife and mother of two teenagers who finds her comfortable middle-class life shattered by her mutual attraction to Spanish builder. When she finally makes the decision to leave her husband the desolate man begins a vengeful campaign to make life as difficult as possible for the adulterous pair, who quickly find themselves being crushed by the economic reality of life on the breadline.

Emotionally engrossing, stunningly acted and brimming with tense, raw energy, this is compellingly mature cinema.

Careworn ex-detective Benjamin is trying to write his novel. Instead, he keeps being drawn back to an unsolved case from his earlier career: the horrible rape and murder of a young woman. Something in the original investigation just didn't add up…

Beautifully performed and directed, with twists and turns that grip the nerves and the imagination, this is a glossy, thoroughly satisfying whodunnit – winner of the 2010 Foreign Language Oscar.

Coffee Club - 10.45am on Thursday 23 September

Brisk, brutal and effective – that describes the shocker opening of ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’. Two men fortify a nondescript British apartment so it can serve as a prison, and then kidnap a woman and tie her to a bed. Before there’s even time to react, we’re plunged into a very nasty situation – but not a simple one. This is a thriller that is both frightening and deeply satisfying. At the heart of its twists and jolts is an understanding of how real people act in desperate situations.

“Twist after twist… a proper nail-biter” Empire

Film Club, 6.30pm on Monday 20th September

A charming romantic comedy. Amit (Shahid Kapoor) and Priya (Kareena Kapoor) meet at a youth festival in Bangkok. The attraction is instant and they spend days together exploring the city. But when they are preparing to return to Delhi, Amit loses Priya's trust and she decides to end the relationship right there. Amit tries to tell her they are destined to be together and Priya decides that if that's so then they will find each other in Delhi - even though neither of them knows where the other lives. Years go by and both Amit and Priya are about to be married, but both of them still have the nagging doubt that they missed out on the true love of their life. That's when the hand of fate intervenes to bring them back together - but only after lots of very interesting near misses!

Scandar Copti is a Palestinian. Yaron Shani is an Israeli. Together they have collaborated on an extraordinary crime drama set on the mean streets of Ajami. Weaving together stories of violence and vendettas, illegal refugees and conscience-stricken cops, dreams of escape and hopes of sanctuary, ‘Ajami’ offers a startling insight into the tensions, resentments and misunderstandings that are part of everyday life in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Jaffa.

Tough-as-nails CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) watches her life get turned upside down when a Russian defector visits her office to announce that Salt’s a double agent for the Russians. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt’s efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: “Who is Salt?”

Phillip Noyce’s return to major-studio filmmaking after a decade of smaller dramas, such as ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’.

1pm on Wednesday 29th September

Develop your ideas into stories on this intensive double weekend course during the Wigtown Book Festival.

The UK Film Council commissioned the Writers Factory syllabus to provide writers with foundation skills in screenwriting, and it's now a well established part of Scotland's creative writing landscape.

The course takes place over 2 weekends and encourages you to explore more fully your storytelling instincts, study the craft of screenwriting, workshop with your peers, and develop and write a commercial ten minute film. The course has been running successfully throughout the UK since 2004, and this is the third time that it will take place in Dumfries & Galloway.

• DATES: Weekends 25/26 September and 2/3 October, 10am – 6pm
• COST: £250
• VENUE: Hillcrest House, Maidland Place, Station Road, Wigtown, Wigtownshire, DG8 9EU

To book your place on the course,
please complete the application form and send to Alice.Stilgoe@dumgal.gov.uk
>> Application Form in Word Format (61kb) | Application Form in PDF Format (37kb) <<

Writers’ Factory is funded by Creative Scotland and is coordinated by the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland. www.writersfactory.co.uk

An opportunity to see behind the scenes of the smallest cinema in Scotland and rare insight into the life and work of a projectionist!

POSTER SALE
To prepare for Doors Open Day, we are clearing out our cupboards – come along and see what bargains (or rarities!) you can find.

Chomet follows up ‘Belleville Rendez-Vous’ with this gorgeous hand-drawn animation adapted from an unrealised script by the French comic genius, Jacques Tati. Conjurer Monsieur Tatischeff is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers in the late 1950s. Forever searching for paid gigs, he and his grumpy, obese rabbit trek from Paris to London, Edinburgh to the Western Isles, where he meets Alice. Believing his tricks to be real, Alice follows him to Edinburgh, where he is forced to take on menial jobs to keep up the illusion of magically appearing new gifts: can he keep the facade up?

Bittersweet and beautiful, this is a wonderfully inventive ode to Scotland, Tati, and old-fashioned filmmaking.

Film Club, 6.30pm on Monday 27th September

Coffee Club - 10.45am on Thursday 30 September

Elizabeth (Brenda Blethyn) is a church-going widow who leaves her Guernsey home to search for her daughter in the aftermath of the London bombings. While she visits the emergency rooms and hospital morgues, her path crosses with that Ousmane (a dignified Sotigui Kouyaté), a North African Muslim whose son, also missing, was involved with Elizabeth’s daughter. The tender observation of the strangers’ growing friendship and shared distress cannot help but move

Period drama about a village in Protestant northern Germany on the eve of World War I that is plagued by strange accidents. At first they are passed off as coincidence, but as these misdeeds turn into genuine atrocities, the residents begin to mistrust one another. Shot in stark black and white with no musical score, acclaimed auteur Michael Haneke (‘Hidden’, ‘Funny Games’) returns to his classic themes of guilt, denial and violence in this haunting and provocative feature which was awarded the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Now in its seventh year, the BBC FOUR World Cinema Awards are the foremost foreign language film honours in the UK. Each year, some 200 UK-wide film writers are invited to select their favourite movie from the films released in the previous 12 months. The five films which polled highest are then shortlisted for the BBC FOUR World Cinema Award 2010. Here is one from the shortlist. To see who wins, watch the Awards when they are broadcast on BBC FOUR on October 9.