Issue 4: The 2017 Cambridge Film Festival Review

TAKE ONE MAGAZINE PRESENTS

THE CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW 2017

Issue 4 #TAKEONERECOMMENDS

120 BPM

INSIDE:

THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS

They keep the business alive, one town at a time.

RESISTANCE IS LIFE

In the darkness of war, a child’s smile shines bright.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

The age old question is settled... On the tennis court.

PLUS

NEWS PHOTO © DAVID RILEY 2017

REVIEWS

INTERVIEWS

AWARDS

The Cinema Travellers The sheer charm of Madheshiya & Abraham’s THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS is clear from the outset. The documentary follows the last pioneers of travelling cinema in India, and shows the difficulties they face on a daily basis. Far from being a twee or self-indulgent ode to filmmaking, this film is a touching and skilful piece about human struggle and delight.

The visuals throughout are striking; capitalising on elegant cinematography, and inventive editing. At points, there is a cinematic feel that is almost more reminiscent of fiction filmmaking, rather than documentary. Often somewhat of an after-thought, the use of B-Roll throughout this film is purposeful and engaging – helping to clarify the story, and present it through the protagonists’ eyes.

Given that the film does not make any use of voiceover or graphic text, the pressure on its sound and visuals to engage an audience is even greater than usual. At times, diegetic sound is solely used, allowing the audience to experience the protagonists’ reality with them. At other points, additional music has been composed to help the narrative along. The regular transitions between these states are very impressive, and mean that there is never a moment of lull or confusion.

1

This is not to say, however, that THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS is built solely through the filmmakers’ box of technical tricks. Rather, what really energises this film is the pure passion of its protagonists, and the magic associated throughout the film with the process of cinema.

Careful camera work and tasteful editing bring the audience into key characters’ most precious surroundings. In this way, they are the film’s real strength; they are well-chosen, well-observed individuals who power the narrative with their charm.

THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS is a hugely touching look at the lengths to which cinephiles go to share their artform. The pairing of warm protagonists with a highly cinematic shooting style means the film has a very unusual feel- bumbling and sweet, while also being a fierce tour de force of skill. Perhaps most importantly, it is a celebration of cinema itself, and an invigorating display of how the medium continues to inspire and delight.

- Emma Wilkinson

THE CINEMA TRAVELLERS screens on the 26th at the Picturehouse at 12.30.

@ReelWomenUK is a proud partner of CFF 2017. Look for their logo here and in the CFF brochure to find every film directed by a woman.

Our interns pick the best of CFF2017 From the pages of his personal memoir, about living with Motor Neurone Disease, comes a heart-wrenching, and delicate piece about Irish filmmaker Simon Fitzmaurice. Director Frankie Fenton documents the life of one extraordinary man in his attempt to defy his medical diagnosis by living life to the full for himself and his family.

After being diagnosed with ALS (MND) in 2008, Simon Fitzmaurice was given the gruelling news of having only 4 years to live. Thus began his battle to survive this disease and ensure that he was going to take every day in his stride and revel in being alive. With his childhood to adult life being dedicated to writing and filming, it is evident that his devoted passion to the arts was not going to stop because of his illness. This is documented beautifully through home footage and anecdotes from his family, which helps to paint the picture of who he was before his diagnosis.

The film touches upon some very harsh realities that many of us in good health would take for granted, and each scene is delivered with sensitivity and clarity. The opening shot of the Irish landscape, matched with the dulcet tones of Colin Farrell, gives an uplifting feel to the film despite the harrowing subject. But this is not to say that there aren’t incredibly dark moments. Many of the external shots are filmed from a first-person perspective, notably during tense scenes such as his diagnosis, being on life support and moving around in his wheelchair. The scenes are usually blurry, as his mind becomes clouded to show an awareness of his own mortality. “Light leaves the room, and air and sound and time.” He makes the audience aware of all their senses. His philosophy draws on the essence of humanity and being alive, which is highlighted through his passion to finish his feature-length film, “This is Emily”, despite only having his sight left.

His wife is also captivating in the film, and is evidently his beacon of light. She’s the focus of the documentary for a good 20 minutes, as the audience is permitted an insight into their personal lives. He is evidently in love with being a father of 5 young children, and his interaction with them during his decline is so precious but equally devastating. The cinematography of the landscape shots combined with his personal philosophies shapes the piece so elegantly. The film leaves you full of hope and prosperity, with a dash of humbleness. From a life devoted to his love of film, then battling with a chronic disease and still being able to go back to his family and career is one of the most moving things I’ve ever witnessed. - Elle Haywood, Student Writer (ARU)

With everything going on in our news right now, it can be easy to overlook the problems facing the other side of the world. You might not expect an animated family film to be your reminder. Set in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan, THE BREADWINNER is directed by Nora Twomey for the studio that brought you SONG OF THE SEA in 2014. That film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2015 Oscars, but did not win. It would be shocking if that happened again to this utterly divine story.

Loosely based on a novel by Deborah Ellis, our protagonist is Parvana (voiced by Saara Chaudry), a young girl whose father is taken to prison by the Taliban. The law forbids women to go out unaccompanied, but there are no grown men left in the family to go out and earn money for food.

Parvana takes it upon herself to go out disguised as a boy, aiming not only to feed her mother and siblings, but also to find her father again.

The animation style is, perhaps predictably, beautiful. It’s simple, almost sketch-like, yet full of beguiling colour and life. However, there is not only one style. An ongoing theme is that of storytelling, and whenever a character tells a story, it is realised through more puppet-like animation. These cutaways are fun, charming, and even provide genuinely funny comic relief, helping to lighten the mood whenever things get too heavy. And yet, in the film’s faultlessly powerful final act, the script and direction find incredible, unexpected poignancy from these formerly-lighthearted stories.

The characters are all so well-realised, with many of them being downright inspirational. Parvana, as the central character, is a terrific role-model for young girls: brave and creative, loyal yet strongwilled. But her older sister isn’t merely someone for her to butt heads with; her mother isn’t merely a flat, doting symbol of safety; and the people she meets aren’t merely good or evil. Every character is three-dimensional and complex, bringing rich truth and believability to the film’s portrayal of its setting.

One worry audiences might have is that the film is more for adults, and will go over younger viewers’ heads. It certainly doesn’t shy away from or romanticise the harsher realities of the characters’ lives. In fact, it is astonishingly gritty and dark at times. However, children are tougher than they’re often given credit, and a hell of a lot smarter. In a screening of the film at the Cambridge Film Festival, kids could be heard gasping aloud at key moments of tension. They were as invested as anybody. The film takes complicated, difficult subject matter, and without diluting it, simply adds enough laughs, thrills and cute character designs to reel in audiences under 10.

Those kids won’t necessarily realise it, but through this exciting, moving animation, they just empathised with real, serious situations happening in their world. Hopefully, this won’t be their last step towards an adulthood with compassion over ignorance.

- Ben Jones, Student Writer (ARU)

Look out for more excellent student reviews on our website at takeonecff.com

2

Review

Rescue Under Fire When a botched landing leaves a medical-evacuation helicopter grounded in enemy territory, a frantic plan is hatched to not only extract the crew and the wounded, but also to recover the chopper before the enemy can take credit for putting it down. As the rescue team can only safely land in daylight, the stranded must spend a night out in the open, keeping the injured alive with only basic field equipment and fending off the encroaching Taliban forces that lurk in the darkness. Developing his story from real events, Director Adolfo Martínez Pérez comes out firing with this tense, energetic tale of courage and fortitude.

Capitán Varela (Ariadna Gil) leads a team of battlefield medics to offer assistance when a joint force of USA and UN troops under Spanish command suffer a roadside injury while sweeping for mines in Afghanistan. Landing as close to the wounded as possible, the pilot misjudges the terrain, and a rear wheel sinks into the sand, tipping the whole chopper on its side. Back at the base, Comandante Ledesma (Antonio Garrido) convinces the generals that, given enough time, his squad can bring the downed helicopter back with the crew, and so the rescue is postponed until dawn, leaving Teniente Conte (Raúl Mérida) and his Spanish Legionnaires the unenviable task of protecting both the medics and the wounded from surrounding Taliban insurgents, who mount several attacks in the night.

There’s a tricky dichotomy in the creation of war films, particularly if the film-maker is of the same nationality as the armed forces they are portraying. On the one hand, it’s very easy to drift into patriotic propagandist territory, with national pride getting in the way of facts and reducing the opposing forces to simple, one-dimensional personifications of evil. On the other, to veer too far from that trope can lead to films coming across as pacifistic criticisms of war, that oversimplify the complicated reasoning behind these skirmishes and diminish the agency of the men and women that carry them out.

With a subject matter as tangled and controversial as the occupation of Afghanistan following the Iraq war, it’s a testament, then, to the integrity of RESCUE UNDER FIRE that, while it doesn’t walk the tightrope perfectly, it never really falls too far on either side.

3

www.takeonecff.com | @takeonecinema

The lean, 93-minute script, written by Luiz Arranz and Andrés M. Koppel, wastes no time moralising on the complexities of war, choosing instead to focus closely on the lives of the men and women that serve. As Capitán Varela, Gil is straightforward and focused, with a deep sense of duty present as she time and again risks her life to provide medical aid. Mérida’s Teniente Conte is stalwart and brave, living under the vast shadow of his general father, and shows the slightest hint of insecurity and vulnerability when his leadership is compared to his old man. Garrido steals the show as the cocksure Comandante Ledesma, sprinkling just the right amount of humour over tense and dramatic scenes with his impish wit and penchant for giving his comrades a hard time.

Behind the camera for the first time on a feature film, Adolfo Martínez Pérez previously worked extensively in the art department, and his pedigree shows through his direction. The choices of shots are certainly nothing that hasn’t been seen before, but nonetheless they make for some beautiful imagery. Wide, expansive vistas of the Afghan deserts at sunrise are breathtaking, while the close, frantic gun battles in the dead of night are chaotic and claustrophobic - no matter the scenario, this storyboard artist turned director is decisive and confident with the mood he is trying to set, and he does so with a flourish.

In the sea of modern war films offering small snippets of life in Afghanistan, there is very little that truly distinguishes RESCUE UNDER FIRE from those around it, a fact that would be difficult to avoid without compromising the story that was originally envisioned. What does separate it, however, is enough to make it worth viewing. The choice to focus primarily on medics trying their best to keep people alive, even when the Taliban attack and the Legionnaires are forced to kill, helps to avoid the typical glorification o such films. This outlook is decidedly positive, and serves as a necessary reminder that wars are fought to preserve life, not to take it.

- Ben Johnston (Deputy Editor)

120 BPM According to statistics from UNAIDS, by 2016 there were around 37 million people in the world who are HIV positive. That number, while cause for concern, has plateaued over the last decade or so; what has increased dramatically is the proportion of those people who are now receiving treatment, with the numbers of those receiving some form of therapy almost half of all those diagnosed. This is a significant shift just a decade ago, when of the 30 million people who were HIV positive only 2 million were receiving treatment; at the start of that century, that figure was less than 1 million. How times have changed, slowly but gradually for the better.

time, with their main focus to get the pharmas to take them seriously and to release helpful information the group thinks they are sitting on.

What’s immediately apparent is how much these young activists, whilst trying to manage their symptoms, also had to become polymaths on their own condition. Effective discourse with the industry was only possible if they had a similar level of expertise, so many of them had to acquire deep levels of pharmaceutical and medical knowledge in a short space of time. But they also had to become effective political activists, and Campillo shows the group’s journey from invading the pharma companies’ offices and throwing fake blood at the wall, to It’s difficult for anyone under the age of 30 to remember what the inviting them to group meetings in an effort to get some desperately peak of the HIV / AIDS ‘epidemic’ was like – scaremongering about an needed traction on their support. illness about which little at the time was known, and adverts in the There’s a risk that this could all be terribly dry and preachy, but far ... these young activists had to become from it. The title, 120 BPM, refers to the average heart rate of sufferers, elevated as one of the many symptoms of their condition but it’s also polymaths on their own condition... a description of the film’s elevated approach to throwing light on the plight of HIV sufferers at the time. Despite clocking in at well over two media designed to raise awareness through fear - which is just one of hours, the script (by Campillo and Phillippe Mangeot) shows its leads the many reasons why 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) is so valuable. attempting to live life to the full even while they continue the struggle When you think of AIDS dramas, you might think of PHILADELPHIA or to be allowed to live life, their urgency reflected in their personal lives DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, dramatically powerful in their own ways, but as well as their activism.

120 BPM might be the first film to successfully capture the larger experience of HIV and AIDS sufferers while not losing sight of their Central to this is the relationship between Nathan and Sean; not all of the characters get to have their backstories sketched in but as Nathan struggle on a personal level. and Sean grow closer, and share a pivotal and tender sex scene, 120 The film is set in the French branch of the American-founded BPM becomes a touching, affecting portrayal of the characters’ lives organisation ACT UP and we’re introduced to the lead characters as well as a militant one. But it’s also not afraid to show how society through their weekly campaign meetings, strong political discourses viewed these people, with suspicion and dread, and that just serves where agreement is shown with clicking fingers and dissent by hissing. to add to their plight and to your sympathies. Come well-armed for At the first meeting we see, chaired by group leader Thibault (Antoine 120 BPM, you’ll need a hankie or two for the end and then, when Reinartz) they’re already disagreeing on the approach, with Sophie you’ve been inspired by the film, some placards to join the protest (Adèle Hanael) favouring a more passive, talkative approach while afterwards.

- Mark Liversidge Sean (Nahuel Pe´rez Biscayart) has started handcuffing speakers to podiums. Newcomers such as Nathan (Arnaud Valois) try to work out Showing on Wednesday 25 at 10.15 at the Arts which approach to side with in their battle with the big pharmaceutical Picturehouse companies. The group’s members feel as if they are living on borrowed Visit www.cambridgefilmfestival.com to buy tickets

4

There’s a point in Apo W. Bazidi’s documentary RESISTANCE IS LIFE (Berxwedan Jiyane in Kurdish) where a volunteer, just finished performing for the children in a refugee camp, says “we are going to win this war with smiling children.”

His assertion represents two of the major themes of the documentary: one is the fierce resistance of the Kurdish people, exiled from their homes and living in refugee camps on the Syrian-Turkish border. The other is the livelihoods of the children, running and playing with smiling faces, despite the vicious circumstances surrounding them. Nowhere do we see this more than in the brave, jovial face of eight year-old Evlin, the incredible figure at the centre of the film.

Evlin and her family have been forced to live in a refugee camp after ISIS attacked their village in northern Syria. Her father, Aladdin, initially stayed to fight (the courage displayed here is a distinctive trait), but has since joined them. One of the startling things in RESISTANCE IS LIFE is the contrast between the parents’ description of events and their children’s: when Evlin’s mother emotionally depicts the horrors of moving from their village to Turkey, her son chimes in afterwards, ‘you didn’t say we made it’, with a wide grin. It is a touching moment, filled with pain and sanguinity.

The children in this film are all stoic, cheerful characters. Where you would expect blind innocence, they give a rather frank, impassive commentary on their circumstances. RESISTANCE IS LIFE doesn’t need to show scenes of horror, gunshots or bombing to strike its audience with alarm- it simply shows a young child eagerly leading a cameraman to a fallen rocket, right in the middle of a war zone.

Horror, however, is not the prime focus of this documentary. The clue to the overall theme of RESISTANCE IS LIFE is in the film’s title. Most of the refugees in Evlin’s community are from the city of Kobane, immediately south of the Syrian-Turkish border. Extremely proud of their homeland, Bazidi exhibits the love for their city throughout, using stories from a variety of individuals from the community. Kobane was a battleground; resistance movements quickly sprung after the ISIS siege in 2014, as citizens refused to give up on the fight for their city. RESISTANCE IS LIFE doesn’t dwell on outside forces or the complicated politics behind the Syrian crisis; it focuses on this community and their experiences.

Disregarding a brief instance where the history of Kurdistan is explained, the film’s strength lies in its allowance on the Kurdish people to tell their own story.

The film rightfully highlights the feminist spirit of the resistance, showing the women and their own resistance movement, which plays a huge part in the battle for Kobane. They say that no one has stood for women in Syria, so horrendously treated by ISIS, so they will stand for themselves. This radiates from the adults who fight for the YPJ (Women’ Protection Units), right down to the young girls like Evlin, equally defiant and admirable.

Review

It is to Evlin that RESISTANCE IS LIFE constantly returns. She is the admirable figure at its centre, inspires tremendous emotion and awe. Taking pictures in order to be ‘like a journalist’, her photos are often used as stills in the film, to show ‘the pain’ around her. Evlin nevertheless goes further and demonstrates the spirit around her, from her valiant words to her emotive, joyful expressions. An inspiring force, she is a wonderful icon in the community.

There is sadness and horror in the story of Kobane, but Bazidi chooses to show an uplifting element to the city and its people. Their resistance to terror is the heart of RESISTANCE IS LIFE - making it an astonishing, rousing watch for all audiences.

- Yozzie Osman

RESISTANCE IS LIFE 5

More reviews and interviews, and unabridged versions of our printed copy, at takeonecff.com

There are certain fact-based films (Fred Zinnemann’s version of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL comes to mind) which, while their historical outcome is never in question, nonetheless repay repeated viewings due to storytelling, performances and general entertainment value.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES can be added to this list: enjoyable throughout, it benefits from perfect casting; Steve Carell as the clownish pre-war Wimbledon champion turned gambler Bobby Riggs, and Emma Stone as Wimbledon champion Billie-Jean King, who took on Riggs in the ‘battle’ of the title at the Houston Astrodome in 1973, for a purse of $100,000.

Concurrent with the build-up to the match are sharply-portrayed scenes of the opponents’ personal lives: at home Riggs is seen as unable to resist a bet; starting at the dinner-table as he challenges his young son over the number of peppercorns in a jar, his habit eventually becomes too much for his wife Priscilla (Elizabeth Shue) who kicks him out after a Rolls Royce arrives on the doorstep, the fruits of a card game. Riggs is obliged to move into the car before crashing on his other son’s sofa.

Meanwhile after a run-in over equal pay for women players with tennis legend turned dinosaur Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman), King, together with entrepreneur Gladys Heldman (a surprising Sarah Silverman), forms a breakaway women’s tour sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes. During the tour King finds herself falling for hairdresser Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) and they become lovers, much to the mystified dismay of King’s husband Larry (Austin Stowell).

To fan the flames of opposition to Women’s Liberation and support his gambling habit, Riggs first challenges the Australian champion Margaret Court (evangelical then and even more vociferously anti-LGBT rights now) and beats her in straight sets. This would seem to leave Billie-Jean King as easy meat, as Court has just beaten her without trouble, taking advantage of King’s deep emotional stress.

... the whole film has a convincingly 1970s look; overlit and slightly cheesy.

So the stage is set and, after exploiting media fascination with the contest to the full (including appearing as a nude centrefold and on a tennis court dressed as Bo Peep, surrounded by sheep), Bobby Riggs fills himself full of performance-enhancing pills before making a gladiatorial entrance at the packed Astrodome, where he’s presented by Billie-Jean King (who herself has entered on a Cleopatra-style float) with a live ‘male chauvinist’ pig. After initial nerves out in the middle (and in front of a TV audience of 90 million), King asserts her superiority and blows Riggs away; to the delight of the Women’s Movement and the chagrin of Jack Kramer, watching in some gentleman’s club, glass of whiskey in hand.

The story is a gift and directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris pick it up and run all the way with it. Films such as LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE show their talent for comedy set-pieces and here a highlight is Riggs (Steve Carell at his manic best) sabotaging a meeting of Gamblers Anonymous, producing a deck of cards and pushing them off the wagon. The match itself is expertly staged (so often the downfall of sports films), and the whole film as shot by Linus Sandgren has a convincingly 1970s look, overlit and slightly cheesy.

The only problems come with writer Simon Beaufoy’s heavy-with-hindsight characterisations, given the quality of the actors: Pullman’s Jack Kramer is a smooth corporate villain straight out of a John Grisham class-action movie; King’s tennis-fashion designer Teddy Tinling (Alan Cumming) is handed the over-familiar role of the camp but wise counsellor (‘Times change; you’ve changed them’) and most seriously of all, Emma Stone’s Billie-Jean is short-changed on her growing sexual disorientation, given to biting her lip and furrowing her brow in lieu of actually articulated feelings, especially in the scenes with Andrea Riseborough’s equally opaque Marilyn. - Andrew Nickolds

Review

Battle of the Sexes

ALL CONTENT © TAKE ONE 2017 | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: ROSY HUNT | MANAGING EDITOR: JIM ROSS | DEPUTY EDITORS: BEN JOHNSTON, MARK LIVERSIDGE, STEPHEN WATSON | DESIGN: ROSY HUNT | SPONSOR: ARU | COVER IMAGE © DAVID RILEY 2017

More reviews, interviews, features and unabridged versions of all our printed content at takeonecff.com

6

You’re inquisitive, persuasive and open-minded.

BA (Hons) Media Studies is

made for you Find out more at anglia.ac.uk/ mediastudies

Book now anglia.ac.uk/openday #madeforaru