Happy October — and hello, November!
We’re delighted to share a selection of upcoming films in different languages to be screened or previewed at Queen’s Film Theatre.
Queen’s students and staff, their families, and members of the public are all very welcome to join us on a cinematic journey through different languages and cultures. Come along, discover new stories, and experience the richness of cultural diversity through film!
Arabic
Cotton Queen (Sun 18 & Mon 19 Oct)
In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of battling British colonisers told by her grandmother. But when a young businessman arrives with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the centre of a power play to determine the future of the village.
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep (Sun 1 Nov)
In a Bedouin village on the Lebanon–Syria border, a burned truck sets off a hunt for Gamra, blamed for burning her lover’s car. As her cousin searches for her, he accidentally kills a man from a rival clan, sparking a blood feud.
French
Case 137 (From Fri 16 Oct)
Set against the backdrop of mass protests in Paris, Case 137 follows Stéphanie (Léa Drucker in a César winning performance), a meticulous internal affairs investigator assigned to investigate a teenager critically injured by police fire.
A Man of His Time (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Mon 2 Nov)
Swann Arlaud (Anatomy of A Fall) gives an effectively inexplicit performance as a man making his way up the career ladder of the Vichy government, the regime in occupied France that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. This has been receiving rave reviews in France.
Coward (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Wed 4 Nov)
Pierre, a young Belgian soldier, wants to prove himself on the battlefield during the First World War. Behind the frontlines, he meets Francis, who is asked to find a way to boost morale. Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s poignant third feature celebrates a love that blooms amid the hardships and horrors of the First World War.
All of a Sudden (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Sat 7 Nov)
French nursing home director Marie-Lou faces resistance from staff and shareholders after introducing a care method based on dignity. When she meets Mari, a Japanese theatre director fighting cancer, the two share a bond that will prove transformative. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) brings Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto together in a poignant drama about friendship, illness, art, and the responsibilities of care.
German
Fatherland (Preview in LFF Fri 16 Oct, General release from Fri 23 Oct)
In 1949, German writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika embark on a road trip across a Germany in ruins, from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar.
Everytime (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Sat 7 Nov)
The upcoming Austrian director with a singular vision, Sandra Wollner, returns with her latest film, a story of a family tragedy, a trip to Tenerife in the hope of finding existential answers, and one woman’s relationship with her daughters and a teenaged family friend.
Rose (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Sat 7 Nov)
Sandra Hüller gives an award-winning performance as a 17th-century female soldier who disguises herself as a man to gain acceptance in a brutal farming community.
Korean
Hope (Tue 20 – Thu 22 Oct)
A rural Korean village is under attack from a mysterious creature laying waste to buildings, vehicles and anyone unfortunate enough to cross its path. Reinforcements have been diverted to battle wildfires and all communication has been cut off. Now it is down to a band of hunters, hapless police and terrified locals to identify the beast and bring it down whilst finding themselves hunted instead.
Possible Love (From Fri 23 Oct)
The lives of two married couples from different social strata collide in Lee Chang-dong’s (Burning) brilliantly unfolding narrative about economic precarity, in which a laid-off factory worker and his wife become the camera subjects for a documentary filmmaker.
Spanish
La Bola Negra (From Fri 20 Nov)
Spain, 1932. A young man awaits to see if he has secured membership of the local casino. In 1937, a young nationalist soldier guards a republican prisoner. Jump to 2017 and an unexpected document is inherited by an historian from his grandfather. A genre-defying queer epic, rooted in the legacy of beloved writer Federico García Lorca.
Russian
Minotaur (Preview in Belfast Film Festival Tue 3 Nov)
Andrey Zvyagintsev transposes Claude Chabrol’s La Femme infidèle to contemporary Russia, delivering a magnificent political allegory that dissects the mechanics of ego, violence and corruption.
