Keswick Film Festival

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We have another classic Nuri Bilge Ceylan film for you this week. It will be no surprise to his fans to know it is as long as usual, nor that it is as beautiful as ever. If there is a surprise it is that the usual thought-provoking dialogue contains much humour this time around: "I never thought I'd laugh this much during a Nuri Bilge Ceylan film...Ceylan delivers what might be his funniest, most politically poignant work yet. It also happens to be achingly personal" - Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice.

The story follows a young, would-be writer, Sinan, as he moves back and forth between the big city and his father's small village, always arguing and probing for answers in "a series of extended, tense, and often hilarious conversations about literature, popularity, love, modernity - issues central to the role of an artist today, especially in a place like Turkey" - Ebiri again. He blames his failure to achieve success as a writer on his father, but gradually begins to realise he has more in common with him than he thought.

All this is done with Ceylan's incredible attention to detail, alongside Gökhan Tiryaki, his regular cinematographer, whose flair for beauty stands out: "'The Wild Pear Tree' maintains a visual sophistication unparalleled in international cinema. Ceylan intersperses talky exposition with poetic imagery that deep-ens the story's thematic concerns, from a majestic swing of the camera that goes up and into a tree - the better to watch the leaves blowing in the breeze - to the slow tracking shot toward the edge of a well at the movie's taut and remarkable climax. In each case, the images reflect a broader quest for answers in a world that only reveals itself in piecemeal' - Eric Kohn, IndieWire. I hope all you other Ceylan fans are looking forward to this as much as I am...

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Members' Choice

Directed By Chelsea Cohen, Ainsley Gardiner, Casey Kaa, Renae Maihi, Awanui Simich-Pene, Briar Grace Smith, Paula Whetu Jones, Katie Wolfe.

An eight year old boy - Waru - has been killed by the person supposedly caring for him. The local Maori community is devastated by the loss.

The producers of 'Waru', Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton charged eight female directors with the remit to produce a ten minute vignette each, to be shot in real time in no more than one day; put together, each vignette is a chapter in the community's reaction. The sum of the result is "a fascinating glimpse into New Zealand's contemporary Maori community, Waru brings a sense of dramatic, urgent realism to a story that plays out like a suspenseful mystery" - Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter.

We start with Charm, who is preparing the food for the mourners. "Her stormy confrontation with Waru's sobbing young mother is truly anguishing, as the girl begs her to use supernatural powers to 'bring my baby back'" - Deborah Young again. This is followed by Anahera, trying to deal with the loss at his school.

The central chapter is the Tangi (funeral), which concentrates on the ancestral traditions, with his two grandmothers, from different tribes, contending for his body. You will have to come along to see what the rest is about; "Joined together, the shorts are a powerful chorus of female Maori voices united in finding a way to protect all that is vulnerable" - Gayle MacDonald, Globe and Mail.

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Directed by the great Steve McQueen and featuring many big stars, what's not to like? After '12 Years a Slave', a feminist heist movie comes as a big surprise to the world, but "McQueen largely succeeds at something few directors even try: to set a satisfyingly twisty crime plot in the broader social context of political corruption and systemic racial and gender bias" - Dana Stevens, Slate.

Adapted from the Lynda La Plante TV series, I can't wait to see what it looks like with McQueen's magic touch.