Keswick Film Festival

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Girl leaves boy, meets boy, falls in love with...his wife. That is the only thing that is 'simple' about the life of Anaïs, who flits from one drama to the next... but can you resist her appeal?

"Anaïs spends half the movie racing at breakneck speed down sidewalks, up stairs, across fields, down hallways, into and out of elevators, always half an hour late for everything (and sometimes she doesn't show up at all). She barely apologizes for keeping people waiting. She just breezes through, chattering non-stop. No one can get a word in... Anaïs is so confident about her 'charms' that other people's obvious displeasure don't seem to bother her. She talks her way out of everything." - Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com.

Both the lead actor, Anaïs Demoustier, and the director, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, get great reviews: "While Anaïs is a charismatic energy source, and Demoustier's fizzy, swirling portrayal as wonderfully in the moment as it can be, the filmmaker's astute treatment of Emilie — the beguiled target who knows how to re-shift the molecules in the air — is what ultimately, intelligently crystallizes the themes of seduction, pleasure and what's too often untapped about female power. It's easy to see what’s Rohmer-ian in the basic architecture of 'Anaïs in Love', yet there's no denying this is a narrative whose wisdom and nonjudgmental perspective on life, love and learning is a woman's. May we get many more tales of zestful turbulence from Bourgeois-Tacquet, a storyteller to watch" – Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times.

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PLEASE NOTE THE LATER START OF 5:30pm

We start this week's session with a new short, animated film, 'THE FELL WE CLIMB', produced by young Cumbrians in collaboration with mentors from Anti-Racist Cumbria, based on their own experiences of "what it's like growing up in Cumbria if you aren’t white". The film will be introduced by Keswick school pupil Millie Williams, and lead animator, Lou Kneath of +3K Animation. This took the best part of a year to produce and should be interesting from both a 'black lives matter' perspective and as a great way to support young talent.

It provides great support for our main feature 'QUEEN OF GLORY', a dry comedy about the problems of Ghanaian people living in New York.

"Actress Nana Mensah makes an impressive debut as a writer-director with 'Queen of Glory', a dry comedy of culture clashes, both ethnic and generational. Mensah fondly depicts the world of a Ghanaian American who has for the most part kept her heritage at a distance. But even in New York City, far from her homeland, she inevitably reconnects with tradition" – Pat Padua, Washington Post.

"At the beginning of the film, Sarah is planning to drop out of grad school and move to Ohio with her married lover, who has been offered a university teaching position there. That changes when she gets a phone call informing her that her mother, Grace, has suddenly died from an aneurysm. The news throws Sarah for a loop and suddenly the life she's mapped out for herself seems less feasible, if not completely implausible. Instead of running off to the Midwest, Sarah returns to her childhood home in the Bronx and tries to navigate the aftermath of her mother's death, including planning a traditional funeral and running her family's Christian bookstore" – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter.

Mensah wrote, directed, and stars in the film, which was completed in 30 days, but took over seven years total to complete. Mensah stated that frustration with limited and stereotypical roles led her to create the film as an artistic outlet: "I wasn’t given artistic opportunities anywhere else, so I had to go out and make some." The film was funded through investors, Kickstarter campaigns, and Mensah's own savings.

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We are taken back to Africa, the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1823 when the Agojie defended the kingdom against the Oyo Empire. 'So what?' you might say, but the Agojie were an elite unit of ALL FEMALE warriors. "Formally considered 'wives' of King Ghezo, unable to marry or have children of their own, their reputation for ferocity remains unparalleled – no one dares gaze upon them as they march through the streets" -Clarisse Loughrey, Independent.

On one level, this is a blockbuster historic war movie, disguising a black feminist story; a big hitter with a social conscience. Amazingly, it was considered unprofitable to make for three years; it has gone straight to the top of the US box office. With Viola Davis in the title role of Nanisca, director Gina Prince-Bythewood spurned ay use of CGI to keep the film feeling 'real', with (nearly) all the stunts being done by the actors themselves – no mean feat when you see the fight scenes! As Clarisse Loughrey goes on to say, "Davis, Mbedu, Lynch, and Atim's performances are all so unilaterally committed – not only to the hardened quality of these soldiers, but also to their gentility, their sense of humour, their pain, and their resolve – that the film's emotions are convincing and sincere. The Woman King isn't intended to be any ordinary account of history. It is a vibrant, restorative celebration of Black womanhood in all its glory".