Keswick Film Festival

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We are starting with a film that should have lots of local interest - based around the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001, which affected 2000 farms across the country, and resulted in over 6 million cows and sheep being killed to stem it. Although this film is based on a farm in Devon, Cumbria was the worst affected, with nearly 900 cases.

The film started out in life as a stage play, written by Bea Roberts, which itself won many awards. The film has been made by the same people - director Paul Robinson, writer Bea Roberts and main actors, David Fielder and Nigel Hastings - so you can see it is a labour of love.

I can't give you many facts to go on as we are writing pre review stage, but the film makers, Finite Film and TV, say simply "A heart-warming story of friendship and survival set against the backdrop of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak...tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Devon farmer and the vet who is assigned to cull his precious herd". Hopefully we will have more to tell you before 10 September. What I can say is that we have been promised the director, Paul Robinson, to introduce and take a Q&A, and we are trying to get some local farmers and/or vets to come along to give their memories, so we should have a great start to the season.

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"Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, 'Scrapper', directed by Charlotte Regan, is a delightfully hilarious film from the UK. After her mom dies, Georgie, 12, lives alone in her flat, supporting herself by stealing bikes with her friend Ali. Everything seems to be going well until a young man shows up who claims to be her estranged father, Jason. Georgie is too grown up, Jason too immature, and she's suspicious about why he has appeared after being a deadbeat dad all these years. Scrapper is just one of those sweet, funny films that takes pleasure in the wonder of youth, with really tight, honest writing that is unexpected and fun" - Josh Flanders, Chicago Reader.

Sounds like a winner to us!

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A love story across two decades and two continents, which might make you cry with joy or sadness...Na Young leaves Korea (and her friend Hae Sung) with her parents as a young girl, bound for Canada. She rekindles the relationship on Skype, 12 years later, now called Nora, but life gets in the way. Another 12 years go by, she is living in New York and married to Arthur when Hae Sung comes to visit...will they reconnect, or will life and Arthur win out?

This is not a conventional love triangle—there are no baddies here, just a woman with many 'what-ifs' and two distinct lives. "'Past Lives' feels so deliciously restrained that it makes even quiet dramas seem histrionic. And yet it's a wide emotional field that gives its characters room to breathe. For all its bittersweet ness, it's also a deeply satisfying experience that deals with intimate subjects in global terms. Or maybe the other way around? Either way, if 'Past Lives' isn't 2023's best film, we're in for an incredible year of cinema" - John Wenzel, Denver Post.

Greta Lee, who plays Nora is made for the part, being a Korean who has been living in the States for most of her life; the film made her go through similar emotions. "Lee and her co-star Teo Yoo are electric together, conveying an excess of feelings both unspoken and not fully understood through their graceful exchange of looks and dialogue" - Trace Sauveur, Austin Chronicle.

Could we agree with John Wenzel, or will another incredible film be our favourite?

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So who wants to see a film starring Alexandra Burke, singing Tina Turner songs? Not you? Well, think again! "'Pretty Red Dress' is a debut feature starring a one-time X Factor winner so, you know, kill me now. But it's a thin week and I'll cut it some slack and be kind, like it says on the T-shirts. That was my thinking, because, as is now obvious, I can be a patronising fool. This is a terrific film. It's original, has heft, is magnificently performed, and it blew me away" - Deborah Ross, The Spectator.

Convinced yet? Well if I go on to say it also stars another magnificent newcomer - Natey Jones - playing the tough, just-released from-prison, South London drug dealer, who just happens to have a thing for wearing women's dresses, and that their teenage daughter, Kenisha (played by Temilola Olatunbosun, also to great reviews) has problems of her own, you might begin to see that this could be a film well worth your time.

The film is written and directed by relative newcomer Dionne Edwards who was named as one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow in 2019 ; one to look out for? "Edwards's film plays a lot with stereotypical conventions surrounding gender expectations. It's a bold commentary on the many roles we play to fit in with society whilst learning to be comfortable in our own skin. Both Jones and Burke give stellar performances. Jones' tormented portrayal contrasts beautifully with Burke's strong-willed Candice, who yearns to escape her low paid job for a glimmer of stardom. As secrets unravel, their emotional conflict translates into a fascinating look into dominance and vulnerability" - Kelechi Ehenulo, Empire.

As Tina Turner herself might well have said, "You're simply the best"...

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Inspired by her brother's real experience of the Bataclan attack in Paris, Alice Winocour (who co-wrote the magnificent 'Mustang' we saw here in 2016), places Mia, by a huge mis chance, in a restaurant which is attacked by a terrorist gunman. Mia "finds herself completely broken by the experience…" - Wendy Ide, Observer. We see the whole event through Mia's eyes, crouched on the floor with just the gunmen's feet in view; the tension this creates sets the scene for the whole film, but this film is not really about the attack, who did it or why, it is about the effect on a survivor, Mia. Wendy Ide goes on to say "Three months after the event, she starts the process of piecing together her shattered memories of the attack, even as she comes to realise that some elements of her life are beyond repair".

This is the main driver of the movie; we see Mia, unable to get over her shock, repeatedly revisiting the restaurant to work out what happened. Here she meets up with other survivors and bereaved relatives. She becomes even more desperate to remember when someone accuses her of causing harm by her actions that night.

Alice Winocour makes the film an exploration of the recovery rather than the horror of the attack as most terrorist films do. "'Paris Memories' is an emotionally searing exploration of the rippling effects of trauma, but it's not all doom and gloom. With its emphasis on empathy and solidarity, the film demonstrates that the human spirit can be lifted by something as simple as a hand held in the dark" - Yasmin Omar, Empire.

Virginie Efira, who plays Mia, gets amazing reviews for her performance and it won her the César Award for Best Actress.