Film screening at the Watershed Media Centre Bristol March - April 2006

Film

Good Night, and Good Luck PG
Until Thu 2 March
Dir: George Clooney  USA '05  1hr 33mins 
Clooney pays tribute to the golden era of black-and-white '50s television drama and to a moment when newscaster Edward R. Murrow successfully took o­n Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee in a now legendary broadcast.

I Am Cuba CTBA
Until Thu 2 March
Dir: Mikheil Kalatozishvili  Soviet Union/Cuba  1964  2hrs 21mins  Subtitled
Told in four distinct chapters, the Soviet-financed I Am Cuba takes the viewer o­n a journey from the decadent 'pools and parties' milieu of Cuba under Batista, into the world of poverty and oppression created by US imperialism before finally emerging into a revolutionary dawn. 

Capote 15
Until Thu 16 March
Dir: Bennett Miller  USA '05  1hr 55mins
In 1959, Capote (captured incredibly here by the talented Philip Seymour Hoffman) was stunned by a newspaper article detailing the brutal murder of the entire Clutter family in rural Kansas and decided he must write about the case. The film focuses o­n Capote's research and writing of what went o­n to be his pioneering 'In Cold Blood' novel, which skyrocketed him to unheralded acclaim - but not without a price. 

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance 18
Fri 3 - Thu 9 March
Dir: Chan-wook Park  South Korea '05  1hr 55mins  Subtitled
'Lady Vengeance' was wrongly imprisoned aged nineteen for the murder of a small boy. Fourteen years later, she is released and seeks revenge. Park continues to flaunt his storytelling panache, however his film pushes beyond its initial violent exuberance and becomes a dazzling exploration of the spiritual price of vengeance, however justified it might seem.

MirrorMask PG
Fri 3 - Thu 16 March
Dir: Dave McKean  UK '04  1hr 37mins
Having spent her whole life living among circus performers, 15-year-old Helena yearns for a life more ordinary - but she soon comes to regret her wish when she's whisked off to a parallel dream world. Though above all intended for children, this delightful rites-of-passage fable will also delight adult fans.

In Cold Blood 15
Sat 4 & Sun 5 March
Dir: Richard Brooks  USA 1967  2hrs 14mins
Brooks' memorable screen adaptation of Capote's bestseller about the senseless murder of a family in Kansas is bleak, violent and affecting all at o­nce. His ruthlessly blunt approach to the story goes as far as to use authentic locals as extras, and real locations - right down to the Kansas State Penitentiary gallows.

Extending the Image: animate! 02-05  18
Sun 5 March  1500hrs
A special screening of recent commissions from the animate! project, which trailblazes fresh narrative and aesthetic possibilities in film. animate! are now looking for more ground-breaking works: deadline for submissions is Fri 31 March. For more information, visit www.animateonline.org 
animate! is produced by Finetake and funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4.

The Proposition 18
Fri 10 - Thu 23 March
Dir: John Hillcoat  Australia/UK '05  1hr 44mins
Scripted by Nick Cave, The Proposition is set in lawless 1880's Australia, where Charlie (Guy Pearce) and younger brother Mikey form two thirds of the notorious Burns Gang responsible for the brutal slaying of a family. After a furious gunfight, the pair are captured by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) and Charlie is given a proposition: to survive he must find and kill their psychopathic brother Arthur.

Film Season

The Dark World of James M. Cain: Film Noir Revisited
Fri 10 - Thu 16 March
'Left Coast Crime', a major US crime fiction convention, is coming to the Bristol Royal Marriott from Thu 16 - Sun 19 March (for more information see www.leftcoastcrime2006.com To celebrate, Watershed presents a programme of films and discussions around the work of hard-boiled fiction writer James M. Cain in the lead-up to the convention.

Double Indemnity PG
Fri 10 - Thu 16 March
Dir: Billy Wilder  USA 1944  1hr 47mins
Walter Neff is a greedy and gullible insurance salesman lured into a murder-for-insurance plot by seductive femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson. The murder goes as planned, but after the couple's passion cools, each becomes suspicious of the other's motives.

Mildred Pierce PG
Fri 10 March
Dir: Michael Curtiz  USA 1945  1hr 51mins
Mother/daughter rivalry is taken to the limits in this rags-to-riches story of a woman who turns her back o­n the confines of family to make a new life for herself and her children. Most notably served as a comeback film for waning star Joan Crawford.

The Postman Always Rings Twice PG
Sat 11 - Sun 12 March
Dir: Tay Garnett  USA 1946  1hr 53mins
Starring brooding John Garfield as the handsome drifter drawn into a net of murder, when he falls for luscious platinum bombshell Lana Turner at her husband's roadside diner.

Ossessione PG
Sat 11 - Sun 12 March
Dir: Luchino Visconti  Italy 1943  2hrs 20mins  Subtitled
Visconti's stunning debut, adapted 'unofficially' from Cain's novel 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', is a hotbed of smouldering passion.

Film

The Road to Guantanamo CTBA
Tue 14 - Thu 16 March
Dirs: Michael Winterbottom/ Mat Whitecross  UK '05  1hr 35mins
This insightful docu-drama recreates the gruelling journey of three British Muslims captured in Afghanistan and detained for two years at Guantanamo Bay as suspected terrorists, before being released without charge.

Tsotsi 15
Fri 17 - Thu 30 March
Dir: Gavin Hood  UK/South Africa '05  1hr 34mins  Subtitled
Adapted from a novel by the South African playwright Athol Fugard and shot o­n location in the poverty-stricken townships outside Johannesburg, Hood's film traces six days in the life of Tsotsi (which means 'hoodlum'), a ruthless young gang leader who ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car-jacking.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes 12A
Fri 17 - Thu 23 March
Dirs: Stephen Quay/ Timothy Quay  Germany/UK/France '05  1hr 39mins
Famous opera singer Malvina is abducted by the obsessive Dr. Droz o­n the eve of her wedding. When an innocent piano tuner is summoned to the mad Droz's secluded villa to service his strange musical instruments and learns of the doctor's plans to stage a 'diabolical opera', he sets out to save the beautiful Malvina.

The Devil's Miner 18
Sun 19 March  1800hrs
Dirs: Richard Ladkani/ Kief Davidson  Germany/USA '05  1hr 22mins  Subtitled
As part of Central America Week, Bristol Link with Nicaragua presents this award-winning documentary, which follows 14-year-old Basilio Vargas - o­ne of about 800 children who labour in stifling heat and darkness in the mines of Cerro Rico in Bolivia. Introduced by BLINC supporter and local musician Roy Youdale who has lived in the Bolivian mining communities, researching their songs and struggles.

Film Season

Sheffield International Documentary Festival o­n Tour
Mon 20 - Sun 26 March
Now in its seventh year, the UK's biggest event dedicated to documentaries brings you a touring selection of the 'best of the fest'. For more information o­n the Sheffield Documentary Festival, visit: www.sidf.co.uk/

Oona & Me PG
Mon 20 March
Dir: Nora Meyer  UK '05  1hr 12mins
Oona King alienated herself from much of her constituency in the 2005 general elections by voting for the war in Iraq. King allowed her childhood friend Nora Meyer to make a documentary about it, despite Meyer's opposition to the Iraq invasion. A telling insider look at local politics at its sharpest edge.
PLUS Last Men Standing (Dir: Sasha Maja Djurkovic  17mins)
An exploration of what happened ten years after the closure of the Welsh Tower Colliery, when ex-miners pooled their severance pay and bought their own pit.

Avenge But o­ne Of My Two Eyes 12
Wed 22 March
Dir: Avi Mograbi  Israel/France '05  1hr 40mins  Subtitled
In the opening scene, young Jewish tourists learn the myths of Samson and Massada and the message that death is preferable to submission. Meanwhile, the second Intifada rages and Palestinians are more frustrated than ever. Mograbi places his faith in the power of dialogue as the people of Palestine voice their despair.

Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room 15
Sat 25 March
Dir: Alex Gibney  USA '04  1hr 49mins
Since their fall from grace, Enron executives have refused to speak to the media. But the company archives contain a number of revealing phone calls and videotapes. Gibney explains how Enron's defrauding was not so much the product of a few bad apples as the ultimate result of a deregulated free-market system.

The Immortal 15
Sun 26 March
Dir: Mercedes Moncada Rodriguez  Spain/Mexico '05  1hr 20mins  Subtitled
In 1983 a Nicaraguan family was torn apart as three teenage siblings were press-ganged into the US-backed Contra army, whilst a fourth wound up fighting for the Sandinista government. Twenty years later, the effect of war continues even after the country has returned to 'normal'.

Transamerica 15
Fri 24 March - Thu 6 April
Dir: Duncan Tucker  USA '05  1hr 43mins
Bree (Felicity Huffman in a remarkable performance) is a pre-operative transsexual awaiting the procedure that will make her a woman at last when teenage runaway Toby unexpectedly turns up in her life, looking to find his long-lost father.

The Child 12A
Fri 24 March - Thu 6 April
Dirs: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne  France/Belgium '05  1hr 35mins  Subtitled
Bruno, a 20-year-old living hand-to-mouth in Liege has his reckless existence interrupted by the arrival of his newborn son. Unbeknownst to his teen girlfriend Sonja, Bruno's cavalier attitude towards life spills over into his parenting, and arrangements for his child to be illegally adopted begin.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada 15
Fri 31 March - Thu 13 April
Dir: Tommy Lee Jones  USA '05  2hrs 
Actor-director Tommy Lee Jones delivers a sublime performance as Pete Perkins, a fiercely moral ranch foreman disconsolate at the murder and unceremonious burial of his Mexican ranch hand. Pete undertakes a redemptive mission to unearth the truth behind his friend's death, and wreak vengeance o­n those responsible as he lovingly transports his friend's corpse o­n mule back to his native village in Mexico.

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