Buxton Festival of World Cinema – 25 March-1 April
The 4th Buxton Festival of World Cinema starts on Good Friday, 25th March, and over eight days 22 full-length feature films from 12 different countries will be screened.
Big hits such as Lady in the Van, Brooklyn and Inside Out are part of the programme which includes plenty of family-friendly titles for the holiday week.
The Festival kicks off in rumbustious fashion with the British cartoon The Big Knights which features the well-meaning, but rather hopeless, Sir Morris and his brother Sir Boris as two medieval knights who try to do good but encounter a series of mishaps. From the makers of Peppa Pig, and including the unmistakeable voice of Brian Blessed, The Big Knights is an exciting start to a Festival that is more than just film. After the screening – which starts at 11.00am – there will be a free workshop in which children will have the chance the remember and re-tell the stories of Sir Boris and Sir Morris.
Among the other animations are the Japanese fairytale Ponyo (27 March) and the huge Pixar success Inside Out (28 March). The family-friendly programme also includes the exciting Spanish adventure of Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang (29 March). Zip and Zap are troublesome twins and are sent to a school where they will be brought into line – but things don't work out that way.
The programme is packed with gripping and moving stories that speak to our times. The recent version of Macbeth - paired with the landmark Japanese telling of the story, Throne of Blood (27 March) - probes the question of what drives a man to commit acts of immoral violence? Documentaries such as The Gleaners & I (25 March) and A Syrian Love Story (1 April) focus directly on two issues: how food is (over)produced and wasted and the harrowing experiences of refugees. Both films will be preceded by discussions in the afternoon about how we might respond to these issues.
Recent European successes La famille Belier and Mia Madre tell very different, but moving, stories about how families cope with the tensions and excitement of life together. The Festival ends – as always – on a high note. The Argentinian black comedy Wild Tales was one of the most successful foreign language films of 2015. It has been screened in Buxton already but such was its success that it is back.
The Festival is produced by Buxton Film in association with Buxton Opera House and all screenings will take place in the Pavilion Arts Centre. Most afternoons there will be free discussions and workshops on issues raised by the films screened that day. The Festival is sponsored by the University of Derby and full programme details can be found at www.buxtonfilm.org.uk. Tickets – just £4 (£3.50 concessions) - are on sale from the Opera House box office.