Films

BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTES explores the unique vision behind the iconic jazz record label. Through rare archival footage, current recording sessions and conversations with Blue Note artists, the film reveals a powerful mission and illuminates the vital connections between jazz and hip hop.

Drama - Ukraine - War. A “white hot war film”, Arsenal is placed alongside Battleship Potemkin as the great revolutionary masterpiece of Soviet cinema. Its frank depiction of violence as well as its fantastic lyrical imagery established Dovzhenko as the experimental film-maker of his age. "This ambitious film has evoked comparisons with Picasso's Guernica for its angry, compassionate, complex depiction of war and is full of unforgettable images" - The Guardian

Antonio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha's first film in colour, was awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival of 1969 by a jury headed by Luchino Visconti. Its visual style, radical approach to story-telling and powerful use of music (by composer Marlos Nobre) has had a pervasive influence on film-makers such as Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme. Folk songs, rhymed verse, and lush color fashion a stunning call to arms for the Brazilians and one of the most memorable films of the Cinema Novo --Chicago Reader The film is like an epic poem, lionising revolutionaries like Che Guevara as it lovingly photographs the mountains and plains of the country - a land whose people are being destroyed by post-colonial exploitation --The Guardian

Drama - Italy - Thriller. Federico Fellini’s darkest film cracks through the myth of Casanova. Fellini’s Casanova is celebrated for its production values and costume design, for which Danilo Donati won Academy and BAFTA awards, and is made memorable by Nino Rota’s unusual haunting score. "A spectacular visual fantasy which succeeds in capturing the emotional and moral void at the heart of the Casanova myth ... a beautiful, indulgent private fantasy" - Film4

Brazil - Brazilian - Documentary. Produced by Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and directed in part by Marcelo Machado (Tropicalia), the film follows seven young footballers from a diverse range of social and ethnic backgrounds, providing an insight into the passionate culture that produces some of the world’s finest footballers. "Ginga, it’s in our blood, it’s a gift given by God especially to Brazilians who play football and learn to dance from an early age. I think Brazilians are given Ginga when they’re born and continue to improve it through childhood." - Ronaldo

Drama - Italy. "Beautifully shot, moody metaphysical drama...in which sex becomes tangled up with art, creativity is a branch of self-knowledge and isolation is the bass note in human experience" - Film4. Identification of a Woman, Michelangelo Antonioni’s penultimate feature, marked a return to Italy after an interim period dedicated to international productions (Blow-Up, The Passenger). It revisits the themes of his 60s works (L’Avventura), while breaking new ground in its impressionistic narrative and its unaffected visual style. Described as one of the greatest Italian films of the 80s, it reveals a film pioneer committed to documenting the tensions of modernity while placing human relationships at the center. Awards: Cannes Film Festival (1982), Won, 35th Anniversary Prize / Cannes Film Festival (1982), Nominated, Palme d'Or

Drama - Italy. L’Avventura received a special prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival for “creating a new film language”. In presenting the teeming uncertainty of modern life without offering the slightest recourse of a motive or explanation, Michelangelo Antonioni provoked audiences to look at films in a new way. A regular fixture on myriad lists of the greatest films made, L’Avventura remains a landmark of film history. "L'Avventura has still held up remarkably well, perhaps because the creepiness of existence remains topical in these apathetic times" - Filmcritic.com. Awards: Cannes Film Festival (1960), Won, Special Jury Prize / Cannes Film Festival (1960), Nominated, Palme d'Or / British Film Institute Awards (1960), Won, Sutherland Trophy / BAFTA Awards (1961), Nominated, Best Film from any source / BAFTA Awards (1961), Nominated, Best Foreign Actress.

Drama - Mexico. Made in Mexico in 1951, Susana is filled with the characteristic touches and familiar motifs of Luis Buñuel’s body of work. Class tension and sexual repression is revealed beneath the rational façade of the conventional nuclear family. "Made by the master in Mexico...'Susana'' is full of the sort of Bunuelian touches that forever separate all of Bunuel's films from those of everyone else" - New York Times

Cuba - Drama - Gay. One of the most popular films in Cuba it achieved international acclaim, becoming the first Cuban film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. Strawberry & Chocolate arrived near the end of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s career; a gentle comic work about friendship and coming-of-age which is also a staunch critique of homophobia. "A superb Cuban film from 1993, a little classic about gay freedom and its aspirations versus Fidel Castro and his Marxist straitjacketing" - Financial Times. Awards: Academy Awards (1995), Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film / Sundance Film Festival (1995), Won, Honourable Mention, Latin American Cinema / National Board of Review (1994), Won, NBR Award, Top Foreign Film / Chicago International Film Fesitval (1994), Won, Best Actor.

Drama - Italy. Bernardo Bertolucci's debut feature film examines the dark underbelly of life on Poverty Row to create a complex tapestry of human behaviour. It follows the story of a police investigation into the murder of a prostitute in Rome Park. Each suspect's alibi is seen from the individual's perspective.