Sun 13 Jun • Double bill

ELEPHANT (15) 1.45

(US 2003) dir.Gus Van Sant 81m.
Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson, Elias McConnell.

“Gus Van Sant’s Palme d’Or winner began life as a conventional Hollywood psychodrama inspired by the Columbine high school massacre. Then it mutated into something more abstract, more personal. Filmed in languorous Steadicam shots, ELEPHANT sucks us into the lives of half a dozen or more students, slipping easily between them over the course of what seems at first like an uneventful school day. Some 30 minutes in we get a premonition of the terrible atrocity in store. Van Sant’s film elicits unusually strong responses; certainly it’s deeply harrowing.”
(Time Out)

+ 21 GRAMS (15) 3.35

US 2003) dir.Alejandro González Iñárritu 124m.
Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

“Like a smashed mirror, Alejandro González Iñárritu's enigmatic movie shows us broken lives in shards of fear. At its centre is a terrible accident whose impact has shattered everyone involved, and the movie itself is picking up the pieces and reassembling the truth. The narrative is busted up, as if being remembered by someone in shock. It lets the director dive boldly into the mystery of individual experience and identity, and shows us the poetry as well as the prose of his characters' lives. Most importantly, the movie has three absolutely outstanding performances from Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts. Between them, they offer a compelling triptych of human pain. Fluid, exhilarating, virtuoso cinema.”
(The Guardian)

Tue 15 Jun • Parents & Babies Club

21 GRAMS (15) 12.30

(US 2003) dir.Alejandro González Iñárritu 124m.
Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Thur 17 Jun • Parents & Babies Club

UZAK (Distant) (15) 12.45

(Turkey 2002) dir.Nuri Bilge Ceylan 110m. Subtitles.
Muzafer Ozdemir, Mhemet Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer Erkaya, Nazan Kirilmis.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Sun 20 Jun • Refugee Week treble bill

IN THIS WORLD (15) 2.00

(Br 2002) dir.Michael Winterbottom 90m.

“Inspired by the anti-immigrant xenophobia which surged in the run-up to the last General Election, IN THIS WORLD is a vérité-style dramatisation of the journey taken by two young men. They’re not fleeing persecution, but seeking a better life. Winterbottom shows us the hardships this illegal odyssey entails. The film expresses the distances between peoples in the hope that it may bring us closer together.”
(Time Out)

+ TOMATO DELIVERY (15) 3.45

(Br 2004) dir.Xiaosong Que 15m. Subtitles.
Supported by Hackney Film Fund.

An illegal Chinese immigrant dreams of a better life for himself and his family. In the wake of the recent tragedy at Morecambe Bay, this film becomes all the more pertinent – allowing us a glimpse of the humanity usually hidden behind the headlines.

+ LILYA 4-EVER (18) 4.00

(Swe 2002) dir.Lukas Moodysson 109m. Subtitles.
Oksana Akinshina, Artiom Bogucharski, Elina Benenson.

16-year-old Lilja lives on a grim estate somewhere in the former Soviet Union. When her mother flies off to America with her new boyfriend, she is left to fend for herself. Her only friend is glue-sniffing street urchin Volodya. Lilja’s inevitable descent is arrested when she meets and falls in love with Andrej, who invites her to emigrate with him to Sweden... “Fluid, exhilarating, virtuoso cinema.”
(The Guardian)

www.refugeeweek.org.uk

Tue 22 Jun • Parents & Babies Club

CONFIDENCE TROP INTIMES (15) 1.00

(France 2004) dir.Patrice Leconte 103m. Subtitles.
Fabrice Luchini, Sandrine Bonnaire, Michel Duchaussoy, Anne Brochet, Gilbert Melki, Laurent Gamelon, Hélène Surgère, Urbain Cancelier.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Thur 24 Jun • Parents & Babies Club

CONFIDENCE TROP INTIMES (15) 1.00

(France 2004) dir.Patrice Leconte 103m. Subtitles.
Fabrice Luchini, Sandrine Bonnaire, Michel Duchaussoy, Anne Brochet, Gilbert Melki, Laurent Gamelon, Hélène Surgère, Urbain Cancelier.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Sat 26 Jun • Matinee & Late Night

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (18) 1.15 & 11.15

(US 2004) dir.Mel Gibson 126m. Subtitles.
James Caviezel, Monica Belluci, Claudia Gerini.

Mel Gibson’s controversial epic provides a coruscating passage through the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth, amalgamated from the Biblical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In dramatic terms this takes Christ (Caviezel) from Judas’ betrayal in the Garden Of Gethsemane to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Sun 27 Jun • Double bill

BIGGER THAN LIFE (12A) 2.00

(US 1956) dir.Nicholas Ray 95m.
James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau.

“Mason plays Ed Avery, a 1950’s liberal smalltown schoolteacher happily married to Lou (Rush). Except that they haven’t the means to get out of suburbia, and it rankles with Ed. ‘We’re dull‘ he tells Lou. ‘Our friends are dull and we’re dull too.‘ The poison is in there deep, well before he’s diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood condition and prescribed a new ‘miracle‘ drug, cortisone. Ray’s masterful shocking, movie works on any number of levels.”
(Time Out)

+ CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (15) 4.00

(US 2003) dir.Andrew Jarecki 107m. Documentary.

“On Thanksgiving weekend 1987, police in Long Island, pursuing a US Post Office sting, broke down the Friedmans’ front door, eventually hauling away a collection of child porn. Dweebish father-of-three Arnold and his youngest son Jesse were subsequently arraigned for child abuse. That’s one side of the story. Another, turning on the family’s own doubts, disunity and recriminations was remarkably captured on video by the home-video-obsessed family itself, and subsequently discovered by Jarecki. An authentic American tragedy, this film broaches a parade of modern taboos; it’s disturbing, compelling viewing.”
(Time Out)

Tue 29 Jun • Parents & Babies Club

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (18) 12.30

(US 2004) dir.Mel Gibson 126m. Subtitles.
James Caviezel, Monica Belluci, Claudia Gerini.

Mel Gibson’s controversial epic provides a coruscating passage through the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth, amalgamated from the Biblical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In dramatic terms this takes Christ (Caviezel) from Judas’ betrayal in the Garden Of Gethsemane to his crucifixion and resurrection.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Thur 1 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (15) 12.45
(US 2003) dir.Andrew Jarecki 107m. Documentary.

“On Thanksgiving weekend 1987, police in Long Island, pursuing a US Post Office sting, broke down the Friedmans’ front door, eventually hauling away a collection of child porn. Dweebish father-of-three Arnold and his youngest son Jesse were subsequently arraigned for child abuse. That’s one side of the story. Another, turning on the family’s own doubts, disunity and recriminations was remarkably captured on video by the home-video-obsessed family itself, and subsequently discovered by Jarecki. An authentic American tragedy, this film broaches a parade of modern taboos; it’s disturbing, compelling viewing.”
(Time Out)

Adm £5/£4 Concessions

Sun 4 Jul • Tape Slide Course Showcase

LIGHT FANTASTIC 12.30

A screening of work by students from the Rio Tape Slide Course.

Cafe open from 12.00.

Admission free.

Tue 6 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SHREK 2 (U) 11.30am

(US 2004) dirs.Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon. 105m. Animation.
Voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Thur 8 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SHREK 2 (U) 11.30am

(US 2004) dirs.Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon. 105m. Animation.
Voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Sat 10 Jul • Late Night

VAN HELSING (12A) 11.15

(US 2004) dir.Stephen Sommers 132m.
Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, Samuel West.

“Loud, proud and very Hollywood, Van Helsing is a fantasy blockbuster that never lets up. Hugh Jackman stars as the monster-mashing vigilante of the title, who sets out to off Count Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) in the depths of Transylvania. Teamed with vamp-hating totty Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), Van the Man must battle the bloodsucker, his brutal brides, and the Wolfman (played by a bundle of CGI). Bung in Frankenstein's Monster (Shuler Hensley), Bondian gadgets and a tongue tucked firmly in its cheek and you've a lot of campy fun - even if it never elicits any real emotion.”
(Nev Pierce, BBCi)

Tue 13 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SHREK 2 (U) 11.30am

(US 2004) dirs.Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon. 105m. Animation.
Voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Thur 15 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SHREK 2 (U) 11.30am

(US 2004) dirs.Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon. 105m. Animation.
Voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Sun 18 • Special Matinee

MAGNIFICO (12A) 12.30

(Philippines 2003) dir.Maryo de los Reyes 123m. Tagalog with English subtitles.

“MAGNIFICO, a Filipino film about a boy who is a Christ figure in miniature. Magnifico (Jiro Manio) does what he can to help his struggling family – his father is a carpenter who can barely make ends meet. He not only uncomplainingly cares for his younger sister, made mute by cerebral palsy, but diligently raises money for the funeral expenses of his grandmother, who is dying of cancer. This may sound too goody-two-shoes to be true, but Manio's Magnifico is an unaffected, sunny-spirited kid who just does what comes naturally. De los Reyes, a veteran director in a variety of genres, may not stint on melodrama, but as is often the case with Filipino films, the story builds an irresistible emotional momentum. By the end there was not a dry eye in the theatre – and this reviewer was no exception.”
(Mark Schilling, The Japan Times)

(also showing Sun 25 Jul 12.30)

£7/£5.50 Concs/£4 Under 15’s

Tue 20 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SPIDER-MAN 2 (*) 12.00

(US 2004) dir.Sam Raimi 130m. (approx)
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Mary Jane Watson, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Elizabeth Banks.
An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Thur 22 Jul • Parents & Babies Club

SPIDER-MAN 2 (*) 12.00

(US 2004) dir.Sam Raimi 130m. (approx)
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Mary Jane Watson, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Elizabeth Banks.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Sun 25 Jul • Special Matinee

MAGNIFICO (12A) 12.30

(Philippines 2003) dir.Maryo de los Reyes 123m. Tagalog with English subtitles.

“MAGNIFICO, a Filipino film about a boy who is a Christ figure in miniature. Magnifico (Jiro Manio) does what he can to help his struggling family – his father is a carpenter who can barely make ends meet. He not only uncomplainingly cares for his younger sister, made mute by cerebral palsy, but diligently raises money for the funeral expenses of his grandmother, who is dying of cancer. This may sound too goody-two-shoes to be true, but Manio's Magnifico is an unaffected, sunny-spirited kid who just does what comes naturally. De los Reyes, a veteran director in a variety of genres, may not stint on melodrama, but as is often the case with Filipino films, the story builds an irresistible emotional momentum. By the end there was not a dry eye in the theatre – and this reviewer was no exception.”
(Mark Schilling, The Japan Times)

(also showing Sun 25 Jul 12.30)

£7/£5.50 Concs/£4 Under 15’s

Sun 1 Aug • Double bill

THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI (12A) 1.15

(Jap 2002) dir.Yoji Yamada 129m. Subtitles.
Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi.

“Putting Mutsuo Naganuma's gorgeously understated cinematography to excellent use, director Yoji Yamada sketches the mundane reality of life as a petty samurai – where bookkeeping is more important than one's skill with a blade. Yamada hones an austere yet deeply moving film that has all the serene confidence of a Zen master. Building up its central character before unleashing a climactic, close-quarter swordfight, it transforms Seibei into the real Last Samuraii.” (BBCi)

+ ZATÔICHI (18) 3.45

(Japan 2004) dir.Takeshi Kitano 115m. Subtitles.
Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Gadarukanaru Taka.

“Feudal Japan, the nineteenth century: a time of cruel injustice, corrupt clan-leaders and violent oppression. To a remote mountain town comes Zatôichi (Kitano), an intinerant blind masseur with a taste for drink and gambling. He’s also a master swordsman, his acute hearing, innate cunning quick intelligence and ultra-precise technique bringing him fame as a formidable foe. That’s why innumerable opponents materialise when Zatôichi takes lodgings, throws in his lot with two geishas out to avenge their parents’ murder, and accepts help from the well-meaning but clumsy Shinkichi (Taka). Extremely enjoyable.”
(Time Out)

Tue 3 Aug • Parents & Babies Club

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (PG) 12.15

(US/Br 2004) dir.Alfonso Cuarón 142m.
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions & Under 15’s

Thur 5 Aug • Parents & Babies Club

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (*) 12.30

(US 2004) dir.Michael Moore 112m. Documentary

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.
Adm £5/£4 Concessions

3rd London Kurdish Film Festival

Please note the festival has been postponed to 17 – 23 September.

The festival will present an exciting range of new films and documentaries from Kurdish film makers living and working in many different countries. There will be opportunities for discussion with film makers and educational events. Further details will be posted here nearer the time of the festival and a programme booklet will be available in early September. Please send an e-mail with your address to kff@riocinema.org.uk if you would like us to send you one by post.