Film Hub Fortnightly – March 2020

For anyone interested in East Asian cinema the first half of March has a lot to recommend.

As the Belfast Film Festival’s Chinese Cinema season moves to the Beanbag Cinema and back to the country’s periphery for its final two screenings, The Silent Holy Stones (2006) on the 10^th and Soul On A String (2017) on the 15^th. While that season is winding down, another is just beginning. Throughout March, the Japan Foundation will screen a wide selection of Japanese films at the Queen’s Film Theatre. Starting with newer titles such as Organ (2019) on the 1^st, The Actor (2015) on the 8^th, Lying To Mom (2018) on the 14^th and documentary, Kagegurui – Compulsive Gambler (2019) on the 15^th.

From now till the 5^th, you can see an acclaimed queer French period piece, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), which includes a special Bird’s Eye View screening on the 2^nd that will be followed by a drawing workshop hosted by Real Sketchy.

Alongside True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), a thriller based on the life of an infamous Australian folk hero, and Color Out Of Space (2019), a psychedelic horror starring Nicolas Cage and based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft, QFT will also give two documentaries multiple showings with Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019), a portrait of the late great author, showing on the 6^th to the 9^th and then on the 11^th.

Then on the 7^th, 8^th and the 11^th, Talking About Trees (2019), a documentary about a group of Sudanese filmmakers’ attempt to open a cinema in a country where exhibition is a taboo. Back in the realm of fiction, but one based on a true story, Sulphur and White (2020), a dramatization of mountaineer David Tait’s struggle with the traumatic childhood memories of abuse, will screen from the 6^th to the 12^th.

Several independent dramas and new films from acclaimed world cinema icons will open on the 13^th and continue their runs into the back half of the month. This includes And Then We Danced (2019), a Georgian romance, and Irish drama Calm With Horses (2019), starring Barry Keoghan. Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho’s new genre inflected drama Bacurau (2019), starring Sonia Braga, also opens on the 13^th

Events about music, literature and feminism through the lens of cinema can be found throughout the city of Belfast over the next two weeks. The Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival continue their film programme in the Beanbag Cinema with documentaries The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith (2015) on the 6^th and Mama Africa (2011) on the 7^th.

Cinemagic and their On The Pulse series will run from the 8^th to the 15^th. Showing a wide range of animated and live action shorts based on the children’s fiction of Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson and others. One highlight would Family Matters, a selection of shorts on the theme of family which will be screened in the No Alibis book shop on Botanic Avenue on the 8^th.

Over at the Strand Arts Centre on the 5^th, the Steven Spielberg directed Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) will be shown. Followed on the 8^th by another classic with a 35mm screening of Legally Blonde (2001), presented by Banterflix for International Woman’s Day.

International Woman’s Day is a key date in the calendar of Northern Ireland’s network of community cinemas. For the Portrush Film Theatre, based in the town’s Playhouse Theatre, will have a double bill on IWD of Woman At War (2017), an Icelandic eco-themed black comedy, and Feminista (2020), an anthology of feminist documentary shorts.

Feminista will also be screened by the Newcastle Community Cinema on the 10^th but before that, on the 6^th, they will screen veteran documentarian Kim Longinetto’s Shooting The Mafia (2019), followed by a Q&A with its producer Niamh Fagan. While over at the Braid Film Theatre in Ballymena, they will be celebrating a more ominous date with a screening of the classic slasher, Friday the 13^th (1980), on that day.

Inclusive Screenings

On the 14^th, Queen’s Film Theatre will host a dementia friendly screening of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969), starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Outside of specific events, audio description and subtitled screenings are available, depending on the showing and inquiry, at the Queen’s Film Theatre, the Strand Arts Centre and all Movie House, Odeon, Omniplex and IMC sites. All of these venues also provide free carer tickets on request.