Old Joy (2006) Dir. Kelly Reichardt

Old Joy contains all the themes that Kelly Reichardt would subsequently make her signature: isolation, disconnection, and what it is to exist on the margins of contemporary American society.

Reichardt's films adopt a meditative pace, rejecting an emphasis on plot in favour of a focus on character and the passing of time. Old Joy is a beautiful, contemplative film.

The story of two old friends, who reunite for a weekend camping trip in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. OLD JOY is the critically-acclaimed film The New York Times calls, "A MUST SEE!" Starring Will Oldham and Daniel London, the film features a soundtrack by Yo La Tengo.

La Jetée (1962) Dir. Chris Marker

La Jetée (French pronunciation: [la ʒəte, ʒte], "The Jetty") is a 1962 French science fiction featurette by Chris Marker. Constructed almost entirely from still photos, it tells the story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel. It is 28 mins long, black and white. It won the Prix Jean Vigo for short film.

The 1995 science fiction film 12 Monkeys was inspired by, and borrows several concepts directly from, La Jetée.

Eat (1997) Dir. Mark Locke

Special People (2008) Dir. Justin Edgar

Special People is a disability comedy feature film, Directed by Justin Edgar

Also see guest page for Justin Edgar, who gave seminar with us at UCW, here: http://poool.co.uk/justin-edgar

Watch full feature length film here

You can watch Special People short film on BFI: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-special-people-2004-online

104 films are a film production company set up by Director Justin Edgar and Producer Alex Usborne in 2004 to make original feature films for a global audience and create a paradigm shift in the representation of disabled and disadvantaged talent in front of and behind the camera.

Justin Edgar

Justin Edgar made a series of award winning shorts using the architecture and character of Birmingham which led to his first feature Large for Film Four in 2001 aged just 28. The film sold internationally to over 20 territories and sold 30,000 DVDs.

His second feature film Special People premiered at the Edinburgh film festival in 2007 competing for the Michael Powell award and coming second in the audience award. The film went on to win audience awards at the Moscow, Calgary and Berlin Britspotting Film Festivals. It was critically acclaimed and the Guardian hailed it as a “Milestone in mainstream cinema” for its use of disabled cast. Writing in the Evening Standard, Derek Malcolm described the film as “An excellent piece of filmmaking”.

http://www.104films.com/about/

http://poool.co.uk/justin-edgar

Dust (2014) - Dir. Ben Ockrent & Jake Russell

Flamingos (2011) - Dir. Francesca Coppolla

Alumbramiento (2009) - Dir. Eduardo Chapero-Jackson

The Tree of Life (2011) Dir. Terrence Malick

The Cinematography in this film is beautiful!

'The Tree of Life is a 2011 American experimental drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth'.

Meek's Cut Off. Dir. Kelly Reichardt (2010)

The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon team of three families has hired the mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains.

Wendy and Lucy dir. Kelly Reichardt (2008)

Starring Michelle Wiliam Wendy and Lucy is the latest film from director Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy).

The third feature from director Kelly Reichardt is a hugely important one in the context of contemporary American Independent cinema. As is consistent with all of Reichardt's films,Wendy and Lucy explores the disconnection and alienation that people feel when living on the margins of society. Reichardt's character's exist outside of the boundaries of capitalist society: they don't have jobs, homes, or means of communication. As such Reichardt questions to what extent these characters exist at all in an unforgiving contemporary society.

Night Moves - Dir: Kelly Reichardt. (2014) USA.

Night Moves - Dir: Kelly Reichardt. (2014) USA.

'A Hitchcockian tension infuses this eco-terrorist thriller, confirming Kelly Reichardt's talent at capturing the realities of American life at a granular level of detail as she returns to Oregon (the home of previous work Wendy and Lucy, Old Joy and Meek's Cutoff) to tell this shadowy tale of the fallout of political radicalism gone horribly wrong. It tracks the fate of three activists (Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard) who have come together to carry out an explosive act of defiance when they embark on a dangerous plot to blow up a hydroelectric dam.

When their plan goes tragically wrong, the three find it impossible to go their separate ways as distrust and paranoia pervades their lives. How do you pursue a stance of resistance in a world that seems impervious to change? How far can you go in pursuit of your own ideals? And does any of it add up to anything anyway? Night Moves raises all these questions and portrays with devastating accuracy the thin line between moral action and terror.'

http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/4925/night-moves/

Showing: 29 Aug - Thu 11 Sept, 2014 at Watershed, Bristol

Ticket prices: Screenings before 16:00: £5.50 full / £4.00 concessions. Screenings after 16:00: £8.00 full / £6.50 concessions.'

http://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/4925/night-moves/

Lift (2001) Dir. Mark Isaacs

Dir: Marc Isaacs / UK / 2001 Filmmaker Marc Isaacs sets himself up in a London tower block lift. The residents come to trust him and reveal the things that matter to them creating a humorous and moving portrait of a vertical community.

In this video, below, from a talk at Birmingham City University, there's an excellent discussion about the debates in Documentary Film especially regarding 'Truth', 'Reality', intervention.

Marc Isaacs talks about his approach to making documentaries and shows clips from some of his films at a Creative Networks event at Birmingham City University on 25 April 2013.

Boyhood (2014), Richard Linklater. (USA).

Richard Linklater's latest film 'Boyhood' is showing at The Watershed, Bristol, Fri 11 - Thu 24 July 2014.

'Filmed with the same group of actors over a 12 year period from 2002 to 2013, the latest film from Richard Linklater is an engrossing one-of-a-kind epic about the ordinary: growing up, the banality of family life, and forging an identity. The film tracks 6 year old Mason (Ellar Coltrane) over life's most radically fluctuating decade, through a familiar whirl of family moves, controversies, faltering marriages, re-marriages, new schools, first loves, lost loves, good times, scary times and a constantly unfolding mix of heartbreak and wonder.

Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke play Mason's parents struggling to help Mason navigate life's non-stop flux, and watching as he emerges to head down his own road. A critical smash at this year's Sundance, Boyhood is totally unprecedented in its intimacy and quietly radical in its own unique way. What an astonishing achievement, and what an impressive feat of filmmaking from all involved - this is a film to celebrate and savour, and one that will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.' *Watershed

Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) Wisit Sasanatieng, Thailand.

TEN (2002), Abbas Kiarostami, Iran.

THIS IS NOT A FILM (2011), Jafar Panahi, Iran.

Synopsis: 'This clandestinely made documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (OFFSIDE, THE CIRCLE). While appealing his sentence – six years in prison and a 20-year ban from filmmaking – fellow director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (Lady of the Roses) visits Mr. Panahi at his Tehran apartment and films him talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, reflecting on the art of filmmaking, meeting some of his neighbors and even interacting with an inquisitive iguana.'  

Offside (2006), Jafar Panahi, Iran

Trailer

Watch film - via Internet Archive

Sunset Boulevard (1950)