Film Hub Fortnightly – October 2021 (part 2)

At QFT on the 12^th, you can see Titane (2021), the winner of the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and a fierce, feminist horror film from French director Julia Ducournau.

Showing on the 13^th The Phantom of the Open (2021) offers more level terrain, starring Mark Rylance as real-life figure, Maurice Flitcroft, a crane operator who despite his near-total inexperience with golf, found himself playing in the qualifiers for the 1976 British Open Championships.

Playing on the 14^th, Ali & Ava (2021), the new film from Clio Barnard, is about a chance romance developing between two lonely people in the wake of separate, broken relationships. Paris 13th District (2021), playing on the 15^th, is also a love story, shared by four, intersecting lives in the eponymous Parisian district, while Petite Maman (2021), showing on the same date, is the new film from French filmmaker Céline Sciamma, lauded for her previous film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). This film is the strange tale of an 8-year-old girl who befriends another mysterious little girl who lives in the forest near her late grandmother’s house.

The 16^th offers another double bill, including Flee (2021), an animated documentary recounting the life of Amin, his memories of leaving his home country of Afghanistan and his experiences of being gay in a hostile environment.

Memoria (2021) marks the return of one of the living masters of world cinema, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Having left his native Thailand, this new dream-like film was filmed and set in Colombia and stars Tilda Swinton as an émigré who finds herself haunted by a mysterious noise.LFF at QFT will then conclude on the 17^th with The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), a new screen incarnation of the famous play, directed by Joel Coen and starring Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand and Brendan Gleeson.

The Belfast International Arts Festival will be showing Cartoon Saloon’s Irish-themed animated adventure film, Wolfwalkers (2020), while the music documentary White Riot (2019), in special 35mm presentation shows at the Strand Arts Centre on the 15^th.

Back at the QFT, get ready for a freshly restored retrospective of the great Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, starting with his debut action film, As Tears Go By (1989) on the 20^th, followed by the Hong Kong and Philippines-set tragic romance, Days of Being Wild (1991), on the 21^st. On the 22^nd and the 24^th, you can attend screenings of Wong’s international break-out, Chungking Express (1994), starring his muse, Tong Leung. On the 23^rd, you can view his rarely-seen short feature The Hand (2004) and ice-cool, crime drama Fallen Angels (1995).

On the 24^th, QFT is screening Wong’s Argentina-set tale of troubled gay lovers, Happy Together (1997) and on the 25^th and 26^th, his masterpiece, the intensely romantic and melancholy In the Mood For Love (2000), starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. Watch this space for more updates on this season.

Cinemagic will also be continuing their festival, with two screenings at the QFT: The Deer King (2021), showing on the 17^th, from Studio Ghibli veterans Masashi Ando & Masayuki Miyaji, about a young girl and an ex-soldier who set out to find a cure for a widespread plague.

The Crossing (2021), on the 24^th, is a striking French animation about a brother and sister crossing a war-torn continent, looking for their parents. At the Ulster Museum, on the 16^th, they will be showing short animation, Zog and the Flying Doctors (2020) and James and the Giant Peach (1996), from the makers of Coraline and based on the Roald Dahl novel. On the 24^th, there will be screenings of The Little Polar Bear (2001) and another short, The Tiger Came to Tea (2019), based on the classic storybook.

The Odeon in Victoria Square will also be hosting many Cinemagic festival events, including new releases Dear Evan Hansen (2021), a musical, and The Boss Baby 2: Family Business (2021) on the 17^th and classic The Wizard of Oz (1939) on the 24th. The festival will also be stepping outside of Belfast for the free premiere of the Armagh-shot Rian (2021), to be held in Armagh City’s Market Place Theatre.

In addition to all of these festival events, there’s a bounty of new and renewed releases arriving this October.

At the QFT, you can see Arracht (2020), 15^th to the 21^st, an Irish-language revenge tale set during the Famine. On the 16^th, 20^th and 21^st, Sweetheart (2021) is a comedy following a teen misfit and her dysfunctional family on holiday. Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr. (2021), 16^th & 17^th, recounts the history of the legendary alternative rock band.

The Irish black comedy, Deadly Cuts (2020) set in a working-class Dublin hair salon where the stylists become accidental vigilantes is screening both at QFT and at the Movie Houses' Belfast and Coleraine sites.

Director Joseph Losey’s great British psychological thriller The Servant (1963), starring Dirk Bogarde and James Fox, will run from the 17^th to the 19^th, along with Balloon (2019), a drama from acclaimed Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden. And following its LFF screening earlier this month, Wes Anderson’s new movie, The French Dispatch (2021), will play from the 22^nd to the 28^th.

The Strand will also be showing The French Dispatch and The Boss Baby 2, both from the 22nd. In time for Halloween, they will be running horror sequel Halloween Kills (2021) from the 15th, eccentric superhero outing Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) from the 16th and the new adaptation of the Sci-fi epic Dune (2021) from the 21st.

By Ruairí McCann