Love & Anarchy is only at the halfway point. Encore screenings of the biggest hits of the festival have just been added to the programme. Among them are films about both a failed poet and the son of a Haitian pastor. Tickets are now on sale.
Concrete has captivated the interest of the festival audience. John Wilson’s The History of Concrete is far from a dull documentary about construction materials, and more of an exploration of its amusingly laconic narrator. Another film teetering on the edges of comedy is the Columbian A Poet. Simón Mesa Soto’s film sees a failed poet drowning his mediocrity in alcohol, until he’s afforded the opportunity to mentor a newcomer in the literary field.
As many as two Kosovar films have reached hit-status at this year’s festival. Both of them get under the skin and discuss important societal issues. Shame and Money depicts a family that moves from a rural area to the capital, Pristina, and is faced with limited living space and jobs. Visar Morina’s film won the main prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The Cannes-winner Dua is set in late-1990s Kosovo, when the country was still part of Serbia. Violence and discrimination threaten to burst 13-year-old Dua’s teenage bubble in Blerta Bascholli’s powerful anti-war drama.
Ben’Imana also explores the scars left by war. The film, which won the prize for best debut feature at Cannes, is set in 2012 Rwanda, where a survivor of the genocide leads a dialogue between victims and perpetrators. The film, written and directed by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, presents an ironic twist, as the lead character must come to terms with her own grudges. In Glorious Summer, three women are unprepared for what they come up against. They are imprisoned within the walls of a Renaissance palace, but all of their dreams are fulfilled. In Helena Ganjalyan and Bartosz Szpak’s film, one person’s dystopia is another one’s paradise. Sandra Wollner’s drama Everytime also explores the darker sides of paradise. People who have faced tragedy bring their grief and guilt along to Tenerife in this winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard -prize.
A more joyful look at humanity is offered by Philipp Fussenegger’s documentary KitKatClub – Kinks of Berlin. Gorgeous black and white photographs depict life at a Berlin fetish club. Gessica Généus’ Marie Madeleine – Love & Anarchy’s first Haitian film – also takes a glimpse beyond the heteronormative. It explores the budding friendship between sex worker Marie and son of a preacher Joseph, a relationship that offers Joseph space to breathe. Also looking for her own space is Erupcja’s central character, played by the magnetic pop star Charli XCX. In this film by Pete Ohs, a woman roams the streets of Varsova looking for her soulmate and seeking distance from her ex.
In the French film A Woman’s Life, a fifty-year-old surgeon is also seeking space in her close relationships. Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s drama sees a surgeon operate on her own life, while The Samurai and the Prisoner relies on heavier weaponry than a scalpel. Kioshi Kurosawa’s film mixes epoch with a detective story and cuts the tension with fight scenes. Sabu’s crime story Arrested Memory hails from nearby, both in geographical location and its thriller themes. The film, which follows a manhunt alongside a detective with dementia, combines comic moments with surprising poignancy.
The encore films will be screened on Friday 25 September, Saturday 26 September and Sunday 27 September – as well as the Saturday after the festival, 3 October. This is when Bio Rex Lasipalatsi will host the R&A Afters with screenings of The Samurai and the Prisoner and Erupcja. The third screening at the after-party is a homegrown film, but a kind of encore nonetheless. The R&A Afters x Yle Teema -screening will be My Name is Dingo, a film which depicts the rise of the band Dingo. Mari Rantasila’s film received the most votes when Yle asked which Finnish film their viewers would most like to see.
Love & Anarchy reruns
Friday 25.9.
BIO REX LASIPALATSI
16.20 KitKatClub – Kinks of Berlin
Saturday 26.9.
BIO REX LASIPALATSI
11.00 Everytime
13.20 The History of Concrete
CINEMA ORION
11.00 Shame and Money
Sunday 27.9.
BIO REX LASIPALATSI
11.00 Arrested Memory
13.00 A Poet
CINEMA ORION
11.30 Dua
KINO TÖÖLÖ
12.15 A Woman’s Life
14.20 Glorious Summer
KINO ENGEL 1
12.20 Ben’Imana
KINO ENGEL 2
11.15 Marie Madeleine
Saturday 3.10.
BIO REX LASIPALATSI
16.30 Erupcja
18.10 The Samurai and the Prisoner
21.00 R&A x Yle Teema: My Name is Dingo