News

Charlie McDowell’s The Summer Book starring Glenn Close and Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language Venice Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton bookend the 37th AFI European Union Film Showcase.

Running December 4-22 at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland, the showcase presents 54 features representing all 27 European Union member states including 12 international feature film Oscar submissions and six US premieres.

Besides the festival’s Finnish opener The Summer Book and Spanish closing night selection The Room Next Door, Brady Corbet’s Venice Silver Lion winner The Brutalist from Hungary starring Adrien Brody is the centrepiece selection.

Paddy Duffy’s The UnHolylands starring James Nesbitt is among the world premieres at the 24th Belfast Film Festival (October 31-November 9).

Duffy’s coming-of-age comedy sees two brothers attempt one last house party before their university days are over. It also stars Ciaran McCourt, Peter Jeffries and Sean Daly.

Further world premieres include Michael Head’s comedy The Spin starring Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill and Will McConnell’s experimental drama Beautiful And Loud And Clear.

Competition

Eight films comprise Belfast’s third annual international competition including Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill A Mongolian Horse, winner of best directing and...

“After years away Kaloyan returns to his native Bulgaria in order to sell his late father’s flat. What at first seems like a routine task devoid of emotion gradually develops into a journey to the depths of his being, where he is confronted with distant traumas, yet he also strikes a new path towards self-discovery.”

So reads a plot summary of director Pavel G. Vesnakov‘s new feature, Windless, which he co-wrote with others and which had its world premiere at the 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this week.

“While childhood is filled with sensations and the rustling wind, adulthood is a state of fragile, windless and fading memories of those closest to us,” the festival’s website notes. “Vesnakov delivers colourful existential reflections on the nature of family bonds and personal identity over the course of time. Yet he also muses on modern-day Bulgaria,...