FILM SPECIAL

✯THE CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW✯

Or the highly contested, generally divisive, utterly disorganised thoughts and opinions of Oliver Wallington, regarding Cambridge's 32nd Film Festival. Plus the winners of this year's hallowed O.C.T Awards.

LUCKY LUCIANO

Every year, The Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, Anglia's go-to Cinema for intelligent, unpredictable, Independent-friendly programming opens it's doors to Britain's best kept Cinematic secret. The Cambridge Film Festival. 

Along with several outdoor screenings around Cambridge and a partnership with The Cambridge Buddhist Centre, Tony Jones; the festival Director and Founder and his team of willing minions, combine forces every year to create a festival that reflects the unique tastes and interests of one of Britain's most culturally diverse cities. 

The Festival that once championed the early short films of the then unknown director Christopher Nolan, that only last year welcomed international stars Paddy Considine and Gary Oldman for intimate audience Q + A sessions, and that continues it's long-running reputation as the only festival to always show the U.K. premiere of Woody Allen's latest work, is now in it's 32nd year, and it's building momentum.

 This year, the team revealed a wonderfully curated selection of current and nostalgic features, focussing on Catalan Cinema, New German Cinema and the work of old stalwarts Francesco Rossi and Alfred Hitchcock, along with the usual abundance of thought-provoking Documentaries and a full programme of local and international Shorts and MicroCinema projects (Low-budget, high-quality feature films), not to mention the mysterious and revelatory Tridentfest. Obviously, your humble reviewer couldn't see everything on show, as often features overlapped and so I was forced to make the uncomfortable, but understandable decision to forego the occasional Period-set, Contemporary German future-classic in favour of some little known Dutch documentary about two octogenarian ex-prostitute twin sisters who still like to wear matching outfits, spank old men and occasionally, whilst giggling maniacally and voluptuously, fondle massive dildo's in public. 

After-all that's the beauty of a well programmed festival, stark variety and difficult selection decisions.

MEET THE FOKKENS

So here is my experience, complete with a brief summary of the films I caught, a briefer summary of the films I didn't and your very own Official Cromer Terrace Awards, which will be presented to the winners in virtual format and probably ignored. But that doesn't matter.

The festival opened with Woody Allen's follow-up to last year's hugely successful, award-winning Midnight In Paris, the multi-stranded To Rome With Love which follows several unconnected characters through Italy's beloved capital, encountering frustrated Opera-singers, inexplicably famous pencil-pushers, self obsessed and sexually virulent Actresses and disapproving father-in-laws. Typically this is a capable, if unspectacular affair from Allen, with a sprawling narrative structure and some utterly useless characterisation, however, everything is lifted by the sheer hilarity on show. In fact, despite the tried and tested structure of the stories and the vignette style of the storytelling, Allen still grinds out some truly surprising laughs with most of the cast performing capably and with Penelope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Page, the tenor Fabio Armiliato and Allen himself most impressive. Not as tight or as congenial as Midnight In Paris but probably funnier.

TO ROME WITH LOVE

Meet The Fokkens was a surprisingly touching affair (in more ways than one), a beautifully shot documentary that charts the lives of Dutch twin sisters who look back on their careers in the Prostitution Industry with more than a little nostalgia, as we follow the retirement of Louise and Martine Fokkens we are immersed in a world of sex and violence, the ramifications of which stay with you long after the laughter has stopped.

Another highly anticipated feature was Walter Salles' On The Road, a beautifully shot, wistful adaptation of Jack Kerouac's landmark novel, which successfully captures the grungy, low-fi atmosphere of the New York Beat culture and features stunning performances from Viggo Mortensen, Garrett Hedlund and our very own Sam Riley. As frustrating as it's gentle pacing might be to some, the pure credibility of the visuals, the atmospheric direction and the rambling, rhythmic quality of the script makes this an unmissable book-to-screen adaptation for any fans of that period.

ON THE ROAD

War Witch (Rebelle), Kim Ngyens stunning exploration of child-soldiers in brutal African conflict is a shocking and visually stunning journey into the heart of human darkness, with perfect central performances, utterly flawless direction and a truly artistic visual sensibility, this is one of the most unique and upsetting films I've ever seen and justifiably takes the Audience Award for best feature film (and the Official Cromer Terrace Award for Best Festival Feature, more on that later.) Another surprise delight was Dax Shepard's frivolously tongue-in-cheek comedy caper Hit And Run, a comedian whose exposure in this country is relatively limited, Shepard writes, produces, edits and Co-directs this little cat-and-mouse story of an attractive young couple in witness protection, who inevitably find their past lives catching up with them, ultimately resulting in a violent and hilarious showdown between Shepard's sardonic slacker and Bradley Cooper's riotously exaggerated Rasta-Mobster. Lots of cars, explosions and fist-fights and lots of rather well choreographed laughs as well, look out for it. 

WAR WITCH

Call Me Kuchu is a harrowing documentary that explores the terrifying lives of homosexual Ugandans in a country ruled by fanatical Christianity and a government that decrees homosexuality illegal. Following the lives of several brave men and woman who want to change this, Call Me Kuchu takes you to some very dark and upsetting places without ever loosing sight of what is important, i.e. the freedom of the Ugandan people. Morgan Spurlock, the director of Super Size-Me returns with Comic-Con a delightful documentary observing the trials and tribulations of 5 separate Comic-Con faithfuls, littered with amusing and insightful contributions from industry legends Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon, Spurlock explores the changing nature of the traditionally Comic-driven convention whilst simultaneously humanising every man, woman and child who likes to dress up like their favourite characters from Mass Effect, Star Trek or Batman to heart-warming, often knowingly hilarious results.

CALL ME KUCHU

Audiences cued through the building for the always completely sold out Surprise Film - the identity of which is known only to the Festival Director until the lights dim and the credits roll... This year Rian Johnson's highly anticipated time-travelling sci-fi thriller Looper was unveiled to a packed screen1 and greeted with a unanimous hum of excitement and anticipation. A sprawling CGI-heavy action-er with Joseph Gordon-levett as the 'Looper' of the title, who waits for unknown criminal forces from the future to transport unwanted elements, bagged and tagged, for a clinical execution and disposal process. This methodical operation goes awry when he discovers that his future self (Bruce Willis) has been sent back for execution at his own hand, Looper is a relative return to form for Johnson, after the disappointment that was the overly quirky Brothers Bloom, but sadly shows none of the visual ingenuity that was promised by his excellent debut, 2005's noir-ish high-school murder mystery Brick.

LOOPER

Finally, the "True Surprise Movie" as Festival's International Programmer, Verena von Stackelberg 

described it, was the equally highly anticipated Leos Carax film Holy Motors. A well-recieved Cannes 12' Palme D'or contender, Carax's disturbing, looping, visceral opera of surreal visuals and inexplicable musical numbers is a messy, violent exploration of spirituality and identity, creating a perpetually dusky futuristic French landscape through which travels Denis Lavant's constantly transforming central character, undergoing a series of mysterious 'appointments' that will see him transform from a withered old street dweller to a terrifying Fagin-esque pimp to a ruthless assassin and plenty of other grotesque incarnations along the way. The audience is left to try and unravel the mostly unexplained happenings, grasping for any clues amongst the characters many varied interactions, wondering if the truth is hidden beneath layers of surreal narratives or if it is simply a journey through some kind of terrifying interpretation of reincarnation. Never-the-less, it's a stunning and unforgettable cinematic journey and a beautiful way to close yet another fantastic Cambridge Film Festival.

HOLY MOTORS

Of the films I sadly missed; several are recommended, via trusted co-cinema obsessives, most notably the Winner of the Audience Award for Best Short which was Dylan's Room, along with the Documentary that took the Audience Award for it's category Big Boys Gone Bananas! along with the following films; Untouchable, Lucky Luciano, 5 Broken Cameras, Grandma Lo-Fi, Yossi and Totem.

In conclusion then, we thank the Cambridge Film Festival for their stunning work in programming such a varied and intelligent selection of films, The Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, The Cambridge Buddhist Centre and various outdoor spaces for hosting such a brilliant event and we congratulate everyone from Project Trident who was involved in the planning and execution of our hallowed Overall Best Festival Film Award... TRIDENTFEST. Read on to find out more...

O.C.T. Awards

(The Official Cromer Terrace Awards)

As promised from the outset, Cromer Terrace presents it's Official Cromer Terrace Awards or O.C.T. Awards as they are now referred to by the kids on the streets. The Awards are divided into 3 categories: Overall Best Festival Film, Best Festival Feature and Best Festival Documentary. Unfortunately due to insufficient funds, the award's given out are intangible or as the dictionary puts it, "Incapable of being realised or defined" - So you'll just have to take our word for it. The Award winners will be informed of their accolade and permitted to store said intangible award in any modestly priced container.

1. TRIDENTFEST 2012 
Winner of OVERALL BEST FESTIVAL FILM

THE PROJECT TRIDENT TEAM

Easily our top Festival experience, chosen from an extremely high caliber of programmes this year, TridentFest is a mini-festival screened every year at The Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, usually completely sold out in advance, and utterly unpredictable.
The highly anticipated festival of local films from local filmmakers, with noteworthy submissions from legendary local filmmakers Carl Peck, Andrzej Sosnowski, Simon Panrucker, Ryd Cook, Christian Lapidge and Tom Martin (among many others), TridentFest is the film festival baby of the notorious Project Trident team, all championing low-budget, high-quality filmmaking and collated for this hilarious, disturbing tour-de-force of various different cinematic ideas. Complete with audience interaction, prizes, demonstrations and interviews, Tridentfest isn't just a festival of brilliant locally sourced films, but also a unique opportunity to get fully immersed in the world of emerging filmmakers, with short comedic sketches, beautifully shot music videos, hilarious horror-spoofs and mock-umentaries... this truly is a tour-de-force of unique local talent and something that sets The Cambridge Film Festival apart from it's more elitist contemporaries.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/projecttrident
twitter: @ProjectTrident
Website: www.projecttrident.com

2. WAR WITCH
Winner of BEST FESTIVAL FEATURE
As reviewed above, Kim Nguyen's wonderfully visceral, sickeningly violent, utterly breathtaking odyssey into the dark, tragic world of child-soldiers in Africa, follows a 12 year old girl's attempts to master her 'witchcraft', escape a series of cruel, abusive leaders and get to grips with her demons. The fact that Nguyen chooses to literally show her demons as menacing, whispering, white-pupiled, pale-skinned corpses just adds to the utterly absurd nature of such a brutal conflict, without distracting from the very real atrocities on show. Stunning.

3. CALL ME KUCHU
Winner of BEST FESTIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Once again, as reviewed above, Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall have created a truly unforgettable documentary that reveals the secretive, oppressed existence of a select group of homosexuals in Uganda, fighting for their rights as Africans and as human beings. A deeply upsetting film that despite several gut-wrenching twists and some frankly, hilarious contributions from irate local Christians, never forgets the plight of it's central characters and it concludes on a somber yet hopeful note that will motivate anyone to want to discover more.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CallMeKuchu
twitter: @callmekuchu
Website: www.callmekuchu.com

Oliver Wallington is a London + Cambridge-based Artist, Filmmaker, Writer and Musician, to get his reviews of notable FILM and ART attractions subscribe to Cromer Terrace or follow him on twitter @WallingtonArt. Special Thanks go to Ellie Wallington, George Smith, Sam Vasili, Peter Bryan, Lindsey Kennedy and Lozza Anderson for accompanying me to the Festival and unknowingly informing my opinions.

New music film: Natalie Squance

This short film features Natalie Squance, a Leicester based singer songwriter, providing an insight into her music and the person behind it. Today it seems that there are more aspiring singer songwriters than ever, which makes it even more rare to find one that holds something unique and captivating. Natalie is most definitely part of the minority that stands out with her refreshing blend of effortless vocals and melodic narratives. Her excellent guitar playing allows her songs to flow, often unconventionally, working synonymously with her vocals. Natalie's songs possess an 'English' and fictional quality to them that perhaps stems from her fascination with old nursery rhymes and other such tales. The film shows Natalie at her house and then at Foxton Locks, a place she visited frequently as a child. It also features two live performances of 'Down the Telephone Wire' and 'Taking Tea', the latter can be found on her new début album 'In The Apple Tree' (2011).

For the full video, see: http://vimeo.com/43290980


Find Natalie's album at: http://natalie-squance.bandcamp.com

Ed Wirgman is an aspiring film maker from Winchester.

 FILM/ POLITICS

GasLand

Is shale gas the answer to the global need for an alternative source of energy? Over the past decade shale gas has become an increasingly significant resource for America; predictions estimate shale gas will contribute up to 50% to gas production in North America by 2020. The Obama administration believes that it could help reduce pollution output and ease the dependency and potential of energy price rigging from Russia and the Persian Gulf States. North America has a cluster of shale plains (some of the largest in the world) and more have been located in South America, Europe and Africa. However, before you start running the bath and dreaming about buying your next Range Rover, open your eyes to the threats that shale gas extraction poses. 

Josh Fox (Writer, Director and Star) is one of thousands of Americans who have been approached by an energy company to take a lump sum in return for the use of the gas thousands of feet below their land, but he wishes to explore the issue further before committing to a decision. GasLand is a superbly shot, first person activist, exploratory look at the affects of the shale gas industry, namely “frack” drilling technology and its role in the largest and most extensive domestic gas drilling campaign in history, covering 34 states with over 450,000 wells. Fox sheds light on countless first person experiences illustrating the negative side effects that fracking incurs and the institutional and systemic subversive barriers that prevent solving the issue.     

In the global race to secure energy provisions, GasLand paints a bleak picture for the current methods, effects and future of shale gas extraction and the chances of America ever abiding to cut greenhouse emissions dramatically. It is no coincidence that in 2005, Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol and pushed through a new energy bill exempting the oil and natural gas industry from a number of provisions including the Clean Air Act. As the scramble for resources continue and the current European economic conditions prevail, the appeal of shale gas increases and the reality of fracking impinging on new households is very real.

For instance, here is a link to the first European interdisciplinary shale gas initiative - excuse the acronym:

http://www.gas-shales.org/index.php/en.html

FILM

Act Of Valour

★☆☆☆☆

Ultimately, the less said about this hilariously bad ‘Modern-War’ movie the better. However, allow me to briefly dissuade you from two of the most wasteful hours you are ever likely to spend. 

A humorless celebration of the US Navy Seals that apparently draws on actual events and boasts a completely indistinguishable cast of actual soldiers, this follows a series of missions involving the rescuing of a kidnapped CIA agent, the tracking of an international terrorist and the last ditch attempt to avoid world destruction. Of course, the antagonist is a heavily bearded, ill-tempered Muslim with a passable understanding of explosives and a skinny, rat-faced, Russian-Jew, drug-smuggling accomplice who giggles and sneers and leers but actually provides no clarity on the already dubious plot. Marines on the other hand, are a hard-as-nails group of highly efficient, almost indestructible jocks, bound together by dubious sentiment and devoid of any semblance of human emotion. It’s the age-old conflict between good guy and bad guy, between Cowboy and Indian, between American and Muslim, between survival and self-sacrifice. In reality, of course, life is barely this black and white, but that’s of no concern to our dynamic filmmaking duo, first time directors Mike ‘Mouse’ McCoy and Scott Waugh.

The directors main concern is with creating authentic action and impressive technical specs, without the hindrance of attempting to humanise characters, nor are they concerned with the potential pitfalls of aggressive stereotyping or racial characterisation. The natural consequence of which is an utter lack of empathy for anyone on screen, simply because absolutely none of them exist outside of their neat, convenient catagorisation. Lazy attempts to delve deeper into the world of the archetypal modern terrorist go as far as the bad guy playing violin and the suicide bombers being Muslim Filipinos (NOT middle-eastern, don’t you know.) The directors undercut themselves dramatically by chosing to emphasise technical authenticity over character development and individual performance, employing actual Navy Seals in the primary roles lends an admittedly convincing and terrifyingly frenetic air to the combat scenes but unforgivably compromises any scene that requires more than just dead-eyed, thin-lipped delivery.

In the world of Act Of Valour, faceless, American heroes patrol the borders of the great U.S. with steely determination, mumbling incoherent cack about “loyalty” and “honor” while casually enjoying books on poetry and art (which implies more depth than their appearance would have you believe) and quoting literary icons and military leaders like isn’t at all embarrassing. The final showdown pits our angelic heroes against an unlikely combination of mustached Mexican drug cartels (whose interests are strictly withheld) and witless Filipino bomb mules as the last-gasp chance for a humanity we have to assume exists.

If the same gusto that was applied to the often breathtaking action-scenes had been applied to the moments of human interaction between soldiers, their wives and friends, then perhaps there would be something for an audience to invest in, as it happens, there isn’t and so this banal, formulaic disaster of a movie goes by without a hint of emotional resonance.

In Short: A hopelessly inept, exhaustingly jingoistic slice of U.S. Military endorsed propaganda. Completely without irony or humour, leaden with racial stereotypes and utterly forgettable, AOV claims to draw from ‘actual events’ but plays out like the next instalment of the Call Of Duty franchise, it’s greatest crime though, is to inadvertently undermine and ridicule the brave work of many soldiers.

FILM

*FILM OF THE WEEK*

The Island President 
★★★★☆


Jon Shenk's second feature documentary, after his excellent 2003 film ‘Lost Boys of Sudan,’ explores the complex life of enigmatic Ex-Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, a political prisoner in his own country for much of his adolescence under the tyrannical former regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a dictator he later ousted through peaceful protest and via a landslide public vote that instituted democratic reform. During the film we follow the excitable and infallibly positive Nasheed during his first term as newly elected president of The Maldives, a glorious collection of islands located in the Indian Ocean, under the very real threat of extinction due to rising sea-levels and global greenhouse gas emissions.  
 
Shenk's documentary establishes the importance of President Nasheed's admirable battle against dictatorship, his long-time concerns for his country's future and his loyal band of advisors, a colourful and varied bunch from across the globe who feature in crisply shot talking heads and frantic hand-cam captured moments of panic and organisation. Nasheed himself copes rather well with the building pressure of a country’s expectations, the upcoming Global Warming summit and the continually dire news filtering through from his various environmental experts, all essentially confirming The Maldives’ desperate prospects. Nasheed comes across as an optimistic eco-warrior (except perhaps for his charmingly self-conscious nicotine habit,) calm, considered and intelligent, willing to put in the effort himself, ultimately resolving to make Maldives the first completely carbon neutral country by 2020, proving that it can done, even without the committed support of America or China.  
 
As optimistic and endearing as this documentary's central subject is, this is not a film that leaves you feeling optimistic yourself, with the final frames abruptly thrusting us from Nasheed's compromised Copenhagen campaign to the fact that he was violently ousted from rule in Feb 2012, by supporters inexplicably loyal to the former despotic regime, potentially leaving the Maldives in a dire situation, with minimal International support and growing environmental and religious problems, the future is bleak for the now exiled Ex-President Nasheed and his environmentally friendly ideals.  
 
Tragic as this is, surely more disturbing is the fact that Mohamed Nasheed's strangled cry for support has gone mostly unnoticed on a global scale, with a pitiful 1001 supporters on Facebook and a miserable 306 on Twitter, a particularly disturbing statistic when compared to the dubious KONY 2012 campaign that has to date amassed 788,855 supporters on Facebook alone.  
To support Democracy in Maldives visit www.democracymaldives.com to sign the petition and bring global attention to the recent coup d'etat and the plight of Mohamed Nasheed.


In Short: A brilliantly directed political documentary following the somewhat futile plight of Ex-Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, possibly the world’s last, great optimist. Stunning, moving, frustrating and disturbingly current, this is one of those hidden, yet utterly unmissable treasures. 

Robert McNamara and the Fog of War

Highly recommended watching for anyone with the remotest interest in 20^th century history, politics, foreign affairs etc etc. In this documentary, former US Secretary of Defense (sic) Robert McNamara gives an illuminating and highly emotive glimpse into some of the most intense instances of the Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam conflict. McNamara was one of the most influential men in the White House during both crises: His recollections give a fascinating account of the mentality of the US government elite as they succeeded in empathising with their Russia counterparts to prevent nuclear war, but were guilty of severe misperception and misunderstanding of the situation in Vietnam. The title is a battlefield reference to such confusion, when there are so many variables that it is impossible for a rational human being to take account of all of them.

The film expertly positions the crises within the Cold War context and traces their origins to the closing of the Second World War. This is both a very accessible and fascinating film that everyone (including myself) will benefit from watching!