British Film Festival
Dear all,
The British Councils organizes its Annual British Film Festival from 27-31 March at Nairi Cinema (19:00- in English, 21:15 - in Russian).
Please see below the schedule of the films and their brief description.
The Constant Gardener (2006) - 27 March
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Runtime: 129 min
Rating: Rated R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity. The film contain scenes which are physically violent or sexually explicit. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Principal Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite
Awards: Oscar - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, ALMA Awards - Outstanding Director of a Motion Picture, BAFTA Awards - Best Editing, British Independent Film Awards - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best British Independent Film, Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Actor of the Year, British Actress of the Year, British Film of the Year, British Producer of the Year, etc.
From Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God, comes a gripping new film that sweeps audiences along one man’s emotional and global journey to uncover the truth behind a personal loss and a worldwide conspiracy.
In a remote area of Northern Kenya, the region’s most dedicated activist, the brilliant and passionate Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), has been found brutally murdered. Tessa’s travelling companion, a local doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), Sir Bernard Pellegrin (Bill Nighy), and the other members of the British High Commission assume that Tessa’s widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to their discretion, but against their advice, Justin takes matters into his own hands to find his wife’s killers and avenge her untimely death.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz head the cast of the romantic thriller The Constant Gardener, adapted by Jeffrey Caine from the novel of the same name by John le Carré and filmed on location in Berlin, London, and Nairobi and numerous other parts of Kenya.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) - 28 March
Director: Sharon Maguire
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Runtime: 97 min
Rating: Rated R for language and some strong sexuality. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 15 years of age.
Principal Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant
Awards: Empire Awards, UK - Best British Film, European Film Awards - Best Actor, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Screenwriter of the Year. Also nominated for Oscar - Best Actress in a Leading Role
The story centres on Bridget, a 30-something "singleton", convinced that everyone is getting it right except for her. Her ambitions are few - she would like to lose weight and find true love - but seemingly unattainable. Her romantic life is in a state of perpetual crisis.
While her friends Jude, Sharon and Tom provide her with hopeless advice, Bridget finds herself torn between two men, her charming, sexy, but dangerous boss Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy an old family friend, who seems at first to be aloof and dull, until his true self is revealed.
Bridget's unsuccessful attempts to control her chaotic life and to develop inner poise are charted by her hilarious and sometimes poignant diary entries.
Stage Beauty (2004) - 29 March
Director: Richard Eyre
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 106 mins
Rating: Rated R for sexual content and language. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin, Hugh Bonneville, Richard Griffiths, Edward Fox
Principal Awards: Cambridge Film Festival - Best Film award, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards- Overlooked Film of the Year
It's the 1660s, and Edward 'Ned' Kynaston is England's most celebrated leading lady. Women are forbidden to appear on stage and Ned profits, using his beauty and skill to make the great female roles his own. But King Charles II is tired of seeing the same old performers in the same old tragedies. Since no one will take him up on his suggestion to improve Othello with a couple of good jokes, he decides to allow real women to perform on stage. In a slightly less progressive spirit, he rules that men may no longer play women's parts. This is good news for the monarch's mistress and for Maria, Kynaston's lovelorn young dresser who has been secretly performing at a seedy tavern in lavish costumes borrowed from her employer. It is very bad news for Ned, who plummets from his exalted position as one of London's most desirable “females” to become a virtual nobody, virtually overnight. Cast out of the spotlight, Ned seems headed for burlesque obscurity until Maria, now a rising star, takes it upon herself to make a man of him again.
Match Point (2005) - 30 March
Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Crime / Drama / Romance
Runtime: 124 min
Rating: Rated R for some sexuality. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Principal Cast: Brian Cox, Matthew Goode, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Penelope Wilton
Awards: ADIRCAE Awards - Best Foreign Film, David di Donatello Awards - Best European Film (Miglior Film dell'Unione Europea), César Awards, France - Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger), etc.
A one-time tennis professional, Chris Wilton was used to falling just short in his life. But when he befriends Tom Hewett and marries his sister, Chloe, the doors are opened to the kind of money and success that Chris had once only dreamed of having. Chris should have settled for happiness, but he is torn by his attraction to Tom's impossibly beautiful and alluring fiancée, Nola. The attraction turns to an obsession that forces Chris to make a critical choice. Now everything in his life hinges on whether or not Chris falls short again--and if his luck runs out.
Mrs. Henderson Presents - 31 March
Director: Stephen Frears
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Runtime: 103 min
Rating: Rated R for nudity and brief language. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 14 years of age.
Principal Cast: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kelly Reilly, Will Young
Awards: Empire Awards, UK - Best Newcomer, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Newcomer of the Year. Also nominated for Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Best Achievement in Costume Design and BAFTA Awards and British Independent Film Awards - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best British Independent Film.
Set in pre-World War II London, Mrs Henderson Presents tells the remarkable true-life story of one of England's most prominent and eccentric society figures, Laura Henderson, who founded the historic Windmill Theatre.
Driven by the desire to win back the dwindling music hall audiences who had been lured away by the advent of 'talking pictures', this charming lady and veritable force of nature was aided by equally formidable and tenacious theatre manager Vivian Van Damm, as she set about her task with the kind of vigour and determination which belied her advanced years.
This wonderfully argumentative pair were complete opposites, but their extraordinary partnership proved fruitful when Mrs Henderson's influence in society enabled her to take advantage of a legal loophole which permitted the theatre to show entirely nude models on stage - provided they didn't move a muscle. From here it was an easy step to the 'Nude Revue,' a musical extravaganza which became a roaring success and cemented the Windmill Theatre's reputation and place in history.
The British Councils organizes its Annual British Film Festival from 27-31 March at Nairi Cinema (19:00- in English, 21:15 - in Russian).
Please see below the schedule of the films and their brief description.
The Constant Gardener (2006) - 27 March
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Runtime: 129 min
Rating: Rated R for language, some violent images and sexual content/nudity. The film contain scenes which are physically violent or sexually explicit. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Principal Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite
Awards: Oscar - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, ALMA Awards - Outstanding Director of a Motion Picture, BAFTA Awards - Best Editing, British Independent Film Awards - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best British Independent Film, Golden Globes, USA - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Actor of the Year, British Actress of the Year, British Film of the Year, British Producer of the Year, etc.
From Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God, comes a gripping new film that sweeps audiences along one man’s emotional and global journey to uncover the truth behind a personal loss and a worldwide conspiracy.
In a remote area of Northern Kenya, the region’s most dedicated activist, the brilliant and passionate Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz), has been found brutally murdered. Tessa’s travelling companion, a local doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), Sir Bernard Pellegrin (Bill Nighy), and the other members of the British High Commission assume that Tessa’s widower, their mild-mannered and unambitious colleague Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to their discretion, but against their advice, Justin takes matters into his own hands to find his wife’s killers and avenge her untimely death.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz head the cast of the romantic thriller The Constant Gardener, adapted by Jeffrey Caine from the novel of the same name by John le Carré and filmed on location in Berlin, London, and Nairobi and numerous other parts of Kenya.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) - 28 March
Director: Sharon Maguire
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Runtime: 97 min
Rating: Rated R for language and some strong sexuality. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 15 years of age.
Principal Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant
Awards: Empire Awards, UK - Best British Film, European Film Awards - Best Actor, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Screenwriter of the Year. Also nominated for Oscar - Best Actress in a Leading Role
The story centres on Bridget, a 30-something "singleton", convinced that everyone is getting it right except for her. Her ambitions are few - she would like to lose weight and find true love - but seemingly unattainable. Her romantic life is in a state of perpetual crisis.
While her friends Jude, Sharon and Tom provide her with hopeless advice, Bridget finds herself torn between two men, her charming, sexy, but dangerous boss Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy an old family friend, who seems at first to be aloof and dull, until his true self is revealed.
Bridget's unsuccessful attempts to control her chaotic life and to develop inner poise are charted by her hilarious and sometimes poignant diary entries.
Stage Beauty (2004) - 29 March
Director: Richard Eyre
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 106 mins
Rating: Rated R for sexual content and language. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin, Hugh Bonneville, Richard Griffiths, Edward Fox
Principal Awards: Cambridge Film Festival - Best Film award, Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards- Overlooked Film of the Year
It's the 1660s, and Edward 'Ned' Kynaston is England's most celebrated leading lady. Women are forbidden to appear on stage and Ned profits, using his beauty and skill to make the great female roles his own. But King Charles II is tired of seeing the same old performers in the same old tragedies. Since no one will take him up on his suggestion to improve Othello with a couple of good jokes, he decides to allow real women to perform on stage. In a slightly less progressive spirit, he rules that men may no longer play women's parts. This is good news for the monarch's mistress and for Maria, Kynaston's lovelorn young dresser who has been secretly performing at a seedy tavern in lavish costumes borrowed from her employer. It is very bad news for Ned, who plummets from his exalted position as one of London's most desirable “females” to become a virtual nobody, virtually overnight. Cast out of the spotlight, Ned seems headed for burlesque obscurity until Maria, now a rising star, takes it upon herself to make a man of him again.
Match Point (2005) - 30 March
Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Crime / Drama / Romance
Runtime: 124 min
Rating: Rated R for some sexuality. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.
Principal Cast: Brian Cox, Matthew Goode, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Penelope Wilton
Awards: ADIRCAE Awards - Best Foreign Film, David di Donatello Awards - Best European Film (Miglior Film dell'Unione Europea), César Awards, France - Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger), etc.
A one-time tennis professional, Chris Wilton was used to falling just short in his life. But when he befriends Tom Hewett and marries his sister, Chloe, the doors are opened to the kind of money and success that Chris had once only dreamed of having. Chris should have settled for happiness, but he is torn by his attraction to Tom's impossibly beautiful and alluring fiancée, Nola. The attraction turns to an obsession that forces Chris to make a critical choice. Now everything in his life hinges on whether or not Chris falls short again--and if his luck runs out.
Mrs. Henderson Presents - 31 March
Director: Stephen Frears
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Runtime: 103 min
Rating: Rated R for nudity and brief language. It is not, therefore, suitable for anyone under 14 years of age.
Principal Cast: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kelly Reilly, Will Young
Awards: Empire Awards, UK - Best Newcomer, London Critics Circle Film Awards - British Newcomer of the Year. Also nominated for Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Best Achievement in Costume Design and BAFTA Awards and British Independent Film Awards - Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best British Independent Film.
Set in pre-World War II London, Mrs Henderson Presents tells the remarkable true-life story of one of England's most prominent and eccentric society figures, Laura Henderson, who founded the historic Windmill Theatre.
Driven by the desire to win back the dwindling music hall audiences who had been lured away by the advent of 'talking pictures', this charming lady and veritable force of nature was aided by equally formidable and tenacious theatre manager Vivian Van Damm, as she set about her task with the kind of vigour and determination which belied her advanced years.
This wonderfully argumentative pair were complete opposites, but their extraordinary partnership proved fruitful when Mrs Henderson's influence in society enabled her to take advantage of a legal loophole which permitted the theatre to show entirely nude models on stage - provided they didn't move a muscle. From here it was an easy step to the 'Nude Revue,' a musical extravaganza which became a roaring success and cemented the Windmill Theatre's reputation and place in history.