Cornwall Film Festival (CFF) is celebrating its 21st anniversary year this year with an exciting programme of films and events.
The South West’s largest regional film festival runs from Monday, November 14 to Sunday, November 20 at The Poly Falmouth, with a jam-packed schedule of films, Q&As, masterclasses, and events.
This year's programme includes a variety of compelling films and previews such as the closing film, Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light'' starring Olivia Colman, the festival also opens with the Cannes Palme D’oR winning ‘Triangle of Sadness’, a scathing comment on the uber wealthy.
Other highlights include Charlotte Wells’ stunning debut `Aftersun’, featuring BAFTA winning Paul Mescal, and Oscar winning Laura Poitras’ documentary ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’, about world renowned photographer, Nan Goldin.
As a part of the UK/Ukraine season, a cultural exchange programme celebrating Ukrainian creativity and talent set up by the British Council and Ukrainian Institute, the festival is screening two Ukrainian films; Klondike and Stop-Zemlia. Klondike tells the story of a family living on the border of Ukraine and Russia during the start of the war, whilst Stop-Zemlia is a new coming-of-age drama.
The programme highlights much-anticipated UK premieres, the latest treasure and Oscar-tipped features, as well as uncompromising documentary work that explores themes of gender, identity, and sexuality.
Audiences have the opportunity to see short film programmes, including the prestigious International shorts programme, Student and South-West best regional shorts, and a new category, Screen Stars of Tomorrow featuring work from 16-18-year-olds from Cornwall.
Feature titles include sci-fi-punk musical Neptune Frost from multi-disciplinary artists Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman.
World-renowned Dardenne brothers’ Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita also comes to the festival, telling the story of a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa, pitting their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.
Cheesy American movie icons assisted in overthrowing the Romanian Communist regime in classic docudrama Chuck Norris vs Communism at The Cornish Bank. The sublime, Hitchcockian noir thriller from Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden), as detective gets a little too close to the murder he’s trying to solve in Decision to Leave.
Kristine Kujath Thorp’s spot-on physical comedy and charismatic performance as the narcissistic Signe power Sick of Myself, a modern fable, mining the comic depths of Signe’s destructive personality.
The festival's ethos includes relaxed afternoon screenings, free to all carers, and reduced ticket pricing for all 16–30-year-olds in the hope of developing younger cinemagoers.
The festival is also running a ‘pay what you can’ option for some of its screenings, where audience members pay either £2, £4, or £8, depending on what they can pay. Proof of earnings or ID won’t be asked for, all that is asked is the audience members’ honesty.
Ticket pricing begins at £5, with full pricing information available on the website.
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