What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 3rd June 2021.

Held every Memorial Day weekend since 1979, 'Mountainfilm' is a documentary film festival that showcases nonfiction stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political and social justice issues. Held this year from 28th to 31st May as an in-person event and online from 31st May to 6th June in Telluride, Colorado, the festival offers exceptional documentaries, and goes beyond the film medium by bringing together world-class athletes, change makers and visionary artists for a multi-dimensional celebration of indomitable spirit. Mountainfilm, which includes interactive talks, free community events, outdoor programming and presentations, aims to inspire audiences to action on worthy causes.

This years programme includes 25 feature documentary films and over one hundred short films. Those feature documentaries include :-

* 'After Antarctica' - from the USA and Directed by Tasha Van Zandt. In 1989, lifelong explorer Will Steger and five other men set out on a seven-month-long expedition to traverse 4,000 miles across the continent of Antarctica. Almost 30 years later, Steger is still exploring. At 75, he sets out on a solo expedition to the Arctic Circle, where two stories unfold in parallel.

* 'American Gadfly' - from the USA and Directed by Skye Wallin. In 2019, a group of ambitious teens hatched a perfect scheme, one in which they would awaken former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel from his political slumber and encourage him to run for President in 2020. He would not be running to win, but to raise awareness — a true gadfly by definition, a nuisance, a provocative and persistent stimulus.

* 'The Ants & The Grasshopper' - from the USA, UK and Malawi and Directed by Raj Patel and Zak Piper. Anita Chitaya is transforming her village in Malawi with new farming and cooking methods even as drought looms. Chitaya and her mentor, Esther Lupafya, decide to embark on a journey through the US in an effort to convince Americans that climate change is real. World Premier screening.

* 'Bear Like' - from Switzerland and Directed by Roman Droux. Here, the filmmaker heads to the remote wilds of Alaska with bear researcher David Bittner in pursuit of a better understanding of the powerful animal that captured his childhood dreams. Together, they spend a summer with the grizzlies, often in extremely close proximity.

* 'Buried' - from the USA and Directed by Jared Drake and Steven Silg. The combination of steep terrain, fluctuating temperatures and howling winds make Alpine Meadows one of the most avalanche prone ski resorts in the U.S. By March 1982, the resort had developed a rigorous avalanche safety protocol that was in many ways ahead of its time. But then a monster storm moved in, bringing relentless snow and fierce winds and creating conditions ripe for disaster. World Premier screening.

* 'Godspeed, Los Polacos!' - from the USA and Directed by Adam Nawrot. Here, a handful of brazen, and perhaps naive, university students concoct a harebrained plan to escape Soviet-era Poland to paddle their janky, homemade kayaks in some 'real' whitewater during the Cold War era. Against all odds, they connive their way out from behind the Iron Curtain, eventually finding themselves in South America, where they embark on a kayaking mission that seems doomed.

* 'Jacinta' - from the USA and Directed by Jessica Earnshaw. Like the mother who gave birth to her at seventeen, Jacinta struggles with addiction. Perhaps it’s no accident that they wind up doing time together. The film maker here turns her unblinking camera on Jacinta, her mother, her father, her brothers, her grandparents and the daughter she gave birth to at sixteen, revealing deep codependency and multiple layers of trauma.

* 'Los Hermanos/The Brothers' - from the USA and Directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider. Fate split Afro-Cuban brothers Ilmar and Aldo apart, and now the virtuosic musicians live on either side of a geopolitical divide, one in Cuba and one in New York. Music, blood and shared history bound them together, as they reunite for a performance they’ve long dreamt of.

* 'Missing in Brooks County' - from the USA and Directed by Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss. The unforgiving desert landscape of Brooks County, Texas has been the site of more than 2,000 migrant deaths since 2008, the result of a U.S. Border Patrol policy that diverts immigrants into treacherous crossing areas where they often succumb to dehydration and exposure. Here we are introduced to many of the families who are desperately seeking lost loved ones, the individuals and organisations aiding them and the 'build the wall' supporters who attempt to thwart their efforts.

* 'Playing with Sharks' - from Australia and Directed by Sally Aitken. Valerie Taylor is a living legend in the underwater world who spent most of her life swimming with, filming and learning to understand sharks. From her early days as a champion spearfisher and open-water shark diver, to her involvement in the film 'Jaws' and its deadly effect on shark populations around the globe, we watch as Taylor transitions from shark diver to passionate shark protector.

* 'The River Runner' - from the USA and Directed by Rush Sturges. The story of Scott Lindgren’s twenty-year quest to be the first person to paddle the four great rivers that originate from Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash is more than a gripping whitewater flick. It is also an intimate chronicle of an emotionally stunted athlete who’s having a breakthrough after a life crisis.

* 'Running the Roof' - from the UK and Directed by Ben Crocker and Alexis Tymon. On a bet made between friends, a globe is spun and where a finger lands will determine the destination for a multi-day run. Tajikistan. Bonded by their love of running, and now committed to seeing their bet through, the friends pull out a map and plot their route through the Bartang Valley, taking them over 300 miles across the country from the border of Afghanistan to the border of China, surrounded by enormous mountains in what the locals call 'the roof of the world'.

* 'Spaceship Earth' - from the USA and Directed by Matt Wolf. When a group of freethinkers came together in the mid-‘60's, they put their collective energy toward projects that challenged the norm and made a difference. And, when faced with the devastating effect of human ignorance on planet Earth, they launched their grandest project yet : Biosphere 2, an enclosed ecological system set in Arizona. Within it, various biomes, animals, insects and humans lived for two years — showcasing the delicate relationship between man and environment on a worldwide stage.

* Wall of Shadows' - from Poland, Germany and Switzerland and Directed by Eliza Kubarska. Despite their misgivings, a Sherpa family prepares to guide a trio of Western climbers up Kumbhakarna, the worlds 32nd highest mountain in Nepal, a mountain so sacred they are forbidden to climb it. Tensions rise amongst the guides, who want to avoid risks but desperately need the money they will earn from completing the trip, and the stubborn westerners who push the group on even though the weather grows dangerous.

* 'Weed & Wine' - from the USA and Directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen. Two farming families, one in France and one in California, navigate the burden of history and the inevitability of change as one generation prepares to pass the farm onto the next. Drawing parallels between France’s long-held winemaking traditions and the up-and-coming legal cannabis industry, they may be worlds apart, but they find themselves on common ground, navigating family tension and the tightrope between tradition and reinvention.

* 'Writing With Fire' - from India and Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. In 2002, a group of Dalit women in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh started the newspaper 'Khabar Lahariya'. Challenged by deep prejudice against their caste, oppressive patriarchy and religious extremism, the courageous reporters do their work at great personal risk — including domestic violence and threats from corrupt officials and the mafia. Their work however, has paid dividends in formerly neglected neighbourhoods.

* 'Yes I Am - The Ric Weiland Story' - from the USA and Directed by Aaron Bear. Ric Weiland was one of the first employees at Microsoft and had a brilliant and creative mind. A champion of gay rights, Weiland came out in the 1970's and used his wealth to create social change, donating more than US$20M to fund more than sixty nonprofit organisations. Those efforts to establish representation and resources for the LGBTQ+ community continue to have a profound impact today.

* 'Youth v Gov' - from the USA and Directed by Christi Cooper. Twenty-one young Americans take on the world’s most powerful government in a revolutionary lawsuit that claims that over six decades of presidential administrations have continued to actively abuse their most vulnerable citizens by willingly contributing to the climate crisis. The plaintiffs are not in search of monetary retribution, but a plan and commitment to stop climate change.

For the complete itinerary of feature and short films being showcased at this years Montainfilm Festival, and a whole lot more besides, you can go to the official website at : https://www.mountainfilm.org/

This week then there are five new release films coming to you local Odeon and we start with the eighth instalment in a hugely successful horror franchise that sees two noted paranormal investigators look into a murder case that may be linked to demonic possession. Next up is a story of a woman who takes advantage of her growing celebrity status when the police and the public think her dead husband is just missing. This is followed up by a documentary following a group of Jewish and Palestinian chefs who take part in a unique food festival in the Israeli city of Haifa; and then we turn to a French offering about a seriously ill woman who tries to find her long-lost child with the help of a man in the middle of a burnout and a blind archivist, before closing out the week in a parallel present, where a delivery man takes a job in the gig economy pulling cable to link together the new quantum trading market.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'THE CONJURING 3 : THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT' (Rated MA15+) - this supernatural horror film is Directed by Michael Chaves whose prior film making credits take in several short films and his feature length debut in 2019 'The Curse of La Llorona'. The film serves as a sequel to 2013's 'The Conjuring' and 2016's 'The Conjuring 2', and as the eighth instalment in the Conjuring Universe franchise, with those first seven films grossing worldwide more than US$1.9B at the Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$140M. Those other films in the franchise aside from the three aforementioned are 2014's 'Annabelle', 2017's 'Annabelle : Creation', 2018's 'The Nun' and 2019's 'Annabelle Comes Home'. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga both reprise their roles as paranormal investigators and authors Ed and Lorraine Warren, and the film is based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, a murder trial that took place in 1981 in Connecticut. 

The film reveals a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga respectively). One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in United States history that a murder suspect, Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor) would claim demonic possession as a defence in his trail for the killing of his landlord Alan Bono, for which he was convicted of first degree manslaughter. Originally scheduled for release in mid-September last year the film was pushed back to this week in the US and Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

'BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY' (Rated MA15+) - is a crime comedy drama offering Directed and Co-Produced by Tate Taylor whose previous film making outings take in 'The Help', the James Brown biopic 'Get On Up', 'The Girl on the Train' and 'Ava' most recently. After her husband Karl Buttons (Matthew Modine) goes missing, Sue Buttons (Allison Janney), an under appreciated suburban wife, gets a taste of being a local celebrity as she embarks on a city-wide search in Yuba County to find him. In an effort to extend her newfound fame for all its worth, she stumbles into hilarious hijinks as her world turns upside down, dodging a wanna-be mobster, Mina (Awkwafina), a relentless local policewoman, Detective Cam Harris (Regina Hall), her half-sister Nancy (Mila Kunis), a local news reporter desperate for a story, and her husband’s dead-beat brother Petey Buttons (Jimmi Simpson), who all set out to uncover the truth behind the disappearance. The film was released Stateside in mid-February, has so far taken just US$67K in Box Office receipts, and has generated mostly negative Press so far. Also starring Juliette Lewis, Ellen Barkin, Chris Lowell and Samira Wiley.

'BREAKING BREAD' (Rated M) - this US and Israeli Co-Produced documentary film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by first time film maker Beth Elise Hawk. Here, Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel - the first Muslim Arab to win Israel's MasterChef - is on a journey to bring about social change through food rather than being at war with each other. And so, she founded the A-sham Arabic Food Festival, where pairs of Arab and Jewish chefs collaborate on exotic dishes like kishek (a Syrian yogurt soup), mussakhan (Palestinian roast chicken), kreplach (Jewish dumplings) and qatayef (a dessert typically served during Ramadan) all made to perfection. A film about hope, synergy and mouthwatering fare, this film illustrates what can happen when people focus on the person, rather than her religion; on the public, rather than the politicians.

'BYE BYE MORONS' (Rated M) - is a French comedy drama film Directed, Written and starring the French Actor, film maker and screen writer Albert Dupontel whose previous Directorial credits take in the acclaimed 2013 '9 Month Stretch' and and 2017's 'See You Up There'. The film received twelve nominations for the 46th Cesar Awards back in March this year where it won seven of those twelve nods including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Dupontel. And so, Suze Trappet (Virginie Efira) doesn’t have long to live and she is going to make her last remaining days count. Determined to find the son she was forced to abandon almost three decades ago, Suze sets out on a madcap quest that is filled with adventure, peril and bewildering encounters aided by a man going through burnout and a blind archivist. Also starring Nicholas Marie. The film was released in its native France back in late October last year and rose to the top of the Box Office despite the country being gripped by tight curfews due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

'LAPSIS' (Rated PG) - this mystery Sci-Fi drama film is Directed, Written, Edited and scored by Noah Hutton. Set in a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli (Dean Imperial) is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother Jamie (Babe Howard). After a series of two-bit hustles and unsuccessful swindles, Ray takes a job in a strange new realm of the gig economy, that involves him trekking over miles of forest, undergrowth and rough terrain pulling cable to connect large, metal cubes that link together the new quantum trading market. As he gets pulled deeper into the zone, he encounters growing hostility and the threat of robot cablers, and must choose to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out. Also starring Madeline Wise. This film has so far collected two wins and four other nominations from across the awards and festivals circuit and saw its World Premier screening at South Korea's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival back in mid-July 2020.

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-