What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th November 2022.

The 22nd annual Belfast Film Festival is now in full swing having opened on Thursday 3rd November and closing on Saturday 12th November. This festival is Northern Ireland's largest of its kind, attracting over 25,000 people annually. The festival has grown to include the Docs Ireland international documentary festival, as well as an Audience Development and Inclusion programme. The festival also sponsors year-round film screenings around Belfast. Founded in 1995 the festival began as a part of West Belfast Festival and operated as the West Belfast Film Festival (WBFF) from 1995 to 2000. In its third and fourth year, WBFF ran as an independent event and included venues throughout the city. It became the Belfast Film Festival in the year 2000 and ran as a citywide event, including venues in all four corners of Belfast.

This years Opening Night film presentation was 'Ballywalter', from Ireland and Directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah in his debut feature film and tells the story of Eileen (Seana Kerslake), a caustic, unrepentant University drop-out whose dreams of a successful life in London have fallen by the wayside. Back at home with her mum, she makes ends meet by working as an unlicensed driver in her ex-boyfriend’s minicab. Shane (Patrick Kielty) has exiled himself in Ballywalter following the break-up of his marriage, but now he’s trying to get his life back on track by enrolling in a stand-up comedy course. When Shane calls a taxi to get him to his classes, Eileen answers and a surprising connection is made. As the two spend time together shuttling back and forth, a beautiful friendship develops. The Closing Night film is 'Aftersun' from the UK and US and is Written and Directed by Charlotte Wells in her feature film Directing debut. Here, eleven-year-old tomboy Sophie (Frankie Corio), is going with her single dad Calum (Paul Mescal) on a Turkish package holiday in the late 1990's. Days of sun, sand and shooting pool beckon, but there’s an undertow of sadness, maybe of future estrangement, to Calum’s laddish parenting, and it bleeds into Frankie’s perspective both past and present.

In the International Film Competition for first or second feature films, there are eight films competing for the award of a prize of £7,000 to the Director of the Best Film, alongside Jury Prizes for Outstanding Craft Contribution and Breakout Performance of £1,500 each. Those eight films are :-

* 'Blue Jean' - from the UK and Written and Directed by first timer Georgia Oakley. England, 1988 - and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatising gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school where Jean works, catalyses a crisis that will challenge Jean to her core.

* 'Unrest' - from Switzerland and Written and Directed by Cyril Schaublin. This is the story of young watchmaker, Josephine (Clara Gostynski), in 1877 Switzerland, who gets involved with the rising anarchist movement as new technologies begin to transform money, time and labor in a small town.

* 'Beautiful Beings' - from Iceland and Written and Directed by Guomundur Arnar Guomundsson. Here, Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason), who is being raised by a clairvoyant mother and an absent father, decides to take pitiful, beaten-up Balli (Askell Einar Palmason) under his wing and into his little band of outsiders. The gang's comradeship gives them an escape from troubled, often abusive home situations, but their bonds of teenage brotherhood will be sorely tested by a toxic tide of systemic, cyclical male aggression that almost ceaselessly seeks to turn frightened boys into violent men.

* 'Falcon Lake' - from Canada and Co-Written and Directed by Charlotte Le Bon in her feature film making debut. Fourteen-year-old Bastien (Joseph Engel) and his family are on holiday at a lakeside cabin in Quebec with an old friend of his mother's. More importantly, with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Chloe (Sara Montpetit), an unsmiling teen with a morbid sense of humour, on whom Bastien immediately crushes very hard.

* 'Tommy Guns' - from Portugal and Angola and Written and Directed by Carlos Conceicao. In 1974, after years of civil war, the Portuguese and their descendants fled the colony of Angola where groups of independents gradually claimed their territory back. A tribal girl discovers love and death when she crosses paths with a young Portuguese soldier. Meanwhile, another group of Portuguese soldiers is barracked inside an infinite wall from which they will have to escape once the past comes out of the grave to claim its long-awaited justice.

* 'Carajita' - from the Dominican Republic and Argentina, and Co-Written and Co-Directed by Ulises Porra and Silvina Schnicer. Sara (Cecile van Welie) and her nanny Yarisa (Magnolia Nunez) have a relationship that seems to transcend their class conditions. They are the closest thing to a daughter-mother, but an accident will test their intimate loyalty and the innocent illusion that nothing can separate them.

* 'A Room of My Own' - from Georgia and Co-Written and Directed by Ioseb 'Soso' Bliadze. Tina (Taki Mumladze), a young woman who has lost her way in life, rents a room from the vibrant Megi (Mariam Khundadze), thanks to whom she gradually starts to discover what it's like to be free and to be able to make her own decisions without being reliant on men.

* 'Return to Seoul' - from France and South Korea and Written and Directed by Davy Chou. A twenty-five-year-old French woman, Freddie (Park Ji-Min) returns to Korea, the country she was born in before being adopted by a French couple, for the very first time. She decides to track down her biological parents, but her journey takes a surprising turn.

For the full details of the other film and presentation strands taking place at this years Belfast Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://belfastfilmfestival.org/

Turning the attention then back to this weeks three new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you in the coming week, we kick off with the 30th film in the MCU and the sequel to a massive hit in 2018 that this time sees the nation of Wakanda pitted against intervening world powers as they mourn the loss of their king T'Challa. This is followed up by a doco set in the heart of the Tibetan highlands, where an award-winning photographer guides a writer in his quest to document the infamously elusive snow leopard; before closing out the week with a celebration song and dance film marking the 30th anniversary of a classic Christmas story as told by a renowned English contemporary choreographer. 

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new films 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.

'BLACK PANTHER : WAKANDA FOREVER' (Rated M) - this American Superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics character of Black Panther, as portrayed by Chadwick Boseman in the 2018 film 'Black Panther', and who tragically died from colon cancer in 2020. This is the sequel to that 2018 film and is the thirtieth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is once again Directed and Co-Written by Ryan Coogler. The film saw its World Premier screening in Hollywood on 26th October, is set for a worldwide release from this week, and is the final film in Phase Four of the MCU.

Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T'Challa's death, and a new threat emerges from the hidden undersea nation of Talokan and its king, Namor (Tenoch Huerta). As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

'THE VELVET QUEEN' (Rated M) - this French documentary film is Written and Directed by Vincent Munier and Marie Amiguet and is set in the heart of the Tibetan highlands amongst unexplored and inaccessible valleys, where multi-award-winning nature photographer Vincent Munier guides adventurer and novelist Sylvain Tesson on his quest to document the infamously elusive snow leopard. Munier introduces Tesson to the subtle art of waiting from a blind spot, tracking animals, and finding the patience to catch sight of the beasts. Through their journey in the Tibetan peaks, inhabited by invisible presences, the two men ponder humankind's place amongst the magnificent creatures and glorious landscapes they encounter along the way. 

'MATTHEW BOURNE'S NUTCRACKER!' (Rated CTC) - to celebrate its 30th anniversary with family-sized helpings of Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos, and magical fantasy, Nutcracker! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a darkly comic Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross’ Orphanage, through a shimmering, ice-skating winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland, influenced by the lavish Hollywood musicals of the 1930's. Tchaikovsky’s glorious score and Anthony Ward’s newly-refreshed delectable sets and costumes combine with Bourne’s dazzling choreography to create a fresh and charmingly irreverent interpretation of the classic production. This film is Directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon. 

With three new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-