Film Festivals 2006
Another eclectic clutch of fine cinema from around the world. The 30th Telecom International Festival kicked off this year with Ken Loach's 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', exploring tense Anglo-Irish relations in the 1920s; auteur Terrence Malick returned to filmmaking with a different story of colonialism, an eerily dream-like re-telling of the Pocahontas story and the 'conquering' of 'The New World'. Speaking of dreams, the innovative Michel Gondry gave us the enchanting 'The Science of Sleep', Richard Linklater came out with the animated 'A Scanner Darkly' and Korean Joon-ho Bong revisited the monster movie nightmare with fan favourite, 'The Host'. More personal stories included the excellent Canadian coming of age flick 'CRAZY', Tommy Lee Jones's 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'; low-key thriller 'Keane' and a blackly humourous tale of the prodigal son, 'Lonesome Jim'.
Mary (2005)
5.9/10
Director: Abel Ferrara
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Modine, Heather Graham, Marion Cotill...
Abel Ferrara attempts to illuminate the life of Mary Magdalene and the role of Catholocism in the modern world through three interweaving stories. To... Read more
Maxed Out (2005)
7.3/10
Director: Jamed D Scurlock
Takes the viewer on a journey deep inside the American Style of Debt. Casting a harsh light on 'hard times, easy credit, and the era of predatory lend... Read more
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)
8.1/10
Director: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Jessica Joy Wise
Starring: Tony Iommi, Dee Snider, Ronnie James Dio, Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy ,...
Anthropologist and life-long Heavy Metal fan, Sam Dunn, sets out on a global mission to discover why the headbanging music so adored by its millions o... Read more
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)
7.6/10
Director: Dan Ireland
Starring: Rupert Friend, Robert Lang, Anna Massey, Joan Plowright, Zoe Tapper, Marcia Warr...
Mrs Palfrey (Joan Plowright) has been uneasy since her husband passed away, and decides to move from her home in Scotland to London, to be nearer her... Read more
Offside (2006)
7.3/10
Director: Jafar Panahi
Starring: Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi, Golnaz Farmani, Mahnaz Zabihi
In Iran, women are banned from sporting events, but during their country's 2006 bid for the World Cup, a handful of die-hard fans just can't resist se... Read more
Overcoming (2005)
7.1/10
Director: Tomas Gislason
Starring: Bjarne Riis, Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Michelle Bartoli
Focusing on the Danish team at the 2004 Tour de France, this documentary follows cycle guru Bjarne Riis as he tries to push his bikers to the limit in... Read more
Princess (2006)
6.8/10
Director: Anders Morgenthaler
A visually striking animated feature from Denmark with a missionary priest named August abandoning his profession after the death of his drug-addicted... Read more
Pulse (2001)
6.6/10
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki , Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One sees visions of his dead friend in... Read more
Quinceanera (2006)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Chalo Gonzalez, Jesse Garcia, Emily Rios
As Magdalena's (Emily Rios) 15th birthday approaches, her working class family prepares for the all-important Quinceanera - a lavish coming-of-age cel... Read more
Romulus, My Father (2007)
6.7/10
Director: Richard Roxburgh
Starring: Eric Bana, Franka Potente, Marton Csokas, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Russell Dykstra, Jac...
Eric Bana and Franka Potente star in this adaptation of Raimond Gaita's childhood memoir, relating the experience of his immigrant family's struggle f... Read more