Bradford International Film Festival 2014 - Highlights

(Originally published for Champion Up North)

For the last two weeks I’ve been at the Bradford International Film Festival. It occurred to me before my final screening, Rushmore, how important comfort is to the cinema experience. How all distraction and discomfort inhibit immersion in the film’s narrative. I wonder how often black-tie impedes a member of Hollywood royalty fully enjoying a feature’s premier: picture Tarantino losing concentration during the ear-scene - his collar too tight; Scar Jo missing that ending - a pin sticking into her back; Heston fidgeting during the chariot race - he needs to readjust his underwear. Just think what could only be solved were tracksuits socially acceptable. Maybe the Oscars, Cannes etc. should take the BIFF’s lead, focus less on the ceremony and more on the films.On that note, here are my BIFF 2014 highlights:

Coal Miners Day

Our perception of coal mining is shaped by the 80s - deindustrialisation, strikes, Thatcher. Directed by French filmmaker Gael Mocaer, this documentary provides a human-centric view of the life of Ukrainian coal miners. The life is hard - a minute’s silence during the opening reminding the viewer of the mine’s dangers. But the film shines through the humour of its subjects, at its best when the miners bicker amongst one-another or joke with Gael and his crew.

Thriller

With Sally Potter collecting the BIFF Fellowship award, a selection of her early short films were shown. Unfamiliar with her early work, I expected to find hints of the filmmaker who later won critical acclaim with Rage and The Last Tango Dance. Instead I found Thriller.

Thriller is Sally’s 1979 deconstruction of the opera La Boheme - rewritten from the perspective of seamstress Mimi. The film explores the question of why Mimi must die at the opera’s conclusion. The film is considered a seminal work of feminist film criticism, and watching the piece made me question why film isn’t employed as a critical medium more frequently. The criticism was never dry, appropriating the music from Psycho to both dramatic and comedic effect - eventually reaching the conclusion that Mimi is murdered by her creator so she may remain her creator’s ideal woman.

Bradford Halifax London

At a festival showcasing work from around the globe, it was nice to see something from a little closer to home. This short film, directed by Francis Lee of Straw House Films, follows 9 minutes of a family’s (father, pregnant mother, daughter) train journey from Bradford to Halifax. Whilst the mother and father argue, the daughter stares out the window. The mood grows increasingly irate, until the tension is broken by fart. Family life’s not always easy, but this film illuminates the peculiar moments of intimacy only families can share.

A Shadow Within

Famous for directing The Castles of Sand, the BIFF saw retrospective screenings of Yoshitarō Nomura’s crime films. These films are rarely seen outside of Japan. A Shadow Within is a psychological-thriller in the mold of Hitchcock that explores male anxieties that come with industrialisation - as male-imparted traditional values fade and women gain increased independence. A deserved retrospective, acknowledging a director who deserves more recognition beyond the country of his birth.

Rushmore

Wes Anderson’s Rushmore was screened as part of a celebration of Brian Cox’s career. Though in truth the film owes more to its direction and Jason Schwartzman's performance than it does to Brian (who plays a relatively minor role). Rushmore is the work of a director at the top of his game, released before Wes was self-consciously imitating his own style, before he was every art student’s go-to filmmaker. Most importantly, and often forgotten, it is very funny.