PROGRAMME AND SYNOPSES

Monday 1 July – Extravagant stories – film club
Bronson by Nicolas Winding Refn (92mins)
Stubbornly devoted to violence, Michael Peterson, aka Charles Bronson, fails to keep his egocentrism in check. Featuring a “monumental” performance by Tom Hardy, Bronson is a surprising and fascinating film that masterfully blends grotesque humour, violence, and aesthetics with a fantastic soundtrack.

Tuesday 2 July – Stories of music
Leningrad Cowboys Go America by Aki Kaurismaki (78mins)
A Soviet rock group called “Leningrad Cowboys” decide to try and make it in America. The myth of the American Dream according to Finland’s best-known director, Aki Kaurismaki.

Wednesday 3 July – Stories of visionaries
Visages, Villages by Agnes Varda and JR (90mins)
A tender and moving film about two artists who meet and begin working together in rural France. Two characters from very different demographics who find a unique way to celebrate the importance of humanity.

Thursday 4 July – Stories of Iceland
Ramus by Grímur Hákonarson (92mins)
In a remote Icelandic valley, Gummi and Kiddi, two elderly brothers, both sheep breeders, have not spoken for forty years, despite living a stone’s throw from one another, until the arrival of an ovine epidemic forces them together again…

Monday 8 July – Stories of visionaries
Spettacolo. Il teatro povero di Monticchiello (The ‘Poor Theatre’ of Monticchiello) by Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen (91mins)
In Monticchiello, a small Tuscan village, since the 1960s every summer the life of the whole village has been played out on stage. A docu-film that follows the preparation for the longest running theatrical show in the world.

Tuesday 9 July – Extravagant Stories – film club
Il ragazzo più felice del mondo by Gipi (90mins)
A comic book illustrator tries to find out more about a fan who sent him an admiring letter 20 years ago. An entertaining and eccentric movie, somewhere between a meta-documentary and a self-reflective comedy about the meaning of fame.

Wednesday 10 july – Stories of music
Il flauto magico di Piazza Vittorio by Gianfranco Cabiddu (83mins)
in collaboration with Festival au Désert
Mozart’s opera is reinterpreted by all the musical cultures of the Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio, in which the events and the characters are transformed, enriching and synthesising distant traditions.

Thursday 11 july – Stories of Iceland
Of Horses and Men by Benedikt Erlingsson (81mins)
From the director of Woman at War, an atypical and mocking comedy about the atavistic relationship between men and animals. A film which is built up, piece by piece, like a mosaic of tales about human self-harm.

Monday 15 july – Stories of visionaries
Il refettorio. Miracolo a Milano – Un progetto di Massimo Bottura (Theater of Life) by Peter Svatek (94mins)
The extraordinary true story of the soup kitchen set up for Expo 2015, where chef Massimo Bottura invited 60 international colleagues to come together and prepare meals for the needy out of food waste.

Tuesday 16 july – Stories of Iceland
Under the tree by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (89mins)
On the residential outskirts of Reykjavík, an argument over a tree casting a shadow over a neighbouring sundeck spirals out of control in this dark comedy, which also provides a commentary on the conflicts that are lurking beneath the surface in everyday life.

Wednesday 17 july – Extravagant stories – film club
I’m still here! by Casey Affleck (106mins)
A mockumentary on the life of actor Joaquin Phoenix, from the announcement that he is ending his film career to concentrate on trying to make it as a hip hop artist. A story so absurd that it actually could be true!

Thursday 18 july – Stories of music
Fyre Fraud by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason (96mins)
When senseless ambition and fraudulent deeds came together to organise a luxurious music festival in the Bahamas, the result was only ever going to be a huge and disastrous failure. The true and incredible story of the biggest Festival that never happened!