The second part of our Autumn Season 2024 can now be unveiled, we are continuing directly into November and December with another eclectic selection of arthouse and international films. We are delighted that included in this slate is Pedro Almodovar’s Venice winner The Room Next Door, a coup for Sligo Film Society as we normally must wait before it’s done its commercial cinema run.
This second part of the season commences with My Favourite Cake a charming mediation on romance and loneliness in modern-day Iran, while we bring our Autumn/Winter season to a close with Irish crime drama Twig from Leitrim based director Marian Quinn. We are delighted we will also be joined by Marian for a post-screening Q&A to mark the occasion.
Inbetween those two films we have in Hirokazu Koreeda’s Monster a compassionate exploration of childhood turmoil with the veteran director turning to his native Japan; an unlikely connection is forged in Crossing from acclaimed director Leven Akin, a moving and tender tale of identity and acceptance; Touch is a dual-timeline study of estranged first love both heartbreaking and achingly romantic and The Teacher brings us to the Palestine Occupied Territories for the gripping feature debut from Oscar nominated director, Farah Nabulsi, where a school teacher struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students
Check out the listings for the first seven screenings below.
Sligo Film Society, Nov - Dec 2024
7th November
My Favourite Cake
Director: Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha
Cast: Lily Farhadpour, Esmail Mehrabi.
Film info: 97 minutes, Iran, France, Sweden, Germany, 2024, Cert: 12A
Language: In Farsi with English subtitles
Elderly Mahin has lived as a widow in Tehran for over 30 years. She fondly remembers life in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, but now cannot even visit her Europe-based daughter, because she is too old to be granted a visa by authorities. Refusing to accept a lonely future, Mahin takes control of her destiny when she meets taxi-driver Faramarz.
14th November
Monster
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda.
Cast: Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Sōya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi.
Film info: 125 mins. Japan. 2023. 12A
Saori Mugino notices her son Minato is acting strangely. When she’s told Minato is getting bullied by a teacher, she reports it to the school principal – but can’t understand why the school isn’t taking more action. However, there’s a more complicated story here than Saori is privy to – one revealed when the film revisits the same events from other perspectives…
21st November
Crossing
Director: Levan Akin
Cast: Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava, Deniz Dumanlı
Film info: 106 minutes, Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey, Georgia, 2024, 15A
Retired teacher Lia is trying to find her niece Tekla, a twenty-something trans woman who was banished years before. Achi, Lia’s affable aimless neighbour, claims he knows where Tekla is: in Istanbul. With a half-baked plan and very little money, their search for Tekla sparks some soul-searching within them both.
From acclaimed director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced).
28th November
The Room Next Door
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro
Film info: 107 minutes, Spain, 2024, Cert: 15A.
Info to follow
5th December
Touch
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Cast: Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Palmi Kormakur, Masahiro Motoki
Film info: 121 mins. Iceland / UK / USA. 2024. 12A
In 1960s London, Icelandic student Kristófer took a job in a Japanese restaurant and fell in love with the owner’s daughter, Miko. In 2020, Kristófer – now a widower living in Iceland – knows his memory is starting to fail. As lockdowns loom, Kristófer flies to London to find out why Miko left without a goodbye all those decades ago.
12th December
The Teacher
Director: Farah Nabulsi
Cast: Saleh Bakri, Muhammad Abed Elrahman
Film Info: 118 minutes, UK / Qatar / Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2023, Cert: 12A.
Info to follow
19th December
Twig
Director: Marian Quinn
Cast: Sade Malone, Brian F. O’Byrne, Ghaliah Conroy, Donncha Tynan
Film Info: 107 mins. Ireland. 2024. 15A (IFCO).
This modern spin on the Greek tragedy Antigone tells the story of Twig, a young woman caught in the middle of a deadly Dublin gangland feud. When a shootout leaves one of her brothers dead and another missing, Twig grows determined to end the cycle of violence – setting her on a collision course with ruthless crime boss Leon.
