Written by Tallulah Denyer
This year’s Cinecity programme concentrates on world cinema, welcoming an exhibition curated by film historian Daniel Bird on Sergei Parajanov’s The Colour of Pomegranates (aka Sayat Nova) of found footage that does not appear in the film. Fabrica acts as a fantastic backdrop for these moving images, displayed like paintings across the gallery, following the life of the 18th-century poet Sayat Nova. The footage allows you to create your own chronology of the film, with screens dispersed all over the gallery, you could spend hours watching.
“Eschewing the conventional biopic, Parajanov chose the cinematic visualisation of Sayat Nova’s poetry, mixing ethnic rituals with surrealistic happenings.”- BFI
Cinecity is start studded with some festival favourites this year, with the likes of Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature film A Real Pain, the new Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield British romcom We Live in Time and Mike Leigh’s first film since 2018; Hard Truths. However, this year the festival has a strong focus on Ukraine with Parajanov’s filmography who often referred to himself as a “Ukrainian nationalist”. Others include Flowers of Ukraine, a documentary following 67-year-old Natalie and her experience of Russia’s invasion of Kyiv. Near the end of the programme, you can see a collection of Ukrainian shorts at ACCA, with themes centred on displacement, and the peace of home.
Three films I’m excited to see:
All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia, 2024) 10th November, 6 pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
“The lives of three women intersect and overlap in a haunting drama that sees the city of Mumbai play a central role.”- BFI
“There is a freshness and emotional clarity in Payal Kapadia’s Cannes competition selection, an enriching humanity and gentleness which coexist with fervent, languorous eroticism and finally something epiphanic in the later scenes and mysterious final moments.”- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
La Cocina (Alonso Ruizpalacios, 2024) 12th November, 8 pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
“We might be feeling a bit stuffed with restaurant dramas, but La Cocina makes The Bear look like a cuddly cub and Boiling Point like a gentle simmer.”- Jonathan Romney, The Guardian.
The Seed of The Sacred Fig (Mohammed Rasoulof, 2024) 17th November, 3:30 pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
“For more than two decades, Iman (Misagh Zare) has functioned as a civil servant, doing work that his kids — who represent Iran’s younger generation — would be ashamed of. Better to keep them in the dark. At last, for his loyalty, Iman has been given a promotion, not to judge (the job he wants) but to inspector (a job no one wants). Inspectors are the goons who interrogate students his daughters’ age when they’re arrested for protesting, the ones who sign off on death sentences for alleged dissidents. Iman doesn’t just work for the Iranian regime; he is the regime.”- Peter Debruge, Variety.
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