Cornwall Film Festival (CFF) is celebrating its 21st Anniversary Year with an exciting programme of films & events from Monday 14th November to Sunday 20th November 2022 at The Poly Falmouth.
The South West’s largest regional film festival is back with a jam-packed schedule of films, Q&As, masterclasses, and events.
The festival is made possible with support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery to bring the arts to more audiences across the UK. Accessibility is central to Cornwall Film Festival’s ethos, aiming to make film approachable and fun for everyone, inspiring new and old film lovers alike.
This years’ programme includes a variety of compelling films and previews such as the closing film, Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light” starring Olivia Colman, the festival also opens with the Cannes Palme D’oR winning ‘Triangle of Sadness’, a scathing comment on the uber wealthy. Other highlights include Charlotte Wells’ stunning debut `Aftersun’, featuring BAFTA winning Paul Mescal, and Oscar winning Laura Poitras’ documentary ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’, about world renowned photographer, Nan Goldin.
As a part of the UK/Ukraine season, a cultural exchange programme celebrating Ukrainian creativity and talent set up by the British Council and Ukrainian Institute, the festival is screening two exciting new Ukrainian films; Klondike and Stop-Zemlia. Klondike tells the story of a family living on the border of Ukraine and Russia during the start of the war, whilst Stop-Zemlia is a beautiful new coming-of-age drama.
The programme highlights much-anticipated UK premieres, the latest treasure and Oscar-tipped features, as well as uncompromising documentary work that explores themes of gender, identity, and sexuality. Audiences have the opportunity to see short film programmes, including the prestigious International shorts programme, Student and South-West best regional shorts, and a new category, Screen Stars of Tomorrow featuring work from 16-18-year-olds from Cornwall.
Feature titles include Neptune Frost from multidisciplinary artists Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman Afro-futurist vision, a sci-fi-punk musical that’s a visually wondrous amalgamation of themes, ideas, and songs. World-renowned Dardenne brothers’ Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita also comes to the festival, telling the story of a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa, pitting their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile. Cheesy American movie icons assisted in overthrowing the Romanian Communist regime in classic docudrama Chuck Norris vs Communism at The Cornish Bank.
The sublime, Hitchcockian noir thriller from Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden), as detective gets a little too close to the murder he’s trying to solve in Decision to Leave. Kristine Kujath Thorp’s spot-on physical comedy and charismatic performance as the narcissistic Signe power Sick of Myself, a modern fable, making us care whilst also mining the comic depths of Signe’s destructive personality for so many WTF demented comedy moments are just some of the festival highlights.
In its 21st year the festival is delighted to return to The Poly, Falmouth, with its most accessible programme yet. During a time of instability and uncertainty accessibility is at the heart of CFF’s ethos, with relaxed afternoon Screenings, free to all carers, and reduced ticket pricing for all 16–30-year-olds in the hope of developing younger cinemagoers.
The festival is also running a ‘pay what you can’ option for some of its screenings, where audience members pay either £2, £4, or £8, depending on what they can pay. Proof of earnings or ID won’t be asked for, all that is asked is the audience members’ honesty.
Ticket pricing begins at £5, with full pricing information available on the website.
Booking and information about the full programme is available via www.mormediacharity.org
