Catch Ewan McGregor, Don Cheadle and other stars at the 12th New British Film Festival, which started late Wednesday and runs until Nov. 13, with screenings of more than a dozen different British and Irish films.
The festival has a little bit of everything, ranging over science-fiction, drama, comedy and more. “This festival is basically a showcase of contemporary British cinema, and this concept requires us to show various genres,” said Alexei Laifurov, a representative of CoolConnections, which organizes the festival.
The opening night of the film festival included a showing of Ireland’s most successful independent film to date, “The Guard.” The black comedy stars Brendan Gleeson as Boyle, a not-so-typical Irish policeman, who teams up with Everett, an FBI agent played by Cheadle, to take down an international drug-smuggling gang in Ireland. The film has been well-received by critics, nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and winning the Audience Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
For those more interested in drama, “Perfect Sense,” which won Best New British Feature at the New Edinburgh International Film Festival will be shown on Friday. The film, staring McGregor and ex-Bond girl Eva Green, tells the story of a chef and a scientist who begin to fall in love as the world falls victim to an epidemic, causing people to lose their sensory perceptions.
More down to earth is “Made in Dagenham,” starring up-and-coming actress Sally Hawkins, which is screened Tuesday and Nov. 11. The film, which was nominated in four categories at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards last year, is based on the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant over gender discrimination, which eventually resulted in the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
“Attack the Block” the directorial debut of Joe Cornish, a comedian and DJ on BBC Radio 6, shows what happens when aliens face off with innercity London youths. It took the Audience Award at the Sundance festival this year.
The rest of the festival contains a number of smaller, independent productions. “Our festival is the only way for such films to hit the big screen in Russia,” Laifurov said.
After the film festival concludes in Moscow, the festival will go on to Yekaterinburg from Nov. 17 to 30, St. Petersburg from Nov. 23 to 27, and Nizhny Novgorod from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4.
The New British Film Festival runs until Nov. 13 at Formula Kino Horizon, 21/10 Komsomolsky Prospekt. Metro Frunzenskaya. Tel. 795-3795.
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