My goal here, as always, is to see as many new titles as possible and trying to find films that may be talking points in my annual roundup in December. There were certain eagerly awaited films that I had hoped would be in the programme (Ash is Purest White, High Life and Transit to name a few) that weren't featured but given the general quality of what I did get to see that's ultimately a minor quibble.
One of the reasons I'd consider the festival to be a success was that this year saw by far my best planning and scheduling to date. There were fewer compromises than usual and I managed to avoid getting film fatigue. I watched 19 titles in total and over the years I have got a lot better at delineating between "essential" titles, impulse watches, slot fillers and curios.
Here's a link to a list of the films I watched:
https://letterboxd.com/willowybeing/list/2018-leeds-international-film-festival/
Major filmmakers whose new work was featured included Lee Chang-dong (Burning), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (The Wild Pear Tree), Peter Strickland (In Fabric), Luca Guadagino (Suspiria), Steve McQueen (Widows), Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro) and David Lowery (The Old Man & The Gun).
The opening day of the festival had a screening of Peterloo with writer/director Mike Leigh in attendance for a Q&A after the film. Leigh's enthusiasm for his work in film and interest in the subject shone through and it was a real treat to see him there in person.
There was no animation Sunday this year but anime was well represented by two excellent titles (Mirai and Penguin Highway), then later on the Belgian stop motion piece This Magnificent Cake! was a genuinely eccentric offering.
Only one film in the lineup that I saw could be described as disappointing. Crisis Jung, an episodic adult animation, ran for 70 minutes but it felt like a bit of a slog. Perhaps seeing the episodes back to back didn't do it any favours. Its repetition of the same action sequences and the episode opening and closing credits got wearisome.
I dipped my toe in to the documentary selection with Island of the Hungry Ghosts but I skipped the short film selection, something that I may try and rectify next year.
The free silent film screening at the Town Hall (with a live organ accompaniment) was Blackmail - a key early Alfred Hitchcock film which I hadn't seen until now.
This yearly event has become one of the festival's major highlights for me. In previous years in this slot I've seen classic silents such as The Golem, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Nanook of the North, Faust and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. My dream screening would probably be F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, which I've wanted to see on the big screen for many years. Between this well attended event and the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival earlier in the year it's great to see that there's still an active interest in films from the silent era.
Speaking of film history, 2018 marks Ingmar Bergman's centenary and I would liked to have got to the showing of Wild Strawberries, but sadly was unable to attend. I have watched several Bergman films this year at home but it would have been great to have seen at least one in the cinema. Other older titles that I had to skip included Docks of New York, La Notte, Night Train, The Ear, Odd Man Out, Tampopo and The Chaplin Hour. Perhaps most enticing of all was a rare chance to see 1952 film The White Reindeer, for which Eureka has supposedly done a 4K restoration.
Of the new titles I would like to have got to see the Horror anthology Nightmare Cinema (just for the Joe Dante segment) but due to it being in the 'Night of the Dead' lineup it wasn't covered by my festival pass, while nature documentary Walden sounded interesting. A very late and very surprising addition to the programme was Alfonso Cuaron's much hyped Roma, which was being shown several miles away at the Harrogate Everyman cinema. I'll try and catch it on Netflix in December.
Not even the bonfires and firework displays could keep me away from seeing the new Jean-Luc Godard film, The Image Book. There are plans for a one day cinema release on 2nd December and for it to be available for streaming on mubi.com from 3rd December but this was too good an opportunity to miss. Nor did I want to miss Hirokazu Koreeda's Shoplifters, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and was a very satisfying closing film for the festival.
I was kinder than usual with the audience rating slips. Two weeks off work can do wonders for your generosity of spirit. Due to its subject, The Travelling Cat Chronicles was probably the easiest 5 star rating that I've ever given.
Leeds itself was well represented in the lineup with two prominent documentaries featured - Something Left Behind about local band The Wedding Present and Fighting for a City which tells the story of featherweight boxer Josh Warrington. Leeds born director Wash Westmoreland's new drama Colette got an early UK screening at City Varieties then later Hyde Park. There was added cause for celebration with the recent news of Channel 4 moving its national headquarters to Leeds.
Here's a link to a list of the films I watched:
https://letterboxd.com/willowybeing/list/2018-leeds-international-film-festival/
Major filmmakers whose new work was featured included Lee Chang-dong (Burning), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (The Wild Pear Tree), Peter Strickland (In Fabric), Luca Guadagino (Suspiria), Steve McQueen (Widows), Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro) and David Lowery (The Old Man & The Gun).
The opening day of the festival had a screening of Peterloo with writer/director Mike Leigh in attendance for a Q&A after the film. Leigh's enthusiasm for his work in film and interest in the subject shone through and it was a real treat to see him there in person.
There was no animation Sunday this year but anime was well represented by two excellent titles (Mirai and Penguin Highway), then later on the Belgian stop motion piece This Magnificent Cake! was a genuinely eccentric offering.
Only one film in the lineup that I saw could be described as disappointing. Crisis Jung, an episodic adult animation, ran for 70 minutes but it felt like a bit of a slog. Perhaps seeing the episodes back to back didn't do it any favours. Its repetition of the same action sequences and the episode opening and closing credits got wearisome.
The free silent film screening at the Town Hall (with a live organ accompaniment) was Blackmail - a key early Alfred Hitchcock film which I hadn't seen until now.
This yearly event has become one of the festival's major highlights for me. In previous years in this slot I've seen classic silents such as The Golem, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Nanook of the North, Faust and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. My dream screening would probably be F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, which I've wanted to see on the big screen for many years. Between this well attended event and the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival earlier in the year it's great to see that there's still an active interest in films from the silent era.
Speaking of film history, 2018 marks Ingmar Bergman's centenary and I would liked to have got to the showing of Wild Strawberries, but sadly was unable to attend. I have watched several Bergman films this year at home but it would have been great to have seen at least one in the cinema. Other older titles that I had to skip included Docks of New York, La Notte, Night Train, The Ear, Odd Man Out, Tampopo and The Chaplin Hour. Perhaps most enticing of all was a rare chance to see 1952 film The White Reindeer, for which Eureka has supposedly done a 4K restoration.
Of the new titles I would like to have got to see the Horror anthology Nightmare Cinema (just for the Joe Dante segment) but due to it being in the 'Night of the Dead' lineup it wasn't covered by my festival pass, while nature documentary Walden sounded interesting. A very late and very surprising addition to the programme was Alfonso Cuaron's much hyped Roma, which was being shown several miles away at the Harrogate Everyman cinema. I'll try and catch it on Netflix in December.
Not even the bonfires and firework displays could keep me away from seeing the new Jean-Luc Godard film, The Image Book. There are plans for a one day cinema release on 2nd December and for it to be available for streaming on mubi.com from 3rd December but this was too good an opportunity to miss. Nor did I want to miss Hirokazu Koreeda's Shoplifters, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and was a very satisfying closing film for the festival.
I was kinder than usual with the audience rating slips. Two weeks off work can do wonders for your generosity of spirit. Due to its subject, The Travelling Cat Chronicles was probably the easiest 5 star rating that I've ever given.
Leeds itself was well represented in the lineup with two prominent documentaries featured - Something Left Behind about local band The Wedding Present and Fighting for a City which tells the story of featherweight boxer Josh Warrington. Leeds born director Wash Westmoreland's new drama Colette got an early UK screening at City Varieties then later Hyde Park. There was added cause for celebration with the recent news of Channel 4 moving its national headquarters to Leeds.
