It's a week of short film festivals. Enjoy the Kyiv Post's selection.
GO WEST
Short film festival
Language: French with Ukr subtitles
Nov. 11, 14-16 at 2:10 p.m., 5:50 p.m., Nov. 12, 13 at 12:35 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 7:55 p.m. Zhovten cinema
Produced in 2010, five high-flying short films from the Francophone world are being presented under the roof of Go West festival. “Pigeon Impossible” is a six-minute spy saga of how one unlucky agent tries to save the world from a hungry pigeon.
The bird, not Tom Cruise this time, penetrates a highly dangerous nuclear brief case setting the agent on a romp through the streets of Washington D.C. In “Na Wewe,” things are much more series as the civil conflict sets Burundi people – Hutus and Tutsis – against each other.
The rebels clash with a passenger bus and order people to say which tribe they belong to. This short has been nominated for 2011 Academy Awards. The story of “L’Accordeur” has won international acclaim as well for a compelling account of a depressed pianist who becomes a tuner. The musician pretends to be blind to get access into people’s homes in order to tune their instruments.
Once he becomes a witness to a murder. In “Je Pourrais Etre Votre Grand-Mere,” a successful lawyer notices an old Romanian woman begging on his porch. He gives her a board with a sign “I could be your grandma,” which makes passersby stop and think twice.
In “Scissors,” an odd young woman loses conscience in a construction store. By picking her up, Pierre gets himself into a funny romantic comedy about scissors, an old piano teacher and a discussion of what is normal.
BEST OF NEW VISION
Short films festival
Language: Ukr with Eng subtitles
Nov. 11, 14 at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Nov. 12, 13 at 12:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Kyiv cinema
After a successful ride at many festivals, nine short films from all over the world are showing in Kyiv this week. In “Swings,” a couple tests their relationship in an amusement park. A taxi driver picks up a dangerous client at the foothills of the snowy mountains in “Norwegian Taxi.”
A 12-minute encounter of two strangers in the mountains lends a plot to “Tommy,” a psychological comedy. Being constantly nagged by his stage director, a hapless actor can’t get into his part of a policeman until he finds himself face to face with a real criminal in “Reincarnation.”
The only Ukrainian film on the program is “Loyalty”: It explores the dark side of humans with the help of Dakh theatre actors.
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
Mystery thriller
USA 1967
Language: Eng with Eng subtitles
Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.
Master Class cinema
One of the best films in the 1960s, “In the Heat of the Night” won five Oscars but since then has aged a lot. In a small Mississippi town, a black sheriff teams up with a white cop to solve the murder of a prominent white businessman.
A theme of racial tolerance runs through the film showing major setbacks in American democracy only some 50 years ago.
The cops despise each other because of the color of their skin but must find common language to find the killer.
Set in the black South, the movie was mostly filmed in the North because of troubles that other productions had with black actors.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Comedy
USA 2011
Language: Rus with Ukr subtitles
Directed by Woody Allen
Nov. 11-16 at 5:10 p.m.,
Kyiv cinema
Woody Allen’s power to attract top-notch Hollywood talent is dazzling. His star cast in “Midnight in Paris” includes French First Lady Carla Bruni, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Adrien Brody and many others.
But whether their presence makes the film any better is debatable.
A young Hollywood writer arrives in Paris with his fiancé and her family. Enamoured by history-strewn neighbourhoods, he roams the city day and night dreaming what it would be like to live at the time of Hemingway and Fitzerald.
Incidentally, he’s drawn into a time carriage and is able to meet all the famous artists who, it turns out, are also unhappy about their era. The film’s morale is so obvious that some viewers may get offended by Allen’s naïve plot.
If a younger audience, however, gets inspired to read the classics after the film, then Allen nailed it again.
KYIV
19 Velyka Vasylkivska St. (former Chervonoarmiyska), 234-7381
www.kievkino.com.ua
ZHOVTEN
26 Kostyantynivska St., 205-5951
www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua/
MASTER CLASS CULTURAL CENTER
16 Lavrska St., 594-1063
www.masterklass.org
