Seek out the debut filmmakers in April

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Seek out the debut filmmakers in April

by Paul Gallagher, GFT Programme Manager

‘April is the cruellest month’ said T.S Eliot, and he might have had half an eye on the indie cinema release schedule when penning those words. With the Cannes Film Festival approaching in May, where distributors will pick up a whole range of new films to release across the next 12 months, there is a sense when we get to this point that they are just trying to clear the decks. That means that every Friday in April there’s at least two or three interesting little dramas or documentaries from the international festival circuit getting quietly released onto as many screens as their burnt-out distributors can scrabble together.

How to sort through this selection, and present them in a way that is digestible to a keen (but time- and cash-stretched) audience? One way I’ve tried to approach it is to identify films that go together thematically or interest-wise, and spread them out so they’re not competing too much for your attention at the same time. So we have two films from Ireland, the funny and moving drama Four Mothers (4 April) and the brilliant documentary Blue Road: The Edna O’ Brien Story (18 April); two ‘inspirational teacher’ dramas: Steve Coogan in The Penguin Lessons (18 April) and Toby Jones in Mr Burton (25 April), and two utterly unique films from equally visionary directors (okay that link is a bit tenuous), Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios’ intense kitchen drama La Cocina (4 April), and French Oscar-winner Michel Hazanvicious’ dark Holocaust animation The Most Precious of Cargoes (18 April).

So there is a lot to get your head round in the GFT programme in April. If I was going to highlight another route through, it would be to seek out the debut filmmakers. Through the month you can see four excellent new features from first-time directors, all quite different in tone, but similar in promise – I think that’s pretty exciting, and a good place to focus in a month when there are no big-name filmmakers to draw all the attention.

First up is Restless (4 April), a lean and intensely gripping story about one woman’s attempt to deal with her new and incredibly noisy neighbour. British writer/director Jed Hart cleverly introduces his lead character Nicky in such a way that we remain unsure of just how far she might be willing to go to get a good night’s sleep. A confident control of tone ensures that this film – which in less assured hands could come off as silly – becomes almost unbearably tense and genuinely menacing. It’s a powerful introduction to an exciting new talent in Hart.

Follow it up the next week with Last Swim (11 April), from new British director Sasha Nathwani. This is a low-key drama with very high stakes, following Ziba, a young British-Iranian Londoner, hanging out with a group of friends after getting their exam results on the last day of high school, while she holds a deep secret about her health that could have huge implications for her life. While the film has a weight of potential tragedy hanging over it, Nathwani’s excellent young cast keep us grounded in the moment, and the film beautifully captures a sense of youthful connection – evoking a key turning point in these young lives and relationships with a feeling of authenticity.

Young people also take centre stage in the two other debuts, both from beyond UK shores. Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow (11 April), winner of the Un Certain Regard Youth Prize at Cannes last year, sees carefree 17-year old Totone having to take responsibility for his younger sister in rural France – and doing so by attempting to become a prizewinning cheesemaker. It may sound like a farce, but the tone is more grounded in earthy reality – Courvoisier is a keen observer of connections between young people, and the way she portrays the love/hate relationship between brother and sister is hugely endearing.

My last highlight in this quartet of debuts is Belgian drama Julie Keeps Quiet (25 April) from director Leonard Van Dijl, a film that couldn’t be more aptly titled. It is a remarkably understated film about a young tennis star who is put in a difficult position when her former coach is suspended following an accusation of inappropriate behaviour. Van Dijl approaches the film as an exercise in restrained observation – it is rare to see such resolutely un-showy storytelling in cinema, and the effect, combined with a powerfully internalised performance from newcomer Tessa Van den Broeck as Julie, is potent.

However you choose to navigate the programme this month at GFT, I’m confident that you’ll find something to inspire, entertain and provoke you. See you in the cinema.

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