CINECITY is back in Brighton celebrating its 15th year of the festival this November. The annual event is a partnership between Duke of York’s Picturehouse, Screen Archive South East and The University of Brighton. Together they deliver an imaginative program of film and moving image events, screenings and exhibitions and present the annual CINECITY The Brighton Film Festival, the region’s major celebration of film.
This year will see the best of international cinema, previews, exhibitions, live scores, Q&As, workshops and special events. There will be a range of local and international artists displaying their moving image projects in the gallery and cinema space. The new Depot cinema in Lewes alongside Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne will also be displaying a range of screenings and exhibitions.
Tim Brown, co-director of CINECITY, has picked five highlights from this year’s programme.
- You Want Me To Say I Love You/ Brighton Rock
“This year at CINECITY we are celebrating the 70th Anniversary of John and Roy Boultings’ noir masterpiece Brighton Rock (1947). There is something really special about seeing your hometown up on the big screen and we’re delighted to be able to share this British classic with a Brighton audience. If getting to see Richard Attenborough as teenage gangster Pinkie on glorious 35mm celluloid isn’t enough, we’ve also commissioned a new live work that will premiere before the film. You Want Me To Say I Love You is a collaboration between Sarah Angliss, Aleks Kolkowski, Bela Emerson and Stephen Hiscock, who will be showing off their musical skills on an impressive array of instruments.
Nov 19, 8.45pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
- The Wound
“At CINECITY we love to delve into the best of world cinema, and this moving drama from South Africa is sure to be a highlight. Exploring a controversial rite of passage undergone by teenage boys in the Xhosa community, this film was made using mainly non-actors. Questioning cultural ideas about masculinity and probing how queer desire manifests in the face of societal homophobia, this visual stunner has been picking up awards as it has travelled the festival circuit; most recently it won the first feature award at the London Film Festival.”
Nov 20, 9pm, Dukes at Komedia
- Sicilian Ghost Story
“Based on a real-life Mafia kidnapping of Giuseppe Di Matteo in 1993, this film from Italian film-making team Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazzo subverts it material by mixing the story’s grimy reality with supernatural fantasy elements. The film’s young heroine Luna, brilliantly played by Julia Jedikowska, rebels against her parents and the police and take the audience on a haunting journey as she tries to find her missing love. This is a film for anyone who appreciates superb storytelling and who is happy to let their imagination wander into both the sublime and the grotesque.”
Nov 23, 6.30pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
- The Lodger with live score accompaniment from Covent Garden Sinfonia
“The CINECITY office is currently obsessed with true crime podcasts, so a screening of Hitchcock’s seminal serial killer film seems like a perfect fit for the festival. This 1927 film marks a turning point in the celebrated British director’s career, essentially establishing Hitchcock’s signature thriller style. Set in London during the hunt for a Jack-the-Ripper style serial killer, The Lodger stars matinee idol Ivor Novello as a gentleman lodger, who may not be who he seems. 90 years-old and still looking good, this classic silent film will be accompanied by the Covent Garden Sinfonia, a 12-piece chamber orchestra, who will be performing a score composed by the always marvellous Neil Brand.”
Nov 26, 1.30pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
- My Year with Helen
“At CINECITY we like people who break the glass ceiling, so we are pretty chuffed to have a foreign dignitary at the festival– former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who will be accompanying this documentary. Following Clark over the course of a year as she ran to become the first ever female United Nations Secretary-General, this film gives us a warts-and-all look into the workings of the secretive UN selection process. Film-maker Gaylene Preston and Helen Clark will take part in Q&A following the screening, so please bring some juicy questions to ask!”
Nov 26, 3.45pm, Duke of York’s Picturehouse
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