Southport Film Guild will launch the 2013-2014 film season with a new home at Sefton’s new flagship arts and cultural venue, The Atkinson.
Established in 1966 by local film enthusiasts, SFG is now one of the most established film clubs in the UK. They pride themselves on showing the very best in films from the popular blockbusters, to the lesser-known but critically acclaimed art house and foreign films. Films are shown on a state of the art cinema screen in The Atkinson Theatre, a traditional proscenium arch theatre with a capacity of 440.
Expect to see a range of art house, popular and independent films from the last 18 months, which have not been available on the big screen. Handpicked by SFG members, all films are rated by members, to guide choices for future programming.
Highlights include Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut ‘Quartet’ (2012), featuring a host of British actors of a certain age in a home for retired musicians. Make sure you see Mads Mikkelson’s Cannes Best Actor performance in ‘The Hunt’ (2012). Time for a revival with ‘Local Hero’ (1983), this 30 year old comedy has echoes of Donald Trump’s golf course in the North East of Scotland.
Emma Lloyd, Performing Arts, Marketing and Visitor Services Manager at The Atkinson said, “We are delighted to be welcoming back Southport Film Guild to The Atkinson. The organisation represents quality and a love of film that can be seen throughout their programming. We look forward to working with them on special film nights, weekends, festivals and much more.”
The SFG season shows 20 films each year and runs from September to June on alternate Tuesday evenings, starting at 7.45pm. The films are free to members and £4 to non-members.
Jonathan Parry, Chief Executive of the Guild said “SFG are delighted to be returning to our home in The Atkinson. We are excited by the prospect of being based in the venue that provides state of the art facilities for the discerning film goer, together with other arts-based productions. In addition to the current films that the Guild shows, we are talking to The Atkinson to expand what we show to include themes around books, anniversaries and to provide children’s films.”
For more information on becoming a member of the Southport Film Guild and to book tickets visit www.theatkinson.co.uk or call the box office on 01704 533333.
Full film festival listings:
Zero Dark Thirty, 2012
Bigelow, US 157 mins
3 September 2013, 7.45pm
Historical Drama
Tag lined ‘the greatest manhunt in history’, whilst some have argued about how accurate the portrayal is, no-one has denied how suspenseful the telling is of the decade long search for Osama Bin Laden. Portrayed as a thriller with an ending we all know.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Quartet, 2012
Dustin Hoffman, UK 98 mins
17 September 2013, 7.45pm
Comedy / Drama
Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut features a host of British actors of a certain age in a home for retired musicians, preparing for a gala concert to save their home. Starring Dame Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtney and Pauline Collins.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Searching for Sugarman, 2012
Bendjelloul, Uk/SW 86 mins
1 October 2013, 7.45pm
Documentary / Biography
A true story about Rodriguez, who recorded one album and was rumoured to have committed suicide on stage. The album disappeared into obscurity except in apartheid South Africa where it had record sales and Rodriguez became a mythical figure of hope. This Oscar-winning documentary chases the myth.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
The Hunt, 2012
Vinterberg, Den 115 mins
15 October 2013, 7.45pm
Drama, subtitled
Mads Mikkelson received the Best Actor award at Cannes for playing Lucas, a former teacher, down on his luck and fighting a custody battle. As his life improves, a small lie throws his life into chaos as the same community in which he resides, turns against him.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
The Sessions, 2012
Letwin, US 95 mins
29 October 2013, 7.45pm
Comedy / Drama
Helen Hunt plays a sex therapist who is asked to assist a thirty-eight year old who uses an iron lung, to lose his virginity. Poignant and funny.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Tabu, 2012
Gomes, Por/Ger/Bra/Fr 118 mins
12 November 2013, 7.45pm
Drama / Romance, subtitled
Critically acclaimed, but died at the box office, this is a sumptuous tale of love in Africa, neatly divided into two parts. In the first we see the elderly Aurora in present day Lisbon, who falls ill and asks for someone from her past. The second part is a recreation of a forbidden love affair, some fifty years before in colonial Africa, set to Phil Spector songs.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Sightseers, 2012
Wheatley, UK 89 mins
26 November 2013, 7.45pm
Comedy
A blackly comic road trip movie in a distinctly British style. Chris takes girlfriend Tina to such iconic sites as the Kendal Pencil Museum and Chrich Tramway Museum in his Oxford caravan. However, other campers and travellers start to get on Chris and Tina’s nerves, with grisly outcomes.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Amour, 2012
Heneke, FR/Ger/Aus 127 mins
10 December 2013, 7.45pm
Drama / Romance, subtitled
The best foreign language film at last year’s Oscar’s and Cannes Palme d’Or winner. The latest offering form most critics’ favourite director, shows an elderly couple who are retired music teachers. One day, the wife suffers a stroke and after her treatment her husband promises not to send her to a hospital or nursing home.
Tickets: free to members, £4 to non members
Untouchable, 2011
Nakache & Toledano, Fr 112 mins
7 January 2014, 7.45pm
Biography / Comedy / Drama, subtitled
A massive hit in France, this feel good film brings together two people from different ends of the social spectrum. Paul is a rich aristocrat and playboy who, following a paragliding accident is left a quadriplegic and employs a young Senegalese émigré as his carer.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
A Royal Affair, 2012
Arcel, Den, Swe, Czech 137 mins
21 January 2014, 7.45pm
Drama / History
Winner of two Silver Bears in Berlin, this is the true story of Christian VII and Queen Caroline Mathilda. The Queen’s love affair with the King’s physician, who is a man of the Enlightenment, leads to revolution. A gorgeous costume drama.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
The Gatekeepers, 2012
Moreh, Ls/Fr/Ger/Bel 101 mins
4 February 2014, 7.45pm
Documentary, subtitled
The head of the Shin Bet, the Israeli Secret Service, has a unique insight into political decisions about the ongoing war against terrorism and the suppression of Palestine. For the first time ever, six former heads of the Shin Bet reflect with brutal honesty, their perspective on an intractable war and past mistakes currently being repeated.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Local Hero, 1983
Forsyth, UK 111 mins
18 February 2014, 7.45pm
The Brien Newman Memorial Oldie
Comedy/Drama
Thirty one year’s young, this film has echoes of Donald Trump’s golf course in the North East of Scotland. An American oil billionaire sends his man to Scotland to buy an entire village to build an oil refinery. The locals can’t believe their luck, but the best laid plans…
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
The Master, 2012
Anderson, US 144 mins
4 March 2014, 7.45pm
Drama
Highly lauded film based loosely on the life of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Standout performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, the latter as a WWII veteran, struggling to come to terms with society post war and the former as a leader of a religious movement known as ‘The Cause’.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
About Elly, 2009
Farhadi, Lr/Fr 119 mins
18 March 2014, 7.45pm
Drama, subtitled
A group of Iranian middle class friends travel to the shores of the Caspian sea for a three day holiday. Elly is the teacher of one of the lady’s children and is invited to join the group with the intention of pairing her with a recently divorced friend. Left to supervise the children swimming, Elly goes missing.
Tickets: free to members, £4 to non members
Members Choice
To be confirmed
1 April 2014, 7.45pm
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
No, 2012
Lorrain, Chil/Fr/US 118 mins
15 April 2014, 7.45pm
Drama / Historical, subtitled
In 1988, under international pressure, the Chilean military dictatorship, Augusto Pinochet, called for a referendum to decide his permanence in power. Leaders of the opposition persuaded a young advertising executive to lead the campaign to vote against Pinochet. This is the third part of a trilogy, which began with ‘Tony Monero’ (2008) and ‘Post Mortem’ (2010).
Tickets: free to members, £4 to non members
Barbara, 2012
Petzold, Ger 105 mins
29 April 2014, 7.45pm
Drama, subtitled
Multi German award winner, Barbara is a doctor in East Germany in the 1980’s. She is banished for seeking an exit visa, to a country medical clinic and stays aloof from her colleagues, fearing that some may be Stasi agents. Not giving up on her hope to emigrate to the West, eventually leaves Barbara with a moral dilemma.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Berberian Sound Studio, 2012
Strickland, UK 92 mins
13 May 2014, 7.45pm
Drama / Horror / Thriller, subtitled
In the 1970’s, a British sound engineer travels to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his mind, driving him to confront his past.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
I Wish, 2011
Koreeda, Jap 128 mins
27 May 2012, 7.45pm
Drama
10-year old Koichi lives in the South of the region with his mother and grandparents, whilst his brother lives with his estranged father in the North. Koichi’s only wish is for the family to be reunited and the advent of the bullet train sustains his hopes.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
In the House, 2012
Ozon, Fr 105 mins
10 June 2014, 7.45pm
Mystery / Thriller, subtitled
A 16-year old boy becomes friendly with a classmate and family in order to write increasingly intimate observations about their life together for his teacher. The teacher is complicit in the boy’s work, enjoying its unusual observations, but the intrusion sparks unexpected consequences.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
Neighbouring Sounds, 2012
Filho, Braz 131 mins
17 June 2014. 7.45pm
Drama / Thriller
A new voice in South American cinema. A spate of petty crime in a coastal resort town, forces an aging patriarch and his sons to hire a private security firm to keep the middle class residents safe. This unleashes petty rivalries and fears from the recent past.
Tickets: free to members, £4 non members
www.theatkinson.co.uk
