The name of this touching documentary derives from the anguished cry of refugees in a war-torn world. It makes an apt title for this immigrant success story of Sir Frank Lowy, a Czech Jew who became co-founder of the Westfield Corporation and one of Australia’s wealthiest men. At 80 he must decide whether to sell the global shopping company built with his three sons. The decision is especially emotional because his father’s death in a concentration camp forced Lowy to live as a refugee. Settling in Australia and becoming hugely successful was for him more about feeling safe than simply making money. US/Australia 2019 (96 minutes)

Sponsor: Gerry and Fran Schall

Sponsor: Australian Consulate General San Francisco

It’s hard to believe that Fisherman’s Friends is based on a true story, but yes, a group of rough and ready, cheery fishermen in Cornwall are spotted by a London music manager on a stag weekend and signed up to record their sea shanties. Originally the music exec’s snobbish friends are joking, goading him on to see the potential of folk music but the fishermen, the village and a fisherman’s daughter win him over for real. Beautifully shot in Port Isaac, a picturesque fishing village in Dorset, and around iconic scenes in London. In 2010 the ten singers did hit the charts in the UK!
UK 2019 (112 minutes)

The title alone distinguishes The Last Bus from a bevy of road movies involving cars, motorcycles or bikes. For some unclear reason Tom — an elderly gentleman on a mission to return his recently deceased wife’s ashes to Land’s End, Cornwall, chooses public transport to travel the 800 miles to the other end of Great Britain. With the always pleasing Timothy Spall as Tom, the reason scarcely matters. The protean actor excavates the joy in Tom’s journey via a daisy chain of local buses, including one with day-tripping sheep onboard. Travel jogs Tom’s memory, prompting flashbacks of his married life. UK 2021 (86 minutes)

“The best Aussie sheep movie since Babe,” enthuses one film critic from Down Under. But Rams offers far more through the touching recreation of a contentious relationship between brothers. Many families may find familiar elements in the rivalry between the two. A grizzled-looking Sam Neill and Michael Caton play the alienated siblings who haven’t spoken in 40 years although their sheep farms are a mere 328 feet apart. A threat to their beloved flocks forces them to work together with tumultuous if life-affirming results. As a nod to the award-winning film from Iceland of which Rams is a remake, the co-stars are seen wearing Icelandic sweaters. Australia 2020 (118 minutes)

Sponsor: Australian Consulate General San Francisco

All of us Londoners remember Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. It was the place to be and be seen. Oliver Murray’s documentary pays homage to the famous hot spot and its founder, Ronnie Scott, which opened in 1959 and is still swinging. The film includes vintage clips of Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and more – everyone was there. Opening with Oscar Peterson on the piano, Ronnie’s features vintage clips of the greats: Sarah Vaughan, Cleo Laine, Nina Simone, Eric Burdon and even Van Morrison singing Send in the Clowns. Come on down to sleazy Soho! UK 2020 (103 minutes)

Winning period drama based on the true story of Marx’s youngest daughter, Eleanor, played to perfection by Romola Garai, an intelligent, thoughtful woman imprisoned by the conventions of Victorian England. We feel those constraints motivating her drive for social reform and women’s rights. We also understand the illusions she had about her father, Karl Marx, the revolutionary she idolized. Sadly, following her heart she falls for a playwright and charismatic Marxist. We root for Eleanor, as do her wonderful array of bohemian friends, including Havelock Ellis and Olive Schreiner, but while fighting to save the world, she could not save herself. UK/Italy 2020 (107 minutes)

Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) shines a spotlight on Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood in this revealing documentary portrait. Still a gloriously photogenic interview subject at 72, with his cadaverously craggy features and perennially jet-black plume of crow-feather hair, the charming Wood muses on his career with the Stones, his passion as a painter and his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. A genuine, 24-carat rock star guitarist, Wood has played hard, lived fast and somehow survived to tell the tale. With terrific archive footage and appearances by Mick Jagger, Keith Richard, Rod Stewart, Damien Hirst and more. 2019 UK (82 minutes)

Mike Figgis will introduce the film on Zoom

Partly autobiographical, Last Film Show is a simple, yet rapturous, ode to the 35mm celluloid cinema era. Director and writer Pan Nalin traces the journey of a young boy in a remote Indian village and his relationship with cinema in a rapidly-changing world. This reverent and magical film is an East Indian Cinema Paradiso. Winner, World Cinema Award 2021 Mill Valley Film Festival India/France/USA 2021 (110 minutes)