Winner of the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary at Cannes, direc- tor Payal Kapadia creates an intimate look at social life at a Mumbai university through the way it intersects with India’s caste system. The film is skill- fully and artistically constructed through a series of letters of love and longing by a student to her estranged boyfriend – a separation forged by his family who deny them permission to see each other because she is below his caste. As such, it addresses important issues such as Hindu nationalism, the caste system and capitalism through the eyes of Indian college-educated youth.”

Named one of “The Best Genre Movies of 2022” by the New York Times.

One critic calls it “a testament to the inseparability of the country.

India 2022 (99 minutes)

Here is an appealing movie about older people, life-long friends who gather for a reunion where you just know hurtful secrets will slowly creep out. The Palm Beach of the title is a glitzy northern Sydney enclave where the sun unfailingly shines. Director Rachel Ward—a former sultry Hollywood star– populates it with a virtual murderer’s row of durably sparkling acting talent including her husband Bryan Brown, Richard E. Grant, Sam Neill and Greta Scacchi. Expect trials and tribulations at the host’s spectacularly airy beach house and for them to be predictably resolved. Ward and Brown — who met on The Thorn Birds set and have been married for 40 years — discuss their film beforehand on Zoom.

Australia 2019 (100 minutes)

Sponsor: Australian Consulate General San Francisco

An icon of European art films in the swinging ‘60s, Charlotte Rampling has lost none of her hypnotic power onscreen which she displays in this insightful family saga from first-time New Zealand director Matthew J. Saville. Rampling tears into her role of a veteran war photographer famous for her courage and hard drinking. Now wheel-chair bound and afraid to be alone, she moves to New Zealand to be with her son and winds up the ward of her troubled grandson, a task assigned to him as punishment for being expelled from school. You’ll be touched watching these two slowly resolve their intense dislike.

New Zealand 2021 (94 minutes)

British director Georgia Oakley has set her critically praised and quietly searing first feature in the homophobic era of Margaret Thatcher where a Tory peer is heard to proclaim the utter superiority of heterosexual families. Rosy McEwen (of the TV series The Alienist) hits just the right notes suppressing her insecurity and fear as a closeted lesbian teaching at a state school. When a gawky teen arrives in her class the teacher senses her sexuality and must decide whether to defend her and invite schoolroom suspicion.

UK 2023 (97 minutes)

Sponsor: Rachel Herbert and Dana Oppenheim

The Mostly British Film Festival is thrilled to add a festival preview. The stunning drama Mothering Sunday will screen in advance of the festival. A series pass includes this film, and individual tickets will be sold at the same price as the rest of the festival films. 

Adapted from Graham Swift’s 2016 novel, the movie dramatizes the secret affair between a young housemaid Jane who knows her place and the well-heeled son of the family’s neighbor, who doesn’t. It is 1924, Berkshire and this is their final fling; he is to marry within his class, as is right and proper. Both families are grieving, having lost sons in the War, but gather on the British holiday Mothering Sunday to celebrate the engagement. Narrated by the elderly Jane (Glenda Jackson, no less!) replaying memories in hindsight, her powerful emotions suffuse the lavishly filmed period detail. Star-studded with Josh O’Connor and Odessa Young as the lovers and Colin Firth and Olivia Colman as the neighbors. There has been kind of a fuss in the media about the nudity in the film so be warned and come and judge for yourself.

UK 2021 (110 minutes) 

A wayward young man and his estranged father rebuild their bond as they journey to Ireland to scatter the ashes of their mother and wife. Frank (Oscar and Golden Globe nominee John Hawkes) isn’t the father he should have been. Sean (Logan Lerman) isn’t the son he should have been. With plenty of unresolved issues, the journey becomes a lot more than father and son had bargained for. A beautifully observed story from director Elfar Adalsteins; emotionally raw and rich with deeply affecting moments. End of Sentence is much more than a traditional road film. Ireland/Iceland/USA. 2019 (96 minutes)

Presented in partnership with Consulate General of Ireland, San Francisco and SF Irish Film

One of the hottest psycho-sexual thrillers you are likely to see, True Things succeeds in large part because of superlative casting. Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke make you believe that their characters fall under an instant erotic spell because the actors reenact familiar roles –Wilson in The Affair and Burke in the The Souvenir. In their latest outing here they meet across a government desk, where she doles out benefits to ex-cons like him. She risks her job and the life she’s made to plunge headlong into a carnal relationship with an obviously inappropriate lover. The film explores whether sexual gratification is worth it. UK 2021 (102 minutes)

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)