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) 

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)

A Dublin-set drama from director Phyllida Lloyd (Mama Mia!, The Iron Lady), Herself is the empowering story of a battered wife (actor/screenwriter Claire Dunne) who finds the grit to leave her husband, navigate the realities of homelessness and reclaim a stable life for herself and her children. An inspiring portrait of a determined survivor who, against the odds, literally builds her own house, finding a true home among the decent folks who come to her aid along the way. Ireland/UK 2020 (97 minutes)

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

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

A black comedy set in a working-class Dublin hair salon where the stylists become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community, Deadly Cuts is ridiculously, deliciously over-the-top. It zips right along with zingy one-liners and features some outrageously camp performances that add to the infectious fun. Rachel Carey directs this brash, bold and boisterous comedy– the kind that’s hard to come by (and just what you may be looking for!). Ireland 2021 (90 minutes)

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