FILM list.co.uk/film
DUNOON FILM FESTIVAL Local and international cinema on Scotland’s western edge
C orinne Orton, co-director of the Dunoon Film Festival, is reflecting on the level of audience commitment shown at the inaugural 2013 fest. ‘We had a screening of Wadjda, which is a Saudi Arabian film, and there was a problem with the subtitles, but people stayed on to watch the film. We were just amazed. It’s a fantastic film anyway, but it was kind of like this community thing where they’re like, “Is this what’s happening?”, “Yeah, I think so”. They obviously have a passion for foreign cinema so we thought, let’s bring some more of that back.’
The programme for the 2014 festival has a healthy dose of cinema both local and international. Japanese animation Howl’s Moving Castle, Guatemalan road-tripper The Golden Dream and Scottish-Bosnian documentary Finding Family sit beside homegrown classics such as Whisky Galore!
and I Know Where I’m Going!, with Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl opening the fest (Belle and Sebastian frontman Murdoch will himself be in attendance – for more on that, see our feature on page 14). There’s also a special screening of little-known fantasy short, Black Angel (pictured), which exists thanks to the largesse of one George Lucas. ‘It was a 1980 short film that was screened before The Empire Strikes Back on its original release,’ says Orton, ‘and it was made by Roger Christian, a director who had worked on Star Wars with George Lucas. Lucas gave him the money to make this short film, and it was partly shot in Dunoon, so it’s really fitting and we’re going to bring it back to the town for the first time.’ (Niki Boyle)
Dunoon Burgh Hall & Studio Cinema, Fri 12–Sun 14 Sep, dunoonfilmfestival.org
58 THE LIST 21 Aug–18 Sep 2014
HITLIST THE BEST FILM RELEASES & EVENTS
✽ What If Ruby Sparks star Zoe Kazan teams up with Daniel Radcliffe to continue
her revitalisation of the romcom genre. See review, page 61. Out now on general release.
✽ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller reunite for a
trip to the hardboiled, (very) graphic universe. See feature, page 17. General release from Fri 22 Aug.
✽ Obvious Child Known as the
Sundance ‘abortion comedy’, writer-director Gillian Robespierre’s dark romcom serves as a fitting antidote to the likes of Knocked Up and Baby Mama. See review, page 59. Limited release from Fri 29 Aug.
✽ Night Moves Kelly Reichardt’s eco-
terrorism thriller is strikingly well acted by Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard and Dakota Fanning. See review, page 60, and Reichardt profile, page 63.
General release from Fri 29 Aug.
✽ The Guest An astoundingly good psycho-thriller from You’re Next’s Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, with a Downton- destroying turn from Dan Stevens. See review, page 59. General release from Fri 5 Sep.
✽ Dunoon Film Festival See preview, left. Dunoon Burgh Hall & Studio Cinema,
Fri 12–Sun 14 Sep.
✽ A Most Wanted Man Anton Corbijn directs the late Philip Seymour Hoffman
in one of the actor’s final roles in this gripping espionage thriller. See review, page 61. General release from Fri 12 Sep.