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FALCONS TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER AT 7:40PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 1 Country Iceland Running Time 96 mins Format 35mm Dir Fridrik Th ¬r Fridriksson Prods Mike Downey, Fridrik Th ¬r Fridriksson, Anna MarÃa Karlsd ¬ttir, Peter Rommel, Sam Taylor, Egil Üdegaard S'play Fridrik Th ¬r Fridriksson, Einar K"rason DoP Eggert Sigurdsson Print Source Tartan Films E cbarwick@metro-tartan.co.uk From the moment Simon (Keith Carradine) steps off a plane into the bleak beauty of Iceland, the question in the audience's mind is - why is he here? At the end of Fridrik Th ¬r Fridriksson's wistful tale of freedom gone awry, we know the answer - perhaps. A phrase haunts Simon, which he confides to his ever-present dictaphone, that for a person's life to mean anything, he must be of use to someone. Simon finds Dua and at last finds someone he can help. Dua is under threat from a sinister local policeman, and her habit of raising wild animals - including the valuable falcon she's tending - is bringing the law closer. When events come to a head, the pair take off to Germany, Simon determined to sell the falcon and raise the money they need to stay safe. Simon's quest to save Dua for his own private reasons con- flicts with Dua's love and need for the falcon, a symbol of her free spirit and Simon's need for spiritual release. The story of a peculiar relationship between fascinating leads struggling over the nature of freedom in a constrained world, Falcons is particularly notable for its sense of place through the photography of the clear, beautiful Icelandic landscapes. NS Fridrik Th ¬r Fridriksson is the founder of The Icelandic Film Corporation, which fosters Icelandic directors and producers. His 1991 feature, Children of Nature, received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Fridriksson is heavily influenced by American and Japanese cinema, but his emphasis on his native culture and roots, make him a truly unique talent. FUSE [GORI VATRA] SUNDAY 26 OCTOBER AT 7:30PM UGC SHAFTESBURY AVE SCREEN 2
Fuse is about normal people living in an abnormal situation, about their hope for a better life, about their temper, and about the famously short fuse of the ex-Yugoslav people. Set in Bosnia and Herzegovina two years after the war which ravaged the region, beneath the idyllic surface of the tiny village of Tesanj is hunger, hidden minefields, ethnic intolerance, widespread organized crime, prostitution and corruption. When the community finds out that the American president is planning a visit, the race against time is on - they have to clean up the corrupted system and establish a democracy. The dialogue is memorable and the local humour is highly original and as in No Man's Land and Pretty Village, Pretty Flame the irony of the after-war situation is very well captured. It's fascinating how effortlessly the situation of this once beautiful country is portrayed trough a series of tragicomic scenes. As Zalica commented himself 'We were brave to laugh at our troubles and problems during the past difficult decade. I've realized that during the war years I was doing war documentaries and war movies, still after all this there is belief in the better life'. That is exactly the message that a viewer will get from this movie, that after all the darkness there can only be light. AK Pjer Zalica graduated from the Academy of Arts in Sarajevo. He was the screenwriter for the Ademir Kenovic movie Perfect Circle. His directing credits include: MGM (Man - god - monster) (1994), Made in Sarajevo (1998) and Mostar Sevdah Reunion (2000). |
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