Super Nature - a film review

Super Nature offers a patchwork of personal meditations on the natural world. Director Ed Sayer collaborated with forty people, all of whom who used antique Super 8 film cameras to record stories of the nature they see around them, with as little travel involved as possible. 

The collaborators include professional filmmakers, conservation rangers and local enthusiasts, which brings an interesting and varied level of skills, expertise and motivations into the end product. Some contributors share how being close to nature is beneficial for their health, others are involved in looking after nature including one of the rangers responsible for the 24/7 care of the last remaining Northern White Rhinos in the world. The film takes us to coral reefs, the Alps, the Pacific Garbage Patch and beaches in Cornwall. 

 

It's a beautifully made film, with a meditative flow to it as it moves from one scene to another (though there are several scenes which you want to last for longer). Shooting it all on Super 8 gives the film a nostalgic feel, that fits with the sense of loss that emerges from several of the scenes. Some contributions, particularly the director's own contributions, do veer towards preaching in parts, but overall it is a love letter to both nature and to Super 8 film. 

 

Super Nature is screening in selected cinemas., including at Edinburgh's Filmhouse (which is where I saw it today). 

The Shepherd and the Bear (film review)

 

This documentary explores the conflict provoked by the reintroduction of brown bears in the midst of a traditional shepherding community in the heights of the French Pyrenees. The film follows Yves, an ageing shepherd who struggles to find a successor, and Cyril, a teenage boy who spends his free time tracking and photographing the bears.

The shepherds are losing sheep to bears, which have been reintroduced into the area, with apparently little support given to the shepherds (they are given no compensation for lost sheep and the bear-scarers and electric fences they are given don't really seem adequate to the job). I love the idea of bears being reintroduced into areas where they used to live, but if I were a shepherd in that area I would expect at the very least compensation for lost sheep and sturdy electric fencing to corral the animals at nightime. The arguments of both the shepherds, the photographer and the conservationists are all sensitively presented and the audience is left with a sense that this is a conflict full of nuance and with no easy answers (well except maybe good compensation and sturdy electric fences). 

The documentary doesn't shy away from showing the bloody side of farming, including dying livestock. On the other hand, it is prevented from becoming too heavy with interludes including a wedding celebration and an extended chase scene involving a feisty rooster. 

The stunning cinematography and immersive storytelling show us a world of tradition, community and humanity’s increasingly fraught relationship with a vanishing natural world. 

Currently screening at The Filmhouse in Edinburgh and probably elsewhere, check your local independent cinema.  

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy looks at how corporations encouarge people to buy more, through for example creating demand for new clothes to fit in with the latest fast fashion trend; built in obsolescence that means that electronic items fail relatively quickly and can’t be repaired (and these days, there’s a new must-have phone every few months as well, so who wants to keep their old, unfashionable model anyway?) and lies about the carbon footprint of products and companies that make people feel less guilty about getting rid of stuff. 

Though it doesn't really tesll us anything new, the film is hard hitting and cleverly made, openly using some of the tricks of marketing to keep you viewing. It really is sickening to see footage of rivers and beaches covered in waste and mind-boggling to see cityscapes overflowing with computer generated images of stuff, both of which really give a visual impression of just how much waste we are producing. 

The film interviews several people who used to work in marketing and producing excess stuff for several major corporations, but who have since left their positions. It also interviews people who are sharing solutions to the situation.

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy is available to view on Netflix.  

I'll be writing a little more about this film and some of the people featured in it, in my next post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack blog.

Join the Campaign to Save the Edinburgh Filmhouse!

Cinema goers were saddened last month when it was announced that the Centre for the Moving Image was going into administration, meaning the end of Edinburgh's Filmhouse Cinema (and its online sister Filmhouse at Home), Aberdeen's Belmont Cinema and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The reasons given for the collapse of the charity include the effect of the pandemic on reducing cinema audiences (I've rarely been to the cinema since COVID struck and have watched films online including on Filmhouse at Home), the recent huge hike in energy prices in the UK and the general cost of living crisis. In truth, apparently, the signs had been there for years, but the charity hadn't made them public. I think if problems had been made public, then people would have rallied round to save the cinemas and festival before all this happened. 

At the same time, one of the major art galleries in Edinburgh has closed its doors until the Spring and there are rumours of other closures across the Scottish arts sector.

We need our cultural institutions! Depending on the film, cinema can offer escapism or directly address the issues that face the world. 

So, a campaign has been launched to Save the Filmhouse. You can read about the campaign on the Edinburgh Evening News website here, find out more on the campaign website or follow @SaveFilmhouse on Twitter. 

Edited to add: A crowdfunder has now been set up to raise funds to buy the Filmhouse building and restore it as Edinburgh's cultural cinema. 

Children of the Sea (film review)

 


I'm not normally a big fan of anime films, I find they tend to be overlong for the story they're telling and lacking substance. However, Children of the Sea (which screened last night as part of Scotland Loves Anime) appealed to me because of its story about ocean ecology.

When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her father works. As a teenager escaping from problems at school, she feels drawn back to the aquarium and Umi and Sora, brothers who were raised by dugongs.

The three teenagers feel a connection to strange phenomena that have been affecting the world's marine life, including a comet falling into the sea and ocean animals gathering in Japan. They meet marine biologists and get caught up in some sort of sea festival. There isn't any real storyline about saving the oceans, though there is a fair bit of talk about how the oceans are connected to outer space in a sort of Gaia type awareness.

So in some senses I would say that this film for me, is overlong for the story it's telling and lacking in real substance. On the other hand it is an incredibly beautiful film, the latter 20 minutes or so particularly which take us on a voyage through oceans and galaxies. Just sit back and enjoy the most beautiful animated images ever seen.

Children of the Sea screened as part of the Scotland Loves Anime festival at Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Sanctuary - film review

This documentary follows brothers Javier and Carlos Bardem, as they join scientists and Greenpeace volunteers on their voyage aboard the Arctic Sunrise to raise awareness and support for the Antarctic Sanctuary campaign which aims to create a marine sanctuary in the Antarctic's Weddell Sea. 

The film looks at the challenges facing the Antarctic, currently considered to be the most unspoilt place on earth. It looks at the impact of industrial fishing, climate change and the recent huge increase in tourism. Tourism of course has its benefits in terms of inspiring people to spread the word about the need to protect the unique landscapes and wildlife of Antarctica as well as its downside of bringing so many people to the place. It also looks at the benefits of having celebrities such as the Bardem brothers taking part in an environmental campaign as they can take the messages further out than the scientists along would be able to.

The film is beautifully shot, showing a variety of the wonderful Antarctic wildlife including penguins, sea lions and a wealth of underwater wildlife - including sponges, corals and fish - that very few people have ever seen.

The film also includes footage of the Bardem brothers in their role as ambassadors for the Antarctic as they visit politicians and speak on radio and TV shows and follows the Greenpeace campaigners as they drive the campaign forward.

The campaign to create a marine sanctuary in the Weddell Sea in fact failed but is seen as a starting point for a larger campaign to increase the number of marine sanctuaries around the world.

Sanctuary was screened as part of the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival at the Filmhouse and hopefully will get a more general release in due course.

Honeyland - film review

The documentary, Honeyland is the story of Hatidze Muratova, one of the last wild bee keepers in Europe, who lives in the mountains of Macedonia, with her ailing mother, a dog and three cats, the only inhabitants of an otherwise deserted village. Hatidze regularly climbs right up a rockface to collect bees from one of her wild hives, others of which are scattered around the landscape and she also keeps homemade hives.When she harvests the honeycombs, she always leaves half in the hives, to keep the colony flourishing. She takes her honey into Skopje to seel it for 10 Euros a jar. 

Then suddenly during shooting Hussein Sam, his wife, Ljutvie, seven fractious kids and their cattle move into the valley, which adds an extra layer of story for the film-makers and creates a different film than was initially intended. Hatidze is very uncertain about these invaders but she makes friends with the children and offers advice on beekeeping to Hussein. However, this fragile harmony is broken when Hussein decides he wants to start beekeeing seriously himself. 

This is a beautiful film about living in harmony with nature and how easily that harmony can be broken. It's also a story of community and the respect that needs to be shown to others around you.

Honeyland is screening at Edinburgh Filmhouse until Thursday 19 September.

Canada Now Season at Edinburgh Filmhouse

I have only one complaint about the Filmhouse at the moment and that is that they are showing more excellent films than I really have time to see! One of their current seasons is Canada Now, which is screening a variety of films from Canada. I've seen two of them, which I review below.

Edge of the Knife is a Haida language film about pride, tragedy, and penance in a traditional community in Canada in the 19th century.

The story follows two communities (each speaking a different dialect of Haida) coming together to prepare for winter. The film shows in detail some aspects of their everyday tasks and rituals and how in tune they are with their natural environment. One day, tragedy strikes and a young man dies in a canoeing accident. Adiits’ii feels responsible for this and runs into the woodland where he is mentally and physically pushed to the brink and becomes Gaagiixiid/Gaagiid - the Haida Wildman.

The parts of the film that show  Adiits’ii in the woods are intense and disconcerting, but engrossing. Will his community be able to find him and help him to come to terms with his guilt and live among them again?

This is based on a traditional Haida story, an ideal vehicle for making a film in the Haida language.

The film has had a huge role in increasing the pride of the local communities in learning and speaking Haida which had only 20 native speakers before filming began. You can read about some of this process in this article on the BBC website.

It had one screening at Edinburgh Filmhouse recently but hopefully it will get more screenings in the future.

Wikipedia has an interesting page about the development of this film. 

For those who Don't Read Me is an entertaining, moving story inspired by the life and work of the Québécois poet Yves Boisvert. As the film opens he is shown struggling to keep a roof over his head and essentially drifting from poetry club to bar to friend's house. He starts a relationship with Dyanne but struggles to get on with her son Marc.

The film is beautifully made and very amusing while making some intelligent comments on trying to make it as a poet or other creative and about running a small press.

You can read more about the Canada Now season here.

Tell it to the Bees - film review

Set in a small Scottish town in the nineteen fifties, Tell It To The Bees is the story of Charlie (Gregor Selkirk) whose father, returned from the war a changed man, walks out on his marriage. Charlie's mother Lydia (Holliday Grainger) works all the hours she can in a mill to try to keep a roof over their heads.

Jean (Anna Paquin) has returned to the village to take over her dead father's medical practice. She treats Charlie after he is hurt by bullies at his school and introduces him to her bees. She encourages him to tell his secrets to the bees and he starts keeping a nature diary based on his observations of the hives. 

Charlie's friendship with the doctor leads to his mother becoming friends with Jean too. When Lydia is threatened with eviction, Jean offers her a job as her live in housekeeper. The two women find themselves drawn into an intense friendship which develops into a sexual relationship. But gossip travels quickly in a small town and lesbian relationships weren't considered normal in the 1950s so the new household that the three are creating together is threatened right from the beginning. 

The bees are present throughout, as confidants to Charlie and playing an important role in the plot at one point too. 

It's in many ways an excellent film, the main characters and their relationships are believable (though Paquin's Scottish accent slightly less so) and the story sheds a light on the repressive attitudes of a 1950s small town community.

This is based on the novel by Fiona Shaw, though the ending has been changed (If you've seen the film, you may like this excellent article by Shaw about what she thinks of the ending).

Tell it to the Bees is screening at the Filmhouse until Thursday 25 July. 

Cross posted to my Shapeshifting Green blog here.

Carmilla - screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival

Inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic Gothic vampire novella, Carmilla is a beautifully made film from director Emily Harris. Sheltered 15-year-old Lara (Hannah Rae) lives with her father and strict governess Miss Fontaine (Jessica Raine). She loves wandering in the lush grounds of the family estate and is fascinated by insects and decay. Lara is left handed and Miss Fontaine thinks this is a sign of the devil and binds Lara's left hand behind her back.

One day a carriage crash brings enigmatic young Carmilla (Devrim Lingnau) to recuperate at their house, she provides a welcome new companion for Lara.The pair begin a passionate friendship, but Lara becomes haunted by disturbing dreams that often feature Carmilla. Miss Fontaine remains distrustful of Carmilla and tries to warn Lara not to be overwhelmed by her feelings for her new friend.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric film shifting from the beautiful English countryside to the candle lit shadowy interiors of the large house. The mood shifts too from gentle romance to violent dreams.

Carmilla is nominated for the 2019 Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film.

Carmilla was given its world premiere as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 on Friday 28 June and is screening again at 2030 Saturday 29 June at Vue Omni Centre (sold out)  It will also screen at 2000 Sunday 30 June at Filmhouse as part of the Best of the Fest. .You can buy tickets here.

**

You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?


Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.


Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.
 
Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland

 Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writibg anything


The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role

Photograph (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a street photographer in Mumbai invents a fiancee for himself....

Endzeit - an ecofeminist road movie with zombies. 

Vai and Venezia - 2 films from sinking worlds. 

Hamada - (on my Shapeshiting Green blog) life for young refugees of the Sahwari people in the Sahara. 

Volcano - a photpgrapher gets lost in Ukraine

Black Forest - a dysfunctional family holiday in the German forest  

Two SF Films at the festival (on my Shapeshifting Green blog). 



Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

The Black Forest - premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019

Writer-director Ruth Platt’s The Black Forest follows two dysfunctional British families spending a summer break together in the Black Forest near the beautiful historic city of Freiburg in Germany. 

Right from the start it's obvious that this isn't going to be as relaxing a trip as everyone might hope. There are immediate tensions with one family arriving late and their mother paying obsessive attention to her mobile phone, barely lifting her face to say hello to the other family. The six children together run wild in the holiday cottage. The families can't agree on how to spend the holiday, one family wanting to organise everything to a strict timetable, the other just wanting to take things easy. 

They take a walk up to the beautiful waterfalls near their cottage, trek through the Black Forest and visit the funfairs that offer amazing views of the Black Forest from their cable cars and fairground rides. While the children enjoy the moment, whether that's the excitement of the fairground or immersing themselves in nature, the parents argue and bicker. Secrets and tensions come out in the open. 

We're often told getting out into nature is good for our mental health, but i'M not sure that works for the adults in these families!

This will be a holiday to remember, and life probably won't be the same for any of the party when they retum home - but will the changes be for the better or worse? (Meanwhile, in a different wooded part of Germany, another very different story is unfolding in Endzeit (which I review here).

 The Black Forest was nominated for the 2019 Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film.
 
The Black Forest received its world premiere as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 1825, Thursday 27 June at the Odeon, Lothian Road and screens again at 1530 Saturday 29 June at Vue Omni Centre. You can book tickets here. 


You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.

Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland

 Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writing anything

The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien. 



Hurt by Paradise - a poet struggles to find a publisher, an actresss struggles to get a part. 


Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Volcano - film review

Directed by Roman Bondarchuk, Volcano follows interpreter Lukas (Serhiy Stepansky), who is accidentally abandoned by a UN-like governmental team while on a mission to the Ukrainian border region near Crimea. With nowhere to turn, this city boy finds shelter at the home of a local man, Vova who lives with his daughter and mother. 

Although this is a film about life in a conflict zone, it's also about survival in environmentally difficult circumstances. Vova and his family have an erratic water supply even though they live near a large reservoir. This reservoir was created by flooding a nearby village. The women who used to live in this village have formed a choir that wanders round the countryside singing on random occasions. 

Lukas asks Vova's mother why she stays despite the conflicts and the difficulties with the water supply and her answer is that the land, the water and the steppe hold her there. 

Lukas is an infuriatingly pasive character, who seems unable to make a decision for himself or to get himself out of the situation he finds himself in. There also seems to be no character development for him through the course of the film. 

It's a distinctly odd film and at least for this reviewer not the comedy it is billed as being.

Volcano is screening as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 at 1540 Saturday 29 June at Odeon Lothian Road and at 1330 Sunday 30 June at Vue Omni Centre. You can buy tickets here.  


You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.

Chef Diaries: Scotland - Spanish chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland.

Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writing anything

The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role

Photograph (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a street photographer in Mumbai invents a fiancee for himself....

Endzeit - an ecofeminist road movie with zombies. 

Vai and Venezia - 2 films from sinking worlds. 


Hamada - (on my Shapeshiting Green blog) life for young refugees of the Sahwari people in the Sahara.



Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Two films from sinking worlds - screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival

 

'The sea is what binds us, we cry and sweat salt tears'

A beautiful film about female empowerment and eco-consciousness, Vai is made up of segments directed by nine female Pacific filmmakers and shot in seven different Pacific countries: Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Samoa, Niue and Āotearoa (New Zealand). It follows the life of Vai, played by a series of different indigenous actors in each of the Pacific countries, from a small child in Fiji through to an elderly woman in Āotearoa. In each nation, ‘vai’ means water in the local language.

Each segment of her story is fashioned by the culture of the island nation it is made in, but at the same time they all add together as steps on a universal female lifestory from young girl to grandmother. Water is always a strong presence - the search for drinking water, the power of the rain, the importance of fishing and the use of water from a sacred waterfall in a Maori naming ceremony.

Vai as she becomes older develops a real awareness of the importance of the oceans from finding trash in the ocean when she is fishing to studying eco-anthropology in New Zealand to protesting against unsustainable fishing practices. Surprisingly though there's no mention of climate change or rising sea levels which are great concerns in these island nations.

Vai always maintains her connections to her home island nation - she studies in New Zealand because she wants to go home to protect the ocean and then does exactly that. At the same time she respects the local traditions (though sometimes feels uncomfortable within them).

The film includes beautiful sequences around traditional ritual and celebrations. It's a celebration of female lives and Pacific cultures. But it would be improved still further by at least a mention of those rising seas.

NB: In this review I have used New Zealand to refer to the segment of the film where Vai is a Samoan student in New Zealand and Āotearoa to refer to the last segment of the film where Vai is a Maori grandmother, reflecting the way the country was named in the film.



Vai is nominated for the 2019 Award for Best International Feature Film and would be my choice to win this award.

Vai is screening as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 1800, Friday 28 June at Odeon Lothian Road and at 1320 Saturday 29 June at Vue Omni. You can buy tickets here. 

Another film in which rising seas are a constant unspoken presence is Venezia.

 
Sophia (Paula Lussi) is an Argentian wandering alone in Venice. She is drowning in grief, an emotional state that finds unspoken metaphor in the fact that Venice is sinking and in the tides of tourists flooding the city. It's visually beautiful, shot in muted colours to reflect the protagonist's state of mind. Most of the Italian dialogue in not given subtitles, to reflect that Sophia herself can't understand it (though as a Spanish speaker, surely she would be able to understand some Italian and respond in Spanish, which then the Italians would be able to understand if not speak? I don't speak Spanish but I understand a fair bit because I speak Italian).


Venezia has already had its two screenings at the film festival.

You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.

Chef Diaries: Scotland - Spanish chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland.

Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writing anything

The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role

Photograph (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a street photographer in Mumbai invents a fiancee for himself....


Endzeit - an ecofeminist road movie with zombies.

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Endzeit (Ever After) - screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival

 

I don't generally watch zombie movies but the promise of an eco-feminst zombie movie definitely appealed.

Endzeit (which translates directly as End time rather than Ever After), directed by Carolina Hellsgärd, is based on screenwriter Olivia Vieweg's graphic novel of the same name. The action is set in a post apocalyptic Germany where only two cities survive, Weimar (where those infected by zombies are killed on sight) and Jena (where they are searching for a cure). Vivi (Gro Swantje Kohlhof)  has been kept in a psychiatric hospital in Weimar after being traumatised at being unable to save her sister from a zombie attack but leaves to join the border patrol. Here she meets fearless zombie killer Eva (Maja Lehrer) who also has secret traumas.

The two mismatched young women separately flee town to reach  Jena and have to negotiate their way through unchartered lands. Wildlife is thriving in unexpected places and the landscape is lush and rich, having had a couple of years to recover from some of the mistreatment humans have meted out over the centuries.

"Earth is a wise old woman" says Eva "humans haven't paid her much rent recently and this is our eviction notice".

As they try to reach Jena they come across abandoned castles, mysterious beings and not enough drinking water. Will they be able to reach safety, will humanity be able to find a way to survive in balance with nature?

The feminism that is evident in the storyline is followed through in production as most of (all of?) the crew are women.

I did feel there could have been more character development of Eva and Vivi, surely Eva should have overcome some of her timidity during her travels? But overall I thought this was an excellent, thought provoking, beautifully made film.It will be interested to hear what Crafty Green Boyfriend thinks of it once he's seen it as he's a real zombie fan....

Endzeit is screeing as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 1820 Friday at Odeon Lothian Road and 1535 Saturday 29 at Vue Omni Centre. You can buy tickets here.

You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.


Chef Diaries: Scotland - Spanish chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland.

Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writing anything

The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role

Photograph (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a street photographer in Mumbai invents a fiancee for himself....

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Hurt by Paradise - film review

 

Hurt By Paradise is the debut feature by poet/actor/director Greta Bellamacina. It is the story of single parent Celeste (played by Bellamacina) and her unsuccessful attempts to get her first poetry book published.  It also follows her search for her estranged father, and her friendship with her babysitter Stella (played by co-writer Sadie Brown) - a middle-aged actor continously chasing auditions and getting caought up in an online relationship with a guy who won't even send her a photo of himself.

The friendship between the two women is foregrounded beautifully, how they support each other despite their disagreement.

The film's real strength is in showing that world inhabited by struggling artists, where the world of success seems unattainable. How do you get to be one of the people welcomed into an audition with air kisses when you're turned away from the audition because they've already found the person they want (the one they air-kissed obviously)? How do you get your poetry published when the editor flicks through your work and says nothing other than he admires your determination then interrupts your interview to take a phone call from someone he then proceeds to shower with praise about their poetry?

Greta Bellamacina's poetry is woven in to the film as voice over to beautiful panning shots of London's cityscapes and greenspaces. There's a lovely rhythm to her poetry and some memorable phrases (eg 'God is bored of us now') but it was perhaps a little self indulgent to include quite so much poetry.

The film also has a wonderful musical soundtrack and some great vintage / vintage-inspired clothing. It's shot in an atmospheric black and white, with moments of colour. Though it's billed as a comedy drama I didn't find it particularly funny except for the occasional humorous comment.

Hurt By Paradise was made with a majority-female crew.

This film would make an interesting double bill with Aren't You Happy? a German film about a writer who can't write, shot in a beautiful colour palette. You can read my review of that here. 

Hurt by Paradise got its world premiere as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at  1800 at Filmhouse amd will screen again at 2025 Saturday 24 June at Vue Omni Centre. You can buy tickets here.

You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.

Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland

 Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writing anything


The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

The Deer - screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival

 

José Ramón (Patxi Bisquert) and Martin (Ramon Agirre) are brothers living on the outskirts of San Sebastián in the Basque region of Spain. They live in separate apartments in the same building but don't speak to each other. Martin is a disgraced academic. José is a poacher, taking wildlife from the neighbouring national park helped by his young assistant, biker Khalil (Laulad Ahmed). Some of what they poach is for subsistence but they also sell items to foreigners. They are being tailed by employees of the national park but so far have evaded capture. 

The beauty of the marshes and their wildlife makes a severe contrast with the run down town.

It's a slow film with little dialogue, which is a shame as there can't be many films made in the Basque language, which is a language isolate, unrelated to other languages and spoken only in this part of the world. Most of us don't get much opportunity to hear it and personally I would have liked to have heard a lot more of it in this film.


The Deer is screening as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 2050, Monday 24 June at Odeon Lothian Road at at 1805, Wednesday 26 June at Vue Omni Centre. You can buy tickets here. 


You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?


Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.


Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.


Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland

 Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writibg anything

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

The Amber Light - a film about whisky

 

The Amber Light is a cinematic journey through Scottish whisky culture, visiting distilleries and pubs across the country. Spirits writer Dave Broom investigates the history and mythology of his national drink and its links to music and literature.

The history of whisky reveals it to have been first distilled as a medicinal product by doctors on the island of Islay, still a very important centre for whisky production. Over time the medicinal aspect of the drink has lessened (though I know lots of people who alleviate the suffering of a cold with a hot toddy of whisky, lemon, honey and hot water and I've found whisky to be the best possible cure for toothache).

During the film Broom interviews Scottish writers Ian Rankin and Alasdair Gray about their feelings on the place of whisky in the Scottish literary scene. Enough to make me feel I can never become a proper writer if I don't develop a proper appreciation for the drink.

Whiskies have their own individual flavour, influenced by elements including the water and soil of the area where they are distilled, ranging from the Highlands and Islands to the mellow lowland whisky of Daftmill Distillery in Fife.

My favourite scene in the film was where Broom joined foragers using a small still to distill whisky from foraged wild plants including angelica and hogweed, thus recreating an ancient type of whisky.


The Amber Light is nominated for the 2019 Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The Amber Light received it's world premier as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 at 1810, Saturday 22 June and will screen again at 2020 Sunday 23 June, both at Odeon Lothian Road. It will also screen at 1815 on Sunday 23 June (again at Odeon) as part of the Best of the Fest strand.

This would make an ideal triple bill with:

Chef Diaries (which has screened twice at the film festival, you can read my review here) and Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil which is screening at 1310 Sunday 23 June, at Odeon Lothian Road. You can book tickets here and read my review here.


You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

  Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil. 

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Up the Mountain - film review

 

A group of women, mostly elderly, gather in the studio painting with artist Shen Jianhua in Dali, Yunnan Province.The studio is situated up a mountain with inspiring views of the nearby lake and surrounded by fields that are bright with wildflowers in the Spring and Summer. An ideal setting to spend time slowly painting, singing, eating together and gossiping, which is exactly what the women do. The vibrant paintings they create reflect the landscapes and animals around them and the events of the life of the local community. Alongside the women, a young man is also studying with Shen  and is torn between staying and becoming a painter or marrying his girlfriend from another part of China and moving to the city with her.

In contrast to the mountainside studio, Dali itself is a busy, vibrant historical town which holds loud and exuberent festivals and attracts large numbers of tourists. The local costumes and architecture are very distinctive and beautifully shown.

This meditative film follows a year in the studio, documenting the events of the community, the festivals, a funeral, a wedding, the birth of a child and a litter of kittens. The women interpret all this in their canvases. 

This is a wonderfully immersive film to relax into, enjoy its slow rhythm and be transported to the mountains of central China.

Up the Mountain is screening as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival at 2020 Monday 24 June at Filmhouse and at  1810 Wednesday 26 June at Odeon Lothian Road. You can book tickets here. 


You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.  

Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland.
 
Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.

Chef Diaries Scotland

 


The three Roca brothers started out as cooks at their parents' Catalan bar/restaurant and are now considered to be culinary celebrities with their Michelin-starred restaurant El Celler de Can Roca. In this documentary they set out to explore the culinary delights of Scotland. From Àrbroath Smokies to oysters from the Isle of Skye to haggis in Dingwall and Aberlour's barrel-aged whisky—this is a real culinary road trip through stunning Scottish scenery.

The diet of the average Scot is usually considered to be unhealthy and unimaginative (though this is changing). The film makes the point that most of the best Scottish produce, particularly seafood, is exported overseas. The Scottish farmers and restauranteurs interviewed here are passionate about good quality, locally produced ingredients though also knowledgeable about how Scottish food has always benefited from foreign influence (the East Asian spices included in haggis for example). The Highland cattle featured are free range and eat a natural diet. A lot of emphasis was put on Scotland's wild larder, though I felt more could have been said about how to make foraging and fishing genuinely sustainable. I'm also not at all convinced by arguments on sustainable wildfowling being at all possible, given how many of our wildfowl species are declining in number.

It's always interesting to see things you think you know well from a different perspective and this documentary is no exception. The brothers compare and contrast Scottish and Spanish did and farming, noting such differences as the fact that Scotland has less sunshine which means our soft fruits ripen more slowly and are sweeter as a result. They also commit to producing a menu inspired by Scottish ingredients and recipes but with a distinctly Spanish flavour. The fact that most of the dishes were meat based did mean that as a vegetarian I wasn't tempted, though I have to say they looked impressive.


Chef's Diairies Scotland is screening as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 at 2035 Friday 21 June at Odeon Lothian Road and 13.00 Saturday 22 June at Filmhouse. Tickets can be booked here.

**

If this film appeals to you, why not make a three course film event out of it along with:

The Amber Light which gets its world premier at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 at 1810, Saturday 22 June and screens again at 2020 Sunday 23 June, both at Odeon Lothian Road. (Review to follow).

and Virgin and Extra: Land of Olive Oil screening as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019 at 1540, Saturday 22 June and at 1310 Sunday 23 June, both at Odeon Lothian Road. You can book tickets here.You can read my review of Virgin and Extra here.



You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?


Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.


Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil. 

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.