THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
Director: Joachim Trier
127 mins | Norway | 2021 |
Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie
A wistful and subversive romantic drama
about the quest for love and meaning. Set in
contemporary Oslo, it features Renate Reinsve
as a young woman who, on the verge of turning
thirty, navigates multiple love affairs, existential
uncertainty and career dissatisfaction as she
slowly starts deciding what she wants to do, who
she wants to be, and ultimately who she wants to
become.
HIT THE ROAD
Director: Panah Panahi
98 mins | Iran | 2021 |
Cast: Pantea Panahiha, Hassan Madjooni
Driving across endless miles of rugged landscape, a family navigates a long road trip alongside a range of conflicting emotions. Dad’s got a broken leg and a mood to match whilst Mum fusses over her two children and their pet dog. And when he’s not drawing on the car windows, their energetic youngest son couldn’t be louder as he sings along to the car radio whilst his elder brother tries to concentrate on the road ahead. As the journey twists and turns and their destination draws ever closer, the chaotic claustrophobia in the car grows as does the love and affection they have for each other. Accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack, Panah Panahi’s thrilling debut feature is a treasure; tender, quirky, and laugh-out-loud funny. Get ready to take an unmissable journey along the dusty road of life.
HAPPENING
Director: Audrey Diwan
99 minutes | France | 2021
Cast: Anamaria Vartolomei, Luàna Bajrami
Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she gets pregnant, she sees all her promising future opportunities disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching, Anne grows increasingly desperate to secure a backstreet abortion. Adapting Annie Ernaux’s 2001 memoir of the same name, based on her own experience as a 23-year-old university student, Audrey Diwans film is a harrowing drama that stares abortion, and the lengths women are forced to go to in order to access one, squarely in
the face. A deserving winner of the Gold Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, and with an unflinchingly profound performance from Anamaria Vartolomei, Happening is a brave, intense and necessary film.
NEPTUNE FROST
Director: Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman
105 mins | Rwanda/U.S | 2021
Cast: Cheryl Isheja, Bertrand Ninteretse
Neptune Frost takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.
RETURN TO DUST
Director: Li Ruijun
131 mins | China | 2022
Cast: Wu Renlin, Hai Qing, Yang Guangrui
In the rural Gansu region of China, Ma and Cao are two people seen only as inconveniences by their respective families. They are cast off and forced into an arranged marriage. Living a simple but challenging farming life, Ma and Cao gradually fall in love. Together, they decide to build their own home. However, a state-ordered demolition process threatens their very way of life.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Director: Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat
115 minutes | Spain, Argentina | 2021
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas
In this Spanish comedy, a millionaire decides on his eightieth birthday that he needs something more memorable than business success to guarantee his legacy. He decides to produce a film, and engages acclaimed but unconventional auteur Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) to direct. Lola casts global movie star Felix and distinguished thespian Iván as her leads. Before long, personalities clash!
AUDIENCE CHOICE
You suggest … A listing of recent film releases will be circulated to our audience in March. We’ll invite nominations for preferred choices, and the film with the most votes will be screened on 5th April.
*Please note: tickets for Aftersun on the 3rd of May, can be purchased in advance on https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/2023-mu-arts-and-minds-festival-tickets-569312869117 and not on the night in the auditorium.
AFTERSUN
Director: Charlotte Wells
102 minutes | UK/USA | 2022
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio
11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her father Calum (Paul Mescal) travel to a holiday resort in Turkey. As they lounge by the pool and explore the tourist sights, they record their trip on a camcorder. Twenty years later, an adult Sophie looks back on the holiday and her relationship with her father - both the fond memories and the things that have been lost forever.
