MOSTLY BRITISH - San Francisco, Feb

[Chris Knipp]

MOSTLY BRITISH - SAN FRANCISCO February 6-13, 2025

FILMS FROM THE UK, IRELAND, AUSTRALIA, INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND NEW ZEALAND
The Vogue Theater 3290 Sacramento Street in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood.

Festival program and blurbs. Links to the titles are to Filmleaf refiews.

SOURCE


Steve Coogan in The Penguin Lessons

Opening Night
The Penguin Lessons (Peter Cattaneo 2024)
Includes Opening Night Party at 5:30 pm at Presido Kebob, 3277 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 7:30 PM Screening
For an idea of how this gentle true-life tale unfolds, imagine “Dead Poet’s Society” only with a penguin in a co-starring role. Steve Coogan gracefully portrays an English teacher attempting to get his young charges at a private academy in Buenos Aires to grasp the subtleties of poetry – a task made more difficult considering these scions of privilege and wealth live under the cloud of Argentina’s repressive 1976 right-wing dictatorship. When an adorable penguin attaches itself to the teacher, he sees how his unusual pet can help open his students’ eyes. There is an authentic feel to this story, which doesn’t shy away from the kidnapping of innocent people off city streets, and the fear it engenders. But as Peter Cattaneo pulled off in “The Full Monty,” the director never loses sight of his latest film’s beating heart. “The Penguin Lessons” soars alongside its title character.
UK 2025 (110 minutes)
Sponsor: British Consulate General San Francisco
Thursday February 6, 2025 - 5:30 pm

POWELL-PRESSBURGER TRIBUTE

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressberger (David Hinton 2024)
Martin Scorsese speaks with such passion in his documentary about Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s work, it is contagious. Audiences will be inspired to list films from the director-writer team like “The Red Shoes,” “I Know Where I’m Going,” and “Black Narcissus” to explore later. Scorsese is almost single handedly responsible for rescuing these wondrous movies from obscurity, becoming Powell’s close confidante late in his life and the cupid behind his marriage to Scorsese’s long-time film editor Thelma Schoonmaker. It is especially touching to see clips illustrating how Powell and Pressburger influenced his own films including “Raging Bull” and “The Age of Innocence.” You come away dazzled by the potential of cinema as it passes from one generation to the next.UK 2024 (131 minutes)
Sponsor: Anonymous
Friday February 7, 2025 - 3:00 pm

POWELL-PRESSBURGER TRIBUTE

I Know Where I’m Going! (Powell Pressberger 1945)
Powell directs this inspired romance between a spirited and ambitious 25-year old (Wendy Hiller) and a naval officer (Roger Livesey), who is not meant to be her intended. She travels from her Manchester home to the Hebrides, her sights on marrying a wealthy, much older industrialist. When bad weather postpones the final leg of her journey she meets the officer in a Scottish seaside town. While sheltered together, her plans dramatically change course. The film is replete with delightful local lore (and Gaelic language!), curses, family rivalries, Viking legends and a young Petulia Clark in a brief role. Not least of all are glorious scenes of Scotland’s celebrated islands. “One of the 10 best films of all times,” according to critic Molly Haskell. Presented in a new 4K Restoration.
UK 1945 (91 minutes)
Sponsors:
Bruce Lymburn
Anonymous
Friday February 7, 2025 - 5:30 pm

Shoshana (Michael Winterbottom 2023)
This riveting, intelligent, romantic thriller directed by Michael Winterbottom is set in late 30s Palestine under the British Mandate during the ruthless conflict between the Irgun (Zionist paramilitary group) and the British occupiers. Inspired by true events, the title character lived in Tel Aviv at that time. This powerful love story between Shoshana, a Polish Jew and fervent Zionist (a compelling Irina Starshenbaum) and a British police inspector (the impossibly handsome Douglas Booth from The Riot Club and Jupiter Ascending) heightens the realities of the dangerous political divide. Both lovers are deeply committed to their causes as well as to each other. You root for the young couple with all your heart. Can they make it work? A Zoom interview with the prolific director Michael Winterbottom (“Welcome to Sarajevo” and The Claim) will be conducted by festival artistic director Ruthe Stein.
UK 2024 (119 minutes)
Sponsor: Fran and Gerry Schall
Friday February 7, 2025 - 7:30 pm

Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot 2024)
From Academy Award-winning director Adam Elliot (“Harvie Krumpef”) comes this artfully crafted stop-motion animation that explores themes of memory, love and the passage of time. In his signature quirky style, Elliot brings to life the whimsical and poignant journey of a snail named Norman, who embarks on a slow-paced but deeply emotional adventure. With striking visual storytelling and heartfelt humor, this charming tale invites audiences to reflect on the beauty of the small moments that shape a lifetime. Voiced by a Who’s Who of Australian actors including “Succession’s” Sarah Snook, Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver and Eric Bana. Winner Best Animated Film at the Catalonian International Film Festival. Not advised for children.
Australia 2024 (90 min)
Saturday February 8, 2025 - 10:30 am

Never Look Away (Lucy Lawless 2024)
It’s impossible to take your eyes off Margaret Moth, the outrageous, enigmatic video journalist and the subject of this fascinating documentary, directed by first-time filmmaker Lucy Lawless (best known for her role as Xena in the TV series “Xena: Warrior Princess”). An unabashed hedonist, freely indulging in booze, controlled substances and casual sex, the spiky-haired Moth (think Joan Jett) attained near-legendary status with her willingness to get as close as she could to the reality of war. Even after being severely injured in Sarajevo, she returned to work there, her addiction to adrenaline undiminished. Winner Best Documentary Feature at the Calgary Underground Film Festival. Festival programmer Barbara Lane conducts Zoom interview with Lawless.
New Zealand 2023 (85 minutes)
Sponsor: Barbara Lane
Saturday February 8, 2025 - 12:15 pm

Cottontail (Patrick Dickinson 2023)
In this moving, poignant film, a widower and his estranged son travel from Japan to England to fulfill his late wife’s wish of scattering her ashes at a place she loved as a child. Lost and weary, the widower stumbles onto an English farmer’s doorstep, resulting in a heartwarming cross-cultural encounter. Set amidst the contrasting landscapes of Japan and the UK, the film weaves a compelling story about family, death and the memories that bind us. An examination of loss, which captures not just the differences in cultural approaches to death and dying, but the universal nature of grief and our helplessness in grappling with it. Winner Best Debut Feature at the Rome Film Festival
UK 2023 (94 minutes)
Sponsor: Terri Kwiatek
Saturday February 8, 2025 - 2:00 pm

POWELL-PRESSBURGER TRIBUTE
The Red Shoes (Powell Pressberger 1948)
Widely considered to be the best movie ever made about the ballet world, “The Red Shoes” has a preternatural glow and looks to have scarcely aged since its release 57 years ago. Enhanced by a digital restoration, this brightness was baked in by being shot in color, a rarity at the time. Director Michael Powell’s most striking innovation is integrating dance into his story of a young ballerina (an exquisite Moira Shearer in her film debut) torn between a struggling composer who loves her and an autocratic ballet impresario who seeks only to control her. A dark glorious homage to dance. Oscars for score and art direction.
UK 1948 (135 minutes)
Sponsor: Steven Abbott
Saturday February 8, 2025 - 4:00 pm

Event:
AN EVENING WITH HUGH BONNEVILLE
From Downton to darkest Peru, we are thrilled to welcome actor Hugh Bonneville to our home at the Vogue. In what promises to be a highlight of this year’s festival, Hugh joins artistic director Ruthe Stein to discuss his long and varied career, illustrated by clips from films including “Notting Hill,” “Iris,” “The Viceroy’s House” and “Paddington,” the latest installment of which, “Paddington in Peru,” will be sneak previewed on the festival’s closing night in Hugh’s honor. His extensive television credits include the BAFTA-winning “Twenty Twelve” and “WIA” (BBC) and six seasons (and three movies) of the global hit “Downton Abbey” (ITV/PBS). Hugh’s latest appearances include Apple TV’s, “The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin” and “The Agency” on Paramount +.
The evening will conclude with a screening of “From Time to Time,” a family drama from “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes, featuring Bonneville and co-staring the late, great Maggie Smith.
UK 2009 (97 minutes)
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is co-sponsor of “An Evening with Hugh Bonneville”. The Tony-Award-winning company brings Hugh to Northern California to play the title role in Conor McPherson’s adaptation of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya”, from February 14-March 23, 2025. Berkeley Rep has generously made space in its rehearsal schedule for this tribute event. Go to berkeleyrep.org for ticket information.
Saturday February 8, 2025 - 7:00 pm

Irish Spotlight

Notes from Sheepland (Cara Holmes 2023)
Director Cara Holmes’ singular and ethereal documentary bursts with candid observations of the lipstick wearing, always swearing, no nonsense artist and sheep farmer Orla Barry. A hard-working shepherd in rural Wexford, Barry — an internationally celebrated visual and performance artist — lives life at the intersection of art and farming. This film offers a beguiling immersion into her life and the tapestry of profound connections she experiences with the animals, the land, the elements, words and language.
“One of the most mesmerizing pieces of film I have seen in some time. In observing Barry’s creative genius, Holmes has fashioned a completely spellbinding story.” FilmIreland.net
Ireland 2023 (70 minutes)
Sunday February 9, 2025 - 11:00 am

Irish Spotlight

Housewife of the Year ( Ciaran Cassidy. 2024)
A documentary about the Irish TV competition of the same name that aired from 1969–1995. The story of Ireland’s treatment of women evolves through the lens of this competition, which pitted housewives against each other for the title. Former contestants share their experiences, including lack of contraception, financial powerlessness and being consigned to Magdalene laundries, brutal asylums run by Catholic nuns to house “fallen women” which operated through much of the 20th century. Surprisingly, there’s humor and hope in this poignant story of a generation of resilient women and a country in transition. Winner Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh
Ireland 2024 (77 minutes)
Sponsor: Jenn Fallon
Sunday February 9, 2025 - 12:30 pm

Irish Spotlight

Swing Bout (Maurice O'Carroll 2024)
Irish woman boxer “Terrible Toni Gale,” whose gangster promoters offer her ten grand to take a dive against Vicious Vicky. She wants to win, to contend for a title. So, she has a dilemma: Money for getting knocked out or a shot at the bigtime? The action takes place not in the ring as you’d expect but in the bowels of the arena in Cork, as confined as Toni’s choices. The cinematography is lavish focusing on Toni’s flaming eyes, her gloves and locker room– the essence of boxing. The suspense lasts until the end. Does she or doesn’t she?
Ireland 2024 (90 minutes)
Sponsor: Cynthia Overbaugh
Sunday February 9, 2025 - 2:30 pm

Irish Spotlight

Rose’s War (Joe Lawler, Chrinstine Molloy 2023)
Ireland produced its own Patty Hearst, a child of privilege who renounces her posh upbringing — including a debutante ball at Buckingham Palace—to align herself with Irish revolutionaries. She helped them drop homemade bombs from a stolen helicopter onto a police station. Rose Dugdale’s incendiary past skillfully reveals itself in “Rose’s War,”an insightful and chilling true-life drama released by eerie coincidence around her death in 2024. Imogen Poots — an actress who deserves to be better known — delivers a vivid multi-layered performance.Dugdale acts as tough as her IRA compatriots. But Poots also hints at the poor little rich girl inside seeking acceptance at all costs. Ireland,
UK 2024 (98 minutes)
Sponsor: Dan Sparks
Sunday February 9, 2025 - 4:30 pm


Nowhere Special (Uberto Pasolini 2024)
A small miracle, this film about a terminally-ill father’s search for foster parents to entrust with his precious four-year-old, manages to be endearing without turning mawkish. James Norton gives a lived-in performance as the dad facing this nightmarish dilemma. As he auditions one potential family after another, the audience comes to a reckoning about what matters in caring for the boy. Far from a precocious child actor, Daniel Lamont comes across as a real kid—albeit of the impossibly adorable variety. Who wouldn’t volunteer to take him home? Winner Audience Award at the Warsaw and Pula Film Festivals.
Northern Ireland 2021 (96 minutes)
Sponsor: Melina Whitehead
Sunday February 9, 2025 - 7:00 pm

Rodgers & Hammerstein. Laurel & Hardy. Proctor & Gamble. These partnerships clicked for reasons the duos themselves didn’t always understand. This endearing documentary about the inspired filmmaking team of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant attempts to explain their magical, if at times volatile, chemistry that resulted in “Room With a View,” “Howard’s End” and “The Remains of the Day.” Watching clips from their classics made during the pair’s heyday in the 1980s and ‘90s may send you home to stream them in their entirety. Interviews with Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and a very lively Helena Bonham-Carter enrich Stephen Soucy’s documentary as they reminisce about the esprit de corps Merchant and Ivory created on their movie sets. Zoom interview with Ivory and Soucy conducted by Mostly British senior programmer Maxine Einhorn.
UK 2024 (112 minutes)
Sponsor: David Landis and Sean Dowdall
Monday February 10, 2025 - 2:30 pm

MERCHANT-IVORY TRIBUTE

A Room with a View (Merchant Ivory 1985)
This wonderful Merchant Ivory production can be revisited over and again with its perfect casting, launching the careers of Helena Bonham Carter (at 18) Julian Sands, Rupert Graves and Daniel Day-Lewis, as well as cementing those of Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Adapting the 1908 E.M. Forster novel, the screenplay gently critiques the fastidious, supercilious social niceties of upper crust Edwardian England as young Lucy Honeychurch (Bonham Carter) tours Italy, chaperoned by her cousin, prissy Miss Bartlett (Smith), shielding her from any hint of indelicacy. In Florence, Lucy encounters the dashing George Emerson (Sands), melting into that famous kiss in the Italian poppy field. Beautiful cinematography, beautiful lovers, beautiful Italy combine with the music of Puccini to carry us away.
UK 1985 (117 mins)
Sponsor: Kate Stoia
Monday February 10, 2025 - 5:00 pm

The Last Rifleman (Terry Loane 2023)
Pierce Brosnan has to be the most underrated superstar actor. This movie shows his full wonderful range – he plays a man 21 years older than he is in real life. It is about a 92-year-old WW II vet who escapes from his care home in Northern Ireland to travel to France for the 75th anniversary of the storming of Normandy. It’s about looking back at a long life lived and trying to see the ghosts — your own ghosts — and finally saying goodbye to them or at least being able to live with them.
UK 2023 (99 minutes)Sponsor: Stuart Keirle
Monday February 10, 2025 - 7:30 pm

We Were Dangerous (Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu 2024)
[/SIZE][/B]A group of “delinquent” girls is sent to a remote New Zealand island in the 1950s to cultivate them through Christianity. The severe, overzealous matron who leads them uses draconian measures to tame their incorrigible spirit. Nevertheless, the girls are joyful and defiant, making the film surprisingly funny and inspiring. We root for them and their insistence on keeping their vitality alive amidst horrific circumstances. A sensitively told coming- of-age story and exploration of female friendship. Breakout star Erana James is definitely an actor to watch. Winner Special Jury Prize at SXSW Film Festival.
New Zealand 2024 (83 minutes)
Tuesday February 11, 2025 - 2:30 pm

Girls Will Be Girls (Shuchi Talati. 2024)
Set in a strict boarding school in the Himalayas, this is a rebellious coming-of-age story of an incredibly bright 16-year-old Indian girl, who falls in love or perhaps just discovers sexual attraction. Her awakening should be sweet, except that her mother hasn’t really come of age herself and constantly hovers and competes for the young man’s attention. Living vicariously through her daughter becomes weird, adding a somewhat unnerving, thriller vibe. To her credit, director Shuchi Talati exposes the claustrophobic cultural constraints in India that inhibit women and female sexuality through fine performances and nuanced character development. No minor achievement.
India 2024 (119 minutes)
Tuesday February 11, 2025 - 4:30 pm

American Star (Gonzalo López-Gallego 2024)
This is a thriller with a heart about an aging paid assassin (the great Ian McShane), a perennial loner who travels to picturesque Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, to carry out a final deadly mission. But complications delay him, and, as he waits, he becomes involved with some islanders and even falls in love. (Nice surprise: His paramour’s mother is played by the ageless French actress Fanny Ardant.) He experiences a moral dilemma: Does he go through with the hit or retire? The film is tense in the way of the best thrillers, and the tension persists throughout. It is also beautiful to look at.
UK 2024 (107 minutes)
Sponsor: Tracy Edmonson and Wesley Skow
Tuesday February 11, 2025 - 7:00 pm

The Convert (Lee Tamahori 2023)
From acclaimed director Lee Tamahori ( “Once Were Warriors”) “The Convert” is a gripping historical drama set in 19th-century New Zealand. The film follows an English missionary (Guy Pearce) who arrives to spread his faith in the Māori lands, only to find himself torn between cultures and caught in the violent clash of beliefs. With stunning performances and breathtaking scenery, the film paints a vivid picture of colonialism, spirituality and survival. A riveting tale of identity and loyalty, it is a must-see for fans of historical epics.
New Zealand 2023 (112 minutes)
Wednesday February 12, 2025 - 2:30 pm

The Way, My WAy (Bill Bennett 2024)
If you’ve ever contemplated walking the Camino de Santiago, this adventure film will show you what it’s like and inspire you to do it. Based on his best-selling memoir of the same name, Australian writer-director Bill Bennett simultaneously captures the stunning beauty of the landscape and the physical and emotional pain, as well as elation of trekking 800 kilometers on the pilgrims trail in France and Spain. Chris Haywood plays Bill, whose compulsion to embark on this journey is a mystery even to him. Along the way he meets fellow travelers, a mix of actors and true pilgrims, who help him change in touching and unexpected ways.
Australia 2025 (98 minutes)
Sponsor: Barbara Berk
Wednesday February 12, 2025 - 5:00 pm


Falling Into Place (Aylin Tezel 2024)
In an auspicious debut as a filmmaker, the German actress Aylin Tezel directs herself as Kira, a German artist living in London. Consumed with self-doubt, she is further shaken when vacationing on the Scottish Isle of Skye, she meets Ian (“Bridgerton’s” Chris Fulton), a struggling musician, at a local pub. Visually stunning early scenes show the pair playfully running and jumping along the isle’s irregular coast, so isolated that they could be alone in the world, in contrast to the London hubbub. All the tropes of romantic movies are honored, but the film never descends into cliché. There is a fullness to the script (written by Tezel) fleshing out the couple’s lives with family, friends and, most dramatically, past lovers.
UK 2024 (113 minutes)
Sponsors:
Jane Scott
Bruce Lymburn
Wednesday February 12, 2025 - 7:30 pm

The Critic (Anand Tucker 2024)
Ian McKellen is at his suave and slimy best as Jimmy Erskine, a mean, feared, ferocious theater critic in 1934 London. He ruins lives for the fun of it taking particular aim at a hapless actress played with touching vulnerability by Gemma Arterton. Jimmy’s life gets complicated when the owner of his newspaper dies, and the owner’s son, appalled by his critic’s cruelty, fires him. Craving revenge, Jimmy involves other people in his devilish plot, leading to blackmail, betrayal and more. No one is innocent. McKellen embodies one of the best bad guys in a long time. You can’t take your eyes off his scheming face.
UK 2023 (101 minutes)
Sponsor: Maxine Einhorn and Lesley Stanford
Thursday February 13, 2025 - 2:30 pm

Paddington in Peru (Dougal Wilson. 2024)
Indulge in a sneak preview of this franchise’s third installment starring the adorable Paddington and the equally cute and charming Hugh Bonneville, guest of honor at the Mostly British Film Festival, as the bear’s adoptive dad Henry Brown. The entire Brown family accompanies Paddington to Peru in search of his beloved Aunt Lucy, who has mysteriously disappeared from a home for retired bears. The rescue team embarks on a journey through Peruvian jungles and up into the mountains in search of Paddington’s missing kin, encountering a new character: the retirement facility’s spiteful Reverend Mother played with convincing malice by Olivia Colman.
2025 UK (106 minutes)
Thursday February 13, 2025 - 5:30 pm

Closing Night
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (Laura Piani 2024)
Jane Austen would be delighted in her well-mannered way to learn of all the movies based on her work. The latest, smart 21st-century version by French first-time director Laura Piani is set at Shakespeare & Company, the legendary British bookshop in Paris. There we meet a perpetually single and deeply unhappy clerk, Agathe, who escapes into romance novels, yearning for the happy ending Austen conjures up for her heroines. Piani obviously knows her Austen, and she introduces familiar tropes from her early 19th century classics while contriving a modern, feminist twist. This refreshing take focuses on finding a partner for Agathe, as well as on her quest to become a writer like Austen. In French and English.
France 2025 (94 minutes)
Dessert party at the Vogue Theatre follows immediately after screening
Sponsor: Anonymous In Honor of Mostly British Programmers
Thursday February 13, 2025 - 7:45 pm