FEATURES

As Bath Film Festival comes of age, Robin Askew chooses the best of this year’s crop.

With guests as diverse as Ken Loach, activist and broadcaster Darcus Howe, 'Wuthering Heights' screenwriter Olivia Hetreed and, er, former Spice Girls popstrel Mel C, the 21st Bath Film Festival promises to be the best yet. Running from 10-19 Nov at venues that include the Little Theatre cinema, Komedia, Chapel Arts and even Bath City FC, the festival boasts an impressive mix of previews and special events. There are also revived classics ('Cutter's Way', 'Whisky Galore!', 'Silent Running') and screenings of many excellent films that didn't make it to Bath on initial release. These include Uruguayan spooker 'The Silent House', ace Brit-horror 'Kill List', French sexual identity drama 'Tomboy', locally made documentary 'Marathon Boy' and the supremely creepy 'Sleeping Beauty'. You can find full listings at www.venue.co.uk and more information at bathfilmfestival.org.uk/ Here, in strictly chronological order, is our selection of highlights.

The British Guide to Showing Off Thur 10, Komedia, 7.45pm

Director Jes Benstock and flamboyant star Andrew Logan will be present to launch the festival in suitable style with a Q&A after this preview screening. See review in Film section.

Ken Loach Retrospective Fri 11, Little Theatre, 6pm

This year, festival patron Ken Loach introduces and talks about s selection of his controversial and rarely seen early work.

The Deep Blue Sea Fri 11, Little Theatre, 9pm

Disappointingly, there's no Samuel L Jackson or genetically engineered killer sharks in this new one from revered director and decidedly acquired taste Terence Davies – an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's stage play about stiff upper lippery and repressed passions in 50s England. Rachel Weisz stars in Davies's first drama since 'The House of Mirth' more than a decade ago. This is another preview. The film opens on 25 Nov.

Coriolanus Sat 12, Little Theatre, 6.30pm

For his directorial debut, Ralph Fiennes teams up with screenwriter du jour John Logan (who's writing the next Bond movie) for a contemporary reworking of the Bard's tragedy, shot in Belgrade. Fiennes bags himself the titular lead role. The rest of the cast includes Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave, Gerard Butler, James Nesbitt, the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain and, er, Jon Snow (stretching himself by playing a TV newsreader). This is an exclusive preview of the film, which opens nationwide in January.

Borzage Shorts Sat 12, Chapel Arts, 8pm

Continuing the festival's 'Sounds to Silents' strand, which finds innovative ways of presenting silent cinema, this event features three early works by Frank Borzage, who's probably best known for the Oscar-winning 1932 version of 'A Farewell to Arms'. They're accompanied by a live score of old-timey country music by Kate Lissauer.

Another Earth Sun 13, Little Theatre, 8.30pm

William Mapother (yup, he's Tom Cruise's cousin) stars in this intriguing low-budget indie 'parallel worlds' science fiction flick. When a duplicate earth, inevitably dubbed 'Earth 2', pops up in the sky, this inevitably causes all kinds of problems – not least for a young student and an accomplished composer whose paths cross in a tragic accident. See it first at BFF before the film opens next month.

The Tree Sun 13, Rondo Theatre, 8.50pm

The regional premiere of this decidedly odd Australian outback drama in which a little girl confides in her mother (Charlotte Gainsbourg) that her dead dad speaks to her through the leaves of the tree he crashed his car into when he perished. Expect heavy-duty – and, indeed, heavy-handed – symbolism in French director Julie Bertucelli's adaptation of a novel entitled 'Our Father who Art in the Tree' (no, really).

Attenberg Mon 14, Little Theatre, 9pm

A regional premiere and easily the weirdest film to be shown at the festival. It's a deadpan Greek comedy about a virginal 23-year-old part-time cabbie who emulates the behaviour of animals she watches in the wildlife documentaries of David Attenborough (hence the title). As you do. An annoying load of old bollocks or "hypnotically weird and elegantly strange" (The Guardian), according to taste. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari produced last year's excellent 'Dogtooth'.

Black Pond Tue 15, Little Theatre, 6.40pm

An exclusive BFF screening of this hugely acclaimed micro-budget feature with plenty of local connections. It's co-directed by Will Sharpe, who used to be down here a lot when he was in 'Casualty', and the sound is by Bristol-based BAFTA nominee Paul Cowgill. But the main reason why it's attracted so much attention is because it marks the return to the screen of 'The Thick of It' star (and Bristol University graduate) Chris Langham after serving a jail sentence for downloading child pornography. The story? It's about an ordinary British family and their Japanese friend who are accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Will and co-director Tom Kingsley will be present to introduce their film.

Bash StreetTue 15, Komedia, 8pm

Local premiere of this new drama about life in an English town, which was shot in Chippenham on a budget of just £7,000. Locally based Con O'Neill (Joe Meek in 'Telstar') stars alongside 100 local people. O'Neill and Mel C, who wrote the title song, will be present for a Q&A.

Magic TripTue 15, Little Theatre, 9.00

A real treat for sixtiesologists, this new documentary from Alex Gibney, director of the excellent 'Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson', charts the progress of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters' 1964 road trip across America. With a bus full of LSD, sundry members of the Grateful Dead and Neal Cassady (aka Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's 'On the Road'), Kesey set off to turn on America, as chronicled in Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'. The film's been pieced together using 16mm footage shot by the wasted crew themselves.

Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Thur 17, Little Theatre, 8.40pm

Activist and broadcaster Darcus Howe will be present for a Q&A after this Bath premiere. See review in Film section.

Wuthering Heights Fri 18, Little Theatre, 6pm

Olivia Hetreed, who wrote the screenplay for Andrea Arnold's bold new adaptation of the Emily Brontë classic, will be present for a Q&A after this festival screening. See preview in Film section.

Blood in the Mobile Fri 18, Chapel Arts, 6.30pm

Exploring the link between your mobile phone and civil war in Africa. Tenacious Danish director Frank Poulsen reveals how minerals mined in war-torn African nations are found in almost every mobile phone in the world. He then goes after executives of Nokia, which is responsible for one in three mobile phone sales. This screening is introduced by Karrie Hayes, who's been working in the Congo for several years to control the use of child labour in the mining industry.

Shame Fri 18, Little Theatre, 9pm (Repeat screening without Q&A: Sat 19, 6.30pm)

Producer Iain Canning will be present for a Q&A after this preview of the new one from 'Hunger' director Steve McQueen. Once again, McQueen works with Michael Fassbender, who stars opposite Carey Mulligan as a sex addict and his estranged sibling who get up to all kinds of dysfunctional naughtiness in New York. It's co-scripted by Abi Morgan, who wrote the upcoming Thatcher biopic 'The Iron Lady', and is something of a must-see for connoisseurs of copious full-frontal nudity. It opens nationwide in January.

Snowtown Sat 19, Little Theatre, 1.30pm

Another exclusive preview. See review.

Tabloid Sat 19, Chapel Arts, 7.30pm

Local premiere of this hugely entertaining new true crime documentary from veteran film-maker Errol Morris. See review.

BATH FILM FESTIVAL RAN FROM 10-19 NOV. SEE http://bathfilmfestival.org.uk/

Copyright Robin Askew 2011