The Garden Cinema Film Talk

Lebanon in the UK: Diaspora - Panel with Lebanese filmmakers in the UK

Lebanon in the UK: Diaspora Shorts was a programme of short films by 5 (women) Lebanese filmmakers based in the UK, part of our season: New Lebanese Cinema: Reclaiming Storytelling. The season is focused on contemporary filmmaking in Lebanon which sees a new generation of directors telling authentic stories of life on the ground, eschewing as much as possible some of the constraints of European financing bodies and co-productions. 
The five filmmakers discuss filmmaking in Lebanon today and what it means to be part of the diaspora. The films discussed are: 
Neo Nahda, dir. by May Ziade
A Tempo the 3rd Act, dir. by Maria Abdel Karim
The Sun Sets on Beirut, dir. by Daniela Stephan
Three Centimeters, dir. by Lara Zeidan
Submarine, dir. by Mounia Akl
https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lebanon-in-the-uk-diaspora-shorts/

Angeliki Papoulia on Matchbox, Lanthimos and contemporary Greek cinema

The Greek actress, best known for Yorgos Lanthimos' Alps, Dogtooth, and The Lobster, and currently to be seen in Mahdi Fleifel's To A Land Unknown, discusses Yannis Oukonomides' Matchbox and Greek cinema with Erifili Missiou, the curator of the Garden Cinema's Contemporary Greek Cinema: Beyond the Weird Wave season. 

Jess Chandler and Gareth Evans on Jarman's life and poetry, readings by CAConrad and Declan Wiffen.

A special event to mark the re-publication by leading London independent press Prototype of a facsimile edition of Derek Jarman’s early, extremely rare and only poetry book A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, originally published in 1972
Joining publisher Jess Chandler and editor Gareth Evans are poet and writer CAConrad and scholar Declan Wiffen. With thanks to James Mackay.
More podcast episodes can also be found at:https://thegardencinemafilmtalk.podbean.com/
Recorded 30th November 2024 at The Garden Cinema39-41 Parker Street London WC2B 5PQ
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Mark Cousins and Wendy Mitchell on A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things

A creative biography of the Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. One of the most important women in British modern art, the painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was a highly inspirational figure, whose work was deeply impacted by a pivotal event in her life.  
 
A Sudden Glimpse into Deeper Things feature documentary is Mark Cousins' love letter to Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, a significant yet often overlooked British modernist painter.
True to Cousins' unique style, the film takes different angles to investigate her legacy, combining an account of Barns-Graham's climb to the top of a glacier in Switzerland that was pivotal to her art, a lengthy contemplation over one of her photographs as an elderly woman, and a documentation of his acquisition of a Barns-Graham-inspired tattoo. As with all love letters, Cousins' exploration of Barns-Graham's innovative mind is deeply personal and idiosyncratic, weaving together fragments of her life and art in a complex tapestry.
Writer and director Mark Cousins joins us for a post-screening Q&A about the film.

Naqqash Khalid and Nabhaan Rizwan on In Camera

Director Khalid and lead actor Rizwan joined us for a post-film Q&A to discuss researching and shooting In Camera with host Fatima Serghini and the Garden Cinema audience. 

Actress Priya Kansara and Kulraj Phullar discuss Polite Society

Nida Manzoor, creator of the BAFTA, Peabody, and Rose d’Or award winning sitcom We Are Lady Parts, made her feature directorial debut with Polite Society. This exuberant feminist action comedy, turns genre etiquette on its head whilst examining the complexities of navigating life as a British-Pakistani teenager. 
Actress Priya Kansara who plays the lead part of Ria joins film theorist and lecturer Kulraj Phullar to discuss her role, martial arts training and her foray into acting, genre-bending cinema, community, and South Asian Heritage Month.
Polite Society is part of both the South Asian Heritage Month and the Women Aren't Funny seasons. 

Political muralism, Chilean street art, and UK Latino culture with Chile Estyle director Pablo Aravena

Young people took to the streets with political muralism all over Chile in the late 60s, at the same time that young people in New York were starting modern graffiti, and May 68 took place in Paris. Chile Estyle is a documentary film which explores the past and present of Chile's unique street art tradition, which comes from a remix of political muralism and graffiti, and has been part of Chilean cultural and political life since the 60s. The result is a visually arresting, informative, and entertaining film.
Director Pablo Aravena discusses his work and interest in street art, DJing, Hip Hop, and graffiti, and how the scene ties in with regional politics. 

Caméra d'Or winner director César Díaz on Our Mothers and Guatemala's recent history

Ernesto (Armando Espitia) is a young Guatemalan anthropologist tasked with identifying the bones of the people killed by the military government in the 1980s. One day, while hearing the account of an old woman, he thinks he has found a lead that might guide him to his father, a 'guerrillero' who went missing during the war. Meanwhile, his mother Cristina (Emma Dib), is about to testify at the trial of former soldiers who took part in the genocide.
 
Our Mothers is one of the rare films looking at the massacre carried out by the US backed military against the indigenous population.
 
Our Mothers won the Camera d'Or and the SACD Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It received six nominations at the 10th Magritte Awards, including Best Film and Best Director for Díaz, winning Best First Feature Film.
César Díaz talks to Pablo Navarrete from Alborada and our audience about the film. The screening is part of our New Central American Cinema season. 

Another Reality screening: Genre cinema in the Arab world

AWAN partnered with The Arab Film Club to present Another Reality: Genre Shorts by Arab Women Filmmakers, here at the Garden Cinema, a programme curated by Sarah Agha.
AWAN is the UK’s only contemporary multi-arts festival dedicated to showcasing inspiring works from Arab female artists.
Sarah discusses the shorts with their respective directors, and the growth of genre cinema in the Arab world more generally, with input from our audience. 
Ladies Coffee (2024) by Amal Al-Agroobi - 10’
On the prowl for lady suitors, Roula invites Zeina and her daughter over for Arabic coffee. But when young Reem participates in a cup reading ritual, she gets more than she bargained for.
 
The Call (2023) by Riffy Ahmed - 14’
During a difficult visit to her single immigrant mother, Athena discovers that what she thought was age-related mental decline is in fact an inherited magical gift.
 
In Vitro (2019) by Larissa Sansour - 28’
In an underground orchard in Bethlehem, decades after an other worldly eco disaster, two scientists ruminate on exile, loss, identity and nostalgia.

A film imploring us to look on to the other side of the wall - Sophie Monks Kaufman & Joe Miller on The Zone Of Interest

Journalist and critic Sophie Monks Kaufman discussed the The Zone Of Interest with the Garden Cinema's Joe Miller. Sophie and Joe talk in-depth about all the inception of the film, the cinematography, the many layers and themes the film evokes, history, resonance, resistance and the dehumanisation of others.