Whilst attending the 9th RapidLion South African International Film Festival ostensibly to watch films, I was also keen to see what the infamous city of Johannesburg has to offer. Of course the many cafe bars and restaurants of the uber trendy Melville and Parkhurst suburbs hold attraction but I also wanted to get a taste of the history, politics and flavour of one of South Africa's most iconic cities.
Carla Simón’s semi-autobiographical second feature film bears the name of a rural city in Catalonia, the aroma of ripe peach orchards, the picturesque vistas of fertile countryside and the nostalgia of an organic paradise which has not been fully explored yet is on the brink of becoming a vague memory.
A special presentation at the 66th BFI London Film Festival, Ruben Östlund’s Palme D’Or-winning feature film has spectators still navigating their way out of a triangle of wry humour, the currency of allure, and reflections on that thin line between the cynicism of abuse of power and what a potential re-distribution of power can lead to.
Village Rockstars is an Assamese language drama by Rima Das that was released in 2017 to great acclaim. A film purportedly highlighting adolescent aspiration and rural poverty in the beautiful surroundings of a small town in Assam, India, seems contrary to expectations. One expects films like this to contain a predictable structure of obstacles and a stirring climax of transcendence. But it is actually free from the retstraints of plot and dramatic points with some scenes revealing nothing but the tranquillity and inescapability of life in a rural area.
As another successful edition of the BFI London Film Festival has recently drawn to a close, numerous thoughts spring to mind about the most meaningful way to approach editorially the film festival itself and the unique cultural ecosystem it nurtures, both as a concept and curatorial practice promoting film culture in a particular time and place.
The narrative starts in a shabby taxi office. Narsingh (Soumitra Chatterjee), a semi alcoholic taxi driver whose wife has just left him is being consoled by a colleague who advises him to move on and join him in a partnership. But Narsingh silently rejects the idea. We later discover it is because he hails from a warrior caste and doesn't want to remain a taxi driver all his life- he has designs on escaping the chains of his creed and becoming a gentleman.
