Venue: Coliseum Cinema, Brecon. Doors open 7.15pm, for 7.30 start.
Contact: Judith Fitton - 01874-623166
Download the programme at: http://www.pontardawefilm.co.uk/breconflyer.pdf
September 5th - Million Dollar Baby
USA 2004 132 minutes colour (12a)
Director: Clint Eastwood
With: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel
After a painful estrangement from his daughter, hardened boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone until Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) walks into his gym. In a life of constant struggle, Maggie needs more than anything, someone to believe in her. The last thing Frankie needs is that kind of responsibility, but, won over by Maggie's sheer determination, he begrudgingly agrees to take her on.
The two come to discover that they share a common spirit that transcends the pain and loss of their pasts, and slowly find in each other
a sense of family they both lost long ago.
October 3rd - Sideways
USA 2004 123 minutes colour (15)
Director: Alexander Payne
With: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh
An intoxicating, intelligent comedy. Miles (Giamatti) is a failed writer living a meagre existence in San Diego as an English teacher. With his career seemingly on the wane and the fate of a book hinging on a publisher's decision, Miles is depressed with himself and what he hasn't achieved. Meanwhile, best friend, Jack (Haden Church), a minor television actor, is about to marry.
The comically mismatched pair set off on a road trip through California's wine country. While Miles wants to give his friend a good send off before married life, Jack simply wants a fling before he settles down. As they both approach middle age with little to show for their lives, the trip becomes an exploration of their failures and relationships and a search for their true identities.
November 7th La Dolce Vita
Italy / France 1960 174 minutes B/W subtitles (15)
Director: Federico Fellini
With: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée
Marcello (Mastroianni) is a young playboy journalist who spends his time with celebrities and rich people, seeking ephemeral joy in parties and sex. When a famous film star comes to Rome, he does all he can to meet her, and when he does, he is smitten.....
Fellini’s spellbinding chronicle sums up an era and reflects on a decadent society where there are no values and no solutions except collapse or suicide. Fellini’s cinematography is stunning throughout. Many images from this film have now become iconic - Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain, the
statue of Christ flying over Rome, the astonishing, candlelit procession, to name but a few. A ‘must see’ and one of the world’s most talked about films, ‘La Dolce Vita’ is probably Fellini’s masterwork.
December 5th The Rising (Ballad of Mangal Pandey)
India/Pakistan 2005 colour
Director: Ketan Mehta
With: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel, Toby Stephens, Damien Lewis
A sizzling, triumphant, epic Bollywood extravaganza, destined for Oscars and world acclaim!
Aamir Khan stars as Mangal Pandey, the first Indian revolutionary, who dared to raise his head against the British Empire. Colonial rulers are plundering the country, treating the locals unjustly and causing widespread resentment. After a hundred years of subjugation, India is awakening to the prospect of change and self-rule. During a fierce battle, Mangal rescues his British commanding officer (Stephens). The event creates a binding loyalty that transcends rank and race, but the friendship is soon challenged...
In glorious colour, song and amazing choreography, ‘The Rising’ tells the tale of friends and lovers, enemies, exploiters and exploited and the growth of a man and a nation.
Programme 2006
January 9th The Story of the Weeping Camel
Germany/Mongolia 2005
90 minutes colour subtitles (PG)
Directors: Byambasuren Davaa,
Luigi Falorni
With: Janchiv Ayurzana, Chimed Ohin, Amgaabazar Gonson
Amid the vast expanses of Mongolia's Gobi Desert, ‘The Story of the Weeping Camel’ follows a family of camel herders who face a crisis when a camel rejects her newborn offspring, following a difficult delivery. The herders lives are so intertwined that even the smallest disruption in the flock can precipitate a crisis. Invoking an ancient ritual, the family send for a musician whom they believe will coax the camel into nursing her baby. According to legend, the musical ceremony is so moving that the camel will cry.
‘The Story of the Weeping Camel’ lets native people tell their own story through a blend of documentary and magical fable. It is undoubtedly the best Mongolian film of the year.
February 6th Motorcycle Diaries
USA/Germany/UK/Argentina/Chile/
Peru/France 2004
128 minutes B/W and colour (15)
Director: Walter Salles
With: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mercedes Morán, Jean Pierre Noher
‘Motorcycle Diaries’ is an adaptation of a 1950s journal written by the young Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Bernal), leader of the Cuban Revolution. He and his friend, Alberto Granado (De la Serna) are young college students who decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Peru on motorbike.
Beginning as a beautifully shot road movie, in which Ernesto and Alberto look for girls, fun and adventure before looming adulthood, ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ develops into a deeper exploration of their respective characters. The two best friends start off with similar goals and aspirations, but by the time their journey is over, it is clear what each man's destiny holds.
March 6th The Navigator
Directors: Buster Keaton,
Donald Crisp
With: Buster Keaton, Frederick Vroom, Kathryn McGuire
The idea for this hilarious film began when Buster Keaton learned that a large passenger ship was due to be scrapped. Seeing an opportunity, he bought the ship and made ‘The Navigator’ around this massive prop. Rollo decides to marry his sweetheart Betsy and sail to Honolulu. When she rejects him he decides to sail anyway, but boards the wrong ship - ‘The Navigator’ - which is owned by Betsy's father.
Unaware of Rollo, Betsy boards the ship to look for her father, whom spies have captured before cutting the ship loose. It drifts out to sea with the two socialites each unaware of there being anyone else on board. Mayhem ensues!
A classic Keaton comedy and with fast-paced piano accompaniment provided by the deft-fingered Paul Shallcross, this will certainly be a night to remember.
April 3rd The Edukators
Germany/Austria 2004 127 minutes
subtitles colour (15)
Director: Hans Weingartner
With: Daniel Brühl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg, Burghart Klaußner
In Weingartner’s acclaimed comic crime-drama, the action revolves around Jule (Jentsch), a hopelessly indebted student who now owes much more than she can ever repay due to an accident she has caused by hitting a wealthy businessman's limousine while uninsured. Evicted from her flat, she moves in with her boyfriend Peter (Erceg) and soon learns that Peter and his flatmate, Jan (Brühl), are breaking into luxurious mansions at night. Instead of stealing or vandalising, though, they carefully and ornately rearrange furniture and valuables and leave obscure messages for subtle kicks.
Jule convinces Jan and Peter to pay a visit to the villa of her creditor and the three hapless activists cobble together a hair-brained kidnapping plot....
May 8th Zatôichi
Japan 2003 116 minutes colour subtitles (18)
Director: Takeshi Kitano
With: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ookusu, Gadarukanaru Taka
Duels, wit and a touch of zen! The cult anti-hero Zatoichi is back in this sword-fighting adventure.
Blind Zatoichi (Kitano) makes his living by giving massages. Behind this humble facade, however, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of awesome precision.
Zatoichi wanders into a town ruled over by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. Zatoichi is destined for a showdown, when he meets two dangerous and beautiful geishas. As the paths of these and other colourful characters intertwine, the stage is set for an action-packed showdown...
Kitano constructs many unique and memorable ideas and images in this breathtaking adventure, such as the musical crescendo where traditional Kabuki theatre clog dancing is combined with contemporary rap.
June 5th Once Upon a Time in the West
Italy/USA 1968 165 minutes colour (15)
Director: Sergio Leone
With: Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson, Frank Wolff
‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ is the best known of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, but this frontier epic is by far his best work.
Charles Bronson plays ‘Harmonica’, a mysterious stranger who joins forces with Frank, an evil and notorious
desperado, played with hovering menace by Henry Fonda. The two make their uneasy alliance in a bid to protect a beautiful widow (Cardinale) from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad.
Mysterious pasts and the strength of loyalties are tested in lightning fast gun battles amidst panoramic vistas. Considered to be one of the best westerns ever made.