With a line-up featuring British award favourites, festival hits and a winner from the 2018 Venice Film Festival, the British Council and Arthouse Traffic are pleased to announce this year’s New British Film Festival. The festival runs from 22 to 28 November, in the Kyiv Cinema, and this year offers even greater public accessibility with two films presented with TIFF transcription (translated video for people with visual impairment).
The 2018 Festival opens with The Favourite, a historical tragi-comedy by Yorgos Lanthimos whose previous work includes Lobster and Killing of the Sacred Deer. It is the beginning of the 18th century and England is at war with France. A frail Queen Anne nominally rules the country, but the arrival at the palace of the Duchess of Marlborough and her younger sister Abigail sparks warm friendships and burning ambitions. The film was recognised with a special jury prize at the 2018 Venice Film Festival and the Coppa Volpi prize for Best Actress for Olivia Colman in the lead role. Also starring Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.
High Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, is the first English-language film by French director Claire Denis. This sci-fi feature tells the story of a group of convicts duped into joining a difficult space mission in the belief they will be freed if they are successful, but the authorities have more sinister purposes in mind for them. The film – a German, British, French, Polish and American co-production – took home the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2018 San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Festival-goers can see Keira Knightley in a new lead role in Colette. Wash Westmoreland directs the biographical drama which depicts the life and struggles of the French actor, journalist and novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette – a trailblazer and symbol for women’s emancipation in the early 20th century.
Michael Pearce makes his directorial debut with a film that has taken British cinema by storm, the psychological thriller Beast. In a small island community, a troubled young woman falls for a mysterious outsider who empowers her to escape her oppressive family. When he comes under suspicion for a series of brutal murders, she defends him at all costs, learning what she is capable of in the process. The film has captured a string of British Independent Film awards: for Best British Indy Film, for Director, for Screenplay and two nominations for Jessie Buckley for Best Debut and Best Actress. The film will be screened with TIFF translation.
A British, French, German and Zambian co-production, I Am Not a Witch is the debut feature film of Zambian-British director Rungano Nyoni. The film was featured in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2018 where it was nominated for the Golden Camera award for Best Debut Film.
This year’s festival will continue its traditional showing of BAFTA’s (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Best British Short Films. This year brings an excellent new collection for devotees of short film, covering a wide variety of genres and subject matter. The BAFTA SHORTS will be shown with TIFF formatting.
All festival films will be screened in English with subtitles in Ukrainian.
More about the festival: http://www.britishcouncil.org.ua/programmes/arts/film/new-british- film-festival-2018
Following the Festival, film clubs throughout Ukraine are offered the opportunity to hold special screenings of films from the New British Film festival film clubs programme in their hometowns, assisted by Arthouse Club. To take part, submit your club’s application at the link: club.arthousetraffic.com.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with — changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the UK government.
