To reflect its diversity, we have specially selected two smaller features (more like featurettes), each running for about an hour, and each displaying something different that the strand can offer. Both films are selected from previous incarnations of the Uncharted States of America strand and are both still out of distribution in this country, making this screening a rare opportunity to catch them. Also, those that were fortunate enough to get tickets for one of our three screenings of Littlerock last November (a Minicine record attendance) might remember that it too was selected after playing in BIFF’s Uncharted States strand last year (see what our audience made of it here). Between these two featurettes and Littlerock, you will have a fairly clear picture of what the Uncharted States strand has to offer, its variety and the overriding ethos of the strand.

Trailers will start at 6.45 with the first feature starting at our usual start time of 7pm.

Trailers for some of this April’s features

In addition to the films below, we will be previewing this year’s Uncharted States of America, with a selection of trailers.

Hohokam (Frank V. Ross 2007)

Lo-fi filmmaking, utilising very raw characters that ooze with sincerity and a naturalism that makes them thoroughly engaging. The film successfully shows a convincing and sweet relationship that – like people – isn’t simple and easy to define, but full of beautiful complexities.

(interesting titbit: This film is the writer/director’s wife’s favourite of his films)

For more on the film, see indie filmmaker Andrew Bujalski’s words from his programme notes here

Lay Down Tracks (Brigid McCaffrey and Danielle Lombardi 2006)

Believably earnest depictions of various slices of unrepresented America, with similar themes of constantly being on the move, of being defined by what you do and of being comfortable with your life. Dislocation of sound and image serve to imbue this documentary with a poetic rhythm, which is aided by some of the most unpretentious, sage like commentary on the individuals’ own lives, which has an enchanting working class matter of factness.

For more on the film, see Neil Young’s (co-director of this year’s BIFF) words from when he first saw it in 2006 here

Open to members NOW

If you have bought membership this month, or have let us know that you will be purchasing membership at this month’s screening, then your place has already been reserved, as this will be your first screening as a member, so entry will be FREE! If you’re a member that has already used up your FREE screening, you can buy your discounted ticket right now by clicking here.

As per the advantages of membership, members will have OVER A WEEK before tickets are open to the public next Friday (2nd March). At which point, they will be available here to the public. So if you buy membership, or let us know you’ll be buying membership any time this week, you will instantly be reserved a seat.

Remember that members can reserve one ticket for non-members before they are open to the public, but they will cost the usual price of £6.00. E-mail minicine@live.co.uk to let us know.

If you want to check out full details of membership, see the membership page. You can buy membership straight away by clicking here, or by e-mailing minicine@live.co.uk and telling us that you will buy membership at the screening.

As always, to ensure you receive the most up to date information on this event, follow us on Twitter ,’like’ the Facebook page or e-mail minicine.org.uk with the title MAILING LIST and you will be added to our mailing list.

Hope to see you there!

Mike McKenny - Minicine Director and Lead Film Programmer

2012′s first ratings

Well our first screening of the new year, and our introduction to Jamie and Woody as programmers  seems to have been quite the success. The feature scored consistently high, and both shorts achieved precisely what I want from the shorts: polorised opinion. There were hardly any ’3′ ratings, people either loved them or…. didn’t. This means we’re succeeding in playing shorts that can challenge and illustrate the different approaches film can take.

February

Remember that February won’t see a screening at Armley Mills, as we are urging our audience to get down to Leeds Film’s February Favourites. Also during February, we’ll be having our first members’ meetup, which I’m really excited about, as I don’t get enough chance to chat on screening night. If you’re interested in this, or the rest of our membership offering, check out the Membership page.

And the results are…

As usual, ratings are calculated as a a straight up mean average (4 decimal points). Below the ratings, you can find statements from the programmers themselves, commenting on the reaction to their selections.

C.R.A.Z.Y (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005) - 4.2857

This being my first piece of programming for Miniciné I was a bit nervous about how it would go down. Looking at the scorecard results I’m thrilled by the audience reaction; it’s really heartening to see so many 5s and even more so to see my ex Canadian Film Professor (Rachel Killick) at the screening.

A few people came up to me at the end and said they really loved C.R.A.Z.Y and would be interested in seeing more French-Canadian cinema, well as luck would have it there is a Facebook group and community cinema organisation called Rediscovering Canada that regularly screens such fare at Leeds University. Check out their Facebook page for general discussion and details of upcoming events.

- Jamie

 Symmetry (Everynone) - 3.5357

Un Tour De Manége (alexis Liddell et al) – 3.1071

Woody’s Words

Are they too long? Are they too short? Do they set the right tone? Do they complement the feature? What if the audience hates them? What do they say about me as a person and, more importantly, as a film programmer?

These were just some of the thoughts and worries going through my head when selecting this month’s shorts, but judging by the results of the Minicine audience’s scorecards I don’t think I had any reason to worry. Some liked them, some didn’t. Some liked one, some liked the other. At the end of the day everyone and their taste in film and cinema is different, which I think is going to make for exciting times in the Minicine Short Film Programming Department (TM) moving forward.

In the coming months I hope we can bring you further examples of what can be done with short films and how different they can be to their big brothers and sisters, the more widely seen features.

- Woody

Shipley Film Society – Moon, Hunky Dory and Pop Will Eat Itself

Sunday 22^nd January, 7pm – £4 (£3 for concessions) at Kirkgate Centre, Shipley

Shipley Film Society are teaming up with The Record Club to offer an evening of record listening and film viewing with their unique line-up. The film being screened is one of the finest science fiction films in recent years, Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009). Records being played are themed around the film and will include David Bowie and Pop Will Eat Itself.

See their website for more details.

Minicine will be there, so if you want to head over, just get in touch on Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail minicine@live.co.uk

Timecode Seminar:

Subversion and Transgression in Polish Exilic Cinema: The Cases of Borowczyk and Zulawski

Wednesday 25^th January, 6pm at the National Media Museum, Bradford – FREE

The University of Bradford’s Media School hold various guest lectures/events throughout the year in their Timecode Seminar programme, which are FREE and welcome to everybody. The events that I have attended in the past have been inclusive and welcoming, as well as being extremely insightful with real masters within their field presenting.

This talk sounds particularly fascinating, and – not to give too much away – ties in perfectly with an establishing plan for a near-future Minicine special event.

Michael Goddard (Media Studies lecturer at the University of Salford and reviews editor of Studies in Eastern European Cinema) presents some pre-1989 Polish cinema that you may have never had the opportunity to hear about. It focuses on Polish filmmakers in exile that were creating an expressive genre cinema far removed from their national contemporaries of the ‘Cinema of Moral Concern’ (Wajda, Kièslowski, etc). We at Minicine are all about the discovery of filmmakers that have been buried by history, so the chance to hear more about Valerian Borowcyk and Andrzej Zulawski will be welcomed with open arms.

For more information check out the Timecode Seminar Website

Minicine will without doubt be at this event and would like to welcome anybody interested to get in touch, meet up and possibly grab a drink before/after. Just message us on Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail minicine@live.co.uk

Thursday 23^rd February:

5.45pm – North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchock, 1959)

8.30pm – The Red Shoes (Michael Powell  Emeric Pressburger, 1948)

Friday 24^th February:

6pm – Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)

8.30pm – The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)

One of the evenings falls on our usual screening night, so obviously you all have it in your diaries to go watch a film anyway… right? So rather than causing you cinephiles of West Yorkshire the unpleasurable task of choosing between two exciting film events, we thought that we would go, and take our audience with us.

Tickets for all films are £6.50, but our members – seeing as you won’t be benefiting from your member discount at our screening that evening – will be able to buy tickets at the concession rate of £5.00. If you are going to benefit from this discounted rate, please call through to the box office (on 0113 224 3801) or buy tickets on the day, rather than going through the website. Any questions, just e-mail minicine@live.co.uk.

We will be arranging a time and a place near to the screenings, to meet our audience before, grab a drink and then make our way over there. You don’t have to be a member, just e-mail minicine@live.co.uk if you are interested in getting involved. We will also be setting up a Facebook event (but we’ll do this closer to the time).

Tickets are available right now through www.leedsfilm.com and the City Centre Box Office on 0113 224 3801.

First screening of the year

This month’s screening, our first of the year, will be Jean-Marc Vallée’s 2005 filim C.R.A.Z.Y on Thursday 26th January, 7pm at the Palace Picture House, in Armley Mills.

As mentioned in our membership post, this film has been selected by one of our newly appointed film programmers, Jamie McHale (Twitter: @Jamie_mchale). Hopefully it can introduce many people to the wonders of French-Canadian cinema; a strand of cinema that is often neglected by the UK distribution channels.

Along with this feature, you will find our usual offering of short films and home made cake!

Read Jamie’s introduction and synopsis of the film below. Including some really helpful socio-cultural background information.

“I came across C.R.A.Z.Y at university as the first film on my Quebec Cinema module and have had a deep interest and passion for the region’s output ever since.  The film explores classic themes in Quebec Cinema, namely: shifting family values, sexuality and religion.

Born on Christmas day 1960, C.R.A.Z.Y follows the life of Zach Beaulieu and his relationships with his 4 uniquely individual brothers (the initials of which, along with the Z of Zach form the title of the film), devout mother and conservative father throughout the 60s and following decades. With an interest in traditionally feminine toys from a young age and an obsession with Ziggy Stardust in his adolescence, Zach has always known he was different from other boys and how he, his imagination and his family respond to these signs shape his life in unexpected ways. The compelling story is complemented by a visual flair and a soundtrack to kill which make C.R.A.Z.Y a coming of age story like no other.

The 60s were an incredibly important time in French Canada with La Révolution tranquille (The Quiet Revolution) dramatically changing the socio-political landscape. The movement was responsible for the rapid and effective secularisation of (a previously staunchly catholic) society and laid the foundations for the development of a new national identity. The effects of the upheaval and nation debate La Révolution tranquille brought about can be seen throughout C.R.A.Z.Y and indeed, most of Quebec Cinema ever since.”

Jamie McHale – Minicine Film Programmer

Open to members NOW

If you have already bought membership, or have let us know that you will be purchasing membership at this month’s screening, then your place has already been reserved, as this will be your first screening as a member, so entry will be FREE!

As per the advantages of membership announced earlier this week, members will have a WHOLE WEEK before tickets are open to the public next Friday (13th January). At which point, they will be available here. So if you buy membership, or let us know you’ll be buying membership any time this week, you will instantly be reserved a seat.

remember that members can reserve one ticket for non-members before they are open to the public, but they will cost the usual price of £6.00. E-mail minicine@live.co.uk to let us know.

If you want to check out full details of membership, check out the membership page. You can buy membership straight away by clicking here, or by e-mailing minicine@live.co.uk and telling us that you will buy membership at the screening.

Hope to see you there!

Mike McKenny - Minicine Director and Lead Film Programmer

Here’s to a new year

2011 was an exciting year for myself, taking the reins of Minicine after Edel and Dany had done such a fantastic job setting it up.

Well 2012 stands to be even more exciting; not only for myself, but particularly for you, the audience, due to the appointment of two new programmers: Jamie (Twitter: @jamie_mchale) and Woody (Twitter: @MawScrawl).

Not only will this help everything run much smoother, but both have already brought some fantastic ideas to the upcoming film lineup. In fact, to kick off the new year in celebration of this, January’s screening is a film selected by Jamie, and is representative of his admiration for French-Canadian cinema. More on this on Friday when the film, along with our plans for February and March will be announced.

Membership

On to today’s big announcement. Along with our increased organisation this year, the membership scheme has been given a revamp and will be top priority. We will always be open to the public, willing to welcome anybody who wishes to get involved; we’ll never be a film society open exclusively to members, but the way to get the most out of our community cinema offering will – without doubt – be to get yourself annual membership.

12 month membership will only cost £15 and will guarantee you the following benefits, plus many more

• Your first screening as member will be FREE!
• £2 off of every screening.
• Tickets will be open to you one week before they’re open to the public. (remember that the last three screenings sold out in less than two days) – You can reserve one additional ticket for a non-member, but this will be at the standard price
• Regular members’ meet ups (cinema outings, film quizzes, drinks, etc)
• Influence on the selection of special ‘members choose’ screenings.
• Special offers at local film festivals.
• Membership card.
• Access to end of year meetings and the ability to vote on various matters.

You can buy your membership immediately here. Or alternatively, so we don’t lose a valuable percentage through PayPal, just let us know you would like to purchase membership by e-mailing minicine@live.co.uk. Let us know the next screening you’ll be attending, and you can pay for your membership on the door.

Sorry that this post is a little late, but it’s here now. It was a frantic period, what with the jump from one to three screenings, and in two different cities. As a result, our total audience was just over triple that which it usually is. What this means, is that the two films that played at all three events (Littlerock and We Are Poets) had to consistently impress, in order to ensure their average star ratings kept their levels (our ratings don’t have any kind of complicated ‘Duckworth Lewis’ style weighting system; just simple mean average).

Thanks to everyone for their support this last few months. With the change of stewardship, all announcements have been quite short notice and a little ad-hoc (to say the least). The great news is that there will be infinitely more structure next year, thanks to some newcomers to the team that are really welcome and will help inject even more life into the momentum built throughout this year.

By the end of December, there will be a three month mini-programme announced covering January, February and March. This three month period should illustrate the variety that we’ll be striving to achieve for the rest of the year. A variety encompassing any of the followowing: the politically subversive, little known discoveries, under celebrated gems from the past or fun/event screenings.

Further to this, the very beginning of the new year will be kicked off in style, with the unveiling of our membership scheme.

All ratings are worked out from the mean average of each audiene’s five star rating. In order to be quite specific, for when we start charting these ratings, the results are put to four decimal places.

Feature – LiTTLEROCK (Mike Ott)

3.9938 / 5

I can’t stress enough how proud I am to have been able to get this film out to more people. My faith in it, and my belief that it will be appreciated by our audience has been vilified by its seemingly universal acceptance. Remember, there was three times the usual audience for this film.
See the bottom of this post for a review from one of our audience members, Steve Firth

Local Short 1 – The Trickster (Jamie H Scrutton)

2.1667 / 5

Having We Are Poets, such a solid entry into our usual locally produced short film slot, meant that I wanted to be greedy and give two local filmmakers the platform. We Are Poets is such an accomplished and almost flawless film that I thought it would be worth playing a film with absolutely no resources other than an individual with a videocamera and an admirable appetite to create something. It may look like the film didn’t score that highly, but I am glad that our audience are honest and that a film showing glimmers of real talent and imagination, yet is far from the finished article, can stand next to some of the more refined shorts that we play without undermining the system.

What I would say though, is that quantitative feedback probably isn’t the most useful thing for this type of short. In future, we will also provide the facility to offer qualitative feedback for shorts of this stature.

More than the short itself, I was impressed with the way Jamie has gone about getting his film out there. Contacting us, sending the film out and picking us up in his enthusiasm. We hope to see more of his work as he develops his distinctive style.

Local Short 2 – We Are Poets: I Come From… (Alexander Ramseyer-Bache)

4.1592 / 5

Once again, one of our local shorts is what blows our audience away. Following the success of our screening of Joy earlier in the year, it feels great to once again showcase some fantastic locally produced material. Don’t forget that there is a feature length We Are Poets documentary coming very soon. We will keep everybody fully updated, but you can check their website  for details.

Other Short – At Home with the Jedi (RF Simpson)

3.0625 / 5

This was a fun short documentary that I didn’t actually expect to go down quite as well as it did.

LiTTLEROCK: THE BEST FILM PLAYING IN A ‘SMALL’ CINEMA NEAR YOU

A review from Steve Firth

The mesmerising Atsuko (Atsuko Okatsuka) dominates Mike Ott’s Littlerock. Somehow, like a number of characters in the film’s dead-end town, you find yourself fixated with her. What makes this extraordinary is it’s an English-language film, and throughout it she only speaks Japanese.

Atsuko and her brother Rintaro (Rintaro Suwamoto) are visiting America and thanks to car problems become stranded in the desperate Littlerock. They find a cheap motel only to discover their room is next to one holding a rowdy party. Rintaro, with a limited grasp of English, goes to complain. He’s invited into the party by the vain and slightly dim ”Dang, I really could be a model” Corey (Corey Zacharia). Atsuko, worried her brother hasn’t returned, follows him in and they end up being introduced to the beer-loving, dope-smoking local youth, a number of whom seem less than pleasant, sinister even.

Immediately, there’s a tension that stays with you throughout Littlerock, the naive foreigners in danger from the menacing natives. That his so-called friends target the new arrivals’ host, Corey, for abuse and ridicule makes Atsuko and Rintaro’s jeopardy more concerning.

Despite their stay’s unpromising start, the two visitors remain in town and the next day Corey gives them a brief tour of Littlerock. Language barrier or not, it becomes obvious Corey has a problem. He owes the thuggish Brody (Ryan Dillon) $150, for some drugs he was meant to pass on to someone else but stupidly smoked himself – and hasn’t the cash to pay him back.

Littlerock is part road movie, part coming-of-age story, and echoes films as varied as Badlands, American Graffiti and Lost in Translation. To say communication, or the lack of it, is at the film’s core is not only obvious, it’s an understatement. Ott handles the language issues with both subtlety and style. My favourite line in the film is where Atsuko asks Rintaro to translate what a drunken youth is saying and her brother notes, “He’s just rambling about a cactus and an orange,” a devastating critique of what we say to each other.

Atsuko Okatsuka’s performance as the seemingly fragile, yet tenacious, Atsuko is understated to perfection. What she’s thinking we don’t know, but we do know a lot is going on in her mind. Baffling, sensual, independent, she could have come directly out of a Murakami novel.

The film’s other major acting honours must go to Corey Zacharia. His constant struggles (with his father, his debt, his art, his feelings for Atsuko, the bleak Littlerock) keep him permanently ill at ease. The scene where he attempts to seduce Atsuko and is unable, or more likely, unwilling, to accept his feelings aren’t reciprocated, is borderline creepy, a perfect example of the tension within Littlerock. Zacharia shows a mixture of kindness and desperation that give what could have been a weak character a human and a darker side.

Director Mike Ott’s strength in Littlerock is how he maintains a sense of foreboding throughout the film. He uses a familiar premise (strangers in a strange land) yet plays with his audiences expectations. By not resolving issues such as Corey owing Brody money, or by putting Atsuko in apparent danger, he leaves the viewer anticipating the worst and hoping for the best. Ott keeps us watching, keeps us involved, almost lets us participate in his film.

There’s a simplicity to the cinematography in Littlerock. The editing feels unhurried, the film’s pace unrushed. Yet despite the apparently leisurely pace the action is constant. This contrasts with the endless drab landscapes, a visual reminder of an empty America, somewhere you can believe people are anxious to escape, the oppressive setting influencing both cast and audience alike.

Writing what is effectively a two-language film could only have been challenging. That the story’s easily understood, and the audience are able follow Littlerock’s more subtle nuances says all that needs to be said about the script’s quality. As a bonus, the readable and understandable subtitles were a delight.

Ott’s film is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Some of its themes and ideas need to be pondered long after it ends. Yes, this is intelligent, independent US cinema. And it’s been noted elsewhere, the film receiving, among other awards, the 2010 Gotham Award for “Best Movie Not Playing in a Theatre Near You.” A great name for an award, a sad reflection of the state of modern cinema.

Littlerock deserves better; it deserves to be seen.

Along with this post, there will be a wonderfully comprehensive review of the film from one of our audience members Steve Firth. Anybody that attended any of the screenings can by all means join in and send in some feedback on the films. The star-tearing sheets are great for supplying quantitative feedback, but it would be much more appropriate and helpful in some cases to receive some qualitiative feedback. This is particularly relevant for the local independent shorts; it is an invaluable opportunity for the filmmakers to get some direct feedback from real audiences.

If you have anything to say about any of the shorts or features screened, please send them over to minicine@live.co.uk. They won’t necessarily be given to the filmmakers in full unless you wish them to be, so you can be perfectly honest in your impressions. I can take this feedback and paraphrase it to whoever created the film.

Thank you. Can’t wait to set up more screenings for next year.

Below is the cake that those who attended the screening at the National Media Museum were lucky enough to experience.

For more info on the film see our ‘In the Cinema Now’ page

Tickets can be purchased from the National Media Museum – CLICK HERE

If you hadn’t seen, we have a new page completely dedicated to film festivals – in particular the currently running Leeds International Film Festival.

Check it out to follow the coverage and to add your experiences of the festival.

Click here to go straight there