Next week is the first of four weeks of the inaugural season of the Fugard Theatre Bioscope Classic Winter Film Festival. Week 1 of the Classic Film Festival, from 20 — 25 June 2011, will showcase A Season of Award-Winning German and French Thrillers.
The four week Fugard Bioscope Winter Classic Film Festival, which is presented in Association with Thelema Mountain Vineyards, will have four different themes. The film screenings will start at 20:00 every night, with hot soup, fresh garlic bread, Thelema Wines and a warm atmosphere awaiting patrons at the Fugard Theatre from 19:00 each night. The theatre has recently been fitted with new cinema-style seats, full digital cinema quality projection and surround sound systems which will make this a unique cinematic experience inside one of the most beautiful theatres in the country. Come and re-live some of the best Classics ever made on an 8 meter wide screen! The Classic Film Festival has been programmed by Fugard Theatre founding producer Eric Abraham who also produced the Academy Award-winning film KOLYA. On Monday 20 June the Oscar Winning movie Z (1969) will be screened. Based on true events, the film is about the assassination of a political leader and the subsequent investigation that unravels a conspiracy which reaches the highest rungs of the political and military ladder. It was the recipient of multiple Academy Awards, as well as New York Film Critics Circle and Golden Globe Awards for best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Editing. It stars Yves Montand and Irene Papas, and is directed by Costa Gavras (French). The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008), (Oscar Nominee — Best Foreign Language Film – German) will be screened on Tuesday 21 June. This is director Uli Edel’s examination of the rise and fall of the Red Army Faction who fought against what they called the new fascism of Germany’s government in the 1970s. Starring Martina Gedeck and Moritz Bleibtreu. The Lives of Others (2006) (Multi-Award Nominee and Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film), is on screen on Wednesday 22 June. In this award winning German movie, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck mixes classic thriller elements with a character study of a man undergoing a change in philosophy and ideology, and he does so with an eye for detail that comes from a carefully constructed script which boils slowly to an ending of unflinching honesty. Starring Ulrich Muhe and Martina Gedeck. Golden Globe Winner Carlos (2009) will be screened on Thursday 23 June. This multi award nominee also won a Golden Globe winner for Best Motion Picture made for TV. The French film stars Edgar Ramirez and Alexander Scheer. It tells the story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos, or Carlos The Jackal, brought to life by French director Olivier Assayas. The film straddles the fine lines between biopic, thriller and political drama with stunning effectiveness. Friday 24 June will show Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film A Prophet (2009) – French, starring Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup, directed by Jacques Audiard. A young, illiterate Arab man enters prison and begins to navigate his way through a labyrinth of violence, loyalty, attempted reform and personal survival. Mesrine Part 1 & 2, will be screened on Saturday 25 June. This film won winner French Cesars (French Oscars) for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Sound, after being nominated for 10 Cesar Awards. It stars Vincent Cassel and Ludivine Sagnier, directed by Jean-Francois Richet. This is a classic gangster movie for anyone with a cursory interest in history, crime and the cult of celebrity. Part 1 will be screened at 17h00 and part 2 at 20h00. Tickets for the screenings are R40 per night, and bookings can be made on www.computicket.com, or by phoning the Fugard Theatre Box Office on 021 461 4554. Friends of the Fugard qualify for a 25% discount
