Cornwall Film Festival (CFF) is celebrating its 22nd Anniversary Year with an exciting programme of films and events from Monday, 6 November to Sunday, 19 November 2023 at The Poly Falmouth, with a month-long programme in November of events across Cornwall at various venues.
Technology, creativity, imagination
OtherRealms, this year’s film festival, combines advances in technology with creativity and imagination to find new ways of exploring our digital world through screen. For 14 days in November, audiences of all types and stripes gather for the 22nd edition of the Cornwall Film Festival program.
Typist Artist Pirate King
Big names and big talent feature in the Narrative Feature Competition, never seen before previews, showing unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. The Director, Carol Morley will visit the festival and present her latest work Typist Artist Pirate King, in the Gala slot on Saturday, 18 November. In Carol Morley’s fifth feature, we follow troubled, misunderstood artist Audrey Amiss (played by Monica Dolan) and her psychatric nurse (Kelly Macdonald) on a fictionalised road trip to Sunderland, in a last-ditch effort to get Amiss’ work exhibited, and reconnect with her sister Dorothy (Gina McKee).
Features
From the exceptional writer-director of Weekend and 45 Years Andrew Haigh’s new film, All of Us Strangers will open the festival, starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott in this tremendous and beautiful fantasy-romance.
Brilliant performances from Tilda Swinton in The Eternal Daughter and eight-year-old Sofía Otero in the Spanish drama 20,000 Species of Bees. The Festival Director’s pick from Sundance is a feel-good, life-affirming and joyful off-beat comedy Theatre Camp. Critic winner Fallen Leaves sweet-natured odd-couple romance. Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Poor Things from festival favourite Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster) will close the feature competition with another totally bonkers steampunk black comedy fantasy film. Audiences have to guess what this preview of one of the best International comedy drama winners this year ! Super Secret Surprise film the director won the Cornwall Film Festival audience award back in 2016; he is married to a certain pop star. Sharks, superheroes, Nazis and Vampires have all been featured in his films.
Documentaries
Non-fiction stories that demonstrate integrity, energy and unique voices in the Documentary Feature Competition. Is There Anybody Out There? A treasure of a documentary about a filmmaker who inhabits and loves her unusual body and searches the world for another person like her. A striking and engrossing portrait of togetherness in Smoke Sauna Sisterhood.
Scary, funny, sexy, controversial and provocative after-dark features, bite-sized bits for night owls, and the terminally curious for all of your sex, gore, and funny bone cravings. Induding a stunning 4K restored and remastered print of Park Chan-Wook’s cinematic masterpiece Old Boy.
Shorts
Narrative competition shorts the lineup of short films is drawn from over 600 entries across seven competitive sections from local, national and international filmmaking talent, that feature innovation and adventurous ideas that are distinctive and resist cliché with Best of awards announced online on Saturday 11 November.
Running concurrently with the festival OtherRealms XR programme includes immersive arts that are redefining how we experience the world around us with an award-winning series of VR, AR, and immersive events, this section emphasises storytelling and ingenuity and showcases how creatives of all types are embracing this new medium in a new stand.
99p films
OtherRealms community will see the festival embark on a new partnership with 99p films who create transformative experiences by incorporating mindful breathing, engaging discussions and communal feasts alongside award-winning films. Presenting two events Can I Live ? Weaving a personal story with spoken word, rap, theatre, and animation from Fehinti Balogun & My So-Called Selfish Life, which features one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to become a mother.
Access
The festival is made possible with the support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery to bring the arts to more audiences across the UK. Accessibility is central to Cornwall Film Festival’s ethos, aiming to make film approachable and fun for everyone, inspiring new and old film lovers alike.
Audiences have the opportunity to see short film programmes, including the prestigious International Shorts programme Student and South West Best Regional Shorts, and a new category, Screen Stars of Tomorrow, featuring work from 16-18-year-olds from Cornwall.
New for 2023, Experience the avant-garde like never before at the Experimental Short Film Weekend, a captivating celebration of artist film hosted at CMR Project Space in Redruth 10 and 11 November.
The Poly
In its 22nd year, the festival is delighted to return to The Poly, Falmouth, for premiers, previews and core programme, including relaxed afternoon Screenings, free to all carers, and reduced ticket pricing for all 16–30-year-olds. The festival is also running a ‘pay what you can’ option for some of its screenings, where audience members pay either £2, £4, or £8, depending on what they can pay. Proof of earnings or ID won’t be asked for, all that is asked is the audience members’ honesty.
Ticket pricing begins at £5, with full pricing information available on the website. Booking and information about the full programme is available via www.mormediacharity.org
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top image: Typist Artist Pirate King
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