Film at Towner

Film: The Piano

Sat 7 Jul | 2.00pm

Holly Hunter gives a majestic performance as Ada, a mute Scotswoman and talented pianist who arrives in New Zealand with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) for an arranged marriage to frontiersman Alistair Stewart (Sam Neill) to whom she takes an immediate dislike. Under the pretence of piano lessons, she strikes up a very different relationship with Alistair’s overseer, George Baines (Harvey Keitel). The film was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, making Jane Campion the first woman to win the festival’s highest honour.

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Foreign Language: Wadjda

Sat 7 Jul | 7 July, 4.30pm & 8 July, 2.00pm

Both the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and the first feature film made by a female Saudi filmmaker, the critically-acclaimed Wadjda proved to be a hit on the festival circuit and was BAFTA-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2014. It tells the story of 10-year-old, converse high-top-sporting Wadjda, who longs for a green bicycle.

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Film: The Piano

Sun 8 Jul | 4.30pm

Holly Hunter gives a majestic performance as Ada, a mute Scotswoman and talented pianist who arrives in New Zealand with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) for an arranged marriage to frontiersman Alistair Stewart (Sam Neill) to whom she takes an immediate dislike. Under the pretence of piano lessons, she strikes up a very different relationship with Alistair’s overseer, George Baines (Harvey Keitel). The film was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, making Jane Campion the first woman to win the festival’s highest honour.

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Film: The Piano

Thu 12 Jul | 2.00pm

Holly Hunter gives a majestic performance as Ada, a mute Scotswoman and talented pianist who arrives in New Zealand with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) for an arranged marriage to frontiersman Alistair Stewart (Sam Neill) to whom she takes an immediate dislike. Under the pretence of piano lessons, she strikes up a very different relationship with Alistair’s overseer, George Baines (Harvey Keitel). The film was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, making Jane Campion the first woman to win the festival’s highest honour.

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Film: The Party

Sat 14 Jul | 2.00pm

Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet, she and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) invite a handful of friends over to celebrate but things go seriously awry when Bill makes an announcement that upends the whole affair.

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Documentary: No Home Movie

Sat 14 Jul | 4.30pm

Throughout her career, Chantal Akerman has visited and revisited her relationship with her mother: from 1975’s Jeanne Dielman 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, which she described as a ‘love-film’ for her mother’, to News From Home, which featured, in voice-over, the letter her mother sent her after she moved to New York.

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Film: The Party

Sun 15 Jul | 4.30pm

Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet, she and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) invite a handful of friends over to celebrate but things go seriously awry when Bill makes an announcement that upends the whole affair.

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Family Film: The Breadwinner

Sun 15 Jul | 10.30am

The Breadwinner, adapted from Deborah Ellis’ well-regarded young-adult novel, tells the story of eleven-year-old Parvana living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. After her father is wrongfully imprisoned, Parvana must cut her hair short and dress like a boy to provide for her family. Drawing inspiration from the fantastical stories she tells for her little brother, Parvana sets out to find her father and reunite her family.

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Queer Film: Desert Hearts

Sun 15 Jul | 2.00pm

In readiness for Eastbourne Pride (taking place on Saturday 21 June), join us in revisiting Donna Deitch’s romantic Reno classic. Bathed in a hazy palette of blues and pinks, English Professor Vivian Bell arrives in Nevada to obtain a quick divorce, only to be swept away by Cay Rivvers, a free-spirited young sculptor. A firm favourite with queer audiences since its release in 1986, the film has gained cult status as one of the most romantic lesbian romances of all time.

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Film: The Party

Thu 19 Jul | 2.00pm

Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) has just been appointed to a key ministerial position in the shadow cabinet, she and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) invite a handful of friends over to celebrate but things go seriously awry when Bill makes an announcement that upends the whole affair.

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