LIDF

Day 4. Programme. 2nd December

Venue: Close-Up Cinema and bar (https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com), 97 Sclater Street, London E1 6HR. Home also to Vertigo magazine and a library of 20,000 films and books making Close-Up the most comprehensive independent film resource in London.

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11.00
Shorts 7. 
Freedom Fighters | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | 2017 | Pakistan | 33min
Pakistan is routinely ranked as the third most dangerous country in the world for women. “Freedom Fighters” follows three women who are fighting for equal rights in a conservative culture where wives and daughters are subject to violence at the hands of men and treated as second-class citizens.
International Premiere

13 Seconds | Milad Tangshir | 2018 | Iran | 10min
In November 2017 a devastating earthquake hit Iran. It lasted only 13 seconds, enough time to lose everything.
World Premiere

Reflections of a Syrian Artist | Linda McDonald Cairns | 2018 | Syria | 8min
Separated by war a Scottish filmmaker and a Syrian artist utilise social media to make a remote documentary. Giving Nouman Issa a voice in which he reflects on the profound impact the war has had on his art and his country.
World Premiere

The Woman Who Turns into a Castle | Kathrin Steinbacher | 2018 | Austria | 4min
An animated documentary about a woman who turns into a castle based on an Oliver Sacks case study.

12.15
Hanaa | Giuseppe Carrieri | 2017 | Italy | 82min
In India a young girl has been forced to marry because her horoscope said that that was the only way for her to survive. In Nigeria a young girl has been raped by Boko Haram’s soldiers and one night she has tried to escape her kidnappers. In Peru a young girl has become a young mother. In Syria, because of the war, a girl has been sold to the best bidder. Their four destinies will inevitably interweave, starting with the name that they all share: Hanaa.
UK Premiere

14.00
Shorts 8.
The Letter Painter (De Letterschilder) | Mirjam van Veelen | 2017 | The Netherlands | 11min
An 80-year old Amsterdam Master Letter Painter paints in a serene setting, on a snow-white silent Saturday He paints quotes from Franz Kafka, as well as John Grisham, and during the painting process the story of his traumatic youth emerges. An aesthetic, poetic documentary portrait with an audio track that consists of just the voice of the painter, his crayon on the wall and the washing of his brush.
European Premiere

Enzo | Serena Porcher-Carli | 2017 | France | 7min
Serena Porcher-Carli is a young photographer who questions cultural, political and social subjects with an intimate, subjective and local vision
UK Premiere
Jury Prize, RISC International Festival Marseille

Picking up the Pieces | Sebastian Feehan/Josh Bamford | 2018 | UK/British Virgin Islands | 7min
Exploring family, love and human resilience, we follow John and Quiandre as they pick up the pieces of their lives destroyed by Hurricane Irma – the most powerful storm ever to hit the Caribbean.
World Premiere

Meeting (Takimi) | Durim Kryeziu | 2018 | Kosovo | 25min
A Director of a cultural institution has an appointment with some investments, he has prepared the agreement, speech and cocktails, but there is only one thing he doesn’t have ….
UK Premiere

15.00
Outsiders (Fuori Campo) | Collettivo Melkanaa | 2017 | Italy | 72min
Liberi Nantes FC is a football team formed by refugees and asylum-seekers which takes part in the third division of the Italian League. As refugees they are not allowed to win the cup because they’re not in possession of the documents required by the Italian Football Federation. The film recounts the summer story of 3 African boys.
UK Premiere

16.30
UK Shorts
Nights Out | Li Gong | 2018 | UK | 15min
47-year-old Stephen has spent half of his life living on the streets with his dog Sasha as the only companion. As Sasha is getting older, Stephen has to face up to the fact that he will be left alone one day.
London Premiere

Passing Tides | Roisin Burns | 2018 | UK | 10min
About former The Coral musician Bill Ryder-Jones; an intimate portrait of them artist and the city of Birkenhead where he grew up.
UK Premiere

Coda | Sean Leonard | 2018 | UK | 5min
A dancer reflects on a career cut short by injury.
World Premiere

To be a Torero | Inma de Reyes | 2017 | Scotland | 14min
Borja is a 12 year old boy growing up in a traditional small town in Spain. His unemployed mother and grandfather sign him up to the School of Bullfighting, hoping that one day he can bring wealth to the family by becoming a famous torero.
World Premiere

18.00
The Strawberry Place (El lugar de las fresas) | Maite Vitoria Daneris | 2013 | Italy/Spain | 90min
Lina is seventy years old and has always been a farmer. Every morning, she leaves San Mauro, the ‘strawberry town’ and goes to Europe’s biggest open-air market, Porta Palazzo in Turin, where she sells her fruits and vegetables. Lina doesn’t have any children but she does have five dogs and a husband, who wishes she would stop working, but his request is ignored. Until one day, at the market, she meets Hassan, a young Moroccan immigrant who is looking for a job.
UK Premiere
Best Documentary, Festival de Cine Documental de ALCANCES
Jury Grand Prize, Best Documentary, International Festival of Italian Cinema, Annecy
Best Documentary, SguardiAltrove Milan
Best Documentary, Torino Film Festival, Turin

20.00
The Disciples – A Street Opera | Ramón Gieling | 2018 | The Netherlands | 90min 
Twenty homeless people, one opera. The opera ‘The Disciples – a street opera’ – inspired by Luis Buñuel’s Los Olvidados has the members of the Amsterdam roof and homeless choir ‘De Straatklinkers’ play a violent, criminal version of themselves. The rehearsal process and the off-the-record portraits of the unskilled singers finally lead to the opera in which they, as the Apostles of Nothingness, expose their souls.
UK Premiere
3 Golden Calf Nominations, Amsterdam
Golden Gate Award, San Francisco
Best Documentary Cinestrat 2009, Buenos Aires
Best Documentary Figeira da Foz
Nomination Prix d’Italia and Prix d’Europe