Author: Roger Dodger
HOMEWARD
N/C 14+ HOMEWARD
2019 | Dir Nariman Aliev | 96 mins | 
Ukraine
Mustafa (Akhtem Seitablayev) and his college-aged son, Alim (Remzi Bilyalov) have set out to a morgue in Kyiv to recover the body of Alim’s older brother, Nazim, yet another casualty of the war with Russia. Although Nazim had been living in Kyiv with his Orthodox wife, Oleysa, Mustafa is insistent that his son is given a traditional Muslim burial beside his mother’s grave in Crimea, and excludes Oleysa from the road-trip.
Mustafa is a hot-tempered and severe. There is also tension between father and son as city-life has exacerbated the generational gap between Mustafa and Alim. However, one commonality unites them – their shared language of Crimean Tatar. Along the way, they face many obstacles, not least of which is a decomposing cadaver, and Alim is hard-pressed to accept his father’s determination to uphold tradition at all costs. However, the on-going challenges encourage the pair to better understand each other and profoundly impacts their relationship.
Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar and Russian with English subtitles.
The David Lean Cinema shares a proportion of the ticket price with the distributor when purchased through the link on this page.
Available to watch for 48 hours after purchase.
Distributor: New Wave Films – no account required.
“Masterfully shot, this film is simultaneously telling and dialogue-sparse, as the characters switch between four different languages and the even most insignificant objects have a profound narrative purpose”. Maria Muzdybaeva in The Calvert Journal
“An eloquent and deeply felt movie that, dispensing entirely with any music score, conveys a complex of emotions all the more potent for being so starkly and unaffectedly presented.” Philip Kemp, Sight and Sound.
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SOFIA
N/C 15+ SOFIA
2018 | Dir Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloïsi | 80 mins | 
Belgium | 
Morocco
The breaking of her waters at a family gathering mean that 20-yr-old Sofia, daughter of a well-to-do Casablanca family, can no longer deny, to herself or anyone else, that she is pregnant. This will usher in serious consequences in a country – Morocco – where sex out of wedlock is an imprisonable offence. Whisked away from the party by her cousin, she gives birth in a hospital which admits her on condition that she produce her husband within 24 hours or face the consequences.
Arabic and French with English subtitles.
“It’s rare to leave the cinema wishing a 90-minute film was longer, but Meryem Benm’Barek’s Sofia shows enough promise to demand a more substantial story… Benm’Barek is brilliant at capturing the unspoken body language that communicates so much…” Tom Bond – One Room With A View
As a thank you for supporting us, you will get 25% off each ticket purchase. Just enter DLYS at checkout. You will also be supporting the David Lean Cinema as we get a share of every ticket sold using this promo code.
Watch at home now for £7.49 (using promo code DLYS). Stream available for 48 hours after play started.
Distributor: YourScreen – create account or login.
Film run ends on 23 May 2021.
“Meryem Benm’Barek’s smart debut lays bare the scandalous consequences for a Casablanca woman who finds herself single and pregnant.” – Cath Clarke in The Guardian
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SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS
SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS
2020 | Dir Lisa Rovner | 84 mins | 
UK
Think of early electronic music and you’ll likely see men pushing buttons, knobs, and boundaries. While electronic music is often perceived as a boys club, the truth is from the very beginning women have been integral in inventing the devices, techniques and tropes that would define the shape of sound for years to come.
The history of women has been a history of silence. Recent protests calling for greater recognition of women’s achievements have swept across politics, business, even Hollywood. The world of music is no exception.
The remarkable world of electronic music has been constantly evolving since its inception in the early 20th century. From the unlimited possibilities of digital synthesisers, to the recent analog recording revival; from the impossibly perfect pitch of Auto-Tune, to the democratisation of music-making for a generation of ‘bedroom’ producers – each of these extraordinary developments is directly connected to the work and artistry of the women featured in “Sisters with Transistors.”
The David Lean Cinema shares a proportion of the ticket price with the distributor when purchased through the link on this page.
Available to watch for 48 hours after purchase.
Distributor: Modern Films – no account required.
Edith Bowman chats to director Lisa Rovner here.
Anita Rani interviews director Lisa Rovner and the musician Bishy on Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4 here.
Anna Bogutskaya reviews the film on BBC 5Live’s Film Review programme.
“The unsung trailblazers behind electronic music are paid harmonic homage in Lisa Rovner’s enchanting documentary”. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
This film contains a sequence of flashing lights which might affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.
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HOMEWARD EMBED
SISTERS-EMBED
GROUNDSWELL EMBED
GROUNDSWELL
N/C 12+ GROUNDSWELL
2021 | Dir Johnny Gogan | 80 mins | 
Ireland
Activist and filmmaker Johnny Gogan’s Groundswell provides a uniquely personal insight into how Ireland banned the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and how Northern Ireland still faces the prospect.
Told through the eyes of grassroots activists in County Leitrim and across the border in Fermanagh, and filmed over ten years, Gogan’s camera follows a community who are opposing the work of the company Tamboran Resources as they begin operations on one side of the border before diverting to the other.
The David Lean Cinema shares a proportion of the ticket price with the distributor when purchased through the link on this page.
Available to watch for 48 hours after purchase.
Distributor: Tull Stories – no account required.
“A lesson to communities and campaigners there and everywhere else to stay vigilant.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
“A triumphant, transparent and aesthetically magnificent account of the loving relationship between people and their land, and the fight to protect it from the powerful and the greedy.” Emma Kiely, The Upcoming
“We are getting our head inside the tent. Once you get the head in, the body follows.” Mark Ruffalo.
Filmed by Johnny Gogan over a ten year period and in New York and Pennsylvania in March just before the lockdown, the film includes over forty contributions from people on both sides of the Atlantic involved in the story of how Ireland banned fracking. Steve Wickham provides a powerful score with vocals from Tara Baoth Mooney; Niall Flynn’s aerial photography captures that border landscape people were so keen to protect; Editor Patrick O’Rourke draws together a cast of hundreds and a rich and diverse range of archive covering the campaign.
“Johnny Gogan’s documentary highlights the misconceived plans of corporations that hoped to avoid protesters.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
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SONG WITHOUT A NAME
SONG WITHOUT A NAME
2019 | Dir Melina León | 97 mins | 
Peru
Peru in 1988. The country is in the grip of a devastating political crisis. Georgina, a young woman from the Andes, has her newborn daughter stolen, after giving birth at a fake health clinic. The desperate search for her baby leads her to Pedro, a young and tenacious investigative journalist
who will stop at nothing to get to the truth. Based on a true story.
Song Without a Name, nominated for the prestigious Golden Camera at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is a bruisingly evocative and almost unbearably moving first feature film from León. Evocatively filmed in stark black and white, it features a poignant performance from newcomer Pamela Mendoza as the beleaguered mother, with Tommy Párraga beautifully measured as the journalist hitting endless Kafkaesque
dead ends, as he burrows into the corruption and strife of a country in turmoil. Spanish with English subtitles.
Distributor: Sovereign Films. Vimeo account required.
The David Lean Cinema receives a share of the ticket price.
Peru’s Selection for the International Feature Film Award at the 2021 Academy Awards
“This is a gripping story that in a Hollywood film would be wrapped up neatly and upliftingly. It’s a tough watch but it has tragic force”. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
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VEINS OF THE WORLD
N/C 12+ VEINS OF THE WORLD
2020 | Dir Byambasuren Davaa | 96mins | 
Germany | 
Mongolia
In a province in the middle of the Mongolian steppe, 11-year old Amra lives a traditional nomad life with his mother Zaya, father Erdene and little sister Altaa. While Zaya takes care of the flock, Erdene works as a mechanic and sells Zaya’s homemade cheese at the local market. Their peaceful routine is threatened by the encroachment of international mining companies, digging for gold and devastating the natural habitat. Erdene is the leader of the last nomads opposing them, and tries to unite and convince his comrades not to accept the compensations the companies have offered. But after Amra’s father dies in a tragic car accident, his mother wants to give up the nomad life and trade the steppe for the city. But Amra refuses and tries to carry on his father’s David vs. Goliath fight with his cleverness and the tools of an 11-year-old boy. English and Mongolian with English subtitles.
As a thank you for supporting us, you will get 25% off each ticket purchase. Just enter DLYS at checkout. You will also be supporting the David Lean Cinema as we get a share of every ticket sold using this promo code. Stream available for 48 hours after play started.
Distributor: YourScreen – create account or login.
Film run ends on 23 May 2021.
Director Byambasuren Davaa (“The Cave of the Yellow Dog”, “The Two Horses of Genghis Khan”) celebrates her fiction feature film debut with drama VEINS OF THE WORLD, which she also scripted. She was already nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary 2005 for “The Story of the Weeping Camel”, sold to over 60 territories. This is her first collaboration with BASIS BERLIN FILMPRODUKTION, who were also proud to be nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar 2019 for their film “Of Fathers and Sons”.
“Byambasuren Davaa’s gorgeous-looking drama examines the rituals and traditions of Mongolia as their very existence comes under threat.” – Phuong Le in The Guardian
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