Film Screening - West is West

West is West, the sequel to the internationally acclaimed East is East is screening this week in Dubai at Cinema City (Arabian Centre) and Reel Cinemas (Dubai Mall). I remember really enjoying East is East (trailer added below), so I'm looking forward to watching the sequel.

Synopsis via BBC Films:

From the same writer (based on autobiographical events) and produced by the same creative team - the sequel takes the Khan family on a journey from Salford, England to rural Pakistan.

Manchester, North of England, 1975. The now much diminished, but still claustrophobic and dysfunctional Khan family continues to struggle for survival. Sajid, the youngest Khan, the runt of the litter, is deep in pubescent crisis under heavy assault both from his father's tyrannical insistence on Pakistani tradition and from the fierce bullies in the schoolyard. So in a last attempt to 'sort him out', his father decides to pack him off to Mrs Khan No.1 and family in the Punjab, the wife and daughters he abandoned 35 years earlier. It is not long before Ella Khan (Mrs Khan No.2), with a small entourage from Salford, England, swiftly follows to sort out the mess, past and present. 

Trailer for East is East

Screening details:
Cinema City (Arabian Centre): 12.15pm, 2.45pm, 5.00pm, 7.15pm, 9.30pm, 11.50pm
Phone: +971 4 284 9500

Reel Cinemas (Dubai Mall): 4.20pm, 8.40pm, 12.55am
Phone: +971 4 449 1988

(But please do check with the website or call the cinema before going because timings do change without notice.)

www.westiswest.com
www.cinemacity.ae
www.reelcinemas.ae

Best of British Films and Emirati Shorts - Week 8

 

In the last week of the British Council's UK Film Season we have two films focusing on women, Made in Dagenham (UK) and Once (United Arab Emirates).

Details:
Dates: Till 15th March 
Venue: The Picturehouse at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall
Timings: 2:05pm, 4.35pm, 7:05pm, 9:35pm, 00:05am
Phone: +971 4 449 1988


Made in Dagenham
A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant where female workers walked out in protest against discrimination. From the director of Calendar Girls, Nigel Cole - the film stars the award winning Sally Hawkins as Rita OGrady who is the catalyst for the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewing machinists which led to the advent of the Equal Pay Act.

Working in extremely impoverished conditions and for long arduous hours, the women at the Ford Dagenham plant finally lay down their tools when they are reclassified as unskilled. With humour, common sense and courage they take on their corporate paymasters, an increasingly belligerent local community, and finally the government itself. The leader of the womens struggle is fast-talking, no nonsense Rita whose fiery temper and occasionally hilarious unpredictability proves to be a match for any of her male opponents, and is echoed by Barbara Castle's struggle in the male-dominated House of Commons.

Once
This short film directed by Nayla Al Khaja takes place on the day when Hamda is to meet her boyfriend Saeed, for the first time. Scared of getting caught and full of excitement at seeing him, we watch Hamda's transformation from girl to beautiful young woman, taking risks and telling lies, in order to find what she imagines must be true love.

 
www.sonyclassics.com/madeindagenham
www.oncethefilm.com
www.naylaalkhaja.com

Best of British Films and Emirati Shorts - Week 4

The fourth week of the British Council's UK Film Season brings us a music and dance themed selection of films with Streetdance (UK) and Heat the Beat 2 (United Arab Emirates).

Details:
Dates: 10th-15th February
Venue: The Picturehouse at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall
Timings: 2:05pm, 4.35pm, 7:05pm, 9:35pm, 00:05am
Phone: +971 4 449 1988

Streetdance
In order to win the Street Dance Championships, a dance crew is forced to work with ballet dancers from the Royal Dance School in exchange for rehearsal space. With no common ground and with passions riding high, they realise they need to find a way to join forces to win. The film features the cream of UK dance talent, including show-stopping performances from Britains Got Talent dance sensations Flawless, Diversity and George Sampson, as well as from Matthew Bourne protégé Richard Winsor and breakthrough Brit actress Nicholas Burley (Donkey Punch, Love & Hate). www.streetdancethemovie.co.uk

HEAT THE BEAT 2
Two brothers founded the first hip hop crew in the UAE. The film charts their journey towards becoming rappers and examines their motivations.

Best of British Films and Emirati Shorts - Week 3

Brassed Off and Sheikh Al Jabal (Mountain Sheikh) are screening during the third week of the UK Film Season brought to us by the British Council.

I went last week and saw Never Let Me Go and glad to say there were no technical problems that I reported two weeks ago. Happy they listened to the complaint and fixed the problem. Also just want to say that Never Let Me Go is a beautiful yet very depressing film and glad I got to see it on the big screen.

Details:
Dates: 3rd-8th February
Venue: The Picturehouse at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall
Timings: 2:05pm, 4.35pm, 7:05pm, 9:35pm, 00:05am
Phone: +971 4 449 1988

Brassed Off
In existence for a 100 years, Grimley Colliery Brass band is as old as the mine. But the miners are now deciding whether to fight to keep the pit open, and the future for town and band looks bleak. Although the arrival of flugelhorn player Gloria injects some life into the players, and bandleader Danny continues to exhort them to continue in the national competition, frictions and pressures are all too evident. And who's side is Gloria actually on?

Sheikh Al Jabal (Mountain Sheikh)
This 11 minutes  film directed by Naser El Yaqoobi depicts the life of an old Emirati man and his indominitable spirit of determination.  

Best of British Films and Emirati Shorts - Week 2

In the second week of the UK Film Season brought to us by the British Council, we have Never Let Me Go which will be preceded by a short film from the UAE called Amal's Cloud.

I talked about my experience of the first week here and I'm glad to say that the British Council got in touch with me saying the problem has been fixed. I will go to The Picturehouse over the next couple of days and hope I won't leave disappointed by the service.

Again, please do spread the word about this mini film festival, it's on till 15th March 2011 with new films every week.

Details:
Dates: 27th January - 1st February
Venue: The Picturehouse at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall
Timings: 2:05pm, 4.35pm, 7:05pm, 9:35pm, 00:05am (but I suggest you call before you go to double check)
Phone: +971 4 449 1988

Never Let Me Go
As children, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow up, they find that they have to come to terms with the haunting reality that awaits them.

Amal's Cloud
Amal waits in the middle of the yard shifting between patience and hope; waiting for the jinx to melt and disappear.

My experience at The Picturehouse

Scenes from Nowhere Boy

My previous post was about the mini British and Emirati film festival brought to us by British Council in Dubai which was good news to me and many film fans here. I went to The Picturehouse (the arthouse cinema at Reel Cinemas in Dubai Mall on Saturday to watch Nowhere Boy and Solo and left feeling disappointed. It wasn't the films, they were very good, but it was lack of care and attention to the projection quality.

Basically, the top part of the two films were cropped off the cinema screen because of projection issues and bad alignment. I had to take a few photographs as evidence to share with you here and the cinema.

I complained during the screening to get it fixed. Nothing changed. After the screening, I spoke to the manager and he blamed the distributor (based on the information from the British Council website, I believe the distributor is Front Row Entertainment).

Scene from SoloScene from Solo

I don't know the technicalities of the projection room, but surely this isn't acceptable. It's not like Reel Cinemas just opened yesterday. They have over 20 screens and if this is the standard, I'm appalled. It's disrespectful to the filmmakers and audience.

Dear British Council, Front Row Entertainment, Reel Cinemas - I don't know who is at fault here, but please sort this out to avoid the same problem over the next seven weeks. We struggle to get non-Hollywood movies to screen at our cinemas, and if this is the effort that goes into this mini film festival, we're better off projecting films on a white sheet in our backyards.

More scenes from Nowhere Boy. See what I mean about the cropped parts at the top of the screen?