This month’s slate of films is dedicated to the compelling power of finding the unseen. Whether a luminary filmmaker turning her gaze on the often-forgotten communities of France, a community garden in South Central Los Angeles, a sequestered Irish boarding school or a surfing community in the Gaza Strip.
Faces Places
Pioneer of the French New Wave, Agnes Varda’s last major work is a journey around France in a van with the elusive photographer JR. The unusual pair create huge artworks incorporating local residents and industrial, and sometimes natural, structures in a way that highlights humanity, the shifting economic and political influences in some of France’s least-seen places.
Gaza Surf Club
Hemmed in by land borders and bombarded by oppressive politics and with decades of war dominating their shared history, a group of Palestinians turn to the waves of the Mediterranean for escape. Director Philip Gnadt follows several surfers, and largely ignores politics to look at the lure of the waves and the challenges they face.
The Garden
Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s Oscar-nominated account of the revolutionary power of a community garden is a surprising tale of resourcefulness, fortitude and, ultimately, a battle for justice against local politicians who are intent on its destruction. In choosing to focus on the racial and social elements, the film becomes a story much bigger than it initially seems.
School Life
Ireland’s only primary-age boarding school, Headfort, is a very strange but life-affirming place. Run by husband and wife teaching couple John and Amanda Leyden, who are nearing the end of their careers, director Neasa Ní Chianáin follows an academic year at the idyllic stately home-cum-school as they contemplate a life in education, and the future of their transient students.
On an Unknown Beach
This self described “speculative documentary” explores the idea of ruination and rebuilding by focusing on the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, coral damage off the New Zealand coast and the psychological consequences of addiction. Co-directors Summer Agnew and Adam Luxton combine visually arresting footage with striking sound design to create something wholly original.
