Film Screenings - Abu Dhabi Film Festival at The Space in April
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is back at The Space this month with a line up of emotionally charged films. The theme this month is "Mother and Son".
Directors Andrey Zvyagintsev, Juan Antonio Bayona, Keisuke Kinoshita and Lynne Ramsay create remarkable experiences in these films about mothers grappling with their own feelings of grief, love and responsibility.
These four films feature stunning performances from actresses Nadezhda Markina, Naomi Watts, Kinuyo Tanaka, and Tilda Swinton as mothers facing impossible choices when it comes to their sons.
Below is the line up of films. All screenings are free, but you must RSVP in advance. Screenings start at 7pm at The Space in Abu Dhabi.
Monday, 7th April 2014
Elena, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (2011)
15+ | 109 minutes | Russian with English subtitles
Elena and Vladimir have met late in life and each one has children from previous marriages. Elena's son is unemployed, unable to support his own family and he is constantly asking Elena for money. Vladimir's daughter is a careless young woman who has a distant relationship with her father.
A heart attack puts Vladimir in hospital, where a brief but somehow tender reunion with his daughter leads him to make an important decision: she will be the only heiress of his wealth.
Monday, 14th April 2014
The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (2012)
G | 114 minutes | English
Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) are on a family Christmas vacation in Thailand, enjoying their beachfront resort when their world is suddenly turned upside down.
Unbeknownst to them, a huge earthquake across the ocean has triggered a massive tsunami ... one of the most devastating natural catastrophes on record. It is based on the real experiences of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. This is their story.
Monday, 21st April 2014
The Ballad of Narayama, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita (1958)
G | 98 minutes | Japanese with English subtitles
This haunting version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their 70th year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die.
The sacrificial elder at the center of the tale is Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka), a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife.
Monday, 28th April 2014
We Need to Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay (2011)
15+ | 112 minutes | English
Eva (Tilda Swinton) puts her ambitions and career aside to give birth to Kevin (Ezra Miller). The relationship between mother and son is difficult from the very first years. When Kevin is 15, he does something irrational and unforgivable in the eyes of the entire community.
Eva grapples with her own feelings of grief and responsibility as this suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller explores the fractious relationship between a mother and her son.