Cinecity 2024

Unmissable film festival returns to Brighton

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The 22^nd edition of Brighton’s independent film festival comes to venues across the city and Lewes on Fri 8 – Sun 17 Nov. This annual celebration of cinema and the big screen experience features the very best in international cinema with a diverse programme of premieres and previews. treasures from the archive, artists’ moving image, talks and special events. The festival gives audiences first sight of highly anticipated titles ahead of UK release and showcases many others brought to Brighton from around the world for one-off screenings.  

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Presented with the support of the BFI Film Audience Network, CINECITY is the region’s biggest celebration of cinema. Patrons include Nick Cave and Ben Wheatley. Events are taking place at venues like Duke of York’s Picturehouse, The Depot, Fabrica, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Duke’s at Komedia and Horatio’s Bar.

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This year there is a free exhibition at Fabrica and a special programme strand celebrating the cinema of Ukraine past and present, that also expresses solidarity with the country at this critical time.

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CINECITY opens and closes with previews of two eagerly awaited films, both tipped for success in the awards season. The festival opens on Fri 8 Nov, with the witty and heartfelt A Real Pain starring Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg as two estranged cousins who travel to Poland to pay their respects to their Jewish grandmother. The festival closes on Sun 17 Nov with Nightbitch starring Amy Adams and directed by Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

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The Ukraine on Screen strand will feature a set of screenings and special events around the work of two pioneers connected to Ukrainian cinema, Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Sergei Parajanov, and programmes of new short films specially curated by Kyiv International Short Film Festival. Highlights include a new live soundtrack to Dovzhenko’s silent classic Earth (Zemlya), made in 1930. One of cinema’s supreme visual masterpieces, it’s a uniquely poetic cinema of the countryside. Ukrainian musicians Misha Kalinin (electric guitar) and Roksana Smirnova (piano) perform a new live soundtrack on Wed 13 Nov, adding new dimensions to the iconic close-ups and sweeping landscapes. 

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To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, we celebrate the enduring legacy of visionary director Sergei Parajanov. Born in Georgia to Armenian parents, Parajanov spent most of his working life in Ukraine. He once declared: ‘I am an Armenian, born in Tbilisi, incarcerated in a Russian prison for being a Ukrainian nationalist’. 

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The Temple of Cinema #1: Sayat Nova Outtakes exhibition at Fabrica, which runs until Sun 10 Nov, has repurposed over three hours of newly scanned, unseen film footage and camera tests from Parajanov’s masterpiece The Colour of Pomegranates (1969). 

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Described by Martin Scorsese as like ‘opening a door and walking into another dimension, where time has stopped and beauty has been unleashed’, the film was inspired by the life and work of 18th-century Armenian poet and musician Sayat Nova. Never seen before in the UK, this stunning exhibition presents these rare moving images embedded in a series of specially constructed platforms containing 24 monitors. 

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The exhibition is complemented by a brand-new restoration of Parajanov’s classic Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) on Sun 10 Nov - a highly colourful and beguiling mix of folklore and dream-like mysticism set in southwestern Ukraine. It’ll be screened with Kyiv Frescoes (1966), a series of screen tests collaged together after the feature production was terminated by the Russian authorities and they destroyed all his negatives. 

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In a special collaboration, Kyiv International Short Film Festival curated two programmes for CINECITY of recent short films made by Ukrainian directors, home and abroad on Sat 16 Nov.

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CINECITY also presents a host of award-winning international films all screening in the region for the first time ahead of UK release. There are feature films from countries including Argentina, Brazil, India, Iran, Laos, Algeria, Belarus, Latvia, Iceland, Denmark and Canada. Just some of the highlights include: 

Cannes Grand Prix-winner the Mumbai-set drama All We Imagine As Light; the latest feature from renowned UK auteur Mike Leigh, Hard Truths (not on UK release until 2025); papal thriller Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front); rural Irish drama Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan; the black comedy Rumours with Cate Blanchett and the award-winning animated feature from Latvia, Flow.

Documentary highlights include the UK premiere of Flowers of Ukraine which depicts 67-year-old Natalia’s rebellious spirit and humour as she sets out to protect her land from property developers and then the Russian invaders. Also screening the stunning documentary Mother Vera about an unorthodox young nun in Belarus, and Birdsong, about one man’s mission to record the sound of every species of bird in Ireland.

Accomplished Ukrainian composer and pianist Roksana Smirnova takes to the stage with long-term collaborator and countryman Misha Kalinin to provide a powerful and evocative live score to silent classic Earth on Wed 13 Nov 8pm

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Harry Smith (1923–1991) was a great American eccentric, experimental filmmaker, musicologist, graphic designer, bohemian and anthropologist. He was also a collector of found objects and sounds. The Anthology of American Folk Music is perhaps his most famous contribution. British artist Robin Rimbaud, also known as Scanner, performs a live soundtrack to Smith's films Early Abstractions (1946–57) and Untitled Seminole Patchwork (1965–66) on Fri 15 Nov .

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Acclaimed filmmaker Chris Smith (Wham!, Fyre) captures the gloriously radical spirit of cult band Devo over their 50-year career. Sat 9 Nov matinee

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Pavements, an examination of the iconic 1990s indie band Pavement is part-documentary, part-biopic, part-stage musical – but all Pavement is being screened on Sat 9 Nov.

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The best local film-making talent also features as CINECITY presents the premiere of The Captain directed by Brighton-based Jamie Patterson. Starring Patrick Bergin as a retired sea captain who strikes up an unlikely friendship with his Greek caregiver, Leni, sparking a journey of self-discovery for them both. Shot entirely on location in Brighton, The Captain was created by local production company Jump Start Productions in association with MetFilm School Brighton. The film championed new talent and gave many students an opportunity to gain invaluable production experience.

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CINECITY comes to Brighton & Hove and Lewes on Fri 8 – Sun 17 Nov. Tickets are available to book now. For full programme details, visit: www.cine-city.co.uk

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