INDEPENDENT FILM FOR INDEPENDENT MINDS

At the start of the year the film industry does what most of us do; it looks back over the past year and celebrates, and it begins looking forward the year ahead and thinking about what’s next.

We have a treat for you this week, a month or so after we’ve all enjoyed spending Christmas with family and friends Rialto offers a rather different perspective on Christmas, and its mythical characters.

Pedro Almodovar is arguable the greatest and most internationally respected director to emerge from Spain, since Buñuel, and during February we celebrate his work in our Director’s Series screening on Sunday evenings.

Top of the list this week is Pedro Almodovar’s melodramatic thriller The Skin I Live In. With a truck load of awards and accolades to its name, this sexy, twisted tale was one of the must see films of 2012, and screens this Saturday, 2^nd February, at 8.30pm.

January is a busy time to be in the movie business. It’s the middle of the Awards season (did anyone predict Argo’s success at the Golden Globes last week) and marks the beginning of a whole new year of Film Festivals and all the promise and expectation this brings.

If you like a good romance, but find little satisfaction in the formulaic films churned out by Hollywood, then you must try Medianeras (Tuesday 22^nd January, 8.30pm).

As I mentioned in my blog at the beginning of the week, I am looking at the bees in my back garden with a new level of admiration and concern after watching the documentary Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?.

I’m looking at the bees in my garden with a whole new level of respect and concern. I’m even letting my herbs go to seed, and it’s all thanks to the documentary Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? (Thursday 17^th January, 8.30pm).

Well, the nominees are pretty much as expected, and yet there are just enough snubs and surprises here to make this awards race exciting.

While Hollywood anxiously waits for tomorrow’s announcement of the 2013 Academy Award nominees, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced their film nominations for 2013. The BAFTA’s take place in London on February 10^th and will be hosted by Stephen Fry.