The doors are open! Just occasionally on Rialto Channel, we like to share some of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed feature films and documentaries that show everyday on the channel with ALL direct, domestic SKY basic package subscribers. If you are one of these subscribers then you’ve got until April 30^thto watch Rialto Channel, so tell your friends and family and enjoy the last couple of days!

Here are a few of my picks for the week...

The doors are open! Just occasionally on Rialto Channel, we like to share some of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed feature films and documentaries that show everyday on the channel with ALL direct, domestic SKY basic package subscribers. If you are one of these subscribers then you’ve got until April 30^th to watch Rialto Channel, so tell your friends and family and enjoy the last couple of days!
 

Here are a few of my highlights for the week:

THE WELL DIGGER'S DAUGHTER

Starring: Daniel Auteuil

Directed by: Daniel Auteuil

Screening: Tuesday 30^th April, 8.30pm

In 1986 actor Daniel Auteuil stared in director Claude Berri’s two-part adaptation of 1930’s and 40’s French filmmaker Marcel Pagnol’s Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring. It obviously made an impression on Auteuil, because in 2011 he returned to the work of Marcel Pagnol for his directing debut, remaking the 1940 family drama The Well Digger’s Daughter. He’s done a lovely job recreating this story about a father trying to deal with his angelic 18-year-old daughter’s shock pregnancy after the wealthy son of a shopkeeper seduces her. Much of the dialogue and action is the same as the original but, in contrast to the original black and white, Auteuil’s colourful, sun-streaked film adds warmth and plenty of dappled light to this tale of social conflict.

THE MEXICAN SUITCASE

Genre: Documentary

Directed by: Trisha Ziff

Screening: Thursday 2^nd May, 8.30pm

The Mexican Suitcase tells the story of the discovery of a suitcase found in a wardrobe in Mexico City, 2007 that contained 4,500 lost photographic negatives belonging to three legendary photojournalists; Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David "Chim" Seymour. The suitcase had disappeared during the chaos of WWII and has been very much sought after since, as it contained images captured by these photographers of the Spanish Civil War. Capa, his wife Gerda and Seymour were some of the first photographers to capture life on the front line, and while this film celebrates their pioneering contribution to photojournalist, it also about Spain and the long aftermath of it’s Civil War.

Trisha Ziff is a documentary maker and curator of photography, and was personally involved in helping the securing the Mexican Suitcase for the International Centre of Photography in New York City.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

Starring: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch

Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino

Screening: Saturday 4^th May, 8.30pm

Sean Penn channels Robert Smith and Iggy Pop to perfection in this slow burning, compelling road trip flick. The role of Cheyenne, a wealthy former rock star that takes up his deceased father’s vindictive mission to find the Nazi war criminal who tormented him, was written specifically for Penn after he mentioned to writer/director Paolo Sorrentino during the Festival de Cannes one year that he’d love to work with him one day. This Must Be The Place competed at the Festival de Cannes in 2011, and features a musical score from Talking Head’s David Byrne. The result is unusual, engaging and unpredictable journey of revenge.