Beyond Borders, Edinburgh
The ambitions of Beyond Borders – to facilitate wider international cultural exchange – extend to the film strand of this festival: for instance, 7 Days In Syria (Thu) concerns Newsweek’s Middle East editor Janine di Giovanni, who risked her life to report on the country. Also showing are Drone (Tue), about the CIA’s secret war, and God Is Not Working On Sunday (5 Sep), in which activists Godelieve and Florida represent Rwandan women who have no access to education or money.
Filmhouse Cinema, Tue to 5 Sep
Cambridge Film Festival
The Cambridge film festival, which this year marks the 30th anniversary of the appointment of Tony Jones as director, is a reliably diverse affair, mixing eye-catching previews with eclectic homegrown strands. In the former category is 99 Homes (6 Sep), a post-financial collapse drama that stars Andrew Garfield as a homeless man who accepts a job with the estate broker who evicted him. Not coming to a cinema near you, but worth seeking out, is a celebration of the BBC’s Arena arts documentaries, as well as a project created by Mark Cousins for this festival: Scene By Scene: A Mash Up For The Love Of Film (Fri), which harks back to his cherished BBC interview series. Brian May will be along for a special evening that will include Jason Jameson and James Hall’s 3D short One Night In Hell (Fri), for which he’s supplied the music, and other rarities. A kind of magic? Decide for yourself.
Various venues, Thu to 13 Sep
Scalarama, Nationwide
The Scala, London’s greatest repertory cinema, may sadly be long dead, but Scalarama, the festival launched in its name, lives on. The idea is to push the Scala’s pioneering, playful and provocative brand of film programming into the pop-up era. This year’s lucky dip of goodies across the UK includes everything from a zombie all-nighter (5 Sep) and the “video nasty” Nightmares In A Damaged Brain (6 Sep) to Sergio Leone’s extended cut of Once Upon A Time In America (7 Sep) and a season of movies directed by women. The latter features the work of Shirley Clarke, notably her 1967 film Portrait Of Jason (8 Sep), a provocative and abrasive documentary about the gay, African-American hustler Jason Holliday.
Various venues, Tue to 30 Sep
John Waters, London
Long before he achieved respectability – or at least the nearest he was ever going to get – John Waters’s reputation as a purveyor of cheerfully disreputable filth was assured. The director’s 1972 cult favourite Pink Flamingos (6 Sep) sealed the deal: his regular star Divine plays Babs Johnson, a contender for the title of filthiest person alive, and what she does to get it is the sort of thing nobody should try at home, at least not without brushing their teeth immediately after. This retrospective, from early shorts such as Hag In A Black Leather Jacket (19 & 20 Sep) to deliriously trashy features such as Female Trouble (23 Sep), plus an onstage interview with Waters himself (18 Sep), promises to be a hoot.
BFI Southbank, Tue to 6 Oct
