Chichester Film Festival
There’s a decidedly eastern European flavour to this year’s festival, spearheaded by a selection of Russian films. These bring such cultural icons as Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin, 28 Aug), Anton Chekhov (biopic The Chekhov brothers, 28 & 30 Aug), Kazimir Malevich (in art biopic Chagall-Malevich, 17 & 26 Aug) and, er, Ralph Fiennes – who apparently learned Russian for his role in Two Women (30 Aug), a new adaptation of Turgenev’s 19th-century drama. There are modern Russian stories, too, starting with a series of films by Andrei “Leviathan” Zvyagintsev (25 to 28 Aug), plus focuses on Polish and Czech cinema.
Various venues, to 30 Aug
A (Cumber) Batch Of Benedict, London
Couldn’t get tickets for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet at the Barbican (to 31 Oct)? Then join the queue (does that make you a queue Cumber?). Anticipating the sell-out, the venue at least provides an overflow facility for thwarted Cumberbatcharians (or whatever his devotees are calling themselves these days). Die-hard fans have probably already worn out their DVDs of Star Trek Into Darkness (Sat) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (30 Aug) but this season also puts on a selection of the actor’s small-screen works; acclaimed 2007 TV movie Stuart: A Life Backwards (15 Aug), for instance, a reverse biography of an alcoholic (played by Tom Hardy). You can also catch Cumberbatch’s pre-Redmayne Hawking (23 Aug), there’s a marathon session of the Parade’s End miniseries (16 Aug), and, of course, plenty of Sherlock – a triple bill of the closing “cliffhanger” episodes from each series (Thu).
Barbican Centre, EC2, Sat to 30 Aug
Vittorio De Sica, London
If you know one thing about De Sica, it’s probably his 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves, that gorgeously lucid tale of postwar hardship. A fixture on “greatest movies ever made” lists, Bicycle Thieves alone would seal his place in film history, but there’s much more: De Sica directed more than 30 features, forging Italy’s hugely influential neorealist movement and winning four Oscars. Highlights here include Bicycle Thieves’ predecessor Shoeshine (Thu & 15 Aug) and Sophia Loren/Marcello Mastroianni hits Marriage Italian Style (29 & 31 Aug) and Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow, (24 & 29 Aug). De Sica was an actor before he started directing, appearing in more than 150 films, from A Farewell To Arms to Warhol’s trashy Blood For Dracula – sadly no room for those two here.
BFI Southbank, SE1, to 30 Aug
Pout Fest Tour, Nationwide
Acclaimed Australian transgender drama 52 Tuesdays is released this week, and accompanying it at select venues is this small selection of films, also dealing with themes of LGBT identity and families. Dressed As A Girl, as you might expect, strips away the artifice and lingerie of the East End’s “alternative drag scene”, while Liverpool-set Soft Lad follows a young dancer having a complicated affair with his sister’s husband (director Leon Lopez gives a Q&A at HOME, Manchester, Wed). Meanwhile risk-taking South Korean drama A Girl At My Door sees Bae Doona (last seen in Jupiter Ascending) as a rural cop who takes a troubled girl under her wing.
Various venues, to 20 Oct
