The Aldeburgh Documentary Festival
A small but worthwhile festival on the Suffolk coast that punches well above its weight. Robert Peston leads a discussion following My Nazi Legacy and Natasha Walter chairs a debate on 21st-century womanhood following India’s Daughter, on the rape and murder of a Delhi bus passenger in 2012. Among the film-makers, Hubert Sauper presents We Come As Friends, his incendiary tour of wartorn South Sudan, and Rachel Shabi’s Speed Sisters joins Palestine’s all-female racing team.
Aldeburgh Cinema, Fri to 15 Nov
Cine-City, Brighton
It is occasionally referred to as London on Sea and, in some ways, Brighton’s main film event is a smaller cousin of London’s LFF, except with sea air and smaller crowds. There’s a similar slate of forthcoming titles from the festival/Oscar/indie circuit (Cannes winner Dheepan, 17th-century US horror The Witch and punk siege thriller Green Room are highlights). That’s only half the story, though. The festival’s commendable support of art documentaries and artists’ cinema continues, led by a free, continuous 24-hour celebration of the BBC’s Arena at the University of Brighton Gallery. There are romantic films playing in the Royal Pavilion. And, as always, plenty of new works, from veterans such as Terence Davies and Peter Greenaway and local heroes Ben Wheatley and Grant Gee, who will be here for Q&As: Gee with his Orhan Pamuk collaboration Innocence Of Memories, Wheatley with his dystopian thriller High Rise.
UK Jewish Film Festival, Nationwide
The ever-expanding festival boasts 80 films and 50 UK premieres, including a host of features packed with star names Jewish, non-Jewish and “never really thought about whether they were Jewish or not”. Mark Strong and Vera Farmiga lead wartime Romanian-Jewish heist comedy Closer To The Moon while Peter Sarsgaard plays notorious psychologist Stanley Milgram in Experimenter. Sarah Silverman gets serious in I Smile Back, and Salma Hayek and Adrien Brody anchor Iranian-Jewish drama Septembers Of Shiraz. Out of the limelight, there are debut features, documentaries on Jewish history, politics and culture and a preview of Fauda, the Israeli-Palestinian show that could be the next Homeland.
Underground Film Club/Birdes Crazy Golf Club, London
If the atmosphere of a subterranean pop-up cinema with a programme of recent and classic movies isn’t enough, then how about a round of crazy golf? The creators of the Rooftop Film Club have bunkered down for the winter and transformed Waterloo’s Old Vic tunnels into a novel night out. The cinema offers cult classics, new and recent titles like Inside Out and Mad Max: Fury Road, and live theatre broadcasts of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet and James Franco and Chris O’Dowd’s Of Mice And Men. The nine-hole golf course (ticketed separately) sounds more seaside resort than country club, albeit with an urban flavour – and a challenging 5ft drop on to “the nerve-wracking sixth hole”, we’re told.
