From September 30th, those imaginative people at Access Cinema are to focus their attention on the southern Mediterranean with a season of films. Film programmer Maretta Dillon has come up with three representative films. “The selected films this year are by no means definitive. How could they be in such a diverse, complex and exciting region? But they do give a welcome insight into the culture, interests and hopes of this challenging area,” Dillon said.
Merzak Allouache’s The Repentant, from Algeria, examines that country’s policy of granting amnesty to any terrorist who repented his crimes. The picture won the Europa Cinemas Label at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. On
the Edge, a Moroccan production, follows four Tangiers women as they seek a better life. Adila Bendimerad, the lead actress from On the Edge, will travel to each of Access’s three venues to speak with lucky punters.
The most prestigious release is probably Joseph Cedar’s Footnote. The Israeli film – a serious comedy concerning an academic caught up in farcical confusion – won the best screenplay award at Cannes in 2011, but has inexplicably struggled to receive distribution.
Each of the three pictures will be screening at Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick, the Galway Town Hall Theatre and the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray. See accesscinema.ie.
