Paul MacDonald-Taylor, Eden Court’s Head of Film, introduces our new cinema programme for February.
Some firm favourites from the 2023 Inverness Film Festival are coming back to Eden Court this month. Both Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, and Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, which features Oscar nominated performances by both Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, will be return to our screens. With Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Thingswith Juliette Binoche (my second favourite film of last year’s IFF, you’ll have to wait until the spring for my fav to come back) following towards the end of the month. Two of the screenings of The Taste of Thingswill be followed by a Q+A with Binoche (sadly not in person), recorded last month in London. Also returning is Samsara - a film unlike any other - during which you are asked to close your eyes for the middle section.

One special event we’re taking part in is a nationwide screening of Steve McQueen’s (Hunger, 12 Years a Slave) new film Occupied City: a 4-hour documentary about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam and how it haunts our present and warning us against our possible future. The film will be followed by a live Q+A, from the Barbican in London, with both Steve McQueen and Bianca Stigter, who wrote the book the film is based on. The following week we are showing the multiple Oscar nominated The Zone of Interest, the new film from Jonathan Glazer, about the commandant of Auschwitz and the life he has built for his family in the shadow of the camp.

After these films I’m sure we will all be in need of something a little lighter. We can certainly help you there - rounding out the month will be the new British film Wicked Little Letters, starring Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. Based on a true story where, in a small 1920’s seaside town, some mysterious letters - filled with hilarious profanities - were being sent, and exploring the scandal that ensues. Who is to blame? Come and find out!
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