David Farnor | On 13, Aug 2020

Curzon Home Cinema is hosting live Q&As with filmmakers this spring, as the UK continues to be on lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

The streaming service aims to bring the magic of communal cinema-going to people’s homes with live interviews with star directors undergoing their own personal isolation. Existing Q&As that have taken place since the initiative launched include Nora Fingscheidt talking about System Crasher, Mark Jenkin talking Bait and Haifaa Al Mansour talking The Perfect Candidate. Now, Curzon has confirmed the rest of the line-up, from Joanna Hogg and Tom Burke to Jesse Eisenberg, Asif Kapadia and Andrew Haigh.

To tune in, head to live.curzonhomecinema.com or visit Curzon Home Cinema’s Twitter, Facebook or YouTube page.

Here’s who’s chatting and when:

Calm with Horses – 27th April

Guest: Nick Rowland, Niamh Algar

Arm is a brutal enforcer for the Devers clan, who pretty much run criminal life in this part of Ireland. With his child growing up and a feeling that his life needs to change, he looks for a way to escape. But that’s easier said than done in Nick Rowland’s hard-hitting debut.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Force Majeure – 29th April

Guest: RUBEN OSTLUND

A model Swedish family – handsome businessman Tomas, his wife Ebba and their two beautiful children – are on a skiing holiday at a high-end resort in the French Alps. The sun is shining and the slopes are spectacular, but during lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche suddenly bears down on the happy diners. With people fleeing in all directions and his wife and children in a state of panic, Tomas makes a decision that will shake his marriage to its core and leave him struggling to reclaim his role as family patriarch.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

White Riot – 30th April

Guest: Rubika Shah

Rubika Shah’s energising film charts a vital London protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, prompted by ‘music’s biggest colonialist’ Eric Clapton and his support of racist MP Enoch Powell. White Riot blends fresh interviews with queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. As founder Red Saunders explains: ‘We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika’. The campaign grew from Hoxton fanzine roots to 1978’s huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and of course The Clash, whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR’s message to the masses.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

45 Years – 1st May

Guest: Andrew Haigh

Featuring sensational performances by Berlin Best Actor and Actress prize-winners Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, ’45 Years’ is an intimate, moving and beautifully restrained portrait of a marriage shaken to its core by things left unspoken.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

The Assistant – 2nd May

Guest: Kitty Green

The Assistant follows one day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. Her day is much like any other assistant’s – making coffee, changing the paper in the copy machine, ordering lunch, arranging travel, taking phone messages, onboarding a new hire. As Jane follows her daily routine she, and we, grow increasingly aware of the abuse that insidiously colours every aspect of her work day, an accumulation of degradations against which Jane decides to take a stand, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered.

Start time: 1pm (BST)

Cunningham – 5th May

Guest: Alla Kovgan

A cinematic experience 7 years in the making about legendary American dancer and choreographer, Merce Cunningham, created through weaving together his iconic dances and never-before-seen archival treasures between 1942 and 1972 – an era of risk and discovery for Merce and his collaborators composer John Cage, Andy Warhol and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Camino Skies – 13th May

Guest: Fergus Grady, Noel Smyth

Six souls embark on a historic 800 kilometre Spanish pilgrimage in this heartbreaking and inspiring documentary from directors Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Only You – 27th May

Guest: Harry Wootliff, Josh O’Connor

Director Harry Wootliff and lead actor Josh O’Connor join Mia Bays for a discussion on Only You, a compassionate debut drama about the struggles of a young couple in a vibrant romance.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Only the Animals – 1st June

Guest: Denis Ménochet, Dominik Moll

Franco-German director Dominik Moll returns with another darkly funny thriller that explores the seamier side of middle-class life in the French countryside.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Guest of Honour – 8th June

Guest: Atom Egoyan, David Thewlis

A man’s daughter a high school teacher who is accused of abusing her position of authority with a student. When Veronica rebuffs Jim’s attempts to secure her early release, Jim begins to take out his frustrations through his work as a food inspector.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Days of the Bagnold Summer – 12th June

Guest: Simon Bird, Earl Cave, Monica Dolan

Sue works in a library. Daniel eats crisps and listens to Metallica. This was the summer Daniel was due to spend with his father and his father’s new wife in Florida. But when they cancel his trip at the last minute, Sue and Daniel suddenly face the prospect of six long weeks together.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

 

The Personal History of David Copperfield – 19th June

Guest: Armando Iannucci, Nikki Amuka-Bird

The writer-director discusses his revisionist take on Charles Dickens’ famed novel, David Copperfield, with the actor who plays Mrs Steerforth, and also appeared in Iannucci’s HBO comedy Avenue 5.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Little Joe – 22nd June

Guest: Jesssica Hausner, Emily Beecham, Kerry Fox

The director and stars of Little Joe discuss the creepy sci-fi horror about a plant that’s been engineered to make people feel happy – and a little too protective.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

The Girl with a Bracelet – 2nd July

Guilty or not guilty? Delve further into French courtroom drama The Girl with a Bracelet with director and star Stephane Demoustier and Melissa Guers.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Anne at 13,000 Feet – 6th July

Sky-diving in to your living room at director Kazik Radwanski and the eponymous Anne, Deragh Campbell.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Carmine Street Guitars – 9th July

Turn up for a tune-up with New York’s finest shop owners, Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej, guitarist for Patti Smith Group, Lenny Kaye, and director Ron Mann.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

 

Litigante – 13th July

Guest: Franco Lolli, Carolina Sanín

The director and star behind the brilliant French drama join Curzon to discuss the movie.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Come As You Are – 20th July

Guest: Richard Wong, Grant Rosenmeyer, Asta Philpot

The story of three young men with disabilities who flee their overbearing parents for a road trip to a brothel in Montreal that caters to people with disabilities, in order to lose their virginity and embrace their independence. The film’s director Richard Wong, star Grant Rosenmeyer and the man on whose life the story is based, Asta Philpot, discuss the film.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Make Up – 3rd August

Guest: Molly Windsor, Claire Oakley

When reserved teenager Ruth (Molly Windsor) finds a smeared lipstick stain on her boyfriend Tom’s (Joseph Quinn) mirror, she tries to find the mysterious red-haired girl. But her haunting suspicions begin to feed an obsession – little does she know something entirely different from jealousy may be haunting her. Tricia Tuttle, BFI Director of Festivals, chats to debut director Claire Oakley and Molly (Three Girls) about the psychosexual coming-of-age mystery.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Perfect 10 – 13th August

Director Eva Riley and star Frankie Box chat to guest host Rhianna Dhillon about the coming-of-age drama.

Summerland – 17th August

Jess Swale, the director of Summerland, discusses the drama about an empowered woman (Gemma Arterton) finding her place in wartime Britain.

Start time: 8.30pm (BST)

Hope Gap – 1st September

Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy) have been married for 33 years. The joy of a visit from their son (Josh O’Connor) soon gives way to despair for Grace when Edward announces he is leaving her. All three stars join writer and director William Nicholson for a special Q&A beamed live from their homes.

Start time: 8pm (BST)

 

The Perfect Candidate joins Curzon Home Cinema Q&As

2nd April

The Perfect Candidate is the latest film to join Curzon Home Cinema’s live Q&A line-up.

The series of interviews are being streamed by the online video platform throughout the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, with filmmakers participating including Ruben Östlund, Celine Sciamma and Andrew Haigh.

On Friday 3rd April, director Haifaa Al Mansour will join the Curzon team to talk about The Perfect Candidate, which received an early digital release last week instead of its planned cinema debut.

The film sees Haifaa return to her native Saudi Arabia for a tale of one woman’s quest to challenge not only the system but also herself. A determined young doctor who decides to run for municipal council sweeps up her family and community as they struggle to accept their town’s first female candidate and watch her fight for social change on a local level.

“A stirring portrait of resistance and resilience,” we wrote in our review of the film, which is available to stream on Curzon Home Cinema and BFI Player.

Hosted by Ian Haydyn Smith, the Q&A will stream on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Curzon Home Cinema. It will begin at 8.30pm (BST).

Curzon Home Cinema hosts live Bait Q&A

31st March 2020

Curzon Home Cinema is hosting a live Q&A with Mark Jenkin, the director of Bait, this evening.

Winner of the 2020 BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Debut, the film tells the story of a Cornish fishing village threatened by the rising tide of gentrification.

“This gorgeously filmed study of gentrification is a spiky, timely and tension-filled drama,” we wrote in our review.

The Q&A is the next in a string of new interviews being streamed by Curzon Home Cinema throughout the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, in an attempt to bring the magic of communal cinema-going to people’s homes. Future filmmakers in the series will include Ruben Östlund, Celine Sciamma and Andrew Haigh.

The Bait Q&A will begin at 8.30pm (BST) on Tuesday 31st March 2020 and can be viewed at live.curzonhomecinema.com.

 

Curzon Home Cinema launches live Q&As online

25th March 2020

Curzon Home Cinema will be hosting live Q&As with filmmakers for new releases and older titles, as the UK continues to be on lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

The streaming service aims to bring the magic of communal cinema-going to people’s homes with filmmakers including Ruben Östlund, Celine Sciamma and Andrew Haigh.

The initiative will see Curzon Home Cinema curate a series of films over the coming weeks, with an exclusive live interview with the director talking from their own personal isolation.

The series will kick off on Friday 27th March with the release of System Crasher (courtesy of 606 Distribution), followed by a live Q&A with director Nora Fingscheidt. The live Q&A will begin at 9pm (GMT), with Curzon encouraging people at home to watch along together from 6.45pm (GMT) – although the film will be released online on Curzon Home Cinema at midnight and available to watch at any time on-demand.

Here’s the list of films and directors taking part – stay tuned for dates and times as we confirm them.

Curzon Home Cinema Q&As

System Crasher / Followed by live Q&A with NORA FINGSCHEIDT
9pm – 27th March

45 Years / Followed by live Q&A with ANDREW HAIGH

Bait / Followed by live Q&A with MARK JENKIN

Love & Friendship / Followed by live Q&A with WHIT STILLMAN

Only You / Followed by live Q&A with HARRY WOOTLIFF

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire / Followed by live Q&A with CELINE SCIAMMA

Souvenir / Followed by live Q&A with JOANNA HOGG

Force Majeure / Followed by live Q&A with RUBEN ÖSTLUND

Things To Come / Followed by live Q&A with MIA HANSEN-LØVE

Timbuktu / Followed by live Q&A with ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO

Victoria / Followed by live Q&A with SEBASTIAN SCHIPPER

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