AMPLIFY! Film Festival begins online: Watch the trailers and get a discount code
Cambridge Film Festival has joined forces with three of the UK’s largest regional film festivals to create AMPLIFY!, a collaborative online festival.
The AMPLIFY! Film Festival will be offering a truly diverse programme of films – many of them UK premieres – to audiences across the country.
The inaugural virtual festival boasts an entertaining selection of films online from Friday, November 6 to Sunday, November 22. The festival will stream with a full programme of movies, Q&As, masterclasses and industry events.
Thanks to a BFI Audience award, using funds from the National Lottery to support this new online activity, the festival will reach a wider range of audiences.
Cambridge Film Festival will be joined by FilmBath, Brighton Film Festival (Cinecity) and Cornwall Film Festival, opening up this unique event to an audience of millions and allowing people to access programming from the comfort of their own homes.
AMPLIFY! audiences will also have the opportunity to see six short programmes free of charge, including the IMDb Awards from FilmBath. The UK premiere of I Still Breathe, London-based filmmaker Alfred George Bailey’s response to the death of George Floyd, is featured with a score from composer Nicky Brown and Academy Award-winning sound designer John Warhurst.
London Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle said: “AMPLIFY! is a fantastic initiative by some of the country’s top regional film festivals. We’ve all been keeping in close contact over the last months, sharing information on the challenges and strategies for planning film festivals in a pandemic.
“These festivals do such important work in getting independent films to audiences, championing underrepresented voices — films from female and LGBQI+ filmmakers, film and filmmakers from around the world and from diverse backgrounds.
“This year has seen so much great collaboration between festivals and it’s an absolute pleasure to see them combining forces for the good of audiences and filmmakers.
“I will be settling down after my own festival to watch some great work on the AMPLIFY! platform.”
Tony Jones and Matthew Webb, from Cambridge Film Festival, said: “2020 would have marked the 40th Cambridge Film Festival and it is only right that during these times we are working, side by side, with our friends FilmBath, Cinecity and Cornwall Film Festival to offer an exciting film experience for you all. We hope to see you at AMPLIFY!”
How AMPLIFY! works
Full details and the programme is available at cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk - or browse the brochure in full at https://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/amplify-brochure-2020.pdf .
Ticket pricing begins at £5 or you can buy a festival pass for £50, or £30 for 10 films.
AMPLIFY! is offering reduced ticket pricing for all 16 to 30-year-olds, as well as those who are unemployed, living on state pension alone, single parents, refugees, and students.
For 10 per cent off, enter the discount code LoveCambridge
Book the film(s) you want to watch - make a note of when the film goes live, then tell everyone what you think using #AmplifyFilm.
Here are just some of the films that will be shown.
Rose Plays Julie
A young woman uncovers the truth of her own past in this gripping, slow-burn psychological thriller starring Ann Skelly, Orla Brady, and Aidan Gillen.
Falling
Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, a Cannes 2020 official selection, comes fresh from its successful screening at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, where Mortensen, who also wrote the film, was honoured with the Donostia Award for his work.
Luxor
Following its Sundance Film Festival screening earlier this year, the romantic drama Luxor, starring Andrea Riseborough and directed by Zeina Durra, will hit UK screens for the first time.
Patrick (De Patrick)
Also making its debut on British screens is Patrick (De Patrick), which has Flight of the Conchords’s Jemaine Clement in a Belgian dark comedy about a nudist camp.
The Mole Agent
Described by The Guardian as "the most unusual documentary of the year," it was directed by Maite Alberdi from Chile and won this year's San Sebastian International Film Festival Audience Award for Best European Film.
Caught in the Net
This Czech documentary film by Vít Klusáka is a compelling story of a virtual flytrap set for online paedophiles.
The Innocence (La Inocència)
The first of a selection of films from Catalonia, The Innocence is another film making its UK debut. A drama about a teenager who dreams of leaving her small hometown to become a circus artist, the film stars Carmen Arrufat and Joel Bosqued.
My Mexican Bretzel
Directed by Nuria Giménez Lorang, this Catalonian documentary opens with black and white clips of pilots during World War II in Switzerland. It is subtitled with excerpts from – so we are told – the diary of Vivian Barrett, who talks about herself and her husband Léon, who partly lost his hearing in an accident with his plane and could no longer fly.
Keith Haring 1989 Barcelona
Also hailing from Catalonia and being shown for the first time in the UK, this documentary focuses on Keith Haring, who died of AIDS in 1989. A year before his death, he painted his great mural ‘Todos juntos podemos parar el SIDA’ ('Together we can stop AIDS') in the heart of Barcelona’s old quarter.
The film includes an unpublished recording of Haring’s work in Barcelona, offering a glimpse into the spirit of the city before the Olympic Games were held there in 1992. It also highlights the initial years of the fight against AIDS, including testimonies of people who met Haring during his visit.
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