Here’s what’s coming up at CCA!

Paul Barnes’s Weekly Update on What’s Happening

Opening at CCA this week (April 26-May 2) is French director Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast. The film is a time-traveling, skin-crawling thriller based on a Henry James novella that borrows from David Lynch and dystopian sci-fi while remaining its own utterly unique evocation of our modern world. The movie comments and plays on contemporary anxieties about love and fear and stars Lea Seydoux and George McKay. 

One of modern cinema’s great master director’s Ken Loach, at age 87, has vowed that The Old Oak will be his last film. As The Old Oak, a once-thriving British mining town’s beloved pub, is about to close down, clashes erupt when a group of Syrian refugees move in. But a budding friendship between TJ, the pub’s owner, and Yara, a Syrian woman, provides a glimmer of hope.
 
CCA will also screen a new film from the New Romanian Cinema. Radu Jude, one of Romania’s most audacious directors, has made one of his most outrageous films – Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. The film takes a fierce and darkly comic swipe at modern day life in Romania. Overworked and underpaid production assistant Angela is assigned to film a workplace safety video for a multinational corporation. When one of the interviewees makes a statement that ignites a scandal, Angela has to re-invent the story to the benefit of the corporation.

Plus, CCA is screening a documentary that is a loving tribute to film collectors who are singlehandedly responsible for saving many cinematic treasures that would have been relegated to the dump. It is aptly called Film is Dead. Long Live Film! It’s a love letter to film collectors and archivists.
   
Two Special Screenings round out the week’s offerings – on Sunday, April 28 at 11am, CCA will host a screening of Stranger at the Gate for Global Santa Fe – an Oscar-nominated short documentary about a potential terrorist’s change of heart.

And on Tuesday, April 30 at 5:30pm, CCA will host the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival’s screening of Seven Blessings. To celebrate her marriage, Marie travels to Israel to take part in a week of festive meals to honor the bride. This week turns into a sad comedy about family crimes, forgiveness, and loss.