Cinema Akil to transport viewers to France with its Traveller film series
Having wrapped up its screenings of Italian classics, Cinema Akil’s Traveller series is moving on to France.
Dubai’s only independent cinema is continuing its summer-long series of film screenings, with classic and contemporary favourites that celebrate the joy of travel.
This time around, it is working with the Institut Francais, to deliver four timeless French films.
The art-house cinema in Alserkal Avenue, which reopened on June 12, has rearranged its seating and imposed a number of social-distancing measures to ensure visitors have a safe and worry-free viewing experience.
The Traveller series began on June 26 with four classic Italian films, starting with Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.
The cinema’s series of French films will start with Francois Truffaut’s award-winning classic The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups).
“Voyage to France is not only a luscious expedition through the different landscapes of France, but a rare opportunity to experience the classic films of some of the greatest directors of all time,” says Butheina Kazim, founder and managing director of Cinema Akil.
The 400 Blows 1959
Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Winner of Best Director at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award in 1960, The 400 Blows sensitively recreates the trials of Truffaut’s childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers and forays into petty crime.
The film marked Truffaut’s passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave.
The 400 Blows will be screened from this Friday until Thursday, August 13.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964
Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom with this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy.
She plays an umbrella shop owner’s delicate daughter, who falls in love with a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. With songs by the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will run from Friday, August 14 to Thursday, August 20.
The Beaches of Agnes 2008
Originally intended to be Agnes Varda’s farewell to filmmaking, this enchanting auto-portrait, made in her 80th year, is a freewheeling journey through her life and career.
Revisiting the places that shaped her – from the North Sea beaches of Belgium where she spent her childhood to the Mediterranean village where she shot her first film, to the boardwalks of Los Angeles where she lived with her husband, film director Demy – Varda reflects on a lifetime of creation and inspiration, successes and setbacks, heartbreak and joy.
The Beaches of Agnes (Les Plages d’Agnes) is a playful and poignant record of a life lived fully in the name of cinema. The Beaches of Agnes will be showing from Friday, August 21 to Thursday, August 27.
L’Atalante 1933
Critics say, L’Atalante is a true masterpiece.
An unassuming tale of conjugal love becomes an achingly romantic reverie of desire and hope. Jean (Jean Daste), a barge captain, marries Juliette (Dita Parlo), an innocent country girl, and the two climb aboard a boat named L’Atalante to embark on their new life together. L’Atalante will be screened from Friday, August 28, to Thursday, September 3.