Derby Film Festival 2019 announce films and special guests

midlandsmovies • October 18, 2019

Derby Film Festival 2019 – Films, special guests and events announced

Taking place 14th to 18th November and now in its sixth edition, Derby Film Festival 2019 features special guests, one-off events and film previews in their new festival programme. This includes a huge selection of brand-new films from many genres, boasting more than eighty films from seventeen different countries, screening at the venue over five days.

The festival has confirmed that this year’s special guest will be film director Ken Loach. A significant figure in the film industry for the over the past fifty years, Ken Loach will open the festival with a Q&A and screening of his new film Sorry We Missed You. Following on from the Palme D’Or winning, I, Daniel Blake, Sorry We Missed You is a topical look at the zero hours contracts culture, shining a spotlight on the working class and those lost in the injustices of the system.

Rigorously researched via off-the-records interviews, Sorry We Missed depicts the ruinous cost of zero-hours contract with gut-wrenching honest and integrity. A furious and heart-breaking film, it offers a rigorous and damning critique of our unequal system; showing how it unscrupulously exploits people, especially those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and robs them of dignity, agency and hope for change. Ken Loach Q&A plus Sorry We Missed You (15) takes place on Thursday 14th November from 6:00pm. Tickets for this one-off event are £15 or £14 concessions.

Derby Cathedral will host a one-off screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s silent classic Blackmail with a live score composed and played by Neil Brand. Neil Brand is the UK’s most acclaimed silent film accompanist, who appears at film festivals and special events around the world, as well as BBC 4 presenter with his hugely successful programmes Sound Of Cinema, The Music That Made The Movies and Sound Of Song.

A highpoint of Alfred Hitchcock’s early films and his last silent film, the seminal thriller Blackmail is a rich evocation of London Life in 1920s. Blackmail (PG) with Live Score by Neil Brand screens at Derby Cathedral on Friday 15th November at 7:00pm. Tickets for this one-off event are £13 or £11 concessions. Neil Brand will also be in QUAD to lead a workshop on Scoring Music to Silent Film on Saturday 16th November at 12 noon.

The full Festival film programme includes twenty-six brand new feature films and over fifty short films from across the globe including New Zealand, Italy, France, Canada and Iran.

An Opening Night Preview is the new Australian film Judy And Punch, a visceral and dynamic live-action reinterpretation of the famous 16th Century puppet show. Starring Mia Wasikowska, writer-director Mirrah Foulkes turns the traditional story of Punch and Judy on its head and brings to life a fierce, darkly comic and epic female-driven revenge story. Judy And Punch (15) screens on Thursday 14th November at 8:50pm

Madness In The Method (Preview) was shot on location in Hollywood and Derby (with a cameo appearance from QUAD itself). Written and produced by Derby’s own Dominic Burns, it’s actor Jason Mewes’ directorial debut. The story follows legendary stoner and actor - Jason Mewes. Tired of Hollywood’s perception of him and on advice from his best friend Kevin Smith, Mewes tracks down a secret method acting book to reinvent himself as a serious actor – with disastrous consequences… Madness In The Method (advised 15) screens on Saturday 16th November at 6:15pm

The Wedding Present: Something Left Behind (Preview) is the definitive story of a record that has been labelled the ‘greatest break-up album of all time’. Exploring music, obsession, love, loss and fading youth over the thirty-year lifespan of The Wedding Present’s much-heralded debut LP, ‘George Best’. The films’ Director Andrew Jezard will also be present for a post screening Q&A. The Wedding Present: Something Left Behind (certificate to be confirmed) + Q&A screens on Saturday 16th November at 6:30pm.

The Biggest Little Farm (Preview) is an environmental documentary about John and Molly Chester, a Los Angeles couple give up city life to buy a farm, following their dream of growing every ingredient they might want to cook with. Motivating, enlightening and entertaining, the film balances one family’s personal story with the practical ups and downs of starting a sustainable, biodiverse farm on land that has been stripped of nutrients. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Jamie from the Down To Earth Project plus special guests, to discuss implementing sustainability in Derby and beyond. The Biggest Little Farm (PG) screens on Friday 15th November at 6:00pm.

Ordinary Love (Preview) stars Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville as Tom and Joan, a married couple with an easy relationship and a depth of love which expresses itself through tenderness and humour. When Joan is diagnosed with breast cancer, the course of her treatment shines a light on their relationship as the pair face the challenges that lie ahead and the prospect of what might happen in the future. Ordinary Love (certificate to be confirmed) screens on Sunday 17th November at 2:00pm

There will be a chance to see many of the short films selected from an international submission, screening before the features and as a full day package on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November. Derby Film Festival’s sister festival Paracinema will be presenting films that span the genres on the outskirts of cinema. The genre-defying ‘Paracinema’ refers to a wide, seemingly disparate collection of films outside the mainstream.

Adam Marsh, Derby Film Festival Director and QUAD Cinema programmer said “We are really honoured to welcome Ken Loach this year as our special guest. Derby Film Festival 19 yet again presents a fantastic selection of films – from the sublime to the eclectic. There is an excellent range of films representing all corners of the globe; from the ground-breaking and thought provoking and to the funny, subversive and above all some excellent entertainment.”

Anwen Hurt, Derby Film Festival Patron added “I’m really looking forward to coming back to the Derby Film Festival. It’s always such a pleasure and this year there are some amazing new feature films that I haven’t see yet, as well as over 50 short films. It’s going to be a great festival!”

All Film tickets, other than those for special events, are £9.50, £7.00 concessions. Tickets for 16-25 years old are £3.50 (subject to availability). Derby Film Festival Passes are available allowing entry to all screenings and events across all five days of the festival, priced at £50, a Festival Day Pass allows entry to everything on any single day of the festival, priced at £20.

For more information please see:

Or call 01332 290606

Review of Up!

By midlandsmovies • April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/

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