Welcome to Keswick Film Club

A family is making a tense, hot, uncomfortable road trip in a borrowed car through remote north-western Iran, heading apparently for the Turkey/Azerbaijan border. The elder son is at the wheel, a quiet young guy who says little but often seems in the grip of an intense, suppressed emotion. Pantea Panahiha is excellent as his mum, sitting in the front passenger seat, bantering drily with her husband in the back: a shambling, grumpy bear of a man with a broken leg in a plaster cast and a consistent need to smoke. Next to him is a wacky 8-year-old boy who gives a glorious performance...

 Great child acting is rare: so is great adult acting, and so is great directing of children and adults. But they all come together in this lovely, beautifully composed debut feature drenched in a subtle but urgent political meaning" – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

You are very poor and desperate for more money. Your father is very ill – dying - and there is nothing you can do to help his suffering. A gangster on the run comes along and offers you money to hide in your isolated house for some time, but the deal is that he replaces your father... what would you do? This might have made a great story just like that, but director/writer Carolina Markowicz has gone one further by adding humour.

"Charcoal stands as an artistic character study, honed in on the imperfections that make people fascinating." - Josiah Teal, Film Threat

 “A sharp, specific thriller that also has a nice undercurrent of dark humor.” - Brian Tallerico, Rogerebert.com

A young woman attends the trial of another woman as research for her own project, but gradually comes unstuck as her own emotional chords are struck. "Documentarian Alice Diop's narrative debut 'Saint Omer' is a visually arresting courtroom set drama that explores the similarities (and distinct differences) between two young women of Senegalese descent living in France." -Marya E Gates, RogerEbert.com.

"The standard for ‘Best of 2023’ lists has already been set." - David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Holy Spider is a crime thriller, based on a real serial killer in the early 2000s who targeted female sex workers in Mashad, but the reason we thought we should show it is that is portrays how hard it is for women in Iran. With the recent murder of Mahsa Amini, and the resulting women-led protests, this becomes doubly relevant. This may be a hard-watch in places, but should give us a lot to discuss. It is also the Danish entry for the Oscars and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, where Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won best actress.