FILM SCREENINGS
The Ruthin International Arts Festival proudly introduces a curated seven-day thematic exploration for its opening week.
Each day, our film screenings delve into a distinct theme, drawing on an array of global perspectives and cultural narratives that resonate with the concept of 'Elsewhere'. These themes are selected to highlight different facets of human experience, emotion, and socio-political contexts, showcasing the power of moving images to connect, question, and reflect.
*Some of the selected films will also be featured on a continuous loop at the concurrent exhibition: ‘Images from Elsewhere’
Day 1: Liveness
Explore inner landscapes: a short film discussing the relationship between iconoclasm in religion and the loss of faith, a feature film about the later life of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, and a film shot in the Welsh countryside documenting the gradual retreat of small-scale farming in the mechanized era.
Holding Shards is a performance-to-camera video work exploring iconoclasm, loss, and the hope of transformation. The protagonist is a smashed stained-glass saint, who performs gestures of tenderness, lament and wonder. Filmed on location primarily in Wales, the work takes the viewer into places of ritual and regrowth.
Holly Slingsby
9 minutes 41 seconds
UK
No spoken language
Screening
Fri 28 June 21:30 Ruthin Castle
A poetic and profound journey into a world of endings and beginnings; a world of stuffed owls, sheep and fire.
Music by Aphex Twin
* Winner of The Guardian Best First Feature Award
* Nominated for Golden Leopard Award, Locarno International Film Festival
dir. Gideon Koppel
94 minutes
2008
Walse, UK
Welsh / English with English subtitles
Screening
Fri 28 June 21:40 Ruthin Castle
Day 2: Intervention
Unpack the complex interrelations of geopolitics and environmental issues through films that narrate diverse cultural and temporal confrontations over land and identity. Highlights include an introspective journey of Dylan Thomas in Iran, exploring how poetic expressions transcend geographic and cultural boundaries.
In 1951, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas travelled Iran on an assignment to write a propaganda film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Thomas's job, he would later remark, was to “pour water on troubled oil”. This documentary film follows the poet's journey through the country, capturing his haunting vision of oil and modernity, as a political upheaval for oil nationalisation unfolds.
Nariman Massoumi
26 minutes
2023
UK
English / Farsi with English subtitle
Screening
Sat 29 June 20:30 Ruthin Castle
Children form the Council of Future Generations in Wales and the river Wye becomes a person. Will parents imagine different futures too?
Marie-Pierre Leroux
5 minutes 53 seconds
2018
Wales
English
Screening
Sat 29 June 20:30 Ruthin Castle
A debt collector must redeem the memorial his friend was owed and close their account in this searching film about how we each must find our way to redemption. Blending deep feeling with stoic fortitude this is a spectral film with a life of its own. A tidal central performance catalysed by a frangible and irascible supporting performance gives this film mood and depth.
Dan Horrigan
13 minutes 34 seconds
2024
UK
English
Screening
Sat 29 June 20:30 Ruthin Castle
A craft factory in Chongqing, on the brink of bankruptcy, discovers a priceless jade while renovating a public restroom. To alleviate the factory's financial difficulties, having gone eight months without pay. Director Xie decides to hold a jade exhibition, despite pressure from the construction developer Mr. Feng and his assistant Manager Qin.
dir. Ning Hao 宁浩
106 minutes
2006
China
Chinese with English subtitle
U
Screening Times
29 June 2024 21:20 Ruthin Castle
Day 3: Serendipity
Engage with works that celebrate the serendipitous harmony between physicality and ritual. From the integration of body and landscape in "Flicking" to the nocturnal dance of "KITCHEN," and extending to explorations of Welsh archaeological sites and ancient Chinese rituals, these pieces reveal the spontaneous intersections of art and heritage.
She slowly flicks the ground while hanging upside down from a tree.
Tong Wenmin
2 minutes 50 seconds
2022
China
Chinese / English
English subtitle
Screening Location & Times
30 June 20:00 Ruthin Castle
A tapestry woven from the threads of improvised dance theater. Following two days of movement and film laboratory, each dancer embodies their unique character, their movements polished by individual journeys. Guided by the director and choreographer, a jam session unfurls, a canvas where body narratives paint the air. Within this space, time stretches and contracts, inviting viewers to traverse the boundary between observer and participant.
dir. Maria Ponomariova
28 minutes
2022
Belarus
No spoken language
Screening Location & Times
30 June 20:00 Ruthin Castle
Unexpected encounters on the coast of Wales weave the ancient tale, speculative and future-looking, of changing boundaries between land and sea.
dir. Marie-Pierre Leroux
9 minutes 22 seconds
2024
Wales and Germany
English
Screening Location & Times
30 June 20:00 Ruthin Castle
This piece explores the relationship between foxes and women, using the common Chinese folk performance of 'crying at graves' as a thread. It aims to capture the subtle feminist undertones beneath the complex identity shifts of foxes.
dir. Shen Jinghao
22 minutes
2024
China
Chinese
English subtitle
Screening Location & Times
30 June 20:00 Ruthin Castle
London, September 3rd, 1939. The world is on the brink of war.
In his final days, Sigmund Freud (played by Anthony Hopkins), a recent escapee with his daughter from the Nazi regime, receives a visit from the formidable Oxford Don C.S. Lewis (played by Matthew Goode). On this day, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century intimately engage in a monumental session over the belief in the future of mankind and the existence of God.
dir. Matthew Brown
108 minutes
2023
UK/ Ireland
in English / German with English subtitles
Screening
Sun 30 June 21:30 Ruthin Castle
Day 4: Togetherness
On the fourth day, through screenings in two cinemas, the theme of ‘togetherness’ was collectively discussed, whether it be the togetherness of organisms in the natural world or the togetherness in sociological terms. The screenings on this day also brought together those who wander outside mainstream society. These films show us moments that exist outside the ordinary order..
A woman gazes at her flaming body upon the ruins.
Her story starts in a locked room. bewitched by an evil deity, the mad woman embarks on a journey to immolate herself by leaping into a volcano. The river of time flows backward, carrying her body upstream as she undergoes countless fantastical adventures, death, eternity, and the cosmic explosion. She finally arrives in the face of a goddess and ultimately jumps into the volcano…
dir. Zhang Zaozao & You Liang
24 minutes 55 seconds
2024
China
Mandarin with English subtitle
Screening Location & Times
1 July 20:45 Ruthin Castle
JOY is a journey through the mind of a 65-year-old autistic lesbian who's addicted to sugar and can't stop thinking about her ex-girlfriend from youth. She lives with her partner—a mannequin that she’s built to look like her ex. The tragicomic piece delves deep into moments of intimacy, loneliness, sexuality, joy and the desperate longing to be loved.
dir. Julieta Tetelbaum
11 minutes
2023
Argentina & UK
English with English subtitle
Screening Location & Times
1 July 21:10 Ruthin Castle
A gay man is arrested while cruising in the Forbidden City in Beijing and begins an intense, erotically-infused power play with his arresting officer. Through interrogation and confession, confrontation and communication, the film gradually delves into the inner depths of the characters.
dir. Zhang Yuan 张元
90 minutes
1996
China
Chinese with English subtitles
R
Screening Times
1 July 2024 21:30 Ruthin Castle (+director’s intro 19:30)
A British writer realizes that his novel is a success in Mexico because a peculiar translation of it.
dir. Analeine Cal y Mayor
106 minutes
2022
UK
English with English subtitles
Screening
Mon 1 July 14:00 Manorhaus
During the Chinese New Year, we transported a boat from Wuchang to Hankou, Wuhan City, and carried it around the streets.
dir. GO TO STREET WITH BOAT TOWARDS CO-OP and HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR AND SEVEN DAYS TOWARDS CO-OP
45 minutes
2022-2023
China
Chinese
Screening Location & Times
Mon 1 July 16:00 Manorhaus
The video draws inspiration from a connecting branch discovered during the pandemic, symbolizing unity in nature. Through a call on social media, participants contributed to a performative video embodying this gesture of connectedness, representing the longing for connection amidst separation.
dir. Asli Narin
8 minutes 22 seconds
2021
United States
English
Screening
Mon 1 July 17:00 Manorhaus
In an inner-city park, buzzing with wildlife but hemmed in by elevated freeways, a game is being played out on an ornate abacus. It is a bridge between the natural world and the industrialised world, the hive mind and the individual.
dir. Natasha Cantwell
2 minutes 23 seconds
2023
New Zealand / Australia
No spoken language
Screening
Mon 1 July 17:00 Manorhaus
Mouths Eyes contemplates the imbalance between the giving nature of the planet we live on and its human occupants’ lust for consumption. As occupancy passes on to new generations, Mouths Eyes is an incantation, a hope that the children of covid can overturn the ways of their elders to make
… a new thing
dir. Clare Charnley and Lulia Togara
5 minutes 26 seconds
2021
UK
English
Screening
Mon 1 July 17:00 Manorhaus
The "Master" porcelain series showcased the extraordinary mastery of this art, while reflecting the current urban-rural fracture and the birth of a new folk art. work refers to a folk song, "Old Driver, Take Me", which I turned into a parody music video.
Funa Ye
14 minutes 11 seconds
2022
China
Chinese with English subtitle
Screening
Mon 1 July 17:00 Manorhaus
In the video, I find myself struggling with altered human bodies that are fighting to establish dominance in a battle where a mutated value system of inequality, militarization, hostility, and terror prevails.
dir. Makis Kyriakopoulos
7 minutes 36 seconds
2023
Greece
English with English subtitle
Screening
Mon 1 July 17:00 Manorhaus
Day 5: Diaspora
The works screened under this theme discuss the meaning of "homeland" from different perspectives: the transformation of the land, the meaning of ‘ego’ in the digital world, the tracing of personal identity, and the impact of family on individual destiny. In such a rapidly changing era, where should one seek the fate of the individual, and to what extent is it constructed by those countless others?
For this project, I have been working from an archive of family photos, recovered from a stash of negatives forgotten for over 35 years. These images, taken within a two-year period and then abandoned, were rediscovered and printed by me a year ago.
dir. Helga Dorothea Fannon
24 minutes 6 seconds
2021
England
English
Screening
Tues 2 July 2024 20:30 Ruthin Castle
In the early 1980s, Qinghong's father decided that moving back to Shanghai was the only happiness for her, so he imposed his ideals on Qinghong, thus killing the most precious and beautiful youth time in her life.
Nominated for the Palme d'Or in the main competition of the 58th Cannes International Film Festival and winner of the Jury Prize.
dir. Wang Xiaoshuai 王小帅
116 minutes
2005
China
Chinese with English subtitles
U
Screening
Tues 2 July 2024 21:00 Ruthin Castle (+director’s intro 19:30)
Vacuum looks at memory and loss through the eyes of a couple’s loving but toxic relationship.
dir. Filip Fredrik Haglund
3 minutes 30 seconds
2023
UK
No spoken language
Screening Times
2 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
A film with a layered soundtrack, Greenham Common was a response to the material and cultural history of Greenham Common, using site visits, field-recordings, sounds made from the military remains on the Common, and songs relating to periods of the Common’s history as a military base.
dir. Lynn Dennison in collaboration with Gen Doy
17 minutes 58 seconds
2017
UK
English
Screening Times
2 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
This work examines cyborg identities and the intricacies of self-representation within digital spaces, encapsulating themes of politicised care and algorithmic resistance drawing from feminist theories and speculative fiction. Critiquing the gender construction in digital technology, it reimagines cyborg bodies, investigating the intersections of technology, gender, and resilience.
Riley Tu
5 minutes 56 seconds
2024
UK
English with English subtitle
Screening Times
2 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
Cliquetis, it's the sound of masts clashing with the wind in fishing and leisure ports. The sound of the world, therefore, a maritime and terrestrial world trying to maintain balance. That's why the formats rotate, tilt, and disrupt the sense of the horizon line. Verticality and horizontality revolve around each other in an infinite circular game. A circle representing the cycle of life of the earth's elements.
dir. Marie Le Moigne
3 minutes 57 seconds
2016
France
French
Screening Times
2 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
Day 6: Vision
Journey through the diasporic experiences across Asia. The films showcased under this theme depict the lives of people from various regions of Asia and their feelings of being in foreign lands. The regions covered by these films include India, Turkey, Japan, Tibet, Western China, Vietnam, and Bhutan. These films from different regions are gathered at Ruthin, presenting lives from elsewhere.
February 2020. Following the death of his Vietnamese grandmother, a young French music reporter decides to discover Vietnam through investigations into classical music and get enrolled in an epic journey. At the same time, Vietnamese journalists are interested in his quest for origins and follow the progress of the film...
dir. François Bibonne
52 minutes
2024
France
English / Vietnamese / French with English subtitles
Screening
Wed 3 July 2024 20:30 Ruthin Castle
An aspiring singer living with his grandmother in the capital of Bhutan dreams of getting a visa to move to Australia.
dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
109 minutes
2019
Bhutan
Dzongkha / English with English subtitles
Screening
Wed 3 July 2024 21:30 Ruthin Castle
Experimental artist moving image work that explores family heritage identity shifts against a context of colonial South India and North Wales
dir. Lal Davies
8 minutes 8 seconds
2023
UK
English Text / Hindi audio
English subtitle
Screening
Wed 3 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
In the Tibetan region of Garze, one evening, a distant cry echoed from the mountain as darkness enveloped the village. By morning, news had spread: a child was missing. Relief came when the child was found sleeping on a round stone.
dir. Chenjin Ruan
40 minutes
2022
China
Chinese
Chinese and English subtitles
Screening
Wed 3 July 2024 14:00 Manorhaus
Junjun, a 50-year-old cab driver who had devoted his life to the job, found himself forgotten by society. Struggling to make ends meet and care for his half-paralyzed father, Junjun became an illegal driver.
dir. Niu Niu
84 minutes
2023
China
Chinese / English
Chinese and English subtitle
Screening Times
3 July 2024 15:30 Manorhaus
Through meticulous sounds and images, the director paints a seasonal picture of Dali, integrating nature, human life, and cultural traditions, allowing the audience to experience the unique charm and cultural atmosphere of Dali.
dir. Zhang Yang
90 minutes
2019
China
Chinese
Screening
Wed 3 July 2024 17:00 Manorhaus
Day 7: Good Night
As the last of the seven themes, "Good Night" carries the connotations of farewell and falling asleep. Under this theme, the feature films screened also depict the contrasting lives of young people from two vastly distant areas. "Kindling" by Connor O'Hara portrays a group of British youths spending melancholic yet affectionate times in the English countryside, while "Pickpocket" by Jia Zhangke portrays the aimless life of a young man in a small town in Northwestern China. Farewell is the common undertone shared by the films under this theme.
A group of young men who return to their home town in order to turn their friend's final days into a celebration of life and friendship.
dir. Connor O'Hara
93 minutes
2023
UK
English
Screening Times
4 July 20:00 Ruthin Castle
1997, Fenyang, Shanxi.
Xiao Wu is a pickpocket and claims to be a craftsman. He wears thick black-rimmed glasses, is taciturn, and rarely smiles. His head is always tilted, and his tongue is always pressed against his cheek. He often stroked the stone walls, practiced karaoke in the bathhouse, walked boringly on the street with the singing girl, and chatted with his former "colleague" who is now a wealthy man. Wandering around the town.
dir. Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯
108 minutes
1997
China
Chinese with English subtitles
U
Screening Times
4 July 21:40 Ruthin Castle
Scene of heroes speaking their last words before their sacrifice are extracted from Chinese revolutionary films from the 1950s to 70s, and edited together.
dir. Zhang Peili
20 minutes 27 seconds
2003
China
Chinese
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
Somewhere in-between the lands of dreams and nightmares, we hear sounds of wind, home, and the artists’ childhood, distorted by the physical fracture of the archival audio material. A moving portrait of a male figure, ordained by a golden mask, remains tensely immobile as the serpent dances across their gaze.
dir. Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson
10 minutes 33 seconds
2024
Australia
English
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
A solitary window looks out onto changing scenes, landscapes and moments. A film inspired by moments of childhood wonder and narrative, half remembered and half invented when daydreaming by the window.
Jack Catling
8 minutes
2023
UK
No spoken language
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
A woman discontent and bruised by city life moves to the coast to create in solitude. Her solitude brings back her imagination and connection to nature. Her body synchronises with her waterscape as she rediscovers meaning in her peace. A Room By The Sea is influenced by Virginia Woolfs, A Room of Ones Own and the work of French director Éric Rohmer.
dir. Vasilisa Forbes
4 minutes
2024
UK
English
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
An ancient plot without the lure of a resolution. A dysfunctional dialogue full of emotional tension and discord. In essence the basic elements of a love story that goes on beyond the ever after.
dir. Claudia Pilsl
3 minutes 1 second
2023
UK
English
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
Dew is an experimental video art piece, merged with Turkish spoken word and Mexican Indigenous original score, focusing on the isolation and change that occurs through life and death and the natural state of homo sapiens through a lens of isolation, capital individualism, womanhood, and nature.
dir. Işık Kaya
2 minutes 4 seconds
2024
UK
Turkish
Screening Times
4 July 14:00 Manorhaus
Not further beyond – non plus ultra was a motto of the ancient greeks who located the end of the world at the Strait of Gibraltar. With the transgression of this ancient end of the world the Conquista and subsequently the globalization kicked off.
dir. Sebastian Weise
28 minutes
2021
Germany
English
Screening Times
4 July 17:00 Manorhaus
The film focuses on (self-)empowerment through participation in the techno subculture of the late nineties. However, the emancipatory and political potential of this subculture is countered by another dimension in the course of the narrative.
dir. Sebastian Weise
24 minutes
2022
Germany
English
Screening Times
4 July 17:00 Manorhaus
After 4 July, screenings continue on everey weekend until 28 July
Programme to be announced soon