Friends committee member Bill Walton picks out some highlights from the first week of the 29th Leeds International Film Festival.

What I really like about the Leeds International Film Festival is the sheer variety of  subjects, styles, genres, formats, and cultures. Thus the Festival gives me a glimpse of the world seen through other eyes.

A few examples of films that were both entertaining and thought-provoking are Tangerine (2015): a lively, low budget film set in Los Angeles, which gives food for thought about sexual identity.

Taxi (2015): Jafar Panhani is an Iranian film-maker who risks six years in jail if he continues to make unauthorised films. So what does he do? He becomes a ‘taxi driver’ and films his ‘passengers’. Thoroughly entertaining, while simultaneously showing some challenges of daily life in Tehran.

Mon 16th Nov, 2015, 18:00 at Vue in the Light

One Floor Below (2015): A beautifully observed Romanian crime thriller, with no heroes. It incidentally gives a little insight into the legacy of Caucescu’s dictorial rule and the people’s fear of informers.

Mon 16th Nov, 2015, 16:00 at Vue in the Light
Thu 19th Nov, 2015, 14:00 at Vue in the Light

The Wanted 18 (2014): The ‘Wanted’ are missing Palestinian cows, sought by Israeli soldiers who say that they are a “threat to national security”! Interviews and animation tell an inspiring story from the late ’80s about creativity and the human spirit in the face of occupation and daily attacks on the dignity of Palestinians.

All this and still 4  days to go!

How are you enjoying the film festival this year, let us know in the comments below.