The 23rd Leeds International Film Festival runs from November 4th till the 22nd. There are more movies than ever and I think this is the strongest programme for several years. What promises to be particularly interesting is the selection 20 Years of German Reunification. There are a number of promising titles in this slot, plus a couple of episodes from the seminal series Heimat. The latter also has a public symposium devoted to both series, I and II.  There are other events with presentations and discussions and Leeds University contributes with a Film Music Conference.

As in previous years there are a wide range of films including new commercial releases like Jane Campion’s portrait of the romance between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, Bright Star. And at the other end of the spectrum there are documentaries, experimental films, and animation together with the regular horror slot. One topical film is the Palestinian Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al More wa al Rumman, 2008), dealing with land confiscation. There is also an Israeli film, Seven Minutes in heaven (Sheva dakot be gan eden, 2008), which includes a bus bomb in its plot. I did wonder if this was felt to be some sort of balance?

There are a wide range of formats, and the printed guide helpfully lists these. Unfortunately several films that were once available on celluloid are now presented on digital video. This includes the Eastern European Underground slot, featuring rare classics like the Czech film Daisies (Sedmikrásky, 1966). This is presumably down to the distributors: substituting video copies for film, is an increasing problem across the UK exhibiting sector.

The official guide is rather fulsome in its praise for nearly every film on show. This can make it difficult to decide between competing films. I am inclined to privilege the cinematic forums, with the Hyde Park, a treasured relic from 1914, heading my list. This Cinema is host to one of the real treasures in the programme: a screening of two films by the 1920s French avant-garde director, Germaine Dulac. The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le clergyman, 1928) was strongly influenced by surrealism. The British Board of Film censors banned the film in the UK with the memorable comment; “It is so cryptic as to have no apparent meaning. If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable.”  The other film is her earlier The Smiling Madame Beudet (La souriante Madame Beudet, 1923), which fits into the earlier ‘Impressionist’ film cycle and presents the ‘inner life’ of a young woman facing an oppressive marriage. Since these are ‘silent’ films there will also be live music for this performance.

The free guide should by now be available in most local libraries and there is a festival Website, www.leedsfilm.com.

There are also videos on You Tube www.youtube.com/user/LeedsFilmFestival and more on twitter, facebook and flickr. So it should be fairly easy to check screening information. We will be bringing you reports on some of the films from the Festival.