Mostly British Film Festival

California Film Institute joins with the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation in co-presenting some of the Mostly British Film Festival, showcasing cinema from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa, and incorporating an Australian Film Festival.

Produced by Ruthe Stein, the festival screens mostly at the historic Vogue Theater in San Francisco. The Rafael presents four evenings of highlights: two films from England, and two from Australia. None of the three contemporary films is yet set for American distribution.

For more information about the Mostly British series in San Francisco, please go to www.mostlybritish.org.

The Red Shoes
New 35mm Restoration
Sunday, February 7, 4:00 & 7:00
Screened in the stunning restoration that debuted in Cannes last year, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's masterpiece of dance and passion, photographed by Jack Cardiff, more than justifies Martin Scorsese's acclaim as "truly the most beautiful Technicolor film ever made." The film was restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with the British Film Institute, the Film Foundation, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd. and Janus Films. (UK 1948) 133 min.

Balibo
Monday, February 8, 7:00
Anthony LaPaglia stars in this taut political thriller from filmmaker Robert Connolly (The Bank), based on a true story and crafted around the moral conflict between principle and pragmatism in international human rights issues. In 1975, as Indonesia prepares to invade East Timor, foreign correspondent Roger East (LaPaglia) travels to the tiny nation after five Australian-based journalists go missing. With Oscar Isaac. (Australia 2009) 111 min.

Bran Nue Dae
Tuesday, February 9, 7:00
Based on a stage sensation that was the first Aboriginal musical, this brisk, up-tempo comedy, directed by indigenous Australian filmmaker Rachel Perkins, has a style that could be described as "Australian Bollywood." In the summer of 1969, an Aboriginal teen (Rocky McKenzie) escapes a repressive Catholic boarding school, with strict headmaster Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush) in pursuit. With Missy Higgins, Ernie Dingo. (Australia 2009) 84 min.

London River
Wednesday, February 10, 7:00
Filmed in London by Franco-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory, Little Senegal), and set shortly after the 2005 terrorist attack on the city, this profoundly moving drama brings two strangers together: a widow from Guernsey (Brenda Blethyn) looking for her daughter, and an African Muslim (Sotogui Kouyaté) searching for his estranged son. It vividly depicts a multi-ethnic world where people with differences discover what they have in common. In English and French with English subtitles. (UK/France/Algeria 2009) 87 min.