Small Things Like These
Monday March 17, 2:00 p.m only
It is 1985 in the run-up to Christmas in a small town in County Wexford, Ireland. Bill Furlong toils as a coal merchant to support himself, his wife and his five daughters. Early one morning while out delivering coal at the local convent, he makes a discovery that forces him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a town controlled by the Catholic Church. Based on the novel of the same name by Claire Keegan who also wrote The Quiet Girl (film based on this was previously screened by AFF).
96 min
Season Sponsor: Rastin's Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Patrick Orovan, Real Broker Ontario Ltd.
Proceeds to Ancaster Community Services
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/small-things-like-these
Awards
Winner: Berlin Film Festival: Best Supporting Actress (Emily Watson)Nominated for 19 other international awards
Reviews
Based on Clare Keegan's novella (Clare also wrote The Quiet Girl, film previously screened at AFF)
With Cillian Murphy’s quiet, almost small and yet grand performance carrying the story every step of the way, “Small Things Like These” is quite possibly the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. Richard Roeper/Chicago Sun-Times
Part of the power of Small Things Like These lies in its Trojan horse nature. This is a political allegory disguised as a character study, a reflection on national guilt and moral complicity, wrapped inside the experiences of one man, in one small town, standing in for the whole of Ireland, and possibly the world. Rachel Pronger/IndieWire
A beautifully simple story of moral courage in the face of complicity, Small Things Like These is one of the best films of the year. Christina Newland/The i Paper
In lieu of sensationalizing the persecution of these young women, Small Things Like These compellingly casts its gaze onto the complicity of the community and the social architectures which uphold abuse. Saffron Maeve/Globe and Mail
Yet the film mostly evoked here is Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar contender The Zone of Interest, because of the attention it focuses not on the torture site but on the sickening collusion outside. Kevin Maher/Times(UK)
It’s an electric, atmospheric, and deeply soulful look at what it means to be human, what it means to have empathy, and how faith should never come before people. Emma Kiely/Collider
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27196021/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/small_things_like_these
No Other Land
Monday March 17, 7:15 p.m only
Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta on the West Bank, has been fighting the mass expulsion of his community by Israel's occupation since childhood. He documents the slow-motion eradication of the villages in his home region where soldiers deployed by the Israeli government are gradually demolishing houses and driving out their residents. At some point, he meets Yuval, an Israeli journalist, who supports him in his efforts. An unlikely alliance develops. But the relationship between the two is strained by the enormous inequality between them. This film by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists has been made as an act of creative resistance on the path to greater justice.
98 min
Season Sponsor: Rastin's Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Patrick Orovan, Real Broker Ontario Ltd.
Proceeds to Ancaster Community Services
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/no-other-land
Awards
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Film
Won 62 International Awards, nominated for 30 others.
Reviews
No Other Land, the Oscar-nominated documentary (and odds-on favorite to win), is the record of an atrocity: the erasure of a people from the land on which they’ve lived for centuries. Michael Phillips/Washington Post
For all the ways “No Other Land” is about the mechanized march of cruel repression and the coldly bureaucratic way these attempts at forced displacement take place, it’s critically always centered on the impact on the people themselves. Chase Hutchinson/The Wrap
Witnessing is the most effective defense people have against occupation, and the Israeli military, like all thieves, wilts in the face of being watched. The footage is out there, and it’s rarely been assembled into a more concise, powerful, and damning array than it is here. Now it only has to be seen. David Ehrlich/IndieWire
No Other Land’s sense of grim futility is very much the point — it’s what the strong count on in order to suppress those who oppose them. Anyone who sees this devastating film may share in that sense of hopelessness. But we can no longer say we had no idea what was going on. Tim Grierson/Los Angeles Times
Given the conditions of its production, No Other Land would be vital even in a more ragged form. But the filmmaking here is tight and considered, with nimble editing (by the directors themselves) that captures the sense of time at once passing and looping back on itself. Guy Lodge/Variety
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30953759/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_other_land
Other Films Dates: 2025 Season
OTHER FILM DATES: Screenings 2:00 pm and 7:15
Jan 20: Lee, Goodrich
Feb 24, I'm Still Here, 2:00 pm
Feb 24: Emilia Perez 7:15 p.m.
Mar 17
April 7, 28
May 12, 26
June 9
Sept 22
Oct 6
Nov 3
Dec 8
Other Items of Interest
AFF Library of Some of Our Past Films
About 170 titles of past Ancaster Film Fest selections are available for loan at Rastin's Pharmacy.