Sentimental Value
Monday January 26, 2:00 p.m.
Only Screened once. From the January 26 screenings $1000 donated to the Hamilton Out of the Cold Program
Ratings
5 - Excellent 55
4 - Very Good 19
3 - Good 13
2 - Poor 2
1 - Bad 4
133 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Ron Lancaster
https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/ancaster-film-fest-january-aft
Norwegian and English with English subtitles
Nora (Renate Reinsve), a gifted stage actress, and her younger sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) were abandoned years ago when they were children by their actor father, Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), who has always prioritized his work. As a child, Agnes played a role in one of her father's movies and is now a married woman with a child.
Nora is conflicted and still angry by her father's abandonment. She wants nothing to do with him so when he comes to her with a script he's written especially with her in mind for the lead, she refuses. He finds a surprising source of support after a Hollywood star, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) discovers his films at a festival retrospective.
Expected to be nominated for a number of Oscars.
Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes and first runner of People’s Choice Award at TIFF.
Nominated for 91 international awards including 8 Golden Globes
Won 13 awards to date
Reviews
Following a failed father and filmmaker attempting to connect with his daughters by turning the former family home into a set, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is a subtle yet sweeping tapestry of art, family and connection that takes the breath away. Chase Hutchinson/The Wrap
A story about home, inheritance, and fiction’s ability to reveal truths capable of bringing alienated individuals together, it’s a tumultuous, moving triumph. Nick Schager/The Daily Beast
It’s a movie that sneaks up on you like great fiction, blending theme and character in a way that allows it to live in your mind after you see it, rolling around what it means to both the people in it and your own life. Brian Tallerico/RogerEbert.com
It Was Just An Accident
Monday January 26, 7:15 p.m.
Screened twice. From the January 26 screenings $1000 donated to the Hamilton Out of the Cold Program
Ratings
5 - Excellent 19
4 - Very Good 36
3 - Good 49
2 - Poor 31
1 - Bad 25
103 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Ron Lancaster
Persian with English subtitles
https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/ancaster-film-fest-january-evening
Nominated for 45 international awards including 4 Golden Globes
Won 15 awards to date
Vahid, an unassuming mechanic, has a chance encounter with Eghbal, a man he strongly suspects to be his former sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, Vahid gathers several former prisoners, all abused by that same captor, to try and confirm Eghbal's identity. As the bickering group drives around Tehran with the captive, they must confront how far to take matters into their own hands with their presumed tormentor. From master filmmaker Jafar Panahicomes a searing moral thriller that engages with complex ideas about the uncertainty of the truth and the choice between revenge and mercy, as Panahi turns his personal dissonance into a profound and galvanizing work of art.
Reviews
If anyone has the right to make a revenge fantasy, it’s Jafar Panahi. And yet, this movie isn’t that. Panahi doesn’t make statement films; he makes question films, designed to instigate soul-searching and debate. Janice Page/Washington Post
Shot in secret under constant threat, [It Was Just an Accident] draws on [Jafar Panahi's] own harrowing experiences, infusing every frame with urgency and authenticity. Peter Howell/Toronto Star
Undoubtedly one of the year's best, It Was Just An Accident is yet another moving, prickly and hopeful morality tale from Panahi about people (and a society) trying to find a way forward while processing the trauma of the past. Redheyan Simonpillai/CBC Radio
DJ Ahmet
Monday Febuary 23, 2:00 p.m.
235 attended. From the screenings of Feb 23, $1000 donated to HOOTC.
Ratings
5: Excellent. 141
4: Very Good. 42
3: Good. 13
99 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Dorothy Richardson, Marion McQueen, Sandra Langton and Mabel Hickerson
Proceeds to Hamilton Out of the Cold
Macedonian with English subtitles
Nominated for 19 international awards. Won 9 awards to date
Buy tickets at memorialarts.ca
Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love.
Seattle Film Festival: New Directors Competition
Sundance: World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and Jury Prize
Seville Film Festival: Best Actor
South East European Highway (los Angeles):Audience Award, Jury Prize
Montenegro Film Festival: Grand Prix- Best Film
Desertscape International Film Festival: Best Film
Unkovski’s coming-of-age comedy finds much to smile about in a North Macedonian village where conservative traditions clash with modern times. Peter Howell/Toronto Star
Beautiful landscape cinematography combined with authentic locations immerses you in the world, enhanced by filming effects that blend old and new, enriching the tone and mood. Sabina Dana Plasse/Film Threat
A feel-good coming-of-age film that taps into the universal theme of finding your own path and the freedom that music can bring. Screen Zealots/Louisa Moore
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34964187/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dj_ahmet
Marty Supreme
Monday Febuary 23, 7:15 p.m.
147 paid and 10 AFF staff attended our screening of Marty Supreme. From the screenings of Feb 23 $1000 donated to HOOTC.
Ratings
5: Excellent 27
4: Very Good 35
3: Good 21
2: Poor 6
1: Bad 8
149 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Dorothy Richardson, Marion McQueen, Sandra Langton and Mabel Hickerson
Proceeds to Hamilton Out of the Cold
Nominated for 246 international awards including 9 Oscars. Won 27 awards to date.
Buy tickets at memorial arts.ca
Marty Supreme is a 2025 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Josh Safdie who co-wrote with Ronald Bronstein. Set in the 1950s, it follows fictional American table tennis player Marty Mauser (loosely based on Marty Reisman) in his quest to become world champion. Timothée Chalamet stars as Mauser, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary and Fran Drescher in supporting roles.
Awards: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32916440/awards/?ref_=tt_ov_at_op_awd
The movies can be a wonderfully amoral medium, and I found myself liking Marty Mauser -- and not just liking him, but actually rooting for him to succeed. It takes more than a good actor to pull that off. It takes one of the greats. Justin Chang/NPR
For all the trademark Safdie unease, Marty Supreme remains an enormously good time at the cinema. The 150 minutes speed by as we encounter an array of brilliantly cast cameos. Donal Clarke/Irish Times
Marty Supreme is a thrilling visual onslaught, a rattling cacophony of ideas and images so intense that for two and a half hours you barely have time to catch your breath. It’s utterly exhausting and I loved every jangling second. Wendy Ide/Observer (UK)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32916440/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/marty_supreme
The Choral
Monday March 30, 2:00 p.m.
355 attended. $1000 donated to Ancaster community Services from the March 30 screenings.
Ratings (224 submitted ratings)
5 : Excellent. 151
4 : Very good 56
3 : Good. 13
2 : Poor. 3
1 : Very Poor. 1
113 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Patrick Orovan, Real Broker Ontario
Proceeds to Ancaster Community Services
Nominated for 19 international awards. Won 9 awards to date
Buy tickets at https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-march-aft
As World War I rages on, Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) takes over a British choral society that's lost most of its men to the army. The community soon discovers that the best response to the chaos of war is to make beautiful music together.
The Brits do this kind of light and dark juggling act better than almost anybody, and the filmmakers and their cast deliver a movie that's perfect for viewing on a lazy Sunday afternoon at the movie theater. Odie Henderson/Boston Globe
The Choral is a beautifully made film with a great cast and impeccable credentials, a collaboration between writer Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner, as were The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. Liz Braun/Original Cin
A sprawling First World War period comedy drama about a British choir reaching for normalcy through performance, The Choral boasts a humorous approach to a community’s inability to directly speak about the horrors of war. Robert Daniels/Screen International
The Secret Agent
Monday March 30, 7:15 p.m.
147 attended. $1000 donated to Ancaster Community Services from the March 30 screenings.
Ratings (77 submitted ratings)
5: Excellent. 6
4: Very good. 28
3: Good. 20
2: Poor. 15
1: very poor. 8
160 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Patrick Orovan, Real Broker Ontario
Proceeds to Ancaster Community Services
Nominated for 246 international awards including 9 Oscars. Won 27 awards to date.
Buy tickets at https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-march-eve
The Secret Agent is a neo-noir political thriller set in 1977 Brazil during the military dictatorship. It follows Armando (Wagner Moura), a former professor and technology expert on the run, who returns to Recife to find peace but becomes entangled in the era's pervasive, paranoid atmosphere of fear, surveillance, and corruption.
Portuguese with English Subtitles
Won 76 International Awards and nominated for 149 others including 4 Oscar noms.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27847051/awards/?ref_=tt_ov_at_op_awd
The complexity of the storytelling here is considerable, and probably wouldn’t work without a strong, grounding central presence. It’s thus hard to say enough about the quality of Moura’s performance. Adam Nayman/Toronto Star
[Writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho] crafts a tight story with startling freedom, leaping between characters in order to conjure their fateful interconnections, while giving them all, persecuted and persecutors alike, an identity and a voice. Richard Brody/The New Yorker
You won’t see a better political thriller this year than Filho’s ultra-chic genre entry, loosely in the spirit of a Costa-Gavras picture. Tomris Laffly/Elle
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27847051/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_secret_agent_2025
The President's Cake
Monday April 20, 2:00 p.m.
270 paid attendance to The President's Cake. $1000 will be donated to the De Mazenod Door Outreach from the April 20 screenings.
Ratings (207 ratings)
5 Excellent 123
4 Very Good 50
3 Good. 28
2 Poor 5
1 Very Poor. 1
Monday April 20, 2:00 p.m.
The President's Cake
105 min
Arabic with English Subtitles
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Retired Teachers of Ontario-Hamilton Wentworth Branch
Proceeds to the Demazenod Door Outreach
Tickets: https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-april-aft
Winner of Cannes Directors' Fortnight Audience Award and the Golden Camera Award
11 Award wins out of 23 nominations.
While people across 1990s Iraq struggle to survive the war and food shortages, the President requires each school in the country to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. Despite her efforts to avoid getting picked, 9-year-old Lamia is chosen among her classmates. The young girl must now use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients and prepare the mandatory cake.
A crowd-pleaser in the best sense, it overflows with empathy for its beleaguered people.
Peter Rainer/Christian Science Monitor.
This detail-rich and tremendously moving moral fable uncovers harsh realities in Iraqi society without departing from the earnest perspective of its knee-high protagonist, and without diminishing the dignity or value of her hopes and dreams. Isaac Feldberg/RogerEbert.com
It’s difficult to think of another debut that combines such crowd-pleasing sensibilities, political resonance, and cinematic sweep. Rory O'Connor/The Film Stage
Hadi tells an engaging story, brings complex and surprising characters to life, lends a locale an aesthetic iconography, and renders personal identity inextricable from the forces of history that shaped or deformed it. Richard Brody/The New Yorker
H Is For Hawk
Monday April 20, 7:15 p.m.
167 a
Ratings for H Is For Hawk (105)
5 Excellent 40
4 Very Good 39
3 Good. 23
2 Poor 2
1 Very Poor. 1
Monday April 20, 7:15 p.m.
H IS For Hawk
128 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Retired Teachers of Ontario-Hamilton Wentworth Branch
Proceeds to the Demazenod Door Outreach
Buy tickets at https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-april-eve
H is for Hawk follows Helen (Claire Foy), who, after a family tragedy loses herself in the memories of her time birding and exploring the natural world with her father (Brendan Gleeson) and turns the ancient art of falconry—rooted in European tradition—training a wild goshawk named Mabel to navigate her profound sadness. But as she teaches Mabel to hunt and fly free, Helen discovers how deeply she has neglected her own emotions and life.
Foy is exceptional throughout in a project that frequently requires her to share the frame with a beady-eyed, sharp-clawed killer and, crucially, to convey a combination of awestruck admiration and stultifying terror. Kevin Maher/The Times(UK)
Finding ways to cope with any significant tragedy is hardly new, but in the hands of Foy and Lowthrope, it is. Brian Farvour/The Playlist
Foy is terrific in a film which balances bruising candour about mental health issues against arresting wildlife photography and a fervent appreciation of the natural world. Wendy Ide/Screen Daily
All That's Left Of You
Monday May 11, 2:00 p.m.
163 attended All That's Left of you. $750 will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross from the May 11 screenings.
Ratings
Excellent: 110
Very Good: 24
Good: 2
Poor: 0
Very Poor: 1
Monday May 11, 2:00 p.m.
All That's Left Of You
142 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: To Be Announced
Proceeds: Canadian Red Cross
Buy tickets at https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-may11-aft
In the Occupied West Bank of the 1980s, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Reeling from its aftermath, his mother, Hanan, shares the story that led them to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of displacement, but the unbreakable spirit of survival.
Awards:
Hampton's International Film Festival: NY Women in Film/Television Award, Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking
San Francisco Film Festival: Golden Gate Award, Audience Award-Best Narrative
Sydney Film Festival: Best International Feature
Tessaloniki Film Festival: Audience Award
Seville Film Festiva: Best Director
All That’s Left of You, a multi-generational Palestinian epic, is the kind of accomplished, immaculately rendered film that’s indicative of a director who’s learned much and is ready to seize more. Robert Daniels/Roger Ebert.com
Though sometimes over-explanatory, the film gains in complexity as it progresses, raising thorny questions about the duty of victims to maintain their humanity. Liam Lacey/Original Cin
Palestine 36
Monday May 11, 2:00 p.m.
83 attended.
Ratings (Note: 105 rated the film which was more than attended the film so either some new attendees were unsure of what to do or some people voted multiple times)
Lower Theatre
Excellent: 35
Very Good: 4
Upper Theatre
Excellent: 37
Very Good: 10
Good: 2
Poor: 1
Very Poor: 16
Monday May 11, 7:15 p.m.
All That's Left Of You
119 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: To Be Announced
Proceeds: Canadian Red Cross
Buy tickets at https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-may11-eve
1936. As villages across mandatory Palestine rise against British colonial rule, Yusuf drifts between his rural home and the restless energy of Jerusalem, longing for a future beyond the growing unrest.
But history is relentless. With rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain's 30-year dominion, all sides spiral towards inevitable collision in a decisive moment of decision for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.
If “Palestine 36” is indeed a filmic history lesson, it’s one worth sitting through. That a traditionally realized historical drama with impeccable production value and consistently effective performances centers the Palestinian perspective makes for an essential endeavor. Carlos Aguilar/RogerEbert.com
As overdue tales of history go, “Palestine ‘36” is certainly more of a blunt instrument than a novelistic endeavor. But its broad strokes and rooted passions easily earn their place, and deserve to inspire more such stories. Robert Abele/Los Angeles Times
Awards:
Sao Paolo International Film Festival: won Best International Film
Tokyo International Film Festival: won Best Film
Asian World Film Festival: Best Film
Mosaic International Film Festival: won Best Film Production
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29271622/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/palestine_36
Holy Days
Monday May 11, 2:00 p.m.
$500 donated to the Ancaster Community Services from our proceeds. $250 was also previously donated from the Film Date Sponsors.
291 paid attendance
Ratings
5 Excellent: 98
4 Very Good: 64
3 Good: 34
2 Poor: 3
1: Very Poor. 2
110 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Brad and Nancy Fleming
Proceeds to Ancaster Community Services
Tickets: www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-may25-aft
When the last of the sisters of St. Suzanne’s face forced retirement, they take matters into their own hands. They plan a dash to New Zealand’s stunning South Island to someone who can hopefully defend their rights.
A young Māori boy who joins them has a secret mission of his own. But things go terribly wrong and this oddball group of friends faces their greatest challenge yet. Directed by Nathalie Boltt and starring veteran actresses Judy Davis, Miriam Margoyles and Jackie Weaver.
Actor-filmmaker Nat Boltt keeps things sunny and colourful, finding humour in the characters' sparky personalities and earthy emotion in the situations. And the movie provides three veteran actresses with colourful, meaty roles to sink their teeth into. Rich Cline/Shadows on the Wall
A family friendly story of faith, support and mutual growth, Holy Days is a dryly humorous movie that presents big ideas about love, life and loss in a playful but heartfelt movie. Richard Crouse
Three nuns and a Kiwi boy go on a cross-country jaunt to save their convent in this chipper, life-affirming comedy. Chridtopher Lloyd/The Film Yap
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14734016/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/holy_days
Tow
Monday May 11, 7:15 p.m.
$250 donated from the proceeds of the day's screenings.
80 paid attendance.
Ratings:
5 Excellent: 35
4 Very Good: 19
3 Good: 1
2 Poor: 0
1: Very Poor. 0
105 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins PharmaChoice Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Brad and Nancy Fleming
Proceeds to Hamilton Food Share
Tickets: http://www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-may25-eve
Based on a true story, TOW follows Amanda Ogle (Rose Byrne), a woman living in her aging Toyota Camry on the streets of Seattle. When her car -- her only lifeline -- is stolen and impounded, Amanda is thrust into a relentless legal battle against an indifferent system.
What begins as a fight to reclaim her car evolves into a deeply human story of resilience, dignity, and the power of one woman's voice in the face of systemic failure. Also starring Rose Byrne, Dominic Sessa, Demi Lovato, Ariana DeBose and Octavia Spencer.
“Tow” is sunnier overall. Amanda has abundant humor even when she’s close to hitting bottom, and the movie steers into a “beat the system” narrative that packs some stirring “Erin Brockovich” energy. Glenn Kenney/NY Times
In its modest way, Tow sends a powerful message about how many of us have more in common with a person sleeping in a car than we do the billionaires we’ve been conditioned to admire. Lovia Gyarkye/Hollywood Reporter
As Byrne’s performance highlights throughout “Tow,” it takes a certain inner steel to fight so diligently for what some might dismiss as a hunk of junk. Carla Meyer/San Francisco Chronicl
A Poet
Monday June , 2:00 p.m.
134 attended. $250 will be donated to Neighbour to Neighbour
Ratings
5 Excellent. 26
4 Very Good 28
3 Good. 29
2 Poor. 6
1 Very Poor. 3
123 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Retail Prophet, Doug Stephens
Proceeds to Neighbour to Neighbour
Spanish with English subtitles
Tickets: www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-june-aft
[The] moral of this story is the one that Oscar learns: To be an artist isn’t about living the life of an artist, or saying things that sound like the things an artist might say. It means sitting down, as boring as it can be, and actually making the art. Alissa Wilkinson/NY Times
Ultimately, A Poet is a universal treatise on the world of arts and letters, in that it’s about the contradictions inherent in creativity in general in any corner of the world—the economic strife that runs parallel to artistic achievements. Namrata Joshi/New Indian Express
That you’re never entirely sure if Oscar is going to be the adult or the child in any given scene creates a wonderfully funny tension. It’s one of the best performances of this past year and if Rios never acted again, it’d be a one-off for the ages... Robert Abele/ Los Angeles Times
The Christophers
Monday June 8, 7:15 p.m.
120 attended. $250 donated to Good Shepherd.
Ratings
5 Excellent. 37
4 Very Good 26
3 Good. 7
2 Poor. 5
1 Very Poor. 0
100 min
Season Sponsor: Rastins Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: Retail Prophet, Doug Stephens
Proceeds to the Good Shepherd
Tickets: www.memorialarts.ca/films/aff-june-eve
In a six-decade career spanning Shakespeare, Stephen King, Marvel, and Gandalf, this may be the best work of McKellen’s career. No slouch herself, Coel meets his every acting challenge and issues one of her own. Odie Henderson/Boston Globe
Had The Christophers just been a cross-generational punch-up, the sort of flinty showdown designed to throw off pleasurable sparks, you’d still walk away content. It remains a conduit for two of the best performances you’ll see all year. David Fear/Rolling Stone
A film that could have settled for being a masterclass in technique, but instead goes deeper, exploring questions of artistry, authorship, legacy. Bob Mondello/NPR
