British Film Festival offers entertaining lineup

JAKARTA (JP): The British Film Festival begins Saturday and lasts through Friday, July 23 at the H. Usmar Ismail Film Center, Jl. HR Rasuna Said, Kav 22, followed by a film discussion on Saturday, July 24 at 10 a.m.

Free tickets are available at the British Council. Members of the Usmar Ismail Kine Klub can obtain film tickets at the Usmar Ismail Film Center. Beside Mrs. Brown, other films to be screened are:

* Jilting Joe, 1998, 80 minutes, directed by Dan Zeff.

Cast: Geraldine Somerville, James Purefoy, Patricia Hodge, Tom Wilkinson

Synopsis: Joe and Olivia are childhood sweethearts about to embark on marriage. But Olivia doesn't quite make it up the aisle, and Joe is jilted at the altar. A decade later, Olivia and Joe meet again and they have changed beyond all recognition. Will first love get a second chance?

Screening time: Saturday, July 17 at 3 p.m., preceded by the short film The Queen's Monastery. And on Tuesday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the short film The Wrong Brothers.

* Downtime, 1997, 91 minutes, directed by Bharat Nalluri.

Cast: Paul McGann, Susan Lynch

Synopsis: A gripping romantic thriller set in the north of England about ex-police psychologist Rob, who successfully talks a woman named Chrissy out of jumping off a tower block with her young son Jake. He visits her the next day to ask for a date. But when they take the lift down, the lift, sabotaged by vandals, rapidly falls and rises, tossing its passengers around.

Screening time: Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. and on Friday, July 23 at 3 p.m. Both screenings will be preceded by the short film El Caminante.

* True Blue, 1997, 114 minutes, directed by Ferdinand Fairfax

Cast: Johan Leysen, Dominic West, Dylan Baker, Geraldine Somerville, Josh Lucas, Brian McGovern.

Synopsis: The story of the Oxford University Boat Race mutiny of 1987, telling about a group of American students who arrive at Oxford, hoping to put some steel into a Boat Race crew still reeling from their recent humiliating defeat at the hands of Cambridge.

Screening time: Sunday, July 18 at 3 p.m., preceded by the short film Gourmand. And on Friday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m, preceded by the short film The Queen's Monastery.

* Twelfth Night, 1997, 135 minutes, directed by Trevor Nunn

Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Kingsley, Mel Smith, Imelda Staunton, Toby Stephens, Imogen Stubbs.

Synopsis: An adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy about Viola, a girl who disguises herself as a boy named Cesario and serves Orsino, a duke, who is trying to woo Olivia, a noblewoman. Both Olivia and Orsino develop a passion for Cesario, and things get complicated when Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, arrives and is mistaken for Cesario/Viola.

Screening time: Sunday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the short film The Short Goodbye. And on Tuesday, July 20 at 3 p.m., preceded by the short film The Wrong Brothers.

* The Woodlanders, 1997, 98 minutes, directed by Phil Agland Cast: Rufus Sewell, Polly Walker, Jodhi May, Tony Haygarth, Cal MacAninch, Emily Woof.

Synopsis: For centuries, the community of Little Hintock has been sustained by the surrounding woodland, neither knowing nor needing much from the outside world. But when Grace Melbury, a timber merchant's daughter, returns home from finishing school, the lives of the villagers become caught up in a web of intense and all-consuming emotion.

Screening time: Monday, July 19 at 3 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the short film T.R.A.N.S.I.T.

* Trojan Eddie, 1996, 105 minutes, directed by Gillies MacKinnon.

Cast: Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Harris, Sean McGinley, Angeline Ball, Brid Brennan.

Synopsis: Eddie travels from town to town selling his wares. A vibrant performer on stage, a quiet, almost taciturn man off- stage. A loving father, a sad, cuckolded husband, an old ex-con, he seems to ramble through life full of anxiety and doubt, pragmatically dreaming of a better life.

Screening time: Thursday, July 22 at 3 p.m., preceded by the short film The Short Goodbye, and at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the short film Gourmand.