Brighton’s Film Festival CINECITY returns for 2020

As part of the 18^th edition of CINECITY, the festival has joined forces with other leading regional film festivals to present AMPLIFY! – a new online programme from 6-22 November which will be available across the UK. The festival will showcase a diverse range of films from around the globe supported by film-maker Q+As and industry events.

AMPLIFY! is an innovative collaboration between CINECITY and Bath, Cambridge and Cornwall Film Festivals, created in response to these unprecedented times. The theme Adventures in World Cinema will be accessible online to loyal audiences who have supported CINECITY over many years and also reach new ones across the UK.

Unfortunately, due to lockdown, planned physical screenings at Depot, Lewes, have been postponed, with plans to rearrange them for a later date which is yet to be confirmed.

With film aficionados looking for an outlet during lockdown, the AMPLIFY! event provide the perfect antidote, running online between 6-22 November. It features highlights including several UK premieres of festival favourites, such as Viggo Mortensen’s (Lord of the Rings, Captain Fantastic) directorial debut Falling, a Cannes 2020 official selection fresh off its successful screening at San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Following its Sundance Film Festival screening earlier this year, Luxor, starring Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, Brighton Rock, Battle of the Sexes) plays along with Patrick (De Patrick), which casts Jemaine Clement (Flight of The Conchords, What We Did In The Shadows) in a Belgian dark comedy about a nudist camp.

The Documentary strand includes Chilean film The Mole Agent, winner of the Audience Award for Best European Film at San Sebastian. The AMPLIFY! programme is F-Rated with at least 50% of the programme directed by female film-makers.

Audiences will have the opportunity to see six short programmes for free, including the prestigious IMDb Awards from FilmBath; Cornwall's International shorts programme and South West best regional shorts; as well as CINECITY’s New Voices – a collection of regional shorts made by 16 to 25-year-olds, supported by Screen and Film School Brighton. CINECITY Open, a programme of short films selected from open submissions to the festival, is also available to view on the website.

Viggo Mortensen’s Falling

Patrick (De Patrick)

Featuring first year Film and Screen Studies BA(Hons) University of Brighton student Oliver Hayhoe, AMPLIFY! is running a Young People’s Jury Programme which seeks to nurture visual literacy, criticism and decision making in the next generation and will culminate in the Young People's Jury Prize awarded to one of the eight nominated features in competition.

In addition to a comprehensive programme of feature and short films, AMPLIFY! will also deliver a range of director Q+As, workshops, and networking events.

Among the events on the bill will be a roundtable discussion with noted journalist Charles Gant called Distribution In Uncertain Times, a Q+A with German director-producer Jens Meurer following the UK Premiere of An Impossible Project and hosted by Bill Lawrence (former Creative Director at Showroom Cinema, and Head of Film at the National Museum of Photography), a casting panel hosted by Backstage Magazine and a LIM (Less Is More) script development talk supported by Creative Europe.

A number of other events will also run throughout the festival, supported by the UK-wide talent development programme BFI NETWORK, using funds from the National Lottery.