The 67^th BAFTA British Academy Film Awards have just wrapped and it was another good night for Jennifer Lawrence and Cate Blanchett, who failed to thank her Blue Jasmine director Woody Allen in her Best Actress acceptance speech. These wins were both highly predicted, but it’s nice to see the awards being shared around a little more in the male acting categories. Chiwetel Ejiofor won Best Actor for his excellent work in 12 Years a Slave, and Barkhad Abdi scooped the award for Best Supporting Actor for Captain Phillips.

Gravity won three awards including Best Director with 12 Years a Slave picking up Best Film. I suspect this is how the Oscars will unfold as well. There’s a full list of winners beneath my Rialto Channel highlights for the week.

The 67^th BAFTA British Academy Film Awards have just wrapped and it was another good night for Jennifer Lawrence and Cate Blanchett, who failed to thank her Blue Jasmine director Woody Allen in her Best Actress acceptance speech. These wins were both highly predicted, but it’s nice to see the awards being shared around a little more in the male acting categories. Chiwetel Ejiofor won Best Actor for his excellent work in 12 Years a Slave, and Barkhad Abdi scooped the award for Best Supporting Actor for Captain Phillips.

Gravity won three awards including Best Director with 12 Years a Slave picking up Best Film. I suspect this is how the Oscars will unfold as well. There’s a full list of winners beneath my Rialto Channel highlights for the week.

Chinese Take-Away (2011)
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Ignacio Huang and Muriel Santa Ana
Directed by: Sebastian Borensztein
Screening: Tuesday 18^th February, 8.30pm

This quietly amusing human comedy is set in Buenos Aires and tells the story of a grumpy, quirky loner called Roberto who runs a small, neighbourhood hardware store. Roberto likes to collect unusual stories out of international newspapers, turns his light out each night at 11pm on the dot, and eats animal testicles. He’s a man who likes solitude and order, which is why his decision to take in a stranded, non-Spanish speaking Chinese tourist he meets on the street is a strange one. Roberto is played by the fabulous Ricardo Darin (star of Oscar winning The Secret of Your Eyes and Oscar nominated The Son of the Bride) and the film, written and directed by Argentinian filmmaker Sebastian Borensztein, received eight nominations and three wins at the Film Award of the Argentinean Academy. As far as art house cinema goes, this is pleasant and accessible comedy from one of Argentina’s most successful contemporary directors.

2 Days in New York (2012)
Starring: Julie Delpy, Chris Rock and Daniel Brühl
Directed by: Julie Delpy
Screening: Saturday 22^nd February, 8.30pm

This isn’t the first film French actress Julie Delpy has written and directed. She worked alongside director Richard Linklater and co-star Ethan Hawke on the Before Sunset and Before Midnight scripts and she wrote and directed the comedy 2 Days in Paris in 2007. This is a loose sequel to that film - not that you need to be familiar with it. Delpy wrote this screenplay in a response to the way she saw actresses in their late 30s and early 40s being portrayed in romantic comedies, dealing with issues as if they were in the mid twenties. In this energetic, witty, chaotic comedy, Delpy’s character Marion is living in New York with her son, and her boyfriend (Rock) and his daughter, and their relationship is put to the test when her crazy French family comes to visit. Her script is busy – like the Before Trilogy – and filled with characters that speak their mind. There’s a feeling of improvisation here, and plenty to amuse, but what really strikes you is Delpy’s casting – who would have thought Delpy and Chris Rock would make such as engaging and plausible couple.

8 1/2 Weeks (1963)
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée & Claudia Cardinale
Directed by: Federico Fellini
Screening: Sunday 23^rd February, 8.30pm

“8 ½ is the best film ever made about filmmaking” according to Roger Ebert in his book, The Great Movies. Fellini fans are often divided into two camps, those who believe La Strada (1954) was the high point of his career before he left his neorealism roots behind, and those who believe his works of personal fantasy that followed such as 8 ½ were his masterpieces. Regardless of which camp you fall into, one should never miss the opportunity to see the Italian directors work, especially a film as autobiographical as the iconic, Oscar award winning 8 & 1/2.