#WeekendWatchlist

City Eye will be recommending (and inviting others to do so too) films that you can find online, but which might not be your usual go-to subject, style or genre. We’d love you to share your thoughts afterwards too.  #WeekendWatchlist will be posted weekly on social media so make sure you are following City Eye on Facebook and Twitter (using the buttons below) and join in the conversation with #WeekendWatchlist.
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4th September 2020 - The Peanut Butter Falcon & Dave.

Xavier Fiddes, the co-director of In Focus Education & Development, picks the 2019 comedy adventure 'The Peanut Butter Falcon' (Cert 12A) and TV comedy series 'Dave' for this week's #WeekendWatchlist.

'The Peanut Butter Falcon' is streaming on Netflix and you can watch 'Dave' via the BBC iPlayer.

For more information about In Focus visit www.infocusedu.co.uk ​
29th August 2020 - Pride & Beautiful Thing.

This time for #WeekendWatchlist, from Southampton Pride, Daniel Langrish-Beard recommends two British LGBTQ films Pride(cert 15) and Beautiful Thing (cert 15) and let's us know how to be involved in Southampton Pride this year.

'Pride' is available to rent on Amazon Prime, BFI Player, YouTube and GooglePlay Movies.
'Beautiful Thing' is available to rent via BFI Player.

Catch Southampton Pride's digital celebrations on Facebook and YouTube on Saturday 29th August 2020.
21st August - Larry Achiampong's The Explusion

For #WeekendWatchlist this week we recommend Larry Achiampong's short film 'The Explusion'. 
The Explusion highlights the rich interior world of an unnamed migrant with references to themes of race, class and gender. This film is currently streaming via John Hansard Gallery's online exhibition until 31 August 2020.
Watch it here www.jhg.art ​
15th August 2020 - O, Hunter Heart
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This week’s #WeekendWatchlist pick is the animated artist moving image short film ‘O, Hunter Heart’ created by Carla MacKinnon. 

O, Hunter Heart is shows nature and domesticity collide in a dark animated tale of love and loss. This 7-minute short film has been screened and selected at several film festivals including Encounters Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival. 

In 2019 O, Hunter Heart made the official shortlist for Southampton Film Week’s annual competition, SFW: Shorts. It went on to receive the awards for Best Artist Film and the Audience Award.
SFW: Shorts has just opened for submissions for 2020, visit Southampton Film Week for details. 

O, Hunter Heart is currently available to watch for free on BFI Player for a limited time so the best time to watch it is now.
8th August 2020 - The Eagle Huntress

City Eye and Southampton Film Week director, Susan Beckett recommends the 2016 documentary 'The Eagle Huntress' by Otto Bell and narrated by Star Wars' Daisy Ridley for City Eye's weekly #WeekendWatchlist.

You can rent 'The Eagle Huntress' on Amazon Prime Video,
​BFI player, Google Play Movies & YouTube. 
31st July 2020 - The Selfish Giant

This week filmmaker Rachel Stephens returns to recommend the 2013 British drama, The Selfish Giant for #WeekendWatchlist.

​ The Selfish Giant (Cert 15) is available for free via ALL 4 until 6th August 2020. It is also available to rent via BFI Player, Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies and YouTube.
24th  July 2020 - Tales from the Loop

Something a little different this week as Dr. Donna Peberdy recommends an eight part series for your weekend viewing.  Donna is a senior lecturer in film and television at Solent University, Southampton and is also editor-in-chief @diegesismag.

​"Tales from the Loop is an eight-part series inspired by Simon Stalenhag's book of digitally designed striking images. It premiered back in April on Amazon Prime but seemed to go largely unnoticed which is surprising. It's a lo-fi science-fiction drama that is very much character-driven, centring on a small fictional town in Ohio. The Loop of the title refers to a research centre and experimental underground facility, but for once this is not some secret bunker - just a place of work for many of the townsfolk.
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This isn't big scale spectacle-driven sci-fi but focuses more on the impact of time-loops, body swaps and parallel worlds on the intimate and emotional lives of everyday people. It's thought-provoking, contains wonderfully well-realised ideas and conjures up some beautifully rendered images of everyday spaces. 

The first episode is a bit of a slow-burn but stick with it. The interconnected lives of the characters, as each episode unfolds, really pays off. So binge it or kick back and take your time. A real gem!"

Tales from the Loop (Cert 15) is available on Amazon Prime. Each episode has a running time of approx 55 minutes.
10th July 2020 - The Miracle in Milan and Toni Erdmann

Writer Deborah Gearing returns for this weeks #WeekendWatchlist with recommendations for The Miracle in Milan and Toni Erdmann

"The Miracle in Milan (1951) by Vittorio de Sica. A black and white, tender, funny, touching film in fantasy Neo realist vein. Believe that better things can happen...

Toni Erdmann, by Maren Ade (2016). Another long film. The wonderful Sandra Huller takes on the main role of a young, successful businesswoman made to pay attention to her painfully (un)funny dad, who pops up in disguise at his daughter's meetings on a business trip to Bucharest. This film is funny, excruciating, sad; it's a political satire, a drama of relationships and simply marvellous."

The Miracle in Milan (Cert U) available via Amazon Prime (with Mubi subscription/trial).
Toni Erdmann (Cert 15) available to rent on BFI player and Amazon prime.
3rd July 2020 - Down to the Bone and Keane

This week writer and film fan, David Spencer picks two films, both released in 2004 for #WeekendWatchlist. 

Read on to see what David said about his film choices, Down to the Bone by Debra Granik and Keane by Lodge Kerrigan.

"Vera Famiga in Deborah Graniks's DOWN TO THE BONE will have you shouting at the screen as she makes one bad choice after another, not a moment of sentimentality and does that thing hollywood so rarely dares to do, leaves it like life so often is, unresolved. 
 
KEANE, Damian Lewis, at his most compelling. The beginning... "have you seen my daughter..." is one of the most heartbreaking openings I have ever seen. So many films look at love for the ch ild through the motherbeast, this is the fatherbeast, if it were a prayer everything it asked for would be granted.
 
Both of these films are in parts hard to watch but do not waste a moment of your time; they will stay with you for ever as thrilling examinations of what really makes us human, alive, in thought and feeling and compelled to seek contact with others." 

Down to the Bone (cert 15) is available to rent via Amazon, Google Play Movies and YouTube. Keane (cert 15) is available to rent via Amazon.
26th June 2020 - Selma and HyperNormalisation

Writer Deborah Gearing picks the 2014 historical drama Selma directed by Ava DuVernay and the 2016 documentary HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis for this weeks #WeekendWatchlist.

Deborah said: "SELMA, 2014.  Director Ava DuVernay.  The route to change is long and dangerous, but change must come. If you haven't yet seen this film about a community rising up to claim the right to vote, with Martin Luther King at the forefront, now is the time. 

HyperNormalisation (2016) is a documentary by historian/journalist/filmmaker Adam Curtis which takes in stories and events from across the world to paint a picture of a world dangerously divorced from reality. Our world feels fake, crises seem unreal, we don't feel in control - and we're not. This is a film about how power slipped from governments into the hands of people who played a different game. It opens with a young Donald Trump making millions out of the financially bankrupt New York - essentially on the basis of a promise to build skyscrapers, which he himself could not finance...
There's a trigger warning on this film - it is a documentary and not suitable for children. It's also quite long at 167 minutes.
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I am hopeful that some events today, bringing people together - BLM, Climate Change protests - are going to prove to me that the world can change and we can exercise power as communities."

Selma (cert 12A) is available on BBC iPlayer until 18th July. You can also rent via BFI Player, Amazon and Youtube.
HyperNormalisation is available on BBC iPlayer.
 
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19th June 2020 - Tell Me Who I Am, The Shock Doctrine and The Spiral Staircase.

This time for #WeekendWatchlist, Head of Film at
​Solent University, Darren Kerr, recommends the documentary
Tell Me Who I Am (cert 15), short film The Shock Doctrine and the 1946 horror feature The Spiral Staircase (cert PG).

Tell Me Who I Am is available to stream on Netflix. The Shock Doctrine can be found on Vimeo here and The Spiral Staircase is available to watch on YouTube here. 
12th June 2020 - Da 5 Bloods
Filmmaker Rachel Stephens returns to tell us why she is watching Da 5 Bloods this weekend.
“I am really looking forward to watching the new Spike Lee film ‘Da 5 Bloods’ which has just been released on Netflix and is already getting great reviews. Some critics have even said this is possibly Spike Lee’s best film, which after the incredible BlacKkKlansman in 2018 and a body of working spanning decades, would be a real achievement.
Spike Lee’s films are often vibrant, stylistic, provocative and provide a harsh reflection on society. I like how he can blend drama and devastation with comedy and heart.
I have high expectations for Da 5 Bloods.”
Da 5 Bloods (cert 15) is about four African American veterans who return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen Squad Leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide. It is available to stream on Netflix UK.
5th June 2020 - BFI Black Lives, 12 Years a Slave and I Am Not Your Negro

This week's #WeekendWatchlist invites you to explore content from filmmakers which addresses issues of inequality and racism through film.

Available for free via the BFI Player is Black Lives - portraits of public and private lives against the shifting social climate of 20th century Britain. https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/collection/black-lives . 
This programme is part of the Black Britain on Film collection also on the BFI Player offering 'striking, illuminating and sometimes surprising images of black culture, community and characters, spanning over a century of British film and TV'.

The award-winning historical drama, 12 Years A Slave (Cert 15), directed by Steve McQueen, presents the story of Solomon Northup, a free African-American man, who in 1841 Washington DC is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Available with subscription on Netflix UK & Amazon Prime and to rent via Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies and YouTube. 
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I Am Not Your Negro (Cert 12A) is a 2016 documentary film directed by Raoul Peck.  It is based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. 
​Narrated by actor Samuel L. Jackson the film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards and won a BAFTA for Best Documentary.  Available to rent via Amazon Prime, Google Play Movies and YouTube. 

#BlackLivesMatter
29th May 2020 - Der Lauf der Dinge and Furniture Poetry

For this week's #WeekendWatchlist, Artist Alys Scott Hawkins recommends two short works of artists' moving image;
Der Lauf der Dinge by Peter Fischli & David Weiss and
​Furniture Poetry by Paul Bush.

You can watch Der Lauf der Dinge  on Vimeo here.

Furniture Poetry  also available to watch on Vimeo here.

Alys said: "These two films I have known for many years, and recently I have shown to my two kids, who were entranced. Both films will make you think differently about the objects you live with, and inspire you to make your own versions! For me they are two great examples of artists’ moving image which is accessible, engaging and will motivate anyone, young or old, to make films."
22nd May 2020 - God's Own Country, Hush and Colossal
Writer/Director and City Eye volunteer, Liam Calvert has 3 movie recommendations for this week's #WeekendWatchlist: God's Own Country (Cert 12A), Hush (Cert 15) and Colossal (Cert 15).

You can rent 'God's Own Country' on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies and YouTube.

'Hush' is available to stream on Netflix UK.
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​Watch 'Colossal' on Netflix UK, or rent via Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies or YouTube.
15th May 2020 - Under the Shadow and Our Little Sister

Freelance filmmaker and former City Eye employee Rachel Stephens recommends the Farsi horror Under the Shadow (Cert 15) and the Japanese family drama Our Little Sister (Cert PG) for City Eye's first weekly #WeekendWatchlist.

You can find 'Under the Shadow' on Netflix UK, or rent via Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies or YouTube.

'Our Little Sister' is available on Mubi until 8th June 2020 or rent via Amazon Prime Video or Google Play Movies.