A woman who directed a picture that won the Amnesty International Award at the Human Rights Film Festival at San Sebastian will be making a guest appearance at the Keswick Film Festival.
Sarah Beddington, director of Fadia’s Tree, will be at the festival, which runs from February 23 to 26, to introduce her film and to present the Osprey Short Film Awards, alongside the Oscar nominated British-Iranian film director Hassan Nazer. Hassan is the director of the film Winners which will be the festival’s gala screening on Friday February 24 at the Alhambra Cinema.
Sarah’s film is a remarkable piece of work, filmed over 15 years, taking a birds-eye perspective to highlight the problems of Palestine and the Palestinians. It will be shown as part of the Keswick Peace and Human Rights Group presentation on Saturday February 25.
The film is described as ”a compelling documentary account of the director’s friendship with Fadia, a charismatic Palestinian woman and teacher who lives in a refugee camp in Lebanon but is determined to reconnect with her ancestral homeland.”
Sarah is currently working on her second feature which focuses on upland farmers in the Lake District at a pivotal time of change.
Festival director Ian Payne said: ”Sarah’s passion for people and their environment is all too clear. I can’t wait to find out more about her Lake District film and hope that we get the opportunity to screen it at the Alhambra in the not-too-distant future.”
There may be some tears shed at the opening night of the festival which will feature the Iceland-set Godland.
Festival organisers were contacted by Ingvar Árni Ingvarsson, saying:”Hi, I just booked tickets to see Godland for myself, partner and two of our children. I am very excited to see it in a cinema setting as my dad is in it and it was his final acting role before passing away in 2021 so he never got to see it.
”I just wanted to know if my 17-month-old daughter can also attend – unfortunately she missed out on meeting him by three weeks.”
Mr Payne said: ”We will be delighted to welcome Ingvar and his family – we will reserve some seats near the door, so if the young lady does become restless after seeing her grandfather on screen, in what will be a really touching moment, she can be entertained in the foyer.”
Ingvar went on to say that Godland was filmed largely around his hometown in Iceland (where the director Hlynur Pálmason stíll lives) called Höfn (pronounced Ho-bbn) where other movies had been filmed such as Beowulf & Grendel, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, View to Kill and Die Another Day.
