Cities of Seven Hills Season
October to December 2019
Rare Giants presents a mini-season of world cinema located in cities built on seven hills.
Taking place at University of Sheffield’s Film Unit, Cities of Seven Hills explores Sheffield’s own cinematic heritage by looking outward to geographical and emotional landscapes of mirror cities and their people, reflecting on Sheffield’s own unique identity and struggles and how local concerns resonate worldwide.
Films featured in the season include Bicycle Thieves (29 October), Distant Voices, Still Lives (14 November) and Ten (12 December), each with an introduction exploring the connection with the city depicted, comparing and contrasting experiences from across the world.
Tickets are available from the University of Sheffield Students’ Union Box Office in person and online.
Bicycle Thieves (1948) – Tuesday 29 October 2019 – Tickets
As part of Rare Giants’ Cities of Seven Hills, we welcome Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948). In poverty-stricken postwar Rome, a man is on his first day of a new job that offers hope of salvation for his desperate family when his bicycle, which he needs for work, is stolen. With his young son in tow, he sets off to track down the thief. Hailed around the world as one of the greatest movies ever made, Bicycle Thieves truly defined an era in cinema, embodying the greatest strengths of the Italian neorealist movement: emotional clarity, social rectitude, and brutal honesty.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) – Thursday 14 November 2019 – Tickets
Terence Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) recalls the directors upbringing in Liverpool after the war in a working-class home dominated by the violence of his father. Using dynamic lighting, a superb soundtrack and a fragmented structure, Davies constructs a distinctive drama suffused with both beauty and horror. The film features a powerhouse turn from Pete Postlethwaite, closely linked with Sheffield and South Yorkshire for performances in Among Giants (1998) and Brassed Off (1996).
Ten (2002) – Thursday 12 December 2019 – Tickets
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami achieved acclaim on the 1990s film festival scene, but confounded many critics with this ultra-minimalist drama about a woman (Mania Akbari) driving around Tehran, picking up various passengers as she goes. With ten conversational episodes from a small digital camera fixed to the dashboard, a complex picture of the oppression of women in modern Iran emerges from this Palme d’Or nominated docufiction.
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In association with Film Unit, this project is supported by Film Hub North, proud to be part of the BFI Film Audience Network.
