The Culturist Film Club: Upcoming Screenings

It was a busy and enjoyable summer for The Culturist Film Club, the second collaboration with Jameel Arts Centre for its Summer Cinema Programme was well received and I found the discussions with the invited guest speakers and audience members extremely rewarding.

The above image is from the first screening - MEMORY OF PRINCESS MUMBI by Damien Hauser, and I posted more images and wrote a few words about all five screenings in a roundup post here.

Happy to say I have two new screenings coming up in the next few weeks, on September 28 in Abu Dhabi (and The Culturist Film Club’s first time there) and on October 4 in Dubai. Details added below.

I’m also trying to schedule a couple more screenings between October and November. I will let you know as soon as the titles and dates are locked down.

In the meantime, read about the upcoming screenings below and hope you can attend one or both. As always, please feel free to share this email with anyone you know that may be interested in attending.

September 28

BLUE HERON
Sophy Romvari, 2025, 91 min
English, Hungarian with English subtitles

In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island, but their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from the eldest son, Jeremy. At wit’s end, their parents are presented with a shattering choice.

Award-winning director Sophy Romvari’s feature debut is a lyrical and profound testament to the things we carry with us, masterfully chronicling the haze of a languid summer and the hyaline clarity of the moments that defined it.

"On one level, Blue Heron is a period piece, vividly limning the textures (and technology) of its era (including a few well-placed Canadian heritage moments) to locate Sasha’s coming-of-age in a concrete context; at the same time, it’s an ambitious and elliptical exercise in structure, slicing deftly through time, space and point-of-view until the distance between past and present – and also reality and fantasy – collapses altogether." — Adam Nayman, BFI

Winner: Locarno Film Festival 2025 Swatch First Feature Award
Winner: Toronto International Film Festival 2025 Best Canadian Discovery

Date and time: Monday, September 28 at 7.30pm
Location: Cinema Space, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi
Ticket: Free entry, reserve a spot here.

You can read more information and watch the trailer here.

October 4

LA CÉRÉMONIE
Claude Chabrol, 1995, 112 min
French with English subtitles

A psychological thriller, filled with tension and mystery, which delves into the complex interplay of social classes and the devastating consequences of well-kept secrets. With its gripping plot and remarkable performances, this iconic film has left a lasting mark on the cinematic landscape. Its influence transcends borders, shaping contemporary masterpieces like Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite.

“Claude Chabrol’s 49th feature stands as the crowning achievement of his prolific career—a coolly riveting study of class dynamics, the psychology of crime, and the sordid secrets lurking beneath the veneer of everyday life. A fascinatingly enigmatic, César Award–winning Isabelle Huppert is the chaotic yin to Sandrine Bonnaire’s tightly coiled yang. They are, respectively, a small-town postal worker and a maid to a wealthy family, a pair of outsiders who form a mysterious alliance that gradually, almost imperceptibly, goes haywire. With a master’s control of sound, editing, and suspense, Chabrol constructs a tour de force of sustained tension that delivers each brilliant shock with ice-pick precision.” — Criterion

Date and time: Sunday, October 4 at 3.00pm
Location: Alliance Française, Dubai
Ticket: AED 35 (AED 25 free for Alliance Française members). Book your ticket here.

You can read more and watch the trailer here.

Other film related news that may interest you:

In cinemas:
Strongly recommend watching THE WEIGHT (Padraic McKinley), starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe. Depression era gold smuggling thriller that's also about class, race, and labour.

Venice Inernational Film Festival:
I recently got back from this festival and shared a list of films I watched, liked, missed, should’ve skipped here. (Will try to write a review of festival at a later date.) I also uploaded photos I took from from the Wall of Scathing Reviews, an amusing annual tradition at the festival.

Video Art:
I will be part of a group presentation and discussion titled Emirati Visions: A Conversation on Video Art this Saturday, September 26 at 5pm at the newly opened OMIC Cultural Hub in Goshi Warehouse City, Al Quoz, Dubai.

Till next time…