Belmont World Film's 20th International Film Series

Belmont World Film (BWF) celebrates it 20th Annual International Film Series, hybrid edition, from March 25-May 16, 2022, featuring eight of the world’s top films, accompanied by both online and one in-person discussions with filmmakers or expert speakers.

Three films will be shown both online and in person at either the Majestic 7 Cinema in Watertown (81 Arsenal Yards Blvd.) or the West Newton Cinema (1296 Washington Street), four films will be available online only, and the closing night film on Monday, May 16, will only be shown in-person at the Majestic 7 in Watertown. All discussions will take place on Zoom on Mondays at 7:00 PM, except for the closing night film on May 16, which will take place immediately following the screening. Covid measures for in-person screenings include proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test within 72 hours of a screening, mask wearing, and social distancing (subject to change, depending on conditions).

Women and men directors are represented in equal parts, with six directors making their feature film debuts alongside two veteran directors: two-time Cannes Film Festival winner Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom, Exils) and Philippe Le Guay (Women on the Sixth Floor). Films feature such diverse languages as Albanian, Anishinaabemowin (Canadian First Nation language), Italian, Occitan (the language of the Oc people in the south of France), Polish, Romanian, and Spanish. Seven of the eight films are in French from France and Francophone countries, including Belgium, Canada, and Switzerland

This year’s films include:

A Change of Heart directed by Jérémie Elkaïm (France, North American premiere). Based on a true story and adapted from Calais mon amour by Béatrice Huret, a recent widow who finds herself volunteering at a shelter for refugees. After she befriends and falls in love with an Iranian teacher who fled illegally to Calais, she begins to question the prejudices she is accustomed to encountering, challenging the laws of her country. In-person: Sunday, March 27, 7 PM, Majestic 7 Cinema. Online: Friday, March 25, 7 PM through Sunday, March 27, 7 PM. Online discussion: Monday, March 28, 7 PM.

The Heroics directed by Maxime Roy (France, US premiere). An intimate sociological and family drama, exploring the themes of addiction, fatherhood, and marginality and based loosely on the life of the film’s star, François Creton. Online only: Tuesday, March 29, 7 PM through Monday, April 4, 7 PM. Online discussion: Monday, April 4, 7 PM on Zoom.

Bootlegger directed by Caroline Monnet (Canada, New England premiere). A woman returns to her birthplace in a remote Native American community in northern Quebec and gets involved in debate about the referendum that would overturn the law banning the free sale of alcohol, pitting her and half the community against a bootlegger. In-person: Sunday, April 10, 7 PM, West Newton Cinema. Online: Friday, April 8, 7 PM through Sunday, April 10, 7 PM. Online discussion:Monday, April 11, 7 PM on Zoom.

Tom Medina directed by Tony Gatlif (Switzerland/France, US premiere). In the mystical, southern French region of Camargue, Tom Medina turns up, on probation, on the doorstep of big-hearted farmer Ulysses. Director Tony Gatlif’s partly autobiographical Tom dreams of becoming a good person, but he\’s thwarted by the hostility flung in his general direction. Online only: Tuesday, April 12, 7 PM through Monday, April 18, 7 PM Online discussion: Monday, April 18, 7 PM on Zoom.

Zero F**ks Given directed by Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre (France/Belgium, US premiere). Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) stars in this Cannes Film Festival winner as a flight attendant struggling under the indifference and sexism of working for a big corporation.

In-person: Sunday, April 24, 7 PM, West Newton Cinema, Online: Friday, April 22, 7 PM through Sunday, April 24, 7 PM. Online discussion: Monday, April 25, 7 PM on Zoom.

The Man in the Basement directed by Philippe Le Guay (France, US premiere). Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Jérémie Renier (Potiche, BWF 2011), and François Cluzet (The Untouchables with Omar Sy) star in a domestic thriller about a manipulative man who moves into a couple’s unsanitary basement and starts spewing antisemitic rhetoric. Online only: Tuesday, April 26, 7 PM through Monday, May 2, 7 PM. Online film discussion: Monday, May 2, 7 PM on Zoom.

Vera Dreams of the Sea directed by Kaltrina Krasniqi (Kosovo/Albania/Republic of Macedonia, New England premiere). When a renowned judge unexpectedly commits suicide, an unwelcome parade of relatives come calling to his wife, claiming to have ownership of the family’s village home, pressuring her to give it up in increasingly menacing ways. An intimate yet universal portrait of the power imbalances in a culture in which patrilineal inheritance is the norm. Online only: Tuesday, May 3, 7 PM through Monday, May 9, 7 PM, Online film discussion: Monday, May 9, 7 PM on Zoom.

Silent Land directed by Agnieszka Woszczynska (Poland/Czech Republic/Italy, East Coast premiere). A perfect bourgeois couple from Poland rent a holiday home on a sunny Italian island, but it quickly becomes anything but a stress-free vacation, when the two witness a terrible accident from their balcony. Expertly observed and carefully crafted with echoes of Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure. In-person only: Monday, May 16, 7 PM at the Majestic 7, followed by a live discussion.

The festival is funded in part by generous grants from Gravestar, the Mass Cultural Council and the Belmont Cultural Council. It is also supported by the Quebec Delegation of Boston and Villa Albertine.