The story of two mismatched but fated lovers caught between East and West in 1950s Europe will grace the big screen in the latest offering of the Brock University Film Society (BUFS).
Cold War, a passionate romance from writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, Last Resort), will be shown Thursday, March 7 at the Film House in downtown St. Catharines.
In the ruins of Poland following the Second World War, a pianist is commissioned by the Soviet state to form a musical ensemble to help rekindle national pride. While touring the villages in search of talent, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful, fiery and charismatic singer. A performance in Berlin offers the pair an opportunity for escape to the West but a last-minute decision finds them stranded on either side of the Iron Curtain.
“The crystalline black-and-white cinematography exalts its moments of intimate grimness and its dreamlike showpieces of theatrical display,” says The Guardian. “It is an elliptical, episodic story of imprisonment and escape, epic in scope.”
Time is more succinct, calling Cold War “a terrific, smoky-cool love story.”
A critical and audience favourite at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski was named Best Director, Cold War was also nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.
Tickets for all BUFS shows are available at the Film House in the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on the evening of screenings. General admission is $9.50 or $7 for members, plus tax. Memberships are available through the Film House website.
Visit the BUFS web page for a full list of this season’s selections. A calendar of films coming to the PAC over the next few months is posted on the Film House website. Look for the red B that indicates a BUFS-hosted screening.
For more than 40 years, the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film has hosted the film society (previously known as a series) to bring some of the best in independent, international and Canadian cinema to St. Catharines.
