Paid for contentJuly cinema highlights with Jenny Leask

WITH the July film schedule just getting underway, Shetland Arts’ cinema programmer Jenny Leask shares her thoughts on what’s coming up this month.

Jenny has been working with Shetland Arts as cinema programmer for six years, having previously worked at cinemas in Edinburgh and for the Edinburgh International Film Festival since the mid-1990s:

Two big names are back on the big screen this month – Harrison Ford returns as the legendary hero archaeologist Indiana Jones in the highly anticipated fifth instalment of the iconic franchise Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in spectacular action thriller Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

Children and families can look forward to lots of fun with new animations from DreamWorks and Pixar! Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a hilarious, heartfelt action comedy about a shy adolescent who learns that she comes from a fabled royal family of legendary sea krakens. Elemental take us to Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, finds her friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.

Directors Wes Anderson and Greta Gerwig bring us two dazzling new films. Anderson returns with immaculately stylish charmer Asteroid City, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Tilda Swinton, while Gerwig’s quirky, colourful comedy Barbie sees the icon exiled from Barbie Land and having to take on the real world.

Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote offers a rare opportunity to enjoy a masterpiece of dance on the big screen, featuring one of the greatest male ballet dancers of all time at the peak of his career. Over 25 days in 1973, inside an airport hangar in 40-degree heat, Rudolf Nureyev and Sir Robert Helpmann, along with the Australian Ballet and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (2001: A Space Odyssey, Cabaret), created this extraordinary adaptation of Cervantes’ classic tale, widely acclaimed as the best dance film ever made. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, cinema audiences around the world will be able to enjoy the re-mastered, restored and re-orchestrated film.

As usual, we have a number of independent films in the line-up – War Pony is a stunning, tender and utterly compelling, telling the interlocking stories of two Oglala Lakota men coming of age on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Under the Fig Trees is a beguiling, sun-dappled drama from Tunisia. Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, and find – and flee – deeper connections. Full Time serves as a sobering reminder that just staying financially afloat can sometimes feel like a white-knuckle thriller.

Finally, we have two films screening to coincide with the Tall Ships Races Lerwick 2023! South is the filmed record – exquisitely photographed by Frank Hurley – of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-16 Endurance expedition to Antarctica. Notable for its stunningly dramatic images and the matter-of-fact way in which it deals with the actions of the explorer in the face of death, the film has been digitally remastered by BFI National Archive with a newly commissioned score by Neil Brand. We also have the hugely enjoyable swashbuckling adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl!

Explore July’s films and book tickets on the Shetland Arts website, pop into Mareel or give the box office a call on 01595 745500.

Cheap day tickets (£5.50) are available for all films on a Tuesday, during the day on Wednesday/Thursday and on Saturday/Sunday mornings, under 16s tickets are £5.50 all week. For all ticket prices (£5.50 – £10) see the Shetland Arts website.