Nov 18th  
Man with a Movie Camera***    
(USSR 1929)
VUFKU. 68m. bw. silent

Experimental documentary beginning in a cinema and charting a cameraman's journey a day in the city.
Something of an ordeal for those who didn't have the freedom to choose whether to see this film, but also brilliantly surreal and thematic, as well as historical hindsight for its evocation of Moscow (and elsewhere). As a cinematic language, it tries and almost succeeds in creating a storytelling form in pure motion, but would need more artistry for that.

Directed by: Dziga Vertov.
Photography: Mikhail Kaufman (who also appears as the cameraman).
Editing: Elizaveta Svilova.

Preceded by:
Our Lady of Lourdes**
(GB/Poland 2013. Independent Films/Light + Mathematics. 17m.; A young girl and a drunken widower unwittingly rescue each other. Oddly moving drama with only partly relevant special effects scenes, and a deliberately vague sense of location.; w,d: Peter Szewecyk; s: Naomi Scott, Lech Byblik, Nick Moran.)