Theatr Mwldan Film Society / Cymdeithas Ffilm Theatr Mwldan

Peter Strickland | 2009 | 85’ | (15) | Cast | Awards

British auteur Peter Strickland’s intriguing award-winning debut is a strikingly original, insistently gripping, faintly Dostoyevskian tale of violence and retribution set in the swooningly photographed Transylvanian countryside. This rural tragedy begins with a housewife being banished from her village when her husband discovers that he’s not the father of their nine-year-old son. Taking the boy with her in the family horse and cart, she journeys through the Carpathians on a mission to take revenge on the man who ruined her life, leaving a trail of devastation in her wake. It’s the kind of story that could be happening in the city, not the country, on concrete pavements and in the glare of neon rather than sylvan hillsides and golden sunsets, and is enhanced by a growling, clattering soundtrack of electronic music, murmuring voices and heightened natural sounds of wind, water, thunder and rustling vegetation.

Ffilm wreiddiol, afaelgar am drais a dial wedi ei gosod yng nghefn gwlad prydferth Transylvania. Caiff gwraig ei throi allan o’i phentref ar ôl i’w gŵr ddarganfod nad ef yw tad eu mab. Yn benderfynol o ddod o hyd i’r dyn a ddistrywiodd ei bywyd, mae’r fam a’i chrwt yn teithio trwy Fynyddoedd Carpathia er mwyn cael dial arno.

(15) Ramin Bahrani | 2008 | 91’ | Cast | Awards

On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern good ol’ boy with a lifetime of regrets. One man’s American dream is just beginning, while the other’s is quickly winding down. But despite their differences, both men soon realize they need each other more than either is willing to admit. Through an unlikely but unforgettable friendship, this quietly serious and moving film deftly explores the passing of a generation, as well as the rapidly changing face of America.

Ffilm hyfryd am gyfeillgarwch annhebygol. Mae Solo yn yrrwr tacsi o Senegal sy’n gweithio i greu bywyd gwell i’w deulu ifanc. Mae William yn hen ŵr a’i fywyd yn llawn edifeirwch. Mae breuddwyd Americanaidd un yn dechrau, tra bod breuddwyd y llall yn gyflym dirwyn i ben.

(15) | Marco Bechis | Italy | Brazil | 2008 | 104’ | Cast | Awards

Marco Bechis avoids the usual clichés in his stunning portrait of a Brazilian tribe on the verge of extinction. In Mato Grosso do Sol tension is rising between the wealthy farming classes and the workers on their land – the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá. When a suicide takes place it stirs up a rebellion in which both sides are forced to face each other, clashing both ideologically and physically. The real life Amerindian cast had never acted before, yet deliver emotionally engaging and thought provoking performances, shot and directed with sympathy, flair and vigor.

“writer-director-producer Marco Bechis’s absorbing story of struggle and survival carries its committed ethnographic and political passions lightly.” Time Out

(15) Andrea Arnold | UK | 2009 | 123’ | Cast | Awards

Newcomer Katie Jarvis excels as Mia, a tricky 15-year-old who has just one interest in life: urban dance. But the moves she practices are moody, introverted and subdued, rather like the dancer herself. One hot summer’s day her dysfunctional mother brings home a handsome stranger called Connor (Michael Fassbender) who promises to change everything and bring love into all their lives – but are things more complicated than they seem?. Powerfully acted, laugh out loud funny and profoundly moving, Fish Tank is film making of the highest calibre.

Mae Mia yn ferch anodd, 15 mlwydd oed, sydd ag ond un peth ar ei meddwl: dawns urban. Mae pethau’n newid gyda dyfodiad Connor, sy’n addo newid popeth, ond ydyw pethau’n fwy cymhleth na’r olwg gyntaf? Mae Fish Tank yn ddoniol, ac yn drawiadol a theimladwy iawn – dyma wneud ffilmiau o’r radd flaenaf.

“With a terrific performance by debutant Katie Jarvis, this gritty Essex drama shows that director Andrea Arnold is Ken Loach’s natural successor.” The Guardian

Dominique Abel | Fiona Gordon | Bruno Romy | 2008 | 77’

Boasting flashes of comedy gold, and much indebted to the great silent comedians, Rumba stars the Belgian clown Dominique Abel and his Canadian wife Fiona Gordon as a pair of gangly schoolteachers whose passion is entering Latin American dance contests. Their lives are transformed following a car crash in which he loses his memory and she loses her leg, but the result, believe it or not, is funny, inventive, extremely touching and never cruel.

Ffilm am bâr sy’n mwynhau cystadlu mewn cystadlaethau dawns Lladin America. Ond mae eu bywydau’n cael eu trawsffurfio ar ôl iddynt gael damwain car, ac mae’r canlyniad yn ddoniol, yn ddyfeisgar, yn dyner a byth yn greulon.

Cast | Awards