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LUMIÈRE, LE CINÉMA
Director: Thierry Frémaux
A contemporary film collating works shot by Louis and Auguste Lumiere from the earliest years of cinema, superbly preserved and restored by the Lumiere Institute in Lyon. Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux provides an informative commentary as toddlers squabble, a magician performs a trick and a train pulls into a station; the score is by Gabriel Faure, a composer favoured by the Lumiere brothers themselves. More than a hundred short films of 50 seconds each, provide a window both into ordinary life around the turn of the 19th century – not only in France but in places as far-flung as Japan and Algeria - and the wonder felt at the Lumieres’ astonishing invention, the cinematograph, a miracle whose magic continues.

6 AM
Director: Mehran Modiri
Sarah is leaving Teheran for three years to study for her doctorate in Canada. Her flight is at 6 am. After an emotionally fraught final dinner with her family, she heads to an impromptu farewell party at her friend Farida’s apartment, intending to go straight to the airport afterwards. That plan implodes, however, when the morality police swoop in. Drinks are emptied, musical instruments hidden and women put on their overcoats, while Sarah is seized with terror that they will all be arrested – and she, of course, will miss her plane. Mehran Modiri, Iran’s popular satirist, who also has a chilling cameo as a police hostage negotiator, proves here that he is just as at home with a nail-biting drama.

In-Conversation with Emily Blunt
Director: Emily Blunt
Academy Award nominee Emily Blunt has established herself as one of Hollywood's most versatile talents through transformative performances spanning action, drama, horror, and musicals. Her recent Academy Award nomination for Oppenheimer (2023) adds to an impressive collection of accolades, including SAG and Golden Globe awards. Blunt recently starred in The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling and Pain Hustlers alongside Chris Evans. Her breakthrough role in The Devil Wears Prada earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, while her performances in A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns (2018) showcased her range, with the former earning her a SAG Award. Notable films include Sicario, The Girl on the Train, and Into the Woods. Beginning her career on London's stage opposite Dame Judi Dench, Blunt has consistently delivered acclaimed performances across genres. She is set to star in the upcoming action-adventure film The Smashing Machine.

FREEDOM WAY
Director: Afolabi Olalekan
When two young software engineers set up EasyGo, a ride-sharing scheme for commercial motorcyclists in hectic Lagos, it is a godsend to riders like Abiola, who is soon depending on its customers to support his family. The success of the app, however, attracts the attention of corrupt police and government ministers who contrive to get it banned. Other stories – one about a doctor wrestling with his conscience, one about two police officers at loggerheads over the common practice of shaking down young people in the street – show that this kind of low-level violence is everywhere.. Like Lagos itself, the melodramatic storylines are fast and intense; as the characters’ stories start to dovetail, as if the city itself were pushing them together.