High Life

#WOFFFWATCHALONG

Welcome to our COIVD-19 WOFFF watchalong, co-hosted with ReframedFilm on Thursday 25 June 2020. We hope you enjoy all the films and that you’ll join us on Twitter around 9.00PM (BST) for a chat about what you’ve seen.

VIEWING SCHEDULE 25 JUNE

All times are British Summer Time  (BST) and are approximate. Full links below the viewing schedule:
7:00PM Intro to the programme from WOFFF
7:05PM Film Talk with filmmaker A. L. Lee
7.10PM WOFFF short film ARTEMIS & THE ASTRONAUT
7.30PM Tonight’s feature film HIGH LIFE
9.00PM Join the conversation on Twitter about the films. Use the hashtag #WOFFFWatchalong and tag us @WO50FF so we can welcome you into the conversation and so others can find your tweets
9:45PM WOFFF short film IN ORBIT by Rony Khoubieh

HELLO FROM WOFFF

Hello from the Women Over 50 Film Festival and welcome to our WOFFF Watchalong. This week’s we’ve got three films to share with you all connected with outer space and astronauts. Our feature film is HIGH LIFE a dystopian near-future where criminals serving death sentences are sent on a mission in space to extract energy from a black hole. Our space-related shorts are an American drama ARTEMIS & THE ASTRONAUT which examines one woman’s grief after her husband’s death and the French drama IN ORBIT which sees a woman auditioning for the part of an astronaut for a director who can’t see her in the role.

FILM TALK: A. L. Lee

ARTEMIS & THE ASTRONAUT director A L Lee joins us from New York for this Film Talk to tell us about her film – a meditation on love, loss, assonants and dancing.

ARTEMIS & THE ASTRONAUT

Artemis and Henri have spent a lifetime together. Loved one another deeply and imperfectly. A month ago Henri died and so much was left unsaid. And then Artemis hears Henri crying in the next room. Will Artemis get a chance to be with Henri one last time?
This film was available from 25 June – 2 July 2020. You can watch the trailer here.

HIGH LIFE

In HIGH LIFE by Claire Denis, Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a mission to deep space. The crew—death-row inmates led by a doctor (Juliette Binoche) with sinister motives—has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is revealed, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.
This is a Reframed Film pick and unfortunately it’s not available free for viewers in the UK. You can buy the dvd from Hive, or you can see it if you have a subscription to MUBI (which has a 7-day free trial period if you sign up just now) or you can rent it on GooglePlay or Amazon.

ONLINE CONVERSATION

Join us on Twitter and tell us what you think of the films so far! Use the hashtag #WOFFFWatchalong so you can see what other people are saying, and then, jump in!

IN ORBIT

In this short drama, IN ORBIT, by Rony Khoubieh a Lebanese woman goes for an audition hoping to land a part of an astronaut in a French movie but the director doesn’t see an Arab woman as a good fit for the film.

NEXT WEEK’S WATCHALONG

Our next film, on Thursday 2 July, is a WOFFF selection, ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS a stunning portrait of the great American singer, who worked from her teenage years until she was in her 80s.
People living in the UK can click here to get free access to the film on the BBC iPlayer. In Canada and the US, it’s available online from 26 June here.

WATCHALONG FAQS

What are watchalongs? And why is WOFFF doing them? Click here to learn more with our watchalongs FAQs.