Many small-town teens dream of moving to the big city, but few
experience as profound an isolation as sixteen-year-old Lars. Living in
the remote Inuit settlement of Niaqornat in northern Greenland, peers
are few and options limited. “We don’t have internet cafes, hotels or
restaurants,” he explains. “We only have the shop” – a small convenience
store serving the settlement’s 59 residents, and one of the few
employers left in a village facing an uncertain future due to its
ever-dwindling population.
Filmed over an 18-month period, director Sarah Gavron focuses in on a
handful of those that remain, piecing together an absorbing documentary
portrait of everyday life in an extreme environment. The community’s
attempts to kick-start their prospects by purchasing an abandoned fish
factory provide a kind of overarching narrative, but it’s the vignettes
proffered along the way – from whale butchery to springtime celebrations
– that make Gavron’s film so fascinating. Beautifully-shot and
purposely unsentimental, Village… is an insightful study of lives in transition.
19 Feb - Cineworld 17 @ 18.45
20 Feb - Cineworld 17 @ 16.30
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