True life romance kicks off the new season for Arts Cinema

by Brad Barnes

In 1947, Seretse Khama, the King of Botswana, met Ruth Williams, a London office worker.

They were a perfect match, yet their proposed marriage was challenged not only by their families but by the British and South African governments. The latter had recently introduced the policy of apartheid and found the notion of a bi-racial couple ruling a neighbouring country intolerable.

Also showing as part of the summer season are:

Paterson (April 27)

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Paterson is a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey - they share the name. Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, he writes poetry into a notebook; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer; he goes home to his wife, Laura. By contrast, Laura’s world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily.

American Honey (May 4)

Star, an adolescent girl from a troubled home, runs away with a traveling sales crew who drive across the American Midwest selling subscriptions door to door. Finding her feet in this gang of teenagers, one of whom is Jake, she soon gets into the group’s lifestyle of hard-partying nights, law-bending days, and young love.

Love & Friendship (May 11)

Beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica.

Under The Shadow (May 18)

Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her family live amid the chaos of the Iran-Iraq war, a period known as The War of the Cities. Accused of subversion by the post-Revolution government and blacklisted from medical college, she falls into a state of malaise. With Tehran under the constant threat of aerial bombardment, her husband (Bobby Naderi) is drafted and sent to the frontline by the army, leaving Shideh all alone to protect their young daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi).

The Girl With All The Gifts (May 25)

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In a dystopian near future, humanity has been ravaged by a mysterious fungal disease. The afflicted are robbed of all free will and turned into flesh-eating ‘hungries’. Humankind’s only hope is a small group of hybrid children who crave human flesh but retain the ability to think and feel. The children go to school at an army base in rural Britain, where they’re subjected to cruel experiments by Dr. Caroline Caldwell (Glenn Close).

United States Of Love (June 1)

Poland, 1990. The first euphoric year of freedom, but also of uncertainty for the future. Four apparently happy women of different ages decide it’s time to change their lives, fight for their happiness and fulfill their desires. Agata is a young mother, trapped in an unhappy marriage, who seeks refuge in another, impossible relationship. Renata is an older teacher fascinated with her neighbour Marzena - a lonely former local beauty queen, whose husband works in Germany.

Toni Erdmann (June 8)

Winfried doesn’t see much of his working daughter Ines. He pays her a surprise visit in Bucharest, where she’s busy as a corporate strategist. The geographical change doesn’t help them to see more eye to eye. Practical joker Winfried annoys his daughter with corny pranks and jabs at her routine lifestyle of meetings and paperwork.

Also: TRAIN TO BUSAN (June 15); ELLE (June 22); MOONLIGHT (June 29); GIMME DANGER (July 6); ODD MAN OUT (July 13).

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