Five LIFF28 Picks - From Funny Vampires to Shin Bet

LIFF time of year is the best time of year! We'll be at the festival again for a smattering of days throughout its sixteen day run. Here are my five picks of things to catch if you're going, or to look out for elsewhere if you're not. Ben's five will be along shortly.

If you've not been to LIFF before then do check out our coverage of LIFF27, where plenty of good films were seen, in amongst attempting to eat most of Leeds' gourmet (or otherwise) food.

The Green Prince

Friday 7th November 15:00 @ Everyman Leeds Trinity

Saturday 8th November 17:00 @ Everyman Leeds Trinity

Reconstructions in documentaries rarely sit well with me, but The Green Prince, a documentary about the son of a Hamas founder, Mosab Hassan Yousef, who ends up spying for Shin Bet, is too tantalisingly political to dismiss it on that grounds. That said... I currently can't get it into my schedule.

Timbuktu

Saturday 8th November 16:30 @ Vue in the Light

Tuesday 11th November 14:00 @ Vue in the Light

And this is why I can't get The Green Prince into my schedule. The first film I added, I haven't heard a bad word about Timbuktu and have in fact heard many, many positive ones that put it up there as amongst the best of the year. Painting a picture of a locale ruled by religious fundamentalists, this is another one too topical to pass up.

What We Do In The Shadows

Saturday 8th November 18:30 @ Leeds Town Hall

Monday 10th November 20:30 @ Vue in the Light

Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi become vampires in a Horror-Comedy that, frankly, I really cannot wait for and needs no greater sell than the first half of this sentence.

A Hard Day

Friday 14th November 20:30 @ Leeds Town Hall

Saturday 15th November 20:00 @ Hyde Park Picture House

LIFF do a good line in Eastern Action and this from South Korea looks a good bet to deliver the goods this year. A police officer covers up his murderous mistake by burying the body in his mother's coffin, leading to an investigation by his own partner.

The Kingdom Of Dreams And Madness

Friday 14th November 15:30 @ Leeds Town Hall

Sunday 16th November 15:00 @ Cottage Road Cinema

Also know as 'The Ghibli Documentary', this is by all accounts a lovely look inside the world of the famed Japanese animation studio.


The 28th Leeds International Film Festival runs from 5th-20th November 2014 at cinemas around the city, including Hyde Park Picture House and Leeds Town Hall. Tickets and more information are available via the official LIFF website.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.