In the three years since it was launched, Eden Cinemas Side Street Films has brought Maltese cinema audiences a plethora of international movies of all genres. Currently showing are Oscar-winning The Salesman, from Iran, and English production A Quiet Passion; with Romania/France/Belgium co-production Graduation scheduled for April.

The Salesman charts the course of a young couple living in Tehran. Following damage to their old flat, Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) move into a new apartment. An incident linked to the previous tenant will dramati­cally change the couple’s life.

The film is directed by acclaimed director Asghar Farhadi, who describes his protagonists thus: “Emad and Rana are a middle class Iranian couple. It’s an ordinary couple with its own characteristics. They’re both in the cultural sphere and act in the theatre. But they find themselves in a situation that reveals unexpected aspects of their personalities.”

The Salesman premiered in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Best Screenplay award, and Best Actor for Hosseini. The film went on to receive international acclaim, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in February. However, Farhadi did not attend the ceremony, sending Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space, to collect the award on his behalf in protest against President Trump’s controversial travel ban.

Farhadi did not attend the ceremony, in protest against President Trump’s controversial travel ban

A Quiet Passion is a biographical film by English screenwriter and film director Terence Davis about the life of beloved American poet Emily Dickinson. The film stars Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet with Emma Bell, Jennifer Ehle, Duncan Duff and Keith Carradine.

The film unfolds in Amherst, Massachusetts in the 1840s. Deeply unhappy at boarding school, Emily Dickinson rebels. Her father takes her home, accompanied by her brother Austin and sister Vinnie. Already a passionate writer, young Emily sends her poetry to a local paper, but the editor is condescending. This is the first in a string of rejections that lead to a lifetime of frustration.

Emily Dickinson first featured in Terence Davies’ work in his 2008 visual ode to Liverpool, Of Time and The City, which contained Terence reading Dickinson Poem 301.

Graduation is a film by writer/director Cristian Mungiu. Romeo (Adrian Titieni), a doctor living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza (Maria Drăguș) with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding – Eliza has got a scholarship to study psychology in UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student.

On the day prior to her first written exam, an incident jeopardises Eliza’s departure. Now, Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the problem, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.

The Salesman and A Quiet Passion are  being screened at Eden Cinemas until April 18. Graduation runs from April 19 to May 15.

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