The Model welcomes back Sligo Film Society after their summer break for a new season of international and independent film for the autumn / winter months. Screening every Thursday at 8pm in The Model Cinema, the new programme packs in fourteen titles from nine different countries covering comedy, thrillers, war, period dramas and experimental works.

The season opens today 14 September with some black comedy from Sweden; the Scandinavians have proven adept over the years at funny cantankerous elder citizens and in A Man Called Ove our title character spins a darkly feel-good tale in his attempts to deal with the loss of his wife. Bookending the season is another comedy, The Midwife a tender affair from France which unites two of the country’s favourite actresses Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot. In between, there is very much a Gallic flavour to this season with French films featuring heavily; the Isabelle Huppert starring Elle is the first of these, she gives a towering performance in Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven’s dark psycho-drama. There follows The White Knights, a true story of French aid workers in West Sudan who plotted to smuggle orphans to pre-paid adoptive parents; the political thriller Scribe is a tense affair that delves into the murky world of surveillance and the aforementioned The Midwife.

There is also a literary thread running through the programme, with the biopic of Emily Dickenson A Quiet Passion a highlight, the film was lauded for director Terence Davies’ moving account of the deeply reclusive poet; changing gear completely is Neruda, a free-wheeling suspense caper taking a year in the life of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda when he went on the run and fled his native Chile. Staying in the South American country is Endless Poetry the autobiographical adventure from the surrealist master, Alejandro Jodorowsky. The octogenarian auteur has not lost any of his creative spark and this familial drama is energetic and a visually vibrant experience.

Further highlights come in the shape of The Salesman which took the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film and is a taut drama set in Iran exploring the moral questions a couple face after a sudden violent act occurs in their apartment; another award winner to feature is Insyriated which took the audience prize at Berlinale 2017, and tackles the Syrian conflict from the point of view of a group of tenants barricaded inside their besieged apartment block over the course of 24 hours.

The season runs between September and December, full details of each film in the programme can be viewed on The Model website or by picking up the Sligo Film Society brochure. The Model Café will be open late on cinema nights and launches a pre-show tapas menu from inhouse chef Juan Herbi. A selection of tea, coffee, cakes and wine will also be served prior to each screening.