World cinema in London

The Institut francais and Cine Lumiere are holding Mosaiques-the 9th festival of world culture from 10-20 May 2007. It features feature and documentary films from countries such as Algeria, Argentina, China, Russia, Chad and egypt among others. Quite a few of the screenings are followed by question and answer sessions with the directors.

The Cine Lumiere is a 300 seat cinema and part of the Institut francais in South Kensington, opposite the Natural History museum, below is the Mosaiques programme.

10 May - Little Senegal A French/Algerian production about a man who has dreams of his ancestors being sold into slavery in South Carolina and who’s journey to meet their descendents leads to Little Senegal in Harlem. Starts at 8.30pm and there’s a Q&A afterwards with the director of Anti-Slavery International.
11 May - Bye Bye Africa A film from Chad about the problems of making movies in Africa. Starts at 6.30pm an director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun will give a Q&A.
11 May - Daratt Winner, Grand Special Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival 2006, a teenager avenges his father’s death in the Chad civil war. The film starts at 8.30pm and Mahamat Saleh Haroun and Keith Shiri give a Q&A.
12 May - The Battle of Algiers Classic 1965 Algerian film about the war of independence with France. Starts at 3.45pm and producer and actor Saadi Yacef will take part in a Q&A.
12 May - Transylvania A Romanian love story with supposedly fantastic gypsy music and dance. The film is at 6.30pm and actor Birol Ünel is on hand afterwards.
13 May - These Girls An Egyptian documentary about a group of girls living on the streets of Cairo. Starts at 4.15pm.
13 May - Cairo Station This 1958 film by director Youssef Chahine is called the first great masterpiece of Egyptian cinema. Screening begins at 5.45pm.
13 May - The Yacoubian Building A 2006 generational film about life in Cairo. Starts at 7.15pm
15 May - Highway Director Sergei Dvortsevoy accompanies a travelling family circus across 2,000 miles of remote Kazakhstan, begins at 7pm.
15 May - Vocal Parallels Another Kazak film that doesn’t involve Borat, this one from director Rustam Khamdamov features Russia’s greatest opera stars performing arias in locations ranging from an abandoned factory to a nomad’s hut on the Kazakh steppes. Khamdamov does a Q&A after the 8.30pm screening.
16 May - Albert Kahn A British documentary about the 1908-9 circumnavigation of the globe by Albert Kahn and his photographer-cum-chauffeur Alfred Dutertre. A 6.15pm screening.
16 May - Rome Rather Than You Two Algerians trying to escape the civil war attempt to get fake passports for Italy. Starts 7.30pm
17 May - 4:30 A film from Singapore looking at the loneliness of a school child left in a flat by his mother. Begins at 6.30pm.
17 May - The Other Half A 2006 Chinese film by director Ying Liang examing the social structures in modern China. The film begins at 8.30pm.
18 May - Glue:historia adolescente en medio de la nada An Argentinian coming of age film about a teenager stuck in a small town in Patagonia. Starts at 6.30pm.
18 May - Cover Boy: L’ultima rivoluzione The story of a the friendship between an Italian and a Romanian immigrant. Starts at 8.30pm.
19 May - Wesh Wesh, what’s up? A feature about life for immigrants in the Paris suburbs. Its introduced at 6pm by director Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche.
19 May - Bled Number One The sequel to Wesh Wesh and Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche will give a Q&A session after the 8.30pm screening.
20 May - Until When You Die A 2006 British documentary that follows the story of a Vietnamese woman and her Chinese husband and three kids who escaped North Vietnam in 1979 and came to England. Film starts at 4.45pm.
20 May - Made in Egypt A joint British/Egyptian documentary with Q&A afterwards with directors Mark Aitken and Karim Goury. Starts at 5.15pm.
20 May - Made in Korea A Korean adopted by a Dutch family in the 1970s goes in such of his real mother. Begins at 6.30pm.