pleasure

There is a certain species of Londoner that appears at this time of year ... gaunt, pasty, bags under their eyes, starting to develop rickets from lack of sunshine, usually seen wandering around Leicester Square and Curzon cinemas with a moleskin notebook in hand. They are a seasonal reminder that the London Film Festival is on.

Much as I love movies, I am a lightweight in comparison to these seasoned film buffs. First there is the tricky process of selecting which films to see. It used to be that I could throw the programme up in the air and let the fates decide by booking whatever was on the page that was open when it landed. Now I actually have to trawl through webpages which means that any film starting with the letter 'P' onwards is unlikely to get my attention as by that stage my brain hurts trying to decide if the Romanian documentary on water skiing will be more important than the 'dark and gritty' realism of another British film verite. Secondly, I only managed to get tickets to three films. Actually getting any ticket to the festival is in itself a triumph so three isn't bad, but I do wonder how early I have to get up to get a seat that isn't  either so far out in the wings or so close to the screen that there is a need for orthopedic support.

But such discomfort is more than made up for by the pleasure to be had in skiving off in the afternoon to see a film, especially when it is Nadine Labaki's 'Where do we go now?'. Sitting in a warm cinema, with a few hundred others (film and cultural studies departments must just close down for two weeks in October), falling in love with a small village in Lebanon, laughing out loud while eating steamed buns from Chinatown, pondering other scenarios where the judicious administration of hash cookies could bring about peace and good will among men (you have to see the film), and then walking out, smiling, into a soft autumn day with that feeling that only comes from knowing that you have shared something special with a small section of humanity who are, at this moment in time, content.