Independent Cinema Office Blog

Cannes 2013: Becky's Blog

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:43:18 GMT

Cannes Bus By MOs810 (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I think this will be my sixth visit to Cannes but my excitement about going each time hasn’t diminished. As I’m packing my suitcase with clothes for summer chic on the Riviera, black tie for Red Carpet (fingers crossed I can still fit into my dress)…and mac and waterproof shoes for the torrential rain the South of France seems to be receiving. I can’t wait to get there, to see what fantastic gems of films I might discover, which people I might bump into and what parties I might be able to blag my way into.

Having been a few times before, I’ve mastered some of the logistics of navigating the festival, tip no.1 take bus no. 210 from the airport and get your ticket before you travel from the very nice English speaking ticket booth. I’m met by the lovely Sarah Bourne who has already stocked up the apartment fridge with camembert, brie, wine and chocolate…this could be heaven! After a quick lunch we head to the Croisette to try and catch a film. We make a quick stop on the way to pick up the daily (tip no. 2 an excellent resource that comes out each evening for the day ahead and lists all of the screenings you’re eligible to attend if you have the festival pass – it also means you don’t have to trawl through all the market screenings), a copy of Screen (tip no.3 excellent reading material for the ensuing queues) and a free bottle of water from the Palais (tip no. 4 hydration hydration in those pesky queues!).

We manage to conquer the queue in the salle Debussy (tip no. 5 – a very good screen for getting into films if you have the free festival pass as the auditorium is huge) and settle down for Omar, a film by Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Lost). As my first film of the festival I’m in for a real treat, a gripping drama about three childhood friends who attempt to protest the occupation of Palestine. Omar is a young man whose village has been separated down the middle by the infamous wall, and he is living on the other side to his friends. Each day Omar scales the wall, under threat of gunfire to visit his friends and his childhood sweetheart - who he has secret correspondence with by passing notes in coffee cups - to discuss plans for their resistance of the occupation. Omar’s best friend Tarek comes up with a plan to assassinate one of the Palestinian guards, and each friend must have a role to play in the plan so they are all responsible. Omar’s role is to steal the getaway car. After the successful execution of the plan, Omar soon runs into trouble as he is chased through the streets and rooftops of Palestine by the Israeli police. This is a tense and thoughtful drama that instills a sense of paranoia as you watch Omar being chased down by the police not knowing which way to turn. An emotive performance from the leading actor, Adam Bakri makes this a must see.

After a yummy crepe dinner, we head to the beach to watch an open air screening of The General, and you can see why it’s a classic. Introduced by the composer of the score (a new score, not the original from 1926 – it took us a few minutes to realise the man on stage wasn’t over 84!), and the audience are charmed in seconds by Keaton’s acrobatic and wistful style. There are still roars of laughter throughout and the new digital restoration perfectly illuminates Keaton’s woeful expressions to magical effect.

So a fairly early night, I prepare myself for the next day’s 8.30am competition screening of Behind the Candelabra.

Up at a sprightly 7am, I dash for the early morning screening, brioche in one hand (tip no. 5 pack snacks!) and telephone portable in the other to try and secure competition tickets for the new Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) avec Monsieur Ryan Gosling (tip no. 6 get Eurotraveller on your phone so you don’t get charged per MB of data you download and put http://ticket.online-festival.com into your bookmarks so you can keep hitting refresh to scoop those tickets). Amazing! I’ve got one, I’ve got a golden ticket!...I can’t believe it, as I hit refresh for the 100th time at 8.01am (tickets go online at 8.00am), I see the immortal words…”Tickets available”. I double check in my confirmed reservations and it’s there, me and Ryan tomorrow night at 10.30pm it’s a date.

After the early morning excitement I get ready for the Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra and oh what a treat! What fantastic and impressive roles for Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. The costume and hair and make-up departments have done an outstanding job in turning Douglas into the perma-tanned, rhinestone dripping Liberace and likewise the fitness trainer in turning Damon into the equally convincing ‘adonis’ Scott Thorson. Rumoured to be Steven Soderbergh’s last film it’s a cracker! Charting the six year relationship between Thorson and Liberace, it is an honest portrayal of loneliness and a desire to be loved. Taking place in the 70s, there is a whiff of Boogie Nights about the film, especially Thorson’s parallel with Dirk Diggler, but this is a much more romantic view of the period. Amazing performances, eye dazzling costumes and wow can Mr Douglas tinkle those ivories!

Cannes 2013: Sarah's Blog

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:02:05 GMT

Sunday

You can tell it's been raining here...The bus from Nice to Cannes travels alongside a torrential murky brown river almost breaking its banks with tree tops poking through the surface. But it's clear skies now despite the forecasts saying otherwise. Simon greets me when I get to Cannes with keys to our apartment and a shiny ticket in hand for the competition gala screening of Borgman later on, what a way to arrive!

Before I get my glad rags on I'm off to the Europa Cinemas meeting. There's a neat summary here. I arrive early unaware of the loose starting time but enjoy the travelogue slideshow of beautiful cinemas from around the world and dream of a cinema inspired travels - first stop the Bio Roxy, Oberero, Sweden. Much discussion was had about the European Commission's trade negotiations with the US that includes audiovisual and film services and threatens cultural exception and diversity in the EU. Find out more and sign the petition here. I enjoy a post meeting chat with UK exhibition colleagues from Watershed, Showroom and Chapter, then pop off to get red carpet ready(ish).

Walking the red carpet is a strange but fun experience and I feel a little out of place amongst the uber glamorous masses, most of whom seem to be about 17 years old. I've got an amazing seat but when I spot two pining companions sitting apart pining for each other, I offer up my seat only to find in my new vista is impeded by a big rail in my eye line - oh well never mind, I'm just super excited to be here.

In his review in Screen Daily, Allan Hunter shrewdly comps Borgman (dir: Alex van Warmerdam, The Netherlands) to Bunuelian satire, Haneke unease and Roy Andersson absurdity but I would also throw in the blacker than black demented wit of Giorgos Lanthimos. The eponymous Borgman is a man living on the outskirts of society with a small collection of pan faced followers ready and willing to kidnap, murder and offer performance art recitals in the name of their cause, although the real motivation of their devilish endeavours is never fully revealed. The strangly charismatic Borgman gradually infiltrates himself into a well-to-do suburban family, slowly driving the matriarch of the family completely bonkers and tearing their privileged life apart piece by piece.

Post screening I join my fellow ICOers for a delightful party for the documentary, Stop Over. As we sip our bubbles by the beach, mechanical diggers valiantly trudge up and down the sand trying to stop the violent waves cascading into the party.

Monday

Becky arrived this morning and together we pop by the MEDIA desk and UK Pavillion, in the name of the ICO's upcoming Developing Your Film Festival course. We both catch the Palestinian film, Omar (dir: Hany Abu-Assad), a powerful and heartbreaking film following a young man's resistance in Israeli occupied Palestine; his convictions, friendships and relationship with the love of his life unravelling amid violence, betrayal and paranoia.

Thanks to a very kind invitation from Clare Wilford we enjoy happy hour at Screen Austraila, whose offices overlook the Palais so we can see the throngs arriving for the screening of Blood Ties in the all their finery.

Under clear starry skies on the beach, Becky and I slump into deckchairs and wrap up tight in blankets for a pristine new 4k digital print of The General (dir: Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton, 1926). The film still feels fresh as a daisy and the bittersweet moment where Keaton rides the side rods of the train made my heart sing.

Despite our blankets the stiff coastal breeze made for chilly viewing, but this film would still have felt like a treat in a blizzard. The only thing that would have topped off a truly special cinematic experience is if our very sad abandoned cups of weak but warming tea had made it through security.

Tuesday

It's up at 6.50am for the early bird screening of Palme d'Or contender and all round exciting prospect, Behind The Candelabra (dir: Steven Soderbergh) - thank you Clare for the ticket! I bow to my colleague's superior abilities to discuss the merits and intricacies of the film but I thought it was a great piece, with super filthy fun to be had with the costumes and sets full of gold and glitter and furs. There are excellent performances all round with a scene stealing turn from Rob Lowe as Liberace's personal plastic surgeon, and sterling support from an undetectable Debbie Reynolds as Liberace's polish mother and an almost undetectable Dan Ackroyd as his manager. Beneath the flamboyancy and 70's excess glitz is a touching and utterly convincing love story pitched perfectly by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. It was refreshing to see a gay partnership portrayed as any other long term relationship would be with giddy and tender moments as things blossom and detachment and anguish when things start to sour. I was disappointed that the Cannes compere at the press conference felt the most insightful question to ask Matt Damon was 'what was it like to kiss Michael Douglas?' as the couple's sexuality was a secondary element in the film.

Next up is a repeat screening of Takashi Miike's Shield of Straw / Wara No Tate (Japan) also in the running for the Palme d'Or. For the first time in my Cannes experience there are empty seats in the house, perhaps owing to the poor reviews the film had received overnight. A noble cop and his team of possibly corrupt officers must protect a child molesting serial killer at all costs from the 100 billion yen bounty on his head to ensure the Japanese legal system is upheld. Scathing criticism seems somewhat unjust as the film is a really solid genre film; a road movie crime thriller with big action set pieces peppered with quieter subtleties. It's reminiscent of Con Air (heroic slow mo through burning flames) and early 24 (chopper shots, double agents, triple crossing, corruption, tracking devices, pantomime villain, lots of shouting and a lead with over earnest sense of duty.) I enjoyed it for what it was, but it does seem an odd choice for Competition selection.

A quick picnic lunch amongst a rather odd bunch of sun worshippers on the beach is followed by the rather exceptional Wakolda (dir: Lucia Puenzo). An unsettling and slow building tale of a mysterious German physician, who has a fascination for human anatomy and growth defects. Horrifying secrets are gradually revealed as he worms his way in to the inner circle of a family in 1960s Argentina.

Plans of catching a 10pm screening of the new Claire Denis film are dashed when the queue is already hundreds deep with 90 minutes still to go. Instead, a stroll along the Croisette in the hope that Head Juror, Steven Speilberg, may introduce the free public screening of Jaws dans la plage. Instead of the director we are treated to an intro from the film's star, a somewhat bumbling but loveable Richard Dreyfuss, who recalls the oft heard tales of the dysfunctional mechanical shark.

The day ends with a gathering of the ICO in the Station Tavern, an English pub in the back end of Cannes and a grotty but charming one at that. Drinks in hand we discuss our respective day's viewings and wax lyrical about the state of British cinema with a perfect view of the Cannes Riviera (that's the name of the hotel over the road!)

Cannes 2013: Simon's blog part 2

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:36:40 GMT

Heading into the final stretch of the festival, on of the films that sticks out for me is the Kore-ede, Like Father Like Son, a tender exploration of parenthood and all its responsibilities. With typically masterful precision and control, studiously avoiding any schmaltz, two families are informed that their sons, now six years old, have been swapped at birth in an apparent administrative accident. The dilemma is do they stick with the boys they have loved and raised or return them to their respective biological parents. As ever with Kore-eda, it’s a film of quiet depth and power. Possibly my favourite that I’ve seen here.

The next highlight up is Heli, by Amat Escalante, probably best known for his last film, Los Bastardos. This is an unflinching look at life in Mexico for a poor but honest family unwittingly drawn into a spiral of chaotic violence when drugs are stashed without their knowledge in their home. It undoubtedly shows some of the toughest scenes in the festival (and oddly is the third film I’ve seen here with graphic genital mutilation... yikes!). It’s a grim film but not one without hope - which purposefully eschews genre story telling, closure and cheap thrills, but is all the better for it. I think it will struggle to find UK distribution.

Luckily I managed to catch an early screening of Only Lovers Left Alive, the new Jim Jarmusch film ahead of it’s Competition screening which will happen after I’ve returned home. I grew up on early Jim Jarmusch (hard to believe it’s 30 years next year since Stranger Than Paradise). The last couple, for me at least, have been disappointing, but this is a terrific fun vampire romp (albeit in trademark laconic style) with Tilda Swinton trying to lift her lover Tom Hiddleston out of an eternal mid-life crisis while they both struggle like junkies for fresh blood. Playful, gorgeous looking and a triumph.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Casey Affleck, a first time American indie, was much talked about from Sundance, with mentions of Malick’s Badlands. I thought it was fine, but too derivative of Badlands, and other tex-mex dramas like er... Casey Affleck’s The Killer Inside Me from Michael Winterbottom (which personally I thought was a much more interesting film than this although most people wouldn’t agree!).

Cannes 2013: Jon's blog

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:57 GMT

Arriving into Cannes mid-afternoon on Friday 17th May, I was invited to dinner with our very own Simon Ward and Ed Fletcher of Soda Pictures. A relaxed and comfortable re-introduction to the madness that is Festival de Cannes, I thought.

I thought wrong.

Awaiting our pizzas in a restaurant on one of the cozy backstreets off of the Croisette, conversation inevitable turned to film - first with what we had seen that day - "psychotronic horror" from Italian rock God Federico Zampaglione; in competition Mexican drama Heli, genital mutilation et al. I hadn't seen anything that day and so was just happy to listen to the thoughts and opinions of these two estimable film fans.

We were soon discussing British film, or lack thereof-it at the festival this year; or the lack of interest it receives back home. As pioneer of New British Cinema Quarterly (@nbcq), Ed certainly has something to say about the matter, and as a British filmmaker actively engaged in ways of developing audiences for homegrown films, I too felt able to contribute.

Which is where I came unstuck, and a relaxed evening for me turned into something a little more grilling. For when asked about my opinion on Shifty and Welcome to the Punch, I had to admit that I hadn't seen either - seemingly illustrating Simon and Ed's point that our filmmakers don't see enough of our own product.

I was quick to then mention that the last British film I saw was in fact one of Soda's own, Flying Blind and that my favourite film of last year was We Need to Talk About Kevin, but their point had hit home and I left dinner a little deflated.

Tucked up in bed before Simon had even returned to the flat ("You old man!"), with the Market Guide and a red marker, I went through the thousands of listings searching out the British films on show. Tomorrow would be a turning point: new British cinema was now on my festival agenda.

Tomorrow would also be the day when it started pissing it down. How apt.

Never one for the uncivilised 08:30 showings, I was pleased to find Clio Barnard's The Selfish Giant playing at Arcades 1, mercifully close to our apartment considering the inclement weather. Grim up north? It can get pretty grim down south, too.

The film is a rather flawless example of social realism: funny, touching, terribly sad - true. It feels like a true successor to Loach's early work and clearly marks Barnard out as a major, major talent. Really and truly this is a work that will resonate with all who are British, regardless of status, because its heart is true.

I left the cinema in a strange quandary, feeling at the same time both sad - by how we tend to turn our nose up to such work - and excited - by how such strength of voice exists in our native cinema.

Determined to see more I went to Shorts Corner in the Palais to meet an Actress/scriptwriter friend of mine. The film she had written was on the database and so I sat down in one of the little booths to watch Two Persons Max, a black comedy set entirely in a lift. Effective and well-performed, it uses its minimal resources very well and never over-reaches; it is smart and I had great pleasure in telling Billie this.

I then went and performed 'bums-on-seats' duty for a PR friend at the Majestic, for a talk about animation. I'll be frank: I'm not hugely 'into' animation, so this really was a favour. Hosted by Tim Gray of Variety, the talk was actually very interesting and I came out knowing 3D was always going to die, and that my friend would be happy to meet me later that evening and talk about her work on my own projects. Job done.

And so to my final film of the day, the only British film in any competition, Paul Wright's debut feature For Those in Peril. Part of Critic's Week, the film is also up for the Camera d'Or (best first feature). And I could see why: formally quite interesting, with the use of different formats to illustrate the psychology of the lead character, it is obviously the work of a clever and dynamic filmmaker.

The film does however suffer from an over-use of this formal trickery; never going further or trying harder to represent the descent into madness and therefore becoming quite familiar and unsurprising. It's hard to knock a film that does something a little different, but I imagine that Paul will only get stronger with each film he makes.

And so I finished the day in a state of positive enthusiasm for our British filmmakers, wanting to work hard to help make sure they receive the audience they deserve. And to turn the tables on Simon and Ed, maybe next year over a pizza just off the Croisette. I'll be ready.

#britfilmaudience

Cannes 2013: Simon's blog

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:58:54 GMT

Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale - prescient?

An inauspicious start for me to Cannes this year. My flight is delayed for two hours meaning I am too late for any films on Thursday evening... Even worse BA have lost my luggage... Yikes! Oh... And it's tipping down... and continues to tip for the next four days at least. BUT - aside from that I’m in Cannes at the word’s largest and most diverse film festival, and no matter how many years I have come here I always find it an exhausting joy.

And life imitates art (or maybe more accurately, Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale) with a real life million euro jewel heist from a safe at the Cannes Marriot Hotel where Chopard jewels intended to dress the stars on the red carpet have been pinched... It wasn’t me... I was busy staring at an empty baggage carousel weeping for my lost suitcase.

The following day I spend most of it sitting in my apartment frustratedly waiting for a courier to deliver my suitcase... But when I do get out it’s too a fantastic start.

My first film is Asghar Farhadi’s The Past which has a lot to live up to following his previous Berlin Golden Bear and Oscar wins for A Separation. Thankfully, it does just that and is very strong. Perhaps it lacks some of the formal grace of A Separation, but it delivers a perfectly calibrated pitch perfect grown up film about the effects of divorce on a Parisian family as the estranged father returns from Iran to divorce his French wife. A classy act all the way.

I follow this with Tulpa, a patchy, but if like me you have a soft spot for 70s Italian horror, intermittently successful slasher thriller which wears it’s influences proudly, mainly Argento meets De Palma in a very violent, occasionally stylish and frequently silly slasher movie set against a backdrop of shamanism, sex clubs and corporate politics. Bonkers - but a great soundtrack from it's Italian rock star and second time feature director Federico Zampaglione.

After a couple of meetings, next up is Miele (Honey), one of the curiously few films from a female director in this year’s selection. Valeria Golino (who you may have seen in Quiet Chaos or IVANSXTC) acquits herself well in her debut feature about a young woman who performs euthanasia services for the terminally ill. However, she has a crisis of confidence when she realises she has been duped into providing poison to a man suffering depression and seeks to stop him taking his own life. It’s visually inventive and walks the line of indulgence and sentimentality with great skill giving us a gripping complex human treatment of what might easily have been a far less engaging film in lesser hands.

Anatomy of a Programme: Point Break, Not Coming to a Cinema Near You!

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:21:17 GMT

Cinema programming is a mix of taste, audience engagement and often detective work. In a new series, Anatomy of a Programme, we ask programmers to share their experience of research - the nitty gritty, pleasures and pain of getting films to audiences. Kicking things off Sophie Brown of Duke's at Komedia talks about Keanu-stalking, in a piece that has just been awarded Special Mention as part of the Underwire/Sight & Sound female reporter competition.

After much time hunting the elusive Bodhi, Jonny Utah – slightly worn and haggard – is on the scent. The perfect storm is stirring, residents are leaving, the surfers are deserting the hostile, grey beach, but a slightly hunched Utah, descends against the tide of evacuees. His hair is a little wilder than before and he moves with the weight of one consumed. The waves are surging, white spray blending in with the blanket clouded sky and as Utah scans the beach, he spies the lone figure, waiting at the shore. The tense score drops, the snare drum spits with the anticipation of battle; Utah has fantasized about this moment. He drops the dead president’s mask at Bodhi’s feet and waits for his response, he wants to relish every moment. As he circles him, he reels off the breadth of his search: “I’ve been to every city in Mexico, came across an unclaimed piece of meat in Baja, […], found a passport of yours in Sumatra, missed you by about a week in Fiji, but I knew you wouldn’t miss a 50 year storm, Bodhi.”

Well I know how you feel, Special Agent Utah. I have banged on every distributors door, hunted down the original production company, enquired with exhibitors, invented email addresses and tracked down lost links, even got the contact of a film tycoon’s lawyer, and yet I cannot find the rights to screen Kathryn Bigelow’s surf classic, Point Break.

It began with a simple proposal for a skateboarding/surf season that, over the course of four Sundays in a month, would sweep through an iconic history of surfing and skate films, with double bills that united documentary with fiction.

I was informed Point Break was not available, but this would leave a remarkable hole in the season.

There is no substitute for Point Break.

The trail began.

My first port of call was the ICO, who informed me that 20th Century Fox were the last company known to have UK rights, and if these had lapsed, and another distribution company hadn’t bought them, the rights would automatically return to the original production company, which was Largo, a company co-founded in the 90s by Lawrence Gordon, a producer with credits including The Warriors and Die Hard.

Without a traceable contact I solved the 20th Century Fox formula and directly emailed the head of sales. After some internal checks, he was shocked to discover they no longer owned the rights and was uncertain as to whether they would be renewed. He believed the vintage classics distributor Park Circus might own the rights.

Park Circus did not, but offered to check if Warner Bros had acquired them. I gladly accepted…any support in this solitary hunt. At the same time, I proceeded with my own detective work; Point Break had most recently been released on Blu-ray by Warner, so I was hot on their heels.

Warner explained their rights were limited, and that I should try 20th Century Fox.

Eventually Warner revealed that they acquired their rights through Intermedia Film Distribution. Clues and details. I was getting the scent. They had no contact details for Intermedia, but that was enough, for now.

I discovered that Intermedia, which boasts an immense film library, had acquired Largo’s films in 2001, after Largo had gone out of business in the late 90s. This was under a colossal umbrella company, IM Internationalmedia AG, which was funded by IMF (Internationale Medien und Film), a fund benefiting from a legal loophole in German tax law that no longer exists.

Alarm bells rang, but I trawled the website with hope. After a flurry of emails, a trickle of mail delivery failure notices returned. Phone numbers, I tried them all, and they were all dead. The Intermedia powerhouse had met a watery grave several years ago.

Tracking down Intermedia’s former Chief Financial Officer, the ex-CFO was swift to respond. Sorry, he couldn’t help, he explained; his role with the company had ended four years ago.

I knew he no longer worked there, nobody did, but I was certain he would have some knowledge about that extensive film library. After further correspondence, he released two names: Ron Tutor and David Bergstein.

The next wave of research unveiled catastrophe. David Bergstein was being taken to the cleaners for the type of financial chaos only capable of a film tycoon. I found a journalist who had written a piece for Hollywood Reporter that Ron Tutor, a substantial stakeholder of Miramax was in the process of selling a portion of his film assets so I started firing out emails to buyers – shots in the dark, but by this point I was desperate.

The Hollywood Reporter journalist explained the stalemate: “Most of the movies in the UK are part of an administration (what we call bankruptcy) and you will need to track down the administration executive.”

“You need to identify exactly which film library it is part of to get your task done.”

He gave me the contact of Ron Tutor’s lawyer. No response, but what would a lawyer care for a one-off screening in a little film season in Brighton? Bodhi’s crew smelt a rat when Utah claimed to be a lawyer into surfing. They weren’t the sharpest tools in the box, but they had a point. Wondering how many other classics were gathering dust in limbo, held hostage by some asset showdown, I returned to Fox, and threw my figurative Ronald Reagan mask at their feet.

I’ve been to every distributor in the UK, came across a red herring with Filmbank, found a Blu-ray of it at Warner, missed it by a couple months at the Prince Charles, but Point Break seems to have been lost to a storm of media moguls, tax swindlers and movie bailiffs. What now?

“Hi Sophie.

I’m afraid I have no idea.”

If you have been working on a film programme and would like to share your story as part of the Anatomy of a Programme series, get in touch via kate@indepedendentcinemaoffice.org.uk.

News Round-up... 26/04/2013

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:47:13 GMT

SPOILER ALER- Oh, too late.

Sunshine, lollipops, rainbows and...

The Death of Cinema (in Italy)

And In Other News

@BFI has launched Film Nation UK, the body that shall deliver £26m worth of @BigLotteryFunds – will this be the start of a beautiful bounty for our young, aspiring filmmakers? Here’s hoping.
@THR reports that the Film Distributor’s Association president David Puttnam has called for more flexible theatrical windows to keep the exhibition sector healthy. Knowing how difficult it can be for indie distributors to get their films on screens, this makes sense, no?
With the impending closure of @TechnicolorCo’s film processing facility @PinewoodStudios, many were worried about the future of our 35mm and 16mm formats; but fear not old fashioned film lover, for Deluxe and i-dailies have come to the rescue (at least for the time being)!
@Cineuropa covers the extraordinary events during the Istanbul Film Festival, where many prominent film people (including filmmaker Mike Newell) were caught in violent protests at the closure of the historic Emek Theatre. “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take--” and so-on.
@Screendaily brings us news of @TribecaFilm’s move into the UK distribution sector with a VOD deal for its festival titles. The tide-is-a-turning...
The BFI is to “celebrate” Lars Von Trier. Particular interest must be in the talks surrounding his work – get beyond all the hoo-ha, I say.
With Alternative Content drawing in the crowds ... it is no surprise that the art world has turned to our beautiful silver screens to exhibit, and @BBCNews has a an excellent article on what it took to bring @Royalacademy and @The7thArt’s exquisite Manet Exhibition to the screens...

... Which begs the question, what else could be shown in cinemas to pull in those punters? #getiton

Events

Cannes line-up announced (in case you hadn’t heard :-S)... BIG.
The self-proclaimed outlaws of cinema @ScreenBandita have created A Road Movie in Super 8 and Sound. If you are in Edinburgh or Glasgow this is, quite simply, unmissable.
New independent film festival in Cork, spearheaded by @UnaFeely, @HanniganCork (a.k.a Mick Hannigan) and Ken Loach – more details coming May 1st. I’m excited!
@LUXmovingimage once again has a round-up of all the must-go-to events in the world of Artists’ Moving Image. Find out more here.

Jobs

The wonderful and vibrant Chapter Arts Centre of Cardiff (the UK’s most peaceful ‘urban space’), are looking for a Development Office to assist in their fundraising operations – you have to be awesome, obviously, but for more click here.

Submissions

Consider yourself the next Philip French? Stop sniggering in the back there! Well, @edmfilmfest has confirmed the return of the Student Critics Jury. A brilliant initiative to support future film criticism, applications and further info can be found here.
@VMShorts is Britain’s biggest short film competition and is now open for submissions. Need I say more? How about, £30,000 in prize money?
The submission process is now open for Save Our Scripts – mentioned a few weeks back as one to watch, this is an excellent opportunity to develop your project with expert producers and screenwriters.
I don’t think there is a more contemporary short film contest: Firefox is asking filmmakers to submit short films about the power of the web. Should lead to some interesting films, and the prizes are pretty great.

Training

@Film_London are running ‘Cultivate: Inspiring Future Audiences’, a UK-wide programme that aims to provide the necessary skills to develop film education programmes in cinemas and festivals – pertinent, no?
Aged 18-25 and interested in/already are making documentaries? Well @FirstLightFund is working alongside The Grierson Trust to provide you with a wealth of invaluable info and experiences that will help you realise your aspirations. This really is a no-brainer.
@sheffdocfest, in partnership with @SkillsetSSC, present a training and networking opportunity aimed exclusively at documentary-makers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; “a workshop designed to arm you with the skills and inside knowledge needed to make sense of today’s reality of fractured funding models and internet-connected audiences.” – sounds good to me!

Good Reads

The passing of a legend: Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem pay tribute to Bigas Luna, director extraordinaire. I was tempted to use a screenshot from La teta y la luna for this blog's header image, but thought better of it.
Which is better for the Sisterhood, G.I. Joe: Retalliation or Oblivion? Both are terrible, obviously - but which is worse? @Ultraculture has the answer.
@CreativeScots has a great interview with @PaulAWelsh, producer of Lore and Skeletons.
Ever wanted to understand time travel in movies? Yes, well head-on-over here. SPOILER ALERT!
Reality TV show that sends Joe Public to form the first human colony on Mars. Yep.

And Good Day

From Doodles to Digital

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:29:39 GMT

Kristina Johansen, of Dundee Contemporary Arts was one of the participants of the ICO Creative Digital Marketing course, which ran over a six month period, encouraging participants to experiment and pilot new approaches in their venues or film festivals. Here she talks through her experience of the course and shares what was learnt from her campaign.

Children in masks at Discovery Film Festival

I was excited to attend the ICO’s Creative Digital Marketing course way back in September 2012. Being relatively new to the world of marketing cultural cinema, I was looking forward to meeting people working in the same field from across the UK as well as to being inspired by new digital marketing initiatives.

What followed were a jam-packed two days where we were given a series of workshops and presentations from leading industry figures and agency representatives who told us about a selection of the brightest and the best in digital marketing practice. From the secrets behind Secret Cinema’s social media campaign to the Royal Opera House’s new dynamic data strategy there was lots to learn and be inspired by. But the most fascinating and refreshing element of the sessions was getting to meet with peers working in similar organisations.

Whilst it is great to hear about cutting edge developments and best practice, sometimes what is most inspiring is hearing about people in the front line, working on real projects with all the real constraints of working for a publicly funded arts organisation. One of the most interesting initiatives discussed on the day was the Watershed’s post–it note analogue tweet project, which allowed the audience to respond to Lars von Trier’s controversial film Antichrist using just post-its stuck to a noticeboard which were then shared digitally.

Following the sessions all the participants were challenged to take one idea from the two days and try and implement it when they returned to the office (easier said than done with an ever-ringing phone and overflowing inbox) and I thought that Watershed’s analogue tweet idea might work for us.

At DCA we have an active Twitter and Facebook community and I wondered if this would be a way for us to bring some of that interaction into our building space. We decided to take the idea of analogue tweets and apply it to one of our biggest events of the year the Discovery Film Festival.

Discovery Film Festival (or just plain Discovery as we call it behind the scenes) is Scotland’s International Festival for Young Audiences. It is now in its 9th year and runs over two weeks from the end of October to the start of November. These two weeks comprise three public weekends that include film screenings, workshops and a related exhibition in DCA Gallery, and on weekdays we welcome school and college students from across the local region for screenings and gallery tours.

For this we wanted to give our audience a way to tell each other and us how they felt about the festival. Because the festival is aimed at children and young people we didn’t want to rely on written comments. So we came up with the concept of postcards that provided a space for a drawing or comment depending on how people wanted to respond.

The postcards were handed out at all Discovery events, from screenings to workshops, and the completed cards were displayed on A-Frame boards in the public spaces of DCA. On the back of the postcards we left a space for people to add their contact details to our mailing list so the postcards also provided a valuable opportunity for data capture.

We got lots of responses, particularly on the opening weekend, which featured a gala screening of Alfie the Little Werewolf. Lots of the children and adults who saw the film took the opportunity to tell us what they thought, including drawings of scenes from the film.

We then turned the analogue felt pen doodles into digital 0s and 1s by tweeting and sharing photos of the front of the postcard with our followers, who liked and shared them in turn. We were really happy with the project, it provided a way to animate the space in our building with visual representations of how the festival made people feel. Next year we plan to improve on it by empowering our volunteers to tweet and share the images more frequently using our newly improved wifi network.

The second session of Creative Digital Marketing was held this February 2013 where we all came together to present the results of our pilot projects. This was a fantastic opportunity to hear real stories and learn from each other’s successes and failures. I was really encouraged by the positive feedback I got from my presentation and was inspired by everyone’s enthusiasm and ideas.

Projects which stood out for me included: Jo Comino’s analogue tweet strategy for Borderlines festival 2013 (which you can read about on the Guardian Culture Professionals Blog), Andrew Knight’s twitter film meet for Broadway cinema in Nottingham - check it out at broadwaychat - and BFI’s experimentation with expanded audience engagement through Pinterest.

The presentations provided a great jumping-off point for discussions. Hot topics of the day included: how to get the best from volunteers on social media whilst trying not to worry too much about your brand; what was Pinterest for and how it could be used for cinema marketing without infringing copyright; and how digital content creation can blur the line between programming, marketing and audience development.

It’s impossible not to feel energized by my time on the ICO course Creative Digital Marketing. It was a fantastic and valuable experience for me and I know I brought some great things back to the office as well as meeting a brilliant network of people.

Find out more about Discovery here:

More Top Tips from the Creative Digital Marketing Course here:

And an excellent round up of Social Media top tips is here.

“Shag-a-Dalek, baby!”

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:15:20 GMT

To celebrate the restorations of two Dr Who feature films, now available for booking on DCP, we invited groovy Whovian Kevin Harley (The Independent, Total Film) to tell us what he digs about The Doctor.

Groovy alien world, man!

Dr Who and the Daleks (1965)

The title implies otherwise, but the key element in Dr Who and the Daleks isn’t Daleks. It’s doors. As the TARDIS doors open and the travellers peer into the psychedelic glow of a random alien planet, the only thing wrong with the picture is that the preceding, Earth-based scenes weren’t shot in black-and-white. “Rather exciting, isn’t it?”, chuckles Peter Cushing’s kindly “Dr Who” to Roberta Tovey’s young Susan, bridging the age gap on-screen and among fans (age range, seven to 70) who relish that week-in, week-out “not in Kansas anymore” spirit at Doctor Who’s core: a spirit of any-time, any-place possibility that has thrust the show through 50 years of life.

True, Amicus’s ’60s Dalek movies contain enough deviations from Who lore to give hardened Whovians hernias. But they also embrace enough of the source to prove its versatility. Challengers to Hammer, American producers Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg changed the Doctor (doing some serious eyebrow acting, known quantity Peter Cushing replaced cranky William Hartnell); his name (the Doctor became Dr Who); and his identity from alien to human (he doesn’t say he’s human, though, so insert open door to fan-fic options here: maybe he’s just in retirement?). Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter, became younger; the TARDIS became just TARDIS; the wum-wa-wum theme tune went; and jaunty humour and pop colours dominate so much, you half expect Austin Powers to burst through a door crying, “Shag-a-Dalek, baby!”

Yet vital elements remain. Hints of teatime horror include a POV woods chase: yes, it’s The Evil Dead for kids! And that thing creeping out from under a coat... is it... could it be... a claw? The appendage belongs to a Dalek mutation, seen here for the first time in colour. The multi-coloured paint jobs on the casings compromise their uniformity, but the comeback to that criticism isn’t rocket science. Never mind the naff fire-extinguisher gusts (safety regulations) these Daleks shoot: don’t they look cool in colour, towering over the invading Thals from the peak of the Dalek city? Every home should have one. Every home surely did in 1965, when they were bigger than God, the Beatles and, even, Doctor Who.

The stress on the toy-friendly tyrants reminds us that this is Doctor Who aimed younger than usual: the film is shorter, simpler and more open to marketing tie-ins (Daleks in more colours? More toys to collect!) than the seven-part TV story it drew on. But the beauty of Doctor Who is that there’s room for all-comers in the TARDIS, from those who revel in the adventure, to those who see (not too fancifully, as it happens) depths in the storytelling. Then and now, it’s a benevolent open doorway to the imagination, with no strict door policy on viewers. The new series agrees: notice the way the doors open on the story at the end of the new title sequence, revealed in 2012’s Christmas special. Wherever Doctor Who opens its doors, that’s its home until next week or, in this case, the next movie.

Nom!

Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD (1966)

The success of the first Dalek movie made a sequel a shoe-in. This time, Amicus adapted the TV story The Dalek Invasion of Earth and upped the budget, with the serial offenders of morality ushered to the screen by the fiscal power of cereal. Sugar Puffs sponsored the film, leading to blatant product placement and the fear that the Daleks might at any point threaten to “Tell ’em about the honey, mummy.”

Slightly alarming as it is to see Sugar Puffs posters pasted all over a devastated London in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD, that impressively realised capital still helps to sell this superior sequel. London 2150 doesn’t look too far removed from London 1965, but the wrecked buildings (one great stunt sees a character flinging open a door to an empty space where the front of a building used to be) and murky undergrounds (home to a resistant Tube-way army) are ravaged and resonant; especially so, you’d imagine, for audiences of the day. With the Second World War relatively fresh in people’s minds, the political subtexts of Terry Nation’s creations could not have been more obvious had the Daleks romped up a cover of “Springtime for Hitler”.

But if DIE isn’t subtle, it is fun. High points include the Dalek spaceship docking in Sloane Square; the Daleks rounding on a shed in that classic Whovian mix of the alien and the banal; the Dalek-converted Robomen and a submersible Dalek trapping our heroes in a scare sandwich; a Dalek towering over Bernard Cribbins, whose cockney copper ably replaces Roy Castle’s comic relief from the first film; and the way the Daleks die.

DIE elevates the Dalek defeat from its predecessor to the level of Dalek death porn, which tells us something about kids’ special relationship with the rotters: the way that it straddles the fear/fun divide somewhere between the Daleks’ relentless death-rattle intonation and the buzz of seeing them flung down bomb shafts, smashed by speeding vans or otherwise battered. The heroes deliver the smackdown, with the Doctor – sorry, “Dr Who” – declaring, “There’s always an answer to be found, if you only dig deep enough.” Or whack the buggers hard enough.

The film merely died at the box office, sadly. Producers’ pockets didn’t go deep for a third: where were Rice Krispies when they were needed? But the Daleks lived on in the TV series, the big-screen redesigns (check out those sexy bumpers) being famously re-used in a story called The Chase. And, you might argue, their big-screen incarnations helped to show how Doctor Who’s MO of simplicity and possibility might last: by embracing the promise of change.

News Round-up... 05/04/2013

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:17:24 GMT

Brrr.

In this edition of the News Round-up I have decided to be all 'positive spin'.

So it’s unseasonably cold and our springtime is going to be like this for the rest of... well, forever according to climate scientists and the changes occurring to the gulf stream may in fact induce a new ice age; but hey, it’s perfect cinema-going weather, right?

YEAH IT IS!

News

We are releasing 2013’s BAFTA Shorts, the cream of the crop of British filmmaking talent in a format that needs your support - surely a must-see? If your mind isn’t made up then check out @BAFTA’s podcast on all eight films.
@Andreas Wiseman of @ScreenDaily covers the quickly changing landscape of the UK’s VOD network. It begs the question, what does this mean for independent cinema?
@Independent has an interesting article about the rising costs of going to the cinema, with particular focus on our favourite picture house snack – POPcorn.
@CurzonCinemas’ floor staff are turning to unions in protest over pay, contracts and working conditions. @NewStatesman covers the story. Will their voices be heard? And what does this mean for other indies...
@TheatrMwldan has seen a sales rise of nearly 40% following its major expansion plans – a sign of the need for further investment in the independent cinema sector; the benefits of taking a calculated risk?

Events

@ScreenBandita host Fuaim is Solas with musicians playing to projected images. It’s all about Glasgow.
If you didn’t know, @BirdsEyeViewFF is awesome festival celebrating women filmmakers. Check out their programme and show your support!
The London Palestine Film Festival is about to kick-off and with a series of talks and events aimed at giving voice to the Palestinian people, it couldn’t be more exciting.
As per usual, @LUXmovingimage has a round-up of all the must-go-to events in the world Artists’ Moving Image. Find out more here.

Submissions

Aesthetica Short Film Festival is open for submissions and they are looking for innovation (naturally) – get over there and submit!

Support

The wonderful people of Freshly Squeezed International Student Film Festival have a kickstarter campaign on the go and they are deserving of some support. Go-Go!

Good Reads

Following the sad passing of the great Rogert Ebert, Werner Herzog makes a moving tribute to the man and his craft - #thegoodsoldier
In anticipation of his latest work, @theartsdesk has 10 Questions for Francois Ozon.
Always good for a left-field, far-flung story of international creativity, @BritishCouncil has a fascinating article about short films made by young people from Afghanistan.
Haven’t heard of Vine yet? Pfft.

News Round-up... 15/03/2013

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:35:38 GMT

Otters holding hands.

No messing about this week - straight into the pertinent news and opportunities that keep you going on a Frida--

Oh no wait, oh no first I gotta show you this :)

Feeling better? Good. Here goes:

News

You know we are releasing ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ - Carlos Reygadas' brilliant, dangerous, award winning nightmare - right? Right, well, in anticipation of this we have launched a collaborative forum around Carlos Reygadas’ body of work, called ‘After Cinema Words’. Yours truly may have even contributed, but I don’t plug – it’s just not me.
Gotta go check out the @Flatpack Festival programme. Not in Birmingham? It’s worth the trip.
An independent British film being distributed through games consoles; @Microsoft becoming a film distributor? Is the future here (or, in true movie fashion, is it ‘Coming Soon’)... and what does it mean for Indie Cinemas and venues?
...and on that note: ‘Tesco Launches ClubcardTV’. Supermarket giant + VOD Platform = ?
‘The Power of Free’ – a really interesting article about the rejuvenation of @_FICCI_ through the use of free screenings. Nicely ties into previous articles on IndieWire about funding of festivals – the debate continues.
‘The UK is an increasingly cluttered and expensive market in which to release films’, according to new Film Distributors’ Association figures ... y’don’t say!

Events

@northernmedia and @movieScope have teamed up with the @BFI for the UK Film Forum; fancy chattin’ with the high and mighty of the British film industry? Drop £150 and you are there.
@FilmAgencyWales are hosting ‘Audience Connect’, a panel of industry experts - hosted by Lord Puttnam, the BFI’s Ben Roberts and Ridley Scott Associate’s MD, Kai Lu Hsiung - will consider the changing relationship between audience and content in the on-demand, digital age.
As per usual, @LUXmovingimage has a round-up of all the must-go-to events in the world of Artists’ Moving Image. Find out more here.

Submissions

Those beautiful people @sheffdocfest have launched a series of initiatives to help filmmakers get a commission for their project in collaboration with the BFI, New York Times and Wellcome Trust – find out more here, here and here.
Bristol Film Office’s Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival present ‘0117 Hour Digital Short Challenge’ – an invitation for filmmakers, animators, visual and sound artists to make digital shorts focused on the theme of ‘Journeys’. Now open for entries.
@Film_London is once again continuing its stellar work for audience development with ‘Cultivate: Inspiring Future Audiences’, a comprehensive three day event for exhibitor skills development.

Training

SOS (or ‘Save Our Scripts’) is an opportunity for writers and producers to meet and collaborate, building relationships necessary to fast track their careers. Speakers include Oscar Winner Simon Beaufroy. Run by @bureaufilmco, this is a brilliant opportunity.
Following one of our training initiatives – ‘Creative Digital Marketing’ – Jo Comino of @borderlines discusses her approach to digital marketing with @guardianfilm. Really very insightful.
Northern Film & Media and Digital Union present International Film Markets Workshop, an absolutely brilliant opportunity for new producers to learn about film markets and the business of connecting with financiers. Find out more here.

Good Reads

@GrolschFW hosts a timely reminder of why Steven Soderbergh should be considered one of the Amercian greats, by @TomSeymour. Read all about it here.
@TheWrap lets us know which 20 filmmakers make the bestest use of Twitter. I mean, you gotta follow @SpikeLee, right?
Always good for a left-field, far-flung story of international creativity, @BritishCouncil has a fascinating article about short films made by young people from Afghanistan.

News Round-up... 01/03/2013

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:41:26 GMT

Get in there my shun!

It’s March everybody and I consider that to be spring time!

Fancy getting in the spirit of this most fertile of seasons? Well head on over to ‘After Cinema Words’ – an intellectual playground where programmers, writers and filmmakers will be responding in their own unique ways to the works of Carlos Reygadas, whose award-winning ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ we are releasing 22nd March.

Sarah Wood - artist, filmmaker and co-programmer of Club Des Femmes - is the first person to contribute and she’s getting personal...

***

“Where’s my regular News Round-up!?” I hear you cry. Well fellow film lovers, it is here:

News

The inevitable path to digital distribution? Screen Daily reports on the EU pledge of $5.6m to Video on Demand platforms and Digital Cinema Distribution. No money, eh?
With perhaps the least surprising news story of the last two weeks, The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Iran Protests Berlin Festival Award for Jafar Panahi’s Closed Curtain’.
In what is really good news for filmmaking in the capital, Film London has announced a new dedicated department for Artists’ Moving Image (to be headed by their current Head of Production and Talent Development, Maggie Ellis). As it’s a Friday, I’ll drink to that.

Events

In a busy month for us here at the ICO, I would like to point you in the direction of the Paul Bush Compilation taking place at the ICA (no relation, but very good friends): a selection of the Artist’s award-winning films to celebrate our release of his fantastic latest feature, Babeldom. Paul Bush will also be Q&A-ing after the screening on Sunday 10th March.
O:4W are holding a seminar to explore Artists’ Moving Image, from concepts to curation and commissioning. Considering those involved, this is a must-attend really and truly.
March 20th-24th is Reel Iraq 2013, which marks ten years since the invasion of Iraq with a UK-wide celebration of Iraqi arts and culture through music, film and literature events. Find out more here.

Submissions

Floating Cinema launch short doc commission with BRITDOC – two brilliant organisations coming together to provide more people with more opportunities. Has excellent drenched all over it.

Training

It’s that time of year again – your very own ICO are open for applications to ‘Developing Your Film Festival’. This course brings together film festival professionals from across Europe, equipping you with everything you’d need to grow and establish a successful festival. And it’s in Croatia. In the summer. Yep.
‘Tell Me Your Story’ is a BFI-run one day workshop for LGBT filmmakers, supported by Creative Skillset, designed to help develop projects for the market place. About time there was this sort of commercial focus in this sector of cinema?
Media Academy Wales has launched Cinovate 2013 – this a great opportunity to learn how to meet current and future challenges facing the exhibition sector with a personalised mentoring programme.

Jobs

Four Corners seeks applications for Board Members, more information about which can be found here.
CAN (Cinema Arts Network) is looking for an experienced IT Manager to join their team for an important role in developing Britain’s cultural infrastructure. More? Here.

Good Reads

IndieWire continues to host a great debate around the future of film festivals (with specific recourse to how they distribute their funds); following the brilliant repartee between Sean Farnel, Tom Hall and the many comments that followed, there is now this from Heather Croall.
It would be madness not to mention anything about the Oscars, so I am leaving it up to The Arts Desk to provide you with a witty critique!

You Kids Are Alright

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:57:52 GMT

In the same week that the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival announced it’s cracking programme for this year’s fest, we received reports of a worrying protest inside a cinema in Bucharest. Highlighting the struggle still faced by many in screening films which discuss LGBT issues, and the very real danger of harassment to audiences attending them, Verena Von Stackelberg reports on Wednesday's incident, presented here in solidarity with independent cinema exhibitors in Romania and beyond.

You Kids are All Right

At the LGBT History Month on 20th February 2013 in Bucharest, a group of conservative homophobic protesters boycotted a screening of The Kids Are Alright with the aid of the deputy director of the Peasant’s Museum, where the event took place.

LGBT History Month is a month-long, annual observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history taking place in nine European cities. The film in question stars Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo, detailing the ups and downs of a long-term lesbian couple and their teenage children. It is by all means a relatively conventional ‘Hollywood’ family-drama with the apt contemporary exception that both parents are mothers.

What might have sparked the new homophobic discourse happened not long before this, on 7th February, at a bi-lingual high school with special interest in human rights: the school organised several events to help celebrate the LGBT History Month and was ridiculed by the media, in turn causing public, negative outrage. A billboard (sponsored by The Romanian Family Alliance and Pro Vita) with the rainbow flag was put up near Olari Street (the school’s street) alerting people to 'what is going on at that school’. Later on, the district’s mayor sanctioned the advertising companies that allowed the offensive billboards to be produced.

LGBT organiser Alexandra Carastoian provided an eyewitness report of the homophobic attack at the cinema:

“It all went smoothly with the LGBT History Month in Romania until Wednesday 20th, when we gathered at the Romanian Peasant’s Museum in the Cinema section called The New Romanian Director’s Cinema (Noul cinematograf al regizorului Roman) for the screening. I got there 30 minutes earlier to make sure that there would not be any technical issues. Meanwhile, in the hallway we spotted a few people who didn’t seem to have good intentions. First we thought they had something that looked like baseball clubs, but after a closer look they were Romanian flags. It was almost clear to us what their intentions were. In a couple of moments a crowd of about 40 right-wing extremists, nationalists, neo-Nazis and church-fans got inside the cinema space and practically blocked the screening. After a few scenes of the movie, they stood in front of the projector singing the national anthem and waving their flags so it had to be stopped. Although authorities have knowledge of our Festival and were at the previous events to ensure safety, they didn’t intervene.

Later that evening a friend told me she heard the policemen talking ‘there are three categories I can’t stand: drunks, drug-addicts and homosexuals, I’m not going in there’. One of the protesters was so drunk he could barely stand on his own two feet. Filmmaker and audience member Mona Nicoara said, 'While the director of the Museum publicly stood up for the LGBT History Month, despite protests from nationalist and religious groups, the deputy director was reportedly seen appeasing the extremists today and sitting down for a beer with them.' A Romanian extremist blog contained the words ‘Let's go to the Peasant's Museum!’ next to the screening information and shots of street banners saying ‘Come to the Romanian Peasant's Musem today at 6pm! Would you want to see your son a homosexual? Could you imagine your daughter a lesbian? On the Olari St and at the Peasant's Museum they're doing stuff...’ "

I personally heard the deputy director before the screening telling the projectionist: ‘Just start the darn’ thing already, the sooner we start it, the sooner we end all of this’ and then shouted swear words based on homophobia closer to a group of people that later were inside. The projectionist had instructions from the museum’s deputy director that the movie should start at 18:30 when actually it should have started at 18:00. We spent about two hours inside the cinema playing word ping-pong with the protesters. They were holding crosses and religious icons, also three of them took photos of themselves in front of the screen while holding up a flag showing Nazi signs. At the end, the policemen noted ID information of all of the people in the cinema, not letting them go out of the building without doing that.”

What occurred and is occurring during or outside of gay and lesbian events all over the world needs to be monitored closely, sadly even now, when we can just begin writing the futuristic-sounding Year 2013. To all organizers of the LGBT History Month: A massive thank-you for your courage on behalf of those who value human rights. You Kids Are All Right.

Verena von Stackelberg

Further details (in Romanian): http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-14270775-video-scandal-mtr-incidente-proiectie-film.htm

Berlinale 2013: Wednesday

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:34:24 GMT

I'm walking to my first film of the day, Pardé, on a new sprinkling of snow. The venue is Haus der Berliner Festipiele, a 1960s glass fronted arts centre primarily used for theatrical runs and concerts. It certainly has a different atmosphere to the multiplexes I've been in so far and the crowd has a whiff of the high brow about them. Lights down, curtains open, film begins, Farsi dialogue, German subtitles and...oh dear. It hadn’t even occurred to me that not all screenings would have English translation provided. I decide to embrace this as part of the international festival adventure and stay ‘til the end; cinema is a visual language, after all.

My luck may be in as the first 20 minutes unfold in near silence as a man, with a dog, arrives at an empty house by the coast and proceeds to bolt every door and black out every window in the building. He is clearly going into hiding but we don't know who or from what. Some horrific real footage of Iranian officials killing dogs appears on the TV, perhaps indicating that all this is an effort to protect his canine companion. The man then shaves his head. So far, so intriguing, but then I'm lost. I believe the film is about creativity and the cinematic process; characters enter the scene out of nowhere, leave, come back, walk into the sea seemingly to their deaths only to appear again as a background extra. A film director figure is introduced and a previous scene is repeated, only this time presented as artifice as we now see the film crew capturing the original performance. The Farsi and German speaking contingency seem to enjoy the film, with the dog being singled out for special appreciation and cooing whenever it appears. Ultimately it's an unsatisfactory experience for me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t nod off, but if it appears in the UK I’d be curious to find out the intricacies of the piece.

International, Berlin

With a few hours spare before my first evening screening, I embark on my second attempt to see a film at the International, Maladies (2012) a US indie starring James Franco and Catherine Keener and directed by someone known only as Carter. I arrive at the International and I’m not disappointed, this is a really beautiful 1960s purpose built single screen cinema. I think it looks like a Dansette. The interior is full of vintage wonders; glitter balls and chandeliers hang in the wood panelled mezzanine bar. The auditorium has a distinctive waved ceiling and the velvet blue curtain parts only to reveal a second curtain covered in sparkling gold sequins. This is a cinema where people come to have a good time.

Maladies

The wonderful setting may have amplified my goodwill for Maladies, which is set around the time of the Jonestown mass suicide, although has more of a 1960s aesthetic. It is a chamber piece, focusing on three characters, all social misfits: James Franco plays James, a former actor turned writer with a probable mental illness; his best friend Catherine (Catharine Keener), an artist and part time cross-dresser; and his sister Patricia (Fallon Goodson), an unhinged adult/child who does little but smoke, look terminally miserable and draw over Catherine’s work in coloured crayon. The three roommates are also frequently visited by their kind but lonely, closeted neighbour (David Straithairn) who has a soft spot for former soap star James. The film critiques a society whose reaction to mental disability is to foster public outcry or call the police. The only accepting character outside of the close knit group has her own disability - an elderly blind woman, who inspires James to finish his novel in Braille. Franco’s somewhat self referential performance as James the former soap opera actor (the real James Franco has a recurring role in General Hospital, playing a character ‘Franco’) is the standout, this role enabling him to utilise his ‘leading man with an uneasy edge’ qualities. Maladies is a smart, witty and occasionally warm film but feels a bit stagnant, stuck in a quirky American indie cliché and a little too affected. Curiously, it is the third film I have seen at Berlinale that contains a scene of a character walking into the ocean.

After the screening I check my remaining two tickets only to discover that the screenings clash, with one film starting before the other ends. Not the most successful case of leaving my film watching in the hands of ticket availability fate. Unable to decide between the two films I instead flick through the programme and find one of my original wish list films, Computer Chess is playing this evening.

Colosseum, Berlin

Emerging from the underground at Schönhauser Allee, I’m immediately greeted by a glorious wall of neon light radiating from this evenings’ venue, the Colosseum. It’s another characterful cinema, once a garage, converted in the 1920s. It is now incorporated into a UCI multiplex, but you can’t tell from the outside. I am first in the badge line so able to secure one of the comfy bright turquoise seats. This is the first time I have encountered any friction within the queue, with someone being accused of pushing in.

Computer Chess

I wanted to see Computer Chess purely because of the title, knowing nothing else about the film before the curtains part. It turns out to be a real gem, a partially crowdfunded micro budget US comedy-with-a-satirical edge about a computer chess tournament in the early 80s – big spectacles, big moustaches, big computers. It’s given time warp authenticity by being shot with Sony video cameras of the era on (mostly) black and white 16mm stock, resulting in a lot of the scenes moving in and out of focus, which I don’t mind at all, it is a novelty that never gets tired for me. The first 15 minutes are the best and funniest part of the film. In a mock documentary style reminiscent of the ‘Office’, the tournament is opened by an obnoxious grandmaster chess player and we are introduced to a cohort of computer programming geniuses/nerds and their artificial intelligence. The film loses sharpness and a modicum of humour as the three day tournament is invaded by a couple’s counselling group and unravels into drug fuelled chaos, but it sure looks like they had a lot of fun making the film and it shows on the screen. I hope it is very warmly embraced by audiences. When at its strongest, it’s brilliant. I predict it could be a festival favourite.

News Round-up... 15/02/2013

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:35:25 GMT

Lohan on set. Scary.

Considering it was Valentine's Day yesterday, I suggest you read Sarah Bourne’s post from Berlinale 2013... Sea food sexy?

Right, let's get to it:

News

‘Inaugural UK Digital Cinema conference assesses the state of digital cinema’ – the trusty Screendaily holds the story and it couldn’t be more appropriate really. A must read.
The continuing conversation about culture cuts progresses at The Guardian, where Newcastle’s plight acts as a microcosm for the nation as a whole. Fascinating and incendiary.

Events

Tottenham World Film Club is screening the brilliant and award-winning My Brother the Devil. If you haven’t seen it, this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
Northern Ireland’s Queens Film Theatre is hosting a Global Cinema Experience, with a diverse range of pictures for your viewing pleasure. They are also hosting an Oscars Week as well as lots of other awesome stuff. Get down there.
The South London Gallery is hosting Reflections Without Sun, a stunning programme from a group of international artists and filmmakers who escape formal filmic narrative through direct performances to camera. Booking is essential.
Camden Arts Centre continues to break the mould with Cafe Curio Performance: Anthology Live. Lucy Reynolds invited 17 other women artists and writers to contribute short film loops to her collective artwork about the interplay between word and image. A fascinating event of readings, screenings, music and performance.

Funding

Continuing their programme of investments following their Film Forever launch, the BFI has provided more details about their £4m distribution funding initiative.

Submissions

Floating Forum is inviting artists, musicians, wordsmiths, filmmakers and performers of all varieties to submit a proposal to exhibit/perform at F.A.M.E (Festival of Art & Music Evolution). Email to find out more!!
KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival presents Frantic Films, a new short film competition where entrants are encouraged to take inspiration from the films of Roman Polanski. The winner will receive £1000 of filming equipment or a place on a course at London Film Academy. Gotta enter really – more here.
Watershed’s excellent super-short filmmaking competition, DepicT is now open for submissions – 90 seconds; £1.5k prize? Uh, yes please!

Training

The Video College is running Ready to Work in Film, an exciting new – and FREE – film training programme for London’s 18-23 year olds from London’s black and ethnic communities. Check out their website, but also email for more details.
LUX Evening Course: Opening Up The Archive – Further Themes, Forms and Finds offers another opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of the LUX collection. For anyone interested in Artists Moving Image, this is a great opportunity to learn and explore. Find out more here.
Northern Film & Media and Digital Union present International Film Markets Workshop, an absolutely brilliant opportunity for new producers to learn about film markets and the business of connecting with financiers. Find out more here.

Jobs

The ICO seeks to recruit a Programming & Development Manager on a fixed-term contract in order to assist the cinemas team during the Director’s maternity leave. This is a rare opportunity for a cine-literate individual with interest in, and knowledge of, current concerns in independent cinema. Deadline for applicants: 5pm March 7th.

Good Reads

Indie Wire hosts a great debate around the future of film festivals (with specific recourse to how they distribute their funds), with a brilliant repartee between Sean Farnel, Tom Hall and the many comments that followed. Be sure to read!
Ever wondered what happens when you cast Lindsay Lohan in your movie? Wonder no more. Strangely compelling this!
...And then what should come along? A response to the above article from the film in question’s co-director, Paul Schrader. Fascinating.

Berlinale 2013: Tuesday

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:31:29 GMT

I set my alarm last night with best intentions of getting up bright and early to get some tickets in my pocket, but, a few hits of the snooze button put pay to that idea. Instead, I gather all the festival information I have at my disposal: programme listings, catalogue, map, online cinema specs, pass entitlements etc. With all this info I plan to devise a full proof algorithm that will tell me which films I can see, when and where during my 2.5 days left. After an hour or so of crossing things out, circling things in different colours and marking with nonsensical codes, I've got myself in a muddle. I decide to come back to it later as I have to get ready for my Audiovisual Training Coalition brunch engagement.

After the ATC event, I head to the European Film Market (EFM) to deposit some Developing Your Film Festival postcards at the MEDIA desk. The EFM is vast! Housed in an imposing yet beautiful period building, it has an enormous hall at its centre which amplifies all the energy and bustle. There must be thousands of meetings going on at any one time. It's a real treat to be able to have a nose around the market without a market badge and see some of the films on offer, many are gems with terrible victim-of-translation titles and pants mock up posters. The film I most want to see after my tour...Mussels in Love.

Mussels in Love

Having no tickets and no firm plans for the evening leaves me wandering around a little aimlessly for a while. I'm very keen to see something at the International, a beautifully preserved 1960s one screen cinema in Alexanderplatz, so ambitiously I decide to try my luck on the door for Nicolas Philibert's La maison de la radio which is starting in 25 minutes. It may have worked out perfectly had I not had a momentary lapse of concentration and gone four stops in the wrong direction on the underground. Skulking back Potsdamer way, tail between my legs, I finally head to the ticket hall to see if I can get any last minute tickets for tonight.

After an unintentional visit to the Berlinale Talent Campus and the public ticket desk in a nearby shopping centre, I finally find the Berlinale Service Centre and realise as soon as I'm through the door that this should have been my second stop yesterday. It has everything you need; an expanded programme with far more info on the films and printed daily listings by venue for today and tomorrow, which are so much easier to fathom than by programme strand. With only the vaguest of ideas of what I'd like to see today and tomorrow, it turns out the decision is already made for me as there a no tickets tonight and only three films available with my pass tomorrow, "this, this and this" I'm told - I'll take whatever's going! I'm pleased that one is a 10am screening of an Iranian film in competition Pardé (Closed Curtain). My other two tickets are for Indian film Kai Po Che (Brothers for Life) and Tian mi mi (Together) from Taiwan. I'm advised that if I want tickets for Thursday I should arrive at 6.45am tomorrow morning and queue until the ticket desk opens at 8.00am.

Tomorrow is now sorted, but I'm determined to see a film each day I’m here. With my new and improved resources I can now clearly see my options and am a bit dejected that I've just missed a screening of Viktor und Viktoria (1933). I set my sights on a late show of Powell and Pressburgers' The Small Back Room, showing as part of The Weimar Touch Retrospective strand. I figure if I'm first in the badge queue then I might be able to get in without a ticket, so I plonk myself in front of Cinemaxx Screen 8 with 1 hour and 45 minutes to go before the screening, much to the amusement of the usher who says most people turn up 10 minutes before. In actuality it was a doddle to get in with the cinema no more than 2/3rds full despite the ticket scarcity.

The Small Back Room

A little late to the party, I know, but I've only recently started to see the treasures of the Powell and Pressburger catalogue. The Small Back Room (1949) is not one I've heard of before but I'm very glad to have discovered it here. I know I'm in for a treat when the title card reads "From the National Print Archive" and indeed it is a wonderful print, scratched, dusty and missing frames all over the place. Archivists and some projectionists I know would be sad to see a print in such a sorry state, but I love the constant reminders that I'm watching at real film print. Set during the latter end of WW2, our antihero is Sammy Rice (David Farrar), a bomb disposal expert who is debilitated by his resentment towards his physical disabilities (a leg injury never fully revealed) and his whiskey dependency (alcoholism is only inferred, never named). Overall the film is patchy in tone with the more interesting dark themes not gelling with the interspersed comic relief and heightened romance. There are, however, two outstanding extended sequences; the bomb disposal scene, which would be curious to watch next to The Hurt Locker, and an extraordinary surrealist montage where Rice is attacked by a 15ft bottle of Highland Clan Whiskey.

After the screening I have a mint tea 'night cap' with Ana David from Queer Lisboa who has attended both Motovun courses in different capacities (participant and course ambassador). As a Berlinale regular, she has some great festival survival tips for me. She informs me of the true power of my industry pass, suggesting you only need to get tickets in the first few days of the festival, never having had a problem just turning up to screenings with 30 minutes to spare in the second week. And with this valuable new knowledge, I am no longer setting my alarm for 6.00am.

Berlinale 2013: Monday

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:21:17 GMT

My main purpose for going to Berlin is to spread the good word about our Developing Your Film Festival course (did I mention we've just launched the 2013 edition?) but there is a big added bonus of watching some films while I'm here. This will be my very first Berlinale, actually my very first time in Berlin or Germany, so I'm a complete novice.

Looking out of the plane window as we're landing, I see the city is covered in a thin blanket of white snow. The kind gent at the Tegel airport info desk stuffs lots of annotated maps into my hand sells me a magic pass travel card and directs me to the X9 bus that will take me into the city centre.

I'm really itching to pick up my badge and programme so I head straight for Potsdamer Platz, Berlinale’s hub spot and best place to start, so I've been told. A glance at my festival map and the buzz of people outside a big building tells me this is the place I'm looking for. But after I circumnavigate my big suitcase through the throngs of smokers outside doing business, squeeze it through the revolving doors and drag it up an elaborate staircase, a clearly unimpressed but very polite official informs me this is the European Festivals Market and sends me round the corner to a very quiet accreditation pick up.

My badge is a glorious, if somewhat lowly, industry pass and will only get me into a handful of programme screenings on its own, but I'm told I can get tickets a day in advance from the Service Centre or take a chance on queuing at the screening venue. I get the feeling that successfully seeing the films that particularly tickle my interest will take plenty of planning, some luck and cunning.

I do a round trip via my hotel in Tiergarten to drop off bags and have a quick change then off to a MEDIA drinks reception at the fancy Ritz Carlton, where I gain film market insights from some friendly Northern Irish producers (apparently it's much easier to do meetings here than at Cannes) and enjoy fiddling with the film-stock table decorations.

Kujira no machi (The Town of Whales)

Maddy from Watershed also meets me here and kindly walks me to the nearby Cinestar, where I hope to catch a late showing of a Japanese film, Kujira no machi (The Town of Whales). I have a solo counter top dinner at "Billy Wilder's" cocktail bar, a bit naff, but, being a big Wilder fan, I'm a little bit thrilled.

I don't have tickets for Kujira no machi but luckily there are plenty of seats left so I can go in. The film, by female first-time feature director Keiko Tsuruoka follows three companions - two girls and a boy in their late teens - who take a trip from their rural village to Tokyo in search of one of the girl's (Machi) missing brother. What starts off as an awkward clichéd love triangle begins to turn into something more interesting as their emotional insecurities challenge their friendships and impact the style of the film. As Machi's inner turmoil bubbles to the surface, the film is punctuated with horror-like shots, as if she something off camera or someone will jump out at her at any moment. Although disruptive against its dramatic grounding, these unnerving moments do add an intrigue to this post tsunami work, as does the saturated light, water imagery and children's ditty sung by the protagonists about constellations. Overall, it was easy to spot that this was a film school thesis project, albeit a rather successful one.

Festival programme makes for good bedtime reading.

Rotterdam 2013: Shots, Figs, Bugs

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:11:29 GMT

Still image from Hito Steyerl's Abstract

White text on black screen: This is a shot.

White text on black screen: This is a counter shot.

So starts Abstract, the latest short film from Hito Steyerl, opening the F for Fake programme. A woman stands in front of the Brandenburg Gate holding up an iPhone in the typical pose of a tourist photographer, though she seems to be facing the wrong way. This is a shot. Then we are in a Kurdistan desert, being shown around rubble, by a man picking up rags and describing the clothes they once were. This is a countershot.

Drawing connections between the military subject and the film's own composition - 'The grammar of cinema follows the grammar of battle' - Steyerl defines the abstraction between the makers of weaponry and the people that missiles hit. By making visible the grammar of the edits and then disrupting our own understanding, Abstract demands an active spectator, and builds up a tension that makes the film's conclusion all the more shocking and resonant.

Abstract is the final part of a trilogy about Andrea Wolf, Steyerl's teenage friend who was killed as a revolutionary in 1998. November and Lovely Andrea, were last screened in London as part of the Club Des Femmes Pussy Riot fundraiser, and taken together, they perform the extraordinary feats of awakening the possibilities of cinema as a political weapon and forming a moving monument to a woman's life.

Still image from Frédérick Pelletier's Diego Star

Following his striking performance in Nicolas Provost's The Invader, Issaka Sawadogo returns as the anchor in Frédérick Pelletier's feature film drama Diego Star.

Solidarity breaks down at the docks when an accident exposes how creaky a cargo ship is, and its crew are marooned in a Canadian Saint Lawrence River port. Second engineer Traoré (Sawadogo) is housed with tough single mum Fanny (played with requisite grit by ex-mechanic Chloé Bourgeois) while an investigation takes place.

She is trying to get along in a place where options don't exist and he is determined to keep his integrity while his shipmates lose their heads. As trust grows between the pair, Pelletier inserts a financial transaction between each of his characters and their consciences, effectively illustrating the pressures of big business on the daily lives of the working classes.

As a morally sharp dose of social realism it strikes a cool tone, becoming all the more emotionally wrenching as things fall to pieces. A contender for the festival's new Big Screen Award, it is a further example of the strength of contemporary Quebecois cinema, and wins much admiration by not chickening out at the last.

Still image from Tony Cederteg's Figs (Fikon)

Figs proved a two-part highlight in the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 4 programme. Firstly, the film itself is a simple story of a gay relationship, told in voiceover, from the first intimacy to the bitter conclusion. On screen we see two men wrestle, take a shower and hang out together, and there is something so light and effortless to the proceedings that it is really charming and true. The type of film you want to rush out and programme, it is likely to have a strong festival life.

The second-part came in the deadpan Q&A where first-time Swedish director Tony Cederteg revealed that the onscreen couple (one of whom is his real-life boss) met for the first time 30 minutes before the shower scene, and still don't know what the film is about. When asked how he coaxed such natural and intimate performances, he shrugged, "In Sweden we like to wrestle." Explaining the film's origins Cederteg placed it as a reaction against mainstream representation based on images of marches and parades, "They are always seen dancing on caravans," he said, "but all the gays I know would like to stay home and watch movies."

Still image from The Metamorphosis by the Brothers Quay

Crunching through the deep snow across the Erasmus bridge with Helen DeWitt, - is now the time for me to mention that Yaktrax are the world's greatest inclement weather invention? I'm going to open a Rotterdam franchise next year - we are rewarded with sanctuary in the warm glow of Arminius church, for 2 Film Concerts - Ibragimova & Rudy with films by the Brothers Quay. As curator Erwin Carels explains, the films can only be shown in non-cinema venues, but where the projection is good, and they must have the musicians present to perform, as the films were made in service to the music, rather than the more common reversed relationship.

Unfortunately Alina Ibragimova, the first performer is unable to attend for family reasons, so as a replacement, we are treated to The Sandman, a rarely screened dance film from 2000. German Romantic author E.T.A. Hoffmann lies on his deathbed as a nurse and doctor tend to him, and a devil from one of his own stories plays tricks on those around him. It's sumptuous gothic stuff, with added Adam Cooper, all fluid and magnetic in ways that dance is always hard to describe, but mostly a dark joy to behold.

I have not yet read my Kafka (which doesn't stop me from being excited by the idea of a Soderbergh re-edit), but I suspect my sensibility is just not aligned, as the next film, a version of Metamorphosis, leaves me cold. Potato heads are in check, keyholes, insect and architecture askew, a suggestion that the screen could dissolve into cobwebs at any moment, all there. But whilst it would no doubt be a treat for morbid anatomy fans, and the live piano from Mikhail Rudy (as written by Leoš Janácek) is quite spellbinding, my spirit leaves the room long before the closing credits.

Felix Kubin

Felix Kubin, however, is much more my sonic cup of tea, and his stopstart techno and offbeat balladry greeted us at WORM for another Mind The Gap event. Kubin, who played a storming set at the Star and Shadow Cinema for the 2010 AV Festival, has live visuals by animator Martha Colburn, and emanates a part evil professor / part electro evangelist stage presence, and is mostly just lots of fun to dance to.

Now that the late nite has livened up I enjoy cigarettes with German filmmakers and catch up with Phil Collins, who is on this year's Tiger Short Film Jury and has an excellent Ian McCulloch story, Omar Kholeif, who has co-curated two programmes of recent works from the Middle East at this year's IFFR and is about to jump from FACT to new venture The White Building, and Flatpack Festival's Assistant Programmer Sam Groves, with whom I share tips on videotheque viewing before riding the ice homeward once more...

Rotterdam 2013: Space is the Place

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:55:57 GMT

Female sexuality will be punished. It's not that it must, just that it will. If this is a common narrative thread for all art, it is one that is explored and repeated with seemingly infinite curiosity by cinema. Following the scenes of masturbating in skyscraper windows of Longing For The Rain, my second film is another Tiger Award nominee with something to say about frustration and the dangers of seeking satisfaction, It Felt Like Love.

In this American indie debut directed by Eliza Hittman, we follow 14-year-old Lila, desperate to transcend the boredom of tweendom. With a best friend who delights in canoodling with fellas in Lila's face, her gooseberry status and hormonal yearning lead to a fixation on an older guy Sammy, who exudes toxic indifference.

This would make an interesting counter-programming double-bill with Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, also at IFFR. Leaving the cinema after the latter audiences walk away with a kind of jiggle retina-burn, where the after-image of breasts is everywhere you look. While divergent in it's message, It Felt Like Love, has a similar fixation on teenage skin, lingering on bikinis and mini-skirts in search of the profound.

It Felt Like Love joins a fine school of female coming-of-age naratives, with the shy girl overtaking her more promiscuous friend, with extreme results, alongside notable films such as Water Lillies or My Summer of Love. It well communicates the excruciating nature of unrequited desire, and the awful ease with which this can be exploited. But for this viewer, the characters were too palely sketched to hold the attention.

However, I was glad that it did bring to mind one of last year's Rotterdam highlights, Lena, soon to be playing at Glasgow Youth Film Festival, where - albeit for a short-lived moment - an insecure teenage girl has good healthy sex with a cool boy her own age. This kind of representation makes you want punch the air, it's so rare.*

The next Tiger nominee is Soldier Jane (Soldate Jeannette), an Austrian puzzler from Daniel Hoesi. Car-crash-compelling, Fanni is a middle-aged anti-heroine who at first appears sociopathic. Running intricate money scams, shoplifting luxury clothes, living rent-free in a classy apartment, simply because she's worth it.

When a boutique-owning acquaintance gently suggests Fanni might like to get a job in retail, her sense of entitlement is bluntly expressed, "I belong in front of the counter." But time is running out, a stalker is dropping vague threats during her spa treatments, and the locks have been changed. So Fanni takes flight.

I'll admit I find it hard to grasp what is going on in this film, shot with a flat digital ugliness, and with a humour so surreal and arid. But there are two striking images that have stayed with me in the days since. The first is a shot where a machine counts out Euro notes in fifties and hundreds. It was a plainly-framed close-up, but I could feel my eyes bulging, like in a cartoon, as the money just kept coming, with something physical going on in the cinema as the audience started rustling. The second shot was watching the KLF-style bonfire of those same notes - someone near me actually gasped.

As a critique of capitalism, Fanni's lack of attachment to money, and her insistence that the law does not apply to her, could be read as a lack of conscience, or alternatively, as what makes her a radical force. Either way, Soldier Jane is not giving an easy answer.

There's a danger at festivals where you see a few OK films and then see something good, it is immediately elevated to masterpiece. So I'll try and lay off the hyperbole, but up next was the first film that I truly enjoyed and left the screening on a high; International Space Orchestra.

World Premiering in the Signals: Sound Stages section of the festival, this documentary charts the formation of an orchestra made up of space scientists from NASA, leading to a concert where they perform music composed by Damon Albarn and Bobby Womack, and Maywa Denki (the choir learning the Japanese phonetically), plus a libretto by Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic.

Following a familiar documentary trajectory of the bumpy lead-up to a group performance, it has all the thrills of this form - they start out so bad, will they make it? etc. But what elevates it is the human dynamo at the centre, designer Nelly Ben Hayoun constantly disarming all around her with sheer French bossy-boots charisma. Eliciting candid responses from all stratas of the organisation, including an active astronaut, Hayoun's obsession with the dynamics of the Control Room position her well to surf around protocol and never take no for an answer. Funny, uplifting and just under an hour long. We have lift off.

The evening continues at Mind The Gap, the late-night programme of audiovisual performances, bands and djs at bastion of DIY culture WORM. Having moved around venues for a few years, WORM finally settled in an awesome building last year, perfect for presenting edgy music, film, workshops and performance, as well as hosting a film lab. Unfortunately this new building coincided with the funding cuts, leading to a reorganisation that currently sees them minus film programmer, Peter Taylor (no relation!), who also programmes shorts for IFFR and has been responsible for some of the best underground cinema-programming of recent years, anywhere. Someone snap that programmer up!

As an extension of the festival shorts programme, it’s a lively crowd of filmmakers and artists and the atmosphere is great, with WORM as a natural magnet for a late-night drinks, where you know you'll meet people and can discuss the films you've seen - the kind of hub that is still surprisingly rare in UK festivals. Tonight's entertainment focuses on combinations of musical and visual extremes, with the highlight being a beautiful performance from dark electronica merchant Kreng and experimental Korean cellist Okkyung Lee. Having met 3 hours prior, their improvisation went to all sorts of places and allowed our over-imaged brains a chance to drift a while. And then, before things start to get messy, to drift home.

*She still gets punished in the end though.

Rotterdam 2013: Politics and Dreams

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:31:20 GMT

"Like all forms of art and culture, film has an intrinsic value that goes further than what the market is prepared to pay for it." - International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) catalogue

Dark times are afoot in Holland. Over the past two years the cultural landscape has faced a swathe of funding cuts that have seen a country with some of the most progressive and cutting edge cultural institutions - particularly at the intersection of film, art and technology - either close their doors or have to change drastically. While austerity, and/or its rhetoric, may be biting everywhere, the political motivations and sheer velocity of this cull have been frightening to behold.

It is into this context that Festival Director Rutger Wolfson and Managing Director Janneke Staarink open their festival catalogue essay, considering the way that we make arguments for culture and stand up for it's value, in the face of forces that use the arts as an easy target. These arguments are not new to people who work in the cultural sector, but as is clearly demonstrated in the current cuts in the UK, with Newcastle setting a worrying precedent, they need to be refreshed and made with vigour, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) embodies these politics with their programme.

One way of defining value they suggest, in the case of film, is the urgency of a form that is quick to reflect the world back at us, enabling us to understand society and our place in it, as it happens. Another that is pertinent to IFFR is the innovation in evidence by presenting filmmakers (both new and in retrospective strands) who push the form forward, recognising the strides that the avant garde makes in film culture, which also creatively fuels the mainstream.

IFFR certainly does not exist outside the market, but alongside the Hubert Bals Fund it is integral to the economics of a certain kind of independent cinema that does not compete on a purely commercial basis. This filmmaking needs very practical funding support, followed through with a fierce championing and a platform to meet its audience.

Excitingly, this focus on work from developing countries, and in presenting trail-blazing work that often errs to the extreme - be that erotic, violent or poetic - it also makes for more lively screenings for audiences. Alongside a non-stuffy friendly environment, it's what makes this festival my favourite. And so it is with a spirit of the adventure I jump off the train into my first film of the festival -

Yang Lima's Longing For The Rain (Chungmeng).

Epitomising the middle class strata of a booming Chinese economy, Fang Lei is a housewife with a successful businessman husband and an adorable toddler. Days are spent shopping with her friend, and in scenes shot with a remarkable humour and tenderness, looking after her ailing mother-in-law.

Then the dreams start. A man is in her bed, making love to her in a way she has never experienced, while her husband lays sleeping beside her. These sensations, so vivid, that she can feel but cannot see, are soon slipping into daytime consciousness, and Fang Lei is left both turned-on and frightened.

Filmed with a low-budget digital photography that stays close to our heroine's face throughout, we witness how this sexual awakening sparks various stages of happiness, hunger and punishment, with things getting really weird when she seeks advice from various religious leaders.

Alongside Liu Shu, whose film Lotus was a highlight at the recent Bratislava International Film Festival, Yang Lina is definitely an interesting filmmaker to keep an eye on, with both women offering a refreshing frankness and complexity to their lead female characters, and a sharp social commentary on urban Chinese life. Where Longing For The Rain delights is the ambiguity that underlies the proceedings (does Fang Lei really reincarnate her dream lover by giving birth to a huge dream baby? Does redemption lie in seducing a hot Buddhist monk?) offering audiences multiple readings and plenty of post-film bar-room talking points.

And then to the bar, where critics, programmers and the itinerant community of international guests greet each other, reunite and offer tips on the must-sees. Rotterdam is not a 'red carpet' festival, but I promised Jon I would include any celebrity spots in this blog, so it doesn't get much better than Bernardo Bertolucci (in town to screen his Me and You) holding court at the bar. I spend the evening bending the ear of Mark Adams and Helen DeWitt on my manifesto for the future of indie film before they are rescued by Gabrielle Jenks, Abandon Normal Devices festival manager, and my regular Rotterdam roommate, to check in to the hotel and prepare for the cinephile onslaught of the next few days.

Crowdfunding case study: Sheffield Doc/Fest

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:28:11 GMT

Following Tilly’s introduction to crowdfunding essentials last week, we invited Charlie Phillips of Sheffield Doc/Fest to share some tips from their experience with a crowdfunding campaign...

We just raised nearly $28,000 (£17,000) on IndieGoGo for our 20th anniversary festival, thanks to the generosity of 350 of our best friends, fans and supporters. You can take a look at our campaign here. It was very hard work though, so if you're considering crowdfunding for your festival or event too, I thought I'd spread some useful tips on what worked and what didn't and how to make it work.

The fact we hit our target was obviously great. Though quite a typical target for a crowdfunded film, it was unchartered territory for an event, especially a UK one, to set a target like that. The motivations are very different for a contributor to a film (where it feels like the team behind it are poverty-stricken and deserving) and a festival/event (where at least we have jobs and there's a perception from some that we're rolling in public money) so in retrospect it was quite ambitious to go for $25k in those circumstances, but that makes it even more awesome that we managed to do it.

It was great publicity for ourselves as innovators and supporters of new ways of getting creative work made and seen - I've been touring the world for the last 3 years preaching the wonderfulness of crowdfunding so it was necessary and very pleasing to try it ourselves and put our necks on the line and prove that it can work. There's an accountability and transparency inherent to crowdfunding and that tallies perfectly with our ethos as a festival which is democratic, transparent and DIY. It's hard to prove that to people beyond mere words, but I hope we did it here, if only to a small extent.

It really proved to us how devoted our community of Doc/Fest-goers are - you need a set of obsessive people to make your campaign work and the 351 funders we got comprised lots of people who Doc/Fest had helped in the past to get deals and jobs, or who had just had a really good time here. Obviously we don't do those things on the basis that people owe us something back, but it's so lovely to hear from our people how much they feel we've enriched their lives. Forget the money, feeling that love from those people and the amazing comments they sent us, that was the most triumphant and inspiring thing.

In terms of what didn't work, it is so much hard work. A few of us spent day after day writing and phoning people and reminding them to contribute. You need to keep plugging away at it and you need to be shameless about asking for help, and that's hard and requires overcoming a (very English) psychological barrier of not ordinarily wanting to ask for assistance. It worked in the end, but it was impossible not to get disheartened when we were a long way off with a few days to go. With crowdfunding, the money rolls in right at the end, but it doesn't half give you a heart attack.

Also, not all of our perks proved popular - some were replaced with others towards the end of the campaign. It's so hard to know what motivates people - even though I've always preached the gospel that you offer contributors something that money can't buy, I realised that you still don't know for sure what individual contributors regard as being special - it's not monetary value and it's not necessarily a special experience (e.g. a tour of Chatsworth or a Firewalk), it proved to be the random Doc/Fest merchandise and general ephemera that they liked.

Strangely, pulling in our celebrity contacts had little effect - almost none. So tweets from Stephen Fry, Joan Rivers and Michael Moore brought in very little compared to our own tweets to people who'd been to the festival. This is not normally the case for crowdfunded films where a celebrity endorsement is golden.

If you're a festival or cinema who wants to launch their own crowdfunding campaign, my biggest tip is simple - plan ahead! Be very clear about who you will be contacting and who will be contacting them. You need to write individual emails to a lot of people, and those need to be people who you have a long-term connection with. So in a way, you're preparing for your campaign for years beforehand! Make lists of people to contact, from your mailing list, press, partner organisations - whoever. Make a schedule for who will write to them and when, when that person will follow up, and what you expect from the person you wrote to.

Think deeply about who you've helped in the past and what you can say to motivate them to respond to that feeling of gratitude in them. In particular, you can stimulate that feeling by contributing to campaigns yourself - it's a good idea if you're seen to contribute to others' crowdfunding campaigns, or even just help promote them. Tit for tat works. More generally, if you're seen to have been an innovator in the past rather than just picking up the crowdfunding baton for the sake of a bit of money, then that's good - people will respond to your willingness to try new things always.

Plan the words of your call for contributions very carefully - make it fun and persuasive, don't make it worthy or vague. Especially when you talk about what the money will go towards - the more specific the better. We were funding for our 20th anniversary and wanted to do some special events to mark the occasion like a screening in a cave - arguably even that wasn't quite specific enough, but the more you can give people something tangible they will be able to see that goes above and beyond their normal expectations of your festival/event/cinema, the more they're motivated. No-one wants to see their money disappear into a general slush fund, so make the money as ring fenced and specific as possible.

Make your video fun and something people will want to share. Ours was very silly, but people loved it - you saw us talking directly to camera, you saw the office, you saw our general sense of humour. Do that and people won't even need to read your words. they'll just want to help these loveable people on screen to do more loveable things.

Offer collectable 'money can't buy' perks – it doesn't need to be anything expensive. If you have old t-shirts, catalogues, bags, posters and other merch from past years at your festival/cinema then that's great - people like vintage items, people like things that aren't on sale anywhere. So think about what you have to hand that's special. Think also about who you have in your circle of patrons, friends, customers, etc, who have something to offer - that could be a famous person signing a book, it could be someone you know who does hot air balloon rides, or a season ticket for a football team. Who do you know who could donate a one-off experience for free?

As to which platform I'd recommend, we've worked lots with IndieGoGo in the past and we've partnered with them to celebrate some great film projects on their site in the past. They're really good people and easy to contact on a human one-to-one level for advice. At the time we launched, it was the only major crowdfunding site where UK projects could sign up without a US bank account. Now that Kickstarter have launched in the UK, this is different. We'd say that whether you go with IndieGoGo or Kickstarter, it doesn't really matter because they both require you to do a whole load of marketing yourself and the ability to hit the target still relies upon your contacts and the quality of your campaign. BUT we would say to go with one of those two because people recognise them as trustworthy and you're surrounded by lots of other great projects. If people are led to a site they don't recognise or where there's a whole lot of random projects, then it can confuse them - crowdfunders like familiarity. This might only account for you keeping £500 that you might otherwise lose on another site, but you need all the help you can get, so play it safe and go for one of those two we say.

Thanks Charlie! We'd love to hear of other cinemas and film festivals initiating crowdfunding campaigns. If you give it a whirl, let us know in the comments...

Crowdfunding Essentials

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:35:38 GMT

Flatpack Festival's Kickstarter campaign in full-swing.

With a number of crowdfunding campaigns by cinemas and film festivals popping up on the interweb in the last few weeks, we thought it was high time the ICO blog took a look at crowdfunding in more detail. In this first post, we explain the basic principles of crowdfunding...

So what exactly is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is fundraising for the social media age – online campaigns seeking small contributions from the public at large.

There are three main types of crowdfunding – Equity Crowdfunding offers donors a return on investment; Rewards Crowdfunding offers donors non-financial incentives; while Donation Crowdfunding offers nothing in return. Most arts projects use the Rewards Crowdfunding model.

How does one go about crowdfunding?

Fund seekers choose an online crowdfunding platform – popular sites for arts organisations include Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Sponsume and PeopleFund.it. Create a fundraising page for your project, write (or film) your pitch, set a target amount to raise and a deadline by which you’ll raise it. List a range of incentives or rewards to offer in return for different donation figures. These could include, for example, credits in your brochure, tickets to screenings, invitations to special events, or “limited edition vintage merchandise” (aka those old festival t-shirts you’ve got sitting in the cupboard). Then start promoting your campaign.

Some models, such as Kickstarter, operate on an “all or nothing” basis, meaning that if you don’t reach your target figure by your deadline, the pledges are returned and you don’t get any of the money. This can be useful for testing out interest in a potential product or event before committing to invest in it. Other platforms allow you to keep any funding you raise within the time period.

The crowdfunding platform you use takes a 5 – 10% cut of the money raised by any successful project.

Who uses it?

Crowdfunding has funded all kinds of projects – from gadgets to grizzly bear coats. 10% of films at Sundance last year were funded by Kickstarter. Film exhibitors now taking the plunge to raise much-needed money for their equipment, venue or events, include Doc/Fest, Light House, London Short Film Festival, Floating Cinema and Flatpack Festival whose campaign is currently active (go support them!).

How should you play it?

Crowdfunding seems to work particularly well when the seeker is asking for money for something specific, rather than general running costs. As Charlie Phillips from Doc/Fest warns, “No-one wants to see their money disappear into a general slush fund, so make the money as ring fenced and specific as possible.” Your project is competing against thousands of others on the same website, so create a compelling story for your project which will draw potential donors.

The reason many funders make a pledge is simply because they want to feel involved in your project. Capitalise on that by offering incentives which make them feel like part of the team, keeping them updated with progress reports, and thanking them in whatever way you can. You never know where these relationships will lead.

Like any other kind of fundraising, a crowdfunding campaign takes work. Once the campaign is launched, you only have a limited amount of time to reach your goal, so you can’t afford to sit back and relax. Laura Harford from UP Projects, who raised £11,200 for Floating Cinema, explains, “The campaign was 8 weeks long in total and during that time it required a considerable amount of staff resources to keep up both the marketing presence and research into contacts needed to maintain momentum and interest”. You’ll need to invest energy into spreading the word and raising interest in the project, as well as the follow up. Ian Francis from Flatpack Festival advises, “Don’t underestimate the amount of work involved in looking after your backers, and distributing the rewards”.

And finally, make it entertaining. One of the great things about crowdfunding is the potential for your project to be spread by donors to their contacts via social media platforms. It’s like fundraising and marketing in one. If you can make your project (or at least your pitch) fun, it’s more likely to be shared socially.

Have you had any experience of crowdfunding or are you thinking about initiating a campaign for the future?

In our next post, Charlie Phillips from Doc/Fest will outline his top tips for a successful crowdfunding campaign...

News Round-up... 04/01/2013

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:18:21 GMT

So the world kept on turning and here’s why!

With apocalypse averted, at least for the time being, we feel it is our duty to let you know what is happening in our thriving film universe. So here goes, for the first News Round-up of 2013:

News

Europe Will Be More Creative, according to Cineuropa, after the EU’s Culture Commission approved the Creative Europe programme, which amounts to 1.8bn Euros worth of support from 2014-2018. Interesting in the context of the UK’s current culture [of] cuts.
Belle First Major British 4K Film – and so it begins, the next step in the evolution of digital filmmaking; but what does this mean for independent cinemas, only a very small number of which have the capabilities to project such films and have struggled financially to digitise to current required standards?

Events

Film in Space: An exhibition of film and expanded cinema with an impressive array of top artists selected by the indomitable Guy Sherwin. And Camden Arts Centre is a great venue. Gotta go.
On a bit of an Artists’ Moving Image flex this afternoon, perhaps having been excited by Paul Bush’s Babeldom, which we are distributing and is truly brilliant. Or maybe it was Leicester’s Phoenix Square Sebastian Buerkner exhibition – a celebration of the FLAMIN-supported artist’s innovate work.
Michael Smith presents Fountain at Hales Gallery, an exhibition exploring on the quest for youth. Resonant and enthralling.
Rose English, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alexis Hunter and Carolee Scneemann present Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands at the Richard Saltoun gallery in London - an exciting and important visual retrospective of female performance art.
Rosa Barba, one of the most revered film artists around, has her Subject to Constant Change exhibition at Manchester’s Cornerhouse; a brilliant venue for a seminal work exploring the properties of film in relation to memory.
Mentioned before – but the London Short Film Festival begins today and there are some truly class acts in there. Serious.
Up to much this Sunday evening? No? Well get down to the Roxy in Borough and check out An Evening of Celluloid; following the trend of Keanu Reeves in Side by Side and Thomas Lawes’ The Last Projectionist, this art cinema institution is presenting an evening of 8mm and 16mm films accompanied by music. I’m going.
And finally, our friends at the Institute of Contemporary Arts are hosting an evening of film artist Laure Prouvost’s work, including a post screening discussion with Laure. A unique opportunity.

Opportunities

There's a new job at Film and Video Umbrella – an excellent opportunity for someone with Communication experience to get involved with an important cultural organisation. If I weren’t at the ICO…
Flatpack Festival of Birmingham returns once again and they are on the hunt for new short films. Enter now before the deadline passes!
The Wellcome Trust is open for submissions from hopeful recipients of its Arts Awards – they fund a great deal, including larger projects, so get over there now and find out more.

Good Reads

The Wrap gets nine industry experts to provide their opinion on the future of film and Hollywood. What would you suggest? Answers on a post-- no, wait, answers on #improvehollywood @ICOtweets. Excellent.

News Round-up... 21/12/2012

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:34:45 GMT

Final round-up of the year and what a year it has been – blood, sweat and tears! So, what’s new at the end of the world?

News & Opportunities

Feeling flush and filmic? More specifically, got £700 and want to name a seat at the BFI Southbank in aid of the Institution’s charitable activities? Well you can here, and you’ll get a nifty plaque to boot.
David Puttnam (he of the Film Distributor’s Association) has said cinemas must focus on the customer experience in the face of rising home digital outlets. Interesting and insightful - a must-read over at the Hollywood Reporter.
For those of you considering 3D in your cinemas, Screen has a great article about the pros and cons, reported from the recent 3D Film Mart in Belgium.
Perhaps not the most joyful of reads for this time of year, but worthwhile nonetheless – The Film Collaborative has an interview with Ariel Veneziano of Recreation Media about the state of international sales for independent films.

Employment/Training/Funding

Looking to equip your cinema with at least one 2k digital projector? Of course you are. Well good news, submissions are open for financial support from MEDIA. All info and to apply here.
We desperately need exhibitors’ voices to be heard in the conversation being had about the future of our creative industries and this is the opportunity to do so. Creative Skillset is looking for both employers and professionals to take part in surveys which will help to shape policy. Follow the links for more and to get involved.

Events

Bigger, better, bolder - but still short, The London Short Film Festival is back for its 10th year and it is going to be a barnstormer. No doubt.
Who likes freedom? ‘Let’s All Be Free Film Festival’ certainly does!

Good Reads

Consider this an early present.

News Round-up... 10/12/2012

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:54:50 GMT

An image from the photographic series The Booth by Joseph O. Holmes' - see Good Reads below

News

We start with the sad news of the passing of Pete Walsh, programmer at the Irish Film Institute for the past 18 years, and a mentor figure to many people in independent cinema. The Irish Times has the news.
Following on from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, it is worth familiarising yourself with the sharp end of cuts policy: Newcastle Council proposes 100% cut of its arts funding. In response, The Guardian has put together an excellent piece on the case for culture with impending arts cuts. "I value arts and culture because..."
The Europa Cinema Network Annual Conference has taken place and Screen reports on the event, with particular focus given to the role of cinemas in a digital world this couldn’t be more important or topical really. Read!
Cineworld has bought Picturehouse – should independent film lovers be concerned? Ben Blaine tries to find out.
The British Independent Film Awards have been announced... drum roll please!
Film London has announced the recipients of its Community Pilot Fund, which aims to grow access to cinema for under-represented audiences. Read more here, but congratulations to Awardees and good luck with your worthwhile endeavours!
The Rushes Soho Shorts Festival has closed its doors after 14 years of screening short films, music videos and digital work.
More innovative exhibition spaces are in need of your support – with only a few hours left for Floating Cinema to reach its funding goals, check out their IndieGoGo page to help!
Tickets to Bestival are among the perks for the London Short Film Festival crowdfunding page.
Good bit of Scottish news this – the Daily Record reports that Glasgow Film Theatre to get third screen in £1.6m upgrade. Go on Glasgow!

Employment/Training/Funding

We have an excellent opportunity for a bright young thing to come join the ICO as Training & Events Intern. This really is a rare and excellent opportunity. Deadline for applications? THIS WEDNESDAY, 5PM. Click here and scroll down to bottom of page for more details and to get applying!
One World Media Awards 2013 is calling for entries! Of particular interest is the ‘New Voice Award’, which see some hitherto unknowns getting the spotlight and credit they deserve.
With their first round of Film Craft and Technical Trainees having proved a great success, Skillset Crafts and Technical Skills Academy are now open for 2013 applications for their pioneering scheme. This is a great opportunity to get your break in the industry – check it out!
In September we ran the Creative Digital Marketing course – and now our video from the event, entitled ‘Top Tips for Digital Marketing’ is at your disposal online. With contributions from industry leading individuals, this is key viewing. Scroll down page to view.
Creative Skillset is looking for both employers and professionals to take part in surveys which will help to shape the future of the UK Creative Industries. Questions will range from skills gaps and training to the future needs of the industries. Your feedback will influence future skills development and support your industry in remaining globally competitive. Click here for more.
For all you aspiring filmmakers – Bradford City of Film is hosting a Sound for Film training workshop from the 14th to 16th January. Often the last element of a production to be thought of, nothing could be more important to the success of your film than understanding the sound process. AND IT’S FREE!

Good Reads

Our lead image comes from our favourite find this week, New York City-based photographer Joseph O. Holmes' new project called The Booth that captures projectionists in their working environment.
Future Cinema founder Fabien Riggall speaks to Ian Sandwell of Screen about the future of his cinema behemoth and exhibition in general.
When putting together programmes for client cinemas, we are always surprised by how few films offer Audio Descriptions and Heard of Hearing. Here is a good account of why more films should offer this vital service.
Filmmaker Chris Jones is very excited about technology he feels will "blow feature film distribution wide open."
Is there a slowly increasing trend of American companies releasing their VOD figures? The LA Times reports on the shift, but notes that 90% of cinema patrons did not know that a film was available on both formats.
Ahead of his retrospective at the BFI and exhibition at the Serpentine, the filmmaker, writer, programmer and underground cinema catalyst Jonas Mekas, is the subject of an excellent profile taking in an extraordinary life in cinema.

New screens in cities, changes at City Screen

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:50:44 GMT

Clip from Barbican Bolero one of the highlights of the screening programme to celebrate the new cinemas.

Last night saw the opening of two new independent cinema screens in London, as the Barbican opened the doors to its swanky new Cinemas 2 & 3, complete with a ribbon cutting from Vivienne Westwood. With a cafe at street level, this development significantly ups the visibility of the art centre’s film offer, which has previously been notoriously hard to find.

Audiences were treated to a selection of early silent films with piano accompaniment, as well as some shorts about the Barbican centre itself, including a 1960s documentary told in rhyming verse. Westwood then headed over to the Cinema 1 – still in the basement of the main centre - to discuss her gluttonous film choice La Grande Bouffe, part of the Step Into The Dark season, where cultural folk have been choosing films relating to the Seven Deadly Sins. This weekend Michael Nyman will talk Lust with a screening of Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light.

The facade of the newly opened Duke's at Komedia. Photograph by Joanne Mallon.

Meanwhile, that lovely new-cinema-seat smell could also be found in Brighton, where the Duke of Yorks cinema also celebrated a night of expansion, launching Duke’s at Komedia; two screens with two cafe bars, and a striking pair of distinctive red and white tights over the entrance. Opening with Sightseers and Seven Psychopaths, with future bookings for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, this is the latest addition to the Picturehouse chain.

A talking point at both events was the news of the Cineworld acquisition of the City Screen/Picturehouse chain. The announcement was met with a wave of responses on social networks, from audiences keen to voice their opinions on what this will mean to their cinema-going experience, demonstrating the depth of feeling people have for what good cinema should be. While the move dramatically increases the market share of UK screens owned by Cineworld, the news from both companies is an emphatic statement that it will be business as usual, with the Picturehouse chain maintaining its current staff, identity and programming ethos, and both companies learning from each other. With plans to open 10 more Picturehouse sites, the independent cinema sector will be watching with interest the impact it has on the business of exhibition and film culture in the UK.

Deptford Film Club on The Imposter

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:36:03 GMT

Since we’ve started taking non-theatrical bookings on the The Imposter, we’ve been receiving some great feedback from film societies and clubs, whose audiences have responded strongly to the film. To give us a sense of the experience, we invited Phoenix Fry, of recent nominees at the BFFS awards, the Deptford Film Club, to tell us about their screening and the atmosphere of their events.

First of all, the name ‘Deptford Film Club’ is a lie. It’s not a club; anyone can turn up and watch the feature films we show every fortnight. Also we’re not in Deptford, but just over the border in New Cross, an area of south east London that vibrates with the A2’s constant stream of lorries carrying goods from Kentish ports into central London.

It’s Wednesday night, and people walk through the Amersham Arms and take a narrow staircase up to the room where we’re screening The Imposter. The lighting is low, and American-diner-style banquettes have been shifted to face a blank wall. The room is packed. Pints of beer are set down, mobile phones clicked onto silent, and we thirty or so people are, for 99 minutes, immersed in the world of this compelling British documentary.

We’ve been doing Deptford Film Club for nearly three years now, and we know which films work well in this space. The room is not a sealed box; the glow of streetlights outside peeps through the window blinds, and the soundtrack of the films is complemented by muffled sounds of the pub below and the shrill sirens of ambulances and police pelting toward emergencies. It adds an edge to the film club screenings. Some movies just don’t work here. The Imposter works amazingly.

The mystery of the film is not in what happens. Like the ‘confession’ opening of Double Indemnity, this documentary begins at the end: Frenchman Frederic Bourdin faces the camera and explains how he pretended to be Nicholas Gibson, a Texan teenager who had vanished from his home three and a half years earlier. After Bourdin tells the police he’d been kidnapped and sexually abused, he is welcomed home by Nicholas’ distraught family.

Here's the mystery, then. Why did he do it? And why do the family not seem to notice that he speaks English with a French accent, and has brown eyes and dark hair - not Nicholas's blue eyes and blond hair? And this mystery is as gripping as hell. Halfway through, we stop the film for 15 minutes so the audience can grab a drink or a smoke, and go to the toilet. And they’re already raving about the film.

Why are film clubs better than cinemas, and better than watching a movie at home? It’s because you can be swallowed by a film, and yet be able to turn to someone (probably a stranger, or maybe that attractive person you saw here last week) and talk through your reaction to the experience. It doesn’t feel pretentious or awkward. There’s none of that worry about whether you can sneak out before the Q&A. You just feel yourself quite naturally, quite casually, reacting to the film in a public place.

The second half ends and there’s a magical moment where we all sit in the dark together as the credits roll. The lights come back on, but the moment continues: that feeling of being both in the film and in the room. We used to encourage people to clap at the end of screenings, but there’s something nicer about waking up from a film slowly. The talking begins again, and the questions, and the big smiles. It was ‘brilliant’, ‘amazing’. It is ‘such a fantastically-made film’.

I want to write that they said ‘chilling’ and ‘unsettling’ and 'the best documentary I've seen this year', but that’s me just making things up. But it was. It really was.

_____________

Phoenix Fry is the creative coordinator of Deptford Film Club and Sydenham Film Club, and co-producer of the New Cross + Deptford Free Film Festival. In 2010 he produced the UK’s first festival dedicated to Nollywood (Nigeria's hugely prolific film industry), and is still very excited about international populist cinema. He currently lectures at University of the Arts London.

News round-up... 23/11/2012

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:50:18 GMT

More about The London Feminist Film Festival in Events below...

News and Opportunities

Ooh – what’s this? Ian Sandwell of Screen reports on our Autumn Screening Days event at the National Media Museum, which is nice.
KEN LOACH STRIKES AGAIN! Agitprop auteur rejects Turin Film Festival’s Gran Premio Torino award in support of workers’ rights from the National Museum of Cinema. Being Italian and working for Cineuropa, the reporter is quite clearly not happy about his decision, which only makes it more fun to read.
Greenpeace are spearheading a sustainable fisheries campaign, as part of which they are offering a quite splendid short film free to independent cinemas. Available in various formats (DCP, 35mm, DVD) – click here to find out how to get your screener and help save those sardines.
‘UK on course for record box office in 2012’ – pat on the back anyone?
The Isle of Man is celebrating its 100th film production! Help them celebrate with a screening or two perhaps?
If you didn’t fancy lounging around in the Caribbean before this, you certainly will now!

Events

Considering the fractured state of the European Union, film has never been more important for communicating ideas, concerns, feelings and emotions. The 3rd annual UK Portuguese Film Festival epitomises this and is certainly worth checking out.
The London Feminist Film Festival is here and with an excellent programme of films, including a screening of Marleen Gorris’ award-winning A Question of Silence. Considering the debate around representation of women in the industry; the rhetoric of the right-wing in the US election; the incarceration of Pussy Riot and the pursuit of greater equality and freedom for women in the Middle East, this is a festival that demands support.
Arts Council Chief Executive Alan Davey will be answering your questions live online on 28th November. To find out more, get those questions ready and head here for more info.

Training/Funding

Registration is now open for 'The Business and Creativity of Programming Cultural Film'; for those wanting to bring the WOW factor to their film programme and screening events. The course is taking place at Watershed, Bristol on Tuesday 29th January 2013. Deadline: Mon 14 Jan 2013 (NB deadline for first round of bursary applications is Mon 17 Dec 2012)
A reminder for all those in Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland Screen has bursaries available for a variety of projects and is asking for people to apply!

Good Reads

Okay, Okay – I know. I know! It’s a parliamentary report on the written evidence given by the Film Distributors’ Association to the CMS Select Committee on support for the creative economy. I KNOW! But seriously, this is worth reading and commenting on – there is a lot to debate here.
‘Beyond us-vs-them’ – A great comment piece from @indiewendy regarding the need for Distributors and Exhibitors to work together in order to maximise profitability and reach, with some excellent examples of success.
With Empire Cinemas about to display their 10 Golden Rules, the debate rages: what would your 10 golden rules for cinema-going be?

News round-up... 08/11/2012

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:40:27 GMT

Billy Casper gives good social realism in one of our Good Reads below.

News and opportunities

The BFI has released Film Forever, its long-term plan to support the UK Film Industry. This is essential reading for everyone involved or interested in our industry.
As outlined in the above, the BFI have launched the UK Audience Network for Film 2013-2017, which aims to create greater links between the audience and the films they watch. To achieve these aims the BFI want applications for Hub Lead Organisations, more about which can be found here.
Film London’s Jarman Award winner has been announced... drum roll please!
Newly transported to Brixton, UnderWire Festival is in its 3rd year and begins again on the 20th November. With bags of wit and style, UnderWire aims to give a greater platform for women filmmakers in myriad creative roles, and for that we salute them. Check it out!
New British Cinema Quarterly presents The Joy of Six, a programme of short films from bright British filmmaking talent. Look out for starring roles from Dame Judi Dench and Luke Treadaway. Head to their website for programme dates and get down to some screenings asap.
Creative England have opened their Film Culture Lottery Fund, which as Jay Arnold, Head of Film Culture at CE, says “This is a great opportunity for regional film programming... supporting a new wave of exciting and dynamic film activity.” Get the lowdown at Creative England’s website.

Training

EAVE 2012 comes to a close with the third and final stage of its producer’s workshop. For aspiring and nascent European producers EAVE is an excellent opportunity to have your project pitched to a plethora of high-profile industry professionals and should be applied for in the 2013 cycle!

Calls for Submissions

It’s that time of year once more – Sheffield Doc Fest is calling for submissions. One of the biggest and brightest festivals in the country, there really is no better place to have your work seen by professionals and enthusiasts alike. For more information, including requirements, application forms and the like, head to their website now.
The North London Film Partnership is offering advice and funding for filmmakers in the London Boroughs of Hackney and Islington – head there now for more information and to get you applications ready for the December deadline!
The London Borough Film Fund Challenge has arrived. Funded by the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund, this year the LBFFC is applicable to all London Boroughs and promises to be bigger and better than ever. For application guidelines, head on over to their website.
Are you a Filmmaker between 16 and 26? Enter the 6th BFI Future Film Festival. With animation, documentary and fiction covered, this is one of the best opportunities around for those wanting to break-it. Check out the details at Ideas Tap, a good friend of ours.
The absolutely stellar Flatpack Festival is back and open for submissions. With an emphasis on animation, this is one for especially geared towards you visual artists; for those who like to get their hands dirty. Go on, get involved here.

Good Reads

Love music videos; direct music videos; produce music videos; want a music video produced for your band? Head over to Radar’s blog for a list of the best music and short film festivals around. A great place to quickly find all the relevant dates for your 2013 calendar.
MUBI, one of our favourite film-lover websites, has an excellent forum section, and of particular interest is Kenji’s Gritty, Shitty Post-War Britain, and Ways Ahead. At first glance an obvious observation, it is actually an astute and complex appraisal of British representation that gets to the heart of who we are (and how others see us).
Kaleidoscope Film Distribution have picked up the worldwide sales rights to Joss Whedon’s black and white re-tooling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, which seems like very smart business indeed. Find out about more about the film and Whedon’s “micro-studio” Bellwether at Screen International.
Video on Demand and satellite distribution is back in the headlines with Screen International discussing the controversy the MEDIA-backed initiative has courted.
The long-awaited Monthy Python project Absolutely Nothing has been given the green light. What’s not to get excited about!? Reported by movieScope.
Finally, I always like to check LUX for what’s going on in the world of the artist’s moving image.

Special Guest...

One of our client cinemas has been feature in the Guardian's Film Blog as part of its 'cine-files'. A worthy appraisal of an excellent exhibitor - put your hands together for Saffron Screen!

Wear It Under Your Hats - Creative Digital Marketing Programme

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:06:59 GMT

Jo Comino of Borderlines Film Festival reports on the ICO's inaugural Creative Digital Marketing Programme.

A professional development course that isn’t delimited by a half-day/ two-day/ one-week structure? It’s customary to attend conferences/meetings/workshops, be inspired, take copious notes, make interesting contacts and go away with the best intentions… only to return to be swamped all over again by day-to-day work demands and change nothing, or very little.

What really spurred me on to sign up for the ICO’s pilot Creative Digital Marketing Programme in mid-September was the continuum – two days’ workshop in London, a commitment to implement a new idea over the space of six months with built-in support, then meet up again and report back.

Nineteen of us from film organisations, large, small and miniscule, from all corners of the UK, took part. And hats, metaphorical, multiple hats, are what many of us discovered early on that we had in common. Multi-tasking, juggling, call it what you will.

Unsurprising therefore, with the exception of some of the larger bodies, like the BFI and Watershed, digital and fast-changing aspects of marketing are frequently left to their own devices.

Take my own case. I cover marketing and press for Borderlines, a large and popular rural film festival, in its tenth year, covering thirty-five or so venues in two counties, Herefordshire and Shropshire, within one of the most sparsely populated parts of England.

A tiny core team of three, part-time staff delivers a festival that can attract up to 18,500 attendances over seventeen days in early spring. Working from home, without a central office, we communicate prolifically by email and phone but only sporadically in person.

To compound the sense of isolation, rural broadband speeds that could make all the difference in keeping in touch with new developments are slow. Streaming moving image content is out of the question; BBC iPlayer can take all night to download, even googling an article can be mind-numbingly laborious.

Our core audience is well within the plus 50 age bracket, many have a deep disinterest in social media and overwhelmingly prefer to glean their festival information from print brochures rather than online.

Budget constraints prohibit regular, radical overhaul of our website while, as deadlines loom, our social media output can often be haphazard, perfunctory and un-strategic.

For me, the programme represents a great opportunity and an exciting one. Not only to find out about new ways to communicate what we do but also to sound them out, to put them into practice in the spirit of experiment and see if they work for us.

Some highlights from the bunch of inspirational speakers who contributed to our initial two-day workshop:

• Rob Greig, the Chief Technology Officer at the Royal Opera House, told us that microsites are dead and that data rules. Their website has a structure which sucks in ever-changing, dynamic content from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and SoundCloud. And for the static, factual, in-depth information about the Opera, it’s Wikipedia.

• Matthew Cain from Trufflenet gave a fantastically practical run through about tools for measuring and listening to your audience based on campaigns around Norwegian Wood, a long film in Japanese that had limited appeal beyond specialist audiences and Dreams of a Life, Carol Morley’s documentary about how the death of a 38 year old woman went unmissed for two years.

• Dreams of a Life came up again in Anna Higgs’ round up of the cross-media storytelling being pioneered through the projects that Film 4.0 commissions. Pervasive games, talent development and interactive animation projects enable audiences to engage more deeply with films, the principle of ‘lure and blur’ as she told us, quoting Frank Rose’s The Art of Immersion.

• Bridey Lipscombe from The Rabbit Agency delighted us with her account of their campaign to identify and recruit Prometheus ‘super fans’ to promote the sell-out Secret Cinema screenings in Central London all for the cost of a few boiler suits and some emails.

• Suzy Glass from Trigger (and their SYNC programme) initiated us into the essential ingredients for a fruitful Hack Day as run by Creative Scotland’s Cultural Economy Programme: data and content, geeks, food, beer, a comfortable co-working environment, fast bandwidths.

• The best way to sum up David Coombs’ (OMD) round up of ten digital developments to look out for is to quote one of my colleagues, @hexenhour: “At the @icotweets #creativedigitalmarketing shebang, where I learned that telepathic ping pong using neuro-headsets is finally a reality.”

Best of all, perhaps, we got networking time; the opportunity to share ideas with peers who face similar challenges in different situations. My favourite tip came from Kristina Johansen from Dundee Contemporary Arts, who told me about their Friday Twitter film competitions. Her team runs them at a set time within a three-hour deadline, setting open answers that stimulate quick responses and unexpected conversations. I can adapt that formula and use it.

And from Claire Stewart at Watershed, the Post-It noticeboard that allowed people to voice their often extreme reactions to Antichrist. It’s an excellent example (Anna Higgs referred to it in her talk) of how online thinking can be applied offline and made physical, something which I’ve taken on board in devising my own brief for the project.

So with huge thanks to the ICO, especially Tilly Walnes and Sarah Bourne; to Rachael Castell, our indefatigable course leader; and to the event venue, Wallace Space, which, thinking back to those geeks, provided everything in terms of drinks, stationery, nibbles that we could possibly wish for (I’ve never eaten so well on a course), here are 10 nuggets of wisdom that I took away with me:

1. Collect data and listen to what it tells you

2. Stories are everywhere

3. Share (give and take, Open Source)

4. Borrow but don't do what others do for the sake of it

5. Try things out. If it doesn't work, stop.

6. Don't wait

7. Use existing tools

8. Adapt and tweak (customise)

9. Apply online thinking to offline tropes as well as vice versa

10. Use the power of networks

Let phase two commence!

10 Questions for... a Projectionist

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:48:23 GMT

Paul Wilmott (left) and Jason Bond in the projection booth at Saffron Screen

For the first in a new series of posts giving an insight into specific film industry careers, we focus on one of the most crucial roles in any cinema: projection. Paul Wilmott is Technical Manager at one of our venues, the not-for-profit community cinema Saffron Screen. Based within Saffron Walden County High School, Saffron Screen is run by 15 part-time staff, including Paul, as well as over 100 volunteers. Founded in 2006, the cinema acquired a digital projector in 2011 following a successful fundraising campaign. Read more about Saffron Screen's development in our case study.

Cue the questions...

How long have you been a projectionist? How did you get started - what training did you do?

I started as a volunteer projectionist when Saffron Screen opened in 2006, although I’ve had an interest in the technical side of cinema ever since I was a child. My grandfather had an 8mm camera and projector and, as a student I got involved in making a couple of films as cameraman and film editor.

When Saffron Screen started there were 4 volunteer projectionists and we had a one-day training session at the Picturehouse in Cambridge. Afterwards we were shadowed by freelance projectionists for the first couple of months and then we were on our own! We tended to work in pairs until we were a bit more confident with the equipment. After 6 months I applied for the (still) vacant part-time projectionist role. This was perfect timing for me as I also do some work as an IT consultant but was looking to do less. Combining both jobs has worked well.

What inspired you to become a projectionist – was it an interest in the technical aspects of projection or a love of cinema, or both?

Primarily, the technical side. When I moved into my current house about 18 years ago I embarked on a project to convert my garage into a cinema, complete with 7 cinema seats, a 6ft wide screen and 7.1 Dolby Surround Sound. This was something I had always wanted to do since I was a kid. The chance to play with professional kit and screen films at Saffron Screen was too good an opportunity to miss!

Are there any particularly memorable cinematic experiences you can remember influencing your love of film?

Although it's the technical side of cinema that is of most interest to me, I am a bit of a sci-fi fan and it is easy to recall my most memorable cinematic experience. The film was 2001: A Space Odyssey and I saw it at the ABC New Bristol Centre in 1968. It was in 70mm with surround sound and I sat in the front row totally in awe – a great cinematic experience!

Please describe a typical working day in the projection booth at Saffron Screen.

I’m not sure there really is a typical day in the projection room! Because I work part-time I tend to do a few hours every day, either in the projection room or at home. Since going digital, I spend a lot of time creating DCPs for pre-show slides which contain ads for forthcoming special events and birthday messages. I prefer to create a DCP rather than run directly from a PC as they can be integrated into a playlist on the server, making it easier for my volunteer projectionists to use. Ingesting films, trailers and ads for each weekend also takes up quite a bit of time. Occasionally we screen locally made ads which also need to be converted to a DCP. At the moment I am converting entries to our 90 second film competition (both to DCP for screening and to DVD for our judges). And there are also regular checks on the equipment to make sure it is all working correctly.

I usually do one or two of the screenings over a weekend and most of the live satellite broadcasts. As we are based in a school, we have limited opening times, but we usually do 6 or 7 screenings over a weekend and during school holidays we also have some midweek shows. I have a team of 7 volunteer projectionists who do all the other screenings.

What is the busiest day of the week?

Thursday is probably my busiest day, as I have to ingest the films that have arrived and chase those that haven’t (along with chasing missing KDMs or requesting new ones if they're faulty). The ICO are very helpful here! The Pearl & Dean ads usually arrive on a Wednesday, so these can also be ingested. If I’m lucky, I can set up the playlists for all the weekend’s screenings and once the school have finished I can use the auditorium to test each playlist to make sure they all run correctly. Usually, however, there are a number of things missing and its Friday before I can check everything out.

What are the typical issues that come up?

Without doubt the main issue is films or KDMs not arriving! Occasionally the KDM does not match the film, usually a slightly different version of the film has been shipped and it has a filename that does not tie up with the KDM. Another pet hate is that KDMs are often timed to start very close to the play date and this often means that I'm unable to test the film prior to screening.

Saffron Screen acquired a digital projector in 2011. What are the pros and cons of screening mainly 35mm, and now mainly digital films?

As much as I love 35mm film, digital has been really good for Saffron Screen. We usually screen films 2nd run, 6-8 weeks after release, and many 35mm prints were not in great condition. Digital removes that problem with a pristine picture every time. It has also given us the chance to screen live content which is very popular with our audience.

Set-up time for films is very similar to 35mm, but I now no longer have to stay late to take down a 35mm film in order to get it shipped off to the next cinema the following morning! It’s also much easier to carry the films from our drop-box to the projection room!

Looking forward, I am trying to implement a bit more automation, which is easier with the digital kit. This will enable us to have a back-up in the event of a projectionist not being available.

How has going digital altered your job?

It’s much more IT-based now, but as that's my background I'm very comfortable with all the new equipment. Over the last year I have done a lot of research into the opportunities that the digital kit provides and I am sure I will be doing a lot more. Two particular areas that have proved especially useful have been the creation of DCPs using free software, and being able to ingest directly from our PC.

This is a bit off topic but, you attended the Europa Cinemas Young Audience seminar in Bologna in 2011. I wonder if you've any thoughts on the training?

I went to Europa Cinemas' Young Audience Seminar in Bologna in 2011. Although this was not targeted at technical issues, I did find it very interesting. In particular, meeting with people from other cinemas across Europe gave different perspectives on how we are trying to improve in this area.

There was a very interesting session on use of social media which we are now actively pursuing, and we are also looking to taking Saffron Screen out into the community with screenings in social clubs, youth clubs, village halls, etc.

Finally: you won the BKSTS Projection Team of the Year award in 2010. How did this come about?

When I started as a projectionist I went along to one of the annual projectionists training courses run by the BKSTS. As a result I joined the BKSTS as an associate member, and became a full member 3 years later. Attending these training courses and getting help from a number of members of the Cinema Technology Committee (CTC) has been immensely useful in setting a high standard of projection at Saffron Screen.

In late 2010, I received a call from Alan McCann of the CTC asking if he could come and have a look round Saffron Screen as we had been shortlisted for the BKSTS Projection Team Of The Year. After the subsequent visit, Alan confirmed that we had won the award, being the first community cinema to win the award. Part of the citation read:

“The projection staff are again almost all volunteers but their operation is totally professional. At a recent assessment the high standards of the projection equipment, box cleanliness and film care were evident, and the high standard of screen presentation matched or exceeded that of many commercial cinemas”.

So far, this has definitely been the highlight of my projectionist career!

Thank you, Paul!

News round-up... 26/09/2012

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:47:31 GMT

A still from The Fisher King is matched to its location by Philmfotos.

News and opportunities

Following its consultation earlier this year, the BFI is set to launch its Future Plan for the UK film industry at the beginning of October. A series of workshops across the UK to present the plan in more detail will follow, including an event on 12th Oct during the BFI London Film Festival. Read Watershed's Mark Cosgrove's Guardian piece on his hope that the announcement will include a UK-wide network to support film activity in the regions.
If you're a cinema operator struggling to raise funds for converting to digital, a new scheme for digital cinema equipment has just launched that may be able to help. A crowdfunding platform called CineFund, it's free to join and aims to raise the money you need in 60 days. Intrigued? Find out more.
Lighthouse & the BFI have announced the 16 new projects which will be funded as part of the BFI Shorts 2012 production scheme. Recipients include award-winning documentarian Eva Weber and critic Jonathan Romney.
The deadline for Creative Skillset's online census is fast approaching. Fill it out to help Skillset decide where film industry funding and training are needed the most. Deadline: this Sunday 30th Sept.
Applications are now open for Arts Council England, Nesta and the Arts & Humanities Council's £7 million Digital Research & Development fund for the arts. The fund is available for the next three years (2012/13 - 2014/15) to support R&D projects that use digital technology to enhance audience reach and/or explore new business models.
Curzon Community Cinema in Clevedon, Somerset has reached the finals of the Heritage category of the Lottery Awards for the UK's Favourite Lottery Project. Click here to register your vote and support this historic cinema!

Training

The Clore Leadership Programme is looking for new participants for their Short Courses (for those with over 5 years' experience of leading in the cultural sector) and their Emerging Leaders Course (for those with 2-5 years' experience who want to develop their leadership potential). Deadline: Fri 2nd Nov 2012.
And, if you're interested in the above or in other training opportunities for enhancing your managerial or leadership skills, check if you're eligible for Management & Leadership funding from Creative Skillset. This scheme offers bursaries of up to £1,000 to experienced professionals working, or close to working, in a management/leadership position in any sector of the UK film industry, to spend on continuous professional development (CPD) training.
Sheffield Doc/Fest and Crossover Labs have announced the return of Devise to Deliver (D2D), a 7-month training scheme for filmmakers and mediamakers which is open to anyone working on any platform and in any genre. Deadline for applications: Mon 5th Nov 2012.
The Venice Biennale has announced Biennale College – Cinema, a higher education training workshop for the development and production of micro-budget audio-visual works, open to emerging film-makers and producers worldwide. Deadline for applications: 22nd October 2012.
Guiding Lights is a mentoring programme aimed at writers, directors and producers already actively developing a career in features and offering support through high-level mentoring, training and networking. Past mentors include Danny Boyle, Sam Mendes, Paul Greengrass and Abi Morgan. Lighthouse needs 12 emerging talents to match with top industry names. Deadline: 5pm on Thurs 18th Oct 2012.

Calls for submissions

Electric December is Watershed's annual countdown calendar showcasing the best of young creative filmmaking talent. If you're under 21, submit your short film(s) and get your work seen. Deadline: 5pm this Fri 28th Sept 2012.
The Swedenborg International Short Film Festival 2012 is open for entries. Submissions are invited on a number of themes, with priority is given to these themes found in the work of Swedenborg himself. Deadline: 19th Oct 2012.
Entries have opened for the Short Film and Animation categories for BAFTA 2012/13, which calls for innovative, experimental short fiction films and animation under 40 minutes long. Deadline: noon on Weds 31st Oct 2012.
The Cross-Channel Film Lab (CCFL) is calling for four low to medium budget film projects featuring brave, original and imaginative usage of special effects and/or Stereo 3D, for the Lab's workshop programme in 2013. Deadline for applications: Tues 6th Nov 2012.
Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) is calling for artist filmmakers to supply work for this event in London during the opening night of Moving Image: Contemporary Video Art Fair on Thurs 11th Oct. Your work will be shown in the Bargehouse of the iconic OXO Tower Wharf building on the Southbank.
Berwick Visual Arts has announced the first of two residencies for visual artists working in moving image. The successful applicant will have the chance to show the resulting work at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2013. Deadline: 5pm on Mon 22nd Oct 2012.
And: are you looking for funding to create your first studio production? Camberwell Studios runs a monthly prize draw for the chance to win a day in their studios worth up to £1,000. The next is on Thurs 4th Oct 2012.

Good reads & nice things

FACT's Mike Stubbs answers questions about their upcoming programme, mixing artists' moving image and feature film, management style and the differences between UK and Australian arts policy and practice.
Warwick Art Centre's Matt Burman pens a thoughtful piece on how to posit the argument for arts funding.
I liked this nostalgic post by artist Andrew Bracey on how working as a 35mm projectionist informed his artworks.
This is awesome, and will make anyone who's tried to watch a film whilst raging internally at the noisy texter/talker/popcorn consumer nearby (everyone on the planet then, and certainly me last weekend during a pivotal scene in Killing Them Softly) joyful. Yes!
To finish, some filmic things: enjoy this brilliant Tumblr showing film stills matched to their original location... Cine-Tourist's blog post investigating the settings for WWII thrilller Cloak and Dagger ... and GAPNA, a wonderful gallery of vintage Polish film posters published by their National Film Archive, including this rather lovely one for Spellbound.

Box of Delights & tips on programming for kids

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:24:47 GMT

A still from What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks by Sarah Wickens from Box of Delights: Programme 2

We've just released Box of Delights, two programmes of eclectic, artistic, award-winning animation shorts intended for children aged 4-7 and 8-12, and it got us thinking about useful ideas, tips and resources for exhibitors hoping to create film programmes that will engage younger audiences, and find new ways of getting more kids into their venues. Here are some things to think about.

Assess what you're doing at the moment. Do you offer any screenings specifically designed to appeal to younger audiences? If not, what need is there locally? What schools are nearby?

Think about your marketing. Are kids' films highlighted on your website and in your brochure? Will your film copy appeal to children and/or their parents? Are the certificates clearly marked?

Look at what other venues are doing and learn from their kids' film strands, workshops and events. Here are some examples: Watershed's Cinékids, Showroom's Saturday Club, National Media Museum's Family Film Fundays, Curzon Community Cinema's Curzon Kids.

Check out the programmes of recent children's film festivals, or those with children's film strands, such as Framed Film Festival, Showcomotion, Leeds Young People's Film Festival, Glasgow Youth Film Festival, Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, Discovery Film Festival, Bradford Animation Festival, or make plans to attend their next editions.

Think about other ways to engage with kids. Perhaps you could encourage budding critics by inviting them to review films for your website like QUAD's Youth Review, or run filmmaking workshops like mac's First Fright event this autumn, or get children involved in choosing the films they want to see like MediaFish, a cooperative of young people based in Leeds who programme their own season of film screenings. Consider bringing groups of children into your venue for a tour, to introduce them to the space and get them interested in what goes on behind the scenes in box office, projection, publicity.

And, get them young! Get children into the habit of coming to the cinema (and parents into the habit of bringing them) from as early as possible by putting on regular mum and baby screenings, like Broadway's bi-monthly Bringing Up Baby events (reviewed here). Make your venue as family-friendly and welcoming as possible - ensure your publicity materials clearly state that at mum and baby screenings, the lights will be dimmed but not off, and that it's expected that babies will cry and small children will be noisy and run around. Institute safeguarding procedures for children's events so adults aren't allowed in without a child, and get CRB checks for all relevant staff. Think about access for prams and buggies, about your baby changing facilities, and ensure your box office staff like kids!

When programming for toddlers, think about keeping it brief, as small children may not have the patience for feature length film! Look for short film programmes - animation is good, and dialogue can be minimal. The BFI catalogue is a good place to start, for animation in particular; also, look at short film festivals (like Encounters) for ideas. Explore the possibility of screening popular TV programmes: for example, cinemas successfully screened In The Night Garden episodes in 2009.

Generally, plan to keep kids coming back from infancy to teenagerdom, like Filmhouse.

Partner with local organisations to increase audiences, such as your local NCT, single parent organisations like Gingerbread, local youth clubs or activity groups like Girl Guides or Scouts.

Think of ways to pitch subtitles - for example, you could pitch subtitled screenings to parents as an innovative way of helping their kids learn to read, or you could work with foreign language teachers to create educational screenings for their students in specific languages, like Cornerhouse's sessions on Last Train Home (Mandarin) and Barbara (German).

Start or foster relationships with local schools. Keep in mind that teachers are busy, so make it easy for them: pitch screenings, activities and takeaway materials that will tick off key curriculum requirements.

Visit our film education page, which offers advice on starting an education programme and working with schools, as well as videos of film education experts discussing their work at a recent ICO course.

Explore the work of Filmclub, the education charity that works with schools nationwide to encourage young people's involvement in film. Their excellent website is full of resources including this list of films grouped by suitability for particular ages, as well as a full catalogue that you can filter by suitability, length, style, decade, language, location and more.

Similarly Film Education, another charity that promotes and supports the use of film within the curriculum, and has a website full of resources such as film clips, study guides, Teacher's Notes and activity ideas for specific stages in primary, secondary and further education; as well as a complete film library. They also run National Schools Film Week, the world's largest free film festival for cinemas and schools - encourage local schools to get involved.

Get involved with MovIES, the network for moving image education specialists working in UK film exhibition, which shares good practice, launches initiatives and connects you with national and local peers.

Film Street aims to help introduce young people to the world of film, using filmmaking as a tool. Their website includes downloadable resources for teachers, including templates for workshops and activities.

And for more insight into current thinking and policy, look at Film: 21st Century Literacy and the Findings section of their website, which includes documents setting out the case for using film in education as well as specific case studies.

A couple of other resources: The 8 1/2 Foundation, founded by Tilda Swinton and Mark Cousins, which is dedicated to introducing children to world cinema, has a lovely list of films - old and new - they recommend for children. For an insight on classic film titles that appeal to kids, have a look at this page on the BAFTA Kids' Vote website. In 2005 the BFI issued a list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14, find it here. To learn more about the classification of children's films, listen to this podcast by the BBFC - and, have a look at the Coming Soon and Just Out sections of Parents BBFC, highlighting new releases with U, PG, 12 or 12A certs.

Most importantly, whatever films and acitivites you put on, make them fun, and always retain a sense of humour... to misappropriate a Roald Dahl quote:

"What a child wants and deserves is a cinema that is SPARKY."

News round-up... 17/09/2012

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Joaquin Phoenix in Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful The Master

Toronto 2012 is over, casting a distinctly autumnal feel over the office (as is the recent launch of the BFI London Film Festival programme). Don't forget to check out Simon’s excellent posts from TIFF offering potted reviews of all the films he saw, including Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, Terrence Malick's To The Wonder, Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell, Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond The Pines, and Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Twyker's Cloud Atlas. For more, check out the festival coverage on MUBI's Notebook, Indiewire and Keyframe, Little White Lies' daily round-ups and Catherine Shoard's Guardian review.

The Master looks set to become a cultural juggernaut after enjoying a rapturous reception at Venice and Toronto, and breaking the US screen average record on its opening weekend - taking a staggering $730,000 overall from just 5 cinemas. Don't feel equipped? Read Zach Baron's engaging, laconic review on Grantland.com.

News and opportunities

In the wake of the national conversation about unpaid internships, Arts Council England has launched an employment scheme which aims to help paid opportunities for unemployed graduates and non-graduates (aged 16 to 24) gain access to on-the-job training, skills and experience in the arts and cultural sector. It’s designed to support up to 6,500 new apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships and paid internships across the sector. ACE is currently calling for a national provider to deliver the programme which, when it is eventually launched, will run until March 2015.
Our friends at the mac (Midland Arts Centre) in Birmingham are looking for a group of young people to help steer its arts programme. You must be aged 16 to 24, based in the West Midlands, enthused by the idea of coming up with new ideas and passionate about making your mark. A brilliant opportunity for young people to gain experience in arts programming, access mac's events and artists, and improve project management skills. Deadline: 5pm this Friday 21 Sept.
Do you have a short film you'd like re-scored by a live band?! Whirlygig Cinema are offering you the opportunity with Making Tracks. Films should be less than 12 minutes long and, crucially be silent, subtitled or make sense with the audio off. Deadline this Friday 21 Sept.
IdeasTap is also calling for submissions from 16 to 25 year olds who have a creative project that could use a £1,000 cash injection. Not long to apply though! Deadline: 5pm this Friday 21 Sept.
Not long to go either until the deadline for UnderWire Festival 2012, which will run from 20 to 24 November. Founded in 2010 to give women working in the UK film industry a bigger platform for their work, they are calling for short films (under 20 mins) by male or female directors, but which have interesting female characters at their core. Deadline this Friday 21 Sept.
Think-Shoot-Distribute, the BFI London Film Festival's talent and project development scheme, is looking for 25 talented and experienced participants keen to develop their feature film career. Successful applicants will attend a 5-day training programme during LFF, meeting leading filmmakers and execs in a series of workshops, discussions and masterclasses exploring all areas of feature production and the international film industry. Deadline: 5pm on Monday 24 Sept.
The BFI are offering a free and fascinating-sounding seminar next Monday 24 Sept - Diasporic Film in Communities - which will explore the relationship between screen culture and communities, in particular the opportunities and challenges presented by engaging specifiic communities in film. Participants in the collaborative Diaspora programme at BFI will give an overview of their work as part of the day. Download the programme; to reserve a place email Dominika Widlak-Manka.
Are you a wannabe film reviewer? IdeasTap is offering one film buff the chance to become its BFI London Film Festival reporter, attending three LFF events for free, and getting their 500-word review published in IdeasMag. Ooh! Deadline: 5pm on Weds 26 Sept.
WorldView, a project aiming to improve UK public understanding and awareness of the developing world, is calling for applications of documentary pitches from established programme makers / media producers / production companies for Project Development Funding. Films they've supported in the past include the upcoming release My Brother the Devil and a former ICO release, Out of the Ashes. Deadline: Weds 26 Sept.
Salisbury Arts Centre has issued a call to emerging curators to propose an engaging, original film-related exhibition to be realised - with their support, including a budget of £1,000 - in early 2013. The provocation your arresting exhibition plan should respond to is 'the heroic in the everyday'. Deadline: Friday 28 Sept.
I love the sound of From Screen to Page - Creative Writing from Film, an 8-week course running at the Broadway in Nottingham. Forget adapting books for the screen, how about using great films to inspire your own writing? Steal tricks for suspense from Hitchcock's North by Northwest or tips on gothic terror from The Orphanage. Book now - the course starts on 4 Oct.
Would you like advice on your documentary idea from seasoned industry execs? Submit your doc proposal to the Documentary Film Guild and Sheffield Doc/Fest's Mini-Meetmarket, held during the UK Jewish Film Festival. Up to 15 projects will be selected to take part in the event. Deadline: 5pm on 22 Oct.
Another opp for budding film critics, this time young ones: Film Education's Young Film Critic 2012/2013 competition. The age categories cover 4 to 19, so tell any film-obsessed child or teen you know to get writing or indeed filming, as you can submit video entries too. The deadline is a way off, so it shouldn't interfere with homework: 3 June 2013.

That's all for now!

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 6

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:00:00 GMT

The Land of Hope

Sono Siono's latest (Cold Fish, Guilty of Romance) is set in the aftermath of the fictional Nagashima nuclear power station meltdown following a tsunami. Following three couples, two elderly parents (one of whom suffers from senile dementia), their son and his pregnant wife (who flee the fallout), and a younger couple, the film plays out a heartbreaking scenario as they have to decide whether to stay in the town they have lived in all their lives or flee. Complicated by the lack of truthful information about the severity of the nuclear plant meltdown, the three couples make their own decisions about how to live their lives in the shadow of the disaster. While the film is a little over-long, it packs a powerful emotional wallop and makes a powerful argument against living in the shadow of nuclear power - something with an added resonance given Japan’s history in WWII. Given Sono’s track record for brutal, often hysterical, even sensational, unflinchingly violent work, there is a welcome restrained tone to the film which captures the emotional domestic human trauma the country has been through so recently with Fukushima. It’s one of the most powerful statements against state hubris for some time and deserves to be seen widely.

Greetings from Tim Buckley

A reasonably well crafted film, with solid performances let down by a thin weak script grafting on redundant and familiar girl meets boy-rockstar cliches to a story which is fascinating if well documented elsewhere. The film focuses on a tribute concert given in honour of Tim Buckley and his son Jeff’s invitation to perform his father’s work onstage. Shuttling back and forth between Tim in the past, and Jeff in 1991, the film pretty skillfully dissects Jeff’s struggle to come out of his father’s shadow as an artist in his own right. Some of the music performances murder the originals (particularly Song to a Siren) while others are sublime. One for fans of the Buckleys and unlikely to break out to a new audience.

What Richard Did

Lenny Abrahamson's (Garage, Adam & Paul) is a terrific tight moving account of a young Irish middle-class rugby player destined for great things when with one kick he kills a peer in a fight over his girlfriend. As the pressure mounts to turn himself in, his parents and friends close-ranks to hide him, but guilts eats away at his conscience. It's beautifully played, handled with an understated, perfectly pitched and always sympathetic hand which doesn't waste a single shot. Abrahamson is fast shaping up to Ireland's answer to Bruno Dumont and the Dardennes. An increasingly impressive real talent and in my top films of the festival.

Passion

A sort of compendium of Brian De Palma's long career including his trademark (if you put Argento to one side) leather-gloved slasher, female psycho(s), foot fetishes, dream sequences, split screen action and a whole bag full of Hitchcockian identity/plot twists. It's equally ravishing and risible but can never be accused of being boring! Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace play corporate rivals each seeking to humiliate and destroy the other in a game of cat and mouse which quickly escalates from board room one-upmanship to throat slitting gore. Great incomprehensible fun. While everyone walked out saying "what a disaster" they also had great big grins plastered across their faces. De Palma fans will be highly entertained while innocent bystanders will be equally bemused.

Passion

Disconnect

A multi-stranded exploration of the dangers of the net, this an unimaginative, technically competent multi-stranded narrative which slowly draws its disparate characters into a connected whole a la Magnolia or Nashville but can't hold a candle to any of its inspirations. A journalist seeks to expose chat-room exploitation of minors, a high school student is humiliated by sending an explicit photo of himself to what he believes is a female admirer but turns out to be two fellow schoolboys, a couple lose their savings to an unknown fraudster and an ex-cop trying to locate the fraudster discovers uncomfortable truths about his sons online antics. In a predictable finale we're even given a little bullet-time action as all the characters meet a neat resolution. Andrea Riseborough and a decent score by noted contemporary British composer Max Richter provide the only sparks in an otherwise dull and tediously downbeat drama.

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 5

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Ben Affleck's Argo

Argo

Ben Affleck's true biopic of a CIA mission to smuggle 6 American diplomats, posing as the crew of a shlock Star Wars rip-off, out of the Canadian embassy in Iran during the 1979 US hostage crisis is both a tense thriller and a witty take on the movie industry. The period and location setting is spot on and the performances decent if not spectacular. My only beef is the largely one dimensional depiction of Iranians as goons (with a single token 'noble' Iranian housekeeper). It's a solid Awards contender which has good crossover potential at the box-office.

At Any Price

Set in the mid-west US farming belt, this is a far broader canvas than Bahrani's earlier films, which include Chop Shop and Goodbye Solo. This explores the relationship between three generations of crop farmers as the family business faces chicanery and the youngest son attempts to escape his family business into stock car racing. It's a well-crafted if surprisingly straight forward tale from Bahrani which lacks the focussed punch of his previous work despite it's clearly higher budget and familiar name cast including Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron and Heather Graham plus a typically brilliant score from Tindersticks member Dickon Hinchliffe.

Byzantium

Neil Jordan returns to familiar turf after Interview with a Vampire with this tired contemporary updating of familiar tropes which can't compete against the likes of the excellent Let the Right One In. Set largely in a dilapidated British seaside town, it looks very stylish but has a risible script riddled with inconsistencies and cliche. Gemma Arterton plays a prostitute vampire (cue lots of wandering around in her underwear) looking after her younger 200 year old sister. Out tricking, she meets grief stricken loner Daniel Mays and moves into his humble b&b to start a brothel. But the b&b is an unlikely gorgeous building out of kilter with the rundown town in which it's supposed to be situated. Mays is supposed to be broke, spending his last £50 on a blow-job from Arterton, yet conveniently he has a spanking new Apple Mac for Arterton to surf the web and note how her past is catching up with her. The film basically treats its audience in a slapdash manner which is a shame as with a little more care there could possibly be an entertaining film here. Alas it's let down by the details and feels exasperatingly dopey without a recognisable human being in sight.

Neil Jordan's Byzantium

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 4

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:06:29 GMT

To The Wonder

Malick's latest feels like an undeveloped sketch about faith and marriage. Two parallel narratives, told in his typical allusive fractured style, follow Javier Bardem as a priest questioning his faith which plays as a minor note underscoring the film's larger concern of Ben Affleck struggling to commit to marriage. I adore Malick but found this thin, too heavy on the religious allegory, and lacking in much real insight. Its certainly got nothing on the far reaching ambition of Tree of Life even if bears some superficial similarities both in terms of style and its preoccupation with the big questions. It seemed at times like a pastiche of itself. Cue endless shots of wheat fields, sunlight dappling on its characters as they revel in the physical while painfully struggling with the spiritual. All the women in this film appear to be (a) models, (b) needy and (c) obsessed with dancing in the open air as if endlessly auditioning for a shampoo commercial. It made me hope Malick will drop down a gear on his new found productivity and go back to making a film every decade or so. Oh and there's a heavy dollop of man polluting the earth stuff - basically giving Nature a kicking - which of course is BAD. But I'm not sure anyone walking into a Malick film needs a lecture on this... I felt I was being kept back a year at school. Its deeply conservative-liberal (if that's not an oxymoron) tone was frustratingly condescending. Still, I'm sure he's preparing for another masterpiece but I just wish I didn't have to watch his warm-up routine - running on the spot makes for a poor spectator sport.

What Maisie Knew

From the directors of The Deep End and Suture, this is a decent reasonably affecting story of warring parents (Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan) fighting for custody of their daughter Maisie. Set against a monied backdrop this contemporary updating of the classic text is driven by powerful performances, not least young Maisie's navigation of her split loyalties, but it has little in the way of surprises.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mira Nair's (Monsoon Wedding) rigorous, gorgeously atmospheric pitch perfect exploration of what makes a Fundamentalist is thought provoking, emotionally engaging and thrilling in equal measure. What could so easily be simplistically partisan or a "why can't we all just love each other" polemic is instead a multi-faceted exploration of how the personal becomes political. Riz Ahmed (Four Lions, Trishna) goes from strength to strength as an actor magnificently portraying the inner life of a young Wall Street highflier, raised in Lahore, educated in the US, who questions his sense of self through his cultural identity after 9/11. Hugely impressive. Oh and it's fun to see Kiefer Sutherland as a scenery chewing Wall Street Jack Bauer.

Imogene

A fun comedy in the Bridesmaids mould with Kristin Wig, Annette Benning and Matt Dillon from the directors of American Splendor. A young ex-playwright loses her boyfriend, job and Manhattan apartment ending up at home with her mother and brother searching for her father. A careful mix of absurdism, gross-out and tender humour makes for a satisfying if forgettable comedy which I'm sure will do very nicely thank you at the box office.

Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine's (Gummo, Julian Donkey Boy) bid for mainstream (sort of!) commercial success surprises with its carefully crafted, gorgeously shot pean to crassness as gold-toothed, cornrowed rapper Alien (played with relish by James Franco) springs bail for four college girls on, um, Spring break, who have ended up busted by police at a wild party. Things get progressively more chaotic as the girls take up with the drug-dealing, gun crazed rapper and become embroiled in a turf war complete with drugs, nudity and lots of shootings. It’s a cautionary tale which is brutal and hair-raising but for all its explicit bravado, and a good deal of tongue-in-cheek christian and parent baiting, is a pretty conservative moral tale. Bags of energy wit and style can’t quite save it from being a little repetitive but it’s certainly good to see Korine back on form.

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 3

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:18:47 GMT

Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master

The Master

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest is a gripping character study of two men who need, in turn, to love and be loved in a twisted symbiotic relationship of power, seeking respectively to worship and be worshipped. Joaqin Phoenix is riveting as a wayward borderline psychotic who desperately seeks a place to belong in the world who hooks up with charlatan self-help cultist The Master played with incredible range and brio by Philip Seymour Hoffman giving a masterclass in 'big' acting - physicality and grandstanding is the order of the day with their performances as they each push the other onto greater heights and displays of neediness. This thinly veiled portrait of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard's empire building makes for an immersive and visually sumptuous feast for cinephiles.

Pieta

Kim Ki-duk's Venice Golden Lion winner is a typically extreme Kim film about a sadistic loan shark who’s mother, whom he has never met, turns up out of the blue on his doorstep begging for forgiveness for abandoning him. Soon he is questioning his violent past and forced to reflect on his deeds when his mother goes missing. It's a relentless trip into darkness which for me felt like an immature wallow in sexual degradation and trademark Kim shock tactic violence. It avoids tedium through it's ultra-violence but left me yearning for something with more emotional or intellectual depth.

Jayne Mansfield's Car

Billy Bob Thornton's gentle soulful tale of fathers and sons set against the background of the Vietnam war. William Hurt plays the English widower come to The USA, with his grown children, to bury his dead American wife Naiomi. The rub is he and his children stay with Naomi's first husband, Robert Duvall, still nursing a grudge against the Brit for taking his wife. What could descend into typical culture clash farce is raised by the terrific performances (including a terrific Kevin Spacey as WWII vet turned pacifist) into a moving portrait of families struggling to get along.

Caught in the Web

It's hard to believe this clumsy, sentimental, shallow, frequently on-the-nose drama is from Chen Kaige who was once the flag bearer for Chinese art cinema with powerful form-pushing titles like Yellow Earth and Farewell My Concubine. His latest feels very much like someone struggling to remain relevant and coming rather late to China's slew of films set around the Web's potential for destruction . It's a contrived sprawling mess about misconceptions and Internet privacy all wrapped up in a saccharine love story with cancer thrown in for good measure. The latter comes across as an insurance bet incase the audience fails to feel anything for the film's paper thin characters.

Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths

A hugely enjoyable, witty, bloody, foul-mouthed meta-movie about a screenwriter (Colin Farrell) and his friends (played by Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) trying to write a film called... yep... Seven Psychopaths. Made by playwright Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) I suspect it will be a solid hit. If it sounds on paper like another film about filmmaking where the filmmakers have nothing much to say, it manages to completely transcend this with its sparkling dialogue and terrific performances which have effortlessly given me the laugh of the festival. Carter Burwell's soundtrack can't help but remind us of the Coen Brothers and this is a film clearly in love with their world yet unique enough to stand proudly on its own two feet.

The ABCs of Death

A portmanteau horror film with 26 directors from around the world each taking a letter of the alphabet and making a short film about death. Kicking off with A for Apocalypse it's a fun ride if a little long.

Bad 25

Spike Lee's epic doc on the making of Michael Jackson's 1987 Bad album is a joyous love letter to the troubled musician with countless heavyweight interviews from Quincy Jones to Martin Scorsese which received a rapturous reception at TIFF. While it carefully avoids much of the extra-curricular darkness around the man and sticks exclusively to his musical achievements, it provides a vivid study of the iconic star and looks set to be a definitive portrait of the man at the zenith of his career.

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 2

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 09:53:40 GMT

David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playbook

David O. Russell’s (The Fighter, Three Kings) latest is essentially a by the numbers rom-com earning easy laughs off mental health issues but done with real skill - so long as you don't mind being drowned in cliche and sentimentality. Bradley Cooper, in another impressive lead at TIFF, plays a bi-polar man pining for his ex-wife and attempting to come to terms with his illness and win his wife back through a dance competition with his equally troubled family friend. Set against a background of American football which buries some of the jokes for a UK audience it just about pulls it off and makes you care for its characters despite sticking rigidly to rom-com conventions. De Niro gives a lively performance but the whole thing feels like a well-tooled crowd pleaser leaving its audience with no room for its own thoughts and nothing to take home after the obligatory happy ending. But the audience loved it...

The Company You Keep

Robert Redford's Weather Underground thriller is a thoughtful gripping story of the human cost of political radicalism. Examining how the youthful life choices of 60s anti-war activists have effected them 30 years after the event as the law slowly closes in on those remaining at large after a bungled bank robbery where a security guard was shot and killed. After a run of plodding features from Redford I had pretty low expectations of this but took a punt - and was really glad I did. With a great cast including Redford, Julie Christie, Richard Jenkins, Nick Nolte and Er... Shia LaBeouf this really delivers both as a man on the run against impossible odds thriller but even more so as a film about aging and consequences of trying to get on and live a normal life, including raising children, while always looking over your shoulder.

Everyday

Michael Winterbottom’s latest film is an understated grim depiction of the effects of life in prison for John Simm on both himself and his young family. Simm is frustrated and pained as he watches his family grow up with him as little more than a bystander in his own life. For his long-suffering wife Shirley Henderson, it's a repetitive grueling grind of work, childcare and lonely struggle as she looks after their four kids. But a repetitive grind for the characters is also one for the audience with a schematic juxtaposing of pastoral landscape, prison life and claustrophobic domesticity all set to a rather overbearing Nyman score. Written by Winterbottom and the writer of his fantastic Wonderland this was a real disappointment. Intended as a long term, but now truncated, project to be shot over many years a la Seven-up, this feels very much like a filler between projects rather than a thought through developed full feature.

Thanks For Sharing

Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim Robbins star in Stuart Blumberg’s (writer of The Kids Are Alright) debut as a director. It comes across as schematic splicing of Shame and Magnolia with its multiple parallel narratives centered around a neutered portrayal of sex addiction. The problem was a distinct lack of imagination and easy laughs. Without the top notch cast giving the material more respect than it deserves this could be a TV disease of the month film. Bleugh.

Yellow

Whoever would have guessed Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook and My Sister’s Keeper) had this film lurking in the darker recesses of his imagination? A wildly inventive portrait of a prescription drug addicted supply teacher who finds herself in economic freefall after being fired for having sex with a father at her school PTA meeting. Along the way we get a witty series of drug fueled hallucinations ranging from Busby Berkeley dance sequences singing about being broke, a jaw droppingly fun cycling accident which sees our heroine flashing back to her sex-filled love affair with with her brother, a touretting Sienna Miller, animated disney pastiches as she hooks up to play happy families with self-admitted misogynist Ray Liotta, a vicious family dinner with Gena Rowlands and Melanie Griffith morphing literally into animals as they tear into both each-other and a hairy roast pig. Deliciously bonkers.

Nick Cassavettes' Yellow

Toronto 2012: Simon's reviews part 1

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:58:42 GMT

Between gorging on films and finding scant time for food or sleep, here are some initial reflections on the films at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012.

Friday:

Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell is Canadian director/actor Sarah Polley’s (Take This Waltz) tender exploration of her dead mother and her relationship with both the man who raised her as her ‘father’ and her recent discovery of her true biological father. It’s a hugely compassionate love-letter to her family and a hugely accomplished documentary which spoke in a multitude of different ways to a hardened industry audience who gave the films a rousing applause. I noticed not a single phone or walk-out squeak from the audience during the films whole running time. Magic!

Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell

Post Tenebras Lux

Carlos Reygadas’ (Battle in Heaven, Silent Light) gorgeous allusive masterpiece examining marriage, poverty, class, gender, our place in nature and how evil lives daily by our side lying in the most intimate of places. It’s been re-ordered considerably after it’s Cannes debut in May but still seems peculiarly to mystify its many critics. For me it was the stand-out film in Cannes and the new cut here in Toronto doesn’t alter it that radically. Which for me at least, is a good thing. It’s a wonder.

The End of Time

Canadian documentarist Peter Mettler may be familiar to some UK audiences from his fascinating, if slightly New Age, doc Gambling, Gods & LSD and his amazing photography on the doc Manufactured Landscapes. Like all his other work this is visually stunning. An interesting exploration of the role, and perception, of time across multiple cultures and places around the globe from a man witnessing the slow volcanic eruption around his North American home to the role of time in Buddhism.

Something In The Air (Après mai)

Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep, Carlos) delivers a strangely patchy coming of age film set against the background of Paris’ May ’68’s student radicalism with large doses of spot-on teen angst. He follows a young painter interested in becoming a filmmaker as he comes to terms with his own ambitions for the future, his on-off love affair and a state in crisis. It’s undeniably ambitious, great looking with a magnificent rock soundtrack and palpable feel for place and time, yet there are sections which drag by as he sketches in the social details as if his audience won’t be familiar with what is such a well documented time in recent French history. But overall it’s a success which surely will have UK distribution before long.

Saturday:

The Place Beyond the Pines

What begins in the shadow of Drive, with Ryan Gosling as a stunt-rider moonlighting as a bank robber, complete with throbbing sound track, builds in structural audacity and character complexity to an examination of corruption and the sins of the father visiting their children in a satisfying thriller and character study with Bradley Cooper stepping up to a meaty emotionally potent political crime thriller with a strong emotional base. Rarely missing a beat, this compelling thriller has 'awards' written all over it for Derek Cianfrance, the director of Blue Valentine.

Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond The Pines

Frances Ha

Frances Ha is a witty featherlight vehicle for co-writer and star Greta Gerwig as a her trademark, and perhaps approaching typecast, kookier feisty dreamer trying to make it in New York - or at least pay her rent in the least humiliating manner she can manage as he dream career as a dancer slowly falls apart and she ends up waiting on tables. Easily Noah Baumbach's most effective and, on its own unambitious terms, successful film since his never bettered The Squid and the Whale, it's a small perfectly formed and very enjoyable confection - mumblecore growing up - or at least hitting its late 20s.

Outrage Beyond

Kitano's first sequel (to Outrage) is an improvement on its predecessor with a less brutal and more elegiac take on his patented Yakuza flick. Shakespeare meets Leone (in the shadow of Kurosawa) as Kitano leaves prison and is drawn back into a vicious duplicitous turf war. A little too much gruff suited-and-booted yakuza barking at each other in slick offices before the stylised action kicks in with a familiar deadpan humour glossing over the depiction of a master gangster returning from the cold to assert his position as a one man maestro of violent strategy. Hmmm sound like a once great filmmaker making a comeback on familiar turf anyone? It's one for Kitano die-hards who will be pleasantly surprised after a string of miss-fires. But it's not enough to place him back at the forefront of international filmmaking he once occupied.

Cloud Atlas

Hmmm... where to begin. On paper, and judging by the 6 minute trailer I watched before arriving at TIFF, this promised to be a bloated grand folly equalled only by the Wachowskis’ earlier mega-budget effort Speed Racer (which felt for me like being locked in a spin dryer with a face full of E numbers). But instead we got a reasonably faithful adaptation of David Mitchell’s hugely ambitious sci-fi novel taking place across multiple times and space from Cambridge in the 30s to interplanetary settlers far in future along the way taking in fascist Neo-Seoul, a very funny and British take on a League of Gentlemen inspired Evil nursing home and America’s 70’s nuclear programme. A kind of high octane sci-fi action, rumination on reincarnation and Solzhenitsyn. It’s hard to imagine how much this cost to make, how it ever got off the ground, but in it’s almost 3 hour running time it maintained a momentum and coherence I never would have imagined it could pull off. If Tom Hanks seemed to be in a kind of re-hash of Castaway in his sections, the rest of the film was crazily inventive with an at times dizzying sense of fun. The stand-out performances among many for me came from Jim Broadbent and Ben Whishaw in what kept reminding me of a psychotronic Any Human Heart. Endearingly bonkers.

Peaches Does Herself

What promised from the TIFF catalogue to be Dr. Frankenstein’s Queer lovechild equal parts Broken Glass and Liquid Sky was something of a disappointment. Instead of what I hoped would be a scabrous melee of crazed queer politics and edgy electronica held aloft by the spirit of John Waters, we got a half-baked grindingly dull parade of vagina cliches fused with a lo-rent Rocky Horror Show pastiche. Although while it could be said I wasn’t the core audience for this... I did spot a steady stream of North American queer programmers making for a bid for freedom and the exit.

Peaches' Peaches Does Herself

Ciao Venice!

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:26:17 GMT

Manage to get up bright and early to go see Bad 25 the new documentary by Spike Lee. Ostensibly about Michael Jackson's Bad album, and a detailed examination of the creation of every track, it's a moving and joyful testament of a musical creative genius and a focus on his talent rather than his personal troubles. This is fabulous - feels like Spike has saved his best work as a tribute. There's spontaneous applause at the end of the screening and not a dry eye in the house even though it’s an audience of hacks and seasoned industry insiders. I'm going to go home and get out all my old albums. Cinemas, plan your event nights now! But this is a real tribute, great filmmaking, by turns heartbreaking and inspirational.

Bad 25 by Spike Lee

I just have time to squeeze in Clarisse, a short documentary by Liliana Cavani about a group of Poor Clare nuns. I loved this actually - a great film about women, unexpectedly, unashamedly feminist allowing the subjects to speak for themselves without prejudice.

So! An uplifting end to a short but great trip. Am off to the airport now and am very grateful to CICAE for the invitation.

Ciao Venice! I'll be back...

Catharine island hopping in Venice

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:12:35 GMT

Manage to make contact with the CICAE team and the island campus looks even more beautiful in daylight. I might have to consider studying for another degree...the morning is given over to a discussion of networks much in vogue in the UK at the moment and here, often spearheaded by festivals which is quite interesting to me. Then it's my turn and I'm here ostensibly to talk about our guide to starting a local cinema. It seems to be well received although I don't get asked many questions. Although it is lunchtime...maybe that's got something to do with it...

69th Venice International Film Festival

After lunch I'm off the Lido to see if there's anything I can see. It's a very leisurely programme. There seems to be about 4 films on, most of which have already started. There's Heaven's Gate but it seems to still be 3.5 hours long. In my defence I'm only here til tomorrow. So I go off to explore the Lido - which I have to stay is very nice...I think I might have to add Venice to the ICO's festival itinerary....

Heaven's Gate at the 69th Venice International Film Festival

I go see my first film which involves about 10 mins of queuing - what a pleasure, am now officially enamoured of Venice Film Festival. This is Betrayal (Izmena) by Kirill Serebrennikov, a very cool drama shot almost like a Jessica Hausner film but with a Hitchcockian sensibility. Unfortunately it doesn't live up to either of these references...a man goes for a medical check-up and the woman GP tells him that his wife is having an affair with her husband. He's never met her before, goes home shell-shocked and starts to suspect his wife. The story unfolds, initially a seemingly malicious act of mischief on the part of the GP who is beautifully played, but subsequently with more substance to it. The characters are never named and the location is deliberately undefined - there's a sense of mystery, and dreaming, of not being sure what is real and what is false.

Betrayal (Izmena) by Kirill Serebrennikov

After the screening, I go and get ready for dinner and then onto the Venice market party. On the beach and with the most amazing food which makes me sad to have already eaten...

And so to bed, travelling back on the waterbus, over the water - I don't think I would ever get tired of this journey.

Catharine en-route to Venice

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:49:58 GMT

Manage to nearly miss my flight which was a bit stressful. Although I do have a reputation for being quite cavalier where airports are concerned, even I thought fate was conspiring against me when my boarding pass got lost in the baggage security machine.

Anyway! Finally made it to Venice and a helpful lady from CICAE phoned me up to talk me through the intricacies of the water bus. I am here to give a talk on CICAE's annual art cinema management course which takes place every year at the Venice Film Festival. It is also funded by MEDIA and welcomes around 60 participants from across Europe.

Coming into Venice at night-time is incredibly romantic especially by boat. All the lights are twinkling and coming into the city I feel almost medieval...

I make the next water bus and manage to check into my accommodation which is actually part of the university. Although it's not quite like my old halls of residence...there's a Levi's party banging out dance music as part of the festival but instead I go on the search for some food. Several vending machines later I retire to bed trying not to think about my nutritional intake for the day.

News round-up... 20/08/2012

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:47:42 GMT

In The Mood For Love - number 24 on Sight & Sound's poll

In the news

Following their recent critics poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, Sight & Sound have now listed all voters - and their film choices - online, and it makes for fascinating reading. Browse the list of voters (you can filter by name, country or the categories academic, archivist, critic, distributor, programmer and other) which includes Catharine's picks here and Simon's here as well as the favourites of Watershed's Mark Cosgrove, Showroom's Ian Wild and National Media Museum's Tom Vincent. The top 250 are here, and all films voted for are listed here.
The Edinburgh International Culture Summit was held last week. Delegates from across the globe attended including Minister of Culture, Communication and Creative Industries Ed Vaizey, Scottish Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop and EU Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou - with the latter speaking of the need for national governments to maintain arts funding, stating that the arts and creative sector is 'key to economic and indeed social recovery, rather than a distraction from it.' Read more in this piece on EU Observer; key speeches from the event can be found here.

Training & events

The Audience Agency is taking to the road for a series of launch events this autumn. Meet the team to find out what services are on offer; learn more about audiences in your region and network with other cultural organisations to share ideas and experience. They’ll be in Salford on Tuesday 11 Sept, and in Bristol on Thursday 20 Sept.
Tickets are on sale for Culture Label’s REMIX event on 27th Sept – a global summit drawing together creative leaders in culture, entrepreneurship and technology. Speakers include Ed Vaizey and representatives from organisations such as Google, Tate, Spotify, Frieze Art Fair, Future Shorts & Secret Cinema, Channel 4’s Film4.0, the Arts Council and the BFI.
The BFI and Nintendo are announcing a UK-wide 3D film competition for the London Film Festival, supported by Ridley Scott. The competition winner gets to re-shoot their submission with a professional film crew on location in London, together with mentoring from Asif Kapadia (director of Senna) and Stuart Warren-Hill (Holotronica / Hexstatic / Big Chill). The final film will be premiered as part of the Nintendo Gala screening at the London Film Festival in October. The competition theme is 'British Summer 2012'. Deadline: midnight on Sunday 2nd Sept.

Calls for submissions

Would you like to work with Lars von Trier? Hmm... intriguingly, the Danish director is looking for film submissions for Gesamt, a user-generated project seeking short films inspired by existing works by artists, writers and musicians ranging from James Joyce to Paul Gauguin to Sammy Davis Jr. Entries can be up to 5 minutes long; selected films will be assembled into a larger work by von Trier’s collaborator Jenle Hallund. Deadline: 6th Sept.
Global Queer Cinema has issued a call for contributions to their soon-to-be launched project website, hosted by the School of Media, Film & Music at Sussex University. Contributions from researchers interested in queer cinema, cultural studies, media, global studies, gender and sexuality, filmmakers, artists, writers and interdisciplinary scholars are all welcomed.
The London Short Film Festival is calling for submissions for their next edition (set to run from 4 - 13 Jan 2013). Films must be under 60 minutes, completed after Sept 2010 and submitted by filmmakers living or working in the UK. Deadlines: 14th Sept (regular), 21st Sept (latecomers).
The London School of English celebrates its centenary this year, and is inviting submissions of short films based around the theme 'One Hundred', with prizes of £3,000, £1,500 and £1,000 up for grabs. Deadline: 17th Sept.
LOCO, the London Comedy Film Festival is seeking comedy features and shorts for its next edition (24 - 27 Jan 2013). On offer: the 2013 Discovery Award for a British comedy feature currently without distribution. Deadline: midnight on 30th Sept.
For aspiring screenwriters: submissions are open for the 2012 BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum, a platform for new writing and networking, which will be held in London on 12 November. Submit your scripts for features, shorts, TV drama or TV comedy drama for the chance to get your piece performed in front of a live audience and critiqued by award-winning director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). Deadline: 20th Sept.
Are you an artist filmmaker looking for funding for your next project? The Cornerhouse in Manchester is inviting artists - including those working in film - to apply for the chance to create new work to be exhibited in a group show in Jan 2013. Artists will receive £1,000 towards their piece. Deadline: 12th Sept.
Are you aged 16-25 and interested in film & science? 94 Elements is a global filmmaking project exploring human life through the elements. Participants will make short films about their thoughts on particular elements and how people interact with them. Apply via IdeasTap - the deadline is 5pm on 3rd Sept.

News round-up... 09/08/2012

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMT

James Stewart & Kim Novak in Vertigo

News and opportunities

Vertigo toppled Citizen Kane off the top spot of Sight & Sound's Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time poll. You already know this of course. As always it got us thinking about our favourite films again, both critically acclaimed ones and those, er, not - more to follow!
The influential French filmmaker, writer, photographer, multimedia artist, poet – in fact all round polymath – Chris Marker has died at the age of 91. Pioneer of the film essay, he remains best known for his masterpieces La Jetée (1962) – which critic David Thomson called “the one essential movie ever made” – and Sans Soleil (1983), both of which explore time, memory and the past in exquisitely evocative style. Read Fandor’s round-up of online commentary, the Guardian obit or Richard Brody's New Yorker piece, or revisit the soundscape of La Jetée with this video from the Criterion Collection.
Applications are now open for Project Tottenham, with £10,000 worth of grants available for organisations wishing to put on screenings in the area. Film London and Haringey Council are seeking applications for pilot activity to take place in late September, hosted by local venues, and will be holding information sessions for interested parties next Tuesday and Thursday. Deadline for applications: 12pm on Wednesday 22nd August.
Nintendo 3DS and the BFI present a 3D Masterclass with audiovisual artist and innovator Stuart Warren-Hill, co-founder of the Big Chill and Holotronica. This FREE event takes place at 11am on Saturday 11 August at BFI Southbank. Learn about AV production in 3D, see holographic and stereoscopic 3Ddemos, get tips on 3D film composition and lighting and how to best use Nintendo 3DS technology! To secure your free tickets just email 3DSfilm@bfi.org.uk with your details - first come, first served.
The deadline is approaching for FilmWorks, the free 'fast track' development scheme for emerging filmmaking talent in Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield and surrounding areas. It looks like a really great scheme with successful participants gaining exposure to leading film professionals through a series of workshops, mentoring sessions, masterclasses and networking events. Deadline: 5pm on Monday 20th August.
The BFI and Creative England are holding their first Rural Cinema Conference on 18th September at Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge. Bringing together key participants in regional cinema, the aim is to explore and develop ideas and strategies on rural cinema so that practitioners, funders and commercial organisations can work together to optimise their involvement. RSVP to ruralcinema@bfi.org.uk by Wednesday 22nd August to attend.

Calls for submissions

KINO-PRESENT is an innovative project aiming to involve film, video and animation artists - and the general public - in the co-creation of films by using web-based and mobile technologies. Submit 15 second video clips and your work may be incorporated into new material and exhibited. It's part of academic research based at Central Saint Martins, Univ. of the Arts London.
The Smalls Film Festival 2012 is open for submissions of 15 minutes or less. Upload your short films in comedy, drama, documentary or music video categories to gain the chance of winning £1,000 or a production grant for new work. They're also looking for volunteers to work during the festival (17-21 September).
General submissions to the Van D'Or Awards - run by Cannes in a Van - close on 17th August.
Are you inspired by the idea of portraying 'Love in the time of Twitter'? Relate Oxfordshire Film Festival is asking for submissions of short films on this theme - so if you're inspired by thoughts of love and how it may be enhanced (or hideously violated, depending on your perspective) by social networking, enter! Deadline: 21st August.
TOMS One for One and Dazed & Confused are behind this opportunity - submit your treatment for a 3-minute film documenting an inspirational person or group who have started "something that matters" in the UK. Filmmakers must be UK-based. The winner - to be chosen by TOMS, D&C and director Lucy Walker (Waste Land) - will get £5,000 towards the making of their short and an exclusive screening. Deadline: 28th August.
CPH:FORUM is open for submissions. This is a three-day international financing and co-production event during the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (CPH:DOX) in November bringing together international film financiers, industry professionals and producers who want to discover the latest innovative documentaries, features and artists' film in development. Deadline: 1st Sept.
The Cornwall Film Festival is calling for films from young people to screen during the festival, which runs from 8-11 November at the Lighthouse in Newquay. Submissions from primary & secondary school pupils as well as A-Level and further education students are welcomed. Deadline: 17th Sept.
... And if you speak Cornish, they've a Cornish-language 90-second film challenge! The prize is £1,000. Deadline: 10th Sept.
For artist filmmakers, International ArtExpo is calling for video/short film works on the theme of 'liquid identities' to be included in an exhibition of the same title to be held in Venice this autumn. Deadline: 10th Sept.
Exeter Phoenix Digital is calling for short films of less than 10 minutes for the International Open Screening at this year's Two Short Nights Film Festival, returning for its 11th edition. Deadline: 28th Sept.
Are you looking to make a short film? Enter The Pitch and you could win a £25,000 cash budget and production support. Register, film and upload your pitch by 12th October to be in the running.
Entry for the Short Film and Short Animation categories for BAFTA 2012/13 will open on the 3rd of September this year. Click here for the full list of rules and requirements.
Are you a filmmaker who's already made one short film and are looking for help promoting your next? If so re:VAULT Film Den may be able to help. A new initiative, it aims to assist in promoting filmmakers' new projects and help bring them to a wider audience - for instance, they'll screen your previous film and follow it with a Q&A where you can discuss your new work. Read more.

Good reads

Dan Jarvis in the New Statesman responds to rumours that the government is planning to abolish the DCMS...
"Our position as a world leader becomes threatened without a department which champions the arts and creative industries and represents them at the government's top table."
While Mark Cousins suggests that film and the Games have a similar draw on audiences in this piece for Time Out... "Mainstream cinema is romantic art, about the lone soul. The Olympics are, surely, in a similar way, the romantic sport" while, also in Time Out, Dave Calhoun discusses how the Games have disrupted UK box office - especially Danny Boyle's wacky, engaging Opening Ceremony - and how cinemas have responded.
And Tilly writes on the need for future-thinking in digital arts marketing in the Guardian Culture Professionals Network:"When it comes to an emerging practice such as digital marketing, adaptability is key - we must be open to everything and disregard nothing" - and if you're interested by this, you may want to read about our upcoming Creative Digital Marketing course, which has also been outlined by Screen and movieScope.

When film festivals unite...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:07:10 GMT

The ICO team recently returned from sunny Croatia, where we were working hard (honest!) running our Developing Your Film Festival course.

Developing Your Film Festival course participants in Motovun.

This project, funded by MEDIA, Creative Skillset and the British Council, brought together 32 professionals from 30 film festivals from 13 different countries across Europe. Taking place in a medieval hilltop town in the run up to the wonderful Motovun Film Festival, the training provided advice, discussion and insight on three key areas – strengthening film festival business models, growing audiences and maximising professional relationships.

For most of the festival professionals attending, this was the first time they had participated in any kind of training specific to their field of work. Many of them used the word “therapeutic” to describe what it felt like to discover that they encountered the same problems as other festivals... and to work through those challenges with their peers.

Participants were joined by speakers from across Europe, including Copenhagen Film Festivals, Stockholm Film Festival and the Berlinale.

We heard how Sarajevo Film Festival was established in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo as an act of cultural resistance, and grew in the face of adversity. Jovan Marjanovic, the festival’s Head of Industry, recalled how “the arts scene in the city survived and helped people survive”.

Algirdas Ramaska, Director of Vilnius International Film Festival, encouraged festival professionals to invest in their own development and to make contacts by travelling to other festivals and networking hard.

And Tomas Prasek, festival consultant and founder of Eventival, urged festivals to become more entrepreneurial, thinking of themselves as events companies, selling services in order to be able to fund the thing they really want to do – the festivals.

Developing Your Film Festival is not just about what happens during the week of the course. It is also about creating strong bonds between participating festivals, planting the seeds of collaboration out of which can bloom future partnerships. Participants become members of the European Film Festivals Network, informally initiated at last year’s course to keep festivals working together long term. Ana David from Queer Lisboa, a participant from 2011, returned to Motovun to share stories of collaborations from her year’s peers – including programme partnerships, staff exchanges and information sharing.

We’ll keep you updated on what the future of this festivals network holds...

Film festival flyers from course participants.

News round-up... 30/07/2012

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:25:33 GMT

The Broadway in Nottingham.

In the news

The BFI Statistical Yearbook 2012 has been published. Aggregating useful data from across the industry, the Yearbook provides an excellent overview of current trends in box office, distribution, exhibition, production, employment, the contribution of film to the economy, the performance of British films abroad and more.
Applications are now open for ACE, NESTA and the AHRC's new £7 million Digital Research & Development fund for the arts. The fund will be made available over three years (2012/13 - 2014/15) to support R&D projects that use digital technology to enhance arts audience reach and/or explore new business models.
Bookings are open for the BFFS' 6th National Conference for Community Cinemas. Taking place on the weekend of 22-23 September at the Institut Francais in London, this year's conference is themed around innovation, inspired by these words from Mark Cousins: "It's the experience rather than what you show. If you can re-enchant your audience... then you have something special."
The Yorkshire Calendar displays sixty seconds of archive footage every week, showcasing the rich variety of material available in the YFA. A nice example of using digital technology to make archives more accessible, recent videos in the Calendar have included footage of the Rolling Stones performing at Roundhay Park in 1982 and a clip of Queen Victoria visiting Sheffield in 1897.
The Toronto International Film Festival programme is out! The ICO will be blogging from TIFF later in the year, so take a look and if there are any titles you'd particularly like our thoughts on, let us know & we'll report back.

Opportunities

There are still places left on our Second Light Exhibition and Distribution Lab. It's a brilliant - and FREE! - opportunity for young aspiring filmmakers to learn from seasoned industry professionals; so if you're aged 16-25 and you're keen to get your foot in the door, check it out.
The Cambridge Film Festival's Screen Team 2012 is still looking for applicants - again, it's a really fantastic opportunity for youngsters in the region to be a part of the film festival and gain invaluable experience.
Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival have issued a call for festival volunteers. Encounters - the UK's longest running competitive short film and animation festival, running from 18 - 23 Sept - aims to provide the best possible experience for all volunteers. They are looking for enthusiastic individuals ready to get stuck into the buzz of the festival, covering various roles in areas such as guest liaising, marketing, ticketing, ushering, assisting festival staff, office, party and event support and more. Deadline: midnight on Friday 10th August.
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival: Pictures in Motion is set to return from Wednesday 19 - Sunday 23 Sept 2012 and they also need volunteers! They’re currently looking for a team of enthusiastic, dedicated and friendly people to help create the biggest and most successful edition to date. Deadline: Monday 20th August.
MediaFish, the young people’s film club run by Leeds Young People’s Film Festival is looking for new members. If you’re 14-19 (or know someone who is) and are passionate about film - whether watching, making or reviewing it - then MediaFish is a fantastic opportunity. You'll get to watch lots of new and unseen films while learning how an international film festival works, and help put on one of the most exciting events for young people in the UK. MediaFish meets weekly and is free to join and attend. Introductory session 4pm on Wed 8 August at Leeds Town Hall. To book a place email Martin Grund or check out www.leedsyoungfilm.com.
For filmmakers: shorts are wanted for the London-based Queer as Film strand, a regular film night celebrating the best in New Queer British Cinema. Films need not be by LGBT filmmakers but must be LGBT themed.
One Shot Movie is a nice challenge. Enter your short film - which must consist of one continuous take with no cuts whatsoever - to get your shorts screening in a central London venue and seen industry professionals. Deadline: 31 August 2012.
And another one: the Focus Forward Film Challenge is now open for submissions. Offering prizes of up to $100,000, this short film competition is open to applicants worldwide and asks for work about people who've made a meaningful contribution to human progress. Deadline: 23 August 2012.
The deadlines for Leeds International Film Festival are approaching - 24th August for features, 14th Sept for shorts.
And if you're an artist filmmaker who fancies a residency on Sicily - who doesn't! - you may be interested in this opportunity from that's contemporary. Further details on their website.

Good reads

One of our client cinemas, the Broadway in Nottingham is featured in the Guardian's latest Cine-Files. Choice quote: "What makes the Broadway so special is their obvious dedication and love for film."
Catharine discusses her career trajectory and film favourites in this British Council interview; whilst Simon is quoted in this Guardian piece on the history and future of co-operative cinemas.
Get acquainted with Kickstarter, the crowdfunding phenomenon that's just lauched in the UK.
I loved this photo blog on cinemas in South East Asia - lots of evocative pictures charting the region's colourful, often gorgeously dilapidated venues; with one post about the 'Cinema Row' theatres in Burma's Yangon Province which are sadly facing imminent destruction.
Take a look at Fill the Land with Cinemas, the blog from Scala Beyond (covered in our last post). It contains declarations from participating venues, which make for interesting reading. Try writing one - even if you're not participating in the season, it's a useful way of reminding yourself of your venue's key aims.
And some inspiration for screenings in the heat (if we get any more of it) - more than 400 people signed up to watch a film from the pool in Bristol last week!

Scala Beyond is set to launch in style!

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:44:40 GMT

Pioneering indie film season Scala Beyond will enjoy its much-anticipated launch tomorrow, Thursday 26th July at the Roxy Bar & Screen in London. A six-week nationwide film season dedicated to all forms of cinema exhibition, it will encompass screenings all over the country by a vast array of independent exhibitors from 18th August to 29th September.

Created by season producer Michael Pierce and director Phil Wood, the season - which has generated considerable national interest and press including coverage in the Guardian and BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme - was preceded by the London-based seasons Scala Forever in 2011 and Ken Russell Forever in March.

A tribute to the celebrated London cinema in Kings Cross renowned for its anarchic rep programming, Scala Forever saw a range of outré, disruptive events take place across the capital; while Ken Russell Forever comprised screenings from the recently-deceased director’s back catalogue. The runaway success of both allowed Phil and Michael to think bigger this year, expanding ‘beyond’ both in terms of escaping the confines of London, and in broadening their programming ethos - moving away from nostalgia to represent the true scope of the UK's contemporary indie exhibition scene.

Inclusivity is key, as is a demonstrable passion for cinema. Exhibitors can show any film they want, with the emphasis on how, rather than what they screen. As Phil says, “We’re not trying to promote any particular type of film or say you should watch this rather than that. What we’re promoting is the act of watching films in a communal atmosphere and engaging the audience.”

And, whilst the season is centrally organised, it allows participating exhibitors near total freedom and is designed to highlight their individuality and locality, as well as encouraging showmanship and a true sense of event cinema. Phil: “At The Scala it wasn't just about the films, everything else that went into screenings was important - the venue, staff, special guests, audience, decoration, location, music, bar (and even cats!) all helped create the experiences that so many people loved and remember. So this year we're encouraging people to think about making their screenings special.” Another important aim is inspiring newcomers to exhibition, getting people to “take the initiative and start their own film clubs, even if it begins by showing films to friends or family within their own homes.”

The excitement surrounding the season – which has over 150 screenings booked in so far – is further evidence of the growth in event and pop-up cinema we’re seeing at the ICO, with more enquiries around the area coming in than ever before. Michael agrees: “Our ‘I Want To Start A Film Club’ event last year was packed and so it’s clear lots of people also want to initiate their own project. This year we are repeating the event, but also adding ‘I Want To Start A Pop-Up Cinema’ as we’ve noticed a lot more outdoor or alternative cinemas start since last year, no doubt encouraged by the great success of Secret Cinema.”

Phil’s highlights: “The Dark Star re-score by Animat at Roxy on Sunday 26th August. They’ve done four re-scores before at Roxy and they’ve always been magical experiences, and should be fantastic with Carpenter’s Dark Star. Additionally, the all-nighters last year were amazing fun and a real experience, so all of those should be great!”

Michael’s highlights: “I have too many highlights in London to list - simply put, I would go to everything if I could! But across the UK there's some great events including Eyes Without a Face in an old anatomy theatre in Edinburgh, Mad Max 2 in an apocalyptic drive-in in Manchester, a girl gangs season in Newcastle, 90s action all-nighter in Brighton and a recreation of a 1930s picture palace in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. And that's only a small selection!”

The full programme will go live this Friday 27th July on the Scala Beyond website, where you can also sign up for email updates. To read more about participating exhibitors, visit Scala Beyond's blog.

The ICO is teaming up with Scala Beyond to co-host their free workshop events, 'I Want To Start A Film Club' on 15 Sept at the Roxy Bar and Screen, and 'I Want To Start A Pop-Up Cinema' on 24 Sept at the Portobello Pop-Up.
You can also check out our own guide on How to start a local cinema.

See you at the launch!

Ideas & tips from Mobile Culture 2

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:11:27 GMT

Last week I went to Mobile Culture 2, organised by CultureLabel and Camerjam. The conference brought together cultural organisations with digital pioneers and other industries to catch up on the latest trends and future thinking of engaging audiences via mobile.

There was a distinct lack of film people there, but the rise of mobile engagement is a trend which should not be ignored. The speakers told us that by 2015 mobile web browsing is predicted to overtake desktop web browsing; that smartphones are already outselling PCs; that 50% of the population now own a smartphone and that within three years other types of mobile phones won’t be available; that the aggregate time people have spent playing Crazy Birds is 200,000 years; and that people are becoming more and more comfortable with this platform, as evidenced by the fact that 3 Ferraris were bought through mobile internet last year!

A few other interesting nuggets…

The Guardian explained how mobile has redefined how people use their time engaging with them, stretching the day further than 9 to 5 and the week longer than weekdays only.

There were two schools of thought over whether QR codes were on their way in or out, with some speakers advising waiting until they became more mainstream and others strong in their conviction that they are soon to become obsolete, as devices will recognise objects themselves without the need for intermediary codes.

The Museum of London presented their Street Museum app which allows people to see historic paintings and photos of the place they are in. Their advice to organisations looking to match their 350,000 downloads with their own app was to collaborate with someone who really cares; to be authentic and integrate the app with the rest of your communications strategy; and to make it beautiful.

Easy Art and others warned, however, that apps require a huge investment and can be short lived, so should not be approached lightly. Marketing is key – as a delegate from an app development agency put it, “Our clients often think they’re putting an app out into a bookshop, when really they’re putting it into a warehouse”.

The Science Museum urged organisations to experiment and to learn from the things that don’t work as much as the things that succeed.

The Royal Opera House outlined how they had jettisoned their web content management system in favour of a new site which aggregates data from other platforms on which they have a presence (Twitter, Flickr, YouTube…).

Tips from YouTube themselves included to “eat your own dog food” – ie. everyone in your organisation should try out your product or service before you make it public; to focus on quality content; and to optimise for the long term rather than seeking or expecting instant success. There were murmurs of approval when the speaker asserted that “the best screen is the one you have with you”, that people have learnt to have immersive experiences on whatever platform they have. Is this an opportunity or a threat to cinemas? Discuss.

Looking to increase visits to your site? The “dark art” of SEO meta data trickery is out, keeping your site constantly updated with news, blog posts, tweets is in, since Google changed the way search rankings operate.

TripAdvisor shared the concept of the “Travel Cycle”, an idea that people can be thinking about travel all the time using different platforms: I dream (iPad) > I plan and book (PC) > I’m there (mobile) > I’m back (Facebook). A compelling way of thinking about continuous engagement which could be transferrable for cultural events too.

FourSquare recommended using their platform for breaking down the demographics of visitors; for monitoring superfans who check into your venue the most; and for offering incentives to first-time and returning visitors.

There was a feeling that the cultural sector as a whole need to become more comfortable partnering with commercial organisations, and the line up of speakers at the conference – including Unilever, EventBrite and digital agencies – clearly reflected that sentiment.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey popped in too, with a few things of his own to say. He’s keen to encourage more collaboration in the cultural sector, so organisations don’t reinvent the wheel but seek advice from people who are at a more developed stage than they are. He also stressed the importance of talking to young people about how they’re using mobiles and to slot into that world – don’t get left behind.

News round-up... 09/07/2012

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:41:00 GMT

An image from Margaret by Kenneth Lonergan

In the news...

Find time to complete Creative Skillset's online census if you haven't already. The census data will help inform policy, funding and training provisions for the creative industries, so make sure your organisation is counted.
The Audience Agency is now open for business. The result of a pairing between All About Audiences (based in Manchester) and Audiences London Plus, it's the new national audience development agency and will provide practical advice, intelligence and inspiration for any cultural organisation aiming to grow and engage their audience. From September onwards a launch roadshow will tour the country to find out what your most pressing needs are - be they generating more income, engaging your local community or planning for 2013. Email hello@theaudienceagency.org or follow @AudienceAgents on Twitter to find out more.
Creative England has awarded £150,000 of funding to support and promote regional filmmaking activity in the Film Network Fund's latest round... More details and the full list of awards.
More from Creative England: they're hosting a workshop in Manchester on Thursday 12 July, Supporting Creative and Digital Businesses - if you're based nearby, join the discussion to get your priorities on the agenda and help shape their services.
And, calling all film producers, directors and writer/directors: have you heard about their Elevator skills programme yet? Created to nurture and promote the brightest talent from across the regions, it will give up to 15 short filmmakers support to make the leap to features.

Calls for applications / submissions

The Cambridge Film Festival has launched The Screen Team 2012, an excellent opportunity for young people who are interested in careers in film exhibition and want to get a foot in the door. If you're aged 18-25, are based in the East, want work experience in cinema and outdoor screenings and are - crucially - at a loose end this summer, apply soon! The deadline for applications is Friday 13th July.
Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival 2012 is running a New Filmmakers Market in collaboration with BAFTA this Sunday 15 July. An all day event, it will bring new filmmakers into contact with established pros, and offers sessions on topics such as 'The Perfect Pitch' and 'What's the international market for low-budget British films?'.
Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival in partnership with the University of the West of England & Aardman Animations have launched a new producing course, The Creative Business of Producing Animation. A five-day residential course, it will develop participants' business, entrepreneurial and creative skills in animation production. Deadline for applications: midnight on Sunday 15 July.
Northern Film & Media has launched The Digital Bridge, a cross-media development opportunity for creative practitioners in the regions. A series of ideas labs, one-to-one mentoring and master classes, The Digital Bridge aims to develop a network of digital filmmakers. The deadline for the submission of ideas is noon, Monday 23 July
The Women in Film & TV Mentoring Scheme 2012/13 is now open for applications. Designed for women with over 5 years' experience in TV, film or digital production or business roles (e.g. writing, directing, producing, vision mixing, cinematography... ) in any genre, the scheme offers selected candidates six hours of mentoring with an experienced industry figure, as well as an intensive programme of seminars, training workshops and networking opportunities. Deadline: midnight Tuesday 31 July.
Another one for the youth! First Light & The Script Factory have teamed up to offer two new Screenwriting Labs in Liverpool & Cardiff, again for 18-25 year olds. Deadline for applications: noon on Friday 17th August.
Are you an emerging regional producer or director looking to develop a short or feature film project? If yes, check out FilmWorks - managed by Watershed in Bristol & co-produced by ShowroomWorkstation in Sheffield and the Broadway in Nottingham, this scheme will give successful applicants the chance to join their peers in a series of workshops, mentoring sessions, masterclasses and networking events, giving them the insider's view of the international film industry. Deadline for applications: Monday 20 August.
More opportunities for producers - The Production Guild has a new list of short courses open for booking. Tailored for film & TV industry practitioners, the topics covered range from Leadership & Advanced Management Techniques to Copyright & Clearances.

And a flurry of opportunities for artist filmmakers...

Shape Arts are calling for submissions of new or existing art exploring the theme 'Perceptions of Balance'. All visual art forms including video are welcomed. Submissions must be made by artists who consider themselves disabled. Deadline: 5pm on Sunday 22 July.
This unique project calls for a film or series of films responding to a quote by John Ruskin, to be used as part of a study collection at the new Ruskin Studio and Polytechnic in Sheffield. It's a paid commission with a fee of £200, plus a free screening at a location of the artist's choosing. Deadline for proposals: Wednesday 1 August.
The first artists' moving image festival in Cardiff, Outcasting: Fourth Wall Festival (O:4W) aims to take artists' moving image to a wider audience through a number of different platforms. Following the first round of submissions, they're placing a final deadline for commissioning new work of 31 July and for screening existing work the deadline is 31 August.
Reading Experimental Film Festival 2012 have issued a call for entries. Set up in 2008 to show diverse and innovative work by artist filmmakers, they're looking for short experimental films / videos under 15 minutes dealing loosely with the theme 'Performance'. The deadilne for entries is Friday 7 September.

Good reads

IdeasTap ask Michael Winterbottom what he's learned about filmmaking throughout his famously prolific, inspirational career.
In Sight & Sound, Michael Brooke discusses the extended-cut DVD release of Kenneth Lonergan's critically adored Margaret, brought about by a vociferous online campaign.
And a good listen! Sylvia Syms and Melanie Williams discuss 50s and 60s cinema with a focus on J. Lee Thompson's Woman in a Dressing Gown, our upcoming re-release, on BBC Radio 3's Night Waves (the discussion starts at 0:25:45).

Quatermass Appeal

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 09:57:56 GMT

Today sees the final vintage film in the Made In Britain season hit screens across the UK. Below, Nigel Kneale biographer - and our first guest blogger! - Andy Murray charts the history and influence of the landmark sci-fi thriller Quatermass and the Pit...

On the face of it, you could be forgiven for thinking that Quatermass and the Pit is just another Hammer film. It was made in 1967, during, or maybe just after, the studio's heyday, with the usual cast of 'oh, what's he been in?' British character actors. And undeniably, it's scary. But actually, it might just be Hammer's finest achievement. It's also the culmination of the saga that put Hammer on the horror path in the first place.

Creator of Quatermass, Nigel Kneale, had first dabbled in acting and short-story writing before he fetched up at the BBC, working as a staff writer in the early days of their television drama department. Quite by chance, when a last-minute gap in the Saturday night schedules needed to be filled, Kneale made his mark with an original serial, The Quatermass Experiment, in August 1953. The nerve-jangling tale of a manned rocket launch that goes horrible awry, screened over six consecutive Saturday nights, it was an unqualified hit.

Almost immediately, the notion of a film adaptation was floated. Several parties showed an interest. Kneale even went for a promising meeting with the Boulting Brothers. But ultimately the rights were sold - for a song, and behind Kneale's back – to the Berkshire-based outfit Hammer Films.

Hammer had been ticking along happily, often making film versions of British radio hits such as Dick Barton: Special Agent (1948) and The Adventures of PC 49 (1949). As such, the first Quatermass film wasn't a huge departure. But the eventual success of that film got them thinking that there might be money to be made in this scary movie lark.

Kneale himself didn't think much of the film, in particular the casting of comedy American heavy Brian Donlevy as his brooding Professor Quatermass. But when he wrote a well-received TV sequel, Quatermass II, in 1955, Hammer snapped up the rights to that too. Kneale had a hand in the film adaptation, but he was dismayed when Donlevy was recalled to star.

In 1958 Kneale wrote a third BBC Quatermass serial, Quatermass and the Pit, the power and originality of which was arguably even stronger than its forebears. The titular pit is part of a building site, from which is unearthed a vast sealed capsule. What gradually unfolds is the tale of an alien invasion – but one that was entirely successful millions of years earlier, and changed the very nature of mankind. In short order, Hammer purchased the film rights, and engaged Kneale to pen a film version. This he duly did, but the project took time to come together. Kneale and Hammer spend much of the Sixties being rushed off their feet. By this point, Kneale had gone freelance, and added some notable film credits to his CV, not least Tony Richardson's acclaimed film version of Look Back in Anger.

It wasn't until 1967 that the elements fell into place for the Quatermass and the Pit film. Hammer had finally raised enough money to fund it, a cut above their usual cut-price fare, and agreed, to Kneale's delight, not to bring Donlevy back. Instead, Scots actor Andrew Keir, a Hammer regular, took the role.

Like the TV serial, the film hinges on the idea that Martians have visited Earth throughout its history, slowly shaping man's development. It's almost a cliché now, often credited to Swiss writer Erich von Daniken whose book Chariots of the Gods? posited an 'ancient astronauts' theory of human evolution. It was a world-wide best-seller, yet it was first published in 1968 – a full year after Quatermass and the Pit petrified film-goers with the same mind-warping notion.

Some Quatermass cognoscenti have been dismissive of the film, insisting that the murky claustrophobia of the TV original is far superior. But there's no denying that the film version retains all of Kneale's best ideas and set-pieces. The cast are admirable, and Roy Ward Baker's direction is agreeably spirited and dynamic. Its success lies in the fact that there's no show-boating from anyone concerned. It seems to be understood that the narrative, and the concepts that drive it, are both brilliant and original, and all that is required is to allow them to dazzle. Effectively, the script is the star.

The influence of Kneale's masterwork is always lurking in modern sci-fi, where his original ideas have now become ubiquitous staples. As such, the legacy of Quatermass and the Pit is hard to underestimate. On home turf, Doctor Who promptly filched the film's 'scientists + soldiers vs aliens' format for its 1970 relaunch, and helped itself to many of the key concepts for years to come. What's more, on the big screen, Quatermass and the Pit reached whole generations of new viewers around the world who were unaware of its TV origins. In the US, where it was released under the more pulpy title Five Million Years to Earth, young viewers were particularly captivated. On its first release in 1967, Stephen King was 20: John Carpenter was 19. Fast-forward to 1987, the same year that King wrote his hit novel The Tommyknockers, and John Carpenter wrote and directed the film Prince of Darkness. Both are so heavily influenced by Kneale's script that the word 'homage' seems somehow too generous.

Note also that when Spielberg made his film adaptation of War of the Worlds in 2005, it came with a twist. The Martian invasion isn't seen at all. Spielberg argued that modern technology would spot them coming five million miles off. So in his version, it transpires then they've been here for aeons, their ships buried deep down in the ground, waiting to emerge. Surely Kneale, a great admirer of HG Wells (and of Spielberg), must have appreciated that.

Andy Murray is author of the Nigel Kneale biography Into the Unknown (Headpress, 2005), a revised edition of which is currently in the works. He's a freelance arts writer, regularly contributing to Big Issue in the North, and he teaches Film Journalism at the University of Salford.

News round-up... 02/07/2012

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Our re-release of Luis Buñuel's mischievous, satirical The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie has been garnering some excellent (and creative) press. In the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw's 5 star review hailed the "surreal masterpiece" as an "exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film" whilst screenwriter Jean-Jacques Carrière, interviewed by Ryan Gilbey, called it "the most daring film" he made with Buñuel. In Little White Lies, David Jenkins' review stated "It's still very harsh and bitterly funny, but there's a dark, messy humanism at its core that makes it so special, so interesting and so worthy of a re-release." The Quietus' fascinating article mentioned anecdotal evidence that Marilyn Monroe's ennui may have inadvertently inspired the film... ! And, our favourite: this comic-strip review by Electric Sheep, beautifully documenting the film's "slippery and surreal" appeal.

The last nationwide screening from our Made in Britain season is tomorrow, with Hammer Films' cult classic Quatermass & The Pit showing at 47 venues throughout the UK. As Close-Up Film asks: “How can you not like a film that starts on the Central Line and ends up on Mars?”! Adam Scovell, previewing the film enthusiastically on The Double Negative, says Roy Ward Baker's finest film for Hammer is the ideal introduction to the studio: "the chance to see one of their best films makes this an essential screening." And star Julian Glover sat down for an interview about his experiences on set - "They were spending a hell of a lot of money on locusts" - and his pleasure at the film's enduring appeal to audiences.

For the full list of screenings, click here.

In other news

We're very gratified that our Cultural Cinema Exhibition course has been awarded the Creative Skillset Tick, Skillset's new kitemark of quality for training courses or institutions of remarkable quality and with strong industry links. The Cultural Cinema Exhibition course will return this autumn in its 13th year. Pick the tick!
MEDIA has sent out a reminder about its Digitisation of Cinemas funding scheme, which offers a flat rate of 20,000 euros per screen to cover the side costs of installing a digital projector. Applicants can apply for the digitisation of 1, 2 or 3 screens; and to be considered eligible must have screened a minimum of 50% European films in 2011. Deadline: 31 July 2012.
The historic Curzon Community Cinema in Clevedon, Somerset is through to the semi-finals of The National Lottery Awards 2012 and needs your help to win! Click here to vote, the poll is open until midnight on Sun 22 July.
An English version of Manice, the French guide to digital cinema techniques, equipment and economics, is now online. Hailed as a useful tool by French exhibitors and distributors, the English Manice has about 50 articles including a glossary of digital cinema jargon and an overview of the main issues of the business. Articles will be added regularly - if there's something you'd like to see included, complete their online questionnaire, made in association with Europa Cinemas and UNIC.

Good reads

The experimental artist filmmaker Jeff Keen sadly died recently. Will Fowler at the BFI wrote this piece compiling tributes to the "playful and visceral artist and filmmaker" as well as a thoroughly inspiring obituary in the Guardian. You can see some of Keen's work on his website.
Some interesting thoughts around audience engagement prior to the box office.
From the LUX blog, a nostalgic read by Margaret Tait on the founding of her DIY film festival in the 1950s.

Calls for applications / submissions

Calling all education officers & programmers: do you know any young people keen to break into the industry who would benefit from an insider’s guide to exhibition and distribution? We’ve joined forces with First Light to offer a free Second Light Exhibition & Distribution Lab to aspiring filmmakers aged 16-25. Taught by industry experts, the Lab will include sessions on pitching and selling, distribution, marketing, and cinema programming. A really great opportunity, it will equip young emerging talent with invaluable industry know-how. Initial deadline for applications: Tues 17 July. More details.
Entries to Watershed's super-short filmmaking competition DepicT! will close at 5pm on Monday 9th July. Open to anyone, on any budget, from anywhere in the world, your films must be 90 seconds or under, completed after Sept 2011, and distinctive and imaginative in style. The main prize is £1,500 and UK distribution via the DSN.
Are you a young film critic with something to say? Cinemagic has launched its annual call for 25 youthful film buffs to help select films for the Cinemagic International Film & Television Festival programmes for young people, taking place in Belfast this autumn. Deadline: 11th July.
Glimmer 2012, the 10th Hull International Short Film Festival is calling for submissions. Films must be under 45 mins and made after 1st Jan 2010. Deadline: noon on 20th July.
LUX has issued two calls for applications - firstly, for its 2012/13 Associate Artists Programme, a year long post-academic development course for artist filmmakers, deadline: 5pm on 20th Sept and secondly, for (dis)chorus, the LUX AAP Residency, deadline: 5pm on 2nd August.
Applications are open for the EAVE European Producers' Workshop 2013, a year long programme aimed at producers already working in the film and TV industries who are interested in expanding their knowledge of producing and co-producing in Europe; deadline 1st Oct.

Welcome!

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:53:30 GMT

Photo from weegeebored via Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Welcome to the ICO's new blog.

Previously the ICO team has blogged from film festivals only, but now we're expanding our net to cover all kinds of news, opportunities and interesting info from the film world and beyond.

As well as general industry news we'll be covering new trends and hot topics; funding opportunities and calls for submissions; reports from training courses, conferences and festivals; top tips and inspirational case studies; with interviews with industry experts and occasional posts by guest bloggers... highlighting the activities and expertise of the many wonderful and varied independent film exhibitors we work with across the UK.

If you're visiting our website for the first time, you can read more about the ICO's activities here.

And if you'd like to propose a topic for us to cover in the future, please email sarah@independentcinemaoffice.org.uk with details.

EIFF 2012: More Than Pretty From A Distance

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:26:33 GMT

While others are discovering the joys of the midnight train to Edinburgh, and looking forward to the pleasures of a pint at the Filmhouse bar, it’s sadly an armchair experience of the Edinburgh International Film Festival for us this year, as we follow the hashtag #edfilmfest from afar.

It Looks Pretty From A Distance by Wilhelm and Anka Sasnal.

Last year, in town to present Project: New Cinephilia, highlights included opener The Guard in the Festival Theatre, a packed Cameo guffawing through the restoration of Whiskey Galore!, scratch’n’sniff 30th anniversary Odorama screening of Polyester, Bela Tarr’s curated strand of Hungarian cinema and the discovery of Dieter Auner’s Off The Beaten Track and Celine Sciamma’s Tomboy.

This year’s programme looks to be a cracking selection, all the more enticing for how diverse and little known many of the films are – the impression is certainly that the festival has scoured the international cinema landscape for a selection that encourages audiences to take risks. This makes navigation a pleasure of diving in at random, trusting in the curation and picking up threads between films as they emerge. Of the official strands the individual filmmakers in focus look particularly juicy, especially the Shinja Somai Retrospective and the Spotlight on documentarian Wang Bing, who will be at the festival as a guest.

For hungry cinephiles the Films On Film strand looks like fertile ground, featuring Susan Ray’s Don’t Expect Too Much, her account of Nicholas Ray’s experience making We Can’t Go Home Again (also screening), plus films from two leading lights of infectious cine-love Mark Cousins and Peter von Bagh.

Of the films already seen, my tips would be a trio of favourites from Rotterdam; the exuberant Girimunho, with the most striking older female performance on screen since Poetry, the creepy It Looks Pretty From A Distance from artists Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal, eking out dread in rural Poland, and the controversial The Invader, which for all its unevenness is a volatile and thought-provoking meditation on race, imperialism, and desire.

Films I’d be eager to catch include Denis Côté’s safari park portraiture Bestiaire, violent Aussie drama Hail and the intriguing anthology oddity V/H/S. Meanwhile, audiences across the UK can look forward to several of the highlights of the British films in the Michael Powell Award strand, which will be released in cinemas over the next few months, including The Imposter, Shadow Dancer and Peter Strickland’s hotly anticipated follow up to Katalyn Varga, the Giallo-flavoured Berberian Sound Studio.

Cannes 2012 - Simon's reviews part 2

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:52:20 GMT

In Another Country
Hong Sangsoo’s 13th feature is another trademark meta-textual puzzle in this prolific director’s ongoing exploring of place and identity in contemporary South Korea. Hong, brought to the UK by the ICO in 2010 for a complete touring retrospective, and never before formally distributed in the UK, is officially on record as Claire Denis’ favourite working director. France is his biggest territory outside home turf, so it was probably only a matter of time before heavyweight French actors sought him out. Here Isabelle Huppert plays three different women all visiting the same seaside town in Korea and experiencing it in different ways, within a further framework of a young filmmaker writing and rewriting the scripts which we watch unfold. It’s witty and as insightful as ever from Hong, but despite playing in the main competition, it didn’t feel as strong as his previous couple of terrific films (Oki’s Movie and The Day He Arrives). Slim prospects for surfacing in the UK.

Hong Sang-Soo's In Another Country.

Antiviral
Brandon ‘son of’ Cronenberg delivers a film which feels like something his father, David, could have made 25 years ago. It’s an intriguing premise where fans of celebrities buy infected cells from their heroes and live vicariously through their diseases... While entertaining enough for those who like their body horror it feels a little too familiar, drawn out and somewhat on-the-nose given the family genes.

Mystery
Lou Ye’s (Suzhou River, Summer Palace) thriller about a philandering husband whose wife discovers he’s having an affair with another woman. Meanwhile the police are investigating a dead woman and slowly the two strands come together. It’s a well made film which unfortunately ratchets up the melodrama a notch too much. It would have been much better without the somewhat hokey murder elements. Unlikely to make much impression theatrically.

Amour
Michael Haneke’s (Hidden, White Ribbon) Palme d’Or winner needs little introduction. A riveting, gut-wrenching examination of an elderly couple (coming to terms with death while their daughter (Isabelle Huppert) nips away at their ankles. A key must-see title which will no doubt be accompanied by acres of adoring press.

Jack & Diane
Bradley Rust Gray’s post-mumblecore follow-up to The Exploding Girl, which was never released in the UK, but topped many US critics' lists a couple of years back. This has a similar focus on young love, but this time from a lesbian perspective. With perfectly modulated performances, its kooky über-cool NYC protagonists fumble through their first love affair. The film is hampered by a curious body horror undertone which clearly is intended to express the turmoil of a teenager discovering their sexuality for the first time, yet comes across as heavy handed and a little silly. But there are lots of good things in this and it could well find itself a cult niche following.

Dr. Ketel
A low budget Berlin set German sci-fi film set in a (very!) near future where medical care has been completely privatised. Disgraced medic Ketel scrapes a living by day as a caretaker in a run down apartment block, but by night steals drugs and provides free illegal medical care to the poor. Slowly he comes under scrutiny and himself falls mysteriously ill. A pretty decent microbudget sci-fi film which will likely surface on the genre festival circuit and make its way to DVD but is unlikely to have a theatrical outing in the UK.

Paradise Love
Ulrich Seidl’s (Dog Days, Import/Export) latest powerful, scabrous, witty examination of human weakness, corruption and the mechanics of exploitation does exactly what you expect from the Austrian provocateur. It won’t win any new admirers, is much less ambitious than say Import/Export, but is a treat for fans of his previous films. No UK distributor at the moment.

Ulrich Seidl's Paradise Love.

Lawless
John Hillcoat’s (The Proposition, Ghosts of the Civil Dead) much anticipated moonshine gangster drama, written by Nick Cave, with a starry cast including Guy Pearce, Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain. It looks great, has some wonderful moments, but for me was ultimately unengaging and flat. No doubt it’ll open strongly but I suspect the press won’t be very strong and it will struggle in cinemas to sustain itself.

Killing Them Softly
Andrew Dominik’s (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James) starry crime thriller with (Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Sam Shephard, James Gandolfini) is a real pleasure. A pair of petty criminals rob a mob card game hoping to pin the blame on the game handler. Of course it all goes badly wrong and the pleasure is in seeing fate play its bloody hand. It’s not a film of any real depth and stands firmly in the genre camp – but it is exquisitely made and already garnering heady reviews (5 stars in the Times, 4 in the Guardian) so promises to do well on its September release through Entertainment in the UK.

Holy Motors
The return of Leo Carax (Mauvais Sang, Les Amants du Pont Neuf), one of the key 80s Cinema du Look filmmakers, after a 13 year hiatus from features is a big deal in France. Together with his regular star Denis Lavant (Beau Travais, Mister Lonely) it’s an even bigger deal. The film itself is a curio. Undoubtedly original, quirky and gorgeous looking, it’s a series of abstract shorts bound together by its star Lavant who plays a mysterious wealthy man of multiple identities from a leprechaun who kidnaps a super model (Eva Mendes) to a VFX motion capture ninja. It all seemed a bit shallow and indulgent to me, but critics seemed to be at once bemused and bewitched. Artificial Eye are releasing later in the year.

Cosmopolis
David Cronenberg’s long gestating adaptation of Don DeLillo’s famously unfilmable novel divided people strongly. A strong cast including Robert Pattinson (he’s good!), Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton and Paul Giamatti. Many (including our own Catharine here at the ICO) found it a tedious uncinematic talkfest. Personally I thoroughly enjoyed it and found myself chuckling along at the parade of oddballs, slew of anti-capitalist jabs, and general audacity of making a film set 70% of the time in a stretch limo about an imploding, unlikeable young CEO trying to cross Manhattan through an anti-capitalist protest in order to get... his hair cut. Hubris and the politics of fascism take a wry pasting in Cronenberg’s smart but deeply uncommercial offering.

The Angel's Share
Ken Loach took the Jury Prize (Cannes 4th most prestigious award) for his likeable funny shaggy dog tale which comes across as Wallace and Gromit social realism. A group of youths on community service cook up a scheme to siphon off a few bottles of the world’s rarest whisky to try and escape the cyclical poverty trap in which they find themselves. It’s unlikely, but well written by Loach regular Paul Laverty and has reasonable commercial prospects in the right cinemas.

Cannes 2012 - Simon's reviews part 1

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:28:17 GMT

Cannes this year was a pretty good one. While with the exception of Carlos Reygadas who delivered the highlight of the festival for me with easily his worst reviewed film to date..., there weren’t really many surprises or discoveries. Having said that, there was a really high quality threshold from a number of familiar and less familiar names. Out of the 40 plus films I saw, I was sorry I went to only 2 or 3 – the really dull Chinese version of Dangerous Liaisons for one! Which is not bad going!

Post Tenebras Lux
The best film of the festival for me... this allusive masterwork from Reygadas (Japon, Battle In Heaven, Silent Light) stood head and shoulders above everything else (perhaps bar Haneke’s Amour) for sheer imagination, ambition and visual inventiveness. A complex tale about, class, money, human nature, the meaning of life (I kid you not!) and how it all fits together told largely through the prism of a wealthy middle class family coming to terms with their disintegration through failing intimacy and a horrific act of violence. Despite winning Best Director, so far, no UK distributor has picked this up – due in part to UK critics' largely cold reception (bar Jonathan Romney). A crime against cinema!

Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux.

The Day Mishima Chose His Fate
Wakamatsu’s (United Red Army, Caterpillar) doc about Mishima covers a rather taboo subject for the Japanese – namely one of their most prestigious writers making a very public criticism – ending in his ritual suicide – of the post-war Japanese politics and spirit. An ultra conservative right-wing man, Wakamatsu, as left-wing as Mishima is right wing, details the context and events leading up to Mishima’s death. For those westerners interested in this, Schrader’s biopic is a far more intriguing and imaginative take. I can’t see this travelling much beyond home turf – and, as a portrait of a fascinatingly conflicted figure, it significantly leaves out Mishima’s homosexuality which informed much of his writing and thinking.

The Paperboy
Lee Daniels (Precious) Southern Gothic tale of two brothers investigating a death row case captured Pete Travis’ novel with abandon. It’s a heady mix of tones and style, which for many failed miserably, but for me, worked a treat. It’s scabrous, witty, violent, anarchic and very entertaining indeed for those that like their Southern Gothic very hard boiled. Matthew McConaughy is fast reinventing himself as the go-to sleazeball these days...

Trois Monde
From Leaving director Catherine Corsini. An efficient, well made and acted, if somewhat narratively contrived tale of a young man set to marry the daughter of his boss and inherit the family business he works in. Drunk, celebrating his imminent promotion, he is witnessed behind the wheel of a hit-and-run accident leaving him open to possible blackmail. As he becomes increasingly guilt-ridden and dislocated from his life everything starts to crumble around him. It has a good chance at being picked up and delivering a reasonable box office for French film fans.

Like Someone in Love
Kiarostami (Ten, The Wind Will Carry Us) delivers a good looking but relatively slight, and for me, hopelessly naive and sentimentalised tale of a retired professor hiring a teenage prostitute, taking under his wing and becoming something of a father figure in a rather unlikely but very watchable tale set in contemporary Japan.

7 Days In Havana
A largely successful portmanteau feature comprised of 7 short films based in Havana. The main draw is the directing talent with among others, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Benicio Del Toro and by far the weakest, Julio Medem. It’s colourful, lively and the Suleiman is particularly successful with his trademark wry humour and strikingly composed and paced imagery. Should see modest returns for Soda Pictures.

Rust & Bone
Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Read My Lips, The Beat My Heart Skipped) delivers a bonkers-sounding tale of a killer whale trainer (played with emotional brio by Marion Cotillard) in an aqua park who loses her legs in a horrific accident only to be lifted out of her ensuing depression by her love for a bare knuckle fighter. In a less capable director’s hands this sounds risible – but Audiard delivers a non-stop barrage of incredible images underpinned by an acute eye for the emotional inner-life of his tenderly imagined characters. One of the strongest films of the festival and a likely arthouse hit for the autumn from Studiocanal.

Jacques Audiard's Rust & Bone.

Dario Argento's Dracula 3D
Oh dear! Argento (Suspiria, Tenebrae) does a pale limp Hammer-style version of Dracula with some old school 3D. One for die-hard Argento fans who still hope against hope the ex-maestro of the macabre will one day pull something visionary out of his threadbare hat.

Mekong Hotel
A long gestating featurette from Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong (Tropical Malady, Unclee Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives) looking at the titular hotel in the northeast of Thailand and using it as space through which to headily explore past, present and future, fact, fiction, politics all tumbling through the physical space of the hotel, a pair of young lovers, plus a mother and her vampire daughter. It’s a dreamlike work existing, as with much of Apichatpong’s non-feature work, in a place between cinema and art installation.

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Winning awards at Sundance and Cannes, this terrifically fresh US indie debut follows a young girl faced with her father’s fading health. Set against a backdrop of an ailing southern delta community living outside the law following a Hurricane Katrina-esque natural disaster triggered by man-made pollution, it’s really something special. Poetic, recalling early David Gordon Green’s use of landscape and idiosyncratic portraits of people on the margins of society, mixed with a spectacular dash of magic realism conjuring an adult take on Where The Wild Things Are. Like nothing else out there.

Laurence Anyways
Xavier Dolan’s (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats) third feature is further evidence of his precocious talent – he’s still only 23 years old! A near three hour, inventive, heartfelt and poignant story chronicling the on-off love affair between a woman and man who chooses to change sex. It’s perhaps a little too long but nonetheless a remarkable piece of filmmaking confirming Dolan as a major talent.

On The Road
Walter Salles (Central Station, Motorcycle Diaries) returns with the much anticipated adaptation of the classic Beat novel – only it’s not. Instead we get Neal Cassady’s journey leading up to his writing and publishing perhaps the most emblematic novel of his generation. It’s a handsomely good looking and great sounding film, but which seems content to be a nostalgia vehicle rather than a literal exploration of the book and times. Disappointing for some, but impeccably made and likely to be a big hit with independent cinemas.

News round-up... 18/06/2012

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:12:53 GMT

Calling all film societies & community cinemas: the BFFS' Film Society of the Year Awards are now open. This year the BFFS is aiming for a record number of applicants from film societies and community cinemas - and you can apply regardless of whether you're an established venue or a new start-up. There are 10 award categories to apply for, including one with a £1,000 cash prize; the deadline is 10th August.
The Chicago Sun-Times, home to legendary critic Roger Ebert applauds one of our client cinemas, QUAD in Derby for their recent ID Fest (along the way comparing QUAD's programmer Adam Marsh to Tarantino - we approve!).
Sheffield Doc/Fest has just ended a triumphant 2012 edition; if you couldn't make it, check out their blogs or these round-ups from Little White Lies and Time Out.
The 2012 BFI London Film Festival will run from 10 to 21 October. Shorter in length than normal, it will have more primetime screenings than in previous years, aiming to encourage broader audience participation.
A fascinating digitisation project, EFG1914 will see up to 650 hours of film made during the Great War converted to digital and made available online at the EFG Portal and Europeana, the European digital library. Archive material from 20 countries including France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Italy, Belgium and Denmark will be converted, together with film from the Imperial War Museum in London.
Email your signature to info@aficfestival.it to help save the Arcipelago Film Festival in Rome from closure.

Good reads

ICO Director Catharine Des Forges writing in the Guardian on the vibrancy of the UK's independent cinema scene:
"Welcome to 2012 and the cultural film sector – despite austerity, funding cuts and the hegemony of the small screen this is a sector that is as vibrant and exciting as it's ever been" ... Read the full article.
Tom Lawes, owner of the Electric Cinema in Birmingham and director of forthcoming doc The Last Projectionist discusses the transition to digital and the nostalgia of 35mm projection: "Every cinema you go to, there would be a new set of stories. It's remarkable, really."... Read the full article.

Calls for submissions

Soho House has launched its House Shorts film competition for the second year. Submit your 400-word pitch - theme: imagination - for selection by judges (and mentors) including Harvey Weinstein, Joe Wright and Jessica Chastain. Deadline 13 July.
Scala Beyond, a six-week nationwide event cinema season incorporating screenings at film clubs, film festivals and pop-up cinemas, is accepting submissions until 30 June.
Not long to go until Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival is closed to submissions - deadline noon on 29 June … or until the early bird deadline (25 June) for the 2012 Cornwall Film Festival ... or until the early bird deadlines for the BFI London Film Festival – shorts: 22 June, features: 6 July.
Glasgow Film Festivals are now open for submission.
The Wellcome Trust, together with the BFI Film Fund has launched a new annual screenwriting prize for science-themed scripts.
Bombay Sapphire in association with the Tribeca Film Festival is running a competition for budding filmmakers - the prize, to make a short film scripted by Oscar winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher; deadline 1 August.
Any there any cineaste architects out there? A dream of a project, this: London's floating cinema returns and needs a new design.
For young artists: Dazed and Confused and Converse, in partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery, are calling for submissions for their Emerging Artist Award judged by artists including the Turner Prize-winning Jeremy Deller - deadline 29 June. First prize is £6,000 and the shortlisted artists will create work for a group show in the autumn to be held at a venue near the Whitechapel Gallery.
Portland Green Cultural Projects with Film London's FLAMIN and the Hayward Gallery is re-opening its call for innovative long-form experimental works from artist filmmakers, ALFF. Work of any genre - including documentary, drama, artists' film, cinematic essay or animation - will be accepted; the theme is 'performance'. Deadline 29 August.

Current / upcoming festivals

Edinburgh International Film Festival from 20 June to 1 July www.edfilmfest.org.uk
London Indian Film Festival from 20 June to 3 July www.londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk
POUT Film Festival, London from 21 to 23 June http://poutfest.co.uk
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, from 12 to 19 July http://sohoshorts.wordpress.com
Abandon Normal Devices from 29 Aug - 2 Sept 12 (with previews this weekend 22-23 June) www.andfestival.org.uk

Cannes 2012 - Sunday 27 May

Thu, 31 May 2012 15:23:14 GMT

It's Sunday and time for the repeats. They are all lined up like superheroes, Loach vs Salles, Audiard vs Haneke. It's quite difficult to decide what to watch and I keep changing my mind. You also have to take into consideration the timings - get it wrong and you have blown the rest of the day or rather you might have backed the wrong horse. For this reason my first choice is the Loach, The Angels' Share, because it's the shortest and means I can see everything else in my masterplan. This is out fairly soon in the UK which is why I wouldn't normally have chosen to see it here but Loach is a filmmaker who never disappoints (me anyway). This was engaging and genuinely funny, has the spirit of Gregory's Girl and is amazingly, unequivocably feelgood which should ensure it does well at the box office.

Next is Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly, which has all the violence of Chopper but is not quite up there with the sublime The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Nevertheless, I thought this was great filmmaking - an exceptionally well-written sharp script starring Brad Pitt as a hitman called on to exercise retribution on the small time hoods who rob an illegal craps game. Its' scope is much greater than this however, as it uses the 2008 Bush/Obama goverment change as its backdrop and ultimately the land of the mobsters, as analogous to the rest of the world hit by spiralling recession, financial meltdown and mismanagement. It's thoroughly engrossing and very witty with some great performances and reminiscent of The Sopranos, Mamet's Heist and more.

Back to the Palais for Haneke's Amour, widely touted as the best film in the competition, I have to agree in general terms (although I haven't seen them all). Haneke is a filmmaker at the height of his powers, such a master that everyone else must want to give up and go home. This is fantastic - emotional, bleak, and like all of his films somewhat minimalist, seemingly pared to the bone but scoring a huge emotional punch by the end. Essentially a love story and an examination of old age and the ravages of time, it reminded me of Bergman and classics such as Winter Light, examinations of a loss of faith and meditations on mortality.

Amour by Michael Haneke.

For my final film of the festival, I am torn but eventually go with the Reygadas, Post Tenebras Lux, mostly because Simon is such a fan and also because it seems to have divided critics and hardcore cinephiles. Ever since Japon, Reygadas has had some very dedicated champions and he is certainly a filmmaker of originality and distinction. I don't really understand why it has attracted some of its vitriol - it's such confident, ambitious filmmaking beautifully made and deeply resonant. I can only assume it's because of its more anti-realist or should I say more bonkers moments? It reminds me of Latin American traditions of magical realism - I think you just have to go with it ultimately but it's a very beautiful film.

I manage to get to the airport early which may be a first for me and take my leave of Cannes which seems to end as it started, with a huge thunderstorm and torrential rain. Now I see why everyone seemed a little glum in the first week.

Cannes 2012 - Saturday 26 May

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:04:11 GMT

I am very impressed by our flat which is the nicest place I've ever stayed in about 15 years - it's bigger than my kitchen for a start. Even more impressively, it's 2 mins from the boulangerie which means you can collect a pain au chocolat on the way to the Palais. I think they should put that in the marketing blurb.

On to Mud directed by Jeff Nichols, which is this morning's competition screening. Nichols directed Shotgun Stories, which I loved as well as well as Take Shelter, which I haven't seen. This has quite a starry cast - Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Sam Shepherd included and a setting in Nichol's Arkansas roots. It centres on the friendship of two teenage boys, Ellis and Neckbone, and their discovery of a fugitive on an uninhabited island in the Mississippi where Ellis and his family make their home. The fugitive goes by the name of Mud, (played rather well by McConaughey), and is back in the neighbourhood to meet his childhood sweetheart, Juniper. The boys, particularly Ellis, seize upon this romance and enthusiastically work towards a successful tryst for the couple but reckon without the band of heavies and the law, who are on Mud's trail.

Mud by Jeff Nichols.

This is a sophisticated, ambitious and superior film with a great script which eschews the obvious for subtlety and nuance. The domestic travails of both boys is a backdrop to narratives about fatherhood and kinship, as in Shotgun Stories, and Nichols is a director who is fearless when faced with a broad canvas. For me, the resonances were Great Expectations, Whistle Down The Wind and Stand By Me. In the last several years there have been a number of festival hits based in small-town Americana, I'm thinking principally of such films as David Gordon Green's Undertow, and although I'd love to see this succeed at the box office I don't know if it will manage to break out.

After Mud, I meet a friend from the Guardian, who tells me that Matthew McConaughey is a nice man which is always nice to know about Hollywood stars...Then onto Im Sang-Soo's The Taste of Money, a stylish thriller about a powerful but morally bankrupt family and their employees. There's a lot of sex, nudity and cash, some humour and good touches but ultimately it's very unsatisfying, more than a little shallow and actually not very interesting.

Now time to catch up with Cosmopolis, where I have to diverge from critical taste (as espoused by the broadsheets). I pretty much hated it, found it theatrical and tiresome. It's extremely hot in the cinema and so bad body odours are the order of the day. If I wasn't sitting in the wrong place I would have left - I find it mystifying that it's garnered such critical praise. Taking aside my own views it's definitely for a niche audience; wordy, intellectual and without much visual pleasure or indeed, robust narrative. It's not just fans of Twilight who I think will be disappointed...

Finally today I manage to catch up with Sergei Loznitska's In the Fog, again strongly rated by the critics and compared to Elem Klimov's war classic Come and See. This is very accomplished filmmaking and typical of the masters of Eastern European cinema, beautifully shot, mise-en-scene exquisitely rendered and with the sparest of dialogue. It's set in German-occupied Soviet Russia during World War II and centres on Sushenya, a Russian railway worker, wrongly accused by partisans of collaborating with the enemy. After he's taken from his home by two of the footsoldiers of the movement to be executed one night, the film follows their journey through the forest with flashbacks to the circumstances that have brought them together. This falls short for me of an out-and-out classic, but it's still admirable filmmaking and as it's been picked up by New Wave, destined for UK cinemas in the near future.

Cannes 2012 - Friday 25 May

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:13:04 GMT

Hoorah! it's not raining, it is in fact quite sunny but true to form, despite the best efforts of Simon to get me a golden ticket for Cronenberg's Cosmopolis they won't let me, or the 100 or so other people at the tail end of the queue, into the screening. Never mind, this is only to be expected, it makes me feel at home..! Instead I join Simon in the queue for the Mishima film (11/25. The day Mishima chose his own fate!). Simon was a big fan of Koji Wakamatsu's United Red Army and an even bigger fan of Mishima so I am told I am not allowed to leave. This is quite frustrating as it turns out however, as the film doesn't really deliver on all fronts, leaving out more than it leaves in and overall seeming a lost opportunity given the unique source material.

We move on to Catherine Corsini's Three Worlds, showing here as part of Un Certain Regard. This unlike the Mishima film is engrossing, a very well-made drama about a hit-and-run accident and its impact on the perpetrator, victim and witness as well as their extended families. I think it will hit British screens almost definitely, as it's the kind of high class French cinema that appeals to audiences. It also has the requisite number of beautiful actresses, which makes one wonder if there are any unattractive people in France?

Three Worlds by Catherine Corsini.

By this time it's dinner time which is always good and we have a great post-mortem of the week and all the parties I've missed over some fantastic food.

Cannes 2012 - Thursday 24 May

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:57:40 GMT

Amazingly after 2 hours sleep we make it to the 8.30am competition screening of The Paperboy. It’s a testament to how engaging the film is that, none of us doze off, even for a second. Directed by Lee Daniels (Precious), the film stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, John Cusack and Nicole Kidman. It’s quite a strange mix of actors but The Paperboy provides some of the most interesting roles that most of them have had a chance to explore of late. The story is narrated by Macy Gray, who plays the maid and surrogate mother of Jack (Zac Efron), as she looks back over a summer in the late 60s, where Jack and his brother (Matthew McConaughey), Ward, a journalist from Florida, try and help a man on death row who they feel has not been given a fair trial. It sounds like the standard all-American tale of fighting injustice, but The Paperboy is much darker and haunting than it originally seems, as the prejudices of 60s American society bubble to the surface of each of the characters and lead to a very noir like conclusion.

Nicole Kidman in Lee Daniels' The Paperboy.

Hoping to stave off tiredness, Simon goes in search of breakfast for us all, as Sarah and I make our way to the queue for the Walter Salles film On The Road. Unfortunately the queue finally defeats us and we don’t make it into the screening. So Sarah and I head back to the apartment as she is leaving Cannes today, and I gather some composure and plan my next move.

After bidding goodbye to Sarah, I head off to a screening of 7 Days in Havana. This is a film made up of 7 short chapters, directed by 7 different directors (Benicio del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet) and tries to capture the spirit of the city in a particular moment in time, given the inevitable changes coming to Cuban society in the near future. I’m impressed by all of the shorts, and they seem to knit together well to give you a taste of Cuba and its people at this transitional point in its history.

This is my last day in Cannes, so I decide to round it off with a classic. My colleague Simon and I head off to watch a restored version of Jaws on the beach, and it’s just as good as we anticipate. There are jumps and screams amongst the audience and at the end some people even brave to go into the water. Not me, I’m suitably terrified once more of what lies beneath, so I head back to our apartment to get ready for my departure in the morning. Bon voyage Cannes, it was a fantastic trip.

Cannes 2012 - Wednesday 23 May

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:22:08 GMT

We get up bright and early to try and catch a 9am screening in Director's fortnight. We manage to make it out of the flat by 7.30am so I'm hoping that will be enough queuing time. After the emotionally draining screening the night before we are hoping for a more light-hearted fare this morning to ease us into the day. And that is exactly what we get, a superb animation called Ernest et Célestine from the makers of A Town Called Panic, about a bear and a mouse who battle the prejudices in their society to become friends. A beautifully drawn animation in a very different style from A Town Called Panic but with a similar sense of humour. In this animated world, bears live above the ground eating sweets and consequently losing their teeth. Whilst the mice live underground, and when the bears are asleep they sneak up to the land above to steal their teeth. There are some great comic moments in the film and I imagine it would be great to watch with children of about 7 or 8 who are just experiencing their first visits from the tooth fairy. A fab way to begin day two.

After Ernest et Célestine, we hot foot it over to the Palais, to see if we can get into Killing Them Softly. We queue for a hour and a quarter and just as we are at the very front of the queue they say "son plein (it's full!). Just as we were about to turn tail, another usher comes out and says two more, so we get the last seats.

Killing Them Softly is a slick gangster thriller by director Andrew Dominik and this is his second project with Brad Pitt following the critically acclaimed The Assassination of Jesse James...

Brad Pitt in Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly.

Although conventional in its story - three crooks knock over a card game of some mafia bosses, which unsurprisingly doesn’t end well - it is the sublime style, clever script and great acting that elevates this film above your normal run-of-the-mill gangster caper. Dominik creates great tension throughout and at the end you are left wanting more.

After a very successful morning we head over to the UK Film Centre to get ready for our drinks reception to celebrate the 2012 edition of the Developing Your Film Festival course, and we're in luck the sun has come out and it's a glorious evening to be sipping rosé on a beachfront terrace. With representatives from film festivals across Europe, and a multitude of familiar faces from exhibs and distribs from the UK we have a delightful evening, especially catching up with participants from last year's DFF course. As the drinks reception closes we just have enough time to grab some dinner before heading off for the competition screening of Holy Motors.

A couple of people at our drinks reception have warned me to go into Holy Motors with a very open mind as it's crazy, and their right it's crazy but it's great! We follow Mr Oscar as he travels in his limo to nine appointments, at each appointment playing a different role from beggar, to body motion capture artist, to accordion player, with many other wild and wacky characters in between. There is a great cameo from Kylie as another role player, who seems to know Mr Oscar from another life. But it is Denis Lavant's amazing physical performance as Mr Oscar that steals the show and makes for such compelling viewing, in the imaginative and surreal world that Leos Carax has created.

Eva Mendes in Holy Motors by Leos Carax.

We come out of Holy Motors on a high, so it’s a good job we have a party to go to, and what a party! Held in one of the chateau’s in the old part of the Cannes with fantastic views looking down over the whole of the town, it’s to celebrate 7 Days in Havana which is in Un Certain Regard and has been picked up for distribution in the UK by Soda Pictures. The party is fab, very Cuban themed with pretty much any rum based cocktail you can imagine, we dance away the night to some Havana soul till far too early in the morning. We finally hit the hay at about 5am, so the prospect of an 8.30am screening is not looking too appealing.

Cannes 2012 - Tuesday 22 May

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:32:13 GMT

Vitamined up, I have time for one more film before catching the bus to the airport. I choose Hors Les Murs, a drama about a passionate yet doomed love affair between two men, one a needy, floppy-haired youngster with a penchant for a spot of bondage, the other a confident and sexy Albanian barman-musician. What starts as a charming love story turns darker as one of them gets into trouble, forcing the couple apart, and becomes increasingly demanding on his lover. A moving journey through the stages of a troubled relationship.

Hors les Murs by David Lambert.

Predictably enough, the sun has come out just as I’m catching the bus to the airport. Andy from Dogwoof is sitting next to me on the plane, so we chat about movies, social enterprise and the unappealing in-flight snacks. And then to bed for a much-needed good night’s sleep.

Cannes 2012 - Tuesday 22 May

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:31:27 GMT

My very first time in Cannes and to say I'm a little excited to be here is a big understatement. I'm very lucky to have my colleague Becky as my guide, she's full of beans for the festival, has glorious skills and know-how when it comes to planning a full day of films - plus it's a joy to have a companion for the long queues and umbrella-holding duty!

I've heard it can be hard to get into films here even after hours of queuing, so it was a bit of a thrill to have success with our first attempt and first film, Le Grand Soir (dir. Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine), a French satire with a not so subtle message that modern consumer life (in suburban France anyway) is rubbish. It's about two emotionally estranged brothers: one, Not, the self-proclaimed 'oldest punk in Europe with a dog', who voluntarily lives a contented life on the streets and Jean-Pierre, a straight-laced mattress salesman. When the pressures of Jean-Pierre's work and marriage finally make him snap, his brother takes him under his wing, liberating him from his capitalist hell through some benign anti-establishment anarchy and mayhem.

Le Grand Soir by Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine.

Aside from some well-timed physical slapstick the mania and broad nature of the humour may not travel well, but the French contingency in the audience laughed heartily (and a few individuals hysterically). Me? Not so much but I was entertained, enjoyed the Euro punk soundtrack and a memorable cameo from loveable juggernaught Gérard Depardieu as a mystic fortune teller who can see into the future!

Cannes 2012 - Tuesday 22 May

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:26:49 GMT

On the internet bright and early we unfortunately missed out on tickets to the Walter Salles film On The Road but we did manage to get some for Holy Motors, an intriguing sounding film by Leos Carax with an even more intriguing cast including Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue. Happy in the knowledge that we'd be able to see at least one film, we set off for the first screening of the day.

With pain au chocolat consumed en route and a quick stop at the Palais to pick up today's screening guide, we joined our first queue. It's Sarah's first time in Cannes but I think even she is getting bored with my over enthusiasm, and my frequent declamations of "I'm so excited!" which get a response from a bystander who shouts out "yes we're in the queue"! However we've just been admitted to our first screening, a film by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern called Le Grand Soir, and it has to be said, I'm so excited!

With Le Grand Soir and The Sapphires (fab singing! The only time I've seen people dance out of the aisles at a festival) under our belt we head for a much needed coffee to plan our next move, especially seeing as the sun has managed to poke through the black clouds.

The Sapphires by Wayne Blair.

Taking full advantage of the cafe's wifi and by constantly pressing refresh on the browser we manage to scoop some tickets for the 8.30am screening of The Paperboy on Thursday. Deciding that a supermarket trip is much needed we plan to go to a late night screening and head off to stock the fridge with camembert.

We've had a good first day, we've managed to get into both films we queued for, and the sun has put in an appearance. So queuing for the 22.15 screening of À Perdre la Raison we are very buoyant.

We've read a short synopsis of the film, but it in no way prepares us for what we are about to see. The second scene in the film is of four small white coffins being boarded onto a plane so I know there will be no dancing in the aisles with this screening. The film then flashbacks five years earlier to provide the prelude to the four coffins.

The stars of A Prophet, Niels Arestrup and Tahar Rahim in À Perdre la Raison.

I sometimes struggle to truly engage with characters when I know a tragic ending is going to befall them. It is the casualty effect, I'm constantly waiting for someone to fall off a ladder or get run over. So this being said we then spent two hours watching a woman be mentally abused by her husband and doctor, unable to cope on her own with four young children, and spiral into deep depression.

My colleague Sarah and I had very different experiences of the film as she missed the opening scene. It was so interesting to hear how she had really gone on an emotional journey with the protagonist and was so shocked by the conclusion of the film. I think I would have preferred her screening experience.

All in all a very good first day!

Cannes 2012 - Monday 21 May

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:59:59 GMT

After a mad dash to Gatwick with the Victoria line suspended, my colleague Sarah and I finally made it to Cannes. We arrived about 11.30pm and were met by our colleague Simon who whisked us off to the very swanky Little White Lies party. With a bit of sleight of hand, we blagged 3 of if us in with just 2 wristbands.

What a fantastic way to start our Cannes experience, the initial cold weather had put a dampener on our spirits but they were soon revived by the amazing pop-up cinema club. They had really gone all out to create a totally immersive film-inspired venue. With secret rooms behind bookcases, a tiny jazz club and no detail overlooked, on coffee tables you would find anything from a book with a concealed hammer from The Shawshank Redemption to a full reproduction of the wallpaper from The Shining. A fab party! We made a brief stop at the afterparty at The Grand but deciding that we wanted to hit the ground running the next day, went back to the apartment for a relatively (for Cannes) early night. With a quick detour for a late night crêpe.

Simon had picked up our passes for us, so we just needed to get out hands on a screening schedule to plan our attack for the next day of screenings. We've heard horror stories from colleagues of queuing for 2 hours for films and not getting in, so we knew we needed a good strategy. With our initial plan sorted, we set our alarms ridiculously early to try and book tickets for a competition screening for Wednesday.

Cannes 2012 - Monday 21 May

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:29:55 GMT

I feel deeply guilty for complaining about a little rain during the next film. La Pirogue is a hard-hitting story about people from Senegal who try their luck crossing the seas to Spain in a rudimentary wooden fishing boat. As expected, much peril awaits. The men (and one woman) are well aware of the dangers but determined to make it to the “paradise” they believe to be Europe. Nothing formally striking to speak of, but the film serves its purpose to portray the hardships of such a journey.

La Pirogue by Moussa Touré.

In desperate need for something a little less heavy, I queue in the rain for Room 237, a brilliantly conceived documentary about far-fetched fan theories on the deep and hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, unquestionable after the – literal and metaphorical – death of the author. This is a wonderfully entertaining film for and about film buffs, composed of audio interviews with fans and visual clips mainly from Kubrick movies.

Did you know The Shining is about the plight of Native Americans? Or was it actually an outlet for Kubrick to confess his responsibility for faking the footage of the Apollo moon landings? The theories become increasingly absurd – and hilarious – but the film is not just about poking fun at the theorists (although it is a little). The repetition of key scenes, analysis of details in the mise en scène and survey of the architecture of the set guides you deeper and deeper into a hypnotic cinematic vortex. Personally I emerged with the theory that Room 237 itself has a far deeper meaning than it may at first seem, a tract on how art and its audience attempt to negotiate the horrors of humankind’s violent past. Or something.

Room 237 by Rodney Ascher.

I revive myself with a coffee with my pal Anna Higgs from Film 4.0 who, with back-to-back meetings on her agenda, is jealous of all the films I’ve seen. But I’m not destined to watch any more that day, as I waste two hours queuing for Rust and Bone and don’t get in. The night is not lost, however, as I meet up with Sally Griffith from Chapter and go to the Little White Lies party. Fantastic night catching up with old colleagues, making new friends, dancing to The Boss and generally making merry. My ICO colleagues Becky and Sarah arrive later, and after the after-party at the Grand Hotel the night ends with 3am crêpes. (Note: I’ve just read Becky’s blog post which refers to this as an “early night” – I feel so old!)

Cannes 2012 - Sunday 20 May

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

My second day begins well with a walk up the red carpet – for a distinctly non-glamorous morning screening, but at least I can report back to my mum on the filthy state of that carpet – to see Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt. I get thoroughly engrossed in this well-crafted drama about the devastating impact of a false accusation of paedophilia on a kindergarten assistant, played by Mads Mikkelsen, and on his own adolescent child. The young girl who makes the accusation does so almost by accident, melding a few disparate incidents into a jumble of confused words, but those words are then blown out of all proportion by the adult community who are all too ready to imagine the worst. While someone I speak to on the way out finds it a bit too easy, I find its insight into moral panic impactful and haunting.

The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg.

I’m on a roll, with another competition screening up next, Michael Haneke’s Amour. The title may suggest romance, but the love being explored is more about long-term support and devotion. A husband cares for his wife as her mental and physical health deteriorates through various states. The only embraces are as he helps her from her wheelchair or off the toilet. While unmistakably a Haneke film in its tight control of the shots, there are no sudden shocks, but the deeper shock of being confronted with mortality resonates deeply. Without being manipulative, the film elicits tears from the whole audience at one point or another.

If that wasn’t depressing enough, I emerge from the dark to be greeted by a stormy skied Cannes, palm trees shaking wildly and rain that would put a power shower to shame. I run back to the ICO apartment for shelter. My colleague Kate Taylor finds me there an hour later, wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea, scoffing biscuits and listening to acoustic era Sufjan Stevens. This is clearly not the rockin’ night she has in mind, so she changes the music and I’ve soon backcombed my hair and am back out into festival world.

I’d like to be able to say I choose the next film based on an analysis of the synopsis, but really it’s because it’s the next thing showing at the Arcades cinema where you can queue indoors. Hurrah! Plus I get to brush up on my French for an hour or so as this is a particularly friendly queue. To my relief Aliyah turns out to be pretty good, the tale of a Parisian drug dealer who, on a whim, decides he will start a new life in Tel Aviv where his cousin has been planning to set up a restaurant. Despite the relative ease of a Jew emigrating to Israel (“making aliyah”), all around him he faces hurdles to leaving as his brother continues to emotionally blackmail him for money, he falls for a saucy blonde, and people (justifiably) question his half-hearted motives for returning to the Promised Land. One way or another he must raise enough money to leave.

Cannes 2012 - Saturday 19 May

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Bonjour Cannes! A bit of a false start for my first day, but hey, that’s Cannes. Wielding my free festival pass, I queue for two hours for Augustine, but despite being fifth in line I still don’t manage to get in. The festival pass is free for a reason.

My feet are too swollen and my ego too bruised to queue for the late screening, so instead I meet Colin Burch from Verve Pictures for a consolatory drink in the place he assures me has “the best toilets in Cannes”. (If I told you where they are I’d have to kill you.)

Later we have pizza with Simon Ward from the ICO who is limbering up for the midnight screening of Dario Argento’s Dracula 3D. My evening ends with a stroll on the harbour and a game of “guess the cost of the yacht”, and I go to bed comforted in the thought that I’ve managed to secure two tickets for competition films tomorrow.

Rotterdam 2012 - Dark Days and Dancing (Day 4)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:37:22 GMT

I start the day with Future Lasts Forever, a Turkish feature following Sumru, a woman who travels to Anatolian city Diyarbakir to make sound recordings of traditional elegies. There she meets Ahmet a charming man who runs a small arthouse DVD stall in the market and helps her to meet and record the stories of massacres that have happened in the Kurdish villages nearby.

Sumru's motives however, are entangled in the search to find her lost lover, a revolutionary fighter, and the film treads a fine line balancing the serious matter of collective remembrance, and her personal wistfulness. It is mostly successful in this regard, and while there may be one shot too many of her sleepless nights, where the audience is invited to gaze rather than enquire, it remains a stirring meditation on who will ask the questions when no one wants the answers to exist.

After such a heavy start, watching Girimunho (Swirls) is a total pleasure. Immediately we are thrown into a street party, in the small village of São Romão in deepest Brazil, where octogenarian Maria sings and drums to keep it jumping. Grandma Bastu returns from dancing and berates her husband for being boring. When he dies the next day, she does not shed a tear.

As we follow Bastu and her grandchildren and neighbours, a picture emerges of a community of refreshingly spirited female characters. As the supernatural impinges, with ghosts and memories haunting Bastu's mind, she embarks on a journey to find resolution. Both joyful and honest, this is an affirming film that will lift the audiences that get to see it, and is all the more remarkable for being the debut feature from directors Helvécio Marins Jr and Clarissa Campolina.

Ruben Östlund's Play is more of a slap in the face to audiences, challenging socialist ethics and considering what happens when you scratch a liberal. Based on the true case in Gothenburg where a gang of kids robbed 40 fellow children of their mobile phones between 2006 and 2008, Play follows, in matter-of-fact wideshots, the story of three 12-year-old middle class children, as they are threatened and cajoled by a group of immigrant black children a little older than themselves.

Physical violence hangs in the air, yet is only metered out within the gang against one of their own who wants to quit. Instead, a string of sadistic psychological games is played out by the boys over the course of the day, inspired by a mixture of boredom and disenfranchisement. Adults are soon found to be of little use to our victim trio, and the film presents an uncomfortable schism in retribution, with a group of working class guys taking active violent revenge, while a middle class father confronts the situation through a passive aggressive bout of counter-crime.

In a parallel story on a train we encounter the protracted pleas from the train manager about items left in the vestibule area - building into a crescendo of social embarrassment to do with confronting the Other. Hell, it's all uncomfortable, and while my first kneejerk thought is to wonder if the film could be used to push forward a conservative agenda, my second is to attempt to unpack what is actually in the film and how much prejudice I bring to it - do the race, class and social conditions of the characters even matter? Certainly it is a film that needs to be discussed, particularly as it illustrates that so much of the adults' culpability is contingent on a fear of dealing with other people.

Now for something completely different, as we witness Vincent Gallo directing UFO traffic in the sky though a series of slinky hip shifts and air punches, to a snazzy electronic soundtrack. If the first 20 seconds of La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser, as displayed in the film's trailer, don't grab you, then it's best to leave now.

In a monochrome coastal town, we meet the Sheriff and the Pusher (both played by Gallo), the Duchess, the Priest and the Whore, and follow (sort of) their responses to the arrival of androgyne Kaspar Hauser (Silvia Calderoni), washing up on the shore from unknown origins with a pair of DJ headphones perpetually attached. It's an absurdist romp, mixing wild improvisation from the Sheriff and broad Italian humour from the Priest, with a love of offbeat imagery - mule rides on the beach, a giant hyperdermic needle, a black kitten covered in washing powder - infused with several scenes where they just decide to crank up the Vitalic soundtrack and have a dance around.

It's a good looking hipster concoction and would play well in a cult film or midnight movies slot. At the public screening on the gigantic Pathe 1 screen, the director complained that his film was never meant for a screen that big, and indeed while cinematic, you can also imagine a large audience for this film will eventually be online, with strong streaming potential.

Sunday evening is the Industry Party, where I meet some filmmakers, including Lawrence Tooley, director of one of last year's Tiger highlights Headshots, and the Now Forager directors, who received a compliment from one audience member who had to leave before the Q&A because the film stimulated his tastebuds so much he had to rush home and eat some fine cheese. Tips on which films to catch are swapped with Helen de Witt of London Film Festival, Ed Lawrenson of The Daily Tiger (the festival's in-house newspaper) and Al Clark, producer at Wellington Films in town for meetings at Cinemart.

Then it's onto the dancefloor for the obligatory bop to Blue Monday, which plays at every film festival party ever, and off into the night, following a day of eclectic cinema, alternating between thought-provoking and booty-shaking.

Rotterdam 2012 - Mushrooms, Revolution and Cocktail Lounge Americana (Day 3)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:02:05 GMT

There is something wonderful about walking through a city at 8.45am on a Saturday on your way to a 9.15am screening, with all the hope that you'll discover a gem. Now, Forager: A Film About Love and Mushrooms starts with a similar urge from its couple protagonists, Lucien and Regina, rising early to head into the woods and forage for fungi.

A food film with a focus on the labour behind food, and a romance that begins at the point where the relationship is already drifting apart, Now Forager has much to admire, and will do well programmed in any season around cuisine, with particular resonance with the slow food movement, and beyond that is a smart American indie that could find fans who like their drama thoughtful. On the way to the next venue I buy an apple, and remind myself "this grew from a seed, which was planted in an orchard and picked and transported…"

Then, Bingo! I encounter the first new feature that totally makes all the cinephile senses tingle. It is a portrait of Japanese filmmaker and revolutionary Maseo Adachi by French filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux, titled Il se peut que la beauté ait renforcé notre resolution (It May Be That Beauty Has Strengthened Our Resolve). The film mixes a soundtrack of Adachi's sometimes elliptical recollections of his inspiration to become a filmmaker and his time in the Red Army Faction and Beirut, with glimmers of music and occasionally Grandrieux's own testimony, with contemporary visuals of Adachi, often at twilight, in the playground with his grandchild or in the bars of Tokyo, and glimpses of footage from Adachi's own films.

As a paean to the creative spirit it is inspirational, and as a reminder of the repercussions of living through a revolution that failed it is absolutely riveting. Asides from one collaboration with Wakamatsu, I had only come across Adachi as a name in books, so I'm happily resolved to see more of his, and indeed Grandrieux's (who is planning a series of portraits of politically committed filmmakers) ouvres.

Tiger contender Romance Joe, director Lee Kwang-Kuk's debut feature, is at first so reminiscent of his former mentor that he might be dubbed Hong Sang-two. We have plots revolving around filmmakers transplanted to unfamiliar hotel environments, and in the first few minutes a drunken argument across a table, prompting a strong sense of déjà vu. However, Kwang-Kuk departs with a meta-element to the story by placing nearly all the characters as contingent on the narrator relating them, meaning that accounts of the web of interconnected characters are only as (un)reliable as the storyteller. It's a slight film, shot plainly, but as winner of Busan's audience award, it will be of interest to fans of low-key Korean cinema.

The videotheque at Rotterdam is the best that I know of and one that other festivals would do well to replicate. A closed circuit wi-fi network means that films in the library can be seen by delegates on any laptop inside de Doelen, the festival's hub building. And the room itself has ample viewing stations, this year open until 11pm each night, meaning it's possible to catch up on films outside the screening schedule.

Here I see The Great Northwest, an imaginative travelogue by Matt McCormick. Having picked up a scrapbook in a junkshop, documenting a road trip made by four women around the Northwest of America in 1958, McCormick decided to recreate the journey, recording the places they visited over 50 years later.

The scrapbook is a wonderful document in itself, lovingly compiled of photos, beer mats, napkins and cocktail menus (the ladies liked to drink), and even starts with the withdrawal receipts from the women's checking accounts, $370. On the 3,200 mile journey, most striking on the surface is what's changed, including whole towns wiped out, with the filmmaker indicating the various historical catalysts; highway construction and dam-building, the decline of the mining industry and the eruption of Mount St Helens. But also striking is what remains identical, with the kitsch of roadside diners and neon motels taking on a different hue when situated as the heroic survivors of bygone taste.

McCormick resists the urge to place himself at the centre of things, there is no voiceover, and his mainly factual commentary is written onscreen over the images that he captures. Yet this journey is definitely his own, and he has a friendly eye for the absurd, be it the overzealous proprietress at a ride-a-stuffed-moose attraction, the hundreds of tourists all waiting to take identical photos of the great geysers (which he teasingly refuses to show), and the highlight of any road trip - winding ever so carefully through a herd of slow moving cattle - the funniest edge-of-your-seat single shot of the festival so far. I can imagine this film will travel well at festivals, and while distinctly lo-fi in production values may hamper wider release, it would be enjoyed by many.

Then I play catch up with Sack Barrow, Ben Rivers' 21-minute art documentary shot in the Servex Ltd factory, a metal finishing and polishing plant in Hemel Hempstead.

The colour palette, down to the blue boiler suits, wouldn't feel out of place in a Kaurismaki film, walls of blue and green and machinery in various shades of brown. But this is not the clinical environs we imagine of modern-day industry, rather the factory exudes a 1970's vibe, with topless pin-ups torn from magazines on the walls, and the time capsule feel echoed by the mineral-encrusted pipes. Perhaps the steaming chemicals rising from great vats have pickled the premises. It's an affectionate portrait, and ends with an unexpectedly joyful twist, with a cheeky use of soundtrack.

Dinner follows, swapping best festival war stories with a couple of programmers from Abandon Normal Devices and Cine-City Brighton Film Festival over Mexican food, and the illicit thrill (at least for us UK-ers) of smoking indoors at the cigar bar next to the Schouwburg venue. My best film day so far, and time spent foraging has been well rewarded.

Rotterdam 2012 - In Absentia (Day 2)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:16:14 GMT

Friday starts in a rustic mode, with two very different set films in the countryside.

Nana follows the almost unbearably charming eponymous four-year-old as she hangs out on the farm where her father works, and then in the remote house she shares with her mother, who is perhaps depressed. When her mother leaves one day and does not return it is up to Nana to take care of herself, something that she does with aplomb. Occasionally Nana could be confused for a tiny old lady, so clear she is in her outlook, and this is a highly unsentimental account of the resourcefulness of a child's capacity for self-sufficiency.

I was attracted to Nana on account of its director Valérie Massadian’s previous work with Nan Goldin, and certainly this background in photography lends a fantastic sense of composition to proceedings, whether it's the scenery as Nana goes picking wood in the forest, or the matter-of-fact slaughter of a pig at the film's opening. Winner of best debut at the Locarno Film Festival, this film would probably translate well to UK cinema audiences.

Rural Poland is our setting for It Looks Pretty From A Distance, the debut feature by artists Wilhelm and Anka Sasnal, in contention for the Tiger Award. Starting in a deceptively low-key realist manner, it does indeed look pretty, as we watch the inhabitants of a poor village go about their labouring, gossiping and trying to scrape money together, always filmed with a remarkable depth in the image, people and objects covering distance in the frame.

When a man walks into the forest and does not return to his property for a few days, things start to get truly weird, as the villagers move in on the house, and a darkness at the heart of the community becomes apparent, shocking in the routine nature of its atrocities. It's a measured film that unfolds slowly, with few footholds for the audience, making it tough viewing, but its impression lingers. It also spells my first official theme to emerge (three films = a theme, right?), which is people going AWOL into the forest.

We're back in the metropolis for Tokyo Playboy Club, another Tiger Award contender. This time a gangster comedy, where a brothel owner finds himself in hot water when an idiotic employee steals money from the till and an old friend returns to town who cannot put a lid on his violent temper. After a promisingly stylish opener the film was happy to slide into some pretty painful clichés (the dimwitted prostitutes irked me most, but then every single character was meant to be a bit dim), and in the end I had to put this down to a difference in sense of humour.

Someone else absent without leave in Rotterdam was Aki Kaurismaki, and after 25 minutes had elapsed in the sold out event for Le Havre, meant to feature a Big Talk (IFFR's director in-conversation events that happen before the film), the audience started a slow clap. Whether drunk, or just not enamored of the format, Kaurismaki proved a truculent and unwilling interviewee, sitting on the floor of the set, and giving three word answers under his breath. The interviewer did well to remain composed and kept trying to coax a little more responsiveness from him, but when he needled "why are you so nervous?" she replied "I think I need a drink!" got a big cheer and then the audience boo-ed him off.

The film itself is probably brilliant. It was certainly good looking and seemed to have Kaurismaki's deadpan humour in abundance from the audience response. However, I made my first slip-up on not checking the subtitles in advance, which were in Dutch, so the film became an exercise in testing my GCSE French to the limit. I look forward to re-watching it on its release in the UK in April.

Rotterdam 2012 - Poetic Daring Weird Hilarious Sick Film (Day 1)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:08:18 GMT

Back in the 'dam and ready for some mind-bending cinema, fueled by Vietnamese street food and coffee caught between venues. This year we are promised a leaner selection of films, following last year's occasionally scattershot programme quality. Day one begins and ends with scenes of a sexual nature, a bookending of blow jobs, and a sharp reminder of the daring nature of programming that Rotterdam prides itself on.

We begin with Clip, a Serbian film on adolescent lust, in competition for the festival's Tiger Award. Pretty teenager Jasna perpetually documents her life through her cameraphone, and desperate to catch the attention of a boy at her school, records herself in a series of sexy poses with an MTV lingerie aesthetic that contrasts her humble family life where her father faces terminal illness.

The film brings to mind last year's Tilva Rosh, also at IFFR, which involved a pair of Serbian skater kids, knocking around in abandoned spaces and recording themselves doing Jackass-style stunts. Clip shares the commentary on a youth to whom self-documentation is a normalised form of expression and escape, but also a catalyst to self-destruction, and there is common nihilism at play.

All the pleasure less bumping and grinding of Clip is certainly pretty depressing, and the film wallows in the murky waters of pornification, so concerned with a harsh authenticity while characters remain underdeveloped, that a wider social commentary is conspicuous by its absence. Any film that has a much-needed title card on the end credits to reassure the audience that no underage persons were involved in the nudity or sexual acts, is unlikely to translate to non-festival environments

In total contrast, Ace Attorney is the latest film from Takashi Miike, based on a Capcom videogame. A big messy confetti canon of a film, the first ten minutes are such baffling mélange of genre and narrative modes that it takes a while to recover. Less steampunk than megabyte fever dream, 'cyber-baroque' might cover it.

A new bench trial system is the setting for a series of courtroom battles as rookie lawyer Phoenix Wright must establish the murderer of his partner, in pitched battles with counsel, where virtual CSI projections are summoned at will, and the drama hinges on a well-placed holler of "Objection!" across the room.

Aided by the victim's sister, a spirit medium conjuring encouraging words from beyond the grave, and his hyper friend in the role of the slapstick fool, elements of broad comedy and the supernatural blaze through with a zaniness that only falters due to repetition and the extended running time. Also, Wright is no Sherlock, and any crime fans will be frustrated with the pace, especially as the culprit becomes clear to the audience a good hour before our hero twigs on. But there is a definite charm here that could appeal to children, who may also be more enamored of its surreal flourishes. One for the 8 ½ foundation, perhaps?

Staying in Japan, but heading back into low-budget territory, next is About the Pink Sky, a black and white digital feature with non-professional actors. Our heroine is Izumi, a thirteen year old with a leftfield sense of morality, who finds a wallet containing 300,000 yen. As she uses her own cheeky logic on the redistribution of wealth, we watch as she tries to wriggle out of the consequences, which include producing a newspaper full of good news for a boy her friend has a crush on. Photographed impeccably, it's an airy, light film, that relies on the audience falling for Izumi's charms, but she is neither a Zazie nor a Juno, and to this viewer it remains a wispy confection.

The highlight of the day, by far, came in the form of Tiger Award for Short Films Programme 1, with the selection offering the kind of perception-altering experiences that make IFFR a destination for examining the edges of cinema.

Im Freien was filmed in Iceland by a crew of three, where an image was captured every three minutes for three months (with a half an hour break to change the film rolls every eight days). As a silent 23 minute film, it was not only a feat of time-lapse and double exposures, but its rough terrain vs modernist leanings place it in an interesting land art context, which intersects with the likes of Semiconductor, although by placing a body in the frame director Albert Sackl diverges by asking questions about nature and Man with a capital M.

Mati Diop will be known to many for her lead role in Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rhum. Having won the Tiger Award for her short Atlantiques in 2010, Diop returns with a couple of films in this year's festival. Big In Vietnam takes as it's starting point a film shoot for what seems a pretty schlocky period adaptation about 'sensuality', but departs from here when the lead actor wanders deep into the forest, never to return. The director and her son head in opposite directions and a long night and morning of the soul ensues on the streets of Marseilles. Shot in a grungy digital this is a moving and perceptive meditation on lost people, that shows immense sensitivity.

Influenced by Dick Hebdige's classic tome on subculture, Phil Collins presented the meaning of style, a five-minute lyrical portrait of a group of skinheads in Malaysia. Reveling in the sharp fashion against locations including a basic cinema and a palatial terrace, the film hints at questions around colonial legacy, and the anti-fascist origins of the skinhead movement, while a set of butterflies add to a pretty aesthetic, wrapped in a soundtrack from Gruff Rhys & Y Niwl.

The last film in the programme, Springtime, harked to a 1970's performance art tradition, where filmmaker Jeroen Eisinga, sits in front of the camera, with a swarm of bees covering his arms, torso, and eventually his face. Maintaining a stare into the camera lens for as long as he can keep his eyes open, in black and white the creatures squiggle all over him like television static, disappearing into the wall behind. Uncomfortable viewing becomes hypnotic, underscored by the fact that this is a potentially fatal stunt.

Finally a total treat to end the day was George Kuchar: Wrap Party, a screening of the last two films Kuchar completed before his death in 2011. Having been lucky enough to see a selection of Kuchar's Christmas films in London as part of the launch of the excellent Kuchar-flavoured edition of Little Joe magazine, I was prepared for the mix of weather commentary, diaristic monologue and filthy interludes of HotSpell, detailing Kuchar's motel encounter with some bad meteorological mojo. Meanwhile, Empire of Evil is pure trash noir, with an orgy of students from the San Francisco Art Institute camping it up as a homoerotic crime syndicate self-destructs turning innocents to killers, and good girls bad. My festival has begun!

Edinburgh 2010 - Monday 21 June

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:15:54 GMT

I didn't manage as much sleep as I'd hoped, due to neighbours in my guesthouse inexplicably pounding up and down the creaky floors from 5am to 7am. Luckily the first film, Nothing Personal, is a goodie. A young woman discards her possessions, leaves her home and sets out towards the Irish coast with her tent on her back. Evoking the protagonist of Agnes Varda's Vagabond, she is petulant and fiercely independent, with no time for polite conversation. When she meets Stephen Rea, a widower living in solitude in a pretty house on a rocky outcrop, she agrees to work in his garden in exchange for meals, on the strict understanding that they share no information about themselves. But their mutual curiosity gradually gets the better of them. This is a stunning film, with beautifully composed shots and displaying a delicate sensitivity to texture and colour. Although we never find out about the characters' backgrounds, it manages to engage and move on a deep level.

Next up is Undertow, a gay ghost-hunk romance, if you will. Living in a close-knit Peruvian fishing village, Miguel is in a loving relationship with his heavily pregnant wife, but also having a clandestine affair with a rich outsider, photographer–painter Santiago. As they discover, forbidden love is easier when one member of the couple is invisible to the neighbours. An inventive crowd pleaser that had the audience dabbing their eyes as the lights came up.

For my last film of the festival I pick Au Revoir Taipei. Young Kai is a sensitive soul who just wants to get to Paris to visit his girlfriend, for whom he's painstakingly learning basic French phrases. Working at his parents' noodle shack is not enough to raise the money for the flight, so he takes on some extra work trafficking a mysterious package. Kai and the cute girl from the local bookstore end up on the run from both hapless hoodlums and equally hapless cops, on the crowded, colourful, neon-lit streets of Taipei. A lighthearted caper that had everyone chuckling and doing the lindy hop out of the auditorium. At last! A happy ending! And with that, I head to Waverley to catch my train home. Over and out.

Edinburgh 2010 - Sunday 20 June

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:14:32 GMT

It turns out that I wouldn't have been able to get into the ceiligh last night anyway, as no one was leaving since the knees up was being led by none other than Sean Connery. Sounds rubbish.

The day begins with The Crab, a tale of an Nuyorican intellectual with ecrodactyly, or claw hands syndrome. More significantly, he has a self-destructive tendency, drinking himself into a stupor, picking fights on the street, robbing prostitutes and doing a great job of offending everyone he meets. His bellicose exterior, however, belies a passion for the Romantic poets: in fact, he could have been an academic but, too self-absorbed to acknowledge other people, he refuses to add citations to his thesis. He becomes infatuated with his best friend's new girlfriend, a smart and beautiful woman who takes her deafness in her stride, which leads him into an even deeper spiral of despair. A bold take on issues of disability and identity, with strong performances, but the film is overlong.

I feel the need to watch something more upbeat, so pick Thunder Soul, a documentary celebrating the Kashmere Stage Band, an all black high school group from Houston, Texas that hit the big time in the early 1970s. While other school stage bands at the time were churning out the same old sanitized jazz, band director Conrad "Prof" Johnson moved with the times and wrote funk tunes for his band and choreographed dance moves to turn their set into a dazzling show. They toured internationally, recorded records (sampled by DJ Shadow) and became a source of pride for the local community. On the occasion of Prof's 92nd birthday, the original members of the band, now in their late 40s, come together to stage a celebratory concert. The film is an uplifting love-in, but unfortunately too niche to make it onto UK screens beyond the festival circuit.

I take time out from films to attend an industry discussion about the recent report commissioned by the UK Film Council, 'The Cultural Impact of British Film: 1946 — 2006'. Mark Cousins, who chairs the event, is wearing a tie belonging to Michael Powell. Researchers examined a selection of films, both those in the canon and a random selection of forgotten films. It will be interesting to see whether the new government will be convinced about the cultural value of film beyond its economic impact.

After a catch up coffee with Lesley Anne Rose, who has just finished working at Northern Film and Media, I buy a ticket for Nénette upon the recommendation of a random person I meet in the Filmhouse bar. The latest documentary by Nicholas Philibert (of Être et Avoir fame) is a gentle portrait of the 40 year old orangutan exhibited in the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, the oldest inhabitant of the world's oldest zoo. The film consists of 68 minutes of static camera shots focused entirely on the beast, the outside world only glimpsed through the occasional hazy reflection in the glass of the enclosure. Commentary is provided by the humorous conversations that visitors to the menagerie have between themselves — desperate attempts to decipher the animal that remains a mystery throughout — with the waves of excited hubbub followed by disconcertingly silent periods after closing time. A handsome and thought-provoking gem of a film.

I stay in the Cameo for The Hunter, a revenge thriller set in Tehran, written by, directed by and starring Rafi Pitts (It's Winter). An ex-con and night watchman finds out that his wife and daughter have been killed in the crossfire during a shoot out between police and insurgents, so he goes on the rampage picking off policemen at long range with his hunting rifle. It was nominated for the Golden Bear at Berlin, but personally I found it unengaging.

Earlier in the day I spotted one of the actors from Vacation!, my favourite film so far, in the Filmhouse (only just resisting the temptation to ambush her and ask if I can be her new best friend), so was plotting to watch it again at the public screening. However, by this point I'm feeling my eyelids droop so opt for my pyjamas instead.

Edinburgh 2010 - Saturday 19 June

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:13:37 GMT

The morning starts off bright and early with Obselidia, a romance (of sorts) between a librarian, who's obsessed with the past who is compiling an Encyclopedia of Obsolete Things, and one of his interviewees, a projectionist at the local LA silent movie theatre. The opening titles were fantastic, a series of slide projections featuring Victorian illustrations, but the rest of the film was disappointing, with ridiculous dialogue, pretentious references to Sebald and Antonioni dropped in willy-nilly, and annoying performances.

Ironically enough, after the film I met the projectionist, who was praising the HD Cam format which allowed him to “just press play”, a development that the film's protagonists were lamenting. Discuss.

I can't be bothered to trek over to Cineworld so stay put in Filmhouse 1, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the synopsis of the next film, Vacation! But I loved it! Four cool (and horny) young women, old school friends, take a trip to the beach for a week to hang out and catch up. Despite the premise, it's a world apart from Sex and the City: a very low budget American indie movie, with candy colours, electro-pop soundtrack and American Apparel wardrobe. Even when the holiday turns into a nightmare, it never lets up on the realism or the genuine humour. I want to be on holiday with them too!

Next up is Monsters. It's been described as Before Sunrise-meets-District 9, but to me it felt more like Jurassic Park-meets-In Search of a Midnight Kiss (with the same male lead as the latter). When central America becomes contaminated with aliens (giant floating octopi), a young press photographer is asked by his boss to chaperone his daughter out of the zone and back to the safety of the United States. Inevitably a romance blossoms between them along the hazardous journey. It was well shot and well scripted, with endearing lead performances, but there wasn't enough action for it to be exciting and we never learnt enough about the aliens for it to be scary. A few journalists I spoke to afterwards loved it, but I didn't really get it.

I stuff down some nachos, then rush over to Cineworld for The Dry Land. Esther, who used to work at the ICO and is currently coordinating screenings for the festival, excitedly informs me that America Ferrera (the star of the film) just touched her arm. Shame the movie isn't that exciting – a relentlessly bleak issue film about an Iraq war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and struggling to fit back into life at home. But it's a contender for an Audience Award and the programmers I spoke to who'd seen it thought it was great. I was tired. And the ceiligh which sounded like a good idea two hours ago suddenly seems impossibly energetic so I stumble home to bed.

Edinburgh 2010 - Friday 18 June

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:09:51 GMT

Today was the Organising Accessible Screenings course, devised in partnership with Shape and funded by Skillset and Scottish Screen, with support from Edinburgh International Film Festival. The course was fantastic – it's the third time I've sat through it and it's still inspiring. The feedback was really positive – everyone was talking excitedly afterwards about the changes they're going to make and initiatives they're going to start to ensure their venues and festivals are more welcoming to all.

After the course, I catch A Real Life (Au Voleur), starring Guillaume Dépardieu (in one of his last roles before he died of pneumonia) as a compulsive thief who develops an unlikely relationship with a supply teacher. The first half hour is nothing to write home about, but all of a sudden it takes a Bonnie and Clyde-meets-Night of the Hunter turn, grabbing at the heartstrings and lingering on the mind long after the screening finishes.

Later I grab a bite to eat (my annual Filmhouse chickpea curry) with a friend from my MA course and have a catch up over a well-deserved beer with Simon Duffy from the BFI, before bedtime.

Edinburgh 2010 - Thursday 17 June

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:06:40 GMT

Tilly here, reporting from Edinburgh Film Festival 2010. I'm primarily here for the Organising Accessible Screenings course that I'm managing tomorrow, but seeing as I've come all this way I might as well watch some films and catch up with colleagues.

The first people I see after walking into the Filmhouse bar are Hal Branson from Side Cinema and Tom Higham from AV Festival, who have also just arrived. They tell me about the new festival they're organizing in Newcastle in the Autumn, Press Play. The flyers they're wielding boast the intriguing strap line “Films you really want to see”. Ooh I do!

I'm pleased with the first film I've picked, Winter's Bone. Set in the harsh Missouri backwoods, it stars a young Renée Zellweger lookalike as 17-year-old Ree, who sets out to find her ne'er do well father who has jumped bail and put the family home up as bond. Living on the poverty line with her two young siblings and unresponsive mother, the resilient Ree ensures her family survives by shooting and skinning squirrels and accepting handouts from a neighbour. This is the only neighbourly gesture she's going to get, we soon discover, as she sinks deeper into a world of shady crack dealers and violent grandmas as she persists from house to house hunting her father (this is a phone-free world).

Dark, grizzly and extremely tense, it's also beautifully shot in a washed-out palette, and the camera lingers just long enough on the details of the environment. The soundtrack is also impressive, with country and blues played by local non-professional actors.

Second up is Family Tree, a French drama focusing on tensions in a rich family living in a sprawling Alsatian pile. The patriarch reveals a family secret dating back to the Second World War, a bombshell which has repercussions for the whole family, as well as highlighting an uncomfortable truth about the French state's past. Much shouting, drinking and listening to Wagner ensues. An interesting plot development, but fairly conventional and rather heavy on the symbolism.

Headed back to base camp at a reasonable hour in order to prepare for the course tomorrow…

Cannes 2010 - Sunday 23 May

Sun, 23 May 2010 18:31:47 GMT

Catharine's blog

The last Sunday in Cannes is a great day as they repeat all the Competition films and although you do have to queue it's not nearly as annoying as earlier in the week. There's a holiday feel in the air and most of the hassly, bustly Cannes atmosphere seems to have dissipated. We manage to see both Iñárritu's Biutiful and the Mike Leigh although both being over 2 hours it does kind of wipe out most of the morning and early afternoon. I enjoyed Biutiful - apparently the critics have laid into it but I find it elegiac and I think Javier Bardem puts in an astounding performance. It also reminds me of Dirty Pretty Things with its examination of the underbelly of western society and the exploited illegal immigrants who keep the economy moving. I wasn't a big fan of Happy Go Lucky but Another Year is light years away from this and real return to form. There seems to have been a reunion of casts from 2 decades or so ago and this has a real touch of authenticity to it as though Leigh is examining his own generation, at their happiest and their most desperate. I think it's his best film for some time and of course, there are the usual toe curlingly hilarious moments which characterise his work.

We tidy up the flat and then it's time to catch the bus - we meet the two Adams from the QUAD Derby who have had enough and are going to the airport 5 hours early…I've had a great time though, I feel like we've seen a few highlights with none of the hassle, and although there's been nothing amazing - there are still some very interesting filmmakers at work.

Cannes 2010 - Saturday 22 May

Sat, 22 May 2010 18:30:59 GMT

Catharine's blog

One thing has definitely changed which is my ability to get up for 8.30am screenings and we even have time to breakfast by the marina on croissants and coffee. My younger self would have staggered to the cinema with 5 minutes to spare but I'm feeling very bouncy and very awake which is good preparation for a just under 3 hour epic, The Exodus - Burnt by the sun 2. I stay awake through it which is a good sign! for an 8.30am film - I believe the critics have been very critical of it, but actually it is very well made with some well realised scenes although too long. Carol thinks it's too reminiscent of the classic Come and See, whilst falling far short of this in terms of quality, but it's actually really great to see a Russian film here I think, as so little gets distributed in the UK.

We go to the repeat screening of Outside of the Law from the director of Days of Glory - it's had a lot of publicity out here and there were riot police everywhere yesterday for its premiere, as it centres on the struggle for Algerian independence, clearly still an emotive subject in France. Again, I liked this - it's long but has the epic quality of a family drama stretching across generations and its focus on three brothers and their different engagements with exile, oppression and struggle I found gripping. It's well-made, beautiful production design, and some great performances. Word this year is that people are generally disappointed in the programme but I'm genuinely appreciating everything I see, even if not entirely successful, there's certainly ambition in this year's programme.

Simon has got us tickets to the new Ken Loach, Route Irish, so this is next a late addition to the programme. Route Irish is the notorious road to the airport in Baghdad considered the most dangerous highway in the world and the film focuses on the private and unpoliced security companies who patrol it. It begins with a funeral in Liverpool of one of those security men and the investigation by his friend of his last weeks and events leading up to his death. Ken Loach is incapable of making anything other than great films in my view - he is such an uncompromising, fearless and unashamedly political filmmaker. For me, this is not his best work but still streets ahead of nearly everything else and full of passion and rage about the war in Iraq and its effects on those who live and serve there. It also seems to be the only film we've seen under 2 hours, everything is very long.

Saturday night we were going to watch Jacques Cousteau sur le plage but seemed to end up going to dinner instead (!) - but it can get chilly on the beach and we had no blankets...

Cannes 2010 - Friday 21 May

Fri, 21 May 2010 18:30:18 GMT

Catharine's blog

Simon meets us off of the bus which is very nice as we have absolutely no idea where we are going. I haven't been to Cannes for 3 years and Carol hasn't been for 9 years so am wondering if things will have changed at all. But no! It's exactly the same which is quite comforting strangely although the weather could be better, I think it might be hotter in the UK. We go and drop our stuff and then hit the Debussy for our first film which is in Un Certain Regard, Life, Above All, a South African drama about the stigma of HIV. It centres on 12 year old Chandra, her family and her best friend Esther and the devastation that the illness is causing in the community even though it's not acknowledged. Chandra's baby sister has just died and she is attempting to hold her family together despite the whispers of the neighbours. It's fantastic to see a film which has such strong performances by women at its core and I think what a great film this would be for a children's film festival - the young actress who plays Chanda is fantastic and I think it would really work for an 11+ audience - it's brave and bold and very moving. Obviously we are both in tears by the end.

We head home to change and then meet Ben from Artificial Eye for dinner with Simon and Sally from Chapter, Cardiff. Ben has seen everything and tells us what's hot and what's not - they have a cannibal zombie film he's going to have a look at in the am which sounds intriguing - I think we may have some tickets for something slightly more worthy, however which is a bit of a shame.

We have had to find some glad rags for the 10.30pm red carpet screening which is Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Apichatpong made a film for our last edition of The Artists Cinema so it's nice to see him here even if it's only the back of his head as he comes into the theatre. If you like his films, you'll love this, if not, it may not win him any new fans although it does have a fabulous monkey ghost in it and a great dinner scene where the monkey comes to dinner. It has a classic formality to it, beautiful framing, as with all of his films and is witty and original.

We are very tired now, it's been a long day so home to bed and perhaps the most uncomfortable sofa bed in the world.

Cannes 2010 - Tuesday 18 May

Tue, 18 May 2010 18:29:20 GMT

Sarah's blog

On Tuesday I somehow fail to get up as early as planned (hmm) but make it into the first film I head for: Life, Above All by Oliver Schmitz (his third film to be selected for the festival). Chanda, a young girl in South Africa, is her mother’s eldest and takes charge of the family after her youngest half-sibling dies. Her father is dead, her stepfather a drunken bum, and her mother is mysteriously ill. After rumours force her mother to flee, Chanda follows her to understand the truth behind the hateful gossip that fills their small community. This is an intelligent and competent film about the stigma associated with AIDS in South Africa, and it's easy to watch, though there are some clunky moments.

Next up I’ve secured a ticket for competition contender Des Hommes et des Dieux (Of Gods and Men), but then discover my favourite actress Michelle Williams’ latest, Blue Valentine, is screening simultaneously. After a spot of soul-searching, I’ve just decided on the former (Blue Valentine will perhaps more likely come to the UK etc) when Simon texts saying he met an audience member for an earlier Des Hommes... screening who left “citing boredom”. I need no further persuasion, and happily hit the queue early to ensure my place.

It turns out to be my favourite film of the festival, with completely stunning performances from Williams (not that I’m biased) and Half-Nelson’s Ryan Gosling as a couple with a young daughter who, struggling with the reality of their faltering relationship, go away for the night together in an abortive attempt to get away from their problems. Alongside their troubled present, the film also looks back to the early days of their relationship. It’s both incredibly romantic and anti-romantic - even when the characters are in their first flush of love, director Derek Cianfrance shows how the flaws which eventually prove destructive were there all along. Switching between past and present is an effective device showing how they've changed as their relationship has dwindled; Gosling from perkily handsome to beery and balding; Williams’ once hopeful beauty hardened into a mask of barely-concealed despair.

Both bring the savagery of a failing relationship fully to bear, helped by an intelligent, cliché-resisting script. I leave the cinema thrilled it was so good, if in need of a drink to restore my faith in humanity, and head off for a walk along the beach to sit in the sun before catching the bus back to the airport... feeling very satisfied with my first Cannes experience!

Cannes 2010 - Monday 17 May

Mon, 17 May 2010 18:28:26 GMT

Sarah's blog

On Monday I wake up feeling like my head is filled with grey fog, but it’s soon replaced by excitement at the prospect of a full day of films. After breakfast, I walk with Simon and Rachel to the Palais and head into Biutiful, Alejandro Iñárritu’s return to Spanish language film, with Javier Bardem in a hugely charismatic performance which powers the film along. He’s Uxbal, a terminally ill hustler in Barcelona with a hand in various dodgy operations including organising street dealers and supplying a construction chief with illegal workers - as well as a supernatural sideline in contacting the recently deceased on behalf of their grieving relatives. As if that weren't enough, he’s also a largely single father to two children with a bi-polar ex who's got only a sporadic commitment to parenting and is cheating on him with his brother. So misery is heaped upon misery; and whilst I don’t have anything against misery, Biutiful seems to think it creates more profundity than it actually does. Here it mostly just feels melodramatic and a bit empty. The most moving moments are the simplest - such as those which evidence Uxbal’s love for his children - which feel like chinks of light in the film’s bleak landscape.

Afterwards I check the schedule, and decide to see Bertrand Tavernier's La Princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpensier). In the queue I pretty much down a diet Coke in one to ward off imminent caffeine withdrawal, much to the distaste of a French matron next to me, so I smile apologetically at her as we trot up the steps to the Salle du Soixantième. La Princesse… is a French costume drama set in the 1500s in the midst of the bloody war between Catholics and Protestants, and focuses on Marie de Mézières, an aristocratic beauty who is hotly pursued by several distinguished men. It’s one of those films where just when I think I’ve decided it's bad, something unexpectedly good happens. Lambert Wilson doesn’t quite bring enough gravitas to his role as the Comte de Chabannes, a mentor to Marie's eventual husband and something of a polymath (if he isn’t playing the lute, he’s picking chervil for chilblain remedies!), but Mélanie Thierry in the title role is very well cast – gorgeous and very watchable. It’s full of those costume drama moments where you’re unsure whether what you’re watching is completely absurd or historically realistic – or both. But it’s never dull.

In the afternoon I queue in blazing sun for an hour or so to get into Jean-Luc Godard’s Film Socialisme. It’s so popular I stand no chance, and I’m not surprised when the beige-suited Cannes stewards wave the remaining hordes, myself included, away. There’s not much I’m in time for, but I make it to a Cannes Classic screening of a restored La Campagne de Cicéron (1990) by Jacques Davila - a whimsical and very French comedy of manners slash partner-switching romantic farce set in the French countryside. The dialogue is sometimes arch, sometimes bawdy, and it put me in mind of A Midsummer Night's Dream and, weirdly, The Darling Buds of May, with a confined rural setting and characters that are often ridiculous but consistently entertaining.

After that I’ve just time to scoot into Countdown to Zero, a documentary by British filmmaker Lucy Walker on the dangers of nuclear terrorism. There are some special guests at the screening, including Valerie Plame (one of the doc’s key quality talking heads, along with Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf, Tony Blair) and Meg Ryan, whose presence incites a near apoplectic reaction in my neighbour, a middle-aged Frenchman who leaps up and starts shamelessly snapping pics from across the cinema. Meg remains impassive. The film itself is a very persuasive doc (which clearly hopes to have a political impact), illuminating the frightening ease with which small-time criminals have previously managed to acquire the materials for nuclear bombs. What will happen, the film asks, if or when terrorists gain these materials? It’s a chilling question. Montages of test missiles and crowded inner cities bring home in horrible detail the hypothetical impact.

Afterwards I meet Simon and we head out for dinner and drinks, discussing the films of the day with the kind of befuddled hysteria brought on too much time spent staring at screens and sleep deprivation; and then meet Rachel before heading back to the apartment to welcome cups of tea and snoozeville.

Cannes 2010 - Sunday 16 May

Sun, 16 May 2010 21:07:17 GMT

Sarah's blog

Despite EasyJet's best efforts, I eventually arrive in Cannes on Sunday evening. On the bus from the airport I'm concerned I won't know exactly where to get off, but I shouldn't have worried: the madness is unmistakable!

After meeting up with Simon, Rachel Hayward and Claire Wilford and dumping my things in the ICO apartment (plus trying to concoct a red-carpet worthy outfit in 10 minutes, with highly questionable results) we head out for a quick supper and some restorative rosé before our films. Simon's got me a ticket to Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man), and befuddled by my day I'm so confused by the barriers outside the Palais that I nearly don't make it in, but eventually (thanks to the help of a très gentil steward), I get through - and it's worth it.

The film is at once a gentle and extremely hard-hitting drama focusing on Adam, a sixty-something pool attendant in Chad who's held the same post at a local hotel for most of his life. He works alongside his son Abdel, and is an affectionate father, husband and friend to his colleagues, who call him "Champ" in recognition of past glories as a swimmer. But then he is demoted to gatekeeper, and watches as Abdel takes over with hurtful ease. Chad is in the midst of civil war ad rebel forces attack the government; and Adam is asked to ‘contribute’ to the war effort by offering Abdel as a soldier - and when they come to collect Abdel, he hides as his wife pleads with him to stop them. It's a very well-told and meditatively shot story, with some really stunning moments - as when the camera follows the diminishing light of Adam's motorbike down a cramped alleyway; or when Abdel's dignified pregnant girlfriend sings a gorgeously melancholy song to express her pain. All in all it's a fantastic start to the festival, and I'm still thinking about it as my head hits the pillow chez ICO!

Cannes 2010 - Sunday 16 May

Sun, 16 May 2010 18:27:25 GMT

Becky's blog

My last day at the festival, and I just have time to squeeze in one more film. Simon has kindly got me tickets to the Competition screening of La Princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpensier) by Bertrand Tavernier. It is a French costume drama set in the 1500s, where the wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants are raging. Marie de Mézières, is a beautiful young aristocrat, who is in love with Henri de Guise, but Marie's father promises her hand in marriage to the Prince of Montpensier. Being the dutiful daughter Marie consents to marry the prince and put aside her childish fantasy with Henri. However, wherever Marie goes she seems to attract the attention of every male, and soon enough her path crosses with Henri again, leading her husband to extreme bouts of jealousy. Marie must decide which path to choose while risking losing everything. This is an enjoyable period romp, in the vein of Lady Chatterley and Molière, and is entertaining throughout. I'm sure that it will do well commercially in France and may possibly get picked up for small scale distribution in the UK.

Well that is all I can fit in for this year in Cannes, so I head back to the apartment to collect my case, and handover the keys to the next arrivee, Rachel Hayward from the Cornerhouse.

Cannes 2010 - Saturday 15 May

Sat, 15 May 2010 18:26:22 GMT

Becky's blog

Back to the Palais Stephanie for the 9am screening in Director's Fortnight, which is becoming a regular pattern of this year's Cannes. This morning the screening is Shit Year by Cam Archer, with Ellen Barkin, who I've had a soft spot for since The Big Easy. I go into the film feeling buoyant, as Anna and I have just managed to get the online ticket system to work on her iPhone, and have snagged tickets for the new Mike Leigh film later in the day. Unfortunately the buoyancy doesn't last and Shit Year proves to be pretty heavy going. It is a docu-drama about a middle aged actress who feels her career is flagging so decides to retire, however she is haunted by a failed relationship she had with a younger actor and is terminally lonely. The film has a non-linear structure and jumps between the main narrative, interspaced artist moving image sequences and an alternate reality which could be the future or possibly some sort of heaven. Ellen Barkin is great as the misanthropic actress and the film looks very stylish but for me would probably work better as a purely narrative piece.

Straight out of the Palais Stephanie and back into the queue again, this time for Svet-Ake, a film by Aktan Arym Kubat set in Kyrgyzstan. Played by the director, Mr. Light is the electrician of a remote, impoverished village, who helps the villagers with their constantly short-circuiting electricity (which often means stealing it from the electricity company). Mr Light soon becomes more important in the village's economic and political future, when a young businessman seeks to buy the land and revitalise the barren community, by implementing Mr Light's dream of wind-powered energy for the whole valley. The film provides an interesting insight into a country whose culture and customs are little-known about, and although dealing with serious issues such as poverty and an ageing population, its charm and humour shine through. Some of the main characters motivations are not always clear and the rather abrupt and vicious ending, jolt you from the poetic reverie of the film, but overall an enjoyable experience.

Over to the Palais now to meet Simon as we have our Market screening of The Artists Cinema at 2pm. Eventually, under Simon's expert navigation, we find the screening room. I think I manage to explain to the projectionist which order we would like to screen the films in, and I nod along as he talks to me about ratios. Luckily the projection goes swimmingly and we get a great turnout for the screening, with festivals from all over the world in attendance. I then hurry back to our apartment to get ready for the Mike Leigh screening that evening.

After a fantastic smorgasbord tea of cheese, tomatoes, artichokes and French bread, I pull on my posh frock and head for the red carpet. The Mike Leigh film seems to be really popular with a huge crowd outside. I get allocated seats in the stalls for the first time, and am actually in the front row so have a fantastic view. The film opens to much clapping and whooping from the audience, and for anyone who is a Mike Leigh fan you won't be disappointed. Another Year follows the relationship of a married couple over the course of a year and the interactions they have with family and friends. Gerri and Tom are happily married, Gerri is a local counsellor and Tom is a geologist, and although they have been together since university are still very much in love and have the happy and intimate relationship that most people aspire to. In contrast Gerri's friend and work colleague Mary, and Tom's old school friend Ken, have had a string of unhappy relationships and although try to remain positive are desperately lonely. The film follows these characters as they interact and clash in each other's lives over the months ahead. In more Happy Go Lucky territory than any of his other films, and in true Mike Leigh form, the female leads are quite over the top and twitchy, but as the film goes on you can't help but feel desperately for Mary, played outstandingly by Lesley Manville. The film gets a standing ovation and the applause goes on for about 10mins, much to the Director and cast's bashfulness. My other top film of the festival!

Cannes 2010 - Saturday 15 May

Sat, 15 May 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Simon's blog

Well, Shit Year turned out to live up to its name and I regretted missing the Mike Leigh for it: very stylish and reminiscent of 90s indie like Tom 'Swoon' Kalin or early Todd Haynes - this was a great looking b/w film with Ellen Barkin as a successful actress retiring from the industry. I rarely enjoy films about filmmaking and this reinforced my suspicion that they often are self-indulgent projects with little to say.

I then rustled up some tickets for Becky from the ICO to tomorrow's Tavernier Competition title before preparing for our own Market screening of our The Artists Cinema co-commissions with the Lux.

We had a successful screening of The Artists Cinema with some key international representatives from the likes of the Toronto Film Festival and Walker Arts Centre coming to see the work on the big screen.

I then went for the afternoon to the Europa Cinemas conference at the Majestic Hotel which was a three hour update from various members and international funders including CNC and Moviepilot telling us how the European market is shaping up for them. Moviepilot in particular gave an effective presentation on the results of their pilot scheme - including case studies of a couple of ICO sites (Watershed Bristol and Broadway Nottingham).

After a quick emergency food shop it was off to the next film - Rubber about a psychopathic car tyre with telekinetic powers! I bumped into Jason Wood from, the Curzon Cinemas who was also heading to the same film. But we got there too late to get in and suffered a crazy American one man PR machine showing us pictures of himself standing next to George Lucas and telling us how close he lived to MOMA in New York before pushing flyers into our hands about his new book. Neither Jason or I could stand him any longer and ran away - in my case to an excellent - and very funny - doc on Motorhead's Lemmy - called er... Lemmy. Stuffed with a Who's Who of the metal scene I'd be surprised if this doesn't get a release in some form in the UK. It's hilarious and Lemmy comes across as a charming guy who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

After a bite to eat I catch a 10.15pm screening of Heartbeats which for me was the highlight so far of the Festival. It's Quebecois director Xavier Dolan's second feature after last year's excellent I Killed My Mother (which still hasn't been released in the UK). Dolan is still only 21 years old and is the writer, director, costume designer, and lead actor in the film! Heartbeats is a very funny, stylistically adventurous, sometimes moving story of a straight woman and her gay friend who are both besotted by the same enigmatic male hunk and vie for his affections attempting to figure out his sexual orientation. It's a polyamourous Jules et Jim and the first film so far to make me grin from ear to ear.

Cannes 2010 - Friday 14 May

Fri, 14 May 2010 21:12:49 GMT

Simon's blog

An early morning meeting with French Sales Agent Dissidenz to discuss a distribution project was shifted to later in the day as her train was late arriving from, Paris to Cannes meant I caught a Market screening of Sylvain (Belleville Rendezvous) Chomet's The Illusionist turned out to be disappointingly slight. Although the animation was terrific, the script by Jaques Tati was too thin and interest soon waned. This is being released in the UK in August and it will be interesting to see the critics' response.

I then caught Korean Competition title The Housemaid which looked great with terrific production design - but it felt flat and contrived in its depiction of class conflict between the eponymous maid and her wealthy employers. It certainly didn't touch the 60s original which is a major classic of Korean cinema.

I immediately followed this with another Competition title by Wang (Bejing Bycycles) Xiaoshuai called Chongqing Blues. This follows an estranged father's search for an answer to his son's death at the hands of police when he inexplicably holds a woman hostage in a supermarket. It was a powerful film which is easily my favourite so far in what looks like a relatively lacklustre Competition line-up.

I finally managed to meet with Dissidenz and agree to distribute a Japanese film we've been hoping to release for some months now.

Then met up with Ian Wild, did some grocery shopping, before heading off together to watch Chilean documentary Nostalgia for the Light by veteran Patricio Guzman. This drew interesting parallels between the life cycle of the cosmos, and the Disappeared of Pinochet's regime. With amazing desert imagery, beautiful images of space, and moving testimony of people who are still searching for their loved ones remains 20+ years later, the film and its director drew a standing ovation from, the packed cinema.

Ian and I ate and made our way to the Petit Majestic for a nightcap where we bumped into Francis and Ben from Soda Pictures who tipped us off with a recommendation for US indie Shit Year in the morning.

Cannes 2010 - Friday 14 May

Fri, 14 May 2010 18:25:16 GMT

Becky's blog

Bright and early on Friday morning I head to the Palais Stephanie to watch the 9am screening in Directors' Fortnight. In relatively swift queuing time for Cannes (45mins) I get into my first film of the day. The film, called Little Baby Jesus of Flandr, is the story of three friends who one night on their way home from carol singing, get lost in the woods and stumble across the birth of baby Jesus. In honour of his birth they give away all of the gains they made from carol singing. After that night in the woods the friends are increasingly torn apart by the meaning of the event that they witnessed, leading some to damnation and some to redemption. The film is shot in black and white, with Flanders as the perfect ethereal backdrop. The principal cast is made up of actors with Down syndrome which gives a different perspective on the story, but was notable for not being a theme in the film itself. The use of religious allegory is sometimes heavy handed but delivered with a wry wit and endearing nature.

Straight onto film number two. I managed to get tickets to the Competition screening of The Housemaid by IM Sangsoo, so I hot foot it to the Palais. Lee Euny is a childcare assistant and is asked to take up the position of nanny and housemaid for a wealthy bourgeoisie family. At first she is treated fairly but this soon changes when the husband feels his property extends to her. In usual domestic adultery fare, Lee Euny becomes pregnant and huge uproar ensues. A stylish and slick drama, The Housemaid is engaging and entertaining, in no small part down to the comedic performance by YOUN Yuh-Jung as the housekeeper. It does however lack suspense and subtlety, especially the transition of the central character, where the mere act of applying black eyeliner and red lipstick turns a once demure servant into a disturbed psychotic.

I get out of The Housemaid at 1.30pm, so go straight to join the huge queue for Chatroom, the new film by Hideo Nakata (Ring). It feels more like a mosh pit than a queue, I realise after about half an hour that the person squashed up behind me is Mark Cosgrove from the Watershed, albeit in disguise with sunhat and glasses. After an hour and no movement in the queue, were told that that's its full up. I wriggle free of the crowd and decide to get some lunch instead.

After a quick lunch and some grocery shopping, I'm feeling a bit dejected that I didn't get into an afternoon screening, so I go and join the queue for the next screening really early. Thankfully I get into this screening, and I'm really pleased I do as it is the best film I've seen in the festival so far. The film is Abel by Diego Luna (Gael Garcia Bernal's partner in crime). Abel is a nine-year-old boy, who since his father left has become emotionally introverted and has stopped talking. The local psychiatric facility is no longer able to look after him, as it is meant for women, so Abel goes back to live at home. After a couple of days, miraculously Abel begins to talk again, although he has taken on the role of man of the household, believing that he is the father to his siblings and husband of his mother. Incredibly imaginative and entertaining this has revitalised the festival for me. There are some great scenes, especially the one where Abel, wears his father's old pyjamas, sleeps in his mother's room and the next morning thinks that they have "written a letter to the stork" and will shortly by receiving a new son. I'm sure that Diego Luna will garner the reputation of an upcoming director to watch, and may have already if the crowd of girls outside the screening is anything to go by.

Feeling much invigorated I head off to meet Anna Kime and Colin Burch (Verve Pictures) for some much needed dinner.

Cannes 2010 - Thursday 13 May

Thu, 13 May 2010 21:11:29 GMT

Simon's blog

Got into Cannes later than planned last night (thanks EasyJet!) - and a little too late to do much, so caught (one of the two) Hong Kong Film Fest openers Crossing Hennessy which turned out to be a fairly typical Hong Kong soap about generations trying to find meaning and happiness in their lives. Pretty innocuous stuff and very unlikely to screen in the UK outside of festivals.

After this, I hot-footed to the Critics Week title Sandcastle, from a young first timer Singapore director Junfeng Boo who has made a bunch of notable shorts which have screened widely at festivals including Bristol's Encounters. This turned out to be a pretty interesting scenario centering around a young man staying with his Grandparents, one of whom is suffering from, Alzheimer's, who teach him, about his dead father's past as a political activist. It's an often moving film which suffers from having too many ideas (the political history of Singapore, aging, illness, connecting with personal histories and much more). Unfortunately an overly sentimental score undermines what otherwise would have been a much stronger film.

Cannes 2010 - Thursday 13 May

Thu, 13 May 2010 18:23:46 GMT

Becky's blog

Having managed to drag myself out of bed I arrive at the Palais at 8am to collect the daily screening schedule only to find that I can't see anything till 11am. Oh well, at least I will be in the queue early and will have a bit of time to peruse Screen Daily. I decide on O Estranho Caso de Angélica by Manoel De Oliveira and head for the queue.

Having queued for an hour I finally make it into O Estranho Caso de Angélica - a combination of a surrealist painting and a Shakespearian comedy. Isaac, a young photographer who lives in a boarding house in Regua, Brazil, is woken in the middle of the night to come and take the last photograph of Angélica, the daughter of a local Nobel family, who has just died. Arriving at the family estate he gets his first glimpse of Angélica and promptly falls in love with her. Not as creepy as it sounds, Angélica continues to haunt Isaac until he can no longer function in his own reality. The film is beautifully shot and the mise-en-scène is fantastic. I think there were some cultural idiosyncrasies that I missed but all in all not a bad start to the festival!

After the film I head out to meet Anna Kime from Film London, the newest addition to l'appartement ICO. After getting Anna registered we headed over to Critics' Week to try and catch Sandcastle by Boo Jungfeng. After queueing for over an hour we eventually arrive at ten from the front but are told "C'est complet" - full up! On to plan B, we dash home to put our red carpet outfits, as we have tickets for the 10.30pm gala screening. After a very quick change we run out to try and catch an 8pm screening, briefly crossing paths with Simon Ward who has just arrived to hand over keys, then onto the Palais. Alas, yet again we were thwarted by the almighty queue! We decide to crash the New Zealand Film Commission drinks instead...

In typical NZ fashion we are greeted with great wine and fantastic cheese. Only plastic glasses for the Brits though, as apparently we can't be trusted! We meet some really interesting Kiwis and chat about the films they have in Cannes; one called Boy is soon to be the biggest grossing New Zealand film of all time. So after soaking up the great views and a little bit too much rosé we head out for the red carpet and the competition screening of Chongqing Blues by Wang Xiaoshuai.

Chongqing Blues is the story of Lin, a sea captain, who returns home from a 6 month journey to find that his son is dead, killed by the police during a hostage situation. Lin makes it his purpose to find out what happened to his son, by returning to Chongqin, a city he once lived, and speaking to his son's friends, girlfriend and the police officer that shot him. Chongqing Blues is beautifully shot, with stunning visuals of Chongqin. It runs at a melodic pace and the stand out performance by ZI Yi means you cannot help but be moved by his pursuit for the truth and his guilt over his repeated paternal absence.

Cannes 2010 - Wednesday 12 May

Wed, 12 May 2010 18:22:49 GMT

Becky's blog

Arrived in Cannes about 6pm, slightly delayed from my EasyJet flight, to be greeted by warmth and sunshine. Apparently the rest of the week is going to be rainy so I try to make the most of it. I manage to lug my case over to the New Zealand film office to collect the keys to our apartment from my new roommate Clare Wilford, who's working for Screen Australia out here, and then head for the Palais to pick up my accreditation.

Laden down with luggage and Cannes bags I finally make it to the apartment, I dump my bags and head to the supermarché to get some much needed sustenance. After a quick tea of baguette and brie (getting into the French spirit!) I stick on my posh frock and head out to meet Clare to go to the Robin Hood party, or Robin des Bois as the French say. We have some nice canapés and a couple of glasses of free bubbly and even spot Russell Crowe dashing through to the VIP area. At a reasonably early 12am we call it a night; I want to get an early start tomorrow to catch the first films of the day, which means queuing from 8am.

Cannes 2010 - Tuesday 11 May

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:19:29 GMT

Becky's blog

I'm frantically trying to get ready for Cannes, I've got my accreditation, checked that volcano ash, cabin crew strikes and tidal waves aren't scheduled for tomorrow, and have the all important Cannes programme to peruse on the plane. I've printed out the programme notes for our market screening of The Artists Cinema on Saturday. All that's left to do is pack a posh frock in case I get the chance to scoot up the red carpet…watch out Russell Crowe!

Cannes 2009 - Wednesday 20 May

Wed, 20 May 2009 18:40:08 GMT

Tilly's blog

On my last morning in Cannes I stumble upon a treasure trove in the Palais serving a million different types of coffee, all free of charge. Why wasn't I informed earlier?! No wonder everyone else seems so bright eyed.

I go to see La Terre de la folie, the eccentric Luc Moullet's documentary examining the high incidence of psychotic behaviour in the Southern Alps. It's made in an entertainingly offbeat style, but I can't help feeling uneasy as the audience roars with laughter at accounts of mental illness, rape and murder.

I can't cope with anymore French comedies, so for my last film I opt for Eyes Wide Open, a drama about blossoming love and lust between two Orthodox Jewish men in a close-knit community in Jerusalem. I'm expecting a cliché-ridden melodrama but am pleasantly surprised by a bold, accomplished and genuinely affecting film, the movie that will probably stay with me the longest as I embark on my journey home.

Cannes 2009 - Tuesday 19 May

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:39:08 GMT

Becky's blog

It seems like a fairly leisurely morning, I don't have to be in a queue by 8am, so the 9am bus to the airport feels like a real treat. Although it's sad to leave the brilliant sunshine and the hundreds of films that will be screening over the next week.

Cannes 2009 - Tuesday 19 May

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Tilly's blog

Three hours later I'm off to watch La Pivellina (The Little One) on the recommendation of Frances from Soda Pictures. Filmed in naturalistic style, this is a warm, simple tale about a circus performer and her family who take in an abandoned two-year-old girl.

Next up is Looking for Eric, Ken Loach's Manchester-set fairytale about a postman trying to get his life into shape, with the help of his proverb-spouting imaginary friend, Eric Cantona. Despite a foot-stomping reception at its gala screening, I'm left under whelmed. There are a few nice scenes featuring the protagonist's postman pals, but overall it's an unimaginative effort and seems little more than an ego project for Cantona, who also produced.

I much prefer the next film, Pedro Almodóvar's noirish melodrama, Broken Embraces. Although a bit too long and structurally not as strong as Volver, nevertheless it's a luscious treat for anyone who likes their movies self-reflexive, with nods to Sirk, Hitchcock and others (even early Almodóvar himself) abounding.

I was particularly looking forward to L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot, what looks like a stunning reconstruction of the (other) master of suspense's unfinished film, but I'm stuck at the end of the queue and don't manage to get in. That'll teach me to stop for lunch – what was I thinking?

I have more luck with Demain dès l'aube (Tomorrow at Dawn), another slow-burning tale of a pianist's revenge from the writer-director of The Page Turner. Its protagonist, facing an existential crisis, becomes involved in his brother's world of historical battle reenactments, and before long is caught up in a matter of honour. The odd laugh resulting from anachronisms provides welcome respite from a tense tale that leaves you agape.

On the way home I meet Sally from Chapter who excitedly informs me that I'm wearing the same dress as Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist, the tough, grim and most talked about film screened that day, which explains the funny looks I've been getting. It's from H&M, by the way.

Cannes 2009 - Monday 18 May

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:38:06 GMT

Becky's blog

Bright and early I make it into the 8.30am screening of Adieu Gary (Farewell Gary). The film focuses on the father and son relationship between Francis and Samir. Samir has just been released from prison and is returning to his home town and his father's house to try and find work. Unfortunately the only factory in the town has closed and effectively destroyed the local economy. This is a nice film to start the day with, heart warming and mildly comedic, Jean-Pierre Bacri is endearing as Francis, although I doubt it will make it into the UK market.

Luckily the next film on my list to see is only one floor down so I manage to get into the screening fairly easily. It is a French film by Mia Hansen-Løve, Le Père De Mes Enfants (Father of My Children). Grégoire Canvel is an independent film producer, he has a beautiful family and spends his weekends at an idyllic farmhouse in the country. But Grégoire’s production company is in dire straits, it has run up huge debts and has failed to pay suppliers. Grégoire refuses to sell the company’s catalogue of films and tries to plough on with the productions regardless. Eventually he is overwhelmed by the problems and can no longer run from them. Although not an instantly eye-grabbing storyline, this film was so endearing, mainly down to the excellent performances by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as the charismatic lead and the young actresses that play his daughters. A really touching family drama that moved most of the audience to tears.

Having only just worked out the reservation system for tickets I manage to get a ticket for a competition screening. The ticket is for Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, this feels a bit like a guilty pleasure as I know the film will be released soon in the UK, but I'm so thrilled to be able to get a ticket and not to have to queue that I can't resist. Eric is a postman whose reached middle age and despairs of his life. He lives with his two step sons who treat his home like a doss house and cannot bring himself to deal with the loss of his only true love, Lily, who he abandoned over 30 years ago. As Eric reaches the depths of despair and turns to cannabis for some sought after relief, a guardian angel appears to him in the form of Eric Cantona, who encourages Eric to deal with his past and to take control of his life. Although not as gritty and thought provoking as some of other Loach's films you can't help but enjoy it. Cantona is enigmatic as Eric's spiritual coach and there are some moments of superb comedy. The film got the most enthusiastic round of applause out of all the other screenings I had watched in the festival, so I sense it will be an audience pleaser.

I get out of the screening at 5pm so miss the 4.30pm round of screenings, so decide to grab some dinner and then go to a late night screening to get my fill of films before returning to the office the next day. I meet up with Emma Sullivan who has a short film in competition After Tomorrow and she manages to smuggle me into the filmmakers terrace for a quick glass of champagne. After a some dinner I head to the 10.30pm screening of Mal Dia Para Pescar (Bad Day To Go Fishing), with Anna and Tilly. Unfortunately I only make it past the short and the opening credits before my eyes start to get heavy and after 15mins of snoozing we decide to leave. Looking forward to getting into bed we get slightly waylaid by the Nordic Film Market party on the beach. After some enthusiastic dancing to KLF and some weary head bobbing to Guns n' Roses, I finally make it home to bed.

Cannes 2009 - Monday 18 May

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Tilly's blog

Two hours sleep in the bank and it's time to get up and collect my pass. The scale of the Palais des festivals comes as a bit of a shock, as does the size of the crowds. I randomly pick a film called Le Roi de l'évasion (The King of Escape), an amusing caper set in rural France. It features a gay, middle-aged tractor salesman who decides to try heterosexuality after attracting the interest of a teenage girl, played by the coquettish Hafsia Herzi from Cous Cous, and must go on the run from the law and her angry father. A few of the gags are lost on a non-native, but it's a hoot nonetheless.

I fail to get into Independencia, and don't fancy the torture porn alternatives. This is just the excuse I need to go to a four-hour Cannes Classic screening of the late Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day, recently restored by Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation. Yang's widow and young son are in attendance, which lends the event an air of poignancy. The pace of this wonderful epic, concerning youth gangs in 1960 Taiwan, announces itself during the opening credits as an ox and cart make a leisurely journey towards the camera, but it's nothing less than engrossing.

Later I meet up with colleagues Anna and Becky to watch a late screening of Mal Dia Para Pescar (Bad Day To Go Fishing). While the Kaurismaki-esque opening scene looks promising, the previous night's frolics catch up with us and one by one we nod off. Only a healthy dose of dad-dancing at the Nordic Films party can wake us up…

Cannes 2009 - Sunday 17 May

Sun, 17 May 2009 18:37:03 GMT

Becky's blog

After my experience with Ordinary People on Saturday morning I decide to go for a safe bet that I will hopefully be able to understand and that has been getting rave reviews from other festival goers, Un Prophète (A Prophet). Having really enjoyed The Beat My Heart Skipped I was really excited to see the latest offering from Jacques Audiard and it didn't disappoint. Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena has spent most of his live in juvenile detention centres, with no friends or family and little hope for his future. On arriving in prison he instantly gets coerced into serving the Corsican gang who rule the prison. However, Malik is a fast learner and he daringly starts to form his own plans to get out from under the Corsican's grasp and start to build some kind of future for himself. Tahar Rahim's debut performance as Malik is excellent, and his character draws real similarities with Tom in The Beat My Heart Skipped - conflicted and desperately trying to keep his head above water. Audiard's thrilling follow-up keeps you gripped as you desperately try to work out where the plot will twist next.

I race out of the Un Prophète (A Prophet) screening in the hopes of being able to get into Tzar, but the queue is too long, so I dash across town to the Palais Stephanie to try and catch the 2.30pm screening of Polytechnique but after 40mins of queuing I was again turned away. I resigned myself to go and get a sandwich and get in the queue nice and early for Kinatay. On my last trip to Cannes I saw Serbis, Brillante Mendoza’s previous film about a family run X rated cinema, which I hadn't enjoyed but I was determined to keep an open mind. Unfortunately I found Kinatay as arduous to watch. Peping, a student in the police academy, is recruited by his friend, Abyong, to work as an errand boy for a local drug syndicate that collects protection fees from various businesses in Manila. One evening Abyong asks Peping to join him on a special assignment. Peping accompanies Abyong in a van with the boss of the gang, and two other thugs. The van stops outside a hostess club and they pick up a prostitute called Madonna, but the moment she gets into the car, she is beaten, gagged and forced onto the floor. The story unfolds in real time and after showing the kidnap, beating, humiliation, rape, murder and dismemberment of the prostitute and with little hope of any type of redemption I'm thankful to get a message from my colleague Tilly saying she is just about to arrive in Cannes.

After showing Tilly the way into our labyrinthine apartment, Anna, Tilly and I head out for dinner. Anna and Tilly then head off for the gala screening of Agora and I go in search for The Works International party where Anvil are playing a set. I meet up with my colleague Simon, and Sally Griffiths from Chapter on the way and we prepare to rock! It was a great party and Anvil were brilliant, I’m not a huge heavy metal fan but you couldn’t help nodding your head and getting involved as the band were so excited. As I rolled into bed about 4am I wasn’t looking forward to my alarm going off in 3 hours but I wanted to get an early start to see some more films.