Tag Archives: Film

The 16th UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

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this year’s UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL (November 1st-18th) which opens in London and Manchester on November 1st with the UK premiere of PARIS-MANHATTAN, the debut of French writer/director Sophie Lellouche. A delightful romantic comedy inspired by the philosophy and comedy of Woody Allen, PARIS-MANHATTAN stars Alice Taglioni and Patrick Bruel (left with Sophie Lellouche) and features a cameo by Woody Allen himself.

This year’s UK Jewish Film Festival rolls out simultaneously to Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Glasgow for the first time since Executive Director JUDY IRONSIDE founded the festival in Brighton in 1997. More than 70 feature films, shorts, documentaries, and TV programmes will be shown at this year’s festival including the hotly tipped ZAYTOUN starring Stephen Dorff; the highly anticipated YOSSI, Eytan Fox’s follow-up to his Tribeca winner, Yossi & Jagger; HIS PEOPLE, a poignant, funny black and white silent film made in 1925 which will screen at the Barbican with a live score performed by SOPHIE SOLOMON; the riveting documentary GAINSBOURG ON GAINSBOURG: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT; the absorbing SIMON AND THE OAKS by award winning Swedish director Lisa Ohlin; SHARQIYA an absorbing story about the plight of a family of displaced Bedouins; ROMAN POLANKSI: A FILM MEMOIR; MY DAD IS BARYSHNIKOV the uplifting tale of a misplaced ballet pupil in the pre-Perestroika Bolshoi Ballet School; and many more.

Events include THE SHARPEST CUT in which David Baddiel, Norman Lebrecht and guests discuss the portrayal of Jews in TV and film; EMERGING FILMMAKERS day with workshops by the likes of Michael Kuhn and Tim Bevan; TEL AVIV ON FILM which celebrates the way the city has been captured on film; PEARS SHORT FILM EVENT which will screen the two winning films and lots of Q&A sessions with filmmakers throughout the festival.

SKYFALL… SALES RISE

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– The 007 effect sees sales of Bond fragrance on the rise–

Superdrug is benefitting from the ‘Bond effect’ as the 007 James Bond fragrance is flying off the shelves since the launch of Skyfall.

 

Sales show that not only do men want to be James Bond they also want to smell like him.  Since the latest Bond film Skyfall launched the retailer has seen sales of the 007 fragrance rise by 32 per cent (compared to the week before the film launch).

 

The retailer is ensuring more stock is rushed to stores to ensure that Bond fans who can’t afford the other 007 essentials, such as an Aston Martin or Tom Ford suit, can get their secret agent fix for just 18.99.

 

Sara Wolverson, Superdrug Director of Beauty said: “We know our customers love to emulate the style of their favourite celebrities but who knew the dapper action hero that is James Bond would have such a great effect on our sales.

 

“It’s not just this fragrance which is seeing the Bond effect, sales of male grooming products are also on the rise as men hope to look as smooth as Daniel Craig.

 

“But we are aware that the sales may be down to women snapping up the fragrance in the hope that a quick spritz may turn him indoors into their very own Bond.”

 

Uggie, Hollywood Canine Superstar, releases “My Story”.

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On the 30th of October 2012 Uggie attended his book launch at the London Kensington Waterstone bookstore.

‘My Story’ is a must read book, autobiography of ‘The Artist’ Oscar winning film canine star Uggie which went from originally abandoned and later adopted dog to spoiled celebrity Hollywood Icon.

 

Credit: Tenee Attoh


Uggie, recently retired from movies work, is the first dog in history that had his own paws put in cement at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, planting him next to the handprints of Hollywood’s royalty.

 

Uggie – adopted by animal trainer Omar von Muller, which is also Uggie’s manager -wrote his book with the human help of, English celebrity biographer, Wendy Holden.

 

Credit Simone Lezzi

The book, published by HarperCollins, has been sold to America, France, England (where it can be found in Waterstones and WH Smiths bookshops) and, in 2013, will be published also in Italian.

 

Since Uggie was adopted and became a star, he wants to let people know they should

adopt a dog rather than buying one. Even if the dog will not became a big star on the

screen, he will still be a big star in the house, within the family. If you need to buy, buy a book, Uggie says!


Find out more about the book writer at: www.wendyholden.com/

Find out more about Omar von Muller at: www.miamioffleash.com

 

Article written by Paola Berta
Photography by Simone Lezzi and Tenee Attoh

 

 

New Star Wars Film – It’s Official

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New Star Wars Film – It’s Official!

George Lucas has sold LucasFilm to Walt Disney for $4.05 billion and now the studio has confirmed it will make Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015.

If you are a fan of George Lucas then don’t get upset, Lucas will be working on the film as a creative consultant.

“It’s now time for me to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers,” announced George Lucas.

Kathleen Kennedy, who is the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the president and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn.

What do you think?

 

First Québec Cinema Showcase for London

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Following the international success of Québécois films including Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau), Incendies (Denis Villeneuve) and Café de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallée), a showcase of new cinema from Québec will take place for the first time in London at the Institut Français, South Kensington (2-4 November).

Québec Cinema Showcase is part of the 50th anniversary celebrations marking the opening of the Québec Government Office in London. The programme of five feature-length films and four shorts will present some of Québec’s finest and most recent cinematic offerings, including the latest work from award-winning director, 23-year-old Xavier Dolan, Laurence Anyways.

Québec Cinema Showcase will open with the UK premiere of Ken Scott’s massive box office hit comedy Starbuck (2 November).  Veteran comedy actor Patrick Huard plays David Wozniak, a 40-something delivery man whose life is out of control. But things are worse than he thinks. In his twenties, David was a prolific sperm donor to help pay the bills but the past comes back to haunt him when nearly 150 of his more than 500 offspring, now young adults, collectively take court action for their right to know the identity of their father. The film has been so successful – Canada’s biggest domestic hit in 2011 taking $3.5 million at the box office – that Scott has been asked to direct the US remake starring Vince Vaughn for Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios. Starbuck is on general release in the UK from November 23.

Laurence Anyways (3 November) is the latest offering from Cannes award-winning director Xavier Dolan, (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats). Dolan’s success continued in 2012 at the Cannes Film Festival when Laurence Anyways’ female lead, Suzanne Clément, won best actress in the festival’s “Un certain regard” category and the film was awarded the Queer Palm. Laurence Anyways also won the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at Toronto International Film Festival 2012. Dolan made his Cannes debut with I Killed My Mother, a film he made in his teens, resulting in an eight-minute standing ovation and three awards in the Directors’ Fortnight section in 2009. Spanning a decade, Laurence Anyways tells the story of a couple who are passionately in love. But when Laurence (Melvil Poupard) announces to girlfriend Fred (Suzanne Clément) on his 30th birthday that he wants to live as a woman, the consequences are tumultuous – and unexpected.  Laurence Anyways screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 and 12 October and is on general release in UK cinemas from 30 November.

“The Québec Government Office in London takes pride in witnessing Québec cinema’s current popularity worldwide. We are delighted to welcome the first edition of the Québec Cinema Showcase as part of our 50-year anniversary celebrations marking the opening of our London office,” says Pierre Boulanger, Agent-General of the Québec office in London.

Other films in the programme include Karakara from Claude Gagnon (3 November), a Canadian/Japanese co-production which follows Pierre (Gabriel Arcand), a retired professor in his early sixties who goes on a short, unsettling trip around Okinawa in Japan with Junko (Youki Kudoh), a 40-year-old runaway wife. Bestiary (Bestiaire) from Denis Côté (4 November) is an intriguing documentary which reflects on human fascination with animals.  Behind Closed Doors (Catimini) from Nathalie Saint-Pierre (4 November), the final film in the Québec Cinema Showcase, is a touching story about a reunion between four girls living under the care of the child protection services.

Across the weekend there will be director Q&As: Claude Gagnon, on Saturday, 3 November after the screening of Karakara and Nathalie Saint-Pierre on Sunday, 4 November after Behind Closed Doors.

Cinema from Québec is currently enjoying the international spotlight with two films – Incendies and Monsieur Lazhar – shortlisted for best foreign language Oscars in the past two years, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Incendies. Québécois director, Jean-Marc Vallée’s Café de Flore starring Vanessa Paradis, has also garnered critical acclaim. Earlier this month (October) at the Raindance Film Festival – Europe’s leading independent film festival – a number of films were screened in a special Québec Strand and Laurentie by directors Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie scooped Best International Feature.

François Macerola, President and CEO of SODEC, Québec’s development agency for cultural enterprises added: “For many years, the international market’s interest in Québec cinema and its filmmakers has grown considerably.  New audiences and new possibilities have allowed films from Québec, and our filmmakers’ vision to cross borders, thanks to events such as the Québec Cinema Showcase in London.”

 

Tickets for Québec Cinema Showcase are £10 (conc £8) and are available from the Institut Français website (https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/book)

Québec Cinema Showcase is an extension of the marketplace event Cinema du Québec a Paris which is celebrating its 16th year (6-11 November). Québec Cinema Showcase is also part of the 20th French Film Festival UK, which will present a selection of the best shorts from Québec in Glasgow and Edinburgh . (http://frenchfilmfestival.org.uk/FFF2012/wp/)

 

Québec Cinema Showcase has been organised by the Québec Government Office in London, with the support of SODEC and the Ministry of Culture and Communications, in collaboration with the Institut Français in London and the French Film Festival UK.

The Québec Government Office in London’s cultural services implements market development initiatives for artists and cultural industries from Québec.

For more information:
www.quebec.org.uk
www.sodec.gouv.qc.ca
www.mcc.gouv.qc.ca
www.institut-francais.org.uk
www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk

 

Starbuck 
Dir: Ken Scott 2011 – 109 mins
Friday 2 November, 8.15pm

The biggest Canadian box office hit in 2011, Ken Scott’s comedy Starbuck follows a likeable middle-aged loser as he wrestles with regret and responsibility. Hapless deliveryman David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) gets parking tickets at every stop along his route, has thugs on his tail for massive overdue loans, and his girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant just before dumping him. These are the least of David’s concerns, however, when he returns home to find a lawyer in his kitchen. The past comes back to haunt him in the form of a class-action lawsuit launched by 142 of the 533 children who resulted from sperm donations he deposited over 20 years ago.

Starbuck will be preceded by Demoni, a short directed by Theodore Ushev.

 

Karakara  
Dir: Claude Gagnon 2012 – 101 mins
Saturday 3 November, 5pm

Gabriel Arcand plays Pierre, a retired professor in his early sixties who has decided to renounce sex and achieve spiritual peace until Junko (Youki Kudoh), a  40-year-old Japanese housewife arrives on his doorstep seeking refuge from her abusive husband. They end up making a short, unsettling trip around Okinawa, Japan, together. Though the confused intellectual would rather not get involved with this unlikely and unexpected lover, he decides to follow his destiny, wherever it may take him.

Karakara will be preceded by Anata O Korosu, a short directed by Phillipe David Gagné and Jean-Marc E. Roy

Laurence Anyways 
Dir: Xavier Dolan 2012 – 159 mins
Saturday 3 November, 7.30pm

The third Cannes award-winning film by 23-year-old writer-director Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, I Killed My Mother), Laurence Anyways follows the story of Laurence and Fred, his girlfriend – a couple passionately in love who attempt to sustain their relationship and fight the prejudices of their family, friends and society when Laurence turns 30 and can no longer deny his desire to be a woman.  Winning two awards at Cannes including Best Actress in the festival’s “Un certain regard” category for Suzanne Clément and the Queer Palm and, as well as the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at Toronto International Film Festival 2012.he film had its UK premiere at this year’s BFI London Film Festival on 11 and 12 October.

Bestiaire ( Bestiary)

Dir: Denis Côté 2012 – 72 mins
Sunday 4 November, 4.15pm

The documentary explores the fascination humans have for animals, combining footage from a drawing class, a taxidermist’s workshop and a Québec safari park. The poet, essayist and naturalist Diane Ackerman has reflected on animal parks as venues for the discovery of interspecies shared identity, but also as places where humans focus “on the lives of other creatures to dispel the usual mind theatres that plague us.” Those notions are challenged as often as they are reinforced in Denis Côté’s soberly beautiful Bestiaire, but exact conclusions are left for the viewer to form.

Bestiaire will be preceded by Tout va Mieux (Everything is alright) a short directed by Robin Aubert.

Catimini (Behind Closed Doors)  
Dir: Nathalie Saint-Pierre 2012 – 112 mins
Sunday 4 November, 6.30pm

Four girls are living under the care of child protection services: Cathy, six-years-old, arrives in a new foster family, the Bilodeaus; 12-year-old Keyla is transferred into a group home for teenage girls; Mégane, a rebellious 16-year-old, ends up in a detention centre in late winter; on her 18th birthday, Manu leaves her youth centre and moves into her first apartment. In the hope of reconnecting with the few people that have meant something to her, Manu attends a reception honouring the Bilodeaus, one of her former foster families. She bumps into Keyla and Cathy, and ends up hanging out with Mégane. It proves to be a reunion that no-one will forget anytime soon. Behind Closed Doors won the Valois d’or prize at the fifth festival of francophone cinema in Angoulême.

Behind Closed Doors will be preceded by Ina Litovski, a short directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Andre Turpin.

 

A Tale of two Cities

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Good Vibrations and Spike Island at the London Film Festival

I had great plans for the London film festival, with many press screenings marked out on my diary.  Unfortunately timing was against me, as it turned out to be a very busy period in my other two jobs (acting and teaching), and apart from “A Liar’s Autobiography,” which got cancelled (read the article here), I actually only ended up at two screenings.  But they were good ones.

Good Vibrations

My regular readers (if there are such people) will be aware that I enjoy a bit of music from the 1980s, so I was in a positive frame of mind when I turned up to see Good Vibrations – The Story of Terri Hooley.

For every Richard Branson, there are probably hundreds of Terri Hooleys.  Known as the Godfather of Ulster Punk, Terri was the owner of Good Vibrations record shop and label, was responsible for discovering the Undertones, and encouraged punk and alternative music to flourish during a dark time in Northern Ireland’s history.  I imagine that there were people like him in towns and cities all over the UK and Ireland during the 70s and 80s; running record shops, managing and/or playing in bands organising events.  Do these people ever make a profit in the long run or do their charming mix of naivety and idealism work against them in the end?  Good Vibrations never released a top 40 record, and Terri sold the rights to “Teenage Kicks” for £500 and a signed photo of The Shangri Las (which he never got.)  But that isn’t the point, as this film shows: Terri Hooley made a lot of people very happy, which was in itself no mean feat in Belfast at the height of the troubles.

This was a highly enjoyable film from start to finish.  Richard Dormer made an excellent Terri, and I particularly enjoyed Jodie Whittaker’s performance as his wife.  It’s hard to pick out anyone else as cast lists are not given out at press screening, but everyone performed very well.  It would have been nice to have a few more female characters – maybe some girls who hung around the record shop for instance – but apart from that I completely loved it.  One particularly memorable scene is when an RUC officer is hassling a girl in a bar for suspected underage drinking and Terri comes over and tells him he’d like to report a civil war.  Scenes like these show the bravery of the character as well as the naivety and idealism.

Of course, being a film about music, the soundtrack is a major part of the experience.  Set in a fertile time for Northern Irish music, the tracks chosen add to the energy and exuberance of the story, as obviously does the setting with its air of menace just under the surface.

Go and see this if you’re interested in music, Belfast, or just plain enjoy a good film.

Spike Island

Good Vibrations is a true story about a real man, with a real record shop/label, and the punk scene in Belfast, whereas Spike Island, my second choice of film, is a coming of age drama set in Manchester in the 1990s with the music of the Stone Roses providing more of a secondary theme.  As such it worked well, and the soundtrack (a mix of the Roses and the characters own band, Shadow Caster) added greatly to the ambience and power of the film.  The characters did seem to blend into each other a bit at points, and some of what could have been more potent moments could have been better explained (I was never sure why one boy joined the army for instance).  Having more female characters would have added more variety, and this film does not have the excuse of being a true story as a reason for not doing so.  Teenagers since the 1960s or 1970s onwards generally tend to hang around in groups of both sexes (I did) and the whole male bonding theme seemed to me a little old-fashioned.

That said, the music really lifts everything up, and the festival atmosphere of Spike Island and young love is captured perfectly (leaving aside the dubious morality of deserting your father on his deathbed to go to a Stone Roses concert that you don’t even have tickets for!)

Once again, I am hampered by a lack of a cast list, however everyone concerned gave a very competent performance, with Emilia Clarke standing out in particular.

Go and see this film if you enjoy a good coming of age drama with an excellent soundtrack, or want to recapture your youth!

 

Horror Channel Brings Winter Chills

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Friday 9th, Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th Nov, 10.55pm

 

Deep and crisp and bloody! Get ready to be frozen to the bone this November with Horror Channel’s Winter Chills Weekend – featuring some truly snow-filled spine tingling premieres.

 

 

Fri Nov 9 @ 22:55

The hills are alive – with undead Nazis as the season kicks off with the premiere of DEAD SNOW (2009), a beautifully nasty horror comedy directed by Tommy Wirkola (Run Lola Run). With a car full of ski equipment and enough beer to fuel their escape from everyday life, eight medical students head out on their vacation.  Isolated in the snowy hills the group begin to realise they came to the wrong resort, as deep in the hills lay an unthinkable evil.

 

Sat Nov 10 @ 22.55

 

The season continues with BLOOD RUNS COLD (2011). Swedish director Sonny Laguna gives the slasher genre a welcome Scandinavian make-over. Record-producer Winona heads to her hometown on the outskirts of Stockholm for a break… Shortly after settling in, she invites a former boyfriend and a couple to the house. But there is an unknown presence stirring within the house, one that has been waiting for the right moment to strike.

 

Sun Nov 11 @ 22.55

 

Wrapping up the season is sci-fi horror thriller THE THAW (2009) Directed by Mark A Lewis, it stars Val Kilmer as Dr. Krupien the head of a team of ecology students, who are examining a melting ice cap in the Arctic.  When Krupien unearths a prehistoric specimen the likes of which has never been seen, he summons four of his brightest students to take part in the excavation. But the melting polar ice-cap has released a deadly pre-historic par

Dark Hearts Director Rudolf Buitendach On Film & Inspiration

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Frost went along to the world premier of Dark Hearts at the 2012 Raindance Film Festival. We had lots of fun and really enjoyed the film. Here is our interview with the film’s director, Rudolf.

Tell us about Dark Hearts

Dark Hearts is on one level a neo-noir, a film that gives a voice to the dark side – on another it is a film about passion and obsession and the thin line in-between. How some of us will give anything for our art,

Dark Hearts is an impressive first film. Are you happy with the finished film?

I find it very hard to watch anything I’ve done objectively, but thanks.


Dark Hearts reminded me of a film noir. Can you tell us about the general look and feel you were going for?

Yes, as mentioned above I consider it a neo-noir. I based the film’s palette on the rust and decay of Downtown LA’s art district. With the help of Travis Zariwny, a great production designer, Kees Van Oostrum a great DP and Suzanne Barnes, a great costume designer we wanted the ‘mise en scene’ to be portraits in themselves. I think we succeeded quite well in places, despite our modest budget.

Dark Hearts is your first feature film. Was it scary making the leap?

It wasn’t scary at all as I had done quite a few shorts at this point, I just wished I had a bit more time to enjoy losing my ‘feature virginity’

Tells us a bit about you. How did you get into film?

I was studying law when I saw a film that changed my life, Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life and enrolled in film school, I was hooked for life.

What is the hardest thing about directing films?

Everyone with a TV and a Facebook account fancies themselves a critic and no matter how hard you try to be original, someone will always try and rain on your parade

How was the process of financing?

It was very tough and in true indie style we didn’t have an official green light even days before the filming was about to commence. But I was very lucky that I had a brave producer Jack Bowyer who believed in me when push came to shove.

How did you choose the actors?

I had wonderful casting agents Lisa Essary and Heidi Levitt who brought most of the actors to audition and I picked them from there, apart from Lucas Till who came through a brilliant agent Larry Shapiro.

You had quite a short shooting schedule. Do you think that was a help or a hindrance?

It was neither, just a whirlwind.

Who is your inspiration?

I have many, starting with Luis Bunuel, the surrealist painters, the symbolists up to modern filmmakers like Park Chan Wook, Lynch, Gilliam, Cronenberg, Greenaway and Roy Andersson.

The film has an amazing score. Who chose the music?

I did, I’m lucky in that a lot of the artists were my friends. I also had help from a musical supervisor extraordinaire Bruce Lampcov.

What is next for you?

I am in post on my second feature ‘Where The Road Runs Out’ starring Isaach De Bankole, with another 2 scripts ready to roll, any financiers out there?