Tag Archives: Film

The Kills In New Online Film Exploring Double Acts In Art

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In Unlock Art: Great Double Acts, The Kills investigate the importance of collaboration to the artistic process, and how artists have always collaborated in some form or other throughout history including Rubens, Jeff Koons, Gilbert & George and Jake and Dinos Chapman. The film challenges the popular myth: that art is made by solitary, angst-ridden artists, and reveals just how varied and abundant artistic creation can be when collaboration is involved.

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This is the sixth Unlock Art film in the series of eight produced in collaboration between Tate and Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts which aims to unlock the big stories and ideas behind art. Other presenters in the series include author and broadcaster Dawn O’Porter, HBO Girls star Jemima Kirke, actor Alan Cumming and new Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi.

Unlock Art aims to take viewers on a journey through various art movements and themes, from the history of the nude and humour in art, to Surrealism and Pop – offering the need-to-know facts, and making the arts more accessible to a wider audience.

Le Méridien ‘Unlock Art’ microsite: www.lemeridien.com/filmseries

#UnlockArt

Ricky Tomlinson To Star In New Mike Bassett Film

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Ricky TomlinsonEngland’s most notorious football manager Mike Bassett is heading back to the big screens with a sequel to the cult classic comedy planned for production later this year.

Director/Producer Steve Barron will return for the sequel, titled, Mike Bassett: Interim Manager, with Ricky Tomlinson as the foul-mouthed Bassett. This time Bassett is brought in to the England camp as number two to the tactically brilliant German coach Jorgen Mannstein who has the England team playing like a dream. Not for long!

Steve Barron said: “Bassett was the last England manager to take the national team to Brazil. We reached the semi’s then, who knows what we could achieve this time? I’m very excited to be back with the team including football legend Andy Ansah who cut his teeth on the first film. As the years have gone by Bassett seems to have dug deeper into football folklore. There is hardly a manager in the game that hasn’t been compared to him. Usually at a low point. Sometimes a very low point.”

The movies development at London-based Riley Productions has been funded again through the BFI. Newly launched Goldfinch Pictures, headed by Harrigan producer Kirsty Bell, has been appointed to raise £2.5m from EIS investors to help fund the film. The original Mike Bassett was the highest grossing film at the UK box office, grossing £3.5m, in it’s original 2001 year of release.

Mike Bassett: Interim Manager sees the return of writing duet Rob Sprackling and John R Smith, who penned the first film and also co-wrote Disney blockbuster Gnomeo and Juliet.

 

Third Contact Film Review

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A permanent sense of dread and the unknown hangs over this impressive low budget British psychological thriller from debut writer and director Si Horrocks. Filmed on location in London for a shoestring budget and on a single handheld camera, the film has benefited enormously from a successful Kickstarter campaign, pulling in independent funds to secure an international screening tour both at festivals and local venues. It’s another brilliant inspirational example of filmmakers marshalling their own resources and bringing their own unique vision to a broad audience.

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Private psychiatrist David Wright (Tim Scott-Walker) is in utter despair; he is hounded by memories of his long lost love and the guilt over a patient’s recent and seemingly pointless suicide. At his nadir and contemplating his own suicide, David is contacted by the patient’s sister Erika (Jannica Olin) who is seeking answers to her brother’s death. United by their grief and loss, the pair investigate the suicide further and soon uncover a mysterious and sinister agenda that defies both their expectations.

Early in the drama of the film, one of David’s patients relates to him the theory behind ‘quantum suicide’, a concept that theorizes that the universe can be split open at the firing of a gun into two states: one of life and the other of death. It’s a lofty, ambitious concept to hit your audience with moments out of the start gate of your movie. Yet that’s all the more credit to Third Contact, a thriller that avoids the cliches and conventions of other projects made under similar circumstances. Writer and director Horrocks discards tired indie Brit cliches of gangsters and banal romance for cerebral science fiction, with a fine eye for minute detail and delivering in a fresh, fractured narrative style. Shot on a relatively inexpensive handheld camera, Horrocks has worked wonders with the films visual look. Filmed in a bleak and stark monochrome, the portrait of urban London comes to a vibrant and urgent life whilst remaining disconcertingly alien and hauntingly lonely. It reminded me somewhat of Christopher Nolan’s debut feature Following, also filmed for pennies and looking spectacular. This is matched by the eerie and otherworldly soundscape where sound and score seem to bleed into each other and become indistinguishable, not unlike the work of David Lynch.

Horrocks has taken on a one man band approach with the project but has still surrounded himself great talent to round out the project. Tim Scott-Walker is pretty terrific in central role, successfully convincing David’s fraying mental state and anguish and his increasingly fraught encounters with those he meets. It’s a world where no one can be fully trusted and supporting players are very effective at portraying characters whose allegiances are uncertain. That this team have managed to come up with such a well constructed project with minimal resources is nothing short of remarkable as is the films unique and dogged release strategy. On the basis of this, the concept of the writer/director with a larger budget is very enticing indeed.

Raindance Film Festival Presents The Independent Filmmaker’s Ball

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7:30pm, April 30th, Café de Paris, London

The Raindance Film Festival has announced their inaugural Independent Filmmaker’s Ball, will take place at the Café de Paris in Leicester Square, London, on the 30th April 2014. raindance

The ball is an opportunity to celebrate independent film and filmmakers and to bring the indie film community under one roof for an exciting night of partying, prizes, music and networking. Raindance and British Independent Film Award founder Elliot Grove said: “It might be all sunshine, bikinis and martinis for the Hollywood set, but British indie filmmakers work unbelievably hard in horrible weather to get their work made and seen. They deserve a night of celebration and some great raffle prizes to boot: bring on the Independent Filmmaker’s Ball!”

 

The event also doubles as a fundraiser for the Independent Film Trust (IFT), which teaches disadvantaged adults and children filmmaking skills. Neil McCartney, chairman of the IFT, said: “We’re so pleased to be able to work with both established filmmakers and complete beginners to promote filmmaking as an art form for everyone. This event will help us raise awareness for our cause, and the funds will enable us to carry on improving and extending the reach of our workshops.”

 

Raindance is planning a fantastic night of entertainment with a classy venue, great indie music and the filmmaker’s dream raffle. Music will be provided by soul band ‘The Indies’, a group made up of working professionals from the UK film industry. The raffle draw is being supported by some amazing Raindance partners and features an awesome array of prizes, including:

  • Canon EOS C100 camera & 18-135mm lens
  • Blackmagic camera hire & DCP package from the Post Factory
  • Screening room hire from Motion Picture Solutions
  • Hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers for stock footage from Pond 5
  • Two annual passes from Vue Cinemas
  • A spa treatment day for two with champagne afternoon tea from the May Fair Hotel

…and many more!

 

Tickets are now on sale, visit the website or call Raindance to enquire and book tickets:

Website:  http://www.raindance.org/independent-filmmakers-ball/

Number: 0207 930 3412

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

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There was an air of excitement at the Odean, Leicester Square in London as we waited to watch the new Captain America Film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

After the excellent trailers for Guardians of The Universe and Maleficent the film started and we all put on our 3D glasses. The film starts well, set after the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is living quietly in Washington, D.C. and adjusting to a modern world. He is treated like a hero but remains modest and decent, despite being able to jump out of a plane without a parachute.

At the beginning of the film Captain America, along with the Black Widow, rescue some S.H.I.E.L.D colleagues from a hostage situation, but it is the start of something bigger. Captain America is forced to join forces with the Black Widow and new character, The Falcon, as a terrible conspiracy comes to light. Something Nick Fury (a brilliant character and as excellent as ever) has had suspicions about. To top it all off they have a hardcore assassin on their tail: the Winter Soldier. He has had thousands of kills and always finishes his mission. Will the Captain and his team break his winning streak?

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This film is my favourite Marvel film. Quite a recommendation considering I love a good Hollywood blockbuster. The action scenes- and in particular a car chase that I don’t want to give anything away about- are just stunning and imaginative. This film really brings something new to the game, and ups the stakes while it’s at it. The script is amazing, the actions scenes are great. In fact, the film just fires on all cylinders.

The characters are equally brilliant and I love the decency and genuineness of Captain America. He is a superhero and a good person to boot.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a brilliant movie. I really enjoyed it and want to see it again. Can’t wait for the next installment either. I would give this film a full five stars. Great entertainment.

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Running time: 136 minutes

In cinemas March 26

Welcome To The Cinema of Childhood | Film News

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Filmhouse, Edinburgh has announced a UK-wide film season, Cinema of Childhood, curated by filmmaker Mark Cousins and inspired by his latest feature documentary, A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM, released in cinemas April 4th (Dogwoof).

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The Cinema Of Childhood season will launch April 11th at Filmhouse, BFI Southbank, and other key venues across the UK. The season, which will tour the UK for a year, includes 17 brilliant films from 12 countries, spanning 7 decades. Most have rarely been seen in the UK – some are totally new to UK audiences.

“These are some of the best films you’ve never had a chance to see,” Cousins says. “Films about childhood take us on fantastic voyages. E.T.: THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL was a magical bike ride across the moon. THE JUNGLE BOOK showed us the bare necessities.  A boy in THE RED BALLOON stole our hearts.  But beyond these mainstream and arthouse classics, there’s a world of great cinema about kids which is hardly known, but just as brilliant.  Welcome to that world.  Jump into it.”

“Fly to the moon on gossamer wings with the little boy in Astrid Henning-Jensen’s PALLE ALONE IN THE WORLD from 1949.  Get close to the flame of life with Renko, in Shinji Somai’s 1993 masterpiece, MOVING.  Body-swerve the bullies in Karel Kachyna’s Czech cinematic wonder, LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC, from 1965. See LITTLE FUGITIVE, the American film from 1953 which helped inspire the French New Wave. Discover the work of one of the world’s greatest movie-makers,
Mohammad-Ali Talebi from Iran with three of his best films – THE BOOT, BAG OF RICE, and his poetic masterpiece WILLOW AND WIND.” Mohammad-Ali Talebi will visit the UK for the first time in April, as a guest of the British Council to launch the season with Mark Cousins at BFI Southbank, Filmhouse and other venues to be announced.

Most of the titles in the season are featured in Mark’s documentary A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year to 5-star reviews, and has since been acclaimed at many other major festivals worldwide, including Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary, Telluride, Toronto, Stockholm and Dubai.

The season opens up a world of wonder for audiences of all ages who are keen to explore beyond Hollywood’s idea of childhood. The films are both specific to their own time and culture, but also universal in their depiction of childhood emotions, hopes and fears. Children everywhere have so much in common – only the worlds they inhabit are different.

Emotionally engaging with audiences from 8 to 80, Cinema of Childhood invites filmgoers to go on a global adventure with Mark, to discover previously unknown movie masterpieces and to see the world anew through young eyes. Uplifting and exhilarating, these are films to brighten your day.

 

The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has licensed the films for a year, and is creating new digital materials where necessary to make the films available to the widest possible range of cinema venues.   Filmhouse has also licensed the VoD rights for many of the titles, enabling audiences to watch these titles at their own convenience from home or on the move via Filmhouse Player.

The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery. The producer of the season is Adam Dawtrey, who also produced (with Mary Bell) A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM.
Filmhouse (Edinburgh) and BFI Southbank (London) will programme the entire season from April to June. Other venues already confirmed to host Cinema of Childhood include Queen’s Theatre (Belfast), Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff), Broadway (Nottingham), Dundee Contemporary Arts, Glasgow Film Theatre, Eden Court Theatre (Inverness), the Roses Theatre (Tewkesbury), Duke of York’s (Brighton), Watershed (Bristol), Cornerhouse (Manchester) and Showroom (Sheffield),along with selected Picturehouse and Curzon cinemas nationwide. Films from the season will also screen at special festival events, including the Glasgow Youth Film Festival screening ofThe White Balloon on 9th February, Zoom International Youth Film Festival and WoW Festival in March, and the Brighton Festival in May.
Further venues will be announced in due course.

In addition there are plans to screen films from Cinema of Childhood in partnership with several organisations concerned with child welfare. These screenings, which will be targeted at a mixed audience of childcare experts and the general public, will explore representations of childhood from a professional perspective, looking at issues from different cultural and global viewpoints.

 

The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy breaks a school window, and must mend it himself before he’s allowed back in class.

• “Bag of Rice” (Kiseye Berendje). Iran, Japan, 1998. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 80 mins. A little girl and an old blind lady decide to carry a sack of rice across Tehran.

• “The Boot” (Chakmeh). Iran 1993. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 60 mins. A little girl craves a new pair of red wellies – but then loses one.

• “The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun” (La petite vendeuse de soleil). Senegal, Switzerland, France, Germany 1999. D. Djibril Diop Mambety. 45 min. A feisty crippled girl tries to improve her life by selling newspapers on the streets of Dakar.

• “Hugo and Josephine” (Hugo och Josefin). Sweden, 1967. D. Kjell Grede. 82 mins. The lonely daughter of a rural pastor makes friends with a wild boy who lives in the woods.

• “The King of Masks” (Bian Lian) China, Hong Kong, 1997. D. Wu Tian-Ming. 91 mins. An old illusionist buys a young boy to become his apprentice – but the boy isn’t quite what he seems.

• “The White Balloon” (Badkonake sefid) Iran 1995. D. Jafar Panahi. 85 mins. A stubborn little girl wants a new goldfish, and won’t let anything get in her way.

• “Tomka and his Friends” (Tomka dhe shokët e tij) Albania, 1977. D. Xhanfise Keko. 78 mins. A gang of Albanian boys in WW2 become secret agents for the Resistance when German troops occupy their village.

• “Palle Alone in the World” (Palle alene i verden). Denmark 1949. D. Astrid Henning-Jensen. 25 min. A boy wakes up to find Copenhagen deserted, and it becomes his giant playground.

• “Ten Minutes Older”. (Par desmit minutem vecaks). Latvia 1978. D. Herz Frank. 10 mins. One close-up, 10 minutes long, of a small boy’s face as he watches a thrilling puppet show.

• “Long Live the Republic” (At’ zije republika) Czechoslovakia, 1965. D. Karel Kachyna, 134 mins. A bullied boy tries to survive in a Czech village as the Germans retreat and the Russians advance.

•  “Moving” (Ohikkoshi) Japan, 1993. D. Shinji Sômai. 124 mins. A girl struggles to come to terms with her parents’ divorce.

• “Forbidden Games” (Jeux interdits). France, 1952. D. René Clément. 86 mins. A boy and a girl retreat into a fantasy world to escape the horrors of WW2.

• “Crows” (Wrony). Poland, 1994. D. Dorota KÄdzierzawska. 63 mins. A neglected girl steals a younger girl to become her surrogate mother.

• “Little Fugitive”. USA 1953. Dir Morris Engel, Ray Ashley, Ruth Orkin. 80 mins. A 7-year-old boy runs away to Coney Island when he thinks he’s killed his older brother.

• “Children in the Wind” (Kaze no naka no kodomo) Japan, 1937. D. Hiroshi Shimizu. 88 mins. The idyllic village life of a Japanese boy falls apart when his father is falsely imprisoned.

• “The Unseen” (NespatÅené). Czech Republic, 1997. D. Miroslav Janek. 53 mins. Documentary about Czech blind kids with remarkable talents, including taking photos.

 

John Campbell-Mac Interview: On The Toscars, British Hustle & Ron Jeremy

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Congratulations on winning a Toscar. How did that feel?

When I got up to receive the Toscar I was almost (only almost ha ha) lost for words. With over 600 people cheering and smiling back at me at the Egyptian theatre it was quite surreal. I had a brilliant Toscar experience from start to finish.

Red carpet at the Toscars with wife Stephanie Campbell-Mac and good friend and actress Victoria Hopkins

Red carpet at the Toscars with wife Stephanie Campbell-Mac and good friend and actress Victoria Hopkins

Did you think you would win?

I was totally shocked, I had absolutely no idea I was going to win but had so much fun on the movie with our brilliant cast and crew winning best supporting whactor was just the icing on the cake.

Tell us about British Hustle

What a great job writer director Sandro Monetti did with British Hustle. Tons of hilarious physical comedy and no mean feat adapting a much loved feature length screenplay into a short parody and somehow still have it make sense and be funny. Everyone involved was great and Marina (Marina Paganucci the producer) and the dream team as they like to me known took it from funny to hysterical.

You also wrote and performed the soundtrack and did the video for the leading single Get Down with Ron Jeremy. How did you manage to fit all that in?

That was insane, especially when you consider it was just weeks before my wedding! When Sandro first asked me if I would write some songs for the sound track. I told him I was flattered but there was just not enough time. The wiley fox then mentioned that if I could, then we could release the EP as the first official sound track in Toscar history, so then the challenge was set so I had to do it. I’m no technician so with the help of our brilliant editor and technical wizard Charlie Robinson we managed to write parts of the songs for the film.

Then when I returned to the UK I managed to flesh them out to whole tracks with my friend and brilliant producer Kevin Leo in his London studio then master them for release. Given more time we would have polished them more but I’m happy with what we achieved in the time we had and they are pretty much a live session with musician friends helping out. Regards the video that was down to the hard work of Sandro and especially Charlie who did 18-hour days trying to get it finished in time. I flew back to LA early after the wedding to shoot an extra half-day to finish the video; you couldn’t make it up: as I said insane.

Soundtrack available on iTunes.

What was it like working with Ron Jeremy?

Ron Jeremy what a character, the hardest err… working man in Hollywood ha ha. Really fun guy and a pleasure to be around. I think he surprised a lot of people with his acting ability and has so many funny stories and anecdotes I think anyone would be hartoscarsd-pressed not to like him.

You recently got married. Congratulations. What was more stressful; planning a wedding or doing a film?

I would like to say it was more stressful organizing the wedding but to be honest the wedding was the easiest gig of my life. I just had to turn up and have fun. Now my wife, mother in law, her Godmother, father and all her friends might have a different story to tell. They spent a year working really hard plotting, planning and preparing every last detail. Regards the film I think it’s pretty obvious we had so much fun from beginning to end, I was so lucky to draw British Hustle and my team I would like nothing more than to make many more films with this incredible group of talented people.

Wedding day. Photo credit: Darren Paul

Wedding day. Photo credit: Darren Paul

 

 

 

 

Tell us about your wedding day and your gorgeous wife.

Wow what can I tell you, it was the greatest day of my life and my gorgeous wife Stephanie is the greatest gift I could ever wish to have. It really was magical if you can imagine 300 of your closest friends and family from every area and time period of your life under one roof, all having a great time. Even now I can’t really put it into words.

I understand Chico was your best man how was that?

Oh my God, his best man speech was around 25 minutes and had animations, embarrassing stories, muppets, his children rapping on screen and singing live, and even good luck messages from celebrity friends like Ant and Dec and Ray Quinn to name a couple. It was funny, moving and quite possibly the greatest best man speech in the history of the world ha ha. It’s not every day you get roasted by a muppet. In a word: incredible. And fair to say it was emotional.

At his wedding with wife Stephanie Campbell-Mac. Photo credit: Darren Paul

At his wedding with wife Stephanie Campbell-Mac. Photo credit: Darren Paul

You made the brave move to LA and it has paid off. How did you manage it?

Also no mean feat, it’s a huge deal leaving everyone and everything you know and moving thousands of miles away even to the magical land of Hollywood. Thank God for Skype and social networking because undoubtedly the biggest thing you miss are your loved ones. I have no regrets the quality of life here is great and I have been fortunate enough to make some good friends and work on some good projects. I had a large enough body of work to qualify for a work permit but the whole immigration thing is not without its stress’s and hassles. Thankfully I had brilliant immigration lawyers in Raynor and Associates to make the move smoothly and ended up shooting a couple of comedy commercials for them, to make you smile see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EL0tl81hYQ

Any tips for actors wanting to move to LA?

Come prepared with as much money behind you as you can. There are a lot of opportunities here but there are literally hundreds of thousands of other actors here trying to do the same thing. It can take a while to start booking enough work to make a living and Hollywood Boulevard has been described as the boulevard of broken dreams so you might be glad you brought some savings to live on while your waiting for your moment.

I’m gonna quote a friend of mine Craig Fairbrass as he put it best as we worked together on the film 31 North 62 East just before I left the UK. He’s a great actor who has had success in the UK and the US. He said to me “It’s not easy over there and there’s plenty of good actors who never even get representation let alone book a job. It takes a lot of balls to up sticks and give it a try so good luck, don’t take it personally if you don’t book a job. I’m sure you’ll do alright and remember to take time out to enjoy yourself”. Great advice I couldn’t put it better.

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What’s next?

Well this year the Toscars next year the Oscars from my lips to Gods ears. I’m working on a few cool projects including the American pre-revolution period drama Courage, New Hampshire, it’s like the American Dowton Abbey. Season one is currently airing on PBS with season two currently in pre-production. I can’t give to much away but I play militia captain Daniel Cressy described by creator / director Jim Riley as “A man born for war and a little miserable without it”. Look out for a big bar room brawl with Cressy and the red coats in season two. For a taste of season one see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myY3DV4TL4Q

I have a film coming out in a few months called ‘Call me King’ in which I share some pretty steamy scene with the Chinese actress Bai Ling and recently signed on for an action bromance film called Artifact Red. Shooting mostly in Belize, it’s kind of Indiana Jones meets Lethal Weapon with a little Men in Black thrown in for good measure.

You seem to have it all now: wife, career, and a good life in LA. What else do you want to achieve?

So much more Catherine, where do I begin, there are so many great directors I would love to work with and so many great stories to be told. Outside of the industry I have various charitable causes that I’m involved in, including Rainbow Child (see http://www.rainbowchildfoundation.co.uk). We help underprivileged children around the world and I’m especially proud of Chico and what we have achieved in Africa with the play pumps. But your right; I try to stop and count my blessings every day for my life, my wife and the position I’m in oh: and Chunkee Munkee.

Chunkee Munkee?

I haven’t mentioned Chunkee Munkee? My wife will kill me, he is her pet bunny rabbit. He runs around the house like he is King and even has his own Hollywood agent. I’m not kidding he has he’s own representation and has been up for some big commercials but that’s another story, you can interview him another time ha ha but I’ll warn you he is a bit of a prima-donna he he. Hollywood you can’t make it up.

 

Official website  http://johncampbellmac.com/