UK Film Network

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Thursday 22 October

Mugabe and The White African

Dir.: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson/ UK 2009/ 88 min

“The white man is not indigenous to Africa.  Africa is for Africans.  Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans.’ – Robert Mugabe

‘This film is an intimate account of one family’s astonishing bravery in the face of brutality, in a fight to protect their property, their livelihood and their country.’

Michael Campbell is one of the remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe since Mugabe took up presidency and started his fierce land ownership program.

In 2008, Michael, a 75-year old grandfather, made the exceptional choice of taking Mugabe and his government to The SADC (South African Development Community) International Court, on the charges of racial discrimination and discrimination of Human Rights.

‘This is the only film to have come out of Zimbabwe in recent years, where a total press ban still exists.  Much of the footage was shot covertly.  To have been caught filming would have lead to imprisonment.’

And should you strip away every other aspect of this film, it is ultimately about the strength of people’s beliefs and how far they are willing to go to protect them!

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Saturday 24 October 2009

Glorious 39 Premiere

Never in my life have I felt so unglamourous.  I remember asking myself, ‘where is my personal stylist, hairdresser and make-up artist?!’  One exception was when I attended the World Premiere of David Morrissey film, Don’t Worry About Me, where I wore my Kate Moss LBD, complete with Grecian-style stilettos.

Of course yesterday’s red carpet event did not help, getting caught up behind the cast of Glorious 39, which included: Romola Garai (who recently appeared in the BBC series Emma and who is set to be the next Kate Winslett), Billy Nighy, rising starlet Juno Temple (whom the photographers seemed most keen on taking photos of), Jenny Agutter and Doctor Who’s David Tennant, whom the crowd had been waiting on tenterhooks for in the hope of catching a mere glimpse of him and he did not fail to disappoint).

I found myself scurrying along the carpet with an obnoxious American journalist, and, oh-my-God, I could not believe how amazingly rude she was!

Thursday 29 October 2009: It just so happened, that on the final day of the festival I had the misfortune of bumping into her again.  This time at The Hampshire Hotel, where a suite had been put aside for BFI delegates.  I had gone there in between films, in the hope of finding some solace but, instead, I had to put up with her jibbering voice towering over me!

Jokily I mentioned what had happened on the red carpet and how it had put her out being made to walk around to the back of the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, after barriers had been erected in aide of the Glorious 39 Premiere, which interestingly she was only too quick to shrug off!

I was fortunate enough to meet director Stephen Poliakoff at The Filmmakers Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 28 October 2009, where a group interview took place in one of the Mayfair Hotel’s private suites.

Glorious 39 is based on fact and looks at the twelve weeks leading up to the Second World War, the first few weeks of what became known as ‘The Phoney War’.  What is particularly special about this film is the fact that its director Stephen Poliakoff is himself of Jewish descent and also that actress Julie Christie plays a very different character to the ones we are used to seeing her play.

Stephen Poliakoff has been making award-winning dramas for over a decade, including dramas such as: Shooting The Past and Gideon’s Daughter.  He reverts back to cinema with the film Glorious 39, which draws us in with its thriller-type quality.  It focuses in on the upper-class Keyes family who are doing everything within their power  to continue to lead the lifestyle they have become accustomed to, even amongst political unrest.  Alexander (Bill Nighy) is head of the household and is an important conservative MP.  His son, Ralph (Eddie Redmayne), works for The Foreign Office.  Romola Garai plays adopted daughter, Anne, and is an aspiring actress until her carefree life is thrown up in to the air when she comes across suspect recordings hidden away in the family home’s outbuildings.  In an attempt to get to the root of the matter she gets sucked into a world that is full of betrayal and secrets.

The picture her discoveries paint are as shocking to Anne, as they are to us.

‘Poliakoff handles the shift in tone  with great skill, capturing the full sense of threat and unease of this significant moment in history.’

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Thursday 29^th October 2009 (Morning Screening for PRESS only!)

Nowhere Boy

Dir.: Sam Taylor-Wood, Scr.: Matt Greenhalgh.

Cast: Aaron John, Kristin Scott Thomas (Mimi), David Threlfall (Uncle George), Ann-Marie Duff (Julia), David Morrissey (Bobby), Thomas Brodie Sangster (Paul).

‘Mother.. you had me, but I never had you.’

(Imagine) John Lennon’s childhood…

Liverpool, 1955, a bright but disturbed fifteen year-old craves recognition.  Caught up in a family holding lots of secrets, two powerful women fight over John.  One is Mimi, his pent up aunt who raised him, the other, Julia, his prodigal mother who has now returned after leaving him.

Desperate for a normal family life,  John discovers a more meaningful existence within the world of rock ‘n’ roll, where his talents find those in teenage soul mate, Paul McCartney.

As John’s life begins to make more sense, something traumatic happens.  But always the fighter, he finds himself and an icon is born.

“Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realized that the imagery in my mind wasn’t insanity.  Surrealism to me is reality.”

(John Lennon)

Director Sam Taylor-Wood was nominated for a Palme d’Or at The 2008 Cannes Film Festival for Film4 debut short Love You More, produced by Mentor Anthony Minghella. Her debut feature film Nowhere Boy is dedicated to him. She is best known for her work as an artist and photographer. Her work is displayed in many reputable galleries throughout the world.

“Visualize everything when you’re writing, ..otherwise you’re looking at ink.  ..I acted the scenes out, I walked around Mendips, and Woolton, I went to St. Peter’s Church Hall where John and Paul first met.  I wanted to understand exactly what the locations were, it’s about imbibing, getting the look right, feeling the dialogue is right and trying to capture the way people spoke at that time.  Once that’s all in place, the pictures come into your head.”

(Matt Greenhalgh, screenplay writer of the award winning film Control).

Nowhere Boy will open in cinemas across the UK on 26 December 2009.

(Certificate and running time remain to be confirmed).

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Wednesday 28^th October 2009 (Morning Screening for PRESS only!)

A Serious Man

Dir-Scr: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen/ with Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Simon Helberg, Adam Akin (106 min).

The Coen brothers’ film this time around is a much more personal one but shows no signs of being any less fun.  Set in the late 1960s it appears, at first sight, to be in the seemingly ordinary world of Larry Gopnik. He cannot be criticized either for his marital or parental skills.  A hardworking professor at restful Midwestern University,never one to be swayed by the trials and tribulations that his life throws at him, one day everything changes and his life takes a turn for the worse.

His beloved opts to end their marriage for reasons she is not willing to discuss. To make matters worse her new man has the nerve to intervene in their family life and the home he has built up. She manages to persuade him, although short of cash, that it would be better all round if he started living in a motel.  Also, to top it all off, his career is then put on the line through a series of unidentified letters, questioning his favouritism over students, along with his brother who no-one is willing to employ and who is becoming an ever increasing problem.

Larry tries to find some kind of balance and to keep his head held high during all this hardship.  It is the root of all his problems that the film portrays well with its use of rather quaint humour and it is particularly funny when he attempts to find solace by visiting  a series of rabbis  who are less than helpful.  Michael Stuhlbarg plays Larry brilliantly, seemingly underplaying him.

A well put together Coen brothers classic, painting an extremely detailed picture of one character.

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Thursday 29^th October

On the final day of the festival I made my way across to The London Film Theatre along The South Bank to watch the film ‘Leave Her To Heaven’ which prevented me from checking-in on my e-mails concerning the films that had been awarded prizes and the times they would be screened that very same day, however, it meant I got to experience a re-mastered 1940s film classic, which I might otherwise have never seen.  Check end of review for list of prize-winning films.

Leave Her To Heaven

Dir.: John M Stahl/ Scr Jo Swerling/ with Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price/ USA 1945/ 110 min

‘A film seemingly made in a trance and best seen in a state of fever,’ says David Thomson in Biographical Dictionary Of Film.  ‘A fever pitch’, reflects Anthony Lane in an article for the New Yorker, reminiscing over films past in time for a revival in New York.

John M Stahl is well established for pre-sirk, black-and-white romantic melodramas described as ‘women’s pictures’, for example, in Back Street and Imitation of Life, before taking a brave step in to what has been described by Thomson as being ‘self-destructive technicolour emotionalism’.  And it is through the essence of technicolour and the film’s ‘noir’ feel that our attention is constantly held.  Gene Tierney plays a horrid heroine.  Clearly born to have been projected on to three-strip technicolour.  Her lips said to be ‘as red as a witch’s apple!’  Think Snow White, oozing her sweetness from the offset till domination is allowed to take control.  Tierney’s character Ellen is uncaring, utterly fixated, hanging on to ‘a father complex’, which she allows to transfer across to husband Richard, played by Cornel Wilde, while, in comparison, her sister (Jeanne Crain) remains the forever perfect and doting one. ‘There’s nothing wrong with Ellen, she just loves too much’, says her mother convincing Richard, after which Ellen under an act of jealousy witnesses his disabled brother drowning and does not go to his aide.  She then miscarries their unborn child by purposely stumbling down the stairs.  Over-the-top in every sense of the word but really captures the era in which it was shot.

The Academy Film Archive is to thank for the brilliant restoration of Oscar-winning cameraman Leon Shamroy’s rich Technicolour photography, which was financially supported by  The Film Foundation.

The Awards at this year’s festival acknowledged the following films:

The awards this year were awarded to the following films:

Winner of Best Film Award: The Prophet

Winner of The Sutherland Trophy: Ajami

 Winner of Best British Newcomer Award: The Scouting Book for Boys

Winner of Grierson Award: Defamation

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Monday 26 October

Kicks

Dir.: Lindy Heymann/ Scr Leigh Campbell/ with Kerrie Hayes, Nichola Burley, Jamie Doyle/ UK 2009/ 81

Nicole, played by Kerrie Hayes, is a reserved Liverpudlian teenager, who is somewhat neglected by her parents,with a mother who devotes her no attention due to working nights and a father who has upped and left to start family number two!  Most of her spare time is spent around Anfield and Melwood training grounds, in a desperate bid to see her idol, who come s in the form of midfielder Lee Cassidy (Jamie Doyle).  It is then that she meets wannabe WAG Jasmine (Nichola Burley), from a well off background, with more street cred than she and attention to fashion but it is their obsession for Cassidy which draws them together.  They traipse across the city and its nightly hotspots, daydreaming about Lee and how one day they may be fortunate enough to be on their own with him.  However, when they get to hear of his transfer to Real Madrid, they take it upon themselves to ensure he does not leave the country whatever the price.  ‘One of the Digital Departures Projects which were developed as part of Liverpool’s Tenure as European Capital of Culture.’  Vaguely adapted from an unfulfilled screenplay by Michael Winterbottom collaborator Lawrence Coriat, Lindy Heymann establishes her mark well with Kicks – her feature debut.  A bright and perceptive take on modern celebrity culture.

I met Lindy Heymann (director) and Leigh Campbell (screenwriter) at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea at The Mayfair Hotel on Monday 26 October when I sat in on an interview that was being conducted by another journalist/filmmaker, where I learnt the two female characters in the film, constrasting in hair colour and personality, had been compared to the director and screenwriter themselves.

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Wednesday 28 October

Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night (Giulia Non Esce La Sera)

Dir.: Giuseppe Piccioni/ Scr. Giuseppe Piccioni, Federica Pontremoli/ with Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Golina, Sonia Bergamascol.

Italy 2009/ 106 min

Giuseppe Piccioni was an absolute delight to talk to.  Such a pity that I was pulled away from him at The Filmmaker Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 28 October.  It wasn’t my intention but I was to take part in a group interview in one of the suites upstairs with Glorious 39 director, Stephen Poliakoff.

Filmmaker Giuseppe Piccioni is a ‘hidden gem of Italian cinema.’  His exquisite films have been seen by London Film Festival goers for over a decade.  As with his previous work , for example, Light Of My Eyes and Not Of This World, Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night, at first glance has a simple structure but, as the story is unveiled, you realize it is carefully pieced together, with unpretentious performances.  Not to wish to delve too deeply into the plot – a frustrated writer is close to success when he starts up a relationship with a swimming teacher who carries around a desperately unhappy past.  We must give thanks to Piccioni who, as a filmmaker, tells us a sweet tale where disaster inevitably strikes, with echoes of The Reader in it.  Above all  Giulia Doesn’t Date At Night shows a  great understanding of the way  people behave.  Cinema you will not be able to take your eyes off!

‘Italy’s most original yet still underappreciated talents.’

THE TIMES BFI 53^RD LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 14-29 October 2009

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

Saturday 24 October

Don’t Worry About Me

dir.: David Morrissey (his debut feature length film)

London lad David travels up to Liverpool to hunt down the girl from last night’s one night stand.  After he’s told where to go, he finds himself wandering the streets until he comes across a betting shop where a shy and slightly reserved Tina gives him a tip on which dog to place his bet on.  On his win, David invites Tina out for coffee and encourages her to take the rest of the day off work.  She shows him the hot tourist spots but behind those smiling eyes of her’s, lies locked-up pain.

Q & A Session at the end of The World Premiere

David Morrissey gives some background in to the film.

“Don’t Worry About Me is an independent film which I raised the funds for myself.  The film couldn’t have been made without the help of its producer John Maxwell.

It was originally a play called ‘The Pool’ and was written by the two principal actors you saw in the film tonight.”

Did you find it easy to give up your story to a film production company? (directed at principal actors, Helen Elizabeth & James Brough)

“It was originally a 2-man show we took up to Edinburgh, written in rhyming couplets.  It was easy to let go of, having started off as a little play we had made no assumptions about what it might turn in to.”

How did you achieve the look you did in the film?

 “James Wright, the cameraman.  It was also shot on Sony, HD.

Right now, in Liverpool, a modern city is immerging from out of the older part of the city and I wanted the film to reflect that.

What took its time was being granted permission to shoot in different locations but people were most accommodating which lent to itself.”

Were you looking for a project that would be shot in Liverpool?

“Yes, or at least the North West as that’s where my production company is based.”

Can you tell us about the leap from T.V. to film.

“With the film there was no financial help. All of it had to be raised by my own means, which meant constantly doing deals, which, of course, uses up a lot of time.

The advantage I had, however, was there was no executive producer getting in the way of my own creative vision.

I also had to keep within a budget.”

 How did you come to write together? (directed towards Helen Elizabeth & James Brough).

“We both knew each other from Drama School and came up with the story when we were poor.”

 What would you advise any one coming in to the acting profession?

“I would advise those just starting out to watch all of their footage as much as possible as what they think they’re doing, can come across very differently on screen.

You won’t get much rehearsal time in your career but it’s something

I made sure there was enough of in my own film, two weeks in all.”

What transformations did the characters have to go through to make that shift from theatre  in to film? (directed at actors, Helen Elizabeth & James Brough).

“On stage we played for caricatures.  Whereas with David (David Morrissey) he would say to us ‘I can see what you’re thinking.  Change your thoughts.’ ”

James Brough adds: “They are very real, flawed characters. 

David (David Morrissey) helped us to see the good and the bad sides of each character.”

How was breaking in to acting relevant to when you came round to direct?

“The director of ‘One Summer’, my breakthrough movie, gave me a great grounding.  It was from then on I knew I wanted to focus on acting.  I learnt about lenses, set-ups, cameras and, the fact,

that it’s not all about the actors but the whole team.”