screentalk - National Media Museum

9-24 March 2007 

Artistic Director’s Introduction 3 

Programme at a Glance 4 

Festival Awards 6 

The Shine Jury 8 

Opening Night Gala 10 

Closing Night Gala 11 

FILMS 

Premieres & Previews 13 

Uncharted States of America 73 

CineFile 89 

SPECIAL GUESTS 

Ken Loach 104 

Michael Parkinson 110 

Patrick Keiller 112 

Godfrey Reggio 114 

Trudie Styler 118 

David Arnold 119 

Alan Bennett 120 

Denis Dercourt 122 

Terence Davies 124 

Euan Lloyd 126 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Crash Symposium 128 

3rd Film & Music Conference 130 

Industry Weekend 132 

Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards 134 

Pandora’s Box + Live Music 136 

Widescreen Weekend 139 

TV Heaven 147 

The Shine Award 152 

Exhibition: Roy Alon 154 

Family Events 156 

Thanks... 158 

General Information 159 

Festival Staff 160 

Festival Diary 162 

Index of Films 164 

Index of Directors 166 

BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 1

Bradford International Film Festival 2007 is generously 

supported by the following funders and sponsors: 

To discuss sponsorship opportunities for this and other museum events please contact 

Helen Hawney on 01274 203330 or email helen.hawney@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk 

Introduction 

I am reliably informed that 13 is a difficult age... 

But the onset of ‘the terrible teens’ doesn’t just relate to children. Oh no. Film festivals work to the 

same formula: as they get older, they become a little more difficult to control. The Bradford 

International Film Festival has now been running since 1995 and it officially enters its teenage years 

in 2007. And, just like an awkward child who prefers doing anything other than the bidding of boring 

old Mum and Dad, so the Festival’s on-going expansion leads to something akin to growing pains. 

Still, there is a saying among film industry folk that film festivals do well to last more than five years. 

Doing so sets them apart from other ventures that quickly rise and just as quickly disappear. This year 

the Bradford International Film Festival notches up 13 years – longer than some, not as long as others, 

but a healthy age for any developing festival. 

Since the Festival began 12 years ago the number of screenings and special guests have increased 

year-on-year. In 1995 we were proud to welcome Alan Bennett when he accompanied the opening 

night screening of The Madness of King George. Twelve years later he’s back amongst a line-up of 

filmmakers and celebrities that includes Ken Loach, Michael Parkinson, Terence Davies, Euan Lloyd, 

Trudie Styler, David Arnold, Denis Dercourt, Patrick Keiller and Godfrey Reggio. 

And in keeping with our tradition of digging up new and exciting talent we are delighted to unveil 

Uncharted States of America, a strand dedicated to emerging directors from the American 

independent circuit, while CineFile, our trawl through documentaries about movies and filmmakers, 

also makes an appearance. 

For the first time this year the Festival will host an Industry Weekend – two days crammed with 

events and masterclasses for the region’s filmmakers. We are grateful for the support of Guerilla 

Films, Screen Yorkshire, Propeller TV, Skillset, Regional Language Network and our various guest 

speakers, and hope that this busy, buzzy gathering will become a regular feature. 

Finally, this year the Bradford Film Festival became the 

Bradford International Film Festival. Some would argue 

that it’s just a word; others in the industry have pointed to 

the inclusion of the word ‘international’ as signifying that 

Bradford has taken a mighty step forward in joining a 

global community of similar events. In reality it is probably 

‘just a word’, but if ‘international’ helps to spread the name 

and reputation of Bradford, then we’re all for it. 

Welcome to the Bradford International Film Festival 

and another packed 16 days of movies. 

Tony Earnshaw, 

Artistic Director 

9-24 March 2007 

INTRODUCTION 3

Programme at a glance 

4 PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE 

CINEFILE 

A small but eclectic documentary strand, CineFile is a 

kaleidoscopic collection of films that record and 

document the world of movies and moviemakers. 

CRASH CINEMA 6 

A unique, stimulating and thought-provoking event that 

considers the effects of edgy and often controversial 

cinema such as the ‘mondo’ phenomenon. 

DENIS DERCOURT RETROSPECTIVE 

Denis Dercourt has made a series of films that highlight 

his profession in music education, but equally are 

fascinating and enjoyable stories with a twist on 

traditional genres. He is a great developing European 

talent and we are delighted to welcome him to Bradford. 

FAMILY EVENTS 

Morning kids’ screenings, workshops and storytelling 

sessions. 

FILM AND MUSIC CONFERENCE 

Academic paper sessions, a round-table discussion and a 

keynote interview with a leading practitioner of film 

music. Among this year’s special guests are film composer 

David Arnold and orchestrator Gary Carpenter 

GODFREY REGGIO RETROSPECTIVE 

Few directors of modern cinema have captured the 

tensions between nature and industrialisation, humans 

and animals, entertainment and education as effectively 

as Godfrey Reggio. The cult filmmaker and academic 

behind the acclaimed ‘Qatsi’ trilogy receives a complete 

retrospective of his work to date. 

INDUSTRY WEEKEND 

A weekend of events and masterclasses for the region’s 

filmmakers offering vital networking opportunities between 

filmmakers and industry professionals. Book now to avoid 

disappointment! 

KEN LOACH RETROSPECTIVE 

We are delighted to present this retrospective of the work of 

one of the great modern British filmmakers. Ken Loach will 

join us on the evening of Monday 19 March for a Screentalk 

interview in Pictureville Cinema. 

KRASZNA-KRAUSZ BOOK AWARDS 

The Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards celebrate and 

acknowledge the best literature about the still and moving 

image. Now administered by the National Media Museum, 

this year’s awards will be presented by Alan Bennett. 

MICHAEL PARKINSON 

RETROSPECTIVE 

The undisputed doyen of the British talk show, Michael 

Parkinson brought intelligence, wit and a keen journalistic 

perspective to interviews with celebrities from the golden 

age of cinema. His Screentalk interview takes place in 

Pictureville Cinema on Wednesday 14 March. 

PATRICK KEILLER RETROSPECTIVE 

The first UK retrospective of the work of architect-turnedfilmmaker 

Patrick Keiller includes a rare Screentalk interview 

with the man himself on Tuesday 13 March. 

PREMIERES & PREVIEWS 

The very best of new cinema from both independent 

producers and commercial studios, our Premieres & 

Previews strand offers a taste of what’s to come and 

showcases indie movies that might otherwise not be seen in 

the UK. Our line-up this year includes releases from the UK, 

central Europe, Scandinavia, the United States, Latin 

America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and 

Hong Kong. 

SCREENTALKS 

Meet the people who helped make cinema great in our 

annual series of live on-stage interviews. Guests this year 

include Koyaanisqatsi creator Godfrey Reggio, architectturned-filmmaker 

Patrick Keiller, writer/director Terence 

Davies and chat show king Michael Parkinson. Other guests 

participating in interviews include Alan Bennett, Ken Loach, 

Denis Dercourt, David Arnold, Euan Lloyd and Trudie Styler. 

THE SHINE AWARD 

The Shine Jury will convene on March 10 to select the best 

new short film from the hundreds submitted to BIFF every 

year. The Shine Award will be presented on March 24 – the 

final day of the festival. 

TERENCE DAVIES RETROSPECTIVE 

We are pleased to welcome one of Britain’s greatest living 

filmmakers to the festival to discuss his work to date. Terence 

Davies will also receive the BIFF Fellowship Award. His 

Screentalk interview takes place on Sunday 11 March. 

TV HEAVEN 

Our annual trawl through the vaults. Gems this year include 

Alan Bennett comedies and dramas, documentaries on James 

Mason, J.B. Priestley and James Bond, TV plays from Graham 

Greene and a series of classic Parkinson interviews. 

UNCHARTED STATES OF AMERICA 

Indie movies you’ve never seen, made by people you’ve 

probably never heard of. These filmmakers could be the Big 

News of tomorrow. 

WIDESCREEN WEEKEND 

Wallow in the great old widescreen movies of yesteryear as 

we present some extremely rare titles and old favourites. 

Films include Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, 

Cleopatra and Shalako. Guests will include producer Euan 

Lloyd and composer David Arnold. 

PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE 5

Festival Awards 

The BIFF Lifetime Achievement Award 

2007 Ken Loach 

2006 Malcolm McDowell 

2005 Jenny Agutter 

2004 Ian Carmichael 

2003 Jean Simmons 

2002 Jack Cardiff 

2001 Richard Attenborough 

The BIFF Fellowship 

2007 Terence Davies 

2006 Eric Sykes 

Shine People’s Choice Award 

The winner is chosen via audience votes. 

2003 Carine Tardieu, France, Les Baisers des autres (Others’ Kisses) 

2001 Hardeep Singh, Great Britain, The Drop 

1998 Jophi Ries, Germany, Marco at Work 

Shine Feature Film Award 

2005 No award given 




2001 Lisa et Andre (Denis Dercourt, France) 

2000 The Waiting (Simon Bovey, Great Britain) 

The Shine Short Film Award 

Treading the borders yet pushing the boundaries 

Inaugurated in 1998, Shine is the short film platform in the Bradford Film Festival. This 

international forum showcases the five films short-listed for the Shine Award - our 

competition for best international film. Works featured in competition are selected from 

hundreds of entries submitted to the festival each year. 

The focus of the Shine Award is to honour the best short by an emerging European 

director, and to support innovation and originality. Films short-listed for the Shine Award 

are selected because they succeed in pushing the short film further, ranging from idea 

and concept to filmmaking process and presentation. Essentially, they add something 

extra and are doing something a little different with the form of the short film. 

2006 Igor Pejic, France, L’Armée du Bonheur (Army of Happiness) 

2006 Avie Luthra, Great Britain, Lucky 


2004 Benjamin Diez, Germany, Druckbolzen (Pressure Bolt) 

2003 Anna Ehnsiö, Sweden, The Rift 

2002 Brian Percival, Great Britain, About a Girl 

2001 Emmanuel Jespers, Belgium, Le Derniere Rêve (The Last Dream) 

2000 Guillaume Lecoquierre, France, Pixie 

1999 Jonathan Hacker, Great Britain, The Short Walk 

1998 Jophi Ries, Germany, Marco at Work 

The Bafta North Crystal Mask 

Inaugurated in 2004 “in recognition of outstanding achievement within the motion 

picture industry”, the first Bafta North Crystal Mask was presented to scriptwriter and 

filmmaker Simon Beaufoy. The writer of The Full Monty, Among Giants and The Darkest 

Light (which he also co-directed), Yorkshire-born Beaufoy has been at the forefront of 

digital filmmaking and exhibition. His pursuit of this new technology culminated in the 

first premiere of a feature film on the internet with Footprint Film’s This is Not a Love 

Song in 2003. 

2004 Simon Beaufoy 

6 BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 


The Shine Jury 

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON (Chairman) 

James Cameron-Wilson has been writing about film for more than 30 years. Since 

1986, he has been editor of Film Review Annual, the world’s longest-running film 

publication, and is the author of the books The Moviegoers’ Quiz Book (written in 

collaboration with F. Maurice Speed), CineStars, The Cinema of Robert De Niro, Young 

Hollywood and Hollywood: The New Generation. He has been a habitual face on Sky 

TV since its inception (when he was a consultant and presenter on the daily Movie 

Show), has been syndicated critic for BBC Radio, a feature writer for The Times and 

was a regular presenter of the Radio 2 Arts Programme. He is currently critic for the 

magazines Film Review, TwentyFour7 and What’s On in London and still regularly 

reviews for radio and television. He has also written on art, theatre, rock music and 

the paranormal. 

JACK GOLD 

A filmmaker for five decades, Jack Gold is perhaps best known for the multi awardwinning 

play The Naked Civil Servant (1975), his classic portrayal of the flamboyant 

homosexual Quentin Crisp. Having studied law at London University he later joined 

the BBC’s Tonight show as an editor. During the 1960s he helmed a string of 

documentaries and TV plays including the BAFTA-winning anti-foxhunting film 

Death in the Morning. His feature film debut came with The Bofors Gun; he would 

go on to direct The National Health, Who Aces High, The Medusa Touch and The 

Chain. Gold’s television work has been prolific, eclectic and exceptional. Alongside 

the Crisp biopic he directed Praying Mantis, Macbeth, Sakharov, Escape from Sobibor, 

Murrow, Stones for Ibarra, The Return of the Native, Goodnight, Mr. Tom and The 

Remorseful Day, the final episode in the long-running Inspector Morse series. 

DAVID LASCELLES 

David Lascelles is an independent film producer of drama for television and the 

cinema. His television credits include the ever-popular Inspector Morse (which won a 

BAFTA for Best Television Series in 1991), Moll Flanders for Granada TV and Second 

Sight for the BBC. His cinema credits include the Richard Loncraine/Ian McKellen film 

of Shakespeare’s Richard III (as Line Producer) and The Wisdom of Crocodiles. He is 

currently developing an animated feature film, Grass Roots, aimed at teenagers. He is 

also Chairman of the Harewood House Trust and owner of the Harewood Estate. For 

the first time he is combining these roles with his production experience to bring 

Carnival Messiah back to Yorkshire for a two-week run in a big top in the grounds of 

Harewood in September 2007, as part of the celebration of the bi-centenary of the 

Abolition of the Slave Trade. 

LIZ RYMER 

Liz Rymer has been a key member of the Yorkshire region’s film community for almost 

20 years. She was one of the founding directors of Leeds International Film Festival and 

became sole director in 1995. In 1999 she became Chief Executive of Yorkshire Screen 

Commission (YSC), a body that encouraged and supported production in the region, 

eventually becoming an important resource for upcoming talent on both sides of the 

camera. She was instrumental in creating the agency that would become Screen 

Yorkshire, the UK Film Council’s regional development agency for film and media. She 

left in 2002 to pursue her writing and producing interests; her first feature script was 

optioned in 2006 and will be filmed in Scotland. Liz is also producing Lipgloss, a feature 

based in Sheffield. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Film Industry and Practice at 

Trinity & All Saints’ College, Leeds, and an external examiner for the Screenwriting MA 

at Leeds Metropolitan University 

NEIL YOUNG 

International Consultant for the Bradford Film Festival, Neil Young is also Chairman of 

the Guild of Regional Film Writers and a member of the international film critics’ union 

FIPRESCI. Born in Easington, County Durham, in 1971, he is a freelance journalist who 

broadcasts a regular film review slot on BBC Radio. He writes weekly for the longrunning 

political magazine Tribune (London), and daily for the website Jigsaw Lounge. 

A graduate of Manchester University, he has written extensively on film for a wide 

range of publications including The Independent (London), City Life (Manchester) 

CinemaScope (Toronto), Impact, Hotdog, Dazed and Confused and Critical Quarterly. He 

has served on the main-competition juries at film festivals including Ljubljana 

(Slovenia), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Tromso (Norway). He is a programming 

advisor for the Ljubljana and Tromso events, and also for film festivals in Izola 

(Slovenia: Kino Otok) and Linz (Austria: Crossing Europe). He attends numerous film 

festivals all over Europe every year, and resides in Sunderland. 



MICHAEL APTED 

Born: 10 February, 1941 

Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 

England 

Selected filmography 

1972 The Triple Echo 

1974 Stardust 

1977 The Squeeze 

1979 Agatha 

1980 Coal Miner’s Daughter 

1981 Continental Divide 

1983 Gorky Park 

1987 Critical Condition 

1989 Gorillas in the Mist 

1991 Class Action 

1992 Thunderheart 

1992 Incident at Oglala 

1994 Blink 

1994 Nell 

1996 Extreme Measures 

1999 The World Is Not Enough 

2001 Enigma 

2006 Amazing Grace 

10 OPENING NIGHT GALA 

OPENING NIGHT UK PREMIERE 

AMAZING GRACE 

Friday 9 March 9pm 

Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Michael Apted GB 2006 116 mins (adv PG) 

Ioan Gruffud, Romola Garai, Benedict Cumberbatch, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus 

Sewell, Youssou N’Dour, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, Nicholas Farrell, Sylvestra Le Touzel 

England, 1797. Exhausted by his crusading campaign to bring an end to the British Empire’s 

tradition of slavery, the young MP William Wilberforce retreats to his friends’ home to 

recuperate. Eight long years have passed since the 34-year-old Yorkshireman took up the 

fight. On the way he has been roundly defeated. The burden of carrying the debate and 

pursuing his anti-slavery bill has taken its toll. 

History shows that Wilberforce returned to the fray and, with a combination of obsession 

and evangelical zeal, raised sufficient support to eventually win the day. That he was 

unorthodox cannot be denied: he was a God-fearing radical, an idealist and a humanitarian 

in a world of state sanctioned cruelty. That alone made him a figure of ridicule; his pursuit 

of an end to the trade of human beings as commerce made him a pariah. 

In this sumptuous re-telling – part history lesson, part conscience-pricker – director 

Michael Apted and screenwriter Steven Knight journey deep into the heart of 18th century 

British politics and present a Machiavellian world of intrigue and skulduggery that, one 

assumes, might not be too different from today. Wilberforce, played with warm and a 

touch of naivety by Ioan Gruffud, is persuaded to embark on his quest by friend and 

political soulmate William Pitt (Cumberbatch) but finds himself abandoned when his 

tireless campaigning threatens to embarrass his ambitious friend. 

Wilberforce emerges as a truly heroic figure – the original lone voice who, through 

perseverance, attrition and sheer bloody-minded slog forced an empire to listen to its 

collective conscience. It is appropriate that Amazing Grace is given its release in 2007 as 

the year marks the bicentenary of the introduction of a bill that made it illegal for British 

ships to transport slaves. The moment when Wilberforce rolls out (literally) his masterplan 

packs a real emotional punch and highlights the personal and professional sacrifices he 

made to get there. At its end, Amazing Grace is a gutsy tale of resilience in the face of 

intolerance that plucks at the heartstrings. Tony Earnshaw 

We hope to be joined by director Michael Apted for this Gala UK Premiere of Amazing Grace. 

Print source: 

Momentum Pictures 

2nd Floor, 184-192 Drummond Street, London, NW1 3HP, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 388 1100 

www.momentumpictures.co.uk 

Courtesy of Momentum Pictures 

CLOSING NIGHT GALA 

THIS IS ENGLAND 

Saturday 24 March 8.15pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Shane Meadows GB 2006 100 mins (18) 

Thomas Turgoose, Jo Hartley, Joseph Gilgun, Stephen Graham, Frank Harper 

An explosive montage of ‘80s life opens this powerful tale of innocence and 

corruption of innocence in Thatcher’s Britain: riots, skinheads, war, Rubik Cubes and 

leg-warmers, the Royal wedding and a resurgent National Front. Following up Dead 

Man’s Shoes (2004) can’t have been easy, but once again writer/director Meadows 

shows his amazing ability to capture the genuine texture of ordinary life, yet finds in 

it something transcendent. 

For 12-year-old Shaun (Turgoose), life is tough: his father’s been killed in the 

Falklands, he’s taunted, punched and punished at school. One day he happens upon 

a group of skinheads who, despite daunting first appearances, take him under their 

friendly wing. The summer passes idyllically, as the gang larks about in the scrubby 

fields and derelict housing. Shaun gets his first smoke and his first snog. Life is at 

last good. But the Eden-like status quo comes to an abrupt end with the arrival back 

from prison of former group member Compo (Graham). He’s volatile and violent, 

with a brutal new companion and ideas he’s picked up inside about who actually 

“belongs” in England and who doesn’t... 

One of the hallmarks of Meadows’ career to date has been his terrific rapport with 

juvenile actors: even by these high standards, however, he elicits a stunning debut 

from young Turgoose. His comic timing is terrific - there are lots of laughs along the 

way - but as ever Meadows is expert at turning (on a sixpence) from high comedy to 

shocking violence, making his film both a gut-wrenching experience and also a warm 

portrait of boyhood and masculine bonding. A vindication of the peaceful, anti-racist 

roots of the skinhead movement, and a peek at the sinister powers behind its 

corruption, it sums up Meadows’ view of the ordinary people of England in all their 

dangerous vulnerability. Sheila Seacroft 

We hope producer Mark Herbert, actors Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham and 

director Shane Meadows (subject to filming commitments) will join us to introduce this 

BIFF2007 gala screening of This is England and participate in a post-screening Screentalk 

interview. 

Print source: 

Optimum Releasing 

22 Newman Street, London, W1T 1PH, United Kingdom. 

Tel: 00 44 207 637 5408 

E-mail: info@optimumreleasing.com 

Courtesy of Optimum Releasing 

UK PREMIERE 

KADOGO 

Dir. Daniel Lambo Belgium 2006 

6 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Dimatsho Longonde Blaise, Lucie Finkin, 

Uwamungu Cornelis 

Mokili, a former Congolese child soldier, 

has started a new life in Brussels. He has 

a good job and a nice girlfriend. All is 

well until Aziz, a member of his old 

platoon, pays him an unexpected visit. 

The vicious killer can’t seem to let go of 

his old ways and pulls Mokili back into a 

spiral of violence. Child soldiers are called 

Kadogo in Congo. Kadogo is Swahili for 

“Little thing of no importance”. 

Contact: dl@potemkino.com 

Potemkino 

Aalststraat 79, Brussels 1000, Belgium 

Tel: 00 32 2 477 216 098 

CLOSING NIGHT GALA 11

Premieres and 

Previews

UK PREMIERE 

8-BIT 

Wednesday 21 March 2pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dirs. Marcin Ramocki, Justin Strawhand USA 2006 77 mins (adv 12A) 

Some subtitles 

Documentary with: Bit Shifter, Alex Galloway, Eddo Stern, teamtendo, Glomag 

UK PREMIERE (NEW DIGITAL PRINT) 

12 ANGRY MEN 

Wednesday 14 March 1.50pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Sidney Lumet USA 1957 95 mins (12A) 

Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden, Robert 

Webber, Martin Balsam, George Voscovec, Ed Binns, Joseph Sweeney, John Fiedler 

THE VISITORS 

(Die Besucher) 

Dir. Ulrike Molsen Germany 2006 

38 mins 10 secs (adv 15) Subtitles 

Johanna Geissler, Myriam Schroeder, Dirk 

Borchardt, Moritz Fuehrmann 

Student Karla drifts through her days 

working in a bar, longing for her 

boyfriend who is abroad. Karla offers 

Sugar a room, but she brings her 

husband and son. They soon take over. 

Sugar and her husband give two 

contradictory stories about why they are 

on the run. Both stories are very 

plausible; both visitors very loveable. 

Karla can’t see the truth. Ulrike Molsen’s 

short drama is a well-made and slowburning 

story that focuses on a young 

woman waking up to her real world. 

Best actress (Winnipeg International 

Film Festival) 

Best Narrative Short/Best Female 

Performance (Idaho Panhandle 

International Film Festival) 

Contact: ulrike.molsen@gmx.de 

Maedchen, die fluestern FILMS 

Koepenicker Strasse 5, Berlin, 10997, 

Germany 

Tel: 00 39 30 61 62 67 55 

The geek, so the saying goes, shall inherit the earth. And judging by 8-BIT, a criminally 

watchable, dazzlingly eclectic, fresh-as-paint documentary that’s already causing a 

major stir in digital circles, the process is well under way. Lovingly assembled by Justin 

Strawhand and Marcin Ramocki - whose New Jersey based multi-media operation goes 

by the name Mutation Engine - the film starts as a history of computer games before 

tracing the development of computer-made music (original score by Bit Shifter, among 

others) and exploring the wilder excesses of digital art. 

The film first came to BIFF’s attention via ARTFORUM’s online magazine, where 

zeitgeist-watcher Barbara London – media department curator at New York’s Museum 

of Modern Art - included it (alongside Jia Zhang-Ke’s Still Life and Michel Gondry’s The 

Science of Sleep) among her top five films of the year. Her citation in full: “A first feature 

that is part rockumentary, part art exposé, and part culture-critical investigation, 8 BIT 

cleverly ties together 1980s phenomena of the demo scene, chip-tune music, and 

artists using ‘machinima’ and modified computer games.” 

Though appetite-whetting, this heads-up didn’t really prepare us for the eye-popping 

visual delights of the film itself - nor for the way Ramocki and Strawhand so carefully 

ensure their material is accessible for general audiences (who may not know their bit 

from their byte) while also catering to the most hardcore of ‘Second Lifer’ tech-nerds. 

8-BIT may strike a particular chord, meanwhile, with anyone who grew up on the video 

and arcade games of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Who’d have guessed that those 

plinking-plonking, blocky Commodore and Spectrum games would, only a couple of 

decades later, be the subject of such veneration and cultural analysis Who, indeed, 

would guess that the humble GameBoy console could, with only a little software 

tweaking, become an underground global phenomenon - as a musical instrument 

Confused Let 8-BIT be your guide to the recent past - and the technologies of 

tomorrow... Neil Young 

Production company: 

mutationengine 

285 West Side Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07305, USA 

Tel: 00 1 551 689 0615 

E-mail: jstrawhand@mutationengine.com 

www.8bitmovie.com 

Fifty years after its initial release, claustrophobic courtroom drama - or rather, juryroom 

drama - 12 Angry Men is firmly established as one of those rare films that finds 

equal favour with critics and public alike, thanks partly to its frequent appearances in 

our TV schedules. We’re therefore especially delighted to present 12 Angry Men in a 

gleaming, digitally-restored new version - back up on the big screen where it 

belongs. 

There’s some irony in 12 Angry Men becoming a cathode-ray staple, of course: it was 

originally written for the nascent medium, where it was broadcast in 1954. The 

success of the ‘teleplay’ soon led to no less an eminence than Henry Fonda stepping 

in as producer (in conjunction with the play’s author, Reginald Rose). Fonda delivers 

one of his finest performances in one of his most iconic roles: having heard evidence 

at the trial of an 18-year-old accused of patricide, Juror #8 - the epitome of decent, 

articulate, honest liberalism - is the only one of the titular dozen to feel “reasonable 

doubt”. Initially, the other 11 are mystified - some even outraged - by Juror #8’s 

“stubbornness”. But as they examine the specifics of the case, they’re gradually 

persuaded that things may not be quite so open-and-shut as they initially seem... 

Anyone who’s performed jury service will have their own view of 12 Angry Men’s 

veracity - but even those who reckon it a rosy-spectacled view of the justice system 

admire the taut brilliance of the film’s design and execution. On his very first film as 

director, Sidney Lumet - working in particularly close conjunction with veteran 

cinematographer Boris Kaufman - achieved such wonders with such limited means 

that he was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Similarly recognition for each of his 

superb cast wouldn’t have been excessive, but was of course impossible due to the 

Academy’s strict regulations. Rough justice, if you like. Frank Mangus 

Print source: 

Park Circus Limited 

22-24 Woodlands Terrace, Glasgow, G3 6DF, Scotland 

Tel: 00 44 141 332 2175 

E-mail: nick@parkcircus.com 

www.parkcircus.com 

Courtesy of Park Circus Limited 

UK PREMIERE 

FLOWER BELOVED 

(Älskade blomma) 

Dir. Jakob Arevarn Sweden 2006 

6 mins 43 secs (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Benedicte Slendal Hansen, Daniel Lund 

A distraught looking Frida sits in her 

sombre apartment slowly descending 

into despair. She is anxious about the 

whereabouts of David, who she 

believes will bring happiness back to 

her life. But happiness isn’t always 

what it seems. 

Contact: jakob.arevarn@gmail.com 

N.ersmarksgatan 57, Umea, 903 44, 

Sweden 

Tel: 00 46 90 70 307 53 10 

Courtesy of mutationengine 

14 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS 15

UK PREMIERE 

CENTSLESS 

Dir. Kelsey Wander USA 2006 

1 min (adv U) Animation 

We have all had our bad ideas, but 

putting those ideas into action 

separates those who are and are not 

senseless. When Benny sees the 

biggest coin he has ever seen he does 

not choose the best method of 

obtaining it... 

Contact: sfarney@scad.edu 

Shannon Farney 

Special Projects Coordinator 

Savannah College of Art and Design 

3515 Montgomery Street, Savannah, 

Georgia, 31405, USA 

Tel: 00 1 914 525 8502 

UK PREMIERE 

A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS 

(Un acoperis deasupra coprolui) 


Dir. Adrian Popovici Romania 2006 110 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Mara Nicolescu, Gabriela Butuc, Valentin Popescu, Alin Panc, Sorin Misiriantu, 

Ovidiu Nicolescu, Marius Bodochi 

These are exciting times in Romanian cinema. In the wake of the bleakly funny 

critical favourite The Death of Mr Lazarescu, films re-evaluating the 1989 overthrow 

of the Ceausescu regime have hit the European film festival circuit over the past few 

months. A Roof Over Our Heads takes a wry look at Romanian society - this time set 

in a little known corner of the country, where the Danube meets the Black Sea. We’re 

among reed beds, meandering streams, in an environment that hardly seems like 

any previously seen in much of European cinema. 

When Romania’s overcrowded asylums decide to discharge all patients suffering 

‘merely’ from neurosis or depression in a cost-cutting exercise, two such individuals - 

timid, sometime-suicidal Mona (Butuc) and down-to-earth, volatile Cati (Nicolescu) - 

find they have nowhere to go. They form an unlikely alliance in adversity and set off 

together into the world outside. Mona’s grandparents once left her a “house” in the 

Danube Delta, so with no money off they go, Mona hoping it will have the charm of 

the idyllic childhood visits there that she remembers. The Delta area proves dreamy, 

laid-back and apparently laissez-faire - but it’s also peopled by drunks, wife-beaters, 

an eccentric priest who’s the laughing stock of the community and a crazy but 

benign old man who sleeps in a coffin. What’s more Mona’s “house” has no roof. 

So despite sometimes over-warm welcomes from the locals, two young independent 

women with their own ideas about life don’t fit in quite as well as Mona dreamed 

they might, and all kinds of mischief ensues. Mihail Sarbusca’s glowing camerawork 

captures the stark and the sublime delights of this land of flat-bottomed boats, 

storks and starry, starry nights. The film moves from comedy to romance to drama 

and back effortlessly, culminating in an exhilarating ending with all the spirit and 

verve of Ridley Scott's Thelma and Louise. Sheila Seacroft 


Artis Film 

59 Romulus Street, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania 

Tel: 00 40 1 322 36 48 

E-mail: artis@airpal.ro 

www.artisfilm.ro 

Courtesy of Artis Film 

A SUMMER DAY 

(Un jour d’été aka One Day In Summer) 

Saturday 17 March 5.45pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Franck Guerin France 2006 91 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Baptiste Bertin, Catherine Mouchet, Jean-François Stevenin, Theo Frilet, Elise Caron, 

Philippe Fretun, Yann Peira 

A perfectly-judged tale of passions, guilt and suspicion in rural France, A Summer Day - 

winner of the International Critics’ Prize at November’s Mannheim-Heidelberg Film 

Festival - is the impressively intricate and thought-provoking feature debut by writerdirector 

Guerin. The jurors at the German festival praised “that delightful touch of an 

energetic young director... but it runs in a quiet tempo and has deep understanding 

for complex human emotions... A beautifully composed film, in close contact with 

many of the early works of the nouvelle vague... but it has a genuine, fresh touch of its 

own. Franck Guérin is a new director who should be watched very closely.” 

His focus is firmly on 17-year-old Sebastien (Bertin), who’s long been best friends with 

Mickael (Frilet), a self-assured lad from a rather wealthier background. The pair are 

intermittently pally with Francis (Hillairet), son of local mayor Maurice (Stevenin). All 

three boys are clearly still in the transition between youth and adulthood: dealing 

with issues of identity and sexuality as they consider their futures. But when tragedy 

strikes - in what initially seems like a freak accident - the repercussions extend beyond 

the bereaved family, and far into the community... 

Guerin’s script, co-written with Agnes Feuvre, skilfully plays with viewer expectations, 

incorporating just enough elements from the thriller genre that, as the police 

investigation begins we instinctively start looking for ‘clues’: examining motive, 

opportunity, lines of possible cause and effect, manifestations of guilty conscience. 

In the end, no conclusive answers are given - and part of the pleasure of A Summer 

Day is that Guerin leaves so much to subjective interpretation, his slow-burning 

atmospherics, aided by the strong performances, camerawork and eclectic score, 

carrying us deftly along. The film is executed with likeable, low-key skill, reminding us 

that, as a football coach remarks in the film’s very first scene, “good players don’t need 

flashy gear”. Neil Young 

Production Company: 

Arte France 

8, rue Marceau, Issy les Moulineaux 92785, France 

Tel: 00 33 (0)1 55 00 71 57 

E-mail: d-pertus@artefrance.fr 

www.artefrance.fr 

Courtesy of Arte France 

UK PREMIERE 

THE NEW LIFE 

Dir. Daniel Giambruno Australia 2006 

10 mins (adv 15) 

Oliver Yacoubian, Kaja Trøa 

A novelist consumed with guilt over his 

previous relationship has increasing 

nightmares which distort the line 

between fantasy and reality. A well 

written, performed and accomplished 

drama. 

Jury’s Honourable Mention (Fano 

International Film Festival, Italy) 

Contact: daniel@newdarkages.com.au 

New Dark Ages 

2/20 Furber Road, Centennial Park, 

New South Wales, 2021, Australia 

Tel: 00 11 2 837 46865 


THE WAY WE PLAYED 

(Kako smo se igrali) 

Dir. Samir Mehanovic GB 2005 

13 mins 18 secs (adv PG) Subtitles 

Almir Mehanovic, Eldar Zubcevic 

Kosovo, 1992. Oblivious to the growing 

conflict that will soon engulf their 

country, two boys search for hidden 

treasure in an abandoned hill fort. 

Instead they unearth a gun. Their 

country is about to be plunged into 

civil war – and their lives will change 

forever. A powerful, disturbing tale of 

lost innocence. 

Best First-Time Director (BAFTA 

Scotland 2005) 

Silver Remi (Houston WorldFest 2006) 

Contact: brazen.hussies@btinternet.com 

Brazen Hussies Ltd 

7 Bonnington Terrace, Edinburgh, EH6 

4BP, Scotland 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7951 226 152 

BORDER POST 

(Karaula) 

Thursday 15 March 4pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Rajko Grlic GB/Serbia-Montenegro/Croatia/Slovenia/Macedonia/Bosnia- 

Herzegovina 2006 94 mins (adv 18) Subtitles 

Toni Gojanovic, Sergei Trifunovic, Emir Hadzihafisbegovic, Verica Nedeska, Bogdan 

Diklic, Miodrag Fisekovic, Franjo Dijak 

Border Post is a co-production between Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia- 

Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia - and the UK. It’s the first time that the ex- 

Yugoslav countries have collaborated on such a project, and as such is itself cause for 

interest and celebration - especially as the film itself, a drama/romance/black 

comedy set on the spectacular shores of Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid in 1987, takes place 

just before Yugoslavia started its slide into civil war(s). But these background details, 

while important, aren’t why we were so keen to select Border Post for the 13th 

Bradford International Film Festival: this film, like all others in our programme, was 

selected strictly on its considerable merits as a work of cinema. 

Our hero is Sinisa (Gojanovic), a medical student from Split enduring his year of 

compulsory military service. A happy-go-lucky sort, he makes the most of his posting 

to a hilltop post near the Albanian border - under the command of booze-soaked 

Bosnian veteran Pasic (Hadzihafizbegovic). Pasic is keen to be transferred, even 

keener to visit his wife Mirjana (Nedeska) who lives in the nearest town. But when 

Pasic contracts syphilis, he’s advised by Sinisa that the “cure” will mean three weeks 

before tell-tale symptoms disappear. Pasic concocts an alert about Albanian troops 

massing menacingly on the border - cancelling all leave ... for three weeks. Pasic 

needs to get messages and money to Mirjana, enlisting the trusted Sinisa as gobetween 

- but the fresh-faced medic isn’t quite so innocent as he may appear... 

Grlic impressively shifts his picture’s tone - from the M*A*S*H-style khaki-knockabout 

of the early sections, through to more romantic and tragic moods in the middle and 

later sections. This life’s-rich-tapestry approach is at once utterly ‘Balkan’ and yet, 

thanks to the terrific performances across the board, utterly universal. And the 

knowledge of the impending Yugoslav cataclysm adds an extra element of poignancy 

and irony to even the breeziest and most carefree of moments. It’s a special film, 

from a very special part of the world. Frank Mangus 


F&ME Ltd 

25 Noel Street, London, W1F 8GK, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 434 6655 

E-mail: karaula@gmail.com 

www.borderpostmovie.com 

THE BOSS OF IT ALL 

(Direktøren for det hele) 

Tuesday 20 March 6.30pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Lars von Trier Denmark 2006 98 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Iben Hjejle, 

Jean-Marc Barr, Sofie Grabol 

With the low-budget comedy The Boss of It All Danish director Lars von Trier takes a 

break from the international casts, bare-stage aesthetic and the self-described 

“sermonising” of his past two features, Manderlay and Dogville. The plot, about an 

actor hired to impersonate a fictional company owner to help the real proprietor sell 

the firm, shares thematic DNA with much of von Trier’s earlier work... 

For years, company director Ravn (Gantzler) has let his staff think the firm has a 

perpetually absent “boss of it all” named Svend E., who makes all the unpopular 

decisions. He communicates his desires, and sometimes conducts whole longdistance 

relationships with the staff, via email. Ravn now wants to sell the company 

to temperamental Icelander Finnur (Fridriksson), but Finnur will only do business 

with Svend. To nail the deal, Ravn hires small-time stage actor Kristoffer (Albinus) to 

incarnate Svend for just one meeting with Finnur and his interpreter (Erlingsson). 

However, Kristoffer’s overacting, and announcement that he’s given Ravn power of 

attorney, annoys Finnur so much he walks out. Finnur insists Kristoffer/Svend must 

be the one who signs the papers in a week’s time. Caught up in his role, Kristoffer 

introduces himself as the boss to some of the company staff - which means he’ll 

have to go through with the charade for the next week... 

On the surface, The Boss of It All looks different from the highly stylised films that 

von Trier is best known for. English-speaking audiences will see some similarities 

with the TV series The Office, although von Trier claims never to have seen the show. 

The film showcases his liking for tech-tinkering, here by using a new camera system, 

‘Automavision’. The result is a lot of off-kilter compositions - and this just about fits 

the material, creating a comic, world-out-of-joint atmosphere. The overall result is 

von Trier’s least pretentious and most sheerly film enjoyable for years. Leslie Felperin, 

Variety 


Zentropa Productions 

6 APS, Filmbyen 22, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark 

Tel: 00 45 36 868 788 

E-mail: zentropa@filmbyen.com 

www.zentropa.dk 

Courtesy of the Danish Film Institute 

EUROPEAN PREMIERE 

BYE BYE BENJAMIN 

Dir. Charlie McDowell USA 2006 

20 mins (adv 12A) 

Benjamin Bryan, Lolita Davidovich, Kali 

Majors, Seymour Cassel, Ted Danson, 

Malcolm McDowell 

Benjamin Osgood is sharp, savvy and 

at the top of his profession as an 

executive with Coleman Industries. 

He’s also just ten years old. When he 

meets an employee’s eight-year-old 

daughter, Benjamin quickly realises he 

is losing his childhood. He is forced to 

make a decision: will he chose multimillion 

dollar business deals or funfilled 

birthday parties! 

Contact: 

charlie@cloudbreakproductions.com 

Cloudbreak Productions 

7095 Hollywood Boulevard, # 435, Los 

Angeles, California, 90028, USA 

Tel: 00 1 310 422 7873 

www.byebyebenjamin.com 

Courtesy of F&ME Ltd 


UK PREMIERE 

SNIP CRUNCH 

Dir. Matt Heimbecker USA 2006 

1 min 46 secs (adv PG) 

Animation 

On a newspaper landscape dotted with 

tall black columns, a pack of scissor 

wolves hunt and slay paper sheep. 

Being cornered by the pack, one 

frightened sheep mumbles a prayer 

that proves to be very effective. 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 

THE CAIMAN 

(Il Caimano) 

Sunday 11 March 8.15pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Nanni Moretti Italy/France 2006 112 mins (12A) Subtitles 

Silvio Orlando, Margherita Buy, Jasmine Trinca, Michele Placido, Giuliano Montaldo 

Nanni Moretti has established a reputation as a leading Italian film director through 

Dear Diary, April and The Son’s Room. His films have dealt with very human issues 

often with himself at the centre. Mixing politics and comedy they are very Italian but 

have had international success with both critics and audiences. Making movies from 

a left-wing perspective in Silvio Berlusconi’s Italy has clearly been a major frustration 

for Moretti and his campaigns against the premier in 2002 led to the making of The 

Caiman (aka Il Caimano), a ferocious attack on the Italian Prime Minister that was 

released in 2006 just before the elections that saw Berlusconi defeated. 

Set in the world of filmmaking, Moretti focuses on low budget producer, Bruno 

Bonomo, who had achieved fame in the 1970s but is now struggling to get a film 

made. As his latest project for Italian TV stumbles then falls, he quickly picks up a 

new project, Il Caimano by a young director and sets about casting and getting the 

production underway. Against this tight schedule to get rolling and keep his business 

afloat, his marriage has fallen apart and he is attempting to be a good father to his 

young son. 

With its fast paced and chaotic style, a knowledge of modern Italian politics is not 

essential but is useful in getting more out of The Caiman. Moretti maintains a strong 

central theme around Bruno, a man with dreams but not much chance of delivering 

them. He is trying to be a good director and a successful filmmaker, but the world 

conspires against him. As the production gather pace so he loses control of his life. 

A metaphor for Italy and Berlusconi At the very least it is an entertaining film about 

filmmaking and families, both the personal and the movie family. Bill Lawrence 

Print source: 


22 Newman Street, London, W1T 1PH, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 637 5408 


www.optimumreleasing.com 


CATCH A FIRE 


Dir. Philip Noyce Fra/GB/South Africa/USA 2006 101 mins (12A) Some subtitles 

Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho K. Masha 

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. Depending on whose side you 

were on in apartheid era 1980s South Africa, Patrick Chamusso was both. An oil 

refinery foreman with a steady job, settled home life, wife and kids, Patrick (Luke) 

tended to look the other way. He spent his life deftly straddling both sides of the 

political divide – shying away from ANC activists fighting white supremacist 

oppression while avoiding conflict with the authorities. 

In Philip Noyce’s underrated political thriller we see Chamusso’s transformation from 

an Everyman with his head in the sand to a gung-ho guerrilla fighter desperate to 

make a mark. How he embarks on that journey is shown with unflinching realism as 

he is first arrested, then tortured and finally betrayed. His nemesis is security officer 

Nick Vos (Robbins), an Afrikaner, family man and dedicated pursuer of the criminal 

classes. That’s blacks to you and me. 

Thus it is Chamusso’s unwarranted treatment at the hands of thuggish security 

forces that prompts his decision to join a band of rebels and attack his former place 

of work. Noyce manages to avoid presenting Chamusso and Co (who have been 

thoroughly indoctrinated by Communist instructors in Mozambique) as potential 

suicide bombers, but he treads a narrow line. The radicalisation of ordinary men and 

women is what feeds this particular true-life morality tale (written by Shawn – A 

World Apart – Slovo from Chamusso’s true-life story) and transports modern-day 

audiences into the heart of Eighties apartheid darkness. 

Luke, seen to good effect in Antwone Fisher (and actually an American), personalises 

the violence, thuggery and casual murder that marked South Africa as a world apart 

for decades. Catch a Fire is one man’s story, but it resonates simply because 

Chamusso’s individual situation echoed those of thousands of others. Viewers 

familiar with Noyce’s films will see parallels with the themes of Rabbit-Proof Fence 

but may come to accept that this frank re-telling of torture, repression and racism 

comes with the knowledge that, in South Africa, it was much more than just a way 

of life. The film’s quasi-documentary style only adds to its uncomfortable realism. 

Tony Earnshaw 

Print source: 

Universal Pictures UK 

76 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1BS, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 307 1300 

www.universalpictures.co.uk 

THE ULTIMATUM 

Dirs. Sebastien Lafarge, Rafael Schneider 

France 2006 6 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Alice Taglioni, Jocelyn Quivrin 

Thomas is a layabout. He has neither 

job nor prospects and girlfriend 

Camille has just about had enough. “If 

you don’t change, I’m outta here,” she 

utters before leaving for the day. 

Thomas is left with the ultimatum – 

but is it enough to change him 

Contact: contact@lesfilmsvelvet.com 

72 rue de Dunkerque, Paris, 75009, 

France 

Tel: 00 33 1 71 18 10 81 

Courtesy of Universal Pictures UK 


CHEEKY 

Saturday 10 March 2pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. David Thewlis GB/France 2003 95 mins (15) 

David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Ian Hart, Trudie Styler, Johnny Vegas, Sean Ward, Ruth 

Sheen, Lisa Gorman, Eddie Marsan, Mark Benton 

CLOSE TO HOME 

(Karov La Bayit) 

Thursday 15 March 5.45pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dirs. Vardit Bilu, Dalia Hagar Israel 2005 90 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Neama Shendar, Smadar Sayar, Lana Ettinger, Irit Suki, Ami Weinberg, Katia Zimbris 

UK PREMIERE 

CANDY AND BRANDY 

(Sugus y Brandy) 

Dir. Ander Duque Spain 2006 

7 mins 21 secs (adv PG) 

Marina Anduix Parladé, 

Marc Anduix Parladé 

A look at the complexities of love and 

romance that we all encounter at some 

stage and the fallible nature of 

humans. In a twist on the usual lovers’ 

tiff scenario, it offers an insight into 

the childish manner in which adults 

often act and which in turn allows 

these problems to manifest 

themselves. 

Contact: a.duque@elsevier.com 

Arteautor Productions 

Leiva, 48. 3° 1st. 08014. BCN., Barcelona, 

08014, Spain 

Tel: 00 34 6 66 465 026 

Already familiar to cinemagoers for his work in front of the camera, in Cheeky David 

Thewlis takes on the triple roles of writer, director and lead in a feature which charts 

the surreal grieving process of Harry, a quiet Northern toyshop owner whose wife 

dies in a tragic house fire. Left to bring up his alienated teenage son, Sam, Harry 

flounders badly and, convinced that it was his dead wife’s last wish he signs up a 

contestant in the eponymous game show which combines general knowledge 

rounds with opportunities for contestants to insult one another - hence the 

catchphrase, ‘Don’t be cheeky.’ 

Harry, who is a decent chap, does brilliantly in the quick-fire rounds but performs 

terribly when it comes to insulting his opponents. He’s just too nice to be nasty. His 

nemesis on the show is Nancy (Trudie Styler, also the film’s producer), a foulmouthed 

floozy who berates and then tries to bed him. As Sam watches his dad 

make a fool of himself on prime time television their already precarious relationship 

gets worse and worse. 

With its quirky northern characters and heartfelt plot Cheeky manages to get its mix 

of black humour and seriousness just right. Thewlis’ performance is crucial in 

achieving this balance and he is touching in the role of a man struggling to make 

sense of losing the love of his life while having to deal with endless ridicule for his 

frankly bizarre behaviour. With Thewlis taking care of the emotional core of the film 

much of the out-and-out comedy comes from the very strong cast of British 

favourites including Johnny Vegas whose quiz show host, Alf Price, is a truly 

monstrous creation. Arkady Insarov 

Print source: 

Guerilla Films Ltd., 

35 Thornbury Road, Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 4LQ, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 208 758 1716 

E-mail: info@guerilla-films.com 

www.guerilla-films.com 

Courtesy of Guerilla Films Ltd 

We hope actor/producer Trudie Styler will be present to introduce the BIFF2007 

presentation of Cheeky and take part in a post-screening Q&A. 

Two teenage girls on military duty in Jerusalem find friendship, men and going on the 

lam are just as important as policing the Arab community in Close to Home. Highly 

accessible pic, which mixes humour, tragedy, tenderness and political acumen into a 

well-observed coming-of-age format, represents a very impressive feature bow by 

writer/directors Bilu and Hager. 

The film partly draws on the experiences of one of the distaff directors, who was 

assigned to police patrolling duty during her military service. But aside from script’s 

mass of small details, the movie’s special quality is that it deals with issues that arise 

from Israelis policing a divided city in a way that puts characters first and political 

grandstanding second. 

Smadar (Sayar), 18, is first seen being watched by her superior, Dubek (Suki), as she 

minutely goes through an Arab woman’s possessions in a border inspection booth. 

Smadar is clearly as uncomfortable about the whole process, but the film soon signals 

it’s not going to be a regular drama. When another girl refuses to do the job any 

longer, a girly mutiny takes place that’s only quelled when Dubek cracks the whip. The 

film gets a lot of enjoyable mileage out of the whole teenage squad’s solidarity 

(warning each other by cell phone when Dubek is coming), as well as their 

hopelessness at doing the job. 

At the 40-minute mark, the real world intervenes as a bomb rocks the neighbourhood, 

with tragic results. But instead of turning into a more politicised drama, Close to Home 

holds to its course, turning the event into the start of the girls’ long path to real 

friendship. Even down to supporting roles, there’s hardly a weakly drawn character, 

and by the movie’s end there’s a feeling of having gotten to know everyone involved. 

Sayar and Schendar show a natural chemistry together, and Suki, in perhaps the 

hardest role, manages to bring a discreet humour to Dubek that makes it pretty clear 

where the filmmakers stand on the situation depicted. Derek Elley, Variety 

Print source: 

Soda Pictures 

11-13 Broad Court, London, WC2B 5PY, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 240 6060 

www.sodapictures.com 

UK PREMIERE 

DEAR BELOVED… 

Dir. Terence Chu USA 2006 


Drew Duhig, Rachel Liu, 

Daniel L. Staniszewski 

A young soldier, embroiled in the thick 

of battle, anticipates a fateful end to 

the conflict in which he finds himself 

and writes a farewell letter to his wife. 

A polished production with very high 

standards. 

Contact: chuterence@hotmail.com 

5027 Colfax Ave. # 3, Los Angeles, 

California, 91601, USA 

Tel: 00 1 323 371 7664 

Courtesy of Soda Pictures 


SCENE 

Dirs. Alec Boehm, Stephanie Argy GB 

2006 15 mins 36 secs (adv 12A) 

Bryan Larkin, Marc Twynholm, Hamish 

Menzies, Richard Saade 

Gary, a TV actor, gets his big break in a 

feature film. He’s playing the part of 

Nathan, a gangster with a conscience, 

but can’t find the right emotions to 

nail the scene. Director Frank Swann’s 

unconventional methods and the cold 

hearted crew increase his anxiety. But 

nothing is as it seems… 

Contact: marc@dabhandfilms.com 

Dabhand Films 

10 Waters End, Carronshore, Falkirk, FK2 

8PY, Scotland 

Tel: 00 44 1324 552 353 

UK PREMIERE 

DARK WATER RISING 


Dir. Mike Shiley USA 2006 72 mins (adv 12A) 

Documentary 

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005 it represented perhaps the 

greatest natural disaster to strike the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 

1906. Hundreds died. Thousands were made homeless. An entire city was submerged 

beneath toxic floodwaters. Disease was rampant. As the people of New Orleans fled their 

homes for the relative safety of evacuation centres, they abandoned their pets on the 

orders of the authorities. Left behind to fend for themselves were more than 50,000 dogs 

and cats, often locked in houses or chained to fences without food or water for up to six 

weeks. In the devastation that followed, they were forgotten. 

Enter the rescuers. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) worked alongside the 

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to locate and rescue animals 

deserted in the mandatory evacuation to escape the storm. But an array of independent 

volunteers descended on Louisiana from across the country, bringing with them a far 

more aggressive work ethic. Mike Shiley’s film is a blunt, no-holds-barred account of what 

happens when catastrophe occurs and survival instincts kick in. Dark Water Rising 

emerges as a companion piece to the myriad news reports that focused on the 

widespread tragedy that surrounded the arrival (and aftermath) of Katrina, the accepted 

failure of the government to do enough and the all-consuming blame culture that ensued. 

Shiley follows ‘gonzo’ rescuers into shattered, deserted districts of New Orleans to save 

animals driven half mad by hunger and thirst. The conditions he captures on camera 

would appal any self-respecting animal lover, while the gradual transformation of the 

rescuers from earnest saviours to gung-ho crusaders, is captured with rare candour. Their 

epiphany comes partly through the realisation that pets, far from being left to fend for 

themselves, have been used as live target practice – not by the public, but by rogue law 

enforcement officers seeking sadistic fun amidst the carnage. It is a moment that 

crystallises what their mission is all about, and reinforces the need for such hardy souls to 

give up their jobs, lives and relationships to devote themselves to the cause of dumb 

creatures that Mankind calls its best friends. 

Part disaster log, part compassionate social commentary, Dark Water Rising is a 

memorably hard-hitting piece of reportage by a photojournalist with a real eye for a story 

and an ability to tell it with panache. Tony Earnshaw 

Contact: mike@shidogfilms.com 

Tel: 001 503 231 7658 

www.shidogfilms.com 

www.DarkWaterRising.com 

DAYS OF GLORY 

(Indigènes) 

Thursday 22 March 8.15pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Rachid Bouchareb Fra/Mor/Alg/Bel 2006 120 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Bernard Blancan, Mathieu 

Simonet, Benoît Giros, Mélanie Laurent, Antoine Chappey, Aurélie Eltvedt 

In war, even second-class citizens are welcome when the going gets tough. And in 

Days of Glory (aka Indigènes) it is the turn of North African men to prove their loyalty 

to their Motherland – France – while simultaneously demonstrating that they have 

some more to offer than merely parading as potential cannon fodder. 

Just as America’s overt prejudice against negro troops was explored in Edward 

Zwick’s Glory, so Rachid Bouchareb’s Days of Glory (perhaps the English language 

title is a hint to non-French audiences) concentrates on the discriminatory nature of 

France’s relationship with its African colonies. Bouchareb depicts the onslaught of 

conflict through the eyes of four Algerian conscripts who vacillate between believing 

in the cause and fighting blindly for France in a war they know little about, and 

scrabbling for recognition from a nation that considers them disposable - illiterate 

Arab peasants to be mown down in place of Frenchmen. These are men who have 

known nothing else than their second-class status; inevitably, their experiences in 

combat will open their eyes. 

Messaoud (Zem) is a romantic with naïve notions of equality. Abdelkader (Bouajila) 

sees success in battle as a method of proving worth and identity. Yassir (Naceri) 

wants nothing more than survival for himself and his brother. Saïd (Debbouze), a 

cripple with a useless arm, seeks only comradeship. Bouchareb pitches this tight 

ensemble (which collectively won the Best Actor award at last year’s Cannes Film 

Festival) into a variety of life-or-death situations, embracing and breaking 

stereotypes in turn. Their journey takes them from Africa via Italy to France where, in 

a lengthy sequence that echoes the final scenes of Saving Private Ryan, they come 

face-to-face with the reality of what their loyalty and sacrifice truly means. 

This is the war movie as intelligent, impactful, incisive social drama. Based on fact, 

written and directed from the heart, and boasting some truly magnificent 

performances, it ranks among the first of the 21st Century’s epic war movies. 

Tony Earnshaw 

Print source: 

Metrodome Group Plc. 

33 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 1RR, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 22 (0) 207 153 4400 

www.metrodomegroup.com 

UK PREMIERE 

SOLOMON GRUNDY 

Dirs. Chris Myers, Ken Seward USA 

2006 1 min 30 secs (adv PG) 

Animation 

Using the aesthetic of Victorian 

theatre, clockwork stage plays and the 

18th century nursery rhyme Solomon 

Grundy, the fleeting life of the titular 

character is marked by a series of basic 

milestone rituals and ceremonies and 

ends as abruptly as it begins. 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 

Courtesy of Metrodome Group Plc 


THE SPELL 

(El Conjuro) 

Dir. Pablo Millán Spain 2006 

6 mins 28 secs (adv 12A) 

Animation 

An artist, in preparation for a day of 

painting, turns to that faithful old 

muse: alcohol. Wanting to embrace its 

inspirational qualities, he drinks 

excessive amounts. However, as he 

drinks more and more, the alcohol 

takes on a more sinister and dangerous 

form, one which is definitely not 

included on the government health 

warnings… 

Award for Creativity and Originality 

(Curtas na rede Festival, Spain) 

Special Commendation (Festival of 

Fantastic Films, UK) 

Award Liceo Casino (Festival Liceo 

Casino de Vilagarcía, Spain) 

Contact: arteautor@yahoo.com 

Urb. Os Tilos, 31 Rua Vidueiro, Teo, Prov. 

A Coruña, 15886, Spain 

Tel: 00 34 981 801 188 

DRY SEASON 

(DARATT) 

Sunday 11 March 4pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Chad/Fr/Bel/Aus 2006 96 mins (tba) Subtitles 

Ali Barkai, Khayar Oumar Defallah, Youssouf Djaoro, Aziza Hisseine 

Using a simple storytelling style that grows stronger with each passing scene, Dry 

Season draws the viewer into its small two-character drama set in post-war Chad, 

while it offers a deep reflection on injustice and frustrated revenge. Writer/director 

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Bye Bye Africa, Abouna) almost dispenses with words in this 

fable-like tale, told through moody glares and askance glances. 

Set in the aftermath of Chad’s 40-year civil war, the film probes the very topical 

problem of how former enemies can live together, given the latent hatred that is 

waiting to burst out. In the wake of a government amnesty in Chad, war criminals 

were let off scot-free. Unwilling to accept this lack of justice, the grandfather of 16- 

year-old Atim (Ali Bacha Barkai) sends him to the city to kill Nassara (Youssouf 

Djaoro), the man who murdered Atim’s father before he was even born. 

Arriving in the big city with his father’s gun, Atim finds his way to Nassara’s dusty 

bakery with almost magical ease. But he postpones his grim mission when he comes 

face to face with the gruff, scarred baker. Unexpectedly Nassara takes the boy under 

his wing as the son he doesn’t have and offers to teach his profession. Telling himself 

he’ll shoot the baker later, Atim is drawn into Nassara’s life and that of his pregnant 

young wife Aicha (Aziza Hisseine). 

Using moments of quiet humour and social exchange, Haroun makes the viewer 

participate in Atim’s mixed emotions. His rock-like determination not to soften 

toward the older man is sorely tested as Nassara assumes the role of a father figure 

in his life. The finale is sharp, fast and unexpected. It takes some time to find the 

conscience behind young Bacha Barkai’s furrowed brow and hate-filled stares; 

paradoxically, Djaoro’s open-faced, self-confident performance as the villain is far 

more likeable and easy to relate to. This confusion between good and bad helps 

create shifting ethical sands under these sharply drawn characters. 

Deborah Young, Variety 

Print source: 

Soda Pictures 


Tel: 00 44 207 240 6060 


UK PREMIERE 

DESTINED FOR BLUES 

(Skazany na bluesa aka Born for the Blues) 

Saturday 24 March 4pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Jan Kidawa-Blonski Poland 2005 101 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Tomasz Kot, Jolanta Fraszynska, Maciej Balcar, Adam Baumann, Anna Dymna, Joanna 

Bartel, Przemyslaw Bluszcz 

One of the most acclaimed - and financially successful - Polish films of the current 

decade, Destined for Blues presents an Eastern European version of the “living fast, 

die young” ethos followed by so many musicians, from Jim Morrison to Janis Joplin 

to Dennis Wilson to… Ryszard Riedel, lead singer of the cult rock band Dzem. Riedel 

(very credibly played by debutant Kot) was addicted to two things: music and drugs. 

His many fans described him asvery year there’s a music festival dedicated to him. 

People congregate at his graveside to sing his hits: his tombstone bears the 

inscription “In life only moments are beautiful” – perhaps the best-known line he 

ever wrote. 

The film is mostly set in industrial Silesia, Riedel’s own home region. Silesians are in 

some ways ‘a breed apart’: many believe themselves to be a separate ethnicity, 

while others consider themselves ethnically Polish. Riedel himself had German roots 

and his parents moved to Germany in search of a better life. Riedel’s complicated, 

love-hate relationship with his father (Baumann) forms one of the most important 

aspects of the film - and has a direct bearing on how Riedel was to get along with 

his own son (Balcar). 

But this isn’t just the story of one man, or even of one family. In the background we 

glimpse the reality of Poland in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s: decades where many things 

changed but some things remained constant. Even when the whole political system 

of the country shifted, life in many parts of Poland didn’t suddenly become better, 

as some expected - indeed, for many Poles life got worse, and some just couldn’t 

come to terms with their new situation. Others such as Riedel, as grittily chronicled 

in this admirably hard-hitting film, found themselves unable to deal with life in 

general. Destined for the blues, indeed... Anna Draniewicz 


Telewizja Polska S.A. 

00-999 Warszawa ul, J.P. Woronicza 17, Poland 

Tel: 00 48 22 547 85 01 

Courtesy of Telewizja Polska S.A. 

BAD DAY 

Dir. Matthew Vaughan GB 2005 


When Emma’s car breaks down on the 

way to a date, she finds her day 

suddenly goes from bad to worse. 

Contact: janehelliwell@btinternet.com 

Tel: 00 44 1422 246 007 



DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING 


Dir. Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Pec USA 2006 93 mins (adv 12A) 

Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire 

EDMOND 

Monday 19 March 8pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Stuart Gordon USA 2005 110 mins (18) 

William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari, Denise Richards, Joe Mantegna, Debi Mazar, 

George Wendt, Jeffrey Combs, Ling Bai, Dulé Hill, Bokeem Woodbine, Rebecca Pidgeon 

PRIVATE LIFE 

Dir. Abbé Robinson GB 2006 


Lucy Lieman, Jana Carpenter, 

Toby Sawyer, Andy Henderson, 

David Westbrook 

One Friday afternoon, a single 

twentysomething woman leaves her 

mundane job in a 1950s textile mill 

and takes the train to Manchester to 

meet up with a man. But all is not 

what it appears… 

Yorkshire Film Award (Leeds 

International Film Festival 2006) 

Grand Prize, PlanetOut Short Movie 

Awards (Sundance Film Festival 2007) 

Contact: mad_cat_films@yahoo.com 

Maria Pavlou 

Mad Cat Films Ltd 

37-39 Milton Road, Branton, Doncaster, 

South Yorkshire, DN3 3NX, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7733 223 439 

Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck have crafted an insightful and heartfelt look at the 

experiences of the Dixie Chicks over the last three years, chronicling the often bizarre 

consequences of singer Natalie Maines’ anti-Bush wisecrack on a London stage. Maines’ 

statement is captured in Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, as are the meetings where they 

plot how to circumvent the core country audience and, eventually, how to reroute a tour 

and cancel shows due to poor ticket sales. It’s the rare thorough documentary on a 

musical act whose dilemmas are faced in the here and now, one that should win over 

fans of the Chicks on the fence and of music docus and perhaps create a little cultural 

stir as well. 

The filmmakers have created a non-chronological story to emphasise the Greek tragedy 

behind the Dixie Chicks’ spiral into country music’s public enemy No. 1. The Chicks vs. 

President Bush, the Chicks vs. Toby Keith, the Chicks vs. country radio - every 

antagonistic angle is covered, and yet Maines, Emily Robison and Martie McGuire 

persevere, with their chroniclers providing a sympathetic tone to their every struggle. 

Maines is seen backstage at Shepherds Bush Empire asking for an update on the justlaunched 

war in Iraq; within hours - with cameras rolling - she offhandedly says, “We’re 

ashamed the president is from Texas,” the home state of both Bush and the Chicks. She 

makes the statement, turns to a bandmate and laughs. The Press makes hay of her 

comment, and the Chicks and management go into damage-control mode, which will 

last nearly three years. The Chicks are shown, at every turn, getting on with their lives 

mostly by focusing on their children and husbands. 

Maines is the spunkiest, the one whose initial instinct is to fight back. Even when her 

call is the wrong one — she objects to starting the 2006 tour with smaller showcases 

before hitting arenas - her defence is admirable and much more than a selfish whim. 

Phil Gallo, Variety 

Print source: 

Momentum Pictures 

2nd Floor, 184-192 Drummond Street, London, NW1 3HP, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 388 1100 

www.momentumpictures.co.uk 

Courtesy of Momentum Pictures 

On his way home from work one day mild-mannered businessman Edmond Burke 

(William H. Macy) visits a tarot card reader. The reading does not go well: every card 

she turns seems to signify bad luck. The reality appears to be etched into Edmond’s 

face as she warns, “You are not where you belong”. On arriving home, Edmond calmly 

informs his wife that he is leaving and will not return. 

Edmond finds himself wandering the streets, meandering from strip clubs to peep 

shows to brothels. He seeks emotionless sex with a stranger but finds himself 

unable to agree a price with the various girls he meets. “That’s too much” he 

complains bitterly, out of his depth and unsure of his position with these hard-edged 

ladies of the night. 

But this odyssey into a hitherto unexplored nocturnal world is about to take a 

sinister turn. Edmond unaccountably buys a knife – a wicked-looking weapon that 

combines a blade and a knuckle-duster. And as his attitude towards the world begins 

to seep through his weedy exterior, so his pent-up sexual tensions, latent prejudices 

and innate capacity for explosive violence begin to boil over… 

David Mamet’s play is a thoroughly nasty journey through the human psyche. Like 

Howard Beale in Network, Edmond Burke is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it 

anymore. His problem is that he doesn’t really know or understand why he’s angry; 

nonetheless, someone, somewhere, is going to pay. Rationality rapidly disappears as 

Edmond transforms from a pathetic Everyman into a raging inferno of frustration 

and dissatisfaction. 

This is an uncomfortable, brutal and deeply politically incorrect story. Macy powers 

through audience preconceptions, shattering any illusion that this is just another 

sorry tale of a worm that turned. There is genuine madness in his performance, and 

the escalating nature of his fury is genuinely shocking to behold: from upstanding 

citizen to blood-drenched sociopath in one long night. Tony Earnshaw 

Print source: 

Tartan Films, 

72-74 Dean Street, London, W1D 3SG, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 204 494 1400 

www.tartanvideo.com 

TALK TO ME 

Dir. Mark Craig GB 2006 


A beautiful, poignant and 

tremendously affecting 

autobiographical documentary in 

words and pictures based on 20 years 

of answer machine messages. The 

voices of old friends, former loves and 

relatives combine to create a moving 

memento mori as filmmaker Mark 

Craig revisits his past with the 

assistance of Ken Morse, the doyen of 

British rostrum cameramen. 

Contact: stopwatch@btconnect.com 

Stopwatch Productions 

39 Lushington Road, Kensall Green, 

London, NW10 5UX, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7973 327 026 

www.talktome.org.uk 

Courtesy of Tartan Films 


TAKE ME BACK TO DEAR OLD 

BLIGHTY 

Dir. James Debenham GB 2006 


James Thornton 

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty taps 

into the MTV generation’s perceptions 

of modern television to deliver a 

message. At first it appears to be a rant 

against consumerism, but on closer 

inspection is in fact one man’s view of 

the modern British culture he sees 

around him – where possessions and 

vanity are all-conquering. His message 

is simple – all the rubbish we surround 

ourselves with won’t make us happy. 

It’ll stave off the boredom and distract 

us for a while, but ultimately it can’t 

replace the things that are really 

important – like love and the 

fulfilment of your life. 

Contact: neil_gumbo@hotmail.com 

Arch Stanton Productions 

6 Bushby Avenue, Broxbourne, 

Hertfordshire, EN10 6QE, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7957 163156 

UK PREMIERE 

FANTASMA 

SCREENING WITH: LOS MUERTOS 


Dir. Lisandro Alonso Arg/Fra/Neth 2006 63 mins (adv PG) Subtitles 

Argentino Vargas, Misael Saavedra, Carlos Landini, Jorge Francheschelli, Rosa Martinez 

Writer/director/producer/editor Alonso quickly established himself as one of the 

most original, poetic, challenging and uncompromising of the current bumper crop 

of Argentinian filmmakers with La Libertad (2001) and Los Muertos (2004). Both of 

them are meditative, near-wordless affairs, half-fictional and half-documentary; the 

former chronicling a day in the life of logger Misael Saavedra; the latter (also 

showing in the 13th Bradford International Film Festival) following ex-convict 

Argentino Vargas as he journeyed downriver. 

Though set in the city rather than the country, Fantasma is in some ways more of the 

same: for an hour, we observe the two “stars” of Alonso’s previous films wandering 

(separately) around a near-deserted, multi-level, labyrinthine Buenos Aires theatre 

complex where Los Muertos is being shown. Alonso’s achievement is to take dullsounding 

material - almost nothing ‘happens’ over the course of these 63 minutes - 

and turn it into something powerfully hypnotic. His smooth-gliding camera is 

constantly finding compositions loaded with significance and mystery: the way he 

choreographs the movement of his ‘performers, placing them in a variety of interiors, 

is consistently intriguing, forcing the viewer to fully engage with this seemingly 

unremarkable location’s various public, semi-public and ‘private’ spaces; their decor 

and lighting; their relationships with each other; the glimpses they offer of the world 

beyond. 

But the element which elevates Fantasma to masterpiece level is Alonso’s 

astonishing use of sound: if there’s a “story” to be divined here, it’s to be found in the 

subtle symphony of human, mechanical and even animal noises - which are so 

diverting that we never for a moment notice that there’s hardly any dialogue in the 

movie. Alonso’s coup de grace is to bookend the “action” with two blasts of loud 

electric guitar music which provide mood-magnifying punctuation. The cumulative 

effect is stunning and spellbinding: a spooky, darkly witty journey around a “cinema” 

that’s also a bold journey around, into - and perhaps even beyond - cinema itself. 

Neil Young 


4L 

Juramento 4940, Capital Federal, 1413 Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Tel: 00 54 11 4253 7694 

E-mail: alonsolisandro@hotmail.com 

FAST FOOD NATION 


Dir. Richard Linklater GB/USA 2006 112 mins (15) 

Greg Kinnear, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, Bruce Willis 

Anyone who has read Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation can tell you that the big 

burger-related question of the day is not “where’s the beef,” but what, in the name of 

all that is good and pure, is in the beef. Apparently, not much that is good and pure. 

According to an industry website that’s probably just coincidentally called “Best Food 

Nation,” there’s no basis to critics’ claims that fast food companies knowingly hire 

illegal workers, that cattle farming harms the environment, that fast food restaurant 

jobs lead nowhere, that dangerous meat-processing jobs are given to untrained 

workers and that beef pattiescontain a surprise ingredient in common. 

These, of course, are the major plot points of Richard Linklater’s fictionalised adaptation 

of the book, which not surprisingly refrains from naming names, especially litigious 

ones. Instead, Fast Food Nation invents a global burger mill with a friendly corporate 

identity and a little bit of a PR problem. An activist group has smuggled a frozen patty 

out of a secured location and had it tested in a lab. The beef contained high levels of 

fecal coliform - or, as Mickey’s chief executive explains to his new marketing manager, 

Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear), who recently hit a home run with the launch of “The Big 

One,” “There’s sh*t in the meat.” So, Don is dispatched to Cody, Colorado, to see what he 

can find out about the Uniglobe Meat Packing plant. 

For Linklater, the term Fast Food Nation applies to more than just burger and taco 

chains. It represents a gradual, complicit shift from reality to permanent reality 

displacement - small-town/rural landscapes are transformed into chain-store dystopias. 

If Linklater regards the fake culture that has replaced real places with horror, he has 

nothing but respect and affection for his characters, and the movie is rescued from 

nihilism by his humanistic view. From the illegal workers to the executives whose 

success requires serious moral compartmentalization, to every fry cook, cashier, hotel 

concierge, chain-restaurant waitress and client in the film, every character exists within 

an increasingly homogenous, inorganic system. 

Linklater makes [his] points skillfully, and with a light touch, without resorting to 

bombast, melodrama or false polemic. The situation he describes is nobody’s plight, but 

it is everyone’s seemingly unsolvable problem. Carina Chocano, LA Times 

Print source: Tartan Films 

72-74 Dean Street, London, W1D 3SG, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 204 494 1400 

JULIE – A LOVE STORY 

Dir. David Cave GB 2006 4 mins 

17 secs (adv PG) 

Christopher Turner, Rebekah Taplin, 

Andrew Beattie 

On an isolated farm, deep in the 

Northumberland countryside, love is in 

the air. Christy’s fallen for Julie and this 

time he knows what he feels is real. 

Finding the right words and time to tell 

his older brother, Pete, is another 

matter. But this is a love like no other 

and nothing can stop the course of 

true love. 

Contact: feverfilms@hotmail.com 

Yellow Fever Films 

15 Woodland Terrace, New Penshaw, 

Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear DH4 

7JD, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 191 385 8347 

Courtesy of 4L 

Courtesy of Tartan Films 


RUN AND LOOK 

(Dammi il La) 

Dir. Matteo Servente Italy 2006 

21 mins (adv U) Subtitles 

Tatiana Lepore, Marco Toloni, Lorenzo 

Bartoli, Pietro Tosetto 

Marguerite, a young composer, has hit a 

block in her work. For inspiration, she 

talks to the local priest about his 

experiences on an epic walk and meeting 

a young man at a crossroads. Matteo 

Servente’s short film is a contemplation 

on guardian angels, those people who 

guide and help us. Beautifully shot in the 

Italian hills around Turin with spectacular 

landscape and a story that unfolds with 

subtlety and impending sorrow. 

Best Narrative Short (Fargo Film Festival) 

Best Short Film (Memphis International 

Film Festival) 

Best Short Film (Sarasota Film Festival) 

Audience Award - Best Short (WorldFest 

Houston) 

Best Drama (HollyShorts) 

Best International Short (Napa Sonoma 

Wine Country Festival) 

Contact: 

taddeos1974@yahoo.it 

Via Galliari 31, Torino, 10125, Italy 

Tel: 00 39 347 489 2849 

UK PREMIERE 

THE FEAST OF ST. BARBARA 

(Barbórka aka St. Barbara’s Day) 

Wednesday 21 March 4pm Pictureville 

Dir. Maciej Pieprzyca Poland 2005 76 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Iwo Sitkowska, Marcin Dorocinski, Robert Talarczyk, Tadeusz Madeja, Grazyna Zielinska, 

Artur Swies, Barbara Lubos-Swies 

From one of Poland’s most promising writer/directors comes his award-winning 

second film. The Feast of St. Barbara is a romantic comedy with a dark, socioeconomic 

twist - and a bittersweet ending. It’s “boy meets girl”, where the boy and 

girl come from very different worlds. “He” is Jakub (Dorocinski, also to be seen in the 

selection Pitbull), a famous soap opera star and an idol for millions of female viewers 

who tune in to watch him every night. “She” is Basia (Sitkowska), a collier in a coal 

mine that represents one of the very few employment options in her region of 

Silesia. 

The odds against them meeting, never mind falling in love, are remote - unless it 

was somehow “meant to be”. But there’s more than ‘just’ romance in the air: 

meeting Basia reminds Jakub of his own roots, while the rollercoaster experience will 

show Basia the true meaning of devotion and affection... 

In Poland, the Feast of St. Barbara (on December 4) is called “Barbórka” and is also 

known as “Miners’ Day”. In Polish tradition St. Barbara is the patron saint of 

coalminers, because she protects against lightning and other forms of sudden death. 

On this day miners don traditional dress and organise festivities, some of which take 

place in the coal mines themselves. It’s the usual practice in such circumstances to 

invite a local or national celebrity to be the Master of Ceremonies during such an 

event, which is how Basia and Jakub get together. In The Feast of St. Barbara we see 

the size of the divide between an increasingly secular Warsaw and the remainder of 

Poland. As with many European countries, Warsaw is very much a country inside a 

country where life goes at a faster pace and money rules the day. But in places like 

Silesia, tradition and religion can still play a vital role in the everyday lives of the 

people - as we see so vividly illustrated here. Anna Draniewicz 


Telewizja Polska S.A. 

00-999 Warszawa ul, J.P. Woronicza 17, Poland 

Tel: 00 48 22 547 85 01 

E-mail: Aleksandra.Biernacka@waw.tvp.pl 

www.tvp.pl 

Courtesy of TVP 

UK PREMIERE 

FETCHING CODY 

Tuesday 20 March 6pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. David Ray Canada 2005 89 mins (adv 15) 

Jay Baruchel, Sarah Lind, Jim Byrnes, Lucas Blaney, Neil Denis, Liam McGuigab 

What would happen if you could go back and change some things in the past Not 

killing-Hitler things, but relatively little stuff, like saving someone from bullies, or 

themselves. That’s the idea behind young writer/director Ray’s Fetching Cody [ ‘Best 

Feature Film’, Sedona International Film Festival], which starts out as a gritty look at 

life on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside then turns into a fantasy involving time 

travel and grisly black comedy. 

Things centre on a young couple living rough. By street standards, they’re a 

happening duo. Okay, Art (Baruchel) sells (and pops) pills all day and Cody (Lind) 

turns tricks for drug money and to pay for her day-to-day room at the Balmoral 

[hotel]. But they’re in love and actually have plans for the future -plans that get 

shunted aside when she suddenly gets sick, leaving Art to ponder what went wrong. 

He gets a chance to trace that process back pretty far, thanks to the ministrations of 

his gruff guardian angel, an eccentric street veteran (played with characteristic verve 

by Jim Byrnes) who finds an old reclining-chair covered in Christmas lights. He tells 

the lad it’s a bona fide time machine, which of course turns out to be true, or true 

enough to catapult Art back to key points in Cody’s life. 

The film raises interesting philosophical questions about our importance in other 

people’s lives - think Groundhog Day with hints of It’s a Wonderful Life and Blow [and 

The Butterfly Effect.] Mainly, though, Fetching Cody is an impressive vehicle for 

Baruchel, who comes across as a young, more soulful Jon Cryer, and TV veteran Lind, 

whose transformative powers are arresting. It’s also worth some shout-outs to 

cinematographer Paul Mitchnick, who makes Vancouver’s crummiest postal code 

look attractively gritty, and editor Karen Porter, who handles the time-leaping stuff 

with seemingly effortless finesse. Ken Eisner, The Georgia Straight 


Cheap and Dirty Productions, Inc. 

Vancouver, Canada 

Tel: 001 604 872 7006 

E-mail: cheapanddirty@telus.net 

www.cheapanddirty.ca 

Courtesy of Cheap and Dirty Productions, Inc. 

UK PREMIERE 

FOR A FEW MARBLES MORE 

(Voor een paar knikkers meer) 

Dir. Jelmar Hufen The Netherlands 2006 

11mins 3 secs (PG) Subtitles 

Tom Schield, Pauline Winckel, Ruben van 

den Besselaar, Aidan Vernee, Merijn van 

Heiningen 

Failing to get interest from their 

parents after being bullied off their 

playground by two drunks, four ten 

year olds turn to the neighbourhood 

bad boy and seek his help in exchange 

for their precious marbles. 

Contact: info@kairosfilms.nl 

Kairos Films 

Prof. Ritzema Boslaan 55-1, Utrecht, 3571 

CM, The Netherlands 

Tel: 00 31 30 628 522 107 


OUT OF MILK 

Dir. Nicola Morris GB 2006 


Liberty Burnett, Jamie Foskin, Sarah 

Guyler, Mark Down, Jonathan Barnham 

An eight-year-old girl and the boy next 

door spend their days walking their 

substitute dogs. Returning early from 

her daily errand to buy milk, she 

discovers that the TV repairman has 

been servicing more than just the 

television… 

Contact: nicolammm@hotmail.com 

Nicola Morris 

29 Love Walk, London, SE5 8AD, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7890 486 096 

UK PREMIERE 

FOR BREAD ALONE 

(Il pane nudo aka El Khoubz el hafi) 

Sunday 18 March 10.30am Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Rachid Benhadj Italy/Morocco 2005 100 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Saïd Taghmaoui, Marzia Tedeschi, Giovanna Spuria, Faycal Zeghadi, Sanaa Alaoui, 

Karim Benhadj, Ahmed Elkourachi 

“A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact,” wrote Tennessee 

Williams of the autobiographical novel on which For Bread Alone is based. Mohamed 

Choukri, its author, Nobel nominee and considered by many to be Morocco’s finest 

writer, was enthusiastically involved in the planning of the film, though he died 

before it was made. The book, translated into English by his friend Paul Bowles, broke 

many taboos of Arabian literature with its harsh and unblinking account of the 

ultimate degradations of street life among the very poor in the French colonial North 

Africa of the 1940s and ‘50s. 

Director Rachid Benhadj spares no detail of squalor depicting the boy Mohamed’s 

nightmarish childhood. Horrific beatings from his brutal father and the casual 

cruelties of the colonial regime make for a pitifully miserable life, but this is also an 

intrinsically poetic view which finds a terrible beauty even in the harshest and 

most painful of scenes. A succession of excellent boy actors portray Mohamed as he 

grows up, until that fine actor Taghmaoui takes on the role of the adult character. 

Powerless, Illiterate, a petty street criminal, and quite unaware of the politics of the 

fast advancing freedom movement, he is arrested and while in prison comes into 

contact with a nationalist leader and - in an exhilarating sequence - begins to learn 

to read and write, which becomes his salvation. 

At once specifically of its time and place, it’s also a universal portrait of the horror of 

deep poverty. Breathtaking cinematography, a fine score and, despite everything, 

considerable humour and optimism humanise what is basically a serious and stark 

tale. Self-expression is the beginning of freedom, and the young Choukri who rides 

away to an uncertain future on the back of a truck is to become the revered writer 

whom we see in a moving coda to the film, shot in 2003 just before his death. 

Sheila Seacroft 


A.E. Media Corporation s.r.l. 

viale Carso 63, 00195 Rome, Italy 

Tel: 00 39 06 454 28 060 

E-mail: info@aemedia.co.it 

www.forbreadalone.com 

Courtesy A.E. Media Corporation s.r.l. 

FRESH AIR 

(Friss Levego) 


Dir. Kocsis Agnes Hungary 2006 109 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Hegyi Izabella, Nkayo Julia, Turoczi Anita, Kiss Zoltan, Nagy Miklos, Bereczy Peter 

“The toast of Cannes” - this was how 25-year-old Hungarian writer/director Agnes 

Kocsis (or, as the Hungarians would themselves put it, Kocsis Agnes) was described 

last year when she hit the fabled Croisette with a well-timed ‘double whammy’. On 

the back of a prize-winning premiere at Budapest’s Hungarian Film Week, Kocsis’ 

debut feature Fresh Air (co-written with Roberti Andrea) was included in Cannes’ 

prestigious International Critics’ Week, while her short A Virus popped up as part of 

the no-less-esteemed ‘Cinefondation programme’ where it also picked up a muchsought-after 

gong. 

Later Fresh Air was the joint winner at Brussels’ European Film Festival - sharing the 

honours with Taxidermia, by Kocsis’ countryman Palfi Gyorgi. But while Taxidermia - 

provisionally set for a UK release later this year - is a riot of colourful excess and 

stomach-churning phantasmagoria, the delicately-observed mother-and-daughter 

comedy-drama Fresh Air couldn’t be much more different. “A deep breath of 

Kaurismakian deadpan” is how Variety magazine’s Eddie Cockrell summed it up: 

“Fresh Air measures the deceptively wide emotional chasm between a neat-freak 

workaholic who cleans subway toilets and her quietly defiant daughter - with 

ambitions to design clothing - who’s more like her than either of them can imagine.” 

Jim Jarmusch has also been cited as an influence - not that the “quietly defiant” 

Kocsis accepts such comparisons: “I didn’t have references when I made the film. 

Actually I never had any references in my life. It is a bit strange, because they have 

compared it to Almodovar, Loach, Akerman... They are all so far from each other, 

which I think is a good thing, because that means that my film in the end is not 

similar to anything.” Kocsis is half-right: Fresh Air is the work of a confident new 

filmmaker who has clearly learned much from her elders - and who looks certain to 

be the ‘toast’ of many more audiences to come. Frank Mangus 


KMH 

c/o Hungarian Film Union (Magyar Filmunio) 

Városligeti fasor 38. Budapest, Hungary-1068 

Tel: 00 36 1 351 7760 

E-mail: kati.vajda@filmunio.hu 

www.frisslevego.hu 

Courtesy of Hungarian Film Union 

MERCURY INSPECTION 

Dir. Lesley Wisley USA 2006 

1 min 30 secs (adv PG) 

Animation 

To ensure that every thermometer 

functions correctly before being 

packaged and shipped, they are tested 

to ensure their mercury rises. With 

great apprehension, the thermometers 

await their fate in the testing room. 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 


THE RED BALLOON 

Dir. Michael Olesen USA 2005 

3 mins 14 secs (adv U) 

Aidan Gould, Pedro Miguel Arce 

Enlisting the assistance of a balloon 

vendor, a young boy sends a birthday 

wish to his Mom – in the only way he 

knows how. A pocket-sized poignant 

poem. 

Contact: 

hollywoodmichael@hotmail.com 

99 Porchester Drive, Toronto, Ontario, 

M1J 2R4, Canada 

Tel: 00 1 323 620 0891 

www.MichaelOlesen.com 

UK PREMIERE (NEW DIGITAL PRINT) 

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 


Dir. Terence Young GB 1963 110 mins (PG) 

Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendáriz, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, 

Eunice Gayson, Desmond Llewellyn 

Widely regarded (by fans and Sean Connery alike) as one of the finest of the 21 official 

Bond films, From Russia with Love was the second in the series and has been re-released 

on a new digital print. 

This is Connery’s finest hour as 007. He is at home with the character and allows the 

audience to feel the frustration, desire and pain that James Bond endures. This is 

especially apparent as Bond comes face to face with his closest adversary yet: Red Grant 

(Robert Shaw), who provides the requisite amount of intimidation to make 007 

genuinely worried. Arguably the most memorable sequence features Connery and Shaw 

battling in a tiny compartment on the Orient Express, where Bond is obviously in trouble. 

It is only thanks to ever-helpful ‘Q’ and his gadgets that 007 foils his nemesis. 

Interestingly, this was the first of the Bond series to feature Desmond Llewellyn, the 

actor who continued to portray ‘Q’, (real name Major Boothroyd) in another 16 outings. 

This also marks the first official appearance from another Bond regular – John Barry, who 

has composed for ten films thus far. 

The supporting cast is strong with Daniela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya and Pedro Armendáriz, 

who plays Bond’s Istanbul contact Kerim Bey. Tragically, Armendáriz was terminally ill 

throughout the filming, so much so that his scenes had to be filmed first; towards the 

end of filming director Terence Young himself doubled for the ailing actor. 

The plot of From Russia with Love is centred on 007’s mission to Istanbul to collect the 

Russian ‘Lektor’ cipher machine from defecting Russian agent Tatiana Romanova, soon to 

become one of Bond’s many bed-notches. Bond soon finds he is being lured into a trap 

and has to confront the deadly Grant and of course, KGB renegade Rosa Klebb, the 

wearer of the poison-tipped shoes! Ben Eagle 

We hope Bond series producer Michael G. Wilson will be present to introduce the 

BIFF2007 UK Premiere of the new digital print of From Russia with Love. 

Print source: 

Park Circus Limited 

22-24 Woodlands Terrace, Glasgow, G3 6DF, Scotland 

Tel: 00 44 141 332 2175 

E-mail: nick@parkcircus.com 

www.parkcircus.com 

UK PREMIERE 

FROZEN DAYS 

(Yamim Kfuim) 

Friday 23 March 12.15pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Danny Lerner Israel 2005 90 mins (tbc) Subtitles b/w 

Anat Klausner, Sandra Sade, Uli Sternberg, Pini Tavger, Maor Cohen 

Meow, a small-time drug dealer, prowls night-time Tel-Aviv in Danny Lerner’s striking 

psychological drama. Shot entirely in black and white Lerner’s film is an uneasy 

journey into a world of paranoia and intrigue as Meow struggles with profound 

questions of identity after an online meeting with the mysterious Alex Caplan. 

After stalking Alex through internet chat-rooms and carrying on a mobile phone 

flirtation Meow arranges to meet him in a nightclub. Before she can meet him the 

club is targeted by a suicide bomber. Rushing to the hospital Meow eventually finds 

Alex swathed in bandages, lying in a coma. Her phone number on his mobile phone 

confirms his identity. Meow moves into Alex’s flat and starts to assume his character, 

collecting his laundry, even being invited to resident’s association meetings. As time 

passes Meow becomes increasingly disorientated and concerned for her sanity. 

Frozen Days started life as a short student film but, in an accomplished piece of 

filmmaking, Lerner managed to stretch his ambitions to feature length. Visually 

striking with its stark black and white photography and numerous location shots 

Frozen Days shows a side of Tel-Aviv that never appears in the holiday brochures. The 

alleyways, stairwells and deserted streets are classic staples of film noir and 

contribute to a tense atmosphere and a deep sense of unease. 

Considering the small budget (around $25,000) Lerner has managed to create a 

rounded film which, through clever editing and visual design, feels like a far larger 

production. Performance is the other key to the film’s appeal and after auditioning 

many professional actresses Lerner finally chose newcomer Anat Klausner for the key 

role of Meow. It proved a shrewd choice: she is a mesmerising screen presence and 

confidently shoulders the responsibility of appearing in virtually every scene in the 

film. Simon Barnett 

International sales: 

Bleiberg Entertainment 

9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, USA 

Tel: 001 310 273 0003 

E-mail: nick@bleibergent.com 

www.bleibergent.com 

www.frozendays.com 

BLIND MAN’S ALLEY 

Dir. Tony Kelly GB 2006 


Sam Clarke, John Hoare, Matt O’Shea, 

Aisling Loftus, Mirza Mujic, Joe Sentance 

Five teenagers strip to their underwear 

and select numbers from a bag. 

Moments later their hands are tied and 

hoods are placed over their heads. 

Standing silently in the harsh light of a 

tunnel, they take their places. They are 

ready to take part in the ninth annual 

game of Blind Man’s Alley. 

Contact: tonkelly80@hotmail.com 

305 Marco Island, Huntingdon Street, 

Nottingham, NG1 1AP, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7707 157 729 

Courtesy of Bleiberg Entertainment 

Courtesy of Park Circus Limited 

36 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS With special thanks to EON Productions 

PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS 37

TOMMY THE KID 

Dir. Stuart Clegg Australia 2006 


Isaac Harrison, Rodney Lester 

When Tom’s pushbike is stolen by Rob, 

the owner of the local bric-a-brac store, 

he feels powerless to do anything 

about it. But an encounter with Rob’s 

dog gives Tom an idea. Will kidnapping 

the pooch help Tom reclaim his bike 

Contact: 

tommythekidmovie@yahoo.com 

SCPT 

4/52 Livingstone Road, Petersham, 

Sydney, 2049, Australia 

Tel: 2 (0)422 696 097 

GHOSTS OF CITÉ SOLEIL 

Wednesday 14 March 8.15pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dirs. Asger Leth, Milos Loncarevic Denmark/USA 2006 88 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

With: Winson ‘2Pac’ Jean, Wyclef Jean, James ‘Bily’ Petit Frère 

Few documentaries could be as different as March of the Penguins and Ghosts of Cité 

Soleil, a scary, fascinating documentary about gang life in Haiti’s worst slum. The 

comparison comes to mind because it is difficult to decide which film would have 

been the more challenging and profoundly discomforting to make. If only due to the 

access achieved, there has never been anything quite like Asger Leth’s film; it’s 

amazing it even exists and that the director is still alive. Rough as can be in both 

content and style, Ghosts will be welcome everywhere tough, provocative docus are 

shown. 

The United Nations has declared Cité Soleil “the most dangerous place on Earth”; this 

slum of Port au Prince, populated by up to 500,000 people, makes the townships of 

South Africa look like Beverly Hills. As shown in the film, which was lensed in 2004, 

it’s an entirely lawless place presided over by sinister chimeres, or ghosts, violent 

young men allegedly employed and armed by then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 

and so named because, in a sense, they’re already dead, given their typically brief life 

spans. 

Leth is the son of Danish filmmaker and longtime Haiti resident Jorgen Leth, who 

collaborated with Lars von Trier on the 2003 release The Five Obstructions. While it is 

sometimes difficult to believe that the self-described “thugsters” are letting him film 

what we’re seeing, Leth evidently appealed to the criminals’ desire for selfglorification, 

and they allowed him cover their lives for several months in 2004, a 

pivotal year that marked Aristide’s flight from office and the country. 

What’s on view in the film is appalling and startling, but intimate enough to be a 

human story rather than just a sociological snapshot. Todd McCarthy, Variety 

Print source: 

Revolver Entertainment 

10 Lambton Place, London, W11 2SH, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 243 4300 

www.revolvergroup.com 

Courtesy of Revolver Entertainment 

UK PREMIERE 

ICE GAMES 

(Chuan bing) 

Sunday 18 March 6pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Zhang Hui Lin China 2006 75 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Tai Ying Li, Long Kuan, Yu Bo, Wang Lan 

According to director Zhang Hui Lin, “The initial idea of Ice Games goes back to 2004, 

when SARS was in the air in Beijing, and the streets were empty. The whole city was 

in panic. Friends gathered at my place because all work has been suspended. The 

idea of making a film was actually to pass time and not be too bored. Ice Games is a 

story about loneliness and independency, about two women, walking the streets at 

night, telling irrelevant stories, playing irrelevant games; and two men: The one is 

lost in dreams; the other lost his love due to indecisiveness. Some parts of the film 

are close to reality, and most people were playing just themselves, or rather, the way 

I see them. Half of the scenes were shot in a place called Wanghe Bridge. Our luck 

was that even though the shooting covered two seasons, the bridge was still under 

construction and never fully operational. The whole film took two years to finish; 

part of the reason was the change of seasons, but for the most part it was due to my 

laziness. Because there was no pressure.” 

As these comments suggest, Ice Games certainly doesn’t have the air of a film made 

by people in much of a hurry - though that isn’t to say that proceedings move in a 

slow or torpid fashion. Indeed, the very opening frames are infused with an 

audacious kineticism that captures the pace of a society accelerating into the future 

at a head-spinning rate. But, Zhang reminds us, we must never lose sight of the most 

fundamental human connections: the real subject is the friendship between his 

heroines, who drift through their nocturnal cityscapes like refugees from those 

rambling Jacques Rivette pictures from the ‘70s and ‘80s (or their closest Hollywood 

equivalent, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive). Unlike Rivette and Lynch, however, 

Zhang prizes brevity: at just 75 minutes, this is an absorbing and economical 

dispatch from the passionate heart of modern China. Frank Mangus 


Zhang Hui Lin 

F-1405, Jiao Da Jia Yuan No. 1., (Jiao Tong Da Xue Lu), Beijing 100044, China 

Tel: 001 391 001 8645 

E-mail: zeixique@hotmail.com 

Courtesy of Zhang Hui Lin 

UK PREMIERE 

MORTEM COMPANY 

Dir. Stéfan Le Lay France 2006 

21 mins (adv PG) Subtitles 

Loïc Fourniaud, Artus de Penguern, 

Mathilde Mottier, Guillaume de 

Tonquédec 

Narrating the story, Bruno is proud of 

his father’s unusual job and becomes 

very excited when he is finally taken to 

visit his place of work. But an incident 

on the way precipitates a series of 

events that begin to affect their 

lifestyle and eventually Bruno’s life. 

Contact: varech@free.fr 

Stéfan Le Lay 

21 rue de Pont-Menou, Ploueragtguerrand, 

29620, France 

Tel: 00 33 6 616 109 73 


DIRECTOR’S CUT 

Dir. Joshua Kerr GB 2006 


Andrew Turnbull, Gary Cordingley, 

Sally Yendall, Julia Mugnai 

A director’s film premiere becomes ever 

more fraught, as the lines between fact 

and fiction become increasingly 

blurred. An effective short that’s very 

slick, utilising a stylish editing 

technique. 

Contact: blacksuit_films@yahoo.co.uk 

Blacksuit Films 

616 Welbeck Road, Walker, Newcastle 

upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE6 3AB, 

United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 191 262 2436 

INFINITE JUSTICE 

Tuesday 20 March 8.45pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Jamil Dehlavi GB 2006 93 mins (adv 15) Some subtitles 

Kevin Collins, Jennifer Calvert, Constantine Gregory, Raza Jaffrey, Irvine Iqbal, Jeff Mirza 

In the wake of the impressive, multi-layered yet near-impenetrable Syriana comes Infinite 

Justice. This is a bold, confrontational and far more accessible consideration of the ‘war 

on terror’ and the mechanics of the political world that pulls the strings of the opposing 

elements at the heart of the fray. 

An edgy and unsettling thriller, it is loosely based on months leading to the death of the 

American Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl, who was investigating links between Pakistan, Al 

Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks on America when he was kidnapped by Islamic 

fundamentalists in 2002. He was later beheaded with the hideous act caught on camera. 

Kevin Collins plays Jewish reporter Arnold Silverman, a bullish young man with a touch of 

the crusader about him who sets out to unravel the Gordian knot of intrigue and 

conspiracy that led to the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of 

thousands of people. One of them was his sister. His terrier-like digging unearths several 

links – between radicalised young British Muslims and firebrand speakers in the States, 

between the 9/11 terrorists and Pakistan, and between enigmatic homeland security 

personnel and other, sinister, freelance agents. One of them is Abe Kautsky (Constantine 

Gregory), a mystery man who seems to know all the answers to all Silverman’s questions. 

His journey eventually leads to Karachi and to a far more complex web of relationships 

and understandings than even he suspected. 

Jamil Dehlavi’s uncompromising film strikes at the very heart of the international standoff 

between West and East and postulates whether professional observers such as Pearl 

are merely puppets in a wider conspiracy controlled not by governments or idealists but 

by shadowy middle-men with their own murky agendas. This is a potent brew. At no 

point does Dehlavi allow himself to take sides, instead presenting his tale from multiple 

viewpoints and suggesting a very different scenario to the ‘official’ version of Pearl’s 

death. Always challenging and occasionally shocking, its closing moments deliver a 

sledgehammer punch unequalled by recent political dramas and hints at the inner 

strength of a filmmaker unencumbered by the concept of fear. Chris Flanders 

We hope director/co-writer Jamil Dehlavi will be present to introduce 

the BIFF2007 screening of Infinite Justice. 

Print source: 

Dehlavi Films 

St. Martin's Chapel, 108 Bayham Street, London, NW1 OBD, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 482 3433 

ISOLATED 

(Aislados) 

Friday 23 March 2pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. David Marques Spain 2005 80 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Adria Collado, Eric Frances, Jean-Luc Ducasse 

One of the more enjoyable, relaxed and amiable of recent European films - and 

definitely one of the absolute cheapest to make - Isolated came to our programmers’ 

attention at December’s Black Nights Film Festival in wintry Tallinn, Estonia. BNFF is 

an event whose packed schedule easily justifies bracing the Baltic coast’s frequently 

sub-zero climes. 

And what a contrast such surroundings provided to the film itself, which so lazily 

unspools in the sun-kissed surroundings of the Mediterranean’s hedonism-capital 

Ibiza. But this isn’t remotely recognisable as the nocturnal-frenzy Ibiza of Balearic 

beats, spaced-out Brits and Pete Tong’s live Radio 1 broadcasts. Instead, we’re in a 

rather quieter, more upscale corner of the “white island”, - several parts of which, it 

may surprise ravers to discover, are protected as World Heritage Sites. 

In the admiring words of Variety magazine’s reviewer Leslie Felperin, “Isolated is a 

delightfully laid-back comedy in which two buddies shoot the breeze at a hilltop 

villa. Reminiscent of Kevin Smith’s debut Clerks - but done on an even lower budget 

and with even less plot - the film hangs with the twosome as they sink beers and 

discuss sex, movies, politics, whatever. And that’s it. Adria (Collado), a journalist in his 

twenties, comes to visit his slacker pal Kike (Frances), who is house-sitting for an 

absent Frenchman named Pierre. Jean (Ducasse, also the film’s producer), Pierre’s 

taciturn cousin, drifts in and out, making food, while the two friends loll around the 

garden, play with children’s toys, and talk constantly. Well-timed edits and an 

unadorned shooting style sustain the deadpan comic tone throughout.” 

Marques and Ducasse’s achievement is even more impressive and astonishing given 

the production’s sub-shoestring funding: a total sum of €600 has been mentioned, 

the project’s economy aided by the fact that all participants had to pay their own 

airfare to the island. Such a hard life, film-making... Que viva Ibiza, indeed! 

Neil Young 


Alta Produccion 

Cuesta de San Vicen 

MDC Int. GmbH, Schillerstr. 7a, 10625 Berlin, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 30 264 979 00 

E-mail: festivals@mdc-int.de 

www.mdc-int.de 

SCHATTENKIND 

(Shadow Child) 

Dir. Hans Hege Germany 2006 

16 mins (adv 15) 

Nadine Schwitter, Julius Bornmann 

How do you cope with the death of 

your child Haunted by increasingly 

painful memories, young parents 

struggle to come to terms with their 

loss as they face the reality of being 

just two instead of three. 

Contact: hans.hege@gmx.net 

Rossmarkt 8, 80331 Munich, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 89 269 035 

Courtesy of Dehlavi Films 

40 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS Courtesy of Alta Produccion 


UK PREMIERE 

JANUARY 2ND 


Dir. Matt Winn GB 2006 106 mins (adv 18) 

Simon Kunz, Ruth Gemmell, Rachel Fielding 

JINDABYNE 


Dir. Ray Lawrence Australia 2006 123 mins (adv 15) 

Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Chris Haywood, John Howard, Deborra-lee Furness, Eva 

Lazzaro, Leah Purcell, Stelios Yiakmis, Sean Rees-Wemyss, Alice Garner 

UK PREMIERE 

A PLASTIC TOY DINOSAUR 

Dir. Benjamin Stevens GB 2006 

9 mins 50 secs (adv 15) 

Dan Mersh, Clem Tibber, Penny 

Granycombe, Ainsley Mitchell, Ben Bee 

Dark humour is rife in this short film 

about a father and son relationship. It 

takes us through a series of incidents 

where the nonplussed father 

dramatically fails in his parenting and 

shies away from true interaction with 

his child. The father seems oblivious to 

his actions, but the son is continually 

dismayed. Despite it being humorous, 

you get a sense that the father’s 

actions are shaping his son’s future, 

and that his personality as an adult 

may come from days like these. 

Using the familiar but effective device of reuniting a group of old friends, Matt 

Winn’s film offers a contemporary British take on the territory staked out in movies 

such as The Big Chill and Texasville. 

Adam and Claire live in a remote farmhouse in the Brecon Beacons. Adam struggles 

to complete an album that never sounds like it will amount to much while Claire 

wonders what happened to their once shared dreams after they left London. Their 

marriage is already imploding when five old friends turn up for a New Year’s Eve 

party. The usual types are represented. Neville is a wildly unsuccessful actor always 

one step away from moving to L.A. Beth burns her way through her inheritance while 

mistaking sex for love. Frank pines for Beth while shoving as much coke up his nose 

as will fit. Suzanne is the sanest; and bitterest. Finally there is Sean who refuses to 

settle down or grow up and brings his latest girlfriend, a lap dancer. Through a 

couple of boozy nights of rows, stolen kisses and vituperative banter the friends lay 

bare two decades of bad judgement, bed-hopping, wilted careers and varying 

degrees of disappointment. 

Winn’s film shows a keen ear for the lazy shorthand dialogue of old friends and his 

ensemble cast hangs together well, offering a convincing portrayal of a group whose 

memories of their formative years in the carefree days of early rave culture have 

given way to more sober assessments of what the future might hold. January 2nd 

certainly doesn’t make middle age look attractive but it rings true and seems to 

define friends not as the people you might want to hang out with if you met them 

today but the people you still hang out with despite having known them for 20-odd 

years. Simon Barnett 

Four friends - Stewart, Carl, Rocco and Billy - are on their annual fishing trip into the 

isolated lakes of New South Wales. Stewart (Byrne) leaves the other three for some 

solitude and stumbles across the body of a girl, floating face-down in the water. The 

four have a decision to make: do they sacrifice their sacred fishing trip to report the 

death, or do they continue and tell the authorities on their return to town They 

choose the latter but on returning home their lives are utterly disrupted. 

Understandably, the women in their lives are mortified and cannot understand how 

they could be so cold as to ignore the dead girl. The authorities are equally baffled as 

to the men’s reluctance to report their gruesome find. The town’s people begin to 

doubt the four men’s integrity. Why did they abandon their moral responsibilities 

Was it because the dead girl was black… 

Claire, Stewart’s wife, is the last to be told and as the details begin to leak out she 

begins to doubt her husband. Why won’t he talk about it What is he hiding 

Meanwhile the men, caught in a web of hatred, distrust and racism, continue to 

reassure themselves that they have done nothing wrong. After all, they didn’t kill the 

girl. 

Jindabyne marks the third feature film from Australian director Ray Lawrence, 

following from the success of the adaptation of Peter Carey’s Bliss, which received 

rave reviews and played in the Official Selection at Cannes in 1985. After 17 years of 

inactivity, Lawrence returned with the powerful and impressive Lantana, which is in 

some ways similar to Jindabyne. Both are very relationship-driven pieces, set in 

Australia and thought-provoking thrillers. 

UK PREMIERE 

FELICITY’S FIXATION 

Dir. Tom Hickmore GB 2005 

1 min 56 secs (adv 12A) 

Poppy Rowe 

Sending a series of sexy mobile phone 

video messages to her recent onenight 

stand, an obsessed Felicity tries 

to stimulate another encounter. 

Contact: tom@nicemedialimited.com 

Nice Media Ltd 

4 Trinity Street, Brighton, BN2 3HN, 


Tel: 00 44 (0)1273 672 030 

www.nicemedialimited.com 

Best International Film 

(YoungCuts 2006, Canada) 

Contact: benjaminbee@gmail.com 

Dead on Impact 

97 Rothwell Road, Gosforth, Newcastle, 

Tyne and Wear, NE3 1UA, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 191 285 5912 

Print source: 



Tel: 00 44 208 758 1716 



Courtesy of Guerilla Films Ltd 

We hope director Matt Winn and producer Ivan Clements will be present to 

introduce the BIFF2007 presentation of January 2nd. 

Jindabyne is a complex ensemble piece that deals with some powerful subjects. A 

cinema-goer’s treat, it also marks a very welcome return to the screen for Ray 

Lawrence. Ben Eagle 


Tel: 0044 207 243 4300 

www.revolvergroup.com 



CHRISTMAS IN HUDDERSFIELD 

Dir. Peter Spence GB 2006 

10 mins (adv PG) 

With: Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, 

Steve Jones, Paul Cook 

Christmas, 1977. Against significant 

local opposition notorious punk rockers 

the Sex Pistols play a benefit gig for 

the children of striking firefighters – in 

Huddersfield. It will be the last live 

performance they will ever give in the 

UK. Three decades later filmmaker 

Peter Spence reunites some of those 

children – now adults with families of 

their own – to reminisce about a truly 

unique (and intrinsically human) 

moment in Punk Rock history. Boasting 

archive footage of the concert courtesy 

of Julien (The Filth and the Fury) 

Temple, Christmas in Huddersfield is a 

remarkable little curio. 

Contact: peterspence74@hotmail.com 

Natural Cinema 

32 Newton Garth, Leeds, West Yorkshire, 

LS7 4JZ, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0) 7951 364 559 

JOE STRUMMER: 

THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN 


Dir. Julien Temple Ireland/GB 2006 125 mins (adv 15) 

With: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Nick Headon, Terry Chimes, Iain Gillies, Alasdair Gillies, 

Gaby Holford, Bono, Damien Hirst, Joe Ely, John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Matt Dillon, Jim 

Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Flea, Courtney Love Cobain, Steve Buscemi 

The late punk rock legend Joe Strummer is rendered fully human in Julien Temple’s 

engrossing and all-encompassing portrait Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. 

Strummer’s strange career, from his sudden burst onto the punk rock scene of the 

mid-’70s with The Clash to his post-Clash burnout, exile and gradual re-emergence, 

provides Temple with unusually dramatic and complex elements to explore a 

brilliant, if mercurial, creative musical life. 

The general biographical outline is told in straightforward, chronological terms, but 

the details, archival clips and dynamic staging of guests interviewed by Temple are 

what give the film its throbbing vitality. To viewers of Temple’s previous rock doc 

Glastonbury, several familiar links are apparent - particularly Strummer’s late-life 

love for making spontaneous communities and groups around outdoor bonfires 

during such music events as the Glastonbury festival. 

Temple actually began documenting Strummer as early as 1976, the Clash’s first 

year, and he uses several audio interviews with the singer-songwriter to fill in the 

personal details. Bassist Paul Simonon is the only bandmate who demurred being 

involved with the pic, but co-writer/singer/guitarist Mick Jones, drummers Nicky 

Headon and Terry Chimes are terrific and voluble commentators for Temple’s camera. 

Temple’s images of an aging, slightly pudgier Strummer (happy dad of two 

daughters) touchingly conveys how life catches up with even the wildest rebels, and 

a bright denouement tracing Strummer’s musical rebirth with the Mescaleros is sure 

to make the shock of his death at age 50 of a heart attack startling even to fans who 

think they’re experts on the rocker. Robert Koehler, Variety 

We hope director Julien Temple will be present to introduce 

the BIFF2007 screening of Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. 

Print source: 

Vertigo Films 

The Big Room Studios, 77 Fortress Road, London, NW5 1AG, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 428 7555 

E-mail: mail@vertigofilms.com 

www.vertigofilms.com 

KLIMT 

Tuesday 13 March 6pm Cubby Boccoli Cinema 

Dir. Raul Ruiz Austria/France/Germany/GB 2006 97 mins (TBC) Some subtitles 

John Malkovich, Veronica Ferres, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Dillane, Paul Hilton 

The hothouse world of Vienna circa 1900, and especially the febrile beauty of Gustav 

Klimt’s art, are unsurprising subjects for Raul Ruiz’s fertile imagination. Transferring 

that fascination to the screen, however, proves an unwieldy task, and neither the 

producer’s version nor the longer director’s cut manage to make sense of the 

material gathered, alternately ponderous and evanescent. Billed as a 

phantasmagoria rather than a biopic, Klimt falls into the philosophical conundrum it 

attempts to resurrect - whether portrait and allegory can co-exist. Notwithstanding 

moments of great beauty, in this case the answer is clearly “no”. 

Still smarting from the wholesale butchery of Time Regained in some regions, Ruiz 

agreed with the producers to release a shorter, 96 minute version of his latest 

picture, which may stay the independent editor’s hand. It’s an odd compromise, since 

130 minutes isn’t an unusual time for an arthouse film, surely its targeted audience. 

The director’s cut is undoubtedly the richer version, making clearer the repeated 

motifs — Ruiz claims Schnitzler as an inspiration. A bizarre gilded cage sequence in a 

brothel feels even more peculiar without the earlier parallel sequence, just as 

anachronistic Chinese kids have no point in the 96-minute prints without the fuller 

context of the artist’s introduction to Chinese painting in the longer version. 

Generally superb art direction is beautifully captured by DoP Ricardo Aronovich’s rich, 

fluid lensing, and lighting is especially magical in several snow sequences. Birgit 

Hutter’s costumes would have made Cecil Beaton smile. Sound quality is a major 

problem in the producer’s cut, which muffles actors already having difficulty finding 

the rhythm of the English. The director’s cut is clearer, although the few lines in 

German, subtitled in the shorter version, are left untranslated in the longer print. - 

Jay Weissberg, Variety 

Print source: 

Soda Pictures 


Tel: 00 44 207 240 6060 



UK PREMIERE 

ME HEAD’S A SHED 

Dir. Marco van Belle GB 2007 8 mins 

30 secs (adv 12A) 

Holly Kenny, Gail Burland, Jim Millea, 

Rachel Cholerton, Chloe Pycock 

Struggling to maintain a normal life, 

the relationship between a 

schizophrenic mother and her teenage 

daughter is threatened as they are 

faced by the insensitive handling of the 

authorities. 

Contact: vidjourno@hotmail.com 

69 The Mill, Baxter Mews, Wadsley 

Bridge, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0) 7792 081 865 

44 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS 

Courtesy of Vertigo Films 


LIGHTS IN THE DUSK 

(Laitakaupungin Valot) 


Dir. Aki Kaurismäki Finland 2006 78 mins (tbc) Subtitles 

Janne Hyytiäinen, Maria Heiskanen, Maria Järvenhelmi, Ilkka Koivula 

THE LIVES OF OTHERS 

(Das Leben der Anderen) 

Tuesday 13 March 8pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Germany 2006 137 mins (15) Subtitles 

Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme 

UK PREMIERE 

RASPBERRY RIPPLE 

Dir. Patrick Whittaker GB 2006 


Mick Green, Jon McKenna, Brian 

Gwaspari 

After spending 40 years in NHS nursing 

homes since suffering a stroke, former 

rock star Des Gilroy (Green) is expelled 

for his constant misdemeanours. 

Wheelchair bound and forced to live 

with his brother, a confrontation with 

the neighbouring squatters develops 

into an amusing conflict. 

Contact: mm@splitsecond-films.com 

Split Second Films 

149 Carlton Road, Gidea Park, 

Essex, RM2 5AX, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 1708 703 309 

A full decade after Drifting Clouds (1996), Scandinavia’s most celebrated active 

director now finally completes his ‘Finland Trilogy’ with Lights in the Dusk - having 

won no less an accolade than the Palme d’Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for the 

middle section, The Man Without A Past. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen either of the 

first two ‘episodes’, however: the three films are connected by atmosphere 

(detached, offbeat), style (bald, direct), setting (modern-day city centre Helsinki) and 

tone (black-comic deadpan) rather than plot. 

This time around our hero is a thirtysomething security guard named Koistinen 

(Hyytiainen): a rather morose chap who lives alone, has no friends, is unpopular at 

work. His warmest relationship is with Aila (Heiskanen), the woman who operates 

his favourite hot-dog stand. But while he doesn’t pick up on the tentative signs of 

romantic interest Aila occasionally sends his way, he responds more strongly to the 

more aggressive approach taken by Mirja (Jarvenhelmi), a shapely blonde who makes 

his acquaintance in a cafe. Koistinen is happy to reciprocate Mirja’s chummy 

attentions - but his new “girlfriend” isn’t all she seems... 

Among the many delights on offer here, perhaps the most immediately obvious is 

Kaurismaki’s unerringly expert ear for music: classical extracts sit in surprisingly cosy 

fashion alongside raucous rockabilly tracks - and we get a full performance from 

local retro-stompers ‘Melrose’ when Koistinen and Mirja share a rather awkward date 

at a club. Here, as elsewhere, the droll humour has a powerful undercurrent of 

sadness, as we observe how the hapless Koistinen so stoically reacts to fate’s cruel 

caprices. It’s a modus vivendi which, Kaurismaki suggests, is guaranteed to cause 

problems in the short and medium term but which, in the end, might just be the 

only sane way to react to an increasingly helter-skelter world: the very final shot 

delivers a hard-earned touch of warmth and optimism in a tale of otherwise 

bracingly sardonic, irresistibly fatalistic gloom. Frank Mangus 

Print source: 

Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd 

20-22 Stukeley Street, London, WC2B 5LR, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 240 5353 

E-mail: info@artificial-eye.com 

www.artificial-eye.com 

Anna Funder’s fascinating book Stasiland was a surprising insight into the lives of 

ordinary people in East Germany under the strict control of the secret police, the Stasi. 

In many ways, The Lives of Others is a companion piece highlighting at the effects both 

the spy and the spied in a stunningly absorbing drama from first time director Florian 

Henckel von Donnersmarck. 

The Lives of Others opens in a lecture theatre that seems normal until it becomes clear 

that the subject is interrogation and how to extract information from your victim. In 

this world, everything seems normal until you scrape away the surface. The lecturer is 

the monk-like Gerd Wiesler, a man who clearly knows his subject in great depth. Georg 

Dreyman is the leading playwright in East Germany, a man who is a good statesperson 

and does not put a foot wrong. But is he too good Wiesler is put on the case to find 

incriminating evidence. 

The film makes it clear that politics and the world around him have never infected 

Dreyman’s ability to write uncontroversial plays that the State applauds. Even his 

mentor, the elderly director Albert Jerska who hasn’t worked for years because he has 

been blacklisted, can’t shake his faith. However, when Jerska cannot cope without 

work anymore and commits suicide, Dreyman starts to wonder. 

The Lives of Others is a classic piece of filmmaking - a compelling drama that centres 

on the lives and challenges of ordinary people in an extraordinary world. It even 

manages to create some sympathy for East German ideals but shows on the looking 

glass logic leads to the very thing that the State was trying to prevent. At the core is a 

wonderful performance from Ulrich Muehe as the master spy who says little but hears 

everything. Bill Lawrence 

Print source: 

Lionsgate (UK) Limited 

Ariel House, 74a Charlotte Street, London, W1T 4QT, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 299 8800 

www.lionsgatefilms.co.uk 

Courtesy of Lionsgate (UK) Limited 

WORLD PREMIERE 

ODE TO JOY 

Dir. Costas Chrysanthou GB 2006 

3 mins (adv PG) b/w 

James Walker 

In bleak, apocalyptic, industrial 

England, surreal faceless guards 

tyrannise zombified factory workers as 

a maverick violinist serenades 

relentlessly. 

Contact: Isabelle@humanfilm.co.uk 

Human Film 

4 Lincoln Court, Farsley, Leeds, West 

Yorkshire, LS28 5DD, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7835 378 454 

Courtesy of Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd 


LOS MUERTOS 

(The Dead) 

SCREENING WITH: FANTASMA 


Dir. Lisandro Alonso Argentina 2004 78 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Argentino Vargas 

UK PREMIERE 

LOST IN TOKYO 

(Tokyo Shikkaku) 


Dir. Ikawa Kotaro Japan 2006 91 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Takuya Fukushima, Iwasaki Takahiro, Tomomi, Nao Saito, Aya Kanai, Mari Kobayashi 

TAKE ME BACK 

TO DEAR OLD BLIGHTY 

Dir. James Debenham GB 2006 


James Thornton 

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty taps 

into the MTV generation’s perceptions 

of modern television to deliver a 

message. At first it appears to be a rant 

against consumerism, but on closer 

inspection is in fact one man’s view of 

the modern British culture he sees 

around him – where possessions and 

vanity are all-conquering. His message 

is simple – all the rubbish we surround 

ourselves with won’t make us happy. 

It’ll stave off the boredom and distract 

us for a while, but ultimately it can’t 

replace the things that are really 

important – like love and the 

fulfilment of your life. 

Contact: neil_gumbo@hotmail.com 

Arch Stanton Productions 

6 Bushby Avenue, Broxbourne, 

Hertfordshire, EN10 6QE, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7957 163156 

Having secured the UK premiere of Argentinian auteur Lisandro Alonso’s new 

masterpiece Fantasma (see Premieres & Previews), we immediately requested a print 

of Alonso’s previous, multi-award winning film Los Muertos - which, back in 2004, 

led film-bible Variety magazine to proclaim that “the new Argentine cinema has 

found its poet and master”. The two films work perfectly well on their own - but 

anyone considering seeing Fantasma (and it’s such a remarkable work that you’d be 

well advised to do so) will benefit from also seeing Los Muertos: the central 

character in both films is the same, namely a taciturn, distinguished-looking 

gentleman named Argentino Vargas. 

Fantasma takes place in a Buenos Aires theatre complex which happens to be 

screening Los Muertos. The number of customers is minimal - but includes Vargas 

himself. He’s thus able to watch himself on the screen, “playing” a “character” named 

Argentino Vargas. After a lengthy prologue in which the camera swoops around a 

forest before finally stumbling across the bodies of two murdered children 

(presumably “the dead” of the title) we observe Vargas’s last hours of confinement in 

a prison so open it takes some time before we realise that he’s in jail at all. Vargas 

then carries out an errand for one of his ex-jail mates that involves visiting a far-off 

village. He then makes his way to visit his own grandchildren in another remote rural 

spot. 

Along the way we eventually discover the nature of Vargas’s crime: but this 

revelation poses more questions than it offers answers... Ruminative and challenging 

in its measured capturing of rural rhythms, Los Muertos may frustrate audiences 

accustomed to the MTV-frenzy of Hollywood editing techniques. For everyone else, 

however, it’s the chance to enter another world: mysterious, quiet, ominous, 

guaranteed to reverberate in your memory long after the credits have rolled. Neil 

Young 


4L 

Juramento 4940, Capital Federal, 1413 Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Tel: 0054 11 4253 7694 

alonsolisandro@hotmail.com 

Courtesy of 4L 

One-man-band filmmaker Kotaro Ikawa makes a fine entry into features with Lost in 

Tokyo - a fluid, loose and tender look at two young men quietly mourning the loss of 

their buddy. Colour-saturated prelude plays nostalgically, as twentysomething 

buddies Takkun (Fukushima), Takachan (Iwasaki) and Eiji (Kamikura) recall their 

college years when they formed a rock band. Now, Eiji is in law school while Takkun 

flounders as a singer in a lowly band. In an extremely elliptical cut to two of the guys 

dressed in black suits, it becomes clear that Eiji has suddenly died, and that the other 

two have just returned from his funeral. To good friend Nao’s (Saito) dismay, 

Takachan’s response is to get drunk with Takkun. The pair is soon off gallivanting 

through Tokyo doing everything and anything to avoid talking about the scariest 

thing of all: their futures. 

With his shock of blonde hair, Takkun still attempts a rebel stance, but as the evening 

drifts into the wee hours and then into dawn, this pose appears uncertain. Helmer 

Ikawa captures this perfectly in an extended scene where Takachan drags Takkun to a 

recording studio, where they have been waiting for him to record some tracks with 

his band... 

Lost in Tokyo is composed of small sequences that speak volumes about the dreams 

and limitations of basically decent young men who have neither bought into the 

corporate rat-race nor determined an independent course for themselves... The time 

and space that Ikawa allows his actors gives Fukushima and Iwasaki room to create 

vividly real characterizations of men who aren’t quite fully formed. There’s a sense in 

Ikawa’s shaky, even unstable camerawork that he’s trying to get a handle on these 

guys as well. By the knockout finale, the film extends less a feeling of understanding 

than one of empathy. Jun Sekiguchi’s lonely guitar music ushers in a slightly 

mournful note that the characters can’t bring themselves to express. Robert Koehler, 

Variety 


P-Kraft 

165-0026 5.20.7.401 Arai, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan 

Tel : 00 81 70 5518 8917 

E-mail: info@p-kraft.com 

http://film.m78.com/lostintokyo/english.html 

Courtesy of Ikawa Kotaro/P-Kraft 

50 CENTS 

Dir. Mathijs Geijskes The Netherlands 

2006 5 mins 10 secs (adv PG) Subtitles 

Marloes te Riele, Eric de Reijer, Kathinka 

Wendelaar and Tommy the dog 

This is a movie that deals with 

possibilities, perceptions and 

stereotypes. When a young woman 

encounters a scruffy, unkempt middleaged 

man, her mind races and she goes 

through a whole range of emotions. 

Brilliantly directed and brilliantly acted, 

50 Cents will make you think and 

question. Reality isn’t always as it 

seems; sometimes it is much more. 

First Place 

Fiction (Novidad Film Festival, Portugal) 

Silver Bear 

(Festival der Nationen, Austria) 

Silver Medal 

(Würzburg Festival, Germany) 

Platinum Award 

(Worldfest, Houston, USA) 

Contact: w.m.geiskes@wanadoo.nl 

Ridderschapstr. 27, 

3512 CN Utrecht, The Netherlands 

Tel: 00 31 30 236 71 02 


ONE LAST DRINK 

BEFORE MORNING 

Dir. J.D. Kelleher GB 2006 


Lesley McGuire, Garvan McGrath, 

Gareth Keiran Jones 

It’s a rainy night in the city and Victor 

and Sweeney, workers at the printing 

press, go into a run-down late-night 

bar for a drink before heading for 

home. Almost broke, they buy each 

other a drink and pass the time with 

idle chat. When a down and out 

wanders in and gets a free drink from 

the world-weary barmaid, they try to 

find out what they have to do to get a 

free one for themselves. If they can tell 

the most tragic story, worse than hers, 

then the free whisky is theirs. A simple 

tale that moves deeper into tragedy 

delivered through a fascinating and 

compelling performance by Lesley 

McGuire. 

Contact: jd@netbox.com 

Penthouse 11 Productions 

Penthouse 11 Bickenhall Mans, 

Bickenhall Street, London, W1U 6BR, 


Tel: 00 44 (0)7818 061 308 

MINOR REVELATIONS 

(Petites revelations) 


Dir. Marie Vermillard France 2006 55 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Genevieve Tenne, Alexis Armengol-Humbert, Myriam Aziza, Marilyne Canto, 

Renee Le Calm, Claude Massot, Denis Falgoux 

With the average age of debutant filmmakers seemingly dropping every year - 

thanks to the proliferation of film schools, youth-oriented film festivals, and readily 

accessible technology - the story of French writer/director Marie Vermillard provides 

a refreshing and salutary reminder that cinema isn’t merely a “young man’s game”. 

This former architecture student and social worker was 33 before she notched her 

first big screen credit, working on thriller Public Security (1987) as what’s still known 

across the channel as a “script-girl” (i.e. continuity monitor). She made her first short 

at 38 with Reste (1992), worked on various films with the likes of Arnaud Desplechin, 

Cedric Klapisch and Olivier Assayas, before - at 43 - making her feature debut with 

1997’s Eau Douce. Pregnancy drama Lala Lili followed in 1999, earning Vermillard the 

accolade “un espoir du cinema hexagonal” (‘a hope of hexagonal cinema’) - not a 

reference to any geometric ingenuity, but rather to France’s roughly six-sided shape. 

Acclaimed at festivals around the world, Minor Revelations marks Vermillard’s 

breakthrough onto the international stage - at 53. Why the emphasis on age Well, 

Minor Revelations is, among many other things, a film about time - moments in 

time, the passage of time, how life takes place in the interstices between major 

events. The form is quirkily radical and impossible to synopsise in conventional film 

catalogue terms: 19 unconnected episodes of various lengths (though they’re all 

pretty short!), in which people experience those “minor revelations” of the title. 

It’s not an entirely original concept - the film could be perhaps be summed up as a 

cross between Otar Ioseliani’s freewheeling Parisian fable Favourites of the Moon 

(1984) and Jane Campion’s indelible, 13-minute Passionless Moments (1983). But 

Vermillard - a curious, observant, patiently bemused kind of humanist - brings her 

own, distinctive sensibility to the project. The result is, we confidently guarantee, 

something quite unlike anything else you’ll see this year. Frank Mangus 


Stella Films 

31, place Jeanne d’Arc, Paris 75013, France 

Tel: 00 33 1 75 50 41 82 

E-mail: stella.films@club-internet.fr 

Courtesy of Stella Films 

MY BEST FRIEND 

Friday 23 March 8.30pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Patrice Leconte France 2006 94 mins (12A) Subtitles 

Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Henri Garcin 

Patrice Leconte is in a light but thoughtful mood in My Best Friend, a buddy movie 

that actually ponders the nature of what it is to be a buddy. Deriving a compact tale 

from Olivier Dazat’s story with his regular screenwriting pal Jerome Tonnerre, 

Leconte finds substance in the formulaic premise of a man who bets he can prove he 

has a best friend — even though he has none. 

François (Daniel Auteuil) runs a Paris antique dealer biz with partner Catherine (Julie 

Gayet), who’s concerned about their mounting debts. Francois appears to be all 

business, first seen attending the funeral of a competitor for the sole purpose of 

making a deal on some furniture. Noted for his haughty attitude, stealing clients 

from other dealers and a tendency to value things over people, François is chided by 

associates at his birthday party for having no friends. Catherine challenges him to 

serve up his best friend in person in the remaining 10 days of the month, or he must 

give her a pricey Greek vase he’s just purchased. 

Auteuil, in a role that can be considered a significant stretch for an actor who’s so 

naturally ingratiating, plays François as a man outwardly assured but inwardly in a 

fog. Personal matters escape him; his stabs at seeking out a best pal are nearly 

satiric. François meets loquacious taxi driver Bruno (Dany Boon), whom he recruits to 

help in the fine art of making friends. 

For all its clever plotting (including a terrific bit involving the real Greek vase and a 

fake), My Best Friend is certain to make amused audiences consider their own lives 

and friends. The effect of casting Auteuil as François allows the viewer to accept his 

character flaws as he strains to find a friend. Boon suggests a bright man with a life 

unfulfilled, who emerges as one of the most touching Everyman characters in recent 

French cinema. Robert Koehler, Variety 

Print source: 


22 Newman Street, London, W1T 1PH, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 637 5408 


www.optimumreleasing.com 


UK PREMIERE 

MIRAMAR ST. 

Dir. Jon Garaño Spain 2006 

8 mins (adv PG) Some subtitles 

Fele Tunaya, Ana Martinez, 

Adam Sanjurjo 

San Diego, California. A Spanish taxi 

driver in picks up a passenger who asks 

to be taken to an address in Miramar 

Street. In an instant the driver’s world 

is changed forever. A delicious little 

passion play with a sting in the tail. 

Best Local Work 

(San Diego Latino Film Festival) 

Contact: miramar_st@yahoo.es 

Kale Nagusia, 41, 2-EZK, Astigarraga, 

Spain, 20115 

Tel: 00 34 65 77 32 888 


UK PREMIERE 

THE OTHER HALF 

(Ling Yi Ban) 


Dir. Ying Liang China 2006 111 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Zeng Xiaofei, Deng Gang, Zhao Ke, Liu Lan, Chen Xigui, Liu Huibin, Peng Shan 

PARIS JE T’AIME 

Sunday 11 March 6pm Pictureville 

Dirs. [18 directors*] Liechtenstein/Switzerland/Germany/France 2006 116 mins (TBC) 

Some subtitles 

Bruno Podalydès, Leïla Bekhti, Steve Buscemi, Marianne Faithfull, Fanny Ardant, Bob 

Hoskins, Gena Rowlands, Nick Nolte, Juliette Binoche, Natalie Portman 

UK PREMIERE 

THE POTTER 

Dir. Josh Burton USA 2005 


Animation 

An award-winning animation focusing 

on an eager young apprentice who 

wishes to learn the skills of the Potter, 

an ancient creature that gives life to 

the clay that he is working. But the 

apprentice must first learn the basics 

before he can work clay like the Potter. 

1st place Non-traditional Animation 

(College TV Awards 2006) 

Animation Stills Prize (Animex 2006) 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 

Bradford International Film Festival is particularly delighted to host the UK premiere 

of The Other Half, the second feature by a young man who’s quickly established 

himself as one of the most promising in a particularly talented crop of rising Chinese 

directors. Ying Liang first served notice of his prodigious talent when his debut 

Taking Father Home (also showing at this year’s BFF) premiered at Tokyo’s prestigious 

‘FilmEx’ film festival in late 2005. It was awarded the Special Jury Prize – and, 12 

months later, Ying repeated the feat with his follow-up The Other Half. 

The jury praised the film’s “exceptional strictness of form and composition, the 

subtlety of its storytelling, and the freshness with which the director expresses his 

point of view toward society and communication. We are looking forward to seeing 

his future work.” Jury member Chris Fujiwara, writing for GreenCine magazine, 

summed the film up thus: “The Other Half intersperses scenes in a law office - where 

a succession of complainants in domestic-dispute cases address their woes to the 

camera - with a story about a young woman’s ill-fated relationship with a shiftless 

young man. An oblique, even tricky film (despite the directness of the shooting style 

in the scenes in the law office), The Other Half is impressive for the restraint and 

compassion with which the director surveys his large cast of characters and for the 

amount of sociological detail he accumulates about their difficulties.” 

The Other Half continues Ying’s commitment to Sichuan province - which, in the 

words of the Tokyo International Film Festival catalogue, “has now become the hot 

spot for location shooting for some of China’s most talked-about films – including Jia 

Zhangke’s [Venice Golden Lion winner] Still Life. But before so many other 

filmmakers rushed in to capture that spiky Sichuan accent, Ying Liang and Peng 

Shan, a locally-based maverick filmmaking duo, have been exploring the sharp 

changes and intense human dramas taking place in this historic province.” Neil Young 


90 Minutes Film Studio 

Room 201, No.200 Tianmu Mid-Street, 200071 Shanghai, China 

E-mail: yingliang2046@hotmail.com 

Courtesy of 90 Minutes Film Studio 

Being in Paris is to be inside a work of art, and it is no surprise that in the charming 

collection of vignettes that make up Paris je t’aime, the art is love. This is a Paris 

where Oscar Wilde can reappear beside his grave at Père Lachaise to give squabbling 

lovers a sense of humour. A vampire may pounce on an unsuspecting backpacker in 

the Madeleine. A cowboy on horseback can bring a grieving mother back to her 

family. A paramedic may fall in love with her bleeding patient. 

Love in all its weird and wonderful forms is the subject of 18 short films made by an 

assortment of international directors who bring individual vision to a collective love 

letter to the French capital. Most of the directors have written their own pieces, and 

they range from whimsical to romantic, to dramatic and tragic. 

With many familiar faces including Juliette Binoche, Fanny Ardant, Natalie Portman, 

Nick Nolte, Steve Buscemi, Bob Hoskins and Gena Rowlands, the film is necessarily 

uneven but has an overall winning charm and can expect a warm reception in art 

houses around the world. 

Buscemi and Coen Brothers completists will not want to miss their hilarious tale of 

an American tourist on the Metro stop at the Tuileries learning firsthand how 

accurate his guidebook is. Forget The Da Vinci Code - anyone who sees this film will 

never look at Mona Lisa’s smile again without thinking of the matchless Buscemi. 

Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter 

* The 18 directors are: 

Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin, Emmanuel Benbihy, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain 

Chomet, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Gérard 

Depardieu, Christopher Doyle, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Alexander 

Payne, Bruno Podalydès, Walter Salles, Oliver Schmitz, Nobuhiro Suwa, Daniela 

Thomas, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant 

Print source: 

The Works UK Distribution Ltd., 

4th Floor, Portland House, 4 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 8QJ, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 612 0090 

UK PREMIERE 

41 SECONDS 

(41 Sekunden) 

Dirs. Rodney Sewell, Tobias Martin 

Germany 2006 3 mins 46 secs (adv 12A) 

Subtitles Alexander Kaffl, Amir Arul 

In a world where love and relationships 

are almost everything, it is easy to get 

lost in your emotions and remain 

undecided on which path to tread. In 

41 Seconds a young man finds himself 

bored with his girlfriend but unable to 

bring himself to talk to her about it. 

Instead, he turns to his friend - who 

turns out to be more help than either 

of them could have realised… 

Contact: rodney@sewell.de 

St. Paul’s Platz 5, Munich, 80336, 

Germany 

Tel: 00 49 89 2 32 259 90 

* Taking Father Home is also showing at the 13th Bradford Film Festival 

Courtesy of The Works UK Distribution Ltd 


PITBULL 

(Pitbul) 


Dir. Patryk Vega Poland 2005 100 mins (adv 18) Subtitles 

Marcin Dorocinski, Weronika Rosati, Rafal Mohr, Janusz Gajos, Andrzej Grabowski, 

Malgorzata Foremniak 

REGARDING BUENOS AIRES 

(A proposito de Buenos Aires) 

Wednesday 14 March 4pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dirs. [a collective of 11 directors*] Argentina 2006 81 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Maria Abadi, Ines Efron, Guillermo Garcia Faure, Gonzalo Martinez, Clara Miglioli, 

Romina Paula, Ignacio Rogers 

UK PREMIERE 

TO DIE IS TO LIVE 

Dir. David Sarkissian Armenia 2006 

8 mins (adv 12) Subtitles 

Experimental 

A rapid montage mix of performance 

art, action painting, construction and 

destruction, set to hard rock and death 

metal. Sarkissian finds art in chaos, 

and chaos in the universe. Life is 

special. 

Contact: fanaticsoflife@yahoo.com 

Os & Dav 

Aygestan 11st. 1tup. 3/4 House, Yerevan, 

Armenia, 3750025 

Tel: 00 374 91 539 105 

We’re proud to present no fewer than four Polish films at this year’s Bradford 

International Film Festival - the others being the Kieslowski documentary Still Alive, plus 

Destined for Blues and The Feast of St. Barbara. If we’d wanted, however, we could have 

filled our whole programme with Polish fare, so prolific and prodigious is the nation’s 

current film output. Sorting the wheat from the chaff - or rather oddziela ziarna od 

plew - is therefore a more-than-usually daunting exercise, but (to mix a metaphor) 

we’re confident we’ve unearthed a bit of a diamond-in-the-rough here. 

In crime thriller Pitbull, Feast of St. Barbara’s romantic lead Marcin Dorocinski essays a 

very different kind of role: he exudes the laid-back swagger of a young Matt Dillon as 

Slawomir Desperski (“Despero”) one of five Warsaw cops on the trail of a master 

criminal responsible for a string of murders and kidnappings. His colleagues are a 

mismatched gang of alcoholics, misanthropes and ordinary Joes, whose tactics are 

often at odds with the letter of the law they’re supposedly upholding. Crunchingly 

brutal one minute, disarmingly (and blackly) comic the next, Pitbull is a bravely 

unblinking look at some of the more unseemly aspects of modern-day Poland and, by 

extension, Europe as a whole. 

Refreshingly, Pitbull was clearly made with both eyes on domestic audiences, rather 

than being the result (all too prevalent among younger filmmakers these days) of trying 

to impress international film festivals. In commercial terms, debutant writer/director 

Vega hit a near bullseye with his very first dart: Pitbull was one of only three homegrown 

movies of its year to notch more than 100,000 admissions at the Polish box 

office (Destined for Blues being one of the others). But that’s not to say this film is for 

Polish eyes only: it announces an exciting new talent who’s able to inject familiar 

“genre” material with freshness, wit and a visual sense that promises a long and 

successful career... but is the world ready for a Polish Michael Mann. 

Frank Mangus 


Dziki Film - sp. z o.o. 

ul. Raclawicka 127 lok.12, 02-117, Warsaw, Poland 

Tel: 00 22 824 68 48 

E-mail: dzikifilm@hot.pl 

The title is, of course, a reference to Jean Vigo’s provocative travelogue A propos de 

Nice (1930). And the idea of a “city-film”, an attempt to chronicle quotidian life in a 

particular urban metropolis Well, that stretches back at least as far as Dziga Vertov’s 

Man with a Movie Camera (1929). The concept of a film being made by a “collective” 

of directors, however - that’s rather redolent of more recent eras, the headily radical 

co-op, agit-prop days of the ‘60s and ‘70s, with Newcastle’s gallant Amber films (Like 

Father; Seacoal; Dream On) perhaps the most notable current standard bearer of the 

tradition. The quizzically enigmatic Regarding Buenos Aires, however, can’t be easily 

summed up in terms of its references and its historical precedents. 

Appropriately enough given Argentina’s World Cup-laden sporting prowess, it’s the 

work of no fewer than 11 young talents. All are or were students at Buenos Aires’ 

esteemed “Universidad del Cine” - also alma mater of Lisandro Alonso (whose 

Fantasma and Los Muertos are also showing in the Premieres & Previews section of 

this year’s 13th Bradford International Film Festival). It’s an ironic paradox that, 

despite suffering dire economic fortunes in recent years, Argentina has 

simultaneously emerged as one of the world’s real powerhouses of new cinematic 

talent: a fact even recognised by Melvyn Bragg, whose The South Bank Show last 

year devoted a programme to profiling three of the area’s up-and-coming directors. 

And it would take a foolish observer to bet against three or four of Regarding Buenos 

Aires’ ‘first XI’ making the grade. But what is the film about Best let the makers 

speak for themselves: “There are several scenes with only the city in common, and 

more as a conceptual presence at that than as a precise geography. None of those 

scenes contains a single ‘story’: Each one of them is part of a larger situation that we 

cannot see, as though the beginning and end of each ‘story’ had to be filled in by the 

audience.” Frank Mangus 


A propósito de Buenos Aires 

Defensa 966 2oN, 1065 Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Tel: 00 54 11 4307 8248 

E-mail: apropositiodebsas@gmail.com 

www.ucine.edu.ar 


THE ADMIRER 

Dir. Petros Silvestros GB 2006 


James Burton, Catherine Steadman, 

Will Tosh 

An unknown admirer is spying on the 

flat of mute Anna and her carer 

brother. What are his intentions 

towards the siblings And just what 

has he captured on videotape Dark 

secrets unravel in this engaging thriller. 

Contact: silvpetr@hotmail.com 

20a Loveridge Road, London NW6 2DT 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7981 825 503 

Courtesy of Dziki Film 

Courtesy of the 11 directors 

* Manuel Ferrari, Alejo Franzetti, Martin Kalina, Cecilia Libster, Francisco Pedemonte, Clara 

54 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS 

Picasso, Matias Pineiro, Juan Ronco, Andrea Santamaria, Malena Solarz, Nicolas Zukerfeld 


UK PREMIERE 

STEPS 

Dir. Matthew Heimbecker USA 2006 


Animation 

A beautifully animated short from the 

Savannah College of Art and Design, 

with an effective music score that 

supports the sole character’s aim to 

escape the endless castle of steps in 

his domain. 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 

RIVER QUEEN 

Thursday 22 March 5.45pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Vincent Ward NZ/GB 2005 114 mins (adv 12A) Some subtitles 

Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, Anton Lesser, 

David Rawiri Pene, Stephen Rea 

Set during the British colonisation of New Zealand in the 1850s, the indigenous 

population is divided as some Maoris embrace and side with the European settlers, 

others are engaged in a desperate war to preserve their way of life. 

Narrating the story, Sarah (Morton) and her family are stationed at an Irish garrison 

located on the banks of a rural river. The daughter of the resident surgeon (Rea), she 

falls in love with Tommy Boy, the son of a powerful tribal chief and becomes 

pregnant. Before the birth of the baby, Tommy Boy dies leaving Sarah to bring up her 

son, Boy and making the best of home life at the garrison. When Boy turns six, he is 

kidnapped by his paternal grandfather, who wishes him to be raised according to 

Maori tradition. Caught in the middle of the ongoing skirmishes, Sarah’s father and 

sister depart for a safer haven downriver leaving Sarah to continue her search for 

Boy, assisted by Private Doyle (Sutherland), an Irish soldier who harbours an 

unrequited love for her. 

Seven years later, a Maori warrior, Wiremu (Curtis) promises to take her to her son if 

she heals the ailing chief of the Maori tribe, Te Kai Po (Morrison). But when she is 

finally reunited with her son, she finds that he is torn between the two differing 

cultures. As the clashes intensify, Sarah realises what her son has become and finds 

herself having to decide to stay with him or give him up and return to safer shores. 

A lush setting highlighting the plight of the Maori tribes at the onset of colonial 

expansion, the story spans the generations to tell this intimate story. Filming was 

beset with many problems with Samantha Morton suffering a prolonged illness and 

director Ward being fired during the course of filming, then returning for post 

production. Adeni Rutter 

Print source: 



Tel: 00 44 207 612 0090 

UK PREMIERE 

ROOMS FOR TOURISTS 

(Habitaciones para turistas) 


Dir. Adrián García Bogliano Argentina 2004 93 mins (adv 18) Subtitles b/w 

Jimena Krouco, Elena Siritto, Mariela Mujica, Brenda Vera, Victoria Witemburg, Eliana 

Polonara, Alejandro Lise, Trajano Leydet, Rolf Garcia, Oscar Ponce 

This relentlessly nasty slasher is a throwback to a genre long thought forgotten – the 

‘women in peril’ movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s in which a variety of nubile young things 

wandered into dark rooms to be stabbed, chopped and generally rendered limb from 

limb by an obliging maniac. Long considered passé, and now the subject of cinematic 

scorn, the overtly gratuitous nature and content of such flicks make them something 

akin to celluloid pariahs. 

Done well, however, such films prove that the concept of the no-holds-barred 

shocker is still valid and that audiences starved of genuine fear and fright may well 

warm to the notion of a film that offers carnage sans humour. The resurgence of 

such content in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses (and the even more gruelling 

sequel The Devil’s Rejects) and Eli Roth’s Hostel appears to suggest that the industry 

is once again looking to the past for inspiration. 

Thus Rooms for Tourists (aka Habitaciones para turistas) emerges as a bonafide 

compadre to such fare – a conveyor belt of gruesomeness in which a group of young 

women falls prey to mysterious killers in a labyrinthine old house. En-route to 

Buenos Aires, the five miss their rail connection and find themselves stranded in San 

Ramón, a remote and somewhat creepy backwater. Offered accommodation by two 

brothers in their old boarding house – a room for the night plus a meal – the five 

strangers accept, naively believing in the concept of safety in numbers. Cue much 

screaming in the dark… 

This is an audacious and grisly chiller based on a solid foundation of 

dismemberment, decapitation and evisceration. Shot on video, in black-and-white 

and with a largely amateur cast, it enjoys more than a nodding acquaintance with 

the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Suspiria, The Hills Have Eyes and Race with 

the Devil. 

MY LAST CONFESSION 

Dir. David Finley Canada 2006 

21 mins 27 secs (adv 12A ) 

Maria Del Mar, David Ferry, 

Graham Kartna 

In a 1960s Catholic church a young boy 

dreads confessing the most grievous of 

all sins – “impure thoughts and deeds”. 

But is his confession all he should be 

afraid of… Funny and quirky with a 

decidedly dark twist. 

First Place Honourable Mention 

(ReelHeart International Film Festival) 

Contact: dfinley@finworks.ca 

FinWorks 

98 Victoria Park Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, 

M4E 3R9, Canada 

Tel: 00 1 416 693 5862 

www.finworks.ca 

Courtesy of The Works UK Distribution LTD 

An exhilarating, pulse-pounding addition to the revitalised genre of the 21st century 

slasher, Rooms for Tourists proves to be a blood-spattered journey down Memory 

Lane and a quality calling card for twentysomething director/co-writer Bogliano. 

Pure, undiluted horror from the old school, it combines crisp camerawork with 

disciplined direction and some fine performances. A final sting-in-the-tale makes the 

denouement all the more memorable. Tony Earnshaw 


SALVATORE 

(Salvatore - Questa è la vita) 


Dir. Gian Paula Cugno Italy 2006 90 mins ( adv PG ) Subtitles 

Alessandro Mallia, Enrico Lo Verso, Lucia Sardo, Gabriele Lavia, Giancarlo Giannini 

SCOTT WALKER: 30 CENTURY MAN 


Dir. Stephen Kijak USA/GB 2006 95 mins (adv 12A) 

With: David Bowie, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker, Alison Goldfrapp, Brian Eno, Sting, 

Lulu, Marc Almond, Al Clark, Johnny Marr, Ute Lemper and the voice of Sara Kestelman 

FINDERS KEEPERS 

Dir. David Procter GB 2006 


Duncan Hepburn, Lawrence Davey, 

Danny Thornton, Alan Harrison, Jayne 

Lindgren 

Instead of getting a newspaper round 

like any other 12-year-olds, two boys 

find their own way of making money 

which involves breaking a few rules… 

until a confrontation with an elderly 

man acts as an ethical turning point in 

their lives. 

Contact: david@ontheagenda.co.uk 

Agenda Collective 

6 Callcott Court, Callcott Road, Kilburn, 

London, NW6 7ED, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7821 450 336 

www.ontheagenda.co.uk 

Marco Brioni, a young schoolteacher who works and lives in Rome, is offered a oneyear 

contract to teach in a small village school in Sicily. Here he meets a child called 

Salvatore, who, due to family problems, cannot attend school as often as he should. 

Since both his parents are dead, Salvatore lives in a small house close to the sea with 

his grandmother and the little sister. He has to work in a nearby tomato greenhouse 

and as a fisherman to earn a living for all of them. Marco gets quite concerned about 

Salvatore’s difficult situation and tries to help, giving him private lessons. Gradually, 

the child and the teacher become very close. A gentle and moving story with a great 

performance from the young Alessandro Mallia. 

‘It’s fascinating that philosophers such as Gorgias and Pythagoras grew up in Sicily. In 

fact, the pre-Socratic philosophers’ discourses on the four elements – air, water, earth 

and fire – were often in my mind during filming. In Porto Palo, the elements are so 

intense that they almost have a physical presence, not to mention a spiritual one. 

Everything I perceived about being there – feeling the wind on my face, seeing the 

sea and sun, inhaling the scent of tomatoes, being able to touch the sand – 

strengthened the concept that this is life in the here and now.’ – Gino Sgreva, 

Cinematographer on Salvatore 

After writing two novels, Passi nel buoi (1994) and La donna di nessuno (1997), Gian 

Paolo Cugno moved on to filmmaking and directed several documentaries on Italian 

art cities. He has worked as second-unit director for several movies shot in Sicily. He 

directed the short film Il volto di mia madre, in 2003. Bill Lawrence 

Print source: 

Buena Vista International (UK) 

3 Queen Caroline Street, London, W6 9PE, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0) 208 222 1000 

www.thefilmfactory.co.uk 

Courtesy of Buena Vista International (UK) 

He was the man who walked away from rock stardom for a new life among music’s 

avant-garde. Now, 40 years after ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore‘, Walker is one 

of the world’s leading exponents of ultra-modern music, with the likes of David 

Bowie (who also executive produced the film) queuing up to heap praise on one of 

the enduring cult figures of the last five decades. 

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man charts the rise, fall and resurrection of an existential 

star who wanted to do it his way. Like Bobby Darin, who ditched the hits to pursue a 

less commercial but much more personal path, Walker did the same. A melancholy 

genius who arrived in the UK steeped in art films by Carl Dreyer and Ingmar 

Bergman, and influenced by Sibelius and Delius, Walker was a very different animal 

to the average Sixties pop star. The bizarre imagery and spaced-out lyrics that 

dominated his doomy ballads eventually caused his supporters to turn their backs, 

leaving the one-time sensation resolutely out in the cold. 

Notoriously camera-shy and openly reclusive, Walker has for years ploughed his own 

unique musical furrow. Stephen Kijak’s film catches up with him in the recording 

studio as Walker labours on The Drift, his first album in more than ten years. One 

particularly memorable sequence features a man punching a side of meat as Walker 

directs. He has come full circle. All these years later, aged 64, Walker is producing an 

evolved version of the misunderstood modernist music that first enthralled him in 

the 1960s. 

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man delves deep into the damaged psyche of a man who 

found himself thrust into the spotlight and hated every moment. Since The Walkers 

Brothers split up in 1967 Walker has been seeking a form of peace and equilibrium. 

This absorbing documentary shows how this highly unusual and reserved man has 

finally exorcised some rather large personal demons and come to terms with his pop 

idol past while embracing the opportunities of his new life. Absolutely compelling. 

Tony Earnshaw 

UK PREMIERE 

THE HEADLESS SAILOR 

(Le Marin acéphalé) 

Dir. Lorenzo Recio France 2005 20 mins 

(adv 15) Subtitles 

Laurent Ledoyen, Céline Bodis, Harold 

Girard 

A sailor in love with two women 

refuses to die, as he is unable to 

extricate himself from this obsession. 

Pure fantasy depicted with a charming 

dreamlike quality and dark undertones. 

Contact: festival_local@yahoo.fr 

Local Films 

45 rue des Orteaux, Paris, 75020, France 

Tel: 00 33 1 44 93 70 33 

Print source: 

Verve Pictures 

Kenilworth House, 79-80 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8TA, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 436 8002 

www.vervepics.com 

Courtesy of Verve Pictures 


UK PREMIERE 

SIX FIGURES 

Thursday 22 March 4pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. David Christensen Canada 2005 108 mins (adv 15) 

J.R. Bourne, Caroline Cave, Deborah Grover, Frank Adamson, Joyce Gordon, Brooklynn 

Proulx, Marty Antonini 

SUMMER IN BERLIN 

(Sommer vorm Balkon) 


Dir. Andreas Dresen Germany 2005 105 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Inka Friedrich, Nadja Uhl, Andreas Schmidt, Stefanie Schonfeld, Vincent Redetzki, 

Christel Peters, Kurt Radeke 

TINY DANCER 

Dir. Stefan Georgiou GB 2005 

4 mins 54 secs (adv U) Subtitles 

With: Christopher Doyle 

Our hero walks through London’s 

Tower Hamlets to an underpass. As he 

tap-dances in the debris, the world 

begins to change... A vigorous 

performance is sharply edited, and 

inner life banishes reality. 

Contact: Stefan@lowfatfilms.com 

Low Fat Films 

10 Whitehouse Way, 

Southgate, London, N14 7LT 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7786 035 821 

Canadian director Christensen’s debut feature (adapted from a novel by Fred G. 

Leebron) is suffused with plausible anxieties from the very first frame: indeed, the 

film has some of the elegant malevolence associated with Michael Haneke. 

Warner (Bourne) and Claire (Cave) are a young professional couple who have moved 

to Calgary with their two children. Their plan is to buy a house. Warner suspects that 

they don’t have the money – he’s on probation at his job – and suggests that they 

continue to rent. Claire, whose fortunes are on the rise, is adamant about their 

family taking a major step forward. And then something terrible happens: Claire is 

attacked at work. The assault puts her in a coma, and her ever-meddlesome mother 

Louise (Grover), suspects Warner... 

It’s a whodunit with only one real suspect, and yet it’s clear that Christensen is less 

interested in resolving the mystery than examining its fallout. Louise’s obsessive 

antipathy towards her daughter’s husband is borne from her own bad experiences; 

Warner’s relationships with his own parents - who are decidedly less than supportive 

once they arrive on the scene - are fraught with tension. The prevalence of these 

older characters cues us that this is not so much a film about a man who may have 

assaulted his wife than an examination of warped intimacy and inherited 

behaviours: an alternate title might perhaps have been A History of Violence... 

Christensen’s command is total: the creeping long takes and judiciously deployed 

jump-cuts foster a sense of dread, as does Bourne’s perfectly modulated 

performance. Warner is a compelling blank, his every sullen, fretful glance 

suggesting monstrousness and innocence, savagery and grief. Six Figures is a 

terrifically precise film about unknowable things, a rigorous exercise in ambiguity 

that is one of the most striking and promising debuts in recent memory. Adam 

Nayman 


Agitprop Films Inc., 

58 River Rock Green SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2C 4C2, Canada 

Tel: 001 403 720 2811 

E-mail: agitprop@telus.net 

Despite a somewhat bland English language title, and a seemingly unpromising 

choice of subject matter, Summer in Berlin is a delight - going some considerable 

way to justifying the lofty expectations held in many quarters for its director. While 

hailed in some quarters as “the great hope of German cinema”, Dresen remains 

bafflingly underexposed in Britain. 

It’s the story of two best friends who live on adjoining floors in the same apartment 

block. Brunette Katrin (Friedrich) is a 39-year-old single mother who’s finding it hard 

to find a job and simultaneously look after her pre-pubescent son, Max. Nike (Uhl) is 

younger, blonder and more conventionally attractive. She works as a ‘home help’ for 

the elderly, her clients including frail, accordion-playing Helene (scene-stealer Peters). 

Katrin and Nike have been close for many years, and most evenings can be found 

enjoying a bottle of wine - or two – while watching the world go by from Nike’s 

balcony. But over the course of one hot summer, they find their bonds of friendship 

wearing thin - most of the frictions caused by the arrival on the scene of truck driver 

Ronald (Schmidt), a rough-and-ready charmer whose torrid romantic history doesn’t 

dissuade the smitten Nike one little bit... 

Summer in Berlin - the German title is something like Summer from the Balcony - 

was written by 74-year-old Wolfgang Kohlhaase, whose long career stretches back 

more than five decades. But it’s so fresh, complex and, above all, true, that you’d put 

money on it emanating from the pen of a woman roughly similar to Katrin in terms 

of age. Kohlhaase and Dresen manage the tricky task of giving both women equal 

attention - Katrin the showier role, Nike the tougher one - and Friedrich and Uhl are 

utterly convincing in their three-dimensional, evolving roles. This is a small, 

absorbing tale which, as it gradually unfolds, yields surprisingly rich rewards. Neil 

Young, Jigsaw Lounge 


X-Filme Creative Pool GmbH 

Kurfurstenstrasse 57, 10785 Berlin, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 30 230 83311 

E-mail: info@x-filme.de 

www.x-filme.de 

THE HOLOCAUST TOURIST 

Dir. Jes Benstock Scotland 2006 

10 mins (adv PG) Some subtitles 

Jonathan Webber, Miroslaw Obstarczyk, 

Emmanuel Elbinger 

A wry but deceptively hard-hitting 

consideration of modern attitudes to 

the Holocaust. As camera-clutching 

tourists traipse around the Nazi death 

camp at Auschwitz, peddlers try to 

temp them with kitsch Jewish 

souvenirs. Says one survivor: “I do it to 

remember the lost generation”. 

Contact: info@technobabble.com 

Technobabble/Skyline Productions 

110-116 Elmore Street, London, N1 3AH, 


Tel: 00 44 207 288 1116 

www.holocausttourist.eu 

Courtesy of Agitprop Films Inc. 

Courtesy of X-Filme 


TAKING FATHER HOME 

(Bei ya zi de nan hai) 


Dir. Ying Liang China 2005 101 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Xu Yun, Liu Xiaopei, Wang Jie, Song Cijun, Chen Xikun, Liu Ying, Deng Siwei 

UK PREMIERE 

TALES OF THE RAT FINK 


Dir. Ron Mann Canada 2006 78 mins (adv 12A) 

With: John Goodman, Ed Roth, Tom Wolfe, Matt Groening, Ann-Margret, Steve Austin 

UK PREMIERE 

THE WRONG GLASSES 

(Las Gafas Equivocadas) 

Dir. Alberto Rodríguez Spain 2006 


Animation 

In the early hours, a trip to the toilet 

combined with using the wrong 

glasses results in the disruption of the 

harmonious, daily routine of an elderly 

couple and their pets. 

Taking Father Home is the sensational debut of twentysomething Chinese 

writer/director Ying Liang - also responsible for another of BFF’s Previews and 

Premieres selections this year, The Other Half. Taking Father Home was acclaimed as 

one of the most remarkable features shown at last year’s prestigious Rotterdam Film 

Festival. Veteran critic - and former Edinburgh Film Festival supremo - David 

Robinson, writing in Film Intelligence magazine, was effusive in his praise: “Without 

doubt the outstanding film of the festival, introducing a new director for whom one 

can with total confidence predict a major future career, was Taking Father Home. 

This perfectly composed feature is said to have been made on a minimal budget, 

with a borrowed camera and unpaid friends as actors. If so, it is proof that money is 

irrelevant when there is talent, a natural genius for expression through film, and an 

inspired eye. The hero of the story is a stubborn, unsmiling village lad of 17 (Xu), 

who determines to go to the city to bring back the father who has left the family 

home, though he has sent back 1000 yuan to help them out. 

“A pair of ducks in a basket on his back as his only capital, he cannot be diverted 

from his purpose either by the unexpected friends or the unwished enemies he 

meets on the way. Ying has the great filmmaker’s gift of being able to establish a 

character or a mood through a glance or gesture; to convey all the content of an 

altercation unheard but merely viewed from far off. Every shot, through its 

composition or its dynamism, is compelling. This is filmmaking at its best.” Variety 

magazine’s Jay Weissberg concurred: “A triumph of vision and talent... Ying weaves 

devastatingly strong critiques of the new China throughout the narrative.” There 

aren’t many young directors who have attracted this kind of reception in recent years 

- and we’re proud to say that Ying more than justifies the hype. Neil Young 


90 Minutes Film Studio 

Room 201, No.200 Tianmu Mid-Street, 200071 Shanghai. China 

E-mail: yingliang2046@hotmail.com 

Courtesy of 90 Minutes Film Studio 

This largely-animated, typically turbo-charged documentary charts the life of 

American hot-rod car impresario Ed “Big Daddy” Roth – an iconoclastic artist who 

bent a cast-iron, mass-produced medium to his weirdo whims, and was 

immortalised in Tom Wolfe’s Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. 

Hulking and avuncular, Roth was a self-styled visionary whose outlandish yet 

prescient automotive designs (he pioneered the use of fibreglass to re-shape staid 

assembly-line models) mirrored his gonzo comic-book creations (bulbous, bug-eyed 

monsters etched onto t-shirts or rendered in vivid plastic miniature). He energetically 

marketed his own canny carnivalesque persona alongside his products: his impact 

on the mainstream was a direct hit along the same spiky trajectory as rock ‘n’ roll or 

Mad Magazine (Roth arguably invented the concept of the printed, design-sporting t- 

shirt.) And the more parents disapproved of Roth’s proudly dubious wares the more 

rabidly their offspring endeavoured to collect them... 

A major word-of-mouth hit at the Toronto International Film Festival, this is perhaps 

the Canadian director Ron Mann’s (Comic Book Confidential, etc) sharpest 

counterculture snapshot to date. Tales of the Rat Fink features what is easily the 

most eclectic voice-over work of the year: Matt Groening, Beach Boy Brian Wilson, 

Jay Leno, Ann-Margret, Tom Wolfe and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (among others) 

provide the “pipes” for the custom cars Roth produced in the 1950s and ‘60s. It’s a 

lovely conceit that allows Roth’s souped-up creations to literally speak for themselves 

(with the help of screenwriter Solomon Vesta). Meanwhile, John Goodman does the 

talking for Roth, and it’s a great choice. 

“Big Daddy” may have passed away in 2001, but Goodman’s rich tones approximate 

his good-natured bravado and ameliorate the potential unpleasantness of 

autobiographical dish served from beyond the grave. Fleet, rascally and frequently 

hilarious – the cartoon vignettes featuring Roth’s titular, Mickey Mouse-baiting 

rodent mascot have a sprung comic sensibility – Tales of the Rat Fink shares with its 

subject the brash irresistibility of pure old-school showmanship. Adam Nayman 


Sphinx Productions, 24 Mercer Street, Toronto, Canada, M5V 1H3 

Tel: 001 416 971 9131 

E-mail: mann@sphinxproductions.com 

www.talesoftheratfink.com 

UK PREMIERE 

ANONYMOUS 

Dir. Cristian Pozo Spain 2006 


Alvaro Ramos, Luz Altamira 

A writer struggling to start his latest 

manuscript becomes confused when he 

wakes to find that all his thoughts and 

dreams - everything from his actions and 

his infatuation with Laura, the neighbour 

to whom he seldom speaks - have been 

mysteriously typed up. 

First Prize Sonorama 

(Aranda de Duero, Spain) 

Special Mention Where is the Love 

(Bucarest, Romania) 

Special Mention Underground(s) Pictures 

(Ozoir-le-Breuil, France) 

Contact: 

fengshuifilms@fengshuifilms.com 

Feng Shui Films 

Academia 8, 28014, Spain 

Tel: 00 34 915 273 344 

www.fengshuifilms.com 

Courtesy of Sphinx Productions 


LA FORET 

(The Forest) 

Dir. Daniel Graham Fr/GB 2007 

13 min 18 secs Subtitles 

Bruno Begon, Chloe Begon, 

Francis Casals 

La Foret (The Forest) is the story of a 

man and his young daughter who are 

forced to leave the safety of their home 

as the Father searches for work. In a 

time of desperation, the shadow of 

poverty is ever present. 

Contact: 

Contact: daniel@artificial-eye.com 

20-22 Stukeley Street, London, WC2B 5LR, 


Tel: 00 44 207 438 5353 

www.ionproductions.co.uk 

TANGSHAN TANGSHAN 

(Dan Yuan Ren Chang Jiu) 

Thursday 15 March 2pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir: Kevin Chu Hong Kong 2006 148 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Ma Su, Hou Xiang Ling, Li Chong Xiao, Zhang Jing, Liu Xiu Meng, Zhang Feng 

Set over a period of more than 20 years, Tangshan Tangshan follows a dysfunctional 

family’s emotional journey as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a 

massive earthquake that rocks their city and leaves 250,000 people dead. Surviving 

the quake and rescued from the rubble, Han Wei (Ma Su) gives birth to a baby girl, 

Xiao Yu, in the refugee camp. Struggling to cope with the loss of her husband Liu Zi 

Gang, she begins to salvage the remnants of her life from the rubble and takes in 

two orphaned boys. 

Guilt-ridden by the death of his friend and colleague, Ding Yi (Hou Xiang Ling) feels 

obligated to support her and the family. In due course, the group is disbanded as one 

orphan is reunited with his Japanese relatives and the other is required to study at a 

state run facility set up to receive Tangshan orphans. Knowing that he can never 

replace her dead husband in Han Wei’s life, Ding Yi finally departs to assist his 

brother in another town leaving Han Wei and Xiao Yu (Zhang Jing) to continue with 

their lives. 

Years later the scattered family is reunited, but the initial elation they all feel soon 

dissipates as they recognise how feelings and emotions have changed. All are forced 

to make decisions that will inevitably alter their lives forever. Focusing on family 

values (highly regarded in Chinese society) and interwoven with archive footage of 

the real-life devastation, Tangshan Tangshan shines a harsh spotlight on the reality 

of the catastrophe. Adeni Rutter 


Ignite Productions Limited 

Room 2203, 22/F, 135 Bonham Strand Trade Centre Ce, Hong Kong, Hong Kong 

Tel: 00 852 28 963 890 

E-mail: kevinchu68@yahoo.com 

Courtesy of Ignite Productions Limited 

TELL NO ONE 

(Ne le dis à personne) 


Dir. Guillaume Canet France 2006 125 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott Thomas, François 

Berléand, Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort 

A mild-mannered pediatrician, whose beloved wife was murdered and cremated 

eight years ago, finds himself suspected of compound foul play in the suspenseful 

Tell No One. Though almost laughably intricate in its plotting, this thoroughly Gallic 

adaptation of Harlan Coben’s novel - six million copies sold in 27 languages - 

represents an entertaining sophomore outing for thesp-turned-director Guillaume 

Canet that looks like a candidate for offshore playdates. Featuring a hearty chunk of 

the French-speaking talent pool, with thesps all doing their bit to keep things 

moving, this release is doing just dandy in Gaul. 

Margot (Croze), the dead wife of Dr. Alex Beck (Cluzet), appears to be waiting for him. 

Her murder at the secluded lake where she and Alex had bathed as kids was 

attributed to a serial killer, whose M.O. included draping female cadavers with dead 

animals. To all appearances, Alex is a nice guy who is great with children, not bad 

with adults and misses his late wife terribly. Then, on the eighth anniversary of 

Margot’s murder, two unexpected events intrude on his orderly existence. Two 

bodies are dug up, along with the key to a safe containing incriminating photos and 

a baseball bat with what may be Alex’s blood on it. 

Cluzet makes Alex’s unasked-for adventures seem plausible, François Berléand does 

honor to the gumshoe slot, and André Dussollier fills the bill as Margot’s gruffly 

grieving dad. Gilles Lellouche shines as a shrewd toughie on the wrong side of the 

law, Jean Rochefort is suitably imperious as a local pol with an interest in 

equestrianism, and Canet casts himself as a patrician creep. Femmes are all strong, 

independent, attractive and know more than they’ll willingly let on. 

Canet shows a fondness for tracking shots, dollies in and out, and location work in 

and around Paris - all of which confirm the directorial assurance he showed in 

Whatever You Say (2002). Clockwork pacing flags a bit at the end, but in no way 

detracts from a sharp, efficient package. Lisa Nesselson, Variety.com 

UK PREMIERE 

F 

Dir. Tom McNally GB 2006 


Ben Cosgrove 

Having only received a grade ‘F’ for his 

coursework, Paul decides to work a 

little harder. He sets his work out tidily 

on the floor of his bedroom and really 

starts to prepare to work. Will this 

improve his grades 

Contact: Thomas McNally 

Tel: 00 44 7738 306126 

Print source: 

Revolver Entertainment 


Tel: 0044 207 243 4300 

www.revolvergroup.com 



UK PREMIERE 

AIR 

Dir. Andrew Leckonby GB 2006 


John McMahon, John Raine 

An asthmatic lover of the great 

outdoors stumbles upon an indecent 

act and attempts to flee from the 

perpetrator. Air combines an edge of 

suspense with humour. 

Contact: andy@hands-on-digital.co.uk 

The Lost Weekend 

20 Longstone Court, Killingworth, 

Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, 

NE12 6SU, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 191 268 8209 

TEN CANOES 

Sunday 11 March 12.00pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dirs. Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr Australia 2006 90 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Frances Djulibing, Peter Djigirr and 

David Gulpilil as the storyteller 

Taking in resplendent aerial shots of Arnhem Land and highlighting the spiritual 

connection that the Australian Aboriginals have with their surroundings, Ten Canoes 

gives the impression it has been shot in the format of a documentary for National 

Geographic. 

In this stunning feature, where the characters are using an Australian Aboriginal 

language, David Gulpilil narrates an advisory tale by means of the elaborate style of 

the Aboriginal spoken history. While out on a hunting expedition in the swamps, 

Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) discovers that his younger brother Dayindi (Jamie 

Gulpilil) has designs on the youngest of his three wives. In an effort to counsel his 

sibling, Minygululu recounts a story about their ancestors, Ridjimiraril (Crusoe 

Kurddal) and Yeeralparil (Jamie Gulpilil) being in similar circumstances. With humour 

and references to bodily functions and sexual performance the narrative digresses 

into a series of yarns with aspects of sorcery, kidnapping and revenge that help to 

flesh out the characters. 

Yeeralparil lives in the single men’s camp and is attracted to Munandjarra, 

Ridjimiraril’s youngest wife, often visiting his brother’s camp in the hope of catching 

a glimpse of her. Following an unsettling encounter with a stranger claiming to want 

to trade magical objects, the frightened men seek guidance from their local sorcerer 

who warns them of the many dangers involving bad magic. Life proceeds normally 

until one of the wives disappears following an argument which initiates a chain of 

events leading to the eventual confrontation with the stranger. The purpose of the 

story becomes clearer as the events unfold, helping to explain the development of 

the laws which assist in governing the behaviour of the people and their community 

values. 

To distinguish between the present and the ancestral story being told by Minygululu, 

the film switches from black and white for the modern hunt and colour for the 

setting of the ancient landscape. With a cast consisting of indigenous residents of 

the Arafura region, Ten Canoes generates a greater awareness and understanding of 

the indigenous Australian culture. Adeni Rutter 

Print source: 



Tel: 00 44 207 612 0090 

TOMORROW MORNING 

(Sutra ujutru) 


Dir. Oleg Novkovic Serbia 2006 84 mins (adv 18) Subtitles 

Uliks Fehmiu, Nebojsa Glogovac, Nada Sargin, Lazar Ristovski, Ljubomir Bandovic, 

Radmila Tomovic, Danica Ristovski 

Denizens of the European film festival scene recognise the annual event at Cottbus, 

half an hour south of Berlin, as an invaluable survey of work from the former Eastern 

Bloc: a five-day jamboree from countries as diverse as Russia, Macedonia, Estonia, 

Georgia, the former East Germany and Slovakia. But despite these riches, the most 

recent renewal was utterly - and perhaps unprecedently - dominated by a single film: 

Tomorrow Morning, from a country (Serbia-Montenegro) which, since its two 

constituent parts split in June last year, no longer exists. 

Oleg Novkovic’s powerfully, intimately observed strikingly well-acted drama - about 

Belgrade-born Nele (Fehmiu) returning to his home town after 12 years in Canada 

and coping with the changes which have occurred in his absence - was awarded the 

three biggest prizes at the festival. These included the main competition award and 

also the FIPRESCI prize decided by a hard-to-please international jury. Among the 

latter was Lithuanian critic Ingeborg Bratoeva who described the film as “a 

combination of local colour and Western references, a mix of romance and anecdote, 

a fusion of expressive acting and hand-held camera. Pour a lot of hard alcohol on this 

blend, animate it musically, and mix the ingredients together to attain the 

unmistakable sense of post-Yugoslav cinema...” 

The ‘post-Yugoslav cinema’ mentioned by Bratoeva finds a flowering elsewhere in 

our 2007 Bradford International Film Festival, via Rajko Grlic’s comic/tragic/romantic 

Border Post - and this is a vibrant, productive area of current European movie-making 

which no film festival worth its salt could even consider overlooking. Compared to 

Grlic’s mini-epic, Tomorrrow Morning is much quieter, calmer, intimate in its aims 

and achievements. It’s the story of old friends, their lives formed as much by their 

own hopes and expectations as by the seismic backdrop of their historical situation. 

The specifics of its geography are thus effortlessly transcended: this is the kind of 

adult, mature film which speaks - clearly, articulately, poignantly - to us all. Frank 

Mangus 


Zillion film 

Gundulicev Venac 42, 11 000 Beograd (Belgrade), Serbia 

Tel: 00 381 11 303 4761 

E-mail: office@zillionfilm.com 

UK PREMIERE 

SERENADE 

Dir. Kyle Blanshard Australia 2006 

14 mins 36 secs (adv 15) 

Davini Malcolm, Flexis Nobis, 

Thom Wright 

During a seemingly innocent night on 

the town Marie and Julian are violently 

pushed into confronting the nature of 

their relationship, and each other. In 

order for some relationships to survive, 

the truth must be forgotten and 

replaced with desire. ‘I want you, you 

want me … that’s all we need.’ 

Best Director (ACMI Festival) 

Contact: 

kdblanshard@hotmail.com 

VCA 

234 St Kilda Road, Southbank, 

Melbourne, Victoria 3006, Australia 

Tel: 00 61 3 9685 9000 

Courtesy of Zillion film 

Courtesy of The Works UK Distribution Ltd 


UK PREMIERE 

THE WORLD OUTSIDE 

Dirs. Josh Lind, Kevin Phillips USA 2005 


Ben Collins, Martha Allen and the voice 

of Lew Tate 

Two rival toy factories, with outrageous 

machinery and uniforms that belong 

more in a child’s toy box, are separated 

by a line that no-one is permitted to 

cross. At break time the workers 

engage in a daily ritual of namecalling. 

One day a young man, in 

pursuit of romance, is tempted to 

break the rules… Narrated as a 

fairytale. 







Tel: 00 1 912 525 8502 

WATER 


Dir. Deepa Mehta Canada/India 2005 117 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghubir Yadav, 

Sarala, John Abraham, Manorama 

After years of delay, controversy and death threats, Deepa Mehta’s film has 

eventually made it to festival screens and is now due for release in the UK. 

Deepa Mehta’s brave exploration of India’s storied past continues in her perfectly 

pitched, finely judged tale of a young Hindu girl whose life is suddenly changed by 

the traditions of her religion. Delving into Indian society of the ‘30s, Mehta has made 

a remarkably inspirational film about a girl who refuses to accept her fate and 

struggles against powerful religious customs that turn her into a prisoner without a 

future. 

The third film in her ‘Elemental Trilogy’ - Fire and Earth precede it - Water is set 

against the epic backdrop of the River Ganges during Gandhi’s rise to prominence. 

Chuyia is an eight-year-old child bride whose husband suddenly passes away. 

According to custom, her head is shaved and she is taken to an ashram for Hindu 

widows where she is expected to atone for the sins of her past that resulted in the 

death of her husband. 

Water is Mehta’s richest and most complex film to date. It is the work of a humanist, 

made with incredible tenderness and true concern for the plight of all her characters. 

Her finely characterised portraits of the coterie of women who people the film are 

textured and moving, from the elderly Madhumati, who runs the ashram, to the 

deeply conflicted Kalyani, who seeks solace across the river under cover of darkness. 

But the film is centred by the extraordinary performance of Sarala as the young 

Chuyia, a girl whose spirit remains unbroken. Her refusal to bend to her plight carries 

considerable emotive power and elevates Water from a harsh tale of deprivation into 

one of hope and the possibility of overcoming. Mehta has made a film for the ages. 

Toronto Film Festival, 2005 

Print source: 

Metrodome Group Plc. 

33 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 1RR, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 22 (0) 207 153 4400 

www.metrodomegroup.com 

WHOLE TRAIN 

Monday 12 March 8.15pn Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Florian Gaag Germany/Poland 2006 85 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Mike Adler, Florian Renner, Elyas M´Barek, Jacob Matschenz 

Set in the gritty underworld of subway graffiti with a soundtrack heavily laced with 

hip-hop tunes and intersected by the vibrantly defaced commuter trains, Florian 

Gaag’s debut feature Whole Train gives the impression it was filmed in one of the 

inner cities of the USA rather than in Munich and Warsaw. Mainly focusing on the 

exploits of a gang of four graffiti artists struggling to maintain its number one status 

when it becomes threatened by the artistic emergence of a rival crew, as well as 

dealing with their own personal issues. 

Tino (Renner) is a young father who can’t seem to face his responsibilities. Achim 

(Matschenz), David’s trainee, is rebelling against his middle-class existence and 

constantly doubted by Elyas (M’Barek). David (Adler), on probation for malicious 

property damage, is dragged back into the scene by loyalty to his friends and the 

gang regularly set out at night, catching the last train to express their colourful 

vandalism, but Tino’s constant recklessness and close brushes with the law causes 

David to consider the options offered by his probation officer. Amidst the creative 

conflict, a heated confrontation convinces the crew to re-establish their supremacy 

and apply their characteristic designs to an entire train, leading to a series of 

unforeseen events changing the lives of the gang. 

Shot on a shoestring budget and filmed mainly on handheld cameras, director 

Florian Gaag has managed to capture an authentic look and feel he himself was a 

member of Munich’s graffiti scene for many years and also produced the original 

soundtrack. The graffiti clad commuter trains and walls appear as lively, eye-catching 

backdrops in a dreary cityscape, the result of the collaborative efforts of an 

international crew of genuine graffiti artists giving a different perspective to this 

audacious art form. Adeni Rutter 


Florian Gaag 

Sedan Str. 39, Munich, Bavaria, 81667, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 17 351 81 46 

E-mail: info@wholetrain.com 

Courtesy of Florian Gaag 

UK PREMIERE 

LLOYD ORMEROD 

WANTS HIS FACE BACK 

Dir. Jonathan Kable Australia 2006 


Mark Bishop 

Reality and hallucination blur as Lloyd 

Ormerod wastes away his days with 

bad habits and fantasising about 

righting wrongs that have long since 

left their mark. Engagingly 

photographed with a powerful score. 

Contact: jonathankable@gmail.com 

Kable/Blackman Productions 

37 Park Street, Northcote, Victoria, 

Australia, 3070 

Tel: 00 61 405 348 887 

Courtesy of Metrodome Group Plc 


UK PREMIERE 

DETRAS 

(Behind) 

Dir. David Marquez Spain 2006 

9 mins 56 secs (adv PG) Subtitles 

Maria Jose Alfonso, Ferran Carvajal, 

Jordi Costa, Maria Jimenez 

An anonymous letter finally reaches its 

destination 30 years after posting, 

forcing the recipient to seek out the 

truth for herself and ultimately 

question the last three decades of her 

marriage. 

Contact: artificio@artificiofilms.com 

Artificio Films 

C/Pau Claris 119 Ppal 1a, Barcelona 

08009, Spain 

Tel: 00 34 932 150 942 

WINDOWS ON MONDAY 

(Montag Kommen die Fenster) 

Friday 23 March 4pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Ulrich Köehler Germany 2006 91 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Isabelle Menke, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Amber Bongard, Trystan Wyn Puetter, 

Elisa Seydel, Ilie Nastase, Ursula Renneke, Ingo Haeb 

The renaissance in German cinema over the past half decade has been one of the 

stories of European filmmaking - and it’s largely thanks to young directors such as 

Ulrich Koehler, whose quietly intense, youth-oriented three-hander Bungalow 

heralded his arrival on the scene back in 2002. Four years later, Koehler returns with 

the enigmatically-titled Windows on Monday (a phrase which turns out to have a 

rather more prosaic meaning than it might first appear). The drama was one of the 

sleeper hits of last autumn’s Vienna Film Festival, where local critic Dominik 

Kamalzadeh hailed it as “another strong sign of a new, self-assured German cinema”. 

Writing in Variety, the magazine’s European editor Derek Elley was impressed: “A 

young German wife simply ups and leaves her hubby and young daughter for a spell 

of existential wandering in helmer Ulrich Koehler’s sophomore feature. Nina 

(Menke), a doctor, has recently relocated with househusband Frieder (Wagner) and 

their kid, Charlotte (Bongard), from Berlin to another city. She takes a few days off 

work to help Frieder organise the new place, but underneath the placid exterior of 

her life one senses a vague dissatisfaction. 

She’s also late with her period and may be pregnant again. Small details, and 

Menke’s finely calibrated performance, sketch her growing ennui and need to be 

alone. One evening, after saying she’s going to pick up Charlotte, she just keeps on 

driving into the country. On her cell phone, she calmly tells Frieder, “I’m not coming 

back”. ... Writer/director Koehler - along with cinematographer Patrick Orth - 

manages to maintain a cleanly-lensed, restrained tone, with a metaphysical 

undertow. Windows on Monday is a largely successful continuation of themes in 

Koehler’s Bungalow, though here ... the dramatic dividends are greater, thanks to a 

more adult cast led by the fine Menke.” It will clearly be fascinating to see where 

Koehler goes next - but he’s already very much a name to know and watch. 

Neil Young 


Ö Filmproduktion 

Katrin Schlösser & Frank Löprich GmbH, In der alten Möbelfabrik, 

Langhansstraße 86, D-13086 Berlin 

Tel: 00 49 30 446 726 18 

E-mail: wothe@oefilm.de 

www.oefilm.de 

UK PREMIERE 

ZERO 


Dir. Emilis Welyvis Lithuania 2006 82 mins (adv 18) Subtitles 

Andrius Paulavicius, Adomas Stancikas, Ramunas Rudokas, Mihailas Sakuto, 

The theme of violence is explored as we follow a plethora of characters going 

through their personal predicaments and desperately trying to find a way of 

overcoming them. A conscript who has absconded, some desperate thieves funding 

their drug addiction and a crooked owner of a funeral home who is in debt to all 

manner of unscrupulous individuals are just some of the protagonists. Their 

seemingly unrelated lives become interwoven in the style of a Lithuanian Quentin 

Tarantino gangster flick not dissimilar to Pulp Fiction . 

The action begins as each of the hapless individuals has to face up to the quandaries 

that they have brought upon themselves. The deserter on the run from the army to 

be with his girl discovers that she hasn’t been faithful, causing him to over react. The 

funeral director, in serious debt to a gang of thugs who threaten to take his life after 

maiming him, desperately seeks to find a way of raising the cash. Already owing 

money to the acquaintances that ensure that his business has a regular supply of 

recently deceased, finds every possibility leading to a dead end. The thieves, getting 

one of their girlfriends to lure a male driver into the forest so that they can rob him, 

find that their latest sting doesn’t quite go to plan. As each of their stories unfold it 

sets in motion a series of bizarre episodes that ultimately bring all the characters 

together and an unexpected, yet ironic climax. 

Zero came about as a co-production with David Nicholas Wilkinson of Guerilla Films 

as a direct result of his involvement with the 2005 Bradford Film Festival that hosted 

a Lithuanian film season. Tony Earnshaw invited David, patron of BFF to meet the 

filmmakers resulting in the premiere screening in Bradford. 

Following this, he was invited to be on the judging panel of the AXX Festival 

competition where he was impressed by the quality of Lithuanian films and 

filmmaking, he became executive producer to the film resulting in the premiere 

screening in Bradford. Adeni Rutter 

We hope executive producer David Nicholas Wilkinson will be present to introduce the 

BIFF2007 UK Premiere of Zero. 

Print source: 



Tel: 00 44 208 758 1716 



UK PREMIERE 

NOIR TOTAL 

Dir. Francois Jamin France 2006 


Sacha Petronijevic, Sylvain 

Charbonneau, Mathilde Arnaud 

A man wakes up in his flat with a 

monumental hangover and finds the 

dead body of a girl in his bathtub. Not 

remembering anything from the night 

before, he calls a friend to help him to 

get rid of the body. But things don’t go 

as planned, and soon his troubles get 

much, much worse... 

Contact: hitcher@cegetel.net 

9 rue JG Labarbe, Nogent sur Marne, 

94130, France 

Tel: 00 33 6 630 330 27 

Courtesy of Ö Filmproduktion 

70 PREMIERES AND PREVIEWS Courtesy of Guerilla Films Ltd 


Uncharted States 

of America 

“I reject this term underground. I don’t live 

underground. What am I, a gopher These labels! 

Avant-garde - do you know what that is It’s a military 

term for soldiers who are sacrificed, who die for the 

risks they take going first. Basically what I am is 

independent. I have never worked for another 

company, never had a boss my whole life. I am not 

beholden to anybody. Call me independent.” 

Kenneth Anger

Uncharted States 

of America 

You’d be perhaps be forgiven for thinking that independent American cinema 

began with sex, lies and videotape in 1990, and has since that date consisted 

entirely of quirky comedy/dramas, offbeat romances, and deadpan crime romps 

- preferably starring Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Patricia Clarkson and/or 

William H. Macy. The “American Indie” has now become a genre of its own: 

viable at the box office, the darling of critics, a magnet for prestigious awards. 

Too often, however, on closer inspection these “independent” films turn out to 

be nothing of the sort: funded by speciality wings of major studios, they feature 

a plethora of well-known actors, and are intended as calling cards for writers 

and directors set on lucrative Hollywood careers. But genuinely independent 

American cinema - in the experimental, transgressive, genuinely low budget, 

wildly eclectic traditions of, say, Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Herschell 

Gordon Lewis, Maya Deren, John Sayles, Marie Menken, John Cassavetes and 

Russ Meyer (see also our CineFile documentary Edge of Outside) - is as vibrant 

today as it’s ever been, even though these days it can be all too easily 

overlooked. 

As Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival and its imitators become 

increasingly (and unashamedly) corporate, a rowdy network of underground 

events have emerged across the country - created and sustained purely by the 

passion and commitment of their participants and organisers. It’s this strain of 

challenging, rough-edged, beholden-to-nobody cinema that Uncharted States 

of America seeks to showcase and celebrate. Some of these 12 films are slick 

productions which wouldn’t look out of place in your local arthouse - others are 

proudly confrontational, even disreputable affairs that reject compromise, 

commercialism and safety at every turn. 

This is a journey around some unexposed corners of this dizzyingly vast and diverse nation - 

from rural idyll to urban wasteland. We take in the Pacific northwest (Police Beat; Apart From 

That; Dance Party, USA), via southern California (Analog Days; Dangerous Men); across to the 

post-industrial hinterlands (Who Killed Cock Robin; One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later), 

and over to the east coast (Hamilton; Loren Cass.) Any areas not already mentioned will surely 

be have been visited at some point during our continent-hopping, 16mm double-bill (Who Is 

Bozo Texino; Lay Down Tracks) more sedate travelogue. And then there’s the most alluring, 

bizarre and terrifying landscape of all: the mysterious inner-spaces of a Darkness Swallowed. 

A Darkness Swallowed’s creator Betzy Bromberg is a “name” already well-known among 

devotees of avant-garde cinema; One Way Boogie Woogie’s James Benning is, to say the least, a 

living legend in that sphere. Robinson Devor and Travis Wilkerson have quickly established 

themselves on the “respectable” film festival circuit. But nine of the other ten directors 

represented here are, we’re proud to say, unfamiliar to most: youthful, energetic, articulate, 

politically-savvy representatives of a wealthy and educated land where filmmaking equipment 

and know-how is, relatively speaking, easily accessible (the tenth: Dangerous Men’s 

sexagenarian, Iranian auteur - the walking enigma that is Mr. John S. Rad.) 

The on-screen participants will be even ‘fresher’ faces: only Loren Cass’s Jacob Reynolds is 

remotely likely to ring any bells - though his indelible central role in Harmony Korine’s Gummo 

doesn’t exactly make him what you could call a movie star. Nevertheless, we defy you to find a 

single weak link in any of the ensembles assembled here. Indeed, the work by (to name but 

two) Dance Party, USA’s Anna Kavan and Apart From That’s Alice Ellingson represents screen 

acting of the highest calibre. Extremely good things in (mostly) small, seemingly unlikely 

packages: that’s what we aim to deliver with these 12 glimpses into the artistic soul of a nation 

at a fascinating juncture in its turbulent history. Neil Young 

74 UNCHARTED STATES UNCHARTED STATES 75

THE FATHER, UNBLINKING 

Dir. Ziggy Attias USA 2006 


James Vidos, Lesley McBurney, 

Brian Anthony Wilson, Emily Kirst 

In rural America, a father discovers his 

young daughter dead of fever. Knowing 

her death was inevitable, he is at first 

devastated but quickly realises that he 

does not want his fragile wife to see 

that the girl has died. While trying to 

decide what to do, he hides the girl in 

the barn so he may prepare his wife for 

dire news. But after approaching his 

wife in the kitchen he is unable to tell 

her. A surprisingly subtle film about a 

man’s inability to cope with tragedy. 

Contact: zigattias@aol.com 

Ziggy Films 

4 Peconic View Court, 

Southampton, New York, 11968, USA 

Tel: 00 1 516 901 7928 

www.ZIGGYFILMS.com 

UK PREMIERE 

A DARKNESS SWALLOWED 


Dir. Betzy Bromberg USA 2006 78 mins (adv PG) 

With the voice of Betzy Bromberg 

Our Uncharted States of America selection presents films whose directors aren’t 

(yet) anyone’s idea of ‘household names’. But the chances are that, if you’re reading 

this catalogue, you’ll already have seen many examples of Betzy Bromberg’s work 

over the years. Currently Director of the Program in Film and Video at CalArts (whose 

professors include fellow Uncharted director James Benning), she has provided 

optical camerawork for many major Hollywood features such as The Terminator and 

Cat People (BFF 2005), and was Optical Supervisor on Arlington Road, The Last Action 

Hero, Tremors, The Virgin Suicides, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, True Lies, Terminator 2, 

Strange Days and The Abyss, among many others. 

Bromberg has also been making her own, experimental, films, since 1976 - and a 

Darkness Swallowed is her first feature: hailed as “an instant classic of contemporary 

American non-narrative cinema” by trade bible Variety’s Robert Koehler. It’s not an 

easy film to describe, but here’s how LA Weekly magazine’s Holly Willis summed it 

up: “A 78-minute meditation on the evanescent traces of memory and loss, a 

Darkness Swallowed opens on a pair of faded photographs showing an old dented 

car, one with a child standing beside it and the other without. Speaking in voice-over, 

Bromberg references a past event, one that will forever haunt her although it 

occurred before her birth. The film then sinks downward, dipping below the surface 

of the rational world to mine the seemingly infinite layers of the past stored within 

the fleshy entrails, chalky bones, sinewy spider webs and gnarled ligaments of both 

the body and the Earth. 

“Noises – of clanging metal, bells, heartbeats and jazz music, to name only a few – 

combine to create a dense sound environment, a seemingly immense, threedimensional 

space for contemplation. As with all of Bromberg’s films, there are 

images that, once seen, will stay with you forever.” Neil Young 


Betzy Bromberg 

c/o CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, 91355- 

2397, California, USA 

Tel: 001 661 255 1050 

E-mail: bromberg@calarts.edu 

http://calarts.com/schools/film/faculty/bromberg_betzy.html 

Courtesy of Betzy Bromberg 

UK PREMIERE 

ANALOG DAYS 

Friday 23 March 12.00pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Mike Ott USA 2006 80 mins (adv 15) 

Ivy Khan, Ryan E. Johnsen, Chad Cunningham, Granger Green, 

Brett L. Tinnes, Jake Buscarino, Shaughn Buccholz 

Pretty cool, when you go to a film festival, to see a terrific movie from a top 

emerging filmmaker, and walk away with a free mix tape of the catchy soundtrack. 

First-time feature director Mike Ott brought his Analog Days to the Denver Film 

Festival late Saturday night. Ott’s polished feature follows a handful of alienated 

post-adolescents at a dreary community college in a dusty town north of Los 

Angeles. 

Ott acknowledges his influence from John Hughes, writing about growing up from 

the young adult’s perspective, not from the perspective of a successful 40-year-old. 

But, to paraphrase how he described Analog Days, it’s John Hughes on some serious 

downers. Don’t look for happy endings a la 16 Candles, or even the minor optimism 

of The Breakfast Club. Analog Days refers to a group whose end is numbered; these 

students don’t like their schooling, don’t like their jobs, aren’t even sure how much 

they like their friends. 

They need to move on to something else, but have no idea how. Ott reinforces the 

analog idea with a lot of turntables, cassette tapes and other rapidly-outdating 

technology. How do you stay true to yourself without ending up on a scrap heap 

Ott’s film is one of the festival offerings nominated for the Emerging Filmmakers 

Award, meaning it will be viewed by a jury with the chance to take home an honor 

that could help Ott find distribution, and financing for his next film. A very humble 

Ott appeared with his producer to talk about the film - festival programme director 

Britt Withey introduced the movie as one that jumped out of his slush pile during a 

marathon viewing session of festival entries. Go down to the Tivoli today for an 

opportunity to meet someone whose films are likely to be playing much bigger 

venues in the near future. Michael Booth, The Denver Post 


Sound Virus Productions 

24819 Sand Wedge Lane, Valencia, CA 91355, USA 

Tel: 001 661 312 6569 

E-mail: jenshahin@sound-virus.com 

www.analogdaysmovie.com 

Courtesy of Sound Virus Productions 

CANDY VIOLA 

(Viola fondente) 

Dir. Fabio Simonelli Italy 2004 

13 mins 33 secs (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Ilaria Giorgino, Sergio Romano, Carla 

Cassola, Erika Urban, Vania Lai, 

Inna Hroz 

Viola is beautiful, overweight and in 

her mid-30s. Her frustrating life is 

pivoted on a monotonous job and a 

hateful husband. But she will take her 

revenge soon thanks to the very 

candies and chocolate she likes so 

much. Then everyone will be 

conquered by her new-found art… 

Contact: cinema@morganalab.eu 

Morgana production s.r.l. 

Via Goffredo Mameli, 51, 00153, Rome, 

Italy 

Tel: 00 39 06 58 332 148 

www.morganalab.com 


APART FROM THAT 


Dirs. Jennifer Shainin, Randy Walker USA 2006 120 mins (adv 15) 

Kathleen McNearney, Alice Ellingson, Tony Cladoosby, Lawrence Cordier, Toan Le, Gary 

Schoonveld, Kyle Conyers 


DANCE PARTY, USA 


Dir. Aaron Katz USA 2006 65 mins (adv 15) 

Anna Kavan, Cole Pennsinger, Ryan White, Sarah Bing, Natia Buller, Brendan McFadden 

GUY’S GUIDE TO ZOMBIES 

Dir. Daniel Austin GB 2006 3 mins 

26 secs (adv PG) b/w 

With the voice of Matthew Austin 

A terrific spoof of 1950s American 

public information films, offering 

practical advice on co-existing with the 

living dead. From the makers of 

Bloodline. 

Commendation (Festival of Fantastic 

Films, Manchester, UK) 

Contact: dan.austin@counterclockwise 

productions.net 

CounterClockwise Productions 

4 Lichfield Close, Farnworth, Bolton, 

Lancashire, BL4 0NH, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7952 653 222 

www.counterclockwiseproductions.net 

The everyday mysteries of ordinary folk in a rural Washington State town form the 

substance of Apart From That, an original and resonant feature debut by codirectors/writers/editors 

Walker and Shainin. [It’s] an outstanding if demanding 

work. The film’s ensemble cast of regional eccentrics and multiple narratives follow a 

well-trod indie path. But just beneath the surface is something plainly new, 

fashioned by young artists with a defiantly personal sense of visual design and pace, 

along with considerable sympathy for their exceptionally human characters. The 

result is a film that may easily draw comparisons (from Jarmusch and Cassavetes 

films to Me and You and Everyone We Know and Old Joy.) But the film stands apart 

in many ways. 

Five major characters are first viewed incidentally at a party; they’re unsure what to 

say or do with themselves. Sequence gently leads into the film proper as it patiently 

tracks this quintet the following day, 24 hours prior to Halloween. Each story strand 

carries added meaning, while visuals provide glimpses connecting these disparate 

and lonely folk. Because of the film’s emphasis on improvisation (drawn from a 

predominantly non-professional cast), some scenes may feel like throwaways. But 

there are no disposable moments. 

The film makes no big deal about its multicultural make-up, but it’s worth noting 

this is one of few Yank films to depict Native Americans, Scandinavian Americans 

and Vietnamese Americans as simply everyday Americans, but with their own ethnic 

identities in place. As a tyro foray by co-directors, the film is a marvel, with a singular 

vision in mood, editing, design and look. The shooting style smoothly blends wideangle 

shots with telephoto work. Locales in far northwest Washington State are seen 

as only a local could depict them, from gritty back alleys to fecund pumpkin patches 

and forest glens. Further magic comes from composers Christopher and Patrick 

Shainin and Brian Olpin, who fuse a folkie touch with jangling atonal sounds. Robert 

Koehler, Variety 


ForeignAmerican Pictures 

13140 Josh Wilson Road, Mt Vernon, WA 98273, USA 

E-mail: randy@foreignamericanpictures.com 

www.foreignamericanpictures.com 

Courtesy of ForeignAmerican Pictures 

To appreciate the full irony of the title of Dance Party, USA you really have to be 

American. In fact, you have to be an American who was young (or young-ish) in the 

years 1986-1992, which is when the cable TV show of the same name aired across 

the States. A latter-day variant of the American Bandstand-type programmes so 

lovingly spoofed in John Waters’ Hairspray, Dance Party USA was broadcast from 

‘happening’ Pennsylvania and featured “regular people” gyrating to then-current pop 

tunes with gleeful abandon. 

The party around which writer/director Aaron Katz has structured his debut isn’t 

quite such a terpsichorean extravaganza: it’s instead a Fourth of July bash in which 

various teens and post-teens from suburban Portland (Oregon) drink, talk, argue and 

engage in various sorts of fumbling intimacy. We gradually focus in on Gus 

(Pennsinger) and Jessica (Kavan, brilliant) - the former a self-confessed ‘creep’, the 

latter by contrast startlingly mature for her years - whose early exchanges are 

anything but friendly or romantically promising. And when Gus blunderingly 

confesses a dark deed from his past, Jessica’s instinct is to quickly withdraw. But that 

isn’t the end of the story by any means… 

Shot on video - for a reported budget of $3,000 - Dance Party, USA is a strikingly 

fresh take on that old chestnut, young love. American critic David Lowery was 

particularly impressed. “There’s a common instinct,” he wrote, “to allude to the 

influence of Cassavetes in any film that features a handheld camera and any extent 

of improvised, naturalistic dialogue. Katz certainly earns that comparison - up to a 

point. But then, during a certain scene midway into the film (you’ll know it when you 

see it), something happens. The camera stops moving, the characters keep talking 

and, over the course of the 20 best minutes of cinema I’ve seen this year, Dance 

Party, USA becomes positively, painfully Bergmanesque.” 

High praise and, as you’ll discover for yourself, emphatically justified. Frank Mangus 


Dance Party, USA 

133 17th Street, #3R, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA 

E-mail: aaron.o.katz@gmail.com 

www.dancepartyusathemovie.com 

Courtesy of Aaron Katz 

UK PREMIERE 

IL LEGAL 

Dir. Bernard Weber Switzerland 2006 


Ona Lu Yenké, Nikola Koretzky, Jade 

Phan-Gia, Dominique Mueller 

Three friends return home from a night 

out with Jade, Michael’s one-night 

stand. In their apartment they find a 

complete stranger. He has no papers. 

Some want to kick him out, but others 

don’t. What began as a nice party 

slowly turns into a nightmare. 

Contact: bw@zeitraumfilm.ch 

Zeitraum Film, Meinradstr. 5, Zurich, CH- 

8006, Switzerland Tel: 00 41 787 402 927 

UK PREMIERE 

A SHORT FILM ABOUT A LONG FILM 

Dir. Ales Blatnik Slovenia 2006 26 mins 

(adv PG) Subtitles 

Last May, Filipino auteur Lav Diaz’s 510 

minute masterpiece, Jeremiah was 

screened in Slovenia. Intrigued, a group 

of cinephiles arrived to document the 

event - and interview its hardy attendees. 

Contact: ales.blatnik@megaklik.si 

Megaklik d.o.o. 

Vilharjeva 3a, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Tel: 00 386 1 430 02 36 www.megaklik.si 

Courtesy of Megaklik 



DANGEROUS MEN 


Dir. John S. Rad USA 2005 80 mins (adv 15) 

Melody Wiggins, Kelay Miller, Michael Gradilone, Annali Aeristos, Bryan Jenkins, Hunter 

Person, Harold Pritchett 

UK PREMIERE 

HAMILTON 


Dir. Matthew Porterfield USA 2006 65 mins (adv 12A) 

Christopher H. Myers, Stephanie Vizzi, Sarah Seipp-Williams, Gina Christine Mooers, 

Jasmine Bazinet-Phillips, Megan Clark 

SIREN 

Dir. Kurt Dudley GB 2006 


Richard Massara, Ruby Myers 

A car driver breaks down and, whilst 

seeking help, becomes trapped in 

nearby woods. However, he discovers 

that assistance in any human form 

does not exist... A neat horror film that 

tips its hat to the zombie genre. 

Contact: kkiller@email.com 

22a Lord Mayor’s Walk, York, North 

Yorkshire, YO31 7HA, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7747 824 910 

It would be possible to fill an entire catalogue with writings about Dangerous Men - 

a film which has already inspired myriad devoted acolytes to express themselves 

about it in a variety of media (print, web, crayon, etc.) All this despite almost nothing 

about the movie being conclusively known. It was shown in five Los Angeles cinemas 

for a fortnight in September 2005 (the first week’s total takings were a paltry $70; 

the following week - once word had circulated - was a near-complete sell-out) and 

then in 2006 at the Underground Film Festivals at Chicago and New York. Screenings 

at the latter events - where the denizens are, shall we say, long-inured to all manner 

of cinematic weirdness - provoked scenes of near-pandemonium as audiences 

clamoured to see “the next midnight-movie cult legend”. 

Worldwide cinephile curiosity was further piqued by Paul Cullum’s diligentlyresearched 

LA Weekly article headlined ‘The Passion of the Rad’ (still available 

online.) “Consensus opinion seems to be,” asserts Cullum, “that Dangerous Men was 

shot sometime in the late 1980s and completed in the mid-‘90s... The illustrious Mr. 

Rad is credited as director, ‘screenplay writer,’ editor, executive producer and allround 

creator, as well as with ‘post-production,’ ‘location and stage design’, and 

‘original music, song and lyrics’. Remarkably, this cannot be deemed overstatement, 

for Dangerous Men evinces one of the most eccentric, hermetic, idiosyncratic 

sensibilities to be found in the filmmaking canon.” 

Cullum goes on to solemnly compare Dangerous Men - whose nominal “plot” 

involves (or rather includes) a young woman taking bloody revenge on the biker gang 

whose leader murdered her boyfriend - with the work of Spike Jonze, Luis Buñuel, 

David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Andrzej Zulawski and (ahem) Ed Wood. Astonishingly, 

the film itself fully justifies Cullum’s implausible-sounding encomium - especially the 

bit about Buñuel. Then again, it’s impossible to be sure just how serious Cullum - or 

indeed Rad - are in their intent. Like the saying goes, sometimes it’s better not to 

know... Neil Young 


Sima-Sim International Corp 

PO Box 11344, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA 90213, USA 

Tel: 001 213 700 6700 

E-mail: contact@dangerousmenthemovie.com 

Home town of Edgar Allan Poe (and Hannibal Lecter), immortalised on film by local 

heroes Barry Levinson and John Waters, the blue-collar Maryland port city of 

Baltimore has long punched above its weight in cultural terms. And now it finds one 

of the most acclaimed young American auteurs in its midst in the form of 28-yearold 

writer/director/editor Porterfield, whose piercingly delicate, hauntingly 

accomplished debut feature Hamilton proved an unexpected success during its run 

at Manhattan’s prestigious and selective Anthology Film Archives cinema. 

It’s the simple story of a group of loosely connected young people, all around 20 or 

so, who live in the suburban neighbourhood of the city that gives the film its title. 

The central figures are 17-year-old Lena (Stephanie Vizzi) and 20-year-old Joe 

(Christopher H. Myers), whose on/off relationship has been placed under 

considerable strain by the arrival of their first child. But Porterfield is less interested 

in plot than mood and ambience: “I was feeling limited by the emphasis on 

traditional narrative filmmaking,” he says. “There is just great beauty in [Baltimore] 

neighbourhoods during the summer months... The long days, the sun and the speed 

of the heat, the way it hangs humid above the trees and pavement, the sounds of 

birds and insects, of automobiles and lawn mowers… Summer here is a palpable 

action. It’s detailed in the colour of night and the colours of skin and the 

combination of water and sky that I wanted to see move on film.” 

Critics have compared the results to the more contemplative works of Gus Van Sant 

and Claire Denis. John Waters even included Hamilton in his Top Ten of 2006: “A tiny, 

minimalist art film from Baltimore that made it to New York and is astonishing in its 

simple beauty, amazing performances, and hypnotic pace. The real thing.” Neil Young 


The Hamilton Film Group LLC 

Baltimore, Maryland, USA 

E-mail: brerrab@mac.com 

www.hamiltonfilmgroup.org 

Courtesy of Hamilton Film Group 

UK PREMIERE 

AQUA AD LAVANDUM 

Dirs. Florian Metzner, Helge Balzer 

Germany 2006 26 mins 

27 secs (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Alexander Schubert, Mirko Hannemann 

Outside a metaphorical door 

representing society, a minor scuffle 

turns sour resulting in violence. With 

blood on his hands and clothes, 

Debitus is unable to regain admittance 

until a voice offers him a well to 

cleanse himself. But operating the well 

to draw the water also opens a gate 

from which the diabolical voice 

originates… 

Contact: florianolgi@yahoo.de 

Ebersstrasse 71, Berlin, 10827, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 172 151 3574 

Courtesy of Mr. John S. Rad 

80 UNCHARTED STATES 

UNCHARTED STATES 81

UK PREMIERE 

WHO IS BOZO TEXINO 

Dir. Bill Daniel USA 2005 


Documentary 

UK PREMIERE 

LAY DOWN TRACKS 


Dirs. Brigid McCaffrey, Danielle Lombardi USA 2006 59 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Bill Crowley, Tamara Beard, Larry McCaffrey, Joy Manthey, Eben Talmage 

American transience is the subject of Lay Down Tracks, a beguilingly direct and 

engagingly unpretentious ultra low budget documentary produced, directed, 

photographed and edited by first-time filmmakers Lombardi and McCaffrey. No 

matter what the actual cost of production (a figure of $14,364 has been cited) 

McCaffrey and Lombardi clearly know how to get the very most out of limited 

means. 

Their tools were chiefly a 16mm camera and a tape recorder, resulting in a film 

which makes a creative virtue out of the absence of conventional “synch” sound. The 

simplicity of their equipment plays a major part in the intimacy with which 

Lombardi and McCaffrey record their subjects: we hear from (and see) five very 

different Americans - a retired carnival worker; a (young, female) trucker; a railroad 

executive; a riverboat pilot who happens to be a nun, and a surfer who happens to 

be a chimney sweep. All are articulate and reflective individuals, who speak about 

how they make their living, and what travel has come to mean to them. 

These are journeys which are parallel, never physically intersecting: they are joined 

only by their encounters with the filmmakers, and as elements of the journey made 

through the film made by the viewer. And it’s a pleasurable, hour-long trip, as we 

move from place from place to atmospheric place (captured via some rough-edged 

but often striking camerawork) and from voice to articulate voice, sound and image 

occasionally dovetailing, occasionally diverging, occasionally forming an arresting 

counterpoint. 

The surfer/sweep and railroad executive have travelled far beyond their country’s 

borders (the one for holiday/adventure, the other for work) and the film includes 

extracts from the surfer/sweep’s own 8mm ‘home movies’, and follows the executive 

into South America - these sections adding an extra dimension to what’s largely a 

specifically national focus. Indeed, Lay Down Tracks ultimately emerges as a casually 

democratic collage of ‘found’ Americana, poised at a fruitful, under-explored 

midpoint between anthropological survey and by-the-people-for-the-people folk art. 

Neil Young, Jigsaw Lounge 


LOREN CASS 


Dir. Chris Fuller USA 2006 83 mins (adv 15) 

Lewis Brogan, Travis Maynard, Kayla Tabish, Jacob Reynolds, Keith Morris, 

Matthew Bistok, Mike Glausier 

Ten years ago, street violence broke out after TyRon Lewis was shot by police when 

Lewis tried to run over an officer during a traffic stop. Chris Fuller was 15 years old. 

Tension in school and on the streets enveloped him. The turmoil haunted him. He 

began to write about it. Three years later, he had a movie script. Eventually, he 

hooked up with Frank Craft and the two became a combination pursuing a cinematic 

dream. The result is an 83-minute movie, Loren Cass, shot in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

For the two men, it has meant eight years of labour, often 24/7, to write and produce 

a movie about a defining era in the city’s history. “It’s tough,” said Fuller, now aged 

24. “We realised a long time ago there’s no turning back and you’ve got to push on 

through, no matter what they throw at us.” Fuller’s written description says his work 

is “an effort to tell a coming-of-age story in a way that I didn’t think had been done 

before, with an experiential, dreamlike look into the mind and soul of an adolescent 

during a time of toil and tension.” 

Loren Cass tells the story of three teenagers coping in a “dirty, dirty town by a dirty, 

dirty sea.” The film is shot in St. Petersburg. A segment was produced at the house 

where beat writer Jack Kerouac lived. Familiar landmarks such as the Sunshine 

Skyway show up. And so do the streets. A moody portrait of St. Petersburg emerges. 

Call it “sunshine noir,” perhaps a new genre. Violence, alcoholism, suicide and lost 

innocence are among the elements. Fuller said he and Craft hope to see the movie 

released in theatres. “Whether wide or limited,” Fuller observed. “We just want to 

find a good home for it.” 

Jon Wilson, St. Petersburg Neighborhood Times 


Jonesing Pictures, Inc. 

2553 1st Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33713-8701, USA 

E-mail: info@lorencass.com 

www.lorencass.com 

Courtesy of Jonesing Pictures, Inc. 

UK PREMIERE 

NIGHT SHIFT 

(Nachtshift) 

Dir. Wendy Montellano Belgium 2006 

11 mins (adv PG) Subtitles 

Koen De Bouw, Dahlia Pessemiers, Iris 

Bouche, Anita Allara, Delfine Bafort, 

Miel Van Hasselt 

Benny, a human resources manager, 

turns down a perfect job candidate 

because she’s black. Later that day he is 

contemplating suicide when two 

immigrant workers arrive on the 

scene…. 

Contact: wendymontellano@gmail.com 

Potemkino 

Ribaucourtstraat 194, Brussels, 1080, 

Belgium 

Tel: 00 32 2 478 82 53 19 


Lace Factory Films 

E-mail: info@lacefactoryfilms.com 

www.lacefactoryfilms.com 


Courtesy of Lace Factory Films 

UNCHARTED STATES 83

WALKMAN 

Dir. Alexandra McGuinness 2006 


Wuzza Conlon, Siobhan Lam 

Sometimes the latest hi-tech gear isn’t 

cool. Sometimes a retro look gets you 

noticed. A short film about love, music 

and shoes. 

Contact: alexmcguinness9@gmail.com 

Alexandra McGuinness 

25 Elsham Road, London W14 8HB, 


Tel: 00 44 (0)7970 994 190 

ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE / 27 YEARS LATER 


Dir. James Benning USA 2005 116 mins (adv PG) 

Over the past three decades, James Benning has established himself as one of the 

major names in American avant-garde cinema. A former mathematician, his films - 

almost all of which have an acute political subtext - are primarily concerned with 

geography, chronology and landscape. We’re proud to present his latest work, which 

provides a perfect introduction to his singular career as it includes the entirety of 

what was arguably the first film to establish his name. Variety magazine’s Eddie 

Cockrell takes up the story: “Fearing the imminent destruction of the Milwaukee 

industrial valley of his childhood, James Benning shot 60-minute-long narratives 

during March 1977. The self-described ‘surrealist little stories’ featured family, 

friends, three German-made station wagons and his revered gifts for composition 

and patience. In 2003, as he dryly put it, “I shot the same film again,” reclaiming 

identical static camera set-ups to examine the durability of these urban vistas.” 

As the new work’s title suggests, the second half of One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 

Years Later shows these 2003 shots - but accompanied by the soundtrack from the 

original film. Some of the locations have barely changed; some are unrecognisable - 

in the latter, our memory is jogged primarily by what we hear rather than what we 

see. As is often the case with Benning, much sly humour is deployed to leaven what 

might otherwise seem an arid academic exercise - but there’s no mistaking the 

political elements of his approach (are we seeing evidence of Milwaukee’s decline, or 

signs of its economic revival) The result is a quirky kind of time travel: an 

exploration of how memory functions, specifically in terms of how it relates to our 

external environment. One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later is clearly unlike 

anything else that’s out there at the moment, a playful contribution to the American 

“avant-garde” that also forms a perfect introduction to one of its most consistently 

fascinating exponents. Neil Young 

POLICE BEAT 

Monday 19 March6pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Robinson Devor USA 2005 81 mins (adv 15) Some subtitles 

Pape Sidy Niang, Anna Oxygen, Eric Breedlove, Sarah Harlett, Elijah Geiger, Scott Meola, 

Larry Coffin 

A drift between the workaday duties of a Seattle bicycle cop and the more pressing 

demands of his inner world, Robinson Devor’s Police Beat is a film that’s neither here 

nor there - and I mean that as a compliment. Where most American cop movies are 

poundingly literal, as if drawing their tonal cues from semiautomatic weapons, this 

one takes only the length of its first several shots to wander away from the crime 

scene. The bike cop - a calm, stocky man known as Z (Niang) - spies a fully-clothed 

corpse floating face down a few feet offshore and almost immediately pictures 

himself kissing his girlfriend (Oxygen) who, we soon learn, has gone on a camping 

trip with another guy. Love and loss are the film’s twin preoccupations. Z’s lonely 

interior monologue is delivered in subtitled Wolof, the language of his native 

Senegal; the cop, like the movie, appears between worlds. 

Police Beat [is] what we used to call an independent film - the sort made with 

unknown actors, modest budgets, innovative production strategies and regional 

specificity. Its look is uniquely ravishing, its effect hypnotic. Shot through blue-green 

filters in widescreen 35mm and set to an aptly lulling mix of Satie and Aphex Twin, 

the movie is moodier still by simple virtue of Seattle, whose steep, verdant beauty 

could’ve been the filmmakers’ sole inspiration. (Mother Nature is a genius, although 

the location scouts deserve a special award, as does ace cinematographer Sean 

Kirby.) Z’s periodic police reports become increasingly poetic and existential (“No one 

in Seattle can help this man. He is in a lonely place…”), as if the cop (referring to 

himself) has fallen under the movie’s spell. Dreamlike in style, Police Beat is also a 

real-world vision of what American indies could be if they dared to recognise the 

drama in our own neighbourhoods. Rob Nelson, The Village Voice 

WINDOWS XP 

Dir. Ujkan Hysaj Kosovo 2005 


Agon Bala, Besar Zahiti, Genc Gashi 

Bored with the outdated information 

being taught to them, students in a 

computer class demonstrate their skills 

by playing a prank on their teacher. 

However the teacher, realising that he 

needs to bring his material up to date, 

doesn’t appreciate the joke. 

Contact: uki_sythi@hotmail.com 

SYTHI 

rr.afrim Loxha, Blloku1, b3/1, Prishtina, 

Kosovo, 10000 

Tel: 00 381 38 44 206 398 


James Benning 

c/o CalArts (California Institute of the Arts), 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, 91355- 

2397, California, USA 

Tel: 001 661 255 1050 

E-mail: jbenning@calarts.edu 

http://calarts.com/schools/film/faculty/benning_james.html 


Police Beat LLC 

1515 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122, USA 

Tel: 001 206 329 2629 

E-mail: policebeat@elasticrobot.com 

www.policebeatmovie.com 

Courtesy of Forum (Berlin) 

Courtesy of Northwest Film Forum 


UNCHARTED STATES 85

+ LAY DOWN TRACKS 

Dirs. Brigid McCaffrey, Danielle 

Lombardi USA 2006 59 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Bill Crowley, Tamara Beard, Larry 

McCaffrey, Joy Manthey, Eben Talmage 

UK PREMIERE 

WHO IS BOZO TEXINO 


Dir. Bill Daniel USA 2005 56 mins (adv 12A) 

Documentary 

Nearly 20 years in the making, Who Is Bozo Texino is quite simply a great American 

movie - and its greatness is tied up very closely with its American-ness. With this 

brilliant experimental documentary, self-styled hobo filmmaker Bill Daniel places 

himself firmly in the bootprints of Jack London, Jack Kerouac, Walt Whitman and 

Woody Guthrie - a fine, long tradition of American artists who look for their 

inspiration to the marginal, the underclass, the vagabond and the outcast. Nominally 

a chronicle/survey/history of boxcar graffiti (a tradition as old as the railroad itself) 

and the men who create it, Who Is Bozo Texino soon transcends its narrow subject 

matter to become a gloriously rough-edged elegy for an America which is being 

swept away before our eyes. 

Unlike so many American counterculture documentaries (even entertaining, 

relatively recent examples like Murderball, Dogtown and Z-Boys and Stoked) 

Daniel’s film manages a near-perfect union of radical form and radical content. And 

it does so in consistently accessible style: at first you’re intrigued by the stunning 

monochrome images captured by his self-effacing, sensitively-handled camera(s); by 

the startling kineticism of his fluent editing style; by the sheer range of voices, 

music and sound effects we hear as he tracks down a series of grizzled hobos and 

wisdom-dispensing graffiti ‘markers’. 

Then you realise that, just as these men have always instinctively rejected authority 

and convention, Daniel has likewise embraced the unorthodox in his style of 

filmmaking - even down to his choice of title and running time. Indeed, in less than 

an hour Daniel manages to say more about life, art, America and the simple joy of 

filmmaking than most directors manage in decades. We should leave the last word 

to Daniel himself - according to the director, this “absurd quest for the true identity 

of railroading’s greatest artist will likely amuse and confound you in its sincere 

attempt to understand and preserve this artform”. Neil Young 


Bill Daniel 

1810 Market St, Shreveport, LA 71101, USA 

Tel: 001 503 939 6916 

E-mail: billdaniel@hotmail.com 

www.billdaniel.net 


WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN 

(aka W.K.C.R. Redux) 

Wednesday 14 March 6pm Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Travis Wilkerson USA 2005/7 73 mins (adv 15) 

Barrett Miller, Charlie Parr, Dylan Wilkerson 

We’re delighted to present the World Premiere of this newly-edited version 

(described by the director as WKCR Redux) of Travis Wilkerson’s confrontational 

socio-political drama Who Killed Cock Robin Wilkerson’s initial, 88-minute version 

appeared on several leading European critics’ ‘Top Ten’ lists of 2005. 

Who Killed Cock Robin is based on a newspaper report about a young unemployed 

man who, in the space of a week, went from a shoplifting charge for stealing a case 

of beer to murdering his landlord. Yet with a decency that seems almost perverse, 

the movie itself suppresses this last incident, and transforms it into a sorry and 

inconclusive scuffle. What sort of crime movie is this, with its unwarranted aversion 

to bloodshed 

Travis Wilkerson first related the sorry history of Butte, Montana in his searing 

agitprop essay An Injury to One (2002): how coal made it a Mecca for immigrants 

100 years ago, and it became, in the ‘20s, the radical cutting edge of the American 

labour movement. Then the mining companies got heavy, bringing in the Wobblies 

and Pinkerton detectives (including Dashiell Hammett) to break the strikes. The 

union’s most charismatic advocate, Frank Liddle, disappeared for his trouble. 

Eventually, decades later, the seams ran out and the money went with them, leaving 

behind only toxins and the citizens who grew up there - Wilkerson among them. 

Returning to the scene of the crime, Who Killed Cock Robin is vastly different... is 

shot on DV, handheld, and seems wilfully, dizzyingly ragged and abrasive. Sitting on 

the shoulder of his three principals... and constantly cutting ahead of the beat, 

Wilkerson accentuates the rough-hewn nature of the project. The film’s narrative 

trajectory is headed straight for that old miner’s sore, the pit of despair. But 

Wilkerson finds some solace in songs of resistance and solidarity - the film itself is 

best seen as an uncompromising working class protest song. Tom Charity, Cinema 

Scope 


Extreme Low Frequency 

855 East Kensington Road, Los Angeles, CA 90026 USA 

Tel: 001 213 250 7160 

E-mail: info@extremelowfrequency.com 

UK PREMIERE 

13 STAGES 

(13 Stufen) 

Dir. Daniel Böhme Germany 2006 27 

mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

Roman Roth, Kirstin Warnke 

First kiss. Co-habiting. Falling out. 

Separation. Julius narrates 13 stages of 

his affair with Laura, and makes a 

blueprint for relationships in general. 

Two smart and funny players make this 

work a treat, briskly charting a modern 

romance with a wry, hopeful smile. 

Contact: daniel@sodafilm.de 

Soda.film Berlin 

Cotheniusstr. 6, Berlin, 10407, Germany 

Tel: 00 49 30 420 86622 

Courtesy of Bill Daniel 

Courtesy of Extreme Low Frequency 


UNCHARTED STATES 87

Cinefile 

A concise but eclectic documentary strand, 

CineFile is a kaleidoscopic collection of films 

that records and documents the world of 

movies and moviemakers.

ANGER ME 


Dir. Elio Gelmini Canada/Italy 2006 72 mins (adv 15) 

With: Kenneth Anger, Jonas Mekas 

Where does one start with a figure like Kenneth Anger (Not that there is anyone 

around much like the man born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, of course). A basic 

description might be that he is “an American underground avant-garde filmmaker 

and author”. But Anger himself takes great exception to the terms “underground” 

and “avant-garde” - see the characteristically waspish quote which accompanies our 

‘Uncharted States of America’ section of this catalogue. A proudly self-proclaimed 

“independent”, Anger is, in the end, impossible to pigeonhole, classify or accurately 

describe. 

Almost every fact about his life (including the 1927 birth date cited by most sources) 

is a matter of debate, conjecture, controversy and speculation. His films - which 

include seminal, defiantly transgressive works such as Fireworks, Inauguration of the 

Pleasure Dome, Scorpio Rising and Invocation of My Demon Brothers - are all wildly 

influential, but exist in many different forms and lengths and perhaps even now 

remain works in progress. Then there’s Anger the author - his two Hollywood 

Babylon books have long been scandalous tell-all bestsellers, crammed full of 

salacious stories that foreshadow much of today’s celebrity gossip culture. And what 

about Anger the actor, the muse (friend of Kinsey, Cocteau, Jagger...), the traveller, 

the aesthete, the model, the Aleister Crowley devotee 

Well, the best place to start with Anger is with Anger himself - and until the man 

completes his long-gestating autobiography (provisionally and irresistibly entitled 

Look Back, Ken Anger) that means via Elio Gelmini’s absorbing and accessible 

documentary Anger Me. It’s a simple enough formula - Anger himself looking back 

over his life and career, generously interspersed with well-chosen clips from the 

protean, prodigious oeuvre - but one that proves wickedly entertaining, consistently 

surprising, and unexpectedly poignant. For anyone even remotely interested in 

alternative cinematic culture, meanwhile, Anger Me is an absolute must-see. Neil 

Young 


A Few Steps Production 

c/o filmswelike, 24 Mercer St., Toronto, Ontario, M5V 1H3, Canada 

Tel: 001 416 782 5697 

E-mail: topps@sympatico.ca 

www.angerme.com 

Courtesy of A Few Steps Production 


BUDD BOETTICHER: 

A MAN CAN DO THAT 

Fridfay 16 March 1.45pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Bruce Ricker USA 2005 86 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Budd Boetticher, Robert Towne, Paul Schrader, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, 

Robert Stack, Peter Bogdanovich Commentary spoken by Ed Harris 

Tracing the career of one of Hollywood’s true mavericks, Budd Boetticher - A Man Can 

Do That pays tribute to the director perhaps now best known for the cycle of seven 

near-legendary B-movie westerns he made with star Randolph Scott between 1956’s 

Seven Men From Now and 1960’s Comanche Station. In the words of veteran 

Australian critic John Flaus: “Moral values are lived out, not argued out... and a 

tarnished mirror is held up to the identification figure of the hero, with only fitful 

gleams of anything that might be called glory.” 

In A Man Can Do That, director Bruce Ricker nimbly assembles clips from many of 

Boetticher’s movies, along with archive and original interviews which guide us 

through a particularly hectic life. The clips are copious, extensive and well-chosen, 

illustrating Boetticher’s many strengths and also some of his weaknesses - and 

they’re put in their proper historical and artistic context by Ed Harris’s commentary, 

written by esteemed film critic Dave Kehr. The interviewees are also excellent value: 

they include Kehr’s fellow critic Andrew Sarris plus a range of articulate, cine-literate 

Hollywood luminaries such as Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Towne, Paul Schrader and 

Larry Cohen. 

Some of the most entertaining segments feature the rather unlikely couple of Clint 

Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino, filmed together and clearly having a ball in each 

other’s company, enthusing about an individual both evidently hold in the highest 

respect and affection. But, quite rightly, it’s Boetticher himself - sometime matador, 

world traveller, and ranch-owner - who’s emphatically the star of the show. He 

speaks at length in two interviews - one recorded in the early ‘70s, the other taped 

only a couple of years before his 2001 death - and these provide ample proof of the 

charisma, charm and toughness so favourably commented upon by his many friends 

and fans. Neil Young 


Rhapsody Films 

PO Box 179, New York, NY 10014, USA 

Tel: 001 212 243 0152 

E-mail: rhapsodyfilms@sbcglobal.net 

www.rhapsodyfilms.com 

Courtesy of Rhapsody Films and film channel Turner Classic Movies 

90 CINEFILE available on SKY 319, Virgin TV 419 and Top Up TV Anytime 

CINEFILE 91

UK PREMIERE 

CINEMATOGRAPHER STYLE 

Saaturday 17 March 4pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Jon Fauer USA/Germany 2006 86 mins (adv PG) 

Documentary with Vittorio Storaro, Gordon Willis, Roger Deakins, Ellen Kuras, William 

Fraker, Remi Adefarasin, Caleb Deschanel 

One hundred and ten world-class cinematographers’ thoughts on their widely 

discussed but little understood art-plus-craft are packed into 86 minutes in 

Cinematographer Style. For a film about cinema’s visual aspects, [the documentary] 

is strikingly contained to talking-heads shots - often closely held - of the lensers, who 

represent the cream of the English language film world. The open and gracious 

manner of the subjects confirms what some already know: That no group in the film 

biz matches “lensers” as a collection of classy, level-headed folks. Tech-heads may 

chirp about lack of inside baseball chatter, but [the film] is rightly directed toward a 

general audience of movie lovers. 

Though each participant has an average of 45 seconds’ worth of screen time, a few 

inevitably dominate the discussion by virtue of the sheer depth, value and 

theatricality of their comments. The unquestioned star is Italian maestro Vittorio 

Storaro (The Conformist; Apocalypse Now), legendary in film circles as the greatest 

living philosopher/practitioner on the application of light, color and shadow for the 

film camera. Storaro uses props (light bulbs; dimmers) to demonstrate such 

techniques as light placement and the effect of color on mood. And to make matters 

clear, he also explicitly states at the start, “I am a cinematographer. I am not a 

director of photography.” 

Alongside Storaro in impact is veteran cinematographer Gordon Willis (The 

Godfather trilogy; Manhattan), whose frank and matter-of-fact statements lend the 

film a vibe of honesty and common sense. His biggest admission is that he didn’t 

decide on the look of The Godfather until about 20 minutes before the first day’s 

filming, and he draws possibly the biggest laugh by asking fellow cinematographer 

and the film’s director Jon Fauer to momentarily turn off most of the lights in the 

room during his interview; now viewed in near darkness, with just a splash of 

backlight, Willis says, “See That’s about right.” Robert Koehler, Variety 


T-Stop Productions (Jon Fauer) 

c/o ASC, 1782 N Orange Dr., 90028 Hollywood, California, USA 

Tel: 00 1 323 969 4333 

E-mail: info@cinematographerstyle.com 

www.cinematographerstyle.com 

UK PREMIERE 

DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD 

(aka Directed By) 


Dir. Peter Bogdanovich USA 1971/2006 108 mins (adv 12A) 

With: John Ford, Peter Bogdanovich, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood 

Narrated by Orson Welles 

These days Peter Bogdanovich is perhaps best known as an actor - he plays the 

psychiatrist’s psychiatrist in The Sopranos - or as an author (hefty interview 

compilations Who The Devil Made It and Who The Devil’s In It) Back in 1971, 

however, he was America’s most promising young auteur - with Targets under his 

belt and The Last Picture Show earning him the kind of reviews most directors only 

dream about. He could do pretty much anything he wanted. And what he wanted to 

do was a documentary about John Ford. 

The result was a film which, in the words of LA Weekly film editor Scott Foundas “has 

long enjoyed a somewhat mythic status among cinephiles, in part because, 

following a smattering of festival and television screenings, it was essentially 

withdrawn from circulation”. Withheld from view because of legal rights wrangles, 

the picture existed in a limbo for three and a half decades. It was only in early 2006 

that Bogdanovich - who was reportedly never totally happy with the 1971 version - 

went back and finally finished the job to his satisfaction. He recorded totally new 

interviews with Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg and 

incorporated a rare audio recording of Ford and his sometime-paramour Katharine 

Hepburn. He seamlessly integrated these new elements alongside the strongest 

sections from the first version - including extended interviews with Ford and 

collaborators such as John Wayne and Henry Fonda. 

The result is a truly unique labour of love - a comprehensive and expertly-judged 

tribute to the man now regarded as perhaps America’s greatest-ever filmmaker. 

Bogdanovich’s own career as a features director has long since been a cause for 

concern and regret - but Directed By John Ford proves that he’s lost none of his 

energy and ability as a chronicler and lover of film, and suggests that his own star 

may yet be due for a belated re-ascendance. Frank Mangus 


Turner Classic Movies (TCM) 

1050 Techwood Drive, Atlanta, Georgia, GA 30318, USA 

Tel: 001 404 885 5535 

E-mail: tcm@turner.com 

www.turnerclassicmovies.com 

Courtesy of T-Stop Productions 

Courtesy of film channel Turner Classic Movies 

available on SKY 319, Virgin TV 419 and Top Up TV Anytime 

92 CINEFILE CINEFILE 93

UK PREMIERE 

DREAM MAKERS 

SCREENING WITH: THE SLANTED SCREEN 


Dir. Susan Cardinal Canada 2006 47 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, Tom Jackson, August Schellenberg, Gordon Tootoosis, 

Dakota House, Lorne Cardinal 

UK PREMIERE 

EDGE OF OUTSIDE 


Dir. Shannon Davis USA 2006 64 mins (adv PG) 

With: Martin Scorsese, Edward Burns, John Sayles, Spike Lee, Thelma Schoonmaker, Gena 

Rowlands, Peter Falk, Henry Jaglom, Darren Aronofsky, Seymour Cassel, Arthur Penn, Peter 

Biskind, Peter Bogdanovich, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi, Paul Seydor, Leon Vitali 

A fascinating - if shameful - aspect of 20th century North American screen culture is 

explored in entertaining, accessible and illuminating fashion in Dream Makers, which 

examines how the continent’s native populations living in the USA and Canada have been 

represented in films and on TV. For many years, of course, these “representations” would be 

more accurately labelled as “distortions”. It isn’t that long since it was considered the norm 

for actors of European stock to brown up and step in front of the camera to play native 

“savages” of varying degrees of nobility: even the most respected directors and actors were 

guilty of the practice, such as the somewhat Aryan-looking Burt Lancaster as Robert 

Aldrich’s Apache from 1954. 

As chronicled by director Cardinal - an award-winning documentarian with over 25 years 

experience in the medium - North American’s “aboriginal” populations (their own preferred 

term) have come a very long way indeed since those days. This is especially the case in 

Canada, where they now produce and direct films, star in television programmes and - a 

development which has yet to be reproduced “south of the border” - even have their own 

cable network. 

Cardinal smoothly switches between well-chosen clips (from the likes of Little Big Man and 

Dances With Wolves) and interviews with aboriginal performers, many of whom painfully 

remember the worst features of the “bad old days”. With speakers such as Oscar-nominated 

Dances with Wolves star Graham Greene (most recently seen in Transamerica) guiding the 

way, Dream Makers abounds with humour, intelligence and a fierce determination to set 

the record straight. “I don’t have to stand there and say ‘How’ for peanuts, now,” says 

Greene, “I can go out there and really act”. 

It’s a story that has lost not a jot of its relevance today, when communities around the 

world must struggle with racism and ignorance in order to make their voices heard and 

ensure that their peoples’ stories are brought into the spotlight they deserve. Frank Mangus 

“I’ve wasted the greater part of my life looking for money. It’s about two per cent moviemaking 

and 98 per cent hustling. That’s no way to spend a life.” – Orson Welles 

There was a time when independent filmmaking was a pejorative term. Now, in the 

wake of titans like Welles, Kubrick and Scorsese, indie filmmaking represents freedom 

that straddles both the artistic and commercial. This taut and concise documentary 

stars an eclectic band of pioneering filmmakers with one shared perspective: they 

decided to make movies outside the mainstream and gave collective birth to the 

concept of American indie cinema. 

Charting the course of the independent from Chaplin and Co in United Artists through 

the early struggles of a post-Citizen Kane Orson Welles to the likes of Nicholas Ray, Sam 

Fuller, Woody Allen and Sam Peckinpah, Edge of Outside then focuses on the disparate 

experiences of directors such as Stanley Kubrick, who opted for total control, and John 

Cassavetes. It was Cassavetes who was to become the poster boy for aspiring directors 

who longed to escape the contradictions of the studios. While they offered some 

semblance of security, they also tied talent to a treadmill. 

A host of acclaimed artists queue up to laud their heroes and reflect on their various 

travails that affect any filmmaker who aspires to eschew studio control. All do so with a 

mixture of enthusiasm for what could have been, weariness at what occurred and 

sadness at the various missed opportunities. With archive footage of Welles, Ray, 

Peckinpah, Fuller, Cassavetes and Hitchcock at work, Edge of Outside salutes the 

tenacity of the individual and offers a retrospective point of view on how so many 

directors’ careers first flew and then plummeted in flames. 

Perhaps the most telling comment comes from Spike Lee. Considering the topsy-turvy 

life of Orson Welles, he says: “Orson Welles was a cautionary tale for me, because I don’t 

wanna be selling wine 20 years from now to get by.” Tony Earnshaw 

+ ENTER THE DRAGON 

(U Zmajevom Gnijezdu) 

Dir. Ozren Milharcic Bosnia-Herzegovina 

2006 59 mins 55 secs (adv U) Subtitles 

Documentary 

Mostar, unofficial capital of 

Herzegovina, needs a statue of Bruce 

Lee. Locals Nino and Veso are 

convinced of this, and have spent years 

raising funds to help realise their 

dream: a life-size bronze statue of the 

king of kung-fu to stand defiant and 

hopeful in their divided home town. As 

the project accelerates, Mostar enters a 

sprint to the finish with Hong Kong: 

who will be first in the world to claim 

Bruce Lee as their own But this is no 

mere publicity stunt; Nino and Veso are 

sincere believers that martial arts 

superstars can be transformative 

public art. Enter the Dragon is a smart 

and humane experience, treating its 

apparently oddball subject with 

deserved faith. Can Bruce Lee give hope 

to a traumatised Balkan city 


joeMedia TV 

305 10th Ave SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2G OW2, Canada 

Tel: 001 403 264 5400 

E-mail: info@joemedia.tv 

www.joemedia.tv 


Turner Classic Movies (TCM) 

Turner House, 16 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7HS, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 693 1000 

www.tcmonline.co.uk 

Contact: ozren.m@gmail.com Dervisa 

Numica 30`, Sarajevo, Bosnia- 

Herzegovina, 71000 

Tel: 00 387 33 641 050 

94 CINEFILE 

Courtesy of joeMedia 

Courtesy of film channel Turner Classic Movies 

available on SKY 319, Virgin TV 419 and Top Up TV Anytime 

CINEFILE 95

UK PREMIERE 

HEDY LAMARR - SECRETS OF A HOLLYWOOD STAR 

Saturday 17 March 10.30am Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dirs. Donatello Dubini, Fosco Dubini, Barbara Obermaier Germany 2006 

84 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

With: Hedy Lamarr, Mickey Rooney, Kenneth Anger, Lupita Tovar Koehner, 

Chris Horak, Robert Rodenburg, Arlene Roxbury 


MALCOLM McDOWELL: 

MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES MADE TO ORDER 

Saturday 24 March 10.45am Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Tony Earnshaw GB 2007 80 mins (adv 15) 

With: Malcolm McDowell 

96 CINEFILE 

“And so she came west, perhaps as beautiful as any woman ever filmed, but nearly 

stunned by all the things being said about her, and by her extensive limits as an 

actress. She did her best: but conscientiousness is not quite what we expect in our 

femmes fatales. Too often, she had a worried look.” So wrote David Thomson in his 

Biographical Dictionary of Cinema. The subject: Hedy Lamarr - subject of this 

enthralling new documentary and a name which, to cinemagoers of a certain age, 

still conjures a potent whiff of eroticism, mystery and glamour. 

Back in the early Thirties, however, Lamarr - born Hedwig Kiesler in WWI Vienna - 

was a byword for scandal, having appeared completely nude on film in the 

sensational 1932 hit Ecstasy (Ekstase). Within a few chaotic years she had fled Nazi 

Germany for Hollywood and Algiers (1938) but, having turned down the Ingrid 

Bergman roles in both Casablanca and Gaslight, her career entered a long, slow 

decline - halted only by her uninhibited turn as Salome in Cecil B. De Mille’s Samson 

and Delilah (1949). And that “worried look” Well, it could have been something to 

do with the fact that Lamarr was never content to be ‘just’ a movie-star. ‘Hidden 

depths’ doesn’t quite cover it: during World War II, the fiercely anti-Nazi Lamarr codeveloped 

a “frequency-hopping” system intended to make radio-guided torpedoes 

harder to jam. The technology wasn’t implemented until the 1960s - but formed the 

basis for many of today’s communications systems, including cordless phones and 

WiFi internet. 

It’s a truly stranger-than-fiction story - and is just one of the many remarkable 

episodes chronicled in this painstakingly researched biography, which features 

archive footage and interviews featuring Lamarr herself as well as illuminating 

contributions from a range of experts, friends and onlookers. These include none 

other than Kenneth Anger - subject of another of this year’s CineFile documentaries, 

Anger Me and, as always, excellent value as a tell-all raconteur. Frank Mangus 


Movie Relations 

Kalker Haupstr. 178, 51103 Cologne, Germany 

Tel: 0049 221 346 39 60 

E-mail: hedy@movierelations.de 

www.movierelations.de/hedylamarrfilm/index.html 

Courtesy of Movie Relations 

After five decades in motion pictures Malcolm McDowell still looks forward to the 

intensity of the studio floor. It is the labour ethic of a working class lad from Leeds, 

and it has never left him. 

His friends call McDowell an original and an outsider. His legions of fans see him as 

something of an institution – not quite a living legend yet, but definitely an icon, 

which is not far from it. There’s a touch of the anarchist about him – certainly the 

antagonist. He still sees much of himself in Mick Travis, the rebellious kid whose 

rebellion climaxes in an apocalyptic attack on The System replete with languid 

girlfriend and a machine-gun. He’s proud to be a working actor - a slogger who has 

learned something from every single film he’s ever made. And there have been many. 

As Mick Travis, the anti-Establishment student hero of If…, McDowell effortlessly 

donned the mantle of public school revolutionary and enjoyed the notorious 

privilege of what is called overnight stardom. It was a heady period that gave birth 

to a lifelong professional relationship with Lindsay Anderson – the filmmaker who, 

without doubt, can accurately be described as McDowell’s mentor. The other great 

collaboration in McDowell’s life came via Stanley Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange. 

This charming yet brutal sexual deviant has loomed over McDowell’s career since the 

film was made in 1971. 

Reptilian bully boys, psychos, malign miscreants, flamboyant, swaggering sociopaths, 

sadistic fascists, debauched maniacs and intergalactic loonies have been McDowell’s 

stock-in trade since he exploded to international prominence in A Clockwork Orange. 

McDowell has always enjoyed the intense symbiosis between actor and filmmaker. 

In this interview-cum-one-man show he revisits some of the key moments in his life 

and recalls, with candour, laughter and profanity, some of the many people with 

whom he’s worked in a 40-year career. Allen Faulkner 


National Media Museum 

Pictureville, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD1 1NQ, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0) 1274 203320 

E-mail: tonyearnshaw@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk 

www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk 

Courtesy of NMeM Archives 

CINEFILE 97


THE SLANTED SCREEN 

SCREENING WITH: DREAM MAKERS 


Dir. Jeff Adachi USA 2006 60 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Mako, Tzi Ma, Jason Scott Lee, Terence Chang, Phillip Rhee, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, 

James Shigeta 

One of the first significant roles for an Asian-American man in Hollywood was the 

title character of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1915 silent classic, The Cheat. The lead was the 

handsome Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa, who became a matinee idol during that 

era. It was simultaneously a breakthrough and an unfortunate template for the 

“yellow peril” films, in which Asian men may seem nice but usually have a nefarious 

trick up their sleeves. They don’t get the girl, either. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the 

romantic leading man James Shigeta (Flower Drum Song) and the action hero Bruce 

Lee (Enter the Dragon) shattered myths of Asian-American evil and impotence, 

leading to… what, exactly Not much. 

And so we have The Slanted Screen, an entertaining and informative documentary, 

generously loaded with film clips, about the plight of the Asian-American actor 

onscreen and speculation on what the future might bring. The film is peppered with 

interviews, including clips of Shigeta, whose unprecedented run of leading parts in 

the late ‘50s and early ‘60s - including two movies in which he landed a white 

leading lady - has, sadly, been unmatched. 

Adachi keeps everything on track, and the best part of The Slanted Screen are the 

film clips and the stories of some past legends. I had forgotten that Hayakawa, who 

is now mainly known as the elderly camp commandant in The Bridge on the River 

Kwai, was once a young, dashing and popular leading man. Philip Ahn could have 

succeeded Hayakawa in that capacity, but had the bad luck of coming of age during 

the race-baiting Fu Manchu years of the 1930s and the World War II era, during 

which he often played Japanese heavies. His greatest fame came in old age, when he 

was wise Master Kan on the TV’s Kung Fu. Still, Adachi believes the future is bright, 

and The Slanted Screen is obviously a labour of love. 

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle 


AAMM Productions 

PO Box 77313, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA 

E-mail: info@slantedscreen.com 

www.slantedscreen.com 

Courtesy of AAMM Productions 

UK PREMIERE 

STILL ALIVE - A FILM ABOUT KRZYSZTOF 

KIESLOWSKI 

(Still Alive - Film o Krzysztofie Kieslowskim) 


Dir. Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz Poland 2006 82 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Documentary with Krzysztof Kieslowski, Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, Irene Jacob, 

Krzysztof Zanussi, Slawomir Idziak, Juliette Binoche 

This is a beautifully made and totally engrossing feature-length retrospective 

portrait of Kieslowski by a former student of his - who is now one of Poland’s finest 

documentary filmmakers, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz (who has made more than 40 

documentaries since 1982’s Everybody Knows Who’s Behind Who). She gives a lot of 

attention to the beginnings of Kieslowski’s career: his studies at the Lodz Film School 

and his first documentary films (including 1966’s The Office and The Tram and 1971’s 

Workers). 

The film recounts as fully as possible the artistic path of Kieslowski and the character 

of the man, presenting a portrait of a fulfilled artist, of a director wholly engaged in 

the drama of the time of his protagonists. An important aspect of the documentary 

(made to mark the 10th anniversary of Kieslowski’s death in 1996) is how it tries to 

explain the phenomenon of Kieslowski’s reception in Poland and abroad, as well as 

an analysis of the standing of his work today and who is following in his footsteps. 

The film is richly illustrated with archival material as well as excerpts from the 

student, documentary, and feature films of Krzysztof Kieslowski. Zmarz-Koczanowicz 

uses the late director’s own words as well as scraps of memories kept by his friends 

and colleagues: Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, Slawomir Idziak (the 

cinematographer who shot seven of Kieslowski’s works), Jacek Petrycki, Grazyna 

Szapolowska, Tadeusz Sobolewski, Irene Jacob (star of Kieslowski’s The Double Life of 

Veronique), Zbigniew Preisner, Marcin Latallo, Juliette Binoche (from Three Colours: 

Blue), Andrzej Titkow, Andreas Veiel, Krzysztof Zanussi and others. 

Loved and admired, Kieslowski was a filmmaker’s filmmaker: “Cinema is about 

drudgery. It is about getting up early, about not sleeping at night, about fretting, 

about rain. This is cinema, this is real cinema. And the moments of satisfaction 

happen seldom.” New York Polish Cultural Institute 


Es-Media Sp.zo.o 

00-854 Warszawa, ul. Lucka 20/1101, Poland 

Tel: 00 48 22 654 17 31 

98 CINEFILE 

Courtesy of Telewizja Polska, SA 

CINEFILE 99

UK PREMIERE 

THE WELL 

(Brunnen aka Brunnen - en film om Orson Welles) 

Friday 16 March 11.30am Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Dir. Kristian Petri Sweden 2005 107 mins (adv 15) Subtitles 

With: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Jess Franco, William Law, Peter Viertel, Kristian Petri 

Well, Well, Welles: there have been several documentaries - and not a few feature films - 

made over the years about the legendary director / writer / actor / impresario / bonviveur 

Orson Welles. Never has there been one quite like Swedish cinephile Kristian 

Petri’s The Well. 

Audaciously, Petri doesn’t hesitate from treating himself as the focus and subject of his 

film - he’s in the position of Citizen Kane’s dogged journalist/investigator Thompson, 

with Welles as the project’s version of ‘Charles Foster Kane’. He goes from place to place, 

talking to those who knew, drank, fought and worked with the enigmatic, charismatic 

auteur, building up an appropriately idiosyncratic and patchwork portrait of an individual 

who delighted in disguise, sleight-of-hand and general obfuscation. 

The Well doesn’t attempt to cover the whole of Welles’ dauntingly long and varied career. 

Instead, Petri focuses closely on Welles’ many visits to Spain: location for the filming of 

the director’s personal favourite among his works, Chimes at Midnight, destination for 

countless holidays and adventures, and final resting place of Welles’ mortal remains. 

Indeed, it may come as a surprise even to Wellesophiles that their hero’s ashes can be 

found at the bottom of a well on an estate near the town of Ronda - in the grounds of a 

house owned by Welles’ great friend, bullfighter Antonio Ordonez. Petri’s pilgrimage to 

the well features interviews with Welles’ long-time companion Oja Kodar and legendary 

horror director Jess Franco, but finds just as much illumination and anecdotage among 

the non-celebrity folk who came into contact with Welles in everyday life. 

Far from being your conventional, by-the-numbers biopic, The Well aims much higher: as 

we see modern Spain through Petri’s lens, we accompany him on a personal voyage of 

discovery through a startlingly beautiful land of rolling countryside and spectacular 

coastline. A travelogue with heart and brain as well as soul, The Well is compulsive 

viewing for anyone interested in Welles, Spain or the nature of creativity. Frank Mangus 


Charon Film 

c/o SFI (Svenska Filminstitutet / Swedish Film Institute), Box 271 26, SE-102 52 Stockholm, 

Sweden 

Tel: 00 46 8 665 11 00 

E-mail: registrator@sfi.se 

www.sfi.se 

100 CINEFILE 

Courtesy of Svenska Filminstitutet / Swedish Film Institute

Special Events 

CRASH SYMPOSIUM 

FILM & MUSIC CONFERENCE 

INDUSTRY WEEKEND 

KRASZNA-KRAUSZ BOOK AWARDS 

PANDORA’S BOX

Crash Symposium 


Wednesday 21 March, 10am - 6pm 

Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Admission free 

Crash Cinema, now into its sixth year, has become a feature of the Bradford 

International Film Festival, and is a showcase of the co-operation between the 

National Media Museum, the University of Bradford’s EIMC department and Bradford 

School of Art. The symposium acknowledges the importance of the study of film for 

students undertaking postgraduate studies in visual representation, especially of the 

cinematic arts, but also students of art & design, fine art, photography and media 

communication. 

Crash attracts contributions from a broad range of disciplines and a special feature 

of the symposium is that it encourages a wide variety of approaches to, and subject 

matter from, the world of film. There is always an emphasis at Crash on 

representation as an exciting means of unearthing political, social and cultural 

meanings as articulated through the art of film. Unlike prescribed film symposia, 

Crash seeks to provoke and stimulate - the post conference screening of a 

controversial film reinforces this key aspect. 

This year also sees the publication of Crash Cinema: Representation in Film, the first 

collection of essays from the symposium, beginning what should become a rich 

contribution to writings on film. 

Crash is always supported by the superb facilities of the film department of the 

NMeM and has occurred because the National Media Museum promotes the 

importance of film both as an academic subject for study and for the critical 

appreciation of the informed public. Together, we look forward to many more 

remakes of Crash Cinema at the Bradford International Film Festival. 

Mark Goodall 

Department of Electronic Imaging and Media Communications, University of 

Bradford 

The Crash Symposium is presented by the EIMC Department, University of Bradford 

and Postgraduate Studies in Visual Representation, School of Art and Design, 

Bradford College and will be introduced by Mark Goodall. 

A brief discussion will follow the reading of each paper. 


PROGRAMME 

NICK REDFERN 

(University of Central Lancashire) 

Land of Hope and Bloody Glory 

Starts: 10am 

The affirmation of British national 

identity in Brassed Off. 

JAMES RILEY 

(Cambridge University) 

Peter Whitehead: Two Documentaries 

Starts: 10.45am 

An examination of the 

representational strategies used in 

these two documentaries. 

CLAIRE MOLLOY 

(Edge Hill University) 

Ghost-pale: the representation of 

albinism in mainstream cinema. 

Starts: 11.45am 

Examining how the relationship 

between villainy and albinism is 

deployed and negotiated within The Da 

Vinci Code. 

ANDREW WEBBER 

(Chatham Grammar School for Girls) 

The Good, The Bad and Bukowski: 

Alcohol and the American Dream 

Starts: 12.30pm 

Representations of alcohol and drinkers 

in Hollywood films. 

WILL GODFREY 

(University of Bradford) 

Becoming the Others of Ourselves: Post- 

Colonial Hybridity in Anita and Me 


Can the representation of post-colonial 

hybridity in ‘Anita and Me’ provide a 

compensatory discourse to the colonial 

Manicheanism of mainstream 

cinematic representations of British 

Asians 

T.E. EYRES 

(Trinity College, Cambridge) 

The Communicative Slip: 

Misunderstanding, Misrecognition and 

Fantasy in the cinema of Atom Egoyan 

Starts: 3pm 

Close readings of Exotica and The 

Adjuster. 

IAN INGLIS 

(University of Northumbria) 

Playing at/with Reality: The Pop/Rock 

Biopic 

Starts: 4pm 

A reassessment of its history and its 

likely future trajectory. 

ALISON PEIRSE 

(Lancaster University) 

Capturing the Monstrous Male Body in 

The Mummy 


A close analysis of how the monstrous 

male body is constructed in classic 

horror film. 

104 CRASH SYMPOSIUM CRASH SYMPOSIUM 105

3rd Film & Music Conference 

3rd Annual Film & Music Conference 

A Symposium on the Discourse of Film Music 

Friday 16 March 2007 

On Location Conference Suite 

The University of Leeds School of Music and the School of Art of Brunel University, in 

collaboration with the National Media Museum, are pleased to present the 3rd 

Annual Film and Music Conference in association with the Bradford International 

Film Festival. The conference features a keynote interview with David Arnold, 

composer of the score for the recent James Bond blockbuster, Casino Royale (Cubby 

Broccoli Cinema), as well as a presentations by professionals from within the film 

industry and a round-table discussion focusing on the discourse of film music. The 

fee is £15 for the full conference (excluding accommodation and meals) with £10 

concessions for students and the unwaged. Registration begins at 10am on the day. 

For full details and an application form email Ian Sapiro (i.p.sapiro@leeds.ac.uk) or 

see the conference website at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/filmmusic/index.htm. 

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW: 

DAVID ARNOLD 

Friday 16 March, 11am 


We are delighted to welcome internationally acclaimed film composer David Arnold 

to open this Symposium on the Discourse of Film Music, the 3rd Annual Film and 

Music Conference at the Bradford International Film Festival. David has written more 

than 40 scores for film and television including the James Bond films Tomorrow 

Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day and the recent blockbuster 

Casino Royale, as well as Stargate, Independence Day, Stoned and Amazing Grace. 

David Arnold will be in conversation with Professor David Cooper (University of 

Leeds) and Professor Christopher Fox (Brunel University). 

REGISTRATION & RECEPTION 

Cubby Broccoli Cinema foyer, 10am - 11am 

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW 

Cubby Broccoli Cinema, 11am - 12.30pm 

Special guest composer David Arnold in conversation with 

Professor David Cooper and Professor Christopher Fox. 

GUEST SPEAKER SESSION 1 

On Location Conference Suite, 1.30pm - 3pm 

Dr. Ian MacDonald (University of Leeds), Garry Lyons 

(University of Leeds) and Dr. Erik Knudsen (University of 

Salford) (Screenwriters). This team combines a strong 

combination of academic and professional knowledge, and 

experience of writing for both stage and screen. 

ILAN ESHKERI (Composer) 

Ilan worked with Hans Zimmer, Michael Kamen and Ed 

Shearmur before composing the score for Layer Cake. He 

has recently completed work on the score for Hannibal 

Rising, the fourth film in the Hannibal Lecter series. 

TEA BREAK 

3.00pm-3.30pm, On Location Conference Suite 

Delegate Posters will be on display for discussion and 

consultation. 

GUEST SPEAKER SESSION 2 

On Location Conference Suite, 3.30pm - 5pm 

GARY CARPENTER (Orchestrator) 

Gary has orchestrated the scores for films including The 

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The League of Gentlemen’s 

Apocalypse, and has worked alongside composers as diverse as 

Joby Talbot, John Harle, Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman. 

DENIS DERCOURT (Director) 

Denis was solo viola with the French Symphony Orchestra from 

1988 to 1993 and his most recent film, The Page Turner, revisits 

the world of Classical music. The film follows Mélanie, a child 

with a gift for the piano, whose life is changed by her failure to 

pass a Conservatoire entrance examination. 

TEA BREAK 

On Location Conference Suite, 5pm - 5.30pm 

Delegate Posters will be on display for discussion and 

consultation. 

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION: 

THE DISCOURSE OF FILM MUSIC 

On Location Conference Suite, 5.30pm - 6.30pm 

Chaired by Professor David Cooper with the day’s guest speakers. 

106 FILM & MUSIC CONFERENCE FILM & MUSIC CONFERENCE 107

Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 March 

Weekend Passes £45 (£25 concessions) 

Industry Weekend 

A weekend of events and masterclasses for the region’s 

filmmakers, centred on the Festival’s opening weekend, providing 

an opportunity for filmmakers to expand and broaden their 

knowledge of the different aspects of filmmaking from key figures 

in the film industry. 

Covering a wide variety of different aspects of getting your film 

from conception to distribution with guidance and advice on 

funding, distribution, post production and working with actors 

and how they interact with a film crew. 

The weekend will also offer the opportunity to attend the 

networking event which promises to be a lively and energetic 

evening, devoted to getting filmmakers in the region meeting and 

exchanging ideas. 

Forward Into Europe 

Co-ordinated by Propeller, Skillset and the Regional Language 

Network, a selection of seminars and workshops to help and 

advise new filmmaking talent of the opportunities available to 

expand into Europe. 

Benefits; 

Free entry into all Industry Weekend events 

Industry Weekend delegate pack 

Free tea/coffee and biscuits during the morning receptions of the 

Industry Weekend in Pictureville 

Vouchers to buy lunch and refreshments in the Intermission Café 

Networking Evening on Saturday 

£1 off entry to all screenings during Bradford Film Festival 

Free entry to screening of Cheeky followed by Q+A with Trudie 

Styler 

Saturday 10 March 

9:30am Delegate reception 

Pictureville Bar 

Collect your delegate information pack and mingle with 

other delegates over a cup of tea or coffee in the 

Pictureville Bar area before the masterclasses, seminars 

and workshops begin. 

10:00am Micro Budget Production 


Our panel of experienced filmmakers and industry experts 

provide an insight into the practicalities of making a micro 

budget film. 

11:30am International Sales 


Film distributor David Nicholas Wilkinson is joined by Gary 

Phillips of Moviehouse Entertainment, in explaining the 

role and purpose of the international sales agent and how 

to go about finding one. 

2pm SCREENING: CHEEKY 


Dir. David Thewlis GB/France 2003 95 mins (15) 

David Thewlis, Ian Hart, Trudie Styler, Johnny Vegas 

David Thewlis scripts, directs and stars in this tragicomedy 

about a man whose relationship with his teenage son take 

a turn for the worse after he enters a TV quiz show to help 

him grieve his wife’s untimely death. 

+ SCREENTALK: TRUDIE STYLER 

Multi-talented Trudie Styler – producer, actress, writer and 

director – discusses her flourishing career as an 

independent filmmaker. 

4.30pm Short Films – From Start to Finish 

On Location 

Highlighting the importance of short filmmaking, the 

purpose it serves, schemes available and the process of 

developing your project. 

6pm Networking Evening 

Museum Foyer 

A free networking and social event open to anyone involved 

in the film and television industry. A lively and energetic 

event for like-minded creative talent to make contacts, and 

with the opportunity to meet key influential figures from 

the industry. 

Sunday 11 March 

Delegate reception 

10am Pictureville Bar 

Collect your delegate information pack and mingle with 

other delegates over a cup of tea or coffee in the 

Pictureville Bar area before the masterclasses, seminars and 

workshops begin. 

Nuts and Bolts of Filmmaking 

10:30am Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

A look at the aspects of filmmaking that are often 

overlooked and that are just as important as the director, 

producer and big named actor. 

Forward Into Europe: Subtitling 

10:30am On Location 

An interactive Workshop on the Theory and Practice of 

Subtitling. Guest speaker: Ruth Linden - Regional Language 

Network 

Producers Workshop - First Feature Film 

12:30pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

Piers Tempest, David Lascelles and Liz Rymer are three 

industry professionals with very different experiences of 

producing films. Whatever level of experience you have as a 

filmmaker, their wealth of knowledge and expertise will 

help guide you through the process of getting that all 

important first feature film off the ground and into the 

cinema. 

Guest speakers: 

Liz Rymer (Chair) – Producer, Wildlight Pictures Ltd 

Piers Tempest – Head of Production, Buena Onda Films 

David Lascelles – Producer, 


Documentaries in Europe - From idea to commission 

12:15pm On Location 

Discussing co-productions, pre-sales, acquisitions and media 

industry funds with the opportunity to pitch ideas for 

feedback on funding and development strategy. Guest 

speaker: Andy Glynne – The Documentary Filmmakers Group 

Post Production 

2pm On Location 

Paul Peppiate of VTR North and Graham V. Hartstone, former 

Head of Post Production and now consultant to Pinewood 

Studios, will discuss how to prepare for post-production by 

following certain industry principles. 


Distribution - The commercial opportunities available in 

European broadband, satellite and cable. 

2.15pm Action Zone 1 

Stage by stage practical advice to European distribution. A 

hands on guide to the commercial realities of working in 

Europe. 

Guest speaker: Director of commercial European TV 

organisation and distributor (tbc) 

Corporate Filmmaking 

3.30pm On Location 

Two experienced professionals highlight the many different 

genres, creative liberation and skills, and the experience 

provided by corporate films. Guest speakers: 

Paul Rowlston – Writer/Director/Producer 

Raza Mallal – Eyeline Productions 


Taking advantage of overseas funding opportunites. 

4.15pm Action Zone 1 

A discussion on the funding available for marketing and 

market research into Europe, mentoring advice available and 

the ‘Passport to Export’ scheme. Guest speaker: 

Nigel Goddard – Digital and Creative Sector Specialist, UK 

Trade and Investment 

108 INDUSTRY WEEKEND 

INDUSTRY WEEKEND 109

Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards 

THE 2007 KRASZNA-KRAUSZ BOOK AWARDS 

Thursday 22 March 


The Kraszna-Krausz Book Awards celebrate and acknowledge the best literature 

about the still and moving image. They have been awarded annually since 1985 by 

the Foundation established by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, the Hungarian-born publisher 

and founder of Focal Press, who died in 1989. Now administered by the National 

Media Museum (NMeM), this year’s awards will be presented by Alan Bennett. 

Over the years, the awards have attracted a high calibre of entries and have been 

presented at annual ceremonies by such big names from the worlds of film and 

photography as Mike Leigh, Don McCullin and Miklos Jancso. 

The Chairman of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, Colin Ford CBE, said: ‘Since 1985, the 

worlds of photography, film and television have changed a great deal. The Trustees of 

the Foundation have reviewed their increasingly successful awards in the light of 

these changes, and believe that partnership with NMeM will enable the awards to 

play an even more influential role in the next thirty years’. 

The Head of the National Media Museum, Colin Philpott, said: ‘We are delighted to 

help re-launch these prestigious awards. It is vitally important that literature about 

the still and moving image is properly celebrated and recognised and we are happy to 

play our part in making sure that this happens’. 

The Shortlist: 

Moving Image 

Orson Welles: Hello Americans by Simon Callow (Jonathan Cape) 

Mizoguchi and Japan by Mark Le Fanu (British Film Institute) 

Silent Film Sound by Rick Altman (Columbia University Press) 

This Year’s Judges 

Martin Barnes is Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 

London, which he joined in 1995. The V&A holds the national collection of the art of 

photography. 

Edward Buscombe was formerly Head of Publishing at the British Film Institute. 

He has written widely on cinema and is currently Visiting Professor in Film & Media 

at Sunderland University. 

Colin Harding is Curator of Photographic Technology at the National Media 

Museum, Bradford. He has written and broadcast extensively on the history of 

photography. 

Michael Harvey is Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum, 

Bradford. His recent exhibitions include Myths and Visions: The Art of Ray 

Harryhausen (2006) and Bond, James Bond (2002). 

Clyde Jeavons is a film historian, archivist and programmer. He is a former curator 

of the National Film & Television Archive and the author of the genre film histories 

Westerns, War Films and Sex in the Movies. He is Archive Consultant for the London 

Film Festival. 

Liz Jobey is a writer and editor. She has formerly worked in national newspapers 

and since 1998 has been an editor at Granta, the literary magazine, where she is 

now Associate Editor. She also works as a freelance editor on photographic books. 

Photography 

The Photo Book: A History, vols. 1 and 2 by Martin Parr & Gerry Badger (Phaidon) 

Young America, The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes by Grant Romer and 

Brian Wallis (ICP/George Eastman House 

All The Mighty World, The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852-1860 by Baldwin, 

Daniel, Greenough et al (MET, NGA, Getty, Yale University Press) 

110 KRASZNA-KRAUSZ AWARD 

KRASZNA-KRAUSZ AWARD 111

Tickets from the 

Museum Box Office 

0870 70 10 200 

UK PREMIERE 

THE WINDOW 

Dir. Tomasz Laczny GB 2006 


A long pull back from a window to a 

(seen or imagined) interior world. The 

scene is impossible - this is cinema of 

fever-dreams and nostalgia, with 

echoes of Tarkovsky’s shots at their 

most foreboding. 

Contact: tomasz.laczny@gmail.com 

Flat 31, All Nations House, 2 Martello 

Street, London, E8 3PF, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 207 275 0733 

112 PANDORA’S BOX 

PANDORA’S BOX 

(Die Büchse der Pandora) 

With live musical accompaniment by Terry Ladlow 

Monday 12 March, 7.15pm 


Dir. G. W. Pabst Germany 1928 131 mins (PG) b/w 

Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Gustav Diessl 

Seductress Lulu is mistress to a rich Berlin society figure, Dr. Schön. Engaged to 

someone else and keen to avoid scandal, Schön wants rid of Lulu, yet it’s obvious 

that he loves her. Asked why he doesn’t simply marry Lulu instead, he replies, “One 

doesn’t marry that kind of woman; it would mean death…” Pandora’s Box is Lulu’s 

downward spiral, from keen admirers in opulent Berlin high society; to a squalid 

London encounter with Jack the Ripper. Built on the self-destructive charisma of star 

and character, it’s a daring, modern film about obsessive desire. Containing the first 

screen portrayal of an ‘out’ lesbian, it’s remarkable for its treatment of open 

sexuality, and was heavily cut, or ignored, on original release. It has since been hailed 

as a masterpiece. 

Casting his movie, German director Georg Wilhelm Pabst saw the perfect lead in the 

American Louise Brooks. By the mid-1920s, Brooks’ fascinating presence on camera 

and resultant status as iconic modern girl had been established in Hollywood studio 

pictures. Approached by Pabst to work in decadent Berlin, and always willing to take 

risks, Brooks became the only significant Hollywood star ever to go to Germany to 

work, rather than vice versa. More than any other of her few films, Pandora’s Box 

captures what would eventually turn her into an enduring cause célèbre. Using the 

then voguish close-up, Pabst found one of the very great silent star performances; 

smart, erotically charged, always hinting at hidden depths. Tom Vincent 

This screening will feature a restored print of Pandora’s Box, released to celebrate the 

centenary in 2006 of Louise Brooks’ birth. We are also delighted to welcome two 

special guests: silent film specialist Keith Withall, who will give a short introduction, 

and musician Terry Ladlow, who will accompany Pandora’s Box with a specially 

commissioned piano score. 

Print source: British Film Institute 

12th 

Annual Lumiere Lecture 

September 2007 

Traditional elegance in the heart of Bradford 

The Midland Hotel, with its wide sweeping staircases, high ornate ceilings and glittering 

chandeliers, has all the ambience of an era long ago. It’s a uniquely relaxing experience 

that will make even the shortest visit a memorable one. And, although our roots are in the 

past, our facilities are the finest the 21st century has to offer. 

In the Heart of Bradford 

Magnificent Public areas 

90 spacious bedrooms 

English & Continental restaurant 

Two Bars 

24 hour Room Service 

Forster Square Bradford West Yorkshire BD1 4HU Tel: 01274 735735 e-mail: info@midland-hotel-bradford.com

Special Guests 

KEN LOACH 


PATRICK KEILLER 

GODFREY REGGIO 

TRUDIE STYLER 

DAVID ARNOLD 

ALAN BENNETT 

DENIS DERCOURT 

TERENCE DAVIES 

EUAN LLOYD 

BOX OFFICE 0870 70 10 200

KEN LOACH 

A RETROSPECTIVE LOOK AT 40 YEARS IN FILM 

Ken Loach is one of the great pioneers of British cinema. 

Garlanded with awards since his debut in the 1960s, Loach retains a unique aesthetic and a socio-political 

conscience that remains undimmed by changes in the industry. His feature films – 21 of them between 1968 

(his debut with Poor Cow) and his most recent, The Wind That Shakes the Barley – are often crassly described 

as being realist in tone – a throwback to the British ‘social realism’ explosion of the 1960s that gave birth to 

Anderson, Richardson, Reisz and Schlesinger. 

116 SPECIAL GUESTS 

Yet Loach has always considered Poor Cow 

and Kes, which followed in 1970, as a 

response to that outpouring of gritty 

cinematic emotion; by then the mood had 

changed, anyway. Arriving beforehand was 

the devastating docudrama that was Cathy 

Come Home (1966) – a heartbreaking 

exposé of homelessness that led directly to 

the creation of the charity Shelter. 

Over the years he has slipped in and out of 

vogue – some might argue he was never 

‘in’ vogue in the first place – but it would 

be accurate to say he has never been out of 

favour among right-thinking cinephiles 

who understand and accept his particular 

dynamic and his frequent use of nonprofessional 

performers. His reputation as 

a champion of the oppressed and a 

staunch defender of civil rights, minorities 

and, significantly, the underdog, has been 

sturdily founded on an array of films, 

documentaries and television plays that 

pose awkward questions and provide a 

platform for debate. 

A fearless campaigner for causes close to 

his heart, Loach’s oeuvre contains hardhitting 

documentaries on the Labour 

movement, the plight of Liverpool’s dock 

workers and the British political system. As 

an avowed socialist in the Thatcherite 

1980s he found himself at odds with 

television’s policy makers and his films 

about the union movement, Questions of 

Leadership, were notoriously banned from 

being broadcast by Channel 4. 

Perhaps as a reaction Loach in the 1990s 

turned to dramas about contemporary 

British life and helmed a series of 

acclaimed feature films that firmly reestablished 

him as a force within 

international cinema. Over the last 16 

years the eclectic nature of his subject 

matter has seen him tackling illegal 

immigration and workers’ rights (Bread 

and Roses), the ideological backdrop to 

the Spanish Civil War (Land and 

Freedom), poverty and unemployment 

(Raining Stones), inter-racial romance 

(Ae Fond Kiss…) and the birth of the 

Republican movement in Ireland (The 

Wind That Shakes the Barley). 

Since Kes won a prize at Karlovy Vary in 

the former Czechoslovakia in 1970, 

almost all of Loach’s films have been 

selected for inclusion in Europe’s major 

festivals. In 2006 The Wind That Shakes 

the Barley was a popular and deserving 

choice of the Cannes Film Festival’s 

Palme d’Or – Loach’s first win after 

seven previous nominations. 

Now 70, Loach can reflect on a body of 

work that mirrors a closely-held social 

and political conscience. Yet he tends 

not to wallow in professional nostalgia, 

preferring instead to consider the next 

project on the horizon, saying, “It’s one 

game at a time. I tend not to look back 

too much or forward too much. I just 

make Saturday’s game the big one.” 

Allen Faulkner

BLACK JACK 



Dir. Ken Loach GB 1979 105 mins (adv 

PG) 

Jean Franval, Stephen Hirst, Louise 

Cooper, Andrew Bennett, Packie Byrne 

Leon Garfield’s novel about an 18th 

century highwayman who escapes the 

gallows, abducts a draper’s young 

apprentice and rescues a girl wrongly 

condemned to the lunatic asylum is 

transplanted from London and Surrey 

to North Yorkshire. Ken Loach, who 

adapted the book himself, adds to this 

authentic, pre-Industrial Revolution 

English landscape characters with a 

South Yorkshire dialect - which he had 

discovered 10 years earlier with Kes - to 

create a period drama not weighed 

down by heavy costumes or stilted 

dialogue. The film also features Jean 

Franval in the title role, the result of 

financial backing being promised by a 

French company as long as one of that 

country’s actors was the star and the 

film was aimed at a young audience. A 

slightly unfinished production, with a 

budget of just £500,000, Black Jack 

remains a curiosity in Loach’s CV - a 

children’s film rarely seen since its 

initial, limited release. 


With special thanks to Bill Shapter 

LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD 

Tuesday 13 March 


Dir. Ken Loach GB 1994 102 mins (18) 

Crissy Rock, Vladimir Vega, Sandie 

Lavelie, Mauricio Venegas, Ray 

Winstone, Claire Perkins, Jason Stracey, 

Luke Brown 

Maggie, the victim of abuse in 

childhood, has four children, by four 

different fathers in abusive 

relationships, all taken away by social 

services after one nearly dies in a fire. 

When she has two more with a gentle 

Paraguayan political refugee, they are 

also seized, apparently only because 

she is regarded as an ‘unfit’ mother. For 

once, there’s no room for humour in 

this tale of unrelenting misery and 

injustice, based on the real-life case of 

a London woman and scripted by Rona 

Munro. After giving up his search in the 

capital for a suitable actress to take 

the harrowing lead role, Ken Loach 

scoured Glasgow, Newcastle and 

Sheffield, before finding stand-up 

comedian Crissy Rock in Liverpool. It 

was another case of the director 

finding a performer whose own 

experiences collided with those of her 

character, Rock having grown up in 

poverty, suffering abuse from her 

grandfather as a child and being 

battered by her first husband. She won 

the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 

Berlin International Film Festival. 

RAINING STONES 




Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Gemma 

Phoenix, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey, 

Mike Fallon, Ronnie Ravey, Jonathan 

James 

Bob (Bruce Jones) is unemployed and 

struggling to supplement his income 

to support his wife and daughter. 

Partnered by his mate, Tommy (Ricky 

Tomlinson), he tries everything from 

sheep stealing to unblocking the 

church drains to raise money for his 

daughter’s communion dress. Working 

again with screenwriter Jim Allen, 

Raining Stones emerged as Loach’s best 

film for years, continuing a long and 

prize-laden career which included a 

Jury Prize at Cannes in 1993. 

‘Never anything less than masterly: 

Loach’s comic timing is exemplary.’ - 

Patricia Dobson, Screen International 

Print source: Pathé Distribution Ltd 

SCREENTALK: KEN LOACH 

In conversation with Anthony Hayward 

Monday 19 March 


We are delighted to welcome Ken Loach to Pictureville for this very special Screentalk 

interview. Ken is also the recipient of the 2007 BIFF Lifetime Achievement Award and 

the presentation will take at the conclusion of the event. Anthony Hayward is a 

journalist and the author of Whose Side Are You On Ken Loach and his Films 

(Bloomsbury). 

+ THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY 



Dir. Ken Loach France/Ireland/GB 2006 126 mins (15) 

Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Gerard Kearney, William Ruane 

In 1920s Ireland two brothers are driven to action by the forces of oppression as 

represented by the Black and Tans. As the rebellion gathers pace they find 

themselves divided - the war with the British becoming a civil war between rival Irish 

factions. Less a story of national conflict than a magnificent song of sorrow centred 

on the tragedy of two siblings, The Wind That Shakes the Barley demonstrates how 

violence can baptise and finally drown the human spirit even as ideology breaks free. 

It is apparent where Ken Loach’s sympathies lie when one sees British soldiers 

beating and killing ordinary folk. Yet Loach’s political conscience has always been 

perfectly clear; all this masterly historical drama does is hammer home his anger at 

the concept of occupying forces and his belief in the cause of working class guerrilla 

units fighting for freedom. The film rightly won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes 

Film Festival. 



118 SPECIAL GUESTS SPECIAL GUESTS 119

MY NAME IS JOE 




Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, David 

McKay, Anne-Marie Kennedy, David 

Hayman, Gary Lewis, Lorraine McIntosh, 

Scott Hannah 

Ken Loach’s films are typified by the 

incredible performances of his leading 

players and Peter Mullan’s explosive 

characterisation of the eponymous 

lead in My Name is Joe is as naked and 

revelatory as they come. After years on 

the bottle, living in one of Glasgow’s 

most depressed areas, Joe is trying 

hard to get his life in order, struggling 

to do the right thing, helping out the 

local kids and sinking immense energy 

into running the city’s worst youth 

football team. A chance meeting with 

independent-minded Sarah (Goodall), a 

dedicated health visitor, leads to a 

relationship that looks as if it might 

help to keep Joe on the straight and 

narrow. Once again Loach proves that 

when it comes to making real-looking 

films about real-ish lives there is 

nobody in this country, except perhaps 

Mike Leigh, who can come close to the 

disturbing, riveting authenticity of his 

movies. 


BREAD AND ROSES: 





Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia 

Carrillo, Jack McGee, Monica Rivas, 

Frankie Davila, Lillian Hurst 

Bread and Roses was a departure for 

Ken Loach, in that it was his first film 

shot in Los Angeles. Despite the shift of 

locale it still focuses on the problems 

of the working class – albeit with two 

actors who are now major stars. Maya 

is an illegal immigrant who joins her 

sister, Rosa. Rosa finds her work with 

her cleaning. She meets union 

organiser Sam who is campaigning to 

organise them and claim better terms. 

Loach seeks no easy answers. Adrien 

Brody plays Sam, a complex character, 

and hints at the power that he brought 

to his Oscar-winning performance in 

The Pianist. This version constitutes 

Loach’s own cut and is 15 minutes 

shorter than the ‘official’ studio 

release. 

Print source: Ken Loach/Sixteen Films Ltd 

CARLA’S SONG: 


Friday 23 March 


Dir. Ken Loach GB/Germany/Spain 1996 

106 mins (15) Some subtitles 

Robert Carlyle, Oyanka Cabezas, Scott 

Glenn, Salvador Espinoza, Louise 

Goodall, Richard Loza, Gary Lewis 

It is 1987 and Glaswegian bus driver 

George falls in love with Nicaraguan 

dancer and refugee Carla, who is 

traumatised by the war in her own 

country, where the democratically 

elected, revolutionary Sandinista 

government is fighting the US-backed 

Contra rebels. After the shock of her 

attempted suicide, George travels to 

Carla’s homeland with her to exorcise 

the painful demons of her past. Robert 

Carlyle plays George, in his second film 

for Ken Loach, and the difficult task of 

casting Carla was resolved by putting 

Nicaraguan dancer Oyanka Cabezas 

through a language course in London 

to develop her non-existent English. 

This was Loach’s first picture with 

writer Paul Laverty, a former lawyer 

who worked as a human rights 

monitor in Nicaragua at the height of 

the war and has since become the 

director’s regular collaborator. 

Criticised by some at the time for being 

a film of two uneven halves, Loach has 

recently cut 20 minutes from its 

original running time and this is the 

print featured at the festival. 

Print source: Ken Loach/Sixteen Films Ltd 

LAND AND FREEDOM 

Wednesday 14 March 


Dir. Ken Loach GB/Spain/Germany/Italy 

1995 109 mins (15) Some subtitles 

Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Icíar Bollaín, 

Tom Gilroy, Marc Martínez 

Liverpool, 1936. Fired up by stories of 

plucky rebels fighting Franco’s fascist 

forces, unemployed David Carr (Ian 

Hart) heads off to the Spanish Civil 

War and joins other Communists in a 

battle for ideals. A skillfully-delivered 

capsule history lesson, Land and 

Freedom is a raw anti-war movie that 

peels away the veneer of comradeship 

as in-fighting and treachery replace 

ideology and faith. Loach even makes 

space for an all-too-brief love affair 

between Hart and soulful Rosana 

Pastor, though political differences 

soon put paid to their romance. A 

companion piece to The Wind That 

Shakes the Barley, this is a moving 

document of a forgotten conflict - an 

immaculately staged and intelligently 

constructed recreation of a social 

revolution and the militarism that 

killed it. 

David Armstrong, 

San Francisco Examiner 

Print source: 

Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd 

KEN LOACH 

Born: 17 June 1936 

Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England 

Feature filmography 

1968 Poor Cow 

1970 Kes 

1971 Family Life 

1979 Black Jack 

1980 The Gamekeeper 

1981 Looks and Smiles 

1986 Fatherland 

1990 Riff-Raff 

1990 Hidden Agenda 

1993 Raining Stones 

1994 Ladybird Ladybird 

1995 Land and Freedom 

1996 Carla’s Song 

1998 My Name is Joe 

2000 Bread and Roses 

2001 The Navigators 

2002 Sweet Sixteen 

2002 11’09’’01 – September 11 (segment) 

2004 Ae Fond Kiss… 

2005 Tickets (segment) 

2006 The Wind That Shakes the Barley 

2007 These Times 


SPECIAL GUESTS 121


ON THE BOX 

Julie Andrews Fred Astaire Richard Attenborough Lauren Bacall Jack Benny Jacqueline 

Bisset Cate Blanchett Kenneth Branagh Jeff Bridges Pierce Brosnan Yul Brynner Sandra 

Bullock Richard Burton James Cagney Michael Caine Cher John Cleese Sean Connery Billy 

Connolly Kevin Costner Daniel Craig Bing Crosby Russell Crowe Tom Cruise Bette Davis 

Judi Dench Diana Dors Kirk Douglas Minnie Driver Clint Eastwood Edith Evans Gracie 

Fields Henry Fonda Stephen Fry Mel Gibson John Gielgud Hugh Grant Richard E. Grant 

Joyce Grenfell Alec Guinness Larry Hagman Tom Hanks Richard Harris Nigel Havers 

Goldie Hawn Nigel Hawthorne Charlton Heston Dustin Hoffman Bob Hope Anthony 

Hopkins Jane Horrocks John Hurt Burl Ives Samuel L. Jackson Gene Kelly Patsy Kensit 

Nicole Kidman Kevin Kline Hugh Laurie Jack Lemmon Jennifer Lopez Joanna Lumley Ewan 

McGregor Ian McKellen Shirley MacLaine Walter Matthau Sarah Miles Spike Milligan 

John Mills Helen Mirren Robert Mitchum Ron Moody Dudley Moore Morecambe and 

Wise Robert Morley Bill Nighy David Niven Pat O’Brien Peter O’Toole Michael Palin 

Anthony Quinn Diana Rigg Meg Ryan Peter Sellers Phil Silvers Maggie Smith Will Smith 

Kevin Spacey Timothy Spall Terence Stamp James Stewart Patrick Stewart Elaine Stritch 

Gloria Swanson Jacques Tati Shirley Temple Terry-Thomas Emma Thompson John 

Travolta Peter Ustinov Roger Vadim Julie Walters John Wayne Raquel Welch Orson Welles 

Emlyn Williams Esther Williams Kenneth Williams Robin Williams Bruce Willis Richard 

Wilson Oprah Winfrey Ray Winstone Shelley Winters Renee Zellweger 

Michael Parkinson once remarked that he wound up on television by falling over a drunk in a bar. The 

drunk turned out to be a TV producer who later offered him a job. Parkinson accepted. Now, almost four 

decades and xx shows later, the Parkinson brand has become the one most emulated by those who have 

followed in his wake. The Parkinson approach was never about ego. Instead the Barnsley-born former 

Fleet Street reporter used a winning combination of Yorkshire plain-speaking and disciplined journalistic 

ferreting to draw remarkable candour from some equally remarkable guests. The high standard of his 

interviewing proved that the chat show format didn’t merely exist in the States where hosts like Dick 

Cavett and Johnny Carson attracted stellar stars from the film and music industries. 

PARKINSON: 

RICHARD BURTON 


TV Heaven Viewing Room 

Dir. Colin Strong GB 1974 


With: Richard Burton 

By 1974 Richard Burton, a notorious 

drinker, was lucky to be alive. Given just 

three weeks to live while filming The 

Klansman in California, he was rushed to 

hospital, given massive blood 

transfusions and emerged looking 

haggard, pasty and older than his 49 

years. This interview had to be recorded 

during the afternoon for fear that Burton 

would be too inebriated by the evening. 

Accordingly, an audience of canteen 

workers in their white overalls was 

hastily convened. Burton apparently 

confessed afterwards that the view from 

the studio floor as he walked on made 

him think that the “men in white coats” 

had finally caught up with him. In this 

candid interview Burton reflects on his 

brush with death, discusses his 

relationship with La Taylor and delivers 

an impromptu impersonation of 

Laurence Olivier. 

PARKINSON: JAMES 

CAGNEY & PAT O’BRIEN 



Dir. Bruce Milliard GB 1981 


With: James Cagney, Pat O’Brien 

A special edition of the show in which 

Michael Parkinson talks to veteran 

Hollywood star James Cagney and his 

long-time friend and sometime co-star, 

Pat O’Brien. Good friends for 50 years, 

Cagney and O’Brien had become a 

recognised screen duo during the ‘30s 

and ‘40s, notably in Angels with Dirty 

Faces: Cagney played the gangster and 

O’Brien the childhood pal who eschews 

crime for the priesthood. In 1981, 20 

years after he ‘officially’ retired, Cagney 

returned to the screen in Milos 

Forman’s Ragtime. Among his co-stars 

was his old pal O’Brien. It was the last 

film for both of them. Parkinson 

explores their long friendship, their 

screen personas and discovers exactly 

why the 81-year-old Cagney returned 

to the screen and what he thought of 

celebrity. 

PARKINSON: 

ORSON WELLES 



Dir. Brian Whitehouse GB 1973 


With: Orson Welles 

The interview that started it all. When 

Parkinson secured an interview with 

Orson Welles in the 1970s it proved his 

chat show was a forum for in-depth 

explorations of legendary stars and 

intriguing icons. Parkinson himself has 

since revealed that the Welles 

interview led to agents calling his 

office, rather than the other way 

around. He remembers the interview 

fondly, claiming the sultan-like Welles 

insisted that he dispose of his list of 

questions beforehand, reassuring him: 

“We’ll talk”. 

PARKINSON: 

INGRID BERGMAN 



Dir. Unknown GB 1973 60 mins (adv PG) 

With: Ingrid Bergman, Joel Grey 

Beginning in 1971 Michael Parkinson soon 

had a reputation for interviewing icons 

from the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood. This 

episode with Ingrid Bergman illustrates 

the host’s characteristic warmth and 

British charm, which made Parkinson’s 

longevity inevitable. Bergman reflects on 

her 40-year career and there are clips 

from Casablanca and The Inn of the Sixth 

Happiness. 

PARKINSON: MEG RYAN 



Dir. Unknown GB 2003 60 mins (adv 12A) 

With: Meg Ryan, Shane Ritchie, Trinny 

Woodall, Susannah Constantine 

Throughout his career Michael Parkinson 

has generated his fair share of memorable 

television moments. Many interviews 

have been insightful, some heartwarming 

and others hilariously brilliant. 

However, his encounter with actress Meg 

Ryan, in the UK to publicise her new film 

In the Cut, will always be remembered for 

the awkward exchanges between 

interviewer and interviewee. Following 

the episode viewers were divided as to 

whether Ryan was behaving like a prima 

donna or whether Parkinson’s questions 

were unusually hostile. 

SCREENTALK: 


In conversation with Tony Earnshaw 



The doyen of British chat shows, Michael 

Parkinson has been a household name since 

the early 1970s. In almost 40 years there is 

barely a cinema icon he hasn’t persuaded to 

open up in the type of casual yet in-depth 

conversation for which he has become 

recognised. This Screentalk puts the boot 

firmly on the other foot, and Artistic Director 

Tony Earnshaw will explore the art of 

objective chat and the skills required to draw 

answers from a sometimes taciturn guest. 

122 SPECIAL GUESTS


URBANE SPACEMAN 

KEILLER x 5: 

SHORT FILMS 

(adv PG) 

Wednesday 14 March 2pm 


STONEBRIDGE PARK 1981 21 mins 

NORWOOD 1983 26 mins 

THE END 1986 11 mins 

VALTOS (THE VEIL) 1987 11 mins 

THE CLOUDS 1989 20 mins 

These increasingly sophisticated short 

films, climaxed in 1989 with The Clouds, a 

further topographical exploration 

combining another anxious fictional 

commentary with imagery derived from a 

journey across the north of England. This 

programme will also include the quasiscience-fictional 

Valtos and The End. They 

form a crucial bridge between Keiller's 

short-form and long-form ruminations. 

Print source: Lux; BFI (The Clouds) 


“I’ve been looking again at the films of Patrick Keiller. His masterpieces are London and 

Robinson in Space, both of which tour around the industrial wastelands of modern Britain 

and find poetry and insight there. Each frame could be a photo by Andreas Gursky, so great is 

the composition. He combines these images with a voice-over in which a narrator offers us 

his thoughts on modern life. These two [films] remind you that he’s one of the greatest 

auteurs in this country.” 

Alain de Botton, The Independent, August 18, 2006 

Patrick Keiller was born in Blackpool in 1950, and from 1967 to 1979 he studied and practised 

architecture. He then studied Fine Art at the Royal College of Art. He has been making films 

since 1981; his audio-visual installations were exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1982; and he 

exhibited in the British Art Show in 1990.) His commissions include the Arts Council, the 

British Film Institute, the BBC and Channel Four, and he is best known for his features London 

(1994) and Robinson in Space (1997; adapted and extended into book form in 1999). 

Patrick Keiller is an Arts and Humanities Research Board Fellow in the Creative and 

Performing Arts at the Royal College of Art with a project The City of the Future, which 

examines how the city, and our experience of it, evolved during the first hundred years or so 

of cinema. His most recent project is Londres/Bombay: Victoria Terminus at France’s National 

Studio for Contemporary Art in Le Fresnoy near Lille, a moving-image reconstruction of 

Mumbai/Bombay’s largest railway station. He has started preliminary work for a projected 

third Robinson film, to be provisionally entitled The Robinson Institute. Neil Young 

LONDON 

Sunday 11 March 10.15am Pictureville 

Dir. Patrick Keiller GB 1994 85 mins (U) 

Narrator: Paul Scofield 

Keiller’s first feature: quite literally, a “capital” venture... 

Keiller’s daringly simple and yet fulsomely written meta-documentary is composed of three 

fairly fundamental elements: footage of London shot in 1992, a rich spoken text of deep 

cynicism and literary wit, and the laconic oracular tones of Scofield, acting as the unnamed 

narrator. That’s it, but the assemblage is hypnotic, hilarious, and beguilingly close to 

redefining what a movie narrative is and isn’t. Strictly first-person, the narration tells the 

story of his sometimes sexual relationship with Robinson, an unseen and precociously 

romantic figure who hunts the eponymous city looking for meaning, which he finds lacking 

in the modern age. Keiller evokes a dense world of recurrences, historical connections, and 

patterns of force; what we see of London’s surfaces is framed as merely the charade under 

which the significances of public life hide. The economy, English literary history, the 

exploding horror of modern consumer culture, and the apparent social dysfunction 

responsible for the 1992 parliamentary elections are all grist for the two men’s mills, and 

Keiller’s ur-British piece of fiction is revelatory, possibly the most telling film made about 

that national sensibility since Ken Loach’s Family Life. Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice 

Print source: BFI 

SCREENTALK: 


In conversation with Neil Young 

Tuesday 13 March 8pm Cubby Broccoli Cinema 

+ ROBINSON IN SPACE 

Dir. Patrick Keiller GB 1997 82 mins (PG) Narrator: Paul Scofield 

Keiller’s crowning masterpiece - and arguably the finest British film of the 1990s. Keiller’s 

companion piece to London is a wonderfully erudite and amusingly anecdotal study charting 

the increasingly unknown space of present-day England. Robinson, now teaching in reduced 

circumstances at a language school in Reading, is invited by a well-known advertising agency to 

undertake a study of the “problem” of England. Robinson is interested in the way things look. 

He quotes Oscar Wilde: “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true 

mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible...” During his tour, Robinson visits factories, 

ports, distribution estates and heritage sites examining English anachronisms, culture, 

dilapidation and industrial economy. His digressions and insights are constantly juxtaposed 

with the images on screen, resulting in wry whimsy delivered with deadpan economy: “The 

only company in the world that makes latex sheeting suitable for fetishwear,” he informs us, “is 

based in Derbyshire.” As Robinson’s behaviour becomes increasingly unpredictable, the picture 

building up of England becomes ever more fractured and Kafkaesque. What ultimately emerges 

is an extraordinary and thought-provoking film essay. Monika Maurer, Kamera 

Print source: BFI 

THE DILAPIDATED DWELLING 

Tuesday 13 March 4pm Pictureville 

Dir. Patrick Keiller GB 2000 80 mins (adv PG) Narrator: Tilda Swinton 

A rare chance to see Keiller’s most recent feature length project: a meditative, polemical 

documentary commissioned - but never shown - by Channel Four. 

This elegant essay-film asks how the UK - the “most wired nation in Europe” - can also be 

the one with the oldest, most run-down houses. The Dilapidated Dwelling should be 

mandatory viewing for architects, urban planners and politicians: combining the 

detachment of Peter Greenaway with the cultural richness of architect Witold Rybcinski’s 

writing, former architect Keiller bears down on the decay of his home island both as a 

metaphor for modernism’s unfinished business and as a thoughtful call to arms. He does 

this via cool narration by Swinton, in the role of a researcher who has returned to England 

after a 20-year stint in the Arctic. Her beautifully written and read observations, set 

against meticulously composed landscape shots, are not cheerful, especially when 

compared with the pre-war optimism of futurists (seen in archival footage) who figured 

we’d all be living in cheap modular housing by now. But this is Keiller’s most urgent and 

accomplished effort. Ken Eisner, Variety 

Print source: Illuminations 

SPECIAL GUESTS 125

MASTERCLASS: 



PICTUREVILLE CINEMA 


THE IMAGE IS OUR LOCATION 

Your chance to learn about the art of filmmaking from a master of contemporary 

cinema. Godfrey Reggio’s skill in combining film and technology, sound and vision in 

an expression of global, environmental and political ideas will be of interest to 

creatives, campaigners, theorists and instructors alike. Before working in the film 

industry Reggio worked as a teacher and community activist and this session 

promises to be both practical and stimulating. 

Few directors of modern cinema have captured the tensions between nature and industrialisation, 

humans and animals, entertainment and education as effectively as the American filmmaker 

Godfrey Reggio. Over the course of 20 years, through what became known as the ‘Qatsi’ trilogy, 

Reggio and his team have trained their cameras across the post-modern global landscape to create 

an unforgettable portrait of a world that is shocking, disturbing, wretched and poignant. 


Born in New Orleans, Reggio spent the early 

part of his career in a Jesuit religious order. 

The silent contemplation central to such 

living would impact upon the more 

meditative aspects of his subsequent film 

work. After leaving the order Reggio served in 

the community with the juvenile street gangs 

of New Mexico where his social conscience 

and concern for the effects of environment 

on human experience was also strengthened. 

He also taught college and school classes. 

Reggio’s pedagogic work led to the 

foundation of the Institute of Regional 

Education, a location for arts, multimedia and 

community research; this was reprised later 

in his role as the first director of Benetton’s 

Fabrica Institute in Northern Italy. 

Reggio’s interests in the impact of technology 

on privacy and control developed at this time 

and were to drive his entry into the film 

world. The Qatsi project was inspired also by 

the writings of French theorists such as 

Jacques Ellul and Guy Debord who had earlier 

warned in their texts of the effect of 

industrial processes on the human psyche 

and the natural environment. Debord’s 

haunting thesis for example, repeated in his 

own 1973 film Society of the Spectacle, that 

‘everything that was directly lived has 

receded into a representation’ is expressed in 

contemporary visual form through Reggio’s 

oeuvre, where the film is part essay and part 

extravaganza. 

Reggio works without conventional scripts or 

screenplays, instead conducting a dramaturgy 

with each member of his team contributing 

their own creative talents. This team has 

included most notably the cinematographer 

Ron Fricke and composer Philip Glass. 

Through a powerful blend of vision and 

sound Fricke and Glass have articulated the 

movement and emotion of Reggio’s vision, 

equal partners in the rich text of the film. As 

the director has noted, “only collaborative 

energy could pull it off”. Glass’s score for 

Koyaanisqatsi has become, with good 

reason, one of best-loved cinematic 

soundscapes. Experience, for example, the 

climax, two-thirds into the film when the 

incessant screaming choruses, building to a 

crescendo, suddenly halt: the viewer is left 

literally breathless. Fricke’s sensibilities as a 

cameraman meanwhile, a master of the 

screen panorama, would later influence the 

development of widescreen processes such 

as IMAX. 

The Qatsi trilogy, and Reggio’s short works 

such as Evidence and Anima Mundi, remain 

particularly germane as they engage 

relentlessly with technology. Reggio both 

critiques and embraces technological 

developments; there is no simplistic 

condemnation of scientific advances, more a 

concern with the thoughtless application of 

such activities. His interactive online project 

IMAGINATION acts as a repository for debate 

about technology and the creation of new 

visual languages. 

Heavyweight producers/directors such as 

Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and 

Steven Soderbergh have recognised the 

power of Reggio’s style and lent valuable 

support, financial and moral, to ensure that 

this exceptional vision is realised. For once 

the adjective ‘unique’ is fully justified. 

Mark Goodall 

Godfrey Reggio 

Born: 1940 

New Orleans, USA 

Films as Director 

1983 Koyaanisqatsi 

1988 Powaqqatsi 

1992 Anima Mundi (doc, short) 

1995 Evidence (short) 

2002 Naqoyqatsi 

SCREENTALK: 


In conversation with Mark Goodall 



In a rare UK interview, Godfrey Reggio discusses his work as a filmmaker and 

pedagogue with Mark Goodall, academic, film historian and co-author of a 

forthcoming essay on his work. This is a special opportunity to meet one of the 

visionaries of cinema. Audience questions are welcomed. 

+ KOYAANISQATSI 

Dir. Godfrey Reggio USA 1983 87 mins (U ) 

The first film in Reggio’s ‘Qatsi’ trilogy is an astonishing work of art. The film is at the 

same time a visually stunning travelogue, a social critique, a head-trip and an avantgarde 

epic. The word koyaanisqatsi derives from the Hopi Indian language meaning 

‘crazy life’ or ‘life out of balance’ and the film proceeds to represent this vividly and 

intensely. The Hopi philosophy of man living in partnership with nature, illustrated 

by the beautiful opening shots of the natural world, is then shattered by a 

succession of devastating image portraits of Western (American) society in turmoil. 

Technology corrodes nature and the built environment shatters around the people. 

The tremendous success of the project was down to the combination of an amazing 

array of talents. Cinematographer Ron Fricke, inventor of his own widescreen 

process, went on to make the equally stunning Baraka and Chronos. Meanwhile the 

skill of composer Philip Glass in providing atmosphere transcends the work of most 

film scores. In Koyaanisqatsi, a film without words, the score provides the framework 

and narrative for the stunning images. Glass conceived the music for the film, in 

contrast to formulaic cinema and advertising, as “allowing the viewer time to think”. 

It is indeed virtually impossible to view this film and not reflect on the terror of an 

environmental catastrophe about to engulf all humanity. 

SPECIAL GUESTS 127

POWAQQATSI 

Thursday 22 March 8.15pm 


Dir. Godfrey Reggio USA 1988 

97 mins (U) 

NAQOYQATSI 

Friday 23 March 6.15pm 

Pictureville cinema 


89 mins ( adv PG) 

The second film in the ‘Qatsi’ trilogy 

moves away from the technological 

society and the gradual destruction of 

the developed world to the impact of 

globalisation on the developing world. 

The film juxtaposes images of ancient 

cultures with those of the modern 

world to illuminate the concept of ‘life 

in transformation’. As with the 

previous film, the dual edge of 

‘progress’ is examined, a visual culture 

clash, designed to show how the 

continents of the Southern hemisphere 

try to adapt western 

modern/postmodern techniques and 

processes. Although Reggio uses fewer 

special effects (time-lapse, extreme 

slow-motion) than in Koyaanisqatsi the 

effect is still profound: a record of the 

‘third world’ trying to ‘catch up’ with 

the ‘first world’. We know now of 

course that this race has become 

frantic, triggering the dire 

environmental effects that total global 

industrialisation threatens. In the end, 

the film is designed to affect western 

audiences, to provoke through the 

physical impact of spectacular cinema, 

a rethink of the foreign policy decisions 

of the world’s richest nations. Reggio 

has produced an unforgettable visual 

portrait of today’s world as 

prophesised from the past. 

+ EVIDENCE 

Dir. Godfrey Reggio USA/Italy 1995 

8 mins (adv PG ) 

Made as an inaugural film for the 

Benetton-backed arts school Fabrica (of 

which Reggio was a director), this 

haunting, powerful short depicts 

various intense, slow-motion close-ups 

of children’s faces. Their mesmerised 

and hypnotic expressions, as they seem 

to stare directly at the audience, are 

made more disturbing by the inclusion 

of Philip Glass’s brilliant saxophone-led 

minimalist piece Façades (originally 

written for a sequence in Koyaanisqatsi 

but cut from the final version). The 

viewer is puzzled as to what is 

capturing the children’s attention so 

dramatically. The cause is only revealed 

at the end of the film. 

The culmination of both Reggio’s 

‘Qatsi’ trilogy and of the director’s own 

visual sensuality and moral 

questioning, Naqoyqatsi (‘life as war’) 

is a kaleidoscope of pictures and ideas 

about the present and future ‘age of 

the image’. Reggio’s “re-animated look” 

is created by delving into images of 

advanced technology and digital 

manipulation, re-presenting the past 

as a vision of tomorrow. Unlike the 

previous components of the Qatsi 

trilogy, which relied heavily on location 

shooting, Naqoyqatsi was created 

exclusively with the tools of postproduction. 

Indeed the director’s 

instructed his team at the outset that 

“the image is our location”. The film 

presents a hyper-real, totally wired 

vision of the 21st Century, a world 

where technology has finally 

conquered every aspect of our lives: 

media, medicine, politics, nature and 

culture. Almost 80 per cent of the film 

is culled from a mesmerising hoard of 

stock footage, newsreels, and corporate 

videos, re-textured and “re-animated” 

with cutting edge digital software to 

shock and astound the viewer. In the 

first part of the trilogy Reggio mapped 

the natural landscape onto the 

computer microchip. Here, at the 

climax of a masterpiece of modern 

cinema, the microchip completes its 

inexorable, total control. Philip Glass’ 

haunting score is augmented by the 

cellist Yo-Yo Ma. 

+ ANIMA MUNDI 


30 mins ( adv PG ) 

Documentary 

Reggio’s unique aesthetic sensibilities 

are applied to a film experience of the 

living natural world as seen through 

the animal kingdom. Funded by the 

World Wildlife Fund and the Italian 

jewellers Bulgari, stunning images of 

the natural world are complemented 

by another of Philip Glass’s pulsating 

scores. In this short film Reggio’s 

concern for the preservation of the 

environment and call for diversity are 

writ large on the screen. The images 

were shot by Graham Berry, an expert 

on aerial cinematography, and the 

techniques have since been aped in 

film and television wildlife spectacles. 


SPECIAL GUESTS 129

TRUDIE STYLER 

DAVID ARNOLD 

SCREENTALK; 

TRUDIE STYLER 




Trudie Styler is an actress, film producer, director, environmentalist, human rights 

activist and Unicef Ambassador. 

Trudie’s film credits with her production company Xingu Films include the 

documentaries Boys from Brazil, IDA award-winning Moving the Mountain, awardwinning 

documentary on the making of a Walt Disney animation The Sweatbox 

which she co-directed and A Kind of Childhood. Feature film credits include The 

Grotesque, Guy Ritchie’s first two films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and 

Snatch (which she executive produced), Greenfingers, Cheeky; Alpha Male and a Guide 

to Recognizing your Saints. Commissioned by Glamour magazine, Trudie directed her 

first short film entitled Wait in the summer of 2005 in New York. The film stars Kerry 

Washington (to be seen in our BIFF preview Catch a Fire) and Debi Mazar. 

Trudie’s recent acting credits include a guest appearance in Friends, a major role in 

the ABC series Empire and the highly acclaimed BBC series Love Soup. Her most 

recent film roles include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Me without You, Cheeky 

and Alpha Male. 

In 1988 Trudie co-founded The Rainforest Foundation with husband Sting, and for 13 

years she has produced benefit concerts at Carnegie Hall, securing the talents and 

enthusiasm of some of the world’s most prestigious artists and raising $21 million 

for the cause. We are delighted to welcome Trudie to Bradford. Chris Flanders 

TRUDIE STYLER 

Films as producer 

1993 Boys from Brazil 

1995 Moving the Mountain 

1995 The Grotesque 

1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking 

Barrels 

2000 Snatch 

2000 Greenfingers 

2002 The Sweatbox 

2003 Cheeky 

2006 Alpha Male 

2006 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints 

DAVID ARNOLD 

Born: 27 February 1962 

Luton, England 

Selected filmography 

1993 The Young Americans 

1994 Stargate 

1996 Independence Day 

1997 Tomorrow Never Dies 

1999 The World is Not enough 

2000 Shaft 

2001 Zealander 

2002 Die Another Day 

2004 The Stepford Wives 

2005 Stoned 

2006 Amazing Grace 

2006 Venus 

2006 Casino Royale 

2007 Hot Fuzz 

SCREENTALK: DAVID ARNOLD 

In conversation with Duncan McGregor 


Picture Ville Cinema 

Hailed as one of the most successful young British composers, David Arnold began his 

film career making short films with fellow enthusiast Danny Cannon, teaching 

himself to write, orchestrate and compose the scores for their films. In 1993, he scored 

Cannon’s feature film debut The Young Americans, combining lush orchestration with 

Bjork’s vocals for the title song Play Dead, which earned critical and commercial 

success. He was then offered the opportunity to score Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi film, 

Stargate. 

Since then David Arnold has been recognised by the film industry as a talented and 

diverse composer, arranger and producer, whose scores include Shaft, Changing Lanes, 

2 Fast 2 Furious, The Stepford Wives and, most recently Roger Michell’s Venus, Edgar 

Wright’s Hot Fuzz and Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace – the latter receiving its UK 

Premiere as the opening night gala at this year’s Bradford International Film Festival. 

Winner of seven BMI Awards for his music for Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not 

Enough, Die Another Day, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla and 2 Fast 2 Furious, 

he also won a Grammy for Independence Day and recently won the Royal Television 

Society Award for the title music of the UK comedy series Little Britain. In addition, he 

won the Ivor Novello Award for the music for The World Is Not Enough. 

Away from the film world, David Arnold maintains a career as a successful record 

producer and songwriter, working with a wide range of contemporary artists 

including, among others, Pulp, Iggy Pop, George Michael and Damien Rice. 

An avid James Bond fan, in 1997 Arnold produced Shaken and Stirred, an album of 

James Bond film title songs that reached number 11 in the UK album chart. As 

composer for Casino Royale, Arnold collaborated with Chris Cornell to write the title 

song You Know My Name. We are delighted to welcome him to Bradford. Ben Eagle 


SPECIAL GUESTS 131

ALAN BENNETT 

A PRIVATE FUNCTION 



Dir. Malcolm Mowbray GB 1984 94 

mins (15) 

Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Denholm 

Elliott, Liz Smith, Pete Postlethwaite, Jim 

Carter, Richard Griffiths, Tony Haygarth, 

Alison Steadman 

Post-war in the depths of Yorkshire and 

a small village is preparing to celebrate 

the marriage of Princess Elizabeth. A 

struggling chiropodist and his wife are 

anxious to be involved in the social 

gathering. A superb script from Alan 

Bennett is redolent with biting satire. 

Partly filmed in Ben Rhydding and 

Ilkley, the comedy A Private Function 

features Alan Bennett’s first screenplay, 

set in ration-book Britain when people 

would go to any lengths for a pig. 

THE HISTORY BOYS 



Dir. Nicholas Hytner GB 2006 109 mins 

(15) 

Richard Griffiths, Samuel Anderson, 

Samuel Barnett, Stephen Campbell 

Moore, Clive Merrison, Frances de la 

Tour 

Adapted from Alan Bennett’s play, The 

History Boys is set in a northern boys’ 

grammar school during the Thatcher 

years. A group of A-level students are 

caught up in the opposing influences 

of their teachers. The headmaster 

(Merrison) wants his students to go on 

to Oxbridge and hires young history 

teacher Irwin (Moore) to help with 

their grades. In contrast the English 

teacher Hector (Griffiths) doesn’t 

believe in the value given to exam 

results and impresses the value of 

knowledge instead on the boys. The 

third influence is a fact-based 

approach from Mrs Lintott (de la Tour) 

who must put up with the maledominated 

environment. 

Photograph courtesy of Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd. 

SCREENTALK: 

ALAN BENNETT 



Alan Bennett first appeared on stage in 1960 with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and 

Jonathan Miller in the revue Beyond the Fringe. His stage plays are Forty Years On, 

Habeas Corpus, The Old Country, Getting On, Enjoy, Kafka’s Dick, An Englishman 

Abroad and A Question of Attribution, an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The 

Wind in the Willows, The Madness of George III, The Lady in the Van, and several of 

the monologues from the Talking Heads collection: A Chip in the Sugar, A Lady of 

Letters and A Woman of No Importance, Bed Among the Lentils and Soldiering On 

(which he also directed). 

His work for television includes A Day Out, Sunset Across the Bay, A Visit from Miss 

Prothero, Me, I’m Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Doris and Doreen, The Old Crowd, 

Afternoon Off, One Fine Day, All Day on the Sands, Intensive Care (in which he played 

the leading role), Our Winnie, Marks, Rolling Home, Say Something Happened, A 

Woman of No Importance, An Englishman Abroad, The Insurance Man, 102 

Boulevard Haussmann and two collections of Talking Heads monologues, the second 

of which won the South Bank Show Award for Best Drama. 

Bennett’s feature film credits include A Private Function, Prick Up Your Ears and The 

Madness of King George (which was nominated for two Academy Awards including 

Best Adapted Screenplay). A collection of his prose writing, Writing Home, was 

published by Faber and Faber in 1994 followed by the bestselling compendium, 

Untold Stories, in 2005. 

We are delighted to welcome him back to the Bradford International Film Festival – 

12 years after The Madness of King George opened the very first festival in 1995. 


SPECIAL GUESTS 133

Denis Dercourt has made a series of films that highlight his profession 

in music education, but equally are fascinating and enjoyable stories 

with a twist on traditional genres – the thriller, the road movie, family 

drama. He is a great developing European talent and a man Variety 

called “The Michael Winterbottom of France”. 


A RETROSPECTIVE 

THE FREELANCERS 

(Les Cachetonneurs) 



Dir. Denis Dercourt France 1998 91 mins (U) Subtitles 

Pierre Lacan, Henri Garcin, Marie-Christine Laurent 

Dercourt focuses on the dynamics of a group of musicians 

in this off-beat comedy. Roberto has finished one concert 

and is offered a good and financially lucrative concert for 

which he needs to bring together a group of musicians for a 

private concert on New Year’s Eve. He brings together six 

friends and gets the service of the famous conductor 

Svarowvski to bring them all together. Blending the talents 

and handling the foibles of these young musicians is no 

easy task. Already working with the themes of 

musicianship, Dercourt tackles the complications of a 

chamber piece with a group of actors playing off each other 

in gentle underplayed comedy. 

Print source: Les Films à un Dollar 

FLOATING WORLD (Ukiyo) 



Dir. Denis Dercourt France 2005 67 mins (U) 

Anna Nakai, Yasusuke Oura 

As she wanders around the attractions of Tokyo, a 19-yearold 

girl must make a life-altering decision. Shot on DV as 

part of a fellowship to Japan, Floating World is an 

exceptional study of a young woman as she wanders 

towards a major change in her life. 

‘After engaging micro-budget doodle The Move, delightful 

comedy-with-music The Freelancers, sin-and-redemption 

road movie Lise et André and intense family drama My 

Children are Different, this outing practically qualifies 

versatile helmer as the Michael Winterbottom of France.’ – 

Lisa Nesselson, Variety 

Print source: Denis Dercourt 


MY CHILDREN ARE DIFFERENT 

(Mes enfants ne sont pas comme les autres) 



Dir. Denis Dercourt France/Belgium 2003 86 mins (adv 12A) Subtitles 

Richard Berry, Mathieu Amalric, Elodie Peudepiece 

Widowed cellist Jean Debart is committed to ensuring that his two 

children stick to their musical education. But 17-year-old Adele, 

following her father in playing the cello, is starting to rebel and when 

she meets musician Thomas she grows further apart. Meanwhile 

Alexandre, 11, is dutifully following his father’s wishes and learning to 

play the piano. The family is complemented by grandfather Maître 

Erhardt, who is an orchestra conductor, and their uncle Gerald, a 

musician without ambition who finds work making background 

sounds. As Adele is preparing to take part in the most crucial musical 

contests, the stresses in the family start to mount. A stark and 

heartbreaking elegance gives this opus the intensely profound, almost 

chilling dimension of a baroque musical masterpiece. 

Print source: Roissy Films 

LISE ET ANDRÉ 



Dir. Denis Dercourt France 2000 87 mins (U) Subtitles 

Isabelle Candelier, Michel Duchaussoy, Aïssa Maïga 

Lise is a Parisian prostitute with a young son, Sebastien, who sings in 

the church’s children’s choir. He is injured in a car accident and falls 

into a coma. Still in a coma after three months, Lise is looking for any 

remedy. She turns to the elderly priest, André. Facing diminishing 

powers and faith he seeks solace in the choir. Lise starts to see 

salvation in the miracle of the virgin of Abbeville and decides that she 

and André must go on a pilgrimage to Abbeville, much against his 

wishes. Lise et André is an unusual road movie with two unlikely 

characters on a journey deeper into the wilderness of the French 

countryside as they leave Paris behind. Even with splendid 

performances from the two leads, it is the sublime musical soundtrack 

that haunts the film. . 

Print source: Les Films à un Dollar 

SCREENTALK: 


In conversation with Bill Lawrence 



The 13th Bradford International Film Festival is delighted to welcome French 

writer/director/musician Denis Dercourt to the National Media Museum. He will be 

conversation with Bill Lawrence, Head of Film. 

+ THE PAGE TURNER 

(La Tourneuse des pages) 



Dir. Denis Dercourt France 2006 85 mins (15) Subtitles 

Catherine Frot, Déborah François, Pascal Greggory, Xavier de Guillebon, Christine Citti, 

Clotilde Mollet, Jacques Bonnaffé, Anton Martynciow 

Screened in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, The Page Turner arrived in 

British cinemas after a successful tour of the summer festivals. A delicately told story 

of revenge served cold, The Page Turner is French cinema at its best. In a short 

prologue Mélanie, the daughter of a butcher, is practising assiduously for a piano 

exam. When she goes before the judges, she performs well until one of the judges, 

concert pianist Ariane Fouchecourt, is interrupted for an autograph. Mélanie loses 

her concentration, fails the examination and vows never to play the piano again. 

Some years later, the adult Mélanie arrives at the offices of prestigious attorney Jean 

Fouchecourt ready to impress him and his family. Dercourt’s Lise et André was one of 

the gems of the 7th Bradford Film Festival in 2001. His obvious talent then bears full 

fruit with his latest film. A music professor in France, Dercourt’s films blend classical 

music with perfectly nuanced performances. All are great, but Déborah François is 

outstanding as Mélanie in a performance of few words but every gesture and glance 

precisely judged. Last seen in L’Enfant, she is clearly a major talent. 

Print source: Artificial Eye Film Company 

SPECIAL GUESTS 135

Terence Davies is one of Britain’s greatest living filmmakers - a talent 

that can be rated alongside the great poets of cinema, Cocteau, Pasolini, 

Tarkovsky and Parajanov. We are pleased to welcome Terence Davies to 

the 13th Bradford International Film Festival to discuss his work to date. 

This season is presented in conjunction with the Cambridge Arts 

Cinema and the National Film Theatre. 


THE POET OF BRITISH CINEMA 

THE NEON BIBLE 



Dir. Terence Davies GB 1995 92 mins (15) 

Gena Rowlands, Diana Scarwid, Denis 

Leary, Jacob Tierney, Aaron Frisch, Bob 

Hannah, Leo Burmester 

‘This adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s 

novel returns to the concerns of Terence 

Davies’ acclaimed autobiographical work: 

the joys and agonies of family life; the 

onset of adulthood; the oppressive 

hypocrisy of organised religion. Here, 

however, instead of Liverpool, the setting 

is small-town Georgia in the ‘40s: life is 

quiet for young Tierney, son of struggling 

farmer Leary and hyper-sensitive Scarwid, 

until the sudden and not entirely 

unwelcome arrival of his aunt, a has-been 

but eternally optimistic nightclub singer 

whose devil-may-care ways sit awkwardly 

with the town’s conservatism. Though the 

writer/director is working abroad and 

telling a linear story, it’s immediately 

apparent - from the measured pacing, the 

immaculate compositions and elegant 

camera movements, the audacious 

ellipses and the inspired use of music - 

that this is a hallmarked Davies film. As 

such, it is extraordinarily moving, notably 

in a simple, underplayed death scene. 

Gena Rowlands’ performance is a marvel 

of subtle nuances.’ - Geoff Andrew, Time 

Out 

Print source: Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd 

THE HOUSE OF MIRTH 



Dir. Terence Davies GB 2000 135 mins (PG) 

Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Ackroyd, 

Anthony LaPaglia, Laura Linney, Eleanor 

Bron, Jodhi May, Elizabeth McGovern, 

Terry Kinney 

‘Terence Davies’ adaptation of Edith 

Wharton’s novel is a triumph which puts 

most recent screen versions of the 

classics to shame. It concerns a New York 

socialite beauty who ends in disgrace, 

despair, poverty and worse after she is 

wrongly rumoured to have had an affair 

with the philandering husband of one of 

her friends. Though period and place are 

sensitively evoked, Davies sidesteps 

superficial details to home in on both the 

cruel nuances of the wealthy set’s polite 

social rituals and the resultant suffering. 

It’s a marvellously elegant (but unflashy) 

film of faces in sombre close-up, an 

emotionally devastating study of 

injustice, enforced solitude, wasted 

opportunities and love never quite 

gratified. The casting is inspired, with 

Anderson, especially, repaying her 

director’s faith with an immaculate, 

unsentimental but immensely moving 

performance, while Davies’ writing, 

sense of pace, and customary honesty 

make for a film that profoundly affects 

both the heart and mind.’ - Geoff Andrew, 

Time Out 


TERENCE DAVIES – INFLUENCES 

The following trio of classic movies 

represents only a tiny fraction of the films 

that influenced Terence Davies in his 

career. We are delighted to present them 

as ‘Terence Davies’ choice’ during 

BIFF2007. 

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN 


Dirs. Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen USA 

1952 102 mins (U) 

Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds 

Terence Davies’ films are redolent with 

references to the golden age of 

Hollywood musicals, so it is no surprise 

that he should chose one of the best as a 

key influence. Magnificent set pieces and 

a stunning dance routine make this one 

of the most entertaining two hours of 

cinema ever made. 

THE LADYKILLERS 


Dir. Alexander Mackendrick GB 1955 

97 mins (U) 

Alec Guinness, Katie Johnson, Peter Sellers 

Criminal mastermind Professor Marcus 

moves his gang into a boarding house run 

by elderly Mrs. Wilberforce. As the heist 

gets closer, she stumbles on their plot, 

and they decide to kill her. A majestic, 

acerbic Ealing black comedy. 

KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS 


Dir. Robert Hamer GB 1949 106 mins (U) 

Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood 

Louis Mazzini is the son of the daughter 

of the wealthy and aristocratic D’Ascoyne 

family, cut off because she married, below 

her class. Obsessed with his rightful 

inheritance, he plots their deaths. 

Photo: Sarah Fitzgerald 


Born: 10 November, 1945 

Liverpool, England 

Filmography 

1976 Children 

1980 Madonna and Child 

1983 Death and Transfiguration 

1988 Distant Voices, Still Lives 

1992 The Long Day Closes 

1995 The Neon Bible 

2000 The House of Mirth 

THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: 


Saturday 17 March 2pm 


Davies discusses his career. 

SCREENTALK: TERENCE DAVIES 

In conversation with Bill Lawrence 



Terence Davies discusses his career as actor and filmmaker with the NMeM’s Head of 

Film, Bill Lawrence. The evening will include the presentation of the Festival’s 

Fellowship Award. 

+ DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES (new digital print) 

Dir. Terence Davies GB 1988 85 mins (15) 

Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams, Lorraine Ashbourne, 

Sally Davies 

‘Through a fragmented series of almost ritualistic gatherings drawn from his own 

family’s memories of the ‘40s and ‘50s, Davies paints a vivid picture of the painfully 

restrictive knots bound round a working class family by a stern, unforgiving patriarch 

who lords it over wife, son and daughters with mute menace and brute force. Music 

is crucial to Davies’ decidedly neo-realist method, partly as a self-protective strategy 

adopted by his downtrodden creatures. If this sounds unbearably cerebral or 

excruciatingly melancholy, fear not. It all looks superb, the largely unknown cast 

performs to perfection, and the entire movie works beautifully, both as an 

unprecedentedly honest, unpatronising account of British working class life, and as a 

tribute to the human spirit’s capacity to survive immense setbacks with dignity. 

Ambitious, intelligent, profoundly moving, it thrills with passion, integrity and 

imagination unseen in British cinema since Powell and Pressburger.’ - Geoff Andrew, 

Time Out 



SPECIAL GUESTS 137

EUAN LLOYD 

MAGNIFICENT SHOWMAN 

SCREENTALK: EUAN LLOYD 




Euan Lloyd 

Born: December 6 1923, Rugby, 

England 

Filmography 

(All credits as producer unless 

otherwise listed) 

1956 April in Portugal (short) (& dir) 

1959 Invitation to Monte Carlo (& dir, 

scr) 

1961 The Secret Ways (assoc prod) 

1965 Genghis Khan (assoc prod) 

1966 The Poppy is also a Flower 

1966 Murderer’s Row (co-prod) 

1968 Shalako 

1971 Catlow 

1973 A Man Called Noon 

1975 Paper Tiger 

1978 The Wild Geese 

1980 The Sea Wolves 

1982 Who Dares Wins 

1985 Wild Geese II 

Euan Lloyd broke into films as a sixteen-year-old in 1939, working as a trainee cinema 

manager. After wartime service with the Royal Armoured Corps he returned to work in the 

motion picture industry, acting as a publicist for J. Arthur Rank’s Eagle-Lion Distributors on 

such British classics as Olivier’s Henry V, This Happy Breed and The Way Ahead. By 1952, 

having gained experience in all areas of film exhibition, distribution and publicity he 

joined Warwick Film Productions as personal assistant to Irving Allen and Cubby Broccoli. 

In 1960 Lloyd was associate producer, with Richard Widmark, of The Secret Ways, and was 

closely involved with the making of The Guns of Navarone and The Victors. In 1967 he 

struck out as a fully independent producer with Shalako. Over the next ten years he turned 

out a string of movies including Catlow, with Yul Brynner, and Paper Tiger, with David 

Niven. His finest hour came in 1978 with the production of the mercenary epic The Wild 

Geese, which became his biggest hit. One of the most successful independent producers 

Britain has ever produced Euan Lloyd will reveal some of the sensitivities of working with 

mega stars, how films make their way from page to silver screen and why he was able to 

conclude so many deals on a smile and a handshake. We are delighted to welcome him 

back to the Bradford International Film Festival. 

+ SHALAKO (70mm) 

Dir. Edward Dmytryk GB/Ger 1968 113 mins (PG) 

Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Peter van Eyck 

Hardened Indian fighter Shalako finds himself embroiled in a new kind of conflict when 

Apaches attack a hunting party of effete European aristocrats. A star-studded 

adaptation of the Louis L’Amour novel, Shalako marked Sean Connery’s only appearance 

in a western. It also hinted at the style of Euan Lloyd’s future productions: big stars, big 

style and overflowing with action. There are some genuinely savage moments in 

Shalako, thus lending the film a level of credibility that was missing from other films of 

the period. Legend has it that Lloyd hocked his wife’s fur coat to help raise funding for 

his debut as producer. 

Print source: Canal Plus/NMPFT Archives 

Special thanks to John Herron 

138 SPECIAL GUESTS

The Widescreen Weekend welcomes all those fans of large format and 

widescreen films – CinemaScope, VistaVision, 70mm, Cinerama and 

Imax – and presents an array of past classics from the vaults of the 

National Media Museum. A weekend to wallow in the best of cinema.

HOW THE WEST WAS WON 



Dirs. Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall USA 1962 

162 mins (U) 

Debbie Reynolds, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, 

Carroll Baker, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, George Peppard 

There are westerns and then there are WESTERNS. How the 

West was Won is something very special on the deep curved 

Cinerama screen with 7-track stereo sound. Thanks to 

generous contributions from many of the film’s fans, we have 

been able to keep this excellent print going to present the 

best 3-strip Cinerama film ever made. A hit at the Widescreen 

Weekend year after year, we just can’t let this classic movie lie 

dormant. Bringing together three of the best Hollywood 

western directors, How the West was Won tells the story of 

the development of the West from a portrait of an 1830s 

pioneer family to the carnage of the American Civil War. The 

panoramic scenes across the three panels of the full curved 

screen are spectacular and the lift from Alfred Newman’s 

extraordinary score is exhilarating. Cinerama is the only way 

to see the film; everything else pales by comparison. 

How the West was Won is presented in a superbly well-preserved, 

vintage 3-strip print with a 7-channel stereo soundtrack. 

Print source: NMPFT Archives 

NEW TODD-AO PRINT 

THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR 

FLYING MACHINES 

or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes 

(70mm) 



Dir. Ken Annakin GB 1965 133 mins (U) 

Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert 

Morley, Gert Fröbe, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Irina Demick, Eric Sykes, 

Red Skelton, Terry-Thomas, Benny Hill, Yûjirô Ishihara, Flora 

Robson, Karl Michael Vogler, Sam Wanamaker, Eric Barker, 

Maurice Denham, Fred Emney, Gordon Jackson 

This is a film that created a genre, leading to It’s a Mad Mad 

Mad Mad World, the Smokey and the Bandit series and the 

Wacky Races to name just three imitators. It’s 1910 and the 

world is suddenly getting smaller. A newspaper baron 

sponsors a London to Paris air race and unleashes upon the 

world a wild range of aspiring but mad pilots all determined 

(by fair means or foul) to be the first to complete the flight 

in bizarre machines that may fly, but probably not for long. 

With a gem of a performance from Terry-Thomas, and 

cameos from Tony Hancock and Benny Hill, the humour is as 

strong as the mayhem. Surely time for a new print of this 

comedy classic. Director/co-writer Ken Annakin was a 

special guest at the 6th Bradford Film Festival in 2000. 

MAYERLING (70mm) 



Dir. Terence Young France/GB 1968 140 mins (PG) 

Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, 

James Robertson Justice, Geneviève Page 

It is the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The world is 

changing, and Archduke Rudolph (Sharif), the young son of 

Emperor Franz-Josef (Mason) finds himself desperately looking 

for a purpose. Depressed and powerless, he falls in love with 

the married Baroness Vetsera (Deneuve) and causes a royal 

scandal. After Dr Zhivago, Omar Sharif was a hot property and 

again is in an Eastern European role in this stunningly beautiful 

film shot by Henri Alekan. Director Terence Young also helmed 

another of this year’s WW offerings, Black Tights. 


BLACK TIGHTS (70mm) 

Sunday 18 March Pictureville Cinema 

Dir. Terence Young France 1960 130 mins (PG) 

Zizi Jeanmaire, Cyd Charisse, Roland Petit, Moira Shearer, 

Maurice Chevalier 

A very rare screening of this 70mm title from 1960. Before 

going on to direct Bond films (see our UK premiere of the 

new digital print of From Russia with Love), Terence Young 

delivered this French ballet film. Maurice Chevalier 

introduces four ballets performed by Roland Petit’s Les 

Ballets de Champs Elysees, and the dance routines are 

always impressively delivered by stars such as Cyd Charisse, 

Moira Shearer and Zizi Jeanmaire. With beautiful studio sets 

and a simple story, it’s the dance that counts. 


Print source: 20th Century Fox 

Special thanks to Schawn Belston 

140 WIDESCREEN WEEKEND WIDESCREEN WEEKEND 141

NEW TODD-AO PRINT 

CLEOPATRA (70mm) 



Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz GB/USA/Switzerland 1963 243 mins 

(PG) 

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown, 

George Cole, Hume Cronyn, Cesare Danova, Kenneth Haigh, 

Andrew Keir, Martin Landau, Roddy McDowell, Robert 

Stephens, Francesca Annis, Martin Benson, John Cairney, 

Michael Hordern, Marne Maitland, Richard O’Sullivan, Gwen 

Watford, Douglas Wilmer 

A magnificent spectacle with a majestic, multitudinous cast, 

Cleopatra is arguably the biggest, brashest, most sprawling 

historical epic in modern movie history. Famously begun by 

Rouben Mamoulian and then shelved due to the illness of 

star Elizabeth Taylor, the film was re-started with a different 

director (Joe Mankiewicz) and a new cast that saw Richard 

Burton replace Keith Baxter and Rex Harrison take over from 

Peter Finch. The resulting motion picture is one of the alltime 

costume extravaganzas – a gigantic, OTT slice of 

Hollywoodery with the added sparkle of witnessing the 

Taylor/Burton dalliance explode into a full-blown love affair. 

Based on Carlo Mario Franzero’s biography, Cleopatra is more 

than just a lavish blockbuster; it is an example of runaway 

filmmaking at its most uncontrolled. 

SHALAKO (70mm) 

+ Euan Lloyd (producer) in person 



Dir. Edward Dmytryk GB/Germany 1968 113 mins (PG) 

Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, 

Peter van Eyck, Honor Blackman, Woody Strode, Eric Sykes, 

Alexander Knox, Valerie French 

Hardened Indian fighter Shalako finds himself embroiled in 

a new kind of conflict when Apaches attack a hunting party 

of effete European aristocrats. A star-studded adaptation of 

the Louis L’Amour novel, Shalako marked Sean Connery’s only 

appearance in a western. It also hinted at the style of Euan 

Lloyd’s future productions: big stars, big style and 

overflowing with action. There are some genuinely savage 

moments in Shalako, thus lending the film a level of 

credibility that was missing from other films of the period. 

Legend has it that Lloyd hocked his wife’s fur coat to help 

raise funding for his debut as producer. 

We are delighted to welcome Euan Lloyd back to the Festival to 

discuss the making of Shalako – his first project as an 

independent producer. 

Print source: Canal Plus/NMPFT Archives 

Special thanks to John Herron 

TITANIC (70mm) 



Dir. James Cameron USA 1997 193 mins (12) 

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates 

Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, David 

Warner, Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, Suzy Amis 

Ten years on from its American release and by far the biggest 

film of all time, Titanic is still one of the best reasons this 

year to go to the movies, especially with the enhancement of 

the digital sound experience in Pictureville Cinema and the 

inadequacies of the film’s video version. James Cameron’s 

epic was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11 including best 

picture, best director and best cinematography. It deserved 

them all, though the stand-out performance by Gloria Stuart, 

as the aged heroine of 1912, was overlooked. She was 87 at 

the time of her nomination; now 97, she still makes the 

occasional appearance in movies. 


INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST 

CRUSADE (70mm) 



Dir. Steven Spielberg USA 1989 127 mins (PG) 

Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody, 

John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, Michael Byrne 

Steven Spielberg pulled off a stroke of genius by casting 

Sean Connery as Indiana Jones’s crusty old dad. Connery 

steals the film – a tough call when the plotline has Indy 

criss-crossing the globe in search of the Holy Grail. 

Arguably the best of the series, Indiana Jones and the Last 

Crusade combines Arthurian myth with the 1930s Nazi 

milieu that made the first film so atmospheric. There is 

genuine chemistry between the two leads, Denholm Elliott 

supplies the comedy and Alison Doody makes for a suitably 

icy femme fatale. It is the setpieces, though, that remain in 

the memory: an aerial escape from a zeppelin, a whiteknuckle 

tank chase and the final challenges of the film’s 

last reel – “Only a penitent man will pass”. Superb. 


Special thanks to Schawn Belston 

142 WIDESCREEN WEEKEND WIDESCREEN WEEKEND 143

CASINO ROYALE 

+ David Arnold 

(composer) in person 

Thursday 15 March Pictureville 

Cinema 

Dir. Martin Campbell 

USA/Germany/GB/Czech Republic 

2006 144 mins (12A) 

Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads 

Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright 

Casino Royale brings the James Bond franchise back to life 

with a new lead and a new style. Back to basics and close to 

the original text of the first book in the series, Casino Royale 

is a breath of fresh air and that rare thing, a critical and 

audience hit. Daniel Craig proves his worth in the lead as 

Bond is on the trail of Le Chiffre whom he must defeat in a 

high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. 

This is the nastier side of Bond, evident in the first film, and a 

thrilling piece of filmmaking. We are delighted to welcome 

David Arnold to introduce the film and talk about writing 

music for such a classic series in the footsteps of John Barry. 

Print source: Sony Releasing 

THIS IS CINERAMA 

(3-Strip Cinerama) 



Dirs. Merian C. Cooper, Michael Todd, Fred Rickey USA 

1952 120 mins (U) 

This is Cinerama attracts devotees and the curious alike, not 

least writer Bill Bryson who described the experience in 

Notes from a Small Island as ‘amongst the most enjoyable 

three hours of my life’. Showing on three projectors in 

Pictureville Cinema, the world’s only Cinerama theatre, the 

film still offers a giddy, white-knuckle ride, and is about as 

fun a piece of Americana as you are ever likely to see. This is 

the original Cinerama feature which launched the 

widescreen era, here presented in the original three-strip 

format with seven-track stereo sound. There is no narrative, 

merely a variety of ‘attractions’: the famous rollercoaster 

ride is followed by a series of musical and travelogue 

episodes culminating in an aerial tour of America. More 

than a technological curio, it’s a document of its era. 


CINEMA THEATRES ASSOCIATION 

with Richard Gray 

Saturday 17 March, 3.15pm 


Following 2005’s introduction to the work of The Projected 

Picture Trust by Dion Hanson, we are delighted to welcome 

Richard Gray to talk about the work of the Cinema Theatre 

Association. The CTA was set up in 1967 by journalist Eric 

George, who wished to see more attention paid to the 

magnificent movie palaces of the 1920s and ‘30s, which 

were then starting to disappear from Britain’s towns and 

cities. Since then the CTA has widened its horizons to 

encompass the study of all cinema buildings, live theatres, 

music halls and those entertainment centres now used for 

bingo or other purposes. All aspects of cinemas and theatres 

are studied including architecture, decoration, film projection 

and stage facilities. Consideration is given to their study in 

terms of the history of entertainment, social history, 

industrial archaeology and architectural history. 

CINERAMA ADVENTURE 

With an introduction 

by David Strohmaier 



Dir. David Strohmaier USA 2001 100 mins (adv U) 

With: Carroll Baker, Debbie Reynolds, Russ Tamblyn, Eli Wallach 

KEEPERS OF THE FRAME 

With an introduction 

by Randy Gitsch 



Dir. Mark McLaughlin USA 1999 70 mins (adv U) 

With: Alan Alda, Stan Brakhage, Roddy McDowell, 

Debbie Reynolds 

Keepers of the Frame was the first filmed documentary to 

examine in-depth the history, science and struggles of those 

committed to film preservation. It witnesses artists and 

technicians passionately preserving our filmed heritage. 

Their story is an adventure, rife with discoveries of lost 

treasures. 

Print source: Randy Gitsch 

CINERAMACANA 

Sunday 18 March, 10am 


One of the most popular events of the Widescreen Weekend 

and a great way to wake up on a Sunday morning, 

Cineramacana brings together all those little bits and pieces 

that lie around in people’s cupboards or on dusty shelves in 

archives and seldom see the light of a projector. Over the 

years there have been some magical discoveries and nobody 

knows what will be shown until the event itself. Even then 

there is the occasional surprise. 

A labour of love and dedication, Dave Strohmaier’s 

documentary tells the extraordinary story of Cinerama 

through the eyes of those involved in developing the process. 

From the development of the system to Cinerama’s finest 

achievement How the West Was Won, this is the finest 

tribute to one of cinema’s greatest technical achievements. 

Complete with newly re-printed elements, Cinerama 

Adventure is a must for all those who have ever seen and 

wondered at the 3-projector magnificence that is Cinerama. 

Print source: David Strohmaier 

And there will just be time for the traditional photograph on 

stage of all the WW delegates. 

144 WIDESCREEN WEEKEND 

WIDESCREEN WEEKEND 145

Spellman Walker Ltd. are delighted and 

extremely proud to be associated with 

The National Media Museum. 

In particular, as printers and sponsors of 

this catalogue, we wish this, the 13th 

Bradford Film Festival, every success. 

Graphica House, Chase Way, Bradford BD5 8SW 

Tel: 01274 722555 

Fax: 01274 722333 

email: info@spellman.co.uk 

Web: www.spellman.co.uk 

TV Heaven 

The Robert Horne Group are delighted to be working in association with Spellman & Walker Ltd to 

support the National Media Museum Film Festival 

Because we all have to make choices: 

We are all well aware that the choices we make can have a dramatic effect on our 

environment and natural resources, but we are also aware that unless we provide 

viable, no-compromise alternatives people will struggle to make the right choices. 

Established for over 80 years, the Robert Horne Group is able to offer one of the most 

comprehensive Environmental Paper and Board portfolios. 

We believe people who want to address environmental issues deserve all the support 

we can give them. As the UK's leading paper, board and plastics merchant the 

Robert Horne Group are committed to doing just that. 

TV Heaven is a collection of more than 900 classic television 

programmes from the last 60 years of British broadcasting 

history, all of which can be viewed free of charge on our 

custom-built viewing gallery, the only facility of its kind in the 

UK. From Dennis Potter to Monty Python, Seven Up to Animal 

Magic, TV Heaven holds the very best in memorable dramas, 

classic comedies, hard-hitting documentaries and nostalgic 

children’s shows, and above all reflects and celebrates the rich 

diversity of British television programming. 

Now located in the Experience TV Gallery on Level 3, TV 

Heaven’s private booths can accommodate between two and 

five people, while our re-modelled 39-seat Viewing Room is 

ideal for larger group bookings and educational visits. Booking 

is not necessary but is advisable at busy times. 

All titles showing during BIFF2007 will begin at 2pm in the TV 

Heaven Viewing Room except where stated. 

www.roberthorne.co.uk 

146 BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

A DAY OUT 



Dir. Stephen Frears GB 1972 60 mins (adv U) 

David Waller, James Cossins, John Normington, Philip Locke, 

David Hill, Brian Glover, Paul Shane 

Chronicling a day in the life of a Halifax cycling club in 1911, 

A Day Out was not only Alan Bennett’s first television play 

but his first exercise in writing in a ‘northern’ dialogue, the 

style for which he became so well known. The play also 

marked the writer’s first collaboration with director Stephen 

Frears, who would go on to direct and/or produce the 

majority of Bennett’s television work for the next decade. 

Featuring a mixture of professional actors and locals, A Day 

Out allows us to listen into the conversations of the cycling 

group and glean a brief insight into their lives, relationships, 

hopes, reflections and the freedom that these days out 

afford them. 

ME! I’M AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF 



Dir. Stephen Frears GB 1978 70 mins (adv PG) 

Alan Bennett, Neville Smith, Carol McCready, Thora Hird, 

Derek Thompson and Alan Bennett as the narrator 

Painfully shy and self-effacing English lecturer Trevor 

Hopkins (Smith) lives in fear of his actions being 

misinterpreted and longs to be as unselfconscious as his 

girlfriend, mother and students. Me! I’m Afraid of Virginia 

Woolf was the first play to be televised in the LWT series By 

Alan Bennett – Six Plays, and is filled with the writer’s 

amusing observations on the quirkier side of human nature 

and his recurring preoccupation with shyness, loneliness and 

alienation. The play was partly shot in and around Leeds, 

although the play’s fictional location is never specified. 

148 TV HEAVEN 

AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD 



Dir: John Schlesinger GB 1983 65 mins (adv PG) 

Coral Browne, Alan Bates, Charles Gray, Harold Innocent, 

Douglas Reith, Peter Chelsom, Alexei Jawdokimov, Roger 

Hammond, Trevor Baxter, Vernon Dobtcheff 

Scripted by Alan Bennett and directed by John (Billy Liar) 

Schlesinger, An Englishman Abroad is the true story of a 

meeting in 1950s Moscow between the actress Coral Browne 

(playing herself) and the exiled British traitor, Guy Burgess 

(Alan Bates). The play won a deserved BAFTA Award for Best 

Single Drama in 1984, and recently came fifth in the British 

Film Institute’s poll of the best single television dramas of all 

time – not surprising considering the wealth of talent involved 

at all levels of the production. As filming in the USSR was 

impossible, Schlesinger and his team were forced to fashion a 

surprisingly convincing 1950s Moscow… from contemporary 

Dundee. 

TALKING HEADS: 

A CREAM CRACKER UNDER THE 

SETTEE 

Friday 16 March, 2.50pm 


Dir. Stuart Burge GB 1988 30 mins (adv PG) 

Thora Hird 

The adage goes that “talking heads” make bad television, but 

these superbly crafted and acted monologues argue 

otherwise. Poignant, sometimes sad and occasionally uplifting, 

the Talking Heads series showcased Alan Bennett’s powers of 

observation, comic timing and exquisite turn of phrase, and 

attracted some of Britain’s finest actors, including Patricia 

Routledge, Julie Walters, Anna Massey, Stephanie Cole, Maggie 

Smith and even Bennett himself in the segment A Chip in the 

Sugar. In A Cream Cracker Under the Settee, Thora Hird stars as 

Doris, an old lady coming to the end of her life, too scared and 

too proud to ask for help from outside agencies. Obsessed 

with cleaning, she falls and breaks her hip while dusting, and 

from her position on the floor, she muses on life with her 

husband and the future she faces. 

THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: 

ALAN BENNETT 



Dir. David Hinton GB 1984 50 mins (adv PG) 

With: Alan Bennett, Melvyn Bragg 

An entertaining episode of the long-running arts series, full 

of Alan Bennett’s gentle but sly humour. The documentary 

takes an on-location look behind the scenes of Bennett’s film 

A Private Function, while the man himself discusses his work 

for film, television and theatre, as well as his life-long 

relationship with Leeds. 

HOME JAMES 



Dir. Patrick Boyle GB 1972 55 mins (U) 

With: James Mason 

James Mason is best known for working alongside some of 

Hollywood’s biggest stars and directors, among them Alfred 

Hitchcock, Marlon Brando, Nicholas Ray, Cary Grant, Stanley 

Kubrick and Judy Garland. In this intimate documentary, 

Mason’s co-stars are a little more down to earth when he 

returns to his home town of Huddersfield, talks to the locals 

and listens to the town’s male voice choir. Home James is a 

wonderful example of regional programming made 

specifically for local viewers by Yorkshire Television. 

THE MAKING OF A BLOCKBUSTER 



Dir. Jane Dickson GB 1999 95 mins (adv PG) 

With: David Arnold, Peter Lamont, Vic Armstrong, Michael 

Apted, Michael G. Wilson, Robert Wade, Neil Purves, Simon 

Crane 

This Channel 4 documentary follows the pre-production, 

shooting and post-production of the 19th James Bond film 

The World is Not Enough (1999), which took $37 million 

during its opening weekend in America alone. Made as an 

educational programme, The Making of a Blockbuster was 

originally aimed at GCSE/A-Level media students, but is of 

great interest to anyone who has ever watched a big-budget 

blockbuster. It looks at the formulation of the Bond genre as 

well as the shooting process, set design, stunts, green-screen 

effects, location shooting, editing, soundtrack, and marketing 

that all go into creating the high-octane world of 007. 

THE LOST CITY 



Prod. Richard Cawston GB 1958 45 mins (adv U) 

With: J.B. Priestley, Jacquetta Hawkes 

When novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley expressed concern 

about the state of Bradford in the 1950s he made many 

enemies in his home city. In this fascinating BBC 

documentary, he returns to talk about how his birthplace has 

changed and to express his loyalty to a city he loves. A 

fascinating portrait of both Priestley’s early life and the 

evolution of Bradford itself. 

TV HEAVEN 149

OMNIBUS: 

SONG OF SUMMER 



Dir. Ken Russell GB 1968 80 mins (adv U) 

Max Adrian, Maureen Prior, Christopher Gable, David Collings, 

Geraldine Sherman, Elizabeth Ercy. 

Director Ken Russell had already become well known for his 

1962 Monitor film about Edward Elgar before he went on to 

direct Song of Summer, Dante’s Inferno (with Oliver Reed, 

1967), and a film about the composer Richard Strauss (1970) 

for the BBC’s Omnibus series. Song of Summer looks at the 

later life of Bradford-born composer Frederick Delius (1862- 

1934), and how Eric Fenby, a gifted young Scarborough pianist 

and organist, helped him to compose when he became blind 

and paralysed. Both moving and humorous, the film naturally 

makes great use of Delius’ evocative music and Fenby himself 

(who co-wrote the script with Russell) believed that the film - 

based on his book Delius as I Knew Him - was very true to life. 

SHADES OF GREENE: 

THE OVERNIGHT BAG 

Sunday 18 March, 3.25pm 


Dir. Peter Hammond GB 1975 15 mins (adv PG) 

Tim Brooke-Taylor, Eleanor Summerfield, Dudley Sutton, Joyce 

Carey, Diana Berriman, Daphne Lawson, Neville Phillips 

The Goodies’ Tim Brooke-Taylor plays Henry, a seemingly mildmannered 

(if somewhat secretive) man determined to get his 

bag past curious plane passengers and Heathrow Customs, in 

this sinister episode from the Shades of Greene series of 

Graham Greene adaptations. 


DREAM OF A STRANGE LAND 

Sunday 18 March, 2.50pm 


Dir. Peter Hammond GB 1975 35 mins (adv PG) 

Niall MacGinnis, Ian Hendry, Graham Crowden, Esmond Knight, 

Richard Heffer, Michael Petrovitch 

OTHER TV HEAVEN SCREENINGS IN 

MARCH… 

FIRST TUESDAY: 

THE FALKLANDS WAR 

- THE UNTOLD STORY 

Thursday 8 March, 6.30pm 


Dir. Peter Kosminsky GB 1983 105 mins (adv 12A) 

Using archive footage and testimonies from both British and 

Argentinean civilians and military personnel, this provocative 

and deeply moving documentary was criticised by the British 

Government in 1983 for its sympathetic portrayal of 

Argentinean involvement in the Falklands conflict. Join TV 

Heaven staff for an introduction and screening of this 

memorable film. 

BRITISH ANIMATED CLASSICS 

Friday 23 March, 12.00 


Dirs. Mark Baker, Paul Berry, 

Barry Purves GB 1991/93 35 mins (adv PG) 

A TV Heaven screening of a selection of Britain’s finest 

animations, including The Village, Mark Baker’s tale of murder 

and hypocrisy in an enclosed community; The Sandman, Paul 

Berry’s sinister re-working of a childhood myth; and Barry 

Purves’ exquisite Japanese love story, Screenplay. 


WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK 



Dir. Alan Cooke GB 1975 50 mins (adv PG) 

Paul Scofield, Roy Kinnear, Annette Robertson, Derek Smith, 

Terence Budd, Stella Tanner, Frank Thornton 

Another of the excellent Thames Television adaptations of 

Graham Greene’s short stories in which a distinguished doctor 

rejects his patient’s unlawful request to keep his disease a 

secret, only to have a difficult decision to make when an old 

military friend arrives at his office. 

Adapted from Graham Greene’s short stories, the 1975 

Shades of Greene anthology featured some of Britain’s best 

actors and writers. In this episode, Paul Scofield stars as Mr. 

Fennick, a con man responsible for selling degrees from 

Oxford ‘college’ through the post. His successful business is 

soon under threat, however, when Lord Driver (Roy Kinnear) 

enrols his son. 

150 TV HEAVEN 

TV HEAVEN 151

The Shine Award 

TREADING THE BORDERS YET PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES 

THE SHINE SHORT FILM AWARD 



Inaugurated in 1998, Shine is the short film platform in the 

Bradford International Film Festival. This forum showcases 

the six films short-listed for the Shine Award - our 

competition for best international film. Works featured in 

competition are selected from hundreds of entries 

submitted to the festival each year. 

The focus of the Shine Award is to honour the best short by 

an emerging director, and to support innovation and 

originality. 

The Shine Jury – critic James Cameron-Wilson, director Jack 

Gold, film lecturer Liz Rymer, producer David Lascelles and 

BIFF international consultant Neil Young - will select the 

winning film from the short list during the opening weekend 

of BIFF2007. The presentation will take place on Saturday 23 

March in Cubby Broccoli Cinema. 

THE SHINE SHORT LIST: 

MIRAMAR STREET 

Dir. Jon Garaño Spain 2006 8 mins (adv PG) Some subtitles 

Fele Tunaya, Ana Martinez, Adam Sanjurjo 

San Diego, California. A Spanish taxi driver in picks up a 

passenger who asks to be taken to an address in Miramar 

Street. In an instant the driver’s world is changed forever. A 

delicious little passion play with a sting in the tail. 

Contact: miramar_st@yahoo.es 

Kale Nagusia, 41, 2-EZK, Astigarraga, Spain, 20115 

Tel: 00 34 65 77 32 888 

MORTEM COMPANY 

Dir. Stéfan Le Lay France 2006 20 mins (adv PG) Subtitles 

Loïc Fourniaud, Artus de Penguern, Mathilde Mottier, 

Guillaume de Tonquédec 

Narrating the story, Bruno is proud of his father’s unusual job 

and becomes very excited when he is finally taken to visit his 

place of work. But an incident on the way precipitates a 

series of events that begin to affect their lifestyle and 

eventually Bruno’s life. 

Contact: varech@free.fr 

Stéfan Le Lay 

21 rue de Pont-Menou, Ploueragt-guerrand, 29620, France 

Tel: 00 33 6 61 61 09 73 

PRIVATE LIFE 

Dir. Abbé Robinson GB 2006 15 mins 49 secs (adv 12A) 

Lucy Lieman, Jana Carpenter, Toby Sawyer, Andy Henderson, 

David Westbrook 

One Friday afternoon, a single twentysomething woman 

leaves her mundane job in a 1950s textile mill and takes the 

train to Manchester to meet up with a man. But all is not 

what it appears… 

Contact: mad_cat_films@yahoo.com 

Maria Pavlou 

Mad Cat Films Ltd 

37-39 Milton Road, Branton, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN3 

3NX, United Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7733 223 439 

THE RED BALLOON 

Dir. Michael Olesen USA 2005 3 mins 14 secs (adv U) 

Aidan Gould, Pedro Miguel Arce 

Enlisting the assistance of a balloon vendor, a young boy 

sends a birthday wish to his Mom – in the only way he knows 

how. A poignant, pocket-sized poem. 

Contact: hollywoodmichael@hotmail.com 

www.MichaelOlesen.com 

TALK TO ME 

Dir. Mark Craig GB 2006 22 mins 45 secs (adv PG) 

A beautiful, poignant and tremendously affecting 

autobiographical documentary in words and pictures based 

on 20 years of answer machine messages. The voices of old 

friends, former loves and relatives combine to create a moving 

memento mori as filmmaker Mark Craig revisits his past with 

the assistance of Ken Morse, the doyen of British rostrum 

cameramen. 

Contact: stopwatch@btconnect.com 

Stopwatch Productions 

39 Lushington Road, Kensall Green, London, NW10 5UX, United 

Kingdom 

Tel: 00 44 (0)7973 327 026 

www.talktome.org.uk 

THE WAY WE PLAYED 

(Kako smo se igrali) 

Dir. Samir Mehanovic GB 2005 13 mins 18 secs (adv PG) 

Subtitles 

Almir Mehanovic, Eldar Zubcevic 

Kosovo, 1992. Oblivious to the growing conflict that will soon 

engulf their country, two boys search for hidden treasure in an 

abandoned hill fort. Instead they unearth a gun. Their country 

is about to be plunged into civil war – and their lives will 

change forever. 

152 SHINE SHORTS 

SHINE SHORTS 153

‘Anyone can jump out of a plane 

without a parachute. The clever 

thing is being able to do it twice’ 

Roy Alon, 1978 

Exhibition: Roy Alon 

THE WORLD’S MOST PROLIFIC STUNTMAN 

ROY ALON – THE WORLD’S MOST 

PROLIFIC STUNTMAN 

Spring 2007 

Pictureville Bar 

Between his debut in 1968 and his death in January 

2006, Yorkshire-born Roy Alon racked up more than 

1,000 credits on television and in films - notably in the 

James Bond series - as a stunt performer, co-ordinator or 

second unit director. 

His jobs – including crashing cars through windows, 

falling off horses, setting himself on fire, jumping from 

ridiculous heights and fighting or doubling 007 – took 

him all over the world. 

In a career spanning four decades he acquired the 

reputation of a solid all-rounder. In 2004 his astonishing 

record led to him being listed in the Guinness Book of 

Records as the world’s most prolific stuntman. 

Throughout his career, Roy Alon assembled a personal 

archive of his work. Drawing on this archive, we pay 

tribute to a consummate professional and reveal some 

of the intricacies of the stuntman’s art. 

ROY ALON SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY 

1976 A Bridge Too Far 

1977 The Spy Who Loved Me 

1978 Superman 

1979 Firepower 

1980 The Long Good Friday 

Green Ice 

1981 An American Werewolf in London 

1982 The Trail of the Pink Panther 

The Curse of the Pink Panther 

1983 Never Say Never Again 

Octopussy 

1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 

1985 Lifeforce 

Death Wish III 

1986 The Fourth Protocol 

1987 The Living Daylights 

1987 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 

1988 Willow 

1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 

1991 Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves 

1993 The Three Musketeers 

1994 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 

1995 Judge Dredd 

GoldenEye 

1996 Daylight 

1998 Entrapment 

1999 The World is Not Enough 

2002 Die Another Day 

2003 Calendar Girls 

2004 Troy 

2007 Colour Me Kubrick 

154 ROY ALON EXHIBITION 

ROY ALON EXHIBITION 155

Family Events 

Every Saturday during the 13th Bradford International Film Festival 

you will find a fantastic range of family-orientated activities on offer. 

Look out for great family films at 11.00am, and free film-inspired 

storytimes and art activities in the afternoons. 

CURIOUS GEORGE 

Saturday 10 March Starts 11am 

Dir. Matthew O’Callaghan USA 2006 

86 mins (U) 

Voices: Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore 

Museum guide Ted finds him self 

lumbered with a simian pal when he 

returns from a trip to Africa. George, the 

mischievous monkey, stows away and 

accompanies his reluctant new friend 

everywhere. Perfect family fun. 

WHO FRAMED 

ROGER RABBIT 70mm 


Dir. Robert Zemeckis USA 1988 

104 mins (PG) 

Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd 

It’s 1947 and the Hollywood film industry 

depends upon toons - indestructible 

cartoon characters. Roger Rabbit, one of 

the best, is distracted as he suspects his 

wife is unfaithful. The studio boss 

employs a private eye, Eddie Valiant, to 

check up for him. 

CHARLIE AND 

THE CHOCOLATE 

FACTORY 


Dir. Tim Burton USA/GB 2005 

115 mins (PG) 

Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore 

Charlie Bucket lives in a poor home with 

a view of the massive Wonka chocolate 

factory. One day mysterious Willy Wonka 

announces he will open the factory and 

reveal “all of its secrets and magic” to five 

lucky children who find golden tickets 

hidden inside Wonka chocolate bars. 

156 FAMILY FILMS 

FAMILY FILMS 157

Thanks... 

THE 13TH BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 

wishes to acknowledge the support of the following individuals and 

organisations: 

Special thanks to: 

Steve Abbott, the late Roy Alon, and Anne Monks, David Arnold, 

Schawn Belston (20th Century Fox), Alan Bennett, Darren Briggs (Arts 

Alliance), Martin Bromfield (20th Century Fox), Margaret Brown, James 

Cameron-Wilson, Ann Cattrall (Sixteen Films), Mike Cowlam, Terence 

Davies, Denis Dercourt, Anna Draniewicz, Colin Ford, Randy Gitsch, Jack 

Gold, Mark Goodall, Richard Gray (Cinema Theatre Association), 

Thomas Hauerslev, Anthony Hayward, Fritz Herzog (AMPAS), David 

Jones, Tony Jones, Patrick Keiller, David Lascelles, Ken Loach, Euan Lloyd, 

Grant Lobban, Kevin Matossian, Brian Meecham (AMPAS), Colan 

Mehaffey, Adam Nayman, Ian Palmer, Michael Parkinson, Paul Rayton, 

Godfrey Reggio, Liz Rymer, Sheila Seacroft, Paul Smithers, Dave and 

Carin-Anne Strohmaier, Trudie Styler, The Tony Earnshaw Collection, 

David Nicholas Wilkinson and Michael G. Wilson. 

Thanks to: 

Doug Abbott, Lisandro Alonso, James Benning, Alan Brent, Neil Buckley, 

Ivan Francis Clements, Frank Dabell, Bill Daniel, Jamil Dehlavi, Sue 

Everett, Paul Gordon, Graham V. Hartstone, Kevin Henry, Incentive Gifts 

(Mark Walsh), Chris Jones, Gabe Klinger, Ferdinand Lapuz, Annemiek 

Lelijveld, Lee Lynch, Lisa McManus, Raza Mallal, Adam Maxwell, Ben 

Meade, Jurij Meden, John Offord, Paul Peppiate, Gary Phillips, Jit 

Phokaew, Colin Pons, Julia Puhringer, John S. Rad, Abbé Robinson, Paul 

S. Rowlston, Poppy Sebag-Montefiore, Peng Shan, Tony Sloman, Sergej 

Stanojkovski, Anita Sumner, Piers Tempest, Ann Tobin, Phil Van 

Tongeren, Tonio Van Vugt, Indrek and Triinu Viiderfeld, Travis Wilkerson, 

Matt Winn and Ying Liang. 

Arte France (Delphine Pertus-Bernard), Artificial Eye (Daniel Graham), 

BFI (Fleur Buckley, Christine Whitehouse, Andrew Youdell), Bleiberg 

Entertainment (Nick Donnermeyer), Bradford City of Film (Gina Glot, 

Nigel Rice), Buena Vista International (Jodie Caron), Canal Plus (John 

Herron, the late Dennis Hall), Crossing Europe Film Festival, Linz 

(Christine Dollhofer), Danish Film Institute (Christian Juhl Lemche), 

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Graham Edmondson), EON Productions (Anne 

Bennett, Meg Simmonds, Sam Engelen), HandMade Films Plc (Alexei 

Slater), Kino Otok/Isola Cinema (Vlado Skafar, Koen Van Daele), 

Kinoton (Lutz Schmidt), Metrodome Distribution (Helen Almond, John 

Ramchandani), Momentum Pictures (Moira McDonough, Mark Jones), 

North West Film Forum (Michael Seiwerath), Omnex Profilm 

Technology (Jed Aferton), Optimum Releasing (Ben Luxford), 

Paramount Pictures (Sarah Hatton), Park Circus (Nick Varley), Pathé 

Distribution Ltd (Carol McKay, Paul Sophocli), Pinewood Studios 

(Ann Runeckles), Premier PR (Ginger Corbett, Deborah Reade, 

Suhan Razzaque), Propeller TV (Simon Couth), Regional Language 

Network (Ruth Linden), Revolver Group (Jody Pope), Rural Route 

Film Festival (Alan Webber), Screen Yorkshire (Hugo Heppell, Jay 

Arnold, Tony Dixon), Skillset (Ruth Palmer), Soda Pictures (Ed 

Fletcher), Tartan Films (Michael Wailes), Tromsø Film Festival 

(Martha Otte), Turner Classic Movies (Mette Haacke, Anne Rosen, 

Catherine Hayes), TVP (Aleksandra Biernacka), Universal Pictures 

(Nigel Taylor, Jenny Erwood, Celeste Berry), Variety (Derek Elley, 

Leslie Felperin, Robert Koehler, Todd McCarthy, Jay Weissberg), 

Verve Pictures Ltd (Colin Burch, Julia Short), Vertigo Films (Sam 

Moore, Charlie Belleville), Warner Bros (Bob Cockburn, Richard 

Huhndorf), Winstone Film Distributors (Mike and Sara Ewin), The 

Works (Dave Shear), X-Filme (Bruno Niederprum) and Yorkshire Post 

Newspapers (Ian Day, Mike Cowling). 

Particular thanks also to the directors and producers of the 

selected films, and to all of the other filmmakers who submitted 

films for consideration. 

Festival Selection Committee: 

Simon Barnett, Chris Butler, Joan Butler, Sarah Crowther, Ben Eagle, 

Tony Earnshaw, Bill Lawrence, Duncan McGregor, Addy Rutter, Deb 

Singleton, Tom Vincent, Neil Young. 

Film notes by: 

Simon Barnett, Jo Booth, Sarah Crowther, Anna Draniewicz, Kate 

Dunn, Tony Earnshaw, Allen Faulkner, Chris Flanders, Mark Goodall, 

Anthony Hayward, Arkady Insarov, Bill Lawrence, Frank Mangus, 

Duncan McGregor, Adam Nayman, Addy Rutter, Ian Sapiro, Sheila 

Seacroft, Deb Singleton, Claire Thomas, Tom Vincent and Neil 

Young 

Exhibition: 

Roy Alon – The World’s Most Prolific Stuntman 

Exhibitions and Display Manager: Amanda Chinneck 

Project Manager: Mandy Godfrey 

Catalogue edited by Tony Earnshaw 

Festival identity: 

Photography: Paul Thompson 

Model: Joe Stocks-Brook 


Festival Information Line 

0870 70 10 200 

www.bradfordfilmfestival.org.uk 

VENUES AND TICKETS 

National Media Museum, Pictureville, Bradford, BD1 1NQ 

Tickets may be booked by telephone (daily) from 8.30am - 8.30pm or in person (Tues- 

Sun) from 10am-9pm. To avoid busy times please call or drop in during the mornings. 

TICKET PRICES 

The venue is given with each film and event in the brochure. Concession prices are 

available at venues for students, unemployed, senior citizens, registered disabled and 

under 15s. 

Pictureville & Cubby Broccoli Cinemas £5.00 / £3.30 

2 films £7.90 / £5.40 

IMAX Cinema £6.95 / £4.95 

Full Festival Pass £120 / £80 

Industry Weekend Pass £45 / £25 

Widescreen Weekend Pass £65 / £45 

WWW.BRADFORDFILMFESTIVAL.ORG.UK 

The official Bradford International Film Festival website will be up and running 

throughout BIFF2007 and beyond, with the latest news and information plus the 

latest facts and figures. You can even submit your own film reviews for use on the 

site. For filmmakers there are also details of how to submit work for the 6th 

Fantastic Films Weekend, the 13th Bite the Mango Film Festival and the 14th 

Bradford Animation Festival. 

FILM FESTIVALS AT THE MUSEUM 

Bradford International Film Festival is one of four major international film festivals 

that the Museum hosts annually. The Fantastic Films Weekend (Friday 15 – Sunday 

17 June 2007) is a celebration of classic horror and sci-fi with guests, classics from 

the archives and sneak previews of new releases. The Bite the Mango Film Festival 

(Friday 21 September – Thursday 27 September 2007) is a celebration of world 

cinema and documentary making. Bradford Animation Festival (Wednesday 14 – 

Saturday 17 November 2007) is a vibrant industry event packed full of seminars, 

masterclasses, tributes, screenings and awards. 

FRIENDS OF FILM 

Friends of Film lets you enjoy NMeM’s diverse programme of world cinema with a 

wide range of benefits including free cinema tickets, discounts to the cinemas and 

special exhibitions and invitations to special events and previews. Contact our 

Friends of Film Co-ordinator on 01274 203326 for more details. Look out for special 

membership offers during the Festival. 

ACCOMMODATION 

We have special rates available with The Midland, our official festival hotel located in 

the heart of Bradford and close to the Museum. Please ring for more details, quoting 

‘Bradford International Film Festival’: Midland 01274 735735 or 

www.midland-hotel-bradford.com 

Other city centre hotels include the Victoria (01274 728726), the Hilton (01274 

734734) and Express by Holiday Inn (0870 787 2064). A short cab ride away is Lister 

Mansion (08700 843436 or 01274 495827). 

GENERAL INFORMATION 159

Bradford International 

Film Festival Staff 

HONORARY PRESIDENT 

Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE 

PATRONS 

Jean-Jacques Annaud 

Sally Burton 

Alex Cox 

Simone Izzo 

Vittorio Storaro 

Ricky Tognazzi 

David Nicholas Wilkinson 

FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE 

Artistic Director Tony Earnshaw 

Head of Film Bill Lawrence 

ADVISORY BOARD 

Maggie Ellis 

Film London 

Mark Goodall 

University of Bradford 

Kevin Matossian SilverCrest Entertainment (Los Angeles) 

Julian Richards Prolific Films, London 

Liz Rymer 

Wildlight Pictures Ltd (Sheffield) 

David Nicholas Wilkinson Guerilla Films (London) 

Andrew Youdell BFI, London 

Neil Young 

Film Lounge 

NMeM EXECUTIVE 

Head of Museum Colin Philpott 

Cultural Content Director Kathryn Blacker 

Trading Director Sam Cooper 

Development Director Nicola Corp 

Communications Director Lisa Grogan 

Operations Director Rod Taylor 

CORE STAFF 

Animation Coordinator Deb Singleton 

Film Administrator Ben Eagle 

Industry Weekend Co-Ordinator Addy Rutter 

International Consultant Neil Young 

Consultant Tony Jones 

Festival Archivist Robert J. Moran 

Curator of Cinematography Michael Harvey 

Cinema Operations Manager Dick Vaughan 

Volunteer James Hamilton 

GUEST CONSULTANTS 

Widescreen Cinema Consultant Thomas Hauerslev 

Crash Symposium Mark Goodall (University of Bradford) 

Film & Music Conference Prof. David Cooper (University of Leeds) 

Film & Music Conference Prof. Christopher Fox (Brunel University) 

Film & Music Conference Ian Sapiro (University of Leeds) 

NMeM PROJECTION TEAM 

Projection Team Manager Duncan McGregor 

Senior Projectionist Tony Cutts 

Projectionists: Andy Atkinson, Roger Brown, John Cahill, Dave 

Chambers, Symon Culpan, Allan Foster, Jennifer Weston-Beyer 

Technical Consultant Dion Hanson 

Digital Cinema Consultant Darren Briggs 

COMMUNICATIONS 

Press & PR Manager Dean Loughran 

Press & PR Officer Sarah Crowther 

Marketing Manager (BIFF) Vic Wilson 

Marketing Officer Steve Hyman 

Assistant Press & PR Officer Grace Haydon 

Communications Administration Assistant Michelle Aspinall 

DEVELOPMENT 

Development Manager Helen Hawney 

Development Executive Sue Clayton 

NMeM DESIGN STUDIO 

Senior Graphic Designer Janet Qureshi 

TECHNICAL SUPPORT 

Web Manager Richard Claxton 

Festival Web Designer Colan Mehaffey 

Studios Manager Bob Cox 

Media Developer Oliver Trenouth 

IT Support Team Leader Richard Bosomworth 

Network Support Technician Danny Green 

Network Support Technician Richard Tennant 

FRONT OF HOUSE 

Visitor Operations Manager post vacant 

Sales & Call Centre Development Manager Sarah Spurr 

Visitor Operations Coordinator Michelle Llewellyn 

Duty Manager Allan Winch 

Crew Leader Sarah Jarvis 

Museum Crew Sharon Attwood, Joan Butler, Sofina Butt, 

Vanessa Chapman, Nicola Cocking, Jenny Crowther, Rob 

Derbyshire, Rachael Dixon, Cara Freund, Lee Fudge, Kashmir 

Kaur, Tom McNally, Hannan Majid, Nargis Mughal, Nasreen 

Sharif, Sue Stoddart, Andrew Whimpenny, Sue Wild 

MUSEUM INTERPRETERS 

Interpreters Ellie Buckland, Suzie Collinge, Joanne Mills, 

Victoria Pink 

CORPORATE HIRE 

Senior Event Coordinator Jan Metcalf 

Event Coordinator Gemma Speight 

ESTATES 

Head of Estates Gavin Pattison 

Estates Assistant Elisha Davis 

Estates Technician Paul Dourandish 

HOUSEPEOPLE 

Manager Lynn Worsley 

Housepeople Linda Binns, Roger Bramwell, Sue Bramwell, 

Diane Farrell, Joan Keeys, Mick Kent-Gayton, Elaine Manton, 

Tony Manton, Sue Webb 

WARDERS 

Chief Warder Bob Cuckson 

Warders Fiza Ali, John Anyon, Justin Attwood, Jagdev 

Gucharan, Marie Ibbotson, Faz Mushtaq, Kaushik Parekh, 

Darren Rhodes, John Schofield, Dan Tordoff, Sharon 

Wallwork, Richard Williamson 

MOVIE VOLUNTEERS 

Coordinator Barry Boyd 

Peter Andrew, Kathy Barton, Roger Barton, Paul Bye, Pam 

Fluke, Phil Fluke, Richard Fort, Mike Holloway, Richard 

Newman, Kate Taylor, John Thornton, Irene Vince 

NMeM SHOP 

Retail Manager Lesley Barnes 

Deputy Retail Manager Corinna Lydon 

Retail Assistant Yvonne Pearson 

Retail Assistant Marc Rice 

Retail Assistant Assad Malik 

DIGBY TROUT RESTAURANTS 

Catering Manager Anthony Hegney 

Assistant Catering Manager Caroline Higham 

INTERMISSION RESTAURANT 

Head Chef Carole Armitage 

Supervisor Ash Choudhury 

Second Chef John Kirwan 

Chef Gerry Hill 

Kitchen Porter Sadik Arobi 

Staff Oliver Abakumov, Bryony Allen, Adrian Doyle, Cait 

Earnshaw, Hayley Gambles, James Gedney-Higham, 

Thomas Gedney-Higham, Danielle Gray, Sarah Hainsworth, 

Mike Mitchell, Laura Raynor, Louise Templeton 

160 BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 161

Diary 9-24 March 2007 

Friday 9 

9.00 Amazing Grace 

Saturday 10 

9.30 Delegate Reception 

10.00 Micro Budget Production © 

10.15 The Well 

11.00 Curious George 

11.30 International Sales © 

1.45 The Neon Bible 

2.00 Cheeky + Trudie Styler © 

3.45 A Roof over our Heads 

5.00 January 2nd © 

6.00 From Russia With Love + special guest 

7.00 Minor Revelations © 

8.30 Catch a Fire 

8.45 Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten © 

Sunday 11 

10.00 Delegate Reception 

10.15 London 

10.30 Nuts and Bolts of Filmmaking © 

12.00 Ten Canoes 

12.30 Producers Workshop - First Feature Film © 

1.45 Fresh Air © 

2.00 Singin' in the Rain 

4.00 Dry Season 

4.00 The Ladykillers © 

6.00 Paris Je’ T’aime 

6.15 Lights in the Dusk © 

8.15 Screentalk: Terence Davies 

+ Distant Voices, Still Lives 

8.15 The Caiman © 

Monday 12 

5.30 The Freelancers © 

6.00 Kind Hearts and Coronets 

7.15 Pandora's Box © 

8.15 Whole Train 

8.30 Lights in the Dusk © 

Tuesday 13 

1.30 House of Mirth © 

2.00 Raining Stones 

4.00 The Dilapidated Dwelling 

4.00 Ladybird Ladybird © 

5.45 Pitbull 

6.00 Klimt © 

8.00 The Lives of Others 

8.00 Screentalk: Patrick Keiller 

+ Robinson in Space © 

Wednesday 14 

12.00 Black Jack © 

12.10 Dark Water Rising 

1.50 12 Angry Men (digital) 

2.00 Patrick Keiller Shorts x 5 © 

3.45 Land and Freedom 

4.00 Regarding Buenos Aires © 

5.45 My Children are Different © 

6.00 Who Killed Cock Robin (Redux) 

8.00 Screentalk: Michael Parkinson 

8.15 Ghosts of Cité Soleil © 

Thursday 15 

10.30 Senior Citizens: 12 Angry Men (digital) 

2.00 Tangshan Tangshan 

2.00 Loren Cass © 

4.00 Border Post 

4.00 Hamilton © 

5.45 Close to Home © 

6.00 Floating World (digital) 

7.30 Screentalk: David Arnold + Casino Royale 

8.15 Tell No One © 

Friday 16 

10.00 This is Cinerama 

10.00 Film & Music Conference 

11.30 The Well © 

12.45 Cleopatra 70mm 

1.45 Budd Boetticher © 

3.30 Lise et Andre © 

5.30 Edge of Outside + Enter the Dragon © 

6.00 Digital Cinema - Is it worth it 

7.30 Screentalk: Denis Dercourt 

+ The Page Turner © 

8.00 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 70mm 

Saturday 17 

10.00 Who Framed Roger Rabbit 70mm 

10.30 Hedy Lamarr © 

12.15 Lost in Tokyo © 

12.30 Larger than Life 

1.30 Cinerama Adventure 

2.00 Directed by John Ford © 

3.15 Cinema Theatres Association 

- Richard Gray 

4.00 Cinematographer Style © 

4.15 How the West Was Won 

5.45 A Summer Day © 

7.30 Titanic 70mm 

8.00 Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing © 

Sunday 18 

10.00 Cineramacana 

10.30 For Bread Alone © 

12.30 Taking Father Home © 

1.00 Grant Lobban 

2.00 Shalako 70mm 

2.15 My Name Is Joe © 

4.00 Screentalk: Euan Lloyd 

4.00 Keepers of the Frame © 

5.30 Black Tights 70mm 

6.00 Ice Games © 

8.00 Those Magnificent Men 

in Their Flying Machines 70mm 

8.15 Water © 

Monday 19 

10.30 Mayerling 70mm 

5.45 The Wind That Shakes the Barley 

6.00 Police Beat © 

8.00 Edmond © 

8.15 Screentalk: Ken Loach 

Tuesday 20 

12.00 Summer in Berlin © 

1.45 Dream Makers + The Slanted Screen 

2.15 Still Alive - Krzysztof Kieslowski © 

3.45 Bread and Roses - Director's Cut 

4.15 Tales of the Rat Fink © 

6.00 Fetching Cody 

6.30 The Boss of it All © 

8.15 Jindabyne 

8.45 Infinite Justice © 

Wednesday 21 

10.00 Crash Symposium © 

12.00 One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later 

2.00 8-Bit 

4.00 The Feast of St. Barbara 

5.45 Fast Food Nation 

6.00 Who is Bozo Texino+Lay Down Tracks © 

8.00 Screentalk: Godfrey Reggio + Koyaanisqatsi 

8.00 Salvatore © 

Thursday 22 

10.30 Senior Citizens: A Private Function 

12.00 A Darkness Swallowed © 

12.30 Kraszna-Krausz Awards 

2.00 Anger Me © 

2.00 Screentalk: Alan Bennett: The History Boys 

4.00 Six Figures © 

5.45 River Queen 

6.00 Masterclass with Godfrey Reggio 

6.15 Zero © 

8.15 Powaqqatsi + Evidence © 

8.15 Days of Glory 

Friday 23 

12.00 Analog Days 

12.15 Frozen Days © 

1.45 Carla’s Song - Director’s Cut 

2.00 Isolated © 

4.00 Windows on Monday 

4.00 The Other Half © 

6.00 Tomorrow Morning © 

6.15 Naqoyqatsi + Anima Mundi 

8.15 Scott Walker: 30 Century Man © 

8.30 My Best Friend 

Saturday 24 

11.00 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

10:45 Malcolm McDowell: Multiple Personalities © 

12:45 Los Muertos + Fantasma © 

1.30 Apart from That 

3.30 Shine Awards 2007 © 

4.00 Destined for Blues 

6.00 Rooms for Tourists 

6.15 Dangerous Men © 

8.15 This is England + Guests 

8.30 Dance Party, USA © 

162 BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 163

Index of Films 

8-Bit 14 

12 Angry Men (digital) 15 

13 Steps 87 

41 Seconds 53 

50 Cents 49 

A Cream Cracker under the Settee 148 

A Darkness Swallowed 76 

A Day Out 148 

A Plastic Toy Dinosaur 42 

A Private Function 132 

A Roof over our Heads 16 

A Short Film About A Long Film 79 

A Summer Day 17 

Admirer, The 55 

Air 66 

Amazing Grace 10 

An Englishman Abroad 148 

Analog Days 77 

Anger Me 90 

Anima Mundi 129 

Anonymous 63 

Apart from That 78 

Aqua Ad Lavandum 81 

Bad Day 27 

Black Jack 118 

Black Tights 141 

Blind Man’s Alley 37 

Border Post 18 

Boss of it All, The 19 

Bread and Roses: Director’s Cut 120 

British Animated Classics 151 

Budd Boetticher 91 

Bye Bye Benjamin 19 

Caiman, The 20 

Candy & Brandy 22 

Candy Viola 77 

Carla’s Song: Director’s Cut 120 

Casino Royale 144 

Catch a Fire 21 

Centsless 16 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 157 

Cheeky 22 

Christmas in Huddersfield 44 

Cinematographer Style 92 

Cinerama Adventure 145 

Cineramacana 145 

Cleopatra 141 

Close to Home 23 

Clouds, The 124 

Crash Symposium 104 

Curious George 157 

Dance Party, USA 79 

Dangerous Men 80 

Dark Water Rising 24 

Days of Glory 25 

Dear Beloved … 23 

Destined for Blues 27 

Detras 70 

Dilapidated Dwelling, The 125 

Directed by John Ford 93 

Director’s Cut 40 

Distant Voices, Still Lives 137 

Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing 28 

Dream Makers 94 

Dry Season 26 

Edge of Outside 95 

Edmond 29 

End, The 124 

Enter the Dragon 95 

Exhibition: Roy Alon 154 

Evidence 128 

F 65 

Fantasma 30 

Fast Food Nation 31 

Father, Unblinking, The 76 

Feast of St. Barbara, The 32 

Felcity’s Fixation 43 

Fetching Cody 33 

Film & Music Conference 107 

Finders Keepers 58 

First Tuesday: The Falklands War 151 

Floating World 134 

Flower Beloved 15 

For a Few Marbles More 33 

For Bread Alone 34 

Freelancers, The 134 

Fresh Air 35 

From Russia With Love (digital) 36 

Frozen Days 37 

Ghosts of Cité Soleil 38 

Guy’s Guide to Zombies 78 

Hamilton 81 

Headless Sailor, The 59 

Hedy Lamarr 96 

History Boys, The 132 

Holocaust Tourist, The 61 

Home James 149 

House of Mirth, The 136 

How the West was Won 140 

Ice Games 39 

Il Legal 79 

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 143 

Industry Weekend 108 

Infinite Justice 40 

Isolated 41 

January 2nd 42 

Jindabyne 43 

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten 44 

Julie - A Love Story 31 

Kadogo 11 

Keepers of the Frame 145 

Keiller x 5 124 

Kind Hearts and Coronets 136 

Klimt 45 

Koyaanisqatsi 127 

Kraszna-Krausz Awards, The 134 

La Forêt 64 

Ladybird, Ladybird 118 

Ladykillers, The 136 

Land and Freedom 121 

Lay Down Tracks 82, 86 

Lights in the Dusk 46 

Lise et Andre 134 

Lives of Others, The 47 

Lloyd Ormerod Wants His Face Back 69 

London 124 

Loren Cass 83 

Los Muertos 48 

Lost City, The 149 

Lost in Tokyo 49 

Making of a Blockbuster, The 149 

Malcolm McDowell: 

Multiple Personalities 97 

Masterclass: Godfrey Reggio 127 

Mayerling 141 

Me Head’s a Shed 45 

Me! I’m Afraid of Virginia Woolf 148 

Mercury Inspection 35 

Minor Revelations 50 

Miramar St. 51, 152 

Mortem Company 39, 152 

My Best Friend 51 

My Children are Different 134 

My Last Confession 57 

My Name is Joe 120 

Naqoyqatsi 129 

Neon Bible, The 136 

New Life, The 17 

Night Shift 83 

Noir Total 71 

Norwood 124 

Ode to Joy 47 

Omnibus: Song of Summer 150 

One Last Drink Before Morning 50 

One Way Boogie Woogie 84 

Other Half, The 52 

Out of Milk 34 

Page Turner, The 135 

Pandora’s Box 136 

Paris Je t’aime 53 

Parkinson: Richard Burton 122 

Parkinson: Cagney & Pat O’Brien 122 

Parkinson: Orson Welles 122 

Parkinson: Ingrid Bergman 123 

Parkinson: Meg Ryan 123 

Pitbull 54 

Police Beat 85 

Potter, The 52 

Powaqqatsi 128 

Private Life 28, 153 

Raining Stones 118 

Raspberry Ripple 46 

Red Balloon, The 36, 153 

Regarding Buenos Aires 55 

River Queen 56 

Robinson in Space 125 

Rooms for Tourists 57 

Run and Look 32 

Salvatore 58 

Scene 24 

Schattenkind 41 

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man 59 

Serenade 67 

Shades of Greene: 

Dream of a Strange Land 150 

The Overnight Bag 150 

When Greek Meets Greek 150 

Shalako 138, 142 

Shine Awards 8, 9 

Singin’ in the Rain 136 

Siren 80 

Six Figures 60 

Slanted Screen, The 98 

Snip, Crunch 20 

Solomon Grundy 25 

South Bank Show, The: Alan Bennett 149 

South Bank Show, The: Terence Davies137 

Spell, The 26 

Steps 56 

Still Alive 99 

Stonebridge Park 124 

Summer in Berlin 61 

Taking Father Home 62 

Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty 30, 48 

Tales of the Rat Fink 63 

Talk to Me 29, 153 

Tangshan Tangshan 64 

Tell No One 65 

Ten Canoes 66 

This is Cinerama 144 

This is England 11 

Those Magnificent Men… 141 

Tiny Dancer 60 

Titanic 143 

To Die is to Live 54 

Tommy the Kid 38 

Tomorrow Morning 67 

TV Heaven 147 

Ultimatum, The 21 

Valtos (The Veil) 124 

Visitors, The 14 

Walkman 84 

Water 68 

Way We Played, The 18, 153 

Well, The 100 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit 157 

Who is Bozo Texino 82, 86 

Who Killed Cock Robin (Redux) 87 

Whole Train 69 

Widescreen Weekend 139 

Wind That Shakes the Barley, The 119 

Window, The 136 

Windows on Monday 70 

Windows XP 85 

World Outside, The 68 

Wrong Glasses, The 62 

Zero 71 

Screentalks: 

David Arnold 131 

Alan Bennett 133 

Terence Davies 137 

Denis Dercourt 135 

Patrick Keiller 124 

Euan Lloyd 138, 142 

Ken Loach 119 

Michael Parkinson 123 

Godfrey Reggio 127 

Trudie Styler 130 



Index of Directors 

Adachi, Jeff 98 

Alonso, Lisandro 30, 48 

Annakin, Ken 140 

Apted, Michael 10 

Arevarn, Jakob 15 

Argy, Stephanie 24 

Attias, Ziggy 76 

Austin, Daniel 78 

Balzer, Helge 81 

Baker, Mark 151 

Benhadj, Rachid 34 

Benning, James 84 

Benstock, Jes 61 

Berry, Paul 151 

Bilu, Vardit 23 

Blanshard, Kyle 67 

Blatnik, Ales 79 

Boehm, Alec 24 

Bogdanovich, Peter 93 

Bogliano, Adrian Garcia 57 

Boehme, Daniel 87 

Bouchareb, Rachid 25 

Boyle, Patrick 149 

Bromberg, Betzy 76 

Burge, Stuart 148 

Burton, Josh 52 

Cameron, James 143 

Campbell, Martin 144 

Canet, Guillaume 65 

Cardinal, Susan 94 

Cave, David 31 

Cawston, Richard 149 

Christensen, David 60 

Chrysanthou, Costas 47 

Chu, Kevin 64 

Chu, Terence 23 

Clegg, Stuart 38 

Cooke, Alan 150 

Cooper, Merian C 144 

Craig, Mark 29, 153 

Cugno, Gian Paula 58 

Daniel, Bill 82, 86 

Davies, Terence 137 

Davis, Shannon 95 

De Heer, Rolf 66 

Debenham, James 30, 48 

Dehlavi, Jamil 40 

Dercourt, Denis 135 

Devor, Robinson 85 

Dickson, Jane 149 

Djigirr, Peter 66 

Dmytryk, Edward 138, 142 

Dresen, Andreas 61 

Dubini, Donatello 96 

Dubini, Fosco 96 

Dudley, Kurt 80 

Duque, Ander 22 

Earnshaw, Tony 97 

Fauer, Jon 92 

Ferrari, Manuel 55 

Finley, David 57 

Ford, John 140 

Franzetti, Alejo 55 

Frears, Stephen 148 

Fuller, Chris 83 

Gaag, Florian 69 

Garano, Jon 51, 152 

Geijskes, Mathijs 49 

Gelmini, Elio 90 

Georgiou, Stefan 60 

Giambruno, Daniel 17 

Gordon, Stuart 29 

Graham, Daniel 64 

Grlic, Rajko 18 

Guerin, Franck 17 

Hagar, Dalia 23 

Hammond, Peter 150 

Haroun, Mahamet-Saleh 26 

Hathaway, Henry 140 

Hege, Hans 41 

Heimbecker, Matthew 20, 56 

Henckel von Donnersmarck, Florian 47 

Hickmore, Tom 43 

Hinton, David 149 

Hufen, Jelmar 33 

Hysaj, Ujkan 85 

Hytner, Nicholas 132 

Jamin, Francois 71 

Kable, Jonathan 69 

Kalina, Martin 55 

Katz, Aaron 79 

Kaurismaki, Aki 46 

Keiller, Patrick 124 

Kelleher, J D 50 

Kelly, Tony 37 

Kerr, Joshua 40 

Kidawa-Blonski, Jan 27 

Kijak, Stephen 59 

Kocsis, Agnes 35 

Koehler, Ulrich 70 

Kopple, Barbara 28 

Kosminsky, Peter 151 

Kotaro, Ikawa 49 

Laczny, Tomasz 136 

Lafarge, Sebastien 21 

Lambo, Daniel 11 

Lawrence, Ray 43 

Le Lay, Stefan 39, 152 

Leckonby, Andrew 66 

Leconte, Patrice 51 

Lerner, Dany 37 

Leth, Asger 38 

Liang, Ying 52, 62 

Libster, Cecilia 55 

Lind, Josh 68 

Linklater, Richard 31 

Loach, Ken 116-121 

Lombardi, Danielle 82 

Loncarevic, Milos 38 

Lumet, Sydney 15 

Mankiewicz, Joseph L 142 

Mann, Ron 63 

Marques, David 41 

Marquez, David 70 

Marshall, George 140 

Martin, Tobias 53 

McCaffrey, Brigid 82, 86 

McDowell, Charlie 19 

McGuinness, Alexandra 84 

McLaughlin, Mark 145 

McNally, Tom 65 

Meadows, Shane 11 

Mehanovic, Samir 18, 153 

Mehta, Deepa 68 

Metzner, Florian 81 

Milharcic, Ozren 95 

Millan, Pablo 26 

Molsen, Ulrike 14 

Montellano, Wendy 83 

Moretti, Nanni 20 

Morris, Nicola 34 

Mowbray, Malcolm 132 

Myers, Chris 25 

Novkovic, Oleg 67 

Noyce, Philip 21 

Obermaier, Barbara 96 

Olesen, Michael 36, 153 

Ott, Mike 77 

Pabst, G W 136 

Pec, Cecilia 28 

Pedemonte, Francisco 55 

Petri, Kristian 100 

Phillips, Kevin 68 

Picasso, Clara 55 

Pieprzyca, Maciej 32 

Piniero, Matias 55 

Popovici, Adrian 16 

Porterfield, Matthew 81 

Pozo, Cristian 63 

Proctor, David 58 

Purves, Barry 151 

Rad, John S 80 

Ramocki, Marcin 14 

Ray, David 33 

Recio, Lorenzo 59 

Reggio, Godfrey 126-129 

Ricker, Bruce 91 

Rickey, Fred 144 

Robinson, Abbe 28, 153 

Rodriguez, Alberto 62 

Ronco, Juan 55 

Ruiz, Raul 45 

Russell, Ken 150 

Santamaria, Andrea 55 

Sarkissian, David 54 

Schlesinger, John 148 

Schneider, Rafael 21 

Servente, Matteo 32 

Seward, Ken 25 

Sewell, Rodney 53 

Shainin, Jennifer 78 

Shiley, Mike 24 

Silvestros, Petros 55 

Simonelli, Fabio 77 

Solarz, Malena 55 

Spence, Peter 44 

Spielberg, Steven 143 

Stevens, Benjamin 42 

Strawhand, Justin 14 

Strohmaier, David 145 

Styler, Trudie 130 

Temple, Julien 44 

Thewlis, David 22 

Todd, Michael 144 

Van Belle, Marco 45 

Vaughan, Matthew 27 

Vega, Patryk 54 

Vermillard, Marie 50 

Von Trier, Lars 19 

Walker, Randy 78 

Wander, Kelsey 16 

Ward, Vincent 56 

Weber, Bernard 79 

Whittaker, Patrick 46 

Wilkerson, Travis 87 

Winn, Matt 42 

Wisley, Lesley 35 

Wlyvis, Emilis 71 

Young, Terence 36, 141 

Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Maria 99 

Zhang Hui, Lin 39 

Zukerfeld, Nicolas 55 



Notes

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