Sundance London Festival 2013 - Our Top 5 Picks

We are just over a week away from the second Sundance festival in London, taking place at the O2 in Greenwich. Robert Redford’s celebration of all things independent leaves it’s home of Utah to bring a selection of films to the cinema fans of England. Last year’s big winner, Beasts of the Southern Wild, used Sundance as the base upon which to launch it’s year of acclaim and awards culminating in a handful of Oscar nods. Is there similar success to be had from this year’s batch? Here’s a pick of just 5 to keep an eye out for.

The Kings of Summer

Harking back to those teenage threats to run away, The Kings of Summer brings us the story of Joe Toy, an adolescent fed-up with his life being dictated to him by his single father. Along with best friend Patrick and fellow outsider Biaggio he flees to the woods where the three go about building their own house where they can live freely, away from the trials of chores and homework. Billed as Superbad meets Stand By Me, this coming-of-age comedy was a big hit at the festival’s US incarnation.

Blackfish

Sundance is renowned for it’s support of documentary’s with last years Queen of Versailles and Chasing Ice both premiering at the festival and this year is no exception. Blackfish looks into the case of Tilikum, a killer whale at SeaWorld responsible for the death of three people. This hard-hitting film suggests the finger of blame should be pointed at the water park itself and the methods it uses to catch and train these wild creatures.

Touchy Feely

The Mumblecore movement may well be closer associated with the SXSW festival but its fingerprints are all over the current wave of American independent cinema. One of the movement’s breakout directors, Lynn Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister) brings her latest film to Sundance telling the tale of a massage therapist who becomes stricken with a sudden and somewhat problematic aversion to touch.

Upstream Colour

Writer-director Shane Carruth’s debut film Primer took home the Grand Jury Prize in 2004 baffling the audience with a physics heavy time-travel conundrum. His follow-up Upstream Colour is similarly, if not more, abstract. A man and a woman are drawn together in their awareness of life’s bigger picture, the world connected in one organism. Visually striking and wildly original, this is likely to be a big festival talking point.

Sleepwalk with me

Adapted from his own one-man show, Sleepwalk with me sees former stand-up comedian and playwright Mike Birbiglia wrestle with a struggling career, a failing relationship and the continuous bouts of sleepwalking of the title. Already victorious in the NEXT category of the American Sundance, this debut feature is being praised for both its humour and heart.



Matthew Walsh will be attending The Sundance London Film Festival which opens 25th April until 28th April, so stay tuned for some rather nice reviews!

Hotel California To Sleep Walking, 2013 London Sundance Festival Line Up announced

After years wishing we could attend, 2012 Robert Redford made many British cinephiles dreams come true when he annouced Sundance Festival was coming to UK. After the success of the inaugural festival last year today Sundance Insitute announced it' line up for the 2013 London Sundance  festival which kicks off late next month.

This years festival will showcase 18 feature films and 9 short films spread across 4 sections including the new UK section whose highlight is Michael Winterbottom's Look Of Love starring Steve Coogan as Porn baron Paul Raymond. In total 23 films will make their will make their international, European or UK premieres at Sundance London. Ten are by female filmmakers and six are by first-time feature filmmakers. The films collectively received 12 awards when they premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A..

The Highlights of this years festival include The History Of The Eagles Part One a documentary based on the iconic  American rock band (who are also scheduled to appear), Lynne Shelton's Touchy Feely starring Rosemarie Dewitt, Scoot McNairy getting its International Premier and  Shane Carruth's Upstream Colour getting it's UK premier. Fans of Music may want to check out Peaches Doe Herself a documentary looking at the rise of the singer and her unique brand of 'electro-rock'.

In addition to film screenings and panels, Sundance London will host several live music performances and events. Peaches has been announced as the first headlining act for the 2013 festival, and tickets for that performance are now on sale. Additional music performers will be named. Among the 17 musical acts at the first-ever Sundance London were Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird, Placebo, and Rufus and Martha Wainwright. Among the artists expected to attend Sundance London are Lake Bell, Mike Birbiglia, Jimmy Carr, the Eagles, Barbara Kopple and Peaches, as well as Sundance Institute President & Founder Robert Redford.

Robert Redford said, “We would hope for Sundance London to be another 'Sundance' experience – lively, culturally relevant and fun. We look forward to engaging with audiences as we discover new voices, new points of view and new perspectives.”

The second Sundance London film and music festival, will take place on 25-28 April at The O2. Passes and ticket packages are available at www.sundance-london.com, and individual tickets will be on sale from 9:00 a.m. GMT Friday 15 March.

2013 line-up

Blackfish (Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite) — Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity. (Documentary)

Blood Brother (Director: Steve Hoover) — Rocky went to India as a disillusioned tourist. When he met a group of children with HIV, he decided to stay. He never could have imagined the obstacles he would face, or the love he would find. Winner of the US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary and the Audience Award: US Documentary presented by Acura at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. (Documentary)

Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes (Director and screenwriter: Francesca Gregorini) — Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper. Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O'Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard. (Narrative)

God Loves Uganda (Director: Roger Ross Williams) — A powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to infuse African culture with values imported from America’s Christian Right. The film follows American and Ugandan religious leaders fighting “sexual immorality” and missionaries trying to convince Ugandans to follow biblical law. (Documentary)

In a World... (Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell) — An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation. Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed. Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. (Narrative)

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (Director: George Tillman Jr., Screenwriter: Michael Starrbury) — Separated from their mothers and facing a summer in the Brooklyn projects alone, two boys hide from police and forage for food, with only each other to trust. A story of salvation through friendship and two boys against the world. Cast: Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright. (Narrative)

The Kings of Summer (Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Screenwriter: Chris Galletta) — A unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenagers who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a makeshift house in the woods. Free from their parents’ rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship. Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie. (Narrative)

Muscle Shoals (Director: Greg 'Freddy' Camalier) — Down in Alabama Rick Hall founded FAME Studios and gave birth to the Muscle Shoals sound. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Gregg Allman, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Bono and others bear witness to the greatest untold American music story. (Documentary)

Running from Crazy (Director: Barbara Kopple) — Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, strives for a greater understanding of her family history of suicide and mental illness. As tragedies are explored and deeply hidden secrets are revealed, Mariel searches for a way to overcome a similar fate. From two-time Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple. (Documentary)

Touchy Feely (Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton) — A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother's foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.” Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page, Josh Pais. (Narrative)

Upstream Color (Director and screenwriter: Shane Carruth) — A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins. Winner of a US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Sound Design at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and from the director of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic-winning film Primer. (Narrative)

History of the Eagles Part One (Director: Alison Ellwood) — Iconic American rock band the Eagles have earned countless awards and sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, including the best-selling album of all time. Using never-before-seen home movies, archival footage and new interviews with all current and former members of the Eagles, this documentary provides an intimate look into the history of the band and the legacy of their music. Includes an extended Q&A with the Eagles. (Documentary)

Peaches Does Herself (Director and screenwriter: Peaches) — On the advice of an old stripper, Peaches makes sexually forthright music. This electro rock opera follows Peaches' rise in popularity and her love affair with a beautiful she-male that ultimately leads her to realize who she really is. Cast: Peaches, Danni Daniels, Sandy Kane, Mignon, Sweet Machine Band, Jolly Goods. Sundance London will also host a performance by Peaches. (Narrative

Sleepwalk With Me (Director: Mike Birbiglia, Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish) — Reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up, a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking. Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, Cristin Milioti. Winner of the Best of NEXT <=> Audience Award, Presented by Adobe Systems Incorporated, at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Includes an extended Q&A with director and screenwriter Mike Birbiglia, moderated by comedian Jimmy Carr. (Narrative)

In Fear (Directed and story by: Jeremy Lovering) — Trapped in a maze of country roads with only their vehicle for protection, Tom and Lucy are terrorized by an unseen tormentor exploiting their worst fears. Eventually they realize they've let the evil in – it’s sitting in their car. Cast: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech. (Narrative)

The Look of Love (Director: Michael Winterbottom, Screenwriter: Matt Greenhalgh) — The true story of British adult magazine publisher and entrepreneur Paul Raymond. A modern day King Midas story, Raymond became one of the richest men in Britain at the cost of losing those closest to him. Cast: Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton. (Narrative)

The Moo Man (Directors: Andy Heathcote, Co-director: Heike Bachelier) — A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve’s optimism is challenged and their whole way of life is at stake. (Documentary)

The Summit (Director: Nick Ryan) — Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers' code, he might still be alive. Winner of the Editing Award: US Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. (Documentary)

The Apocalypse (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Zuchero) — Four uninspired friends try to come up with a terrific idea for how to spend their Saturday afternoon.

Black Metal (Director and screenwriter: Kat Candler) — After a career spent mining his music from the shadows, one fan creates a chain reaction for the lead singer of a black metal band.

The Date (Director and screenwriter: Jenni Toivoniemi) — Tino’s manhood is put to the test in front of two women when he has to host a date for Diablo, the family’s stud cat. Winner of the Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Irish Folk Furniture (Director: Tony Donoghue) — In Ireland, old hand-painted furniture is often associated with hard times, with poverty, and with a time many would rather forget. In this animated documentary, 16 pieces of traditional folk furniture are repaired and returned home. Winner of the Short Film Jury Award: Animation at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Jonah (Director: Kibwe Tavares, Screenwriter: Jack Thorne) — When two young men photograph a gigantic fish leaping from the sea, their small town becomes a tourist attraction in this story about the old and the new. From the director of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize-winning film FISHING WITHOUT NETS.

Reindeer (Director: Eva Weber) — A lyrical and haunting portrait of reindeer herding in the twilight expanses of the Lapland wilderness. Winner of a Short Film Special Jury Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Until the Quiet Comes (Director and screenwriter: Kahlil Joseph) — Shot in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles, this film deals with themes of violence, camaraderie and spirituality through the lens of magical realism. Winner of a Short Film Special Jury Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Whiplash (Director and screenwriter: Damien Chazelle) — An aspiring drummer enters an elite conservatory’s top jazz orchestra. Winner of the Short Film Jury Award: US Fiction at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

The Whistle (Director: Grzegorz Zariczny) — Marcin, a lowest-leagues football referee who lives in a small town near Krakow, dreams of better times. At his mother’s urging, he decides to change his life and find himself a girlfriend and a better job. Winner of the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Hold On To Your Sons Wright And Watts Want Them In Trailer For Two Mothers

How many men have you heard been labelled 'Mummy's Boy', probably quiet a few in Anne Fontaine's Two Mothers starring Robin Wright and Naomi Watts want your sons!

Wright and Watts play long time friends Roz & Lil who live in Australia both with Twenty something sons (Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville) who end sleeping with each others sons. There seems to be a bit of a resurgence in the erotic based films with the likes of Fifty Shades Of Grey film adaptation on the cards however in Two Mothers does have a bit of style, elegance and 2 actress with a bit of class, so don't expect the tackiness of erotic that have been and gone. However if you caught this film at last month's Sundance Film Festival the response for the film was a bit on the jaded side.

Two Mothers is based on a novel by Doris Lessing, The Grandmothers adapted for the big screen by Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Method) the film also stars Ben Mendelshon with no confirmed UK or USA release date but expect sometime 2013.


source:ThePlaylist

Watch Trailer for Short Film Text Tone

Despite our advances in film technology sadly the lack of female filmmakers especially black female filmmakers but thankfully independent film making still has belief in filmmakers. Here at cinehouse we try our best to support all film makers recognizing the talent rather than the persons race or gender one of those talent individuals is Chicago based Sanicole who has sent us the trailer for her new film.

entitled Text Tone a Drama comedy After dodging his girlfriend to avoid meeting her father on their 6 month anniversary, the young lover wakes up to discover he is mute and must resort to winning his girlfriend back with extraordinary gestures

Enjoy the trailer, once we have the full film we will update this page. Just remember if your a fellow cinephile support the talent, the film don't judge purely on the filmmakers gender or ethnicity.

Six months into a blossoming relationship, Corey (Corey Williams) receives a text from his girlfriend Snow (Ashley Snow) about meeting her father for the first time. Nervous about the meeting and struggling to communicate his affection for her, he resorts to ignoring her calls and texts. On the night of the dinner with her father, he doesn't show. The next morning, he checks his voicemail, listening on as a
distraught and frustrated Snow admonishes him. Before ending the message she tells him he's lost the right to speak to her and wants nothing to do with him. When he attempts to explain himself in a voicemail, he finds that he can't speak. Mute and rejected, Corey exasperates all avenues to finally show her how he feels and try to win her back. Written and Directed By Sanicole (@Sanicole) Starring Corey Williams (@Corey_Demon) and Ashley Snow (@OfficialAshSnow)

Deception Comes Home As The Imposter To Get January Home Release

Be the first to witness the most unbelievable true story in the highly anticipated box office smash, THE IMPOSTER. As well as being shortlisted for an Oscar nomination, this critically-acclaimed and award-winning documentary thriller is out on DVD, Blu-ray, Download and On-Demand on 7 January 2013 from Picturehouse Entertainment and Revolver and will leave you wondering if the truth really is stranger than fiction.

In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay disappeared from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later, he was found alive, thousands of miles away in Spain. Disorientated and quivering with fear, he divulges his shocking story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home, but all is not what it seems.

Despite having the same tattoos, he looks decidedly different and now speaks with a strange French accent. It’s only when a private investigator starts asking questions that this astonishing true story takes an even stranger turn.

Directed by Bart Layton, this bold and utterly unmissable true crime story is one of the most talked about films of the year. Intriguing and gripping in equal measures, Layton combines both documentary and stylised visualisations to unveil the jaw-dropping true story of Nicholas Barclay’s disappearance. As the truth begins to dawn on you, another emerges leaving you even further on edge as deception comes home...

The film creates a wonderful cohesion between real interview footage and filmed re-enactments, making THE IMPOSTER a thriller filled with twists that you don’t see coming – it’s about the lies that we tell ourselves to find the truth.

An absolute must-see for all film fans this New Year, THE IMPOSTER is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Download and On-Demand on 7 January 2013 from Picturehouse Entertainment and Revolver and available now for pre-order (see below).



DVD & Blu-Ray Extras:

• Making the Imposter (30 min edited version)
• Q&A with Bart, Dimitri and Charlie Parker hosted by Jon Ronson (40 mins)

Pre-Order The Imposter:DVD / Blu-ray

Chasing Ice Review

Climate Change has become an alarmingly polarising topic. Arguments and counter arguments, denials and debates feature heavily across news channels and a montage of these, complete with Fox News’ raging lune Glenn Beck open the cinematic documentary Chasing Ice.

There’s no mistaking the leanings of director Jeff Orlowski’s cast here who set out to prove, in the most tangible way they can, the existence of, and the damaging effect that Global Warming is having on our planet. Focussing on the work of photographer and former scientist James Balog the film we see his creation of the Extreme Ice Survey and its intention to photograph decaying glaciers around the world.

Initially a sceptic of global warming Balog had his views altered dramatically when he saw first hand the effect it was having across the globe. On photographic shoots and work with National Geographic he realised the severity of the situation and became determined to share this with as many people as he could. An article for National Geographic saw him photograph the changing landscape of the Antarctic and the shocking rate of calving (the term for glaciers breaking off into the Ocean) quickly becoming the magazine’s most read feature and paving the way for this feature length documentary in an attempt to capture a wider audience.

Knowing the answer lay in the changing ice, Balog went about documenting the change in these great colossal structures in a way that could be simply acknowledged and understood en masse. The film introduces the rest of his ensemble, rounding up the crew as if in an Oceans film or, more suitably, Philippe Petit’s bunch of daring sidekicks in Man on Wire. Between the engineers, photographers, scientists and science geeks they manage to create cameras that would survive such harsh conditions and go about setting them up in spots in Alaska, Montana, Iceland and Greenland where we meet the closest a glacier will get to celebrity status having been the one to send out the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

Capturing these images is no mean feat (one effort sees Balog and a young assistant literally hanging over a bottomless pit) and the excursions begin to take their toll on the intrepid photographer, in particular his already dodgy knee. This is an opportunity to show the action man nature of Balog as he heroically soldiers on over the icy mountains with nothing but a pair of sticks to hold up his amputated stump of a leg - a grand exaggeration but there’s an element of Chasing Ice that plays up to one mans relentless pursuit of change at all costs. We see him break down in tears at one point and there are fleeting moments spent with his family as even they understand the noble quest of our protagonist.

A large amount of the film’s success rides on the images and the impact they have. It’s packed with powerful, provoking visuals of these dying giants and interspersed with Balog’s photography highlighting the magical, other worldly qualities of the architectural marvels and white canvases. The film’s payoffs are the shots they were able to capture from the stationed cameras and when at the end they are shown the results are staggering. We see the largest ever glacier calve recorded on camera, the size of Manhattan and 3 times the height of the Empire State Building and time-lapse footage of the glaciers receding at a rate far greater than at any point in history. These images are, says Balog, key to realising the dangers of climate change. Despite the relatively small temperature change, the altered atmosphere and change this has on the air itself is far more significant with these glaciers acting as a canary in a coalmine alerting us to significant danger.

Much like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Chasing Ice may be met with acclaim among those who believe whole-heartedly in the perils of the topic but equally with a general sigh of ambivalence by an unwilling majority. The recent hype around the Kony 2012 project showed that passion projects can be seen in large numbers and while those featured here are unlikely to come under the levels of scrutiny Invisible Children did, they may miss out too on the amount of coverage it they received.

We are not patronised or offered a quick fix scheme as Balog realises it will not come from a film but hopes this offers enough definitive evidence to enough people to demand some kind of reaction as he takes his finding higher up the government hierarchy. Orlowski has certainly helped his cause whose cinematic portraits fittingly elevate Chasing Ice into more than just science lectures for the screen.

Matthew Walsh

★★★☆☆

Rating: NC
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Release Date: 14th December 2012 (UK)

Cast: James Balog, Svavar Jonatansson, Adam LeWinter

Jude Law And Michael Gambon To Be Honored At British Independent Film Awards

Recipients of both The Richard Harris Award and The Variety Award were announced today by Johanna von Fischer and Tessa Collinson, joint Directors, The Moët British Independent Film Awards.

Sir Michael Gambon will receive the Richard Harris Award and Jude Law The Variety Award at the awards ceremony on Sunday 9^thDecember at Old Billingsgate.

The Richard Harris Award was introduced in 2002 in honour of Richard Harris and recognises outstanding contribution to British film by an actor.  Previous winners have included John Hurt, David Thewlis, Bob Hoskins, Jim Broadbent, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helena Bonham Carter and most recently Ralph Fiennes in 2011.

The honour this year is a poignant one, given that it was Richard Harris’s role of the beloved Hogwarts headmaster, ‘Dumbledore’ in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which Sir Michael Gambon bravely stepped into, following Harris’ passing in 2002.

Sir Michael Gambon’s career as an actor spans six decades, working across theatre, radio, television and cinema. Gambon’s iconic role in the television serial The Singing Detective won him his first of four Best Actor BAFTA TV Awards and roles in dramas such as Maigret made him a household name. The controversial The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; The Wings of the Dove; Mary Reilly; Sleepy Hollow; Gosford Park; Layer Cake; Charlotte Gray and The King’s Speech are just a few of the credits that have established Gambon as a leading light of the British film industry.

His work in Hollywood includes Michael Mann’s The Insider; Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd. Since staring in the Harry Potter franchise, Gambon is known by audiences of all ages around the globe. Sir Michael Gambon’s most recent film role was in Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet which will be released in the UK in January. He is currently on stage starring in All That Fall at The Arts Theatre.

Jude Law will pick-up the Variety Award which recognises an actor, director, writer or producer who has helped to focus the international spotlight on the UK.  The Variety Award was received last year by Kenneth Branagh and has previously been awarded to Liam Neeson, Sir Michael Caine, Daniel Craig, Dame Helen Mirren and Richard Curtis to name a few.

Jude Law is a quintessentially British actor who has become a truly international star. Never afraid to challenge himself, Law has worked with some of the world’s most respected filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg (AI: Artificial Intelligence); Martin Scorsese (Hugo & Aviator); David Cronenberg (eXistenZ); Sam Mendes (The Road To Perdition) Steven Soderbergh (Contagion) and Clint Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil). Jude Law made a huge international impression with his performance as Dickie Greenleaf in Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley for which he was nominated for Academy and Golden Globe Awards and was awarded a BAFTA for “Best Supporting Actor”. He again received Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for his role in Minghella’s Cold Mountain.

In 2009 he took on Hamlet in the West End and later on Broadway.  He was nominated for an Olivier and a Tony Award as Best Actor. He was multi-nominated again for “Anna Christie” at the Donmar Warehouse in 2011 and will return to the stage in 2013 as Henry V for director Michael Grandage.  Law has consistently proved himself to be a versatile actor and has worked with a host of international filmmakers such as Wong Kar Wai (My Blueberry Nights), Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at The Gates) and Fernando Meirelles (360). Yet Law constantly has a foot firmly planted in the British film industry with roles in Anna Karenina and Minghella’s Breaking & Entering, as well as playing the ever popular Dr Watson in Guy Ritchie’s hugely successful Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which has reinforced his status as one of the most bankable British actors working in cinema today. Jude is currently shooting the very British dark comedy Dom Hemingway in which he plays the title role. His other forthcoming projects include Side Effects - his second collaboration with Steven Soderbergh; Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Both Michael Gambon and Jude Law will be present at Old Billingsgate on the 9^th December to receive their awards.

Previous winners of the prestigious Best British Independent Film award include Tyrannosaur, The King’s Speech, Moon, Control, Slumdog Millionaire, The Constant Gardener and This Is England. 

World Premiere of Arribes: Everything Else is Noise, Mon 19th Nov

Arribes: Everything Else is Noise is a new documentary by Zev Robinson about the relationship between food, agriculture, sustainability and tradition in this isolated region of NW Spain where people there produce about 80-90% of their own food.

Although it is a portrayal of the people of the region and their way of life that has gone relatively unchanged for centuries, it raises questions about our own way of living, and if there are lessons that can be learned and applied to other areas, and if changes in lifestyles, priorities and population structures are essential for a more sustainable future.

"At a time when people are worried about the exhaustion of the world’s resources, the destruction of environment and are questioning their priorities during the severe economic crisis, Arribes offers another view of what is possible. And during this time of severe economic problems, many people are forced to leave their urban dwellings, return to rely more on home-grown produce, and Arribes shows a simpler, more sustainable and self-reliant way of life."

Zev Robinson


Arribes: Everthing Else is Noise / Arribes: el resto es barullo from Zev Robinson on Vimeo.

Doors open 6pm

Programme begins 7:30pm followed by Q&A with the filmmaker.

Archipelago Director Joanna Hogg's Third Untitled Feature Starts Production

Principal photography is now underway on Joanna Hogg’s third writing/directing project, following the critically acclaimed and award-winning Unrelated and Archipelago. Known as Hogg’s “London Project”, the as-yet-untitled film will shoot in West London and surrounding areas for six weeks. Presented by BFI, BBC Films and Rooks Nest Entertainment, the film is produced by Gayle Griffiths (My Brother the Devil, Archipelago) for Wild Horses Film Company Limited.

 

Cast in the lead roles are artists Viv Albertine and Liam Gillick. A British singer-songwriter, Albertine is the ex-guitarist of all-female punk group, The Slits; Gillick is a British conceptual artist and former Turner Prize nominee. The supporting cast includes previous Hogg collaborator Tom Hiddleston (Thor, War Horse), who made his acting debut in Unrelated and went on to star in Archipelago.

 

Hogg’s debut feature Unrelated won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize at the 2007 London Film Festival in addition to the Guardian Best Film Award and won Hogg the Evening Standard’s Best Newcomer Award. Both Unrelated and Archipelago, released last year, garnered outstanding critical acclaim upon their UK releases, with the latter film resulting in Martin Scorsese heralding Hogg as a “uniquely gifted filmmaker”. 

 

Hogg comments: “I continue to be fascinated by the blurred line between the comic and the horrendous - but depicting this in an ordinary, everyday context which is closer to home, and therefore more terrifying.”

 

The creative team behind the film includes previous collaborators: Director of Photography Ed Rutherford and Editor Helle le Favre both worked on Archipelago and Production Designer Stéphane Collonge worked on both previous features.

 

Artificial Eye is already on board as UK distributor and talks are ongoing with international sales agents.

Raindance 2012:Orania Review

★★☆☆☆

    For those used to documentaries coming with narrators, music and handy voice-overs to point you in the way of a feeling, it might take some adjustment to get used to watching Orania. This German documentary focussing on the titled area of South Africa is something of a flashback to the slower pace of old television documentaries, a study of a topic where shots are held, there is no voiceover or friendly voiced interviewer probing the locals and no running monologue theorising what we’ve just seen on screen. The area in question lies in the Northern Cape of South Africa, a vast area surrounded by, well, nothing really. A community in the centre of this region  are isolated and cut-off from the rest of their nation, not imposed on them but rather by their own choice in an attempt to maintain the core values they hold dear. This is Orania and Orania is strictly whites-only South Africa. Decades after the ending of Apartheid, this small rural spot has been chosen to house numbers of Afrikaans, oppose to joining in the multiculturalism of the world outside in favour of building a nesting place for similarly minded Boers around the country. It’s a community headed by a group of elders, keen to install their values in the next generation of Afrikaans, an idea that was born by what they see as necessary to preserve their culture.

    It’s a culture that holds work and religion as the key pillars of their community, something that’s drilled into you upon arrival where the street signs are a flashback to 50’s style American small-town billboards, reading like a town manifesto ‘Self working, self reliant’, ‘winners never get discouraged, discouragers never win’ and ‘our ideal binds us together’. Ah yes, the ideal. What exactly is the ideal of Oranians? Racism is keenly discarded as part of it by all on camera, although there are clear signs that if it isn’t at least overt or violent it is definitely discrimatory and impassive. A local swimming pool owner jumps at the chance to prove his chumminess with his black delivery man but the stilted exchange and acknowledgment by both that he must not go within 25m of the towns borders only go to heighten the underlying prejudices. There’s also the intimidating billboard that reads “I speak and think in Afrikaans”. It’s more guarded within the older, establishing members of the community believing their country’s rainbow nation as a “recipe for disaster” a notion dating back centuries. They see their role as keepers of their European ancestors’ way of life, one threatened by the black locals who, centuries ago, were initially the employees of these ancestors. This refusal to accept any kind of multiculturalism is an intriguing line to follow, one frustratingly ignored or brushed over at times by director Tobias Lindner who perhaps sees that as a different sort of documentary which is feasible enough - Louis Theroux has already lived amongst a similar Boer community for television and you sense Lindner wants to bring us a more rounded view of life within the walls (metaphorical, they haven’t bricked themselves in. Yet).

    We arrive in Orania with new a family including Mum, teenage son and minibus driver Dad. The father comes with aspirations of a fruitful business ferrying the locals around and out of town “transport is the bond between Orainia and the new South Africa.”, until he realises the locals’ pesky lack of interest in the new South Africa gets in the way. He also takes to the airwaves to reel in new clients where he is warned to address the issue of ‘foreigners’ on the bus – his Afrikaans speaking only admission is still deemed too liberal for some. The radio station itself is seen as the voice of Orania, becoming a mainstay in the film coming across a  perfectly pitched parody of a hospital radio station from the fifties and often delivering the funniest moments: two old ladies read a ‘recipe of the day’ about Quince and there’s a no-panic approach when the internet goes down (again) meaning the already-on-air weather report is unknown, “Oh well, let’s speculate” continues the presenter as he proceeds to look out the window and report what it looks like.

    This dated looking life continues in the distinctly 80’s school video looking introductory video that the teenage son has to watch, one that explains what is expected of him – a lot of work on farms – and ending with the sign off “Orania is not for sissies”. His friendship with his charismatic housemate – a former Johannesburg resident with a few records to his name - is the easiest to enjoy in the film and his subsequent ban from Orania serves to ruin it for us as well as him. You can sense that Lindner was just as upset knowing his best character was no longer in town but has his fingers in enough other story pies to go back to.

Unfortunately none can quite hold our attention as easily and heightens the sense of a lack of focus in the film. Orania the place is a potentially fascinating area of interest sadly Orania the film seldom peeks this interest.

Matthew Walsh

Rating:12
Release Date: Friday 28 September (18:30- World Première) Tuesday 2 October (12:45)
Directed by: Tobias Lindner
Cast: n/a

20th Raindance Film Festival 2012 Lineup Announced

Behind a secret door deep in Soho lies members club Apartment 58, this year playing host to the programme announcement of the Raindance Film Festival. The independently minded festival is in its 20th year and celebrated this milestone by receiving more submissions from more countries than ever before. Those selected play out at the festival’s home of Apollo Cinema Piccadilly Circus from 26th September to 7th October and feature an impressive blend of World, International, European and UK Premieres.

    Opening the Festival is acclaimed Mexican feature Here Comes the Devil, forming part of the Latin American strand of the line-up which showcases the flourishing world of Latin American and Mexican cinema in all its varying scope. Also under this strand comes Sal, an Argentinean/ Chilean film likened to the worlds dreamt up by Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarintino as well as the already-well-received From Tuesday to Tuesday from Argentina.

    Continuing Raindance’s fondness of all things continental, this years European strand focuses on, but is by no means limited to, Eastern Europe with films from Serbia, The Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying and Croatia Vegetarian Cannibal hotly tipped to impress and appal in equal measure.

    Away from the subtitled films this years Raindance supports a wide range of UK and US cinema as well as shining a spotlight on (largely French speaking) Quebec with the Canadian province contributing 4 features and 1 documentary to this years line-up. Festival goers will be able to assess the acting chops of Daisy Lowe in her big screen debut alongside fellow young Brit from the gossip pages, Alfie Allen, in Confine. If that sounds all a bit too young and fresh, other UK films even things out with Tom Conti starring in romantic comedy City Slacker and Derek Jacobi bringing Caesar into the 21st century, complete with real life prisoners, in String Caesar.

    Documentaries continue to be supported by the festival with everything from alien cover-ups (Hidden Hand) to Jeremy Irons’ environmental concerns (Trashed) being covered in the healthy looking Documentary strand of Raindance. Zero Killed blurs the lines of documentary and feature films in a dark look at murder fantasies while Banaz – A Love Story chronicles the brutal honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, a young British woman in London killed by her own family for choosing a life for herself.

    There is also an international selection making up the shorts programme featuring the intriguing prospect of the Chuck Palahniuk short film Romance, based on his own story. The Fight Club author will be a guest at Raindance introducing his film as well as hosting a fund-raising dinner for the Independent Film Trust (IFT), the UK charity which works to promote the cause of independent film-making.

    Retrospectives celebrating the work of Trent Harris and late French auteur Chris Marker complete what promises to be an exciting line-up.

- Matthew Walsh

Below is the official press release and trailer from the festival. We do hope to attend the festival and will bring you coverge at Cinehouse and The People's Movies.

The Raindance Film Festival announces its 20th festival programme at today’s press launch at London’s APARTMENT 58. This year’s lineup includes 105 features and over 138 shorts and 64 UK Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, 20 World Premieres and 24 Directorial Debuts from 38 countries with another exceptional year of internationally acclaimed films, special live events, exclusive Q&As and masterclasses. The festival will take place from 26th September to 7th October at its home of Apollo Cinema Piccadilly Circus SW1Y 4LR.

Opening the festival on Wednesday 26th September is the International Premiere of HERE COMES THE DEVIL – a powerful fantasy horror from Mexico. Shot in Tijuana, a married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana. The kids eventually reappear without explanation, but it becomes clear that they are not who they used to be and that something terrifying has changed them. The Opening Night afterparty will feature band The Real Tuesday Weld which The Sunday Times calls: “beautiful...giddily recalls Gainsbourg, Pulp, Cole Porter, early Disney soundtracks and seedy postwar revue bars” and received their Album of the Week.

Closing the festival on Sunday 7th October is the UK Premiere of 7 CRATES – from Paraguay and fresh from its screening in Toronto Film Festival’s vanguard section. The film focusses on Victor, 17, who lives in Asunción and dreams of having a TV set. He agrees to deliver seven boxes in exchange for 100 dollars. It sounds like nothing could be easier, but the boxes contain something everyone wants.Raindance is thrilled this year to celebrate a stellar LATIN AMERICAN STRAND featuring some exceptional films from Latin America and Mexico, including this year’s opening night film from Mexico Here Comes the Devil.  Also from the region we have Die Standing Up (Winner of Best Mexican Documentary at the Guadalajara Film Festival) and My Universe in Lower Case (Winner of Best Mexican debut feature at the Guadalajara Film Festival) both from Mexico, Sal – a Sergio Leone, Tarantino influenced feature from Argentina/Chile and Tuesday to Tuesday from Argentina/Spain.

The UK HOMEGROWN STRAND will showcase the best in British filmmaking talent, including three World Premieres: Love Tomorrow written and directed by Christopher Payne, Produced by Stephanie Moon and co-produced by Emmy Award-winning dance producers/filmmakers The Ballet Boyz, Love Tomorrow is about a tentative friendship that grows into something more when two dancers meet by chance on the streets of London; City Slacker, comedy starring Tom Conti from the writer of Dummy which previously screened at Raindance and Confine starring Daisy Lowe and Alfie Allen and Directed by Tobias Tobbell about a heist which goes wrong. Also in this year’s UK strand is String Caesar, featuring Derek Jacobi as Caesar alongside real life prisoners bringing Julius Caesar into the 21st Century.

Exciting films emerge from the AMERICAN INDIE STRAND this year, including the World Premiere of Dark Hearts directed by Rudol Buitendach, former prize winner at Raindance and starring Sonja Kinski, daughter of Nastassja Kinski; The Grief Tourist Directed by Suri Krishnama (also a former Raindance prize winner) starring Melanie Griffith and Michael Cudlitz; Mon Ami which recently screened to much acclaim at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival is Fargo meets Dumb and Dumber in a horror movie disguised as a buddy comedy; Me and You At the Zoo which screened at Sundance and provides a cautionary tale as it chronicles several years in the endlessly self-recorded life of Chris Crocker, who won fame with his 207 “Leave Britney Alone!” YouTube rant.

From the EUROPEAN STRAND comes Heavy Girls – an ultra-low budget feature from Germany about love and dementia; The Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying is a contemporary romantic comedy from Serbia and Vegetarian Cannibal - a multiple award-winner at the Pula Film Festival where it took both Best Director and Best Actor amongst others and Directed by Branko Schmidt from Croatia.

An extraordinary DOCUMENTARY STRAND kicks off with the legendary Jeremy Irons and composer Vangelis who will be in attendance for the excellent green documentary Trashed. Also featuring is EBE award-winning feature documentary Hidden Hand which examines the phenomena surrounding UFOs, Extra Terrestrials, alien abduction and the US secret military cover-up of supposed E.T. contact; the multi-award winning Zero Killed  the documentary/feature hybrid directed by Michal Kosakowski who has been asking people with different backgrounds about their murder fantasies; the World Premiere of Orania which examines a community of Whites Only which exists in the heart of South Africa and Banaz – A Love Story, which chronicles the brutal honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, a young British woman in London, killed by her own family for choosing a life for herself.

A unique spotlight on QUEBEC this year includes 4 Features and 1 Documentary – including Over My Dead Body, a documentary on enfant terrible of the dance world, Dave St. Pierre who also suffers from cystic fibrosis and The Salesman about the perennial car salesman of the month starring Gilbert Sicotte.

There are three films focusing on dance. The feature, Love Tomorrow from the Ballet Boyz, the documentary on Dave St Pierre, Over My Dead Body and Ballroom Dancer from Denmark.

Continuing the festival's longstanding affiliation with music, the RAINDANCE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STRAND is dedicated to music and alternative culture and this year features My Father and the Man in Black - presenting the untold story of ‘bad boy’ Johnny Cash and his talented but troubled manager Saul Holiff and Soundbreaker about Finland’s most daring contemporary musician Kimmo Pohjonen.

An exciting selection of international shorts makes it to the final SHORTS PROGRAMME at Raindance this year with some of the biggest names in Hollywood – including: Charlotte Rampling in The End; Charles Dance and Jenny Agutter in Mapmaker, Malcolm McDowell for No Rest For The Wicked, Jennifer Lopez in Life & Freaky Times Of Uncle Luke, Nick Moran in 82, Phil Jupitus and Josie Lawrence star in No Prisoner and Wonder starring Diana Hardcastle (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Henry Goodman (Notting Hill), directed and scored by Johnny Daukes. One of the programmed shorts will win Film Of The Festival Award - which will automatically go into the Oscars™ shortlist for best short film. Raindance Film Festival is one of only two British film festivals with this honour.

In addition, Raindance will welcome American novelist and journalist Chuck Palahniuk to the festival, best known for writing Fight Club. Palahniuk will introduce his short film Romance which is based on one of his stories as well as host a fund-raising dinner for the Independent Film Trust (IFT), the UK charity which works to promote the cause of independent film-making.

Raindance is also extremely pleased to announce two very diverse retrospectives. One celebrating the life and work of the French auteur Chris Marker represented by three films never seen in the UK, including Sunless and Level 5, and a very special Trent Harris Retrospective, who is best known for Plan 10 from Outer Space, which debuted at Raindance in 1996. Rubin and Ed and The Beaver Trilogy starring Sean Penn and Crispin Glover are both screening at this year’s festival. Trent Harris will also be in attendance to launch the retrospective.

Raindance Film Festival Founder Elliot Grove said: “Raindance: 20 years on and the independent film spirit is stronger than ever. This year’s collection of outstanding films proves that despite the difficult international economic climate, independent filmmakers continue to amaze, impress and entertain.”

Raindance Film Festival Award winners will be announced on Saturday 6 October, 6pm at the Apollo Cinema West End.

For the full list of confirmed features

The Raindance Film Festival runs from Wednesday 26th September to Sunday 7th October 2012 at the APOLLO CINEMA: West End, 19 Lower Regent St, SW1Y 4LR. For tickets please log onto the Apollo website.

Tickets can be booked online at www.raindance.org or by telephone on: 08712 240242 from September 10th

Fernando Meirelles' 360 Review

★★☆☆☆

Fernando Meirelles’ thoroughly impressed with his features City Of God, The Constant Gardner and the underrated horror gem, Blindness, however the director’s latest release – ensemble drama, 360, proves to be a far patchier affair than his previous work.

This drama centres on the lives of an array of interconnected people all of whom are at turning points in their lives. Based on a screenplay by Peter Morgan (Hereafter, Frost/Nixon), 360 takes us to several different countries and introduces us to an eclectic mix of characters from businessman, Michael (Jude Law), his wife (Rachel Weisz), a recovering sex offender (Ben Foster) and an older man searching for his missing daughter (Anthony Hopkins).

Meirelles’ feature should be an intimate and personal affair, after all we are shown these characters at crossroads in their lives. There are several fleeting moments when the director captures this perfectly (such as Hopkins’s turn as a father unsure whether to continue his search for his missing daughter) but for the most part, too little time is spent with each character to fully sympathise with their journey. This is partly due to an excessive amount of characters and trying to connect them often results in a clunky and uneven, patchwork-style narrative.

Had 360 devoted more time to less characters then it may have proved a more coherent and powerful piece. The opening promotes the theme that sex influences many of our decisions, which can be seen through Jude Law’s married businessman attempting to meet an escort, when on a business trip in Bratislava whilst his wife (Rachel Weisz) continues an affair with a young photographer. This segment also allows for some solid performances from Law and Weisz. However, as the connections become more and more contrived this message begins to lose impact bringing 360 to a standstill. Fortunately the appearance of Anthony Hopkins midway through the feature sparks some life into the tired, 360. The Welsh star features as a John, a man travelling to Arizona to identify the body of a young girl, who may be his missing daughter. On his flight John meets a young Brazilian girl, who reminds him of daughter and helps him decide whether or not to continue to his search. Hopkins truly dominates the screen with his heartfelt performance, particularly when his character delivers a touching monologue about his search. Meirelles’ handles the scene beautifully and this is without doubt, the highlight of a disorganised film. Sadly, 360 faces a rapid decline after this promising sequence with a formulaic and unconvincing pitfall featuring Russian gangsters bringing the film to a hault.

The conclusion of 360 tells us that we have come full circle, however, it is hard to agree with this as it seems the film stalled at 180 degrees. Despite a promising opening, 360 is a lifeless and tired film lacking in any distinct physical style or charm. The loose thread of human relations that connects it feels bogged down by too many characters and an unfocussed, clunky narrative. The performances prove to be the main highlight, most notably Hopkins’ thoroughly watchable turn.

Andrew McArthur

Stars: Jude Law, Rachel Weisz,Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Release: August 10th (UK)
Rating: 15 (UK)

Third Window Films To Stop U.K Cinema distribution