London Film Festival 2007 programme announced

From Netribution Contributed by Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Thursday, 13 September 2007

The 51st London Film Festival, which begins on 17th October, announced its lineup today. The festival will open with the UK premiere of David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, and set amongst a notorious organised crime family in London. The closing night gala on 1st November will feature the UK premiere of Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. The film follows three American brothers, played by Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody, on a trip across India. The festival will be hosting 7 World, 29 European and 128 UK premieres. The programme includes the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion winner Ang Lee with his controversial Lust, Caution, starring Tony Leung. Also being screened are François Ozon's Angel, Sean Penn's Into the WIld and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. One of the most eagerly-awaited films isTodd Haynes' Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There featuring a variety of actors, such as Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett (she does a good job of looking like him), playing Dylan at different stages in his life. Audiences can also see work from debut feature directors including: Céline Sciamma (Water Lilies), Rodrigo Plá (Zona), Shivajee Chandrabhushan (Frozen) and Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (Persepolis). British filmmaking talent is represented by Penny Woolcock (Exodus), Garth Jennings (Son of Rambow: A Home Movie), Nick Broomfield (Battle for Haditha), Asif Kapadia (Far North), Richard Attenborough (Closing the Ring) as well as by newcomers Simon Welsford (Jetsam) and Joanna Hogg (Unrelated), and a selection of documentaries and shorts. For the rest, see Netribution To contact the author: suchandrika@gmail.com

London: Angel Film Festival begins 15th September

From Netribution Contributed by Suchandrika Chakrabarti

The Angel Film Festival kicks off its second year on 15th September at the King's Head pub on Upper Street in Islington, North London. The films will be screened in 4 different locations around Islington over the weekends of 15th/16th and 23rd/24th September. One of the founders' aims for the festival is "to create a relaxed and informal viewing place where art and beer meet," so, unsurprisingly, all the screenings take place in pubs. 65 films have been chosen out of 600 submissions, all coming in at under 25 minutes. All showings are free and open to the public. For more information, see the Angel Film Festival site. For a glimpse of last year's programme, look here, and here's the festival blog. To contact the author: suchandrika@gmail.com

This Is England released on DVD

From Netribution

Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Shane Meadows' This Is England, set in early 80s northern England among skinheads and National Front members, was released on DVD on Monday 3rd September.

It won the UK FIlm Talent Award at the 2006 London Film Festival, as well as the British Independent Film Award for Best Independent Film.

The film's pitch-perfect rendition of an 80s northern town, along with its candid look at the politics and attitudes of the time, make it a riveting watch.

More autobiographical than his earlier works, such as A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) and Dead Man's Shoes (2004), Meadows' 11-year-old lead character in This Is England is called 'Shaun Fields' and the director's memories of 1983 certainly influence the movie.

For the rest, see Netribution

To contact the author: suchandrika@gmail.com

Israel: Haifa Film Festival to show "A Mighty Heart," starring Angelina Jolie

From Netribution

Suchandrika Chakrabarti

The 23rd Haifa International Film Festival will be held 27th September - 4th October 2007, and is to close with A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman.

The film is an adaptation of Mariane Pearl's book, A Mighty Heart. It is a memoir of her journalist husband's kidnap and murder in Pakistan while investigating the case of a shoe bomber, Richard Reid.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to good reviews. Mrs Pearl's book was adapted for the screen by the film's director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland), and the film was produced by Brad Pitt.

Daniel Pearl, a reporter for US newspaper the Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped on his way to an interview in Karachi, Pakistan in January 2002. After nine days of detention, he was murdered. The act was filmed and the video released.

Click here for the A Mighty Heart trailer.

Other films being shown at the Haifa festival include Désengagement, starring Juliette Binoche, which will open the festival. This political drama looks at Israel's 2005 retreat from the occupied Gaza Strip. Binoche's character travels to Israel to find the daughter she gave up 20 years before, and becomes caught up in the West Bank turmoil .

To contact the author: suchandrika@gmail.com