Tilda Swinton is precisely as enigmatic, eloquent, and insightful as you think she is. In a recent interview with The Wrap, the Oscar-winner mused thoughtfully about her sixth film to play the Cannes Film Festival, Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja.” Swinton is an executive producer on the project, a fantastical political satire about a friendship between a young girl and a hippo-like creature named Okja. Set in an alternate reality, Okja was genetically engineered by a greed-fueled corporation. Swinton plays an eccentric villain named Lucy Mirando, head of the Mirando Corporation.
Read More: ‘Okja’ Review: Bong Joon Ho Delivers His ‘E.T.’ With Delightful Tale of a Mutant Pig and the Girl Who Loves Her — Cannes 2017
In the interview, Swinton describes her character as “heir to a rotten great fortune built on the corrupt and morally repugnant initiatives carried out by her father.” Sound familiar? Yes, but Swinton being Swinton, she...
Read More: ‘Okja’ Review: Bong Joon Ho Delivers His ‘E.T.’ With Delightful Tale of a Mutant Pig and the Girl Who Loves Her — Cannes 2017
In the interview, Swinton describes her character as “heir to a rotten great fortune built on the corrupt and morally repugnant initiatives carried out by her father.” Sound familiar? Yes, but Swinton being Swinton, she...
- 5/22/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
At this point, none of Tilda Swinton’s acting choices should surprise her fans. The British actress loves roles that are rich, weird and diverse. Still, it was a bit of a shock when Swinton signed on for Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” last year as The Ancient One, the mystical teacher who helps Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer superhero come to grips with his powers. Swinton chose to join the McU because, she said, it would get movie-goers to do the thing she loves most: See films in the theater.
“I’m kind of a cinema nerd,” Swinton told IndieWire in a recent interview. “And anybody who is doing what Marvel’s doing to encourage people to get away from their large screens and their laptops and into big theaters and see cinema in a cinematic experience, it’s gonna have my vote.”
Read More: Tilda Swinton: ‘Doctor Strange’ Whitewashing...
“I’m kind of a cinema nerd,” Swinton told IndieWire in a recent interview. “And anybody who is doing what Marvel’s doing to encourage people to get away from their large screens and their laptops and into big theaters and see cinema in a cinematic experience, it’s gonna have my vote.”
Read More: Tilda Swinton: ‘Doctor Strange’ Whitewashing...
- 11/4/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Ways of Seeing writer is celebrated by Swinton and her fellow admirers in an unorthodox four-part documentary that visits him at his Alpine home
Here is an impressively high-minded documentary about writer John Berger – conceived, apparently, by Tilda Swinton in the same spirit as the 2008 film Derek about film director Derek Jarman. The Seasons in Quincy does indeed come across as a reverential love letter to a mentor and father figure, though Swinton is not solely responsible for the result. Produced via Birkbeck college’s Derek Jarman Lab, Quincy comprises four films about Berger: one directed by Swinton, another by Derek producer Colin MacCabe, and the other two by Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. It’s fair to say, however, there are no strict boundaries: people cross over and pop up in their collaborators’ films, filling different roles as the need arises. But the focus, of course, is Berger – still,...
Here is an impressively high-minded documentary about writer John Berger – conceived, apparently, by Tilda Swinton in the same spirit as the 2008 film Derek about film director Derek Jarman. The Seasons in Quincy does indeed come across as a reverential love letter to a mentor and father figure, though Swinton is not solely responsible for the result. Produced via Birkbeck college’s Derek Jarman Lab, Quincy comprises four films about Berger: one directed by Swinton, another by Derek producer Colin MacCabe, and the other two by Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. It’s fair to say, however, there are no strict boundaries: people cross over and pop up in their collaborators’ films, filling different roles as the need arises. But the focus, of course, is Berger – still,...
- 2/16/2016
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Magnum, baby! The first full "Zoolander 2" trailer is here, revealing Benedict Cumberbatch -- sans eyebrows -- as the new hottest male supermodel in the world. (No sh-t, Sherlock?) Justin Bieber and Penélope Cruz also co-star in the sequel to the 2001 cult classic.
A ridiculously good-looking "Zoolander 2" teaser was released back in August, but now we see the full extent of the plot and characters. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson return as Derek Zoolander and Hansel (so hot right now. Hansel). In the 2016 sequel, the duo must go undercover to find out who is trying to kill the world's most beautiful people, including Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Usher, Lenny Kravitz, and Miley Cyrus. (Apparently they just want to kill pop singers? Are we really mad?) All of the murdered celebs died doing Derek's signature look.
The trailer also shows the wonderfully strange Benedict Cumberbatch rocking an androgynous Tilda Swinton look,...
A ridiculously good-looking "Zoolander 2" teaser was released back in August, but now we see the full extent of the plot and characters. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson return as Derek Zoolander and Hansel (so hot right now. Hansel). In the 2016 sequel, the duo must go undercover to find out who is trying to kill the world's most beautiful people, including Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Usher, Lenny Kravitz, and Miley Cyrus. (Apparently they just want to kill pop singers? Are we really mad?) All of the murdered celebs died doing Derek's signature look.
The trailer also shows the wonderfully strange Benedict Cumberbatch rocking an androgynous Tilda Swinton look,...
- 11/18/2015
- by Gina Carbone
- Moviefone
A trio of street artists are claiming that the Terry Gilliam directed The Zero Theorem has copied a mural they did in Buenos Aires and they’ve taken legal action to stop the upcoming release of the sci-fi pic. “In violation of U.S. and international law, Defendants—a crew of longstanding Hollywood ‘insiders’ led by repeat infringer Terry Gilliam—have blatantly and intentionally infringed, and are continuing to infringe, Plaintiffs’ intellectual property in the Copyrighted Artwork, by copying the work and using it in connection with the promotion and distribution of Defendants’ motion picture film, The Zero Theorem, which has already been released in foreign countries and is due to be released in the U.S. in a few weeks’ time,” says the highly illustrated jury trial demanding filing (read it here).
Related: ‘Zero Theorem’ Trailer
Having debuted at the Venice Film Festival last year, the Amplify distributed The Zero Theorem,...
Related: ‘Zero Theorem’ Trailer
Having debuted at the Venice Film Festival last year, the Amplify distributed The Zero Theorem,...
- 8/14/2014
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline
This will be my third year attending the venerable Fantasia International Film Festival here in Montreal, and this year’s slate does not disappoint. I was asked to pick the five movies I was the most excited to see. This proved to be a difficult task, seeing as how my original list had upwards of thirty titles. But here are the five that have got me the most intrigued.
The Zero Theorem
Directed by Terry Gilliam
USA/UK/Romania/France, 2013
Even though this movie has been finished for a while and already released in certain territories around the world, there’s a sense that a new Terry Gilliam movie is some form of minor miracle. Stories of Gilliam’s distended budgets, lost projects, and squabbles with producers lend the director a kind of bizarre mystique. But by all accounts, this was the easiest time Gilliam had making a movie in a while.
The Zero Theorem
Directed by Terry Gilliam
USA/UK/Romania/France, 2013
Even though this movie has been finished for a while and already released in certain territories around the world, there’s a sense that a new Terry Gilliam movie is some form of minor miracle. Stories of Gilliam’s distended budgets, lost projects, and squabbles with producers lend the director a kind of bizarre mystique. But by all accounts, this was the easiest time Gilliam had making a movie in a while.
- 7/15/2014
- by Derek Godin
- SoundOnSight
BFI to show 78-minute film Will You Dance With Me? – shot by director in 1984 with video camera in gay club in east London
Almost exactly 20 years after his death, a previously unseen film by Derek Jarman has come to light, shot inside a gay nightclub in east London, and will be premiered next month.
At 78 minutes in length, the film is unedited, experimental footage that the avant garde director shot in 1984 at Benjy's, a former nightclub in Mile End to a soundtrack of, among other artists, Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Jarman, inspired at the time by his newly purchased video camera, was exploring ideas for his film-maker friend Ron Peck, experimenting in how to capture dancing for Peck's feature film Empire State, made around three years later.
Peck decided to release the tape, entitled Will You Dance with Me?, to coincide with other events this year celebrating Jarman – a retrospective...
Almost exactly 20 years after his death, a previously unseen film by Derek Jarman has come to light, shot inside a gay nightclub in east London, and will be premiered next month.
At 78 minutes in length, the film is unedited, experimental footage that the avant garde director shot in 1984 at Benjy's, a former nightclub in Mile End to a soundtrack of, among other artists, Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Jarman, inspired at the time by his newly purchased video camera, was exploring ideas for his film-maker friend Ron Peck, experimenting in how to capture dancing for Peck's feature film Empire State, made around three years later.
Peck decided to release the tape, entitled Will You Dance with Me?, to coincide with other events this year celebrating Jarman – a retrospective...
- 2/18/2014
- by Dalya Alberge
- The Guardian - Film News
To kick off year-long celebrations of the life and work of film director Derek Jarman on the 20th anniversary of his death, Neil Bartlett explains why he will be holding an all-night party-vigil in King's College London's chapel
Anniversaries are strange things. They are meant to fix time in its proper place, but sometimes they seem to do just the opposite, bending and distorting it instead. Although I know for a fact that it is now a full 20 years since Derek Jarman died, I'm still finding this particular anniversary hard to credit. Is it really possible that somebody so productive and disruptive, so loquaciously and outrageously alive, can now be that distant?
Jarman's films – and later, his activism – were crucial points of reference in my generation's struggles to endure and enjoy life. Even before I had the good fortune to meet him in person, I intuited that here was a true ally,...
Anniversaries are strange things. They are meant to fix time in its proper place, but sometimes they seem to do just the opposite, bending and distorting it instead. Although I know for a fact that it is now a full 20 years since Derek Jarman died, I'm still finding this particular anniversary hard to credit. Is it really possible that somebody so productive and disruptive, so loquaciously and outrageously alive, can now be that distant?
Jarman's films – and later, his activism – were crucial points of reference in my generation's struggles to endure and enjoy life. Even before I had the good fortune to meet him in person, I intuited that here was a true ally,...
- 1/25/2014
- by Neil Bartlett
- The Guardian - Film News
With their snippets of poetry, drawings, film storyboards, thoughts, plans and photographs, Derek Jarman's sketchbooks offer a rare insight into an artist's mind at work. Sean O'Hagan takes a look
See our gallery of images from Derek Jarman's sketchbooks here
There are so many different Derek Jarmans that it feels strange to focus on just one aspect of the man," writes pop culture historian Jon Savage in one of the many essays-cum- recollections threaded though the beautifully produced Derek Jarman's Sketchbooks. And yet the ideas mapped out in the 31 private sketchbooks the controversial filmmaker, artist and gay activist produced throughout his working life are like blueprints for his many and varied projects, and show off a restless creative temperament that roamed far and wide for its inspiration.
Jarman, who died aged 52 in 1994, was one of the last of the great underground filmmakers, merging myth, queer politics and...
See our gallery of images from Derek Jarman's sketchbooks here
There are so many different Derek Jarmans that it feels strange to focus on just one aspect of the man," writes pop culture historian Jon Savage in one of the many essays-cum- recollections threaded though the beautifully produced Derek Jarman's Sketchbooks. And yet the ideas mapped out in the 31 private sketchbooks the controversial filmmaker, artist and gay activist produced throughout his working life are like blueprints for his many and varied projects, and show off a restless creative temperament that roamed far and wide for its inspiration.
Jarman, who died aged 52 in 1994, was one of the last of the great underground filmmakers, merging myth, queer politics and...
- 8/25/2013
- by Sean O'Hagan
- The Guardian - Film News
Our season of British cult classics gets off to an arty start with a duo of films about Francis Bacon and Caravaggio
Love Is the Devil, the 1998 film directed by John Maybury, is many things: the first serious cinematic study of the life and art of painter Francis Bacon, a tour de force performance by Derek Jacobi, an unholy convocation of YBAs (including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst) filling in as background extras; and perhaps, most remarkably in hindsight, an early sighting of 007 himself, Daniel Craig. Craig is rather brilliant in Love Is the Devil, playing the troubled George Dyer, Bacon's petty-criminal lover, who met the artist after crashing through his roof while attempting a break-in, and who killed himself in 1971. You can't say Craig doesn't go all the way for his art: the film includes a jaw-dropping scene of him in the bath, entirely in the altogether.
Love Is the Devil, the 1998 film directed by John Maybury, is many things: the first serious cinematic study of the life and art of painter Francis Bacon, a tour de force performance by Derek Jacobi, an unholy convocation of YBAs (including Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst) filling in as background extras; and perhaps, most remarkably in hindsight, an early sighting of 007 himself, Daniel Craig. Craig is rather brilliant in Love Is the Devil, playing the troubled George Dyer, Bacon's petty-criminal lover, who met the artist after crashing through his roof while attempting a break-in, and who killed himself in 1971. You can't say Craig doesn't go all the way for his art: the film includes a jaw-dropping scene of him in the bath, entirely in the altogether.
- 11/9/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News
Cinemax has announced that production is underway on 'Nemesis,' its new drama series set in the world of international espionage. Created and written by Frank Spotnitz ('The X Files,' 'Strike Back'), 'Nemesis' stars Melissa George ('In Treatment,' 'Home and Away'), Adam Rayner ('HawthoRNe'), Stephen Dillane ('Game of Thrones'), Morven Christie ('The Young Victoria') and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje ('Lost').
The eight-part series is is produced by Kudos Film & Television ('Mi-5,' 'Life on Mars') for BBC One and HBO/Cinemax in association with Big Light Productions. It will shoot in Scotland, London and Morocco, and is slated to air on Cinemax in 2012.
Spotnitz will executive-produce along with Alison Jackson, Jane Featherstone and Stephen Garrett from Kudos Film & Television and Christopher Aird from the BBC.
Cinemax has announced that production is underway on 'Nemesis,' its new drama series set in the world of international espionage. Created and written by Frank Spotnitz ('The X Files,' 'Strike Back'), 'Nemesis' stars Melissa George ('In Treatment,' 'Home and Away'), Adam Rayner ('HawthoRNe'), Stephen Dillane ('Game of Thrones'), Morven Christie ('The Young Victoria') and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje ('Lost').
The eight-part series is is produced by Kudos Film & Television ('Mi-5,' 'Life on Mars') for BBC One and HBO/Cinemax in association with Big Light Productions. It will shoot in Scotland, London and Morocco, and is slated to air on Cinemax in 2012.
Spotnitz will executive-produce along with Alison Jackson, Jane Featherstone and Stephen Garrett from Kudos Film & Television and Christopher Aird from the BBC.
- 11/23/2011
- by Catherine Lawson
- Aol TV.
Playing the parent of a satanic child brought back some disturbing memories for Tilda Swinton. As We Need To Talk About Kevin hits the screen, she talks to Kira Cochrane
In a genteel Soho dining room, with morning tea-drinkers clinking and murmuring all around us, I ask Tilda Swinton if she has ever felt monstrous. She tilts her wholesome head-boy face, with its short flop of blond hair. "Does one ever feel it," she says, "or is one simply monstrous? I mean, I've been monstrous, I think." Until recently, she says, she had a reputation in her family for having saved her younger brother's life as a child, when she had actually intended to kill him.
"I was going to kill him because he was a boy, naturally," she says, "and I already had two brothers, and that was just too much to bear." She was four and a half when she entered his room,...
In a genteel Soho dining room, with morning tea-drinkers clinking and murmuring all around us, I ask Tilda Swinton if she has ever felt monstrous. She tilts her wholesome head-boy face, with its short flop of blond hair. "Does one ever feel it," she says, "or is one simply monstrous? I mean, I've been monstrous, I think." Until recently, she says, she had a reputation in her family for having saved her younger brother's life as a child, when she had actually intended to kill him.
"I was going to kill him because he was a boy, naturally," she says, "and I already had two brothers, and that was just too much to bear." She was four and a half when she entered his room,...
- 10/12/2011
- by Kira Cochrane
- The Guardian - Film News
Please Note: The following rankings and remarks reflect my personal opinions and do/will not in any way impact my projections or analysis on this site, wherein I strive above all else to correctly forecast what will happen, not what I believe should happen. My demonstrated ability to do that over the years is what has led most of you to my site, and any failure to do that will undoubtedly lead you away from it, so you can rest assured that I mean it when I say that one has/will have no bearing on the other.
Scott Feinberg’s Top 10 Films of 2010
1. “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, PG-13, trailer)
I distinctly remember sitting in a movie theater over the summer when the first teaser for “the Facebook movie” began playing, prompting groans and snickering all around me — stuff along the lines of, “What’s it gonna be about? A server crashing?...
Scott Feinberg’s Top 10 Films of 2010
1. “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, PG-13, trailer)
I distinctly remember sitting in a movie theater over the summer when the first teaser for “the Facebook movie” began playing, prompting groans and snickering all around me — stuff along the lines of, “What’s it gonna be about? A server crashing?...
- 12/27/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
In this tragic love story set at the turn of the millennium in Milan, the wealthy Recchi family lives are undergoing sweeping changes. Eduardo Sr. (Gabriele Ferzetti), the family patriarch, has decided to name a successor to the reigns of his massive industrial company, surprising everyone by splitting power between his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), and grandson Edo (Flavio Parenti). But Edo dreams of opening a restaurant with his friend Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a handsome and talented chef.
At the heart of the family is Tancredi's wife, Emma (Tilda Swinton), a Russian immigrant who has adopted the culture of Milan. An adoring and attentive mother, her existence is shocked to the core when she falls quickly and deeply in love with Edo's friend and partner Antonio, and embarks on a passionate love affair that will change her family forever.
The fiercely talented Scottish actress Tilda Swinton sat down with us...
At the heart of the family is Tancredi's wife, Emma (Tilda Swinton), a Russian immigrant who has adopted the culture of Milan. An adoring and attentive mother, her existence is shocked to the core when she falls quickly and deeply in love with Edo's friend and partner Antonio, and embarks on a passionate love affair that will change her family forever.
The fiercely talented Scottish actress Tilda Swinton sat down with us...
- 6/18/2010
- MoviesOnline.ca
(1991, 15, Second Sight)
Two of British maverick director Derek Jarman's most accomplished films are interpretations of Jacobethan texts. One is his magical 1979 treatment of Shakespeare's The Tempest (in which the masque takes the form of Elisabeth Welch performing "Stormy Weather" with a chorus of camp matelots). The other, shot while Jarman was dying of Aids, is this sombre modern dress version of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (in which Annie Lennox sings Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye" as the eponymous king parts from his lover, Piers Gaveston). Unfolding in flashback as Edward (Steven Waddington) awaits his execution, the film pares Marlowe's play to the bone and stages it on a claustrophobic set of unscalable walls and sand-covered floors. With dramatic lighting by Ian Wilson and striking costumes by Sandy Powell, subsequently a multiple Oscar and Bafta winner, the movie contains graphic, horribly painful violence, finds strong parallels...
Two of British maverick director Derek Jarman's most accomplished films are interpretations of Jacobethan texts. One is his magical 1979 treatment of Shakespeare's The Tempest (in which the masque takes the form of Elisabeth Welch performing "Stormy Weather" with a chorus of camp matelots). The other, shot while Jarman was dying of Aids, is this sombre modern dress version of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II (in which Annie Lennox sings Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye" as the eponymous king parts from his lover, Piers Gaveston). Unfolding in flashback as Edward (Steven Waddington) awaits his execution, the film pares Marlowe's play to the bone and stages it on a claustrophobic set of unscalable walls and sand-covered floors. With dramatic lighting by Ian Wilson and striking costumes by Sandy Powell, subsequently a multiple Oscar and Bafta winner, the movie contains graphic, horribly painful violence, finds strong parallels...
- 3/28/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Tilda Swinton credits late British director Derek Jarman with helping her forge a successful acting career - because she would have quit film without his encouragement.
The pair became friends in 1985 at the casting call for his movie Caravaggio, and the Michael Clayton star is convinced the encounter changed her life.
She says, "If I hadn't met Derek, I wouldn't have carried on performing. I probably would have become a professional gambler.
"At the time, I was working the horses a bit. What he offered me was a home (in film). We didn't fit in. I knew I didn't want to be in a corset in Merchant Ivory Films."
Swinton and Jarman collaborated on a number of films together, including War Requiem and The Last of England, before his death in 1994.
The pair became friends in 1985 at the casting call for his movie Caravaggio, and the Michael Clayton star is convinced the encounter changed her life.
She says, "If I hadn't met Derek, I wouldn't have carried on performing. I probably would have become a professional gambler.
"At the time, I was working the horses a bit. What he offered me was a home (in film). We didn't fit in. I knew I didn't want to be in a corset in Merchant Ivory Films."
Swinton and Jarman collaborated on a number of films together, including War Requiem and The Last of England, before his death in 1994.
- 3/26/2010
- WENN
The Academy Awards are on ABC March 7th
Roger Ebert’s twitter might (definitely) be onto something when he says, “I can’t remember a year when it was so easy to predict the Oscars.” Yes, all of the main categories, with an exception of “Best Picture,” appear to be (Hurt)-Locked down (zing!!!). There’s always a chance for an upset, but really, does anyone have a chance against Christoph Waltz? No.
But, what none of us can predict, including those who bustle down in award-time statistics, office pools, and email slander campaigns (too soon?), is what’s going to happen during the actual ceremony. In the past the Oscars have had emotional breakdowns, raucous speeches, odd swan dresses, a streaker, and Woody Allen even showed up once (to support New York, not one of his films.) If the Oscars were as boring as the nomination readings, I doubt...
Roger Ebert’s twitter might (definitely) be onto something when he says, “I can’t remember a year when it was so easy to predict the Oscars.” Yes, all of the main categories, with an exception of “Best Picture,” appear to be (Hurt)-Locked down (zing!!!). There’s always a chance for an upset, but really, does anyone have a chance against Christoph Waltz? No.
But, what none of us can predict, including those who bustle down in award-time statistics, office pools, and email slander campaigns (too soon?), is what’s going to happen during the actual ceremony. In the past the Oscars have had emotional breakdowns, raucous speeches, odd swan dresses, a streaker, and Woody Allen even showed up once (to support New York, not one of his films.) If the Oscars were as boring as the nomination readings, I doubt...
- 3/4/2010
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
Mark Kermode enjoys a Billy Paul biopic, a faux-biopic of mountain-dancing madman Jesco White, two David Lynch collections and a celebration of Derek Jarman
Over the past few years, several music documentaries that would previously have been confined to TV have taken a brief theatrical bow before appearing on DVD. This year's standout was Am I Black Enough for You (pictured, 2009, Drakes Avenue, E) the story of Philadelphia soul legend Billy Paul. Having achieved mainstream success with "Me and Mrs Jones", Paul horrified his "cross-over" fans with the radical broadside that gives this DVD its name, which promptly relegated him to outsider status. Years later, artists such as Schoolly D (who features here) helped to reclaim him as a lost icon of black power, although the bittersweet battle between principle and opportunity is left unresolved in this engrossing portrait.
Occupying a space between music biopic and psychotic fantasia, White Lightnin' (2009, Momentum,...
Over the past few years, several music documentaries that would previously have been confined to TV have taken a brief theatrical bow before appearing on DVD. This year's standout was Am I Black Enough for You (pictured, 2009, Drakes Avenue, E) the story of Philadelphia soul legend Billy Paul. Having achieved mainstream success with "Me and Mrs Jones", Paul horrified his "cross-over" fans with the radical broadside that gives this DVD its name, which promptly relegated him to outsider status. Years later, artists such as Schoolly D (who features here) helped to reclaim him as a lost icon of black power, although the bittersweet battle between principle and opportunity is left unresolved in this engrossing portrait.
Occupying a space between music biopic and psychotic fantasia, White Lightnin' (2009, Momentum,...
- 12/27/2009
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
More familiar with life on the fringes of British cinema, director Sally Potter finds herself the subject of a BFI retrospective. But she has no interest in looking back
In the late 1980s, Sally Potter was scratching around for funding to make Orlando, the Virginia Woolf adaptation widely considered her finest film, as well as a formative moment in the career of its star, Tilda Swinton. Potter's friend, the visionary director Michael Powell, had secured her a 10-minute meeting with Martin Scorsese, in which she hoped to convince him to extend a helping hand to a fellow maverick.
"Tilda and I went with our producer to meet Scorsese in New York," says the 60-year-old Potter, seated at a table in her east London office. "We walked into his place and nearly fainted with admiration. He then proceeded to spend the entire 10 minutes talking about how incredibly difficult life was for...
In the late 1980s, Sally Potter was scratching around for funding to make Orlando, the Virginia Woolf adaptation widely considered her finest film, as well as a formative moment in the career of its star, Tilda Swinton. Potter's friend, the visionary director Michael Powell, had secured her a 10-minute meeting with Martin Scorsese, in which she hoped to convince him to extend a helping hand to a fellow maverick.
"Tilda and I went with our producer to meet Scorsese in New York," says the 60-year-old Potter, seated at a table in her east London office. "We walked into his place and nearly fainted with admiration. He then proceeded to spend the entire 10 minutes talking about how incredibly difficult life was for...
- 12/4/2009
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The nominees for the eleventh annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have been announced. On Tuesday, October 28, at Soho House in London, it is unveiled that IRA prison drama "Hunger" and crime comedy "In Bruges" have dominated the list by collecting seven nominations each.
Both of them will battle it out for the title of Best British Independent Film, contending also with "Slumdog Millionaire", "Man on Wire" and "Somers Town". They will also go head-to-head for Best Screenplay and Best Debut Director. The latter is also known as The Douglas Hickox Award.
On the performers' category, past Variety Award recipient Keira Knightley has been nominated for Best Actress for her performance in "The Duchess". She will be facing Vera Farmiga, Samantha Morton, Kelly Reilly and Sally Hawkins. Moreover, "In Bruges" star Colin Farrell will be up against Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Riz Ahmed and Thomas Turgoose for the Best Actor.
Both of them will battle it out for the title of Best British Independent Film, contending also with "Slumdog Millionaire", "Man on Wire" and "Somers Town". They will also go head-to-head for Best Screenplay and Best Debut Director. The latter is also known as The Douglas Hickox Award.
On the performers' category, past Variety Award recipient Keira Knightley has been nominated for Best Actress for her performance in "The Duchess". She will be facing Vera Farmiga, Samantha Morton, Kelly Reilly and Sally Hawkins. Moreover, "In Bruges" star Colin Farrell will be up against Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Riz Ahmed and Thomas Turgoose for the Best Actor.
- 10/29/2008
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Audience members gave Doris Dorris' Cherry Blossoms -- Hanami the best film Golden Space Needle Award at the 34th Seattle International Film Festival, which ended Sunday. The jury's grand prize went to Tony Barbieri's "Em."
At the 25-day fest, the jury awarded a special jury prize to writer-director Russell Brown for The Bluetooth Virgin.
Within the fest's New Directors Showcase competition, the grand jury prize was awarded to Yves-Christian Fournier's Everything Is Fine, while the special jury prize was bestowed on Anna Melikyan's Mermaid.
The grand jury prize for documentary was presented to Isaac Julien's Derek, and special jury prizes were awarded to Raphael Mathie's Combalion and Timothy Hotchner's Accelerating America.
The short film winners were Rebecca Dreyfus' "Self Portrait With Cows Going Home and Other Works: A Portrait of Sylvia Plachy" in the documentary category, with Christina Voros' The Ladies picking up the special prize; Luis Cook's The Pearce Sisters in the animation category, with Kim Slate's Home winning the special prize; and Atul Taishete's Rewind in the narrative category. Narrative special jury prizes were handed out to Amy Gebhardt's Walnut, Paddy Considine's Dog Altogether, Teemu Nikki's A Mate and Steph Green's New Boy.
John Grigsby's Introduction to Lucid Dreaming and Adam Keker's "On the Assassination of the President" earned honorable mentions for inventive filmmaking.
At the 25-day fest, the jury awarded a special jury prize to writer-director Russell Brown for The Bluetooth Virgin.
Within the fest's New Directors Showcase competition, the grand jury prize was awarded to Yves-Christian Fournier's Everything Is Fine, while the special jury prize was bestowed on Anna Melikyan's Mermaid.
The grand jury prize for documentary was presented to Isaac Julien's Derek, and special jury prizes were awarded to Raphael Mathie's Combalion and Timothy Hotchner's Accelerating America.
The short film winners were Rebecca Dreyfus' "Self Portrait With Cows Going Home and Other Works: A Portrait of Sylvia Plachy" in the documentary category, with Christina Voros' The Ladies picking up the special prize; Luis Cook's The Pearce Sisters in the animation category, with Kim Slate's Home winning the special prize; and Atul Taishete's Rewind in the narrative category. Narrative special jury prizes were handed out to Amy Gebhardt's Walnut, Paddy Considine's Dog Altogether, Teemu Nikki's A Mate and Steph Green's New Boy.
John Grigsby's Introduction to Lucid Dreaming and Adam Keker's "On the Assassination of the President" earned honorable mentions for inventive filmmaking.
- 6/15/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- An impression amount of submissions (620 to be exact) in the World Docu Competition category - and looking back at last year's selection is a good sign for the things to come. "Alone in Four Walls" (Germany), directed and written by Alexandra Westmeier, which focuses on Russian teenage boys whose life confined to a rural home for delinquents might be preferable to freedom."The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins" (New Zealand), directed and written by Pietra Brettkelly, in which a woman's obsession to adopt Sudanese twin orphans raises many questions about Western attitudes concerning Africa."A Complete History of My Sexual Failures" (U.K.), directed by Chris Waitt and written by Waitt and Henry Trotter, in which the filmmaker consults the women in his life, past and present, to learn exactly how the opposite sex views him."Derek" (U.K.), directed by Isaac Julien, an artistic illumination of the
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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