Father Geek here once again filling in as your connection to our regular Euro-AICN column. I've yet to find a replacement for our long-time Editor/reporter from Paris, Edgard, who had to leave the site due to increased real-world duties, but the column lives on... If you were one of Edgard's sources, and you speak English go ahead and send your reports to good ol' Father Geek in Texas and I'll see to it the World hears about your news. Even if your English is a bit "off" send it anyway and I'll try to clean it up for you, although us here Texicans ar'ent known as the best pro-vay-ors of the Queen's English as we rid a cross the olde wrench on our trusty horses... hmmmm, ahhh, pickups... well, SUV anyway.
In-e-way, here's the Euro-news I've got for you today...
UK
I don't know if this would interest you or not, but this week my workplace has been invaded by the Jonathan Creek film crew.
Jonathan Creek is a very cool BBC Murder mystery show here in the UK.
Some info about the series can be found at the following URL: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/liane_broadley/creek/title.htm
They are filming the Christmas 90 minute special which is to be called "Satan's Chimney". In an interesting twist, the episode seems to be about a murder on a film set, and so they have spent some of their time filming their own gear!
The series normally has Alan Davis (Jonathan Creek) and Caroline Quentin who plays Madeline Magellan, however for this episode Caroline Quentin will not be in it and Alan will be accompanied by Julia Sawalha (who plays the younger of the three people in Absolutely Fabulous) will play Carla Borrego.
I work for a computer company which is located in a manor in the Hertfordshire countryside, the picturesque setting has been used for several films, TV commercials and music videos some of which are listed on the following URL :- http://www.xara.com/gaddesden/film.asp
Tomorrow, is the last day they will be filming at Gaddesden Place, and I gather they will be filming in Scotland next.
Hi there,
Checked your site and didnt see whether you had already mentioned it or not, but just in case:
The Barbican in London is showing a Comprehensive retrospective of Studio Ghibli's work with multiple showings of the films running from mid October to mid November. Tickets are on sale now.
Films include:
- Princess Mononoke
- Kiki's Delivery Service
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
- My Neighbour Totoro
- Grave of the Fireflies
- and many more.
Details can be found here: By Just Clicking Now
ToffeeCrisp
Hey everybody,
As uncredible as it might be, News of the World is reporting that Richard Bremmer is playing Voldemort in the Harry Potter movie. They have a picture attached, i don't know if it's a new one though.
peace, paulyfunk
Details of the two Harry potter films, Councillors from Three Rivers district Council gave permission for a set to be built on land next to Leavesden studios nr watford Herts England. The set, called the burrows, will be home to the Weasleys who are prominent characters in the film. There will be a facade of a house on a concert base which will rise about 18 meters (18 yds) above ground level, a small pond and an out building it is expected to take 12 weeks to build for two days of filming. I have an artist `s impression of The Burrow `s if you want it but I can only send it by air mail!!!
Love your site!
IRELAND
Hi Guys, found this at ShowBizIreland's site...
After months of careful viewing and selecting the organizers of the Murphy's Cork Film Festival announced details of the festival programme including the much anticipated Disco Pigs.
This year's festival, the 46th, runs from Sunday October 7th to Sunday October 14th and its main venues are Cork Opera House, Kino Arthouse Cinema, Triskel Arts Centre and for the first time, an outreach programme into Cork county, though the use of the Cinemobile.
Festival Director, Mick Hannigan said at the launch of the Dublin launch of the Festival that he was particularly excited that the festival would be opening with "Disco Pigs". "It is a very powerful film with so many Cork connections", he said. "The original play was produced by Corcadorca here in Cork, it is set here and of course features Cillian Murphy as one of the leads." "Disco Pigs is the perfect start to what we expect will be a great festival." he continued. "We have a wonderful line up of films, both features and documentaries, as well as our usual blend of the best in shorts, animation and digital work - it¹s a very packed programme."
Speaking at the launch, Kevin Cullinane, Brand Manager, Murphy's, commented on the growing stature and scope of the festival. "Just like its host city Cork, the Festival is open to all that is new and exciting, allowing us to experience, through the art of film, a world of diverse cultures, societies and traditions. Whether a producer, director, actor, film buff, or an occasional cinemagoer, this is a week full of promise, and no doubt, pints of the reel classic, Murphy's."
Across the city venues there will be many special events happening in addition to the film screenings, with exhibitions, book launches and seminars.
The "Ireland into Film" series will also be launched at the Festival. This, the first project in a number of planned collaborations between Cork University Press and the Film Institute of Ireland, is aimed at increasing the critical understanding of Irish Film.
The festival's Digital Intelligence programme, showcasing the best in new media works, makes a welcome return and there is also a special focus on award-winning English filmmaker John Smith, whose film "Blight" won the award for Best European Short Film at Cork in 1997.
The Closing Gala film is "Dark Blue World", a romantic wartime drama by Jan Sverak, and is his follow up to the much loved "Kolya".
In addition to directing, Sverak plays the entire crew of a damaged B- 25 bomber (in flight) thanks to computer added effects - he's the pilot, navigator and the gunners at the same time.
This year Cork will also present a midweek Gala screening of "The Deep End", starring Tilda Swinton and ER's Goran Visnjic.
Other feature highlights include Nicole Kidman in "The Others", "Ghost World", "Hedwig And The Angry Inch", "No Man's Land", and new features from directors such as Sean Penn, Jan Svankmajer, and Werner Herzog.
Irish Film is well represented at the Cork festival, not only with Disco Pigs (directed by Kirsten Sheridan, a two time winner in Cork), but by new editions of the Irish Film Board's Short Cuts, Oscailt and Irish Flash schemes for young filmmakers.
The very popular "Made In Cork" programme continues this year and features the "Love's Elusives" the new feature from prolific Cork filmmaker Cathal Condon.
Other Irish premieres include "Road 2" and "The Last Days of Dublin".
Cork will this year give audiences a chance to view the best in contemporary South African Film. During the years of apartheid distributors boycotted South African film but the immense changes that have been made there enables Cork to now showcase some of the best of post-apartheid productions in this programme by Trevor Steele Taylor of Cape Town Film Festival.
Emphasis is placed on exciting new talent and on the emergence of black filmmakers now taking their place in an industry they were previously excluded from.
The festival will also feature the work of Australian animator Adam Elliot who has become one of Australia's most recognised filmmakers.
His trilogy of "Uncle", "Cousin" and "Brother" are among the country's most successful animated shorts having garnered over fifty awards, including an award for Best international Short in Cork last year.
Animation from a very different sphere will also be featured as part of a major exposition of Estonian animated works which features some of the world's foremost animators.
Booking for the 46th Murphy's Cork Film Festival opens on Wednesday 26th September, details on the programme are available on the festival's website www.corkfilmfest.org.
Thanks, Ray Senior
Visit http://www.ShowBizIreland.com for more
Pierce Brosnan has confirmed ShowBizIreland.com reports that he is to star in the Irish drama Evelyn, which has long been a pet project for him.
Evelyn, which will begin production next month in Dublin, is based on the true story of Desmond Doyle. He fought the Irish government and the Catholic church to overturn an outdated custody law and recover his four children after his wife ran off and he lost his job.
As a child Brosnan spent some time in the care of the Christian Brothers order when his single mother went to England to find work. She reclaimed him once she was settled.
Brosnan, who will also produce the film, says it will be finished in time for the next Bond saga, which will be the 20th 007 adventure and the 40th anniversary of the series.
FRANCE
The movie AMELIE looks incredible. Definitely something I hope comes to the US sooner than later.
I went to the site at This Location and it has a version in the great Quicktime format. It is in French, but shows some more great footage. Hope this is of some use.
Cheers, Daffy
Hey,
Glad to see someone loved this movie as much as me. I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept 10th. In hindsight I'm pretty thankful that I had such a funny joyful movie to carry me through the the next couple of days. I've always loved Jeunet's work and when I saw that he had a film at the festival I was gonna be there come hell or high water! As I said, I'm really thankful I had the opportunity to see it as Sept 11th and the following days would be some of the strangest in my 33 years on this mudball. I'm a native Torontonian but I hold NY near and dear to my heart. My best friend moved there a couple of years ago and I have cultivated friendships with some people online(they we're all ok) so when the attack occured I was in mild shock. I was working when someone said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, so I turned on my radio to hear what was going on, and you know the rest. Needless to say, I didn't lift a finger the rest of the day as I stayed glued to the radio broadcasts, dumfounded. This was one villain that our beloved SpiderMan, Fantastic Four or the Avengers would never save us from. Someone had taken a vicious bite out of the big apple and left ALL of us hurt.
So, anyways,back to Amelie. Without the joy this movie brought me(I voted it best of the festival btw),I'm sure my days would have been much darker without my fond recollections of the best movie the year.
Doug
Hi...
I've found the very first teaser of the next Roman Polanski "The Pianist" on the French web site cinemovies.fr.
It looks great!! Click Right Here To See For Yourself
See ya!
Nuanda
You're HOT in Cannes!
Hey Harry, have you seen this sequence concerning LOTR, and you???
Go Here To View The LOTR Interviews
Adrien
Amsterdam...
Hello Father Geek,
Here goes.
Today, I visited Middle Earth... well, sort of.
I was lucky enough to find out that A-Film, a distributor that holds dutch distribution rights to LORD OF THE RINGS, had planned a special screening of the now famous Cannes-reel monday afternoon in Amsterdam. My mission was clear: I had to be there.
Of course, getting in was never going to be easy. Being a movie journalist wasn't really an advantage in this case either. On the contrary, members of the press were being avoided like monkeys in a peanut-factory. So, I decided to call one of the lovely ladies at A-film and use my telepathic mind-altering powers to make her place me on the guest-list. Alas, her mind was too strong (or my powers too weak), so I had to revert to good old-fashioned begging. And what do you know? It worked! And so, this weekend, all I could think of was monday afternoon, four o'clock... finally, I would see this much heralded footage of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
I arrived at the hideously ugly Pathe ArenA cinema way to early. You know, just in case. Security was tight... tighter than I'd ever seen at any other screening. No coats, cellphones or cameras (duh) were allowed inside the theatre. There was a passport-check and a metal detector stood firmly between me and the screening room. I seriously doubt you'll see this kind of security at the SCOOBY DOO screening, hehehe.
Anyway, I got into the theatre first, placed myself centre-centre and waited for the lights to go out. Naturally, they just had to test the limits of my patience. A New Line Exec (whose name I've shamefully forgotten) wanted to say a few words before the screening, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally he appeared, sweating and panting. And after a brief introduction (where the words 'it did cost us a lot of money' were stressfully uttered), the lights finally dimmed and a hobbit-sized Peter Jackson appeared on screen.
The scenes that were shown have all been described and discussed in full on this site. So I will not get into that. At least, not too much. I DO however want to tell you about the goosebumps I got from watching the footage. When roughly thirty minutes of nearly completed material of a certain film looks, sounds and feels better than any blockbuster Hollywood has released this year... something special is going on. Well, it either says something about the overall quality of Hollywood-movies this year or it says something about the quality of the footage shown. Probably, it's a little bit of both.
The first thing that sprung to mind while watching the footage was: 'Peter Jackson has turned a painting into a motion picture'. Trust me on this, it's true. I just love the way he plays with colours in this movie... bright yellows and clear blues for Hobbiton, saturated colours and pastel shades for the Mines of Moria. And the lighting, oh God the lighting... come december, a lot of praise will go out to Andrew Lesnie for his brilliant work as DP on this film. Come to think of it; in 1998, Lesnie should have AT LEAST received an Oscar nomination for his excellent work on Babe: Pig in the City. But then, that's just my simple opinion.
You can only watch in awe as Gandalf uses his staff (insert Beavis and Butthead laugh here) to light up the dark corridors deep inside the Mines of Moria. The way the bright light glows on top of the staff and reflects upon the pillars is simply amazing. Even in the intense battle sequences, Jackson and Lesnie never loose sight of the lighting-mood they created for a particular setting. As hordes of orcs come barging through a wooden door, ready to attack the fellowship, shadows are still dark as they should be and only carefully selected elements are clearly lit. It's beautiful to behold.
Which brings me to another thing that suddenly hit me while watching the Mines of Moria-sequence: this is going to be a pure epic adventure movie. What I mean is; this flick will not just leave fanboys drooling on their seats, kids (who probably haven't read the books) are absolutely going to love this. It's fantasy and adventure in its purest form; Jackson invites you to a world of wizards, elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs and dark lords and never for a second dumbs down his audience. And I think that's where George Lucas went a little off course with his Phantom Menace. I mean, if you want to make a movie for kids, DON'T make a movie for kids. Were SUPERMAN, A NEW HOPE and JAWS aimed at kids? No, but I think of them as some of my dearest childhood memories.
Some of us may remember growing up in the late seventies, early eighties. You know, being young, playing STAR WARS in the garden with your friends, when everybody wanted to put a black bucket on his head, pretending to be Darth Vader. Feeling those stranges butterflies in your tummy for the first time watching Princess Leia. Playing with your X-wing and Luke Skywalker toys before you had to go to bed... Man, those were the days huh? I ask you: has there ever been a movie since then that invoked such an adventerous feeling for kids?
I don't think so. At least, not until december 2001. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING will be precisely what Lucas wanted THE PHANTOM MENACE to be: an epic and thrilling adventure film that adults will love and kids will adore. Trust me, I know what kids will be asking for this Christmas, and it ain't Pokemon trading-cards. Yes, kids will again be replaying a certain movie in the garden, only this time everybody will be fighting over the broomstick, so they can play Gandalf. And those strange butterflies? Oh yes, I think Arwen will do the trick. And a hero... are you kidding? Just watching Aragorn speak gives me the shivers.
So there you have it. Another praising report on the LOTR Cannes footage. But then again, I really can't see a reason why anybody could actually dislike what they were shown.
This is going to be huge, ladies and gentlemen. For me, counting down to december 20th has just become unbearable.
Steven
