The key to surviving any film festival is the same as the key to creating a good film: pacing. Bouncing from one film to the next for days on end, you may start mixing up story lines from different movies. Did the girl from the sex addicts anonymous meeting end up sleeping with the winner of the grocery bagging competition? A little down time at the Target Red Room provides everything from water, snacks, ice cream, coffee, an open bar,…
I’ve just come from a screening of The New Ten Commandments at the Filmhouse. An amazing project – a collection of films by various directors to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Very innovative. Whether you are a documentarian or not, you should go see this film. It’s on twice this weekend, so if you’re in Edinburgh there are no excuses! Plus the first film is by Shooter David Graham Scott. Hurray! Yesterday was the…
In the interest of keeping this blog as an honest and warts’n’all account of the festival experience, below are some less than flattering pictures of the Trailblazers party on Monday night. Pretty. Yesterday I saw the International Shorts and then the UK Shorts – where I was really impressed by the programme and very pleased to see some gorgeous shorts from so many Shooters. On a side note, I also sat behind Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose debut short Slapper was screening.…
So, after a mammoth journey to Edinburgh lasting 12 hours, two trains and two three-hour delays, I’m finally here. I’ve already seen some weird and wonderful shorts in the Trailblazers Shorts programme – notably ‘Outcasts’ and ‘Geriatrics – The Musical’. The latter features a star performance from a maggot rock band and an exploding prostate (did I mention it was animated?). What can I say, I’ve got classy taste. But actually, the music is really good! Coming to West End theatres…
It was day one of the LA Film Festival and what better way to see a film then under the stars nestled in the hills at the Ford Amphitheater, a miniature version of the Hollywood Bowl. While the indie art house flicks and the foreign fair were playing back in Westwood, the Ford was hosting the first of it’s kind Swear-A-Long to Scarface. To make things more interesting, the Ford allow you to bring your own booze. Why hasn’t this…
I know this has been around for a while but I often play this clip from the South Park “Canada on Strike” episode when I’m talking to people about digital distribution so I thought it was about time I put it up on my blog! And I just gotta throw in this clip too. All the internet stars waiting to collect their money. Priceless!
Right, mark off Monday 30th in your diary because we’re back in the BFI with two more supremely talented filmmakers bubbling to the top of the sprawling Shooting People community. Even though these events are irregular (and yes, this one was postponed a month because of me wanting to avoid a clash of superb Shooter events that fell into place last month…) I’d sort of hope that most of you roughly know the score by now; however since 599 new…
This weekend is the Hide and Seek Festival in London (27-29 June) and tomorrow they start with Hide and Speak – a day of discussions on games and the future of play. Lots of Toolsy issues being covered and, interestingly, a session considering what might be gained from not using the technology available. Friday 27 June 2008 – The ARGs Don’t Work, 9.30am-1.00pm There’s a major problem with the structure of alternate reality games (ARG). How do you keep your…
It’s not often that a punch in the face leaves you feeling lucky. However that is the position that my benevolent fate has left me with. At the start of the month I was returning home with my girlfriend, it was late and the tube station car park was dark but it’s not a bad area and it’s a journey we’ve both made for years. Now there’s a sentence that clearly paves the way for something bad… I’m not going…
The Intelligent Factual Televisual Festival starts tomorrow at The Arts Club in London – 2 days of televisual education with panels allowing you to hear from lots of different commissioning editors. Topics include Alternative Sources of Funding and Where Next for Factual and feature loads of big names in British telly like Peter Bazalgette, Roger Graef, and Stephen Lambert – plus some great doc filmmakers including Kim Longinotto, Brian Woods and Leo Regan. I’m at Silverdocs till Thursday so shall…
