FOCAL INTERNATIONAL AWARDS 2012 ANNOUNCES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER

- Ninth Annual Awards celebrate the best in the world of footage -

FOCAL International, the international Federation of Commercial Audio-visual Libraries, today announced that the FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 will be presented to Rick Prelinger at the award ceremony on 2 May 2012 at the Lancaster London Hotel in London.

An archivist, teacher, writer, lecturer, consultant and filmmaker, Rick Prelinger’s activities in the archive industry are varied and widespread.  He has been an innovator and creative force in the industry since 1982 when he founded the Prelinger Archives.  He had begun to collect what he calls “ephemeral films” when he was hired as director of research on a documentary called “Heavy Petting”.  He tracked down titles from educational, industrial and advertising films and his lifelong enthusiasm began.  His collection of 60,000 ephemeral films and 40,000 cans of unedited footage was passed on to the Library of Congress in 2002.

In 1989, Rick published ‘Footage 89: North American Film & Video Sources’, the first directory of moving image sources in North America, and supplemented it two years later with ‘Footage 91’ which was also published on the pioneering CD-ROM format. In 1994, Rick began a partnership with Getty Images to offer high-resolution versions of his films to media companies worldwide, offering a high degree of commercial visibility previously unavailable.

Since the Prelinger Archives was acquired by the US Library of Congress, Rick has continued to donate material to their archives and to collect with an emphasis on home movies and amateur films.  He has furnished archival footage to thousands of productions in all media, including motion pictures, television programmes, interactive programming, educational and documentary productions, and corporate/institutional shows.   Rick also lectures widely on American cultural and social history and on issues involving access to archives and culture.

“We are delighted to hear that Rick’s achievements are being marked by this award,” said Josh Rucci, Senior Director, Media and Broadcast, Getty Images. “Rick Prelinger and Getty Images' combined history dates back to 1994. Since then, Getty Images has represented industrial, educational and home movie video from the Prelinger Archives in all media, pushing many thousands of archival shots and clips back into the contemporary media stream.”

“Rick’s interest in archive film has never waned,” commented a previous Lifetime Achievement Award winner Christine Whittaker.   “He recognised its importance right from the beginning, and for the past thirty years he has been promoting its use.   The historical value of the material, its preservation, new developments in the media, business management – Rick’s expertise has made him a real pioneer in our industry.” 

Lord Puttnam, Chair of Patrons FOCAL International, said, “Rick is truly a worthy winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has dedicated his life to the discovery and preservation of a vast amount of precious footage that documents myriad aspects of American history, and has enabled thousands of film-makers to explore that history further.”

The FOCAL International Awards in association with AP Archive, now in their ninth year, celebrate the best use of archive footage material in a variety of genres, and also recognise the researchers, technicians and producers that access, maintain and use this precious resource. The final nominations for the best use of footage and best restorations will be announced in March. Tickets for the gala awards ceremony on 2 May are now on sale at www.focalint.og

Launch of A-Men

True gaming is reborn on the PlayStation Vita with the launch of A-Men, a riddle within a retro game that will satisfy your cravings for tactical play. With more than a hint of the old school style of logic, platforms and creatures, we think our new, highly addictive title is an unexpected launch in a market dominated by pump-action big titles. Created by Bloober Team and honourably inspired by retro-cult classics Lemmings and Lost Vikings, the game gives you control of up to five army characters, each with their own personalities, skills and tools, whose mission is to round up their equally endearing enemies across a series of worlds and puzzles. Highly tactical and completely addictive, the game is immediately easy to play and yet, like many classic games, it is hard to truly master. You’ll definitely need a brain for this one, folks.

Sleeping Beauty

“You will go to sleep: you will wake up. It will be as if those hours never existed. 


You won’t even dream. For an hour or two after you wake you will feel – yes, slightly groggy 
and then – fi ne. Perfectly fine. Not nearly as bad as a hangover. Such a sleep works wonders. 
You will feel-profoundly restored.” 


Revolver Entertainment and Oscar-nominee Jane Campion (The Piano, Bright Star) present Julia Leigh’s, SLEEPING BEAUTY, a haunting portrait of young university student, Lucy, drawn into  a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire, available on DVD and Blu-Ray February 27th.


Official Selection of 2011 Cannes Film Festival, contemporary novelist and fi rst time director, 
Leigh, blew audiences away with this original and mesmeric tale, witnessing Emily Browning
(Sucker Punch, The Uninvited) in a breathtaking performance described by Campion as “flawless” and “career breaking” by Time Out.


Death-haunted, quietly reckless, Lucy is a young university student who takes a job as a Sleeping  Beauty. In the Sleeping Beauty Chamber old men seek an erotic experience that requires Lucy’s absolute submission. 


This unsettling task starts to bleed into Lucy’s daily life and she develops an increasing need to 
know what happens to her when she is asleep. 


“Sensuous, intriguing, complex and unafraid. The film is extraordinary.”
Jane Campion

The Comedy Classic Debuts on Blu-ray™ March 26

MONTY PYTHON AND

THE HOLY GRAIL

 
Loaded with Over 30 Minutes of New Blu-ray Exclusive Special Features

 

 From the fertile minds of the 20th Century’s most brilliant and outrageous comedy troupe comes their most highly regarded comedy classic -Monty Python and the Holy Grail - debuting on Blu-ray^™ March 26 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Their second feature film stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin as we follow King Arthur and his knights in their search for the Holy Grail. Encounter the Black Knight, the Killer Rabbit, The Knights Who Say ‘Ni’! and the Black Beast of Aaaargh! The Blu-ray set is brimming with coconuts, shrubberies and swallows (African or European), OOPS, we mean loads of bonus materials, including over thirty minutes of new Blu-ray exclusive special features. This medieval madness will be available on Blu-ray for £19.99.

Blu-ray Exclusives:
·         The Film re-mastered to high definition standards never before seen
·         Outtakes & Extended Scenes with introduction by Terry Jones
·         Lost Animations with introduction by Terry Gilliam
·         Meanwhile, King Arthur & Sir Bedevere...
·         Elephant & Castle
·         Run Away!
·         The Tale of Sir Robin
·         The Tale of Sir Lancelot
·         Henry 4^th
·         Cast Directory Photo Gallery
·         Holy Grail Blu-ray Credits
 
Blu-ray Features:
·         Scintillating commentaries by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones and even more revealing commentaries by John Cleese, Eric Idle & Michael Palin
·         Quest for the Holy Grail Locations with Michael Palin & Terry Jones
·         Lego Knights: The Knights of the Round Table in Lego
·         Special Japanese Version
·         How To Use Your Coconuts (an educational film)
·         BBC Film Night on location
·         Three Songs to sing-along
 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a running time of 92 minutesand is rated 15.
 

PRODUCT INFORMATION

 

TITLE	MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
Release Date	March 26, 2012
Format	Blu-ray
RRP	£19.99
Certificate	15
Genre	Comedy
Running Time	Blu-ray: 92mins

 

LAS ACACIAS

                 
Available On DVD and Blu-Ray for the first time from 9 April


"An absolutely beautiful movie...the kind of film where you think at the end,
yes make them like that!" Mark Kermode, Radio 5 Live


★★★★★ ‘Film of the week’ The Independent


★★★★  ‘absolutely beguiling’ The Guardian


★★★★ “What a lovely surprise” The Evening Standard


★★★★  ‘Lovely’  Time Out


Verve Pictures are pleased to announce that LAS ACACIAS will be available on DVD
and Blu-Ray for the first time from 9 April.  


Winner of both the prestigious Sutherland Award at  the London Film Festival, and of the
Camera D’Or at Cannes last year, Pablo Giorgelli’s critically acclaimed road movie 
LAS ACACIAS was a festival favourite, and Giorgelli singled out as ‘one to watch’.  
With pitch-perfect performances from character actor German de Silva and newcomer
Hebe Duarte, LAS ACACIAS tells the story of a long distance lorry driver (German de
Silva) who agrees to drive a woman (Hebe Duarte) and her 5 month old child en route
from Paraguay to Buenos Aires. 


A subtle and tender road movie exploring loneliness and the pain of loss, LAS ACACIAS
grows into a searingly poignant tale about a passing encounter between two strangers and
the unlikely bond that grows between them. 

AWARD-WINNING US INDIE COMEDY TINY FURNITURE

RELEASED 30 MARCH 2012


Unnervingly honest! –VANITY FAIR


It’s witty, memorable and hands-to-your-face cringey! –LITTLE WHITE LIES


Lena Dunham seems like the Woody Allen of Generation Y.  –SCREEN INTERNATIONAL


It’s bitingly, excruciatingly, disarmingly hilarious, as if Miranda July met The
Inbetweeners at the slightly hazy post 3am-stage of a frat party. –BIRD’S EYE VIEW FILM FESTIVAL


LONDON INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTION is pleased to announce the release of TINY FURNITURE – a wildly witty exploration of post-university confusion by one of America’s most exciting new voices in
independent cinema, Lena Dunham (HBO series Girls, MILDRED PIERCE, THE INNKEEPERS). 25-year
old Dunham wrote, directed and plays the lead in TINY FURNITURE, which launches in UK
cinemas on 30 March 2012.


TINY FURNITURE tells the story of Aura (played by Dunham) who returns home from
university to her mother’s Tribeca loft with: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her
YouTube page, a boyfriend who’s left her to find himself, a dying hamster and her tail
between her legs. Luckily, her train wreck childhood best friend never left home, the
restaurant down the block is hiring and ill-advised romantic possibilities lurk around
every corner. Aura quickly careens into her old/new life to try to discover who she really
is. 


As authentic as it is endearing, TINY FURNITURE was shot in Dunham’s real-life family home in
New York City, starring her mother (photographer Laurie Simmons) and sister (Grace
Dunham) alongside a brilliant ensemble of young independent talent including Alex
Karpovsky (HARMONY AND ME, BASS ACKWARDS), Merritt Wever (GREENBERG, MICHAEL CLAYTON), Amy Seimetz (YOU’RE NEXT, BITTER FEAST), David Call (BREAKING UPWARDS, TWO GATES OF SLEEP) and artist turned-actress Jemima Kirke (HBO series Girls).


TINY FURNITURE celebrated its world premiere at the 2010 South-by-Southwest Film Festival,
where it won the Jury Award for “Best Narrative Feature” and Dunham took home the
festival’s breakout award for emerging narrative woman director. Dunham also won an
Independent Spirit Award for the TINY FURNITURE screenplay and the LA Film Critics
Association’s “New Generation Award”. The theatrical release marks TINY FURNITURE’S long
awaited debut for UK audiences and will be followed by a DVD and VOD release in May
2012.

Unveiled: the Oscar-winning formula to strike gold

Study by blinkbox and the National Film and Television School reveals the Oscar-winning formula

It’s becoming a familiar formula: add one starlet, aged 32, plus a 43 year-old leading man, mix together in a 140 minute drama and unleash it to the world in October – and voila! There you have the perfect recipe for an Oscar-winning film, according to a study commissioned by blinkbox – the UK's leading online movie service.

The research from blinkbox, undertaken by the National Film and Television School led by renowned British producer Nik Powell and NFTS graduate Duncan Bruce, provides us with a glimpse of what the next Oscar winner might look like ahead of next week’s star-studded Hollywood ceremony.

After examining trends of previous cinematic successes, the study has also found:

·         The average age of a Best Actress winner currently stands at 32, while the average age of a Best Actor winner is 43

·         The average length of a winning Best Picture is two hours 20 minutes, with a preference for dramatic ‘intimate portraits’, such as The Hurt Locker and The King’s Speech.

·         Best Actress and Actor nominees are more likely to be victorious on their second or third Oscar attempt. Since 2000, only four stars have managed to win the Best Actor trophy from their first nomination

·         The average age of a Best Director recipient in the last 12 years is 53 (up from 44 during the 1990s)

·         If a film is awarded Best Picture it will almost always secure the Best Director statue too – in the last 50 years, Best Picture and Director have only differed seven times

The insight will come in handy for entrants to blinkbox’s Win A Million competition where film fans have until midnight on 21^st February to strike it rich and win £1 million by correctly predicting all 24 winners at this year’s Oscar ceremony.

The results bode well for Michelle Williams who, at 32 years old, is nominated for Best Actress for her role in My Week With Marilyn. However, with Meryl Streep holding the record for the most Oscar nominations received by an actor, The Iron Lady is not to be underestimated.

The extensive research has also discovered...

Best Picture

In the past, it was rarely guaranteed that a Best Picture winner would automatically win one of the screenplay Oscars – for example, films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Rocky, Titanic, The English Patient, The Deer Hunter andPlatoon all won Best Picture without winning one of the screenplay categories. However, in recent years, there has been a trend towards linking the two awards – in the last 12 years only three Best Picture winners have failed to win a screenplay Oscar (Million Dollar Baby, Chicago and Gladiator).

Best Actress and Best Actor – the perfect pair

The study has identified a trend for the Best Actress accolade to be awarded to younger actresses, and as a result, only four leading ladies since 1990 (Bullock, Mirren, Sarandon and Bates) have been awarded Best Actress while being over the age of 40.

In contrast, the Best Actor award is much more unpredictable. Jeff Bridges won the award for Crazy Heart aged 60, while Adrien Brody became the youngest person ever to scoop the title for The Pianist at just 29.

Best Director – age is just a number

The oldest recipient of the Best Director Oscar is Clint Eastwood for his work on Million Dollar Baby, aged 74, and the youngest in the modern era is Sam Mendes who won at the tender age of 34 for his work on American Beauty.

Time is ticking...

Based on recent results, the average length of a Best Picture winner is two hours 20 minutes, which is lucky for film lovers with short attention spans – during the 80s and 90s, winning blockbusters edged over the three hour mark, with titles such as Amadeus, Out of Africa, The Last Emperor, Dances With Wolves, Schindler’s List, Braveheart, The English Patient and Titanic all hitting the top spot.

blinkbox co-founder and CEO, Michael Comish, said: “There are always shocks and surprises on the night of the Oscars, but we hope this insight points movie-lovers  in the right direction.” Comish added: “So with Win A Million, you don’t have to be a Hollywood A-lister to be a winner!”

To enter Win A Million, visit www.facebook.com/blinkbox and submit your predictions. For more information on blinkbox, visit www.blinkbox.com.

Connect your wired entertainment devices!

Now it’s even easier for people to make more of their home entertainments devices thanks to Cisco.  With the new Linksys entertainment bridge users can connect wired gadgetry like internet enabled HD-tvs, Blu-ray players and games consoles to the Internet .

By plugging the devices into the bridge, that connects to the wireless network, all of the devices can communicate with each other seamlessly making it simple to stream video, or music and play games online through the game console and share any media stored on any of the devices. With the entertainment bridge consumers can unlock the full potential of their smart devices in the home – just by creating a reliable connection to the Internet.

The Linksys entertainment bridge supports wireless speeds up to 300Mbps, and is equipped with multiple antennas and four Ethernet ports to connect  devices to. It also is Dual-Band capable to avoid interference from competing networks and devices. In addition, the bridge is ideal for video streaming with Wifi Multimedia (WMM®) and Quality of Service (QoS) traffic prioritization built-in..

Custody deaths highlighted as Coventry University’s Ken Fero has ‘Injustice’ screened at film festival

As the IPCC announces its intention to review the way it deals with police contact deaths, the film that’s been asking questions about deaths in custody for over 10 years is set to be screened at the Bristol Radical Film Festival (27 February – 4 March 2012).

Coventry University Senior Lecturer in Media Production, Ken Fero directed and produced ‘Injustice’ (98mins/2001), a provocatively powerful documentary about the extraordinary, continuing phenomenon of black and Asian people dying mysteriously in police custody, without any prosecution being brought.

The film looks at the period from 1969 to 1999, when more than 1,000 people died in police custody in the UK. Fero concentrates on a number of cases including Brian Douglas, Shiji Lapite,Joy Gardner and Ibrahim Sey; following families and friends as they try to get justice for the deaths of their loved ones.

‘Injustice’ has never been on general release, being pulled from cinemas almost immediately, following legal threats from the Police Federation. Despite this, Fero and Co-director Tariq Mehmood have continued to put on private screenings, and the film has gained international acclaim and a clutch of awards including Best Documentary, BFM London Film Festival 2002; National Social Justice Award 2003; Best Documentary (Human Rights) One World Film Festival 2003; and New Nation Campaign Group of the Year Award 2004.

Coventry University’s Ken Fero said:

“I have always taken a robust attitude when investigating the alleged wrong doings of police officers. Documentary in its radical form can be a force for change, and ‘Injustice’ aimed to give a voice to those whose concerns were being ignored by the very people who were supposed to defend them.

“After the film was pulled from cinemas, following its UK release in 2001, I decided to organise screenings across the country and internationally, as part of film festivals and at private showings in small independent venues. As a filmmaker, having your work seen and appreciated is essential, and the response from audiences and the media across the globe has been very positive and encouraging for those it sought to help.”

The Bristol Radical Film Festival screens some of the most socially and politically engaged documentaries from around the world. Taking place over a week, screenings are hosted in a variety of community-based venues, culminating in a weekend of screenings, talks, workshops and debates at the not-for-profit cinema, The Cube.

Ken Fero added:

“I am currently working on a 25 minute documentary called ‘Who Polices the Police’, a critique about the Independent Police Complaints Commission, made with the assistance of Coventry University media production students. The death of Mark Duggan after being shot by police in Tottenham, and the subsequent rioting that spread across Britain, has put the issue of investigating police actions onto the international agenda. There have been a number of unexplained deaths in recent months, and the IPCC has been tasked to investigate the facts. This film asks how effective the IPCC is in bringing corrupt officers to justice. I am also working on the follow-up to ‘Injustice’.”

‘Injustice’ will be screened as part of the ‘Riots and Racism’ film day, on Thursday 1 March at the Malcolm X Centre in Bristol, with a talk by Ken Fero. For more information, including the fullprogramme for the Bristol Radical Film Festival, visit: www.bristolradicalfilm.org.uk

If you wish to view Injustice it is now available online.

The Cinematic Race to the South Pole At BFI Southbank in March 2012

 

2012 marks the centenary of the death of famed Antarctic explorer Captain Scott. In commemoration, BFI Southbank presents three specially curated programmes of archive material that presents the cinematic record of the race for the South Pole. Audiences will be offered another opportunity to see the BFI National Archive’s critically acclaimed major restoration of The Great White Silence (1924) that charts Captain Robert Scott’s fateful last expedition that will be packaged with a selection of rarely seen news footage of the expedition from 1912-13.

 

The programme also focuses on two other of the important figures in Antarctic exploration of the era, Ernest Shackleton and Roald Amundesen. Frank Hurley’s extraordinary South (1919) documents Shakleton’s final expedition that will be screened alongside rare footage of the expedition and the huge crowds that gathered for his lying in state in Uruguay, whilst the National Library of Norway’s restoration of the almost unknown expedition footage of the man who first reached the Pole, Roald Amundsen, will be presented alongside a further selection of archive material from the less-well-known expeditions of the Scots, the Australians and the Japanese that will offer an unrivalled insight into many of the trials and triumphs of Antarctic exploration in the early 20th Century.

 

The ‘heroic era’ of Antarctic exploration – from the 1890s to the death of Shackleton in 1922 – coincided with the development of filmmaking practice and the rise of commercial cinema. Many polar explorers saw potential in using this new technology and their sponsors saw the huge entertainment value of such a record. The story of these films has as much to tell us about the development of the film business as it does about the extraordinary achievements of the first polar explorers and their pioneering cameramen.

 

On the release of The Great White Silence in 1924 The Times wrote: ‘One of the greatest achievements of the Kinematograph to-date has been to make Captain Scott’s expedition imperishable. The story of Scott’s death will, of course, be told as long as the English language is spoken, but it is wonderful to think also that 100 or 500 years hence future generations will be able to see this pictorial record and gaze upon Scott and his comrades trudging over the ice to glorious death. It is to be hoped that Mr Ponting’s own share in obtaining this record for posterity will not be overlooked’. The restoration of Ponting’s silent film goes a long way to achieving that wish; appropriately, just as his original camera negatives head back to sub-zero temperatures in the BFI’s new vaults.

 

Brands, get ‘pinned’ for profit with Pinterest

London, 21 February, 2012 – Brands take note. Pinterest is showing all the right signs of becoming a mainstream player on the Social Media front. “Pinterest - Best Practice Guide”, by leading independent digital marketing agency, Greenlight, spells out why this matters. Brands serious about leveraging this medium to boost revenues from online and mobile channels are advised to get themselves firmly ‘pinned’ to the Pinterest ‘board’ as opposed to hanging on its fringes.  

Conceived in November 2009 and launched four months later, this ‘visually styled’ social network platform is already driving the social shopping experience. It offers a way for consumers to share images of anything - from fashion to pets, pots to plants. Users can create their own online pin boards to suit any theme and share it with likeminded people.

“Users are often ‘buy hungry’ when they visit Pinterest. As such, it presents a very ‘ready’ opportunity for brands to sell products to users actively seeking them out,” explains Charlie Elliott, Content and Creative strategist at Greenlight and co-author of the guide.

“By joining Pinterest and sharing, brands can learn a huge amount from their followers as they are offering up a whole load of information into their personal interests. It is typically the sort of insight and intelligence a brand needs and would have to go to great lengths to get, in order to create and/or tailor its product offering to its target audiences taste. Among others, those retailers early to the game include Gap, ASOS and Etsy.”

However, Greenlight points out that this social platform is not a broadcast mechanism in the same way as other social networks.

“Pinterest does not encourage product pushing. Therefore brands will need a different approach to the likes of Twitter and Facebook and will have to be creative in their output,” says Elliott.

There is proof aplenty that Pinterest already has a sizeable and importantly a loyal user base.

Gian Caprini, head of Off Page strategy at Greenlight and co-author says:

“Exact user numbers have not as yet been released. However, Pinterest is one of the top 10 social networking sites currently being tracked by Hitwise (who estimate visits in December 2011 reached 11 million). It featured in TIME magazine’s 2011 top 50 websites. Moreover, it has also just been introduced as one of 60 new apps available on Facebook’s Open Graph. This is bound to vastly increase user numbers and raise awareness of it further.”

The authors note the pace of change within the Social Media sphere is rapid and impacting extremely on retail and brand visibility dynamics.

“In all of this remains the constant competition for a share of the customer wallet. Brands would therefore do well to steer clear of coming in late, playing a costly game of catch up or worse still, being completely left behind as this sphere continues to evolve.”

Hindus laud actress Goldie Hawn for introducing meditation in many American schools

Hindus have applauded Hollywood star Goldie Hawn for bringing meditation and breathing techniques through her “MindUP Program” to various schools across USA and Canada, which they say are integral part of Hinduism practice.

According to reports, Oscar winner Hawn (Private Benjamin), 66, was at the Miami-Dade School Board (Florida, USA) meeting on February 15 to unveil a partnership agreement of this program benefitting children at Miami-Dade public schools, where she got standing ovation. “MindUP Program” is a comprehensive social and emotional learning program for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students, which includes meditation techniques and breathing exercises.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Hawn’s Program involved meditation and breathing exercises which Hindus had been practicing since ancient times under various nomenclatures. Zed thanked Hawn for promoting the benefits of meditation and breathing exercises among American schoolchildren.

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, stresses that Hinduism has been associated with meditation for ages, which complements religion.  It consists of training of the mind and can bring positive changes in one’s life and is used for spiritual experience. There are various aspects of it, including pratyahara, upasana, samadhi, manana, dhyana and dharana. Ancient Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord) recommends meditating on Lord Krishna. Evidence of trataka meditation techniques can be found in Indus Valley Civilization around 1,500 BCE.

Rajan Zed points out that vital breath control (Pranayama) has been an integral part of many Hindu yogic and meditative practices and it is about correct ratio of exhalation, inhalation and retention. Using patterned breathing, its purpose is to control the mind and body by restraining the vital breaths; and it is employed in cleansing, purification and giving vitality to the subtle centers besides a way to concentrate the mind. It is among the most important ways for conscious control of the ten vital energies, Zed adds.

Schools and other organizations participating in Hawn’s “MindUP Program” are located in Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Indiana, Virginia, Washington, California, Texas, Maryland, Illinois, and Ohio; besides Canada, United Kingdom, Venezuela and Australia. This educational initiative of Goldie Hawn founded “The Hawn Foundation” (2005) consists of 15 lessons and its curriculum, among other topics, also includes "Mindful Attention" and it involves "learning about self-awareness" and includes "activities that sharpen their ability to focus".  Cost of implementing it in a school or youth services organization is $5,000. MindUP is a family of social, emotional, and attentional self-regulatory strategies and skills developed for cultivating well-being and emotional balance, its website says.  

From Coventry to California: the university students’ big screen dream

Media Production students from Coventry University have set themselves the ultimate movie-making challenge of creating a crowd-funded, full-length feature film to be shot on location in the UK and in California.

The students are seeking the support of fans and followers around the world to help finance the project through ‘crowd-funding’, and have already raised over £1,300 towards their £7,000 target – but they need more help.

Latitude: The Movie follows the lives of two gadget fanatics, Max and Percy, whose love of ‘geocaching’ – a modern day treasure hunting game in which players use GPS to track down containers hidden across the globe – leads them into a high-tech game of cat and mouse across America in a quest to find the ultimate piece of technology.

The team behind the production describe it as a ‘Lord of The Rings’ for the Google generation, and are hoping that their innovative approach to funding and distributing the movie will prove as much a hit as the film itself.

Distribution is a key part of movie-making and the students have come up with some innovative ways of marketing the film via the same medium, ‘geocaching’, which is featured in the picture. The students are also filming a documentary recording their experience making the film, which will be posted on the movie’s website.

The movie’s premiere will take place in Coventry in June, at which point the crew is hoping it will become one of the first full length feature films to have been created by students studying on an undergraduate degree.

Mick Le Mare, third year Media Production student at Coventry University and producer of the film, said:

“This is the biggest challenge any of us have faced whilst in education, and we couldn’t be more excited. A feature film is an enormous undertaking and the pressure is already mounting to be producing content every day. This isn’t just about making a beautiful piece of film; it’s also about fundraising, distribution, casting, graphic design, scriptwriting, sponsorship and budgeting among many other things. We’re looking at this as a professional venture which is equipping us with the sort of skills which will give us a head start when we’re looking for our first jobs in the industry.”

Pete Woodbridge, lecturer in Open Media at Coventry University and one of the project’s coordinators, said:

“Making a feature film on such a low budget is a massive undertaking for all of the students involved, especially considering that we are shooting a large part of it in the USA. This involves them taking their production skills to a whole new professional level, and at the same time gives them the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial, creative and technical abilities. In today’s competitive media job market, it is projects like this that will get them the attention they deserve.”

The film project is supported by Coventry University’s International Experience and Mobility Scheme (IEMS), which enables students to gain experience of working in a foreign country.

Anyone wishing to support Latitude: The Movie’s crowd-funding campaign should contact mick@latitudethemovie.com or visit www.latitudethemovie.com and click on ‘sponsor’.

Texas Killing Fields

SUNRISE and CITY GIRL

F.W. Murnau’s SUNRISE & CITY GIRL, two major inspirations for Michel Hazanavicius’ THE ARTIST, are available as dual format editions in Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA series.

With the current success at the cinema of The Artist & Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (not itself a silent film but its main storyline centres on the work of the early cinematic pioneer Georges Méliès) everyone is talking about a silent film revival.

Eureka’s Masters of Cinema catalogue invites the viewer to sample a vast body of work that makes use of the silent aesthetic, featuring films from Murnau (Sunrise, City Girl, Nosferatu), Lang (Metropolis, Frau Im Mond,Testament of Dr Mabuse) and Buster Keaton amongst others and later this year Carl Th. Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc.

The 'silent' camera was allowed an incredible mobility that simultaneously "opened up" the inner world of the film, and encouraged new and ingeniously inspired ways to represent both ideas and emotion. Even when particular silent works might not be best characterized as "Expressionist," the mantra of the silent cinema might nevertheless be summarized as such: "Let the image express what words cannot." And as Norma Desmond put it so well in remembrance of her pedigree: "We didn't need dialogue. We had FACES."

F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) and City Girl (1929) were major inspirations for Michel Hazanavicius’ writing and creation of The Artist (2011). Amongst the last of the sophisticated silent movie utopia classics, Sunrise won 3 Academy Awards in 1927 and was voted one of the 10 greatest films ever made in the hugely influential once-a-decade Sight & Sound film critic’s poll in 2002.

In 2009 when Sunrise was first released on blu-ray in the UK by Eureka Entertainment, it became the very first silent movie, anywhere in the world to be produced on Blu-ray in 1080p HD.

Sunrise and City Girl both feature in Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA series alongside over 20 other silent movies. As a distributor, when including EUREKA's other silent titles, the label has more silent titles than any other British label.

   

TRAILER : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZF1_pfErs&feature=youtu.be

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SUNRISE: SYNOPSIS

F. W. Murnau's Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau's tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.

Made in the twilight of the silent era, it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for "Unique and Artistic Picture", its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year.

Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new dual format edition (Blu-ray and 2 x DVD) of Sunrise, including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source. 

AVAILABLE  NOW FROM

AMAZON  http://amzn.to/xcqGWN

HMV http://bit.ly/AiDrGZ

PLAY http://bit.ly/wHnosx

HUT http://bit.ly/AdRGOC

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SUNRISE: AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS

- Winner of three Oscars®: Best Actress, Cinematography, and a one-off award for "Unique and Artistic Picture"

- Voted one of the 10 greatest films ever made in the hugely influential once-a-decade Sight & Sound film critics poll in 2002. 

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SUNRISE: SPECIAL FEATURES

• Restored high-definition transfers of two different versions: the American Movietone version, and the silent Czech version.

• Original English intertitles on the Movietone version, and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version. 

• Original Movietone score (mono) and alternate Olympic Chamber Orchestra score (stereo) 

• Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version 

• Outtakes with either John Bailey commentary or intertitles

• Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film — Janet Bergstrom’s updated 40-minute documentary about the lost Murnau film

• Original theatrical trailer 

• Original ‘photoplay’ script by Carl Mayer with Murnau’s handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format) 

• 68-page illustrated booklet with numerous essays including a new reprint of a piece by Dudley Andrew.

    

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SUNRISE: REVIEWS

“Released in 1927, the last year of silent film, it's a pinnacle of that lost art.” – Dave Kehr, CHICAGO READER

“This sexy melodrama and intense psychological thriller provides an original and satisfying mix of romanticism, artifice and realism.” – David Parkinson, EMPIRE

“One of the last great silent movies.” – Philip French, THE OBSERVER

“An example of True Love styled to cinema perfection.” – Geoff Andrew, TIME OUT

“A film masterpiece” – Mordaunt Hall, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Silent cinema aspired to be a universal language. Here, in the hands of a master, it communicates breathtakingly ★★★★★” – Philip Horne, DAILY TELEGRAPH

“For its sense of innovation, it is as important as Citizen Kane ★★★★★” – Ian Freer, EMPIRE

DVD of the week ★★★★★ - Alan Stanbrook, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

★★★★★ - Anton van Beek, HOME CINEMA CHOICE

“Sublime ★★★★★” – Siobhan Murphy, THE METRO

“One of the greatest silent movies, stunningly presented ★★★★★” – Philip Kemp, DVD & BLU-RAY REVIEW

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SUNRISE: DETAILS

Label: Eureka Entertainment Ltd

Catalogue No: EKA70050 (RETAIL ONLY)

Barcode: 5060000700503

RRP: £20.42

Release Date: 12 September 2011 (Available NOW!)

Certificate: U

Run Time: 93 & 79 min. approx.

Format:  1.20:1 & 1.37:1 OAR / B&W

Genre: World Cinema/ Movie Classic

Director: F.W. Murnau

Year: 1927

Country:  USA

Language: English

Subtitles: English SDH (Optional)