St Albans Film Festival

Christiane Kubrick, wife of legendary filmmaker, to open first St Albans Film Festival this Friday

First UK screening of Vinyl to kick off city's inaugural festival
  

Christiane Kubrick, the wife of the late, iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, is to open the first-ever St Albans Film Festival this weekend (www.stalbansfilmfestival.com).
Christiane will be at the festival’s official opening ceremony on the evening of March 8, international Woman's Day, at Cafe Rouge in the city centre.
Stanley and Christiane got married in 1958 after they met on the set of the Paths of Glory, which Stanley directed. They moved to England in the early 1960s finally settling in Childwickbury Manor, just outside St Albans.

Christiane trained as an actress before pursuing a career in painting, going on to become an highly accomplished artist. Her work was featured in two of Stanley Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut.

Stanley created some of his most famous work in the St Albans area. His house, Childwickbury Manor, was used as a nerve centre for his film productions: The Shining was finished there, and Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut were started and completed there. 

The festival, which takes place from March 8-10, kicks off with the screening of the feature film Vinyl on March 8. Director Sara Sugarman will introduce the film at the screening.

Leoni Kibby, Film Festival Director, says: "I am thrilled that two such significant women in the world of filmmaking are going to be part of the opening day, on International Woman's day, too. Kubrick is such an iconic name and we are honoured to have Christiane open our festival. Sara Sugarman's film Vinyl is a wonderful warm story about the music industry and I am delighted to welcome her to St Albans ahead of the film's UK release." 

The closing film of the festival will be Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, directed by Jan Harlan, Christiane’s brother and one of Kubrick's producers on Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. He will also be giving a talk about filmmaking at the festival.

Speaking about the significance of the St Albans Film Festival, Jan says: "This lovely city of St Albans is anaemic when it comes to film culture – and this is the city where Stanley Kubrick lived for 20 years. I applaud the efforts of Leoni and her team of organisers and will certainly take full advantage of the rich offering."
 

Other famous names at the festival include legendary stuntman Roy Scammell, who was the stunt double for Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only and Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye. 

Roy, who also doubled as Michael Caine in The Italian Job and drove the iconic red mini through the streets of Turin for the legendary chase scenes in the film, will be looking back over his life as a stunt man in film at a talk on Friday evening.

The short film competition has attracted 300 entries, made by filmmakers from 30 countries, making the festival a truly international event.