Thursday, September 26, 2013

MARTIN SCORSESE PRESENTS: WORLD CINEMA FOUNDATION: VOLUME ONE

Eureka! Entertainment to release HD presentations of the restored versions of three neglected masterpieces of world cinema introduced by Martin Scorsese, as a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) box set as part of their award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 25 November 2013.


[For immediate release] Eureka! Entertainment have announced the release of MARTIN SCORSESE PRESENTS: WORLD CINEMA FOUNDATION: VOLUME ONE ( Three films preserved, restored, and re-presented by the efforts of the World Cinema Foundation: DRY SUMMER / TRANCES / REVENGE).   This is the first release from the official partnership between Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation and The Masters of Cinema Series, and will be released in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) box set edition on 25 November 2013.

Founded in 2007 and overseen by Martin Scorsese, the World Cinema Foundation (WCF) has spearheaded efforts to preserve, restore, and annually re-present neglected masterpieces of world cinema, particularly those from areas of the globe that have not traditionally been highlighted in prevailing evaluations of film, or which have lacked the financial, technical, or governmental infrastructure to ensure their preservation.

As the WCF's mission statement announces: "Cinema is an international language, an international art, but, above all, it is a source of enlightenment. There are wonderful, remarkable films, past and present, from Mexico, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central Asia that deserve to be known and seen. Composed of filmmakers from every continent, the World Cinema Foundation breathes life into the idea that when a cultural patrimony is lost, no matter how small or supposedly 'marginal' the country might be, we are all poorer for it."

The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to act as the official partner of the World Cinema Foundation for the UK region. In this first in a regular series of Blu-ray box sets, we present the WCF's restorations of masterpieces from Turkey (Erksan's Dry Summer), Morocco (El Maanouni's Trances), and Kazakhstan (Shinarbaev's Revenge), with exclusive introductions by Martin Scorsese for each film in this set.

Available to pre-order from:
Amazon (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) http://amzn.to/18rpcSx
The Hut (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) http://tidd.ly/35b323f2
MovieMail (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) http://bit.ly/15v9NPh


SYNOPSES

DRY SUMMER [ SUSUZ YAZ ] | A film by Metin Erksan | 1964 | Turkey | 75 minutes | 1.37:1 original aspect ratio

A brutal naturalist melodrama, Metin Erksan's masterful Dry Summer [Susuz yaz], which won the Golden Bear at the 1964 Berlin Film Festival, returns to the spotlight in a new restoration after decades of suppression by Turkish authorities: an arid fate for one of the most exciting films of the 1960s. Viscerally tactile, unsparing, and even on occasion outright lurid, Dry Summer has been described by filmmaker Fatih Akin as "one of the most important legacies of Turkish cinema."

During a particularly dry rural Turkish summer, a group of local workers enter into a dispute with a landowner when he decides the construction of new irrigation infrastructure must first and foremost service his own property. Wholly rapacious, the landowner foments a private war with his own kin after the brother takes a bewitching young wife. The battle between the factions plays out in stunning set-pieces: a pursuit with pistols amidst grass-stalks and dam-water before the setting sun evokes elements of Renoir (Toni), Ford (The World Moves On), Bergman (The Virgin Spring), and Shindô (Onibaba), while a scene set in a brush thicket wherein the landowner and his aggressors fight it out hatchet-and-club provides drama at least as exciting and gasp-inducing as the climax of Seven Samurai.

Dry Summer's sweat-dappled tone and baked images of promenade and labour recall Mexican-period Buñuel as much as aspects of mid-'50s Italian commercial melodrama and, via the film's backdrop of agrarian agitation and its low angles – which effect a figural relief against blazing, albeit greyish mid-contrast summer skies – post-montage Soviet agitprop. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the World Cinema Foundation's restoration of Metin Erksan's classic on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

TRANCES [ TRANSES ] | A film by Ahmed El Maanouni | 1981 | Morocco | 87 minutes | 1.85:1 original aspect ratio

The inaugural film of the World Cinema Foundation's efforts, Trances [Transes] is a picture unlike any other: a poetic, roving documentary-portrait performance-film based around the Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane.

In this rare, transformational work, Nass El Ghiwane perform their music at concerts at once fervidly rally-like and suffused with the  spontaneity of a mass happening; recount their time working alongside the great chaâbi musician Boudjemaâ El Ankis in the 1970s; and generally philosophise and reflect upon life. As Martin Scorsese expressed at the time of the film's re-presentation in 2007: "I became passionate about this music that I heard and I saw also the way the film was made, the concert that was photographed and the effect of the music on the audience at the concert. I tracked down the music and eventually it became my inspiration for many of the designs and construction of my film The Last Temptation of Christ. [...] And I think the group was singing damnation: their people, their beliefs, their sufferings, and their prayers all came through their singing. And I think the film is beautifully made by Ahmed El Maanouni; it's been an obsession of mine since 1981."

True to its title, Trances is an hypnotic, exhilarating masterwork. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Ahmed El Maanouni's film, restored from the original 16mm camera and sound negatives, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

REVENGE [ MEST' ] | A film by Ermek Shinarbaev | 1989 | Kazakhstan | 96 minutes | 1.37:1 original aspect ratio

Set largely in Korea and China, and spanning the 1910s to 1940s, Ermek Shinarbaev's epic masterpiece unites the resonant pictoriality of certain Far Eastern cinema with a mysticism rooted in the Russian tradition: a fitting and harmonic convergence for this collaboration (one of three) between the Kazakh director and Korean-Russian writer Anatoli Kim.

A rural schoolteacher, Jan, murders a pupil, the young daughter of a family under whom he had previously been a tenant. The father, Caj [pronounced "Tsaiya"], tracks him to China to exact revenge – but at at the moment of vengeance, Caj cannot act. He returns home only to take a concubine, who in turn bears him a son: Sungu, a prodigious composer of verse. At Caj's deathbed, the boy is informed he has been brought into the world purely for the sake of vengeance; he takes an oath to annihilate Jan.

Tonally, Revenge exhibits an extraordinary use of natural light that lends the figures an almost ethereal incandescence in the picture's first half; the second half of the film shifts into a no-less-impressive palate that is ally to late-Tarkovskyan naturalism. A narrative broken into seven chapters, and constructed in a full-circle that creates a visual and spoken summary of Sungu's poetic universe,Revenge is, to quote the critic Kent Jones, "a true odyssey, geographically and psychologically. One of the greatest films to emerge from the Kazakh New Wave, and also one of the toughest." The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Revenge, restored from the original camera negative with the involvement of Ermek Shinarbaev, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Glorious new restorations of three neglected masterworks of world cinema, all presented in 1080p HD
• Exclusive video introductions to each film by Martin Scorsese
• 80-page book featuring writing by Kent Jones on Revenge, Bilge Ebiri on Trances, archival documentation and imagery, and more to be announced
• Optional English subtitles on each film
• More features to be announced closer to release date

#NOWTVSuperheroes



“NOW TV launches digital campaign to find the superheroes of the future…”


To celebrate the great selection of superhero movies available on NOW TV this autumn, including Avengers AssembleThe Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-man, the movie and sports streaming service powered by Sky is launching a competition giving budding artists and superhero –lovers the chance to have their own superhero creations turned into a professional short animation.

Launching today, users will be encouraged to visit a dedicated website at www.nowtvsuperheroes.co.uk and upload their superhero artwork along with a few vital stats such as super-powers and weaknesses. The artwork will then be displayed in a voting gallery, with votes being registered based on Facebook ‘likes’. The top 3 most voted-for superheroes will then be brought to life in a short animation which will premiere on the NOW TV YouTube channel and be promoted across the Facebook page, Twitter profile and NOW TV website.

In addition, the first 500 people to sign up to a free trial of NOW TV through this competition will receive a free custom-made NOW TV t-shirt displaying their superhero design on the front, so get in quick.

The NOW TV Superheroes competition runs from 18th September – 9th October and you can get involved right now by clicking here.

If you’re not much of an artist but still fancy taking advantage of a free NOW TV trial, head over to www.nowtv.com.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

NCS gives you the chance to bite back this Halloween

 and take part in their upcoming Zombie film



To celebrate all the amazing hours of community action provided by NCS graduates this summer, NCS (National Citizen Service) is giving young people across England the chance to get involved in the making of their upcoming Zombie film, 'NCS Bites Back'.

If you’ve ever fancied yourself in front of the camera or are interested working behind the scenes on a film shoot, now’s your chance to win a role in the making of NCS's Zombie film, due to air this autumn.

There are lots of opportunities for you to run the show. You could star as a gruesome zombie or gain valuable experience as the make-up artist, camera or production assistant on set.

For your chance to get involved, all you need to do is enter here http://apps.facebook.com/ncszombieapp

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k4Bz0xqJuA

To find out more about NCS, watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_7H1V7PH9c

The shoot is taking place on the 12th of October, so make sure you're free! 

National Citizen Service (NCS) is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity open to all 16 to 17 year olds across England.  It is a unique programme, lasting up to three weeks, plus 30 hours committed to a community project, focused around fun and discovery that benefits both young people and society.
*It All Starts At Yes*
It’s not too late to join the autumn programme, sign up to: http://www.ncsyes.co.uk
www.facebook.com/ncs
Twitter: @NCS
 #NCSYes

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Extreme Summits and Kendal Mountain Festival Weekend


BFI Southbank marks the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest with a season dedicated to the daring of mountaineering, while the Kendal Mountain Festival comes to the Southbank

BFI Southbank will mark the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest with Extreme Summits, a season dedicated to the lure of the mountains and the heroic endeavours of those that scale their highest peaks. This season will span mountaineering exploits from the burgeoning European sport of Alpinism in the Victorian/Edwardian era through to modern day mountain top heroics, which not only push climbers to their limits, but also push the boundaries of what is possible with a camera in extreme environments. The centrepiece of the season will be Captain John Noel’s film record, The Epic of Everest(1924) which has been restored by the BFI National Archive.  The new restoration will also be released in cinemas nationwide on 18 October to coincide with its world premiere Archive Gala screening at the57th BFI London Film Festival.

The season will draw on further material from the BFI National Archive, including the first film ever taken in Tibet, the first ever recorded flight over Everest (Wings Over Everest, 1934) and footage fromClaude Friese-Greene’s 1925 film The Open Road. The season will feature footage of some of the most important British climbers from the second half of the 20th century, including Sir Chris Bonington,Joe BrownDoug Scott, and Joe Tasker. Films documenting both successful and unsuccessful climbs including Kangchenjunga (1955), Everest Unmasked (1978) and The Summit (2012) will provide a look at how mountain film has developed over the years. Complementing the season BFI Southbank will also host a weekend of events from one of the world’s largest mountain festivals, with the Kendal Mountain Festival Weekend (Friday 22 Nov – Sunday 24 Nov); the festival will bring the best of adventure, discovery, environmental, wilderness heritage and culture to BFI Southbank.

The craze for Alpinism in the Victorian and Edwardian eras will be celebrated in Climb Every Mountain, a compilation of early mountaineering films from the BFI National Archive. This will include rare colour footage from Claude Friese-Greene’s The Open Road (1925), which recently became an internet sensation thanks to tweets from the likes of Kevin Spacey and Stephen Fry. The official film record of the third attempt to climb Everest, The Epic of Everest (1924), is one of the most remarkable films in the BFI National Archive. This legendary expedition culminated in the deaths of two of the finest climbers of their generation, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, and sparked an on-going debate over whether or not they did indeed reach the summit. Filming in brutally harsh conditions with a hand-cranked camera, Captain John Noel captured images of breath-taking beauty and considerable historical significance. Less well known, but extremely significant, is Noel’s first official record of the 1922 expedition to conquer the world’s highest peak Climbing Mount Everest; this was the first film taken in Tibet and recorded fascinating images of the culture and landscapes witnessed by the members of the expedition.Kamet Conquered (1931), filmed by mountaineer and cameraman Frank Smythe, is a straightforward portrait of a climb that achieved what it set out to do, without loss of life – success rather than tragedy. Smythe was disappointed by the reaction, feeling that audiences had a morbid appetite for disaster following the disastrous results of 1924. Everest in the 1930s will document further attempts on Everest throughout the 1930s and includes footage of legendary climbers Eric Shipton, Hugh Ruttledge and Raymond Greene.

In 1953 Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing finally stood on the roof of the world, and Thomas Stobart’s film The Conquest of Everest (1953) shows the determination, heroism and teamwork that made this feat possible. Another first is the screening of Kangchenjunga (1955), a record of the first ascent of the world’s third highest mountain. This footage of their climb has never before been screened publicly. Sir Chris Bonington’s attempts to put a Briton on top of Everest for the first time are documented in This Week: Everest – The Fight for the Face (1972) and Everest the Hard Way (1975). Meanwhile Everest Unmasked (1978) and Everest: The Last Unclimbed Ridge (1983) explore the challenges of ‘Alpine style’ ascents without oxygen. The challenge and costs of climbing on ‘the mountaineer’s mountain’ are explored in K2 – The Elusive Summit (1985) and K2 – Triumph and Tragedy (1999), with the latter exploring the mountaineering history of the world’s second highest mountain. The Wildest Dream (2010) focuses on climbers Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding as they follow in the footsteps of Mallory and Irvine on Everest in a spectacular tribute to the 1924 expedition. Finally, The Summit (2012) shows how new myths and tragedies are created in the world’s highest mountains today.

Complementing the Extreme Summits season will be the Kendal Mountain Festival Weekend (Friday 22 Nov – Sunday 24 Nov). The mountain film is a truly exciting genre, but it’s more than just adrenaline and more than just mountains; one of the world’s leading mountain festivals, Kendal Mountain Festival, will bring the best of adventure, discovery, environmental, wilderness heritage and culture to BFI Southbank. Meet the Mountain Filmmakers will bring together three of today’s most vital practitioners of mountain film: Leo DickinsonPaul Diffley and Alastair Lee. Pushing the boundaries of what is possible with a camera in extreme environments, each have produced outstanding adventure documentaries from sensational locations. This event will give audiences the opportunity to see some of their incredible work and then pose their questions afterwards. The rest of the weekend will comprise four exciting and varied films programmes: Mountaineering and Climbing (Sat 23 Nov), Ski, Board and Wild Water (Sat 23 Nov), Bike and Free Flight (Sun 24 Nov) and Environment, Culture and Exploration (Sun 24 Nov). From daring climbs on Himalayan giants and gut-wrenching BASE jumps to extreme ski adventures, these films explore what motivates a person to put his or her life on the line and the emotion generated by facing these truly amazing feats.