Monday, March 24, 2003

Talking Pictures

BBC Two Broadcasts New Animated Film of Janacek Opera

BBC Two broadcasts a magical new version of Janacek’s much loved opera, The Cunning Little Vixen over the Easter season. The film has been specially created for BBC Television and combines the talents of international conductor Kent Nagano and acclaimed animation designer and director, Geoff Dunbar. The visual style is derived from the drawings by Stanislav Lolek in the original 1920’s newspaper strip which inspired Janacek to write the opera. Spellbinding animation has been created by using hand drawn techniques, combined with computer generated imagery.

Kent Nagano and Christophe Durrant have created a new edition of the music, which is performed by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. The international cast of young soloists, the stars of tomorrow, were selected by the European Opera Centre, following extensive auditions and they are joined by singers from the New London Children’s Choir and the BBC Singers. The title role of Vixen Sharp-Ears is sung by soprano Christine Buffle, baritone Grant Doyle is the Forester, Richard Coxon is the Vixen’s lover, Dashwood Fox and Keel Watson is the poacher while Blue Peter presenter, Matt Baker, sings the role of Lapáák the Dog.

Peter Maniura, Head of Classical Music Television says: “We are thrilled with this new special television version of Janacek’s much loved opera. The story of Vixen Sharpears is a dramatic tale guaranteed to appeal to audiences of all ages. Like all good fairy tales, there is a dark side to the narrative, redeemed by Janacek’s affirmation of humanity within the natural order and the cycle of life and death. We are also delighted to be joined by Opus Arte and The Los Angeles Opera in co-producing the film."

Geoff Dunbar has received international acclaim for his work, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Lautrec. He is particularly well-known for his collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney on film projects, such as the Bafta winning Rupert And The Frog Song and Daumier’s Law. Geoff was very involved with The Cunning Little Vixen project, visiting Janacek’s home in Huckvaldy, in the Czech Republic, where the action takes place and attending the vocal recordings to ensure the animation expressed the singing as vividly as possible.

The Cunning Little Vixen is a co-production between the BBC, Opus Arte and Los Angeles Opera.

Transmission date: Sunday April 20th, subject to change.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Talking Pictures

Hull Film - call for entries

Calling all filmmakers - Hull Film is now accepting entries for the 3rd Hull International Short Film Festival - The Mark of the Particular, which this year runs from 15-19th October.

All films submitted should be in VHS format and sent to the Hull Film
Office, Danish Buildings, 44-46 High Street, Hull, HU1 1PS. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Hull Film website - wwww.hullfilm.co.uk
- or, applicants can obtain forms directly from the Hull Film
office. Please call 01482 381512.

Festival Director Catherine Litchfield says, 'We are looking for short films from all filmmakers of any age or background. The festival is both dynamic and diverse and we like to see a wide range of thoughts and ideas expressed in the short form'.

Last year's festival was a five-day extravaganza that showcased around 180 of the best short films from around the globe, comprising 26 screenings, including premieres; guest speakers, our industry programme Shortsighted, discussion forums with audience and filmmakers, competitions, parties and give-away cameras and dinners for two.

Hull Film was established September 2000. Its conception was due to a successful screening of short films from Channel 4's Shooting Gallery
earlier in the year. The outcome of this event saw the development of a
pilot project and a three-day taster weekend screening short films was held October 2000. The event attracted an audience of 405. Organisers felt the success of the pilot project indicated a strong potential audience for short films, and sufficient to develop the path to establish an annual international short film festival in Hull. To ensure the success, continual growth, improvement of the festival, and to further utilise the role of short film, a yearly programme of activity was initiated. This continues to be developed. Thus far, the yearly programme comprises; regular short film screenings at venues across the city, Community Outreach and Audience Development Programme, Film in Learning Programme, Filmmakers Forum, and the Hull International Short Film Festival.

The first Hull International Short Film Festival was held October 2001.
Nicolas Roeg opened the festival and screened his latest short film. The festival programme was both diverse in content and location. 120 short films screened from around the world and features were; 6 premieres, 1 world premiere, 20 guest speakers, 24 hour filmmaking challenge, industry event, 5 touring programmes, 18 screenings, 5 mixed traditional and non-traditional cinema venues. The first festival attracted a direct audience attendance of 1110.

Following another successful year in 2002, we are now planning the 2003 festival. While busy preparing for the festival, we are also developing a year-round programme of film activity, including youth film apprenticeships, GCSE study days, filmmakers support units and a unique film production support programme.

The festival programme will feature premieres, guest filmmakers, industry events, press shows, critical focus, competitions, the Short Film Video Library, prints from the periphery and European Eye. Screenings for all ages and special interests assured.

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Talking Pictures

The legendary Ray Harryhausen comes to Thames Valley University
TOMMOROW, Wednesday 19 March.

Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years BC, The Seventh Voyage of
Sinbad... animation's come a long way since stop-motion but it's
impossible to forget Harryhausen's magical contributions.

Ray will be talking at a seminar in Ealing, West London at 3pm.

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Talking Pictures

Leeds Children In The Picture


A unique opportunity to see an insight into the world of young people's
filmmaking takes place at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on Friday 28 March as the Children's and Young People's Film Festival presents Getting In The Picture.

Aimed at people working in the young people's film industry, this
conference is a symposium which focuses on three themes. What is trying to be achieved by working with young people and film in the UK? Who are the strategy makers and funders for this sector? And finally, how can strategic partnerships that are education, vocational and creative be created and sustained?

Keynote speeches on the day will come from Gert Hermans from the European Children's Film Association and David Parker co-author of Being Seen, Being Heard. Also in attendance will be representatives from the Arts Council, Screen Yorkshire, The Film Council, First Shot and Vera Media, who will all be available for delegates to share ideas with. The day will be chaired by Colin Nobbs, Children's Producer for CBBC and CITV, and will include presentations of films made by young people in the UK.

Debbie Maturi, Leeds City Council's Children's and Young People's Film Festival Coordinator said, "We are thrilled to bring this community
together under the same roof, it's the first time in the UK and we hope
that it will be the first step in strengthening an important part of young
people's lives and of the UK's film industry. For further information see
Leeds Film".

Monday, March 10, 2003

Talking Pictures

Special Offer - Derek Jarman/Maggi Hambling Print

10% reduction until May 31st plus £50 from every sale goes directly to the Terrence Higgins Trust, helping people with HIV and AIDS

Private art dealership IAP Fine Art, whose clients include Julian Clary, Paul O’Grady, Sir Jeremy Isaacs among other prestigious names, as well as many corporate and private collectors, has just opened new premises in EC1.

Based inside the Artbank Gallery, at 114 Clerkenwell Rd., EC1, IAP Fine Art will now open Fridays 12-6, and Saturdays 12-4 or by appointment.

Works permanently on display will be new paintings by Chris Gollon, and also a screenprint by Maggi Hambling of her ‘Portrait of Derek Jarman’ . To celebrate the new premises, IAP will be offering 10% off the unframed price of each screenprint sold before May 31st 2003. But hurry as over half the edition of 250 has already sold, and £50 from every sale is donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Maggi Hambling is a household name in British contemporary art. She was the First Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London (1980-81). Her paintings have been collected by many museums including the Tate Gallery, National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Her acclaimed public statue of Oscar Wilde was unveiled next to Trafalgar square in 1998. Maggi first met Derek Jarman when both were at art school in the 1960s, and they became close friends. Filmmaker Derek Jarman achieved great acclaim for films such as Carravagio and Blue; but he was also a champion of gay rights, as well as being an accomplished painter, writer and garden designer.

Although Derek Jarman had been suffering from AIDS for some time, his actual death in 1994 came as a shock. Remarkably, Maggi Hambling painted his portrait from memory three weeks after his death. The painting sold immediately into a private collection, although it was recently loaned to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. This edition of signed screenprints was produced in close collaboration with the artist, and not only enables more people to see and own one of her greatest portraits; but also raises much-needed funds for THT, helping people with HIV and AIDS.

Screenprints may be ordered online at www.iapfineart.com or by calling 020 8941 8830. The Jarman print and other original works by Maggi Hambling can be viewed and purchased Fridays 12-6, or Saturdays 12-4 from IAP Fine Art at the Artbank Gallery.

Edition of 250 fine art screenprints, each signed and numbered by the artist
Size: 73cms x 50cms (28.75" x 19.7")
Paper: 300gsm Vellum Arches
Printed by Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen
Edition published by IAP Fine Art & Maggi Hambling 1998

Price (unframed): £250+VAT each plus £10 p&p
Price (framed): £340+VAT excl. delivery (box-framed in stained ash to museum standard and Maggi Hambling’s frame design)

£50 from every sale goes directly to the Terrence Higgins Trust, helping people with HIV and AIDS
Talking Pictures

Best New Link

Our Talking Pictures website is now featured on the Best New Links page of for the current week by the About Classic Film. They say that: 'This means that we have singled your work out for special recognition. One or more of your pages are also listed in our Subjects library, which contains listings of Classic Movies sites we consider worth visiting.'

Although it's not technically an award it's the nearest we've got to one so far. It's not always easy to get a link on many of the bigger websites because they either ignore you or as in the case of the Guardian Unlimited website they never get round to mentioning you!

Thursday, March 06, 2003

HERCULES® Introduces a Complete New Range of 3D Graphics Boards based on ATI RADEON(tm) Technology to Meet the Needs of All Users

LONDON, 6th March, 2003 - Hercules® is delighted to announce the launch of a complete new range of its popular 3D Prophet(tm) graphics boards. This new 3D Prophet series, based on ATI®'s latest chipsets, features perfectly-adapted solutions for all PC users, from ultra-hardcore gaming to general family needs. As always, Hercules' aim is to provide the very best solutions for every market sector.

"ATI is pleased to be working with Hercules to bring these high-quality products to market. Thanks to Hercules' experience and its own technological know-how, this partnership has succeeded in delivering the ultimate visual experience for end users," states Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President of Marketing, General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc.

"Working in close conjunction with ATI, today's undisputed leader in graphics innovation, we have created dedicated solutions to meet the needs of the full spectrum of PC users," says Philippe Pecheu, 3D Graphics Product Manager at Hercules. "We are launching a full range of new graphics boards with a wide range of innovative features, making it easy for both end users and retailers to find just what they are looking for."

Hercules will be launching the 3D Prophet 9800 Pro for ultra-hardcore users, 3D Prophet 9600 Pro for hardcore users, 3D Prophet 9200 Pro and 3D Prophet 9200 for enthusiast gamers and the 3D Prophet 7500 and 3D Prophet 7000 for home and office users.
About Hercules Technologies

Founded in the United States in 1982, Hercules developed the industry's first high-resolution graphics boards for PC. Having set the monochrome graphics standard, Hercules then proceeded to pioneer advances in color graphics solutions. Over the years, Hercules has constantly sought to evolve, providing innovative lines of graphics, video and audio products geared principally towards the international gaming community. Hercules has been a division of the Guillemot Corporation group since 1999.

Guillemot Corporation designs and manufactures a complete range of PC hardware products and PC and gaming console accessories. With an active presence in 17 countries, the group currently distributes its products throughout 45 countries worldwide. Guillemot Corporation is listed on the Paris Stock exchange, Sicovam code 6672.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.hercules.com
A Century of Artists' Film in Britain
19 May 2003 – April 2004
Tate Britain

The use of film and video by artists in Britain over the past decade has attracted much attention. However, artists have worked with film and video in this country from the beginning of the twentieth century and now, for the first time, Tate Britain aims to explore this history.

An ambitious series of display of 170 works by 130 artists aims to reveal the full range, variety and originality of this history, from films made close to the cinema’s birth in the 1890s to work realised at the start of the twenty-first century. Many of the works have not been seen before in a gallery context, and some have not been seen publicly since their first screenings. The displays bring together a wide span of artists from early filmmakers such as Humphrey Jennings and Norman Mclaren to recent Turner Prize winners Steve McQueen and Gillian Wearing, key conceptual and structural filmmakers of the 70s, scratch video artists and super8mm romantics inspired by Derek Jarman in the 80s.

The first of four day-long sequences will start at Tate Britain on 19 May. Each programme will be shown at Tate Britain for a period of three months (Prog 1: 19 May – August 2003,

Prog 2: August – November 2003, Prog 3: November – February 2003 Prog 4: February – May 2003) and a related series of longer films by British artists will be shown on Sundays in the Clore auditorium.

Within each day-long programme the films and videos have been clustered in shorter thematic and historical groups which suggest continuities of interest and approach across generations: film’s ability to encapsulate the everyday and to mimic memory; the challenges of portraiture and the creation of visual music. Other groupings reflect the ways in which artists have explored video and film at particular moments: the early 1970s, when conceptual filmmaking emerged and, in parallel, artists at the London Filmmakers’ Co-op focused on the materials of their medium; the 1930s, when a committed avant-garde worked on the margins of the mainstream industry; and the early 1990s, as artists began to respond to the possibilities of digital editing.

A Century of Artists’ Film in Britain has been curated by David Curtis and is an Illuminations production for Tate, with the support of Central St Martins, the AHRB Centre for British Film & Television Studies, the LUX and the British Film Institute.

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

Thaddeus Fights The Power!
Provocative
Entertaining
Innovative
London with Dad or Paris with Mum?

Tough call for confused boy in new short ‘Thaddeus Fights The Power!’
It’s decision time for confused thirteen year-old Thaddeus. Dad has left the London home in order to pursue his life long ambition of being a musician. Now Mum can’t pay the bills and thinks Thaddeus and herself would be much better off in her native Paris. Cue local
barbershop where Thaddeus works part-time: it is a guaranteed source of steadfast streetwise advice and support.

Thaddeus Fights The Power! is a provocative and innovative short film that is sure to encourage discussion. It cleverly blends animation, live action and reflection, whilst it uses a rap and reggae soundtrack from Suncycle Productions to deliver an authentic Harlesden ‘flava’. Produced by London’s freshest independent film production company, Irie Entertainment Productions Ltd Thaddeus Fights The Power! is seventeen minutes long and will be available on VHS for viewing from 3 March 2003.

“I thought the film showed promise and I liked the visual treatment…” A diversity advisor, BBC.

Thaddeus is played by Kieran Phillips, an unknown but promising teenage Black actor. Aware of the rarity of good acting roles going to untrained aspiring young Black actors, Irie founder Danielle Bayley-Hay was keen to cast inexperienced but talented young people her company’s latest offering.

Frustrated by the lack of substantial roles for Black women in London, top model-turned-actress Danielle began drawing from her own experiences to write, direct and produce her own material, and founded Irie Entertainment in November 2000. The company’s first film,
‘Like Me…’ has already secured distribution with Omni Short films in Los Angeles and has been featured on ITV’s Artworks program. Omni Short films has also requested first refusal for Irie Entertainment’s second film ‘Fish4Brains’ and latest release ‘Thaddeus Fight the
Power’.

Further information on Irie Entertainment is available at http://www.irie-entertainment.com

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Driver Video Game To Become Movie

Infogrames, a global publisher of interactive games, announced today that it has optioned the film and television rights to its Driver video game franchise to Constantin Film, the leading independent production and distribution company in Germany. Impact Pictures, a subsidiary of Constantin, is slated to produce the motion picture.

With more than 12 million units sold worldwide, Driver is Infogrames’ best-selling game to date. Developed by Infogrames’ own Reflections Interactive, the original Driver debuted in 1999 and was that year’s best-selling PlayStation action game. Released in 2000, Driver 2 ranked as the #2 best-selling PlayStation game of the year, staying in the Top 10 for 18 consecutive weeks. The hotly anticipated Driver 3 is currently scheduled for release during the 2003 holiday season, and will again follow the action-packed exploits of Tanner, an undercover policeman hired by the mob as a getaway driver.

“We are thrilled to have Driver make the jump to the big screen,” said Martin Edmondson, Managing Director and Creative Director of Reflections Interactive. “The audience for Driver has grown steadily over the last three years because the game combines exhilarating action with a compelling storyline. That makes for hit games and should make for a terrific movie,” he added.

“This is a great opportunity to develop the extremely cool game character of Tanner into a memorable movie figure,” said Jeremy Bolt, the movie’s producer. “With Tanner and Tobias Jones, we can create two very believable and iconic action movie heroes.”

The feature film is currently scheduled to begin production in 2003, and is being developed for Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) to direct from a screenplay by James DeMonaco, Todd Harthan and James Roday (The Negotiator).

For more than 20 years, Constantin Film has been the most successful production and distribution company in Germany, producing such high-quality international films as The Neverending Story, The Name of the Rose, and The House of the Spirits. Constantin Film is an international integrated media concern covering all areas and genres of film production nationally and internationally.

Impact Pictures is the production company of writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. The pair’s previous credits include Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon. Resident Evil, which was directed by Anderson and has taken in $105 million worldwide to date, is Impact’s first film as a subsidiary of Constantin Film.