SCI-FI-LONDON the UK’s only dedicated SF and Fantastic film festival, 26 – 30 April 2006
Over the last 4 years SCI-FI-LONDON has proved to be a hit with its audience bringing exciting, challenging and interesting premieres to the UK along with a programme of rarely screened classics. Our website now attracts over 60,000 unique visitors a month and festival attendance is set to top 10,000.
The festival takes place at the fantastic new APOLLO WEST END cinema in Lower Regent Street, central London. This five-screen state-of-the-art venue is fully licensed and the audience can take their drinks in with them, so expect some champagne screenings!
MOVIES ALREADY CONFIRMED INCLUDE:
FIRST ON THE MOON (Russia 2005, Dir: Aleksey Fedortschenko)
THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS (Japan 2005, Dir: Makoto Shinkai)
SUBJECT TWO (USA 2005, Dir: Philip Chidel, 93mins, Colour)
SURVIVE STYLE 5 (Japan 2003, Dir: Gen Sekiguchi, 120mins, Colour)
CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (USA 2005, Dir: Kevin Wilmott)
TETSUJIN 28 (Japan 2004, Dir: Shin Togashi, 105mins, Colour)
DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS (USA 2004, Dir: Caleb Emerson, 97mins, Colour)
LOGAN’S RUN (USA 1976, Dir: Michael Anderson, 120mins, Colour)
SEKSMISJA (Sex Mission) (Poland 1984, Dir: Juliusz Machulski, 117mins, Colour)
ALL NIGHT:
The first SCI-FI-LONDON saw us bring the all-nighter back to London screens, and they have proved popular at every festival. With 8 hours of movies, free Redbull, coffee, ice cream and breakfast, it challenges the mind, body and spirit. As part of our FIFTH BIRTHDAY celebration we will be holding the notorious ANIMÉ ALL-NIGHTER (Featuring the UK Premier of KARAS:THE PROPHECY) along with a night of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (featuring an exclusive “making of TIME CHASERS”) and our BLOODLUST ALL-NIGHTER, which features Guillermo Del Toro’s CRONOS and the amazing Russian epic NIGHT WATCH.
NOT JUST MOVIES:
First and foremost we are an international film festival but we also understand the value of a great atmosphere.
We are honoured to be the official home of the Douglas Adams Memorial Debate, which takes a serious yet wry look at a variety of topics. These have included SF film vs literature, predicting the future, and sex with robots! For 2006 the INSTITUTE OF IDEAS will curate this event, the topic; POSTHUMANISM
We are very proud to announce that ‘the Booker of the SF world’; the Arthur C Clarke Award for Literature comes to SCI-FI-LONDON. This award is one of the most prestigious book awards in the world and we are honoured to be asked to host the award ceremony. Shortlist available at www.sci-fi-london.com.
About the Awards:
The SCI-FI-LONDON Awards have been in place since the first festival back in 2002. Originally just awards for Best Feature and Best Short, they have grown to include over 20 awards and the coveted AUDIENCE AWARD. Previous movie winners have included: Mamoru Oshii’s AVALON and Shane Caruth’s PRIMER. Previous personalities include: VINNIE JONES for Best Newcomer to SF in the movie, SLIPSTREAM.
The SCI-FI-LONDON Audience Awards presented by Rogue TrooperTM will be announced after the festival. Full details of all the awards are available at www.sci-fi-london.com.
More information on the festival can be obtained from www.sci-fi-london.com
SCI-FI-LONDON movie list
UK PREMIERES:
SUBJECT TWO (USA 2005, Dir: Philip Chidel, 93mins, Colour)
High atop the world in his remote mountain cabin, Dr. Franklin Vick is engaged in highly unethical medical research. His field of expertise: resurrection. His test subject: Adam Schmidt - a troubled medical student who volunteers to be killed again and again in the name of science. Together, the doctor and his new assistant work in snowbound isolation, perfecting their death tactics before unleashing their discovery to the world. But there's a problem: Death has side effects...
Shot entirely on location in Aspen, Colorado, SUBJECT TWO is beautifully shot and looks fantastic. Something of a re-working of the classic Frankenstein tale, the movie has great tension and suspense – no excessive goryness or over the top effects, the movie is very claustrophobic and posses some big questions on what it means to be alive and should we use technology to tamper with nature. Reminiscent of FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY, with Michael Sarrazan, SUBJECT TWO is a smart monster-movie – and long overdue.
PUZZLEHEAD (USA 2005, Dir: James Bai, 81mins, Colour)
Set sometime “after the decline”, in a dreary, depopulated world where technology has been outlawed, a reclusive scientist named Walter secretly creates a self-aware android in his own image, affectionately calling him Puzzlehead. Walter finds him useful - as a project, a companion, a housekeeper, and his connection to the outside world.
Like a child, Puzzlehead develops his own personality and self-awareness through his experiences, ultimately leading to a curious love triangle when Puzzlehead meets Julia, a woman whom Walter has yearned for but never dared to approach. When Walter impersonates Puzzlehead to pursue Julia himself, the android and his maker are drawn into a sinister spiral of passion and betrayal. Does creating something in our own image mean transmitting intrinsically violent and emotional human flaws?
PUZZLEHEAD is to robot movies what PRIMER is to time travel – a sci-fi movie for grown ups that explores the uneasy relations between man and machine.
SURVIVE STYLE 5 (Japan 2003, Dir: Gen Sekiguchi, 120mins, Colour)
Five fantastical tales of crime and mayhem intersect in this absurdist Japanese comedy that has more inventive storytelling and surreal imagery than a dozen Miike movies. From the lunatics who bought us ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000v and ICHI THE KILLER comes a fabulously eccentric movie.
This is neo avant-garde cinema at its finest and nothing like you have ever seen before. Starring SONNY CHIBA and VINNIE JONES the movie twists, turns and leaps between five different stories; the businessman and his family, the stage hypnotist, the murderer, the burglars and the advertising executive – whose lives are all eventually touched by the assassins.
If you thought there were clever cuts in PULP FICTION and MEMENTO, forget it. SS5 offers something fresh, funny, ultra-violent, sexy and completely riveting This is what film was made for, cool, funny, meticulously designed and with an impeccable soundtrack.
CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (USA 2005, Dir: Kevin Wilmott, 89mins)
Sci-Fi isn’t just about space travel and aliens, it’s about ideas and hypothesising alternative realities or possibilities, and if it has a strong political, social, philosophical or religious message behind it, so much the better. Confederate States of America has no spaceships but the ‘reality’ it portrays seems quite alien. What the film does is to take the classic starting point of “what if” and present it as a documentary. While some may call it a mockumentary, it is a serious, and powerful, piece of satire that uses the documentary format to give it credence.
The conceit behind this film is that the Confederates won the American Civil War and that not only is slavery correct and proper but the Negroes are better off because of it. The film is presented as an entire television programme created by the British Broadcasting Service, complete with a warning to viewers of its controversial nature, and commercial breaks for products such as Darky toothpaste and slave insurance. Although the director makes a joke out of the broadcast being of a banned foreign film, “unsuitable for children or servants”, the BBC4 documentary series, “The Power of Nightmares” by Adam Curtis, which exposes the US government as the inventors of Al Quaeda, and of having a long history of creating a state of fear (or terror if you like) in the US, has been completely banned from broadcast there, and that is no joke.
Apart from the fact that the racist attitudes alluded to still prevail in many areas of the US, it is the cleverly scripted voiceover and believable authority of the talking heads, similar to those that appear in ‘real’ documentaries, which give it its power. Coupled with the use of actual historical footage, photographs and paintings, whose meaning are completely altered by the accompanying dialogue, you are left wondering what is real and what is invented. Even the ‘historical’ scenes and public information films that have been recreated are made to look as if they were contemporary with faded colours and film scratches, further adding to the illusion.
Like any good satire, it does make you laugh, cautiously, because it is outrageous in every sense of the word, but its impact comes from its message. And, given recent events in the US (i.e. New Orleans), this is a timely reminder of US human rights issues and the fact that they are not the great democracy they claim to be.
This is the stuff of the most thought-provoking Sci-Fi.
FIRST ON THE MOON (Perviyje na lune) (Russia 2005, Dir: Aleksey Fedorchenko, 75mins Colour & b/w)
A wonderful “alternative history” told with style, this "mockumentary" mixes facts and fantasy, vintage footage, and fake footage to show the successes and failures, the injustices and contradictions in Stalinist Russia, using the space program as the basis.
The film begins in the spring of 1938, in the mountains of northern Chile, where a flying object fell, in flames. Investigation by a film crew uncovers a secret space program developed in the Soviet Union before World War II. Scientists and military authorities, the film would have you believe, had developed a spaceship 23 years before Yuri Gagarin ever went to space.
The perfect timing of each scene, the meticulous attention to detail, the amazing amateur cast (none of the actors have appeared in a film before) the deadpan voice-over, the humour, and even the surprisingly moving tragic scenes - if you know anything at all about Russia, there's everything to guarantee that you'll love this film.
TETSUJIN 28 (Japan 2004, Dir: Shin Togashi, 105mins, Colour)
Just as Godzilla was the first of Japan's giant monsters, Tetsujin-28 was the first of Japan's giant robots – though he is better known in the west as GIGANTOR. Tetsujin-28 is a breath of fresh air: a movie with optimism and great scenes of giant robots slugging it out in the heart of downtown Tokyo. A throwback to a time when families stuck together, and giant robots just needed their fists and a 12 year-old kid is our only hope.
Invented during World War II to defeat the Allied forces, the mighty mechanical warrior, Tetsujin-28, was bombed into oblivion before he could be unleashed, but was found unharmed years later by the son of his inventor, Shotaro Kaneda (Shosuke Ikematsu).
The live-action movie version of Tetsujin-28 kicks off when the mysterious Black Ox, a giant robot with detachable limbs and a bad attitude, begins to terrorize Tokyo. No one can stop him...except maybe Tetsujin-28. But the poor robot has been trapped underground, rusting away into nothingness ever since his inventor, and Shotaro's father, disappeared.
Now, Shotaro's grandfather brings the kid to the underground lab and forces the remote control into his hand telling him he must pilot the robot. This might be the chance for Shotaro to get his on back on the school bullies as well as save Tokyo.
Unconventional and surprising, this brightly-coloured comic book of a movie reminds us of what it was like when we believed in the future. Intoxicating nostalgia, taken shaken not stirred.
AINOA (Austria 2005, Dir: Marco Kalantari, 95mins, Colour)
The year is 2078 and a female android, Ainoa, developed to maintain the balance actually starts ‘the great nuclear war’. The members of a resistance group believe in a prophecy that ‘one’ among them will find Ainoa and reprogramme her so she can send a message to her creator – telling of the global devastation the war brings. It is said she knows how to find the Oracle and send messages into the past. The resistance steal Ainoa and Yuri, their leader, takes her on a journey to find the Oracle – along the way the two are drawn to each other and Ainoa starts to develop human feelings. If they change events in the past will they still be together in the present?
Ainoa is an interesting and beautiful science fiction fairy tale and love story, which questions how we actually affect each other, in the past and in the future. Epic in its visual style, with just a few naff Star Wars rippoffs, it is a well delivered movie from a country little known for producing sci-fi.
PLACES PROMISED IN OUR EARLY YEARS (Japan 2005, Dir: Makoto Shinkai, 90mins)
In an alternative reality, the end of World War II sees Japan is split into separate states; the Union and the Alliance. Two science students, Takuya and Hiroki, spend their time building a jet that they will take them to a mysterious tower that appeared on an island on the Union side of the border.
One of the stars of PLACES is the backgrounds. An incredible amount of care and detail is in every location. From sweeping grassy plains with epic cloud formations to the light and shadow falling across the baggage rack in a train, Shinkai grounds you in his world where the everyday is simply beautiful. By lingering on these places, Shinkai seeks to draw an emotional response from the viewer.
PLACES is ultimately a tale of friendship and loyalty, with overtones which reassure that what is lost can be regained. Shinkai meshes landscapes, characters and emotions with such elegant craft that places his work as some of the finest coming out of Japan. This is proof that MIYAZAKI is not the only animé director capable of producing truly majestic visions.
INSECTICIDAL (Canada 2005, Dir: Jeffery Lando, 85mins, Colour)
Cami, an unpopular science student living in a sorority house, accidentally loses one of her genetically altered insects, her housemates spray them with bug-spray to kill them, only to find they grow to human size!
Insecticidal is cheesy and low-tech and it’s not afraid to admit it. It’s a hilarious film that doesn’t take itself seriously, and flaunts its exploitative low-grade science fiction your face almost non-stop at every possible occasion… not that we’re complaining, mind you.
This is a true schlock movie - boobs, bugs, blood, guts, knives, a Jacuzzi and pizza! The B-movie is back and as great as ever!
LONDON PREMIERES:
DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS (USA 2004, Dir: Caleb Emerson, 97mins, Colour)
Red Toole is a lovable serial killer whose wife is captured by evil Baron Nefarious, who is of course planning to take over the world. Our hero dons his cape of human-flesh (from his own victims) to rescue the love of his life… Awwww.
On his quest he encounters mad dog-men, giant mosquitoes from space, robots, ninjas, porn stars and rockabilly guitarist Hasil Adkins – did we leave anything out? Oh yeah, we forgot the white hot molten cheese and the half-naked zombiechicks.
Tagged as “The world's first serial killer superhero rock'n'roll zombie road movie romance!” DYZB is funny, gory, and outrageous. It also has a superb soundtrack featuring THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, COUNT SMOKULA and THE PHOTON TORPEDOES.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (Spain 2005, Dir: Carlos Atanes, 82mins, Colour)
In the future, Europe is ruled by an oppressive matriarchal society, The Sisterhood of Metacontrol, who forbid any kind of physical contact between the sexes on the grounds of hygiene. Angeline is inducted into the Sisterhood. Nono, her ‘houseboy’ and a servant to the Sisterhood spends much of his time in cyberspace viewing forbidden images of sensuality. The two of them travel together to one of the few remaining fertile areas in the North Pyrenees. But on the way back Nono stumbles into one of the illegal sexual broadcasts being taped by insurgents and they are arrested.
Atanes has an eye for unusual imagery - Anne-Céline Auché being inducted into the Sisterhood where the other women then put on rubber gloves and masking tape across their mouths before kissing her; the militant feminist sisterhood decide to blow up the Eiffel Tower because it is a phallic symbol; or where the hero comes across the revolutionaries making porn movies in the desert, with the lead actor (Antonio Vladimir) demanding motivation for his character.
Imagine Goddard’s ALPHAVILLE (1965) in high-colour or Lucas's THX 1138 (1971) conducted as a French art-house movie. FAQ is a cold dystopian film.
WHITE SKIN (Canada 2005, Dir: Daniel Roby, 92mins, Colour)
Thierry – a white, student from rural Quebec and Henri – a black, urban musician are roommates in Montreal. Out for a night on the town Henri purchases ‘intimate services’ for the pair of them.
Thierry hears screams of pain coming from Henri’s room down the hall and, kicking the door in, finds Henri fighting off his knife-wielding escort and bleeding profusely from a gash across his neck.
Soon after, Thierry meets Claire. He is fixated by the red headed musician and they begin an passionate relationship. Thierry is ecstatically happy until he meets Claire’s family and recognises her sister as Henri’s attacker. Thierry starts to understand how little he knows about Claire and her mysterious blood ties.
Beautifully shot and well performed this film is fresh and unique genre movie. Starting as a chilly meditation on race and skin colour, White Skin twists into something very unexpected.
CLASSICS:
LOGAN’S RUN (USA 1976, Dir: Michael Anderson, 120mins, Colour)
It is the 23rd Century. People live lives of languid pleasure in vast domed cities - the only catch no one is allowed to live beyond thirty. But there are those who refuse to accept death and become ‘Runners’, seeking the mythical place of asylum known as Sanctuary. An elite force, known as Sandmen, has been created to hunt the Runners. The city's controlling computer accelerates the lifeclock of 26 year old Sandman Logan and sends him to find Sanctuary. With the help of Jessica, he runs. While being pursued by his best friend and comrade Francis, Logan escapes outside the city, and soon they realise the true nature of their world.
This was a major studio movie when it was released and anyone who loves classic 70’s sci-fi should see this movie on the big screen.
SEKSMISJA (Sex Mission) (Poland 1984, Dir: Juliusz Machulski, 117mins, Colour)
Two scientists are placed in cryogenic hibernation planned to last three years. However, whilst in suspension World War III breaks out and life have been wiped out of the surface of the Earth. They wake up 50 years later to find they are the only living males in a new, underground society run exclusively of women. Their fate is to be decided.
The leaders, thorough system of propaganda, human control and changed history, focus on how "males" were evil - at one point the two are told that "Einstein was a woman" and "one man named Cain invented murder and tested it on his sister Abel". However, they manage to instil doubt in one woman and with her help discover that not everything is as it seems.
One needs to get beyond the comedy and excessive nudity in this movie to see it is a perfect satire of all totalitarian regimes and blind fanaticism.
AMERICAN ASTRONAUT (USA 2001, Dir: Cory McAbee, 91mins, B/W)
Imagine Laurel and Hardy in a western directed by Jim Jarmusch and you will still not be able to fully describe this movie. A pure example of how great independent cinema can be, and one of the most cinematically luscious films shot in B&W and on 35mm.
Space is a lonely town. Samuel Curtis, an interplanetary trader, sets forth through a rustic and remote solar system, unaware that his old friend Professor Hess is trying to kill him.
An avant-rock musical staged on the set of a Poverty Row noir, Cory McAbee's debut film (with music by his band the Billy Nayer Show) is an utterly unique experience and possibly the most delightfully idiosyncratic science fiction movie since John Carpenter's Dark Star.
The was the first movie screened at the first SCI-FI-LONDON – “didn’t I tell you…it’s my birthday”
ALL-NIGHTERS
ANIMÉ-ALLNIGHT:
An infamous part of London’s nightlife, the annual animé all-nighter is again set to be a sell-out event. A feast for the eyes we bring some amazing movies. Come on the journey from midnight to morning, along the way we can travel underwater, into the future and to the farthest galaxies.
PLACES PROMISED IN OUR EARLY YEARS (as above)
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE
(Japan 2004, Dir: Mamoru Oshii, 100mins, Colour)
A classic sequel to a classic film. Innocence is a film of extraordinary beauty and hauntingly meditative reflection on the nature of humanity and the artificial. Sit back and let your eyes enjoy.
KARAS: THE PROPHECY
(Japan/USA 2006, Dir: ,80mins, Colour) – UK PREMIERE
Karas, (The Crow) is best described as Batman with a Samurai Sword or a Cyber-punk version of The Crow. Karas takes place in Tokyo, a city populated by both humans and ghostly beings. They exist in two dimensions; seen and unseen- spirits, apparitions and demons. Karas is the city’s guardian, and Tokyo is thrown into disarray as a former Karas named Eko attempts to seize power and bring order to the streets through force. An entity named Yurine, who represents the will of the people, stands in Eko’s way with her newly risen Karas. Now two Karas emerge to destroy either all of the demons or destroy all humanity. Which Karas will prevail?
This movie raises the bar even higher for Animé – a mix of 2D/3D styles this is amazing eye-candy. Remember how everyone bragged about seeing AKIRA at the cinema – Karas is surely the next “must-see”
This dubbed version is voiced by Jay Hernandez (Hostel, Crazy/Beautiful), Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby Doo 2) and Piper Perabo (Cheaper by the Dozen, Coyote Ugly)
FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN
(Japan 2005, Dir: TETSUYA NOMURA, 100mins, Colour) - UK PREMIERE
Based on the hugely popular gaming franchise, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is an epic animated adventure set against the backdrop of a world dominated by the corrupt Shinra Inc.
Set two years after the events of the Final Fantasy VII computer game, Cloud Strife, a former soldier for Shinra, now leads a solitary life travelling the Planet as a transporter, still burdened with emotional scars from his last battle. Weighed down by memories of loved ones he has lost, he is devoid of hope as he ventures to save the children struck down with the deadly disease Geostigma. We follow Cloud on his journey to uncover the truth about the origins of this plague. As destruction reigns in the city and our heroes are locked in battle, a familiar face returns – Sephiroth.
This is truly breathtaking animation.
THE MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 – ALLNIGHTER
MST3K, ran from 1988 – 1999 in the USA and became a cult comedy classic. The format basically features a man and his robot sidekicks who are trapped on a satellite in space and forced to watch particularly bad movies. During its eleven years and 198 episodes (including one feature film), MST3K attained a fiercely loyal fan base, and much critical acclaim.
Try to explain what MST3K is and you either confuse them or start to sound like a weirdo. Truth is those that get it love it. This is the stuff of a perfect all-nighter! Join us for some classic movies and some brilliantly funny dialogue. The four movies we have selected are:
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (USA 1962, Dir: Joseph Green, 82mins, B&W)
When a brilliant surgeon crashes his car and his fiancée is decapitated, his research with rejuvenation - far from complete - is put to the test. Managing to keep her head alive, his focus becomes finding an appropriate donor body to make his fiancée whole. His quest takes him deep into the world of seedy nightclubs and artists models.
SPACE MUTINY (USA 1988, Dir: David Winters, 93mins, Colour)
The starship "Southern Sun," is looking for a new planet to colonise, but the ship's security crew, lead by the evil Kalgan, are growing restless, not wanting to live out their lives in space. They plan a mutiny; it’s up to pilot Dave Ryder, Doctor Lea, and the rest of the crew to stop Kalgan. Plenty of railing deaths and the slowest vehicle chase on film!
PRINCE OF SPACE (Japan 1959, Dir: Eijiro Wakabayashi, 121mins, B&W)
Spacemen from the planet Krankor (who look chickens with antennas on their heads) are led by their leader, Phantom, to invade Earth. They kidnap the world’s best (but most boring) scientists and hold them hostage. Prince of Space arrives and with the help of three kids, who were formerly boot-blacks, tries to save the day. One of the worst Japanese movies ever it is completely endearing – a classic MST3K episode “We like it very much”
TIME CHASERS (Canada 1994, Dir: David Giancola, 89mins, Colour)
Plucky Nick Miller is a physics expert and invents a way to make his ultra-light plane travel through time – the future looks bright. He invites TransCorp to a demonstration of the device and signs over the plans. He gets romantically involved with Bonnie, a local journalist and takes her on a trip into the future only to find it has changed into something from Mad Max. Later he discovers that TransCorp’s CEO is using the machine for, you guessed it, evil.
This is a brilliant MST3K episode and we are delighted to be able to screen an exclusive “Making of TIME CHASERS” from the movie’s Director, David Giancola.
BLOODLUST ALLNIGHTER
what would an all-nighter line-up be without a little something to scare your rigid? Remember to bring silver bullets, garlic, crosses and holy water – you never know who will be sitting next to you?
INNOCENT BLOOD (USA 1992, Dir: John Landis, 112mins, Colour)
Marie (Anne Parillaud, LA FEMME NIKITA), a sexy vampire only kills the scum of the city and controls vampire overpopulation by blowing the heads off her victims with a shotgun after feeding!
One night she “fancies an Italian” and attacks a gang of mobsters accidentally turning mob moss Sal 'The Shark' (Robert Loggia, INDEPENDENCE DAY) into a vampire. Sal realises his new power and creates a gang of bloodsucking gangsters. It's up to Marie and cop Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia, WITHOUT A TRACE) to stop them.
Funny, scary, sexy and the best use of handcuffs in a movie – ever!
PRINCE OF DARKNESS (USA 1987, Dir: John Carpenter, 102mins, Colour)
A sinister secret has been kept in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church for many years. With the death of a priest belonging to a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement and discovers a vat of green liquid. The priest contacts a group of physics graduate students to investigate it. Unfortunately, they discover that the liquid contains the essence of Satan himself, intent of returning to Earth. Will they be able to stop him? One of Carpenter’s finest and a really scary movie to boot.
NIGHTWATCH (Nochnoi Dozor) (Russia 2004, Dir: Timur Bekmambetov, 114mins, Colour)
Among us live the "Others", beings with supernatural powers, some good and evil. Several centuries ago, after a devastating battle, a truce was called. With the ‘forces of light’ governing the day while the night belongs to their ‘dark’ opponents. In modern day Moscow the dark “Others” roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" makes sure they don’t get too out of hand. Anton is no-angel and a new recruit to the Night Watch, will his past be his undoing and will it upset the balance?
If you missed this on its limited theatrical run then here is your last chance for a while, and this movie HAS to be seen on the big screen. Stylish and visually stunning.
CRONOS (Mexico 1993, Dir: Guillermo del Toro, 94mins, Colour)
In 1535, an alchemist builds an extraordinary mechanism encapsulated into a small golden scarab. The device gives eternal life to its owner but the youthful vigour it brings is countered by a vampire's need for blood. However, the promise of eternal life has become an obsession to old and sick Mr. De la Guardia. He and his nephew (Perlman) will do anything to get the "Chronos Invention".
A winner of over 20 awards including a special award at Cannes in ’93 - Del Toro delivers a stylish and inventive reinvention of the vampire legend.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Telephonetics wins Cineworld contract
Contract increases market-share of major UK national cinema operators to 80%.
Telephonetics plc, a leading UK-based speech recognition and computer telephony group, has today won a major new contract with Cineworld Cinemas Ltd (‘Cineworld’), the UK’s fastest growing cinema chain, to supply automatic speech recognition (ASR) booking and information technology to all of their 78 UK and Irish sites. The deal is worth approximately £8.2 million over six years and follows a competitive pitch against the incumbent provider.
Telephonetics has worked with Cineworld since 1997, but the cinema chain’s former UGC sites, which were acquired in 2004, have until now continued to use the incumbent provider BT/ Eckoh.
As part of this deal, which is expected to double revenues from the previous contract, Cineworld has also become the first cinema chain to sign-up to the MovieLine® Agent Interface software, seamlessly linking MovieLine’s ASR booking service with the new call-centre operation being provided by Telephonetics.
This contract increases Telephonetics’ market-share of major UK national cinema operators from 63%1 to 80%.
Steve Wiener, Chief Executive Officer Cineworld, said:
"We have worked with Telephonetics for over 9 years and they have always provided us with excellent solutions and great service. Automated telephone booking is critical to our business and we are delighted that Telephonetics will now be fulfilling this vital function for the whole of our circuit.”
Anthony Mckay, Managing Director Telephonetics, commented:
“The award of the Cineworld contract is fantastic news and a great endorsement of both MovieLine and Telephonetics from such a prestigious customer.”
“By expanding our product portfolio to include MovieLine Agent Interface we can now provide cinemas with the complete telephone booking solution for their business. Telephonetics is extremely well placed and looking both to capitalise on its dominance in the UK cinema industry and to exploit the exciting opportunities further afield.”
Contract increases market-share of major UK national cinema operators to 80%.
Telephonetics plc, a leading UK-based speech recognition and computer telephony group, has today won a major new contract with Cineworld Cinemas Ltd (‘Cineworld’), the UK’s fastest growing cinema chain, to supply automatic speech recognition (ASR) booking and information technology to all of their 78 UK and Irish sites. The deal is worth approximately £8.2 million over six years and follows a competitive pitch against the incumbent provider.
Telephonetics has worked with Cineworld since 1997, but the cinema chain’s former UGC sites, which were acquired in 2004, have until now continued to use the incumbent provider BT/ Eckoh.
As part of this deal, which is expected to double revenues from the previous contract, Cineworld has also become the first cinema chain to sign-up to the MovieLine® Agent Interface software, seamlessly linking MovieLine’s ASR booking service with the new call-centre operation being provided by Telephonetics.
This contract increases Telephonetics’ market-share of major UK national cinema operators from 63%1 to 80%.
Steve Wiener, Chief Executive Officer Cineworld, said:
"We have worked with Telephonetics for over 9 years and they have always provided us with excellent solutions and great service. Automated telephone booking is critical to our business and we are delighted that Telephonetics will now be fulfilling this vital function for the whole of our circuit.”
Anthony Mckay, Managing Director Telephonetics, commented:
“The award of the Cineworld contract is fantastic news and a great endorsement of both MovieLine and Telephonetics from such a prestigious customer.”
“By expanding our product portfolio to include MovieLine Agent Interface we can now provide cinemas with the complete telephone booking solution for their business. Telephonetics is extremely well placed and looking both to capitalise on its dominance in the UK cinema industry and to exploit the exciting opportunities further afield.”
FREAK OUT - Released 29th May priced £16.99
THE CULT INDIE HORROR-COMEDY NOW ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
Set to do for serial killer genre what "Shaun Of The Dead" did for zombie flicks, the cult indie horror-comedy, FREAK OUT, comes to DVD in May as an extras-packed, two-disc edition courtesy of Anchor Bay UK. Already a massive hit on the independent film festival circuit and winner of both the Best Genre Cross Over Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Commendation Award at Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Films, FREAK OUT has been hailed by acclaimed horror director Mick Garris (Masters Of Horror; The Shining) as "a wild, woolly sledgehammer to the face of Hollywood conformity."
Four years in the making, FREAK OUT is a hilarious and irreverent parody of the slasher genre, packed with juvenile double-entendres, witty pop-culture references and knowing nods to numerous horror classics. A treat for horror aficionados who don't take their terror too seriously, it is a must-see for splatter fans and comedy buffs alike.The two-disc edition of FREAK OUT (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£16.99) by Anchor Bay UK on 29th May 2006.
THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER - Released 15th May priced £24.99
FROM THE MAKERS OF TINTIN THE ANIMATED SERIES
Based on the popular comics and graphic novels by Edgar P. Jacobs, a close friend and collaborator of Tintin creator Hergé, the animated THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER comes to DVD in May 2006 as a four-disc collection from Anchor Bay UK, featuring all 26 episodes of the celebrated series. Directed by Stephane Bernasconi (director of the 1990 animated Tintin series) and co-written by Eric Rondeaux (Excalibur; Tintin; Insektors), THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER chronicles the mystery-solving exploits of the eponymous heroes, RAF officer and MI5 agent, Francis Percy Blake, and his gentleman scholar associate, Professor Philip Angus Mortimer.
From London to Paris, Cairo to Tokyo, Blake and Mortimer spend their days investigating the unknown and saving the world from evil dictators, crazed megalomaniacs and mad scientists, who more often than not have some nefarious connection to their notorious nemesis, the mercenary criminal adventurer Colonel Olrik. With plots involving space trips, time travel, vast journeys across land and sea and a strong undercurrent emphasising the importance of friendship and commitment to duty, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has something to appeal to viewers of all ages, particularly fans of Tintin and Asterix. Having begun life in 1946 as a serialised comic strip in Tintin magazine, before being published as a series of graphic novels, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has since become one of the most popular and successful series of comic books in Europe with sales in excess of 15 million copies to date.
THE CULT INDIE HORROR-COMEDY NOW ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
Set to do for serial killer genre what "Shaun Of The Dead" did for zombie flicks, the cult indie horror-comedy, FREAK OUT, comes to DVD in May as an extras-packed, two-disc edition courtesy of Anchor Bay UK. Already a massive hit on the independent film festival circuit and winner of both the Best Genre Cross Over Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Commendation Award at Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Films, FREAK OUT has been hailed by acclaimed horror director Mick Garris (Masters Of Horror; The Shining) as "a wild, woolly sledgehammer to the face of Hollywood conformity."
Four years in the making, FREAK OUT is a hilarious and irreverent parody of the slasher genre, packed with juvenile double-entendres, witty pop-culture references and knowing nods to numerous horror classics. A treat for horror aficionados who don't take their terror too seriously, it is a must-see for splatter fans and comedy buffs alike.The two-disc edition of FREAK OUT (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£16.99) by Anchor Bay UK on 29th May 2006.
THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER - Released 15th May priced £24.99
FROM THE MAKERS OF TINTIN THE ANIMATED SERIES
Based on the popular comics and graphic novels by Edgar P. Jacobs, a close friend and collaborator of Tintin creator Hergé, the animated THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER comes to DVD in May 2006 as a four-disc collection from Anchor Bay UK, featuring all 26 episodes of the celebrated series. Directed by Stephane Bernasconi (director of the 1990 animated Tintin series) and co-written by Eric Rondeaux (Excalibur; Tintin; Insektors), THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER chronicles the mystery-solving exploits of the eponymous heroes, RAF officer and MI5 agent, Francis Percy Blake, and his gentleman scholar associate, Professor Philip Angus Mortimer.
From London to Paris, Cairo to Tokyo, Blake and Mortimer spend their days investigating the unknown and saving the world from evil dictators, crazed megalomaniacs and mad scientists, who more often than not have some nefarious connection to their notorious nemesis, the mercenary criminal adventurer Colonel Olrik. With plots involving space trips, time travel, vast journeys across land and sea and a strong undercurrent emphasising the importance of friendship and commitment to duty, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has something to appeal to viewers of all ages, particularly fans of Tintin and Asterix. Having begun life in 1946 as a serialised comic strip in Tintin magazine, before being published as a series of graphic novels, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has since become one of the most popular and successful series of comic books in Europe with sales in excess of 15 million copies to date.
Uncle Sam wants “My Cousin Wallace” for Tartan Week
Scottish enthusiasts living in New York City discovered the family history of Irish and Scottish American communities last week when movie My Cousin Wallace joined Tartan Week. The Sheffield produced, Liverpudlian directed documentary explores the early eighteenth Century white trans-Atlantic slave trade which may have started in Scotland.
Tartan Week, held in April, is a celebration of everything great about Scotland and the involvement of Scottish-Americans in US life. However this year’s Scottish adoration was gatecrashed by non Scottish documentary My Cousin Wallace, which was made at Sheffield Hallam University. Earning this unusual place in the festival is because the movie examines the complicated history of Clan names associated with Afro-Caribbean families, and further discovers that the trans-Atlantic slave labour system was originally set up for white Scottish and Irish slaves.
The director, researcher and creator of the 30 minute movie, Derek Murray, is originally from Liverpool and shot the film in 2003 at the Northern Media School during his MA Film and Media Production course at Sheffield Hallam University. My Cousin Wallace was selected to be shown at New York’s Scotland on Film 1942-2006 festival, which runs until 8 April, by Scottish Screen after it wooed viewers on its Scottish travels. Scottish Screen is responsible for developing film, television and new media in Scotland.
Derek, aged 51, said: “My Cousin Wallace happened over three years. This type of organic creative documentary could only have been made in the environment found at the Northern Media School. I was given the time and flexibility, combined with the expert knowledge and support, necessary to bring this movie to fruition. The movie and the school has provided me with a springboard to launch my career and give me the confidence and status I need to go out and contend in a highly competitive market. “
Since graduating in June 2004 with a MA distinction in Screen Arts, Derek is now due to open his own company, Inspiral Media in Liverpool.
The Northern Media School at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the leading centres of production based postgraduate media education in the UK. It runs alongside an extensive undergraduate programme in film and media studies and production.
Steve Sprung, a senior lecturer for the MA Film and Media Production said: “My Cousin Wallace is an example of the ambitious and important projects we have supported and allowed the time to come to fruition, giving the author a chance to find his voice as a filmmaker. This film stands as a testament to what can be achieved if we are prepared to put the time, resources and truly creative effort into learning and teaching. “
My Cousin Wallace is a motorbike road movie where director Derek and the chief executive of the Clan Wallace, travel though the Scottish Highlands in the middle of winter. They revisit the sites of key battles in Scottish history which relate to their clan names. The journey ends at Culloden, which is used as a jumping off point to demonstrate that many Scots were subject to slave conditions working alongside Africans.
Scottish enthusiasts living in New York City discovered the family history of Irish and Scottish American communities last week when movie My Cousin Wallace joined Tartan Week. The Sheffield produced, Liverpudlian directed documentary explores the early eighteenth Century white trans-Atlantic slave trade which may have started in Scotland.
Tartan Week, held in April, is a celebration of everything great about Scotland and the involvement of Scottish-Americans in US life. However this year’s Scottish adoration was gatecrashed by non Scottish documentary My Cousin Wallace, which was made at Sheffield Hallam University. Earning this unusual place in the festival is because the movie examines the complicated history of Clan names associated with Afro-Caribbean families, and further discovers that the trans-Atlantic slave labour system was originally set up for white Scottish and Irish slaves.
The director, researcher and creator of the 30 minute movie, Derek Murray, is originally from Liverpool and shot the film in 2003 at the Northern Media School during his MA Film and Media Production course at Sheffield Hallam University. My Cousin Wallace was selected to be shown at New York’s Scotland on Film 1942-2006 festival, which runs until 8 April, by Scottish Screen after it wooed viewers on its Scottish travels. Scottish Screen is responsible for developing film, television and new media in Scotland.
Derek, aged 51, said: “My Cousin Wallace happened over three years. This type of organic creative documentary could only have been made in the environment found at the Northern Media School. I was given the time and flexibility, combined with the expert knowledge and support, necessary to bring this movie to fruition. The movie and the school has provided me with a springboard to launch my career and give me the confidence and status I need to go out and contend in a highly competitive market. “
Since graduating in June 2004 with a MA distinction in Screen Arts, Derek is now due to open his own company, Inspiral Media in Liverpool.
The Northern Media School at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the leading centres of production based postgraduate media education in the UK. It runs alongside an extensive undergraduate programme in film and media studies and production.
Steve Sprung, a senior lecturer for the MA Film and Media Production said: “My Cousin Wallace is an example of the ambitious and important projects we have supported and allowed the time to come to fruition, giving the author a chance to find his voice as a filmmaker. This film stands as a testament to what can be achieved if we are prepared to put the time, resources and truly creative effort into learning and teaching. “
My Cousin Wallace is a motorbike road movie where director Derek and the chief executive of the Clan Wallace, travel though the Scottish Highlands in the middle of winter. They revisit the sites of key battles in Scottish history which relate to their clan names. The journey ends at Culloden, which is used as a jumping off point to demonstrate that many Scots were subject to slave conditions working alongside Africans.
THE TOP TEN MEMORABLE HOTEL MOVIES SCENES EVER
The steamy image of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a luxurious bubble bath has been named the best hotel scene in a movie ever, according to a new poll.
The romantic tale of the Hollywood hooker who lived it up in a penthouse suite and fell for the rich business man Edward Lewis has made Pretty Woman one of the greatest chick-flicks of all time.
The 1990 blockbuster was set in the grandeur of plush Los Angeles hotel the Regent Beverly Wilshire and saw Julia Robert’s character of Vivien go from a broke prostitute to ‘Pretty Woman’ in a matter of a week.
Roberts’ and Gere’s sizzling on-screen chemistry helped make Pretty Woman one of the most loved and successful romance movies in Hollywood history.
Runners up in the poll include:
1. Pretty Woman – Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a bubble bath
2. Psycho – The Shower Scene
3. The Shining - Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) facing the image of dead twins
4. Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy’s reception desk rant
5. Indecent Proposal - Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore have sex on $1,000,000
6. Thelma and Louise – Brad Pitt and Gena Davis love scene before he steals her cash
7. Ghostbusters - the team trash a hotel dining room chasing ghost
8. Godfather – Al Pacino hears about father’s shooting while having dinner with Diane Keaton
9. Trainspotting – Ewan McGregor leaves hotel room with the drug money
10. Pulp Fiction – Maria de Medeiros tells Bruce Willis she wants a ‘pot belly’
In second place, Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho, containing the unforgettable shower scene, remains one of the most shocking scenes in cinematic history. Janet Leigh’s character Marion Crane was stabbed to death after checking in to the desolate Bates Motel. Despite the scene only lasting 45 seconds it took seven days to shoot and includes 70 different camera angles.
The third most memorable hotel movie scene, according to the study of 3,000 people for Travelodge, is from another chiller - Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
It’s the moment when Danny Torrance comes face-to-face with the ghosts of twin girls murdered by their father.
Jack Nicholson plays the caretaker of the creepy Overlook Hotel in Colorado who slowly goes insane as the hotel and its ghosts take a hold of his mind.
Meanwhile his son Danny sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as The Shining.
Beverly Hills Cop star Eddie Murphy’s comic rant in the lobby of the Beverly Palm Hotel came fourth in the poll and helped make the 1984 movie a blockbuster.
Murphy, who played Detroit Cop Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, created an embarrassing scene claiming he was working for Rolling Stone on a big Michael Jackson exclusive in order to secure a room in the luxury hotel.
This is followed by the scene from Indecent Proposal where Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson make love on the $1,000,000 Moore was paid for spending a night with Robert Redford.
Wayne Munnelly, Travelodge Sleep Director said: “Watching TV in bed, can aid a good night sleep, as it helps you to unwind and relax. There have been many great movie scenes in hotels throughout the years and we thought it would be interesting to ask the nation which they thought was the best.”
“Pretty Woman is a great choice; it is a feel good factor movie that appeals to all ages. The whole film is set in a hotel and we would all love to indulge in the hotel highlife like Julia Roberts’ character does”.
The steamy image of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a luxurious bubble bath has been named the best hotel scene in a movie ever, according to a new poll.
The romantic tale of the Hollywood hooker who lived it up in a penthouse suite and fell for the rich business man Edward Lewis has made Pretty Woman one of the greatest chick-flicks of all time.
The 1990 blockbuster was set in the grandeur of plush Los Angeles hotel the Regent Beverly Wilshire and saw Julia Robert’s character of Vivien go from a broke prostitute to ‘Pretty Woman’ in a matter of a week.
Roberts’ and Gere’s sizzling on-screen chemistry helped make Pretty Woman one of the most loved and successful romance movies in Hollywood history.
Runners up in the poll include:
1. Pretty Woman – Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a bubble bath
2. Psycho – The Shower Scene
3. The Shining - Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) facing the image of dead twins
4. Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy’s reception desk rant
5. Indecent Proposal - Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore have sex on $1,000,000
6. Thelma and Louise – Brad Pitt and Gena Davis love scene before he steals her cash
7. Ghostbusters - the team trash a hotel dining room chasing ghost
8. Godfather – Al Pacino hears about father’s shooting while having dinner with Diane Keaton
9. Trainspotting – Ewan McGregor leaves hotel room with the drug money
10. Pulp Fiction – Maria de Medeiros tells Bruce Willis she wants a ‘pot belly’
In second place, Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho, containing the unforgettable shower scene, remains one of the most shocking scenes in cinematic history. Janet Leigh’s character Marion Crane was stabbed to death after checking in to the desolate Bates Motel. Despite the scene only lasting 45 seconds it took seven days to shoot and includes 70 different camera angles.
The third most memorable hotel movie scene, according to the study of 3,000 people for Travelodge, is from another chiller - Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
It’s the moment when Danny Torrance comes face-to-face with the ghosts of twin girls murdered by their father.
Jack Nicholson plays the caretaker of the creepy Overlook Hotel in Colorado who slowly goes insane as the hotel and its ghosts take a hold of his mind.
Meanwhile his son Danny sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as The Shining.
Beverly Hills Cop star Eddie Murphy’s comic rant in the lobby of the Beverly Palm Hotel came fourth in the poll and helped make the 1984 movie a blockbuster.
Murphy, who played Detroit Cop Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, created an embarrassing scene claiming he was working for Rolling Stone on a big Michael Jackson exclusive in order to secure a room in the luxury hotel.
This is followed by the scene from Indecent Proposal where Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson make love on the $1,000,000 Moore was paid for spending a night with Robert Redford.
Wayne Munnelly, Travelodge Sleep Director said: “Watching TV in bed, can aid a good night sleep, as it helps you to unwind and relax. There have been many great movie scenes in hotels throughout the years and we thought it would be interesting to ask the nation which they thought was the best.”
“Pretty Woman is a great choice; it is a feel good factor movie that appeals to all ages. The whole film is set in a hotel and we would all love to indulge in the hotel highlife like Julia Roberts’ character does”.
IF SOMEONE WERE TO MAKE YOUR WISHES COME TRUE, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK?
Winner of a host of international film awards including a Goya Award for Best Lead Actor
(Eduard Fernández), and Best Film at the 2002 Fantasporto Festival, FAUSTO 5.0 is a
contemporary reworking of the Faust myth as a psychosexual surrealist horror film.
Directed by Álex Ollé, Isidro Ortiz and Carlos Padrisa (better known as members of La Fura Dels Baus,
the controversial experiemental theatre group responsible for the notorious sexually explicit
stage play XXX), the film stars Miguel Ángel Solá (Tango), Eduard Fernández (The Goalkeeper) and
Najwa Nimri (Sex And Lucia). Dr. Fausto (Miguel Ángel Solá), a specialist in terminal medicine, spends most of his waking
hours treating patients on the brink of death. So wrapped up in the routine of his soulless work he
has become a man without dreams - a man closer to death than to life. On his way to attend a
medical conference in Barcelona, Dr. Fausto meets the mysterious Santos Vella (Eduard Fernández), a
man who claims to have once been a patient who Fausto had given up for dead eight years ago
following an operation to remove his stomach. Shocked by the man's story of survival, Fausto
has no memory ever having known him. As exasperating as he is charismatic, and despite
the doctor's protestations, Santos soon becomes Fausto's guide during his stay in the city,
introducing the jaded doctor to the unbridled pleasures and experiences of life, at the same
time promising to grant him anything he desires. Unable to resist the offer, Fausto embarks on a
fantastic and terrible journey into the long-forgotten depths of his own soul.
Visually stunning and superbly performed, FAUSTO 5.0 is an imaginative thriller that hypnotises
the viewer with its disconcerting mix of the erotic and the horrific, each laced with a light
touch of mordant humour.
FAUSTO 5.0 (cert. 18) will be released on DVD
(?14.99) by Nucleus Films on 22nd May 2006.
Special Features include widescreen presentation
(1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen TVs, the making
of Fausto 5.0, theatrical trailer, gallery,
Spanish 5.1 and DTS, Catalan 5.1, English 2.0,
optional English subtitles.
TITLE: FAUSTO 5.0
LABEL/CREDIT: NUCLEUS FILMS
RELEASE DATE: 22ND MAY 2006
FORMAT: DVD (RENTAL)
PRICE: ?14.99
CERT: 18
WEB-SITE: www.the-associates.co.uk - FEATURE FILM/HORROR
Winner of a host of international film awards including a Goya Award for Best Lead Actor
(Eduard Fernández), and Best Film at the 2002 Fantasporto Festival, FAUSTO 5.0 is a
contemporary reworking of the Faust myth as a psychosexual surrealist horror film.
Directed by Álex Ollé, Isidro Ortiz and Carlos Padrisa (better known as members of La Fura Dels Baus,
the controversial experiemental theatre group responsible for the notorious sexually explicit
stage play XXX), the film stars Miguel Ángel Solá (Tango), Eduard Fernández (The Goalkeeper) and
Najwa Nimri (Sex And Lucia). Dr. Fausto (Miguel Ángel Solá), a specialist in terminal medicine, spends most of his waking
hours treating patients on the brink of death. So wrapped up in the routine of his soulless work he
has become a man without dreams - a man closer to death than to life. On his way to attend a
medical conference in Barcelona, Dr. Fausto meets the mysterious Santos Vella (Eduard Fernández), a
man who claims to have once been a patient who Fausto had given up for dead eight years ago
following an operation to remove his stomach. Shocked by the man's story of survival, Fausto
has no memory ever having known him. As exasperating as he is charismatic, and despite
the doctor's protestations, Santos soon becomes Fausto's guide during his stay in the city,
introducing the jaded doctor to the unbridled pleasures and experiences of life, at the same
time promising to grant him anything he desires. Unable to resist the offer, Fausto embarks on a
fantastic and terrible journey into the long-forgotten depths of his own soul.
Visually stunning and superbly performed, FAUSTO 5.0 is an imaginative thriller that hypnotises
the viewer with its disconcerting mix of the erotic and the horrific, each laced with a light
touch of mordant humour.
FAUSTO 5.0 (cert. 18) will be released on DVD
(?14.99) by Nucleus Films on 22nd May 2006.
Special Features include widescreen presentation
(1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen TVs, the making
of Fausto 5.0, theatrical trailer, gallery,
Spanish 5.1 and DTS, Catalan 5.1, English 2.0,
optional English subtitles.
TITLE: FAUSTO 5.0
LABEL/CREDIT: NUCLEUS FILMS
RELEASE DATE: 22ND MAY 2006
FORMAT: DVD (RENTAL)
PRICE: ?14.99
CERT: 18
WEB-SITE: www.the-associates.co.uk - FEATURE FILM/HORROR
SEATTLE, April 6th. WizKids Inc., creator of the HeroClix® collectable miniatures game and Pirates of the Spanish Main(TM) constructible strategy game(TM), announced today a partnership with Flashman Studios to bring the award-winning Pirates, Rocketmen(TM), HeroClix and Zypods(TM) game lines, as well as the as-yet-unreleased HorrorClix(TM) game, to video game systems near you!
"Expanding the tabletop experience of WizKids® games into the video game market is a great way to get even more players involved," said Jordan Weisman, WizKids CEO. "We're proud to announce that, in the near future, mobile phones, PC's, hand-held and console gaming systems will all be able to share in the fun of WizKids' games."
Flashman Studios will be representing WizKids and presenting the licenses to leading game publishers. This will result in bringing current fans exactly what they're looking for with expanded ways to play their WizKids favorites, as well as introduce a whole new audience to the rich worlds and exciting game play these properties offer. WizKids licenses have been successfully applied to the video game format, with such well known brands as, MechWarrior®, Crimson Skies®, Shadowrun® and MageKnight®. Interested publishers should contact Brad Young either through email: Brad@flashmanstudios.com or by calling 415-826-7654.
Founded by 25-year game-industry veteran Jordan Weisman, WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. It's MechWarrior® and HeroClix CMGs and Pirates CSG are among the most successful games on the market today, and the company has sold hundreds of millions of game pieces worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.
Flashman Studios is a full-service agency representing intellectual property, game developers and game-services companies to the interactive entertainment industry, with a primary focus on video games. The company works with clients on corporate strategy, marketing, branding, business development, negotiation, investment and mergers and acquisitions. With offices in San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada Flashman Studios works with a number of the interactive industry's most innovative and exciting companies to create value in their business. For additional information, visit www.flashmanstudios.com.
NOTE: MechWarrior, HeroClix, Pirates of the Spanish Main, HorrorClix, Rocketmen, Zypods, Shadowrun, Crimson Skies and WizKids are trademarks of WizKids Inc.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
"Expanding the tabletop experience of WizKids® games into the video game market is a great way to get even more players involved," said Jordan Weisman, WizKids CEO. "We're proud to announce that, in the near future, mobile phones, PC's, hand-held and console gaming systems will all be able to share in the fun of WizKids' games."
Flashman Studios will be representing WizKids and presenting the licenses to leading game publishers. This will result in bringing current fans exactly what they're looking for with expanded ways to play their WizKids favorites, as well as introduce a whole new audience to the rich worlds and exciting game play these properties offer. WizKids licenses have been successfully applied to the video game format, with such well known brands as, MechWarrior®, Crimson Skies®, Shadowrun® and MageKnight®. Interested publishers should contact Brad Young either through email: Brad@flashmanstudios.com or by calling 415-826-7654.
Founded by 25-year game-industry veteran Jordan Weisman, WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. It's MechWarrior® and HeroClix CMGs and Pirates CSG are among the most successful games on the market today, and the company has sold hundreds of millions of game pieces worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.
Flashman Studios is a full-service agency representing intellectual property, game developers and game-services companies to the interactive entertainment industry, with a primary focus on video games. The company works with clients on corporate strategy, marketing, branding, business development, negotiation, investment and mergers and acquisitions. With offices in San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada Flashman Studios works with a number of the interactive industry's most innovative and exciting companies to create value in their business. For additional information, visit www.flashmanstudios.com.
NOTE: MechWarrior, HeroClix, Pirates of the Spanish Main, HorrorClix, Rocketmen, Zypods, Shadowrun, Crimson Skies and WizKids are trademarks of WizKids Inc.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
TCM ASKS ITS VIEWERS TO VOTE FOR FILMS THEY WOULD LIKE TO WATCH
Film channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will launch a brand new proposition for viewers: YOUR CHOICE, giving its viewers more choice in the movies they watch. From 1st May viewers can choose between two classic films at 3pm and at 9pm by voting through TCM’s website or text message. The May voting closes at midnight on Tuesday 23rd May and the winning films will air on Thursday 25th May at 3pm and 9pm. TCM plans to continue this stunt on the last Thursday of every month.
In May viewer’s will be offered the choice of watching Woman in the Window (1945) or Singin’ in the Rain (1952) at 3pm on Thursday 25th May as well as being asked to choose between Deliverance (1972) or Bonnie & Clyde (1967) at 9pm. The films will be shown uncut, without any commercial breaks. In order to vote viewers can either go to TCM’s website (www.tcmonline.co.uk/yourchoice) to place their vote or vote via text message 60030*. The stunt will be supported by an on-air call to action. From June, the YOUR CHOICE voting time frame will be extended so that votes will close just 5 minutes before going to air.
YOUR CHOICE comes as a response to TCM’s loyal and passionate viewers’ feedback and it’s the first time TCM is asking its viewers to vote for the films they would like to watch on the channel. TCM hopes the vote will provide greater interactivity between the channel and its audience and will strengthen the viewers’ awareness to the new strand of programming developed by TCM at 3pm as well as the established prime time strand at 9pm. From May onwards viewers can rely on TCM to air a must-see movie at both 3pm and 9pm, giving viewer’s a designated appointment to view everyday.
Alan Musa, VP and Channel Manager of TCM comments: “We are delighted to create this opportunity to give our viewer’s more choice in the films offered on TCM. We have consciously made a commitment to listen to our audience and respond to the feedback we get from them. In an ever crowded market place TCM intends to create a point of difference as a film channel. This chance to vote helps us to communicate with our audience.”
Sue Parker, Executive Director, mkodo comments: “We are delighted to extend use of the Mkodo IMP (Intelligent Mobile Platform) within Turner to the TCM channel. The mkodo IMP provides a proven robust and flexible platform for successful ‘to air’ activities. Its significant CRM and data capture capabilities mean important marketing intelligence is gathered during the interactivity which TCM can use to enhance future activities.”
Friday, March 31, 2006
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION FOR THE WORLD’S FIRST MOVING FILM FESTIVAL
Central Trains and Channel 4’s IDEASFACTORY, in conjunction with Screen FX, will make movie history on Monday, April 3rd when the world’s first film festival on board a train launches on the company’s services across the West Midlands.
With an audience of well over 1 million passengers, The Rolling Stock Short Film Festival will see the entire fleet of 323 electric trains across the region being transformed into moving cinemas throughout April.
Around 70 shorts, produced by both first time and professional film makers from as far a field as Australia and Hong Kong to Wolverhampton, will be
screened during the four week event. The films will be shown through the network of on-board televisions introduced by Screen FX in December 2005.
Passengers will be able to text-vote for their favourite film throughout the festival, with the most popular shorts taking home a cash prize and
filmmaking equipment courtesy of Casio. Voters also have the chance to win a one month rail pass each week during the festival.
Dan Jones, Editor of IDEASFACTORY West Midlands said:
“The Rolling Stock Short Film Festival is a unique opportunity to showcase new and established talent to a huge travelling audience. We hope that the inspirational schedule will provide some welcome entertainment for our travelling audience on their daily commute.”
Stephen Ollier, Chief Executive of Train FX (the train operating division of Screen FX) said: “We are delighted to be working with Channel 4 IDEAS
FACTORY on this interesting initiative. I’m sure this film festival will reach more viewers than most.”
Steve Banaghan, Managing Director for Central Trains, said: “The TVs on trains have proved very popular with our passengers and we had already
received positive feedback on the films we screened at our premiere. We are pleased to support the world’s first film festival on a train.”
For more information, visit www.channel4.com/rollingstock
=======================================
Charlie Chaplin’s work celebrated with special St George’s Day screenings in Leicester Square
CHAPLIN AT LEICESTER SQUARE
Leicester Square, London WC2
Sunday 23 April 2006, 12pm – 6.00pm
FREE
The contribution of Charlie Chaplin to cinema and filmmaking will be celebrated, as a part of a special series of events backed by the Mayor of London to mark St George's Day.
Some of Chaplin’s best-known feature length films - The Kid, The Gold Rush and Modern Times - will be screened in Leicester Square, the home of British cinema and where a statue of Chapin now stands, alongside a selection of shorts that have been newly restored by the British Film Institute.
Organised by the Mayor of London with assistance from Association Chaplin, MK2 and the British Film Institute, this free event also includes children's activities and workshops, plus street entertainment, Chaplin style.
Born in 1889 in Walworth, South London, Charlie Chaplin left England to tour the US as a clown with Fred Karno's slapstick company in 1912. He made his first films in 1914 and in the years that followed went on to achieve enormous acclaim and popularity as an actor, director, composer, writer and producer, but most notably with his portrayal of 'the Tramp' in films that continue to have universal appeal to this day.
The screening times are as follows:
12.30pm
The Kid (1921)
*Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length film. Co-starring five-year-old Jackie Coogan, The Kid is the story of a child abandoned in a limousine by his unwed mother. When the Little Tramp finds him, he tries unsuccessfully to find a home for the boy. Obliged to keep him, the Little Tramp teaches the youngster about life on the streets.
2pm
THREE SHORTS: Kid Auto Races, A Film Johnnie and Mabel at the Wheel (1914)
BFI restored Keystone Film Company shorts with live piano accompaniment
3pm
The Gold Rush (1925, 1942)
*Chaplin's irrepressible Little Tramp seeks riches in the Yukon in this all time classic. Leave it to the Tramp as he turns hard times into hilarity as he savours a Thanksgiving feast of boiled shoe, slips outside a house teetering on a cliff and faces all manner of perils with pluck and fortitude. The 1942 re-release of the 1925 original with sound track and narration by Chaplin will be screened.
4.30pm
Modern Times (1936)
*One of the happiest and most light hearted of the Chaplin pictures. Man v Machine! Chaplin’s Little Tramp plays an assembly line worker fighting back against the mind numbing monotony and time clock rigidity of industrialism.
*Film notes from 'The Chaplin Collection' --------------------------------
Yorkshire Bids For Bollywood Oscars
The Indian city of Mumbai, the heart and soul of Bollywood, and home to the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) is the final destination for the Yorkshire Tourist Board's (YTB) official bid for Yorkshire to host the 'Bollywood Oscars' 2007. The bid to bring the multi million pound four day celebration of Indian cinema to Yorkshire is spearheaded by David Andrews, chief executive of YTB and fellow board member and bid director Zulfi Karim (picture attahced) and if successful will generate and estimated £10million.
Bid director Zulfi Karim, who first conceived the idea that Yorkshire should host the event said: "This is a huge opportunity for Yorkshire. The IIFA Weekend attracts between 15,000 and 20,000 thousand visitors. Typically a minimum 8,000 of them stay over an average three night period and thousands more come for the individual events or to simply be a part of IIFA Weekend. Media coverage will be extensive and global, it's exactly the kind of event we need to be grabbing for Yorkshire."
The four day long celebration traditionally takes place in June and kicks off with a star studded red carpet event where the biggest names in Indian cinema turn out for the world's media and the world premiere of the year's biggest Bollywood epic. Day two takes the form of a charity cricket match, stars versus professional sportsmen. Day three sees the tops stars, guests and VIPs gathering for the IIFA Awards (the 'Bollywod Oscars'), a day long ceremony with an audience of over 12,000 fans.
TV and film tourism has long benefited Yorkshire. With an audience of over 1 billion within India and over 20 million across 58 other countries worldwide, Indian cinema can open up a whole new market among committed fans ready to visit locations where their favourite films were shot. So the final day is devoted to location visits throughout the region for those involved in film production, a showcase for what Yorkshire can offer film crews.
IIFA's choice of location for the IIFA Weekend 2007 will be announced at a media conference to be held in June at the 2006 event. Yorkshire Tourist Board, key partners and the business communities of the five cities central to the bid (Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Hull) will await the announcement with baited breath.
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Reef Entertainment is releasing three excellent PC games in Late April and May this year.
The first of these --SHADOWGROUNDS is due out on April 28th and
offers a great sense of atmosphere and mystery in a thoroughly enjoyable shooter package.
The game has already received review scores in excess of 80% in its native Finland and we anticipate similar scores in the UK and other territories as the release rolls out
LIQUIDATOR which is due for release on May 5th is a strong action packed FPS set in large cinematic adventure landscapes while
UTOPIA CITY which encompasses great game play in a nightmare scenario of dream world compliance or freedom becoming everything! completes our trilogy of releases and is out on May 26th.
Attached are visuals of each game plus age rating and minimum game spec information for each game
Further information is available on our website
www.reef-entertainment.com
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UK Company Provides Soundtrack For New EyeToy Music Game
Dundee, Scotland, March 28th. Interactive music specialist Jack's Hoose Music today announced it has completed work on the soundtrack for Rhythmic Star, the soon to be released videogame for the Sony PlayStation 2.
The soundtrack features 25 specially re-recorded hit tracks and includes many well known songs from some of the world's biggest artists. Jack’s Hoose Music produced authentic, interactive versions of the songs allowing players to trigger music and rhythmic elements within the tracks in time to the beat.
Rhythmic Star is a brand new and unique music action game, which uses the PlayStation 2's Eye Toy camera peripheral. The game challenges up to four players to 'touch' falling stars on screen in time with the music.
Rhythmic Star combines 'live action' using the Eye Toy camera to put the player on TV, blended with bright, colourful Japanese styled cartoon action. This creates a whole new form of gaming, which is part music, part rhythm, part dance and all round fun.
The game was created and developed in Japan by Namco. It will be published in Europe by Ignition Entertainment.
Ged Grimes, the founder and Managing Director of Jack's Hoose Music, says, “The role of music in videogames is changing. Instead of being just background to the action, an increasing number of games are making music the whole focus. You can now play games where singing, dancing, interacting with or creating music is how you actually score points. These types of games are really pulling in a lot of new players who are not traditionally considered 'gamers'.”
“It was a great pleasure to work with the team at Namco Japan on this innovative game," says Ged. "It's unusual for Japanese developers and publishers to outsource audio production to Europe. Our experience working with other interactive music titles such as "Amplitude" and "Pop Idol" gave us the edge that Namco Japan were looking for. Working on such a wide range of styles and genres always presents a unique challenge but we are delighted with the end result. Rhythmic Star is a huge amount of fun to play and should appeal to everyone who loves music and gaming"
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SILVERSCREEN LTD IN ADMINISTRATION
Andrew Pepper and Peter Saville, Partners in Kroll’s Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group, were appointed as Joint Administrators to Silverscreen Ltd, the UK’s only specialist DVD retailer, on 29 March 2006.
The company will continue to trade as normal and all stores will remain open, while the Joint Administrators review all of the options for the business.
The UK-based company has 65 stores and employs approximately 550 staff (both full and part time). Its headquarters are based in West London. Last available figures show a turnover of approximately £64m. There are no planned redundancies at this stage. All employees have been paid for the period to 31 March 2006 and wages going forward will be paid as an expense of the Administration.
The company has entered into Administration due to cash flow difficulties that have been experienced due to competitive trading conditions on the high street, as well as the increasing dominance of the internet and supermarket sales.
Andrew Pepper, commenting on the appointment said:
“Silverscreen is a unique business as the UK’s only DVD specialist retailer, which has unfortunately suffered due to the rapidly evolving market place, which is seeing technology offering alternative and cheaper options to the traditional DVD.
“We have already commenced negotiations with a number of interested parties and are confident that we will find a buyer for the business. The Company’s suppliers have expressed their support and the stores remain well-stocked and open for business.
“We appreciate these are worrying times for employees and customers and we will endeavour to keep them informed of any notable developments.”
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
CROSSOVER PRODUCTIONS AND MEDIA ONE GLOBAL LIMITED PRESENT PROVOKED
A UK/ Bollywood co-production funded by UK tax incentives
CrossOver Productions in conjunction with Media One Global Limited is proud to announce its forthcoming release of the eagerly anticipated movie, Provoked.
This UK/ Bollywood co-production is a product of a UK scheme that has received support from UK government ministers. The original scheme was launched on 9th February 2004 in the presence of The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt MP. It has been developed to open the gateway for British investment into Bollywood cinema and to change the perception of Bollywood in the UK.
Investors associated with CrossOver Productions comprise the largest foreign investor group in Bollywood cinema. These investors have successfully brought Bollywood to Britain by applying over £50 million, which has been invested in 19 UK/ Bollywood co-productions.
The preliminary success of the film’s fundraising programme underlies that the British Bollywood film sector is growing from strength to strength, carving a place for itself at the forefront of the UK’s movie industry.
Provoked trails the true life of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the story of the Asian woman who shook up the British judicial system winning justice for women subjected to domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse. The cast includes Aishwarya Rai, Miranda Richardson, Naveen Andrews, Rebecca Pidgeon, Nandita Das, Deborah Moore and Robbie Coltrane.
One of the other films being produced, as part of the collaboration between Media One Global Limited and Cross Over Productions is Sonia, a life story ofSonia Gandhi who came to India as a young Italian for the love of her life, but stayed on for the love of the land.
Commenting at the initial launch, The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt said:
"This scheme is good news……for the British film industry. The facilities and infrastructure, which the UK offers filmmakers, are second to none. This is reflected in the figures - last year our film industry attracted over £700 million in inward investment and created over 6,000 additional jobs, taking the total employed in the sector to more than 57,000.
“This scheme will build on this progress, by helping to consolidate links between two of the world's most vibrant film markets. In attracting investors, I hope the scheme will help to boost jobs and productivity."
Raj Saxena of CrossOver Productions comments:
“Bollywood like all things Indian is experiencing huge growth on both a national and international platform. It is great that the UK tax incentives are allowing British investors to participate in the Bollywood boom. I am very grateful for The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt’s continual support.”
Dr. J. Murali Manohar, a director of Media One Global Limited comments:
“Provoked and Sonia have initiated the trend of producing quality, mainstream films with an Indian subject matter, that can be presented and appreciated by a worldwide audience. Provoked is a story about fate and destiny and an individual’s futile struggle. One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime and through this film we hope to create more awareness among women on the support available to them to get out and help themselves before its too late.”
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
SIN CITY FRAZER IRVING MAKES ANIMATED SHORT FILM WITH DIGITAL AGENCY GOOD TECHNOLOGY
Sin City creator Frazer Irving has teamed up with digital agency Goodtechnology to create an animated short film called Beneath for the launch of the Audi RS4.
Flash-based with beautifully crafted animation and sound, it will be available to view or download from www.sinisterbeauty.co.uk/beneath.
The animated short has also been produced in a format that allows it to be e-mailed amongst users and transferred to PSP and i-Pod.
After receiving the storyboard and original drawings from Frazer Irving, the film was animated and produced for internet distribution by leading London digital agency Goodtechnology.
Marc Giusti, Creative Director at Goodtechnology says: "This is a beautifully crafted short film. By actually becoming involved in the story in this way, a new Audi audience will be engaged. Consequently, those who participate will spend much more time within the campaign, increasing the reach and impact of the marque.”
Beneath has a sinister plot, menacing artwork and a twisted narrative, it was created to further demonstrate the darker, more extreme side of the Audi brand and compliments the RS4's predatory persona.
International award-winning artist, Irving can regularly be seen in DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics and 2000 AD.
Friday, March 10, 2006
CONTROVERSIAL FILM DIRECTOR GIVES FIRST-EVER UK INTERVIEW IN BRADFORD
A challenging director and film maker will give his first-ever interview in this country at the Bradford Film Festival next week.
Fifty-five-year-old Belgian Thierry Zéno has produced films and documentaries that have been banned in several countries around the world. Now thanks to an academic at the University of Bradford, there will be a rare opportunity to see some of his provocative work and hear from the man himself.
Mark Goodall, lecturer in the Electronic Imaging and Media Communications Department at the University of Bradford, will be hosting a special one-off interview and screening of three of his works in the Cubby Broccoli Cinema at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television on Thursday 16 March 2006, starting at 7pm.
The event, which costs £5 for entry or £3 for concessions including NUS, is entitled: 'Thierry Zéno - Humans, Animals, Sex and Death'.
Zéno will be discussing his life, career and controversial work through an interpreter with Mark Goodall who is, aside from his academic role, a film historian and author of the forthcoming book entitled 'Sweet and Savage: The World Through the Shockumentary Film Lens'. There will also be a chance for attendees to ask questions.
Mark Goodall said: "It's a real coup that we've got Thierry to come to the UK let alone Bradford. This is a rare opportunity to meet a truly unique filmmaker whose work has inspired controversy, shock and furious debate and I would encourage all serious film buffs to attend what promises to be a fascinating event."
The three films that will be shown during the event include:
'Vase de Noces' (The Wedding Trough)
'Des Mortes' (Of The Dead)
'Ya Basta - The Battle Cry of the Faceless'.
For more information about the Bradford Film Festival 2006, which runs from Friday 3 to Saturday 18 March 2006, visit www.nmpft.org.uk/bff/2006/home.asp
For more information about Thierry Zéno and the three films that will be shown on Thursday 16 March, visit: www.nmpft.org.uk/bff/2006/filmdetail.asp?ida=6044
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AND THE OSCAR FOR WALLACE AND GROMIT…IS PARTLY DUE TO A KINGSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATE
Aardman Animation directors Nick Park and Steve Box weren’t the only ones waiting with baited breath for the announcement of their Oscar win for best animated feature. Kingston illustration graduate Claire Billett was just as anxious to see whether the production powerhouse had won its third Academy award for Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Claire, who worked for two years as character animator on the film, is the hands and brains behind Were-Rabbit characters Victor and Lady Tottington. Now she is set to celebrate the film’s Oscar success along with 200 other staff at the company’s Bristol studio next week. “I didn’t know who had won until I switched on the television on Monday morning and it was such great news. I am so proud. A real high point of the job, especially on a high-profile project like Were-Rabbit is, of course, seeing the final product, going to the premiere and having the buzz of seeing your work on the big screen. Everyone on the team is a perfectionist striving to make each production as good as possible and I think the Oscar recognised that.”
Claire is no stranger to success. Her work on the film also saw her carry off a prestigious award of her own – the ANNIE, which is the animation industry’s equivalent of an Oscar – for character animation in January. “On Were-Rabbit I enjoyed trying to convey the characters’ thoughts and emotions, trying to make viewers forget they were looking at a puppet and really believe in them as people. Winning the ANNIE was a complete surprise. I was just honoured to be nominated – I didn't expect to actually win. But of course it feels great – it’s a real boost.”
Claire started at Aardman just after her graduation in 1998, setting to work on the company’s first feature film, Chicken Run. “My Kingston University course had a strong emphasis on drawing and I think that helped me a lot in terms of observation - which is crucial to the kind of animation I now do. My job is to bring the characters alive, like the ones I am working on for the new children’s series, Shaun the Sheep, where I have to do things like making model sheep run round trees. In stop-motion animation, I place the puppets in position, take one frame, move the puppets just a fraction then take another frame. It often takes a whole day to make two seconds or less of finished animation.”
Claire credits the focus of the Kingston University illustration course, and especially her tutors, with part of her success. “It was great that the tutors were practising professionals, always keen to push the students forward. The intensity of the course was invaluable. The strong work ethic created a real buzz of creativity on campus.”
Claire won her first animation accolade during those early days at Kingston, scooping the Royal Television Society’s National Student Award. Technical Officer from the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture Brian Ackland said Claire had been an outstanding student with an absolute passion for the subject. “It’s no surprise she’s gone on to award-winning success so early in her career,” he added.
Kingston University has produced a string of other animation stars. Tim Watts and Andy Gent worked on the Oscar-nominated Corpse Bride while Lucy Izzard’s winning entry in the BBC’s 2005 New Animator Award, Tea Total, is due to screen on BBC Three this month.
Lottery gives young people in the North East the chance to walk the red carpet
Multiple Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott today praised a “great initiative” that is giving young people in the North East the chance of a lifetime to learn about the film industry and develop their creative potential. Futures in motion is an innovative new competition run by First Light, the UK Film Council’s youth initiative, in conjunction with The National Lottery.
The competition aims to showcase the creativity of young people across the region, by challenging students from 170 schools and 43 youth groups to develop an idea for a short film highlighting the impact Lottery funding has had on their community.
The winning group will then be offered a unique opportunity to work with professional directors, creative talent from advertising agencies and mentors from the world of film to develop their ideas and produce their short film, before attending a high profile national premiere. The film, along with one made by young people in Scotland, will be screened at a selection of cinemas across the UK, over the internet and on TV.
Ridley Scott, director of acclaimed films Gladiator, Alien, Bladerunner and Thelma and Louise, and who grew up in the North East, said in support of Futures in motion:
“Film is always a very powerful way for young people to realise their creative potential. I would certainly hope that the Futures in motion Competition can offer many opportunities to youngsters to express themselves in filmmaking and they will be inspired to contribute and will learn from their experiences. It is a great initiative on behalf of the National Lottery and the UK Film Council’s First Light project.”
Pip Eldridge, Chief Executive of First Light, said:
“We are delighted to be working with The National Lottery on this exciting project. The medium of film is a great means to engage with young people in a creative and enjoyable way; to research and get inside Lottery funded projects in their local area. The films will also offer an excellent opportunity for young people to understand how filmmaking works.”
“The North East has always enjoyed an abundance of creative talent, and film has been an integral part of this - from Ridley Scott to Jamie Bell, Get Carter to Billy Elliott.
“We’re hoping that young people from the region will be inspired by this home grown talent, as well as by the real difference that National Lottery funding has made to the North East. Futures in motion will be a fantastic opportunity for young local talent to express themselves and realise their creative potential through film - demonstrating how the National Lottery is opening up opportunities for careers in the industry through this competition, as well as through its wider investment in UK film.”
The National Lottery has invested £150 million in the UK film industry through the UK Film Council, funding landmark British films such as The Constant Gardener, Bend it Like Beckham, Ladies in Lavender and Gosford Park. It is also the main funder of Scottish Screen and wholly funds First Light, the UK Film Council’s initiative for young people to teach them about and inspire them to get involved in the world of film.
Since launching in 2001, First Light has helped almost 10,000 young people, aged between five and 18 years old, shoot, act, and produce over 650 films, with some excellent results.
Young people looking for inspiration for the project have a wealth of Lottery funded projects to choose from in the North East. The Lottery has invested a total of £800 million in everything from grass-roots initiatives, to landmark projects such as the BALTIC Centre, the Sage, Gateshead International Stadium and Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North sculpture.
Interested pupils and teachers should contact reel@firstlightmovies.com in advance of the 17 March 2006 deadline.
RITISH MEN WOULD RATHER BE MR BEAN THAN BRAD PITT
eBay.co.uk reveals all about the film we’d make of our lives
A survey commissioned by eBay.co.uk revealed that in a movie of their life, British men would rather be played by Mr Bean actor, Rowan Atkinson, than by Hollywood heart-throb Brad Pitt.
The survey asked people across the UK to name the film star they would want to play them in a movie of their life, with only chisel-jawed, Ocean’s Eleven star, George Clooney (15%) surpassing Rowan Atkinson as top choice for the men. Clooney was also the actor one in five women (21%) would want as their movie love interest.
When it comes to women, over one in four (26%) wanted British treasure Dame Judi Dench to play them in film. She was followed by Friends star Jennifer Aniston (13%) and Welsh leading light Catherine Zeta Jones (10%).
Followers of the “Brangelina” saga will be interested to know Angelina Jolie came in seventh with just 7% of the vote. Other surprise entries in the women’s choice included Jennifer Saunders at number 5 and Vicar of Dibley, Dawn French, at number 9.
A third of us (31%) would want Steven Spielberg directing our own personal blockbuster and Robbie Williams came in as top choice for the soundtrack.
eBay.co.uk spokesman, Charlie Coney, said: "Who hasn’t imagined themselves on the big screen? We all identify with film in different ways and it's great to see the British sense of humour shining through. There are nearly 400,000 DVDs for sale at any one time on ebay.co.uk so you can bring your favourite stars into your living room whenever you like."
Who British men would like to play them in a movie of their life
1 George Clooney
2 Rowan Atkinson
3 Ewan McGregor
4 Tom Cruise
5 Johnny Depp
6 Brad Pitt
7 Hugh Grant
8 Gary Oldman
9 Jim Carrey
10 Clint Eastwood
Who British women would like to
play them in a movie of their life
1 Judi Dench
2 Jennifer Aniston
3 Catherine Zeta Jones
4 Emma Thompson
5 Jennifer Saunders
6 Renee Zellweger
7 Angelina Jolie
8 Keira Knightly
9 Dawn French
10 Sandra Bullock
Who would direct the film of your life?
1 Steven Spielberg
2 Quentin Tarantino
3 Woody Allen
4 Alfred Hitchcock
5 Peter Jackson
6 Martin Scorsese
7 Ridley Scott
8 Stanley Kubrick
9 George Lucas
10 Clint Eastwood
Who would sing the soundtrack?
1 Robbie Williams
2 Madonna
3 Elvis
4 Coldplay
5 James Blunt
6 Frank Sinatra
7 Elton John
8 Celine Dion
9 Michael Jackson
10 Cliff Richard
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Animazoo launch new Gypsy5 range of portable motion capture systems.
Animazoo UK Ltd ( http://www.animazoo.com/) a Brighton based manufacturer of motion capture systems used in film, TV and Computer Games Development is launching the new Gypsy5 series, the latest models in their mechanical range of motion capture suits.
The system of suit based capture gives animators, games developers and live performers the opportunity to work with motion capture technology traditionally the reserve of big budget production houses, by freeing them from the constraints of a studio and allowing them to capture at home, on stage even out of doors. Gypsy mechanical systems were used in the making of the video game Stuart Little 3 - Big Photo Adventure, published by Sega, as well as with the BBC and Fuji television amongst others.
Sensors are incorporated into 2 separate exo-skeleton frames that fit snugly around the human body and accurately record the rotational motion of an actor's bones. By removing the spine units the new versions are more flexible, allowing a greater range of movements for the actor. New automatic actor-calibration software means faster and more efficient system set up times, with no need for bio-mechanical knowledge - users simply 'drag and drop' points over an actor's digital photograph.
Ali Kord, Technical Director of Animazoo, says: "Nowadays consumers know a lot about the technology behind blockbuster films such as King Kong - they know that motion capture was used and marvel at the results. By making
systems more accessible and affordable we can bridge the gap between understanding about this technology and actually using it! That will be a big step forwards."
The new Gypsy5 will have it's first showing at the Games Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California from 20 - 24th March, by Animazoo's North American distributor Meta Motion at booth number 1545. It is priced at US$ 25,000. Upper body only Torso systems are available from US$10,000.
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ACADEMIC FILM BUFFS UNITE AT BRADFORD FILM FESTIVAL
A convention to celebrate the study of film will take place next week as part of the Bradford Film Festival 2006.
The Crash Cinema Symposium, which will feature presentations from academic film experts from across the UK, will run from 10am until 6pm on Wednesday 15 March 2006 in the Cubby Broccoli Cinema at Bradford's National Museum of Photography, Film & Television. Admission is free.
The Symposium, now in its fifth year, is a showcase of the co-operation between the Museum, the University of Bradford's Electronic Imaging & Media Communications (EIMC) Department and Bradford School of Art.
Mark Goodall, a lecturer in the University's EIMC Department, was the brainchild behind Crash Cinema and has co-ordinated the programme. He said: "Crash Cinema celebrates the study of film. We've gathered a highly respected group of experts to discuss how people interpret it, looking at some terrific and sometimes bizarre examples of films from early cinematic works to the modern day.
"The Crash Cinema Symposium is chiefly interested in unearthing political, social and cultural meanings as articulated through the art of film and this is a great event for anyone who is interested in delving deeper into the meanings, messages and styles of cinema.
"We'll be tackling allsorts during the day from the definition of 'cool' in films such as The Virgin Suicides and Wild at Heart, to representations of race and ethnicity in contemporary film drama."
For more information about the Bradford Film Festival 2006, which runs until Saturday 18 March 2006, visit www.nmpft.org.uk/bff/2006/home.asp
Crash Cinema
PROGRAMME
WILL GODFREY (University of Bradford)
THE MIRROR CRACKED:
REVERSE MANICHEAN ALLEGORY IN YASMIN
Starts: 10.00am
Representations of race and ethnicity in contemporary film drama.
ELAINE LENNON (Dublin Institute of Technology)
WHOLE LOTTA MOTHERLOVE:
FAMILY MELODRAMA IN THE BABY
Starts: 10.40am
A study of Ted Post's 1972 kitsch comedy - a 'psycho-sexually perverse grotesquery masquerading as melodrama'.
ZACHARY SNIDER (London Metropolitan University)
THE MILLENNIAL ADULTRESS:
THE CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF OLDER WIVES CHEATING WITH YOUNGER MEN
Starts: 11.30am
An exploration of the narratives of older woman/younger man romances in contemporary film.
ANDREW WEBBER (Chatham Grammar School for Girls)
TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF COOL
Starts: 12.10pm
Defining notions of 'cool' in films such as The Virgin Suicides, The Getaway and Wild at Heart.
ROBERT SIMPSON (Queen's University, Belfast)
WOMB WOUNDS:
THE FEMALE AS A THREAT IN THE FILMS OF NEIL MARSHALL
Starts: 1.50pm
The evolution of the role of women in 'life and death' films such as Dog Soldiers and The Descent.
JAMES EVANS (University of Brighton)
MAD, BAD AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW:
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ARTIST IN CINEMA
Starts: 2.30pm
An examination of the myths and narratives of various cinematic attempts at capturing the 'obsessive' or 'deviant' image of the visual artist.
JAMES RILEY (Cambridge University)
RE/MEMBERING THE IMAGES:
PETER WHITEHEAD'S CINEMATIC FICTIONS
Starts: 3.10pm
Uncovering the processes by which Peter Whitehead merges screenwriting with memoir and fiction, the visual and the textual.
CATHERINE BRADLEY (University of Huddersfield)
'IMAGINARY HERO' - A CONSIDERATION OF PROT AND HIS MATRIARCHAL WONDERLAND K-PAX
Starts: 4pm
MARK ASTLEY (Freelance writer)
FROM REEL TO REAL:
THE SNUFF AESTHETIC IN URBAN MYTH AND REALITY
Starts: 4.40pm
A study of the re-emergence of the 'snuff' film in contemporary media culture and its representation in films such as Hardcore and 8mm.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Lost in Space?
Garmin’s GPS sends a signal to Serenity fans
London, 6 March, 2006. Serenity enthusiasts who buy the DVD movie will have a chance to win their own GPS device.
To celebrate the DVD movie release Garmin is giving away five GPS 60 devices. Those who buy Serenity on DVD are invited to take part in the competition: answer a movie-related question and send in the response using a leaflet enclosed in the DVD box set.
The GPS 60 is a compact and lightweight handheld guide to the outdoors for enthusiasts on a budget. It sports a high-resolution, sunlight-readable display with a bright LED backlight, and comes with 1MB of internal memory for storing points of interest.
The unit also offers a dedicated geocaching mode, indoor/outdoor games, an alarm clock, sunrise/sunset and moon phase tables, optimal hunting and fishing times.
Invented by Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, Serenity is a sci-fi feature film based on his earlier TV series – Firefly. It tells the story of a small space freighter trying to preserve a way of life outside the regimented Alliance.
Autodesk Congratulates Visual Effects Oscar Winner King Kong
Eleventh Consecutive Year that Autodesk Clients Win Best Visual Effects Academy Award
7 March 2006 — Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) congratulates visual effects facility Weta Digital, which crafted champion visual effects for the Oscar-winning film King Kong. Autodesk also congratulates Industrial Light & Magic and Sony Pictures Imageworks for shaping the Visual Effects category nominated films The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and War of the Worlds. For the eleventh consecutive year, Autodesk technology was used to realise winning visual effect ideas for films in this category. In addition, Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre system was used to digitally colour grade Oscar-winning films in the Visual Effects, Documentary Feature and Foreign Film categories.
Weta Digital used the Discreet Lustre system to help create the distinctive look and feel of King Kong. "Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre system was part of the entire visual effects colour grading process while making King Kong. We used it to grade at the front end before the computer-generated elements were added, and also at the very end of our pipeline to grade the final images,” explained Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital. “As the elements came in, the Discreet Lustre system helped us work out the look for complex environments like Skull Island and 1933 New York." Digital colour grading is the process of altering or enhancing the colours in a movie using scanned copies of the original film.
For War of the Worlds, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) used Autodesk Maya 3D animation software, Autodesk’s Discreet Inferno and Discreet Flame visual effects systems, and Autodesk Burn background processing solution as part of ILM’s proprietary SABRE visual effects system. ILM used the SABRE system to realise various concept-based effects in War of the Worlds, including the warring aliens and their Tripods - which were crafted using Autodesk Maya software, as well as the Tripods’ organic heat ray - created in the Discreet Inferno system’s 3D environment. The Discreet Inferno system was also used on the film’s “Fleeing the Neighbourhood” scene, in which Tom Cruise attempts to drive his family out of the city while destruction looms around them.
Sony Pictures Imageworks used Autodesk Maya software, as well as the Discreet Flame system and Autodesk Burn software, to reach new creative heights for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Autodesk Maya software was used to craft many of the film’s talking animals, such as 3D wolves, beavers and foxes, as well as some of the film’s mythical creatures such as Mr. Tumnus, a faun (half man, half goat). The Discreet Flame system was also used to create the right look for other magical elements in the film such as the White Witch’s stone victims.
Furthermore, Autodesk’s Discreet Inferno and Discreet Flame systems were used on the film as part of ILM’s proprietary SABRE visual effects system. For the coronation sequence, in which Aslan and the children walked down an ornate hall lined with crowds of creatures, the SABRE system was instrumental in creating a believable scene involving the compositing of several hundred character layers.
Autodesk technology was also used to shape Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films in the following categories:
* Animated Short Film: Autodesk products touched three of the five nominated films. Shane Acker used Autodesk Maya 3D animation software for modelling, lighting and rendering work on his film 9. Anthony Lucas of 3-D Films used Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Combustion software to create the nominated film The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper and Morello. Two-dimensional film Badgered was conformed and onlined by John Rowe, head of digital post-production at the National Film and Television School in London, using Autodesk’s Discreet Flame system.
* Documentary Feature: Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre system was used by Éclair Laboratoires to digitally colour grade the Oscar-winning documentary feature March of the Penguins
* Foreign Film: Post-production facility The Video Lab used Autodesk’s Discreet Lustre system to digitally colour grade the Oscar-winning film Tsotsi.
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Video Games are as Important as Film and Television
Video Game Awards become BAFTA’s ‘third arm’
The growing importance of video games to entertainment culture has been recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which has elevated the sector to become an equal to those for Film and Television. Champions of the moving image, BAFTA seeks to reward artistic and creative innovation within video games, as one of the principle contemporary art forms.
This newly defined status means The British Academy Video Games Awards are set to confirm their position as the most independent and valued awards in this arena. The British Academy Video Games Awards move to October to be positioned as the climax to London Games Week, a new set of major industry and consumer events set to be a highlight of the European gaming calendar.
The changes have been driven by a newly formed BAFTA Games committee of high-level representatives from the largest and most influential publishers, developers, middleware companies and trade associations, including ELSPA; TIGA and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.*
The committee is led by Paul Jackson, VP & Managing Director Northern Region, Electronic Arts, who comments that ‘BAFTA’s move to give video games equal status with film and television reflects games’ contribution to artistic innovation and new forms of story-telling. The organisation is perfectly positioned to cross- fertilise opportunities, set benchmarks for measurement and champion creative standards to encourage new and compelling interactive experiences.’
Ray Maguire, senior vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment, echoed his sentiments, "It is great to be associated with a body that has been rewarding creative excellence for decades. For the creativity and artistry that is so prevalent in our business to be recognised in parity with other more accepted visual arts, says to me that interactivity has finally come of age"'
BAFTA’s chairman, Duncan Kenworthy, says ‘Video games constitute a hugely significant new, moving image art form that sits alongside film and television in its power to entertain and educate, and the Academy is determined to encourage its development. The British Academy Video Games Awards are a key part of our strategy to define, articulate and reward excellence in the sector, to the benefit of those who create games and those who play them.’
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Roaming Mobile Phone Charges Could Spoil Your World Cup
Football fans travelling to the World Cup in Germany this summer could get unlimited free incoming calls and texts by using a local SIM card instead of their UK number.
If you take your UK mobile to Germany you would typically be charged £0.75 pence to receive a call, £0.50 pence to send a text and £1.20 a minute to make a call to a local landline by your current network operator. Compare this to the savings of using a local German prepaid card, where it costs nothing to receive calls or texts, and outgoing calls to local numbers are only £0.27 per minute. Texts to the UK cost just 20p.
David Agar, Managing Director, of http://www.gosim.com, a provider of local prepaid SIM cards to people travelling abroad, says: “Using a UK mobile phone abroad is very convenient but charges are incredibly expensive. The smart solution is to buy a prepaid card before you travel, which we estimate will reduce your costs by up to 72%. If you don't, you could be paying off a large bill long after your memory of the matches has faded.”
www.go-sim has a special World Cup package costing £24.99, which includes a German prepaid SIM card, 10 Euros of calls plus a free ringtone and ‘Three Lions’ screensaver.
The SIM cards can be topped up on the www.gosim.com site or at a local shop.
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UK FILM COUNCIL - HEADLINE SPONSOR OF RIMA 2006
The UK Film Council is sponsoring the film category for the CRE's Race in the Media Awards (RIMA). Now in its second year, the film category is hoping to attract entries from the widest possible talent spectrum. Applicants have until the 17 March to submit their work.
Winners of last year's film award were Paul Morrison's Wondrous Oblivion (Apt Films) for best film feature; Jonathan Jones's 'Who Killed PC Blakelock' (Films of Record Ltd) for best film documentary and Martin Friend's ' Other' (Screen East) for film shorts. All, in the opinion of independent judges*, made a significant contribution to raising our collective understanding of the many communities that now make up our nation.
Trevor Phillips, Chair of the CRE said:
"I'm delighted that the UK Film Council has joined forces with RIMA for this year's event. RIMA's goal is to make integration in our society a reality. The film industry has a leading role to play in helping us achieve this by challenging old stereotypes about race, ethnicity and culture and in some cases increasing understanding to huge audiences about extremely complex issues. The more voices from more diverse backgrounds we have contributing to these debates, the better. Last year, the judges of the film category said that the quality of all the submissions was extremely high - but without these awards, it's questionable whether those entering would ever receive recognition for their work."
Marcia Williams, Head of Diversity at the UK Film Council added:
"Film is an immensely popular activity for people and contributes to our enjoyment and understanding of the world and different communities. Supporting the development a more diverse cinema that reflects the UK's population and rich culture is one of the UK Film Council's key priorities and encouraging filmmaking talent with new and different stories to tell is key to achieving that aim. We look to RIMA for film as a celebration of diversity in both the stories that are being told and the portrayal of our culture on film."
The RIMA awards ceremony will be held on 14 June 2006 at the Royal Opera House, London.
Notes For Applicants:
*The closing date for entries is 17 March 2006 and applications can be made online at www.rima.org.uk. (Please note that materials cannot be returned)
*All entries must have been published in a recognized national, regional or local publication, or broadcast or intended for theatrical screening in the UK between 1 January and 31 December 2005 (with the exception of the international category).
**Last year's judges included Michael Deeley who produced film greats including 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Blade Runner'; Marcia Williams, head of diversity at the UK Film Council; and June Givanni, programme executive at OFCOM and previously at ITC and British Film Institute.
*The RIMA awards will be presented on 14 June at The Royal Opera House.
*For more information about RIMA visit the RIMA website at www.rima.org.uk or contact the RIMA team on 0845 363 1478 or email rima@rslive.co.uk ( All international calls + 44 121 510 1478)
The RIMA 2005 winners were:
Media Personality
Thierry Henry
Media Organisation
BBC
TV Soap
Coronation Street, Maya's Revenge - Granada Television, ITV
TV Drama
The Bill - Thames Television, ITV
TV News
Various reports - Tim Samuels, BBC News
TV Factual
What Ron Said, Aspect Television Ltd, BBC1
Film - Feature
Wondrous Oblivion - Apt Films
Film - Documentary
Who Killed PC Blakelock - Films of Record Ltd
Film - Shorts
Other - Screen East
National Newspapers
Young, Muslim and British - Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian
Local Newspapers
Various reports - Yorkshire Evening Post
Radio News
Ursula's Story - BBC Radio Wales
Radio Drama
Something Dark - BBC Radio Drama
Radio Factual
Golly in the Cupboard - BBC Radio Merseyside
Youth
Kerching! - CBBC Drama
Specialist Magazine
Various reports - Vic Motune, The Voice
Consumer magazine
Variety of work - Good Housekeeping
New Media
Where I Live, Romany Voices - BBC Radio Kent
Thursday, March 02, 2006
PETA SEEING RED OVER NEW FILM MANOLETE
PETA Calls for Worldwide Action Against Producer’s Decision to Kill Live Bulls in New Film
London – Time has run out for the director and producer of the upcoming film Manolete, who now face worldwide protests from PETA activists over the film’s purported killing of live bulls. Set to begin shooting in a matter of weeks in Spain, the film – starring Adrian Brody and Penelope Cruz – is the story of Manolete, one of the most notorious bullfighters of all time. For months, PETA has been contacting director Menno Meyjes and producer Andres Vicente Gomez asking whether bulls would be used in the making of the film,as Spanish activist groups have reported, and urging – as an alternative – the use of CGI technology if they want the look of real bulls without causing animals abuse or death. Its pleas unanswered, PETA US sent a letter to both last Wednesday, warning, “We need a final answer from you no later than Friday, February 24th.We will take your silence on this issue to mean that you do, indeed, intend to kill or harm bulls in the making of Manolete.”
PETA has received no response from anyone associated with the film and has now e-mailed an action alert to tens of thousands of activists asking them to send urgent letters to Meyjes and Gomez and “urge them not to contribute to the horrific cruelty of bullfighting but to opt instead for CGI technology. … Please tell them that bullfights are cowardly affairs that have no place in a modern world.”
PETA gave kudos to Pierce Brosnan last year for his film The Matador, which used CGI and stock footage for its bullfighting sequences.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Stop playing games, start making them...
The people who love to play computer games most are the ones making them. Can you think of a better career?
Games developers spend their days perfecting titles like Grand Theft Auto, Gran Turismo, Call of Duty, Pro Evolution Soccer… and loving it.
If you too can’t bring yourself to put down the controls and give your thumbs a rest, why don’t you consider doing it for a living?
The computer and video game industry is worth around £14.5 billion and the UK plays a major part in this, employing over 20,000 people alone. Entry-level salaries start at £18,000 – higher than the average graduate salary. And there’s always demand for testers, programmers, audio engineers, game designers and animators among other possibilities.
Lisa Corbett, a Recruitment Consultant for Graduate Programmers, said: “As games developers move on to the next generation of console systems like Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, team sizes are increasing and there is a greater demand for staff. Bright graduates with a passion for games can help fill these gaps and here at Aardvark Swift we are keen to help new talent break into the industry.”
To attract the right people into this area, the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) is launching the biggest science, engineering and technology careers and lifestyle portal in the UK this Spring.
scenta, at www.scenta.co.uk/games
The site hosts content on more than 115 organisations and the games channel has links to 35 leading companies. It also features people working in real jobs right now and carries one of the most comprehensive technology and engineering jobs section in the UK.
Dermot Watson, Managing Editor said
“The nature of engineering in the UK has moved faster than people’s perceptions, and now includes cutting-edge jobs in computer games and software engineering. We wanted to promote a relevant and accurate image of it, and to show people how they can play a part.
“The scenta site works on two levels. It has a careers centre focusing on the variety of technology occupations and another built around specific interests. These ‘channels’, including games, are designed to encourage people to explore careers in these areas.
“The scenta games channel provides news, features, career information, competitions, games cheats and jobs.”
Friday, February 24, 2006
New Science Museum exhibition, Pixar: 20 Years of Animation, to reveal the art and technology behind the studio’s cutting edge animation films.
300 sketches, storyboards, sculptures and digital artworks on display in Europe for the first time.
The Science Museum is set to open a new exhibition examining the work of Pixar Animation Studios’ artists, bringing together 250 drawings and paintings, 50 sculptures plus computer generated multimedia artworks. All of these works demonstrate the rich creativity behind the development of the studio’s technologically advanced films.
Pixar: 20 Years of Animation, opens on 1 April and will provide artistic and technological insight into the studio’s hugely successful movies ranging from Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and the forthcoming Disney presentation of the Pixar film Cars, each of which are revolutionary films in animation.
The exhibition has an exclusive 10-week run at the Science Museum 1 April –10 June 2006.
Jon Tucker, Head of the Science Museum said: “This exhibition will give our visitors a unique glimpse into Pixar Animation Studios, one of the most creative film studios in the world.
“Pixar have been creating innovative shorts and feature films for 20 years, marrying tremendous artistic talents with witty scripts and groundbreaking technology. Science Museum visitors will be the first in Europe to see hundreds of concept drawings, sketches, paintings and models from Pixar’s studios, plus two amazing audiovisual experiences unique to this exhibition.”
Pixar: 20 Years of Animation will appeal to both children and adults, particularly those interested in art, technology and the techniques used in animated films in the 21st century. The collection of drawings, paintings and sculptures will show the phenomenal levels of detail needed to realise and develop characters, storylines and worlds – three key elements utilised by Pixar in film production.
Materials on display from Pixar include more than 250 concept drawings, rough sketches (including early pencil drawings of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story), character developments and paintings. There also are over 50 3-D maquettes – resin figures created to ensure that the smallest details of the characters that inhabit Pixar’s films are accurate. These figures also help bridge the gap between the 2-D images and the fully realised computer-generated images (CGI) animation for which Pixar has become internationally recognised.
The exhibition will also look at the history of animation in film, using objects from the Science Museum’s collection, including original Victorian magic lanterns, zoetropes, cameras and early pieces of animated film.
At the heart of Pixar: 20 Years of Animation are two audio-visual marvels created especially for this exhibition. A spectacular 8 ft diameter zoetrope - a cinema device that creates the optical illusion of static images in motion - which features characters from both Toy Story films and uses a series of strobe lights to animate Buzz, Woody, Wheezy and others. Further on will be Artscape – an 11-minute audio-visual installation which utilises digital technology to immerse viewers into various works on view in the exhibition. Both of these unique creations illustrate the way that Pixar can tell a compelling story and, by using the very latest computer and design technology, can tell that story in the most exciting way imaginable.
Beginning with the studio’s debut short film, Luxo Jr., released in 1986, the year the California-based studio was established, Pixar has pioneered a revolution in animation by creating films that are increasingly sophisticated in their blend of proprietary software and traditional animation artistry.
Visitors also will see how Pixar has not just used the most advanced hardware and software available, but has also driven advances in technology to allow them to bring their imagined worlds to life.
The works in Pixar: 20 Years of Animation reveal the depth of artistic exploration that Pixar artists bring to character, world and story development, as well as to the colour palette and distinct visual treatment that defines each individual work. Pixar’s technological developments with CGI can be charted through refinements over the years to achieve ever-greater degrees of realism through subtle changes in skin (Geri’s Game), fur (Monsters, Inc.), and other surfaces (Finding Nemo).
John Lasseter, executive vice president, creative, Pixar Animation Studios, said: “Our artists work in traditional media - hand drawings, painting, sculpture as well as the computer - to create our films. In our world the computer is a tool, the same as a pencil or a brush. Our artists create so much beautiful art for each film that most people never get to see, so we are grateful that they will now have an opportunity to experience this unique collection of work.”
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