Two strong British programmes are running at top Mexican film festivals this month.
Mexico City documentary festival Docs Df (Oct 15-24) hosts the second leg of the Docunexion programme that British Council is running in partnership with Imcine, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Docs Df and Ambulante.
This training and mentorship initiative for emerging documentary makers from the UK and Mexico is delivered as part of the 2015 UK-Mexico year of exchange.
Jerry Rothwell, André Singer and Jo Lapping from the UK will give further dedicated development support to participants alongside three Mexican mentors. The programme culminates in a pitching session in front of international decision makers.
Claire Aguilar, programming director at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Britdoc Foundation’s Luke Moody will attend as jury members alongside Julien Temple who will deliver a masterclass to accompany screenings of his films The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, Oil City Confidential and The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
The programme...
Mexico City documentary festival Docs Df (Oct 15-24) hosts the second leg of the Docunexion programme that British Council is running in partnership with Imcine, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Docs Df and Ambulante.
This training and mentorship initiative for emerging documentary makers from the UK and Mexico is delivered as part of the 2015 UK-Mexico year of exchange.
Jerry Rothwell, André Singer and Jo Lapping from the UK will give further dedicated development support to participants alongside three Mexican mentors. The programme culminates in a pitching session in front of international decision makers.
Claire Aguilar, programming director at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Britdoc Foundation’s Luke Moody will attend as jury members alongside Julien Temple who will deliver a masterclass to accompany screenings of his films The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, Oil City Confidential and The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
The programme...
- 10/19/2015
- ScreenDaily
Julien Temple crafts an uplifting ode to life in this celebration of Dr Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson and his battle against cancer
“Bloody hell, man, I’m supposed to be dead!” Following the recent London premiere of Julien Temple’s latest kaleidoscopic documentary, Wilko Johnson played a sweat-streaked gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, strutting up and down the small stage like a berserker, swapping gleeful looks with the great Blockheads bassist, Norman Watt-Roy, machine-gunning the audience with the staccato strumming of his black Telecaster. It was an extraordinary show, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Johnson wasn’t supposed to be there at all. Indeed, Temple’s unexpectedly celebratory film began life as a chronicle of a death foretold, doctors having given Wilko less than a year to live following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in 2012. Yet here he was – larger than life, stranger than fiction,...
“Bloody hell, man, I’m supposed to be dead!” Following the recent London premiere of Julien Temple’s latest kaleidoscopic documentary, Wilko Johnson played a sweat-streaked gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, strutting up and down the small stage like a berserker, swapping gleeful looks with the great Blockheads bassist, Norman Watt-Roy, machine-gunning the audience with the staccato strumming of his black Telecaster. It was an extraordinary show, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Johnson wasn’t supposed to be there at all. Indeed, Temple’s unexpectedly celebratory film began life as a chronicle of a death foretold, doctors having given Wilko less than a year to live following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in 2012. Yet here he was – larger than life, stranger than fiction,...
- 7/19/2015
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ "If it's gonna kill me, I don't want it to bore me." It's an apparently novel way to approach a diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer, but is precisely the one adopted by Wilko Johnson. Most famous for being the wide-eyed berserker hopping around the stage for Dr. Feelgood in the 70s, his response to the Big C 'verdict' (as he refers to it) is now the subject of a new documentary by Julien Temple. Temple's Oil City Confidential (2009) told the story of the punk-influencing band and their emergence from Canvey Island, but The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson (2015) pays little heed to musical legacy. This is a moving portrait of a remarkable man, which is at its most effective when it just lets him speak.
- 7/17/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
"If it's going to kill me," says Wilko Johnson, influential British rock guitarist, and subject of Julien Temple's new documentary, "I don't want it to bore me." He's speaking of his shock diagnosis with terminal pancreatic cancer in his mid-60s, after which he was given ten months to live, and enjoyed, in his own words, "the most extraordinary year of my life." Onetime punk-scene filmmaker Temple (who also directed "Absolute Beginners" and "Earth Girls Are Easy" back in the '80s) has filmed Johnson, onetime punk-scene spiritual godfather, before -- in 2009's "Oil City Confidential," his documentary on Johnson's most well-known band Dr. Feelgood. And perhaps that's why Temple is content to refer to Johnson's musical talent and legacy only in passing in 'Ecstasy.' This is a film about a man, not a legend, and indeed it is the man who emerges as bigger than movie as a result.
- 7/13/2015
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Chicago – CIMMfest, the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, has become one of the fastest growing and buzzworthy Chicago film festivals in recent years. Combining film, tribute events and live performances – and centered in and around the neighborhood of Wicker Park from April 16th through the 19th, 2015, – CIMMfest is not so much a festival as a organic happening.
The 2015 edition of CIMMfest is bigger, bolder and lights up with star power. Besides some of the highlights listed below, there is a jam-packed variety of films, music and events from April 16th through the 19th. For more information, including purchasing passes, click here.
CIMMfest Highlights: The Movies…
’808:The Movie’
Photo credit: CIMMfest
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock ‘n’ Roll
Thursday, April 16th, 7pm, The Logan Theater, 2546 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
During the Vietnam War, Cambodian musicians crafted a sound from the various rock music styles sweeping America,...
The 2015 edition of CIMMfest is bigger, bolder and lights up with star power. Besides some of the highlights listed below, there is a jam-packed variety of films, music and events from April 16th through the 19th. For more information, including purchasing passes, click here.
CIMMfest Highlights: The Movies…
’808:The Movie’
Photo credit: CIMMfest
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock ‘n’ Roll
Thursday, April 16th, 7pm, The Logan Theater, 2546 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
During the Vietnam War, Cambodian musicians crafted a sound from the various rock music styles sweeping America,...
- 4/16/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Having already captured the legend of Wilko Johnson's musical history in Oil City Confidential, while also staying true to Johnson's mantra of living in the present, Julien Temple opts not to give much backstory on Johnson. The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson serves solely as a vehicle for Johnson to discuss his approach to dying. In this context, Johnson could be anyone; Johnson's message -- for which Temple's documentary is the medium -- has nothing to do with the rock and roll legend of his past. The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson is not about a rockstar, it is about an everyman confronted by impending death. It serves as a lesson for us all to reevaluate the way that we approach life now, not when we realize that it is too late.
- 3/16/2015
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Exclusive: Moviehouse boards The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
UK sales outfit Moviehouse Entertainment has boarded international rights to Julien Temple (The Filth and the Fury) documentary The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
The Essential Arts/Nitrate Film Production doc, from producers Richard Conway and Andrew Curtis, follows the remarkable story of acclaimed musician Wilko Johnson who was told he only had months to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but staged a remarkable recovery while still managing to tour.
The film is in the latter stages of post-production and will premiere at SXSW this March.
Director Temple said: “I was astonished by Wilko on Oil City Confidential when I realised the depth of his eccentricity and wisdom and wanted to celebrate the inspirational way he dealt with his death sentence, and in the end he confounded us all.”
Mark Vennis of Moviehouse added: “We are delighted and excited to bring this unique and cinematic story to the...
UK sales outfit Moviehouse Entertainment has boarded international rights to Julien Temple (The Filth and the Fury) documentary The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.
The Essential Arts/Nitrate Film Production doc, from producers Richard Conway and Andrew Curtis, follows the remarkable story of acclaimed musician Wilko Johnson who was told he only had months to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but staged a remarkable recovery while still managing to tour.
The film is in the latter stages of post-production and will premiere at SXSW this March.
Director Temple said: “I was astonished by Wilko on Oil City Confidential when I realised the depth of his eccentricity and wisdom and wanted to celebrate the inspirational way he dealt with his death sentence, and in the end he confounded us all.”
Mark Vennis of Moviehouse added: “We are delighted and excited to bring this unique and cinematic story to the...
- 2/8/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now will close the festival, which has assembled it largest programme to date.
The 33rd Cambridge Film Festival (Sept 19-29) has unveiled its 2013 line-up, comprising 150 titles from 40 countries.
As previously announced, Professor Stephen Hawking will attend the opening night gala of documentary Hawking, which will be broadcast live to more than 60 screens across the UK.
The festival will close with Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, an Orwellian vision of a post-apocalyptic future starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay.
Alongside Hawking, other special guests to the festival will include directors Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel), Roland Klick (Deadlock), Mark Levinson (Particle Fever), Julien Temple (Oil City Confidential), Ramon Zürcher (The Strange Little Cat), Małgośka Szumowska (In The Name Of), Marzin Malaszczak (Sieniawka), Matt Hulse (Dummy Jim) and Andrew Mudge (The Forgotten Kingdom), Bob Stanley, John Pearse and actress Stephanie Stremler (Dust On Our Heart).
Strands include Young Americans, aimed at showcasing...
The 33rd Cambridge Film Festival (Sept 19-29) has unveiled its 2013 line-up, comprising 150 titles from 40 countries.
As previously announced, Professor Stephen Hawking will attend the opening night gala of documentary Hawking, which will be broadcast live to more than 60 screens across the UK.
The festival will close with Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, an Orwellian vision of a post-apocalyptic future starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay.
Alongside Hawking, other special guests to the festival will include directors Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel), Roland Klick (Deadlock), Mark Levinson (Particle Fever), Julien Temple (Oil City Confidential), Ramon Zürcher (The Strange Little Cat), Małgośka Szumowska (In The Name Of), Marzin Malaszczak (Sieniawka), Matt Hulse (Dummy Jim) and Andrew Mudge (The Forgotten Kingdom), Bob Stanley, John Pearse and actress Stephanie Stremler (Dust On Our Heart).
Strands include Young Americans, aimed at showcasing...
- 8/21/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
As films about Ginger Baker and the Stone Roses are released, here's our pick of the movies in which film-makers focus on the drama behind the songs
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)
"Our band could be your life," sang the Minutemen in History Lesson Part II – a line that embodied the fierce love the audiences of the Us indie underground held for their bands. The Minutemen were pioneers, coming out of the southern California hardcore punk scene, but to be tied to it, and living what they preached – "We jam econo," was a phrase bassist Mike Watt coined to describe a commitment to doing everything cheaply and independently. More than a history lesson, though, We Jam Econo is a deeply moving love letter from Watt to his friend – and the Minutemen's leader – D Boon, who died in...
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video
We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005)
"Our band could be your life," sang the Minutemen in History Lesson Part II – a line that embodied the fierce love the audiences of the Us indie underground held for their bands. The Minutemen were pioneers, coming out of the southern California hardcore punk scene, but to be tied to it, and living what they preached – "We jam econo," was a phrase bassist Mike Watt coined to describe a commitment to doing everything cheaply and independently. More than a history lesson, though, We Jam Econo is a deeply moving love letter from Watt to his friend – and the Minutemen's leader – D Boon, who died in...
- 5/18/2013
- by Michael Hann
- The Guardian - Film News
Westcliff-on-sea, England — Living has been full of surprises for Wilko Johnson. So has dying.
Four decades in the rock `n' roll trenches have brought the British guitarist obscurity and fame, followed by turmoil, more obscurity and rediscovery. Now the greatest rock star you may not have heard of – songwriter for rabble-rousing 1970s band Dr. Feelgood – is embarking on a farewell tour. Unlike some musical goodbyes, this one is permanent. Late last year, Johnson was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and told he had just months to live.
He says he has never felt more alive.
The 65-year-old musician says that in the weeks since his diagnosis, he's been unexpectedly happy – "In fact it amounted at times to euphoria."
"I suddenly found myself in a position where nothing matters anymore," he said. "I'm a miserable so-and-so normally ... I'd be worrying about the taxman or all the things that we worry about...
Four decades in the rock `n' roll trenches have brought the British guitarist obscurity and fame, followed by turmoil, more obscurity and rediscovery. Now the greatest rock star you may not have heard of – songwriter for rabble-rousing 1970s band Dr. Feelgood – is embarking on a farewell tour. Unlike some musical goodbyes, this one is permanent. Late last year, Johnson was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and told he had just months to live.
He says he has never felt more alive.
The 65-year-old musician says that in the weeks since his diagnosis, he's been unexpectedly happy – "In fact it amounted at times to euphoria."
"I suddenly found myself in a position where nothing matters anymore," he said. "I'm a miserable so-and-so normally ... I'd be worrying about the taxman or all the things that we worry about...
- 2/4/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
British director Julien Temple has carved an admirable niche for himself, 1988 effort Earth Girls Are Easy standing as an anomaly in a career littered with some of the greatest rock docs ever made. The Great Rock N Roll Swindle. Glastonbury. Oil City Confidential. Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. They're all Temple films and the prolific director is now tackling a bio-pic on the life of classic soul singer Marvin Gaye.Titled Midnight Love the film will presumably shoot once Temple has wrapped up on his current documentary project - Children Of The Revolution - and he's got himself a very high profile star, the London Evening Standard breaking word that Lenny Kravitz has signed on to portray the singer.Named for Gaye's final album, the...
- 11/23/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Senna; Point Blank; The Housemaid; Chalet Girl
The very best documentaries should not only inform and entertain viewers with a working knowledge of their areas of scrutiny but also engage the interest and emotions of those who know little (and perhaps care even less) about the subjects. Recent homegrown examples include Julien Temple's brilliant Oil City Confidential, which proved a satisfying and thoroughly cinematic experience for non-aficionados of Dr Feelgood's brand of "Thames Delta blues"; and TT3D, which found in Guy Martin a voluble mouthpiece for the madness of the Isle of Man motorbike races that almost every year claim lives.
Equally remarkable is the emotional conjuring trick performed by director Asif Kapadia with Senna (2010, Universal, 12), which delves into the world of Formula One racing, arguably the most elitist, non-inclusive sport in the world. In a crucial and telling moment, the film's eponymous enigma reveals a longing...
The very best documentaries should not only inform and entertain viewers with a working knowledge of their areas of scrutiny but also engage the interest and emotions of those who know little (and perhaps care even less) about the subjects. Recent homegrown examples include Julien Temple's brilliant Oil City Confidential, which proved a satisfying and thoroughly cinematic experience for non-aficionados of Dr Feelgood's brand of "Thames Delta blues"; and TT3D, which found in Guy Martin a voluble mouthpiece for the madness of the Isle of Man motorbike races that almost every year claim lives.
Equally remarkable is the emotional conjuring trick performed by director Asif Kapadia with Senna (2010, Universal, 12), which delves into the world of Formula One racing, arguably the most elitist, non-inclusive sport in the world. In a crucial and telling moment, the film's eponymous enigma reveals a longing...
- 10/1/2011
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Fall is the best time of year for music and film fans in Montreal. Festivals and shows a-plenty, for most it becomes a draconian decision between what to see and what to miss. A select few become so totally fixated on this decision making process that they fail to see anything at all.
For those living under a rock, Montreal’s premiere film festival Pop Montreal starts up this week. Though it’s diverse set of musical shows big and small are often the highlight, it is truly a multi-disciplinary fest and has a bit of everything, including a mini-film festival. Film Pop’s programming is helmed by Kier-La Janisse. For those who don’t recognize the name, she is the founder of Montreal’s own Montreal’s Psychotronic Film Centre, Blue Sunshine. A fan of all things cinema, there are few people more qualified to organize a kick-ass line-up as she is.
For those living under a rock, Montreal’s premiere film festival Pop Montreal starts up this week. Though it’s diverse set of musical shows big and small are often the highlight, it is truly a multi-disciplinary fest and has a bit of everything, including a mini-film festival. Film Pop’s programming is helmed by Kier-La Janisse. For those who don’t recognize the name, she is the founder of Montreal’s own Montreal’s Psychotronic Film Centre, Blue Sunshine. A fan of all things cinema, there are few people more qualified to organize a kick-ass line-up as she is.
- 9/20/2011
- by Justine
- SoundOnSight
In the early 1970s, deep in the “Thames Delta” in England, a young rhythm and blues band was making a sweaty, chaotic mark on the English music scene. Canvey Island based Dr Feelgood became known for energetic, punk-style sets and guitarist Wilko Johnson was the main attraction. His wild-eyed Angus-Young-in-a-suit (before Angus was in short trousers) performances captivated audiences.
Recently, Dr Feelgood was the subject of a documentary. Directed by Julian Temple, Oil City Confidential is a brilliantly, beautifully constructed film, and Wilko was the star of the show. Not shy on camera, Wilko also has a feature role in the TV show Game of Thrones -- that of the King's mute executioner Ilyn Payne.
I caught up with Wilko on the eve of his latest UK tour. Ever hilarious, he provided the most extraordinary end to any interview I have ever done [...]...
Recently, Dr Feelgood was the subject of a documentary. Directed by Julian Temple, Oil City Confidential is a brilliantly, beautifully constructed film, and Wilko was the star of the show. Not shy on camera, Wilko also has a feature role in the TV show Game of Thrones -- that of the King's mute executioner Ilyn Payne.
I caught up with Wilko on the eve of his latest UK tour. Ever hilarious, he provided the most extraordinary end to any interview I have ever done [...]...
- 9/15/2011
- by Obi-Dan
- Geeks of Doom
This year, Pop Montreal, an annual smrgasboard of concerts and music-themed films, celebrates its 10th anniversary. While the concert side of the equation is typically stacked (including, but not remotely limited to, a free Arcade Fire concert), the film portion is no slouch either. This year, film topics include legendary folkie Phil Ochs, The Replacements, Alan McGee and Creation Records, Aice Donut, and the Vancouver punk scene, among others. The fest runs from Sept. 21st-25th here in Montreal – the complete lineup and press release are below.
Montreal, August 11th, 2011 – Where music and movies make out in the dark: Film Pop returns. From September 21st to the 25th, as the Pop Montreal festival turns 10, Film Pop will once again resurface an always-pertinent array of underground musical films and captivating documentaries. Throughout the 5 days of the festival, Film Pop events will be held in 3 main venues: Blue Sunshine (3660 St-Laurent), the Pop...
Montreal, August 11th, 2011 – Where music and movies make out in the dark: Film Pop returns. From September 21st to the 25th, as the Pop Montreal festival turns 10, Film Pop will once again resurface an always-pertinent array of underground musical films and captivating documentaries. Throughout the 5 days of the festival, Film Pop events will be held in 3 main venues: Blue Sunshine (3660 St-Laurent), the Pop...
- 8/11/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Fresh off the heels of its North American premiere at Canadian Music Week we've just gotten word that Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential - a blistering portrait of blues rock act Dr Feelgood - will be coming to Canadian shores in regular release.Evokative Films, in partnership with Hanway Films and Cadiz Music, will release the film across Canada with a theatrical release in September. Plans are afoot to hopefully bring former Feelgood guitar player Wilko Johnson to play shows on these shores in support.Say Evokative head nm3103723 autoStephanie Trepanier[/link]:I discovered Dr. Feelgood when I saw Oil City Confidential at last year's Efm, loved their bluesy kind of rock and went straight to iTunes to get its discography. This band should be more widely known for...
- 3/13/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Mark Kermode, the Observer's DVD critic, picks the releases that deserved greater attention, from Restrepo to the re-released Peeping Tom
Two intriguing titles slipped under this column's radar because their DVD releases coincided with their terrestrial TV premieres. Arguably the finest documentary of the year, Restrepo (2010, Dogwoof, E) provides an intimate account of life on the front-line in Afghanistan, where the battle for "hearts and minds" clashes with the harsh reality of chaotic violence, military and insurgent. Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger embed themselves among Us soldiers stationed in the Korangal valley in 2008 and watch them endure boredom, terror, adrenaline rushes, loss, confusion and exhilaration in roughly equal measure. Over a year, the film-makers earned the trust of their astonishingly youthful subjects, whose responses to their life-and-death situations are as honest as they are humbling. Intercutting raw outpost footage with more melancholic post-battle interviews that reveal still unhealed wounds, Restrepo...
Two intriguing titles slipped under this column's radar because their DVD releases coincided with their terrestrial TV premieres. Arguably the finest documentary of the year, Restrepo (2010, Dogwoof, E) provides an intimate account of life on the front-line in Afghanistan, where the battle for "hearts and minds" clashes with the harsh reality of chaotic violence, military and insurgent. Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger embed themselves among Us soldiers stationed in the Korangal valley in 2008 and watch them endure boredom, terror, adrenaline rushes, loss, confusion and exhilaration in roughly equal measure. Over a year, the film-makers earned the trust of their astonishingly youthful subjects, whose responses to their life-and-death situations are as honest as they are humbling. Intercutting raw outpost footage with more melancholic post-battle interviews that reveal still unhealed wounds, Restrepo...
- 12/19/2010
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
The DVD/Blu-ray box set of the year has to be the Alien Collection (20th Century Fox), due in no small part to the fact that it'll probably take you a year to get through all the incredible extras and alternate edits. The Back To The Future Trilogy (Universal) comes a close second in terms of quality and value. The great Battle Royale (Arrow) is available as a box set, with two versions on Blu-ray, plus a DVD of extras and three booklets (including a comic). The BFI has two particularly good box sets in the shape of the Kurosawa Samurai Collection, which contains five films that you really should have already seen by now – Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne Of Blood, Yojimbo and Throne Of Blood – and the amazing Shadows Of Progress, a four-disc history of postwar British documentary films. This Is England (4Dvd) bridges the ever-decreasing chasm between film and television,...
- 12/18/2010
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Screenplay, Britain's most northerly film festival, is a world away from the glitz and hype of Cannes
A couple of years ago, as I was dragging my sorry bones around another overcrowded, overheated, overhyped film festival in the broiling south of France, somebody asked me "How come you always look so miserable in Cannes?" I thought about this for a while before answering, "All things considered, I'd rather be in Shetland."
This was no idle threat. For the past four years, my partner Linda Ruth Williams and I have been proudly co-curating Shetland Arts' annual ScreenPlay festival, a celebration of everything we love about cinema that's about as far away from the exclusive ghastliness of the Croisette as it's possible to get in terms of both climate and culture. Last year we held a screening in a bus shelter in Unst, the most northerly in the UK (if you don't get off here,...
A couple of years ago, as I was dragging my sorry bones around another overcrowded, overheated, overhyped film festival in the broiling south of France, somebody asked me "How come you always look so miserable in Cannes?" I thought about this for a while before answering, "All things considered, I'd rather be in Shetland."
This was no idle threat. For the past four years, my partner Linda Ruth Williams and I have been proudly co-curating Shetland Arts' annual ScreenPlay festival, a celebration of everything we love about cinema that's about as far away from the exclusive ghastliness of the Croisette as it's possible to get in terms of both climate and culture. Last year we held a screening in a bus shelter in Unst, the most northerly in the UK (if you don't get off here,...
- 8/28/2010
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
London's Scala was once the king of repertory cinemas, showing everything from high art to the lowest trash. Stephen Woolley talks about its festival-based return
In June 1979, I was 22 years old, and I published my first programme for the Scala cinema in London. Having served a baptism of fire at the Screen on the Green in Islington, and at the political film collective The Other Cinema, I had fire in my belly and wanted to create an alternative Nft, where you could laugh at Buñuel, weep at Sirk and scream at George Romero. In that first month we showed all-night Judy Garland classics and a celebration of Gay Pride Week shoulder to shoulder with macho men such as Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne.
We put on double bills, triple bills, all nighters on Friday and Saturday, and had a fully licensed bar with the best jukebox in London...
In June 1979, I was 22 years old, and I published my first programme for the Scala cinema in London. Having served a baptism of fire at the Screen on the Green in Islington, and at the political film collective The Other Cinema, I had fire in my belly and wanted to create an alternative Nft, where you could laugh at Buñuel, weep at Sirk and scream at George Romero. In that first month we showed all-night Judy Garland classics and a celebration of Gay Pride Week shoulder to shoulder with macho men such as Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne.
We put on double bills, triple bills, all nighters on Friday and Saturday, and had a fully licensed bar with the best jukebox in London...
- 8/5/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Emma Thompson continues to weave her spell in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, while the national treasure that is Dr Feelgood is celebrated in Oil City Confidential
Emma Thompson is a national treasure. Having won a screenplay Oscar translating Jane Austen's very particular prose for the cinema, the assured writer-performer brings an equally delightful touch to her ongoing adaptations of Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda stories. Admittedly the first Nanny McPhee movie was a hard act to follow – a latterday Scary Mary Poppins which became an enduring home-viewing hit (no child's DVD shelf should be without a copy). In Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Thompson reapplies the warty facial rubber to play the lovable disciplinarian whose Poppins-esque motto is "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay; when you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go."
This...
Emma Thompson is a national treasure. Having won a screenplay Oscar translating Jane Austen's very particular prose for the cinema, the assured writer-performer brings an equally delightful touch to her ongoing adaptations of Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda stories. Admittedly the first Nanny McPhee movie was a hard act to follow – a latterday Scary Mary Poppins which became an enduring home-viewing hit (no child's DVD shelf should be without a copy). In Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Thompson reapplies the warty facial rubber to play the lovable disciplinarian whose Poppins-esque motto is "When you need me, but do not want me, then I must stay; when you want me, but no longer need me, then I have to go."
This...
- 7/17/2010
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Hippies, vampires and the spirit of David Lynch loom large
Writer-director Peter Strickland cites a viewing of David Lynch's nightmarish Eraserhead ("this strange, beautiful piece of atmosphere"), followed by years of triple bills at the King's Cross Scala ("New York underground, sleazy European art porn, creepy Italian horror"), as his cinematic inspiration. It's easy to imagine the creator of Katalin Varga (2009, Artificial Eye, 15) gorging himself on such exotica. From the brooding, amorphous guilt of Lynch's industrial noisescapes to the emotive violence of so much "exploitation" fare, Strickland clearly appreciates the strange mysteries of cinema's most dark and troubling dreams.
His eye-opening first feature is a gothic-inflected Romanian tragedy in which the vampiric spectre of Transylvania's prince of darkness is replaced by an altogether more human monster. Hilda Péter is mesmerising as the innocent outcast, banished from her village when her husband discovers that he is not the father of her son.
Writer-director Peter Strickland cites a viewing of David Lynch's nightmarish Eraserhead ("this strange, beautiful piece of atmosphere"), followed by years of triple bills at the King's Cross Scala ("New York underground, sleazy European art porn, creepy Italian horror"), as his cinematic inspiration. It's easy to imagine the creator of Katalin Varga (2009, Artificial Eye, 15) gorging himself on such exotica. From the brooding, amorphous guilt of Lynch's industrial noisescapes to the emotive violence of so much "exploitation" fare, Strickland clearly appreciates the strange mysteries of cinema's most dark and troubling dreams.
His eye-opening first feature is a gothic-inflected Romanian tragedy in which the vampiric spectre of Transylvania's prince of darkness is replaced by an altogether more human monster. Hilda Péter is mesmerising as the innocent outcast, banished from her village when her husband discovers that he is not the father of her son.
- 2/21/2010
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Julien Temple's film about 70s pub rockers Dr Feelgood is his best rockumentary yet
Julien Temple has made many movies about music – about the Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer and Glastonbury. But I don't think he's ever made a film as good, and purely insightful as this one, about the cult Canvey Island R&B band Dr Feelgood, who had their heyday of fame in the mid-70s pub-rock era that foreshadowed punk, before the band fell victim to infighting and a sad early end. The Feelgoods' reputation is not as weighty or towering as all those other music stars, and I think this has allowed Temple to relax and give us both an engaging film and a resonant psychogeography of Canvey Island and Essex itself. Like Will Self and the Isle of Grain in Kent, Temple finds himself responding to this striking and remote landscape, a little like the Cambridgeshire fen,...
Julien Temple has made many movies about music – about the Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer and Glastonbury. But I don't think he's ever made a film as good, and purely insightful as this one, about the cult Canvey Island R&B band Dr Feelgood, who had their heyday of fame in the mid-70s pub-rock era that foreshadowed punk, before the band fell victim to infighting and a sad early end. The Feelgoods' reputation is not as weighty or towering as all those other music stars, and I think this has allowed Temple to relax and give us both an engaging film and a resonant psychogeography of Canvey Island and Essex itself. Like Will Self and the Isle of Grain in Kent, Temple finds himself responding to this striking and remote landscape, a little like the Cambridgeshire fen,...
- 2/4/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A new wave of biopics and rockumentaries – including films about Blur, the White Stripes and Muse – leads the attack on "the blandest of the bland"
A backlash has begun against the stranglehold that television talent shows have on the British music industry. Films about rock history are the first line of attack, according to the leading directors and musicians who are driving a growing public interest in the bands that have shaped popular music.
Ten films chronicling the lives of pop stars and rock musicians have been released or gone into production in recent months. John Lennon, Ian Dury and the record producer Joe Meek have already been the subjects of biopics, and screenwriters are now delving into Britain's rich rock past to tell the stories of other musicians.
This week sees the release of Oil City Confidential, an account of Canvey Island pub-rockers Dr Feelgood. The film's director, Julien Temple,...
A backlash has begun against the stranglehold that television talent shows have on the British music industry. Films about rock history are the first line of attack, according to the leading directors and musicians who are driving a growing public interest in the bands that have shaped popular music.
Ten films chronicling the lives of pop stars and rock musicians have been released or gone into production in recent months. John Lennon, Ian Dury and the record producer Joe Meek have already been the subjects of biopics, and screenwriters are now delving into Britain's rich rock past to tell the stories of other musicians.
This week sees the release of Oil City Confidential, an account of Canvey Island pub-rockers Dr Feelgood. The film's director, Julien Temple,...
- 1/31/2010
- by Vanessa Thorpe, Rowan Walker
- The Guardian - Film News
Precious (15)
(Lee Daniels, 2009, Us)
Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey. 110 mins.
It sounds like a relentlessly depressing pile-up of miseries: the tale of a 1980s Harlem teenager who's poor, lonely, overweight, undereducated, abused by both parents, and pregnant for the second time by her father. And it gets worse after that. But, mercifully, this doesn't play by European social realist rules, throwing in flourishes of fantasy and even comedy, and offering glimmers of hope, real and imagined, to lighten its heroine's unenviable burden. It's still a harrowing watch, powerfully performed and earnestly authentic, but even as it wallows in the gutter, it's looking for the stars.
The Princess And The Frog (U)
(Ron Clements, John Musker, 2009, Us)
Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos. 97 mins.
Another Disney Princess™ for the merchandising range, sorry, cinematic tradition, and the first African-American one. True to latter-day Disney form, she's capable and motivated – until she's turned into a frog,...
(Lee Daniels, 2009, Us)
Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey. 110 mins.
It sounds like a relentlessly depressing pile-up of miseries: the tale of a 1980s Harlem teenager who's poor, lonely, overweight, undereducated, abused by both parents, and pregnant for the second time by her father. And it gets worse after that. But, mercifully, this doesn't play by European social realist rules, throwing in flourishes of fantasy and even comedy, and offering glimmers of hope, real and imagined, to lighten its heroine's unenviable burden. It's still a harrowing watch, powerfully performed and earnestly authentic, but even as it wallows in the gutter, it's looking for the stars.
The Princess And The Frog (U)
(Ron Clements, John Musker, 2009, Us)
Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos. 97 mins.
Another Disney Princess™ for the merchandising range, sorry, cinematic tradition, and the first African-American one. True to latter-day Disney form, she's capable and motivated – until she's turned into a frog,...
- 1/30/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Investigative Film Week, London
If your idea of investigative journalism is uncovering the truth about Brangelina's break-up, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate with a visit to this fascinating week-long festival. Each of the six films showing is followed by a Q&A with the director, and leading the pack is Günter Wallraff, whose latest, Black On White, sees him donning blackface to expose racism in Germany. There's also Afghanistan: On The Dollar Trail, a dangerous study of where aid money really goes, and a film that will make you think twice the next time you pour a cuppa, Flip The Coin: The Bitter Taste of Tea, which probes the dichotomy between the corporations who provide tea for the west and the poverty-stricken people who pick it for them.
City University, EC1, Tue to 6 Feb, visit tcij.org
Andrea Hubert
Oil City Confidential, London & nationwide
Having done the Sex Pistols and the Clash,...
If your idea of investigative journalism is uncovering the truth about Brangelina's break-up, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate with a visit to this fascinating week-long festival. Each of the six films showing is followed by a Q&A with the director, and leading the pack is Günter Wallraff, whose latest, Black On White, sees him donning blackface to expose racism in Germany. There's also Afghanistan: On The Dollar Trail, a dangerous study of where aid money really goes, and a film that will make you think twice the next time you pour a cuppa, Flip The Coin: The Bitter Taste of Tea, which probes the dichotomy between the corporations who provide tea for the west and the poverty-stricken people who pick it for them.
City University, EC1, Tue to 6 Feb, visit tcij.org
Andrea Hubert
Oil City Confidential, London & nationwide
Having done the Sex Pistols and the Clash,...
- 1/30/2010
- by Steve Rose, Andrea Hubert, Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Up In The Air (15)
(Jason Reitman, 2009, Us) George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick. 109 mins
This movie seems to have struck a chord with credit-crunched America (and awards panels), dealing as it does with a roving corporate executioner (Clooney) who ruins the lives of others as a substitute for having one of his own. But the timing is more down to luck than design. Those looking for empathy with the freshly unemployed will be disappointed; those looking for Clooney being suave and questioning his hollow, frequent-flier lifestyle will be more satisfied. It's a smooth, witty semi-comedy that doesn't go quite where you expect, but doesn't exactly frighten the horses either.
44 Inch Chest (18)
(Malcolm Venville, 2009, UK) Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Joanne Whalley. 95 mins
The writers of Sexy Beast attempt to repeat the formula, assembling a rogues' gallery of hard men for another study of geezer masculinity. They're out to avenge...
(Jason Reitman, 2009, Us) George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick. 109 mins
This movie seems to have struck a chord with credit-crunched America (and awards panels), dealing as it does with a roving corporate executioner (Clooney) who ruins the lives of others as a substitute for having one of his own. But the timing is more down to luck than design. Those looking for empathy with the freshly unemployed will be disappointed; those looking for Clooney being suave and questioning his hollow, frequent-flier lifestyle will be more satisfied. It's a smooth, witty semi-comedy that doesn't go quite where you expect, but doesn't exactly frighten the horses either.
44 Inch Chest (18)
(Malcolm Venville, 2009, UK) Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Joanne Whalley. 95 mins
The writers of Sexy Beast attempt to repeat the formula, assembling a rogues' gallery of hard men for another study of geezer masculinity. They're out to avenge...
- 1/16/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Music documentary-maker Julien Temple is to turn his attention to the sibling spats of Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks in a new film
Julien Temple, the director of Sex Pistols documentaries The Great Rock'n' Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury, is planning to shoot a feature film about Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks. To be titled You Really Got Me, the movie will focus on the "extraordinary love-hate relationship" between the brothers, which often resulted in legendary on-stage and off-stage spats. It will also examine the development of the band's sound, from the tough r'n'b of their mid 60s period, to their later fascination with music-hall and rock opera.
Speaking to ScreenDaily, Temple said: "Love/hate, sibling rivalry is at the core. I think it's a very rich social, cultural nexus around the Kinks. Their story is the untold story of all those big bands of the 1960s.
Julien Temple, the director of Sex Pistols documentaries The Great Rock'n' Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury, is planning to shoot a feature film about Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks. To be titled You Really Got Me, the movie will focus on the "extraordinary love-hate relationship" between the brothers, which often resulted in legendary on-stage and off-stage spats. It will also examine the development of the band's sound, from the tough r'n'b of their mid 60s period, to their later fascination with music-hall and rock opera.
Speaking to ScreenDaily, Temple said: "Love/hate, sibling rivalry is at the core. I think it's a very rich social, cultural nexus around the Kinks. Their story is the untold story of all those big bands of the 1960s.
- 12/9/2009
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Nothing to do with Al Gore – Oil City was what Essex’s Canvey Island was renamed to make it seem a bit more American, more rock ‘n roll, and there’s little more rock ‘n roll than Dr Feelgood, the R&B “punk before punk” band who hit number 1 in the album charts but imploded just before the Sex Pistols went massive.Julien Temple’s documentary covers a band now mostly lost to music history, but who left such an impact that there’s still a Dr Feelgood band touring today with none of the original members. Wilko Johnson – the charismatic guitarist whose departure in 1977 arguably led to the band’s demise – is interviewed alongside members of The Clash, Blondie and the Sex Pistols to paint a picture of 70s England and the greatest British band that nearly was.Oil City Confidential is out on 2 February.
- 12/4/2009
- EmpireOnline
London -- Julien Temple's music doc "Oil City Confidential" is lined up to rock the aisles in theaters in a one-off deal that heralds the beginnings of an all-singing all-dancing digital distribution age.
Temple's movie, which centers on the Brit R&B band Dr Feelgood, will platform in theaters via British-based d-cinema integrator Arts Alliance Media (Aam) for one night in February next year.
Local theater goers across the country will be treated to a concert by original Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson and his band of ex-Blockhead musicians beamed live into digital screens from Koko in London, with a special red carpet introduction by Temple himself and a screening of the film.
The movie house event is also promising "special guests drawn from the directorial career" of Temple.
"Oil City" is the last film in Temple's trilogy on British music of the 1970s and is billed as a prequel...
Temple's movie, which centers on the Brit R&B band Dr Feelgood, will platform in theaters via British-based d-cinema integrator Arts Alliance Media (Aam) for one night in February next year.
Local theater goers across the country will be treated to a concert by original Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson and his band of ex-Blockhead musicians beamed live into digital screens from Koko in London, with a special red carpet introduction by Temple himself and a screening of the film.
The movie house event is also promising "special guests drawn from the directorial career" of Temple.
"Oil City" is the last film in Temple's trilogy on British music of the 1970s and is billed as a prequel...
- 12/2/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Cork Film Festival, which takes place from November 1-8, has confirmed the attendance of documentary director Julien Temple (Glastonbury, Vigo – Passion for Life), Swiss animator Georges Schwizgebel (The Man with No Shadow) and Austrian helmer Peter Tscherkassky at this year's event. Festival organisers have announced that the world renowned documentary and film maker Julien Temple will attend the Festival for the screening of his latest film 'Oil City Confidential' which tells the story of the British music industry in the 1970's and acts as a prequel to his film 'The Filth and the Fury'.
- 10/14/2009
- IFTN
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.