The film’s director, David Hughes, and its executive producer, Margaret Matheson, and the lead actress, Ty Glaser will be coming to the cinema to take a Q&A.

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This is David Hughes’ directorial debut and the film is highly entertaining.  Screen International called it “Brave & Stylish” and Ain’t It Cool News describes it as “the best British crime film in years”.

Also Margaret Matheson is film pedigree having worked with some of our best; Mike Leigh, Alan Clarke, Alex Cox) and the film was picked up for distribution by Universal.  Not bad for a first film.

In my opinion Ty Glaser shines on screen - I believe she is one to watch.

So it is an event not to be missed and will give any up and coming filmmaker an opportunity to network and learn alot.

Tickets are available directly on 020 7780 2000 or online http://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/comingsoon.php

And the fabulous news is that Sixteen Films have just confirmed that Ken Loach will come and take part in the Q&A.

We are planning to show two additional short films, BALE by Andy Ryder, which was finished by the Maya Vision finishing fund, and also N25 by Treasa O’Brien which is a Goldsmith’s graduation film.

This was to coincide with the DVD release, and we had wanted Warner Brothers to help us do a really big screening seeing as we are located in THE FIRM territory, and also NICK LOVE territory.  But they just ignored us.

So we did it anyway, and we were able to get some of the fabulous cast to come down to take part in a Q&A. Calum Macnab was brilliant to come, as was Eddie Webber, DOP Matt Gray.

THE FIRM is a brilliant film, and you could feel the enjoyment of the audience.

Being URBAN SCREEN, we have found that we spend a lot of time showing films with graphic violence, drugs, council estates, swearing and much more and THE FIRM did definitely contain all of these attributes as well.

But the lighthearted 80’s soulful soundtrack is an absolute winner - worth watching the movie just for this! However, one also has to applaud the relationship between Dom and Bex.  This really was a coming of age story and it was actually touching how Bex took Dom under his wing, and Dom looked up to Bex.  Despite Bex’s violent tendencies, one had to admire how he flitted between football hooliganism, father and husband, role model for Dom, all whilst holding down a good office job.

We also showed two shorts, one was BE ME, by Farhan Qureshi, about football racism.  And also LITTLE PRINCE by David Anderson, presently studying film at LFS.  LITTLE PRINCE offered some profound surprises as what started as a stereotypical geezer in a nightclub story turned out to be a slice of social reportage on the cruelties going on in Zimbabwe. This must be seen!

The Q&A was equally colourful with Calum and Eddie, offering anecdotal stories on Nick Love’s obsession with 80s detail and their own experiences growing up in South East London.

It was a great night had by all.

We have been immensely busy with our various screenings, and somehow writing goes out the window when time is tight.

Nevertheless, our screenings have been going immensely well, we are developing a very nice, interactive, audience of keen filmmakers, actors, writers, directors, and of course the audience.

This week we held a fabulous screening of the French award winner A PROPHET. Sometimes hype can lead to disappointment, but A PROPHET does not go down this road. It is an immensely absorbing film. How can one enjoy spending 2 and a half hours in a prison, and actually want to spend some more.  But I did - I didn’t want the film to end.

This can only be attributed to a sophisticated script with razor sharp dialogue, and Jacques Audiard’s canny choice of actors. Tahar Rahim is tipped as one of the great actors. It is early days but he nevertheless rises to the challenge in this film - he carries it. I will be immensely interested to see the next film he is in.

A PROPHET was introduced by Cinemoi director, Julian Plante, who gave an excellent speech putting the film in the context of issues faced by Arabs in France. It is refreshing to have this casually intellectual approach to film, which can be so lacking in British film. We are so scared to be political. The French are not. British filmmakers can certainly learn alot from the French.

We also showed short film LORRAINE by emerging talent Julius Amedume. Julius film “A GOAT’S TAIL” was actually one of the first films we ever showcased so it was nice to meet up again. LORRAINE is a well produced film, albeit, disturbingly violent. A slightly elderly lady in the audience voiced her disdain. Yet, I am sure the audience could not deny its visual presence.

The following night we showed the fabulous Nick Love film, THE FIRM……

Written and directed by Tornatore, Baarìa happens to be one of the most expensive Italian films produced in many years. It is a colossal production that carries an immense casting, which has Francesco Scianna and Margareth Madè holding the leading roles. Besides being an epic, Baarìa also belongs to the comedy genre.

“BAARÌA is an ancient sound, a magic formula, a key. The only one capable of opening the rusty box in which the meaning of my most personal film is hidden. An amusing and wistful story, of great loves and irresistible utopian dreams. A legend thronged with heroes… But BAARÌA is also the name of a Sicilian town where the people’s lives unfold along the main street. A few hundred metres, no more. But if you walk up and down it for years, you can learn what the whole world will never be able to teach you”. (Giuseppe Tornatore)

The Festival’s closing night will be coverd by the first science-fiction film from the People’s Republic of China: Chenddu, wo ai ni, by Fruit Chan. The storyline is composed by a dual love story between past and future. Despite resembling Matrix, the film is a satirical comedy set during the great earthquake of Tangshan (July 1976). Chenddu, wo ai ni will have its world première in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema, after the awards ceremony.

The 66th Film Festival will run in Venice from the 2nd to 12th September and the line-up will be announced in Rome on a official press conference on 30th July.

There was no red carpet but there was a crowd of people waiting to get in and of course, there was the customary photographers.

We were ushered in quickly, meeting Noel Clarke on the stairs going in.  Once inside there was a myriad of different areas. I didnt’ realise that the award ceremony was split into two.  The Honorary Awards and then the awards for up and coming talent.

The Honorary awards is where the famous people and the bigger awards were happening. Guests here enjoyed a three course dinner and champagne!

Upstairs and in the movie theatre was where the other awards were happening.

I think its a shame the two awards were separated as it would have been much more cohesive and atmospheric to have it all in the same space.  Poor Josie D’Arby had to run up and downstairs.

Nevertheless, the place was abuzz with with air kissing and very glamorous dresses and jewellery.

All activities were very late starting and there was an air of disorganistion to the event. Despite this in some ways it makes the event more relaxed although, I think in order to be taken seriously in future the event does have to be tightened up.

There were familiar faces such as Ashley Walters, Don Warrington, the cast and crew from Adulthood and the Bill and Hollyoaks.  Also there were indie filmmakers, Neil Reidman, Wayne Saunders and Lawrence Coke who are of course, well known to www.TheScreen.Biz.

In fact Lawrence Coke won the Independent Spirit award which further pushes him along the route to mainstream acceptance. Perhaps in a few years he will be nominted for a BAFTA.

Other winners were Adam Deacon for his role in Adulthood, Emerging Talent was won by Nonso Anozie for Cass, Diversity in Factual was won by Black, Black, Power Salute!, Diversity in Drama was won by The Bill, Best Music won by Bashy.

Despite the lack of organisation it is the only event awarding black talent, and there certainly was an array of talent on display as well as the filmmakers there was Suede rapping, Yolanda Brown playing her saxophone and a fabulous fashion show.

We will be looking forward to next year!

It is  good film, directed by Oliver Stone, who is known to tackle controversial topics. It is very well casted with Josh Brolin, recently in American Gangster and No Country for Old Men, acting as the president. He plays him expertly, we even like him. He is potrayed, from the beginning as having behavioural and drink problems, he plays second-fiddle to his brother and is constantly chasing the affection and approval of his father, Bush senior.

It is interesting that Bush junior realises the American dream and fights for his position and manages to receive the ultimate accolade, the US Presidency.

Perhaps, this is why at this moment Bush can admire how far Obama has come. 

Bush has been portrayed as a “nice” guy, albeit with issues, which makes him even more human, a bit bullish and headstrong, he is not evil as such, but he makes mistakes because he’s misguided and shallow and maybe a bit simple and stupid. He unfortunately encompasses all that America is today. A disaster!

We see how his close advisers such as Cheney and Rumsfeld, orchestrate the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.  They don’t really care about weapons of mass destruction, but are clearly intent on grabbing all the world’s oil lands and creating world domination. Bush himself looks dismayed and even admits it all sounds a bit scary but he goes along with it.

The main message throughout the film is that Bush has made a big mess, he knows it, but doesn’t know what to do, and the ultimate humiliation is that his father is ashamed that he has ruined the Bush legacy.

George W. Bush never seemed in control, he is portrayed as a charicature of a southern US President, and at the moment the most powerful country in the world is a joke, a parody of itself.

It’s good to hear Obama talk about founding fathers, democracy and liberty and truth. 

The US really does need to back to the drawing board.

Let’s hope Obama can save the world!

I have to say that my initial observation was the degree of glitz and glamour.  This party resembled the Oscars in terms of dressing up, a lot more than can be said about the London Film Festival and the Edinburgh Film Festival all together, and this wasn’t even the main event…just the nominations party.

Being a press person I arrived in jeans and a leather jacket and felt very conspicuous.

The place was abuzz.  Set in a funky caribbean restaurant on Brick Lane called “The Lane”, the main man Charles was watching people as they came in, whilst inside Adulthood’s Arnold Oceng was flying around talking to absolutely everyone.  

There were some lovely complimentary cocktails and delicious canapes.  People were very keen to flirt and network.

There were no ’superstars’ there but then that is probably the aim of Screen Nation …to build up our homegrown talent and award it and therefore make some superstars.

There were a few of the Adulthood cast and crew - but Noel Clarke wasn’t there.  Presumably he will be at the awards ceremony itself.  Don Warrington was in attendance and a good thing as he is up for an Inspiration Award.

We at www.TheScreen.Biz were very satisfied, because several of our favourites and friends received nominations, well the whole of Aduthood is up for Achievement in Film Production, and Lawrence Coke and Wayne Saunders are both up for Independent Spirit Film Production awards.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

Its director, Liz Rosenthal, described the event as looking ahead to the “power of the Internet and digital platforms” and how it can “offer new opportunities for those creators and companies that can no longer effectively function within the old film business”.  Apparently some of the big players acknowledge “the sky is really falling” in the independent film business.

This event indeed was a focussed insight into the world of the internet, which as the day proceeded, it became very apparent was a very different animal to that of the movie making world of old.

The internet is highly accessible, democratic, unsupervised and free whereas the traditonal film-making world is elitist, closed, favours the well-off, and is very regulated and is highly monetised.

How can the two world possibly mix.

The event opened with a very competent but lateral description of the various platforms that any film-maker now has to be able to address, before even writing a script. Be it, film, online, gaming, virtual reality etc, etc. Its all exciting if you enjoy all these mediums but if you just want to shoot a movie it is highly distracting.  Other speakers on the stage were Brian Newman of the Tribeca Film Institute, who gave us a detailed description of how the back catalogue of TFI was now available through Amazon.  Its interesting how he viewed Amazon as an OK place to sell high quality material.

I have to say it was a bustling event with many ‘filmy’ types with dark clothes and big specs. Of course, not everyone looked like this but get the picture.  I was squeezing it in before a friend’s birthday dinner so wanted to meet, greet and go.

It was basically a panel discussion with the panelists consisting of directors and producers to four of the British films featured in the film festival; “Shifty”, “Telstar”, “Franklyn” and “I Know You Know”. www.TheScreen.Biz website actually showcases these films as well.

I have to say the panel discussion was a quintessential British affair with each panelist having their very own identity, completely different to the one sitting next to them, diverse, eccentric, interesting but all were passionate, engaging and were oh so enthusiastic about their art.

The “Shifty” team were young and keen, and were very excited to be in a position to be telling us their story. And it was a good story.  Eran Creevy the director was not shy in sharing his experiences and they were not at all clean and straight cut, and definitely not traditional BAFTA fodder.  However, he was probably the most passionate and articulate in sharing his love of film. The Telstar team were equally interesting in that their producer Simon Jordan was a little like a character out of “The Business” in that he had a healthy glow, very blond hair and a slick South London accent.  He was in fact a manager of Crystal Palace football club and did indeed own bars / restaurants in Spain.  However he was sharp and businesslike and was not prepared to entertain the very experience Sally Hibbin because she had had a few too many wines. His director Nick Moran was equally refreshing in the indie film world in that he was also very down to earth, could tell a good story and was full of energy.  The Franklyn team were the more stereotypical filmy types in that the producer, Gerald McMorrow, was the more seasoned filmer with a history in music videos and commercials.  His director Jeremy Thomas was quite thoughtful and pensive.  Then finally there was the I Know You Know team consisting of director, Justin Kerrigan, who told a father/son story which he was very passionate about following the death of his own father.  His producer was the emminent Sally Hibbin, a regular producer for Ken Loach, who as mentioned above was a bit slurry.  So this team was the most poignant but one has to say this all completely added to the colour, flavour and diversity of British film.  

I was very energised by the energy and originality stemming from these characters and will definitely look forward to seeing who might be featuring in the British Film Boom next year.