Page 31 - 19_Bafta ACADEMY_Silent Films_ok

news digest
flying a kite
book reviews
All films made in Britain should be branded with an on-screen kite mark or logo, urge leading accountants Baker Tilly.
According to research findings in their new industry report, The Road to Exhibition, the British are notoriously bad at supporting their home-grown productions compared to the support enjoyed by filmmakers in other European countries and America.
Said Christine Corner, head of Baker Tilly’s media group: “This sit- uation is not good for the British film industry, because the success of any film in its home market is crucial when distributors decide which films they want to release around the rest of the world.
“The more markets a film runs in, the greater its chances of suc- cess. If the British film industry keeps its successful projects a national secret, we will never be able to re-gain our lost position as one of the premier film-making countries in the world,”.
Corner said, “Branding films might seem strange at first, but look at the enormous success this concept has enjoyed in other, much more mature, markets.
“Take any food product – by law, it has to contain certain labelling information as well as declaring its country of origin. Think about the success of the Lion campaign for British eggs and how spectacularly well vari- ous other generic promotions have worked.
“The British film industry has to decide whether it wants to make films for the home market or whether it wants to be a global player.
“If it’s the latter, then we need to take a tough stance and communicate this vigorously to the industry and filmgoers. A ‘made in Britain’ kite mark or logo would be an important first step in this direction.”
BSo o m c a u t i o n
pending on UK film produc- tion rose above the half bil- lion pound mark last year, with the UK providing the location for, or being involved in, the pro- duction of a total of 115 features in 2002.
According to the Film Council, that comprised 30 inward invest- ment productions, 42 UK produc- tions, and 43 co-productions.
However, the first two figures represented a fall, by eight and nine, respectively, on the previous year, while spending on UK pro- ductions fell by nearly £15m.
British Film Commissioner Steve Norris, said that though film pro- duction had begun to pick up towards the end of the year, the UK film industry faced a number of key challenges for the future.
“The fact that inward invest- ment increased substantially last year, thanks partly to the latest Bond and Tomb Raider films, shows that the UK continues to be recognised by international film-makers as one of the best places in the world to make a film. Nevertheless there is no room for complacency about the future.
“Both inward investment and domestic production figures show a clear trend towards fewer films with bigger budgets, whilst the first ever figures showing the return for the UK from co-produc- tions filming abroad highlight the increasingly international nature of the film industry.
My Passage From India By Ismail Merchant (Penguin, £20)
F
this journey
would not
have been possible”, reads the apt dedication to this typically charming and chatty slice of autobiography by the other half of Merchant Ivory.
He subtitles it “a filmmaker’s journey from Bombay to Hollywood and beyond,” the beyond being a veritable world atlas of locations enjoyed by MIP’s 40-plus films down the years.
Through mutual friends Saeed and his then wife Madhur Jaffrey, Merchant and Ivory first met on a late April evening in 1961 at a coffee house called the Right Bank on New York’s Madison Avenue.
A partnership was born that very night “with the intention of making Indian-themed films for an international audience.’ The rest, of course, is history.
Story And Character
Edited by Alistair Owen (Bloomsbury,
£12.99)
by Quentin Falk
Film Review 2002
By James Cameron- Wilson (Reynolds & Hearn, £19.95)
F
short-term memory loss can find the condition easily remedied with this hardiest of annuals which, as ever, provides an exhaustive retrospect of the past 12 months.
This 58th edition is its familiar mixture, ranging from idiosyncrat- ic reviews to respectful RIPs. The Faces Of The Year section offers Eric Bana, Paul Bettany, Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, The Rock, Naomi Watts and Zhang Zyi.
The mood is leavened with some excellent quotes, especially this off-screen gem from the dis- graced Winona Ryder: “Trends are so fleeting that new clothes are a bad investment.”
Get Car ter And Beyond:
The Cinema Of Mike Hodges By Steven Paul Davies
(Batsford, £15.99)
A
critic review-
ing the sub-
lime Get
Carter when
it came out
in 1971, I
also
recalled a
pair of excep-
tional ITV Playhouse film thrillers Hodges had made in the Sixties in order to extol him as the “Orson Welles of TV.”
Aside from my absurdly grandiose assessment Hodges has probably been overpraised which is probably connected to the fact his feature output has been so meagre. His latest film, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, is just his ninth in over 30 years.
This useful, if overly respectful, biography is packed with detail especially about the some of the indignities Hodges, now 70, has had to suffer through the vagaries of re-editing and theatri- cal distribution
or Jim, without whom
ilm
buffs
who suffer from
T
he author of the splendid
sa novice film
Smoking In Bed, his con- versations with film- maker
Bruce
Robinson,
follows up with what is
described as the “first ever’ anthology of interviews with British screenwriters.
All the key players are here – Richard Curtis, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Hossein Amini, Simon Beaufoy, William Boyd and Lee Hall, among them – giving (most- ly) extremely revealing answers to some key questions.
Amini is especially fascinating on his seven/eight week contribu- tion to Gangs Of New York, including a “two day 12-hour a- day marathon with Leonardo DiCaprio on his character and dialogue.” His script contribution remains officially uncredited.
Ava alert
uthor Lee Server and Susan Huxley would be pleased to hear from anyone with personal or pro- fessional experiences with the late film star Ava Gardner.
This is for a book (for Bloomsbury) on the life and career of the actress by Server. Please send contact information to Susan Huxley UK/Lee Server USA e.mail LSERVE500@aol.com or call Susan on 0208 299 4156.
29