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Bafta Beyond Piccadilly
FROM OVER THERE
BAFTA NORTH
s you may have heard by Anow, BAFTA/LA has reluc-
tantly decided to post- pone this year’s Britannia Awards until April 12,
2002. The decision to move the event was made jointly by BAFTA/LA and this year’s hon- orees. In light of recent events, it is felt to be more fitting to celebrate these honours early next year.
George Lucas, who has cho- sen to make so many of his films in the UK, will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. Amongst the nine motion pictures he has direct- ed and/or produced on British locations since the early 1970s are four Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Labyrinth and Willow. Lucas has contributed immensely to our industry as an innovative filmmaker, changing the way movies are made, seen, and heard.
The Britannia Award for Excellence in Television will be presented to HBO Original Programming, which has produced many of its most prestigious pro- jects in the UK, including its largest venture in the network’s history, Band of Brothers, the 10- part mini-series that has just fin- ished airing. Other highly acclaimed HBO films shot in Britain over the last year were The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells, WIT, and Conspiracy.
In September, BAFTA/LA said farewell to British Consul-General Paul Dimond. Both Paul and his wife, Carolyn, have been enthusi- astic supporters of BAFTA/LA dur- ing their time in Los Angeles. We look forward to welcoming his suc- cessor, Peter Hunt and his American wife, Anne, and to their continuing official support.
Recent screenings included Monsters, Inc. with a Q&A with John Lasseter, The Man In The White Suit, Affair of the Necklace
(and a Q&A with Charles Shyer), Harry Potter, Oceans 11 (a Q&A with Steven Soderbergh) and The Royal Tenebaums (a Q&A with Wes Anderson). Also, BAFTA/LA, in asso- ciation with ATAS, NATPE and HRTS, is showcasing ABSOLUTELY NOT... MASTERPIECE THEATRE, a preview of new programming to be seen in the UK this fall on BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Also on the schedule are screenings of A Beautiful Mind (a Q&A with Ron Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman), The Majestic (a Q&A with Frank Darabont), Gosford Park (a Q&A with Robert Altman), Lord of the Rings (a Q&A with Barry Osborne), and Charlotte Gray. ■
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hese have been difficult Ttimes for all of us living in
New York City. There is a layer of anxiety that was absent before September
11. Most media companies now require a photo ID for entry and bags are routinely searched. Security is tight but for the most part, we continue our daily lives. And this includes attending BAFTA events.
In this spirit, we went ahead with a screening of Liam the week after the tragedy. The writer and producer who were going to join us were unable to come, but our members said they appreciated the chance to get together.
One TV company which rallied to the City’s help but which had also suffered a personal loss was PBS station WNET/Thirteen. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, WNET housed the City’s emergency services which needed to use the station’s banks of phone lines usually used for fundraising.
With two transmitters on top of one of the twin towers of the
World Trade Centre, WNET like the other New York stations lost an employee, their full-time engineer, in the attack. We held an event at WNET’s Studios for a major new PBS series called Warship.
The evening was introduced by Dr. Bill Baker, BAFTA Trustee and President/CEO of WNET. Warship was produced by Granada Television for Thirteen and after a 20-minute highlight reel, we had a discussion with one of the produc- ers, Sol Papadopoulos, Maritime Historian Kevin Foster and Director of Science Programs at WNET, Beth Hoppe.
It turned out that you didn’t need to be an expert on war or ships to enjoy this series and the Q&A that followed tackled some of the interesting challenges of bring- ing history to television. The evening finished on a nautical theme with a reception sponsored by Bacardi and Highland Spring.
There have been a number of good film screenings since Labour Day. We were invited to the US pre- mieres of Serendipity and Amelie, both invitations courtesy of Miramax. Members screened David Lynch’s new film Mulholland Drive and Lions Gate Films brought us Lantana from Australia. After the screening, the stars Anthony La Paglia, Barbara Hershey and Kerry Armstrong did a Q & A with our members that was very enjoyable. The film was produced by Jan Chapman.
A change of pace came when The National Film & Television School organised an animation event called The British Get Animated. It was part of the UK and NY Festival and we hope to make this an annual event with them as BAFTA members and their guests seemed to enjoy it so much. ■
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eptember began with a Shighly attended mem-
ber’s screening of Moulin Rouge and an invitation to attend
the grand launch of Baby Jaguar at Chester Zoo in the newly opened Jaguar Enclosure with actress Stephanie Beacham as
guest of honour.
In collaboration with
the Black Film Festival hosted a screening of Gurinda Chadha’s critical- ly acclaimed What’s Cooking? at the Odeon Cinema Liverpool with a reception at the Dockers Casa Bar, Hope Street.
Members enjoyed
two further exclusive pre- views in September.
Firstly The Pledge at the
Odeon Manchester, fol-
lowed by a preview of the first two episodes of Boom Town by Karen Jones Films. Boom Town, a new six part documentary commission by Granada TV fol- lowed the delights of the City of Liverpool as a backdrop for five very different films; The 51st State, My Kingdom, Al’s Lads, Super Davy Buscombe and Lennon. The event was a joint collaboration between BAFTA North, Karen Jones Films and MIDA. The screening was fol- lowed by a reception at BARCA in Castlefield Manchester.
September finished across the Pennines with a joint BAFTA North and YMPA collaboration as part of Bite the Mango Festival, in Bradford at the National Museum of Photography, Film & TV. The event, Yorkshire First Feedback was a display of a feature film script development workshop
aimed at developing the projects and craft skills of selected Black and Asian writers living and working in Yorkshire.
BAFTA North supported cor- porate sponsors Corkills recent motor show held on the Isle of Man and invited actor Mickey
Starke to participant. The day was a huge success and attend- ed by Sir Norman Wisdom.
October began with a BAFTA North, Lumen and BT collabora- tion at this year’s Leeds International Film Festival. The conference took place at the Odeon Cinema as part of Evolution, an Interactive strand of the Festival. A showcase of pioneering, avante-garde approaches to film and technol- ogy was presented to an audi- ence of more than 500. International speakers included artist Malcolm Le Grice, Anne Pasternak and Carol Stakenas of Creative Time, New York, Francois Penz Director of Cambridge University Moving Image Studio and Tom Loosemore, Head of Broadband and New Platforms at BBC.
Maureen Sinclair, Director of BAFTA North was also invited to
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