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PORTRAIT gallery
THE MEMBERSHIP DENISE PARKINSON KEVIN GOUGH-YATES NADINE MELLOR ADAM BARKER ANNE BATZ ROBERT THIRKELL GLENWYN BENSON
BAFTANEWSAND
BAFTANEWSAND
CALLING ALL
MEMBERS FROM DIANE GLYNN BAFTA EVENTS OFFICER
The three recent major Award ceremonies held in the space of five weeks are perhaps the most public and recognised face of BAFTA Events, but our regular pro- gramme has been continuing successfully in the background throughout the Awards sea- son. Details of the various cer- emonies can be found else- where in Academy, but to learn more about the regular events held at our headquar- ters on Piccadilly, read on.
Most monthly events are free to members but are also open to non-members, so even BAFTA members without guest cards have the opportunity of bringing friends into the Academy for one of the indus- try events. Many aspects of the film, television and inter- active industries are covered over the year, and the pro- gramme over the last couple of months demonstrates the depth and breadth of the areas covered.
BLACK & WHITE
In April, hot on the heels of
his appearance with Bill
Gates at the Games Developer Conference in San Francisco, Peter Molyneux was back at BAFTA for Black & White: The Follow Up. Black & White is one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the year:
With the single-player game nearing completion, the Lionhead team are not sim-
ply content with adapting the PC game for Sega Dreamcast and the Sony Playstation but have high hopes for the online version too.
A cut-down version of the game, Black & White: The Gathering, will be available online two months in advance of the PC release. Linked with instant messaging services the players’ “creatures” will have the opportunity to “speak” and there is even talk of lip synch and audio.
Molyneux discussed the issues surrounding narrative in non-linear media and the implications that the online version of the game will have for the industry. He also spoke of the need to draw on the tal- ents of those working in the film and television industry. The big screen demonstra- tions of the innovative game looked amazing and Peter gave an excellent presentation that delighted a mixed crowd of interactive professionals and games enthusiasts.
NEW DIRECTIONS
The following week, this
year’s version of 1999’s
hugely successful New Directions programme fea- tured six new short films prior to their US showcase. The screenings are organ- ised by First Film Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides training and development for UK based screenwriters, directors and producers. New Directions is their annu- al programme which aims to introduce the very best new British filmmaking talent to the New York and Los Angeles film industry.
Once again BAFTA hosted the London premiere of this annual showcase. The winning participants were: Inside Out (dir. The Guard Brothers); Tales From the Reading Room (dir. Minkie Spiro); Duck (dir. Kenny Glenaan); Jump Boy (dir. Menhaj Huda); The Fishmonger’s Daughter (dir. Caroline Sax) and Suckerfish (dir. Philip John). The capaci- ty crowd enjoyed the event very much – particularly the cocktails and canapés kindly sponsored by Universal!
INDIAN JOURNEYS
Our special screening of
Indian Journeys also
proved a popular draw. In a trilogy of new films for BBC2, the celebrated travel- writer William Dalrymple, author of the award-winning book City of Djinns, travels across India looking at the country’s great spiritual past and troubled present. At this event we screened two of the films, which were directed and produced by Hugh Thomson.
In the first of these films, Shiva’s Matted Locks, William walked in the tracks of the many bare-footed pilgrims and holy men who have journeyed up into the High Himalayas to reach the breathtaking source of the River Ganges, on the border between India and Tibet. The second of William’s journeys, based on his book City of Djinns, took him deep into the soul of Delhi to dis- cover the ancient rites of Sufism - a potent mix of the traditions and customs of many religions, chiefly Hinduism and Islam.
Following the screenings, Events Officer Diane Glynn
chaired a discussion and Q&A with both Hugh Thomson and William Dalrymple. The audi- ence was obviously fascinated by the subject material, and the questions varied from queries about Indian politics to technical questions about filming with a small team in high altitudes.
TOM’S MASTERCLASS April’s Management
Masterclass strand, in
association with Arthur Andersen, featured Tom Gutteridge, Executive Chairman of The Mentorn Group. Charles Simpson (Arthur Andersen) described this an “one of the most informative classes” he had attended.
Strand producer Max Carlish proved to be a good chair drawing Tom on a vari- ety of issues. The class includ- ed a demonstration of the MBC website and Tom gave a detailed account of his career to date, rising from the ranks of producer to manager. He described himself as a “player- manager” and said that the best type of management was a slimline structure.
He firmly believes in allow- ing the creatives to pursue their ideas and described the disillusionment with tight cor- porate structures that led to himleavingtheBBC. Healso extolled the virtues of con- sumer driven television and stressed the importance of audience research. His “con- tent is king” philosophy cov- ered several levels - “layers of content” being his prediction for the new TV buzzword. Scheduling, creativity over ownership and format com- bined with good casting
(rather than star-led vehicles) were all covered in this enter- taining and informal class.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY Appropriately enough for
the start of a budget
year, May kicked off with a Question of Finance. Not surprisingly this event proved extremely popular, as produc- ers jostled to hear the solu- tions to their financial prob- lems. BAFTA hosted the event in association with BECTU and the Directors Guild of
Great Britain to
explain the various
ways of raising finance
and how to properly
structure the financing
of a film or television production.
Speakers included Andrew Somper (MD, Grosvenor Park
Media), Adrian Ward
(Head of European Operations, Lewis
Horwitz Organisation),
Larry Dewaay (Senior Vice President, Cinema Completions International) and David Martin (Executive, Film Initiative).
Creating ideas and scripts is hard enough, but finding the finance to turn that creation into a film or television pro- gramme is even harder. Where to start? At what stage do you start talking to possible fund- ing sources? Who are these sources? What source of fund- ing are you looking for?
This event aimed to address some of the questions constant- ly asked by producers and directors, particularly those starting up their first indepen- dent production who often don’t know where to go for the
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