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Bafta Beyond Piccadilly
FROM OVER THERE
BAFTA CYMRU
The Eighth Annual BAFTA LA Tea Party honouring the nominees/winners of the 2000 British Academy Film Awards and the nominees of the American Academy Awards was held on a blustery L.A. after- noon at the St. Regis Hotel in Los Angeles on March 24.
The Party sponsored by FilmFour and Jaguar was a great suc- cess. Among those enjoying the fes- tivities were Geoffrey Rush, Ang Lee, editor Pietro Scalia, Jamie Bell, Michael York, Lynn Redgrave and this year’s honorary Oscar recipient, cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Speakers included Robert Rehme, President of AMPAS, Gary Dartnall, Chairman of BAFTA/LA, Simon Relph, BAFTA Chairman and the British Consul-General, Paul Dimond.
Almost a month to the day, on April 23, BAFTA LA celebrated the 90th Birthday of one of its and BAFTA’s founders, Ronald Neame, CBE. Guests arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles to a first-class buffet reception, fol- lowed by tributes to Ronnie and a good sing-song from the birthday man himself!
The evening culminated in the presentation of the “Ronnie” trib- ute book which includes contribu- tions from Alan Parker; Lord Lloyd Webber; Lord Puttnam; Simon Relph; Martin Scorsese; Sir John Mills, Sir Michael Caine; Jean Simmons; Glynis Johns; Anna Lee, and many illustrious others. Those who attended included Ernest Borgnine, Karl Malden, Loretta Swit, Phyllis Diller, Michael York, Juliet Mills, Maxwell Caulfield, Christopher Cazenove, Thora Birch, Glynis Johns, Joyce Howard, Ken Annakin and Guy Green.
Recent screenings continued with The Mexican with a Q&A with the film’s producers, Lawrence
Bender and John Baldecchi, The Tailor of Panama and Bridget Jones’s Diary, including a Q&A with the author of the best-selling novel and co-screenplay writer and executive producer, Helen Fielding.
Bread and Roses, screened as part of the ‘New Films From Britain 2’ season featured a very special Q&A with Ken Loach; A Knight’s Tale with director, writer, producer Brian Helgeland and actor Paul Bettany; and a screening of The Mummy Returns in conjunction with Industrial Light and Magic and the Visual Effects Society with a presentation by John Berton, visu- al effects supervisor at ILM.
Meanwhile, BAFTA Events Chair, Jill James, took time out of a recent meetings trip to Hollywood to meet with BAFTA LA Chair Gary Dartnall and Chief Executive Don Haber.
In the very pleasant environs of Cafe des Artistes, a discussion, hosted by Dartnall, centred on the possibility of the Events and Education committee organising some transatlantic events or semi- nars on industry-related issues.
Recently appointed Chair of BAFTA LA, Dartnall said he wanted to offer members in the US more opportunities to meet up for net- working and discussion. A seminar programme could help do this. Talks continue, so watch this space! ■
www.baftala.org
AFTA East Coast organised Ba live feed of the British
Academy Awards in February and we are still hearing from people who
enjoyed the event. It was well- attended and perfect for a Sunday afternoon in New York. Since the Awards Ceremony, the Chapter has held a couple of screenings and a very interesting panel discussion.
One of the screenings was for Bridget Jones’s Diary, sponsored by Miramax Films. Never has a screening sold out so quickly. Within about a day of the invitation having gone out, we were full to capacity with a large waiting list. It is testament to the power and buzz of this movie (Miramax marketing must have done an excellent job) that BAFTA members felt that this was a ‘must see’ film. There was a reception preceding the screening, which was fun.
We also enjoyed a great screen- ing of The Road Home, courtesy of Sony Classics. This film had pre- miered to great acclaim at Sundance this year and it was a good opportu- nity to see it for ourselves.
On April 19, Planet Hollywood hosted a breakfast panel sponsored by Variety. The subject was a behind-the-scenes look at the Academy Awards process, specifical- ly from the campaigning and market- ing point of view. On the panel were Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Picture Classics; Owen Gleiberman, filmcriticofEntertainment Weekly, and Marcy Granata, president of publicity at Miramax.
Moderated by Charles Lyon of Variety, it proved to be a lively event that raised the curtain on a number of issues that many in the audience were not aware of. We were most grateful for Variety’s support in making this happen.
BAFTA East Coast is working on its website, due to popular demand from BAFTA members. Most of our members are now con- tactable via email but we hope to have the website and up and run- ning soon so that everyone can log on and see which events are com- ing up and maybe even RSVP via the website. ■
www.baftaeastcoast@earthlink.net
Amonth has passed since the departure of the flam- boyant Director of the past two years, Gethin While. He took up the position of Media Research Manager at UWCN (formerly Newport Film School). I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing him all the very best.
The office is a flurry of activi- ty with Lisa, Ffion and Dora in the thick of preparing for the forthcom- ing Awards. This will be extra spe- cial evening as it also happens to be the 10th birthday of the Annual BAFTA Cymru Awards Ceremony. At the helm is the charismatic and inspiring event producer Stifyn Parri who will steer us through the 33 Awards with heaps of style and ooodles of surprises.
An eager press lapped up the shortlist on Friday 11th May at the aptly named trendy restaurant Paparazzi’s (Gio’s group) in Mill Lane, Cardiff.
Here are some of the success- fully short listed nominations for
this year. S4C’s Welsh language ver- sion of Oscar nominated Solomon a Gaenor, produced by Sheryl Crown/APT- 10 nominations. Wire Films/Cf1’s Testimony of Taliesin Jones-6 nominations for HTV Cymru Wales. Ruth Caleb and Louise Panton BAFTA winner Care for BBC Cymru Wales-5 nomina- tions. ‘Pob lwc’ to all our nominees and in the words of the Chair Emyr Daniel-“there are no losers, every- one’s a winner”. For a full list of nominations visit our website.
The BAFTA Cymru Awards Ceremony will be held at St David’s Hall in Cardiff on Sunday 24th June 2001.
Anyone wishing to purchase tickets to the BAFTA Cymru Awards Ceremony call Sarah or Lisa on 029 20 223898 or email us. post@bafta-cymru.org.uk.
Enough chat from me as I have an Awards Ceremony to organise! ■
Sarah Howells, Acting Director
www.bafta-cymru.org.uk
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