MUMBAI: The British Film Control will open the Director’s Fortnight section on 17 May 2007, at the Cannes Film Festival, which started today.
British director Michael Winterbottom’s film A Mighty Heart is screening out of competition and Mister Lonely, a co-production from the UK’s Recorded Picture Company, is being shown in the Un Certain Regard selection, says a release.
British director Stephen Frears has been appointed president of this year’s Cannes jury, the first time a UK director has been asked to chair the jury, while the opening night film My Blueberry Nights stars British actors Jude Law and Rachel Weisz.
The National Film and Television School’s short film For the Love of God directed by Jospeh Tucker has been selected in competition. In addition, a total of 95 British films are being sold in the Cannes market this year including the Lottery funded projects Brideshead Revisited and St Trinian’s, the release adds.
The UK Film Centre, open from 16 May to 26 May 2007, offers business facilities and a programme of events and activities for festival delegates and the media. The line-up of events at the UK Film Centre inlcudes –
– Director Anton Corbijn, and producer Orian Williams, in conversation with Edinburgh International Film Festival’s creative director Hannah McGill about bringing Control, which charts the life of fated Joy Division front man Ian Curtis, from book to script to screen.
– Rupert Everett and Colin Firth, two stars of St Trinians, talking about their experiences working on the film, hosted in partnership with the American Pavilion.
– Julien Temple talking about the making of his recent documentary Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten about the front man of iconic British band The Clash.
– Mexican producer/director Carlos Reygadas in conversation with writer and presenter Jason Wood about his latest film Stellet Licht in competition at the festival.
– Film Friendly London: getting the most out of filming in the UK’s capital will hear panellists Andrew Macdonald, DNA Films (28 Weeks Later, Sunshine), Robert Jones, Material Entertainment (Run Fat Boy Run, Dirty Pretty Things) and Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London give their first-hand experience of filming in the UK.
– Understanding and working with the UK’s new tax credit will be explained at two seminars led by UK tax experts Nigel Burke, Nigel Walde, John Graydon and Moses Nyachae of Tenon Media.
– Women filmmakers at Cannes 2007 – Birds Eye View, a UK based platform for international female filmmakers brings together a panel of some of the women showing work in Cannes and chaired by Claire Geddie of Stellar Network UK.
– Film distribution and the internet – a legal guide for the media industry. Lawyer and author Andrew Sparros will lead a panel discussion on new distribution platforms offered by the internet for films.
– An exclusive preview of a collection of portraits of talented and successful black actors in the UK commissioned by the UK Film Council from photographer Donald Maclellan, accompanied by a panel discussion with Maclellan and other industry insiders.
– Screenings of new short films by British talent.
