Devon and Cornwall Film

We at D+CFilm are big fans of the filmmaker cum harpist (no, not ’cum harpist’ - that’d be disgusting!) Elizabeth-Jane Baldry. In fact, she’s not only the coolest and best harpist we’ve ever met (shh, don’t tell her she’s the only one), but she’s also a bit of an expert on folk tales.

Indeed, her latest film, Childe Rowland, is based on a fairy tale, telling the story of a boy who gets into trouble with his football (or something). She finished lensing this summer but has only just got around to sending us pix from the shoot. Here’s what she had to say about the production.

“We had five days to film the piece. It was a very complex script, so we knew we’d be really pushing it. As we filled Dartmoor with these magical images, I started having concerns about what sort of imagination dreams up this stuff! We had a prop that was a fairy-like door. We had to leave it on the moor overnight so I wonder if any walkers discovered it. It would have been scary to come across a door in the mist!”

“We hired a great HD camera, and we also had a professional sound recordist this time, called Sacha. He volunteered his time for a change from boring documentary stuff! A film shoot is an enchanted time; mining the depths of a story, watering it with tears and laughter, finding lessons within the myth. It changes one’s life. There is so much talent in this small community.”

Posted by Thin White Duke
 

Trois cheers for Andy Bottrill (as Truffaut would say)! This softly spoken whippersnapper is the new general manager of the Exeter Picturehouse.

He’s been at the cinema for some 10 years (that’s pretty much since it opened) as box officer manager, duty manager and press officer. At this rate, he’ll be playing James Bond in five years.

Posted by Cptn

Hallo D+Cineasts! Just a quick word to say the Arthouse Roundup returns next week. That’s exciting, ain’t it? Yes, it bloody-well is.

As regular viewers will already know, the roundup will boast a beezer new look and be (ever so slightly) more comprehensive.

The reason we’re reminding you of this is so you can let us know if you want your local arthouse or cinema club featured in the listings.

Just holler (ie, send us an email) and we’ll see what we can do, which’ll probably be quite a lot cos we put these things together. Duh, obviously!

Posted by Thin White Duke

Crikes! South West Screen is only trying to bust the conventions of narrative storytelling. What, that old chestnut? Should be a walk in the park, we reckon.

They’re looking for creative production proposals from individuals or organisations based in D+C. Projects should demonstrate a clear route to exhibition and distribution. Further information and an application form are available here.

Or if you don’t have a bally clue where to start, why not give Sarah-Jane Meredith, SWS’s head of creative and audience development, a shout on 0117 952 9981.

Deadline for entries is January 18.

Posted by Thin White Duke
 

As it was with John Wayne and The Shootists, we’ll look back on Prairie Home Companion as a portent of Robert Altman’s death.

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Designed to promote creativity, Bafta’s 60 Seconds of Fame compo aims to give proles the tools and ‘know how’ to create their very-own short movie. That’s why they’re asking fledgling filmmakers from D+C to submit a 60-second short, based around the rather boring theme of ‘celebrate’. Surely the theme ’shit, my bastard helicopter’s on fire’ would’ve been a lot more exciting.

Either way, the winning flick will be featured during the coverage of The Orange BAFTAs on February 11, and the winning director will be invited to the ceremony, where they can rub shoulders with the world’s most famous actors, screenwriters and directors. Oh, and Ant and Dec.

Anybody aged 16 or over can enter, so check out the BAFTA site for more details. The deadline for entries is January 4, so you’d better get a wriggle on.

Posted by Thin White Duke

There’s no Arthouse Roundup this week - apparently cinemas aren’t showing anything for a coupla weeks cos of a little thing they like to call Christmas.
Stupid oafs!

But the good news is the roundup will be back in the so-called new year with a swanky new look. Well, it’ll still kinda look the same but it’ll be (slightly) more comprehensive. Oh, and you won’t have to endure our ill-informed attempts at humour anymore either. Yup, everyone’s literally a fuggen winner.

Still, we’re a bit perplexed as to what actually constitutes an ‘arthouse cinema’. Uncomfortable seats and laughing in a loud smug way during Woody Allen films is a given, but when the best yer local arthouse can offer is The Da Vinci Code, all bets are off.

So if you want your friendly neighbourhood arthouse or cinema club represented on these very pages, give us a shout (ie, send us an email) and we’ll see what we can do, which’ll probably be quite a lot cos we put these things together. You see?

Posted by Thin White Duke

Do you wanna be a movie star? Like, duh - course you fuggen do! So, why not check out the world’s biggest open casting call, inviting anyone aspiring to stardom to audition for roles in a feature film?

Bethemoviestar.com allows site visitors to send in 30 second video clips of themselves auditioning for a role in a thriller called, rather unthrillingly, The Prayer Book. The film will then be released in cinemas around the chuffing globe.

Or at least that’s what the folks behind it (Tony Klinger and Steve Nesbit) are saying - but then, they’re hardly gonna say the flick’s destined for the dumper, are they?

Stars of shortlisted clips will apparently be whisked to London in May for an acting boot camp and to face challenges such as screen tests and, more worryingly, stunt driving lessons - all of which will be put up to the public vote online. Hell, why even bother making the movie, eh?

Posted by Thin White Duke

There’s a strong Devon connection to the film Deep Water, screening at the Exeter Picturehouse this week, which heavily features the town of Teignmouth. How impossibly glamorous! (more…)

A stonking new youth-run cinema has been set up in North Devon to support and show local films, while rousing some political rabble in the process.

Reel Indi is masterminded by Henry Allison, a rather angry-sounding young man and founder of North Devon Active Youth, whose main concern is the way mainstream media reports events in a biased way.

The cinema was set up to provide an opportunity for people to develop their own opinions by watching films and having a bit of a yap afterwards.

So, if you are an aspiring filmmaker with a political bent (and hey, who isn’t?), get in touch with Reel Indi, on northdevonactiveyouth@hotmail.co.uk

The Reel Indi 2007 programme will be launched on January 5 at Tapeley Park, with a screening of the 9/11 conspirimentary (we’ve just invented a new genre!) Short Change and, bizarrely, an appearance by ex-MI5 whistleblower David Shayler. Erm, power to the people!

Posted by Thin White Duke

An Exeter journo has been shortlisted in a national competition for a video wot she done.

Alice Klein, from the Express & Echo rag (not this), shot a two minute flick on carbon offsetting for the BBC’s snooty Newsnight show, which asked viewers to send in their own news.

Like many local hacks these days, she’d just been sent on a video journalism course so thought she’d have a go at the competition.

Her film is pretty dull (we’re not very good with the math, you know), but it’s well put together and Alice is not very ugly which is a definite bonus. As is her lovely stripey jumper. Aw.

The film is among 13 on the shortlist (we know - 13 is an odd amount to choose) and those which receive the most public votes will be broadcast on the programme in January. At two minutes each, they could just show em all, but where’s the excitement in that, eh?

To watch Alice’s video just click on the image below or visit the BBC Newsnight website. Her piece is number seven, entitled Carbon. There is a voting thingy on the page or you can just email newsnight@bbc.co.uk with ‘Carbon’ in the subject box.

!vb:yt,fKpHiYnOfG0!

You only have til Monday to vote for her (should you so wish), so you’d better get a bloody move on.

Posted by Thin White Duke

Follow the main cinema links for dates, times and matinee screenings.
Follow the title links for movie details, friendship and maybe more.

PLYMOUTH ARTS CENTRE

The Art Of Breaking Up (U) Farce and furious French comedy - yes, we thought the term ‘French comedy’ was an oxymoron too.
A Scanner Darkly (15) An animated Keanu Reeves (hey, there’s a first time for everything) gets, like, totally bummed out in this excellent screen version of Philip K. Dick’s paranoid wheeze. Uh, dude.
Oklahoma! (U) So good, it’s got an exclamation mark in the title.

TAVISTOCK WHARF

Hoodwinked (U) Gimcrack animated Red Riding Hood spoof. Grimm? You’re fucken right it is.

DARTINGTON ARTS/THE BARN

A Good Year (12A) Probably has a scene where Russell Crowe carries
a baguette.
The Departed (18) I’d rather Jack… Old man Nicholson steals the show in this perfectly acceptable policier - acceptable if you haven’t seen Infernal Affairs, that is.

EXETER PICTUREHOUSE

Happy Feet (U) Animated flick warning of the perils of global warming, by way of a dancing penguin. Eat your heart out, Al Gore.
The Holiday (12A) Wifeswap chick flick from the person behind What Women Want. You don’t seriously need any more details than that, do you?!
Future Shorts December 2006 Programme (15) A host of films from those lovely Future Shorts johnnies.

Posted by Thin White Duke

Two groups of fledgling filmmakers from Exeter and Newton Abbot have been awarded a bunch of cash to produce short digital films alongside proper professional filmmakers, thanks to First Light Movies. (more…)

Well, that’s not strictly true… But we will try and point you in the direction of flicks you can go and see for absolutely zero pence. That’s nice of us, isn’t it? Yes, it bally-well is. (more…)

Winner of the Caligari Film Award at Berlin and Best International Documentary at Hot Docs, Canadian International Documentary Festival, and nominated for another film festival, 37 Uses Of A Dead Sheep has certainly been going down well throughout the world. (more…)