The Times bfi London Film Festival 2004
Wednesday 20th October to Thursday 4th November 2004
Film-makers, journalists, industry professionals and the general public flocked to London recently to attend Europe's largest and most prestigious public film festival, and the first to start off the film festival season this Autumn, The Times 48 th bfi London Film Festival. The UK's leading international festival regularly draws in record-breaking audiences to both its London and subsequent 'on-tour' events, as well as attracting major international stars and a wide range of established and emerging film-makers from around the world.
This year the Festival broke all previous records with ticket sales increasing by 3%, the Festival also enjoyed a substantially broader audience with a new initiative of screenings in the outer boroughs all of which had packed auditoria.
This years programme of 180 features and 103 shorts from more than 60 countries showcased from the four corners of the globe: Angola to Uruguay and Hackney to Hollywood Boulevard. From 20 October to 4 November, over sixteen days and nights, cinemas around London played host to films and film-goers from around the world. As Sandra Hebron , the festival's artistic director puts it, "On any given day during the festival you can dip into the very best of world cinema."
This international event premiered some of the most highly anticipated films and performances of the year such as Mira Nair 's luscious Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon and James Purefoy, Taylor Hackford's Ray starring James Foxx, Zach Braff's Garden State with Natalie Portman, Nicole Kassell's The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon, Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 featuring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi and Zhang Yimou's House Of Flying Daggers also starring Zhang Ziyi and Andy Lau.
This year's line-up also included work from acclaimed emerging directors such as Lucile Hadzihalilovic and Tawfik Abu Wael, films from festival favourites Eric Rohmer, Ousmane Sembene, Theo Angelopoulos, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Lukas Moodysson, Sally Potter, Takashi Miike, Lucretia Martel and Francois Ozon and the latest titles from marquee names including Mike Leigh (Vera Drake), David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees) and Jonathan Demme (The Manchurian Candidate).
The 48th Times bfi London Film Festival opened its impressive programme of films and events on Wednesday 20th October with a gala performance of Mike Leigh's much anticipated 1950's drama Vera Drake, fresh from winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The international premiere of David O. Russell's existential comedy I Heart Huckabees, starring Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman ended the Festival at the Closing Night Gala on Thursday 4th November.
Showcasing films from across Europe, the Americas and Asia, festival filmgoers were joined by big name stars like Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa), Natalie Portman (Garden State), Kevin Bacon (The Woodsman) and Brad Bird (Director and voice talent, The Incredibles) who were in town to introduce their films.
Highlights of the festival included Jonathan Caouette's Tarnation made entirely using iMovie software, Enduring Love based on Ian McEwan's novel with Daniel Craig and Samantha Morton, Todd Solondz 's Palindromes about a 12-year-old girl who wants to get pregnant, Kenny Glenaan's Yasmin about Muslim life in the north of England, Zhang Yimou's martial arts romance The House of Flying Daggers, and Zola Maseko's Drum documenting life and music in 1950s apartheid South Africa.
Featuring a mix of European and UK premieres and two new special screenings to reflect the increasing significance of experimental and documentary film-making (Tarnation and Jonathan Nossiter's Mondovino) in the festival programming mix, it also featured a selection of special screenings: We Don't Live Here Anymore with Mark Ruffalo, French film 5 x 2 (Francois Ozon's most mature film to date starring Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi) and Brad Bird's The Incredibles (with the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Holly Hunter).
The popularity of Juliet McKoen's Frozen, Greg Hall's The Plague and Saul Dibb's Bullet Boy, all directorial debuts, suggest that the future of British cinema looks bright, while similar positive responses to films such as Abdellatif Kechiche 's L'Esquive and Lucile Hadzilhalilovic's Innocence indicate that French cinema is just as healthy.
Offering the unique opportunity to see international films in London that may not be shown in the UK again, the Festival also provided a rare chance to see Hollywood classics reclaim their glory on the silver screen. This year included in the ever popular Treasures From The Archive strand were restored versions of Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, Jean Renoir's The River, and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory.
The US elections were not far from the London consciousness with late additions to the programme Turtles Can Fly from Bahman Ghobadi and David O. Russell and Tricia Regan's Soldiers Pay a documentary about Iraqi soldiers and aide workers striking a chord with London audiences. Shola Lynch 's documentary Chisholm '72 - Unbought And Unbossed visited an election from another time, but had deep resonance for the politics of today. Jonathan Demme's version of The Manchurian Candidate was a new take on the modern election. Sally Potter's Yes looked at the world post 9/11 as did films such as Yasmin from Kenny Glenaan.
Artistic Director, Sandra Hebron said "This year's programme for The Times bfi 48th London Film Festival has brought London audiences out en masse to engage with entertaining, exciting and thought provoking cinema from around the world, indicating that Festival goers want to be challenged. It has been very encouraging to see London audiences embrace this year's Festival, helping us to create a vital and stimulating event."
This year's programme envoked public discussion and debate. The response to films such as Tony Takitani, Cinevardaphoto, White Train and The World show that Festival audiences want to engage with cinema they otherwise might not have the chance to see.
The Festival also hosted a series of lively screen talks, masterclasses and panel discussions. Highlights included popular and lively masterclasses with film-makers such as Brad Bird , director and animator of The Incredibles and also Jonathan Demme and Tak Fujimoto together, The Times Screen Talks with provocative directors Todd Solondz, David O. Russell and actor Kevin Bacon, who gave a frank analysis of his role in The Woodsman.
At the closing gala the following five awards were presented. Jonathan Caouette was acknowledged with The Sutherland Trophy for his revealing film Tarnation. Gustave Kervern and Benoit Delepine received the 7th FIPRESCI Award for Aaltra. The inaugural UK Film Talent Award went to London based director Amma Asante for her debut feature A Way Of Life. Nicole Kassell received the prestigious 9th Annual Satyajit Ray Award for her outstanding debut feature The Woodsman. The TCM Short Film Award went to Nits directed by Harry Wootliff.
A full feature on the London Film Festival can be found in our latest issue of Close-Up Film Magazine (out soon) along with brief reviews of some of the films screened:
For further details: www.lff.org.uk
2046
Bad Santa
Enduring Love
Garden State
House Of Flying Daggers
I Heart Huckabees
Koktebel
My Summer Of Love
Nobody Knows
Tarnation
The Edukators
The Incredibles
The Keys of the House
Manchurian Candidate, The
The Woodsman
Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow
Triple Agent
Vera Drake
Yasmin
Shizana Arshad
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