Coming To Your Town From 4 November! London , Monday, October 24, 2005 - If you didn't make it to London for the Times bfi London Film Festival don't worry, as the Festival will be on its way to you. Following on from last year's successful touring programme, six new films have been plucked from the Times bfi 49 London Film Festival to tour across the UK and Ireland to: Berkhamsted, Bradford, Canterbury , Cardiff Chichester, Mold, Northampton , Portsmouth and across the Irish sea to Belfast and Dublin.
Films touring the country will include titles nominated for the bfi Sutherland Trophy presented to the most imaginative and original new film in the Festival. The Times bfi London Film Festival is very pleased to announce that the following six titles confirmed are: Pavee Lackeen directed by Perry Ogden , Ultranova , directed by Bouli Lanners , For the Living and the Dead directed by Kari Paljakka , In Orange directed by Joram Lursen . Violent Days , directed by Lucile Chaufour , The Wind Blows Round , directed by Giorgio Diritti . In the New Year there will be a tour of films drawn from the Experimenta strand of this year's programme.
Festival Tour Co-ordinator, Heather Osborn said "Our programme features Perry Ogden's brilliant and moving tale of Irish Traveller girl Winnie in Pavee Lackeen, the wonderfully droll Ultranova from Bouli Lanners: the exploration of loss and grief in For the Living and the Dead and a funny and touching story of culture clashes in The Wind Blows Round . We follow a young boy's dream of playing for the Dutch national football team in the uplifting In Orange , while rockabilly fans will love Lucile Chafour's strikingly unique debut feature, Violent Days . We hope you will join us in celebrating these remarkable new discoveries"
The Touring Programme
The Times bfi Sutherland Trophy Tour will tour 10 Venues across the UK & Ireland . Please see below information on the films screening at each cinema and it's playdate.
Belfast - The Queen's Film Theatre
For The Living & The Dead 10/12/2005
In Orange 10/12/2005
The Wind Blows Round 12/12/2005
Violent Days 13/12/2005
Pavee Lackeen 14/12/2005
Berkhamsted - The Rex
Ultranova 14/11/2005
Violent Days 21/11/2005
The Wind Blows Round 28/11/2005
Pavee Lackeen 01/12/200
For The Living & The Dead 14/12/2005
Bradford - The National Museum of Photography , Film & Television
Ultranova 22/11/2005
The Wind Blows Round 23/11/2005 / 24/11/2005
Pavee Lackeen 25/11/2005
In Orange 26/11/2005 / 27/11/2005
Violent Days 26/11/2005 / 28/11/2005
For The Living & The Dead 29/11/2005 / 30/11/2005
Canterbury - Cinema 3
Pavee Lackeen 18/11/2005
Ultranova 19/11/2005
In Orange 20/11/2005
Cardiff - Chapter
Ultranova 02/12/2005
Violent Days 11/12/2005
Pavee Lackeen 12/12/2005
In Orange 13/12/2005
The Wind Blows Round 16/12/2005
For The Living & The Dead 17/12/2005
Chichester - Chichester Cinema at New Park
Ultranova 25/11/2005
In Orange 04/12/2005
The Wind Blows Round 05/12/2005
Pavee Lackeen 06/12/2005
For The Living & The Dead 07/12/2005
Violent Days 08/12/2005
Dublin - Irish Film Institute
Violent Days 04/11/2005
The Wind Blows Round 06/11/2005
Ultranova 05/11/2005
In Orange 07/11/2005
For The Living & The Dead 23/11/2005
Mold - Clywd Theatre Cymru
Violent Days 06/12/2005
The Wind Blows Round 07/12/2005
Pavee Lackeen 08/12/2005
Northampton - Forum
Violent Days 04/01/2006
Portsmouth - No 6 Cinema
Violent Days 23/11/2005
The Wind Blows Round 19/12/2005
Pavee Lackeen 22/11/2005
TOURING PROGRAMME SYNOPSIS
Pavee Lackeen
 Perry Ogden documented the experience of the young poor in Dublin with his photo book 'Pony Kids'. His first feature moves on from those representations, offering an intimate portrait of the traveller community. It focuses on 10-year-old Winnie, who lives with her mother and siblings in a trailer on the side of the road in a desolate part of Dublin . She is at odds with her environment as she wanders the streets of the prosperous, modern city, while her family endure visits from the council, social workers and sympathetic activist groups, struggling with bureaucracy, prejudice and poverty. With a cast of mostly non-professional actors drawn from the traveling community, Ogden conveys a sense of people being, rather than performing, and Winnie Maughan's illuminating presence provides the film with its beating heart. Filmed through a photographer's eye and with a documentary feel, Pavee Lackeen avoids patronizing stereotypes, sentimentality and dourness to emerge as one of the most distinctive debuts to come out of Ireland in years.
Dir Perry Ogden/Scr Perry Ogden, Mark Venner/with Winnie Maughan, Paddy Maughan, Rosie Maughan/Ireland 2005/87mins/35mm/Certificate 15 /Courtesy of Verve Pictures.
Ultranova
 If Belgian film-makers have been cornering the market of late with a brand of droll, understated cinema about the lives of sympathetic loners and losers, Ultranova is this year's original and satisfying addition to the roster. Set in and around Liege 's semi-industrial hinterland, the film centres on Dimitri, an introverted young chap who rather surprisingly makes his living as one of a team of estate agents charged with the unenviable task of selling starter homes in drab locations. A chance meeting with a girl (in mordantly funny circumstances) leads to a tentative romance, but the early promise of the affair seems doomed to falter. His workmates have problems of their own, and these too are drawn in elliptical fashion as befits the low-key tone of the film. Writer-director Bouli Lanners makes use of his training as a landscape painter to give the film a distinctive look, perfectly matched by Jarby McCoy's atmospheric minimalist score. With a deft balance between melancholia and mirth, this gem of a film is one of the discoveries of the year.
Dir-Scr Bouli Lanners/with Vincent Lecuyer, Hélène de Reymaeker, Michaël Abiteboul/Belgium 2005/ 86 mins/ 35mm/Advised Cert 15/Coutesy of ICA Projects
For The Living And The Dead (Eläville ja kuolleille)
 Almost 20 years ago director Kari Paljakka saw a television interview with a couple who had recently lost their youngest son in a domestic accident. He was deeply affected by the candid and coherent description of their experiences following their tragedy. The idea stayed with him to explore notions of loss and the passage of grief based on the couple's story within the imagined world of a feature film. Far from being mawkish, Paljakka has created in For the Living and the Dead a very well observed, sympathetic, sometimes humorous and ultimately hopeful family portrait. Like other films that have dealt with similar themes such as Aftermath (Screened in the Festival in 2004), this is very much about recuperation, the strength of the human spirit and, most importantly, life. That is not to deny that Paljakka doesn't deal with deep and painful emotions here. He certainly creates a quiet but profound sense of pain, which is at times magnified by the surprising and troubling shortcomings of friends and neighbours. However, it is Paljakka's empathy and respect for his characters that shines out in this truly human, cathartic and essentially optimistic film.
Dir-Scr Kari Paljakka/with Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Katja Kukkola, Johannes Paljakka/Finland 2004/95 mins/35mm/Advised Cert 15.
In Orange
 Remco eats, breathes and lives football. He's a talented player and dreams of playing for the Dutch national team. His father is also a fan and constantly pushes him to play to the best of his ability. When his dad suddenly dies, Remco's passion for the game takes a dive and he is left undecided as to whether he should continue even when he is selected to play in the regional championships. When he starts to have visions of his father driving him on, Remco is soon back on form and playing well despite the worry of a severely injured ankle. Ignoring his doctor's advice to rest his foot, he sacrifices sense for single-mindedness and continues playing. Will his dream to wear the orange national football kit be realised before his condition catches up with him? References to a number of legendary football stars in the dream sequence is evidence of the film's commitment to the game itself but whether you are a sports fan or not, this family film is an uplifting joy from beginning to end. Justin Johnson
Dir Joram Lürsen Scr Frank Ketelaar/with Thomas Acda, Yannick van de Velde, Wendy van Dijk/Netherlands 2004/90mins/ 35mm/Advised Cert PG.
The Wind Blows Round (Il Vento fa il suo Giro)
 A small mountain village in the Occitaine Alps is gradually dying out, its income and the livelihood of its ageing population only maintained by the summer tourist season. Into this small, tight knit and conservative community comes a French shepherd, bringing his young family, his goats and his entrepreneurial skills as cheese-maker. Initially he is welcomed, if not with open arms, then at least with the sense that his arrival could reinvigorate village life. But the newcomer's experiences start to turn sour as misunderstandings multiply and the villagers begin to resent the intrusion his family and business cause to their oh so quiet lives. Actually a fictional drama but made in such a way that it almost seems like a documentary, this is a very assured, hugely entertaining and thought provoking film about a profound culture clash in an isolated community. By turns funny, touching and infuriating, Diritti's film carefully builds up the simmering tensions between people in this tight knit micro environment, whilst making the most of the astonishing mountain landscape for breathtaking images through the seasons.
Dir Giorgio Diritti/Scr Giorgio Diritti, Fredo Valla/with Thierry Toscan, Alessandra Agosti, Dario Anghilante/Italy 2005/110 mins/35mm/Advised Cert 12.
Violent Days
 Three rockabilly boys spend a night listening to music, playing cards, drinking and scuffling in a Parisian apartment, while a bottle blonde girlfriend fusses around them and clears up their mess. The following morning, the hungover quartet pile into a battered jalopy, put a cassette in the tape deck and head to Le Havre, where there's a rock 'n' roll gathering of bands and like minds: gangs out for bopping, booze and bother, where all the boys want to be Eddie Cochran and all the girls look like Jayne Mansfield. Tense, poetic and gorgeously shot in black and white, verité style, Violent Days feels intriguingly out of time, displaying a number of generation crossing influences, referencing Godard's notion of cool, Lindsay Anderson's astute observations, and at other points bringing to mind American pioneers Cassavetes , Clarke and Jarmusch. Yet Lucile Chaufour's debut feature is also strikingly unique, an insight into a white, working class, cultural clique that has few precedents in French cinema. The wonderful 50s soundtrack trawls the vaults of Sun Records and beyond, dusting down numerous gems from the early days of rock. Dir-Scr Lucile Chaufour/with Frédéric Beltran, Serena Lunn, François Mayet, Franck Musard/France 2004/80 mins/35mm/Advised Cert 15. The British Film Institute ( bfi )
The British Film Institute's purpose is to champion moving image culture in all its richness and diversity across the UK , for the benefit of as wide an audience as possible, and to create and encourage debate. It does this by developing opportunities for all UK citizens to engage with film, TV and media heritage and culture. The bfi also works closely with national and regional partners to provide a focus for the diversity of UK moving image culture, while playing a key role in influencing the national and international agenda.
Established in 1933, the bfi provides a wide range of services, including: bfi National Film Theatre (NFT), bfi London IMAX Cinema (Britain's largest screen), bfi National Library (the world's leading specialist film & television library), bfi National Film & Television Archive (NFTVA, one of the world's oldest and largest culturally significant film & TV archives), bfi London Film Festival, bfi London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, bfi Distribution (making a wealth of world cinema available for theatrical screening across the UK), the renowned bfi DVD & Video catalogue of world and historic cinema, a wide range of award-winning bfi publications and bfi education materials, film footage, film stills, and research services for the commercial media industry, the highly-respected Sight & Sound film magazine.
Sponsored by
Media Partners
|
