MADE IN HONG KONG SEASON AT THE ICA - WIN TICKETS!

In conjunction with ICA, Firecracker is proud to offer you the chance to win a pair of tickets to Ringo Lam's explosive 'Full Alert' showing at 8.45 on the 12th October and 'Perhaps Love' a Bob Fosse style musical which will be showing on at 9.00 on the 16th October.

And all you have to do to enter is answer a simple question:

Ringo Lam recently co-directed a film with two other masters of Asian Cinema. What were their names?

All answers must be sent to : competitions@ica.org.uk

More information about the season can be found at: www.ica.org.uk and our previous post!

Good luck!

MADE IN HONG KONG OVER AT THE ICA!

ICA presents:

MADE IN HONG KONG

A season of seven Hong Kong movies from 1997-2007

12 – 16 October, ICA, The Mall, SW1

FULL ALERT / MY LIFE AS MCDULL / PERHAPS LOVE /

MADE IN HONG KONG / AFTER THIS OUR EXILE / GOLDEN CHICKEN /

ORDINARY HEROES

For five days in October the ICA will host a season of films made in Hong Kong over the past 10 years; from the 1997 handover to China to the present day. This decade has seen the film industry in Hong Kong go from strength to strength, creating a new identity while looking back at the area’s history. Among these films, gangland thrillers, a lush musical and a bittersweet piece of animation tackle such issues as identity, the legacy of colonialism and how Hong Kong reacts to mainland China.

Full Alert

12 October: cinema 1

An explosive action thriller featuring starring Ching-wan Lau and Francis Ng, rich on characterisation and punctuated with exciting chase scenes and gunfights. Full Alert was Ringo Lam’s return to Hong Kong movies following his stint making Hollywood-set action films, and his guerrilla film-making style wonderfully captures the sense of the Hong Kong streets. [Dir Ringo Lam, Hong Kong 1997, 99 mins]

My Life as McDull

13, 15 October: cinema 1 & 2

A rare screening of this HK animated classic, a beguiling film about good-natured piglet McDull, who epitomises the spirit of post-1997 Hong Kong. The film follows his life growing up in the slums of Sham Shui Po and features swooping shots of the bustling Kowloon streets, greasy cafes and local characters, fusing animation, photography and computer graphics. [Dir Toe Yuen, Hong Kong 2002, 75 mins]

Perhaps Love

13, 16 October: cinema 1 & 2

This beautifully shot Hollywood-style musical was one of the biggest recent hits in Hong Kong, spinning a delightful love triangle between three of the film’s megastar performers, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Xun and Jacky Cheung, with set pieces that are wonderfully staged and on a par with such films as Moulin Rouge. [Dir Peter Chan, Hong Kong 2005, 107 mins]

Made in Hong Kong

14 October: cinema 1

This cult Hong Kong gangster film chronicles three teenagers trying to escape their lives. Fruit Chan’s Hong Kong is more brutal than that presented by the likes of Ringo Lam or John Woo – there are no straightforward gunfights here, instead a menacing cityscape and a backdrop of run-down housing projects. A hit on the festival circuit and previously at the ICA, starring Sam Lee, Neiky Yim and Wenbers Li. [Dir Fruit Chan, Hong Kong 1997, 108 mins]

After This Our Exile

14th, 15th October, Cinema 1 & 2

The director’s cut of this elegantly paced Malaysian-set drama following a debt-ridden father and a heartbreaking father-son relationships. The film marks the return of new-wave luminary Patrick Tam after a 17 year break from film-making. Stars Aaron Kwok and newcomer King-to Ng. [Dir Patrick Tam, Hong Kong 2006, 160 mins]

Golden Chicken

15, 16 October: cinema 1 & 2

Sandra Ng gives a brilliant performance as ‘Golden Chicken’ Ah Kam (“chicken” is slang for a prostitute) in this moving and charming film about a woman’s life story, which also acts as a mirror to the history of Hong Kong over the last 20 years. Terrific supporting cast includes superstars such as Andy Lau and Tony Leung. [Dir Samson Chiu, Hong Kong 2002, 106 mins]

Ordinary Heroes

16 October: cinema 1

Few films have captured Hong Kong’s social movements as vividly as Ann Hui’s award-winning film as it follows a group of ordinary characters – ranging from a fishergirl through to a councilman – as they show courage and resilience against all odds, detailing their unfulfilled dreams and personal disenchantment. Cast includes Anthony Wong, so impressive in Johnny To’s stunning 2006 crime epic Exiled. [Dir Ann Hui, Hong Kong 1999, 128 mins]

Notes to editors:

With thanks to Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (www.hketolondon.gov.hk) and the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society for their co-operation in making the films available, and to Applause, Panorama Distributions, Celestial, MVP, Man 5 Productions, Golden Scene, Wide Vision, Universe, BMA and HK Film Archive for their support.

This London season at the ICA forms part of a Europe wide programme of film festivals celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997. The HK Film Panorama was set up to present films produced between 1997 and 2007, demonstrating the key role of Hong Kong in the world film industry. HK is the third largest film production centre in the world, and HK actors and directors have been successful Hollywood - and some Hollywood directors are inspired by the work of HK directors. The HK Film Panorama comprises a mix of some old favourites and recent productions. It has already visited Graz, Hamburg, Brussels, Antwerp, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Geneva, Vienna and Berlin, and will also visit Madrid (Oct 07) and Munich (Feb 08).

For further information on the screenings including times and prices please visit: www.ica.org.uk

KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL! UPDATE SOON!

Barbican will be hosting 'The Korean Film Festival' this year between Friday 2nd to Thursday 8th November.

THE LONDON KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL 07 Friday 2 to Thursday 8 November
Barbican Film is delighted to present this year's London Korean Film Festival in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, through the Korean Cultural Centre and the Korea Culture and Content Agency. A dazzling showcase of Korean cinema, this week-long festival highlights the quality and diversity of Korean film and offers a cinematic insight into contemporary Korean culture. This year's festival includes Cannes 2007 favourite Breath (Soom) from acclaimed filmmaker Kim Ki-duk (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring); films from the Korean Film Archive and a day of Korean Animation for all the family, where young viewers can take part in themed workshops and costume play activities. The festival is also delighted to welcome the director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy) who will present a retrospective of his work including his latest film I'm a Cyborg but that's OK (Saibogujiman kwenchana). The London Korean Film Festival also includes the best Korean films of recent years including A Dirty Carnival (2006 Dir. Yoo Ha) and The War of Flower (2006 Dir. Choi Dong-hoon). The full programme will be available in October.

LONDON FILM FESTIVAL ON ITS WAY!

London Film Festival – Pre-Festival Round-up

This year’s The Times BFI 51^st London Film Festival’s full programme includes 184 features and 133 shorts as well as a host of screen talks, masterclasses and live events.

Opening the Festival on Thursday 17 October is the UK premiere of David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES with Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, whilst Wes Anderson closes the Festival on November 1 with the UK premiere of THE DARJEELING LIMITED, starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody.

Both films have been garnering a lot of interest all over the world, with Eastern Promises receiving rave reviews from both press screening in London and public screenings at the Toronto Film Festival.

The LFF is also host to a number of Galas and Screening in the square brining together some of the most respected and challenging filmmakers of today together: From Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion winner Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION, to renowned director of ‘Russian Ark’ Alexander Sokurov’s ALEXANDRA, Abdellatif ,from director François Ozon, the director of last year’s intensely humane ‘TIME TO LEAVE’ ; ANGEL based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor, to Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD, Ermanno Olmi ,from director Michael Haneke his intensely anticipated remake of his own title FUNNY GAMES, ,to the glorious madness of Takeshi Kitano in GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER!, from Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), to Todd Hayness’ intriguing I’M NOT THERE and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s THE MATSUGANE POTSHOT AFFAIR . Audiences will also discover debut feature directors including: Céline Sciamma (WATER LILIES), Rodrigo Plá (LA ZONA), Shivajee Chandrabhushan (FROZEN) and Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (PERSEPOLIS).

As always London film festival will also be surrounded by special events, screenings and master talks. Giving both the cinephiles and the casual audiences the chance to learn, understand and question more about their favourite films and filmmakers, the festival will include events and classes from directors as diverse as Wes Anderson to Robert Rodriguez. Other expected guests include David Cronenberg, Naomi Watts, Cristian Mungiu, Sienna Miller, Andrew Dominik, Tang Wei, Ang Lee, Jason Schwartzman, Julian Schnabel, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Jan Svĕrák, Michael Moore, Asif Kapadia, Halle Berry, Susanne Bier, Sean Penn, Michael Pitt, Todd Haynes, Casey Affleck, Tamara Jenkins, Carlos Reygadas, Esther Robinson, Amy Adams, James Marsden, Jason Reitman and Kevin Lima.

Celebrating restorations from archives around the world, Treasures from the Archives showcases features and shorts including: the magnificent ENAMORADA, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and extraordinary, neglected classic KILLER OF SHEEP. The big screen will also come to Trafalgar Square for two nights, ablaze with archive films that celebrate London as one of the world’s great cinematic cities, including Alfred Hitchcock’s BLACKMAIL.

All in all this seems like an intensely interesting and packed to the brims year for the festival If you’d like to get an idea of some of the must-sees of the festival, continue reading for the monsters & Critics’ choice of Top 10 titles to see at The Times Bfi London Film Festival.

TOP TEN MUST-SEES FOR THIS YEAR’S LONDON FILM FESTIVAL:

This is a list intended for those who already have chosen a few titles but would also like to take a chance and see others which they might not know much about. The list isn’t in order in importance but rather in order of appearance on the festival website.

1) 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Director: Cristina Mingu): This year’s Palme D’or winner, this Romanian film depicts a harrowing portrait of an illegal abortion in Communist-era Romania. Although the subject matter is grim, this low-budget film achieves a sense of social realism not seen on the screen since the heyday of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.

2) The Band's Visit (Director: Eran Kolirin): Raising more than a few eyebrows when playing in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, Eric Kolirin’s debut is a highly infectious, warm and joyful affair sure to win the hearts of any audience member who watches it. Focusing on the story of a small Egyptian police band that comes to Israel in the early 1990s to perform at an Arab cultural centre in Petach Tikva, the film balances wide farce with wit and emotion , creating an undeniably tempting concoction.

3) The Edge Of Heaven (Director: Fatih Akin): Fatih Akin burst onto the European movie scene with his shocking and intense Turco-German drama Against The Wall (Gegen Die Wand). With this multi-layered, intricately plotted drama about the story of a Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former live-in prostitute girlfriend confirms that he is one of the names to watch. The film is a blueprint for economy and precision in film-making with each scene, each line and each shot counting towards the end result.

4)Grace Is Gone (Director: James C. Strouse): Last year, filmgoers experienced James C. Strouse’s writing in Steve Buscemi’s Lonesome Jim. This year they get to experience his debut feature. A stunning central performance from John Cusack as Stanley Phlilps, a father of two whose soldier wife gets killed in Iraq, Grace Is Gone is an eloquent, touching look at the impact of war on one average family.

5) In Memory Of Me (Director: Saverio Contanzo) : Saverio Contanzo’ s first film , Private , was a stunning story of a Palestinia family trapped in their house by Israeli soldiers. His second, In Memory Of Me , continues Contanzo’s ability to create large-scale drama in small-scale locations by telling the story of Andrea whose quest to find himself leads him into being accepted by a small Jesuit seminary isolated on an island near Venice. To reveal anymore would ruin the joy of experience Saverio Contanzo’s film, with patterns, dynamics and stories slowly but surely exposing themselves through the routines and the training at the seminary under the ever-watchful and stern eye of the Father Superior.

6) In Prison All My Life (Direcotr: Marc Evans) : In a year that is exceptionally strong in the documentaries category, In Prison All My Life, stands out as a compelling statement on the issue of death penalty in America.. Through the figure of William Francomme, a middle-class Englishman, who gets involved directly in the case of Mumia Abu-Jabul who has been in jail awaiting his execution since being sentenced in 1981 for the killing of a police officer. A thoughtful, insightful affair, In Prison All My Life, shows why documentaries continue to be one of the strongest arms of both cinema in general and film festivals.

7) The Trap (director: Srdan Golubovic) : A modern day film noir as well as an updating of ‘Crime And Punishment’ this tense drama ; adapted from the novel by Nenad Teofilovic, rests on a monumental performance by Melina Pota as Mladen who is forced to take extreme measures in order to obtain the 26,000 Euros for an operation to save his son.

8) Saturno Contro (Director: Ferzan Ozpetek): A group of friends, now edging towards their 40s, have managed to remain a tight knit group throughout the changes in their lives. However, their solidarity is threatened by the shocking circumstances they experience when one of them is suddenly taken ill. Returning to familiar ground, Ferzan Ozpetek weaves a tale of close-knit friends and creates wholly believable characters who reactions always stay this side of interesting.

9) Planet Terror (Director: Robert Rodriguez): Yes, it might be coming out in cinemas everywhere soon but this might be your only chance to catch something so outrageous and so cult within the oeuvre of The Times Bfi 51^st London Film Festival. Literally a love letter to all the gore-soaked films of the 70’s, Planet Terror is a disgusting, gory, unbelievable and funny ride that once seen you will never, ever forget.

10) Tuya’s Marriage (Director: Wang Quan An) : One of the unforeseen pleasures of this year's Berlinale, Golden Bear-winning Tuya's Marriage is the story of one woman's struggle to support her family, set against the backdrop of a disappearing way of life.. An enjoyable slice-of-life drama suffused with gentle humour, the film focuses on Tuya, a young Mongolian woman who reluctantly aggress to divorce her incapacitated husband and see new suitors but with one condition: the man who marries her will look after her old husband Bater as well as her family. As she sees one suitor after next and fails to find someone, her drunken but kind-hearted neighbor Sen’ge watches on.

UPDATE:

The BFI 51^st LONDON FILM FESTIVAL BOOKING PERIOD STARTS

From the 29^th September, the London Film Festival will be open for public bookings! Now is your chance to enjoy this year’s many Gala’s and First-Time screenings. Tickets can be booked by one of the two easy methods: By visiting the festival website at www.lff.org.uk or by calling 0207 928 32 32.

Due toLondon Film Festival being first and foremost a public film festival, it means that you, the public can actually buy tickets to attend huge glitzy premieres, as well as having the opportunity to see future award-winning films and world cinema gems before they go on general release. Last year film such as ‘HALF NELSON’ , ‘LAST KING OF SCOTLAND’ and ‘THE LIVES OF OTHERS’ were first screened at the London Film Festival before anywhere.

Remember though a lot of screening sell-out very quickly! So you have to be quick off the mark to catch the tickets!

Enjoy the festival!

RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL NOW ON!

The U.k.'s premier independent film festival 'Raindance' is once again on! Starting on 25th September with wonderful 'Weirdsville' and closing off on 7th October with gus Van Sant's new film 'Paranoid Park' the festival is aiming to bring the best of independent cinema to the U.K.
As part of the festival, Raindance is also screening a number of new and unknown titles from Asia: Some of the highligts include 'M' ; described as a Belle Du Jour for the internet age, 'Bakushi: The Incredible Lives Of The Rope Masters', a documentary about the performers of a strange erotic art form known as Bakushi, 'It's Only Talk' ; Ryuchi Hiroki’s second collaboration with the winning team of actress Shinobu Terajima and screenwriter Haruhiko Arai about a woman suffering from depression and finally Blitzkrieg Bop: a surreal, mad-cap Japanese gangster flick.
There are still tickets available to all the remaining screening so hurry!
More info can be found at:
www.raindance.co.uk


P.s.: Tonight is the last chance to see 'La Antenna'. An Argentinian sci-fi flick that is simply out of this world. Fans of classic anime such as 'Ghost In The Shell' and 'Akira' as well as Fritz Lang, Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam fans should pay heed. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.