The London Film Festival
If you like film, there’s no choice: you have to go to the London Film Festival. But what to see? There are hundreds of films from avant-garde shorts to the world premiere of the new Bond, Quantum of Solace – almost too much to choose from.
For star-spotting then grab your autograph book, wrap up and head down to the red carpet of the big premieres.
Everyone’s tight-lipped about which celebs will actually be there but with new films from Oliver Stone, Woody Allen and Steven Soderbergh and stars including Scarlett Johanssen, Penelope Cruz and Benicio del Toro, something exciting’s bound to happen…
What about French films? As usual there’s a great selection from one of Europe’s most prolific film-making nations, including new wave pioneer Agnès Varda’s latest, and – she claims – last, autobiographical The Beaches of Agnès.
And from further afield, there’s Citizen Havel, a gripping documentary about the Czech President, which was shot over a ten year period; Waltz with Bashir, an animated autobiographical look at the Middle East conflict; Jay, a Filipino satire on television ethics, and a look at Australian exploitation movies in Not Quite Hollywood.
Perhaps you’d rather stay on home territory, with New British Cinema? Then try Love Live Long Mike Figgis’ disturbing love story set against the Gumball Rally; or Nick Moran’s Telstar, a big-screen version of the stage play about Joe Meek, or 1234, Giles Borg’s neat film about an indie band.
You like the avant-garde? How about RR, 43 shots of passing trains, The Silence Before Bach, on the composer’s music in the modern world; or double bills of situationist Guy Debord or avant-garde classic pairing Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.
For nostaligia fiends there’s the Treasures from the Archives strand, including restorations of Sergio Leone’s masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West, the once-popular African classic Touki Bouki, or a double bill of racy dramas from before the Hays Code clamped ‘morality’ on Hollywood.
All that, plus Charlie Kaufman and others in conversation and even two free films in Trafalgar Square.
The London Film Festival runs from 15th to 30th October at cinemas all over London.
If you can’t find something, then maybe you just don’t fancy films!
John Riley
John Riley will be presenting a series of special editions of I’m Ready for My Close-Up covering the London Film Festival on Resonance 104.4fm. www.resonancefm.com
