More good news... While we were enjoying a luxurious holiday out in Bergerac last week, I got two pieces of exciting news! First good news was that Daniel and I were awarded the UKFC & Film4's cinema extreme this year & hope to be shooting Daniel's next short film BABY in early autumn this year. The second bit of good news is that I qualified for the European Producer's forum at the Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi - which means I am flying out to Russia on Monday! Emily at the UK Film Council suggested I apply with our Murmansk project as within the forum they will introduce us to Russian financiers and film industry and explain procedures and how to apply for local funding etc.... The one caveat seems to be that I get my visa sorted this afternoon which has proven to be trickier than you'd think (seeing as I've been invited by the Russian Foreign Ministry & all). But of course 'easy' is a dirty word in the world of production, so I am unphased and excited regardless.
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My first film Cannes was really great. The weather was hot pretty much all the time, the flat we were staying in had a pool (though it was out of order - hors d'usage or whetever the sign said) and it was near enough the city centre that we could walk everywhere. 6 of us shared the 3 bedrooms & living room sofabed and the sharing worked really well. I would definitely hope to get something similar next year. Well done Dawn Sharpless!
Our first night we all went out to dinner at a lovely seafood restaurant and sat next to Francis Ford Coppola.
I am sad that I hardly took any pictures. Particularly at the Nowhere Boy party, which must have been the party highlight of the week, with dancing all night and celebs to keep the paps busy flashing all night (Paris, Peaches, Ryan Phillippe etc...). In fact Kirstin Scott Thomas danced all night too. When the party was over, we thanked the DJ and he told us to follow him to his next gig. So we did, avoiding the sea of paparazzis that swallowed poor Paris up in the middle of the Croisette, and followed him through the narrow streets and into the next venue.
The club was great, but when the show changed over and men dressed as lampshades started filling the stage and the music changed we got a bit suspicious. Sure enough a foxy lady sat on stage knitting while a man cat pulled at her yarn until her jumper unravelled and two red heart-shaped nipple coverettes were all that was left. We thought maybe it was time to wander home!
Overall the festival was a busy time and a great opportunity to meet non-London based people you don't get to see often, Russian & Australian producers, people from the UK Film Council in short sleeves and pretty dresses, people you forgot you knew and obviously a lot of interesting people you would never otherwise get to meet.
Of course a lot of rose wine was consummed and in fact one of my more pleasurable afternoons was spent drinking too many bottles to mention in the lovely presence of Sarada McDermott from Liverpool and Rob How from London.
Al Morrow was invited to a Slumdog Millionaire party by a crazy man who lived in a millionaire's mansion. Of course we never went.
Helen Grace was busy with her horror film Colin which was made for £45 and became a great Cannes success story saleswise. Although I haven't heard the whole story yet, so I hope it remains a great success story.
Of course there's much more, but it's probably unwise to go on as it makes it sound like it was all too much fun.
So I am now getting ready for my stint in Cannes. I'll be going from 15th to 20th May. Daniel and I have met the cinema extreme deadline, so we can forget about that til June. Next Daniel has to get his Advance Party II treatment in to Sigma Films within the next couple of weeks and we need to concentrate on the treatments for the 3 feature projects Daniel has been writing.
Jake took this sumptuous picture while we were shooting Songs For My Mother with the Wilson Sisters. I think it's time Annie Liebowitz made way for newer stronger talent! We'll save it for our feature in Vanity Fair!
Louise, Jane, Tereza, me & Claire Luke
We finished shooting The Wilson Sisters' short film last week and it's nice to finally have a free weekend to recover.
It's been a really valuable experience and interesting in tandem with what Daniel and I are working on. It's been great working with the HSI gang again, particularly Claire Luke & Claire Neate James as the last time must have been on The Pond. In fact we even managed to get Rebecca Kibble back on this who worked as my 2nd. There were definitely some funny moments, but I think everyone did really well as the schedule was very ambitious in 4 days and the Claires made sure it was all as professional as if there had been proper money behind it. You know we even had caterers!
It was great getting to meet the twins and work with them and we had a great crew. Jake Polonsky lit it and the footage is absolutely beautiful. I think the infrastructure and the restrictions that come with a 35mm film shoot came as a bit of a surprise to the girls. I think they adapted well though, and having created their piece for the BFI, this film was something the twins had lived and thought about extensively. I think the exercise and experience of turning this idea into a film was a new challenge which I think they really enjoyed too.
I had always wanted to shoot at the hornsey town hall which is a hero of the film as much as the two girls in it. Only 10 minutes walk from the house!
The following day, this is totally unrelated but, Billy took me to see La Ciudad de Sylvia, which was directed by a Spanish artist and which felt like someone had given the sisters enough money to make a feature length film. There were lots of beautiful shots and reflections and long lingering moments. Half way through the film there was a cut from loud music to two people sleeping in a bed in silence. Well not exactly in silence as there were two old dears at the back of the cinema snoring loudly and the effect of this spontaneous sound track was very funny.
But anyway, I can't wait to see how the film will look after it's edited together. It is also funny having been to the cinema extreme workshops and knowing that this is the last film in last year's batch to be completed and therefore quite long & keenly awaited.
Until it is done, if anyone wants to have a look at the work they put together for the BFI, you can click on the link below.
Wilson Sister's BFI piece
It was good news to hear that The Pond was shortlisted for the Fujifilm shorts competition. They must have a pretty extensive mailing list as I received many nice messages of congratulations. I guess it's unlikely we'll win, but it's still nice to be shortlisted. The print has been sent off to Barcelona and California last week, so it's still making its way around the world... Fingers crossed it might win a few more prizes.
I got back from Nottingham last night where I spent two days involved in the cinema extreme workshop despite Daniel not being able to make it as he is still in Cuba in the middle of the Una Noche shoot. I really enjoyed it, and again it is always a pleasure meeting the other filmmakers and hearing about their projects and of course it is very stimulating hearing what they think about yours too. We worked on two of Daniel's script options and I've left a little unsure which one to move forward, but I can't wait for Daniel to get back so we get working on all the fresh ideas that came through. Of course they still need to knock back 26 projects to be left with only 4. That's probably harsher competition than getting into a nice school...