The David Lean Lecture

The lecture series serves to carry on the legacy of the great director David Lean, one of the founders of the British Film Academy (as it was then known) in 1947 and continuing inspiration to many through his exceptional body of work. The David Lean Lecture in 2007 was presented by American Director David Lynch.

Previous lectures have been delivered by:
2007: David Lynch
2006: Oliver Stone
2005: Woody Allen
2004: John Boorman
2003 Ken Loach

The 2009 lecture will be given by Atom Egoyan. Over the course of three decades at the forefront of the international film industry, Egoyan has become one of contemporary cinema’s most celebrated auteurs. With feature films including The Adjuster, Calendar, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey, Ararat, Where the Truth Lies and 2008’s Adoration Egoyan has garnered countless prizes and nominations, led by Grand Prix and International Critics Awards from the Cannes Film Festival and two Oscar® nominations for The Sweet Hereafter.

Egoyan’s elegant and inventive films feature lonely hearts and isolated figures of unfulfilled desire in often surreal and gloomy scenarios, yet all of his characters are redeemed by his extraordinary compassion for them and insight into their thoughts and feelings. His films are a rare mix of intellect, style and great heart.

Following the UK premiere of his Chloe at the London Film Festival, Egoyan joins the Academy for the prestigious Lean Lecture. With generous support by the Lean Foundation, the lecture is an event in which the world’s most celebrated and compelling directors provide insight into their experiences and into their unique take on cinema and the industry.

Avatar, Terminator, Stan Winston and what he’s been doing for the last 12 years.In a great guest blog, Scyfi Love’s man in London Craig Grobler – aka @ckc1ne on Twitter and a top bloke all around – tells of meeting up and spending three hours in the company of James Cameron ahead of the release of his latest blockbuster, Avatar.

In that time Cameron and Craig talked about the origins of his most famous creation, The Terminator, his hopes for Avatar and the technology behind it, the death of Stan Winston and what the future may hold.

Big thanks to Craig for what is a tremendously detailed and involving blog post, so sit back, relax, take the phone off the hook and read on …..

James Cameron in conversation

story-teller; (stawr-ee-tel-er) n.

- A storyteller is someone who tells or writes stories.

- One who relates anecdotes.

James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter and film inventor. His writing and directing work include The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Aliens and Titanic. To date, his directorial efforts have grossed approximately US$1.3 billion in North America (adjusted for inflation) and close to US$3.5 billion worldwide. After several feature films, Cameron turned his focus to documentary filmmaking and the co-development of the digital 3-D Fusion Camera System. He returned to feature filmmaking with the epic science fiction film Avatar, which made use of the Fusion Camera System technology.” – From Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron)

I HAVE been a fan of James Cameron since about 1985 when my mind was melted by The Terminator. At the time The Terminator was like nothing we had seen before – fresh, original and a budget that kept it edgy.

Mashing together science fiction memes, The Terminator tapped into man’s fear of technology by bending genres, clever raw visual effects and the merging of complex plot elements into a neat rollercoaster ride. I still rate it as one of my favourite films of all time; it’s one of those films that are so fresh it pulls the carpet out from everything that has gone before.

I had seen and enjoyed some of his previous works (at the time had little to no idea that he was involved) such as Roger Corman’s 1980 Battle Beyond the Stars, Kurt Russell’s outstanding 1981 Escape from New York, his directorial debut Piranha II: The Spawning, Galaxy of Terror and Android in 1982.

Since The Terminator, Cameron has gone on to conquer the world.

I have enjoyed most of his recent works, but The Terminator will always epitomize James Cameron and science fiction for me.

Clearly the work of a man consumed by his passion, with little budget and a lot of talent the man created a genre, a cultural icon, a sci-fi phenomenon, groundbreaking special effects, a merchandising Empire, a cult following, a successful line of sequels (I didn’t say good), one of the most memorable quotes in cinema and careers for himself and his team.

All this from a screenplay he sold for $1 with the condition that he could direct it.

Love or just tolerate his films, I think it can be agreed that the world he creates on screen to support his tales are believable and immersive. He is a brilliant film all-rounder who loves what he does.

A lot is made about his love of technology and technical detail, but above all he is a master storyteller that creates a believable environment to enable his vision.

I admire James Cameron’s dedication to getting it right. I am also mildly obsessed with the process of creativity, specifically the process of story development from concept to screen.

So when the opportunity to meet Jim Cameron and hear him in conversation about his life in pictures came up I didn’t need to be asked twice.
What were James Cameron’s early influences?

Cameron was born near the Arctic Circle moving to Niagara Falls when he was about two, two and a half. His time in this location embedded a deep respect for nature and the outdoors.

This combined with the influence of his father,, an engineer made him a bit of a science geek. Water, nature and man vs. nature are all constant themes throughout his films. As an aside, his love of the ocean became apparent, he has clocked 2,500 hours underwater, 500 of those hours in a submersible.

Early on he loved the works of film legend Ray Harryhausen (remember the stop motion in the climax of The Terminator?) this lead to “Whenever he saw something that made a strong impression on him he would draw it, as well as embellish it and create his own story around it.”

2001 was another trigger point for him; he would have been about 14/15 when he saw this. The slit scan scene inducing vertigo and causing him to wretch. He had seen nothing like 2001 before and created a desire to emulate technique. This was a direct influence on him making models and setting them up for filming with his dad’s camera. A friend had a still camera so they started experimenting with stop animation.

At this point I should mention (as you may be unaware) that James Cameron started his film career as a miniature model maker at Roger Corman Studios.
How was The Terminator born?

I had heard various versions of how The Terminator came about and was keen to hear in Cameron’s words how The Terminator unfolded.

James Cameron, in Craig's pictureDuring a stressful period editing Piranha II: The Spawning in Rome “he was having weird dreams of a chrome skeleton/ death image coming out of a fire, kind of like a Phoenix”. He sketched it and around this nucleus he created a story that included what it was, where it came from and who it was after. It all fell into place.

From this idea, when he got back to LA and was sleeping on a friend’s coach he talked an agent into representing him.

The agent’s response to his idea of a hit man from the future that comes back to kill a girl who is nobody in the present, but will be important in future events? “Terrible idea, don’t do it.”

He added: “The producers wanted me to talk to O.J. Simpson for the role of The Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of Kyle Reese. I didn’t want to cast either of them but didn’t feel comfortable blowing off the studio heads’ idea either.”

At the time he did not think that people would have believed a nice guy like OJ could be a ruthless killer. So he went to pick a fight with the relatively unknown Conan instead. Schwarzenegger was charming, passionate and loved the script. He was liked for the Kyle Reese part but the whole time Cameron was talking to him he was thinking he was perfect for The Terminator.
What is The Terminator about?

I couldn’t say it better than Cameron himself:

James Cameron talking about The meaning behind The Terminator from Craig Grobler on Vimeo.
What has James Cameron been doing in the 12 years since the release of Titanic?

There is something very real, yet in a science fiction/fantasy kind of way, about exploring inner space. He always wanted to go to space which he wasn’t able to do, but he could go to the bottom of the ocean.

So he wound up working with the Russian submersibles on six deep ocean expeditions over a five-year period, making four documentary films in that time

He was having an amazing time and “perfecting” the 3D technique at the same time, shooting both Ghosts of The Abyss and Aliens of the Deep in 3D. He was also raising a family, which the kind of commitment he has when making a film would not have allowed him to do.
James Cameron in conversation
Avatar

I had been careful to avoid all written information about Avatar as I want to see it fresh and unencumbered with expectations on the 3D IMAX screen, as intended.

Sure, I was fortunate enough to see early previews on a regular digital 3D screen, the 3D IMAX screen and Hi Def Zune via Xbox in 2D.

As an aside I was surprised as I preferred the quality of screen movement of the BFI’s smaller 3D screen to the IMAX. I thought that the characters’ motion seemed to be a little clearer where as the IMAX’s version seemed a little blurred particularly on fast movement.

For the record I am a fan of the IMAX and believe that any film can be made better by screening it at the IMAX. If it’s in 3D at the IMAX it’s bound to be great. I’m hoping that this issue relates directly to the preview versions themselves rather than the BFI having better projection facilities.

But this post is not about Avatar, rather the road to Avatar.

Although unconfirmed – it does seem as if James Cameron wants to make a virtual reality film. Not a film about virtual reality but a film that immerses its audience in the film itself. I guess this the final atmospheric/environment barrier stopping an immersive audience experience. With Avatar he has almost achieved this.

Bearing that in mind Cameron has been supporter of the immersive experience/3D as early as 1996 when he created the T2 3-D: Battle Across Time ride for Universal Studios Theme parks ( a bad 2D copy of the show intro can be seen here).

In 2003 he mentioned in various interviews that he was “going to do everything in 3D now”.

With piracy on the rise, competition from the online world and the increase in quality of home entertainment systems, cinema visiting market share has been shrinking. Clearly he sees 3D as a great way “to reinvigorate “the spectacle of cinema”.
More on Avatar

Avatar started off as an idea as early as the mid 1970s. The story was written in 1995 as his dream project that he always wanted to do, a fantasy story taking place on another planet with cool creatures; it was intended as the ultimate creature movie.

The design alone was attractive enough for him to be involved, but the technologies required for photorealism were still years off.

So he went off and shot Titanic, and after Titanic his company was supposed to have all the answers as how to shoot Avatar.

Their response was that it wasn’t possible without a lot of money and time.

Cameron knew that computer graphics would get where they needed to be for Avatar to be created – it was just a question of when it would be.

When it looked like the CG was mature enough Cameron started shooting in 2005. It took Digital Domain two years to get the performance capture pipeline to where it needed to be, before starting to work with actors in 2007. Two major advances (there are more) that Cameron’s Avatar has brought us are:

Perfcap: The human body has 200+ muscles; over half of them are in the face.

A mistake that previous motion capture techniques had laboured under was capturing the movement of bodies but not being able to capture the key emotional touch point – the human face. The resultant dead eye effect mooted efforts.

So Cameron’s team invented a “facial image-based facial performance capture system” – in essence a head rig worn by the actor with a camera accurately photographing the detail of facial expressions in close-up, 100% of the time (including eye movement). Cameron coined the phrase “performance capture” as opposed to motion capture. Abbreviated: Perfcap, which works neatly as each Perfcap rig is individually modeled on the actor’s skull cap.

Simulcam: To truly understand Simulcam, one needs to know that Cameron’s team created a virtual world that was filmed from the inside. Imagine taking a camera into a 3D virtual environment like a game and making a film.

To be honest this is pretty much how regular 3D rendering works anyway, however the Simulcam system allows filmmakers to view a virtual scene (exotic jungle, strange planet, airship interior) in real time, while simultaneously viewing the actor’s virtual character in real time as they perform their scenes.

This is exciting stuff and may change the way films are made moving forward.
How has Stan Winston’s passing affected him personally & professionally?

When I asked this question, James Cameron was visibly touched and thanked me for asking it.

Stan Winston and James Cameron first worked on The Terminator together and had been friends ever since. They continued their relationship working on Aliens and Terminator 2 before forming Digital Domain and working on Titanic.

Cameron and Winston had a shared dream to create the most realistic characters and CG was a key to achieving this.

Winston had been struggling with cancer for some years and became very ill prior to the making of Avatar. When the first footage of Avatar had been completed, Winston was too ill to come around to see the results.

So Cameron loaded it onto his laptop and went over to his house, but unfortunately Winston was too ill to see anybody.

Winston died the next morning without seeing the result of what they set in motion with their shared dream of [realistic] CG characters.

“Stan’s company was integrally involved in the creation of the characters; they actually formed a new company called Legacy in Stan’s honour to carry on the legacy of everything he had created,” Cameron said. “His passing is a great loss because he would have stayed active and creating new creatures from his imagination for the next 20 years if he could.”
What are the next big challenges in filmmaking?

Well, earlier on talking about Avatar, Cameron said: “In terms of CG we have successfully created water, fire, smoke, creatures, musculature and faces and although the characters in Avatar are not strictly speaking human, they are driven by human actors, so the human emotional aspect has been created within the characters.

“We always figured that was the last hurdle or the Holy Grail of CG and we have done that now.

“There are a couple of little things we still need to work out, but it is sort of all there now as a vocabulary. We are only limited by what you can imagine, by what the artist can imagine, how they actors do the performance and the story you want to tell.

“[However] making Avatar we made a lot of mistakes, went down some blind alleys and meandered a bit and it took us a lot to work out exactly how to do everything. I think the next big challenge honestly is a process challenge.

“For me it is a challenge of being able to get the same end result as Avatar in less time, more efficiently for less money. And we’ll do that be carefully analyzing what we have done and cleaning up the process.”

When asked about the idea of real in relation to how realistic Pandora looks, e responded with the idea that real is meaningless now and the lines between CG and photography will continue to blur.
What will he be working on next?

I asked James Cameron point blank what he will be working on next, even throwing in how he had alluded to both the terms “Innerspace” and “Fantastic Voyage” during his talk.

His response was that he’ll be waiting for the dust to settle from Avatar before moving on and his lip are sealed.

Earlier on Cameron had spoken about how he lays his seeds deep and having them pay off later. He also said that he pitched the concept of Avatar to the studio with the idea that they were going to spend money on the first one, but on the second one we’ll be able to advertise that, and we can focus on the story and they went for it.

For Avatar Cameron’s team created a huge library of assets that can now be used at a much smaller cost, as the majority of the work has already been done.

It seems the sky is the limit, but ust where that sky is is still open to debate!
Final thoughts

In the three hours I was in James Cameron’s company – including a one on one chat – he came across as a passionate, insightful and affable storyteller with a contagious smile. Nothing like the ego driven megalomaniac that we have come to expect.

I think that the biggest surprise for me was the way he viewed Avatar’s release.

I may enjoy it, I may not – that remains to be seen. Either way I had assumed that Avatar was going to be a phenomenal success and possibly the biggest film ever made, etc, etc.

It did sound like although Cameron had put his best into it and had made his dream project the way he wanted to – he was aware that its success is not a certainty. He seemed genuinely relieved and pleased that early reviews had been positive.

I’m really glad that I finally met one of my heroes.

His passion for storytelling may not have diminished and each of his projects may be a huge challenge, but too be honest, I would have loved to have met Jim Cameron 25 years ago when he was less established, full of fire and working on smaller less polished creative projects. I guess cream will always rise to the top though.

And now I’m off to watch The Terminator again!

Like everyone else that has internet access I feel I must share my thoughts on Avatar. It's good, go see it. It has blue people that fly dragons right out of the screen.

Seriously imagine that you went to see Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace (not that I'm bitter) and actually loved it. Well that's Avatar.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris facilisis rhoncus risus ut rhoncus. Integer auctor sagittis elit quis mollis. Phasellus a nibh dolor. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique

"He knew only that his child was his warrant"

Letter-sized paper (8.5 x 11 inches). Written in Courier font, 12 point, 10 pitch. No bold, no italics.


ESTABLISHING SHOT: EXT. SOHO, LONDON - EVENING
Light rain falls as a small group of people enter the MPC Screening Rooms building. Modern cars and taxis drive by in the rain lite up by neon lights. We hear the buzz and excitement of a big city on a Friday evening.

I love film. I love everything about film. All my life, I've always wanted to make movies. I dislike reviews and I'm torn on film marketing. In fact I think reviews and marketing is damaging film. I guess some explanation is necessary.

[FLASHBACK TO: INT. A MODERN MID-70s DUPLEX, PARADISE VALLEY, NATAL – DAY (1975)]
A children's birthday party, in the semi dark everyone's eyes glued to a flickering make shift screen as Ian Fleming's Goldfinger plays out.

See that kid there, his face full of chocolate cake, his eyes wide and his mouth open. The cake half chewed. Well that's me, and that's the magic of cinema happening for the first time. Well the first time I can remember.

FREEZEFRAME. The words FORMATIVE MOMENT (all caps),appear at the bottom right of the screen.]

INT London Agency. The room is filled with people standing around, eating & drinking in anticipation of an event

My problem with reviews is thus:

To the crowd and FREEZEFRAME on a young man's upper body & Face. He is about 25 wearing a goatee, drinking from a glass of wine.The following appears to his right.

CRITIC!

• Seen "a lot films"
• Believes that he's not a critic, but a qualified professional
• Believes that the anatomy of a good film review is much like a football match commentary.- That is; a blow by blow account of the story as it unfolds with clichéd pseudo pop culture comments inline (that's the edgy review bit). After all the only way this kind of review could made better is if more plot devices are put under the expositive magnifying glass.

• Has a small penis (OK! I made that up)
• All together displaying a complete lack of what it takes to get something up on screen.
• Doesn't think QT is all that but Pulp Fiction was quite good and Woody Allen's films are all crap because he is a douche.
• And finally has to end every review with a thought provoking question or statement . Well if you have the intellect of used tissue it may challenge your intellect.
  
• Oh yes, has perfect control of English Grammar. So it doesn’t really matter what the review says as long as it's formatted correctly all is well
• Random Example:
  

A montage/trailer of Cloverfield
"Basically, it's a YouTube Godzilla. True, when you're not strapped into a cinema seat, the blind, uncomprehending 'what would you do?' panic of what's essentially a terrorist attack in a lizard suit is somewhat less riveting but it's still a rocking, rollercoaster-on-fast-forward blockbuster with a considered political subtext."
INT small plush screening room.SLOW PAN across a seated film audience. The camera stops on a man sitting in the audience.

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is the tale of a desperate father in a hopeless future with one all consuming goal - stay alive to look after his son in a world gone mad. The story follows the two on their journey down to the coast along The Road in a heinous dystopia future
McCarthy draws a sparse, bleak and claustrophobic picture whilst John Hillcoat’s film uncompromisingly shades the grey world with cold ashen chalk. This is “Mad Max with reality turned up to the uncomfortable setting.

The tension and emotional depth of the 3 key characters plight is masterfully, portrayed by Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and a young Kodi Smit-McPhee and other power house luminaries.

The Road is the emotional equivalent of being punched in the stomach and then being continuously kicked after you have collapsed. Much like Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men left my parched The Road left my throat raw and hankering for clean air whilst the relentless heavy atmosphere closes in. For a while after it had me pondering hope, futility, duty, desperation, survival and how man can sometimes be his own worst enemy.

See that man there, his eyes wide and his mouth open. Well that's me, and that's the magic of cinema happening.

Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration. A collection of clips and making-of footage from notable visual effects films of the past century.

A case study in making things happen. many believe that Sam Rockwell's performance in sleeper hit MOON deserves an Oscar nod. Below Duncan Jones director of the Moon takes this belief one step further and chats with LAGenX.

Something that Duncan Jones doesn't mention that is if you
want to see more great inventive film making like MOON.
These guys need our support. Spread the word!

More info & deets on getting involved can be found on Duncan Jones' blog here!

RAY HARRYHAUSEN and TONY DALTON will be signing An Animated Life at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 24th October 1 – 2pm.

The last great animator before the introduction of CGI, Ray’s book takes us through sixty years of bringing dreams to life. From harpies and skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts to the six-armed Kali in Sinbad, Ray explains the films' journeys, from original concept through to the critics' reviews, as well as the basics of special effects and stop-motion animation. Now re-issued in softcover, An Animated Life is a wonderland guide through a golden age of SFX magic.

Mr Harryhausen is responsible for the barrier breaking animation in much loved classic films such as; Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, One Million Years B.C., First Men in the Moon, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and many more.

Where
Forbidden Planet London Megastore
179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR

When
1-2pm Sat 24 Oct, 2009

"We Were Once A Fairytale" is a short film directed by Spike Jonze and made in collaboration with Kanye West. Shot a year ago it does seem that Life is imitating art.

The David Lean Lecture

The lecture series serves to carry on the legacy of the great director David Lean, one of the founders of the British Film Academy (as it was then known) in 1947 and continuing inspiration to many through his exceptional body of work. The David Lean Lecture in 2007 was presented by American Director David Lynch.

Previous lectures have been delivered by:
2007: David Lynch
2006: Oliver Stone
2005: Woody Allen
2004: John Boorman
2003 Ken Loach
2002 Robert Altman
2001 Sydney Pollack

The 2009 lecture will be given by Atom Egoyan. Over the course of three decades at the forefront of the international film industry, Egoyan has become one of contemporary cinema’s most celebrated auteurs. With feature films including The Adjuster, Calendar, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia’s Journey, Ararat, Where the Truth Lies and 2008’s Adoration Egoyan has garnered countless prizes and nominations, led by Grand Prix and International Critics Awards from the Cannes Film Festival and two Oscar® nominations for The Sweet Hereafter.

Egoyan’s elegant and inventive films feature lonely hearts and isolated figures of unfulfilled desire in often surreal and gloomy scenarios, yet all of his characters are redeemed by his extraordinary compassion for them and insight into their thoughts and feelings. His films are a rare mix of intellect, style and great heart.

Following the UK premiere of his Chloe at the London Film Festival, Egoyan joins the Academy for the prestigious Lean Lecture. With generous support by the Lean Foundation, the lecture is an event in which the world’s most celebrated and compelling directors provide insight into their experiences and into their unique take on cinema and the industry.

Where:
BAFTA
Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LN

When:
7:45pm Friday 23 Oct, 2009

This autumn, the Ramblers, in association with Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival, will be holding an unmissable three week walking festival to celebrate London's world-class film heritage.

Timed to coincide with the Times BFI London Film Festival, the Ramblers second annual "Films on Foot" Festival (14 October-1 Novembwill er) see 9 walks focusing on different areas of London which have been stars of the big screen. The walks are free and open to everyone (new members are especially welcome). All the walks are led by volunteer members from the Metropolitan Walkers and the South Bank Ramblers Group.

The walks take place every Wednesday at 7pm, and every weekend at 1.30pm throughout the festival. There is no need to book, simply turn up at the meeting place indicated below.

An edit version of the programme is listed below:

Soho and the West End 'films on foot' walk - Wednesday 21 October 7pm
Join the Metropolitan Walkers for a 3 mile film stroll through Soho, the heart of the British film industry, and the West End with London's most famous landmarks captured on the big screen. The walk ends at a pub near Embankment tube station.

Notting Hill, Bayswater & Kensington Gardens - Saturday 24 October 1.30pm
Join the Metropolitan Walkers for a 8 mile film location walk This is a walk of contrasts taking in elegant 'Notting Hill' so popular with British romantic comedy film makers, the green space of Kensington Gardens and seedy Bayswater used in films such as 'Trainspotting'. The walk ends at a pub near Queensway tube station.

Isle of Dogs & Maritime Greenwich - Sunday 25 October 1.30pm
Join the South Bank Ramblers for a 5 mile film location walk through The Isle of Dogs - a frequent star of gangster and action films, and Maritime Greenwich - one of the most popular film locations in London. The walk ends at a pub in Greenwich.

Gangsters in the East End - Wednesday 28 October 7pm
Join the Metropolitan Walkers for a 3 mile stroll through the East End. This part of London was the play ground for real time villains, the Krays, and is a favourite film location for British gangster movies. The walk ends at a pub near Bethnal Green tube station.

Brompton Cemetery, Chelsea & Battersea Park - Saturday 31 October 1.30pm
Join the Metropolitan Walkers for a 6 mile film location walk. Brompton Cemetery and Battersea Park are two of the capital's most popular film locations, as well as being beautiful places to walk. The walk ends at a pub near Sloane Square tube station.

Westminster & the Royal Parks - Sunday 1 November 1.30pm

Join the Metropolitan Walkers for a 5 mile stroll taking film locations around Westminster and Belgravia, as well as the green spaces of St James's Park, Green Park and Hyde Park. The walk ends at a pub near Hyde Park Corner tube station.

For the full programme and information click here!

Every October SCI-FI-LONDON hold OKTOBERFEST, a Sci Fi based extravaganza. Arguably the most fun and varied Sci-Fi festival in the world. This year you'll be able to catch special events, screenings and their popular All-nighter events.

This year they have some really cool stuff happening including "a co-production we are doing with the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Yup, the home of GMT and all things astronomical, we have created SCI-FI-UNIVERSE, a planetarium show from an SF perspective. Also, at the Observatory we will have some talks and a writing workshop. And to celebrate the release of the DVD and Blu-ray, we will do an invite only screening of the new STAR TREK. Click here for details of how to register for this screening and how to buy tickets for this unique night at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. Buy a planetarium ticket and you can attend on of the talks or workshop for free - places are very limited and on a first-come-first served basis, so get there early."

This years line up:
Friday 23rd October, 2009
Events held at the Royal Observatory Greenwich

6.30pm: Sci-Fi-Universe
8.15pm: Star Trek (2009)

Saturday 24th October, 2009
Events held at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus

9:00pm: SCI-FI-STAND-UP
Midnight: Anime All-nighter
11:00pm: Aliens and Predators All-nighter
11:30pm: MST3K All-nighter

A To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the very first ALIEN movie (and their 10th All-nighter!) SCI-FI-LONDON is giving you the chance to see these iconic movies as they should be seen - on a big screen from 35mm prints.

The event starts around 10.30 with DJ's in the bar and the first movie starts just after 11.00 - the whole. show ends around 10am the next day. There will be some very cool spot prizes and give-aways and a packed goody-bag. Throughout the night we keep you full of Redbull, Ice-Cream and coffee to help you make it 'til morning.



The line up:
ALIEN
ALIENS
ALIEN3
PREDATOR
PREDATOR 2 (Oops! Sorry) AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Tickets here!
Where
Apollo Piccadilly Circus
19 Regent Street
London
SW1Y 4LR

When
10:30pm Sat 24 - 11am Sun 25 Oct, 2009

Flashbacks of a Fool
Stars: Daniel Craig, Emile Robert, Olivia Williams, Mark Strong, Claire Forlani





















Daniel Craig stars as Joe, a hedonistic British actor whose Hollywood career is starting to nosedive. The death of his best friend from his English childhood causes him to journey back home for the funeral, and prompts flashbacks to his teenage experiences - including the tragedy that forced him to flee to the United States and a new life.

As well as playing the lead role, Daniel Craig is the executive producer of this film. It has been a pet project for a while. With the success of his new Bond fame the money came into place.

The part of the bitter and twisted film star was written with Craig in mind by his friend, Baillie Walsh, before the Bond star got famous.

"When he wrote the part for me about five or six years ago, I certainly didn't have the success I did now," says Craig, keen to stress that the tale of a successful but arrogant film star is not about him.

The film was mainly shot in Cape Town, South Africa and Malibu, California.

For the scene where Joe meets his agent and director of his potential next role. He meets the two at an upmarket restaurant overlooking the sea. Both the interior and exterior scenes were filmed at Salt Restaurant at The Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.

Where:
34 Victoria Road, Bantry Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, 8005

View Larger Map

CLIVE BARKER will be signing his new DVD, 'Midnight Meat Train' at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday 15th October 6:30 - 7:30 pm.

Featuring Vinnie Jones and based on the short story by Clive Barker, Midnight Meat Train is the horrific tale of Leon, a New York photographer who saves a woman from being attacked. The woman then disappears and the police show no interest in Leon's story, forcing him to track down the killer on the subway system himself.


Please note that Clive Barker will only sign copies of 'Midnight Meat Train' and one other item per customer on the day. Due to time constraints, limits may change and Forbidden Planet cannot guarantee that every customer will be seen.

Where:
London Megastore
179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR

When:
6:30 - 7:30 pm, 15 Oct, 2009

The highly acclaimed artist and filmmaker comes to the BFI to discuss her career transition from gallery to cinema with Tim Marlow.



Whilst creating her first major artwork Killing Time in 1994, and the subsequent 1996 multi-screen works Travesty of a Mockery and Pent-Up, Sam Taylor-Wood gained valuable experience working with actors, and she has applied a cinematic sensibility to her still photographic work as well as her films ever since. Her diagnosis and recovery from both colon cancer in 1997 and breast cancer in 2001, influenced her already melancholic work, exploring and reflecting on the theme of mortality in such works as Still Life (2001) and A Little Death (2002) while experimenting with the distortion of time and motion. Pieces from 2005-2006; David, Prelude in Air and The Last Century, focus on moments of vulnerability and intimacy and remind us of elements now lost from our culture. Taylor-Wood's impressive short narrative film Love You More (LFF 2008) has much in common with her artwork, in as much that it is a simple idea, beautifully executed, and as with all of her work, it is the visual expression of the idea that is so original. We are proud to present the World Premiere of Sam's first feature Nowhere Boy as our Closing Night film, and very excited that she will be in conversation to discuss her work. Timothy Smith








Where
BFI NFT1

When
18:30 Tues 27 October

Disney's A Christmas Carol World Premiere and London's Christmas Light Switch-Ons

London will celebrate the launch of a traditional festive season with one of the capital's biggest-ever Christmas events on 3 November. This year, the Christmas Lights across the West End and in the City of London will be switched on simultaneously.

There'll also be a fantastic Christmas concert, and a unique light show at St Paul's Cathedral.

All this will be followed by the world premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol, attended by the major stars of the movie.

Where & When
Christmas Lights Switch-on and Street Concert

London's Christmas lights will be switched on alongside street concerts between 5pm and 6.30pm on 3 November. Three locations across the city will come together to create London's first ever co-ordinated street concerts and Christmas light switch-on.

• Oxford Circus – live concert with major performing artists from 5pm, switch-on of Disney's A Christmas Carol lights by Jim Carrey – finishes at 6.30pm
• Regent Street – live concert with major performing artists from 5pm, switch-on of Disney's A Christmas Carol lights by Colin Firth and Robin Wright Penn – finishes at 6.30pm
• St Paul's Cathedral – live concert with major performing artists from 5pm, light show on St Paul's Cathedral switched on by Bob Hoskins

All events are free to the public – get there early to grab a good viewing spot.

Sing Your Way into the Record Books
Following the Christmas lights switch-on, the three stages will be linked for Londoners to join together to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people carol singing at one time! The singing will be led by the St Paul's Cathedral Choir.

The World Premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol: Leicester Square 7.30pm
After the Christmas lights switch-on, the focus will shift to Leicester Square for the world premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol.

The film's world premiere will be one of the most glittering and star-studded premieres that London has ever seen, attended by all the major stars including Jim Carrey and director Robert Zemeckis.

The film will be screened in three of London's leading cinemas – the Odeon Leicester Square, the Empire Leicester Square and the Odeon West End, all in cutting-edge Disney Digital 3D – creating the biggest-ever 3D screening.

For more info click here!

Wha-hey! It's all happening this month. There have been loads of classic screenings from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Once upon a time in the west and 3 of my all time favourite films; The Warriors, The Thing and now Rollerball. Action overload!

One of the best dystopian sci-fi movies to come out of the 70s, Rollerball focuses on an ultra-violent sport used to keep an overpopulated planet under control and probes its links to politics, the media and big conglomerates. When a star player refuses to obey the owners of his team, the stage is set for a Gladiator-like confrontation between a rebellious individual and the corporate power that seeks to crush him.



Where
The Prince Charles Cinema
7 Leicester Place, WC2
Just north off Leicester Sq & up from Häagen-Dazs

When
8pm, Wednesday 7 October, 2009

In a remote and forgotten wilderness, one of nature's last great mysteries unfolds: the birth, life and survival of a million crimson-winged flamingos. Against the dramatic backdrop of unforgiving, never-before filmed landscapes, we follow the birth of a tiny flamingo hatchling, and the perils and fortunes of her life in the extraordinary 'other world' of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania.



The first title to be released under the new Disneynature label, THE CRIMSON WING will take you on a breathtaking and beautiful journey through a story that only nature itself could tell.

To download tickets simply go to www.seefilmfirst.com and enter code: 482610

The film starts at 6.30pm. Seefilmfirst tickets must be changed for cinema tickets at the cinema Box Office by 6.15pm. There will be a Q&A with the films producers and director at the end.

Where
Cineworld Haymarket
63-65 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RL

When
6.15 for 6:30pm, 21 September, 2009

Become a part of world history! To mark the Blu-Ray release of The Prisoner the first 125 Network customers who pre-order the Blu-Ray edition from the Network web site will receive a pair of tickets to "The Prisoner All Nighter", an all night extravaganza taking place at the Prince Charles Cinema in Central London on Saturday 26th September 2009 starting at 8.30pm, where every episode of The Prisoner will be screened in High Definition for the first time anywhere in the world. Will you still feel like a free man after being subjected to 17 TV hours in the village plus special guests who appeared in the show?



To obtain tickets you simply need to purchase a copy of The Prisoner the Complete Series (RRP £59.99) fromwww.networkdvd.co.uk.

• Tickets to this event for the pre-order DVD will be issued on a first come first serve basis.
• As well as these special tickets each attendee will also receive a 1967 reproduction ITC brochure exclusive to this event.


The Prisoner All Nighter will be opened by Prisoner Loudspeaker Announcer Fenella Fielding and closed by an additional special guest. Attendees will also be entered into a prize draw t win some unique Prisoner merchandise.
Please note the Prince Charles Cineme are NOT taking any bookings for this, to obtain a ticket you MUST go via www.networkdvd.co.uk


Where
The Prince Charles Cinema
7 Leicester Place, WC2
Just north off Leicester Sq & up from Häagen-Dazs

When
8:30pm, Saturday 26 September, 2009

Curzon Cinemas is proud to welcome ANDREA ARNOLD in a post screening discussion along with the film on Sunday 13 September 3pm at Curzon Soho.

Justly picking up another Cannes Grand Jury Prize, Andrea Arnold’s follow-up to Red Road is an intense and surprising story of love, lust and family.


Fifteen-year-old Mia (Jarvis) is at war with everything: her family, her school, and the girls on her estate. Her one release is dancing, a passion that she practices in secret. Things change when her mother (Wareing) introduces charismatic new boyfriend Connor (Fassbender, Hunger) – but Arnold’s subtle and unpredictable script keeps us guessing as to just what influence the newcomer will bring to bear. Drawing a fantastically raw and yet immensely accomplished performance from newcomer Katie Jarvis, Arnold, who draws on her own background growing up in London’s East End, has crafted a potent and poetic British film that places her at the vanguard of world cinema.




Where
Curzon Soho
99 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 5DY

When
3pm, Sunday 13 October, 2009

Master animator Nick Park discusses his illustrious career and helps us celebrate 20 years since Wallace & Gromit hit our screens.



As a child, Nick Park's career aspirations included being an artist for the Beano comic and an inventor. By far, his best invention has been Wallace & Gromit, who first appeared on our screens 20 years ago. In 1985, Park became an invaluable addition to Aardman Animations, and A Grand Day Out (which he began as a student at the NFTS) earned him his first of many BAFTA awards. Four Academy Awards followed, not just for his much-loved shorts Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, but also for his feature Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Park's perfectionist attention to detail and his ability to infuse his plasticine characters with humanity and humour (not to mention giving an immense vocabulary and emotional range to a dog that never speaks a word) is testament to the genius of his imagination and to his unsurpassed talent as an animator. To celebrate Park's 'cracking' achievements we are delighted to be able to screen A Grand Day Out, digitally remastered for the occasion. Nick Park will be interviewed on stage after the screening by journalist David Gritten. Timothy Smith








Where
BFI NFT1

When
15:15 Sat 24 October

28 Days Later
Stars: Cillian Murphy - Jim, Naomie Harris - Selena, Brendan Gleeson - Frank, Christopher Eccleston - Major Henry West














It has been twenty-eight days since Jim, a young bicycle courier, was knocked off his bike and injured in a car accident. When he wakes up from his coma, the world has changed. Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

A critical and commercial success, 28 Days Later is widely recognized for images of a deserted London. It spawned the 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, the graphic novel 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, and a possible third film.

28 Days Later features scenes set in normally bustling parts of London such as Westminster Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, Horse Guards Parade and Oxford Street. In order to depict these locations as desolate, police would close the roads at 4am and filming would begin immediately. It would last for one hour, and at that time the police would reopen the roads.
As well as having to deal with traffic, the producers also had to ask clubbers to find alternative routes home. In terms of the traffic, the producers correctly predicted that asking drivers to either wait for up to an hour or find another way might cause some considerable consternation. As such, they employed several extremely attractive young women (one of whom was Danny Boyle's daughter) to make the necessary requests. This plan had the desired results, as the drivers responded quite amicably to the young girls.

For the London scene where Jim walks by the overturned double-decker bus, the film crew placed the bus on its side and removed it when the shot was finished, all within 20 minutes.


Where:
Westminster Bridge, Westminster and South Bank, London SE1 and SW1

View Larger Map
Trivia:
It's not explained in the film but the infected are attracted to the tone in human voices.
The decision to film on DV (using Canon XL1 cameras) was both an aesthetic and a logistic choice.
- Danny Boyle felt that the harshness of the DV imagery suited the post-apocalyptic urban landscape and the grittiness of the film in general.
- All the scenes of the Infected in a particular style - using a type of slow motion feature on the Canon XL1 DV cameras with which the film was shot. Shooting at that speed on a film camera gives basic slow motion, but doing so on a DV camera produces the kind of staccato effect seen in scenes involving the Infected.
- "The police and the local authorities were quite happy to assist us because we could set up scenes so quickly. We could literally be ready to shoot with a six-camera set-up within minutes - something we would not realistically have been able to do if shooting under the restrictions of 35mm which takes a good deal more time to set up a single shot."

Westminster Bridge can also be seen in; Doctor Who (1964 & 2005), Monty Python's Flying Circus, 102 Dalmatians, Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

Get yourself a ticket for the biggest party the unfashionable end of the galaxy has ever seen and join best-selling author Eoin Colfer – creator of criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl – and actor Simon Jones, the original Arthur Dent, in a celebration of 30 years of the late, great Douglas Adams’ classic British comedy. This’ll be your first chance to see, hear and buy the sixth instalment, And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer.

With other out-of-this-world entertainment throughout the day – including special free screenings of the Hitchhiker’s series in The Clore Ballroom – this is one event no self-respecting lover of classic British comedy will want to miss.

One of the best dystopian sci-fi movies to come out of the 70s, Rollerball focuses on an ultra-violent sport used to keep an overpopulated planet under control and probes its links to politics, the media and big conglomerates. When a star player refuses to obey the owners of his team, the stage is set for a Gladiator-like confrontation between a rebellious individual and the corporate power that seeks to crush him.

Events include:
Photo Call
Start the day at a photocall of the largest number of Hitchhiker's fans ever.

Session 1: The Douglas Adams Chat Show
A full panel of Hitchhiker’s experts and friends of Douglas Adams discusses the great man and his work.

Booksigning: Mega-signing of the fantastic new edition of the first five Hitchhiker's novels.

Sessions 2 & 3 (And Another Thing... & Hitchhikers Live On Stage!)
The sixth book in the series, special guests and a live gig – Sessions 2 & 3 of our day-long celebration of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Booksigning: Eoin Colfer
Buy the new sixth book in the series a day before everyone else and get it signed by Eoin Colfer.



Where
The Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

When
Sunday 11 October, 2009

By know you know that Director Duncan Jones's next film will not be an adaptation of "Escape from the Deep" as anticipated.

It sounds like "Escape from the Deep" the true story of a WW2 submarine crew that go to hell and back will be tackled after another forage into the Sci Fi with "Mute". More information about the Alex Kershaw book "Escape from the Deep" can be
found here http://www.escapefromthedeep.com/.

Mute
The Mute concept art released via Jone's Liberty Films website looks pretty damn spiffy and tantalising enough to keep Sci Fi fans wanting more. The artwork is very reminiscent of Syd Mead's conceptual art for Blade Runner. Interesting to note that the signage in the street scene says Fremde which is German for strange, but could also mean foreign or Alien. Jones has said that Mute is not about Aliens as such. I'm guessing that this scene is some high class clientele leaving a bar/club that caters for strange tastes. This is possibly the club that the lead's girlfriend works at before disappearing. Then again it could just be a street scene.

Mute is basically the other side of the coin from Moon. Moon is about isolation, loneliness, living on your own and having to find a way to deal with that.

Mute is based in a future Berlin, so it's a big city film, a thriller in a city that so full and so unfriendly in a way. It's going to be a very different kind of film - but a good companion piece.

Mute is a much busier, nosier kind of film. It’s a thriller based in a future Berlin…. If Moon is inspired by films like Outland and Silent Running, then Mute, is inspired by Blade Runner.

For twitter updates on everything Duncan Jones's including Mute follow: @manmademovies

You can follow Duncan Jones here: @manmademoon

You can follow Moon Producer Stuart Fenegan (One of Variety's 10 Producers to Watch) here: @LibertyStu (Warning! Does not update much - yet)

The most media rich news can be found on the Liberty Films blog here: http://blog.manmademovies.co.uk/

Follow the Moon Facebook Group here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/manmademovies/151750620947

An exclusive ICA release. A huge hit in China and Hong Kong, Yip Man or Ip Man is the semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the first martial arts master to teach the Chinese (as well as Bruce Lee) the martial art of Wing Chun.

The charismatic Donnie Yen plays the lead in this period tale set against the backdrop of the second Sino-Japanese War during the 1930s, and Johnnie To favourite Simon Yam also stars. Director Wilson Yip brings his customary dynamism to proceedings, although the man who really pulls it all together is the legendary Sammo Hung. His work here as action choreographer won a Hong Kong Film Award, as did the film itself.

In the scene above a Japanese General is giving out white rice to any Chinese person who defeats the Japanese fighters at a ratio of 1 bag per 1 defeated fighter.

Prior to this scene the General has killed Ip Man's friend (Sifu Liu) in a duel. Ip Man demands a fight with 10 of the black belts. Upon his victory, he refuses to take his reward, the 10 bags of rice and says "I did not come here for the rice". The General asks for his name and Ip Man replies "I am just a Chinese". The interpreter tells the General, "He is Ip Man".

Where
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
12 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH

When
2 - 22 Oct, 2009

Held in the highest regard by everyone he's worked with, Coventry's favourite son comes to the BFI for a discussion about his career.



Straight out of drama school, Clive Owen landed a starring role in his first feature Vroom (LFF 1988) and within two years he was starring in TV crime drama Chancer. Concerned that he would be stereotyped into television roles, he chose to take a controversial role in Stephen Poliakoff's Close My Eyes which fed his desire to explore a more interesting career path in both film and theatre. Since then, Owen has taken particular care to work with scripts that he feels passionate about, and has the highest regard for the actors and directors that he works with. This strong work ethic has seen repeat collaborations with director Mike Hodges on Croupier and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, and he has enjoyed working more than once with Julia Roberts and Paul Giamatti. The hard work was rewarded with both a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for his performance in Closer, and Owen went on to impress as anti-hero Dwight McCarthy in Sin City. His work on Children of Men was also highly acclaimed, and writer-director Alfonso Cuaron has personally credited Owen with contributing to the script. The Boys Are Back sees Owen in a very different acting role (as well as Executive Producer), and working once again with a wonderful script. We are very pleased to welcome such a dedicated actor to take part in the BFI Screen Talks series. Timothy Smith







Where
BFI NFT1

When
18:30 Thu 22 October