Cambridge film festival special

what’s on music • theatre

• films

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The reel thing Cambridge Film Festival special

20 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival 1

A scientific life THERE have been documentaries and fictionalised series about the world’s greatest living scientist before, but this is different: this time it’s Professor Stephen Hawking in his own words. That’s the power of Hawking, a touching, funny, candid insight into the professor’s life and work. Those lucky enough to have nabbed tickets will also get to see the cosmologist in person during a Q&A with director Stephen Finnegan after the screening (who we interviewed on page 26).

(Today, 7.25pm)

Surprise!

EVERY year the Festival is a total tease and screens a surprise film – this year they’re being generous and showing two. There’s only way to find out what they are though, and that’s to turn up on the day (even the projectionist doesn’t know what he’s putting on). Previous Surprise Films have included premieres of Pixar’s UP!, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Burn After Reading. They always sell out too so you’ll want to book early.

(Saturday, September 28, 1.15pm/ Sunday, September 29, 2.45pm)

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First up, ELLA WALKER tells you the 10 events not to miss…

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Woody marvellous THE Festival has only gone and nabbed the honour of hosting the UK premiere of Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen’s latest foray into dysfunctional family drama. It stars Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, a penniless, Xanax popping socialite who’s having to bunk up with her sister (Sally Hawkins) after being ditched by her cheating husband (Alec Baldwin). It’s razor sharp, wittily spiteful and full of endearing neuroses – kind of.

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Read our interview with the rather lovely Sally Hawkins

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Editor: Paul Kirkley Writer: Ella Walker Email: whatson@cambridge-news.co.uk, ella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

on page 24.

(Today, 10.15pm/ Cineworld, 7.30pm)

Director chat THIS year’s closing film is quite a coup. How I Live Now starts out like a slicker Twilight, ie there’s teenage romance between beautiful co-stars Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay, but then World War III hits and everything falls apart. Now it really is all about survival. The award-winning director Kevin Macdonald (the man behind The Last King Of Scotland no less), will be answering questions after the screening.

(Sunday, September 29, 8.30pm)

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Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 19, 2013 | 21

What’s On has two pairs of film tickets to giveaway every day throughout Cambridge Film Festival, visit http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Whats-on-leisure/Cambridge-Film-Festival/ for details

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Festival choice

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MY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY (Germany, 2012) Kosovo, 1999. As the civil war between Serbs and Albanians rages, hatred has replaced tolerance, and towns are brutally divided along ethnic lines.

The young Serbian widow Danica lives with her two sons Vlado and Danilo in a predominantly Serbian community close to a small town, which the River Ibar divides into an Albanian and a Serbian section. The death of Danica’s husband at the hands of the Albanians has left profound traces in the family. Little Danilo has not spoken a word since, and Vlado has become a hooky-playing loner who dreams of owning a bright blue bicycle. Despite the war, everyone in the community strives to lead normal lives. But one day, Danica returns from town to find a seriously injured KosovoAlbanian soldier, Ramiz, in her house. Though aware that he is on the run from the Serbian militia, Danica takes Ramiz in and nurses him back to health, thus exposing herself and the children to danger.

UK premiere. Thursday, Sept 19, 5pm, Tuesday, Sept, 24, 1.30pm.

Dream big OBVIOUSLY, Hawking isn’t the only documentary worth checking out over the Festival. Learn all about snowboarder Kevin Pierce who suffered brain damage before the 2010 US Winter Olympics in The Crash Reel (Friday, September 20, 8.45pm, above), discover the amazing ambitions of a tiny group of budding scientists in Beirut who embarked on building a rocket using budget materials from local shops in The Lebanese Rocket Society (Saturday, September 21, 6.15pm), and see how Drako Zarhazar, who is unable to create new memories, lives perpetually in the moment in The Man Whose Mind Exploded (Friday, September 27, 6.45pm).

Go retro ALL you 80s kids can relive the films of your youth – and the political tension that went with it – thanks to the Festival’s Thatcher’s Britain strand.

See a young, chiselled David Bowie in Absolute Beginners (Wednesday, September 25, 3.45pm, bottom right), Daniel Day-Lewis scrubbing along in My Beautiful Laundrette (Tuesday, September 24, 6.30pm) and Helena Bonham Carter trussed up in corsets in A Room With A View (Saturday, September 21, 1pm, top right).

Swoon…

Noir thrills IF you’re a fan of dark historical dramas – and couldn’t imagine anything better than Lost’s Matthew Fox in uniform – you’re bound to enjoy Emperor. Set in post WWII Japan, Fox’s character sets out to untangle the Emperor’s involvement

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with war crimes, while also trying to find a long lost love. Director Peter Webber tells us what it was like to work with the rather gruff Tommy Lee Jones and why he’s obsessed with Japanese culture on page 27.

(Saturday, September 28, 8.30pm)

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A Song and dance THE Festival’s 33 1/3 strand delves into the thrumming, eccentric, giddy world of music documentaries – complete with incredible soundtracks. Head nod your way through Shane Meadows’ rock ‘n’ roll Stone Roses tribute, Made Of Stone (Saturday, September 28), explore how fickle the industry is in The Great Hip Hop Hoax (Sunday, September 22), and see Thomas Dolby’s homage to a lighthouse that lit up his childhood in The Invisible Lighthouse (Wednesday, September 29).

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Local dimension TRIDENTFEST is a collection of super short films made by local filmmakers, including Arts Picturehouse favourite, Ryd Cook from Cambridge.

Each movie is between two and 10 minutes long, covering everything from cutlass-wielding buccaneers, a music video made using seven cameras, and a story about a guy trapped in a house, facing his own fears.

Go be inspired.

(Friday, September 27, 11pm)

Family fun ALTHOUGH there’s no dedicated family film festival this year (boo), there’s still tonnes of stuff for kids and families to get stuck into (yay).

We’re particularly excited about

Turbo (3D) which tells the tale of a snail who wants to be a racing driver.

See back page for more details

BACK TO THE GARDEN (UK, 2013) It is a year since the death of an inspirational theatre director and teacher, and his widow is struggling to come to terms with her loss. A group of close friends, many of whom are or were actors, come to spend the weekend with her to offer their support and to celebrate his memory in an entertaining and moving performance before they scatter his ashes in the garden. Back To The Garden is both a meditation on love and loss and an evocation of the joys and sadnesses of later life, exploring these themes with humour and tenderness by the improvising cast. Jon Sanders and his cast will attend the screening.

World premiere. Sunday, Sept 22, 6pm, Monday, Sept 23, 11am.

BLACK AFRICA, WHITE MARBLE (Italy, USA, 2011) The history of European colonialism in Africa is largely an ugly one. But among the stories of exploitation, slavery and harvesting of natural resources, is that of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo – the only African capital city to retain a European name, in honour of Italian explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza, whose kindness and friendship eternally endeared him to its people after he arrived there in 1875. Skip to the present, and plans to move Brazza’s body from Algiers to a new, commemorative mausoleum in Brazzaville pique the interest of the explorer’s descendant, Idanna Pucci. But upon learning that the plans mask a sinister on the part of the corrupt Nguesso government, Pucci makes a stand. Shadow puppetry, animation and archive footage mesh together in this intriguing documentary. Director Clemente Bicocchi, Idanna Pucci and producer Terence Ward will attend the screening.

UK premiere. Friday, Sept 27, 3.45pm, Saturday, Sept 28, 10.45am.

BLACKBIRD (UK, 2013) The tension between tradition and progress – past and future – is felt nowhere more keenly than in Scotland, where despite various initiatives aimed at preserving a rich tradition of ballads and storytelling, the prospect of these cultural foundations being lost to future generations is very real. This tension inspired Jamie Chambers to make Blackbird, a story of fiery young Ruadhan’s battle to preserve the oral romanticism of his sleepy Scottish hometown in the face of apathy, new developments, and the pull of the city.

Starring celebrated Gaelic poet, piper and comic Norman Maclean as an ageing bard whose help Ruadhan enlists in his campaign, the film is a spirited paean to Scottish cultural history. While a soundtrack of traditionally sung ballads offers tangible evidence of the tradition at stake, John Craine’s sensuous cinematograph y dwells on the natural beauty of SW Scotland, the Machars of Dumfries and Galloway.

Sunday, Sept 22, 6pm, Monday, Sept 23, 10.45am.

22 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival Festival Choice ɀ Cold (Turkey, 2013) In actor-turned-director Ugur Yucel’s Cold, Kars’ sparse, chilly climes serve as a severe but also visually arresting backdrop to an absorbing tale of lust, guilt, and revenge. In the wake of inebriated wedding celebrations, morally conservative rail worker Balabey and his bloodyminded younger brother Enver fall in with a trio of Russian sisters who are working as prostitutes in Kars, but who are set on repatriation to their motherland at the earliest opportunity. With his wife pregnant at home and his conscience weighing heavy, Balabey nevertheless becomes infatuated with the youngest sister, while fiery Enver only stirs up further trouble. Played out against stunning shots of the icy Caucasian tundra, Balabey’s obsession leads inevitably towards a tragic and violent conclusion.

UK premiere. Saturday, Sept 28, 4pm. ɀ Coming Forth By Day (Egypt, United Arab Emirates, 2012) Cairo. A small, dusty apartment, barely touched by sunlight, and home to three silent, sombre figures. Soad’s life is entirely dominated by caring for her sickly father, left helpless by a stroke. Her mother is a nurse, whose night-shifts leave her little able to share the burden. Unfolding at a serene, measured pace reflective of the oppressive quietude, the film follows Soad’s daily routine, depicting the apartment as a place isolated from the outside world. Her eventual foray out of her crypt-like home is a breath of air, and her spontaneous exploration of Cairo’s nightlife a string of precious, stolen moments. Meditating on notions of mortality, duty, and gender-roles in today’s Middle-East, Lotfy’s filmmaking voice — heavily inflected with European art-house tradition — is a very promising addition to Arab cinema.

Thursday, Sept 26, 3.45pm. ɀ The Crash Reel (USA, 2013) Aged 18, Kevin Pearce was a starlet of the professional snowboarding circuit. Having racked up numerous championships and highprofile sponsorships thanks to his aerial wizardry, he was considered a shoo-in for the 2010 US Winter Olympics team—his only competition for podium places coming in the shape of long-term rival Shaun White. But just weeks before the Olympics, the unthinkable happened: Pearce suffered a horrific accident in training, leaving him with serious damage to his brain and one of his eyes. Despite a lengthy rehabilitation process, and the risk that any further trauma could have fatal consequences, Pearce insisted he would return to the sport, against the wishes of his loved ones. Immersing herself within both snowboarding culture, and Pearce’s close-knit family group, this is an incisive insight by Lucy Walker into the world of extreme sports, where danger is the criterion of value.

Friday, Sept 20, 8.45pm, Saturday, Sept 21, 5.30pm (Sawston Cinema), Sunday, Sept 22, 1pm. ɀ Dead Cat (UK, 2013) Michael and Kristen were childhood sweethearts, but haven’t spoken in 10 years.

Thrown back together as they both begin their thirties, is there still anything between them? With only a gang of hilariously dysfunctional friends as allies, the former lovers attempt to work out whether their chance reunion constitutes love or just nostalgia. Directed by Stefan Georgiou and starring Sebastian Armesto (both hotly tipped in Screen International’s Star of Tomorrow 2011), Dead Cat is a winsome, entertaining take on contemporary relationships, and a breezy shot in the arm for British comedy.

With a soundtrack featuring promising UK artists such as Dry The River, Sound of Guns and Chad Valley, and a cast including Tom Mison (One Day, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) and Johnny Palmeiro (Bonded By Blood, The Kid), the film brings together some of the finest emerging British talent.

Saturday, Sept 21, 8pm (Sawston Cinema), Wednesday, Sept 25, 11pm, Friday, Sept 27, 1.15pm.

Variations on a theme

NOW YOU SEE HIM: The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

Ever the eclectic programmers, Cambridge Film Festival has lined up a collection of quirky, educational and suitably stunning themed film strands, featuring classic revivals and shorts, as well as in depth focus on German, Catalonian and Iranian cinema and all things gothic. ELLA WALKER picks the highlights Young Americans l Prince Avalanche EMILE Hirsche and Paul Rudd team up to re-paint the lines on the roads after the Texas forest fires in 1988. Overall clad with questionable facial hair, the odd duo form a strange kind of attachment in this burnt down world void of other people as they track back and forth, splodging the roads with strips of yellow.

A post-apocalyptic road movie, charred and vacant, it is searching, moving but above all funny. A quirky turn for Rudd and floppy fringed Hirsch, you’ll be reaching for your own set of dungarees by the end.

Today, 10.45pm, Monday, Sept 23, 3.45pm l Only the Young A BLUR of documentary filmed like fiction, Only the Young is directors Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims’ movie debut.

Three teens in the throws of graduation – Christian skaters Garrison and Kevin, plus Garrison’s sometime girlfriend Skye – skate about town, hunting through abandoned houses in the Southern Californian desert, pottering about empty pools and soaking up the sunshine on a neglected mini-gold course, talking all the while to a soundtrack of old school R&B. Adventurous, boundless and honest, it tears apart the thought that adulthood might be a place you could call safe.

Saturday, Sept 21, 3.30pm, Sunday, Sept 22, 8.30pm l A Teacher WHAT was a thrill-laden fling between a teacher, Diana Watts, and her student, Eric Tull, descends into a spiral of obsession and obscure desires – on Diana’s part at least. Eric instead wanders happily from relationship to relationship unaware of the volatile feelings of his tutor. Directed by 27-year-old Hannah Fiddell, this is dark, concerning and brilliantly nuanced, exploring the pleasure of the illicit, and the damning consequences of

crossing the line.

UK premiere, Friday, Sept 20, 6.30pm l Ain’t Them Bodies Saints STARRING the wonderfully brittle Casey Affleck as an outlaw racing across the Texan countryside to find his wife, the stunning Rooney Mara, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints starts with the end: a Bonnie and Clyde shoot out with the police. Bubbling with longing, anguish and need, it repeatedly nods to Terence Malick’s painfully touching Badlands and spools out tensely as fate creeps up on the protagonists. It’ll leave you fraught and hollow – in a good way.

Monday, Sept 23, 3.30pm/8.45pm, Cineworld, Wednesday, Sept 25, 10.45pm Contemporary German Cinema l Dust on our Hearts KATHI is a struggling 30-yearold wannabe actress with a 4-year-old son (whom she momentarily loses), an overbearing mother who uses her career as a life-coach to diagnose (i.e. nosy her way into) Kathi’s problems, then her long lost father turns up causing all sorts of trouble.

Shot through with love, Dust on our Hearts will make you laugh, take a sideways glance at your own family and consider where you stand in the world.

UK premiere, Monday, Sept 23, 6.15pm, Tuesday, Sept 24, 1.15pm. Actress Stephanie Stremler will make an appearance. l Free Fall Policeman Marc has a baby on the way and a mortgage to pay. Then he goes and falls in love with new colleague Kay on a training meeting.

Emotionally charged and dangerously torn, Marc loses control, free-wheeling through his life, hurtling by people and damaging them on his way down. Is there any way back?

Gripping, unsettling, with pulses of hope too, Free Fall will make you question every sense of duty you possess.

UK premiere, Tuesday, Sept 24, 7pm, Wednesday, Sept 25, 1.30pm, Cineworld. Director Stephan Lacant will make an appearance. l Ludwig II LUDWIG II, King of Bavaria, is the topic of this biopic on a man who was much more interested in spending his country’s budget on the

production of Wagner’s operas than on weapons (and why not?). Sabin Tambrea – tipped for great things – stars as Ludwig, informed by the latest historical research on the rather eccentric, but well loved, character. It is also the last film from director Peter Sehr who died this spring – don’t miss it.

UK premiere, Sunday, Sept 22, 3.15pm, Wednesday, Sept 25, 3pm, Cineworld Eastern View l Of Snails and Men BASED on a true story – and a very bizarre one at that – Of Snails and Men takes a peek into the microcosm of a Romanian factory whose workers, when threatened with privatisation, decide to donate their sperm to raise the necessary cash to save jobs. Set against the backdrop of 1992 when Michael Jackson’s Dangerous tour visited Romania, it’s slightly mental, filled with crazy ideas and a whole lot of heart. Then the factory’s CEO goes and makes a deal with a French snail company… as you do.

Sunday, Sept 29, 6.30pm

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 19, 2013 | 23

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Festival Choice

FOR THE LOVE OF WAGNER: Ludwig II

l The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear DIRECTOR Tinatin Gurchiani (expected to make an appearance after the screening) asked 15-23-yearold Georgians to get in touch, and then she went and filmed them. The result is a piece made up of fragmented stories including; a young woman getting married, a boy reenacting Little Red Riding Hood and a local governor preparing his older villagers ahead of his move to the city.

It builds and encompasses a society, overlapping loves, worries, fears and the

ɀ Delight (UK, 2013) Described as ‘a war film without violence’, Delight is the second film of a trilogy exploring the connection between creativity and libido, following veteran screenwriter Gareth Jones’ 2009 feature debut Desire. Inspired partly by the experiences of Jones’ father, a former BBC foreign correspondent who retired to the Welsh village where Delight itself is set, the film explores the cost and the psychological scars of war reportage through the prism of Echo (Balibar), a photographer whose search for a former colleague and lover brings her instead into contact with his son. The intense love affair that ensues between the pair triggers the return of old, painful memories for Echo – memories with consequences both for her and her children. With nothing but the Welsh countryside and her young lover to console her, Echo is forced to confront her past. Gareth Jones will be attending the screening.

Saturday, Sept 28, 6pm.

happiness to be found in community.

UK premiere. Saturday, Sept 28, 3.30pm Visions of Iran l Fireworks Wednesday SCREENED in Farsi with English subtitles, Fireworks Wednesday explores troublesome relationships and gender roles when a young lady stumbles into a screaming match between a couple whose house she’s meant to be cleaning. Manners, morals and judgement rear up as you are asked to detangle the moment and answer: what would you have done in the same situation?

Sunday, Sept 22, 1.30am, Tuesday, Sept 24, 3pm Gothic and horror IF you’re in need of a scare, you can shriek your way through two terrifying film strands; FrightFest and Gothic on Tour, FILM FORCE: From left, Of Snails and Men, Nosferatu and Dust on our Hearts

both running at Cineworld.

FrightFest will weave together a selection of old and new horror films, from animal sacrifice and witches in The Paranormal Diaries, to tongue in cheek grind-house homage Machete Kills and the classic, unsettling Nosferatu (practically a Dracula remake).

Gothic on Tour promises more twisted psychology and slightly less gore with a slew of classics: The Shining, The Exorcist and The Wicker Man. Camera Catalonia l The Forest DIRECTED by Oscar Aibar in the style of del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, this is a tale of a family bracing themselves for escape as the Spanish Civil War threatens to consume their home. As the fighting draws nearer, lights appear in the forest surrounding their farmhouse, offering – according to family tradition – a route into another world, but there is no coming back after stepping through the portal…

UK premiere. Thursday, Sept 26, 4pm, Cineworld, Saturday, Sept 28, 9pm. Producer Roman Vidal

will attend the screening.

Roland Klick A TRIBUTE to the cult German filmmaker who has a knack for creating disturbing dystopian vistas, namely punk rock odysseys, psychedelic westerns and destructive, youth fuelled crime dramas. Dark, druggy and often mind-bending, Klick’s films are rarely shown today (his hey-day being the 1970s and early 80s), catch three of his masterpieces: the bizarre acid western Deadlock, unhinged synthpunk movie White Star and crook driven Supermarkt.

Short Fusion ASIDE from Iranian, German and Estonian shorts for the connoisseurs among you, there are also five dedicated short strands – littered with UK premieres – that focus on love and loss, growing pains, nostalgia, existentialism and distorted lives. See snippets of beautifully crafted films from Ireland, Canada, Australia, Britain and Malaysia.

ɀ Dirty Wars (USA, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Somalia, Yemen) If the procession of statistics and grim news reports emitting from the frontline of the War on Terror has induced a level of ennui amongst US and UK audiences, the incendiary evidence collected by investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill offers a much needed tonic. Dirty Wars is a sharp, incisive and smartly composed documentary, exposing the dark truth of covert US military activity. The list of charges includes indiscriminate attacks against Afghan peasants, the backing of warlords in Mogadishu, and drone strikes launched on the barest suspicions against targets in Yemen – a country with whom the US is not officially at war. The film follows Scahill as he tracks down sources, often at great personal danger, to bring us shocking tales of impunity amongst the of shady wings of the US military, and of their disregard for sovereignties and international laws.

Thursday, Sept 26, 8.30pm. ɀ Don Hertzfeldt (special programme) Don Hertzfeldt is, in all likelihood, the best animator you’ve never heard of. Starting out with short films in the 1990s, the Texas-based artist’s chosen medium is stop-motion stick men. Coupled with Hertzfeldt’s surreal, funny and wonderfully intuitive wit, the minimalist line-drawn figures are invested with a stupendous degree of character and humanity.

His earlier work was more acerbic; after his first shorts got him noticed by advertisers who commissioned him to make TV spots for them, the staunchly anti-commercial Hertzfeldt responded with a series of zany and hilariously unsuitable cartoons. But the animator’s style has developed over the years, and possibly the pinnacle of his career is the 62 minute opus It’s Such A Beautiful Day: a beautifully melancholic, tremendously expressive tale of psychologically troubled stick-man Bill – with grand existential overtones that belie Hertzfeldt’s modest means.

Monday, Sept 23, 6.45pm (Emmanuel College), Friday, Sept 27, 6.30pm, (Emmanuel College). ɀ Dummy Jim (UK, Norway, Sweden, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France, 2013) After his mother sent him the curious memoirs of deaf cyclist James Duthie, filmmaker Matt Hulse was compelled to give the maverick Scotsman’s story the recognition it deserved.

Twelve years in the making, the resulting film tells the remarkable tale of ‘Dummy’ Jim’s attempt, in total defiance of his impairment, to cycle from Scotland to Morocco – a journey which took him instead to the Arctic Circle.

Hulse blends conventional narrative and documentary to retrace the path through Northern Europe with deaf actor Samuel Hore, while also following present-day events in Duthie’s hometown, where the community set about building a fitting memorial to their local hero. While an absorbing, layered sound-scape provides a feast for the ears, Hulse has clearly also kept hearing-impaired audiences in mind: offering a plethora of visual stimuli.

Saturday, Sept 21, 8.30pm.

24 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival

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DIANA (12A, 113 MINS) Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards, Cas Anvar, Juliet Stevenson, Art Malik. Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine prepares to help launch the 33rd Cambridge Film val, ELLA WALKER talks to one of its stars, the rather lovely Sally Hawkins

LY Hawkins is almost too lovely.

Famously nervous in interviews, e Made in Dagenham actress is spoken, her words occasionally g, stumbling as she tries to herself. But she’s also quick to her high, clear giggle unspooling he phone line. at the end of a very long ng grilled by the press, she diculously kind and keen to ologising for the rushed call, sed I liked the film (“Thank d you? Oh wonderful!”), and bly gracious: “I’ve heard a lot Cambridge Film Festival, I really does well, I’m sorry I can’t be

there are not enough people – e A-list actresses – like her. She across as the petite, hazel-eyed of the film world. Yet, at 37 the h-born actress has carved out for herself in some seriously roles. Her Golden Globe g performance in Happy-Goed to quirky roles in the likes of et Me Go, Submarine and Jayne hen, of course, along came the feisty, determined machinist Grady in Made in Dagenham. wonder she’s suddenly opposite anchett in Woody Allen’s latest masterpiece, the whip-smart arply wrought Blue Jasmine.

Xanax-fuelled plot tumbles t the pace the increasingly ed Jasmine French (Blanchett) back martinis. A socialite uck has collapsed dramatically e incarceration of her ering fraudster of a husband ec Baldwin), she flies first San Francisco to stay with opted sister Ginger (Hawkins). e proceeds to shiver, sweat and ut every fibre of angst and possible as she deigns to work ntist’s receptionist and tears r sister’s choice in men with determination. e Blanchett absolutely nails Allen’s mentally fragile, c protagonist – the Oscars s rightly a-buzz – Hawkins ers just as brightly as Ginger, ed in colourful junk jewellery tling between oafish partners: atile boyfriend Chili (Bobby vale), the Stanley Kowalski chett’s Blanche DuBois, and ex-husband, Augie (Andrew ay), plus an ill-judged fling. t attracted her to the part of ? “Ah well, Woody Allen,” ns says, laughing giddily. “I don’t d turn down sneaking up in the ound really.”

ᔡ Cambridge Film Festival, Thursday, September 19, 10.15pm (Arts Picturehouse), 7.30pm (Cineworld)

It’s not the first time she’s worked with Allen. She had a small part in his 2007 tale, Cassandra’s Dream, but admits the second time was no less terrifying than the first. “It’s always daunting,” she murmurs, explaining how her audition took place in his editing suite “which is quite aweinspiring itself and intimidating, he’s edited Annie Hall and Manhattan there, it feels like something from the 1970s.” Then there was the American accent she had to perfect, adding to the pressure: “To do that on film – in a Woody Allen film – was quite overwhelming. I’m so glad that if I was going to do it, it was going to be in a Woody Allen film though.”

Allen obviously had faith in her, and, for a man notoriously guarded when it comes to sharing out scripts, let Hawkins and Blanchett get a first peek.

“Woody’s very to the point and direct and economical with his words,” Hawkins buzzes. “I really love that about him actually he doesn’t really sit around and do chit-chat.

“He is one of the greatest filmmakers there is, and he is that for a reason, and he’s an incredible director, he’s a wordsmith, it just felt like an honour.”

For the fourth time in fewer minutes, she says: “I’m just incredibly lucky,” as if she honestly can’t believe she ever even got a part in the film, let alone worked alongside Blanchett: “Ah well, another goddess really, she’s on the top of her game, it doesn’t really get better. Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett: to have two in one, you know? I hit the jackpot.”

Does she wish she was her sister in reality? “Well, probably not the sisters that we are on screen! But she’s definitely a person you want to hang out with,” she laughs. “You learn a lot being around someone like that, the way she holds herself, despite being one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet she has none of that vanity about her in terms of the roles she takes on. She has an intelligence, she’s funny and just yeah, I love her.”

Fortunately the pair work in a similar way, and delved into their character histories together and to build up a back story for the troubled, estranged sisters they play. “She was so generous with her time,” Hawkins enthuses.

“She’s a theatre actress, and you can see that in everything she does, you just see the intelligence behind it and

the thought and the care. She’s the perfect balance of heart and brain: she’s one of the best.

“It was devastating as Ginger to watch her crumble because I didn’t see Cate, I just saw the cracking of Jasmine.”

For a film that tracks someone mentally disintegrating, Blue Jasmine is disarmingly funny. The verbal sparring between Blanchett and Cannavale in particular will have you squawking, as will a deadpan tirade Jasmine levels at her nephews, noting: “There’s only so much a person can take before they take to the streets screaming.”

Was it fun to film in the moment?

“Everyone is working at such an intense level and speed and focus, but there’s little time for play,” Hawkins explains diplomatically. “I love working and when you’re doing good work, it’s really satisfying.”

Were there any major challenges on set? “Each [scene] had its own issues, or difficulties, or delights, the unexpected things that happen,” she muses. “I loved doing the fight scene in the kitchen, it was like doing a theatre piece. Phones were being thrown across the room and hitting the camera, and hitting the sound guy!

That was all good fun, you felt like you were in it. It takes such a lot to develop a film so when you’re there you’re like, we’re so lucky let’s not muck it up!”

You’ll be pleased to know there is no mucking up to be found in the final edit.

“I had an amazing time with all these different dynamics and personalities,” Hawkins adds happily as our time runs out. “You just have to be flexible to where the wind blows and be ready to jump.” n Read our review of Blue Jasmine at cambridge-news.co.uk/whatson

IN life, Diana, Princess Of Wales divided opinion, so it’s fitting that Oliver Hirschbiegel’s drama, based on Kate Snell’s contentious book Diana: Her Last Love, should have stirred controversy before a single frame has unspooled on the big screen. Dr Hasnat Khan, the subject of the picture, publicly denounced Diana as a fiction, while a pre-recorded radio interview with star Naomi Watts ended abruptly with the suggestion that she walked out on DJ Simon Mayo.

Tittle tattle aside, Diana is a trashy made-for-TV movie, blessed with an award-winning German director and an Oscar nominated lead actress, whose talents are well and truly squandered.

Both are undone by Stephen Jeffrey’s clumsy script while Watts also lacks sexual chemistry with co-star Naveen Andrews, making a mockery of the tears and tantrums when the central relationship ultimately breaks down.

“I’ll never be happy again, I just know it,” whimpers Diana (Watts) to gal pal Sonia (Juliet Stevenson).

If the public image of the princess was elegance and poise, behind the scenes in Hirschbiegel’s film she is emotionally cold and calculating, tipping off a tabloid photographer to her whereabouts so he can splash pictures of her on a yacht with Dodi Fayed (Can Anvar) and pique the jealousy of Dr Khan (Andrews).

Pathetic attempts to win Khan back take a leaf out of the book of Bridget Jones – minus the excessive smoking – including scenes of Diana attempting different dialects in the hope the doctor will take her call.

“Yes, I’ve been a mad bitch, yes I’ve

been a stalker and yes I put on the clumsiest Liverpool accent to get your attention!” she concedes in one of many scenes that beggar belief.

Opening in Paris 1997, Hirschbiegel’s film rewinds two years to sow the seeds of romance between the princess and Khan, part of which involves smuggling him into Kensington Palace in the back of her car.

“Looks about 80 kilos in there,” quips one security officer as the vehicle passes a checkpoint.“That’ll be a Pakistani heart surgeon,” deadpans a colleague.

The pressure of conducting a romance through the omnipresent lens of the media takes its toll and Khan eventually ends the affair, propelling Diane into Dodi’s arms.

Diana isn’t quite the total disaster some vitriolic critics have suggested, but it comes perilously close. Watts offers a passable impression of a global icon, rehearsing answers to Martin Bashir’s questions in a mirror so she can perfect her head tilt as she whispers, “There were three of us in this marriage... so it was a bit crowded.” Andrews fails to live up to his surgeon’s nickname as Mr Wonderful and Hirschbiegel’s direction lacks energy.

An excessive two-hour running time will test the patience of even the most ardent and devoted Diana fan.

Rating: ᗄᗄ

THE CALL (15, 94 MINS) Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, David Otunga, Michael Imperioli, Roma Maffia, Evie Thompson. Director: Brad Anderson.

NOTWITHSTANDING a ridiculous final act that seemingly belongs to a different film, The Call is a slick, nail-biting thriller that propels us satisfyingly close to the edge of our seats.

Director Brad Anderson navigated emotionally richer terrain on the big screen in his earlier films, The Machinist and Transsiberian. However, recent stints behind the camera on TV series Boardwalk Empire, Alcatraz and The Killing serve him well here and he cranks up tension with aplomb. The middle section is genuinely exhilarating, ricocheting between emergency services and a kidnap victim, trapped in the claustrophobic boot of her abductor’s car.

Screenwriter Richard D’Ovidio takes a staple of the genre – an imperilled heroine, who loses her clothes for no compelling reason – as the seed for his sadistic game of cat and mouse between a 911 call centre operator and a serial killer with a penchant for blonde girls.

In a tense opening sequence, terrified teenager Leah Templeton (Evie Thompson) dials 911 to report an intruder in her family home. Skilled operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) coolly advises Leah to lock herself in a room and remain on the line.

Unfortunately, the plan goes tragically awry and Jordan finds herself on the line with the intruder.

“I suggest you leave that house before you do something you regret,” she

barks.

“It’s already done,” growls the man, establishing a snappy catchphrase, which is recycled at two pivotal moments later in the film.

Leah is slain and Jordan hangs up her headset.

Six months later, the same madman, Michael Foster (Michael Eklund), abducts a blonde teenager, Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin), from a shopping mall.

Jordan happens to be in the call centre “hive” when Casey’s distressed telephone call comes through and the operator takes charge, determined to make amends for Leah.

Haunted by the words of her police officer father - “You might be the difference between somebody living and somebody dying” - Jordan provides Casey with ingenious suggestions for attracting attention from passing motorists.

The Call speed-dials suspense for the opening hour, cross cutting between jittery Jordan and hysterical Casey, who gradually bond through the magic of mobile communication.

After an engrossing build-up, we – and the film – deserve better.

Rating: ᗄᗄᗄ

26 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival Festival Choice ɀ The Fifth Season (Belgium, 2012) In a small farming village in the Ardennes forest, the pace of life is slow and comfortable and the seasons come and go. Until, suddenly, they don’t. At a seasonal local festival held to usher out winter and welcome in spring, the worrying signs begin when the bonfire with which ‘Uncle Winter’ is customarily banished fails to light. Soon, there are far graver oddities afoot: trees fall, crops will not grow, cows give no milk, and the seasonal cycle appears to have stopped dead. Paranoia and hostility breeds in the community, alienating friends and neighbours, and casting suspicion on local drifter Pol and his son. Striking imagery abounds, and while The Fifth Season maintains a level of confounding inscrutability, the visual poetry and the procession of curious, elemental symbolism ensures that it remains a stimulating, enigmatic watch right up to its startling climax.

Saturday, Sept 21, 6.30pm (Cineworld), Tuesday, Sept 24, noon. ɀ Folie A Deux – A Madness Made Of Two (UK, 2012) This documentary is a quintessentially English tale with a universal message. Shot over five years, set in Gray’s Court, York – the oldest house in England – this film is an intimate portrayal of Helen Heraty’s crusade to restore the house with all the ups and downs of daily life, and at the heart of the UK financial crisis. An intriguing insight into England’s history, and a nail-biting journey through the economic crash and the biggest gamble of her life as she fights all around her. This is the human cost of the banking crisis. Director Kim Hopkins and Helen Heraty will attend the screening and talk about the film.

UK premiere. Friday, Sept 20, 5.30pm. ɀ For Those In Peril (Australia, 2013) When his brother and four other local fisherman are drowned in a storm, and he alone is rescued, Aaron (Mackay) is left with a huge burden. Numb with survivor’s guilt, and increasingly ostracised by the Scottish fishing village whose loved ones were lost in the accident, he begins to retreat from reality.

Growing ever more obsessed with an old folk tale told to him by his mother as a child, he becomes convinced that the fantasy offers a route to redemption. Soon, his only link to the real world is his dead brother’s fiancée – a relationship that further provokes the ire of the community. Employing an engaging plurality of filmmaking styles, which serves to emphasise the growing disjunction between Aaron’s reality and his subconscious, director Paul Wright nimbly marries folkloric allegory with bleak realism.

Saturday, Sept 21, 3.30pm. ɀ The Forgotten Kingdom (USA, South Africa, Lesotho, 2013) The mountainous scenery of Lesotho provides the canvas for director Andrew Mudge’s profoundly visual story, which tells the tale of Atang: a young man obliged to make a pilgrimage from the bustle of Johannesburg to his native Lesotho upon learning that his father has passed away.

There, Atang is reunited with childhood friend Dineo, with whom he discovers a romantic spark. But her disapproving father whisks Dineo away and sends Atang back to Jo’burg. Resolving to to win her back, Atang enlists the help of a young orphan boy to guide him through the arresting rural terrain. The first film ever to be produced in Lesotho, The Forgotten Kingdom is a beguiling quest steeped in the history and culture of the Basotho people. Cambridge Film Festival hopes to welcome director Andrew Mudge to the screening.

UK premiere. Saturday, Sept 28, 8.45pm, Sunday, Sept 29, 1.30pm.

DIRECTOR’S INTERVIEW

Stephen Finnigan A

HEAD of the launch of the 33rd Cambridge Film Festival with Hawking – an autobiographical account of Cambridge cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s life – Ella Walker talks to documentary filmmaker and BAFTA award-nominee Stephen Finnigan about putting the Professor’s life to film When did you first meet Professor Stephen Hawking?

The first time I met Stephen was actually the opening of the film when we film him going to give a lecture in America, in San Jose. We were filming his daily routine, preparing and giving the lecture, and so we dived straight into it really.

Was it a project you had always secretly wanted to work on?

To be honest it was out of the blue. I obviously knew about him, but I’d never read A Brief History of Time. I was a teenager then so it probably wasn’t on the top of my reading list. But I knew about him obviously and was very in awe of all that he had done, but I hadn’t tracked him all my life or anything like that. He was great to meet and he was great to film which was a real bonus for me.

Have you read his book now?

I have! I read as many of his books as I could for research. And I had to come clean with Stephen when we first started filming; I said look, I’ll be honest with you, maths and physics were my worst subjects at school, I got a CSE grade 3 in those, so I’m no mathematician or physicist. But the film is much more about his life anyway, so coming clean with him was quite a good thing to do I think.

What did you think prompted him to make the film – why now?

He’d just turned 70 so that’s a milestone for anybody but for Stephen especially it’s a huge milestone. When he was 21, 22, he was given probably two years to live, so I think he felt it was time to put his own life out there for people to understand more. He’s notoriously guarded about his personal life, as much as he can be, so I think he felt it was a time to give that side of his life a voice.

Was it daunting being given the responsibility to commit his life to film?

That’s a really good questions because – yes – is the answer. Interestingly when I

ᔡ Hawking (Today, 7.25pm)

was interviewing Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s in the film and portrayed Stephen for the BBC drama about his early life, we both said that this was the one thing you didn’t want to mess up, you didn’t want to get it wrong because he’s such an important person. Benedict felt that in portraying him, and I felt it certainly in trying to tell his life story. You’ve got to get it right and that meant, for me, gaining Stephen’s trust; to be able to film his daily life, and also to be able to open up his past life and the people that meant a lot to him – getting them to feel comfortable enough to tell me about it.

Was Stephen very involved in the editing process?

To be honest, no, he wasn’t, he trusted me with the editing. In terms of the script and the voiceover he narrates, he’s written a lot of essays, some of which are published, some of which are about to come out in his new book, so we combined those and I re-wrote them at times to make them more film friendly, rather than book friendly and together we wrote the in between bits in the film.

So he wasn’t involved in terms of coming into the edit suite, but we emailed and had discussions about the script and how we could tweak and change that together.

How did Stephen react to the final edit?

Very warmly. The first time he saw the very first rough cut was just before Christmas last year and when we finished watching it I peered round to see how he was and there was a tear rolling down his cheek. It took him a while to write what he wanted to say, but he said he really liked it, but he wasn’t sure if anybody else would like it. It was a very humble reaction.

Are there any moments you are particular proud of in the finished film?

The thing with Stephen is that his ability to communicate has diminished as his illness has got worse so it can take him up to five or 10 minutes, maybe even longer, to write a simple sentence. I think you have to invest that time when you’re with Stephen to allow him

to use his voice. There’s a scene where we film him listening to some music at home late at night and intercut it with him as a young man listening to music.

Wagner has had a big role in Stephen’s life, he listened to it a lot when he was first diagnosed. I asked him, when we wanted to film him listening to music, what would you like to listen to? And he chose a piece by Wagner and he wanted to explain to me why. It actually took him over half an hour to write two sentences which I quickly scribbled down, and we put them straight into the film. So those moments, when you invest with Stephen and take time with him, you can get real gems from him. It’s giving him that space and that ability to be able to talk to you in his own way which I think is a really important thing.

What do you hope people will take from watching it?

I hope it’s a very inspirational film. I think it’s a great story of, against all the odds, somebody living a very, very full life, so I hope people get that from the film. And I hope they get to see a very different side to Stephen Hawking because, as I hope the film shows, he’s a very funny, very quick witted, very sharp man who is very interested in physics – it’s his life – but he has an awful lot more going on, and I also hope people take from this film that his life has been at times very hard, but he’s kept going.

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 19, 2013 | 27

For competitions, reviews and news from the festival, check out cambridge-news.co.uk/Whats-on-leisure/Cambridge-Film-Festival

Festival Choice ɀ Honour (UK, 2013) The subject of honour killings has garnered a disquieting rash of headlines in the UK press in recent times. A major issue for the British Asian community, it tragically encapsulates the gap in values, beliefs and cultural attitudes between generations who have made Britain their home in the last century. In his gritty, charged first feature, director Shan Khan taps into that controversy with the story of British Pakistani Mona (Hart), a young woman who ‘dishonours’ her ultra-conservative family by running away with lover Tanvir. Blinded with fury, the family enlist a bounty hunter (a suitably dour and mysterious Considine) to track her down and exact punishment. A tense, pacy thriller that plays on a distressingly relevant topic, Honour is an assured, intelligent and engrossing debut from a promising British filmmaker. Cambridge Film Festival hopes to welcome director Shan Khan to the screening.

Friday, Sept 27, 8.45pm.

DIRECTOR’S INTERVIEW

Peter Webber SET during the American occupation of Japan after World War II, Emperor stars Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas MacArthur, the country’s de facto ruler who assigns Matthew Fox AKA General Bonner Fellers, to investigate whether the Japanese Emperor should be punished for war crimes or not.

But Bonner is also on a mission of his own; to find a Japanese school teacher he loved before war broke out…

Ella Walker speaks to the director Peter Webber (director of Girl With A Pearl Earring and Hannibal Rising), about working with Tommy Lee Jones and braving his critics.

Can you start by explaining what made this a story you just had to tell?

I’ve always been very interested in Japan and Japanese culture. I think it’s an interest that started when I discovered the films of Kurosawa and Ozu when I was a teenager. also the thing that made me really interested in this particular subject matter was that it seemed very metaphorical for what was going on today.

It’s a way I could tell a story from the past that had some resonance in the present – it’s about regime change, the battle between justice and revenge.

And I had always wanted to work with Japanese actors and do a film set in Japan; this seemed like a very good opportunity.

Considering the plot is based on true events, did you feel a responsibility to the real people portrayed?

Yes, but you also have to balance that

ᔡ Emperor (Saturday, September 28, 8.30pm) against responsibility to the audience. You can be tugged in different directions. There’s obviously been an awful lot of films, not about this particular subject, – this is a post-war film rather than a war film – but about the Pacific War, and overwhelmingly they’ve put the American point of view. I felt it’d be interesting to tell a tale where you would hear what the Japanese had to say.

What made you pick Matthew Fox for the lead role?

I was looking for someone who was the modern day equivalent of Gary Cooper. Quite an old fashioned, strongly morally centred, very masculine kind of a figure, and it just seemed to me Matthew Fox was perfect for that. He has some of that 1950s leading man about him.

What was it like working with Tommy Lee Jones? Is he as intimidating as he comes across?

It’s scary to begin with, because he comes with a big reputation, he can be quite daunting but actually he’s great to work with. He’s super smart and underneath that rather gruff exterior, beats a heart of pure gold (Peter breaks off laughing). But it is a very gruff exterior.

Were there any tough days when you thought the film wasn’t

going to work out?

Every day is a difficult moment on set because you never have quite enough money and you never have quite enough time.

Stanley Kubrick said making a film is like trying to write War and Peace on a rollercoaster, so every day has its challenges.

Emperor has been considered a critical and commercial flop in America. What do you think of its reception so far?

I was particularly pleased with the way it’s gone down in Japan.

It’s been very successful in Japan, I think it’s just passed the £12m box office mark, so that was important to me, that people went to see it over there. I got a couple of good reviews from my two favourite reviewers – Rex Reed and Roger Ebert. There’s obviously bad reviews out there as well, I’m choosing to ignore those.

Were any moments particularly special to film?

What was really interesting was we got a chance to shoot at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and we were the first fiction film to shoot there. So that felt very special, it was a real privilege.

What do you want people will take from the film?

I hope they enjoy it, I hope it makes them understand a bit about how enlightened American foreign policy used to be, I think it casts an interesting light, especially with current events. It’s very important to remember and understand history. But I hope really that they’ll be plunged into a strange, mysterious and fascinating world and really learn something about a period of history that hasn’t been told before.

ɀ Layla Fourie (Germany, South Africa, France, Netherlands, 2013) Layla is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg, getting by with casual work.

After training as a polygraph operator, she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.

UK premiere. Wednesday, Sept 25, 6.30pm.

30 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

WHAT’S ON Cambridge Film Festival

More online at cambridge-news. co.uk/whatson

Flicks for the family

SNAIL’S PACE: Above and bottom left, one of the year’s top animated film Turbo, right, BFI Film Academy, bottom centre, Project Wild Thing and, bottom right, magical adventure in The Shadows

D

ON’T fret, if your little ones aren’t up to date with their contemporary German cinema or their Catalonian art house pictures (we don’t blame them), the Cambridge Film Festival has a tonne of family friendly events to get stuck into too.

Whether you have teenagers looking for their first adrenaline filled hit of film journalism, pintsized animation addicts desperate to feast their eyes on one of the year’s top 3D films, Turbo (it involves speed-crazy molluscs), or youngsters with split-second attention spans (occupy them with some silly vintage shorts) – you’ll definitely find something to suit.

Here’s the full line-up:

» IN THE FAST LANE Who doesn’t love a quirky tale of big dreams overcoming big obstacles? Turbo (3D) is just that – cross between Cars and A Bug’s Life. Theo (Ryan Reynolds) is a speed-freak who dreams of life in the fast lane, away from the daily toil of work at the local plant. The only problem is, this particular plant is the kind that grows o tomatoes, and Theo is a snail. is Refusing to let this o hold him back, Theo hopes to one day compete in motorspeedway race, the Indy 500. After a

mysterious encounter with a souped-up sports-car on the freeway, our shelled hero discovers he has the horsepower he needs right there in his shell and sets off on a madcap adventure to tear up the race-track.

Featuring the voices of Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash and Snoop Dogg as Smoove Move (yes, really), Theo’s side-kicks in a gang of fast and furious mollusc-racers, it’s pacy, silly and super fun.

(Cert. U. Sunday, September 22, 11am)

» WRITE A REVIEW

Film obsessed youngsters with a knack for words might want to sign up to Cambridge Film Festival’s Young Critics programme.

Budding film journalists aged 16-19 – and in full-time education – can get to grips reviewing a range of screenings duri during the festival, and best of all, for conjunctio with free! Run in conjunction Fi the Cambridgeshire Film young Consortium, the youngsters will be given the chance to write three short reviews (200 – 250 words), supervised by mov some movieminded ment mentors.

Eac Each da a day w winning re review w be will p picked t to f feature in the fe festival dai and daily appea in appear w the window Joh of John Lewis Lewis.

To register and get involved, email cfcoffice@picturehouses. co.uk. The overall winner will get an iPad from John Lewis and their entry will be published on cambridge-news.co.uk/whats-on.

Better whip your pens and sharp tongues out.

» SEE SOMETHING SHORT

AND SNAPPY For a jaunty morning of live music and film, pop along to Not-SoSilent Movies 2. Pianist Neil Brand will be tapping along to a selection of really quite magical short silent films. See snippets of trick films (expect disappearing objects and shots that loop, surprise and mess with your mind), adventure fantasies and the mad capers of Laurel and Hardy trying to build a house.

(Cert. PG. Sunday, September 29, 11am)

» BE A WILD THING

If you’re kids are happier in front of the Xbox than roaming around outside, Project Wild Thing should strike a chord. Since learning that in the last 30 years the distance children wander happily from home has shrunk by 90 per cent, documentary filmmaker David Bond decided to find out why, and is now selling nature back to kids.

Enlisting the help of scientists,

l d nature experts, sociologists and the good old National Trust, plus a marketing team to rebrand and repackage the great outdoors, the result is green activism with some serious charm.

(Cert. PG. Saturday, September 21, noon)

» DISCOVER A

LD SECRET WORLD Matthew is lonely and moving in with his grandmother in the middle of nowhere certainly doesn’t help. But then he discovers the et, entrance to a secret, ground cavernous underground world called dwelling beneath the garden. There he meets wise old Yorrick, protector of a mystical crown, and a beautiful guardian called Alice. However, Matthew’s presence begins to draw some dangerous attention and he gets caught up in a battle with the evil witch Eldren, who will do anything to nab Yorrick’s crown.

The Shadows is a film fraught with adventure, friendship and all things magic – go explore.

(Cert. PG. Saturday, September 28, 11am/Sunday, September 29, 10.30am)

» JOIN THE BFI

The Arts Picturehouse is running a BFI Film Academy programme from October until December for cinema crazy 16-19-year-olds, and the deadline for applications coincides with the end of the Cambridge Film Festival. g Ruskin University is Anglia involve and you’ll get to involved work with film industry pro professionals and ga gaining experience in fi filmmaking, critical a cultural film and u understanding and art m management skills, w added screenings with an practical workshops. and Th There are only 17 places availab and the course available costs £25. To apply, send your name, address, email and contact number, plus 500 words on why you want to be involved, and how the experience will boost your future film career.

You can apply by email at trish.s@picturehouses.co.uk or by post in an envelope marked BFI Film Academy, The Cambridgeshire Film Consortium, The Arts Picturehouse, 38-39 St Andrews Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AR. The deadline for applications is Thursday, September 26.

Visit www.cambridgefilmfestival. org.uk for further details.