FREE SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY THE OFFICAL GFF DAILY GUIDE
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WHAT’S INSIDE? 2 — TODAY’S PICKS
It’s Saturday, so watch everything!
2 — SONIC CINEPLEX The event to end all events.
Techno, krautrock, Fritz Lang and more
3 — REVIEWS Margaret Tait, Film Poet Songs for Amy Breakfast with Curtis 4 — WHAT’S NEW ONLINE There’s more to the web than
cute kittens
SOMETHING IN THE AIR
4 — PICS OF THE DAY The GFF paparazzi are signifi
YOUTH IN REVOLT
cantly friendlier than most photographers
OLIVIER ASSAYAS on Something in the Air, the frustration of politics and his journey into cinema
4 — WHAT DO YOU THINK? It’s Twitter, so probably some
jokes about horsemeat and the Pope
INTERVIEW: JAMIE DUNN MY CONVERSATION with Olivier Assayas, the mercurial director of Boarding Gate (sadomasochistic thriller), Irma Vep (movie meta-satire) and 2010’s Carlos (epic terrorist biopic), turns out to be as urgent and breathless as the film in discussion, his new feature Something in the Air. The Frenchman is in London, speaking to me on his mobile from the back of a black cab while on his way to see a play featuring an actor he’s interested in for a future project. “I’m trying in the film to revive something, the energies of an era,” he tells me, the west-end traffic audible over the crackling phone line. The era he’s speaking of is Paris in the early 70s, specifically as witnessed by teenage firebrands coming of age in the wake of 1968’s generation defining strikes. “I’m trying to recreate it in ways that reflect not just the fantasy of those years, but the way they actually were,” he adds. “The conflicts, the contradictions, the complexities of it.” The film follows 16-year-old Gilles (Clément Métayer) and several of his friends as they try to fill those awfully big shoes of the ‘68 generation. A cursory glance at Assayas’ bio reveals that he too missed out on the student sit-ins (he was 13 in ’68). Can we assume, then, that Gilles’ story is close to Assayas’
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own salad days? “It’s pretty close. The story of Gilles is very specifically close to whatever has been my own strange path towards the cinema.” Like Assayas, Gilles’ initial mode of expression is abstract art. “As a teenager, I was doing very naïve paintings, but along the way I kind of developed an understanding that what cinema was about was maybe more exciting because it connected you to reality, to the real world. It represented human emotion.” Over the course of Something in the Air, young Gilles morphs from mop-haired rioter to runner on an exploitation film featuring Nazis, Amazon women and papier-mâché sea monsters. In any other movie this career development would be scoffed at – another anarchist joining the petite bourgeoisie. Not so for Assayas, who himself found freedom of artistic expression by rejecting the collectivism of politics. “Now with the perspective of time we idealise the political involvement of that generation, but that political involvement was also connected to a lot of very rigid, very dogmatic, very mistaken ideas. Specifically in France you had Maoists who were really supporting the worst kind of totalitarian government. What I’m trying to remind people of is that there was a debate, nothing was clear cut. The
politics were very conflicted.” Speaking to Assayas, it’s clear that his early experiences in film were very conflicted also. “I ended up in the craziest places [his first gig was as a trainee at Pinewood working on Richard Donner’s Superman], it was really striking when you were growing up in that era how the film industry was disconnected from what you were experiencing. I’m not even talking about the politics: I’m talking about the art, the counterculture, the music. I mean, it was all happening and it was so powerful and it was so exciting to be part of that. Then when I went to my day job, in the film industry, it felt so disconnected from the real world.” Something in the Air shares the same balmy cinematography as other 70s set coming-of-age films (Almost Famous, Dazed and Confused, Super 8), but what sets it apart is Assayas’ refusal to wallow in the warm embrace of nostalgia. “Youth is really frustration. You are looking for your own identity; you are looking for your place in society. It’s a time of doubt, of insecurity. I was happy to be rid of it, really.” 17 FEB – GFT 1 @ 16.15
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Lewis Porteous Jamie Dunn Marianne Wilson Nathanael Smith Josh Slater-Williams
GFF BOX OFFICE Order tickets from the box office at www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk or call 0141 332 6535 or visit Glasgow Film Theatre 12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB
18 FEB – GFT 2 @ 13.15
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SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 1
TODAY’S PICKS JAMES COSMO IN CONVERSATION 13.30 @ GFT
One of Scotland’s most versatile actors, James Cosmo has been a regular screen presence for decades, appearing in fare as diverse as low-key British TV dramas and bloated Hollywood epics. The Game of Thrones star will appear in conversation at the GFT this afternoon, discussing his storied career and answering your questions.
JAMES COSMO
JOHN DIES AT THE END 14.30 @ CINEWORLD
Don Coscarelli finally follows up 2002’s eminently quotable Bubba Ho-Tep with this deranged tale of college dropouts whose experiments with a time travel drug open up a portal in space. Stylish, anarchic fun.
THE ROAD: A STORY OF LIFE AND DEATH
THE ROAD: A STORY OF LIFE AND DEATH 16.45 @ CINEWORLD
Mark Isaacs’ new documentary about the lives of various people living alongside the A5 road in the South of England concerns itself with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. During the course of the feature, he meets aspiring singers, trainee monks and hotel concierges.
THE BEST THINGS IN THE WORLD 19.15 @ GFT
15 year old Hermano’s search for meaning and identity is set against a vibrant Sao Paulo backdrop in this charming coming-of-age tale from director Laís Bodanzky.
THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL 21.00 @ CINEWORLD
A stunning collaboration between Oscar-winning Belle Epoque director Fernando Trueba and acclaimed screenwriting star Jean-Claude Carriere, this weighty rumination on life, death and art is not to be missed.
SPACE IS THE PLACE Part of Glasgow Music and Film Festival, this day of live scores from various performers includes the UK premiere of Detroit techno master JEFF MILLS’ score for Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond) INTERVIEW: BRAM E.GIEBE LEGENDARY DETROIT techno pioneer Jeff Mills is in town to talk about his soundtrack for Fritz Lang’s 1929 silent science fiction classic Woman in the Moon. This isn’t the first time that Mills has provided accompaniment to one of Lang’s film – his score for Metropolis, the seminal director’s most revered movie, was released via the Tresor label in 2000 and, although his sparse, resolutely futurist effort has never been granted a license for DVD release, it features regularly in screenings at institutions, galleries and educational organisations around the world. The commission for Woman in the Moon came from the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, with whom Mills has previously worked on a number of moving image projects, creating “cine-mixes” for works by Sergei Eisenstein, Cecil B DeMille and Buster Keaton to name but a few. “I was slightly aware of the film,” says Mills. “Fritz Lang’s other work, like Metropolis and M, I was more knowledgeable about. [Cinémathèque Française] thought that perhaps The Woman in the Moon would be more interesting, because I am quite fond of space, space travel, science fiction and things like that.” How did he approach the task of scoring the film? “It’s quite different, even from the other cine-mixes that I’ve done,” he explains. He began by creating a “theme” for each character, and other parts which “reinforced the interaction between the characters.” As with his work on Metropolis, this involved researching and closely observing the characters in order to “understand where each of these characters are from, and how they arrived at being that type of person.” Mills also researched the life of Fritz Lang and studied in great detail the socio-political context of the 1920s when the film was made, finding out “what was happening in the world when the script was written, what might have been influential in terms of the way they approached certain things.” This research is vital: “Once I do that, I have an understanding of why a certain subject was touched on, why certain things about feminism or human rights are included. The political aspect
FRITZ LANG’S WOMAN IN THE MOON
of going to the moon, the financial aspects – you have to convince the investors... there are a lot of aspects to explore.” As the people at the Cinémathèque Française guessed, this was home territory for Mills, who has long had a fascination with space exploration. When asked whether he believes that we are on the verge of a new era of spaceflight, he replies: “I think yes, and soon.” The reason for this? The commercialisation of the NASA space programme and other similar ones throughout the world. “When you think of the temperament and the mentality of the very rich, billionaire entrepreneur, and how aggressive they can be, if they take an interest in something that is found out there, whether on the moon or an asteroid or whatever, if they can find some financial reward in going out there, they’re going to do it, and they’re going to do it quickly,” he says. “They’re not going to waste any time.” 2012 marked the twentieth
anniversary of Mills’ record label and production house, Axis. In early January of 2013, the ‘fourth triangle’ was unveiled, an umbrella for the labels Axis, Purpose Maker and Tomorrow. The new company, Alpha Centauri, will be focused on sound for moving image. The first featured contributor is Dutch video artist Heleen Blanken whose beautiful space-themed film, accompanied by a Mills composition, is currently showing on the Axis website. Plans for a compilation of commissioned work by video artists set to music from Axis producers are in place for later in the year, plus twice-annual film events in different cities around the world. Mills hopes to visit the Edinburgh and Glasgow film festivals with his Alpha Centauri events in the future. JEFF MILLS’ CINE-MIX FOR WOMAN IN THE MOON PREMIERES AT THE ARCHES ON 16 FEB AS PART OF SONIC CINEPLEX GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL/ WHATS_ON/4482_SONIC_CINEPLEX
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REVIEWS
MARGARET TAIT, FILM POET DIRECTOR: MARISSA KEATING
This unassuming documentary from Glasgow Women’s Library is a short and sweet introduction to Scottish filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait. Since her death in 1999 at the age of 80, the artist’s name has become synonymous with experimental and innovative filmmaking, to the point that an award supporting new artistic talent exists in her honour. Screened alongside a companion piece from director Sarah Forrest, Margaret Tait, Film Poet seeks to demonstrate the roots and impact of her work and patronage. Interviews with Tait’s family expose the late enigma’s passionate life and methods, while stills
from her films evoke the sense of place that was so central to her work, much of which was inspired by her homes in Edinburgh and Orkney. The seemingly obvious but important distinction between her “poems” (films) and her “poem poems” is made clear throughout. This is a fantastic, free insight for fans and the unfamiliar alike. [Nicola Balkind] 15 FEB - GFT 2 @ 13.30 GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL/WHATS_ ON/4864_MARGARET_TAIT_RESIDENCY_ FILM_MARGARET_TAIT_FILM_POET
MARGARET TAIT
SONGS FOR AMY DIRECTOR: MARISSA KEATING, STARRING: SEAN MAGUIRE, LORNA ANDERSON, FORD KIERNAN, KEVIN RYAN, GAVIN MITCHELL, JAMES COSMO, PATRICK BERGIN
Konrad Begg’s debut feature concerns a low-rent songsmith Sean (Maguire) who inadvertently leaves Amy (Lorna Anderson), his bride-to-be, stranded at the altar after a night of hedonism with his gormless band-mates. What drags this lame effort down from mediocre to diabolical is its hilarious pretentiousness. The simple will they/won’t they plot is smashed into fragments and framed around Sean’s recording of the titular album designed to win Amy back – it turns out the way to this woman’s heart is an ugly grab-bag of tunes that sound like rejected Bon Iver B-sides. While watching events confusingly unfurl, one gets the impression that Begg took inspiration from Last Year in Marienbad, but decided what Alain Resnais’ classic needed was a generous helping of fart gags and scenes of Celts getting stoned. Far funnier than any of the film’s reefer madness slapstick, however, is a risible dream sequence in which Sean wanders through a desert that’s bare but for, I kid you not, a white stallion galloping in slow motion across the frame. Never mind songs for Amy, what this film needs is a lament. [Jamie Dunn] 15 FEB – GFT 2 @ 20.20 17 FEB – CINEWORLD 17 @ 13.30 GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL/ WHATS_ON/4745_SONGS_FOR_AMY
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BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS
BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS DIRECTOR: LAURA COLELLA STARRING: JONAH PARKER, THEO GREEN, DAVID A. PARKER, ADELE PARKER
Breakfast with Curtis began life when painter and publisher Theo Green made a series of quirky YouTube videos with teenager Jonah Parker. These vignettes have been adapted by writer/director Laura Colella into a film following the pair, now playing fictional characters Syd and Curtis, doing more or less the same thing. Colella’s debut effort has a sitcomlike feel to it. Syd’s wise and random
musings recall neighbour Wilson from Home Improvement , and shy Curtis is a less annoying and more talented version of James Van Der Beek’s filmmaking coming-of-ager in Dawson’s Creek . This semi-documentary is steeped in a kids’ TV aesthetic. Syd and Curtis mooch around a three-story, purple house, filmed with such a bright, multi-coloured palette it call to mindan episode of Teletubbies . In keeping with the
‘Tubbies theme, every outdoor shot is framed with gaily floating leaves and flowers . With this in mind, the film’s continual, true-ringing references to sex and drugs make watching Breakfast with Curtis as a grown-up a bizarrely charming experience. [Helen Wright] 16 FEB - GFT @ 17.20 19 FEB - CCA @ 19.00 GLASGOWFILM.ORG/FESTIVAL
SATURDAY 16 FEBRUARY THE CINESKINNY 3
WHAT’S NEW ONLINE? BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS
Failed Critics host an interview with Laura Colella, the director of American indie Breakfast with Curtis. “I returned to my roots as a hands-on filmmaker...”
CATE SHORTLAND
ROB SAVAGE
The director of WWII drama Lore talks about sexuality, the best advice she’s ever been given and living in Germany.
Strings director and prodigy Rob Savage talks to the Festival Blog about his love of cinema, dealing with budgets and the inspiration behind his debut
tinyurl.com/CateShortland
tinyurl.com/RobSavage
tinyurl.com/LauraColella
THE INDEPENDENT
Christine Lavelle sends a dispatch from the Festival for The Independent, including a report on the opening gala. tinyurl.com/IndependentGFF
EYE FOR FILM
CINESKINNY ONLINE
Jennie Kermode reviews the thoughtful doc A Tale of Two Syrias, claiming it will ‘make your heart break’
Want to browse past issues of the CineSkinny but can’t find a paper copy? Don’t worry, it’s online for your perusal.
tinyurl.com/TwoSyrias
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FESTIVAL CLUB Join us at our new Festival Club! Open every day, 12noon till late. Come along for free talks & live DJ acts.
SARAMAGO TERRACE BAR, CCA, 350 SAUCHIEHALL STREET
POPULAIRE INSPIRED MANICURES
WHAT WHAT DID DID YOU YOU THINK? THINK? EIGHT THE BEST OF THE TWEETS BEST TWEETS @PAULGREENWOOD A great start to @SOMEONEONTWITTER @glasgowfilmfest @SOMEONEONTWITTER tonight. I thought this film was quiteLovely good.film in Populaire, I thought this film was quite good. I’ve seen worse, but also seen I’ve seen worse, but also seen better and better Allison and Allan too as well! #GFF #CINESKINNY too well! #GFF #CINESKINNY sure know how toas throw
@GAILTOLLEY Populaire was a very charming way to@SOMEONEONTWITTER kick off #gff13 and the I thought thiseveryone film was quite good. director won I’ve by seen worse, but also seen better over mentioning Trash too Sinatras as well! #GFF #CINESKINNY Can & Highlander in his intro. #GFF #CINESKINNY
@IAMCHRISHELLO If the GFF surprise film turns out to be @SOMEONEONTWITTER Upstream I thought this film wasColor quitenow good. and I can’t go I’ll be better I’ve seen worse, but also seen (No way will too as well!pissed. #GFF #CINESKINNY the surprise film be Upstream Color) #GFF #CINESKINNY
@SOMEONEONTWITTER @JIMHICKEYFILM @SOMEONEONTWITTER doc this film was quite good. I thought this film was quiteYasmin good. Fedda’s I thought A Tale of Two I’ve Syrias I’ve seen worse, but also seen better seen worse, but also seen better premieres tomorrow. Wish#GFF #CINESKINNY too as well! #GFF #CINESKINNY too as well! I could be there. Fab GFF programme. #GFF #CINESKINNY
@JAMIENEISH#GFF13 @SOMEONEONTWITTER attendees: Please I thought this filmwatch was quite good. The A Storybut of Life I’veRoad: seen worse, also seen betand Death. It’s a very ter too as well! #GFF #CINESKINNY well made documentary about immigrants and their struggles.#GFF #CINESKINNY
@GLASGOWFILM @SOMEONEONTWITTER FEST ComeI thought this filmScottish was quite good. dian @Daniel_Sloss will I’ve seen worse, but also seen betbe appearing at Kapow! ter too as well! #GFF #CINESKINNY Pros vs Super-fans Quiz on Wed 20! #GFF #CINESKINNY
a party. #GFF #CINESKINNY
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PHOTO: STUART CRAWFORD
LES BOFS PLAY AT THE OPENING GALA
PHOTO: STUART CRAWFORD
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