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BRINGING YOU THE TRIUMPH OF INTERNATIONAL FILM THE LANGUAGE BARRIR: H.P. LOVECRAFT: THE PROBLEMS WITH THE INFLUENCE ON TRANSLATING FILMS FILM

KICKSTARTER FILMS: THE COST OF PUBLIC FUNDING

CINEMA TRAVEL: SINGAPORE’S HIDDEN THEATRE

THE UK’S ONLY SELF-DEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL FILM MAGAZINE

Contents Cinephile By Joe Buchan Pg 1

Tekkonkinkreet Anshin! Anshin!

By Clair Heenan Pg 6-7

The Projector By Joe Buchan Pg 2-3

The Legned of Ben Hall By Kevin Peake Pg 4

A Prophet (Un ProphetĂŠ) By Joe Buchan Pg 5

H.P. Lovecraft By Rhiannon Morris Pg 8-9

The Language Barrier By Clair Heenan Pg 10-11

Short Film Special By Georgia Aubin Pg 12

Editors Letter

our aim to inform our readers about the hidden gems you may have missed on your search for the best stories and on-screen experiences.

No genre is off limits - great films Welcome to the first edition of Final come in every shape and break all Cut - an indie magazine brought the rules, which is why we have to you by our hardworking team specialists dedicated to bringing you that search, analyse, and discuss all the very best films within all types things film from around the globe. of genre. Within this issue, you will Focusing on international films, it is find horror films to sink your teeth

Cinephile

A person who is a devoted filmgoer who is passionate about cinema.

by Joe Buchan

You might love films, but do you qualify as a cinephile?

Almost everyone loves a film. Films provide a much needed escape, and they can be the basis of many our dayto-day conversations; with all of us having our favourites. Cinephiles have the ability to converse about films regardless of the genre - be it animation or horror. Each issue will be dedicated into enhancing your experience of film as a cinephile, whilst giving you all the information you need to retain your hard-earned status.

A dedicated cinephile will often watch a film or two a day, maybe even more. Cinephiles have the bad habit of pushing urgent problems to the side by watching a film instead. After all, what’s more fun, watching the Matrix Trilogy from start to finish or completing that dreaded essay? It’s more than a hobby, it’s a lifestyle choice.

Regardless of your gender, age or social status, everyone is at an equal playing field when sat at the cinema. We have the same seats, the same popcorn and the same oversized pepsi. At the pictures we get to witness the art of the performers - moments they we can all remember and share for decades to come. Who doesn’t remember the heart-wrenching moment when Jack lets go of the floating wood in Titanic or the moment in Forest Gump when he proclaims his love, ‘I love you Jenny’. These are the things we all have in common. But these are the moments that cinephiles live for.

It’s all about regurgitating endless quotes, knowing your favourite films off-by-heart; each scene moving into the next effortlessly in your mind. It’s about your favourite place to sit in the cinema - all those little quirks. If this sounds like you, welcome to the cinephile club.

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Above: Packed crowd at the Projector.

The Projector

by Joe Buchan

S

ir Stamford Raffles, a British statesman, founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post for the British East India Company. When Singapore gained independence from the British in 1963, it and several other former British colonies formed Malaysia.

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However, after discovering ideological differences, Singapore became a sovereign nation in 1965. Years of turbulence followed, but the nation soon developed into an Asian Tigers economy based on its external trade and workforce excellence.

Stepping off the plane into Changi airport, the heat that instantly greeted me was welcomed with open arms after months of cheerless British weather. It wasn’t long before I was exploring all that this beautiful country had to offer, and I engaged in one of my favourite hobbies; exploring unique and wonderful cinemas. Having been to the country multiple times, my friend had knew exactly where I needed to be and took me straight to ‘The Projector’. They insisted that I had to visit at least

once during my stay. I was so glad that I did.

Down along Beach Road, The Projector is a hidden gem. I had to catch an elevator up to the fifth floor of the historic Golden Theatre to find it. We were half an hour early, allowing us to check out to the vintage themed bar and relax in the cool lounge area that was fitted with film chairs and old film posters lining the walls. The whole vibe of the place was hipster and nostalgic for film lovers who go to the cinema for the cinematic experience as well as the film. The film screenings were a refreshing choice of indie, foreign, cult favourites, arthouse, and some more recent blockbusters. Perfect for film lovers who want a range of choices in their film viewing.

Photo credits: Jeromy Chee

I opted for Waking Life (2001), an animated film directed by Richard Linklater that explores many deep philosophical thoughts. We were situated in the ‘Green Room,’ the biggest screen which boasts twohundred and thirty flip-up seats with wooden armrests. As the lights went out, I had my mind re-arranged by the film as it put forth many different ideas by various character points of view. Stylistically, the film was shot on a digital camera and then a group of animators edited it shot-by-shot, giving it a surreal and even nauseous quality. When the film was over, I definitely needed to grab a strong drink after all the talk of existentialism that filled my brain.

We headed out into the carpark, where the secondary pleasures of the cinema lies. The rooftop bar is known simply as ‘The Great Escape’.

I thought it was definitely a fitting

title as we were greeted by the sound of live music and a Volkswagen converted into a bar that sells an array of drinks from its colourful interior.

Around the corner from the bar was a host of tables, chairs and sofas where the music can be enjoyed and the films can be discussed. From the balcony there is a splendid view of the city, its towers jutting with bright lights into the cool, purple sky.

It’s one of my fondest and most memorable visits during my stay in Singapore, standing out amongst the various amazing things I did there. As a film lover, I suppose I am a little biased, but if you are ever in the country and you have a taste for something a bit out of the ordinary, be sure to visit this quirky place and let yourself become completely immersed in the pleasures of independent cinema. Don’t forget to experience the lively rooftop bat on your way out!

Below: Bartender at the Projector.

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Above: Kickstarter funding image.

The Legend of Ben Hall

by Kevin Peake

D

irected by Matthew Holmes comes The Legend of Ben Hall; starring Jack Martin as Ben Hall, Jamie Coffa as John Gilbert, William Lee as John Dunn, Joanne Dobbin as Biddy Hall and Adam

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Willson as Mick Coneley.

An Australian Bushranger film, was fully funded via Kickstarter.

Having raised AU$78,241, exceeding its original goal of AU$75,000, the film later went on to be picked for a full feature length film by RLC Motion Picture Entertainment.

The film follows the final days of Ben Hall’s life. After two years on the road, and the law closing in around him, he goes into hiding and is considering surrender. However, when he is drawn back into the bush ranging by the reappearance of his old friend and gang member, he soon becomes the most wanted man in Australia after a series of bank robberies and the death of two police officers.

Their goal for the film was to resurrect the story from history books and explode it onto the screen

for a new generation to discover.

Beyond the pure entertainment of The legend of Ben Hall they also hope to raise awareness of the colonial history of Australia.

They took the route to fund via Kickstarter because traditional funding avenues are becoming harder and harder to access, and going down such paths are long, tedious and ultimately encumbers the project with unwanted compromises. They believed that by funding the project through Kickstarter, the filmmakers are free to use the funds in the best way they deem necessary, giving the director the freedom to realise his vision for the film. It also allowed them to engage with their audience directly, so they can learn what was important to them, so they could deliver it. After all, their audience is what matters most.

A Prophet (Un Prophète)

by Joe Buchan

Above: Actors Niels Arestrup and Tahar Rahim.

N

ot many films are as hard to watch as A Prophet. Director Jacques Audiard was inspired to make the French prison drama when he saw the shocking conditions when screening a film for prisoners.

After the experience, he knew what he had to do. A Prophet is the startling result. This film strikes its audience right in the gut from the get-go and doesn’t let up throughout.

Each scene is carried onto the next with all the confidence of a classic and could even be considered his best work so far.

We follow the protagonist Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), who is sentenced to six heavy years for attacking police officers for reasons left unknown. He is alone and illiterate upon arrival, with little time to adapt to his new life behind bars and it isn’t long before Corsican mobsters use him as a pawn in their power-hungry games. He is given an ultimatum; kill or be killed.

César (Niels Arestrup) is the leader of the Corsican mob who has the guards turning a blind eye to their gang behaviour, leaving a frightened Malik with no other choice but to kill. Against his will, the mob give him instructions on how to carry out the murder and gift

him with a weapon, a small razorblade. He is to get on his knees, pretending to perform a sexual act on the target, then he has to slide the blade between his teeth with his tongue before jumping to his feet, cutting the victim at the neck.

It’s no easy feat - as we see his mouth bleeding from practice, blood snaking its way down into the sink after he spits it out.

‘bleeding from the practice, blood snaking its way down into the sink’ After the messy act, which almost goes fatally wrong for Malik, he decides to try and better himself, taking classes in Corsican-dialect.

The Muslims, who are rivals to the Corsicans, hate him for siding with César, and he makes himself a target for more abuse. But Malik is on his own mission - and he’s rising up the ranks quickly.

Niels Arestrup gives a believable performance as César, whose eyes are cold and hardened by years

of criminality. César is easily recognisable as someone to be feared and respected, but underlying his tough exterior lives a vulnerability.

We can see that he is tired and resentful; rotting away inside of a prison that he fears will be his coffin. Tahar Rahim as Malik, on the other hand, is everything that he isn’t. He has a youthful vitality, a sense of urgency and ingenuity that makes him a dangerous ally. There is a power struggle between the two, which is really the core of this film, but we can’t tell what is going on in Malik’s mind. Is there some greater purpose to his actions, or are we just seeing a villain unfold before our eyes?

Somewhere in the corners of this film lies an air of freedom, which most prison dramas seem to allude to. Some step into prison and become worse off because of it, while others cling onto hope, becoming a new reformed person. A Prophet offers a refreshing spin on this narrative, giving us a true underdog character that doesn’t seem likely to come out on top. That’s what makes A Prophet a nail-biting watch, one not easily forgotten.

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Above: Tekkonkinkreet Anshin! Anshin!

Tekkonkinkreet Anshin! Anshin!

by Clair Heenan

F

our kids are fighting on a giant clock face in broad daylight, but apparently that is a common occurrence in this city, because no one seems to really care. Two of the kids are already worn out while the other two clash - one holds a staff; the other has a metal pipe, and he really knows how to use it.

The victors are Kuro and Shiro, the main characters of director

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Michael Arisa’s award-winning Tekkonkinkreet, animated by Studio 4oC and released in 2006. The film was adapted from Taiyo Matsumoto’s original manga of the same name, which Arisa - the first American to direct an anime feature - read in 1995 while he was staying it Tokyo.

Takaramachi is a city watched over by the two street urchins Kuro (voice: Kazunari Niyomiya) and Shiro

(Voice: Yû Aoi), also known as The Cats. Kuro, the eldest, can be violent to the point of murder. Perpetually innocent Shiro is often detached from reality, but is the happier of the two, shown by his repetition of anshin, roughly translating to ‘don’t worry’.

During their attempts to deal with some Yakuza ( Japanese gangsters), they discover that Hebi ( Voice: Masahiro Motoki), a businessman, is planning to have the city destroyed to make way for a new amusement park. After disrupting one too many of his plans, Snake sends three superhuman assassins after The Cats. Unfortunately for them, things quickly get out of control.

Tekkonkinkreet should be credited for the outstanding detail in the backgrounds, the buildings of the city and its unique animation style. With Studio 4oC’s signature mix of CGI

Below:

and hand-drawn animation, it should also be noticed for its exploration into human nature, as Arisa said that this was one of the aspects that interested him in the manga when he first read it. The main characters, Kuro and Shiro, whose names respectively mean Black and White, are generally considered the antithesis of each other. Arisa thinks otherwise, as he said in an interview to ANN in 2007 that ‘in many ways, Shiro shows us an ideal. A person with the power of love, and nurturing and creativity’. Kuro, on the other hand, he describes as ‘a regular guy [with] ‘doubts and uncertainties’, someone that the majority of people can relate to, including his violent tendencies.

All anime films translated to the West are unfailingly compared to the animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli.

Although unlike nine of Studio Ghibli’s productions Tekkonkinkreet

doesn’t feature in the top thirty highest grossing anime films, it has received its fair share of recognition.

In 2006, it won Best Film Award at the Manichi Film Awards. Later in 2008 it received Best Original Story and Best Art Direction at Tokyo International Anime Fair, also winning the Japanese Academy Award for Animation of the Year.

All the awards Tekkonkinkreet has received it deserves, as it is not often a film with so much action has coherent dialogue, a concise plot and still manages to provoke such emotion in its audience. I don’t often cry when watching films – I know I haven’t with any Studio Ghibli - but Tekkonkinkreet had me cycling through the entire emotional spectrum. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best anime films I’ve seen, and one that all anime or Studio Ghibli fans should watch. Anshin, anshin!

‘Outstanding detail in the backgrounds and the buildings of the city and its unique animation style’

: the animated city of Takaramachi.

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Art credit: Flickr user Futurilla

Feature Article:

H.P. Lovecraft’s Influence on Film

by Rhiannon Morris

Above: Drawn portait of H.P. Lovecraft

L

ovecraftian is not a word that appears in the English dictionary, but there are few readers of horror, dark fantasy and science-fiction who are unaware of its meaning.

The word applies to supernatural tales of horror that involves undiscovered ancient Gods ruling the darkest corners of one’s subconscious, and cosmicism – Lovecraft’s philosophy that the human race has no destiny and is insignificant. Lovecraft is largely credited as the author who kick-started this genre with his strange tales.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft died in 1937 at the age of 46. His name and works are known around the world, but he rarely ventured outside his beloved Providence and never left America.

Lovecraft ’s works were first published in several amateur publications prior to 1923, and came to

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the attention of the publisher of Weird Tales, a pulp magazine that contacted Lovecraft, asking for some of his stories. He sent several stories to Weird Tales with a covering letter all but begging the publication not to purchase his works. The letter was published in Weird Tales with an announcement that his story Dagon (1917) would follow in the next issue. The fame of both Lovecraft and Weird Tales became intertwined from this point on.

Two ironies shroud Lovecraft.

Firstly that, despite his reputation as one of the foremost horror writers of the twentieth century, his works were never collected in print during his lifetime and as a result, he never overcame financial hardship.

The second, is that while Lovecraft’s stories have inspired many great science-fiction and horror films, they are rarely directly adapted

for screen, and if they are, they’re not the best.

Lovecraft ’s influence rocked through literature well before film, but one of the first Lovecraft inspired films appeared on screen in the form of Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (1959). Even the title alone gives you a Lovecraftian hint. It contains the classic Lovecraft themes of mankind in peril, a monster larger than life and threats because of scientific causes.

After the 50’s, Lovecraft’s influence on film grew stronger. In 1963 came the released of Roger Corman’s The Haunted Palace, which although was marketed on the film poster to be based on Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Haunted Palace (1839), it was primarily an adaptation of Lovecraft’s novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927). This is the first major that adapted anything that Lovecraft had written, or to have his influence.

Lovecraft’s reputation just wasn’t strong enough for the marketing purposes of the film. Vincent Price reads a line from Poe’s poem at the end of the film, and that’s the only connection with Poe the whole film has.

The film is about a warlock who

by Stuart Gordon, contain the idea of re-animating the dead and alternative dimensions. In The Mouth of Madness (1994) clearly references Lovecraft by featuring the idea of insanity and a writer whose work can turn people mad. The Hell Boy comic books printed in 1993 were primarily influenced by Lovecraft, therefore the films have Lovecraftian elements. The director of Hell Boy (2004), Guillermo del Toro, wrote a script for the 1931 Lovecraft novella, At The Mountains of Madness, which may be adapted one day.

Stephen King himself said his

‘Stephen King himself said that his own writing was influenced by Lovecraft.’

Artwork by Sofyan Syarief

puts a curse on a village, and as well as being narratively very Lovecraftian, it contains other clues that shows the writers influence. The film is set in the town Arkham, a place invented by Lovecraft that reoccurs in his stories – whenever Arkham is used as a fictional place, it’s a nod to Lovecraft and even appears in the DC universe. Lovecraft’s great Cthulhu is eluded to, and the Necronomicon is also featured – a fictional magic book that Lovecraft refers to in his works.

As time goes on, Lovecraft’s influence on film becomes more obvious. Many recent films try to tackle being Cthulhu on screen. In 2013 came a visual effects reel of Wrath of Cthulhu, which does feature the monstrous being in all i t s g l o r y.

H o w e v e r, it’s not very effective on screen, and runs the risk of being more silly than it is frightening. The horror of Cthulhu lives in the idea of the monster, rather than the monster itself.

Some of the more popular films inspired by Lovecraft are The Evil Dead (1981-2013) series, which features a book called the Necronomicon; The Valdemar Legacy II: The Forbidden Shadow (2010) involving the idea of Cthulhu; The Dunwich Horror (1970) which is adapted from Lovecraft’s 1928 story of the same name, and features both the Necronomicon and Cthulhu. The Necronomicon even appears in Friday the 13th (1980-2009) series.

Some films, while not including these Lovecraftian elements, are still heavily inspired by L ovecraf t.

Re-Animator (1985) a n d Fr o m B e y o n d (1986), both directed

own writing was influenced by Lovecraft, meaning most of his works’ screen adaptations have Lovecraft elements too.

Lovecraft’s influence has by now been irreversibly tangled with the film industry . Things influenced by Stephen King can be traced back to Lovecraft’s work, which, in turn, was influenced by Poe and many others. Undoubtedly, Cthulhu and the Necronomicon will continue to inspire horror in the future, and someday, we are sure to see them on screen again.

FRENCH TO ENGLISH: every aroma of beans means all the flavors there is chocolate peppermint and there is

Above: Ron and Harry with the French subtitles

Feature Article:

The Language Barrier Subbed or Dubbed?

by Clair Heenan

A

ll international film enthusiasts will understand that the foremost frustrating issue in global cinema is the language barrier.

Unless you are lucky enough to be multilinguistic (unfortunately, I am not), then you will have to wait for the translated version, something that can take several months.

Of course, film translation isn’t a problem that the average English speaker encounters often, what with Hollywood monopolising the film industry and continuously churning out film after film. Most major

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So how are foreign films made accessible to a global audience? The filmmakers have to work closely with the translators and foreign nationals to transcribe all written material.

This means the script but also refers to everything from the director’s notes, marketing posters, the synopsis and reviews. In later stages, inter views and film

franchises, like the Harry Potter series or the everlasting Marvel crusade, are also originally in English; after Chinese, the most spoken language commentary are also included. I f t h e in the world. film is meant for international release, then this process must be repeated in all the languages of the countries in the planned distribution.

Translation is more than just changing the script word-for-word: it has to go much deeper than that.

For the film to be understandable to its intended foreign audience, the translators have to consider

‘What with Hollywood monopolising the film industry’

SPANISH TO ENGLISH: each leg of beans flavor means every flavor there is chocolate mint and there

Above: Ron and Harry with the Spanish subtitles

how to interpret jokes, references and colloquialisms. These are often unique to one country, and their meanings are frequently lost in translation, and they’re as good as Double Dutch everywhere else. For example, while a l l British audiences may know the idiom ‘when pigs fly,’ many people wouldn’t understand that the Russian equivalent translates to ‘when a lobster whistles on top of a mountain’.

‘Russian equivalent translates to ‘when a lobster whistles on top of a mountain.’

The culture of the target country also needs to be observed, along with the country’s political climate and any national traditions or taboos, in

order to avoid accidentally offending the audience.

Af ter the scr ipt has been translated correctly, the film can go one of two ways. It can either have subtitles included on the video, or an entirely new voice track. With both options there are advantages and disadvantages.

When a film has subtitles, the text must summarise what is being said on screen in that moment, yet they cannot be too brief. The number of characters on screen at any one time is usually between 30-60. However, the subtitle has to stay on screen long enough for the audience to read and understand them, but this can be limited to a few seconds only. During a fast-paced conversation, things can get difficult. It can be easy to lose track of the film entirely.

Subtitles aren’t only used for foreign films. The most recent adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017) featured subtitles whenever the famed detective Hercule Poirot so much as coughed in French (being brief, they

were easy to read, so long as you weren’t put off by Kenneth Branagh’s overwhelmingly strong accent). This isn’t just limited to real languages, either – Star Wars is proof enough of that.

Alternatively, adding a new voice track has its own difficulties. More commonly known as dubbing, this means finding native voice actors to replace the original language track.

The biggest problem is that not only do the translated lines have to match when the actor speaks, but also attempting to sync the new track with their lips. The script will go through some heavy editing, distancing the translated film even further from its original. Dubbing is more popularly used for children’s cartoons, as this isn’t such an issue in animation.

So, while the language barrier can be climbed over, it’s not without its pitfalls. A lot of work goes in to film translation, and while it may not be perfect, it's quicker than learning a new language. Lobsters whistling on mountains. Seriously, where did they get that from?

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Above: Ronny Gevers as Liv and co-star

Short Film of the Issue: Liv

and pink hair’. The film is a complete mix of love and heartbreak, as we follow her through her first kiss, first relationship, whilst also struggling with the fact that her parents are separating. Whilst the film has its serious moments, it also manages to reflect the awkward innocence of teenage relationships, and this humour gives the film balance. All

by Georgia Auburn of the characters feel very authentic and the family dynamics in particular seemed like an honest representation of a broken home trying to hold itself together for the child. Whilst Liv’s oming from the Netherlands parents clearly care about her, they is this month’s short film Liv also neglect how the breakdown of (2016), directed by Zara Dwinger. their marriage affects her.

Liv depicts the story of a teenage girl Heartbreak is unfortunately undergoing the turmoil of coming something we will all most likely of age. Zara Dwinger was born and experience at some point in our lives. raised in Amsterdam, where her love In an interview with Serafima Serafiof film led her to attend the Nether- mova, Dwinger explains that ‘the lands Film Academy. Dwinger co-di- film is inspired by the disappointrected the feature film Ik Geloof Dat ment and confusion I encountered Ik Gelukkig Ben (2015) and has since as an adolescent. The pink cloud of directed the 2017 film Sirene, as well youth disappeared quite suddenly, as multiple adverts and music videos. and I began to see everything for Liv is described as ‘a coming of what it was. Love, for example, age dramedy about disappointment turned out to be a bit more complex

C

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than I thought it was. I wanted to capture the feeling of this whirlwind of a period in a lighthearted way’.

One of the techniques the film uses to show emotion is the use of colour. For example, Liv’s hair is pink because, as Dwinger explains, she represents the ‘pink cloud of youth’.

However, when things begin to fall apart Liv retreats to her bedroom, where the lighting is almost red, reflecting her anger, frustration and confusion at both her parents and perhaps love overall. This colour is then immediately contrasted with the cooler, blue tones of her boyfriend’s room, who is feeling lost in knowing how to help Liv. Another recurring theme throughout the film is the use of loud and chaotic drumming, usually played when Liv is wearing her headphones, running away from either her parents or her boyfriend. The drums seem to represent how overwhelmed Liv feels, and her need to escape the harsh realities of life.

Dwinger manages to capture not only heartbreak and it’s struggles, but also the essence of being a teenager.

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NEXT ISSUE LOOK OUT FOR. . .

Best film foods of all time and how it differs around the globe. From the big standard popcorn to paella.

A look into the life of director Abbas Kiarostami and his influence on Iranian cinema through his critical films, and the best films of his career.

A tour inside London’s independent cinema the Lexi and why it stands out compared to chain cinemas with its crew of volunteers and proceeds that go to charity.

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