Steven Spielberg offered his support to the EU filmmakers at Cannes this year.

Ahead of the G8 Summit, European filmmakers have won the battle to have film excluded from the EU-US Trade Talks. At a meeting in Brussels, attended by the EU’s 27 Ministers of Commerce who are responsible for defining the content of trade negotiations to be opened between Europe and the United States, the ministers bowed to filmmakers’ pressure for the exclusion of culture and the audiovisual sector from the negotiations.

Tweet

Filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe were particularly vocal as the region would be one of the hardest hit if the cultural exception was removed in the talks, with thousands of industry jobs at stake. Polish director and producer Dariusz Jablonski said, “This is great day for the European film community that we were able to make our politicians hear us. We thank especially France for their strong defense of culture in all of our countries. I know from that Poland and Hungary gave France strong support in this battle. We still have to be ready to express and defend our position. On behalf of those leading the protest I want to thank all those who signed the petition. “The cultural exception is non-negotiable!” petition was signed by over 8,300 people, with Americans Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein giving their official support to the defense of cultural exception during this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

However, the war is not over despite this victory. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who has opposed the cultural exception, said that despite the decision he would be free to raise the issue again with European governments after sounding out U.S. officials on it. Should the matter be raised again, it would require a unanimous vote. French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq, who threatened to veto any mandate, speaking on the possibility of any revision to the mandate said, “The same procedure would then be necessary: France would again be asked to give its opinion, and would again say no”.

Watch the press conference that gives more details. Choose language by running the mouse over the video clip.

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

The Act of Killing

The 20th edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest drew to a close with its awards ceremony, presented by Jeremy Hardy. The seven awards for 2013 were: Inspiration Award; Special Jury Award, Sheffield Innovation Award, Sheffield Green Award, Sheffield Youth Jury Award, Sheffield Student Doc Award, the first ever Sheffield Short Doc Award and The Tim Hetherington Award presented by Dogwoof and Doc/Fest.

Tweet

Previously announced, Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Inspiration Award, now in its fourth year, went to BBC Storyille Editor Nick Fraser. Producer Simon Chinn said, “I can’t think of anyone more deserving of an award for inspiration than Nick Fraser. He has inspired me more than anyone I can think of to make documentaries, to believe documentaries can be the highest form of storytelling, and to be ambitious with them.”

 In accepting the award, Fraser said, “Docs – the great ones, I mean, but also docs in small pieces – have the ability to tell us things we don’t know. They’re also, in their own way, truthful. And they can have their own worldly beauty. Of course they must be worldly, coming from what we see, but the greatest docs are oddly innocent, too – as if they and we who watch them are seeing things for the first time”.

The Special Jury Award was awarded to The Act of Killing (Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, Den/Nor/UK 2012, 158mins). A special mention went to Mothers (Xu Huijing, China 2013, 68mins)

The Sheffield Youth Jury Award went to God Loves Uganda (Dir. Roger Ross Williams, US 2013, 83mins). Youth jury spokesperson Curtis Holland said, “In 2013, kids are activists and revolutions are being started via social media. We had a long talk about what we young people think makes a good documentary and we decided that it is simply telling a good story and telling it well. There was one film that ticked all of these boxes. Delivering an important message, with humour, tact and humanity, one film stood out from the crowd. That film was, without a shadow of doubt, God Loves Uganda.

God Loves Uganda

The Sheffield Innovation Award was awarded to Alma, a Tale of Violence, (Dirs: Miquel Dewever-Plana  & Isabelle Fougère / Fr, 2012, 40 mins). Anna Higgs, spokesperson for the Innovation Jury said, “We’re at a really interesting time in understanding storytelling. We are beyond supporting innovation for the sake of innovation, it’s about recognising what audiences are doing and making work that builds on, and stretches that. 
We need to build sustainable models for digital storytelling. The work we liked developed techniques that other storytellers can learn from and use in their work. 
So for this reason we give the Innovation Jury award to Alma: A Tale of Violence.”

The Sheffield Green Award is awarded to Pandora’s Promise, (Dir. Robert Stone, USA 2012, 87 mins) with a special mention to Fuck For Forest (Dir. Michał Marczak, Germany 2012, 90mins)

. Jury spokespeople, Charlotte Cook & Rajendra Roy said, “If you believe fundamentally in the dangers of nuclear power [the winning film] encourages you to interrogate that view. Applying techniques more commonly found in left-wing polemic to a seemingly contradictory view, Pandora’s Promise is a great piece of filmmaking. It left us with questions and a desire to explore the issues more.”

Pandora’s Promise

The Student Doc Award was awarded to Boys (Dir. Marc Williamson, 2013 UK, 42 mins)

The Sheffield Short Doc Award went to Slomo (Dir. Josh Izenberg, US 2013 16 mins). Spokesperson for the Short Doc, Kate Trancard, said, “The Smalls is an online community of over 7,500 short filmmakers. We are delighted to be a partner of this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest. We really believe in short-form filmmaking as a unique medium to tell a small story with big ideas. For us, this year’s winning short doc was exactly that.”

The new Tim Hetherington Award, presented by Dogwoof and Doc/Fest, 

is a new award that celebrates the life and legacy of photojournalist and humanitarian Tim Hetherington, whose objectives as a filmmaker were to highlight the plight of people so often ignored by the world and mainstream media. A cash-prize of £1,000 was presented to the film in the festival that best reflected Tim Hetherington’s legacy. The film was selected by a jury incluing Tim Hetherington’s mother Judith, and representatives from Doc/Fest and Dogwoof, the UK distributor of Tim’s Oscar-winning Restrepo. The Tim Hetherington Award was given to The Square (Al Midan) (Dir. Jehane Noujaim, Egypt/United States 2012, 90mins).

The EDA Award for Best Female-Director, awarded by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, went to Rafae Solar Mama (Dirs. Mona Eldaief, Jehane Noujaim/ Jord/USA/Den/India, 76 mins). The jury included movieScope’s editor, Nikki Baugham.

Sheffield Doc/Fest Director Heather Croall

For the second year, the EDA Best Female-Directed award included a special award for outstanding achievement that was presented to Doc/Fest director Heather Croall. In receiving the award Heather said, “This week so many filmmakers have told me that their film first found traction at Sheffield Doc/Fest – either in MeetMarket, or as a germ of an idea at an informal conversation, or because they won one of the pitch competitions. Filmmakers often tell me their screenings at Sheffield lead to sales or new opportunities. Some have told me Sheffield changed their life! It is incredibly gratifying to me to know that Sheffield nurtures talent and makes a difference for filmmakers, not just during the festival but throughout the year. Thank you so much for this award, I like to see it as being for the Sheffield team as a whole.”

The Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award will be announced Tuesday 18 June.

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

Paul Andrew Williams’ Song For Marion

As part of a new relationship between British Council and SIFF, the Festival programme will include seven contemporary UK feature films: The Angel’s Share, Berberian Sound Studio, Shadow Dancer, Ginger & Rosa – all backed by the BFI Film Fund, Everyday, Song for Marion and Quartet. All the films will screen for the first time to Chinese audiences.

Tweet

The BFI’s recent highly acclaimed restorations of Hitchcock’s early silent films – the ‘Hitchcock 9’ – will also screen at SIFF. After hugely successful screenings around the world and screenings of The Lodger in Beijing and Xi’an, this is the first time that all nine films will be presented in China. Six of the restored films will be accompanied live by the celebrated UK-based pianist John Sweeney. A further screening of Blackmail will have its Asian premiere in the newly opened Shanghai Film Museum, with live music by Beijing-based electronic musicians FM3. In addition, BFI Senior Curator Robin Baker will give a lecture on the Hitchcock restoration programme.

A full delegation from the BFI, led by BFI CEO Amanda Nevill, and including Creative Director Heather Stewart and Head of International Isabel Davis, will attend the festival to meet Chinese counterparts. Looking ahead, a UK/China exchange programme in 2014 will see the largest ever retrospective of Chinese Cinema at BFI Southbank.

Other UK participation will include King’s Speech and Les Miserables director and BFI Board member Tom Hooper, who heads the Jury, and Helen Mirren, who will attend SIFF to present Hitchcock, in which she stars as the director’s wife Alma.

Two UK short filmmakers will attend SIFF supported by funds from the joint British Council/BFI Short Support Scheme; BAFTA-nominated The Voorman Problem and The Craftsman will both screen as part of ‘Mobile SIFF’, the Festival’s short film forum.

Despite a quota system limiting non-domestic titles in Chinese cinemas, UK film is increasingly celebrated by Chinese audiences. A recently announced joint venture between Pinewood Studios and venture with Seven Stars Media is also indicative of strengthening ties.

Briony Hanson, Director of Film at British Council, said, “It’s so exciting to be able to see such a positive UK presence in SIFF this year, following on from the groundwork the British Council has been doing to build audiences and interest in British arts. That the 2013 festival programme includes a selection of contemporary features, contribution from emerging talent and a celebration of one of our greatest ever filmmakers (given new life by the BFI’s restoration experts), is testament to the strength of our industry.”

Amanda Nevill, BFI CEO, said, ‘To see Chinese audiences embracing British film is thrilling and its fantastic that we are able to give what is one of the world’s most important cinema-going nations the opportunity to see both the best of British screen heritage and modern British filmmaking. Equally we recognize the importance and influence of Chinese cinematic heritage here in the UK and the BFI will be celebrating this with an extensive project planned for 2014. I hope these are just the beginnings of an even closer collaborative relationship between the UK and China.’

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

The animation industry has much to celebrate as Creative Skillset’s Executive Director Kate O’Connor announced three major developments during her speech at Annecy Festival today.

Tweet

She announced that animation production company Blue Zoo has become the first company to co-invest in Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Fund (SIF), which will be matched pound for pound by HM Treasury. Blue Zoo has confirmed it is one of five companies to have received a ‘letter of comfort’ from the BFI’s Certification Unit confirming that its upcoming production will pass the cultural test for the UK animated tax relief. And the first animation courses funded through the Skills Investment Fund will start next month.

Kate O’Connor said: “These developments mark a step change in the competitiveness of the UK animation industry. They put out a clear message that the UK animation industry is open for business. With the tax reliefs, industry and government co-investment into skills and the training opportunities for new entrants and professionals there has been no better time to invest in the UK animation industry.”

Multi-BAFTA award-winning animation production company Blue Zoo is leading the industry by example by being the first animation company to invest in the Skills Investment Fund.

Film, high-end TV and animation sectors will contribute to the SIF via a production levy. Blue Zoo is paying the levy on its new production, Digby Dragon.

Oli Hyatt, Co-Founder of Blue Zoo, Chair of Animation UK and one of the leading campaigners for the tax reliefs, said: “I am passionate about the UK animation industry and firmly believe in the importance of investing in our future talent.”

“This country has an illustrious heritage in animation, a wealth of emerging young talent and is a major worldwide exporter of animation for TV but, until now, we were simply not competing on a level playing field with the rest of the world. UK producers faced increasingly subsidised competition from overseas, we saw our top talent moving overseas and there was simply not enough investment in the next generation of animation producers. Having now successfully secured government approval for tax credits, the animation industry must ensure that its workforce is skilled and ready to meet the predicted increase in production.”

“Blue Zoo is expanding and planning to train up both graduates and existing professionals in new senior roles such as directors, producers and storyboarding riggers over the coming 18 months. By investing in the Skills Investment Fund we will be able to access subsidised trainees and training opportunities enabling us to do more comprehensive training not just for new talent coming in but also for existing professionals to step up to their next role.”

Blue Zoo has received a letter of comfort from the BFI for its upcoming production indicating that it will pass the draft cultural test – the first stage in accessing the UK’s new tax relief for animation programmes. To qualify for the tax relief animation productions must be certified as culturally British by the BFI Certification Unit. While legislation is being formalised businesses can submit a draft pre-approval application to the BFI and receive a letter of comfort indicating that their project will pass the cultural test.

Oli will be sharing his experience to delegates at Annecy on the process of applying for the tax reliefs, how this will benefit the UK animation industry and the importance of investing in training – particularly through the Skills Investment Fund.

The first animation courses to be supported through the Skills Investment Fund ‘Advanced Storyboarding for Animation’ and ‘An Introduction to Storyboarding’ start in July and will be managed by Lupus Films.

Ken Anderson, CEO and Creative Director at animation company Red Kite and member of Creative Skillset’s Animation Council joined the panel session at Annecy with Kate O’Connor and Oli Hyatt. He said: “I am delighted Blue Zoo has passed the draft cultural test to access the tax reliefs and is leading the charge for co-investment in the industry’s future talent.”

“Creative Skillset has been working closely with the animation industry over the last six months to identify the skills gaps and shortages that businesses face. It revealed urgent skills shortages in Storyboarding, CelAction, production management and compositing and rigging.”

“The Animation Council agreed the first activities supported by the Skills Investment Fund must be focused around these priority areas. We are delighted these courses are taking place so quickly and being led by such a well-respected industry expert.”

The course tutor, travelling from the US to lead the courses, is celebrated industry veteran Frank Gladstone who, within in his long career as an Storyboard Artist, Producer, Director and Educator, has worked for major companies including Disney, Dreamworks and Aardman Animation.

The four-week Advanced Storyboarding for Animation runs from 1-26 July. It is designed to increase and sharpen storytelling and storyboarding skills with intense practical workshops and critiques, culminating with each of the 15 participants completing a sequence animatic. It will train experienced storyboarders in the skills needed to run and supervise fast-paced shows targeted at 8-12 year olds.

The two one-day masterclasses, Introduction to Storyboarding, are targeted at animation students or recent graduates and take place on Saturday 6 July and Saturday 13 July. They focus on the basic elements of narrative structure and the building blocks of cinematic visual language.

Training in the other priority areas of CelAction, production management and compositing and rigging will be announced in due course.

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

Tweet

When Joss proposed do Much Ado About Nothing, was it like in the old Hollywood movies with, “Hey gang, let’s put on a show”.
Alexis: In a way. I suppose it had a little of that. He’d finished shooting The Avengers and he came to me with this idea that seemed crazy, but crazy fun. So I jumped in, Amy jumped in, everyone jumped in, if they were available. You’d be a fool to say no to Joss. We didn’t know what was going to come of it. It was more, “Can we do this? Let’s give it a try.” But it did have that, hey kids let’s do a show right here.

Which makes it one of the best home movies you’ll ever see.
Alexis: Certainly the best one I’ve ever made.

Joss does have this ensemble of actors that are always ready to work with him.
Amy: I don’t think it would be hard to find someone who has worked with him before that isn’t hoping the day will come when they get to again.

Alexis: That actor’s dead, if they are not saying yes to working with him again.

Or he’s killed them off in a show, and haven’t been able to forgive him…
Alexis: He doesn’t kill us in real life. Thank God. May be he’d like to occasionally. If Joss kills your character it’s a huge compliment. It means that he cares about your character, and the audience cares about your character, and he’s doing it for a reason.

So there were no worries that he might make an adaptation of Much Ado and kill off one of the beloved characters?
Alexis: No. He’s very reverent of Shakespeare and with someone else’s script he wouldn’t do that.

There are some great moments of physical comedy, such as your pratfall. Were they all Joss’s ideas or did the cast make contributions?
Amy: Everybody brought something. With the staircase, Joss had said, which is something I had noticed when I’d seen the play, and done the play before, you have the guys sculling scene, which is hilarious, and there are so many comic opportunities in that scene, and you have the girls doing the same thing and it’s not as funny usually, so he had the idea of, what if she falls down the stairs. That we had to plan out or I would have died. The rest of it was listening to Hero and Ursula, and getting to play around with the house, which was there and real and getting to use what was built.

The thing with using Joss’s house was it felt slightly voyeuristic and like the most cultured edition of Cribs ever.
Alexis: If you’re a fan of Joss, then that’s true, but we’re hoping the movie finds an audience that hasn’t even heard of Joss or any of the actors in it, because they’re either interested in Shakespeare or they heard this is a good movie and they go to see it, and the house is the location with a story rather than being a peepshow into Joss’s home. But, it’s a fantastic peepshow.

Do you think that because it is Joss and all the actors the fans are familiar with that it will bring an audience to see a Shakespeare play that normally wouldn’t go?
Amy: That’s the hope.

Alexis: That would be great. I think there are a lot of reasons to see it. You might be a fan of one of more of the actors, you might be a fan of Joss or Shakespeare. You might have read a good review, which we’ve been lucky to get. We’re hoping it finds its way out. It needs word of mouth. It’s already surpassed the zero expectations we had for it. This is all tremendous for us.

There’s a lot of buzz on Twitter about the film, and you did the road trip on the bus.
Alexis: Yeah, that was fun. We’ve been going around the festivals and talking about the film to people who are interested in discussing it, and trying to get the word out that this movie is ready for the audience and it’s starting its roll out. So far, so good.

Amy: We made the movie not knowing if it would be seen by anyone and being really happy with that because it was such a joy to work on, with characters that we love, and all people that we love. Getting to travel around and see different audiences’ reactions, and see people who are not Shakespeare fans walk out feeling like they get it and maybe it is for them after all. It’s been really exciting.

Is Shakespeare a big part of the American education system, like it is here?
Alexis: It’s in there, amongst others. I wouldn’t say that Shakespeare is available to the same degree that it is here. You can find a production in this country on any day in almost any city. It’s a cherished part of the British culture. Americans also revere Shakespeare but it’s not quite as actively produced in the States as it is here. But that isn’t to say it isn’t enjoyed.

Your characters had an on-off/will-they-won’t they relationship in Angel, was that part of the reason why you were cast in the leads, so you could requite the unrequited love of Fred and Wesley?
AA: We didn’t even make the connection until after we’d done it. It was definitely part of it because that was how we started working with Joss, and that’s how we did this reading of the play ten years ago that, apparently, sparked the idea in Joss’s mind that he was going to make this movie. As Alexis says, we’re friends, and have been friends since Angel, and our friendship’s grown and we’ve seen each other raise kids. For the audience, you’ve seen Fred and Wesley, and now you’re seeing Beatrice and Benedick, but we actually have a history in between that of a friendship. It is part of it, but it wasn’t something we intentionally did to make it a happy ending for them. It was kind of fortuitous and we were like, “And that happens”.

Was it a great help that you’d had this onscreen relationship?
Alexis: Absolutely. We have a rapport, and all three of us – Joss, Amy and I – feel there is something special that happens when we work together. We are dear friends off screen, but we love working with each other and there is a special chemistry. I don’t know if any of us know why, but we have a trust and we have great deal of fun, and I guess that’s it. I don’t know if it’s mysterious, but I don’t know if I can explain it.

Did your time living in England help with your understanding of Shakespeare?
Alexis: Definitely it did. It gave me a good exposure to Shakespeare. I studied at LAMDA and my first professional theatre job was a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet with Mark Rylance, so I got to watch a master tackle the greatest role. That was a thrill, and I had other experiences after that with other Shakespeare productions, on screen and on stage. I think the readings were what kept it alive, when we were shooting Buffy and Angel because nobody was going off to do a play anymore. What I would say is we found our own voice for Shakespeare, our own interpretation as a company, and as individuals. I tried to leave a little of the responsibility for Shakespeare, or what might be perceived as a burden of Shakespeare, here in Great Britain to do him right. We just tried to make him ours. What is our version of these characters and how do we tell this story, and how can we make it come alive for ourselves, and tried not to worry about anybody outside. Any scholars or historians or audiences. We were really making it with and for each other.

That’s the great thing about Shakespeare is it can be adapted to any setting. Look at Baz Luhrman’s Romeo & Juliet, which was spectacular.
Alexis: That is a testament to what a genius Shakespeare was, that he could withstand all these interpretations. Not only withstand, but shine through them, generation after generation. He’s speaking not just about his time but all time, and all men, and women.

What do you think about the conspiracy that Shakespeare didn’t write the plays and they were done by other people such as Christopher Marlowe?
Alexis: It’s an enjoyable debate. There are strong arguments on both sides. Everybody has to make there own mind up. I don’t mind not knowing. For me, the plays are the thing. The works still great, whoever wrote it.

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

Thanks to roles in the likes of Take Shelter, Boardwalk Empire and The Iceman, Michael Shannon is one of the most exciting American actors working today. In an excerpt from our exclusive career interview, Shannon reveals to MaryAnn Johanson why he doesn’t seek out the crazy, and while his portrayal of General Zod in Man of Steel may surprise some…

“There’s certainly some twirling of the moustache here and there [in Man of Steel] because that’s what makes it fun, right? But inherently it’s not schlocky.”

On screen, Michael Shannon has portrayed a startling variety of men, some on the extreme edges of human nature and some mentally disturbed, from the almost gentle overprotectiveness of the safety-obsessed family man in Take Shelter to the paranoid drifter in Bug who makes the viewer as itchy as the delusional insects under his skin make him. Does he find himself particularly drawn to such characters for the school-of-life lessons they offer, or is something else going on?

“I’m not very good at answering that question,” Shannon admits, after a long pause. “People who watch my work or think about what I do draw that parallel a lot more often than I do. I don’t read scripts and look for crazy people. I just read scripts for the story, to see if I enjoy the story and see if I think it’s worth telling. I think there’s a lot of movies that get made that aren’t really worth anybody’s time, either the people who made them or the people sitting and watching them. I’ve been in some of them… But some of them I actually think may have some value to somebody. So that’s what I’m shooting for. I do a movie like Take Shelter not because I was salivating at the prospect of playing someone with mental illness. I do a movie like that because it’s about the world, and the state of being human in this world that’s so increasingly kind of horrifying. How do you cope with that experience as a human being and being responsible for your family’s safety and well-being? That’s what I’m thinking when I’m reading a script. I’m not thinking, ‘I like it because he might be crazy.’

Audiences will next see Shannon take on the decidedly dastardly General Zod in Man of Steel. Zod is a far more cartoonish character, made an icon of evil by Terence Stamp’s villainous performance in 1978’s Superman; yet, while Shannon found this portrayal “truly terrifying as a child”, his influence has been kept to a minimum as the actor attempts to breath as much real life into the character as possible.

“Zod is a general—what a complex and interesting thing to be,” says Shannon. “I mean, generals are fascinating characters. They have so much responsibility. They’re capable of ordering great violence, but in the service of what they see to be the right thing to do. So I just approached it from that point of view.”

“I think one of the reasons I got the job, other than just dumb luck, is that it was really important to them—[screenwriters] Chris Nolan, David Goyer, and [producer] Chuck Roven, and everybody involved—that Zod be less like a pure villainous evil person,” Shannon continues. There’s certainly some twirling of the moustache here and there, because that’s what makes it fun, right? But inherently it’s not schlocky. At least it didn’t feel that way when I was doing it. Maybe I’ll see it and be horrified. I dunno.”

The Iceman is now in UK cinemas, and Man of Steel opens on Friday June 14.

This excerpt is from an extensive, exclusive career interview with Michael Shannon published in movieScope 34, May/June 2013

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

Creative Skillset has today announced the first round of funding for training as part of their new Film Skills Strategy. Organisations and individuals can apply for £750,000 in this first funding round to support training and skills development in priority areas identified by the industry while individuals can apply for up to 80% towards the costs of training (to a maximum of £800) in areas of identified skills shortages – craft and technical and health and safety. Funding has also been made available for international scholarships.

Tweet

Organisations can apply until 18 July for funding to deliver subsidised training within the initial priority areas of:

• Production management
• VFX
• Career and business acceleration
• Digital content and audience choice
• Creative talent development

Creative Skillset is also launching two new funding schemes for organisations (Emerging Needs and Innovation) looking to meet the needs of a changing industry. Both schemes are worth £400,000 across the year with £150,000 available in the first round. The funding is part of Creative Skillset’s new four-year Film Skills Strategy (2013-2017)

Dinah Caine, CEO of Creative Skillset, said: “The new film skills strategy will support the development of people and businesses across the film industry, encouraging greater cultural diversity and driving growth. We are delighted to be working in partnership with the BFI to support delivery of Film Forever and I am pleased to open this first funding round, with more to follow throughout the year.”

Tim Cagney, Deputy CEO of the BFI, said: “The UK has a superb reputation as a global hub for film production with top-class crews, technical expertise and facilities. Investment in skills and business development is essential to maintaining and building that reputation and helping us to drive further growth in this vital UK industry, so we’re delighted that the BFI’s significant investment in the new Skills Strategy will be delivered through our strategic partnership with Creative Skillset to help us future-proof UK film.”

Further information on the funding, along with deadlines for applications, can be found at www.creativeskillset.org/film/funding

Creative Skillset’s Film Skills Strategy can be found at www.creativeskillset.org/filmstrategy

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

Released: June 14 2013
Discussed by: Nikki Baughan and James Mottram

movieScope editor Nikki Baughan and critic James Mottram discuss Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, which updates Shakespeare’s classic comedy about two pairs of lovers to a contemporary setting.

JAMES MOTTRAM I’m not a great fan of contemporary versions of Shakespeare generally. Considering Whedon made it in 12 days with a bunch of actors he knows very well in his own house, it’s a brisk fun adaptation. It didn’t do a lot for me personally.

NIKKI BAUGHAN I really enjoyed it. I thought Whedon’s decision to film it in his home and keep it to a single location was a good one, because it made it quite intimate. I also loved the performances, particularly Alexis Denisoff as Benedick, Nathan Fillion as Dogberry and Amy Acker as Beatrice. She’s just so endearing.

JAMES Denisoff and Acker were very good. The moments where they are both hiding from the others, overhearing the conversations, those scenes were probably my favourites as they worked really well.

NIKKI It is very funny at times. I don’t laugh out loud at many things on screen, but I did several times during this. Everyone had such great comic timing. And I’m not big fan of modern Shakespeare adaptations, generally, but I thought this translated really well. Sometimes Shakespeare told in modern times really jars and feels forced, but I really liked the way they integrated both worlds. The use of iPods to play music and iPads to relay the news of the ‘soldiers’ coming home, that was cleverly done and not over the top.

JAMES There was a version of Hamlet with Ethan Hawke in 2000 which did the same thing, although obviously the technology wasn’t as up to date.. I didn’t think this offered anything particularly new. I guess I didn’t really see why it had to be contemporary—but then you could argue that could be my prejudice towards those sorts of films. You could argue it’s a vanity project but he’s pulled it off well enough.

NIKKI I kind of get the feeling that he made it for himself, and he made it for his friends… I don’t think he would say any different. It’s his friends, his house, I think it’s an experiment for him, something so very different to the big budget stuff he’s doing on the big screen. He’s going back to his roots, in a way, and I loved seeing him do that.

JAMES Yes, he definitely did make it for himself, it’s true. I think there’s integrity to that. It just personally wasn’t that appealing to me; I enjoyed Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 version more. This was bright and breezy, if you’re looking for a lightweight piece of cinema. If it gets Joss Whedon fans to start watching Shakespeare that’s great.

NIKKI It’s nice, entry level Shakespeare. It’s not plodding or inaccessible or tragic, it’s just a lot of fun.

NIKKI BAUGHAN 4 stars
JAMES MOTTRAM 3 stars

This review was published in movieScope 34, May/June 2013

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

London-based international film company Intandem Films has raised an additional £1.8 million as part of its global expansion plans, and has also completed deals on nine fully contracted films.

Intandem has entered into a £1 million Equity Financing Facility with Darwin Strategic Limited, and has raised a further £800,000 through private investment.

The company has unveiled a slate of nine films, four of which are completely financed;  comedy thriller Killing Hasselhoff, sci-fi love stories Starbright and Second Origin and psychological thriller Isolated. Intandem holds sales rights in all available export territories for these films, while the other five titles are in financing phase. 

“I am delighted that Intandem has received further investor support and that we have the opportunity to continue with the company’s refreshed strategy,” commented Intandem CEO Robert Mitchell. “I believe our potential to acquire quality product will now be significantly improved.”

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View

In another industry first, Sohonet has announced the launch of Sohonet Media Storage, a private cloud storage as a service platform optimised for the media sector. The service aims to expand and extend production and post-production storage capability on a ‘Pay-As-You-Go’ basis for those professionals working within the popular Sohonet Media Network community.

Tweet

Pitched at those who need to add supplementary storage capability to existing infrastructures at short notice, Sohonet Media Storage offers variety of pricing plans suitable to all project sizes – a feature which should prove particularly appealing to creative businesses that tend to predominantly operate on a short-term, project basis. The service is ideally designed for short-term archive, long-term archive, in-production remote storage, transition storage between ingest and post-production, shadow storage and the replacement of portable media.

Speaking at the launch, Ben Dair, Sohonet’s Director of Product Management, commented that  “As digital workloads rapidly increase, the demands made on media companies’ IT infrastructure, especially at peak times, is often unsustainable. Media companies and service providers are crying out for a short term, flexible storage service that enables them to expand and extend storage capability on production or post-production projects quickly, easily and without having to purchase and maintain assets. Sohonet Media Storage has been developed to respond to this need by providing flexible, affordable access to short and long-term archiving, back up, and parking as well as a viable option for intermediate storage or as an alternative to LTO or portable disks.”

Sohonet Media Storage is attached and embedded within the Sohonet Media Network which ensures that companies on the network can leverage the benefit of connection speeds of up to 10Gbit/s with no data transfer charges or bandwidth limitations on transfer speeds.

Damien Carroll, Sohonet’s Chief Operating Officer, noted that the companies’ reputation as a global leader in network connectivity and data management, enables it to ‘understand exactly what our media customers need to help them meet the many challenges of a demanding digital world.’ One of those, Carroll continued, was to ‘help take the headache out of storage procurement on both a short and long-term basis [by] enabling content producers to manage more projects and internal resources without impacting on capital expenditure’.

www.sohonet.com

movieScope movieScope - Movies From An Insider's Point Of View