glasgow film festival cine skinny thursday 12 february 09
DESCRIPTION
The Cine Skinny is your indispensable guide to all things GFF. There’s so much going on, you could feel more spoiled than Roger Moore in a safari suit shop, so we’ll be keeping you up to date with all the gossip from filmmakers and audiences (but don’t go expecting scandal), offering our recommendations on what to see and the best places to be, and provide you with all you’ll need to know about the strands, screenings and soirees of the Glasgow Film Festival. The Skinny is recognised as Scotland’s leading free culture and listings publication, so you know you’re in safer hands than a bad script on Michael Winner’s coffee table. Enjoy!TRANSCRIPT
G L A S G WFILM FESTIVAL14 TO 24 FEBRUARY08
the
Cin
eSki
nn
y The OfficialDaily GuiDe
ThuRSDay 12 febRuaRy 09
WelcOMe!
Gff bOx OfficeOrder tickets from the box office at
www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk
or call 0141 332 6535
or visitGlasgow Film Theatre
12 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB
G L A S G WFILM FESTIVAL14 TO 24 FEBRUARY08
Of all the daily film magazines in all the towns in all the world, pick up one of ours. Welcome to The Cine Skinny, your indispensable guide to all things GFF. There’s so much going on, you could feel more spoiled than Roger Moore in a safari suit shop, so we’ll be keeping you up-to-date with all the gossip from filmmakers and audiences (but don’t go expecting scandal), offering our recommendations on what to see and the best places to be, and provide you with all you’ll need to know about the strands, screenings and soirees of the Glasgow Film Festival. The Skinny is recognised as Scotland’s leading culture and listings publication, so you know you’re in safer hands than a bad script on Michael Winner’s coffee table. Enjoy!
G L A S G WFILM FESTIVAL14 TO 24 FEBRUARY08The cineSkinny
Produced by The Skinny magazine in association with the Glasgow Film Festival
eDiTORS Gail Tolley Michael GillespielayOuT Jen Davies
ww
w.th
eSki
nn
y.C
o.u
k
SpOnSORS
Starry Starry NightTonight’s opening gala is worth getting a little starry-eyed about. Gail Tolley reports.
The world of film has always been star-studded. Stars on the screen, stars on the red-carpet and, if you’re lucky, stars splashed across the critics’ reviews. Well this year we are lucky, as both are in abundance for tonight’s opening gala performance. Glasgow-born director Armando Iannucci’s political satire In the Loop will be getting its UK premiere in his home city. Fresh from Sundance, this black comedy has been totting up the column inches as critics get excited about what could be one of the highlights of 2009 (indeed The Times’ Damon Wise has already commented that “it might even be the best British film of the year”).
The film focuses on the ‘special’ relationship between the US and the UK in the run up to an unspecified war in the Middle East (no prizes for guessing what that’s alluding to). Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), the secretary for state for the Department of International Development, gets swept up in a whirlwind of political spin as he becomes a pawn for governments
on both sides of the Atlantic. Similar in style and content to
his TV series In the Thick of It, In the Loop is certainly ripe for the US’ increasing appetite for satirical British comedy, a fact that meant it was quickly snapped up by a US distributor earlier this year. And there’s no reason to think that it won’t go down just as well with British audiences well accustomed to the deadpan humour of programmes like The Office and The Royle Family. It certainly provides a refreshing alternative to the Richard Curtis comedies that Britain’s film industry has been known for in recent years.
Iannucci isn’t the only Scottish presence in the film: fellow Scot Peter Capaldi takes centre stage as spin doctor Malcolm Tucker. It’s exciting to have such a highly anticipated film with such fantastic local talent making its UK debut here in Glasgow. With a bit of glitz and glamour and a fine film to match, this year’s opening gala is likely to be one to remember.
2 the CineSkinny MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY www.theSkinny.Co.uk
TOMORROW’S
pickS
TRue ThinGS: The ShORT filMS Of MiRanDa July19:30 @ ccaOne of the most important and accessible artists of her generation gets a much-deserved retrospective.
nOT QuiTe hOllyWOOD13:15 @ cineWORlD Crack open a tinny and indulge in some Ozploitation, a forgotten cinema of sex, swearing and splatter: strewth!
heaRT Of fiRe18:30 @ cineWORlDA powerful but inspirational story, following a young girl forced into becoming a soldier in an African liberation army.
nOSfeRaTu21:00 @ GfTThe film that launched a thousand horrors and inspired a billion nightmares! Without question a classic.
anVil21:00@ cineWORlDA film AND live concert from the veteran rockers. Long hair, ripped jeans and air guitar optional.
ReviewsROMan hOliDayDirector: William WylerThursday 12 February (13:00) and Friday 13 February (18:15) at GFT
Swooping orchestral music and white titles on black and white scenery signal the fact you’re in for a Sunday afternoon classic. Audrey Hepburn is Ann, crown princess of an unnamed European country, and her Royal tour is taking its toll. In a Cinderella role reversal, she kicks off her too-tight shoes before the ball, and flips out so marvellously on hearing the next day’s schedule, that her aides drug her up to calm her down. This backfires somewhat as Ann then runs away in Rome,
where she’s discovered, sleepy and strung out, by sleekit hack Gregory Peck. Rapidly recognising her, Peck knows he’s onto tabloid gold. So, will he betray her for cold hard cash? Or will he fall in love with the utterly beguiling Audrey? What do you think? Funny and gorgeous, Hepburn is so fresh in her first role, it’s hard to believe this film is 56 years old. Forget Slumdog - this is feel-good at its glorious best.
Cara McGuigan
What’s new online?inTeRVieWSFind out what local director David Mackensie (Hallam Foe, Young Adam) is looking forward to seeing at the festival in our feature Celebrating Cinema City in this month’s Skinny and on our website www.theskinny.co.uk And whilst you’re there why not exercise those virtual vocal chords on our forum pages.
blOG eTcAs well as finding the GFF at the usual places of Facebook and Myspace you can follow artistic
directors Allan and Allison’s micro-blogs at twitter, twitter.com/gff09 You can also browse interviews and features on films and events at the GFF blog www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk/blog
phOTOGRaphSFind festival photography at www.flickr.com from our team of photographers. You can also upload your own images to the Glasgow Film Festival group and if we like them you might even find them in these pages (with a credit to you, of course!)
Quiz TiMeCould you be the winner of two tickets to see Anvil! The Story of Anvil on Friday 13 February (not so unlucky after all then!)? Well, that’s a rhetorical question, but don’t worry, the next one isn’t and could win you this great prize:
Who directed This Is Spinal Tap?Send your details with the answer as the subject line to [email protected] before 10am Friday. Rock on!
yOuR feSTiValComment online at the GFF site, MySpace, Facebook & on The Skinny’s web forums and if we like what you say we’ll print it in here. Go ahead, make our day...
2 the CineSkinny THURSDAY 12 FEBRUARY 09
DaViD Mackenzie On hallaM fOe