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How to get ahead in the festival
TODAY, the festival got going in earnest. There are a lot more people
around, and fighting your way through the queues at films can be
quite a nightmare.
However, some people seem to be able to waltz past without any problems.
This is the "pass-class" politics of the festival. The festival
has a complicated system for identifying the beautiful people from
the rest of us filmgoers. People attending the festival as delegates
(including members of the public who've opted to pay the necessary
cash) are given different colour passes. Pink go to filmmakers,
blue to press, red to important press and grey (or "platinum")
to really important people.
So how do you manage to skip the queues? Well, you need to have
a little blue dot on your pass, signifying you're a film buyer.
So if you are a white pass delegate (staff and festival helper)
tired of seeing others swanning to the front of the queue, oen option
might be to go to a corner shop and buy yourself a sticky blue dot
of your own!
Whilst the Festival itself is catering well for the exhibition sector
with several industry events, it appears the BFI isn't being quite
as helpful. Despite having an large event to "find out more about
the future of the UK's cultural film exhibition sector" they havn't
even invited any of the representives from cinemas along to it -
something that doesn't best please the rep's.
Two large films featured in the line-up today. A one-off screening
of Time Code 200 pushed forward the technological boundaries by
being projected on video with director Mike Figgis providing a live
sound mix. The film presents four 93 minute takes simultaneously,
each taking up to a quarter of the film.
This is perfect for the DVD release, which will allow viewers at
home to create their own film by switching between the various soundtracks.
Interestingly, having compared notes with people who saw the studio
mix version on the print which will be hitting the cinemas, there
were distinct differences. Most notably, Figgis downplayed the role
of his partner, Saffron Burrows, in the film. The reason he gave
in the Q&A afterwards was that he didn't think the audience would
want to hear some of the more risque dialogue. Rumours that it was
because he felt Burrows was the weakest part of the film are, of
course, completely unfounded and not the reason why the couple didn't
make it to the Midnight Sun Party.
 One
person who did make it to the party - a "celebration of Nordic Film"
- was Damon Albarn lead singer of Blur. In town to promote Reykjavik
101, for which he made the soundtrack, he seemed somewhat startled
by the barrage of photographers' flashes as he entered the foyer
for his photocall. He fled into the darkness of the Filmhouse bar,
much to the disappointment of photographers forced in to shooting
their target long-lense-style from the bar entrance.
The word on Reykjavik 101 has been good and young director Baltasar
Kormakur, a popular actor in his native Iceland, and actress Victoria
Abril are also at the festival, which always helps. In fact, we'll
be doing a video interview with Baltasar on this site.
As for me, I tried hard to get an early night, but got caught up
in the atmosphere of the event and stayed on for far too long. It's
only Tuesday and already I feel like I need a day off.
Trinity |
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