A new era for Britain’s film archives.

5 September will see the launch of Screen Heritage UK (SHUK). Thanks to over £22.8 million in funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), this major collaboration between the BFI and regional film archives across the UK represents a historic moment for film archives, encompassing digital innovation and pioneering new methods of film archiving.

SHUK will also ensure everyone in Britain will be able to find out about their film heritage for free via a new cataloguing and online access drive - Search Your Film Archives. The national and regional film archives have created this resource to give the public online access to information about film archives across the UK. Some films will be available to view online.

Through SHUK the BFI will ensure Britain’s film history is safe for future generations with the world’s most sophisticated new archive facility – the new Master Film Store. The new store at Gaydon, Warwickshire contains film prints and negatives from the extraordinary Edwardian works of Mitchell and Kenyon to Hitchcock’s masterpieces and, more recently, The King’s Speech.

Revitalising the Regions is a programme of projects, overseen by Screen Yorkshire, designed to support significant collections in the English Regions, leading to plans for their preservation and access. SHUK has also enabled the creation of a Memory Bank of films used by health professionals in treating patients with Alzheimer’s.

The project is launching with the BFI and BBC co-production The Reel History of Britain, presented by Melvyn Bragg, which brings the film archive to life in a 20 part series launching on BBC2 on 5 September, 18.30.

Heather Stewart, SHUK Programme Director and Creative Director BFI, said: “Through Screen Heritage UK the film archives of Britain have joined forces to truly take film archiving to the next level. Film is an integral part of British culture and SHUK will ensure that we not only safe-guard our film heritage for future generations but that everyone in the UK gets the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from it.”

ROCKSTAR team in Ahmedabad!

Bollywood’s ‘Rockstar’ Ranbir Kapoor sent crowds in Ahmedabad in a frenzy as he visited several ‘dandiya’ venues on October 2nd along with co-star Nargis Fakhri for the promotions of their upcoming film ‘Rockstar’ directed by Imtiaz Ali.

This was Nargis’ first major public appearance and she was looking stunning, dressed in a beautiful traditional 'ghaghra choli' for the event. Ranbir too, looked impressive in his black kurta. Both the stars made a dramatic entry on a hydraulic crane amidst a thunderous applause. They even greeted the crowds in Gujarati and performed some ‘garba & dandiya’ moves on stage!
Directed by Imtiaz Ali, ‘ROCKSTAR’ is produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision & Eros International and revolves around a Delhi boy (Ranbir) who resents the fact that he has no pain in his life. He has realized that all great musicians have had a painful life. In order to get his heart broken, he proposes to the most sought-after girl in Delhi University.

The story of ‘Rockstar’ is the seven years of the boy’s life and relationship with the girl at the end of which he does become a huge musical star, but his heart also gets broken...

The soundtrack of the film has been composed by musical genius AR Rahman.

Rockstar hits UK cinemas 11.11.11.

Midnight in Paris gets some clips

Parents in restaurant

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A romantic comedy about a family staying in the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own could be better.

Even for people who have never been to Paris, the name of the city is more than a metaphor for magic—it’s almost a synonym. Certainly there’s no better place on earth that Woody Allen could have chosen for his new romantic comedy than Paris. It is a city with a unique mythology and heritage, celebrated for the extraordinary beauty of its streets, boulevards and gardens, as well as the splendor found inside so many of the greatest museums in the world. The resonance of its history, from major political and cultural events to the aura of its legendary restaurants and cafes, is felt everywhere. The past endures and shines brightly in Paris, which makes it well-suited for a story of a man reinvigorating his feelings and finding inspiration to reflect on his life.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is Woody Allen’s valentine to the City of Light, which he considers equal to New York as the great city of the world. “Of course I’m partial to New York because I was born there and grew up there,” he says, “but if I didn’t live in New York, Paris is the place I would live.” The film is the second time Allen has filmed there, after a small bit of EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU. “I get great enjoyment out of presenting Paris to the cinema audience the way I see it,” he says. “Just as with New York, where I present it one way, and other directors present it other ways, somebody else could come and shoot Paris in a completely different way. I want to present it my way, projecting my own feelings about it.”

Allen fell in love with Paris during the shooting of WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT, his debut film as an actor and writer. Much like Gil, the protagonist of MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, he’s rueful about not staying there after the filming, as others on the film did. “It was an adventure that was too bold for me at the time,” he says. “In retrospect I could have stayed, or at the very minimum taken an apartment and divided my time—but I didn’t, and I regret that.”

Midnight in Paris is released on 7th October 2011.
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Fight for your country...

This is a type of film that we don't see that often. The "What if" idea. A change in a pivotal action in history and then run with the idea. One, that historians have been pondering for years, is what would happen if England was invaded. This is a slightly different take as it's set after the failure of D-Day and not the success of Operation Sealion. The film looks at the collaborator and resistance fighter.

D-Day has failed, Britain is under Nazi occupation!

Sarah Lewis, a 26-year-old farmer’s wife, awakes one morning to find that her husband has disappeared along with all the men in the valley. Assuming they have joined the Resistance, the women of this tiny community pull together, taking on the running of the farms, and wait, desperate for news. A German patrol arrives in the valley, the purpose of its mission a mystery. When a severe winter forces the two groups into co-operation, Sarah begins an acquaintance with the patrol’s commanding officer, Albrecht. Cut off from the surrounding war, the lines between collaboration, duty, occupation and survival become blurred.

RESISTANCE features a sensational lead performances from British rising star Andrea Riseborough (Brighton Rock, Made In Dagenham, W.E.), and Tom Wlaschia (Enemy At The Gates, Valkyrie, Brideshead Revisited), and co-stars Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Damned United).

RESISTANCE is in UK Cinemas from November 25, 2011.

Machine Gun Preacher gets a poster

A couple of weeks ago, Lionsgate sent over a first look image and a trailer. now we have been set over a set of images as well as the UK poster.

MACHINE GUN PREACHER is based on the true story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler in a tour de force performance), a violent, drug-dealing biker whose faith leads him on a path to East Africa, where he finds his true calling as a machine gun-wielding protector of hundreds of refugee children.

Following a brutal incident, Sam’s loyal wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) encourages him to turn to God and he resolves to change the course of his life. Renouncing his hell-raising ways, Sam journeys to Sudan as a missionary to help with the relief effort, leaving his best friend Donnie (Michael Shannon) to take care of his wife and daughter. There, he witnesses the atrocities that the locals endure at the hands of the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army. Villages are razed to the ground, women are raped and children are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers. Horrified by what he sees, Childers becomes an avenging angel set on protecting the innocent. Inspired to create a safe haven for the multitudes fleeing enslavement he restores peace to their lives and, eventually, his own.

Shooting into UK cinemas on November 4, 2011.

Streetdance 2 3D gets a trailer

We were told in May that principle photography had just started on the film. Now we have the first trailer.

When top street dancer Ash (Hentschel) is humiliated and laughed off stage by American crew Invincible, he sets off to gather the best dancers from around the world to take them on - with a dance style they weren't expecting. With landmark locations, a spectacular fusion of dance styles and an unparalleled vibrancy, the sequel to StreetDance sees our hero fall in love with a beautiful salsa dancer as he discovers the magic, power and passion of dancing for the ultimate global dance off.

Chalet Girl DVD and Blu-ray Release Review

Chalet Girl is a highly enjoyable film and I have given it 4 stars.

This is a British film, written by Tom Williams and directed by Phil Traill (All About Steve) and as such has the delightfully flippant yet somehow still occasionally serious feel that the British capture so well in their films.

The story revolves around Kim Matthews, an ex skateboarding champion, who is forced to give up a promising career to support her father (Bill Bailey) and who eventually gets herself a job in the Alps working at a ski resort. Kim soon discovers that her skateboarding skills transfer to snow boarding and from here the story begins.

The acting in Chalet Girl is excellent all round. It stars Felicity Jones (The Tempest, Northanger Abbey), Ed Westwick ( Children of Men, Gossip Girl), Bill Nighy (Harry Potter, Sean of the Dead) and Tamsin Egerton (St Trinians, The Mists of Avalon).

The film is very entertaining to watch, a chick flick with some extreme sports thrown in for good measure and there is some incredible snow boarding footage in this film. For anyone who is a fan of X games this is ideal and even stars Tara Dakides (snow boarding legend). The romantic comedy side of things is also well handled (if a trifle predictable) and all in all makes for a well rounded experience.

One of the more disappointing things about this DVD and Blu-ray release is the lack of special features included on the disk. There is a commentary track with Phil Traill and Felicity Jones, a theatrical trailer and a 6 minute feature about the film premiere.

However, the film itself is more than enough reason to buy this, and I would thoroughly recommend this one for a girls night in.

Chalet Girl is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from October 3, 2011.