04/10/2011

After attracting attention at recent major international festivals with Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lynne Ramsay
film profile] at Cannes, then Steve McQueen’s Shame [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile] at Venice, British cinema will be in the spotlight at the 22nd Dinard British Film Festival, which opens tomorrow and runs until October 9. The event held in the seaside resort in Brittany will present a line-up rich in discoveries centred on a film industry whose excellent 11.8% market share in France in 2010 (out of a total of 15% for European cinema, excluding French films) was above all achieved by co-productions with the United States (Harry Potter, Robin Hood).

Among the titles vying in competition for the Golden Hitchcock, highlights include Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur [+see also:
trailer
film profile] [pictured], which triumphed in the World Cinema section at Sundance and will be released next Friday in UK theatres; and Jim Loach’s Oranges and Sunshine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jim Loach
film profile], a harrowing debut feature by the son of famous director Ken Loach (French distribution: Diaphana). Also in competition is John Michael McDonagh’s comedy-thriller The Guard [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Michael McDonagh
film profile] (distribution: SND), a film starring Brendan Gleeson which enjoyed enormous success in domestic theatres this summer (see news).

Also vying for honours are John McIlduff’s Behold the Lamb, Andrew Haigh’s Week End [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Scottish director David Mackenzie ’s You Instead (Wild Bunch Distribution), which traces the stormy encounter between an American star and a British female rocker at a festival. These six titles will be judged by a jury headed by Nathalie Baye and comprising Emmanuelle Devos, Jaime Winstone, Hayley Atwell, Sami Bouajila and Eric Lartigau, among others.

Among the 14 avant-premieres in the line-up are Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Menhaj Huda’s Everywhere and Nowhere [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Mark Jenkin’s Happy Christmas, Tony Britten’s In Love with Alma Cogan, Belinda Chayko’s Lou, David Mackenzie’s Perfect Sense [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Hugh Hudson’s Rupture - A Matter of Life OR Death, SJ Clarkson’s Toast [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and two episodes of the TV series This is England '86 by Tom Harper and Shane Meadows.

Finally, the Dinard festival will host a zoom on Scottish cinema, hold its traditional competition of short films from the film schools NFTS and La Fémis, and pay homage to actor John Hurt (who will be in attendance) and Harold Pinter.

(Translated from French)