02/10/2008

The 19th Dinard British Film Festival (October 2-5) kicks off today. This year’s edition will pay homage to Hugh Hudson.

Six features will vie for the Golden Hitchcock, including John Crowley’s Boy A [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (unveiled in the Panorama section at the Berlinale - see news) and Ruppert Wyatt’s The Escapist [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The latter – a thriller lauded at the Sundance Festival – stars Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham and Seu Jorge (distributed in France by Haut et Court).

Also screening in competition is Neil Thompson’s Clubbed [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (distributed by Pretty Pictures), which delves into the fashionable subculture of violence and music (northern soul and ska) in 1980s Coventry. Further contenders include Helen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joe Lawlor and Christine M…
film profile] by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor; Chris Waitt’s documentary A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (sold internationally by Wild Bunch); and Ben Hopkins’ The Market [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (co-produced with Germany, Turkey and Kazakhstan), which won the Leopard for Best Actor at Locarno.

The competition jury is presided by Lambert Wilson and composed of Lucy Russell, Tara Fitzgerald, Alice Taglioni, Aïssa Maïga, Nicolas Roeg and Rory McCann.

There will be a gala presentation for Somers Town [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Shane Meadows (This Is England [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), which picked up Best British Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival and Best Actor at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Meanwhile, there will be a special screening of Stephen Walker’s documentary Young @ Heart (distributed in France by Le Pacte). The film centres on a choir of elderly people who sing songs by The Clash and Coldplay.

The line-up of avant-premieres includes Steve McQueen’s outstanding Hunger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Hastings-Smith Rob…
interview: Steve McQueen
film profile], which won the Camera d’Or at the latest Cannes Film Festival (see news - set to be released by MK2 on November 26); and Michael Winterbottom’s Genova [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (distribution Diaphana), which recently won acclaim at the San Sebastian Film Festival (see news). Also on the programme is Saul Dibb’s The Duchess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (to be released by Pathé on November 12), starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling.

The impressive 2008 line-up also features James Watkins’ Eden Lake, starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender (to be released by La fabrique de films on October 8); Baillie Walsh’s Flashbacks of a Fool [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Baillie Walsh
interview: Damon Bryant
film profile], starring Daniel Craig (see Focus); Mike Figgis’ Love Live Long (distribution: Pretty Pictures); and John Maybury’s The Edge of Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile], featuring Knightley and Sienna Miller.

Other noteworthy titles are Lesley Manning’s The Agent, Adrian Vitoria’s The Crew, Noel Clarke’s Adulthood [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Jackie Oudney’s French Film, Marek Losey’s The Hide and David Rocksavage’s Shadows in the Sun.

Finally, the documentary section will show James Marsh’s Man on Wire [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and James Honeyborne’s The Meerkats (to be released by Wild Bunch Distribution on October 15).

(Translated from French)