Senna and Amy filmmaker Asif Kapadia turns to dystopian filmmaking with 2073, starring Samantha Morton. Here’s our review:
Best known for his award-winning documentaries Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona, director Asif Kapadia has made something quite different with 2073 – a feature that blends dystopian fiction with archive footage to deliver a stark warning about humanity’s present course.
Samantha Morton provides a haunted-looking focal point as Ghost, a denizen of the dystopian New San Francisco in the titular year 2073. Although remaining silent in the film itself, Morton provides a soulful voiceover as Kapadia cuts from footage of her scrambling around the remains of a department store – her refuge from the militarised state patrolling the rest of the city – and sequences that show what led to our planet’s collapse.
Kapadia has previously said he was inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetee when he made 2073, though in practice its...
Best known for his award-winning documentaries Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona, director Asif Kapadia has made something quite different with 2073 – a feature that blends dystopian fiction with archive footage to deliver a stark warning about humanity’s present course.
Samantha Morton provides a haunted-looking focal point as Ghost, a denizen of the dystopian New San Francisco in the titular year 2073. Although remaining silent in the film itself, Morton provides a soulful voiceover as Kapadia cuts from footage of her scrambling around the remains of a department store – her refuge from the militarised state patrolling the rest of the city – and sequences that show what led to our planet’s collapse.
Kapadia has previously said he was inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetee when he made 2073, though in practice its...
- 10/16/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
Simon Beaufoy and Tony Garnett among team behind spy series ripped from the headlines.
Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy is among the writing team on a new TV drama series about the real-life UK police spies who infiltrated British activist groups and the women with whom they had long-term relationships.
Currently in development, Undercovers (4 x 1hr) is being written by Beaufoy, McLibel and The Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong and activist-turned-writer Alice Nutter (The Street).
Armstrong’s London-based doc specialist Spanner Films produces and is raising money for the series through crowdfunding.
Tony Garnett, acclaimed veteran producer of film and TV dramas including Kes and Cathy Come Home, will come out of retirement to act as executive producer alongside Passion Pictures’ John Battsek (Searching for Sugar Man, One Day in September).
Storylines on Undercovers include that of activist Helen Steel who discovered, after a two-decade-long search, that her missing partner was in fact a police spy who...
Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy is among the writing team on a new TV drama series about the real-life UK police spies who infiltrated British activist groups and the women with whom they had long-term relationships.
Currently in development, Undercovers (4 x 1hr) is being written by Beaufoy, McLibel and The Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong and activist-turned-writer Alice Nutter (The Street).
Armstrong’s London-based doc specialist Spanner Films produces and is raising money for the series through crowdfunding.
Tony Garnett, acclaimed veteran producer of film and TV dramas including Kes and Cathy Come Home, will come out of retirement to act as executive producer alongside Passion Pictures’ John Battsek (Searching for Sugar Man, One Day in September).
Storylines on Undercovers include that of activist Helen Steel who discovered, after a two-decade-long search, that her missing partner was in fact a police spy who...
- 3/11/2014
- by [email protected] (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
We want to make a film about inequality with the impact of An Inconvenient Truth. You can help make it happen
I've long been passionate about the role that film can play in creating social change, and in the last few years it is starting to look as though this potential is being realised.
In 2006, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth was credited with raising global public awareness of climate change. Gore had been making presentations on the issue around the world for some time, but it was the film which took the message to millions. Why was it so effective? Film has the power to engage people on a number of levels: it can bring data to life, showing stories, themes and arguments in ways that words on a page cannot. And Gore's film also showed what could be done about the problem.
Films can also show the human side of statistics,...
I've long been passionate about the role that film can play in creating social change, and in the last few years it is starting to look as though this potential is being realised.
In 2006, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth was credited with raising global public awareness of climate change. Gore had been making presentations on the issue around the world for some time, but it was the film which took the message to millions. Why was it so effective? Film has the power to engage people on a number of levels: it can bring data to life, showing stories, themes and arguments in ways that words on a page cannot. And Gore's film also showed what could be done about the problem.
Films can also show the human side of statistics,...
- 6/30/2012
- by Katharine Round
- The Guardian - Film News
Not many films are set at music festivals. D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, “Monterey Pop” is vital, we’ll grant you, and other rock docs that expose something fundamental about the artists they’re profiling (“Don’t Look Back,” “Gimme Shelter”) remain compelling portraits of some of the most important artists of the twentieth-century. But, much like stand-up comedy or running for high office, fictional recreations of what compels a human being to get up onstage in front of thousands of people and expose themselves to the public at large, are far and few between.
With this in mind we turn to “You Instead,” which is director David Mackenzie’s seventh feature film, not that you’d known it from anything on display here. It has all the manufactured, forcible ‘fun’ of a T-Mobile flash-mob advert although it attempts to weave a spontaneous star-cross’d romance out of a happenstance meeting...
With this in mind we turn to “You Instead,” which is director David Mackenzie’s seventh feature film, not that you’d known it from anything on display here. It has all the manufactured, forcible ‘fun’ of a T-Mobile flash-mob advert although it attempts to weave a spontaneous star-cross’d romance out of a happenstance meeting...
- 5/7/2012
- by Sam Price
- The Playlist
Errol Morris, London
The esteem in which this documentarian is held can be judged by the people interviewing him on stage: BBC Storyville producer Nick Fraser, Adam Curtis, Franny Armstrong and the Guardian's Xan Brooks. Each Q&A is preceded by a screening of Morris's latest, Tabloid, which marks a return to his eccentric terrain after recent films on Abu Ghraib (Standard Operating Procedure) and the Vietnam war (The Fog Of War). Tabloid revisits the very British scandal of Joyce McKinney, a Wyoming beauty queen who allegedly kidnapped and sexually enslaved her beau – or did she rescue him from the Mormons? Morris gives us the story from all sides.
Brixton Ritzy, SW2, Sat; Bafta, W1, Sun; Gate Notting Hill, W11; Screen On The Green, N1, Tue
French Film Festival, On tour
There's a tinge of nostalgia to the festival's big draws this year. Special guest Daniel Auteuil harks back to...
The esteem in which this documentarian is held can be judged by the people interviewing him on stage: BBC Storyville producer Nick Fraser, Adam Curtis, Franny Armstrong and the Guardian's Xan Brooks. Each Q&A is preceded by a screening of Morris's latest, Tabloid, which marks a return to his eccentric terrain after recent films on Abu Ghraib (Standard Operating Procedure) and the Vietnam war (The Fog Of War). Tabloid revisits the very British scandal of Joyce McKinney, a Wyoming beauty queen who allegedly kidnapped and sexually enslaved her beau – or did she rescue him from the Mormons? Morris gives us the story from all sides.
Brixton Ritzy, SW2, Sat; Bafta, W1, Sun; Gate Notting Hill, W11; Screen On The Green, N1, Tue
French Film Festival, On tour
There's a tinge of nostalgia to the festival's big draws this year. Special guest Daniel Auteuil harks back to...
- 11/5/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The Creative Impact award aims to honour those film-makers whose documentaries bring burning issues to our attention. But just how effective are they?
Movie people are forever telling the rest of us that movies can change the world – but they would say that, wouldn't they? It justifies the outrageous salaries, the decadent lifestyles and the grandiose awards acceptance speeches. Certainly, if James Cameron could point to figures detailing a fall in ocean-liner/iceberg collisions following Titanic's release, his "I'm the king of the world!" Oscar proclamation might have been more forgivable. But beyond the bluster of Hollywood and the joy of escapism, what kind of real-world impact can cinema really have?
The creators of the Puma Creative Impact award believe it can be massive. Its stated aim? "To honour the documentary film creating the most significant impact in the world." As the documentarist Morgan Spurlock, a juror for the award,...
Movie people are forever telling the rest of us that movies can change the world – but they would say that, wouldn't they? It justifies the outrageous salaries, the decadent lifestyles and the grandiose awards acceptance speeches. Certainly, if James Cameron could point to figures detailing a fall in ocean-liner/iceberg collisions following Titanic's release, his "I'm the king of the world!" Oscar proclamation might have been more forgivable. But beyond the bluster of Hollywood and the joy of escapism, what kind of real-world impact can cinema really have?
The creators of the Puma Creative Impact award believe it can be massive. Its stated aim? "To honour the documentary film creating the most significant impact in the world." As the documentarist Morgan Spurlock, a juror for the award,...
- 10/6/2011
- by Morgan Spurlock, Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Postlethwaite Film Receives Nomination
One of Pete Postlethwaite's final films has been nominated for a best documentary award.
The late Oscar-nominated actor starred in futuristic movie The Age of Stupid, which focuses on a man looking back at footage of the world in 2008 and asking why more wasn't done to stop climate change.
The film, which was directed by Franny Armstrong, was shortlisted for the Impact Award, which honours films for their influence on society.
The Age of Stupid is in the running for the $72,000 (£44,000) cash prize, and is up against Burma VJ, The End of the Line, The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court, and Trouble the Water.
Crash star Thandie Newton and documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock will help pick the winner, who will be announced at a London ceremony in October.
Postlethwaite died from pancreatic cancer in January.
The late Oscar-nominated actor starred in futuristic movie The Age of Stupid, which focuses on a man looking back at footage of the world in 2008 and asking why more wasn't done to stop climate change.
The film, which was directed by Franny Armstrong, was shortlisted for the Impact Award, which honours films for their influence on society.
The Age of Stupid is in the running for the $72,000 (£44,000) cash prize, and is up against Burma VJ, The End of the Line, The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court, and Trouble the Water.
Crash star Thandie Newton and documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock will help pick the winner, who will be announced at a London ceremony in October.
Postlethwaite died from pancreatic cancer in January.
- 7/26/2011
- WENN
"Political turmoil. Terrorism. Economic shifts. Suspicion between citizens and state — and, following in the footsteps of Fassbinder, the emergence of a new independent film culture. The themes of Margarethe von Trotta's work couldn't be more compelling for a contemporary viewer, nor indeed their handy suggestions for the Big Society — her third feature The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) is based on the true story of a young mother who robbed a bank in order to raise funds to keep open a child-care center threatened with closure by the government. The Birds Eye View festival's Filmmaker Focus on von Trotta is well-timed."
In her overview for Sight & Sound — also currently featuring Daniel Trilling's interview with Agnès Varda — Sophie Mayer notes that the program showcases "biopics of two remarkable German women: Rosa Luxemburg (1986) and Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009). Eight centuries apart, each woman — Marxist revolutionary and Benedictine...
In her overview for Sight & Sound — also currently featuring Daniel Trilling's interview with Agnès Varda — Sophie Mayer notes that the program showcases "biopics of two remarkable German women: Rosa Luxemburg (1986) and Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009). Eight centuries apart, each woman — Marxist revolutionary and Benedictine...
- 3/9/2011
- MUBI
Filmmaker behind The Age of Stupid, environmental activist and founder of the 10:10 campaign
Environmental activist Franny Armstrong's brainwave came as she was walking to a debate with the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband. She had read a report saying that the developed world must cut its carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 to avoid passing the tipping point. Armstrong, 39, dropped her idea to start a campaign into the debate. 10:10 was born. It was the obvious next step for the woman whose apocalyptic film The Age of Stupid had already galvanised support for climate activism.
The simple idea for immediate practical action took off, with thousands of businesses and institutions and more than 100,000 people pledging to cut their carbon emissions by 10%. Days after the coalition government was formed, David Cameron announced central government would do the same. The campaign is now active in more than 40 countries.
Environmental activist Franny Armstrong's brainwave came as she was walking to a debate with the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband. She had read a report saying that the developed world must cut its carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 to avoid passing the tipping point. Armstrong, 39, dropped her idea to start a campaign into the debate. 10:10 was born. It was the obvious next step for the woman whose apocalyptic film The Age of Stupid had already galvanised support for climate activism.
The simple idea for immediate practical action took off, with thousands of businesses and institutions and more than 100,000 people pledging to cut their carbon emissions by 10%. Days after the coalition government was formed, David Cameron announced central government would do the same. The campaign is now active in more than 40 countries.
- 3/8/2011
- by Emine Saner
- The Guardian - Film News
The first week of the new year kicked off with all the usual features: restrospectives, awards buzz – and one very sad and unexpected piece of news
Pete Postlethwaite: 1946 - 2011
The news came through early on Monday that the actor Pete Postlethwaite had died at the age of 64. It was a real shock, that quickly gave way to genuine, lasting sadness. Remembering the full range and breadth of his performances through the years prompted emotional responses from many readers; there were also touching tributes from John Prescott, fellow actors including his former girlfriend Julie Walters and Franny Armstrong, who collaborated with him on The Age of Stupid. Peter Bradshaw perhaps summed it up best when he wrote: "[he] was the national treasure we didn't know we had, until we didn't have him any more."
Awards buzz this week
• Oscars race: The Social Network fears late box office run by True Grit...
Pete Postlethwaite: 1946 - 2011
The news came through early on Monday that the actor Pete Postlethwaite had died at the age of 64. It was a real shock, that quickly gave way to genuine, lasting sadness. Remembering the full range and breadth of his performances through the years prompted emotional responses from many readers; there were also touching tributes from John Prescott, fellow actors including his former girlfriend Julie Walters and Franny Armstrong, who collaborated with him on The Age of Stupid. Peter Bradshaw perhaps summed it up best when he wrote: "[he] was the national treasure we didn't know we had, until we didn't have him any more."
Awards buzz this week
• Oscars race: The Social Network fears late box office run by True Grit...
- 1/6/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Pete Postlethwaite, who died on Sunday, was one of our finest actors. Peter Bradshaw recalls the rugged features that made him so famous – and the unwitting role he played in the Northern Ireland peace process
In the movies, an actor's face is his fortune. It isn't simply a matter of being good-looking enough to play the romantic hero or rugged enough to carry an action picture. It's about having an instantly available, readable screen personality; it's also about attitude, a continuous professional battle-readiness: Hollywood talks about someone having their "game-face on" or having "the chops" for a certain job. And perhaps no actor's career or industry presence has been defined by his face more than Pete Postlethwaite: the British character actor whose rugged features made him every casting director's go-to guy for raw, lived-in truth.
The stark planes and bulges of his face created a veritable Easter Island statue of authenticity and plainness.
In the movies, an actor's face is his fortune. It isn't simply a matter of being good-looking enough to play the romantic hero or rugged enough to carry an action picture. It's about having an instantly available, readable screen personality; it's also about attitude, a continuous professional battle-readiness: Hollywood talks about someone having their "game-face on" or having "the chops" for a certain job. And perhaps no actor's career or industry presence has been defined by his face more than Pete Postlethwaite: the British character actor whose rugged features made him every casting director's go-to guy for raw, lived-in truth.
The stark planes and bulges of his face created a veritable Easter Island statue of authenticity and plainness.
- 1/4/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The actor Pete Postlethwaite died yesterday at the age of 64. We look back over his career in clips
It's difficult to know which is the more telling statement about Pete Postlethwaite, who died yesterday. That Steven Spielberg called him "the best actor in the world", after working with him on Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World. Or that Postlethwaite reacted to the praise with such dry deprecation: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"
A man with a face just made for immortalising on Mount Rushmore, Postlethwaite was an ensemble actor to his core; transparently decent and generous, hardly a limelight hogger. The role that first brought him to the attention of most people was Giuseppe Conlon, inmate dad to Daniel Day-Lewis's falsely imprisoned Guildford Four suspect Gerry in 1993's In the Name of the Father.
It's difficult to know which is the more telling statement about Pete Postlethwaite, who died yesterday. That Steven Spielberg called him "the best actor in the world", after working with him on Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World. Or that Postlethwaite reacted to the praise with such dry deprecation: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"
A man with a face just made for immortalising on Mount Rushmore, Postlethwaite was an ensemble actor to his core; transparently decent and generous, hardly a limelight hogger. The role that first brought him to the attention of most people was Giuseppe Conlon, inmate dad to Daniel Day-Lewis's falsely imprisoned Guildford Four suspect Gerry in 1993's In the Name of the Father.
- 1/3/2011
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Supporting actress nominee Helena Bonham Carter ("The King's Speech") is assured of taking home at least one trophy from the British Independent Film Awards on Dec. 5 in London. She has been named as this year's recipient of the Richard Harris Award for her outstanding contributions to British film. Previous recipients of this prize include last year's honoree Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, David Thewlis, Bob Hoskins and Jim Broadbent. Also being feted at the 13th annual edition of these festivities will be Liam Neeson who will be given the Variety Award for bringing worldwide attention to the British film industry. He joins an honor roll that includes last year's recipient Michael Caine as well as Helen Mirren, Richard Curtis, Michael Sheen and Keira Knightley. Producer Duncan Kenworthy has been named chair of this year's jury which includes new additions director Franny Armstrong and film programmer Clare Binns. Previously announc.
- 11/17/2010
- Gold Derby
A graphic CO2 campaign video written by Richard Curtis featuring exploding children and celebrities has been withdrawn by an environmental group. The four-minute 10:10 clip urged consumers to reduce their carbon emissions by 10%. Despite being told that there is "no pressure", those in each scene who decline to make the commitment are exploded via a red button. As well as children and staff at a workplace, those who are exploded include ex-footballer David Ginola and Gillian Anderson, who suggests that her voiceover is sufficient contribution to the cause. 10:10 founder Franny Armstrong told The Guardian: "We 'killed' five people to make No Pressure - a mere blip compared to the (more)...
- 10/4/2010
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
This Richard Curtis 10:10 global warming spot will get your attention: 10:10 founder and Age of Stupid filmmaker Franny Armstrong tells The Guardian: Doing nothing about climate change is still a fairly common affliction, even in this day and age. What to do with those people, who are together threatening everybody's existence on this planet? Clearly we don't really think they should be blown up, that's just a joke for the mini-movie, but maybe a little amputating would be a good place to start?" [Hat Tip: Hungry Ghost]...
- 10/1/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
- 8/24/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Starting today is the second annual SnagFilms SummerFest, an online film program that premieres new documentaries prior to their theatrical or television release, one per week through Labor Day, which you can watch streaming on the web for free via SnagFilms, AOL, Hulu and FanCast. First up is Franny Armstrong's The Age of Stupid, a sci-fi drama-animation-doc hybrid starring Pete Postlethwaite (who you can also see this weekend in Inception and the new trailer for The Town) as an old man looking back on history from the year 2055, reflecting on how the world was ruined by climate change and man's failure to stop it. I'm especially excited for this since it sounds a lot like Into Eternity, the doc I reviewed at Tribeca and won't shut up about.
That film will be available for the next two weeks, and five other docs will be made available in similar fashion on a weekly basis.
That film will be available for the next two weeks, and five other docs will be made available in similar fashion on a weekly basis.
- 7/16/2010
- by Christopher Campbell
- Cinematical
Following up on its inaugural edition last year, SnagFilms is launching the 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, beginning with Franny Armstrong's acclaimed film, "The Age of Stupid." Unique for a documentary, "The Age of Stupid" incorporates a narrative thread, starring Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the year 2055, when the Earth has been completely devastated by climate change. ...
- 7/15/2010
- indieWIRE - People
Following up on its inaugural edition last year, SnagFilms is launching the 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, beginning with Franny Armstrong's acclaimed film, "The Age of Stupid." Unique for a documentary, "The Age of Stupid" incorporates a narrative thread, starring Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the year 2055, when the Earth has been completely devastated by climate change. ...
- 7/15/2010
- indieWIRE - People
Following up on its inaugural edition last year, SnagFilms is launching the 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, beginning with Franny Armstrong's acclaimed film, "The Age of Stupid." [Editor's Note: SnagFilms is the parent company of indieWIRE.] Unique for a documentary, "The Age of Stupid" incorporates a narrative thread, starring Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the year 2055, when ...
- 7/15/2010
- indieWIRE - People
Following up on its inaugural edition last year, SnagFilms is launching the 2nd annual SummerFest, a free online festival showcasing exclusive, limited-duration runs of popular new documentaries, beginning with Franny Armstrong's acclaimed film, "The Age of Stupid." [Editor's Note: SnagFilms is the parent company of indieWIRE.] Unique for a documentary, "The Age of Stupid" incorporates a narrative thread, starring Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the year 2055, when ...
- 7/15/2010
- Indiewire
The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. - The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. Red, white and green helmer Daniele Luchetti returns to the French festival for the umpteenth time with La Nostra Vita (see pic above) and Takeshi Kitano will break decibel levels with Outrage --- the film's trailer says it all. Celluloid Dreams' is also repping something for doc enthusiasts and tourists who love Paris: Fred Wiseman's Crazy Horse. If I Want To Whistle I Whistle by Florin Serban - Completed La Nostra Vita...
- 5/13/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The French sales/production company is supplying this year's Cannes fest with a trio of titles, but you might find me doing cartwheels more for a project that hasn't even began lensing in Marjane Satrapi's Waiting for Azrael. Red, white and green helmer Daniele Luchetti returns to the French festival for the umpteenth time with La Nostra Vita (see pic above) and Takeshi Kitano will break decibel levels with Outrage --- the film's trailer says it all. Celluloid Dreams' is also repping something for doc enthusiasts and tourists who love Paris: Fred Wiseman's Crazy Horse. If I Want To Whistle I Whistle by Florin Serban - Completed La Nostra Vita by Daniele Luchetti - Completed Outrage by Takeshi Kitano - Completed REVOLUCIÓN by Carlos Reygadas - Completed We Are The Night by Dennis Gansel - Post-Production A Prophet (Un Prophete) by Jacques Audiard - Completed Apart Together (Tuan Yuan...
- 5/12/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Indie filmmakers take note. Taking the Diy model to max, Franny Armstrong, the intrepid director of the super-smart UK eco-doc The Age of Stupid (which airs on the Discovery Channel April 17) knocked out a bit of software called Indie Screenings, which allowed anyone anywhere to organize their own screening of her doc. 1402 screenings were organized in six months, earning more than 110,000 pounds for their crowd-funders and more again for the screening organizers, writes Armstrong in one of her emails. Armstrong hooked up with the folks at Britdoc to make the software available to other filmmakers via the Good Screenings website, which went up Thursday and now features eight change-the-world films (recent SXSW hit Erasing David is among them), with more to come, she ...
- 3/26/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
New distribution channel, backed by Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong, will use screenings to raise awareness and funds
Bideford Sustainability Group in Devon was formed last week following a screening at the local Baptist church of the climate change film, The Age of Stupid. The organisers of Good Screenings, a new distribution channel for social action films, launched today, hope it will lead to more public screenings of low-budget social justice films and a growth of campaigning groups on the back of the issues raised.
"Schools, churches, voluntary groups and associations will all be able to use the screenings as a vehicle to raise both awareness and funds," says Franny Armstrong, director of The Age of Stupid and the driving force behind Good Screenings.
Visitors to the Good Screenings website will be able to calculate the licence fee to pay for screening a film in public, according to the...
Bideford Sustainability Group in Devon was formed last week following a screening at the local Baptist church of the climate change film, The Age of Stupid. The organisers of Good Screenings, a new distribution channel for social action films, launched today, hope it will lead to more public screenings of low-budget social justice films and a growth of campaigning groups on the back of the issues raised.
"Schools, churches, voluntary groups and associations will all be able to use the screenings as a vehicle to raise both awareness and funds," says Franny Armstrong, director of The Age of Stupid and the driving force behind Good Screenings.
Visitors to the Good Screenings website will be able to calculate the licence fee to pay for screening a film in public, according to the...
- 3/24/2010
- by Alison Benjamin
- The Guardian - Film News
As the credits roll and we fall stricken and tear-stained out onto the dark streets of Soho, it seems fitting that I am accompanied by the director of the second bleakest film ever made – Franny Armstrong, creator of the The Age of Stupid. The bleakest film ever made we have just endured together, over two relentless, harrowing hours, and are now so emotionally raw that we know not where we are going, nor do we much care. It doesn't seem to matter. "Oh my God," moans Franny, repeatedly, head in hands.
- 12/16/2009
- The Independent - Film
Dame Helen Mirren and environmental activist Franny Armstrong among winners at Women in Film and Television Awards
Women in Film and Television Awards: full list of winners
Dame Helen Mirren and environmental activist Franny Armstrong are among the winners at today's Women in Film and Television Awards.
Mirren, best known for playing Elizabeth II in the film The Queen and for her role as Dci Jane Tennison in ITV's Prime Suspect, will receive the Working Title Films lifetime achievement award at the lunchtime event.
Armstrong, the director of The Age of Stupid and founder of the 10:10 campaign to reduce emissions, will pick up the ITV achievement of the year award.
Other winners include Katie Jarvis, the star of acclaimed Essex-set film Fish Tank, who has won the Pinewood Studios best performance award; and Paula Milne, who will be presented with the UK Film Council writing award for work including...
Women in Film and Television Awards: full list of winners
Dame Helen Mirren and environmental activist Franny Armstrong are among the winners at today's Women in Film and Television Awards.
Mirren, best known for playing Elizabeth II in the film The Queen and for her role as Dci Jane Tennison in ITV's Prime Suspect, will receive the Working Title Films lifetime achievement award at the lunchtime event.
Armstrong, the director of The Age of Stupid and founder of the 10:10 campaign to reduce emissions, will pick up the ITV achievement of the year award.
Other winners include Katie Jarvis, the star of acclaimed Essex-set film Fish Tank, who has won the Pinewood Studios best performance award; and Paula Milne, who will be presented with the UK Film Council writing award for work including...
- 12/4/2009
- by Chris Tryhorn
- The Guardian - Film News
www.UltramarinesTheMovie.com has announced the director and writer for the Games Workshop feature length CGI film.
The director is Martyn Pick, a relative unknown who has not directed a feature length film so far in his career. He does however have a strong background in animation, adverts, and promotional films, and has apparently landed the job because of his strong ability to fuse live-action with animation. Anybody interested in viewing Pick’s work should check out Franny Armstrong’s documentary The Age of Stupid, as Pick directed all of the animation in the film.
The writer for Ultramarines has been announced as none other than Dan Abnett, the best-selling author who has written dozens of Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels which have sold over a million copies worldwide. He was an obvious choice due to his background with Games Workshop, his extensive knowledge of Warhammer 40K, and his writing ability.
The director is Martyn Pick, a relative unknown who has not directed a feature length film so far in his career. He does however have a strong background in animation, adverts, and promotional films, and has apparently landed the job because of his strong ability to fuse live-action with animation. Anybody interested in viewing Pick’s work should check out Franny Armstrong’s documentary The Age of Stupid, as Pick directed all of the animation in the film.
The writer for Ultramarines has been announced as none other than Dan Abnett, the best-selling author who has written dozens of Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels which have sold over a million copies worldwide. He was an obvious choice due to his background with Games Workshop, his extensive knowledge of Warhammer 40K, and his writing ability.
- 11/22/2009
- by Andrew Peters
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has rescued director Franny Armstrong from three attackers, reports The Guardian. Armstrong, who helmed recent climate change documentary The Age Of Stupid, said that Johnson chased off a group of hooded youths on his bike after they threatened her with a crowbar in Camden, North London. "I was texting on my phone so didn't notice the girls until they pushed me against the car, quite hard," said Armstrong. "At first it was quite funny, because they were only about 12. Then I saw that one of them had an iron bar in her hand. It was more than a metre long. It was as big as her. "Then along came a cyclist. And I thought, 'Good, he's a big bloke,' and shouted, 'Can you (more)...
- 11/4/2009
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
Back in May, I managed to catch a screening of the Pete Postlethwaite-starring sci-fi documentary The Age of Stupid with director Franny Armstrong in attendance (you can read all about it here). Despite its brazen strong-arm lecturing, it is still a doc well-worth looking at, tackling first and foremost the callousness in people's treatment of the environment, striping away excuses and self-justification in order to show the dire effects of such an attitude.
On September 21st/22nd, they will do something pretty special by having a "Global Premiere" that packages the film with a panel discussion and a performance by Radiohead's Thom Yorke Live via satellite in participating theaters.
Prior to the film, you'll see a Live simulcast of the Green Carpet, in which guests arrive by low-carbon methods like bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, chip fat car and... sailboats?
{vimeo}6261071{/vimeo}
This (biggest solar-powered) premiere is timed to be...
On September 21st/22nd, they will do something pretty special by having a "Global Premiere" that packages the film with a panel discussion and a performance by Radiohead's Thom Yorke Live via satellite in participating theaters.
Prior to the film, you'll see a Live simulcast of the Green Carpet, in which guests arrive by low-carbon methods like bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, chip fat car and... sailboats?
{vimeo}6261071{/vimeo}
This (biggest solar-powered) premiere is timed to be...
- 9/2/2009
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
Back in May, I managed to catch a screening of the Pete Postlethwaite-starring sci-fi documentary The Age of Stupid with director Franny Armstrong in attendance (you can read all about it here). Despite its brazen strong-arm lecturing, it is still a doc well-worth looking at, tackling first and foremost the callousness in people's treatment of the environment, striping away excuses and self-justification in order to show the dire effects of such an attitude.
On September 21st/22nd, they will do something pretty special by having a "Global Premiere" that packages the film with a panel discussion and a performance by Radiohead's Thom Yorke Live via satellite in participating theaters.
Prior to the film, you'll see a Live simulcast of the Green Carpet, in which guests arrive by low-carbon methods like bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, chip fat car and... sailboats?
{vimeo}6261071{/vimeo}
This (biggest solar-powered) premiere is timed to be...
On September 21st/22nd, they will do something pretty special by having a "Global Premiere" that packages the film with a panel discussion and a performance by Radiohead's Thom Yorke Live via satellite in participating theaters.
Prior to the film, you'll see a Live simulcast of the Green Carpet, in which guests arrive by low-carbon methods like bicycle, solar car, rickshaw, chip fat car and... sailboats?
{vimeo}6261071{/vimeo}
This (biggest solar-powered) premiere is timed to be...
- 9/2/2009
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
On Monday, Sept 21 a new British film, The Age of Stupid, will have its global premiere. In the Us, the hip, youth-oriented, drama-documentary-animation movie on "climate change, oil, war, politics, consumerisim and human stupidity" will launch from a solar-powered cinema tent in New York live to over 400 movie theaters across the country, timed for the day before the Un's climate meeting on Sept 22nd, when 80 heads of state -- and therefore the world's media -- will gather in New York. Following the screening, there will be a 40-minute live event featuring Kofi Annan, actress Gillian Anderson, the film's director Franny Armstrong and star, Oscar-nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite. Audiences will also hear from scientists working in the Himalayas and the Indonesian rain forest via live satellite link. A group of children will speak from the very...
- 8/24/2009
- by Linda Buzzell
- Huffington Post
Franny Armstrong's The Age of Stupid is a hybrid documentary/feature that takes place in a tragic future where the world is ravaged by the consequences of global warming. Oscar-nominated character actor Pete Postlethwaite stars as a sad-eyed man from the year 2055, mourning what we could've done in 2008. The film's New York premiere happens at this weekend's Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The event is co-presented by the Tribeca Film Festival. Click here to win tickets, and check out the video below to learn more about the film. RSVP to this event on Facebook! Buy tickets here for the screening on Saturday, 6/13. Buy tickets here for the screening on Sunday, 6/14.
- 6/9/2009
- TribecaFilm.com
The Age of Stupid
England, 2008, 89 minutes
Director: Franny Armstrong
Recently, because of the gravity of the situation, there’s been a wave of “guilt trip” films about the environment. It’s no longer contained to just documentaries, though docs tend to be more direct in said guilt-tripping. The Age of Stupid, alas, takes it to another level, resorting to insults now. It’s angry and preachy as all get-out, though that should be apparent from the title. Not everybody is willing to give 90 minutes of their time to being called stupid repeatedly by a movie, but given the mounting evidence spelling out our doom, maybe it is necessary to be so blunt.
The premise of the film is that it’s a science-fiction documentary. It opens with a montage of Earth’s devastation in 2055. The planet’s resources are depleted, its inhabitants are near extinction, and monuments are burning in that Jerry Bruckheimer fashion.
England, 2008, 89 minutes
Director: Franny Armstrong
Recently, because of the gravity of the situation, there’s been a wave of “guilt trip” films about the environment. It’s no longer contained to just documentaries, though docs tend to be more direct in said guilt-tripping. The Age of Stupid, alas, takes it to another level, resorting to insults now. It’s angry and preachy as all get-out, though that should be apparent from the title. Not everybody is willing to give 90 minutes of their time to being called stupid repeatedly by a movie, but given the mounting evidence spelling out our doom, maybe it is necessary to be so blunt.
The premise of the film is that it’s a science-fiction documentary. It opens with a montage of Earth’s devastation in 2055. The planet’s resources are depleted, its inhabitants are near extinction, and monuments are burning in that Jerry Bruckheimer fashion.
- 5/6/2009
- by Arya Ponto
- JustPressPlay.net
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