Forest Row Film Society

The first ever film festival in Forest Row was a great success on so many levels. Not only did it inspire the best publicity campaign the film society has ever undertaken, and attracted a new audience who have not been to our films before, but the workshops, exhibition and special film events were undoubted triumphs. In addition, there was fantastic weather (so who wanted to be watching films?), and there was a buzz throughout the village with so much happening over the weekend (not just the festival). Thank you to everyone who came along and made it all worthwhile, and a huge thanks to all our sponsors and supporters.

The festival also was the first occasion for us to get audience reaction scores; after each film all members of the audience were encouraged to offer their rating of the film (from Very Poor to Excellent), which then translates to a score for each film. Unsurprisingly, the silent films with live music and the singalong Mamma Mia were the biggest hits, and The Big Lebowski was the film that most divided the audience. The high scores that so many of the films were awarded is testament to how much fun we all had.

Films

As ever, the silents were the biggest treat. Saturday afternoon brought us Keaton’s The General, with wonderful music from Terry Davies, who then returned on Sunday morning with Anna Cooper on violin and viola for a triple bill of shorts: two of Chaplin’s Mutual films The Immigrant and The Rink, and Buster Keaton in Cops in the middle. We could certainly do more of these films!

The other major hit was the singalong Mamma Mia, which is completely different from everything the film society normally does, so it was wonderful to have such a great and enthusiastic audience, including many people who have never been to our films before.

As everyone arrived, there was no escape: caricaturist Helen Pointer caught some of the audience and created some great film-themed drawings:

and lots of the audience came dressed up. Again, not usual behaviour for our regular audience:

For some screenings we were delighted to have special guests too. Shakespeare in Love was introduced by Stephen Warbeck who won the Oscar for the film’s score:

and comedian Phil Kay entertained the audience for Shaun of the Dead with tales of Simon Pegg and a voicemail message from Kate Ashfield:

Workshops

We ran three workshops, which was another undoubted success of the weekend. One was for under 12s as an introduction to stop-motion animation, run by animator and film-maker Joseph Brett:

A second animation workshop was an all-day event for a smaller group run by Canterbury-based Animate and Create, who created a Creature-Comforts-style film:

Finally, Pete Allen ran a film-making workshop over three weekends. The first couple of sessions introduced the participants to the basics of film-making, which was then put to practice in the final all-day session during the festival weekend:

A separate blog post about the workshops will follow soon.

The team

One thing we were all agreed about, and that was that it was a huge amount of work for everyone involved. The team was made up of several members of the film society committee, plus several others:

• Brad Scott
• Steffi Pusch
• Cathie Hubert
• Yolene Crawfurd
• Patrick Crawford
• Terry Davies
• Judith Gleeson
• Rachael Pereira
• Fred Doll
• Valerie Moss

Huge thanks also to Cathie Hubert and Mette Udsholt for advance ticket sales at Ashdown Gallery and for setting up the lovely exhibition of film stills at the gallery, which was curated by Steffi Pusch, and photos kindly supplied by Topfoto in Edenbridge.

Thanks also to all our volunteers, on refreshments and the first aiders, and to John Bradley for taking lots of pictures. Thanks to Forest Row Parish Council, Screen South and the UK Film Council for financial support, and to all our audience for making it such a great weekend. Let us have your feedback too.

And finally, check out more pictures on our flicker stream.

We still have some of our delightful festival T shirts left. Only £8. They make a great gift too. All sizes from XS to XL, men’s and women’s styles too. Email your order to forestrowfilms@yahoo.co.uk

Men’s

Women’s

Just like last year, we’d like some suggestions for what to screen next season.

We’re looking for ideas that could entice a hundred people to the village hall, so please let us know why you think any films you suggest might fit the bill. A good portion of the ideas for films in this year’s programme came from people outside the committee, so we do listen!

We’re looking to finalise the programme by April, though hope to have most of it mapped out sell before then, so now’s the time to get thinking.

After last night’s packed screening of Dreyer’s emotionally wrenching Ordet, it is worth circulating a few articles and other pieces that you might be interested in reading. Though Dreyer is one of those film-makers spoken of in the same breath as Tarkovsky and Ozu, his films are probably seen less frequently. Indeed, it was certainly the first time many of the audience last night had seen any of his work.

The Danish Film Institute has a fantastic site devoted to Dreyer and his work, including a section on Ordet. The site also includes interviews and film clips, including (1) interviews with Jørgen Roos and Preben Lerdorff Rye and (2) Birgitte Federspiel and cinematographer Henning Bendtsen, both about Ordet. There is also a documentary The Word and the Light made in 2001 by Helga C. Theilgaard which is on the Danish Film Institute site.

In addition, you might like to read a useful overview of his work in Senses of Cinema. Strictly Film School provide insights into all the major films, and Jonathan Rosenbaum’s article on Dreyer is essential reading.

We’d be interested to know what you thought of the film; there was certainly more discussion about it in the pub afterwards than for any other film we’ve screened recently.

It’s happening again. Thursday 30 September to Sunday 3 October sees the village full of music, art, film, drama, dance and fun. Festival website will contain full details this weekend, though a brief outline is there now (www.forestrowfestival.com). There’s also a Facebook group, and everyone is encouraged to post your pictures to Flickr.

We’re showing several films: First, the wonderful new documentary about The Doors will be on Friday 1 October as a late nighter (starts at 10pm). It is just made up of archive footage, much of it never available before, and has Johnny Depp doing the narration. Well worth a viewing.

On Saturday 2 October we are screening another Buster Keaton with live music from Terry Davies. This year it will be Seven Chances, which was released in 1925, and even includes a tiny colour sequence. It has quite a slow build, but is very funny and has a hilarious climax.

Please note that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the animation workshop has had to be cancelled. Sorry about that, but we will have another in March.

However, we also have some art films made by Ilka Leukenfeld, which will be on Saturday at 5pm in the village hall. Then we finish on Sunday at 1pm with some great short films made locally.

We look forward to seeing you

These were the films screened at the special preview weekend organised by the Independent Cinema Office (ICO) at BFI Southbank on 17-19 April.

• Bad Lieutenant: Werner Herzog, 2009, 121 min
• Bronco Bullfrog: Barney Platts-Mills, 1969, 86 min
• Cléo from 5 to 7: Agnès Varda, 1962, 90 min
• The Concert: Radu Mihaileanu, 2009, 119 min
• Four Lions: Christopher Morris, 2009
• Gainsbourg: Joann Sfar, 2010, 130 min
• The Killer Inside Me: Michael Winterbottom, 210, 110 min
• Lebanon: Maoz Shmulik, 2009, 92 min
• Metropolis: Fritz Lang, 1927
• Mother:  Joon-ho Bong, 2009, 128 min
• Rashomon: Akira Kurosawa, 1950, 88 min
• The Runaways: Floria Sigismondi, 2010, 105 min
• Sammy Going South: Alexander Mackendrick, 1963, 118 min
• Samson and Delilah: Warwick Thornton, 2009, 101 min
• The Secrets in Their Eyes: Juan José Campanella, 2009, 156 min
• Shed Your Tears and Walk Away: Jez Lewis, 2009, 90 min
• A Town Called Panic: Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier, 2009, 75 min
• The Vintner’s Luck: Niki Caro, 2009, 120 min
• Whatever Works: Woody Allen, 2009, 92min
• When You’re Strange: Tom DiCillo, 2009, 88 min
• White Material: Claire Denis, 2009, 100 min
• Wild Grass: Alain Resnais, 2009, 104 min

A film festival with a musical theme will be taking place in Pembury from 15-18 October, together with the Big Shorts film competition.

The four day event will be held at a selection of venues in Pembury, including the theatre at Kent College, Pembury Primary School and Hospice in the Weald.

The programme has not been completely finalised yet, though will include about ten films, concerts and talks. The films all have a musical angle, and range from popular classics to some marvellous and compelling world cinema. Check out the website or contact the organisers for fuller details nearer the time.

The short film competition, Big Shorts, is open to any film-makers over 18 living in Kent, Surrey or Sussex, and is offering a £1500 prize. Films must be under 16 minutes, and the submission deadline is 15 September. Competition guidelines and an entry form are available from the website.

Also taking place is the Snapshoot Film Challenge for young teams of novice film-makers to make a film during the course of the festival. Further details are on the festival website.

Further details are available from the Festival Director Keir Hoffmann at hoffmank@kentcollege.kent.sch.uk.

The printed version of the new season’s programme will be in the village and surrounding areas this week. Alternatively, you can read or print it yourself since it is available here [789 kb]. All the details of the films will get added to the website as soon as possible, but at least you can read a bit more about the films now.

Please let us know if you can help to distribute programmes to locations outside of Forest Row.

We’re really delighted with the programme: not only the films, but also the lovely design which has again been done by Lee Hannam of Yellowfish Design, and the smashing print job done by Identity Print.

Here is the latest list of films available from the British Federation of Film Societies’ Block Booking scheme. Most of them are available through to about May 2012, though check the details on the BFFS site. In addition, most of the films listed a year ago are still available through to about July/August 2011, and many of those listed back in February 2009 are available until the end of this year or next. Check the BFFS catalogue for full details.

All the films link through to further details, normally from the Movie Review Query Engine.

• 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep (Ben Hopkins, UK 2006, 85 min)
• Bako l’autre rive (J. Champreux/Cheik Doukoure, France/Senegal 1980, 110 min)
• Beaufort (Joseph Cedar, Israel 2007, 131 min)
• Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee (Shane Meadows, UK 2009, 71 min)
• The End of the Line (Rupert Murray, UK 2009, 90 min)
• Fad’jal (Safi Faye, Senegal 1979, 113 min)
• La France (Serge Bozon, France 2007, 102 min)
• Les gens de la rizière (Rithy Panh, Cam/Fra 1994, 195 min)
• Heartbeat Detector (Nicolas Klotz, France 2007, 143 min)
• The Hide (Marek Losey, UK 2008, 82 min)
• L’Île de Black Mór (Jean François Laguionie, France 2004, 85 min)
• Import/Export (Ulrich Seidl, Aus/Fra/Ger 2007, 141 min)
• Jom (Ababacar Makharam, Sen/Ger 1981, 76 min)
• Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke, Mex/Jap/USA 2008, 89 min)
• Lettre d’amour Zoulou (Ramadan Suleman, Fra/S Afr/Ger 2004, 105 min)
• Lettre Paysanne [Letter from my Village] (Safi Faye, Senegal 1973, 98 min)
• London River (Rachid Bouchareb, UK/Fra/Alg 2009, 87 min)
• Ma vie en l’air (Rémi Besançon, France 2005, 90 min)
• Machan (Uberto Pasolini, Sri Lanka/Ita/Ger 2008, 109 min)
• The Magician (Scott Ryan, Australia 2007, 86 min)
• The Market: A Tale of Trade (Ben Hopkins, Ger/Tur/UK/KZ 2008, 93 min)
• Meurtrières (Patrick Grandperret, France 2006, 107 min)
• Naked Youth (Nagisa Oshima, Japan 1960, 97 min)
• The Night of the Sunflowers (Jorge Sanchez-Cabezudo, Spain 2006, 123 min)
• Opera Jawa (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia/Aus 2006, 120 min)
• Le petit lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois, France 2005, 110 min)
• Platform (Jia Zhangke, HK/Chi/Fra 2001, 155 min)
• Princess Raccoon (Seijun Suzuki, Japan 2005, 111 min)
• Puffball (Nicolas Roeg, UK/Ire/Can 2007, 119 min)
• Quo Vadis, Baby? (Gabriele Salvatores, Italy 2006, 102 min)
• Samson & Delilah (Warwick Thornton, Australia 2009, 101 min)
• Les silences du palais (Moufida Tlatli, Fra/Tun 1994, 127 min)
• The Sun’s Burial (Nagisa Oshima, Japan 1960, 87 min)
• Tales from the Golden Age (Hanno Höfer/Razvan Marculescu, Rom/Fra 2009, 146 min)
• To Get to Heaven, First You Have to Die (Djamshed Usmonov, Rus/Taj/Fra 2007, 96 min)
• Toi et Moi (Julie Lopez-Curval, France 2005, 94 min)
• U (Serge Elissalde, France 2006, 75 min)
• Under the Mud (Sol Papadopoulos, UK 2006, 85 min)
• Voisins, Voisines (Malik Chibane, France 2004, 95 min)
• Welcome (Philippe Lioret, France 2009, 110 min)
• Young@Heart (Stephen Walker, UK 2007, 107 min)

The ICO has some films available for booking, and we will be screening Bong Joon-ho’s Mother next season, which has yet to be released in the UK. Other films available are equally interesting, and there is a whole collection of other Korean films by Hong Sangsoo just available, via the Korean Cultural Centre, with an enticing piece by Tony Rayns to introduce them. Looks like they’re worth exploring, not least for our comedy film festival in March. The list below links through to the Movie Review Query Engine, though there often aren’t many items about any of the films.

• The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well
• The Power of Kangwon Province
• Virgin Stripped Bare by her Bachelors
• The Turning Gate
• Woman is the Future of Man
• Tale of Cinema
• Woman on the Beach
• Night and Day
• Like You Know It All
• Hahaha