Directors Notes

This week we’re joined by Scott Keiner whose career has seen him direct TV pilots, music videos for bands such as OK Go and the recent short Sizzlean, which is a prequel to the complete feature script of the same name penned by Scott. Sizzlean will be screening in the Cannes short film corner 20th - [...]

Sizzlean (2008) In a time when the world is emptied out, and only a few lost souls remain, a group of children sets out on a quest. Led by the Pirate Sizzlean, and the Captain who tells him what to dream, the children are on a quest most hope never to face, for these children are orphans, and they have set out to find their family. When the orphans find a strange man living in a tunnel, they discover that the end of their quest, may be closer than they think.

When I’m not working on Directors Notes you can normally find me trying to convince anyone and everyone that they really need a film podcast. CINECITY ‘07 actually listened and set me loose with a mic and contact details for some of their directors, which is how I got to spend the morning in Grant [...]

Jim Threapleton joins us to discuss his directorial début Extraordinary Rendition and the challenges of striking the correct balance of tone in a film that depicts the personal effects of a wrongly accused man caught up in a system with little regard for the rights of the individual. Extraordinary Rendition Materials Stills Showlinks Extraordinary Rendition Blog Trailer London’s Burning The Tell-Tale Heart Amnesty [...]

Extraordinary Rendition (2007) A man is abducted from the streets of London and transported via secret flights to an unknown country. Held in solitary confinement and cut off from the outside world, he is plunged into a lawless nightmare of detention without trial, interrogation and torture. Returned without explanation to the UK many months later, he is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered life in a world he no longer recognises.

After many years working in the French film industry as an assistant director on over 35 features, Brice Cauvin decided that it was time for him to step out and direct his feature début Hotel Harabati, which despite (or perhaps due to) problems with financing he managed to complete on his own terms, remaining true to his initial vision. Showlinks Hotel Harabati Lemming Hidden Harry He’s Here to Help The French New Wave CNC

Hotel Harabati (2006) While waiting to catch a train from Paris to Venice, French couple Philippe and Marion pick up a bag left behind by a polite, vaguely Middle Eastern man. Inside, they find neatly bound bundles of foreign currency; on the tag, it reads ‘Hotel Harabati.’ At the last moment, they decide not to go to Venice (though they tell their families and friends they did); but when Marion collects her film from the developer’s, the reel is inexplicably filled with sho...more

Director Matt Strachan joins us this week to discuss his switch from writing to directing on his self-penned short Giraffes and Laughs and Feelings and Things. Giraffes and Laughs and Feelings and Things Materials Budget Lounge Floorplan Moodboard Production Breakdown Production Timeline Script Showlinks Matt Strachan The Room Lime Pictures Raindance Panasonic AG-DVX100 Shooting People

Giraffes and Laughs and Feelings and Things (2008) Calum and Lucy, both twenty-something and “just good friends”, are forced to face up to the realities of life and love in a limbo landscape of their own memories.

Director Phil Grabsky has been working in the film industry for over 20 years, creating documentary programmes for BBC strands such as Timewatch and Reputations, as well as arts programmes for Channel Five. However, I first came into contact with Phil’s work through his 2003 feature documentary The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan and am pleased to have him join me this week for an interview about his latest feature doc Escape From Luanda. Showlinks Seventh Art Productions Escape ...more