Film4 FrightFest Glasgow 2013 Line-up announced: Neil Jordan, Gemma Arterton, Eli Roth Head Guest Line Up

Press release:

From Friday Feb 24 to Saturday Feb 25, the UK’s favourite horror fantasy festival returns to its second home at the Glasgow Film Festival for the 8th year with an impressive slate of the hottest new horror films, plus the hit Norwegian TV series HELLFJORD, stripped across the two days.

Some of the genre’s biggest hitters take centre-stage this year, with UK premieres for Eli Roth’s re-calibrated Disaster Movie, AFTERSHOCK, Neil Jordon’s surreal vampire myth, BYZANTIUM and Rob Zombie’s darkest horror yet, THE LORDS OF SALEM.  Plus the mother of all anthology movies THE ABCs OF DEATH, receives its first showing in the UK and there’s the chance to sample red-hot Chilean grindhouse in BRING ME THE HEAD OF THE MACHINE GUN WOMAN. Then there is the creepiest found-footage feature of them all - THE BAY, the best US documentary of the season AMERICAN DREAM and the Scottish-based SAWNEY: FLESH OF MAN, which was a surprise hit at the August FrightFest event., Also, there are UK prems for zombie splatter-fest DETENTION OF THE DEAD and the newly restored edition of Mario Bava’s classic horror anthology BLACK SABBATH.

Finally, FrightFest is proud to present Norwegian TV sensation, HELLFJORD, in which seven of Norway’s finest directors team up for writer/producer Tommy (DEAD SNOW) Wirkola’s Nordic Noir fusion of HOT FUZZ and TWIN PEAKS. All seven episodes will be screened as supporting features to the main FrightFest line-up with the last two parts showing as a stand-alone event.

This year’s guest line-up is headed by the Guru of Gore himself, Eli Roth, making his first ever appearance in Scotland. Eli is taking time off from finishing his latest directorial assignment THE GREEN INFERNO to present the UK premiere of AFTERSHOCK, which he produced, co-wrote and headlines as leading actor.  And he’ll be bringing with him director Nicolas Lopez and his co-star Lorenza Izzo.

Film4 FrightFest also welcomes the legendary director Neil Jordon, who will be presenting the UK premiere of his latest film BYZANTIUM. He will be accompanied by two of his leading cast members Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan

Also attending, to introduce the UK premiere of THE ABC’s OF DEATH, are directors Simon Rumley, Lee Hardcastle and Jake West, plus Jake’s ‘S is for Speed’ star Lucy Clements.  And to help us celebrate out unique presentation of HELLFJORD we have director Patrik Syversen (MANHUNT) and stars Stig Frode Henriksen and Zahid Ali in attendance.

Finally, to celebrate the first Scottish showing of SAWNEY: FLESH OF MAN. director Ricky Wood, writer Richard Wood and stars David Hayman and Gavin Mitchell will be in the house to celebrate their gory serial killer thriller.

Alan Jones, FrightFest co-director says, "Film4 FrightFest is thrilled to be part of Glasgow Film Festival for its eighth straight year, defining horror fantasy for our lovely neighbours north of the border. 2013 sees Team FrightFest building on the massive support our Scottish fans have consistently given us to make this shock-around-the-clock event the must-see brightest and best ever. And our 2013 edition is no exception to that heady mix of mirth, menace, monsters and mayhem that has now come to characterize the exhilarating and exciting Film4 FrightFest Glasgow experience".

With surprises on screen and off, and the festival’s unique community feeling, FrightFest at the GFF has now become a must-attend occasion on the horror fantasy fan's calendar.

To book tickets:
+44 (0)141 332 6535 / boxoffice@glasgowfilm.org

For full programme & timetable log onto www.frightfest.co.uk

The full line-up

FRI 22 FEB

13:30   THE AMERICAN SCREAM (UK Premiere)

From Michael Stephenson, director of the BEST WORST MOVIE, comes another charming and hugely entertaining documentary. Meet the Brodeur, Souza and Bariteau families who live in the seaside town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Every year they spend fortunes turning their homes into stunning haunted houses for the Halloween holiday, determined to dazzle and impress their neighbours through their imaginative uses of quaintly simple and clever scare tactics. Watch them as they plan, slave, obsess and suffer trying to outdo each other in the fearful fun-ride department. An engaging, inspiring, heart-warming examination of creativity, community and love of Halloween horror.

Director: Michael Stephenson   USA 2012   84 mins

Cast: Matthew Brodeur, Victor Bariteau, Manny Souza

15.00   SAWNEY: FLESH OF MAN  (Scottish Premiere)

Religious psychopath Sawney stalks Scotland abducting unholy souls for his communion of sacrifices. With his insane family of inbred killers, Sawney tortures and eats their victims saving the best morsels for a chained-up figure in their cavernous Highlands lair. As the Missing Persons list rises investigative crime journalist Hamish MacDonald writes sensational and damming headlines against the police, due to their incompetence in handling the case. After his fiancée is kidnapped Hamish investigates the heinous crimes on his own with disastrous results. For there’s something he doesn’t know about the case that’s crucial to solving it…

Director: Ricky Wood Jr   UK 2012   89 mins   

Cast: David Hayman, Samuel Feeney, Gavin Mitchell

17.30   THE LORDS OF SALEM  (UK Premiere) + HELLFJORD Ep 1

Hard rock Boston DJ Heidi Hawthorne co-hosts a late-night radio show. One day she receives a promo record from a mysterious band called The Lords whose music is strange and sinister. It transpires the droning tune was composed during the Witch Trials to turn all the local Salem women into satanic acolytes. When she plays it on the air Heidi spirals into drug addiction and starts having nightmare hallucinations about the demon seed. Cult director Rob Zombie returns with his darkest horror – a journey to the unfathomable depths of terror.

Director: Rob Zombie   USA 2012   101 mins   

Cast: Sherri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Judy Geeson

20:15   BYZANTIUM (UK Premiere)

From Neil Jordan, director of INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE and THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, comes a haunting, visually sublime, unique take on ancient undead mythology. Clara is a 200-year-old vampire who works in sleazy strip clubs and prostitutes herself to support her vampire daughter, Eleanor. But this deadly duo are no ordinary vampires; Clara drains the scum of the earth and Eleanor

acts as an angel of death preying on the suffering elderly. When the two daughters of darkness open up a bordello in the seedy Byzantium seaside guesthouse, shocking secrets going back through tortured centuries must be suppressed.

Director: Neil Jordan   UK 2012   118 mins  

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Jonny Lee Miller

23.00   DETENTION OF THE DEAD (UK Premiere) + HELLSFJORD Ep 2

When there’s no more room in hell, the Dead will go to Detention! SHAUN OF THE DEAD meets THE BREAKFAST CLUB in a ‘School’s Out Completely’ knock-down, drag-out fight for survival when a student body gather in detention just as a zombie plague kicks off in the outside world. Packed with full-bore splatter moments to keep even the hungriest of gore-hounds satisfied - no more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks, just the flesh-eaten Walking Dead on the hunt for more brains and Class body parts to feast on! Bloody perfect as late-night scream-and-shout-out-loud entertainment.

Director: Alex Craig Mann  USA 2012   87 mins   

Cast: Christa B. Allen, Jacob Zachar, Alexa Nikolas

SAT 23 FEB

11.00   BLACK SABBATH (Retrospective Premiere) + HELLFJORD Ep 3

FrightFest proudly presents the newly restored edition of Mario Bava’s classic horror anthology BLACK SABBATH, for the first time ever in English. A beautiful woman is terrorised by her psycho ex-lover…. A family becomes a feeding ground when their wounded father returns from vampire hunting…  A thieving nurse is haunted by the spirit of a dead medium… Join horror icon Boris Karloff as he hosts and stars in a trilogy of terror from the Golden Era of Italian Shockers. You’ll be absolutely amazed by how scary it still is in this stunningly pristine presentation.

Director: Mario Bava  Italy 1963   92 mins   

Cast: Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Michele Mercier

30. BRING ME THE HEAD OF THE MACHINE GUN WOMAN (UK Premiere)

+ HELLFJORD Ep 4

Get ready for a real blast! After accidentally overhearing Argentine gangsters talk bloody assassination, a nightclub DJ and video game addict avoids execution only by offering to kill the object of their hatred himself. But the scantily clad, femme-fatale bounty hunter Machine Gun Woman is not going to become a sitting target that easily, especially when her favourite fashion accessories are shiny multiple weapons. The most ruthless killer to ever wear stilettos, she’s Hell-on-Heels in an all-guns blazing, sexy, violent slice of neo LatinXploitation. Flashy and trashy grindhouse fare the way they used to make ‘em.

Director: Ernesto Diaz Espinoza Chile 2012   74 mins   

Cast: Fernanda Urrejola, Matias Oviedo, Sofia Garcia

15.45   THE BAY (UK Premiere) + HELLFJORD Ep 5

Trust Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson to embrace the found-footage genre and give us its scariest spin EVER! The sea is the livelihood of a small coastal town in Chesapeake Bay. But even when an extremely high level of toxicity is found in the water, the mayor refuses to halt the Independence Day celebrations to avoid spreading panic. Too late: a plague of flesh-melting, tongue-chewing, stomach eating parasites is about to contaminate the population with devastating blood-vomiting consequences. Gross, disturbing, creepy and chilling, yet punctuated by a dark sense of humour, THE BAY is true issue-raising nightmare horror.

Director: Barry Levinson   USA 2012   84 mins   

Cast: Will Rogers, Kristen Connolly, Kether Donohue

18.45   THE ABCs OF DEATH (UK Premiere)

A is for Ambitious, B for Brilliant, C for Courageous: 26 letters, 26 directors, 26 ways to die in a lightning-paced anthology showcasing death in all its vicious wonder and brutal beauty. The idea is simple; a range of international genre filmmakers given a letter of the alphabet, $5000 and total freedom to create a short film about dying. From sex-fuelled murder and claymation toilet humour to artful giallo orgasm and sobering drug orgies, the twisted visions are funny, bad taste, controversial and confrontational. But all provide bloody, provocative and shocking fun on a carnival ride to the other side. 

Directors: (UK) Ben Wheatley, Jake West, Simon Rumley  USA 2012   129 mins

21:00   AFTERSHOCK (UK Premiere)

Producer, co-writer, star and genre guru Eli Roth becomes the new Master of Disaster. Four tourists and their two Chilean guides head to Valparaiso for the last days of their South American vacation. But as they dance the night away in a crowded nightclub, a massive earthquake hits the area causing wholesale death, destruction and urban anarchy. Who will survive in this dark, intense, and unpredictable mix of disaster flick and horror thriller that looks fantastic, grips with the excitement of those classic Irwin Allen 1970s epics and delivers the bloodiest of shocks as buildings collapse along with society. 

Director: Nicolas Lopez   USA 2012   90 mins

Cast: Eli Roth, Nicolas Martinez, Lorenza Izzo

23.15   HELLFJORD  - THE FINALE – Eps 6 & 7 (PLUS Q &A ) (UK Premiere)

Seven of Norway’s finest directors team up for writer/producer Tommy (DEAD SNOW) Wirkola’s Nordic Noir fusion of HOT FUZZ and TWIN PEAKS. Now you can see all seven episodes of this Scandinavian TV sensation as supporting features to the main FrightFest line-up with the last two parts showing as a stand-alone event. MANHUNT’s Patrik Syversen and COLD PREY’s Roar Uthaug are among the talented helmers focusing on the weird adventures of disgraced Sergeant Salamander posted to Hellfjord, a small town where family restaurants double as strip clubs, the average age is 67 and the sun never, ever goes down.

Directors: (Include) Patrik Syversen, Roar Uthang, Sebastian Dalen  Norway 2012   7 X 30 mins

Cast: Zahid Ali, Stig Frode Henriksen, Ingrid Bolso Berdal

Much A Do About Something! Glasgow Film Festival Launches 2013 Programme

On the day the first major film festival of the year Sundance opens in USA, the first official major film festival Glasgow Film Festival launches its 2013 programme which is nothing but exceptional.

Love will be in the air as the the 9th edition of the festival as the festival will open with 2 romantically  themed film with the opening film Régis Roinsard’s Populaire starring French heart throb Romain Duris , The Artist's Bérénice Bejo and Déborah François.If you ever wondered what Joss Whedon did after Avengers Assemble  its making the closing gala film Much A do About Something. A contemporary reworking of William Shakespeare's classic Play created in 12 days with a bunch of friends which include the likes of  Amy Acker , Alexis Denisof, Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg, this is Whedon's foray into arthouse cinema. Populaire will open the festival on Valentine's Day 14 February, Much A Do About Nothing closing the festival on 24th February Oscars night, both films are UK premiere's.

In between these two great films this is where Glasgow Film Festival show their progression, strength with other 50 screenings many of them UK, European some cases World Premieres. Fans of Blue Valentine will be eager to see Derek Cianfrance's follow up The Place Beyond The Pines (UK première)starring Ryan Gosling,  Eren Creevy’s Welcome To The Punch starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong will deliver some UK action. 2013 seems to be the year Korea's finest film makers try take over Hollywood  when  Park Chan-Wook's anticipated chiller Stoker starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman will take over Glasgow. Fans of Nicole Kidman will be delighted to see the actress will be making a second appearance t Glasgow Film Festival as you can catch in Lee Daniel's The Paperboy which stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron. Richard Geer 's Arbitrage,Broken starring Tim Roth, Michael Winterbottom's The Look Of Love with Steve Coogan, Guillermo Del Toro's Mama, Sundance & London Film Favourite Robot & Frank starring Frank Langella all will make an appearance at the festival too. The Wachowski's Cloud Atlas will make its first British Appearance at the festival,how fitting as one of the film's scenes (with Halle Berry) was filmed only minutes from the festivals main venue Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT).

With over 368 screenings, events, discussion panels, workshops happening in various venues across Glasgow there's bound to be something from everyone.From from Calamity Jane Barn Dance, secret screening within the city's famous clockwork orange , watch Jaws on a Tall Ship or even watch a screening of the silent movie masterpiece The Passion of Jean D'Arc at Glasgow Cathedral.If your not a big fan of contemporary cinema the annual Retrospective will be in force and this year's classic star is James Cagney with a selection of his best films been screened such as Angels With Dirty Faces,Yankee Doodle Dandy and White Heat.

We must n't forget the whole of February is given upto film festival with festivals within festivals with Glasgow Youth Film Festival kicking things off  with Scottish premier of Disney's Oscar nominated Wreck It-Ralph starring the voice of John C Reilly, the festival closing film Michael Gondry's The We And I.Scotland's leading short film festival Glasgow Short Film Festival (7-10 February) bigger and better packed with over 60 of the best short films not just from Scotland, rest of UK but the world. Glasgow Music And Film Festival returns with another pack schedule with music related films, rockumentaries, watch classic films with live scores and off course live performances with the one and only Jane Birkin making a rare live performance in the city. The highlight for myself is the annual horror fest Film4 Frightfest , the london based premier horror festival heads north for its annual mix of gore, monsters and  blood now in it's 8th year and around 930am we will reveal the line up, trust me love horror  you wont be disappointed!

As Glasgow Film Festival is the local film festival for The People's Movies and Cinehouse we will do our best to cover the even to the best we can. Some fantastic films but what I really like is finally now Glasgow looks now to be getting the credit it deserves and if everything goes well, Glasgow film festival will become BFI London Film Festival's strongest rival. I'm fortunate to say I work at GFT the festival's main venue I will be there as reviewer but also working if you know me, do say hello and if your heading to Frightfest I will see you there too!

For more information, book tickets which go on sale from 9.30am today head to www.glasgowfilm.org/festival

Here is the very detailed Press Release on the Glasgow Film Festival:

Love is in the air as Glasgow Film Festival announces biggest-ever programme.
Film lovers, rejoice! Glasgow Film Festival today announced its most ambitious programme yet: bookended by two very different romantic comedies, kicking off on Valentine’s Day and ending on the night of the 85th Academy Awards.

Supported by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Creative Scotland and EventScotland, with 368 screenings, panel discussions, live performances and special events, this is the most extensive Glasgow Film Festival programme to date. It truly is a festival for the whole city, too, spreading out further than ever before into twenty six venues – everywhere from the stately surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral to a secret location somewhere in the depths of the Subway system. There are a record number of UK premieres amongst this year’s films, and GFF’s unique programme of special events celebrating the joy of cinema gets even more innovative in 2013, with contributions from comedians, musicians, comic book legends, fashion designers and even Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond. It’s a programme that wears its love of film – and of the cinema-going experience in all its forms – very prominently on its sleeve.

Opening Gala: Populaire   **UK PREMIERE**
On Valentine’s Day, movie lovers will walk down the red carpet for the UK premiere of sparkling French romantic comedy Populaire, starring Déborah François, Roman Duris and The Artist’s Běrénice Bejo. With the retro appeal of Mad Men and the glossy allure of a Doris Day/Rock Hudson tussle, this gorgeous, candy-coated romance between the fastest typist in the world and her handsome, commitment-phobic boss will melt hearts (and inspire wardrobes).

Thursday 14 February (19.30 & 20.15)

Closing Gala: Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing  **UK PREMIERE**
What do you do when you’ve just made the most successful superhero blockbuster ever? In the case of Avengers Assemble writer/directorJoss Whedon, you invite a group of actor friends to your home for a fortnight and shoot an inspired, inventive version of Shakespeare’s classic battle of the sexes. Stuffed with familiar faces from Whedon’s cult oeuvre (look out for actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and Firefly giving their best hey nonny noes), this Much Ado About Nothing is a warm, witty and accessible take on one of the original rom coms.
Sunday 24 February (20.15)

We are delighted to announce that the Sponsors of our Opening and Closing Galas, Link-Tel Communications have received a New Arts Sponsorship grant supported by the Scottish Government in conjunction with Arts & Business Scotland, as first time Sponsors of the arts.

SEE OVER FOR SPECIAL EVENTS, UK PREMIERES, NEW STRANDS, AND MUCH MORE…

Allan Hunter, Co-Director of Glasgow Film Festival, said: ‘Glasgow Film Festival has grown into a massive celebration of every aspect of the moving image. We all spend part of our lives watching films, playing games or catching up with television but there is still nothing to match sharing the experience with fellow enthusiasts, meeting the filmmakers and finding fresh inspiration. We are extremely proud of an ambitious 2013 programme that promises unforgettable moments in venues all across the city.’

SPECIAL EVENTS
Catwalk shows. Live video gaming. DJ sets. GFF’s events programme has always made the festival particularly unique, and this year we celebrate cinema with almost fifty different events from panel discussions to comedy, some embracing the cinematic in television and computer games, some tracing the relationships between film and fashion or music. Highlights include:

• Entre chien et loup, a series of new commissioned works by some of Scotland’s best artist filmmakers, curated by Henry Coombes and premiering at a fabulous grand ball.
• The first ever film screening in Glasgow Cathedral will be the 1928 silent classic The Passion of Joan of Arc, with a brand new live score for organ and soprano.
• Legendary Scottish actor James Cosmo in conversation about his life and career
• A secret film screening in a hidden location in the depths of Glasgow Subway.
• Comedian Simon Munnery’s new show, Fylm-Makker.
• A panel of actors from HBO’s award winning television epic Game of Thrones introduce an episode screening and launch Season Three.
• The Calamity Jane Barn Dance, at Glasgow’s legendary country and western club, Grand Ole Opry
• Scary watery movies Jaws and Dead Calm screened – comfortingly enough – on board The Tall Ship.
• Comic book legends John Wagner (creator of Judge Dredd), our Kapow!@GFF curator Mark Millar (Kick-Ass), and Steve Niles (creator of 30 Days of Night) discuss their work.
• Hop on board our samba bus and be whisked off to a proper Brazilian Carnival.
• Live music performances from Jane Birkin, Auricle Ensemble and Lau.
• Celebrate fifty years of Doctor Who with members of the cast and series writer Tom McRae.
• DCI Caroline Goode, who led the investigation into the death of young British-Kurdish woman Banaz Mahmod, joins us for a discussion on honour killings.
• Fashion label Obscure Couture launch their next season collection with an outrageous live catwalk/film extravagana.
• Detroit techno icon Jeff Mills headlines our day-long Sonic Cineplex, where DJs and musicians create new soundtracks to old film footage.
• First Minister Alex Salmond reveals his nerdy side, introducing his favourite geek cinema classic.
• Computer game experts compare highly anticipated game Aliens: Colonial Marines to the original 70mm Aliens, both on the big screen.
• Dress up like your favourite cult character and walk the red carpet at our Cosplay Gala.

INNOVATIONS AND PREMIERES, OVER

SELECTED UK PREMIERES

This year, fifty-seven of our films are UK premieres,  including:

• Stoker, starring Mia Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman.
• The Place Beyond the Pines, which reunites Ryan Gosling with Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance.
• Neil Jordan’s dark vampire thriller Byzantium, with Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton,
• Arbitrage, with a bravura performance by Richard Gere.
• The Look of Love, Michael Winterbottom’s stylish look at the life of Paul Raymond (played by Steve Coogan).
• Mama, starring Jessica Chastain.
• The Paperboy, with a Golden Globe-nominated performance by Nicole Kidman alongside Matthew McConaughey.
• James McAvoy, Peter Mullan and Mark Strong team up for the sleek, powerful thriller Welcome to the Punch.

Glasgow Film Festival is also delighted to host the first public UK screening of the eagerly-anticipated Cloud Atlas, which was partially shot in Glasgow.

SELECTED WORLD PREMIERES

• Kevin Cameron’s Alasdair Gray: A Life in Progress, a film as entertaining and multi-faceted as the man himself, featuring Liz Lochhead and the late Edwin Morgan.
• A Tale of Two Syrias: award-winning documentary filmmaker Yasmin Fedda’s unique, personal take on recent events in Syria.
• Created especially for GFF with CCA and Stills Gallery, feature film Staande! Debout! is based on true events, examining the aftermath of a strike on a workforce.
• Outwork, by the internationally-renowned artist filmmaker Stephen Sutcliffe, is the third annual Margaret Tait Award project.
• The Devil’s Plantation, based on May Miles Thomas’ BAFTA-winning website, is an innovative look at Glasgow’s secret geometery, narrated by Kate Dickie and Gary Lewis.
• We Are Northern Lights, a film created from submissions across Scotland.

NEW FOR 2013
Three new programming strands for this year’s Festival were announced in November 2012.

• Buena Onda: New Brazilian Cinema: As Brazil begins to take its place on the world stage, both as an emerging superpower and as the next host nation of the Olympics, we examine some of the great new work coming out of the country. It’s also a great excuse to throw a traditional Brazilian Carnival party, with a samba bus to take you to a secret location, and a special screening of 1970s classic Black Orpheus.
• James Cagney: Top of the World, Ma! Our retrospective this year takes a long, loving look at the career of the Oscar-winning Hollywood tough guy, from the young street rat–turned gangster of Angels With Dirty Faces, to the menacing obsessive lover of Love Me or Leave Me.
• Game Cats Go Miaow!: Robert Florence, star of the BBC comedy series Burnistoun, curates a look at the cross-over between cinema and video gaming. A panel of gaming experts review the hotly-anticipated Aliens: Colonial Marines on the big screen, followed by a comparison screening of Aliens itself. A whole host of comedians pack themselves in for Rab’s Video Game Empty, a quiz show with a difference, and we take a searing look at epic game Dark Souls and the whole of the dark fantasy genre.

Our brand new Festival Club takes over CCA’s Terrace Bar every day and night for the duration of the Festival. Rub shoulders with filmmakers and visiting guests, ask the GFF team for advice planning your schedule, take part in a daily programme of debates and discussions and then dance the night away with a great selection of DJs and live acts. Festival Club listings will be online at www.glasgowfilm.org/festivalclub and posted daily in the GFT foyer.

FESTIVALS WITHIN THE FESTIVAL, OVER

FESTIVALS WITHIN THE FESTIVAL
Glasgow Short Film Festival: 7–10 February
Scotland’s leading short film festival returns with a packed programme of screenings, workshops and parties. This year sixty films compete for the Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film and the Scottish Short Film Award. The 2013 programme pays tribute to the behemoth of underground cinema George Kuchar, forecasts tomorrow’s US indie darlings with a showcase of filmmaking from Columbia University graduates, celebrates the groundbreaking work of Caroline Sascha Cogez and assembles heavyweight panels to ask ‘why can’t women make feature films?’ across a series of discussions during the weekend. www.glasgowfilm.org/gsff

Glasgow Youth Film Festival: 3–13 February
The only film event in the UK curated entirely by 15—18-year-olds presents international film premieres, workshops and events for child, teenage and young adult audiences.  Highlights include premieres of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph and Michel Gondry’s hilarious comedy The We and the I, plus anime previews and a cosplay parade! GYFF will also be turning the banks of the Clyde into a pop-up cinema and dance space, screening recent dance classic Girl Walk // All Day, and the cast and crew of Channel 4’s Fresh Meat stop by for a masterclass. GYFF also offers a range of practical workshops to aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers. www.glasgowfilm.org/gyff

Glasgow Music and Film Festival (dates as Glasgow Film Festival; Jane Birkin on 29 January)
Curated by the GFF team and long term partners-in-crime The Arches, this year’s GMFF embraces local artists and global greats alike, with live performances from Jane Birkin, techno legend Jeff Mills, gold star folkers Lau, Alasdair Roberts, and Auricle Ensemble. Witness some intriguing new live soundtracks created to old classics – in particular Irene Buckley’s spine-tingling new score for The Passion of Joan of Arc, for soprano, electronics and organ, in the very atmospheric setting of Glasgow Cathedral. Accompanied by a jam-packed programme of excellent rockumentaries and biopics.

Film4 FrightFest: 22—23 February
Our special horror Fest-within-a-Festival may now be in its eighth year at GFF, but there’s still no let up to that heady mix of mirth, menace, monsters and mayhem that characterises the Film4 FrightFest Glasgow experience

You've Been Framed For Death In First Trailer For S-VHS

With the original critically acclaimed horror anthology V/H/S only days away from it's UK cinema release tommorrow over in USA at Sundance film festival the sequel S-VHS is about to make it's world premier and we have the film's first trailer.

Shot once again in a typical 1980's style video analogue style once again in the short film style with a fresh bunch of talented horror film makers lining up to make sure horror fans worldwide will be scream, hide, cringe most of enjoy the anthology wanna be  franchise. This film's new blood includes Gareth Evans (The Raid) co-directing with Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre); Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) Greg Hale; Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun) with Adam Wingard(You’re Next) and writer Simon Barrett(a horribe way to die) returning for a second round.

Perfect place to show off film 2 at Sundance the festival that loved the film , so its certain S-VHS (super Vhs) will go down a storm. As for the trailer itself its tricky to decipher on what's exactly going on but that's not a negative but more of a positive as it teases you with great precision. But what we are looking forward to is the Cabin In The Woods style child's birthday though an old school zombie attack always goes down well amongst the horror fans at The People's Movies HQ. We enjoyed V/H/S at last year's Edinburgh Film Festival you can find out how much by reading our review.

Nothing as in distribution rights have been sorted for S-VHS but don't be surprise after the festival things will be sorted. For UK&Irish fans V/H/S will have a limited cinema release on 18th January then been released on 28th January on DVD, Blu-Ray.

source: Rope Of Silicon

Federico Fellini's City Of Women Gets Masters Of Cinema Blu-Ray Release

CITY OF WOMEN [LA CITTÀ DELLE DONNE / LA CITÉ DES FEMMES] will be released as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on Blu-ray & DVD on 25 February 2013

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing a gorgeous new HD restoration of the long out-of-circulation epic CITY OF WOMEN [LA CITTÀ DELLE DONNE / LA CITÉ DES FEMMES] by the legendary Italian director Federico Fellini (La strada, Nights of Cabiria, La dolce vita, 8-1/2, Amarcord) on Blu-ray & DVD on 25 February 2013.  The film is an unprecedented cinematic spectacle, produced in part by France's Gaumont Studio, and stars the most famous Italian actor of the 20th Century, Marcello Mastroianni, reprising his 8-1/2 role.

Federico Fellini's epic 1980 fantasia introduced the start of the Maestro's delirious late period. A surrealist tour-de-force filmed on soundstages and locations alike, and overflowing with the same sensory (and sensual) invention heretofore found only in the classic movie-musicals (and Fellini's own oeuvre), La città delle donne [City of Women] taps into the era's restless youth-culture, coalescing into nothing less than Fellini's post-punk opus.

Marcello Mastroianni appears as Fellini's alter ego in a semi-reprise of his character from 8-1/2, Snàporaz. As though passing into a dream, the charismatic avatar finds himself initiated into a phantasmagoric world where women — or an idea of women — have taken power, and which is structured like an array of psychosexual set-pieces — culminating in a bravura hot-air balloon that decisively sticks the "anti" up into "climax".

A great adventure "through the looking-glass," as it were, of Fellini's own phallic lens and life-long libidinal ruminations, La città delle donne sharply divided critics at the 1980 Festival de Cannes, some of whom had merely anticipated a nostalgic retread of the earlier Mastroianni works. What they were greeted with, and what remains today, is, in the words of Serge Daney, "a victory of cinema". The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La città delle donne on Blu-ray and DVD in Gaumont's glorious new HD restoration.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS:

• Glorious new HD restoration of the film, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray.

• Newly translated optional subtitles.

• Substantial booklet containing writing on the film, vintage excerpts, and rare archival imagery.

• More features to be announced closer to the release date!

Pre-order:CITY OF WOMEN [LA CITTÀ DELLE DONNE / LA CITÉ DES FEMMES] (Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray) [1980]

Beasts of the Southern Wild Coming Home This February

Following a theatrical opening to tremendous national and international acclaim, and winner of a multitude of prestigious awards including the coveted Sutherland Award at the London Film Festival for most original and imaginative feature debut, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD set the world alight with its heart-tugging, emotionally charged magic, and will finally be available to own on DVD/Blu-ray from February 11th, 2013.

In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the world by a sprawling levee, six-year-old Hushpuppy exists on the brink of orphanhood. Her mother long gone, and her father Wink, a wild-man on a perpetual spree, Hushpuppy is left to her own devices on an isolated compound filled with semi-feral animals. She perceives the natural world to be a fragile web of living, breathing, squirting things, in which the entire universe depends on everything fitting together just right. So when a hundred year storm raises the waters around her town, her daddy is suddenly stricken with illness, and fierce pre-historic creatures awaken from their frozen graves to come charging across the planet, Hushpuppy sees the natural order of everything she holds dear collapsing around her.

Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive an unstoppable catastrophe of epic proportions.

Including an exciting host of extra bonus features, experience the magic at home with the captivating and charismatic Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world.

DVD/ Blu-Ray extras:

• Making Of, 
• Casting, 
• Deleted Scenes with Director’s Commentary, 
• Award-Winning Short Film Glory at Sea, 
• Trailer

DVD Tech specs: Cert: 12 / Feature Running Time: 90 min approx / Region 2 / Feature Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 / Colour PAL / Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 & Stereo 2.0 / English language /

BLU-RAY Tech specs: Cert: 12 / Feature Running Time: 93 min approx / Region B / Audio: 2.0 LPCM / Feature Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 / Colour / Audio: DTS HD master / English language /



Pre-order/Buy Beasts Of Southern Wild: DVD / Blu-ray

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence's Nagisa Ôshima Has Died

Japanese New Wave screenwriter and director Nagisa Ôshima has sadly died at the age of 80 from pneumonia.

The provocateur filmmaker constantly challenged censors with his confrontational work winning him not just a loyal fanbase in his homeland but respected worldwide. It was his dark and fanatical In The Realm of Senses about  obsessive love affair which has unsimulated sex scenes that brought him attention worldwide but to many in Japan scandal and embarrassment.If you are unfamiliar with his work Merry Christmas  Mr Lawrence (1983) gained him some more mainstream recognition  starring David Bowie,Takeshi Kitano and Ryuichi Sakamoto a POW film which was shot entirely with Oshima not letting the cast see the outcome until the film was complete.

Oshima was a former law student left his hometown of Kyoto for the Shochiku production house near Toyko in 1954. This was the production company that could boast the likes of Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi and in 1959 he made his directorial debut with Cruel Story of Youth, before going on to make The Sun's Burial and the politically intense Night and Fog in Japan before leaving to star his own company.After the In the realm of The Sense (1976) he won accolades at Cannes in 1978 with The Empire Of Passion.

In 1986 he made Max, Mon Armour which starred Charlotte Rampling with a chimpanzee but after a stroke and a bout of ill healt Oshima returned to directing in 1999 for what was his last film Taboo. The man regarded as Japan's Jean Luc Godard due to his left social political beliefs would  go onto suffer ill health right upto his final days.

source:The Playlist

Cinematic Master Schindler's List To Get 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray Release

Experience one of the most historically significant films like never before when Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List marks its 20th Anniversary with a Blu-ray™ including Digital Copy, UltraViolet™, more than one hour of Bonus Features and a 16 page companion booklet on 8 April 2013 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Schindler’s List 20th Anniversary Edition has been meticulously restored from the original film negative in pristine high definition, supervised by Steven Spielberg and includes bonus features that shed unprecedented light on the story of Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party who risked his own life to save more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.

 One of the most powerful films of our generation, Schindler’s List tells an extraordinary true story of courage and faith that continues to inspire. Spielberg personally supervised the extensive high-definition restoration of the film from the 35mm film original negative so that viewers can see this powerful story as never before. In addition to the Blu-ray™ the Digital Copy and UltraViolet™ features allow viewers to watch Schindler’s List anytime, anywhere on the platform of their choice for the ultimate, complete viewing experience.

With its initial release in 1993, Schindler’s List rapidly became one of the most honoured films of all time, garnering twelve Academy Award® nominations and taking home seven Oscars®, including Best Director and Best Picture for Spielberg.  The film also earned Oscars® for composer John Williams (E.T., Star Wars), screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Gangs of New York, Mission: Impossible) and director of photography Janusz Kaminiski, as well as art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn and producers Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig.

Liam Neeson (Taken, Gangs of New York) received a Best Actor Academy Award® nomination for his portrayal of Oskar Schindler. Ralph Fiennes’ (The English Patient, the Harry Potter series) star-making performance as the cruel Nazi commander, Amon Goeth, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, as was Oscar®-winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Hugo) in the role of Schindler’s Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern.



The Schindler’s List 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray™ includes:

• Blu-ray™ disc unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring perfect hi-def picture and hi-def sound
• Digital Copy provides consumers with a choice of formats from a variety of partners, including options to watch on iPhone®, Android™, computers and more
• UltraViolet™ is a revolutionary new way for consumers to collect their movies and TV shows in the cloud. UltraViolet™ lets consumers instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TVs. Now available in both the United Kingdom and Ireland

A 16 page companion booklet with ‘behind the scenes’ information telling more about the incredible stories around Spielberg’s masterpiece

Bonus Features on Both the Blu-rayTM & DVD

• Voices from the List:  Featuring documentary with testimonies from those who survived the Holocaust thanks to Oskar Schindler.
• USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg: The director shows how filming Schindler’s List inspired him to establish the USC Shoah Foundation

The Blu-ray™ is also available to own in a Limited Edition Digibook format.
The Schindler’s List DVD is also released with Digital Copy, UltraViolet™ and a 16 page companion booklet

Pre-order/Buy: Schindler's List - 20th Anniversary Edition Digibook (Blu-ray + Digital Copy + UV Copy) [1993]

Synposis:Adapted from the novel by Thomas Keneally, Steven Spielberg’s masterful film tells the incredible true story of the courageous Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson). Initially a member of the Nazi party, the Catholic Schindler risks his career and life, and ultimately goes bankrupt, to employ 1,100 Jews in his crockery factory during the Holocaust. Schindler’s Jewish accountant (Ben Kingsley) serves as his conscience, as Schindler conducts business with an obstinate and cruel Nazi commander (Ralph Fiennes), who viciously kills Jewish prisoners from the balcony of his villa overlooking a prison camp. Filmed entirely in black-and-white on location in Poland, Schindler’s List does not downplay the faults of its magnanimous and unlikely hero, but relates a story of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of horrific devastation and tragedy.

FILMMAKERS
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian, based on a novel by Thomas Keneally
Producers: Branko Lustig, Gerard R. Molen, Steven Spielberg
Co-Producer: Lew Rywin
Executive Producer: Kathleen Kennedy
Associate Producers:  Irving Glovin, Robert Raymond
Director of Photography: Janusz Kaminski
Production Designer: Allan Starski
Editor: Michael Kahn

TECHNICAL INFORMATION BLU-RAY™

Release Date: 8 April 2013

Copyright: 2013 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Cat Numbers: 8293637 (Blu-ray) / 8294037 (Digibook)

Running Time: 189 mins 64 secs (film) / 82 mins 4 secs (bonus)

Aspect Ratio: Widescreen, 1.85:1 (Disc 1) / various (Disc 2)

Certificate: 15 (UK & Ireland)

'Nowhere to Go' DVD Review

Classic British film studio Ealing has been seeing a great retrospective this season, with screenings of its classic movies and the release of some of its less renowned pieces to DVD for the first time. The latest in this release schedule is Nowhere to Go, the 1959 excursion into Brit-Noir directed by Seth Holt (Hammer films The Nanny and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb) and scripted by Holt and film critic Ken Tynan. For classic British cinema fans it’s an absolute treat, and something not to be missed out on.

            The film follows the exploits of Paul Gregory (George Nader) a conman and thief as he escapes prison and goes straight back into the game. As Gregory quickly slips into a mess of thievery and betrayal, the outcome seems bleak and his only hope may lie with socialite Bridget Howard (the sensational Maggie Smith) and an audacious escape from London.

            The opening break-in at a prison after dark, a mysterious figure at a decrepit train station, long shadows, and a stellar kick-off from Dizzy Reece’s Jazz score all set the film up wonderfully. The script is perfectly constructed to show a world of old-school thieves and con artists who know all the tricks in the book, Nader’s strongest scenes are those where he watches a situation then deducts his way in; darting eyes, brief moments of apprehension before it all fizzles away and his persona has reconstructed to go with the flow. Gregory’s mind is, in the first half particularly, a joy to watch at work, we see the steps leading up to something then the penny drops and the audience catch up. The silent brooding reasoning of a conman has surely never been so coolly executed. Bernard Lee (M from the old Bond movies) pops up as a conman acquaintance who is just as adept as Gregory, and Maggie Smith controls the screen as a dubious and possibly dangerous ally, the role was Smith’s feature film debut and got her nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer BAFTA.

            There’s not exactly a complex plot at work here, and the film doesn’t flaunt a hive of activity, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring or simple, though there are definitely moments where attention can wander. Here beats the heart of an old fashioned kind of thriller, something that stands the test of time and really makes you realise how dispensable most modern films, of the ilk, are. This film doesn’t need special effects or rampant gun totting because it has its eyes on a gritty sort of realism, and realism associated purely with mid-century British crime.

            The camera work and set-up of shots directly looks at that grittiness, the predominantly dark feel of the film, the environments, and the beautifully executed shots that can almost be taken as intimate stand-alone frames. Pick what you like; it’s all easy on the eye. In particular the film reaches a great climax which sees Gregory hounded to Wales after the criminal fraternity turn their back on him. Here he is in as much danger as he was in London and here the film reaches a poignant dramatic conclusion which puts the whole film into context as the trials and tribulations of a man caught in a trap of his own misguided actions.

            Nowhere to Go picks its way through 50’s London high-life via the lowlife, Nader gives a career best performance with stellar support, and the film is beautifully shot. The only thing more criminal than Gregory’s actions is that this film hasn't made it to DVD already.

SCOTT CLARK

★★★1/2☆

Rating: PG
DVD Release Date: 14th January 2013 (UK)
Directed By: Seth Holt
Cast: George Nader, Maggie Smith and Bernard Lee 
Buy Nowhere To Go: 

This Is Killer Watch New UK TV Spot For V/H/S

In 7 days time The scariest, rawest horror movie of the year as described by Rolling Stone; the highly original, brutally uncompromising, creative and diverse V/H/S - out in UK cinemas January 18th through Momentum Pictures. We caught the film back at its UK premier at last June's Edinburgh Film Festival, how scary is it? Read our review here!

And so to prepare ourselves for what is being heralded as “A surefire candidate for cult status” (Little White Lies), we have a new promo UK TV Spot with a glimpse into the scares and thrills that lie ahead.

A small group of misfit friends and petty crooks are hired by a mysterious man to break into a derelict suburban house with the sole purpose of finding and stealing a rare videotape. Their only clue to identifying the tape in question is, “You’ll know it when you see it.”
However, on arrival at the house they soon realize the job isn’t as straightforward as they imagined. In one room they discover the lifeless body of a middle-aged man sitting in an armchair, facing a wall of television sets and a stack of VHS cassettes. A similar bounty of tapes is found in the basement, none of which bears any obvious markings to suggest it is the prize they are seeking. As they search through the tapes, playing them in turn, they are treated to a succession of graphic and apparently genuine video recordings, each one more shocking and bizarre than the last.

V/H/S wil arrive in UK&Ireland cinematically 18th January but if your unable to see this scare-tastic film, 28th January the film will be available on DVD, Blu-ray.

Texas Chainsaw 3D Review

One of the most influential horror movies of all time and a milestone in the vast and seemingly endless tide of the slasher, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has since its release in 1974 went on to terrify generations of viewers. Tobe Hooper’s original tale of mayhem and slaughter not only added the chainsaw to the serial killer’s repertoire but created a horror icon fit to match Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, or Freddy Krueger. This year sees the release of a new instalment in the franchise which has already had three sequels, a skilfully executed remake in 2003, and a not so great sequel to that remake in 2006.

Texas Chainsaw 3D has big boots to fill, even though the franchise is one of the most successful horror series of all time and has a legion of proud fans, recent endeavours have not quite hit the mark and the original has never really had a sequel that lived up to expectations. The opening credits condense the original film showing the most important and brutal parts for those viewers perhaps unfamiliar with the original whilst quickly recapping for those stewing in their juices, desperate for the film to kick-off. After this the story picks up literally within an hour of the original’s finale, with the sheriff approaching the infamous house, an interesting decision that actually pulls off wonderfully. Original Leatherface Gunnar Hansen cameos as one of the Sawyer clan whilst Bill Moseley lends his crazy to play The Cook and looks the ringer for Jim Siedow. Naturally, the whole affair goes pair shaped when a lynch mob turns up and turns the classic house along with its cannibalistic inhabitants into an inferno. When the deed is done, one of the mob finds a baby, keeps it, and the film jumps forward thirty years. The child, now grown up and played by Alexandra Daddario, inherits the home of her recently deceased grandmother and travels there with her boyfriend and friends. What could go wrong right? Guess who Granny was keeping in the basement.

The idea is fine, the plot is pretty palatable, but there are issues aplenty with the look and execution of the film. After a pretty strong opening the piece stops being any kind of meaningful contribution to the series. Considering the cultural and monetary revenue the series has spawned, my hopes were high for not exactly a game-changer but something special. Texas Chainsaw very quickly gets caught in the pitfalls of a typical slasher, and for a post Scream/Cabin in the Woods audience that really is a bit risky. The five main characters are all mind bogglingly attractive, Daddario’s top is ever-so-slightly too small for her, there seems to be a bout of the “stupids” going about in Texas and, of course, the kids catch it just as Leatherface picks up his chainsaw. Cars break down, there’s a lot of tripping, people go into the basement to be picked off one by one…you get the drift. Though obviously now when people go in the basement they get to say “fuck this shit” first just so we know they’re dubious. Instead, we can’t help think they’re just addicted to doing dangerously moronic things.

Most importantly, is it enjoyable? Hell yeh it is, it’s a lot of fun to watch: thrilling, funny at points and it actually manages to pull a few scares out the bag. The basement is still a horrifying place to go and Leatherface’s presence is as potent as it was back in 1974, he’s a terrifying character, brutal, fast, and above all human. Dan Yeager’s rendition is obviously keenly tuned to Hansen’s, the shuffling jog, exacerbated grunts and pitiful whines all turn up making sure we have a villain to remember. To the writer’s credit a good attempt at expanding on the world is made through an interesting power play between sheriff and mayor, a conflict that starts at the very beginning of the film and seems to escalate until it reaches a messy conclusion.

Hooper’s original flips from inside to out, light to dark in some of its most horrible sequences, it’s one of those things that makes it not just a good horror movie, but a well-shot one too. Texas Chainsaw 3D doesn’t do as well in the aesthetic department, it looks too polished to incur any real hopelessness, and the marriage of what is still perceived as a rustic area to any technology just seems wrong. A sequence where the sheriff watches live feed from an iPhone as an officer explores the cellar seems uncomfortable amidst the relatively basic timeless quality of the set, same goes for some music choices too. Does it need to be in 3D? Not really, nothing is really gained from the extra dimension, and yet again I can’t help but feel duped into a bit of a crappy fad that seems to riddle modern horror. And that goes back to the film’s main problem: we’ve seen it all before. Like I say that doesn’t make it unenjoyable or even bad, it just makes it slightly disappointing.

There’s plenty of good gore to keep fans happy and some nice little nods to the original, Leatherface is again a formidable (if ageing) villain, and the film is definitely a good watch. Unfortunately there’s not enough depth to cement it as any kind of great contribution, and mindless adherence to modern slasher tropes marks it out as grossly under-imaginative at points.

Scott Clark

★★★☆☆

Rating:18
Release Date: 11th January 2013 (UK) , 4th January (UK Previews)
Directed By: John Luessenhop
Cast:  Alexandra Daddario, Tania Raymonde,Scott Eastwood, Tania Raymonde, Trey Songz