While Damien Chazelle’s latest musical “La La Land” has garnered universal acclaim when it premiered at Venice last week, another musical is currently making the rounds now. Rufus Norris’ “London Road” tells the story of the Ipswich community’s reaction to the 2006 Steve Wright killings of five sex workers in the area. Based on Adam Cork and Alecky Blythe 2011 musical of the same name, the film is a “verbatim musical,” using the exact words of the residents of London Road as “lyrics” and setting them to an innovative musical score inspired by their actual dialects and intonations. The film stars Olivia Colman (“Peep Show”), Anita Dobson (“EastEnders”), Tom Hardy (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), and more. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Read More: ‘London Road’ Trailer: Tom Hardy Is a Singing Cab Driver In Real-Life Serial Murder Musical
The original musical had two sell-out runs at London...
Read More: ‘London Road’ Trailer: Tom Hardy Is a Singing Cab Driver In Real-Life Serial Murder Musical
The original musical had two sell-out runs at London...
- 9/7/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
All this week, IndieWire will be rolling out our annual Fall Preview, including offerings that span genres, a close examination of some of the year’s biggest breakouts, all the awards contenders you need to know about now and special attention to all the new movies you need to get through a jam-packed fall movie-going season. Check back every day for a new look at the best the season has to offer, and clear your schedule, because we’re going to fill it right up.
“The Light Between Oceans,” September 2
Derek Cianfrance’s sweet spot is relationship dramas that don’t balk at showing just how damn hard it can be to love someone and to sustain that love (hi, “Blue Valentine”), and with his big screen adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name, he takes those interests and skills right to a post-World War I landscape tailormade for a sweeping,...
“The Light Between Oceans,” September 2
Derek Cianfrance’s sweet spot is relationship dramas that don’t balk at showing just how damn hard it can be to love someone and to sustain that love (hi, “Blue Valentine”), and with his big screen adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name, he takes those interests and skills right to a post-World War I landscape tailormade for a sweeping,...
- 8/15/2016
- by Kate Erbland, Chris O'Falt, Zack Sharf, Steve Greene, David Ehrlich, Anne Thompson and Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
There’s something about the concept of a series of brutal murders in Great Britain that just sets the heart to singing, no? The Jack The Ripper killings have been adapted into at least two full-length musicals—once in 1974 and again in 1996 (neither of which being particularly memorable)—with god knows how many half-completed, half-hearted attempts decaying in four-track recorders in garages all over the world. And then there’s Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 Broadway hit Sweeney Todd, the gold standard for melodious Grand Guignol extravaganza. And here is the latest offering to the niche genre—Rufus Norris’ film adaptation of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s 2011 Royal National Theatre play, London Road.
Set against the backdrop of the Ipswich serial murders that terrorized the inhabitants of Suffolk, England in the mid-’00s, this retelling uses the precise testimony of the serial killers’ neighbors on London Road ...
Set against the backdrop of the Ipswich serial murders that terrorized the inhabitants of Suffolk, England in the mid-’00s, this retelling uses the precise testimony of the serial killers’ neighbors on London Road ...
- 7/25/2016
- by Dennis DiClaudio
- avclub.com
Last month BBC Worldwide North America acquired the distribution rights to “London Road” and has now released its first Us trailer. The film is directed by Rufus Norris and written by Alecky Blythe, with music by Adam Cork, and is the movie adaptation of the British National Theatre musical of the same name.
“London Road” stars Olivia Colman and features Tom Hardy and the entire cast of the stage version. The story is based on real-life incidents from 2006, when the town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women who were murdered by Steve Wright. When Wright was arrested and charged for the homicides, the residents of London Road were shocked and grappled with what it meant to be at the epicenter of this tragedy.
Read More: Tom Hardy Musical ‘London Road’ Lands Distributor
The musical includes recorded interviews with the people of Ipswich, used as part of the lyrics,...
“London Road” stars Olivia Colman and features Tom Hardy and the entire cast of the stage version. The story is based on real-life incidents from 2006, when the town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women who were murdered by Steve Wright. When Wright was arrested and charged for the homicides, the residents of London Road were shocked and grappled with what it meant to be at the epicenter of this tragedy.
Read More: Tom Hardy Musical ‘London Road’ Lands Distributor
The musical includes recorded interviews with the people of Ipswich, used as part of the lyrics,...
- 7/19/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Tom Hardy is examining the tragedy of Ipswich in the upcoming mystery movie, ‘London Road,’ whose U.S. rights have been acquired by BBC Worldwide North America. The action movie, which is the film adaptation of the ground-breaking National Theatre play of the same name, is scheduled to be released in theaters in September. The musically-driven ‘London Road’ marks the feature film writing debut by Alecky Blythe, who also contributed to the lyrics of the project’s songs with Adam Cork. The movie was directed by ‘Broken’ helmer, Rufus Norris. In addition to Hardy, the mystery film features an ensemble cast that includes Olivia Colman and Anita Dobson. The drama also features [ Read More ]
The post BBC Worldwide North America Acquires Tom Hardy’s Action Drama London Road appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post BBC Worldwide North America Acquires Tom Hardy’s Action Drama London Road appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 6/10/2016
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
You’d think with National Theater director Rufus Norris (“Broken”) and stars Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman on board, the movie adaptation of the British musical stage phenomenon “London Road” would be a cinch for a North American pickup.
Well, while you have to give Hardy points for joining this ambitious sung musical—and pulling off his role, which is small—the London subject matter may be too arcane for a crossover arthouse hit. But I am happy to report that BBC Worldwide North America is bringing the movie, which debuted at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival, to theaters in September.
In fact this ground-breaking theater musical helped to put Norris on the map—and landed him the directorship at the National. The debut film by writer Alecky Blythe, with music by Adam Cork and lyrics by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork, “London Road” features an ensemble mostly comprised of its original stage cast, who had the necessary chops to deliver it.
Read More: National Theater Directors Nick Hytner and Rufus Norris Hit the Movies
Astonishingly, the play used Blythe’s verbatim transcripts from people she interviewed who were involved in tracking a serial killer of prostitutes on London Road—she edited them into a sung musical, which the actors had to execute precisely. BBC Films backed the film, with the National Theatre executive producing; by the time they shot it, Norris had been appointed as the next director, in a clear vote for innovation.
The National, in one of its “experimental provocations,” threw Blythe together with composer Adam Cork in a kind of shotgun marriage in a workshop to write and compose together. And then Alecky went back to Ipswich in 2006 and started meeting people, and it built up from there. Norris decided to turn the hit play into a workable movie, altering the structure and adding one key song that performs the feat of moving the viewer into a musical.
Norris could only have pulled off the low-budget movie with actors who knew the material inside out, but they did add several cinema players to help get it made: Colman and Hardy. When “London Road” hits theaters, do check it out. You’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Related storiesTIFF Review: Musical 'London Road' Starring Olivia Colman, Paul Thornley, Tom Hardy, MoreWatch: First Trailer For Musical 'London Road' Starring Olivia Colman & Tom HardyTom Hardy Joins Musical 'London Road,' Ryan Reynolds Visits 'Woman In Gold' & More...
Well, while you have to give Hardy points for joining this ambitious sung musical—and pulling off his role, which is small—the London subject matter may be too arcane for a crossover arthouse hit. But I am happy to report that BBC Worldwide North America is bringing the movie, which debuted at last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival, to theaters in September.
In fact this ground-breaking theater musical helped to put Norris on the map—and landed him the directorship at the National. The debut film by writer Alecky Blythe, with music by Adam Cork and lyrics by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork, “London Road” features an ensemble mostly comprised of its original stage cast, who had the necessary chops to deliver it.
Read More: National Theater Directors Nick Hytner and Rufus Norris Hit the Movies
Astonishingly, the play used Blythe’s verbatim transcripts from people she interviewed who were involved in tracking a serial killer of prostitutes on London Road—she edited them into a sung musical, which the actors had to execute precisely. BBC Films backed the film, with the National Theatre executive producing; by the time they shot it, Norris had been appointed as the next director, in a clear vote for innovation.
The National, in one of its “experimental provocations,” threw Blythe together with composer Adam Cork in a kind of shotgun marriage in a workshop to write and compose together. And then Alecky went back to Ipswich in 2006 and started meeting people, and it built up from there. Norris decided to turn the hit play into a workable movie, altering the structure and adding one key song that performs the feat of moving the viewer into a musical.
Norris could only have pulled off the low-budget movie with actors who knew the material inside out, but they did add several cinema players to help get it made: Colman and Hardy. When “London Road” hits theaters, do check it out. You’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Related storiesTIFF Review: Musical 'London Road' Starring Olivia Colman, Paul Thornley, Tom Hardy, MoreWatch: First Trailer For Musical 'London Road' Starring Olivia Colman & Tom HardyTom Hardy Joins Musical 'London Road,' Ryan Reynolds Visits 'Woman In Gold' & More...
- 6/8/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The musical thriller “London Road,” featuring Tom Hardy in a single seen as a singing cabbie, will be distributed by BBC Worldwide North America. The BBC film unit acquired the U.S. rights to the film, which traces the 2006 discovery of five dead women in the sleepy rural town of Ipswich. A fall theatrical release is planned, though it’s unclear how BBC will handle distribution. Based on true events, and on the musical of the same name, the film was directed by Rufus Norris and written by Adam Cork and Alecky Blythe. Also Read: Tom Hardy Is a Very Dangerous Man in.
- 6/8/2016
- by Meriah Doty
- The Wrap
As the main topic of this year’s festival, Docaviv will feature a select group of thought-provoking films about a world that is changing with the collapse of physical and social boundaries, growing economic disparities, the waves of refugees and immigrants, civil wars, international terrorism, and the ultimate undoing of social solidarity.
Within the framework of this theme the program does not only include documentaries about terror and refugees, but also about a fragmented society which is losing its solidarity. Both in Israel and elsewhere the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening, and so are the frustrations and the unrest. Israeli and international titles correlating to these themes can be found throughout the entire festival program:
“Death in the terminal” - Directors Tali Shemesh (“The Cemetery Club”) and Assaf Surd
A tense, minute-by-minute, Rashomon-style account of a tragic day. On October 18, 2015, a terrorist armed with a gun and a knife entered Beersheba’s bus terminal. Within 18 minutes Omri Levy, a soldier was killed and Abtum Zarhum, Eritrean immigrant asylum seeker, was lynched after being mistaken for a terrorist.
“The Settlers” - Premiered in Sundance, Director Shimon Dotan.
A far-reaching, comprehensive look at the Jewish settlement enterprise in the West Bank. It examines the origins of the settlement movement and the religious and ideological visions that propelled it, while providing an intimate look at the people at the center of the greatest geopolitical challenge now facing Israel and the international community. (Isa Contact: Cinephil)
“Town on a Wire” - premiered at Cph: Dox Dir: Uri Rosenwaks
While Tel Aviv is thriving, just ten minutes away lies the town of Lod, right in the backyard of Israel’s bustling urban center. Unlike its affluent neighbor, Lod is a city that suffers from the blight of racism, crime, and sheer desperation. Can it be saved? Is there some way to bring hope to Lod’s Arab and Jewish residents?
“Foucoammare”/ “Fire at Sea” - by Gianfranco Rosi - winner of Golden Bear, Berlinale 2016 -every day the inhabitants of the Italian Island Lampedusa are confronted with the flight of refugees to Europe . These people long for peace and freedom and often only their dead bodies are pulled out of the water. (Contact Isa: Doc & Film Int’l. U.S.: Kino Lorber)
“Between fences” – by Avi Mograbi -. In an Israeli detention center asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Sudan can’t be sent back to their own countries, but have no prospects in Israel either thanks to the country’s policies. Chen Alon and Avi Mograbi, initiate a theatre workshop to give these people the opportunity to address their own experiences of forced migration and discrimination and to confront an Israeli society that views them as dangerous infiltrators.
“A Syrian Love Story” – by Sean McAllister -You can’t be Che Guevara and a mother Amer tells Raghda, but maybe she can't do it any other way. After years of struggle, life without her homeland and the revolution has no meaning for her. It is hard to determine what is more demanding in this bold film: the revolution, or the search for inner peace. (Contact Isa: Cat & Docs)
“Homo Sapiens” – by Nikolaus Geyrhalter - what does humanity leave behind when its gone? It sometimes seems as if the mark that humans leave on this planet will last forever. The truth is that the iron, bricks, cement, and steel – the human traces everywhere abandoned and forgotten – are erased by the forces of nature. This unusually beautiful film may lack people and words, but that leaves even more room for thought.(Contact Isa: Autlook)
“Land of the Enlightened” – Premiered at Sundance Ff 2016. Shot over seven years on evocative 16mm footage, first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue paints a whimsical yet haunting look at the condition of Afghanistan left for the next generation. As American soldiers prepare to leave, we follow De Pue deep into this hidden land where young boys form wild gangs to control trade routes, sell explosives from mines left over from war, making the new rules of war based on the harsh landscape left to them. (Contact Isa: Films Boutique)
“Flickering Truth” - Premiered at Toronto Ff 2015. Director Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) directs this harrowing, compelling film about the power of cinema to preserve our history and in so doing potentially change our futures. (Contact Isa: Film Sales Company)
“Requiem for the American Dream” - Directed by Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, Jared P. Scott. In ten chilling but lucid chapters, Noam Chomsky, one of the great intellectuals of our time, analyzes the “system,” which allows wealthy capitalists to seize the reins of government and turn those without wealth into a passive herd, willing to forego power, solidarity, and democracy itself. (U.S.: Gravitas. Contact Isa: Films Transit)
The festival will open with a first film by Israeli director Roman Shumunov
“Babylon Dreamers” Directed by Roman Somonob. An intimate report about a troupe of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from one of Ashdod’s poorest neighborhoods; they struggle to survive facing harsh conditions - poverty, mental illness, and broken families. They channel their anger and cling to their dream of attending and winning the International Breakdance Championship.
Israeli Competition
Some 70 Israeli films produced over the last year were submitted out of which 13 films have been selected for the Israeli Competition. They will be competing for the largest cash prize for documentary filmmaking in Israel 70,000 Nis (Us$ 15,000). Other awards in the competition include the Mayor’s Prize for the Most Promising Filmmaker, the Prize for Editing, the Prize for Cinematography, the Prize for Research, and the Prize for Original Score.
"The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev," directors Tal Barda, Noam Pinchas -Tajikistan’s answer to the Jackson Family. A modern-day Shakespearean tale about a famous Tajik musical family, controlled by their charismatic patriarch-grandfather - Papa Alaev.
"A Tale of Two Balloons" by Zohar Wagner - The tale of a women who thought a pair of perfect breasts would help her find true love. But when that love came along, those perfect breasts had to go.
"Aida's Secrets," director Alon Schwarz - At 68, Izak learns he has a brother he never knew about. As part of the discoveries about the family, the film uncovers the story of the Displaced Persons camps- the vibrant and often wild social life that flourished immediately after WW2.
"Child Mother" by Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky - The story of elderly women born in Morocco and Yemen, who were married off when they were still little girls. Only now, as they enter the final chapter of their lives, do they openly face their past and the ways it still affects them and their families.
"The Last Shaman" directed by Raz Degan - Inspired by an article he read, James decides to travel to the Amazon rainforests, in search of a shaman whom he thinks can save him from a clinical depression that haunts him.
"The Patriarch's Room" by Danae Elon -The bizarre imprisonment of the former head of the Greek Orthodox Church in a tiny monastic cell in Jerusalem’s Old City leads to a fascinating journey in search of the truth, penetrating the remote world of the priesthood. The complex and unfamiliar picture that emerges is revealed here, on camera, for the very first time.
"Poetics of the Brain" by Nurith Aviv –weaving associative links between her personal biographical stories and neuroscientists’ accounts of their work. They discuss topics such as memory, bilingualism, reading, mirror neurons, smell, traces of experience.
"Shalom Italia," by Tamar Tal Anati (winner of Docaviv for Life in Stills) -Three Italian Jewish brothers set off on a journey through Tuscany, in search of a cave where they hid as children to escape the Nazis. Their quest, full of humor, food and Tuscan landscapes, straddles the boundary between history and myth, both of which really, truly happened.
"Week 23" by Ohad Milstein - Rahel, the daughter of a Swiss bishop, is coping with a difficult pregnancy in Israel. One of the identical twins she is carrying has died in utero, and now poses an almost certain threat to its sibling. The doctors are unequivocal about it. They tell Rahel that she should abort the surviving fetus and end her pregnancy.
"The Settlers" by Shimon Dotan; Town On A Wire directed by Uri Rosenwaksand Eyal Blachson; Death in the Terminal by Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudry, and Babylon Dreamers by Roman Shumunov.
The Members of the selection committee included Sinai Abt, artistic director of the Docaviv Film Festival; director Reuven Brodsky, winner of Docaviv in 2012 for his film Home Movie and of Honorable Mention at Docaviv in 2015 and film editor Ayelet Ofarim.
Twelve films have been selected for the International Competition, which will open with the The Happy Film by Stefan Seigmeister. Also competing are Jerzy Sladkowski’s Don Juan, winner of the Idfa Award; Author: The J.T. LeRoy Story about the imaginary cult figure who became the darling of New York society and nightlife, picked up by Amazon at Sundance as its first doc title. Another festival favorite is A Flickering Truth and Sean McAllister's daring award winning documentary A Syrian Love Story.
The Depth of Field Competition will open with LoveTrue by director Alma Har’el, who will be a juror for the Israeli Film Competition. This is the Competition’s third year, held in conjunction with the Film Critics’ Forum that will award films for an outstanding and daring artistic vision. Other films that will be screened as part of the competition include Sundance winners Kate Plays Christine by Robert Greene, and Pieter-Jan De Pue’s hybrid documentary The Land of the Enlightened; other titles that will be shown are Hotel Dallas by wife and husband artist duo Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang, The Hong Kong Trilogy by noted cinematographer Christopher Doyle , and the musical- turned into documentary London Road by Rufus Norris and Alecky Blythe.
The Masters Section, a new category in the festival, highlighting new films by world renowned directors will be opened by Fire at Sea by director Gianfranco Rosi, winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlinale. Avi Mograbi’s Between Fences will be accompanied by a play by the Holot Legislative Theater, with a cast of actors that includes Israelis and African asylum seekers.
Other films in this section include amongst others Junun, Paul Thomas Anderson’s portrayal of a musical project involving Shye Ben-Tzur and Jonny Greenwood, Homo Sapiens by director Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine by director Alex Gibney, To the Desert by director Judd Neeman, Unlocking the Cage by directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, De Palma by co-director Noah Baumbach and He Named Me Malala by David Guggenheim.
The Panorama selection of films will include amongst others the moving Strike a Pose, by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan about the dancers who accompanied Madonna on her “Blond Ambition” tour, Roger Ross Williams ‘Life, Animated depicting the remarkable story of an autistic boy, who learned how to communicate with his surroundings through Disney films, Those Who Jump about an African refugee who films attempts by other refugees to jump the barbed wire border fence in North Africa and Louis Theroux: My Scientology Film.
This year’s Arts Section will include Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville; I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman, which was produced shortly before her tragic death, Listen to Me, Marlon, which tells the story of Marlon Brando through the audio recordings he made throughout his life, Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, the salacious story of art collector Peggy Guggenheim, Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, Gilad Baram’s film about famous Czech photographer Josef Koudelka’s travels along the Separation Fence, and more.
Seven films produced by the top film schools in Israel were selected to compete in the annual Student Film Competition. The prize for the competition was donated by the Gottesman family in memory of Ruti Gottesman, a leading supporter of Docaviv and of documentary.
The Members of the selection committee included Karin Ryvind Segal, programming director for Docaviv, Hila Avraham, curator and expert on film and audiovisual media preservation and screenwriter Danny Rosenberg, whose work includes the films My Father’s House , Susia and the television series Johnny and the Knights of the Galilee.
Special Guests attending the Festival:
Award winning Director Ondi Timoner, will be attending the Israeli premiere of her film Russell Brand: A Second Coming. Her Sundance-winning film Dig! will be among the music documentaries screened at the Tel Aviv Port. In conjunction with the Film Department of Beit Berl College, Timoner will also be conducting a special master class for students, professionals, and amateurs.
This year’s festival will include a special tribute to acclaimed director Nikolaus Geyrhalter who will be attending the festival with his recent Homo Sapiens. This year’s festival will also include two previous films of his, Our Daily Bread and Abendland,.
International jury members attending the festival include:
Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, Director of the Idfa industry office; Gary Kam, producer of Planet of Snail; film director Alma Har’el (Bombay Beach; LoveTrue) ; Nilotpal, Director of Docedge Kolkata, Sascha Lara Bleuler, Director of the Human Rights Film Festival in Zurich, and film director Tatiana Brandrup.
The Israeli jurors include:
Director Dror Moreh, director and producer Barak Heymann, director Robby Elmaliah, producer Elinor Kowarsky, photographer David Adika, and film editor Tal Rabiner.
Around town. A record number of twelve screening venues spread out across Tel Aviv will offer free screenings. These are: Habima Square, the Beit Danny Community Center, the Hatikvah neighborhood, the Arab-Jewish Community Center in Jaffa, the rooftop of Tel Aviv City Hall, WeWork, Levinsky Park, Bar Kayma, Beit Romano, the Nalaga’at Center, Picnic Little Italy-Sarona Tel Aviv, and Artport.
Outdoors. The Tel Aviv Port will continue to host the festival this year, with outdoor screenings of music films with guest deejays from KZRadio. Films to be screened at the port include Janis: Little Girl Blue, The Reflektor Tapes about the band Arcade Fire, P.T Andersoan’s Junun about the musical collaboration between Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, Nigel Godrich, and a dozen Indian musicians.
Festival Firsts. DocaviVR: a collaboration between Docaviv and Steamer, Israel’s first Interactive and Virtual Reality Film Festival, presents original documentary projects from Israel and around the world, created especially for viewing with Vr gear. The event will take place at Beit Romano. A cinema will pop up in one of Tel Aviv’s trendy hubs, with 25 stations equipped with Vr gear.
The Docommunity conference aims to promote dcomentary across the country by bringing together cultural coordinators and artistic directors from across the country to introduce them to the latest documentary films from Israel and around the world.
The Platform for Alternative Documentation at Artport art space: A performative piece that brings together film artists, social activists, and researchers studying the various aesthetic, social, and philosophical aspects of documentation. Curated by Laliv Melamed and Gilad Reich.
Young audiences. For the first time, films from The Next Doc will be screened, a special initiative of Docaviv, the Second Channel, and the New Fund for Film and Television, which led to the production of three films created especially for a teenage audience.
Docaviv will also be hosting the final event of Docu Young, at which films by students in residential schools, who participated in film workshops , will be screened.
The Docyouth Competition will feature the best documentary films produced by students in high school film programs throughout the country. For the first time, voting for this year’s competition will be held online and open to high school students across the country.
Among the Screenings of docs for kids are Victor Kosakovsky’s “Varicella”, and “Landfilharmonic”.
Over the course of the festival, 110 films will be screened.
Within the framework of this theme the program does not only include documentaries about terror and refugees, but also about a fragmented society which is losing its solidarity. Both in Israel and elsewhere the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening, and so are the frustrations and the unrest. Israeli and international titles correlating to these themes can be found throughout the entire festival program:
“Death in the terminal” - Directors Tali Shemesh (“The Cemetery Club”) and Assaf Surd
A tense, minute-by-minute, Rashomon-style account of a tragic day. On October 18, 2015, a terrorist armed with a gun and a knife entered Beersheba’s bus terminal. Within 18 minutes Omri Levy, a soldier was killed and Abtum Zarhum, Eritrean immigrant asylum seeker, was lynched after being mistaken for a terrorist.
“The Settlers” - Premiered in Sundance, Director Shimon Dotan.
A far-reaching, comprehensive look at the Jewish settlement enterprise in the West Bank. It examines the origins of the settlement movement and the religious and ideological visions that propelled it, while providing an intimate look at the people at the center of the greatest geopolitical challenge now facing Israel and the international community. (Isa Contact: Cinephil)
“Town on a Wire” - premiered at Cph: Dox Dir: Uri Rosenwaks
While Tel Aviv is thriving, just ten minutes away lies the town of Lod, right in the backyard of Israel’s bustling urban center. Unlike its affluent neighbor, Lod is a city that suffers from the blight of racism, crime, and sheer desperation. Can it be saved? Is there some way to bring hope to Lod’s Arab and Jewish residents?
“Foucoammare”/ “Fire at Sea” - by Gianfranco Rosi - winner of Golden Bear, Berlinale 2016 -every day the inhabitants of the Italian Island Lampedusa are confronted with the flight of refugees to Europe . These people long for peace and freedom and often only their dead bodies are pulled out of the water. (Contact Isa: Doc & Film Int’l. U.S.: Kino Lorber)
“Between fences” – by Avi Mograbi -. In an Israeli detention center asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Sudan can’t be sent back to their own countries, but have no prospects in Israel either thanks to the country’s policies. Chen Alon and Avi Mograbi, initiate a theatre workshop to give these people the opportunity to address their own experiences of forced migration and discrimination and to confront an Israeli society that views them as dangerous infiltrators.
“A Syrian Love Story” – by Sean McAllister -You can’t be Che Guevara and a mother Amer tells Raghda, but maybe she can't do it any other way. After years of struggle, life without her homeland and the revolution has no meaning for her. It is hard to determine what is more demanding in this bold film: the revolution, or the search for inner peace. (Contact Isa: Cat & Docs)
“Homo Sapiens” – by Nikolaus Geyrhalter - what does humanity leave behind when its gone? It sometimes seems as if the mark that humans leave on this planet will last forever. The truth is that the iron, bricks, cement, and steel – the human traces everywhere abandoned and forgotten – are erased by the forces of nature. This unusually beautiful film may lack people and words, but that leaves even more room for thought.(Contact Isa: Autlook)
“Land of the Enlightened” – Premiered at Sundance Ff 2016. Shot over seven years on evocative 16mm footage, first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue paints a whimsical yet haunting look at the condition of Afghanistan left for the next generation. As American soldiers prepare to leave, we follow De Pue deep into this hidden land where young boys form wild gangs to control trade routes, sell explosives from mines left over from war, making the new rules of war based on the harsh landscape left to them. (Contact Isa: Films Boutique)
“Flickering Truth” - Premiered at Toronto Ff 2015. Director Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) directs this harrowing, compelling film about the power of cinema to preserve our history and in so doing potentially change our futures. (Contact Isa: Film Sales Company)
“Requiem for the American Dream” - Directed by Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, Jared P. Scott. In ten chilling but lucid chapters, Noam Chomsky, one of the great intellectuals of our time, analyzes the “system,” which allows wealthy capitalists to seize the reins of government and turn those without wealth into a passive herd, willing to forego power, solidarity, and democracy itself. (U.S.: Gravitas. Contact Isa: Films Transit)
The festival will open with a first film by Israeli director Roman Shumunov
“Babylon Dreamers” Directed by Roman Somonob. An intimate report about a troupe of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from one of Ashdod’s poorest neighborhoods; they struggle to survive facing harsh conditions - poverty, mental illness, and broken families. They channel their anger and cling to their dream of attending and winning the International Breakdance Championship.
Israeli Competition
Some 70 Israeli films produced over the last year were submitted out of which 13 films have been selected for the Israeli Competition. They will be competing for the largest cash prize for documentary filmmaking in Israel 70,000 Nis (Us$ 15,000). Other awards in the competition include the Mayor’s Prize for the Most Promising Filmmaker, the Prize for Editing, the Prize for Cinematography, the Prize for Research, and the Prize for Original Score.
"The Wonderful Kingdom of Papa Alaev," directors Tal Barda, Noam Pinchas -Tajikistan’s answer to the Jackson Family. A modern-day Shakespearean tale about a famous Tajik musical family, controlled by their charismatic patriarch-grandfather - Papa Alaev.
"A Tale of Two Balloons" by Zohar Wagner - The tale of a women who thought a pair of perfect breasts would help her find true love. But when that love came along, those perfect breasts had to go.
"Aida's Secrets," director Alon Schwarz - At 68, Izak learns he has a brother he never knew about. As part of the discoveries about the family, the film uncovers the story of the Displaced Persons camps- the vibrant and often wild social life that flourished immediately after WW2.
"Child Mother" by Yael Kipper and Ronen Zaretzky - The story of elderly women born in Morocco and Yemen, who were married off when they were still little girls. Only now, as they enter the final chapter of their lives, do they openly face their past and the ways it still affects them and their families.
"The Last Shaman" directed by Raz Degan - Inspired by an article he read, James decides to travel to the Amazon rainforests, in search of a shaman whom he thinks can save him from a clinical depression that haunts him.
"The Patriarch's Room" by Danae Elon -The bizarre imprisonment of the former head of the Greek Orthodox Church in a tiny monastic cell in Jerusalem’s Old City leads to a fascinating journey in search of the truth, penetrating the remote world of the priesthood. The complex and unfamiliar picture that emerges is revealed here, on camera, for the very first time.
"Poetics of the Brain" by Nurith Aviv –weaving associative links between her personal biographical stories and neuroscientists’ accounts of their work. They discuss topics such as memory, bilingualism, reading, mirror neurons, smell, traces of experience.
"Shalom Italia," by Tamar Tal Anati (winner of Docaviv for Life in Stills) -Three Italian Jewish brothers set off on a journey through Tuscany, in search of a cave where they hid as children to escape the Nazis. Their quest, full of humor, food and Tuscan landscapes, straddles the boundary between history and myth, both of which really, truly happened.
"Week 23" by Ohad Milstein - Rahel, the daughter of a Swiss bishop, is coping with a difficult pregnancy in Israel. One of the identical twins she is carrying has died in utero, and now poses an almost certain threat to its sibling. The doctors are unequivocal about it. They tell Rahel that she should abort the surviving fetus and end her pregnancy.
"The Settlers" by Shimon Dotan; Town On A Wire directed by Uri Rosenwaksand Eyal Blachson; Death in the Terminal by Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudry, and Babylon Dreamers by Roman Shumunov.
The Members of the selection committee included Sinai Abt, artistic director of the Docaviv Film Festival; director Reuven Brodsky, winner of Docaviv in 2012 for his film Home Movie and of Honorable Mention at Docaviv in 2015 and film editor Ayelet Ofarim.
Twelve films have been selected for the International Competition, which will open with the The Happy Film by Stefan Seigmeister. Also competing are Jerzy Sladkowski’s Don Juan, winner of the Idfa Award; Author: The J.T. LeRoy Story about the imaginary cult figure who became the darling of New York society and nightlife, picked up by Amazon at Sundance as its first doc title. Another festival favorite is A Flickering Truth and Sean McAllister's daring award winning documentary A Syrian Love Story.
The Depth of Field Competition will open with LoveTrue by director Alma Har’el, who will be a juror for the Israeli Film Competition. This is the Competition’s third year, held in conjunction with the Film Critics’ Forum that will award films for an outstanding and daring artistic vision. Other films that will be screened as part of the competition include Sundance winners Kate Plays Christine by Robert Greene, and Pieter-Jan De Pue’s hybrid documentary The Land of the Enlightened; other titles that will be shown are Hotel Dallas by wife and husband artist duo Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang, The Hong Kong Trilogy by noted cinematographer Christopher Doyle , and the musical- turned into documentary London Road by Rufus Norris and Alecky Blythe.
The Masters Section, a new category in the festival, highlighting new films by world renowned directors will be opened by Fire at Sea by director Gianfranco Rosi, winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlinale. Avi Mograbi’s Between Fences will be accompanied by a play by the Holot Legislative Theater, with a cast of actors that includes Israelis and African asylum seekers.
Other films in this section include amongst others Junun, Paul Thomas Anderson’s portrayal of a musical project involving Shye Ben-Tzur and Jonny Greenwood, Homo Sapiens by director Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine by director Alex Gibney, To the Desert by director Judd Neeman, Unlocking the Cage by directors D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, De Palma by co-director Noah Baumbach and He Named Me Malala by David Guggenheim.
The Panorama selection of films will include amongst others the moving Strike a Pose, by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan about the dancers who accompanied Madonna on her “Blond Ambition” tour, Roger Ross Williams ‘Life, Animated depicting the remarkable story of an autistic boy, who learned how to communicate with his surroundings through Disney films, Those Who Jump about an African refugee who films attempts by other refugees to jump the barbed wire border fence in North Africa and Louis Theroux: My Scientology Film.
This year’s Arts Section will include Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville; I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman, which was produced shortly before her tragic death, Listen to Me, Marlon, which tells the story of Marlon Brando through the audio recordings he made throughout his life, Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, the salacious story of art collector Peggy Guggenheim, Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, Gilad Baram’s film about famous Czech photographer Josef Koudelka’s travels along the Separation Fence, and more.
Seven films produced by the top film schools in Israel were selected to compete in the annual Student Film Competition. The prize for the competition was donated by the Gottesman family in memory of Ruti Gottesman, a leading supporter of Docaviv and of documentary.
The Members of the selection committee included Karin Ryvind Segal, programming director for Docaviv, Hila Avraham, curator and expert on film and audiovisual media preservation and screenwriter Danny Rosenberg, whose work includes the films My Father’s House , Susia and the television series Johnny and the Knights of the Galilee.
Special Guests attending the Festival:
Award winning Director Ondi Timoner, will be attending the Israeli premiere of her film Russell Brand: A Second Coming. Her Sundance-winning film Dig! will be among the music documentaries screened at the Tel Aviv Port. In conjunction with the Film Department of Beit Berl College, Timoner will also be conducting a special master class for students, professionals, and amateurs.
This year’s festival will include a special tribute to acclaimed director Nikolaus Geyrhalter who will be attending the festival with his recent Homo Sapiens. This year’s festival will also include two previous films of his, Our Daily Bread and Abendland,.
International jury members attending the festival include:
Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, Director of the Idfa industry office; Gary Kam, producer of Planet of Snail; film director Alma Har’el (Bombay Beach; LoveTrue) ; Nilotpal, Director of Docedge Kolkata, Sascha Lara Bleuler, Director of the Human Rights Film Festival in Zurich, and film director Tatiana Brandrup.
The Israeli jurors include:
Director Dror Moreh, director and producer Barak Heymann, director Robby Elmaliah, producer Elinor Kowarsky, photographer David Adika, and film editor Tal Rabiner.
Around town. A record number of twelve screening venues spread out across Tel Aviv will offer free screenings. These are: Habima Square, the Beit Danny Community Center, the Hatikvah neighborhood, the Arab-Jewish Community Center in Jaffa, the rooftop of Tel Aviv City Hall, WeWork, Levinsky Park, Bar Kayma, Beit Romano, the Nalaga’at Center, Picnic Little Italy-Sarona Tel Aviv, and Artport.
Outdoors. The Tel Aviv Port will continue to host the festival this year, with outdoor screenings of music films with guest deejays from KZRadio. Films to be screened at the port include Janis: Little Girl Blue, The Reflektor Tapes about the band Arcade Fire, P.T Andersoan’s Junun about the musical collaboration between Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, Nigel Godrich, and a dozen Indian musicians.
Festival Firsts. DocaviVR: a collaboration between Docaviv and Steamer, Israel’s first Interactive and Virtual Reality Film Festival, presents original documentary projects from Israel and around the world, created especially for viewing with Vr gear. The event will take place at Beit Romano. A cinema will pop up in one of Tel Aviv’s trendy hubs, with 25 stations equipped with Vr gear.
The Docommunity conference aims to promote dcomentary across the country by bringing together cultural coordinators and artistic directors from across the country to introduce them to the latest documentary films from Israel and around the world.
The Platform for Alternative Documentation at Artport art space: A performative piece that brings together film artists, social activists, and researchers studying the various aesthetic, social, and philosophical aspects of documentation. Curated by Laliv Melamed and Gilad Reich.
Young audiences. For the first time, films from The Next Doc will be screened, a special initiative of Docaviv, the Second Channel, and the New Fund for Film and Television, which led to the production of three films created especially for a teenage audience.
Docaviv will also be hosting the final event of Docu Young, at which films by students in residential schools, who participated in film workshops , will be screened.
The Docyouth Competition will feature the best documentary films produced by students in high school film programs throughout the country. For the first time, voting for this year’s competition will be held online and open to high school students across the country.
Among the Screenings of docs for kids are Victor Kosakovsky’s “Varicella”, and “Landfilharmonic”.
Over the course of the festival, 110 films will be screened.
- 5/11/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: A total of 110 films will screen at the festival, including recent Golden Bear-winner Fuocoammare and a selection of Israeli docs.
Topics including immigration and instability in the West Bank region will be highlighted at this year’s Docaviv international documentary festival (May 19-28) in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Among the 2016 programme is Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning Fuocoammare, Shimon Dotan’s Sundance premiere The Settlers and Sean McAllister’s BAFTA-nominated A Syrian Love Story.
The festival will open with Babylon Dreamers [pictured], about a group of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who, despite struggling to survive in tough circumstances in Israeli city Ashdod, decide to pursue their dream of entering the International Breakdance Championships.
That film will compete in the festival’s Israeli competition, which offers a prize of $18.5k (70k Ils), alongside 12 other titles including films about arranged marriages in Morocco and Yemen (Child Mother), depression-curing shamans in the Amazon rainforest (The Last Shaman), and three...
Topics including immigration and instability in the West Bank region will be highlighted at this year’s Docaviv international documentary festival (May 19-28) in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Among the 2016 programme is Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning Fuocoammare, Shimon Dotan’s Sundance premiere The Settlers and Sean McAllister’s BAFTA-nominated A Syrian Love Story.
The festival will open with Babylon Dreamers [pictured], about a group of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who, despite struggling to survive in tough circumstances in Israeli city Ashdod, decide to pursue their dream of entering the International Breakdance Championships.
That film will compete in the festival’s Israeli competition, which offers a prize of $18.5k (70k Ils), alongside 12 other titles including films about arranged marriages in Morocco and Yemen (Child Mother), depression-curing shamans in the Amazon rainforest (The Last Shaman), and three...
- 4/19/2016
- ScreenDaily
Ideally, big-screen takes on massively successful musicals will do two things. First, and most obviously, is capturing the pleasures of an original work, making clear why people flocked towards this material in the first place. Second, and more complexly, is making this medium count — using shots and cuts and cues to build something that might eventually supersede the source. If I can say much for London Road, then, it’s that fidelity to the original material is probably a given. More than being based on true events — the 2006 murders of five prostitutes in Suffolk; this particular account was based, verbatim, on interviews conducted with residents of London Road, a picturesque suburban community where many of the prostitutes frequented — it retains the main creatives: director Rufus Norris, writer Alecky Blythe, and composer Adam Cork have all assisted in the transition. If you seek an overview of the case and wish to...
- 11/16/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Spirit Entertainment Limited
To celebrate the release of London Road, available to own on DVD from 5th October 2015, we are giving 3 lucky readers the chance to win a copy.
Hailed as a remarkable, ground-breaking work during two sell-out runs at the National Theatre, the critically acclaimed feature film adaptation of London Road reunites the award-winning team, with a script by Alecky Blythe and music by Adam Cork, and directed by Rufus Norris (Broken).
With an ensemble cast that includes Olivia Colman, Kate Fleetwood, Anita Dobson and Tom Hardy, London Road documents the events that shook Suffolk in 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb-crawling on their street.
The film follows the community who found themselves at the epicentre of the tragic events, and is based...
To celebrate the release of London Road, available to own on DVD from 5th October 2015, we are giving 3 lucky readers the chance to win a copy.
Hailed as a remarkable, ground-breaking work during two sell-out runs at the National Theatre, the critically acclaimed feature film adaptation of London Road reunites the award-winning team, with a script by Alecky Blythe and music by Adam Cork, and directed by Rufus Norris (Broken).
With an ensemble cast that includes Olivia Colman, Kate Fleetwood, Anita Dobson and Tom Hardy, London Road documents the events that shook Suffolk in 2006, when the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of London Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb-crawling on their street.
The film follows the community who found themselves at the epicentre of the tragic events, and is based...
- 9/25/2015
- by Laura Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
London Road
Written by Alecky Blythe
Directed by Rufus Norris
UK, 2015
In 2006, Steve Wright (dubbed the Suffolk Strangler) murdered five prostitutes over a 6-week period. The series of murders menaced the small town of Ipswich and caused the media to descend on the story like a flock of starving vultures, giving the story a national spotlight. The film London Road is a musical/mystery-thriller directed by Rufus Norris and written by Alecky Blythe. The movie recounts the shock-waves sent through a small London Road community after the series of murders began striking too close to home. The film (which was originally a National Theatre production by the same title) is headlined by Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy and features a number of original cast members reprising their roles.
The most notable aspect of London Road is its novel approach to dialogue. Screenwriter Alecky Blythe went to the town of Ipswich...
Written by Alecky Blythe
Directed by Rufus Norris
UK, 2015
In 2006, Steve Wright (dubbed the Suffolk Strangler) murdered five prostitutes over a 6-week period. The series of murders menaced the small town of Ipswich and caused the media to descend on the story like a flock of starving vultures, giving the story a national spotlight. The film London Road is a musical/mystery-thriller directed by Rufus Norris and written by Alecky Blythe. The movie recounts the shock-waves sent through a small London Road community after the series of murders began striking too close to home. The film (which was originally a National Theatre production by the same title) is headlined by Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy and features a number of original cast members reprising their roles.
The most notable aspect of London Road is its novel approach to dialogue. Screenwriter Alecky Blythe went to the town of Ipswich...
- 9/24/2015
- by Victor Stiff
- SoundOnSight
One of the key aspects of the Toronto International Film Festival is the City to City Programme, which takes a look at a specific city every year, screening films that focus on the events of that specific city, as well as showcasing the latest projects by filmmakers from the city. The 2015 incarnation of the festival will focus on London, England, with eight films in the Tiff programme this year.
The films that will be part of the lineup have now been announced, alongside an additional set of films that will be part of the Tiff Wavelengths Programme, joining the previously announced entries in the programme. The complete list of films in both programmes, along with their official synopses, can be seen below.
City To City
Couple in a Hole, directed by Tom Geens, making its World Premiere
A middle class British couple end up living like feral creatures in a...
The films that will be part of the lineup have now been announced, alongside an additional set of films that will be part of the Tiff Wavelengths Programme, joining the previously announced entries in the programme. The complete list of films in both programmes, along with their official synopses, can be seen below.
City To City
Couple in a Hole, directed by Tom Geens, making its World Premiere
A middle class British couple end up living like feral creatures in a...
- 8/18/2015
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
Potential awards season contenders Truth from James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham’s I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams land world premiere slots, while Paco Cabezas’s Mr. Right will close the festival.
London is the subject of the seventh annual City To City programme that features world premieres of Tom Geens’ Couple In A Hole starring Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie and Michael Caton-Jones’ Urban Hymn with Letitia Wright and Shirley Henderson. Elaine Constantine’s Northern Soul gets a North American premiere.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already is among five additions to the galas alongside Mr. Right, an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Matthew Cullen’s Martin Amis adaptation London Fields and David Gordon Green’s Our Brand Is Crisis get first public screenings in the Special Presentations roster with I Saw The Light.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Contemporary World Cinema section, featuring...
London is the subject of the seventh annual City To City programme that features world premieres of Tom Geens’ Couple In A Hole starring Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie and Michael Caton-Jones’ Urban Hymn with Letitia Wright and Shirley Henderson. Elaine Constantine’s Northern Soul gets a North American premiere.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already is among five additions to the galas alongside Mr. Right, an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Matthew Cullen’s Martin Amis adaptation London Fields and David Gordon Green’s Our Brand Is Crisis get first public screenings in the Special Presentations roster with I Saw The Light.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Contemporary World Cinema section, featuring...
- 8/18/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
London Road will close San Sebastian Film Festival Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Rufus Norris' London Road will close the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival on September 26.
The film - which was released in the UK in June - is based on a screenplay by Alecky Blythe and music by Adam Cork and is a big-screen adaptation of the hit National Theatre musical of the same name.
It is based on the real-life murders Ipswich in 2006, when the bodies of five women were discovered and follows the psychological impact the crimes had on the community.
The ensemble cast includes includes Olivia Colman, Clare Burt, Rosalie Craig, Anita Dobson, James Doherty and Tom Hardy and original cast members from the stage show.
The official competition titles have already been announced and you can read more about the additional sections here....
The film - which was released in the UK in June - is based on a screenplay by Alecky Blythe and music by Adam Cork and is a big-screen adaptation of the hit National Theatre musical of the same name.
It is based on the real-life murders Ipswich in 2006, when the bodies of five women were discovered and follows the psychological impact the crimes had on the community.
The ensemble cast includes includes Olivia Colman, Clare Burt, Rosalie Craig, Anita Dobson, James Doherty and Tom Hardy and original cast members from the stage show.
The official competition titles have already been announced and you can read more about the additional sections here....
- 8/14/2015
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Musical based around the 2006 Ipswich murders stars Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy.
The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) is to close with British film London Road.
The film, based on the stage musical of the same name, documents the events that shook the rural town of Ipswich in 2006, when the bodies of five women were discovered. The film follows the community that found itself at the epicentre of the tragic events.
Using their own words set to a musical score, the ensemble cast includes Olivia Colman, Tom Hardy, Anita Dobson and the entire original cast of the stage.
London Road, which will screen out of competition at San Sebastian, is directed by Rufus Norris, the artistic director of the National Theatre whose debut feature Broken opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2012 and won Best British Independent Film at the BIFAs and Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye for Best International Film.
London Road is produced...
The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 18-26) is to close with British film London Road.
The film, based on the stage musical of the same name, documents the events that shook the rural town of Ipswich in 2006, when the bodies of five women were discovered. The film follows the community that found itself at the epicentre of the tragic events.
Using their own words set to a musical score, the ensemble cast includes Olivia Colman, Tom Hardy, Anita Dobson and the entire original cast of the stage.
London Road, which will screen out of competition at San Sebastian, is directed by Rufus Norris, the artistic director of the National Theatre whose debut feature Broken opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2012 and won Best British Independent Film at the BIFAs and Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye for Best International Film.
London Road is produced...
- 8/13/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Uncomfortable truths surface as local residents deal with the media firestorm ignited by the murders of five women in 2006
Ipswich murders film shows how street of terror has regained its pride
Everyone is very, very nervous, um, and very unsure of everything, basically…” This adaption of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s verbatim musical, which Rufus Norris first directed at the National Theatre in 2011, does an admirable job of transferring the stage show to screen. Based on interviews conducted in the wake of the Steve Wright “Ipswich Ripper” murders of 2006, the narrative focuses on the peculiar mix of blame, suspicion, regret and rejuvenation with which residents wrestled amid a media firestorm. Pitched between the experimental cinema of Clio Barnard’s The Arbor and the more accessible theatrics of Les Misérables (“It’s a wicked bloody world,” sing the locals awaiting sight of the prisoner), London Road exists in the quarter tones between speech and song,...
Ipswich murders film shows how street of terror has regained its pride
Everyone is very, very nervous, um, and very unsure of everything, basically…” This adaption of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s verbatim musical, which Rufus Norris first directed at the National Theatre in 2011, does an admirable job of transferring the stage show to screen. Based on interviews conducted in the wake of the Steve Wright “Ipswich Ripper” murders of 2006, the narrative focuses on the peculiar mix of blame, suspicion, regret and rejuvenation with which residents wrestled amid a media firestorm. Pitched between the experimental cinema of Clio Barnard’s The Arbor and the more accessible theatrics of Les Misérables (“It’s a wicked bloody world,” sing the locals awaiting sight of the prisoner), London Road exists in the quarter tones between speech and song,...
- 6/14/2015
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
No one has done a musical like this before, keeping an uneasy beat to craft a dark replica of scared community spirit in the wake of a shocking crime. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
When I hear that something deadly serious has been turned into a stage musical, the first thing that springs to mind is Elephant! the all-singing, all-dancing Broadway show based on the life of “Elephant Man” Joseph Merrick, within the comedy film The Tall Guy. Or, of course, Springtime for Hitler.
So when I heard that London Road, a film adaptation of a National Theatre musical production, is about a 2006 serial-murder case, my first reaction was: Hell no. The potential for getting this wrong is enormous: the probability of tonal imbalance between hammy dramatics and horrible crime is almost 100 percent.
But...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
When I hear that something deadly serious has been turned into a stage musical, the first thing that springs to mind is Elephant! the all-singing, all-dancing Broadway show based on the life of “Elephant Man” Joseph Merrick, within the comedy film The Tall Guy. Or, of course, Springtime for Hitler.
So when I heard that London Road, a film adaptation of a National Theatre musical production, is about a 2006 serial-murder case, my first reaction was: Hell no. The potential for getting this wrong is enormous: the probability of tonal imbalance between hammy dramatics and horrible crime is almost 100 percent.
But...
- 6/12/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
In 2006, the murder of five prostitutes made one quiet Ipswich street notorious. Five years later, London Road’s darkest days were turned into a musical, and now that show has become a film. Rufus Norris and Alecky Blythe talk about telling the residents’ story in their own words – down to every last ‘um’ and ‘er’
“They were a complete pain in the neck,” sings Olivia Colman’s Julie. “Y’know, they, they’re better off 10 feet under … That’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? But I’d love to shake his hand and say: ‘Thank you very much for getting rid of them.’”
Related: Musicals we love: London Road
Continue reading...
“They were a complete pain in the neck,” sings Olivia Colman’s Julie. “Y’know, they, they’re better off 10 feet under … That’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? But I’d love to shake his hand and say: ‘Thank you very much for getting rid of them.’”
Related: Musicals we love: London Road
Continue reading...
- 6/9/2015
- by Tom Seymour
- The Guardian - Film News
In 2006, the murder of five prostitutes made one quiet Ipswich street notorious. Five years later, London Road’s darkest days were turned into a musical, and now that show has become a film. Rufus Norris and Alecky Blythe talk about telling the residents’ story in their own words – down to every last ‘um’ and ‘er’
“They were a complete pain in the neck,” sings Olivia Colman’s Julie. “Y’know, they, they’re better off 10 feet under … That’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? But I’d love to shake his hand and say: ‘Thank you very much for getting rid of them.’”
Related: Musicals we love: London Road
Continue reading...
“They were a complete pain in the neck,” sings Olivia Colman’s Julie. “Y’know, they, they’re better off 10 feet under … That’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? But I’d love to shake his hand and say: ‘Thank you very much for getting rid of them.’”
Related: Musicals we love: London Road
Continue reading...
- 6/9/2015
- by Tom Seymour
- The Guardian - Film News
London Road opened to nearly unanimous critical acclaim at London’s National Theater back in April of 2011 as a groundbreaking new stage musical done in “verbatim” style. The musical is based on the true story of a series of murders that left five women dead in Ipswich, Suffolk. Book writer and lyricist Alecky Blythe took actual police and news interviews with townspeople following the murders and had performers sing and recreate them word for word, i.e. “verbatim”.
The play went on to win Best Musical at the Critics’ Circle Theater Awards, and was immediately tapped for a film adaptation by Rufus Norris, himself an established theater director. Norris enlisted Tom Hardy, Olivia Coleman, Anita Dobson, and the entire original cast for his version of London Road.
The Guardian had the exclusive trailer, which can be seen above, along with a full synopsis for the film below. London Road opens...
The play went on to win Best Musical at the Critics’ Circle Theater Awards, and was immediately tapped for a film adaptation by Rufus Norris, himself an established theater director. Norris enlisted Tom Hardy, Olivia Coleman, Anita Dobson, and the entire original cast for his version of London Road.
The Guardian had the exclusive trailer, which can be seen above, along with a full synopsis for the film below. London Road opens...
- 4/27/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
London Road, which includes Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy in its ensemble cast, is an adaptation of the award-winning National Theatre production about the arrest of Steve Wright, an Ipswich man who was convicted of murdering five sex workers in 2008. Rufus Norris's film uses the dialogue from the real townsfolk who were interviewed by author Alecky Blythe as they came to terms with the fact that a serial killer had been living in their community. London Road is released in the UK on 12 June Continue reading...
- 4/23/2015
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Gurinder Chadha’s hit film Bend It Like Beckham is being readied for the West End stage and following a host of auditions and workshops, the cast for the highly anticipated stage version Bend It Like Beckham the Musical has been formally announced.
Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. The three young leads will be supported by some familiar faces, including comedian Ronni Ancona who plays Paula, Jules’s Mum, with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony.
Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister and Tony Jayawardena andNatasha Jayetileke take on the all important roles of her parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.
Jess needs extra time. She is facing...
Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. The three young leads will be supported by some familiar faces, including comedian Ronni Ancona who plays Paula, Jules’s Mum, with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony.
Preeya Kalidas who appeared in the original film as one of the cousins, will take on the role of Pinky, Jess’ sister and Tony Jayawardena andNatasha Jayetileke take on the all important roles of her parents, Mr and Mrs Bhamra.
Jess needs extra time. She is facing...
- 1/13/2015
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
UK cinema in 2015 has plenty to recommend it. Here are 36 UK films of all genres to look forward to this year…
Dig past the litterfall of Kray Brothers biopics and tales of nubile teens on camping trips gone wrong, and you’ll unearth plenty for the UK film industry to boast about in 2015. From sci-fi romps and thrillers like Robot Overlords and Ex Machina to dramas like High-Rise, comedies like War On Everyone, spy flicks like Spectre and kids’ films like Bill, there’s no shortage of inventive, highly promising cinema coming from these isles.
We’ve included a few choice co-productions in 2015’s pick of the year’s most interesting-looking pictures, which bolsters our list in both size and breadth (and mostly means we Brits can claim partial credit for ace-sounding dystopian flick The Lobster).
In alphabetical order then, here are the 36 UK (or UK-ish) movies we’re excited about seeing this year…...
Dig past the litterfall of Kray Brothers biopics and tales of nubile teens on camping trips gone wrong, and you’ll unearth plenty for the UK film industry to boast about in 2015. From sci-fi romps and thrillers like Robot Overlords and Ex Machina to dramas like High-Rise, comedies like War On Everyone, spy flicks like Spectre and kids’ films like Bill, there’s no shortage of inventive, highly promising cinema coming from these isles.
We’ve included a few choice co-productions in 2015’s pick of the year’s most interesting-looking pictures, which bolsters our list in both size and breadth (and mostly means we Brits can claim partial credit for ace-sounding dystopian flick The Lobster).
In alphabetical order then, here are the 36 UK (or UK-ish) movies we’re excited about seeing this year…...
- 1/5/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
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