| The Lowdown... | The 12th Bradford Film Festival runs from March 3rd 2006 to March 18th 2006. Acknowledged classics included in this year's line-up include Zulu, Doctor Zhivago and A Clockwork Orange. Guests for 2006 include Malcolm McDowell, Eric Sykes, composer Michael Nyman and the League of Gentlemen's Jeremy Dyson. As always over 100 film previews or premieres will be showing at the Festival. Some of these may turn out to be the great films of tomorrow. Who knows? The Festival takes place at Bradford's National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. Box Office: 0870 70 10 200 |
Situated as we are in the Museum, this website team can't help but notice that we are sitting in the middle of a Film Festival. Whether it's the glitterati arriving for a bit of a 'do' or stars like Malcolm McDowell coming in to our studio, it's definitely that time of the year again. Take a look around the Museum and you may notice Festival people and Festival banners but a true movie buff should take a stroll into the Pictureville bar where one of director Lindsay Anderson's leather jackets is on display. Anderson, who died in 1994, was a leading figure in both national and international cinema.  | | Lindsay Anderson's leather jacket on show... |
Together with Bradford's Tony Richardson, who himself went on to direct such films as Tom Jones and The Charge Of The Light Brigade, he founded the very influential Free Cinema movement. Perhaps this is not surprising - aged 21, he wrote in his Diary: "Unquestioning obedience? The very words are enough to rouse my stubborn resistance." This is just one of the things to be discovered in the exhibition in the bar which is part of The Lindsay Anderson Memorial Collection at the University of Stirling. Anderson's first film was actually made right here in West Yorkshire - called Meet The Pioneers it was a promo for a Wakefield company. This was followed a few years later by Wakefield Express, a documentary about the local paper of the same name. But Anderson's connection with the West Yorkshire city did not stop there - This Sporting Life, starring Richard Harris as a rough coal miner turned rugby league player, was shot on location around the district's rugby grounds. Some would argue this remains both Harris' and Anderson's finest film. The Wakefield district also saw the first meeting of the now legendary League Of Gentlemen. The League - Shearsmith, Pemberton, Gatiss and Dyson - got together as drama students at Bretton Hall. Jeremy Dyson, the one who is rarely seen in front of the camera, will be talking at the Festival about 'writing for the screen'. His love for the weird, and for the horror film genre, is also reflected by The Cicerones, a film directed by Dyson and starring Mark Gatiss, based on a short story by Robert Aikman, which is also being shown at the Festival.  | | This Sporting Life was filmed around Wakefield |
Malcolm McDowell, born and raised in Leeds, was in Bradford to receive the 2006 BFF (Bradford Film Festival) Lifetime Achievement Award. More familiar these days as a Hollywood heavy, the most enduring image of McDowell is as Alex, the leader of a gang called the Droogs, in Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork Orange. But McDowell also starred in two of Lindsay Anderson's best known films, If... and O Lucky Man! Here the director also plays a part in front of the camera - look carefully and you'll see that leather jacket. It seems these jackets were made specially for him in Poland. Also dropping into Bradford during the Festival is writer and director Mark Herman. Mark grew up in in the city and went on to make some very popular films, including Brassed Off and Little Voice. Brassed Off, released in 1996, looked at the effect of the running-down of the coal industry on a Yorkshire mining community through the eyes of its brass band. Mark will be talking about the film with Festival Director Tony Earnshaw. Another film shot in South Yorkshire, and being celebrated at this year's Festival, is Kes. Ken Loach's now classic film was shot just over the border in High Hoyland. Loach, together with producer Tony Garnett, actor Colin Welland and Barry Hines, author of A Kestrel for a Knave on which the film is based, will all be in Bradford for a reunion of cast and crew. Also present will be Simon Golding whose research into the production of the film for his new book Life After Kes led directly to this event.  | | Mark Herman grew up in Bradford |
And, as always, the Festival will be providing a platform for shorts as well as the biggest of big screen films. The Shine Award goes to a director who is judged to have pushed the boundaries of the short film. For many movie buffs, though, it's the Widescreen Weekend which demands a return trip to Bradford every year. From 70mm to Cinerama, these large format films come in all shapes and sizes. It's amazing just how many popular films are now available for the really big screen. On show this year is Zulu, starring Michael Caine. The Festival screening will be followed by a discussion with some of the cast and crew although, sadly, Mr Caine is not expected to be there. Zulu tells the story of a small British garrison who find themselves up against a large force of Zulu warriors. A Private asks, "Why us, Sarge? Why us?" And the answer is: "Because you're here, lad. Because you're here." And that's as good a reason as any, if you are anywhere near Bradford, to get along and enjoy this year's Film Festival. The 12th Bradford Film Festival continues at Bradford's National Museum of Photography, Film and Television until March 18th, 2006. |
