Being There

BEING THERE

Looking back at BFF 2008, the films we chose and how enthusiastically they were received by our audience: it is encouraging to see that two of them have also been selected as Film of the Month in Sight & Sound.

SLEEP FURIOUSLY, Gideon Koppel’s beautiful film about his parents’ adopted village in West Wales, is described as a masterpiece, a term that is rarely bandied about in S & S, but one which I think is fair.

The other film the magazine rates highly is BETTER THINGS: like SLEEP FURIOUSLY this is a film financed and made in the UK which has found it hard to get to be seen by a wider audience outside film festivals.

We were especially lucky that Gideon was able to come to the screening to discuss the making of the film and to answer questions about his ideas and intentions.
It was one of those evenings that make the film festival an especially heightened experience:  an interested and engaged audience; not a sell out event but you wouldn’t expect that for such a little known film with an intriguing title. The presence of the filmmaker richly set the screening in context.

The same applies to our sell-out special screening of STATE OF PLAY with Kevin Macdonald a few weeks ago.

STATE OF PLAY is essentially mainstream Hollywood fare of a superior nature, but the fact that Kevin was there to talk about the film and to answer questions (as well as dishing the dirt and dropping names), made it an evening to remember. It was interesting to hear what it was like to work with Russell Crowe (some unrepeatable anecdotes there), how Kevin spent the day with would-be backer Brad Pitt and of his latest plans to film EAGLE OF THE NINTH with Jamie Bell.

Many of the best evenings of the film festival over the past twenty years have involved a visit from a special guest.  On hearing about Jack Cardiff’s death the other day, I remembered him walking on stage in Bath with his wife Niki to introduce THE RED SHOES.  It’s a great film in any circumstances, but to be able to ask questions of the man who devised its outstanding cinematography (as well as for THE AFRICAN QUEEN and other Powell/Pressburger films) gave us all a sense of being part of something unique in cinema history. (Although it has to be said that Jack’s stories about Bogart had obviously done the rounds a few times). By the time that Ken Russell and Nic Roeg made it to Bath for the festival their most successful work was already in the can, yet their careers are still something to be shared and celebrated.

Clearly not all film festival screenings can be accompanied by a visit from the director, but whenever we can Bath Film Festival offers a lot more than your average night out at the movies: a one-off experience. The opportunity to see a carefully recommended film which might otherwise pass you by and then to listen to and ask questions of the person who put it together is a rare treat for anyone who loves cinema.

Philip Raby

14.05.09