9TH ANNUAL BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS ANNOUNCE NOMINATIONS AND JURY TODAY AT SOHO HOUSEIn its ninth year, the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) has established itself as one of the most important awards ceremonies in the British film industry and is regarded as a kick-off to the Awards Season. BIFA prides itself on providing a platform for up and coming talent and this year has increased the number of nominations in the Most Promising Newcomer Category as there was so much talent to choose from. BIFA is also excited to unveil its new jury, comprised of professionals and talents from across the British film industry.BIFA are proud to announce the following nominees for this year’s awards:THE RAINDANCE AWARDSPONSORED BY RAINDANCEThe Ballad of AJ WebermanLondon to BrightonScenes of a Sexual NatureClick here for the full list.Patrons of BIFA include Tilda Swinton, Ray Winstone, Mike Figgis, Tom Hollander, Adrian Lester, Ken Loach, Ewan McGregor, Samantha Morton, Bill Nighy, Trudie Styler, Meera Syal and Michael Winterbottom.Source: www.bifa.org.uk
Category: News
Scenes of a Sexual Nature opens this Friday (3 November) in the UK (click here for full list of cinemas).Tony of Tin Pan Films sent us a note:We are up against the Majors and their films – backed by millions, compared to our measly £260k budget – so any form of support (including dragging your friends into cinemas physically!) is appreciated.And, this weekend means a lot to us. If 20,000 people see the film this weekend, we qualify (and only then!) for funding from the Film Council to help us reach more cinemas.Hope you can give us a hand!TonyTin Pan Films
Chatting with Ewan McGregorOn screen, Ewan McGregor is one of the most transparent actors working today. His performance always seem effortless, whether it’s an intense small-budget dramatic thriller like Young Adam or a big romantic comedy confection like Down With Love. You just never see those gears turning, and there’s never a moment of starry scene-grabbing. So it’s not surprising that in person he’s utterly charming, looking you straight in the eyes with those dazzling blues as he answers your questions thoughtfully, talking a mile a minute. He’s a bundle of energy in a white t-shirt and yeans, squirming in his seat as he talks, so lively, engaging and warmly hilarious that when the press officer appears and tells you to wrap it up, you have the urge to grab Ewan and escape out the back door, down to the pub for a pint and a good gossip. His new film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, is a multi-strand British comedy with a tiny budget but a starry cast that includes Sophie Okonedo, Adrian Lester, Gina McKee, Catherine Tate, Hugh Bonneville, Eileen Atkins, Tom Hardy, Andrew Lincoln, Holly Aird and Mark Strong. McGregor stars in a segment opposite Douglas Hodge, as a gay couple struggling with the realities their long-term relationship. It’s an unusually small role for McGregor, but at the time it was the perfect choice.After all those big movies, here you are earning minimum wage again.Yeah, but I suppose it didn’t take me by surprise. If you want to work on good stuff, I think the worst thing you can do is set yourself up any kind of limits. I’ve tried always not to do that in terms of the characters I play. My choices are based solely on the script, the story, the writing and the characters, and never anything else. And that way you can have great variety and, as a result, great fun in your work. And second you can think, “I’m only going to make films in Hollywood or I’m only going to make independent films.” But you’re just giving yourself boundaries. “No boundaries” is the short answer.You were on stage in the West End production of Guys and Dolls when you made this film.In many ways it was wonderful, because by boyfriend in this story is played by Douglas Hodge – and on stage I was Guy Masterson and he was Nathan Detroit. We’d rehearsed together for six weeks, and we’d been on stage for a couple of months I think. So we had this great working relationship anyway, and then when we were sent the script – we were both sent it at the same time – we discussed it and thought it was a great scene. You know, everyone’s story in this film is a long scene. And it was exciting to think that we’d be doing that together. And then once we’d committed to doing the film, we were able to work on it before we shot it. Because in our experience, 12 or 13 pages of dialog in two days is quite a tall order. So we thought the best way that was achievable was to have the whole thing down. And we didn’t know whether Ed [Blum, the director] was going to cut it into sections or shoot it from start to finish. But since we’d done some work on it, we were able to start at the beginning of the scene and play it right through to the end. And that’s in fact how we shot most of it. Most of the angles he set up were shot start to finish. It was more like theatre in that respect than anything else – it was great.Source: www.shadows.wall.net
Ewan McGregor and Charley Booreman from “Long Way Round” with Sean and Colin‘I hope our trip around the world will inspire others to do something different with their lives’Ewan McGregorThe above quote was made on the successful TV series “Long Way Round” starring Ewan McGregor and his actor friend Charley Booreman when they toured around the world in their motorbikes.This greatly inspired “Soundview Avenue” a Glasgow based still unsigned music group formerly called FREEFALL to conceive a unique idea of touring the world in a bus to benefit 3 children’s charities, The Rainbow Trust, Scottish International Relief and Peace. The 4 months musical tour spanning 14 countries is planned and will be filmed as a exciting new TV documentary.”It is exciting that this band is following in the Long Way Round tyre tracks and I wish you the best of luck for the trip.” Ewan McGregorSource: www.soundviewavenue.com
