The festival closes on Sunday 8 October with the World premiere of British comedy Scenes Of A Sexual Nature. This debut feature from former Raindance film course student, Ed Blum, was shot in less than a month for a budget of under £500,000. Following seven couple as they explore love, sex and relationships one sunny afternoon on Hampstead Heath, the film boasts a stella British cast that includes Ewan McGregor, comedienne Catherine Tate, Oscar-nominated actress Sophie Okonedo, Adrian Lester, Andrew Lincoln, Douglas Hodge, Gina McKee, Hugh Bonneville, Mark Strong and Polly Walker. “I am so delighted that Scenes Of A Sexual Nature has been selected as closing night film of this year’s Raindance Festival which has always been a celebration of independent filmmaking, encouraging young filmmakers to live the dream,” says the films producer/director Ed Blum.SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER15:00 The Making of Scenes Of A Sexual Nature[UK, dir Ed Blum]A panel discussion about the making of Scenes Of A Sexual Naturewith director Ed Blum, and the creative, financial and technical team who worked on this exciting debut featureCLOSING NIGHT PARTYSUNDAY 8 OCTOBER FROM 9:30PM / THE EVE CLUB 3 NEW BURLINGTON ST, W1Following the jury prize-giving and the festival’s final screening ? Scenes of a Sexual ? join us for one last drink to share memories and anecdotes of the festival. The party will be held at The Eve Club ? please be sure to retain your cinema ticket for admission. Tickets to the screening and party are £20. Festival pass-holders get free admission if they have confirmed and collected their tickets in advance.Source: Raindance Film Festival
Category: News
The Director of Scenes Of A Sexual Nature, Edward Blum, posted his first message on You Tube! Intro to Edward Blum’s new film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, featuring a stellar British cast including Ewan McGregor, Catherine Tate and Sophie Okonedo.Our skeletal team (not to be taken literally) gawks at our first (ever) poster at Cineworld. Thrills galore!Source: www.youtube.com (username: SOASN)
Battle of the Thinking Woman’s U.K. Fantasy FodderWe may not want to see even an ad for All The King’s Men, much less sit through the full length of what critics are apparently united in loathing, but we will say this for it: at least now we know that, when Chris Rock made that extremely (at the time) accurate observation at the Oscars about Jude Law starring in every movie, Sean Penn felt compelled to defend (in the most humourless way possible) not just a fellow actor, but a co-star. So now it kind of looks more like a big-brotherly move on Penn’s part, rather than just another opportunity for Penn to demonstrate, by his own example, how the rest of us should live, like, Sean, dude, maybe you should focus less on award-show one-liners that you feel disparage your friends and more on picking material people would rather watch than a neighbour’s colonoscopy.Source: www.fametracker.com
By Dalya Alberge, Arts CorrespondentA-LIST actors including Ewan McGregor are taking a fraction of the fees they can command in Hollywood to star in a low-budget film by a writer and a director who have never made a feature film before.Every actor approached by Edward Blum and Aschlin Ditta, whose careers have been limited until now to Crimewatch reconstructions and television dramas, wanted to be involved with Scenes of a Sexual Nature. They included Sophie Okonedo, the Oscar-nominated Royal Shakespeare Company actress who starred in Dirty Pretty Things and Hotel Rwanda, Dame Eileen Atkins, whose films include Gosford Park and The Hours, and Adrian Lester, the Olivier award-winner.The story traces seven relationships during one afternoon on Hampstead Heath, where filming was taking place yesterday. Each tale has a comic element, but a dark undertone in exploring fantasy and reality.McGregor, Scotland’s most successful actor since Sean Connery, became an overnight sensation as the heroin addict in Trainspotting. He is reported to earn $8 million (£4.4 million) a film since making it in Hollywood in Star Wars.During a break from a morning’s filming of Scenes of a Sexual Nature, he said: “It’s so brilliantly written.” He plays a man discussing with his longstanding gay partner whether to have children, a comic scene in which they discuss who would give up work.Dame Eileen and Benjamin Whitrow, whose many films include Chaplin, play an elderly couple who meet on a park bench. Each has been visiting that bench for the past 50 years, once a week, dreaming of the teenager they met there 50 years ago. They were those teenagers, they realise.Blum, 37, was taken aback at the enthusiasm of such high-calibre actors to be in his film: “They just came thick and fast. It was unbelievable. Ditta, also 37, who has written for various television shows, most recently a Channel Four comedy drama No Angels, said: “We are so blessed with this cast. We are getting these amazing performances.”They have been friends since they were 12. They were at school together in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Both were avid filmgoers, with Woody Allen a particular hero. Blum had previously made television documentaries and dramas, such as the ITV drama The Bill, and reconstructions for Crimewatch UK. He also directed a short film, The Last Post, which was nominated for a Bafta in 1996.He had taken part in an annual competition at the Cannes Film Festival, which gives budding film-makers two minutes to pitch a film idea to a panel. He beat 400 entrants with his synopsis for another film, Crimebusters, co-written with Ditta and which they also hope to film.That win led to being introduced to Emma Style, a casting director who had worked on films such as Tea With Mussolini, starring Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. She read their script, loved it and introduced him to agents.Scenes of a Sexual Nature is believed to have a budget of £500,000, raised from private investors. The whole process, from finishing the script in June to raising the money and attracting the cast, took less than six weeks, rather than years of development. Source: http://www.timesonline.co.ukThanks to Roberta for the link
