I was ten years old when Scream was first released in 1996 and thanks to a winning combination of careless parenting and unscrupulous salesmanship I was able to procure a copy from the local ice-cream man and watch it in on the sly. Initially, the horror of seeing the girl from E.T. mercilessly tormented and cut to bits by a masked killer was too much for me to bear Read the rest of this entry »
A family film that most British families won’t watch.
Luc Besson’s latest product, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec is an absurd film that delivers a ridiculous storyline using various ridiculous characters and the odd moment of omniscient narration. A very self consciously silly film; Besson seems to have combined the visual style and absurd tragedy of a Baz Luhrmann film with the storyline of The Mummy. Although to make one clear distinction, these mummies are all laughably friendly, helpful even.
Hanna, the latest film by director Joe Wright, is worlds away from his two most recent works; gone are the stately homes and period trappings replaced instead by frantic action sequences and, at times, brutal simplicity. Yet Wright’s new freedom from the restrictions and expectations that are part and parcel of adapting a respected literary work has resulted in a more interesting and accomplished piece of filmmaking.
Pictures: Tony Marsh Photography
The ECA costume show for 2011 was a spectacular display of talent and imagination. From edible costumes to costumes made for a blind audience, it was all there; you name it, the class of 2011 have found it, wrapped it in papier mache and attached it to a body part of one of their models.
screenGRAB Issue 11 April 2011
This month screenGRAB had the chance to chat to filmmaker Ken Loach about his upcoming film, Route Irish, a highly politicised piece that attempts to portray the seedy commercial side of war-torn Iraq. Loach gives us his take on the film, the war and the future of British film.
Also this month, on a less serious note, John Gibb introduces us to Green Porno, Isabella Rossellini’s bizarre short film series that explores the sex lives of insects; in the wake of Danny Boyle’s hugely successful play, we discuss the myths and legends surrounding Frankenstein; and Ruth Johnston goes to see The Prodigy in concert, in the cinema, and contemplates whether it can compare to the live experience.
screenGRAB Issue 10 March 2011
In this issue of screenGRAB: as the glitter of the awards season draws to a close and the summer film festivals draw closer, we consider whether UK film’s recent success will have had any impact on the future of independent film funding, whilst John Gibb debates the ever widening quality margin between British and American TV.
Anne Milne reports from the Berlinale Talent Campus where the crème de la crème gathered for a week of workshops and films, and two new writers, Ruth Johnson and Hillary Dort, cover films from the socially aware to the morally questionable.
screenGRAB Issue 9 – Jan/Feb 2011
With 2011 now well and truly underway, the team at screenGRAB profile some of the up and coming future stars of Scottish filmmaking. Anne Milne one of the profiled future stars, reports from the recent IDFA where she screened her multi-award winning short Maria’s Way and Dee Custance writes about her experiences working as producers’ assistant on the Oscar-nominated film The Illusionist.
screenWORKS Team
Editor: Laura Witz. Writers: Anne Milne, Dee Custance, Laura Witz, John Gibb.
This year has been the first for screenGRAB, and as first years go, we have had a pretty successful run; within our first three months we had covered the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and for the latter we had a team of reviewers out trawling the streets of Edinburgh, sifting the must-see from the must-avoid in one of the world’s most notoriously unpredictable arts festivals. Rounding off the festival season in Edinburgh, we also covered the lesser-known but industry elite, MediaGuardian TV Festival, where our reporters had exclusive interviews with some of the event participants.
If you are like me and have left Christmas shopping until the very last moments, here are a few ideas for what to buy the aspiring screen workers and aficionados out there:
If you’re a fan of Edinburgh screenWORKS on Facebook, a follower on Twitter and a subscriber to our e-mag screenGRAB, why not go all the way and rate us on our new Place Page on Google. Even better leave us a comment if you like us and eternal karma might just come your way.
Edinburgh screenWORKS is busy spreading spreading the word about our shared office space facilities and we would love if you helped us too. We’ve lots of exciting new members joining lately from freelancers and small businesses to start-up companies. We plan to be the best, most flexible and affordable shared office space in Edinburgh and we would love to hear your feedback on how we can do a better job.
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