Joining him were Leonor [...]]]> One of the many seasons that featured at this year’s Festival was that of Science on Screen. This season encompassed four feature films; CREATION, THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE, HOUSE OF NUMBERS, and EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED, and culminated in a special panel debate chaired by New Humanist editor Caspar Melville.

Joining him were Leonor Sierra (Sense about Science) Louise Foxcroft (author of The Making of Addiction), and H.O.N. director Brent Leung. The highlights of this panel and reviews of the 4 films can all be heard below.

]]> http://www.cfflive.org.uk/2009/09/science-on-screen/feed/ 22 http://www.cfflive.org.uk/2009/09/silents-on-the-streets/ http://www.cfflive.org.uk/2009/09/silents-on-the-streets/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:07:54 +0000 admin http://www.cfflive.org.uk/?p=584 Did you miss out on our marvelous annual outdoor event SILENTS ON THE STREETS on Sunday 20 September? Did you not witness the marvel of Bridge & Magdalene Streets being closed down to allow a series of silent films to be screened instead?

Fear not, we have a lovely highlights [...]]]> Did you miss out on our marvelous annual outdoor event SILENTS ON THE STREETS on Sunday 20 September? Did you not witness the marvel of Bridge & Magdalene Streets being closed down to allow a series of silent films to be screened instead?

Fear not, we have a lovely highlights video right here:

So now you have no excuse not to attend next year!

One of the comments noted a ‘level of racism’ in the film, and Gareth felt he had to respond to what he believes [...]]]> Our screening of Gareth Jones’ new feature, DESIRE, provoked a great deal of response in the reviews section of the main Festival website, with both positive and negative readings of this challenging film.

One of the comments noted a ‘level of racism’ in the film, and Gareth felt he had to respond to what he believes is an unjustified accusation. We’re happy to publish his response here.

I would like to start by thanking everybody working at the Cambridge Film Festival, organising the interviews and the space: it was just fantastic. Film festivals like Cambridge are essential today and for the future of UK filmmaking. They provide a platform and give a voice for independent filmmakers.

With that voice there comes a dialogue and it is this dialogue that I am stepping into.  I firmly believe the viewer and the critics have the right to discuss, judge, applaud, celebrate, berate and in general be positive or negative on any film they watch. This is the deal that all filmmakers and artists enter into.

However in response to one review on the Cambridge Film Festival website I feel I have to step in and answer. This critic accuses the film of being in some way racist against the character of Nene. “The level of racism and entitlement displayed in the film is truly stunning and quite cringeworthy” This description of Desire is confused, debased and wrong. It is far from the ideals and the beliefs of the story, the cast and everything I believe in.

Both personally and professionally I have spent years fighting against racism, extremism and intolerance. Through the training programme that I co-founded with my producer Fiona Howe I work closely with minority filmmakers from across Europe; I have consulted for emerging cineastes from the Middle East and Africa. In 2010 I will be working with Nigerian film directors in developing their work. The songs from the movie are by Oumou Sangare, a woman who has fought for years for women’s rights in Mali and West Africa.

I understand that the sexual content of the movie might not appeal to everyone but the casual use of the word racist is amongst the most dangerous habits of mind, if only because it devalues its impact in circumstances where it is warranted. I’m thinking for instance of Sarajevo, where the film festival founded during a four-year genocidal siege chose to give Desire its World Premiere last month. The reception it received from the principally Muslim audience who survived that siege was joyous and uninhibited.

The criticism as levelled appears to have missed the main point: Nene arrives apparently as a vulnerable dependent but in fact has chosen her own destination; she ends up taking over the script and the film, asserting her sovereign independence from her flawed British hosts. It misses the humour and the satire as well as the sharp affection with which that family is handled. The critic was not to know this, but the brilliant young actress playing Nene for whom the film was written was also Script Consultant on Desire and played an informative role in the development of the story.

Inviting a French-speaking, Paris-based actress of West African origin to star in a British film is perhaps a cultural transgression but I believe very firmly in its rightness and originality. I’m sad that narrow, apparently ideological objection has failed to appreciate this.

The critic admits not having stayed for the Q&A at the end, which seems a poor base from which to launch such a savage attack. I would have had this discussion then and there and I remain free and happy to resume it, either privately or in public forum.

Gareth Jones

The Army of Crime Q&A Highlights from Cambridge Film Festival on Vimeo.

Picturehouse host of the Cambridge Film Festival 09 from Cambridge Film Festival on Vimeo.

Cambridge Film Festival has kicked off today. Here is a short video of the preparations and the beginning of the first day.

This video was made by two members of the Creative and Media group, from Long Road Sixth [...]]]>

Picturehouse host of the Cambridge Film Festival 09 from Cambridge Film Festival on Vimeo.

Cambridge Film Festival has kicked off today. Here is a short video of the preparations and the beginning of the first day.

This video was made by two members of the Creative and Media group, from Long Road Sixth Form College. by Loz, Joe and Sam.

Cambridge Film Festival Kicks Off – 17/09/09 from Cambridge Film Festival on Vimeo.

Cambridge Film Festival has kicked off today. Here is a short video of the preparations and the beginning of the first day.

This video was made by two members of the Creative and Media group, from Long Road Sixth Form College. Natalie [...]]]>

Cambridge Film Festival Kicks Off – 17/09/09 from Cambridge Film Festival on Vimeo.

Cambridge Film Festival has kicked off today. Here is a short video of the preparations and the beginning of the first day.

This video was made by two members of the Creative and Media group, from Long Road Sixth Form College. Natalie and Philippa.

Listen!

TRIDENTFEST Trailer! from Carl on Vimeo. Music by Will Haven;

Find out more and buy tickets on the Cambridge Film Festival website.