The List: 5 Nov 1993 (22/84)

BACARDI BLACK

7 Co-Production Conference. Sharing

. Stories 93 aims to bring producers.

.f distributors and funders from all

» territories to Glasgow over the

weekend of Fri l9—Sun 21 Nov. Topics : dissected by those with first-hand

experience will include sessions on

i funding in Europe. New Zealand and

i Canada; an investigation into

. children‘s TV programming; l distribution; and marketing tie-ins.

I First heels: Tue l6. Wed l7 and Thurs 18 Nov are the dates for three

programmes consisting of the cream of 3 weekend to screen work to potential

this year’s crop of ﬁlms by Scots and Scottish-based ﬁlmmakers who received assistance from the First Reels scheme. Tickets for afternoon screenings. beginning at 2pm area mere f]. with seats in the evening (Tue at 8pm; Wed/Thurs at 6.30pm) priced £2.80. Twenty-three titles will show in total; for details of which films screen on which day. see index.

I london Film Festival: Scottish input is a bit thin on the ground at this year's LFF. which runs from Thurs 4 until Sun 21 November. In between the opening gala of Merchant-lvory‘s excellent The Remains of the Day and the closing night's even better Farett'e/l '12) My Concubine. the sole Scottish programme consists of Over The Border. a selection of films under the Electronic lrnage banner. Glasgow‘s Doug Aubry and Alan Robertson‘s Work. Rest and Play is joined by some work by recent graduates of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art — Michael Curran's Disclaimer and Double. Christopher Harrison’s Puzzled. Shaz Kerr's Tool. Herlinde Smet‘s The Dreaming and Lucinda Goad's Hunger. I Sharing Stories: Following last year‘s inaugural Scottish lntemational

intemational contracts: the future of

Video facilities are available all

partners. Registration costs £229.12 (inc VAT). with a preferential rate of £70 per night for 8&8 accommtxlation available at the Glasgow‘s llilton lntemational. the venue for the event. Further details are available from Pauline Muirhead. Sharing Stories. Filmhouse. 88 Lothian Road. Edinburgh EH3 ()BZ (()3l 228 5960). I Black Media In Focus: Fri l9—Sun 2| also sees a three-day European conference organised by the Black European Media Project in Edinburgh. The aim ofthe group is to create employment and training opportunities for Black youth in the European media industry. and so the conference discussions will focus on education and training in Scotland. the UK and Europe; developments in industry training and employment; and the current set-up ofthe European media industry. In the lead up to the event. the Filmhouse has programmed a festival of Black cinema and video. with many filmmakers introducing the screenings. Further information on this event and the Black European Media Project is available from 86 Dumbryden Gardens. Edinburgh EH14 2NZ (031 453 l538).

Fruis

. C

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor . . . A woman works her way through a bowl of cherries, and with each stone comes a fantasy about a male/female relationship somewhere in time. Rich man, poorman, beggar man, thief... Each individual segment expresses disappointment in love, but determination to move on. Freelance model animator John Colin’s short film, Cherries, is based on the famous nursery rhyme, but no matter what social level or historical period the story ls set in, the outcome is the me.

Colin was a production designer for two years at film school in Bournemouth before taking a one-year MA course at the Northern Film School. ‘I built full-sized sets, dressed locations and worried about the

.5 s! ‘ .. My :. I...’ ‘

' costumes and the look of dramas,’ he j says of his training. ‘80 what l’m really

doing now is miniaturising everything. I’m still building the sets, but on 1:8 scale, and still dressing the characters and designing the clothes.

But with a lot more control because

I’m not just the production designer

; but the director as well, controlling ' my actors.’

Cherries’ overall budget of £1200 was made up from a First Reels grant

' and money from Glasgow District Council, as well as financial input ; from Colin himself (who was

responsible for every part of the production, with the exception of the editing and music). The film screens as part of the CFT’s First Reels programmes. (AM)

1544*."

Juliet (Kerry Fox), Alex (Ewan McCregor) and David (Christopher Eccleston) rush in to

find iiugo (Keith Allen’s foot) dead in hrs bed.

_ Graveyard shift

Murder, greed, drugs money, corpse mutilation. It’s all happening down in Anniesland. Alan

. Alex. ajournalist; Juliet. a doctor; and

David. an accountant — whose delicately balanced domestic life is

‘_ thrown into turmoil when they discover ; their most recently arrived eo-habitant. l Hugo. dead in his room with a case of l money beside him. Convinced that the

shady Hugo's legacy was illegally gained. the trio reckon that they can set

3 themselves up for life by disposing of

Morrison went on set with % . I end there. as internal power struggles

the cast and crew of Shallow Grave.

There‘s a touch of rain in the autumn air and the leaves underfoot are beginning to decay. It could be a night- time forest anywhere in the world if it wasn't for the rnidges giving the atmosphere that distinctively Scottish

the body and keeping quiet about it.

And just to be on the safe side. they cut . off the corpse‘s hands and smash its

jaw — tell-tale fingerprints and dental records. you see. However. it doesn’t

develop when the police and a couple

ofthugs after the cash move in closer.

bite. A van's headlights cut through the

low mist. the beams bouncing off trees as it draws to a halt. Three figures get out. A little later. a plastic bag shaped remarkany like a human body is bundled into a clearing. And the digging and dismemberment begin.

This is the pivotal scene that gives .S'lzul/ott' Grove. a darkly comic thriller currently filming in Scotland. its foreboding title. The first feature by Figment Films. its £l m budget was secured from Channel 4. with £150.000 coming from the Glasgow Film Fund. an initiative designed to stimulate film production in and around the city.

The script by John Hodge tells of three twentysomething ﬂatmates —

The List: 5 Nov 1993 (Issue 214)