FILM SCOTTISH
'BACARDI BLACK
I Digital Facilities: Some fifteen months ago. Digital Facilities brought the first commercially available AVID computerised off-line editing system to Scotland, and have become the first company to have two AVle for hire. They have now opened a new office in Glasgow at St George‘s Studios, 93—97 St George's Road, which. along with their custom-built edit suite in Edinburgh's York Place and experienced support team, place Digital Facilities at the forefront of non-linear editing in Scotland.
To allow freelance editors and other interested parties the opportunity to compare systems and check out the benefits offered by non-linear digital
equipment, Digital Facilities are holding demonstrations from Tuesday 2—Friday 5 August. Contact 031 557 8833 for details.
I Script Search: Two MSc students of the Scottish Film School at Napier University are currently looking fora script from which they will make a ten- minute short. Technical know-how, equipment and up to £4000 of funding will be provided, all that remains is the central idea. Any kind of script will be considered which can be produced on a low budget. For further information. contact Robert Anderson or Declan McGrath on 031 556 1643 or 031 554 2487.
I Movie Makars: Up-and-coming filmmakers and scriptwriters should pencil 31 October—4 November into their diaries, as these are the dates for this year‘s Movie Makars event in lnverness. The line-up is in the process of being finalised — on the TV side. Paul Munon‘s The Blue Boy and Jimmy McGovem's Priest will be discussed — and further details can be obtained from the Scottish Film Council. 74 Victoria Crescent Road, Glasgow C312 9JN.
FESTIVE FARE
flow that Scottish talent is finding its footing with the short film format and independents are having a stab at the feature market, the home-bred input into this year’s Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival is stronger than it has been for some time. Scotland’s casts, crews and locations all have wide- ranging roles to play on Edinburgh’s big screens as the Festival celebrates its 48th year from 13-28 August.
There’s hardly an area of the Festival that isn’t touched by Scottish hands. In the documentary strand, Rangers, Celtic and the city of Glasgow are examined in a revival of Joachim Kreck’s 1974 film, The Big Clubs, while Motherland, produced by Billy Macklnnon is an Australian documentary about Lithuanian immigrants. The West Coast landscape is the backdrop to German children’s feature Charlie And Louise, then it’s the turn of the Highlands as Robin Williams goes native in Bill Forsyth’s episodic Being Human.
One of several Scots faces to pop up in Being Human is Robert Carlyle of Glasgow’s Raindog Theatre Company. He also has roles in Priest - the latest feature (to be shown as a work in progress) from Antonia Bird, who stunned Edinburgh audiences last year with Safe - and short films Marooned and The Last Ten Minutes. The writer of the latter, John Hodge, scores a double as his feature debut, Shallow Grave, has its first public screening. This Channel 4/Glasgow Film Fund comedy thriller was shot in Glasgow at the end of 1993 and boasts a strong Scottish cast and crew.
A brief run through the Hew British Films section uncovers Angus Reid’s film debut, Brotherly Love, starring Tam Dean Burn and Russell Burn as brothers travelling in the north of Scotland; Rona Munro’s debut as feature writer with Ken Loach’s
Ladybird, Ladybird; John Gordon Sinclair on hilarious form in tourist plane-crash comedy Self Catering; Paul Murton directing Emma Thompson and Adrian Dunbar in Argyleshire in The Blue Boy; Roger Corman’s crew (under Scot Steven Simpson) shooting Ties, an intriguing genre piece made in Aberdeen; and John McGrath’s latest script, Mairi Mhor, directed by Mike Alexander. Student works crop up in the Post Office McLaren Award (Animation) and Channel 4 Young Film Maker of the Year competitions, and Scotland shows a clear understanding of the demands of the short film with the premiere of 1994’s Tartan Shorts - Harance, Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting and Latin For A Dark Room — as well as Clarimonde and The Tanner’s Tale. Alan Cumming directs Butter, but opts for a spell in front of the camera in That Sunday, while Peter Capaldi puts in an acting appearance with Lost For Words. A long and satisfying list that can only be touched upon new. More detailed coverage of the Scottish and international work on show at the Film Festival will appear in the next three
issues of The List. (Alan Morrison)
sponsored by BAC A R Dl B LAC K
WARNER SPECIAL EDITIONS
The boom in the video retail market has had a lot to do with various labels being able to cater for specialist markets, whether it be obscure foreign arthouse titles, minority sports or dodgy horror kitsch. The labels that are subsidiaries of major studios have a head start, as they can comfortably draw from rich back catalogues and, with a nifty bit of marketing, pinpoint potential audiences with more precision.
Hence the torrent of material which flows from Warner Home Video at the beginning of August. Eighteen month ago, the label launched the Elite Collection, which focused on critical and ground-breaking successes. The concept has now been expanded to bring in a series of Special Editions, which will benefit from extras such as widescreen formats and original trailers. The first three titles available are John Boorman’s Deliverance, Michael Crichton’s Westworld and Arthur Penn’s Hightmoves (written, incidently, by Greenock-born Alan Sharp). All retail at £12.99 each.
In conjunction with MGM/11A Home Video, Warner’s Screen Classics (£6.99 each) go down a musical route for the summer releases. The name is a bit misleading as far as some of the films are concerned - AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, the hour-long reverential documentary The Doors: A Tribute To Jim Morrison and the interview/ performance footage mix of Jimi Hendrix could hardly be termed
classics in the furthering of the cinematic arts - but the others are much more interesting. The concert movie has rarely been carried off with such virtuosity as Martin Scorsese achieved in The Last Waltz, which captures the farewell concert of The Band; This Is Elvis is an intriguing mix of rare footage and recreated scenes; and Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels revels in the late maestro’s unhinged genius.
Every member of the family, particularly younger viewers, will also be catered for in a special way with the launch of Warner’s Family Entertainment label. All releases will be ‘11’ certificates, with the occasional ‘PG’, and carry a distinctive Bugs Bunny logo to provide a guarentee of broad family appeal with no unnecessary nastiness. The initial package includes Dennis, The Heverending Story, Angnieska Holland’s beautifully gothic The Secret Garden, Lois & Clark (the feature- length pilot episode of TV’s The Hew Adventures Of Superman) and 1001 Rabbit Tales, starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and friends. And given Warner’s enviable back catalogue and current roster of animated and live action family product, I’m sure that’s not all, folks. (Alan Morrison)
I Gunmen (18) Not the poor man's Lethal Weapon that it could have been. this teaming of Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles manages a pretty entertaining act while juggling its staple
ingredients ol'comedy and
5 action. Lambert is a gun-
i runner tipped off about a stolen fortune by his now deceased brother; Van Peebles is the maverick DEA agent who captures him. then ends up on the run from an anned and dangerous drug baron.
Familiar elements — a mismatched duo forced to rely on each other and becoming reluctant buddies — are given a buzz by some fast—talking interplay between the leads and some nifty bullet play. (Columbia Tristar)
I La Crise (15) Victor‘s wife leaves him in the opening frames, and he‘s fired from hisjob not five minutes into the movie. Not. you'd agree. the best day of his life. Even his family. friends and acquaintances don’t offer consolations, as they’re all too tied up with their own problems. divorces and shouting matches. Coline Serreau. writer-director of Romauld And Juliette and Trois Hommes E1 Un Couffin. creates a frantic, self-obsessed 90s world. where a man's best friend is an alcoholic who‘s a few centimes short of a franc. A very funny satire on selfish hypocrisy that evolves into a nicely old- fashioned fable about caring for others. (Electric £15.99)
I Tokyo Babylon (15) Corporate greed meets
£10.99)
psychic warfare in a sleazy mirror image of modern-day Tokyo in the first halfofa new Manga release that is amongst the label's best of the year. Eye-catching colour co- ordination, impressive cityscapes and atmospheric sound and music design raise this to great heights. Part 2 is eagerly awaited. (Manga
I Luck, Trust & Ketchup (15) Now that the work of director Robert Altman is firmly back in the public and critical eye, this documentary set behind the scenes of Short Cuts could not be more welcome. By taking a chronological trip through the project. interviewing the 22 stars. unveiling Altman‘s unique ‘improvisation’
. techniques and slotting in : clips from his earlier
E works, the film pushes itself beyondflthe usual
restrictions of the ‘Making Of. . .’ genre. (Mainline £12.99) I The Company Of Strangers (PC) A bus breaks down in the Canadian countryside and a group of old ladies are stranded with only each other to rely on. Okay, so this film features a blue- rinse brigade that trendy cineastes might cross motorways to avoid. but its gentle humour and easy charm has a way of creeping up on you at zimmer-framc speed. The engaging personalities of the amateur cast are allowed to emerge naturally in freely structured. documentary- like episodes. (Electric £15.99) I The late Dennis Potter's masterful use of the medium, The Singing Detective (15, BBC £12.99), weaves its film noir fantasies on two video volumes,
'28 The List 29 July—1 1 August 1994