Film HITLIST THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES
list.co.uk/film
Shadow Dancer Restrained and impeccably shot IRA thriller from James Marsh (Man on Wire, Project Nim) starring Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen. See review, page 53, and interview, page 55. General release from Fri 24 Aug.
Berberian Sound Studio Unsettling ‘anti-horror’ about a British sound engineer who travels to Italy to work on a gory B-movie. See review, page 52, and interview, page 14. Selected release from Fri 31 Aug.
The Imposter Chilling doc about Frédéric Bourdin who impersonated a missing child, tricking the boy’s family in the process. See review, page 54, and interview, right. Selected release from Fri 24 Aug. Lawless Andrew Dominik’s violent, prohibition-set drama Lawless, with impressive performances by Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce. See review, page 54, and interview, page 16. General release from Fri 7 Sep.
LCD Soundsystem: Shut Up and Play the Hits Showing for one night only is this documentary capturing frontman James Murphy and the last ever LCD Soundsystem gig. See preview, page 59. Various cinemas, Tue 4 Sep. Berwick Film & Media Festival The annual festival of film and media art this year consid- ers the relationship between still and moving image. See preview, page 20. Various venues, Berwick-upon- Tweed, Wed 19 Sep–Sun 23 Sep.
Tabu Miguel Gomes’ black and white feature about a retired Lisbon lady and her eccentric neighbour. Winner of the FIPRESCI prize at Berlin Film Festival. See interview, page 55. Selected release from Fri 7 Sep.
Hitchcock’s Titanic An illustrat- ed talk by film his- torian Charles Barr about Hitchcock’s unrealised film on the Titanic. Part of the Hippodrome’s centenary celebrations. See preview page 57. Hippodrome, Bo’ness, Sat 1 Sep.
The World of Burton The bizarre world of Tim Burton is celebrated in this extensive retrospective, with a chance to see some of the director’s classics on the big screen. Cameo, Edinburgh, Fri 7 Sep–Thu 18 Oct.
Barbara Hammer The pioneer of queer cinema comes to Edinburgh to talk about her life and work, fresh from a retrospective at Tate Modern earlier this year. See preview, page 58. Summerhall, Edinburgh, Sat 25 Aug.
Profile BART LAYTON
Background: Along with producer Dimitri Doganis, Layton runs the London production company RAW, which has made numerous documentary series for UK and US television. Their first feature project, The Imposter, is based on the true story of a French drifter who impersonated a missing Texan child and succeeded in tricking the child’s family as well as the FBI. It had its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and its UK premiere this summer at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. On discovering Frédéric Bourdin, the subject of The Imposter ‘I came across an article about him in an old Spanish magazine: this serial imposter who’d lived this extraordinary life, institutionalised and in care all over Europe, acting the role of a damaged child. I was immediately fascinated . . . and then I researched further and found out about this episode. What kind of a person would perpetrate a crime like that, and what kind of family could fall victim to it?’
On what motivates Bourdin ‘I think he’s kind of confused attention and affection. What began as – if he’s to be believed – a search for some kind of acceptance has brought him all this media attention, which has a way of validating him. The film is sort of self-reflexive in that way.’ On the film’s twists and ambiguities ‘I always knew that I wanted to try and create a structure where the audience would go on this quite bewildering journey, similar to the one I went on doing the interviews. You go from one conclusion to the opposite conclusion. Dimitri and I spend a lot of time listening to people arguing as they leave screenings, and there are completely polarised responses, which is the perfect audience reaction.’ (Hannah McGill) ■ The Imposter is on selected release from Fri 24 Aug.
23 Aug–20 Sep 2012 THE LIST 51