Press Release
Presteigne Assembly Rooms and Gladestry's
Jess Mackenzie joins Borderlines Film Festival
Contact:
Bill Laws 07742 825813;
Alison Chapman (images) 07969 393884
Date: 20th February 2008
Rural communities across the borders will be turning their parish rooms into picture palaces as part of the Borderlines Film Festival next month (March).
Among those helping screen some of the best world cinema at twenty-five venues will be Presteigne. The town will show The Band's Visit (Friday 28 March) a delightful comedy about an Egyptian police band marooned in a remote Israeli town. The film was awarded the Director Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It's also one of top choices of Borderlines Festival Director, David Gillam. "The film is full of wry humour and it has charmed audiences across the world," says David.
Meanwhile Gladestry's Jess Mackenzie will see the English premiere for The Trials of Little Red Riding Hood, the film she recently completed with Tony Gammidge and Leominster's About Face Theatre Company.
"Audiences might imagine the film is safe, comfortable and child-like - but it isn't," warns Jess, artistic director with About Face. A re-examination of the popular fairytale, the film turns out to be a sinister collage of sound, imagery and improvised performance from About Face. It will be screened as part of Borderlines' Film and Disability Event at Hereford's Courtyard arts center on Thursday April 10.
During the Festival, which runs from March 28 - April 13, Hereford's Courtyard and Ludlow's Assembly Rooms will screen 30 contemporary films between them, including a batch of this year's BAFTA winners: Control, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, and No Country For Old Men.
Other border venues taking part include Hay, Ludlow, Leintwardine, All Stretton, Church Stretton and Leominster. Borderlines' partnerships with Arts Alive's Flicks in the Sticks, and a guest list which this year includes former Python star, Terry Jones, has helped turn Borderlines into Britain's biggest rural film festival.
David Gillam: "Normally you'd be hard pressed to find many of these films outside the big cities so this year we're combining some of the best of world cinema with some of our friendliest local venues."
Full details of the programme are available on the Borderlines website: www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk
Ends
Notes to editors.
- Jess Mackenzie's contact details: 01568 616301 mobile 07910 725690
- Borderlines runs from March 28th and to April 12th 2008.
- Stills from: The Band's Visit; The Trials of Little Red Riding Hood; Terry Jones
- Borderlines Film Festival is funded by Screen WM through the Access Fund and the National Lottery through the UK Film Council, Herefordshire Council, the Elmley Foundation, South Shropshire District Council, the Nexus Grant Programme (supporting the Rural Regeneration Zone in the West Midlands through the West Midlands Rural Community Council), the Rural Regeneration Zone and Arts and Business.
- Screen WM is the regional agency that supports, promotes and develops a sustainable and thriving screen media sector in the West Midlands. Screen WM will:
- promote the West Midlands region by raising the profile of its diverse locations.
- promote the West Midlands by highlighting the abundance of talent within the region's screen media sector support businesses through skills development and financial assistance.
- develop talent, from new entrants to professional freelancers and employees, wthin the West Midlands through skills development.
- support the region's moving image heritage and develop access to it.
- develop and inspire audiences across a broad range of screen media.
- promote and develop the cultural diversity of the region through the moving image.
- Press queries? Call Alison Chapman on 07969 393884 / alisonc@borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk, David Gillam on 01239 615066 or Bill Laws 07742 825813