Everybody's talking about Billy Elliot. This uplifting tale about a teenage boy who wants to become a dancer has become the hit of the festival and is top of the Audience Awards at the halfway point. The director and cast were at the premiere, including young Jamie Bell, the star of the film.
Also superb, was the party held afterwards at Indigo Yard. Ballet dancing was, luckily, not compulsory, and you didn't need Yorkshire grit to persevere in the queue at the bar. All in all it was a superb day for the film and hopefully it'll do well in the cinemas.
Never Work With Children or Eels
The other big British film of the day was Hotel Splendide, described aptly by one of the audience as "a Brit cross between Delicatessen, Gormenghast and Psycho". Practically the whole cast and crew turned up to the screening (apart from Toni Collette), and Stephen Tompkinson showed himself to be in a slightly different league by arriving separately in a personal limo.
During the discussion afterwards, director Terence Gross revealed that the most difficult part of the film was working with the many eels needed to produce the meals served up in the kitchen. Apparently they were going to get Daniel Craig to skin a whole eel but after finding that no chef in London was willing to teach him, the production team discovered why: eels can still move around after they've been frozen for a year. Ugh!
Beaver Trilogy Gets A Grilling
The director of Beaver Trilogy came under fire for apparently exploiting Larry, the inspiration behind the films. This was not surprising as he's had the same response at a New York screening except that the audience weren't quite as restrained - they booed him off stage.
Tartan Shorts Slated
Finally, in a slightly darker note for British filmmaking, the new set of Tartan Shorts were described as lacklustre by many of the people at their premiere. With all the money being poured into Scottish film production, is this the best we can do. What we want are more people like Peter Mullan and Lynne Ramsey, both graduates of the tartan Shorts scheme, who can challenge the conventions of filmmaking. Budding filmmakers take note.
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