A British film festival in Dinard

Judging by the packed-out pre-festival outdoor screening of Dinard’s 18th British Film Festival, this year’s show promised to be bursting at the seams, writes French News. Cinema-goers were well advised to come early.

Some 20 out-of-competition films opened with Ken Loach’s latest offering ‘It’s a Free World’, starring Kierston Wareing and Juliet Ellis. Other must-sees are ‘This is England’ by Shane Meadows, ‘Ruby Blue’ by Jan Dunn starring Bob Hoskins and festival president Josiane Balasko and ‘I really hate my job’ by Oliver Parker with Neve Cambell (a welcome come-back of 'Party of Five' all-time favourite) and Shirley Henderson.

As promised, a James Bond theme is being played throughout this year’s festival. Guest speaker Nicolas Cebille gave a conference tracing the evolution of Her Majesty’s most famous spy on October 2 in the Stéphan Bouttet theatre after the projection of a 30-minute 007 documentary.

Another run-up event to the festival-proper was the presence of Mariano Otero, the world famous artist who designed this year’s absolutely delightful festival poster. Otero was on hand to sign copies of his posters on Wednesday October 3 at Dinard’s Palais des Arts -- la vache! where was I? This was followed by a screening of a 90-minute selection of the best British short films shown at the festival over the last two years.

There is also a host of admission free films this year, including the brilliant ‘Notes on a Scandal’ (Judi Dench surpasses herself in this film and Kate Blanchet is her usual wonderful self), ‘A Cock and Bull Story’, ‘History Boys’, ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Twenty Four Seven’, ‘Very British Gangster’ and the 'hoping-to-be-shocking'‘Irina Palm’, starring Marianne Faithfull.


Click on Link:

Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

Japanese Manga comic boosts Dordogne wine sales

"Taste of heaven: Manga spreads 'Drops of God' in Asia" reports Sophie Hardach in Reuters today.

Apparently "Wine reviews with a twist are a speciality of "Kami no Shizuku" ("The Drops of God"), a manga comic series that has taken Japan by storm, is conquering Korea and China and has boosted European wine sales along the way.
Written by a brother-and-sister duo of wine enthusiasts, the manga comic combines a mystery plot with a playful introduction to European wines. Think "The Da Vinci Code" set in a Tokyo bar.

"The minute it was translated into Korean, we had calls from three importers," said Basaline Granger Despagne, whose family has grown wine near France's Dordogne river for 250 years. Their Chateau Mont Perat 2001 Bordeaux appears early on in the manga. With this sudden interest, the producers are getting calls from all over for shipments of wine. Basaline Granger Despagne said her family had been approached by distributors in mainland China but had so far found no one they felt comfortable selling their wine to.

"When it was translated into Chinese, people called us from Taiwan saying, 'I bought some Mont Perat and sold 50 cases in two days because of the manga'," she said in a phone interview. In Korea, businessmen drop names from the serialised book into chats with reporters and shops display "Drops of God" signs.

Wine industry experts believe part of the manga's appeal is that it teaches readers enough about wine to understand the drink and impress their friends, but does so in an entertaining way. The main character of the manga, a young man called Shizuku Kanzaki, discovers the beauty of wine after his father, a famous wine critic, dies and leaves an unusual will: a description of 12 wines he considers to be the best in the world, comparing them to Jesus Christ's disciples. The first person to find these "disciples" will inherit the father's wine collection, a contest that pits Shizuku against his adoptive brother, Issey Tomine, who works as a sommelier."

The authors say the manga is not sponsored by anyone and they choose the wines based on their own independent research, including trips abroad and tastings.

Japan probably has the most developed wine scene in the Asia. At a recent wine tasting in Tokyo's Grand Hyatt hotel, row after row of Japanese wine lovers were expertly slurping, spitting and taking notes as German sommelier Markus Del Monego explained what they were drinking.

Early next year, "The Drops of God" will be published in French, possibly followed by Italian. The original book series is expected to continue for another five years or so, and there is talk of a film.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Related post:
Asterix vs Manga : Japanese comics conquer the hearts of France

Click on Link:

Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

The Norman Conquest in 4 minutes

I have never ventured into the domain of film clips on my blog. A am never sure of what my readers are able to download or access, and even the number of photographs on the blog, I know, may slow down many systems and consequently stop people from coming here to read.
But -- this little film clip is such a little gem, a four-minute clip that uses the Bayeaux Tapestry as a basis for an animated film of the events that led to the Norman Conquest. I simply had to share it with you. It should not be too difficult to view -- as it is in YouTube, so simply click on the URL and enjoy ---
"The Norman Conquest for Dummies"


Click on Link:

Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

60th Cannes Film Festival : It's a wrap!

Despite Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and George Clooney being the biggest draw cards at the 60th Cannes Film Festival this past week, (they were there to promote their film on the death of Daniel Perlman as well as "Oceans Thirteen", but they also raised a massive almost €10 000 000 for Darfur!), it was a small Romanian film that was crowned with the Golden Palm this year.
"Il semble enfin qu'on n'ait plus besoin de gros budgets et de grandes stars pour faire une histoire que tout le monde écoutera", exclaimed Romanian director, Cristian Mungiu, winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival last night. (It seems that finally we do not need big budgets and big stars to tell a story that the world will listen to). He continued to express his wish that this win for his very 'small' but powerful little film, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", which follows the harrowing journey of two women as they seek an illegal abortion in Communist Romania, will augur good things for the small film makers from small countries.

US film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen had been among those tipped to take home the Palme d'Or, but left with empty-handed. The American director Julian Schnabel won the best director prize for his adaptation of the best-selling French book, "Le scaphandre et le papillon", -- "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", the autobiography - and the most amazing feat of courage and perseverance of Jean-Dominique Bauby, while Japan's The Mourning Forest claimed the Grand Prix.

The important Jury Prize was shared between Mexico's Silent Light, by Carlos Reygadas, and animated Iranian film Persepolis, from Marjane Satrapi and France's Vincent Paronnaud.

Another US director Gus Van Sant, and Cannes favourite, won a special prize - created to celebrate the festival's 60th year- for his film Paranoid Park, about a teenage skateboarder's dark secret.

Actress Jane Fonda was handed a surprise lifetime achievement award by festival chief Gilles Jacob. "You are a woman who fights and wins," he told the 69-year-old Hollywood star - who stole the show on the red carpet last night with her radiance and elegance.

The international jury, led by British director Stephen Frears, selected the winners from a shortlist of 22 films, which included Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, David Fincher's Zodiac and Wong Kar Wai's My Blueberry Nights with Jude Law and Norah Jones.
The team of the winning film on the red carpet at the closing ceremnoy of the 60th Cannes Film Festival

Click on Link:

Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France