Wild Strawberries: expressionistic and Freudian dream sequences
"There are other Expressionist and certainly Freudian dream sequences in the picture, almost always with the old man appearing in them as his present self. And some of these, largely because so many have badly copied, now look a little self-conscious- arty even. But the film's ability to engage the emotions makes it notable for more than just technique.
One of the prime reasons is what can only be described as the transcendent performance of Victor Sjostrom as Professor Borg. Sjostrom was the great Swedish silent-era director, who died aged 80, not long after the film was completed and whose The Phantom Carriage had so influenced Bergman. It was he who made the final scene one of the most serene of all Bergman's endings. 'Sjostrom's face shone', said the director. 'It emanated light - a reflection of a different reality, hitherto absent. His whole appearance was soft and gentle, his glance joyful and tender. It was like a miracle'.
Later, Bergman admitted that the character of Borg was an attempt to justify himself to his own parents, but that Sjostrom had taken his text, made it his own and invested it with Sjostrom's often painful experiences. It is still, however, chiefly concerned with forgiveness between parents and children and the lost possibilities of youth."
(Derek Malcolm, 10 June 1999)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Ken Loach gives away entire film catalogue on YouTube
"Ken Loach has been one of the world's most-admired film-makers for nearly half a century but in Britain he has increasingly wondered how to attract an audience.
Now Loach and his producer, Rebecca O'Brien, have come up with a radical solution: they are giving away all of his films free on YouTube.
The Ken Loach Films section of the video-sharing website offers five of Loach's feature films available to download, along with Carry on Ken, a documentary about the director made to mark his 70th birthday in 2006.
The aim is to add a film each week with a view to converting the site to a modestly priced pay-per-view service once a core audience is established. Films less than five years old are not included to avoid compromising DVD revenue."
(Times Online, 29 May 2010)
Fig.1 Loach, K. (1966). Cathy Come Home. UK, BBC.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Choose A Different Ending: interactive advertising
"Nottingham based filmmaker Simon Ellis has been making quality short films for ages now. His latest short 'Soft' won a TON of awards including being nominated for a BAFTA.
He's recently finished directing a commercial for a big anti knife campaign that will be running both online and on TV. The online commercial is different in that it's interactive, allowing the viewer to decide the destiny of the main character.
The key to this is it puts you slap bang in the centre of a world and you decide what choices the main character makes. Through great acting and camera-work, the result is something very effective. The point is to show you the consequences of the multitude of different choices when it comes to knife crime."
(BritFilms TV, 2009)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Robert J. Flaherty: How I Filmed Nanook of the North
"New forms of travel film were coming out and the Johnson South Sea Island film particularly seemed to me to be an earnest of what might be done in the North. I began to believe that a good film depicting the Eskimo and his fight for existence in the dramatically barren North might be well worth while. To make a long story short, I decided to go north again- this time wholly for the purpose of making films."
(Robert J. Flaherty, 1922)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
