WOuld it be possible to put listings for short films into the TV guides. I am using DigiGuide and have often wished I was better prepared for taping some of these gems.
F4 has screened some short-film gems in the past - the only problem is I only find out about them when they are half-way through their duration! For instance last year they screened one of my favourite films of 2001, a 6 minute short entitled THE HEART OF THE WORLD - as far as I know it didn't turn up again, and in the end I had to purchase it on an American dvd. A schedule would be really helpful so I can set my video to catch these movies, instead of spending my limited funds on buying them. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with the channel.
are there any plans for another japanese cinema season?
<kam1nsk1>
Posted
FilmFour Editor
We are debating whether or not to get FilmFour over Christmas, but as this might mean we would have to axe Sky Sports to balance the economics of such a move. I know, sounds ridiculous (Get rid of Sky Sports?!) but we spend most of the day in the pub where we can watch it for free, and my mate Jase said FilmFour had loads of full frontal, so answers to the following would be helpful:-
1. Is The Great Escape scheduled for Christmas day or Boxing day?
2. Is FilmFour planning to show the Queens speech, or are you just going to put a break in programming to allow us to turn over?
3. Last Christmas I came home from the pub at about 1 am Christmas morning to discover that there was some arty-farty rubbish on BBC2. Can you guarantee this will not happen if I get FilmFour, possibly by showing the Die Hard trilogy from about 11, followed by two more Bruce Willis films of equal calibre (Say...Hudson Hawk and Mercury Rising)?
4. How many Police Academy films will be on between Christmas Eve and New Years Day?
5. Will you be showing the normal version of Mary Poppins, or has Kermode finally got the censors to release the uncut bit where Mary slides down the banister while fully mounted rather than side-saddle and then pulls a funny face at the end because of the knob (Again, my mate Jase told me about this)?
6. In that Carry On film where you get to see Peggy Mitchells knockers, will you get to see the full tit or has Kermode managed to talk the censor into snipping it see theres just a suggestion of nip?
7. Is there a no drugs guarantee over Christmas? I for one think that Christmas is special and should not be soiled with a lot of druggys taking over on TV. Last Year I came in bladdered, put Trainspotting on and that trippy baby scene made me sick all over my fags. Only thing that could stop me spinning out was a bit of Terminator, so I don't want any of that nonsense spoiling the spirit of Christmas, right?
Many thanks for your assistance in helping me decide upon this difficult decision.
Take a look at our exclusive interview with Denis Lawson, who directed Solid Geometry (and is also Ewan McGregor's uncle), for background info on the film...
I find Film Four to be excellent value for money. I know you screened Harry Kumel's MALPERTUIS some years ago, and wondered if you plan to show it again, along with the excellent ELINE VERE from the same director. I caught both films at London's NFT in July and would love to see them again.
Dammit, when? I always scour the listings but can't remember seeing it there. I saw MALPURTUIS at the NFT this year too and just adored it. Didn't manage to catch any of the other Kumel films 'cause I was on holiday. Hopefully the NFT will release it on their video/DVD imprint.
If you liked MALPURTUIS I recommend you also check out an absolutly superb Polish film called THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT - it's a favourite of Coppola, Scorsese and Bunuel. It's a mind-bending surrealist masterpiece. It's recently been released on region 1 DVD in the US - seriously try to check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
By the way FAR FROM HEAVEN will be on in the NFT in February. I remember Deadringer you said you wanted to check the movie out so... now's the oppurtunity!
Hello, I am new on Channel Four Forums and just wanted to say that had Film Four with ITV Digital. I have not got in again yet as I have had problems, but I think it is the best by far of all movie channels. I love the way they show all sorts of films, not afraid to try new idea's. GREAT PLEASE KEEP DOING THIS, AS I SORT OUT GETTING IT AGAIN.
quote:Originally posted by James Creamer: Dammit, when? I always scour the listings but can't remember seeing it there. I saw MALPURTUIS at the NFT this year too and just adored it. Didn't manage to catch any of the other Kumel films 'cause I was on holiday. Hopefully the NFT will release it on their video/DVD imprint.
If you liked MALPURTUIS I recommend you also check out an absolutly superb Polish film called THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT - it's a favourite of Coppola, Scorsese and Bunuel. It's a mind-bending surrealist masterpiece. It's recently been released on region 1 DVD in the US - seriously try to check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
By the way FAR FROM HEAVEN will be on in the NFT in February. I remember Deadringer you said you wanted to check the movie out so... now's the oppurtunity!
Thanks for the info, re FAR FROM HEAVEN, James. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until this film plays at my nearest cinema (in Derby). Cheers also for the shout on THE SARAGOSSO MANUSCRIPT. This is certainly on my 'wants list' - even more so, after your recommendation. Recently read a review of the disc in 'Video Watchdog' and it sounds right up my street. Not sure when MALPERTUIS was screened on Channel Four, though a friend who came along to the NFT screening, while we were on holiday in London, told me it must have been more than 6 or 7 years ago. Well worth another airing, Film Four! Like you, I was knocked out by this film, James. Did you see Kumel introduce DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS? This must have been the week before my holiday, so I had to miss it. Apparently, DAUGHTERS will be coming out on DVD again, in the US, later this year.
Blue Underground (an off-shoot of Anchor Bay) will be releasing the film sometime in 2002. I really look forward to it. I think it will probably get a release here too as recent R1 Blue Underground releases such as EUGENIE THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY and JUSTINE DE SADE are to be release in the UK over the coming months.
Unfortunately I missed the Kumel intro to DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. A pity, as what I have seen of his output (just those two films) I have been thoroughly impressed. Thanks for the info though!
Good to hear there's another Video Watchdog fan on the boards - just got my new copy yesterday, their review for THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT was very good.
Unfortunately I missed the Kumel intro to DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. A pity, as what I have seen of his output (just those two films) I have been thoroughly impressed. Thanks for the info though!
Good to hear there's another Video Watchdog fan on the boards - just got my new copy yesterday, their review for THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT was very good.
Hope Kumel's ELINE VERE turns up in some form, as I have a hunch you'll like this film, James; particularly if you admire Terence Davies' excellent HOUSE OF MIRTH. ELINE VERE is similar, but the last 10 minutes are even more emotionally draining. Yes, I'm another'Watchdog' reader. They have some great writers on board, and the DVD section is a must-read for anyone interested in the format.
<hrothgar2003>
Posted
Given the interest in (and magnificence of) Jackson's adaptation of LORD OF THE RINGS, is there any chance of seeing some of his earlier works on FilmFour? (or have they been on and I've just missed them... hope not!) In particular, how about Bad Taste and Forgotten Silver, neither of which I've yet seen :-)
Film Four have screened an extensive selection of Jackson films in the past: BAD TASTE, MEET THE FEEBLES,BRAINDEAD, HEAVENLY CREATURES and FORGOTTEN SILVER (although I'm unsure if they ever broadcast THE FRIGHTENERS). I think it's about time they were screened again, especially considering the meteoric surge of interest in all things Jackson related. I missed FORGOTTEN SILVER but welcome the oppurtunity to see it - I've heard it's a very convincing mockumentary about a fictitious filmmaker which had many viewers fooled into believing it's subject was real!
I just watched HEAVENLY CREATURES this week for the first time in four years, and found it to be even better second time round. It's undoubtedly the finest of the Jackson films I've seen (still haven't caught the latest installment of LOTR's) - a work of immense beauty that presents one of the most convincing descents into madness and despair ever realised in cinema. I for one was left completely shell-shocked - not only by the subject matter of the film but also by the faultless performances, Jackson's sensitive and remarkably restrained direction (don't forget all we have seen prior to this were splatter-fests like BRAINDEAD), the claustraphobic fatalism, and sheer visual inventiveness - Jackson's handling of the blossoming friendship between the protagonists and their escalating retreat into fantasy (which gradually impinges and becomes blurred with their reality) is a wonder to behold. I don't feel it's too much of an exaggeration to say that this is one of the finest films of the nineties. It certainly deserves to be as recognised as Jackson's latest Hollywood forays - I hope F4 gives this film the oppurtunity to reach the wider audience it so richly deserves.
Hmm. I though that they probably would have done and that I'd missed them... I hope they do screen them again -- after all, surely advertising a FilmFour Peter Jackson "the director of Lord of the Rings" season on Channel 4 might get a few new subscribers to FilmFour as well ;-)
*Forgotten Silver* is really the one I want to see, though I certainly wouldn't object to a screening of *Heavenly Creatures* as this is one of my all-time favourites and would surely be appealing to *LOTR* fans more than, perhaps, *Braindead* (a great movie but not for everyone methinks :-))
<hrothgar2003>
Posted
Hmm, just noticed that *Heavenly Creatures* is on tonight on BBC2, so that's one down, five to go.
<kenji mizoguchi>
Posted
I was delighted when first getting Film 4, about 6 months ago, to find films that have been unavailable on tv and video in Britain- in fact noticing they were on F4 was the reason i got digital tv. Films like Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson), and Where is the Friend's Home? (Kiarostami). Had Film 4 existed years before i could have saved myself a packet in buying and renting videos.
But- why are these films repeated week after week? They may be a selling point, but wouldn't it be preferable for existing subscribers to have more variety? Bergman season; fine, but does it have to continue for so many weeks?
I may have missed some excellent Film 4 stuff in the past, but here are some suggestions- highly rated international films that are otherwise inaccessible in Britain (rarely if ever on TV, and not on video);
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer), Jeanne Dielman (Akerman), Story of the late Chrysanthemums, Chikamatsu Monogatari, Straits of Love and Hate (Mizoguchi), The Travelling Players, Landscape in the Mist (Angelopoulos), Late Spring (Ozu), Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch), L'Age d'Or, Los Olvidados (Bunuel), Casque d'Or (Becker), Spring in a Small town (Fei Mu), Street Angel (Yuan Mushi), Come and See (Klimov), Hour of the Furnaces (Solanas), Black God White Devil (Rocha), Memories of Underdevelopment (Alea), Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr), No or the Vianglory of Command (Oliveira), Spirited Away (Miyazaki), Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Ruiz), Mandala (Im Kwon-Taek), The Land (Chahine), Pyaasa (Dutt), Chimes at Midnight (Welles), Barren Lives (Dos Santos), Fires on the Plain (Ichikawa), Asthenic Syndrome (Muratova), Ceddo (Sembene).
Many of the above directors- Mizoguchi (a truly great master), Ozu, Miyazaki, Oliveira- have been grossly under-represented here, and are overdue a season.
How about a Japanese season that extends way beyond Kurosawa- or of early Chinese classics now being acclaimed, or Korean films, or Latin America and Africa?
A long thread, sorry, but i hope these can be considered by F4 programmers.
