Shetland Arts’ annual film festival, Screenplay 2011, kicks off this weekend, and runs from 26th August to 4th.
September. For the fifth year in a row, Screenplay will be co-curated by Professor Linda Ruth Williams and film critic Mark Kermode. This year they will be joined by film producers Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley, who between them have produced some of the best British films ever made, including “Made in Dagenham” (Wednesday 31st August) , and “The Crying Game” (Thursday 1st September).
One of Britain’s most versatile and popular actors, Jim Broadbent, is also making a very welcome appearance at Britain’s most northerly film festival. Jim has appeared in an impressive list of award-winning films and box office hits, including, “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows”, “The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe” and “The Damned United”. The festival will feature screenings of “Topsy-Turvy”, and “Longford” on Saturday 3rd September, with Jim holding question and answer sessions after both screenings.
Amongst the screenings of films for young people is “Hans Christian Andersen” starring the incomparable Danny Kaye and preceded by a quick sing-along practise session with Mark Kermode of the “Ugly Duckling” song.
Other children’s events include the latest “Winnie The Pooh” and two special programmes of short films put together by the London International Animation Festival.
The work of local filmmakers will be showcased in “Home Made in Shetland” on Thursday 1 September. As well as the ten submissions shown at this event there will be continuous screenings of locally made film at the Shetland Museum and Archive auditorium during the weekend.
Independent film making is celebrated by screenings of “Chico and Rita” (one of Mark Kermode’s top ten films of last year), “Life, Above All” (winner of the Francois Chalais Prize at Cannes), and Gareth Edwards’ impressive debut feature, “Monsters”.
Making a return to the festival with “The Space Between”, the Edinburgh-based film he wrote and directed, is Tim Barrow who previously produced “The Inheritance”, an award winning Scottish road movie which was screened at Screenplay 2009.
