#London Independent Film Festival
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thejohnfleming · 9 months ago
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Jason Cook: grit, determination, a cracker of a story and a new movie...
Jason Cook on his phone in Borehamood Jason Cook has turned up occasionally in this blog. The last time was in December 2021 when my opening sentence was “You need grit and determination – and nowadays, ideally, the potential for sequels – to get movies made
” Jason Cook has grit and determination, is indefatigable, has a staggeringly fertile creative mind and he has sequels and now a

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emotionaldreamer · 10 months ago
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New Trailer for Hoard just dropped from Letterboxd on Instagram
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ajepyx · 7 months ago
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SLEEP UNTIL NOON Wins "Best Music Video" at London Film Awards
SLEEP UNTIL NOON Wins "Best Music Video" at London Film Awards
In a big update from yesterday, our music video for Milan Lazistan’s “Sleep Until Noon” won the “Best Music Video” and “Gold Award” at the London Film Awards! This is our first accolade from the United Kingdom! Thank you to everyone who supported the video! “Sleep Until Noon” will be screening at CLOSE-UP, 97 Sclater St, London E1 6HR, United Kingdom on June 24th 8-10PM.
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schlock-luster-video · 9 months ago
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On April 1, 2008, Mala Noche was screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
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world-of-wales · 11 months ago
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PRINCE OF WALES DIARIES ♔
18 FEBRUARY 2024 || 77TH BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS
The Prince of Wales attended the EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The Awards are an annual celebration of the extraordinary skills, talent and craft of the film industry presented and hosted by BAFTA British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games andtelevision to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. The Prince of Wales became their President in 2010. He watched the Awards ceremony before meeting category winners and EE Rising Star Award nominees.
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jgroffdaily · 3 months ago
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Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff are well-known for their blockbusters – but their latest project, the critically acclaimed indie A Nice Indian Boy, marks a welcome gear change.
The guys discussed their new film, currently rated 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Attitude alongside director Roshan Sethi at last night’s BFI London Film Festival screening at the Curzon Mayfair.
Asked to sum up the film’s plot, Karan said: “My character meets Jonathan’s character, we fall in love, and then I have to introduce him to my very traditional Indian family. He has to win them over before the wedding.”
Added Jonathan: “I just watched the movie for the first time a couple of days ago; I wanted to see it in a theatre, not a link on my laptop. And I was so overwhelmed by the power of this movie.”
“I’ve been saying the movie is for everyone – for queer people, for not queer people, for Indian people, not Indian people,” Roshan meanwhile told us.
Sharing feedback he’s received from parents at screening Q&As, Karan said: “They spoke about their own journey, with not going to their children’s weddings. They’ve come to peace with it years later, but they’ve missed chunks of their lives with their children. A lot of them spoke about, if they had a version of this movie earlier, maybe would have bridged that gap sooner.”
Jonathan, of course, is known for his work in the two Frozen films and 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, plus popular TV shows like Glee and Looking. The Tony Award-winner is also a stage veteran, with credits including Hamilton and Merrily We Roll Along.
“That would be amazing if that happened,” said Jonathan of the possibility of fans of his studio films supporting this title. “That, in some ways, is out of our control. But in my gut, I feel like great work and great art finds its way. I believed in this script and this team. 
 Happily, if there are people who are Glee or Frozen or Mindhunter or musical theatre fans, I’m so happy to bring them this story. But I think the movie is powerful enough to bring people on its own accord.”
Describing the plot of the film, Roshan said: “We shot a dance sequence that appears somewhere in the movie. It was tremendously difficult, but very memorable!” And asked for standout feedback to the film, he said: “Probably from my mother, who said she understood me in a way she hadn’t before! It was very sweet, very moving.”
Reflecting on the importance of film criticism, Roshan said: “It’s the most important thing. This is my second independent film, and third overall. In each case, independent films in particular, 
 survive on the critics’ response. That’s what gets the attention of distributors, who are all reading every single review and looking at the Rotten Tomatoes score. It [makes it] easier to make the next movie as well. It makes a huge, huge difference. Also, people at the distributors often don’t believe there’s an audience for a movie. Critics often prove that there is.”
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anothersebastianblog · 7 months ago
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Calendar of events that Sebastian could attend in the second half of 2024:
ADM screening at Bergmann Center (FÄrö) june 26th
ADM screening at KVIFF (CR) june 29th-30th, july 6th
ADM screening at the Chicago Sundance Institute june 29th-30th
Ethan’s bday july 13th
Video call with Don july 16th
Chace’s bday july 18th
ADM screening at New Horizon film festival in Poland july
Charles’s bday July 25th
Kevin Feige’s walk of fame star ceremony july 25th CONFIRMED
San Diego comic con july 27th CONFIRMED
ADM screening at Melbourne film festival aug 8-25th
ADM screening at the new zeland film festival aug 1st and 5th
D23 aug 9-10-11th
Sebastian’s bday aug 13th
The apprentice at Telluride aug 31st CONFIRMED
Annabelle’s 40th bday Sept 5th
The Apprentice at TIFF sept 5th
ADM screening at Deauville ff + sebastian receiving the rising star award sept 9th - 10th CONFIRMED
ADM screening and pre recorded Q&A for Film Independent (LA) sept 11th CONFIRMED
ADM at LIFF (Leeds) sept 14th
ADM premiere and redcarpet CONFIRMED sept 17th
ADM at Cinéfest Sudbury (Ontario) sept 18th
ADM releases in theaters sept 20th
Sebastian at the TODAY SHOW sept 20th CONFIRMED
ADM screening + Q&A with cast (NY) sept 20th and 21st CONFIRMED
ADM at fantastic fest (Austin) sept 22nd CONFIRMED
Sebastian @ Jimmy Kimmel live (LA) sept 25th CONFIRMED
ADM q&a in LA sept 24 and 25th CONFIRMED
ADM at VIFF (vancouver) sept 26th and 28th
LA premiere of The Apprentice sept 29th
BAFTA screening of ADM + q&a oct 2nd CONFIRMED
Sebastian at Graham Norton Show oct 4th CONFIRMED
Sebastian at WTF pocast Oct 7th CONFIRMED
Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong on CBS Morning talking TA Oct 8th CONFIRMED
NYC premiere of The Apprentice Oct 8th CONFIRMED
ADM at Sitges FF oct 3rd-12th
THE APPRENTICE releases in theaters oct 11th
Sebastian at Zurich ff oct 12th CONFIRMED
TA at BFI london ff oct 15th and 17th CONFIRMED
Danish premiere of TA oct 16th CONFIRMED
Sebastian attends the annual Academy Museum Gala oct 20th CONFIRMED
CDFA awards oct 28th CONFIRMED
Sebastian awarded at SCAD Savannah FF (Georgia) nov 2nd CONFIRMED
Sebastian awarded at Miami ff nov 3rd CONFIRMED
Liverpool comic con nov 9th and 10th CONFIRMED
Governor awards nov 17th CONFIRMED
The leading men Party by LaMagazine (LA) nov 20th CONFIRMED
FYC event for The Apprentice (LA) nov 21st CONFIRMED
Gotham Awards dec 2nd CONFIRMED
The tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon dec 5th CONFIRMED
American Cinematheque Awards dec 6th CONFIRMED
thunderbolts* reshoots dec 10-18th atlanta CONFIRMED
American cinematheque Q&A in LA dec 18th CONFIRMED
Tokyo Comic Con dec 28-29-30th CONFIRMED
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fancyschmancyopinions · 9 months ago
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JODIE COMER at the 2023 British Independent Film Festival on December 3rd 2023 in London wearing KHAITE
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canmom · 2 months ago
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more relevantly to my actual life...
today I went down to the shipbuilding museum in Govan, on the site of the old Fairfields Shipyard. in Victorian times and much of the 20th century, this area was a massive industrial hub, a huge line of shipyards that built all kinds of ships from ocean liners to warships and oil tankers. the industrial history - how they built the ships, how it shaped the local architecture that includes the house I live in today, who these people like John Elder in the statues were, was pretty fascinating. but the broader narrative was a curious one.
Govan's history has a curious intertwining of political philosophies. Scotland has a certain degree of sectarianism, albeit not Northern Ireland bad, and Govan falls into the box of being a loyalist area, which still manifests in various traditions like the 'Pride of Govan' parade (which I encountered mostly as a loud clattering sound). there is a string of nationalist pride in the history told by the museum, when they talk about warships and so on, how at one point two-thirds of the world's ships were built in Britain and many of them right here.
but equally, it's a very working class area and it has a real socialist history. sure, I don't have to walk too far to find a statue of John Elder, the industrialist, and another of his wife who set up the park opposite the shipyard - but at the train station there is also a statue of local hero Mary Barbour, who led a successful rent strike during the First World War's crackdown on labour, and she too gets her space in the museum. some of the museum exhibits concerned the sort of labour history of the place - the strict seven-minute toilet breaks and history of lethal accidents.
the Fairfield company did not survive the second half of the 20th century, and went under a few decades back, leaving the shipyard facilities to change hands a few times. most recently, after having its future be in question for many years, the Fairfields shipyard was taken over by BAE Systems to make naval ships, such as destroyers, patrol boats and segments of aircraft carriers. at the museum this mostly seems to be treated as a good thing, part of the story of the 2010s economic revitalisation of the area. and I can imagine this shipyard does, in fact, employ a lot of people. the hangar-like building they've just erected there (to build some sort of ship) is a looming symbol of the military-industrial complex that I see whenever I am out in Govan.
and yet, it is also not something that seems to sit easily with people here. a local newsletter reported on a Palestine protest outside the shipyard and the harsh police response, in terms that heavily favoured the protestors. even if the shipyard employs a lot of people for the sake of the country's 'interests' (seriously they put that on the big recruitment poster), I don't get the impression I'm surrounded by nationalists.
actually pretty much all the people I have met in Glasgow have been awesome. there's all sorts of little social spaces and music groups and libraries and independent film festivals and so on around here, and so much nerd and weeb shit over in the city centre. I feel like I might be able to develop a sense of being part of a place that I never really managed to find in London (more on me than the Londoners, really).
come to think of it, there is also plentiful graffiti around town - most of it is of course tags, there is a really thriving tagging culture - but here are there are political ones, in most cases actually about Israel and Palestine. the 'free palestine' ones are not surprising and a welcome sight, but I do scratch my head at the one local (I assume) who went round drawing Israel's flag in blue pen and writing 'IDF' on surfaces, which seems off-message insofar as it comes off a lot more like a gang symbol than a reference to a nice clean professional military...
I still haven't managed to see the Govan Stones, the other big piece of History in Govan. the old church is closed, and won't reoopen until the summer. still, it's really cool that this museum exists, and I definitely recommend swinging by (entry is free). they have see some huge model ships, insane amounts of videos, and a pretty cool 3D visualisation of the evolution of the area, and the attendant was really keen to chat with me and my friend and tell us about the exhibits lmao
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brian-in-finance · 4 months ago
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Orlando Bloom /The Cut
Orlando Bloom And Sean Ellis Talk About Star’s Transformation Into Past-His-Prime Boxer In ‘The Cut’: “He Was Willing To Have His Nose Broken” – Toronto Film Festival
Sean Ellis’s sixth feature, following the deliriously atmospheric 19th-century vampire movie Eight for Silver (2021), is yet another curveball from the criminally underrated British director. Titled The Cut, it is the story of a past-his-prime boxer who goes behind his wife Caitlin’s back to accept a lucrative comeback fight in Las Vegas. But this is not yet another Rocky-style underdog story, the kind that culminates in the ring. Instead, it is a sometimes-shocking psychological thriller, a sort of boxing procedural that details the extreme lengths that cornered fighters will go to. On paper, it sounds like Southpaw, but in reality, it has a little more in common with this year’s Cannes hit The Substance, a visceral body-horror movie about a fading starlet (Demi Moore) and her desperate drive to maintain her fame.
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Sean Ellis / Getty Images
In The Cut it is actor Orlando Bloom’s turn to defy expectations. As the boxer, the former Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings star is a revelation. He’s not entirely unrecognizable as the matinee idol of the 2000s, but, thanks to the magic of prosthetics, he certainly looks like he’s been through the wringer, and his return to professional boxing is not a sure thing. In fact, the most suspense in the film is generated by the initial weigh-in, which will determine whether he even gets to fight in his own title category at all. Caitlin (Caitríona Balfe), his wife and his trainer, can only get him so far, and when the team gets to Vegas, the boxer meets the charismatic Boz (John Turturro). Boz hooks into the boxer’s insecurities, drawing him into an increasingly dangerous training and weight-loss routine.
With the film about to make its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Deadline sat down with Ellis and Bloom to discuss the film and its themes.
DEADLINE: Where did the project start? Who was attached first?
ORLANDO BLOOM: I’d worked with our producer, Mark Lane, some years ago on a movie for Tea Shop Productions. We did a movie together in London called Retaliation, but it was released as The Romans. It was another small, British independent movie production. It was brutal, and I loved the brutality of it. One day Mark said, “I’ve got another one for you,” and he pitched me The Cut. We talked about it, and I loved it immediately. I loved the idea — the premise of a boxing movie without the boxing, where the focus of the fight wasn’t the boxing match itself but rather the fight within the character, who just happened to be a boxer. I thought that was really fascinating, an interesting commentary on the way masculinity operates within that space.
We worked on the script for about a year or two with [screenwriter] Justin Bull, who was fantastic. And then we were just over the moon when Sean read it and responded to it exactly as you’d hope a director with his kind of vision would. He said, “Yeah, I see this.” [To Sean.] Right, Sean? That’s the long and short of it, isn’t it?
SEAN ELLIS: Yeah, that was pretty much it. The first time I read it, actually, was over the Christmas period [in 2022]. Mark had sent it to me, and I was interested because I’d been looking to do a boxing movie. But how do you do a boxing movie? I mean, it’s become almost a genre in itself. They’ve become so clichĂ©d. Like submarine movies: You’ve got to have a scene with one person trapping themself in the air lock and drowning, as they tap away at the little porthole.
With boxing, you’ve got to have an impossible match that they’re not going to win, and then they either do or they don’t. And I thought The Cut was just a really interesting take on that. It was the about the preparation that an athlete goes through, and the drama of that. I thought that was so much more interesting than anything we’ve already seen in a boxing movie. I called Mark back, and I said, “It’s great.” I mean, it grabs you and it doesn’t let go. And it really delivers. It doesn’t let you down, and it really takes you right through to the end. And as OB was saying, it’s pretty brutal.
BLOOM: It’s an assault on the senses — which was kind of what it was like for me, physically.
ELLIS: Yeah. But I love cinema like that. I love it when it grabs you and shakes you. I think that’s what cinema should do.
DEADLINE: Orlando, how much did you weigh when you started the process?
BLOOM: I was about 185 pounds. [Laughs.] Sorry to use pounds and not stone!
DEADLINE: Same as the character?
BLOOM: Give or take.
DEADLINE: How did you lose the weight?
BLOOM: We worked with a great nutritionist called Philip Goglia. He started me on a program about three months prior to filming, and I tiered down from there. I was eating more food than I’d expected, in order to maintain the muscle but drop the weight. There was a sort of science to how much and how often I was eating, like having a spoonful of honey at night, things like that, to hold the muscle but lose the fat. This was three months prior to filming, so when I landed in London to start — which was about three and a half weeks before filming started — I would say I weighed about 170 pounds. I’d dropped quite a lot of weight before I came to the UK, and then in that three-week period I was basically eating five tiny meals a day. A lot of it was tuna and cucumber, and nothing else. I dropped to 152 pounds for the weigh-in scene. We shot that at the beginning of the movie, and then we shot the whole movie backwards.
DEADLINE: Why was that?
BLOOM: Philip, the nutritionist was like, “He’s not going to have any brain function or energy to make the movie.” [Laughs.] He said, “You’ve got to start with the weight loss and then feed him through the movie.” So, we shot the movie in reverse. I remember, I had this massive drop [in weight], because I was sitting at about 163 pounds for what felt like forever. And the training regime was a lot. It was two hours of cardio every day, an hour in the morning and again at night, and then boxing, and then weights, and a very limited amount of food.
I’d already started training — I’d been doing boxing training in America before I came over — and then I dropped 10 pounds of water weight in one night, which was crazy. Philip had told me about this routine that boxers do — they have a hot Epsom-salt bath. I don’t know whether it’s down to osmosis or just some weird body science, but it worked. I had a photo of myself, and I sent it to my partner and my mates, who were tracking me through this wild experience. I sent it to Sean. And then I sat in this space of that weight for about two and a half weeks before we started filming. [Pause] Is that right, Sean? I have to say, my brain is very scrambled

ELLIS: Yeah, he came to us at his lightest weight because you can’t lose weight and work. It’s almost impossible — you can’t remember your lines or anything else. So, Phil said, “He has to come to you at his lightest, and then you need to allow him to start eating again. But that means you have to shoot the movie in reverse chronological order.” Now, chronological order is a nightmare at the best of times. But reverse chronological order is a total Rubik’s cube. We only had 25 shooting days, and, obviously, Orlando was putting weight on as we were reaching the end of the shoot, which was actually the beginning of the film. But when you edit it in reverse, he starts off heavy and then goes to his lightest point. It was a big jigsaw puzzle, but we got there.
DEADLINE: How did you feel about him losing all that weight? Did you ever feel guilty?
ELLIS: Mark Lane said, “Look, he’s really committed to this. Have a call with him and see if you guys jell,” and I did, instantly. But more than that, what I saw in OB was a huge commitment to make this right. And he was willing to do anything. I think at one point we even spoke about him going to the dentist and having his teeth filed and recapped. There was also the idea that he was willing to have his nose broken. [Laughs.] I was like, “I’m not sure we have to go that far.” But Orlando’s a good-looking bloke, and we were thinking, “How do we convince the world that he’s a professional boxer and make him look like a professional boxer?”
[British makeup artist] Mark Coulier came in and did a lot of work on his face. Mark got an Oscar nomination for Elvis. I’ve worked with him on a couple of movies and he’s just amazing. He took a head-sculpt of Orlando and then showed us what he would be able to do with him. A broken nose; fake ears that were more like cauliflower ears from the fighting; a change of the jawline — there were these “plumpers” that went into his mouth — and the teeth. The eyes as well: Mark gave him a droopy boxer’s eyelid.
I remember when I saw him sitting in the makeup chair. He had the haircut and everything, and I thought, “I buy this guy as a professional fighter.” At that point, he didn’t actually look like Orlando, strangely enough. In fact, I remember when we were shooting, there were two girls in the hotel we were using — just were members of the public — and they were waiting for the elevator to go down. Orlando was down the other end of the corridor, in his pants, and one of them nudged the other one. She whispered, “That’s Orlando Bloom.” The other one looked up and said, “Nah,” and then they got in the lift. I was laughing, because they didn’t recognize him.
DEADLINE: Were you surprised by his dedication?
ELLIS: Even from that first call with him, it was obvious that he was just so committed to this film and was willing to immerse himself. We were referencing [Irish featherweight and lightweight champion] Conor McGregor for a while, to the point where we started talking about the character being Irish, and we loved that idea. Then we cast Caitríona [Balfe], who’s Irish as well, and it made even more sense. It felt like the journey from Ireland to Vegas was bigger, because in the original script he was American, I think. Those changes came about from just me and Orlando talking about the character. I love his accent in it. Honestly, he’s not giving us an Orlando that we’ve seen before, and I love that. I love the change.
DEADLINE: Why did you want CaitrĂ­ona?
ELLIS: I’d seen her in a couple of movies, Belfast and Ford v Ferrari, and her TV show Outlander. And at the point when we were having these discussions about Orlando playing Irish, I was like, “Well, let’s find an Irish actress.” So, I spoke to Jamie Dornan about Caitríona, because he’d worked with her on Belfast, and I said, “What’s she like? Is she nice? I love her movies. Is she good to work with?” And he was like, “Oh, she’s the best.” So, I got that endorsement, we offered it to her, and, luckily, she said yes. [To Bloom] It was just the three of us a lot of the time, wasn’t it?
DEADLINE: How did her casting affect the script?
ELLIS: A lot of her character was really born out of a lot of the discussions that the three of us had about the relationship that the two characters had. How their past dictated their relationship, and how it was going to dictate their future. So, it was really lovely just to work with both Orlando and Caitríona on finding those characters and really giving them life without really having to spell it out. Boz has more of a visual background, because you see him in flashbacks, but what I love about Caitríona’s character is that there’s a lot of subtext in her performance. It’s not overwritten, but you still get a sense of her life and what’s happened to her in the past.
BLOOM: I remember a conversation I had with her when we first spoke. I called her up. In the early drafts, the script was really centered on this transformation that the boxer goes through, the inner torment and the fight. And I said to Caitríona, “Look at the script as a blueprint, because there’s so much more between the lines than there is in the lines.” I really wanted the authenticity of this relationship to play. Because I think he can’t live without her. He can’t function, he can’t operate without her.
DEADLINE: In the middle of these two you have John Turturro as his trainer, Boz. It’s a very interesting part, almost like a kind of sadistic Jiminy Cricket

ELLIS: We had many conversations about the script before John actually came on board, but I think John wanted to reassure himself that he was right about how he was going to do it. Because when John turned up — am I right, OB? — he’d fully formed that character. You said, “Action,” and John just did it. There was no, “What do you think?” He’d decided how Boz was going to be.
BLOOM: Can I jump in, Sean? What was on the page for that character was completely different to what John brought to the film. I remember sitting next to him in the makeup chair, and I was in and out of consciousness, in terms of how I felt emotionally. I was paranoid as hell. It was a really weird time, because of my mental state: I wasn’t having any food. Or sleep. I wasn’t sleeping because you don’t sleep when you’re not eating — you keep waking up.
And then he said to me, “It’s love.” And I was like, “What?” He said, “It’s a love story.” And my mind exploded. Sean was like, “Yeah, of course it’s a love story.” But his part wasn’t really written like that. He was written as a pretty straightforward character, like a drill sergeant, very aggressive. And then when he told me that, it became this love triangle in my mind. Boz was seducing me, in a way, into his web. Like, “You’re my guy now.”
Obviously, I’ve been huge fan of the man and the actor for years, and everything he’s ever done. That part could have been so generic in the hands of anyone else, but he just knew what to do. He was sprinkling magic dust all around us. I think we had that conversation on the second day of filming because we were all a bit thrown to begin with. Do you remember that, Sean? I was, certainly. I was like, “Wait, what’s going on?”
ELLIS: I remember Mark coming up to me and saying, “So, is that how we want Boz to be?” Because Boz was very much on the page as a character like the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. I remember saying to him, “That’s John Turturro, and he’s giving you Boz. It might not be the Boz you saw on the page, but it is a Boz, and he’s absolutely made it his own.” As OB said, he’s sinister, he’s conniving, and he’s also kind of a groomer, because he understands his victim and he knows how to take control. So, he really pulled himself into this in a very insidious way, which I find very creepy and just brilliantly executed.
BLOOM: Yeah, he totally transformed what the movie could have been.
DEADLINE: You’ve got the Toronto premiere coming up. What kind of reactions are you hoping for?
ELLIS: Well, I hope they don’t throw eggs at the screen. [Laughs.] Listen, I’m incredibly proud of the film and I’m incredibly proud of the performances that the actors have given. It was just such a privilege to record them, and be present, and see them craft those characters. That’s the thing I’m most proud of when I look at it. I think it’s very strong, and it’s a drama with very strong characters.
DEADLINE: Orlando?
BLOOM: Yeah, it’s funny, when I was at drama school, I remember working on The Seagull, the Chekhov play, and there’s a moment at the end where the audience goes silent, because it’s just so uncomfortable. And I think this movie has a similar impact. It’s such an assault on the senses. And, to his credit, Sean never takes his foot off the gas. You can’t hide at any point in this movie. It’s like we strap you into a rocket, and you’re off. And there’s a lot of commentary on the way athletes — male athletes in particular — operate. Obviously we haven’t taken this from a true story, it’s fictitious. But I think it deals with very real ideas about self-worth. It’s about what people will do to fill the void that’s in their stomach, or in their soul. It’s about the lengths they will go to.
Deadline
Remember
 (about Caitlin, Caitríona’s character) I really wanted the authenticity of this relationship to play. Because I think he can’t live without her. He can’t function, he can’t operate without her. — Sean Ellis
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dreamings-free · 6 days ago
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Simon Cowell in on the hunt for the next One Direction – but STONE frontman Fin Power has very much rejected his invite to audition (never mind the fact he’s already in a killer band).
July 2, 2024 Words: Emily Carter | Photo: Claudia Legge
STONE’s Fin Power has shared his emphatic response to an apparent invite to audition for Simon Cowell’s new boyband talent show.
Of course, Fin is already the vocalist/guitarist in a brilliant group as it is – who are in fact releasing their debut album Fear Life For A Lifetime on July 12.
And he’s taken to TikTok to very publicly reply to the representatives for the London mogul and TV personality, rejecting their invite for a new The X Factor / Britain’s Got Talent-type hunt for the next One Direction.
“I got this message from someone on behalf of Simon Cowell,” Fin explains in a TikTok video, sharing that it says that “singers around the age of 16-18 years old” are being scouted “for a new boyband, which is being filmed as part of a potential televised documentary following him on his search”.
In response, Fin has just this to say: “’Tell Simon Cowell to go fuck himself. Team 1D.’”
Walking away after hitting send on his phone, he adds: “No other reply my friend, no other reply.”
The caption to the video also reads: “I want nothing to do with [Simon] Cowell’s scheme Team 1D. Thanks for thinking I look 6 years younger tho.”
Watch the video below.
Sharing a news story from The Independent on X/Twitter, Fin also reiterates: “I’ll say it again.”
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Catch STONE at the following tour dates (maybe playing a 1D cover or two?!) this year:
September
30 Berlin Cassiopeia
October
2 Antwerp Trix 3 Amsterdam Melkweg 5 Eindhoven Come As You Are Festival 6 Paris La Boule Noire 18 Hull The Welly 19 Stoke Sugarmill 21 Dundee Caves 23 Nottingham Rescue Rooms 24 Norwich The Waterfront 26 Exeter Cavern 27 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 29 Guildford Boileroom 30 Tunbridge Wells Forum
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ajepyx · 7 months ago
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DISMISSAL TIME and SLEEP UNTIL NOON Film Festival Announcements
DISMISSAL TIME and SLEEP UNTIL NOON Film Festival Announcements
Our award-winning Dismissal Time is coming to beautiful NORTH CAROLINA in September as part of the Down East Flick Fest! The event takes place Sept. 20-22 in Greenville, NC. We’re really excited to continue to get our message out there once again. Congrats to our team! Also for our foreign people, we made it over the pond!! “Sleep Until Noon” will be a part of the London Movie Awards!! It’s

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scotianostra · 4 months ago
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Happy Birthday to Eddi Reader.
Eddi, born born Sadenia Reader on August 29th in 1959, has been around several blocks, musically speaking. A native of Glasgow, she has been well known and loved here for years. Oddly enough, Reader jumped right into her performing career in the early ‘80s by travelling throughout Europe with a circus troupe. Shortly after, she decided to settle in London and become a session vocalist.
Her choice proved fruitful as her book soon filled up and she landed work with the Eurythmics, the Waterboys, and Gang of Four. None seemed like the right setting for Reader. Then she found her place in the spotlight with Fairground Attraction. The band’s debut, First of a Million Kisses, hit the British charts in 1988, along with the single “Perfect.” Reader gained a good bit of recognition, both critical and popular, and was able to launch her solo career from that platform, although it did not happen immediately.
Her solo debut, Mirmama, saw daylight in 1992 and found Reader’s lovely pipes wrapped around some fine tunes. Although it was a limited release, it caught the ear of the folks at Warner Brothers, who followed it in 1994 with her self-titled album. This second effort included more Reader originals amid the slick production.
Despite touring in its support, she still managed to contribute to recordings by Thomas Dolby, Liberty Horses, and others. When things didn’t pan out with her major label, Reader returned to her independent roots and issued Candyfloss and Medicine in 1996 and Angels & Electricity in 1999, all the while perfecting her brand of smooth acoustic folk-pop.
Finding herself with yet another musical home, Compass Records re-released both Mirmama and Angels & Electricity in the United States and allowed Reader the chance to put forth her most organic offering to date with Simple Soul in 2001. Seventeen Stories: The Best of Eddi Reader and the all-new Driftwood arrived in 2002, followed by Eddi Reader and my personal favourite, Sings the Songs of Robert Burns in 2003 and Peacetime in 2007.
2008 sawEddi make a foray into film with an appearance in Me and Orson Wells, the following year she commemorated the 250th anniversary of Burn’s birth with a deluxe version of his songs with additional songs to add to the original. That same year she also put out new music in the form of her ninth studio album, Love is the Way.
Save for a live record, which appeared in 2010 Eddi took a long break from the recording studios, returning in 2014 with Vagabond. There was only a slightly lesser gap between albums with her 12th studio record appearing in 2018, Cavalier, which was recorded in Glasgow.
In 2020 Eddi celebrated 40 years in the music business with a UK wide tour that included 10 Scottish shows, that was before the Covid virus came calling, the shows had been rescheduled twice. The album Light Is in the Horizon followed, her 12th studio piece.
In 2024, the band's original line-up announced a Japan and UK tour, and reunited for an album titled "Beautiful Happening", set for release on September 20th 2024. A first single, "What's Wrong With The World ?", was released in February, followed by the album's title track in June.
Eddi is back to touring with her solo band and has a gig on Hayling Island off the south coast of England, in December a seven date tour of Ireland follows in 2025, then ten gigs in England.
Don't worry she hasn't forgotten her homeland, look out for Phil Cunningham’s Christmas Songbook, where Eddi will join the former Silly Wizard musician in ten Festive concerts around Scotland between December 12th and 22nd.
I've chosen a gaelic song that Eddi performed, it's called Buain NĂĄ Rainich (Fairy Love Song) and is from her 11th album Vagabond.
The other well-known title, Tha mi SgĂŹthh, there are many variations of the story relating to this song, but one version says that the song was originally sung by a fairy who caught sight of a beautiful girl when he was cutting bracken. They fell in love, but alas there was no fairytale ending. When her family learned of the love, they stopped the girl from seeing the fairy and they locked her away. His song mourns the situation. The tune of this song is very old and it is often used as a lullaby. In Cape Breton though, it is often used as a Puirt Ă  beul!
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brookstonalmanac · 22 days ago
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Holidays 12.18
Holidays
Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day
Arabic Language Day (UN)
Australian Christmas (Team Fortress)
Baranth Do (Elder Scrolls)
Day with the Wallet Holder (Mexico)
Earl ‘DMX’ Simmons Day (New York)
Final Fantasy Anniversary Day
Flake Appreciation Day
Founder’s Day (Qatar)
Hug a Soccer Player Day
Incwala Day (Eswatini, f.k.a. Swaziland)
Insurance Employee Day (Kyrgyzstan)
International Migrants Day (UN)
Kissan Day (Pakistan)
LĂłpez Jaena Day (Iloilo, Philippines)
Military Counterintelligence Day (Ukraine)
Minifig Day
National Crime Junkie Day
National Deborah Day
National HODL Day (Bitcoin)
National Jeremy Day
National Scrooge Week begins (according to Mr. Ed)
National Twin Day
Nutcracker Day
Nyempa Guzom (Sikkim, India)
Pink Panther Day
Play Bingo Day
Police Day (Moldova)
Republic Day (Niger)
Sunday Newspaper Day
Truffle Day (French Republic)
Tulya’s E’en (Beginning of Yule Season; Orkney Island)
University Unity Day (Iran)
Voice From Space Day
Wear a Plunger On Your Head Day
World Minorities Rights Day (India)
Yuletide Lad #7 arrives (Hurdaskellir or Door-Slammer; Iceland)
Food & Drink Celebrations
Bake Cookies Day
Let's See What We Find in the Fridge Day
National Ham Salad Day
National “I Love Honey” Day
National Muffin Day (Brazil)
National Roast Suckling Pig Day
National Stilton Day (UK)
Independence & Related Days
Egypt (Declared British Protectorate; 1914)
New Jersey Statehood Day (#3; 1787)
Qatar (1878)
3rd Wednesday in December
Hump Day [Every Wednesday]
National Early Signing Day (NCAA Football) [3rd Wednesday]
Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]
Wandering Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]
Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]
Wiener Wednesday [3rd Wednesday of Each Month]
Weekly Holidays beginning December 18 (3rd Full Week of December)
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Week (thru 1.1.2025)
Winter Festival (Birth of the God Diev & Rebirth of the Sun; Latvia) [thru 12.20]
Festivals Beginning December 18, 2024
London International Horse Show (London, United Kingdom) [thru 12.22]
Night of the Proms (Erfurt, Germany)
Winter Festival (Birth of the God Diev & Rebirth of the Sun; Latvia) [thru 12.20]
Feast Days
Alfred Bester (Writerism)
Edward Willis Redfield (Artology)
Epona (Celtic Book of Days)
Eponalia (Feast of Epona; Roman goddess of fertility)
Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Christian)
Fantastic Finkleman (Muppetism)
Feast of Our Lady of Expectation
Feast of Our Lady of Solitude (Mexico)
FlannĂĄn (Christian; Saint)
Gatianus (a.k.a. Gatian) of Tours (Christian; Saint)
Jonathan Yeo (Artology)
Michael Moorcock (Writerism)
Mimmo Paladino (Artology)
O Adonai (2nd O Antiphon or Great Advent Antiphon; Christian) [2 of 7]
Paul Klee (Artology)
Priestley (Positivist; Saint)
Rufus and Zozimus (Christian; Martyrs)
Running of the Roboderos (Church of the SubGenius)
Saki (Writerism)
Saturnalia Day 2: Saturn’s Release (Pagan)
Sebastian (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Unusual Music Instruments Day (Pastafarian)
Urdhyauli Parwa (Festival of the Animals; Nepal)
Willem van de Velde II (Artology)
Winibald (a.k.a. Winebald; Christian; Saint)
Lucky & Unlucky Days
Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]
Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [37 of 37]
Premieres
Anchorrman 2: The Legend Continues (Film; 2013)
Another Round (Film; 2020)
Avatar (Film; 2009)
Baby Buggy Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)
The Ballad of the Green Berets, recorded by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler (Song; 1965)
*batteries not included (Film; 1987)
Bellboy Donald (Disney Cartoon; 1942)
The Big Blast or A Many Splintered Thing (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 81; 1960)
Boris Lends a Hand or Count Your Fingers (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 188; 1962)
Boris on a Broomstick or The Flying Sorceror (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 187; 1962)
Born to Boogie (Music Documentary Film; 1972)
Brazil (Film; 1985)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (Film; 1957)
Broadcast News (Film; 1987)
Caspar’s First Christmas (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1979)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Film; 1968)
Cholly Polly (Phantasies Cartoon; 1942)
Cinderella Liberty (Film; 1973)
The Color Purple (Film; 1985)
Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe (Play; 1592)
Dragons of Ashida (Animated TV Show; Jonny Quest #14; 1964)
A Flintstone Family Christmas (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1993)
Her (Film; 2013)
Isle of Caprice (Ant and the Aardvark Cartoon; 1969)
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (Film; 2015)
Last Train to Christmas (UK Film; 2021)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight, by The Tokens (Song; 1961)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (TV Series; 2020)
McCartney III, by Paul McCartney (Album; 2020)
Moonstruck (Film; 1987)
Mother Goose in Swingtime (Color Rhapsody Cartoon; 1939)
The Nutcracker, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Ballet; 1892)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (US Film; 1969) [James Bond #6]
Out of Africa (Film; 1985)
Overboard (Film; 1987)
The Painter and The Pointer (Andy Panda Cartoon; 1944)
Parking Space (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1933)
The Pink Phink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1964)
The Prince of Egypt (Animated Film; 1998)
Riff Raffville, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 45 & 46; 1965)
Twistin’ the Night Away, by Sam Cooke (Song; 1961)
The Two Towers (Film; 2002) [The Lord of the Rings #2]
September in the Rain (WB MM Cartoon; 1937)
Sisters (Film; 2015)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Film; 2015) [Star Wars #7]
The Steal Hour or A Snitch in Time (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 82; 1960)
Touché, Pussy Cat! (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1954)
The Yearling (Film; 1946)
You’ve Got Mail (Film; 1998)
Today’s Name Days
Philipp, Wunibald (Austria)
Bosiljko, DraĆŸen, Gracijan, Malahija (Croatia)
Miloslav (Czech Republic)
Lovise (Denmark)
Neeme, Neemo (Estonia)
Aapo, Aappo, Rami (Finland)
Briac, Gatien (France)
Esperanza, Gratian, Luise (Germany)
Floros, Sebastianos (Greece)
Auguszta (Hungary)
Graziano (Italy)
Jordisa, Klinta, Kristaps, Sarmis (Latvia)
Eivilė, Girdvilas, Gracijus (Lithuania)
Kate, Kristoffer (Norway)
BogusƂaw, Gracjan, Gracjana, Laurencja, Wilibald, Wszemir (Poland)
Daniil (Romania)
SlĂĄva (Slovakia)
Esperanza (Spain)
Abraham (Sweden)
Griffin, Griffith, Ruff, Rufina, Rufus, Russ, Russell, Rusti, Rusty, Ty, Tyrus (USA)
Today is Also

Day of Year: Day 353 of 2024; 13 days remaining in the year
ISO: Day 3 of Week 51 of 2024
Celtic Tree Calendar: Ngetal (Reed) [Day 25 of 28]
Chinese: Month 11 (Bing-Zi), Day 18 (Bing-Chen)
Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]
Hebrew: 17 Kislev 5785
Islamic: 16 Jumada II 1446
J Cal: 23 Black; Twosday [23 of 30]
Julian: 5 December 2024
Moon: 86%: Waning Gibbous
Positivist: 17 Bichat (13th Month) [Cavendish]
Runic Half Month: Jara (Year) [Day 12 of 15]
Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 87 of 90)
Week: 3rd Full Week of December
Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 27 of 30)
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adarkrainbow · 8 months ago
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Lost media quest: H&G Epic Tales (part 3)
Last time I ended my post while exploring the defunct epictales.com website. There was one page of this website (preserved in the Wayback Machine) that I did not add in this post: the About page.
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The About page not only describes the Epic Tales line, but also lists the full staff that worked on this project. Here is what the website contains:
EPIC TALESℱ is a developer and publisher of interactive storybooks for the iOS platform. EPIC TALES presents its own unique interactive adaptation of the imaginative and magical stories found in fairytales, folklore and world mythology.
All of our tales are narrated by our central storyteller, a most likeable dwarf named Silvertongue who used his magic to let our books and stories come to life. Each storybook offers stunning hand-drawn animations, a revamped storyline, original music scores, and spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers deep into the story.
EPIC TALES allows you to not only enjoy magical worlds and enchanting tales, but to experience them more closely than ever before.
We, the people at EPIC TALES, are always inspired by stories that fuel our ideas and imagination. We are storytellers, animators, and composers that gladly indulge ourselves in folklore, mythology, and the many tales and stories that have captured our imagination for generations. The result is a talented team of people driven to create original storybooks that are filled with whimsical characters, spellbinding environments, and interactive surprises. By combining creativity with technology, and talent with expertise, we hope to constantly produce exciting tales that bring every page to life. EPIC TALES is a joint venture between Cloud Castle Interactive and Anikey studios.
EPIC TALES Paul Hanraets, Founder of EPIC TALES and producer
Albert ‘t Hooft, Partner and creative director
Paco Vink, Partner and lead artist, animator
TEAM MEMBERS Lou Attia, Narrator and voice actor
Martin van Spanje, Software engineer
Joost van den Broek, Music composer
Arjen Schut, Sound designer
Sjan Weijers, Background clean-up artist
David Muchtar, Animator
Jelle Brunt, Animator
Ruben Zaalberg, Animator
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The website also briefly offers descriptions/curriculum of the staff members:
Paul Hanraets Paul Hanraets has been a creative entrepreneur since 2002 when he co-founded Red Road Media, a media agency specialized in video games. Successful projects undertaken by Red Road include: Benelux largest annual game event Gamexpo, the tv show GAME FACTS broadcasted by TMF/MTV and the freely distributed game magazine Games Guide. In 2008 Paul founded Cloud Castle Interactive and was involved in the development of smaller game projects which further awakened his passion for the creative industry. As an immediate result Paul founded EPIC TALES, a developer of interactive storybooks for IOS and GAMBITIOUS an equity based crowdfunding platform dedicated to the games industry.
Albert ‘t Hooft & Paco Vink Albert 't Hooft and Paco Vink both studied traditional animation at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam before they founded Anikey Studios in 2007. Anikey is an award winning animation studio which specialises in hand drawn 2D digital animation. Anikey creates independent and commissioned animations for television, films and games which have an emphasis on story, characters and fun. Anikey's first two independent films 'Paul & the Dragon' and 'Little Quentin' won several awards at international film festivals. In addition on working on the new EPIC TALES titles, Anikey is developing the first hand drawn animated feature film in the Netherlands since 30 years.
Lou Attia Working with the likes of Disney and Sesame Street, Lou Attia has been a professional voice-over artist for over 15 years. After studying professional vocals in London, England, Lou landed a radio host position at 104.2 Nile FM in Cairo, Egypt where he became Creative Director and then Program Director of the station. Throughout his seven years on the air, during which his morning show went on to be the No.1 listened to radio show in a city of 16 million, Lou continued to do voice-overs for numerous commercials, shows and features. In 2010 Lou moved to Toronto, Canada where he is currently a full time voice-over artist, writer and TV show host.
Martin van Spanje Currently co-owner of LayerGloss Digital Publishing, Martin used to program and design on 8-bit Sinclair machines in the eighties. Then came Macs, digital audio, ten years of IT-projects and finally, iOS. Nowadays he lives his life surrounded by Objective-C code, and he sometimes thinks cornflakes look a bit like people. Oh, and he doesn't do Twitter.
Joost van den Broek Joost van den Broek is a producer, composer, arranger and keyboardplayer based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Starting out as a keyboardplayer for several metalbands like After Forever touring all over the world, he finished his conservatory with honour in musicproduction, keyboards and classical arrangement. Since then he been working as a freelancer in his own studio on several productions, compositions and arrangements, for acts/events like: Ellen ten Damme, Symphonica in Rosso, Wende Snijders, Games in Concert, Ben Saunders, Qlimax. Epic moviescores and/or/in combination with (pop/alternative)rock is what defines his style the most.
Arjen Schut Arjen Schut is a sound designer based in Hilversum, The Netherlands. As a freelancer Arjen has worked on numerous projects, both on location and in his own studio. Arjen is involved in sound effect creation for all sorts of media, but has a strong focus on interactive and animation projects. International blockbuster Killzone 3 being one of the larger projects.
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I have taken upon myself to contact some of these artists, just in case they were open about talking or sharing information about the animation they worked onto. Is it a bad idea, or a good one? I don't know but that's the most straightforward direction one can take. I will warn you if I ever receive any response, positive or negative.
I forgot to link before the official page, on the Anikey Animation website, for their work on Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Not only does it contain large, high-quality screenshots of the artwork, but their "Production" page also has one concept art for the storybook. They also list the credits of the app as such:
Title: Epic Tales - Hansel & Gretel
Release: 2012
Directed by: Albert 't Hooft & Paco Vink
Animation by: Jelle Brunt, David Muchtar & Ruben Zaalberg
Backgrounds by: Paco Vink & Sjan Weijers
Music by: Joost van den Broek
Sounddesign by: Arjen van der Schut
Producer(s): Paul Hanraets for Cloud Castle Interactive
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AppAdvice still has a page dedicated to the application. There is also a review by the MacTrast website that is quite interesting because, while today the pictures contained within it are "dead files", in the Wayback Machine you can fetch them back, and they are pretty rare screenshots of the game! Here's an additional Dutch article I forgot to add earlier. Again, not much to add since they all basically just announce the game's release and rephrase the storybook's commercial description.
I also don't think I have added this to my previous posts, but Cartoon Brew also had a page for the app's launching, which contained this text:
The Hague, the Netherlands — April 24, 2012 — Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook is the first in a series of tales as told by Silvertongue, the likeable dwarf and storyteller, and is now available on the Appstore for IPad and IPhone.
Hansel and Gretel – Epic Tales animated storybook offers a world filled with whimsical characters ranging from pesky gnomes to witty dwarfs; from brave children to wicked stepmothers and cunning witches.
“But we are not just another fairytale App,” says Paul Hanraets, founder and producer. “What sets Epic Tales apart from other storybooks are the incredible production values. Each of Epic Tales storybooks are digitally hand-drawn by our award winning animators, and offer stunning 2d animations, professional voice acting, original music scores and ambient sounds by game industry veterans. These elements combined offer spellbinding interactive environments that are sure to draw readers even deeper into the story.”
“Of course, our alternating witty and wacky humour and the high quality of our animations are amongst the things that separates Hansel and Gretel from other storybooks,” says creative director Albert ‘t Hooft.”However, what ultimately distinguishes Epic Tales is the implementation of our central storyteller, Silvertongue the dwarf.” Using the magic of pesky gnomes, Silvertongue brings the stories to life and narrates them.”Silvertongue used to be quite the adventurer, travelling the world in search of the most intriguing tales and stories, and now looks after your storybook collection in his humble bookstore. He is a truly gifted storyteller who can take an audience from a gasp of fright to a roar of laughter in just the twist of a phrase.”
Epic Tales is a series of high quality, interactive fairytales that allows you to not only enjoy enchanting tales, but to experience their magical worlds more closely than ever before. Children will love the sense of wonder and discovery,while adults will certainly appreciate the clever and wacky humor.
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A final piece to add to the dossier so far is Muchtar Productions' page for Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales. Muchtar Production is the WordPress website of David Muchtar, a 2D animator and illustrator who worked on the Epic Tales animation as a (I quote) "Rough and Clean-up animator". He notably put within his portfolio an important number of concept art for the game's character designs. But, as with last time, I will keep it for the NEXT post!
Or... an almost final piece. I wanted to keep this for a much later post, but I ultimately decided to share it here. I vaguely described before one unofficial source for content about "Hansel and Gretel - Epic Tales". And that is an online review, a Youtube video, by a Youtuber named "Crazy Mike" specializing in app reviews. Here is the video, and the reason why this video is important (beyond it being the last remaining video review - unless I manage to get back the one from the defunct website) is because so far it is the only visual recording we have of the app outside of the trailers. Not only that, but at one point Crazy Mike opens the list of chapters within the app - which gives us a full glimpse of the story's main episodes, with thumbnails of each "tableau". Mind you, it is tiny details at the bottom of the screen so we can't get much of it... But with all the additional material I gathered, it will be a key element in my reconstruction of what the storybook looked like and was about.
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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago
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'So 
 did you cry? All of Us Strangers has finally been released in the UK after leaving cinemagoers in the US, and at various film festivals, in floods. It’s won seven gongs at the British Independent Film awards and is up for six Baftas, but no Oscars – whatever. For me, the film’s achievement is the way it’s managed to talk about love, grief and loneliness in such a powerful and original way. I first saw it at the end of September when it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I can honestly say that I’ve thought about it every single day since.
When I interviewed writer-director Andrew Haigh before Christmas, he told me that while he had designed the film to be increasingly dreamlike as it went on, the plot underneath was logical. Nonetheless, he said that he was open to other interpretations. So let’s dig into them, shall we?
When did Harry die?
At the end of All of Us Strangers, Adam (Andrew Scott) returns to his flat after meeting the ghosts of his parents for the final time. He goes to Harry (Paul Mescal)’s apartment, which he’s never entered before, and is knocked back by the smell of a decomposing body. Then Harry’s ghost appears, holding the empty bottle of whisky he was drinking when he came to Adam’s door looking for late night company at the start of the film.
It seems reasonable to assume that after being rejected by Adam, Harry went back to his flat, finished the whisky, took ketamine (Adam finds a baggie) and died of a drug and alcohol overdose, meaning that as well as reuniting with his parents who are ghosts, Adam has been having a love affair with one too.
So, about those sex scenes 

Adam is only able to let his guard down enough start his relationship with Harry once he confronts his past and meets the ghosts of his parents – after he’s first come back from Croydon, he gets together with Harry after their discussion about the terms “gay” and “queer”.
After Adam has come out to his mum (Claire Foy) back in Croydon, he has sex for the second time with Harry, who has encouraged him to take a bath because he’s feverish. It’s never made explicit in the film, but Haigh told me that Adam starts to feel unwell after his mum mentions Aids, and in the bath he tells Harry (who has no such hangups) that for years he had been too frightened of the disease to have sex with anyone. Later on in the film, as Adam runs through the tube train tunnels looking for Harry, there are old public information posters about Aids on the walls. In order to break out of his repression and fall in love, Adam has to lay to rest his terror of catching HIV.
What happens in the club?
Shot in the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, one of Haigh’s old haunts, this is the only big musical moment that isn’t set to an 80s hit – the soundtrack to Adam’s ketamine trip is Blur’s woozy Death of a Party, from 1997. Haigh told me that there’s a subplot buried within All of Us Strangers in which Adam manages to break out of his loneliness and live as a happily out gay man – so perhaps this is the way he would have gone out partying in his early 20s, in the 90s. While he’s high, Adam imagines himself and Harry having the long-term relationship he has yearned for – though sadly it doesn’t seem to last, with Harry gliding past him in the club after locking eyes with someone else, before Adam wakes up screaming.
What’s going on in the diner?
All of Us Strangers takes place in a mysteriously unpopulated world – a metaphor for Adam’s isolation. He and Harry appear to be the sole residents of their tower block, and Adam and his parents are the only guests in the diner where they have their last encounter, a childhood outing Adam never got to experience. The only other person is the waitress: presumably she can’t see Adam’s mum and dad, since she wonders whether he’ll be able to finish the family meal he’s just ordered.
Adam’s mum asks him whether she and Adam’s dad died quickly after their car crash – he tells her that they did, even though we know that his mum took days to die, a white lie that I felt was Adam kindly parenting his parents, shielding them from harsh truths they didn’t need to know in a moment of mature understanding.
The line that really got to me, though, was the part when Adam’s dad (Jamie Bell) tells him that he’s proud of him, and when Adam asks why, given that he hasn’t done anything, his dad replies, “Well you’ve survived. It can’t have been easy.” Finally, his parents recognise his sadness and pain, and the effort it’s cost him to keep going, even if he doesn’t have a wife, kids, a successful career or any of the other trappings of heterosexual manhood to show for it.
And what the hell is the ending about?
In the last scene of All of Us Strangers, Adam and Harry cuddle up together on a bed. Harry asks Adam to put on a record, and without him doing so, The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood comes on – Adam was watching an old Top of the Pops performance of it from 1984 when Harry came knocking at the beginning of the film. The song contains the deeply romantic declaration “I’ll protect you from the Hooded Claw / Keep the vampires from your door”; in a (to him, unconscious) allusion to the lyrics, Harry had told Adam, as the older man turned him away, “there’s vampires outside my door”.
Now Adam and Harry can truly love, console, protect and care for each other, but it’s a brutally bittersweet image as it’s happening in some kind of supernatural realm, not real life. As the camera gets further and further away from the spooning lovers, it depicts them as one of a constellation of stars in a night sky, perhaps the other lonely strangers of the film’s title.
So is Adam also dead? I don’t think Haigh means us to think that he is. I think the image says that love is strong enough to smash the boundary between life and death, and that it’s our only defence against the infinite darkness that surrounds us, something Adam has come to understand after spending a lifetime running away from his own desperate need for human connection. Now, I think I may have something in my eye 
'
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