Some of the movers and shakers in British film discuss the Awards, what they love about British films and which film, if any, they would make into a musical.
t5m asked director of In The Shadow Of The Moon, David Sington, what is so important about British film? ‘Film is such an important medium and it’s a way for a society to look at itself and tell stories about itself and understand itself and if we’re not making films about Britain, then we’re missing out.’ No arguments there and his fellow director, Neil Marshall, adds that it’s just nice to have a lifeline of variety amongst the sea of American blockbusters on the market. In essence, British film is quintessentially refreshing.
When it come to the big question – what makes a great film? – Sington is philosophical in his approach. ‘It’s the same ingredients that it’s been since the beginning of drama – Aristotle and the Greek playwrights…it works by identification with the characters and vicarious experience. So a film takes you somewhere hopefully that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to go and puts you in the shoes of someone you aren’t but you might be…’
When asked about which film she would make into a musical, Brick Lane’s Director, Sarah Gavron, is brave enough to admit that she would be too scared to even attempt such a feat. She is more forthcoming about her icons however, she admits that her interest in film was first aroused by the likes of Stephen Frears (The Queen), Mike Lee, Ken Loach and Terrence Davies. Those are unquestionably big names to aspire to but it was women like Mira Nair, Jane Campion and Lynne Ramsay who paved the way for women directors like herself.
Tannishtha Chatterjee, who played the lead in Gavron’s film admits that it wasn’t film that first inspired her to become an actress, it was in fact good old fashioned theatre. ‘I worked with movement, to puppet, to voice, to everything and then slowly I got into films. And like a lot of other actors and actresses I used to look down on film acting but when I got into films I really realised that it is a different art form that you have to really master…and now I really enjoy film acting.’
