Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TX Box Office: 0117 927 6444

Watershed October 2013 Podcast Following the recent Venice and Toronto film festivals you could with justification easily believe that there is a renaissance in British filmmaking. I say easily believe because of the headlines that have followed the success/positive reception of British films and filmmakers at these festivals. Films such as Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, Amma Assante’s Belle, and Pawel Pawaloski’s The Double were just some of the twenty British films premiering at Toronto.

Only four months before in Cannes the death knell for British filmmaking was being readied. Cannes is probably still the grand daddy of film festivals and the main bell weather for taking the critical temperature and prognostications on the state of a country’s filmmaking. This year only two British films – Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant and Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril – played in any prominent section of the festival. Regardless of the quality of these films, the press had a field day on the poor state of filmmaking in the UK.

This perceived rise, fall and rise again of the British industry seems to be the most consistent aspect of the industry. However what happened at Venice and Toronto was extraordinary, as well as the films mentioned above - actors Daniel Radcliffe and Benedict Cumberbatch had three films apiece they were starring in - and the on screen pairing of Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in Stephen Frears’ Philomena were getting rave reviews.

Such critical success and such range – from sci fi to comedy – and quality is to be both admired and justly celebrated. However from the press coverage one would think these films come from nowhere ready for success. This is clearly not the case. And when you dig a bit deeper you realise just how journalese these dramatic stories of boom to bust actually are.

As it so happened we had Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival here in Bristol immediately after Toronto. At the opening screening I pointed out that those films and filmmakers do not come fully formed ready to receive such acclaim. The talent and the success is hard developed, supported and won. And that of the many short films and animations we were about to see over the five days of the festival, remember that you saw them here first when their directors, cast or crew figure in future successes in Toronto, Venice or Cannes. The talent, whether in front or behind the camera, needs to provided with platforms to both showcase and also to connect with audiences and industry. Encounters is one of those important places.

So it was great and timely that the two main prizes selected by international juries picked British films as Grand Prix winners: for animation it was In the Air is Christopher Gray directed by Felix Massie and for live action it was Orbit Ever After by Jamie Stone (which also put forward for the European Film Academy). Both films are now eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards. So remember those films and those names for future years. And as I said after the festival it is great that UK filmmaking success continues from Venice and Toronto to Bristol.

For an excellent round up of talent to watch read Catharine Bray’s report from the festival on Film4.com http://blog.film4.com/five-talents-to-watch-from-encounters- festival-2013/

This month at Watershed we follow the celebration of UK talent with a clutch of new British films. Both titles which screened in Cannes open this month: Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant is one of the most extraordinarily powerful and intensely emotional films I have seen for a while. It’s milieu/genre may be overly familiar as film critic Jonathan Romney said “it taps into the motherlode of British social realism” but it does so in such a distinctive way and with incredible performances from its young cast that you forget all that came before.

Paul Wright’s debut For Those in Peril announces a fresh filmmaking talent whose storytelling and filmmaking reminded me of early Nicolas Roeg - what more do you need to know! On the international scene Phillipines-set action packed Metro Manila directed by Sean Ellis and Mister John set in Singapore and directed by directors Christine Malloy and Joe Lawler. What connects these two with Paul Wright and Clio Barnard? They developed their craft in short films - some of which have screened in previous editions of Encounters Festival. In addition Roger Michell continues his collaboration with writer Hanif Kureshi for a fourth exploration of love this time in Paris with the sublime pairing of Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan in Le Week-end.

I’m not on some jingoistic paean here. What these demonstrate is the continuing depth and quality of filmmaking coming from these shores.

Continuing that demonstration we are doing a focus on one of the UK’s most iconoclastic new directors Ben Wheatley, who effortlessly redefines British genre filmmaking, alongside one of Britain’s most iconic and maverick films The Wicker Man which gets a welcome re-release.

Finally, the documentary is the longstanding defining genre of the UK. As we know from its founding father John Grierson this genre did not simply mean slavishly pointing the camera at real life and filming. Grierson famously defined documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality” and also said “the only reality which counts in the end is the interpretation which is profound.” Two leading exponents of this approach have films screening this month. John Akomfrah, who came to prominence for his radical documentaries with the Black Audio Film Collective, has made a timely portrait of influential cultural theorist Stuart Hall, The Stuart Hall Project. Meanwhile Sophie Fiennes reunites with philosopher and cultural theorist Slavoj Zizek for The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, a dizzying exploration of the meaning behind and in some of Hollywood’s most celebrated films.

And if you want to find out more about how the documentary is being reshaped and reimagined in the multiplatform digital world then follow these new projects as part of the Future Documentary Sandbox http://www.react-hub.org.uk/future-doc-sandbox/

Much then to engage, entertain and provoke this month and to celebrate as these films and filmmakers attest to the ongoing creativity of British filmmaking.