Iron Maiden singer scripts movie for Cannes

According to a report in the BBC, Bruce Dickinson (singer with the metal band Iron Maiden) will unveil a film at this year's Cannes festival. "Chemical Wedding" will star Simon Callow as Professor Haddo, the reincarnation of British occultist Aleister Crowley, once described as Britain's most evil man. Julian Doyle, who directed the video for the band's 1988 single 'Can I Play with Madness', co-wrote the script with Dickinson and is directing. The reaction from test screenings are that it is very much in the vein of the Hammer Horror films.

Julian Doyle, for those that read the small print on DVDs, has also worked as an editor and/or second unit director on "The Life of Brian", "Brazil" and "The Wind in the Willows". Sounds promising.

O'Horten picks up 4 Norwegian movie awards

Norway just held its annual awards ceremony, on the closing night of the Kosmorama Film festival in Trondheim. The big winner of the night was Bent Hamer's comedy "O'Horten", which picked up awards as Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Music (by Kaada) and Best New Creator.

The festival opened on February 28 with the Norwegian premiere of the political thriller "Night of the Wolf" by Swedish action specialist Kjell Sundvall. Other highlights included a masterclass by US filmmaker John Sayles and Peter Greenaway’s presentation of his latest film "Nightwatching".

Terry George premiere and masterclass in Belfast

Oscar-nominated writer and director (and who has excelled in both roles) Terry George will premiere his new film "Reservation Road" at the 8th Belfast Film Festival and will also run one of the masterclasses at the event. George is best known for "In the Name of the Father" and "Hotel Rwanda". His masterclass on April 11 will "examine the similarities and differences in writing for TV, Film and the internet, the art of characterization and the subjects of plot, structure and dialogue". He will also take part in a Q&A session after his film's projection.

For more details, visit the Belfast Film Festival site.

"Taxi" director to talk at French screenwriter fest

Love 'em or hate 'em, the "Taxi" franchise is one of France's most successful over the past ten years, boasting over 24 million viewers. This year's guest of honour at the 11th International Screen Writer's festival in Bourges, France (27-30 March) is Gérard Krawczyk. His César-nominated short films will be showcased, as well as the features "Je hais les acteurs", "Fanfan la tulipe" and "La vie est à nous". They provide an opportunity to host meetings based on the unusual pairing of auteur and action.

The event also features premieres, round tables and other activities such as a pitching forum and special activities focused on animation. For details, visit Scenario au long court.

"La graine et le mulet" wins best script award at Cesars

Abdellatif Kechiche's script for "La graine et le mulet" picked up the best script award at France's prestigious Cesar ceremony, also picking up awards as Best French Film and Best Director. That's quite a hat trick.

Other notable awards went to "The Lives of Others" as Best Foreign Film, "Persepolis" as Best Adaptation and Marion Cotillard as Best Actress for her monumental role in "La vie en rose".

Check the full list of winners on the Cesar site.

Award-winning writers to speak at Screenwiters festival

Britain's Screenwriters Festival will be held this year July 1-3 in Cheltenham. The guest speaker line up so far includes Christopher Hampton, Oscar winning writer of 'Dangerous Liaisons' and the 2008 Oscar-nominated 'Atonement', and Kay Mellor producer and BAFTA award winning writer of such well known series' such as 'Band of Gold', 'Playing the Field', 'Fat Friends' and 'The Chase'.

The programme for the 2008 Festival will be up on the website on Friday 14th March 2008. The festival also has a pitch contest. See the details on their website.

"Atonement" and "La vie en rose" mark the Baftas

"Atonement" (Best Film and Best Production Design) and "La vie en rose" (Best Actress, Best Music, Best Costume Design and Best Hair and Make-Up) were the big winners at this year's Bafta awards.

Other notable winners were "This is England" as Best British Film, "Juno" by Diablo Cody (Best Original Screenplay) and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" for Ronald Harwood (Best Adapted Screenplay).

For the full results, see the Bafta site.

"La vie en rose" and "Le secret" top Cesar nominations

France's upcoming Cesar nominations will see two heavyweights battle it out, as "La vie en rose" and "Le secret" are both nominated for a staggering 11 awards each, going head to head notably in the Best Film and Best Actresses categories.

Nominations for screenplays are:

Best Original Screenplay
Olivier Dahan - La Vie en Rose
Julie Delpy - 2 Days in Paris
Abdellatif Kechiche - The secret of the Grain
Anne le Ny - Ceux qui restent
Laurent Tirard and Grégoire Vigneron - Moliere

Best Adapted Screenplay
Claude Berri - Hunting and Gathering
Christine Carrière - Darling
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Claude Miller and Nathalie Carter - Un secret
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud - Persepolis

The awards ceremony will be held on February 22.

Bafta award nominations

This year's Bafta award nominations have just been announced.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

AMERICAN GANGSTER – Steven Zaillian
JUNO – Diablo Cody
THE LIVES OF OTHERS – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
MICHAEL CLAYTON – Tony Gilroy
THIS IS ENGLAND – Shane Meadows

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ATONEMENT – Christopher Hampton
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY – Ronald Harwood
THE KITE RUNNER – David Benioff
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN – Joel Coen/Ethan Coen
THERE WILL BE BLOOD – Paul Thomas Anderson

As usual, the nominees are largely US-based. I'll be rooting for "The Lives of Others", although there are enough good scripts in there for the award to fall into deserving hands. For the full list of nominess, visit the Bafta site.

Script courses and co-production in Belgium

Although it is not known as a source of overtly commercial cinema, Belgium does have a unique position by being bilingual (French/Dutch) and reliant on international co-productions to get those stories told. So it has always had an international perspective. The overwhelming majority of movies are released in their mother tongue with subtitles for example.

The French-speaking writers' group ASA (of which I am a member) have three events coming up. On Tuesday January 15, writer and script doctor Luc Janssens will be taking a bold look at the role of scripts, connections with the audience, what constitutes a "good" character and other questions using "African Queen" as a basis.

I suspect this will be a condensed version of a longer cycle he will be running on the five Saturdays between February 2 and March 1.

On January 26 he will be using his script for the cartoon "Asterix et les Vikings" as the basis for a discussion. Janssens is a vastly experienced and practical writer/teacher. So these promise to be interesting events. Details on the ASA site.

Meanwhile, Media Desk is organising a round table for Belgian and UK producers that are looking for partners on February 28 in Brussels. Details from Jeanne Brunfaut on 00/32/(0)2/413 22 71 in Brussels or Media Desk UK.

Foreign-language films in Bafta awards

This year´s Bafta awards feature a number of heavyweights in the foreign-language section. The nominees are "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", "The Kite Runner", "The Lives of Others", "Lust, Caution" and "La Vie en Rose". One of the surprises is that "4 months..." is nowhere to be seen. The event will take place on February 10 in London.

"4 Months..." picks up main European Film Award

The hard-hitting Romanian drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" was chosen European Film of the Year at the 20th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 1. Christian Mungiu's tale has had a highly successful career since picking up the Palme d'Or in Cannes this year. The young Romanian also picked up the European Director award, despite the presence of heavyweights such as Stephen Frears.

The awards are traditionally heavily biased towards art-house movies, and Fatih Akin picked up the script award for "The Edge of Heaven". In a moment of comic relief, Jean-Luc Godard received a Lifetime Achievement Award but chose not to pick it up. "When someone says I have created a life's work, I have to accept this," he told Die Ziet. "But it is my way of criticism not to go there. I don't have the impression that I have made a career. In French, the word also means quarry and in this sense I can accept it." Eh? Methinks something got lost in the translation. In the same interview, he also admitted to stealing money to help finance his early films.

WINNERS OF THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2007

EUROPEAN FILM 2007
4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMINI SI 2 ZILE (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Romania
directed by Cristian Mungiu
produced by Mobra Film SRL

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2007
Cristian Mungiu for 4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMINI SI 2 ZILE

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2007
Helen Mirren in THE QUEEN

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2007
Sasson Gabai in BIKUR HATIZMORET (The Band’s Visit)

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2007
Fatih Akin for AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE (The Edge of Heaven)

EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 2007
Frank Griebe for DAS PARFUM – DIE GESCHICHTE EINES MÖRDERS (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2007
Alexandre Desplat for THE QUEEN

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2007
BIKUR HATIZMORET (The Band’s Visit) by Eran Kolirin, Israel

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRIX D’EXCELLENCE 2007
Uli Hanisch for Production Design DAS PARFUM – DIE GESCHICHTE EINES MÖRDERS

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS AWARD 2007 - Prix FIPRESCI
COEURS by Alain Resnais

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2007 – Prix UIP
ALUMBRAMIENTO by Eduardo Chapero-Jackson, Spain

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2007 for Best European Film
LA SCONOSCIUTA by Giuseppe Tornatore

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Jean-Luc Godard

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2007 – Prix Screen International
Michael Ballhaus

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2007 –Prix ARTE
LE PAPIER NE PEUT PAS ENVELOPPER LA BRAISE
(Paper cannot Wrap up Embers)
by Rithy Panh, France

PRIX EURIMAGES
Margaret Ménégoz and Dr. Veit Heiduschka
HONORARY AWARD
presented by the European Film Academy on the occasion of the 20th European Film Awards
Manoel de Oliveira

French scriptwriters march to support the WGA

Although the legal, artistic and business environments are very different in the US and Europe, most international writers' guilds have given their support to the WGA strike. The French writers' union UGS is going one step further and organising a demo opposite the Tour Eiffel (the Espalanade du Trocadéro) in Paris on Wednesday November 28 at 4pm. They will notably organise a family photo of "creators" that includes writers, actors, producers and directors (looks to me like a pretty good networking opportunity!).

The specifics of the debate between producers and writers in the US are not the same as those in Europe, but one area is very similar: the proportion of revenue generated by online sales. There is already a massive migration towards online viewing. This will only increase over the coming few years. So it is important that the writers of the films and shows be entitled to a fair share of this important new revenue stream.

As a reminder, Screenplay Europe is not promoting any online movie or TV show downloading until this issue is clarified.

Visit the UGS.

Ronald Harwood to talk about adaptations in London

Oscar-winning scriptwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist", "Oliver Twist" and "The Dresser") will be talking at a special event organised by The Script Factory and BFI on December 6 in London. A very large proportion of major films are adaptations, and Harwood's speciality is specifically the adaptation of novels and plays to the screen. His upcoming releases include "Love in the Time of Cholera" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly".

Harwood has written a fascinating book on the subject already. If you're interested in the discussion, I strongly recommend you see at least "The Pianist" and "Oliver Twist" as he will most likely talk about elements from both tales.

Ronald Harwood on Adaptation
Thursday 6 Dec at 6.20pm
NFT3, BFI Southbank

Tickets are on sale now costing £8.60 (full) £6.25 (concs) from bfi.

European writers create manifesto

While the American writers' kettle has come to the boil in the form of the WGA strike, European writers are continuing their own struggle for broader acceptance and understanding of their work. The Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (FSE) has created an online manifesto that contains the most important of their demands. They range from the very basic - that writers be more fully recognised as the author of the work and that festivals and institutions actually name the writers in their programs - to the touchy issue of "possessory credit" (producers or directors taking undue shares of the writing credits) and "fair payment for every form of exploitation". The latter refers notably to the growing online download services.

The FSE represents the writing guilds of the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and other countries. Find out more about it on the FSE website.

Random thoughts about scripts

The Belgian writers' group ASA held a round table recently to try and define what a movie script is, with a view to being better able to present the writers' case in discussions with other bodies. To cut to the chase, the definition was never agreed on but the discussion itself turned out to be fascinating.

Script doctor and writer Luc Janssens set the ball rolling by suggesting that the script is a "technical document used to make a film". But others found that belittled the craft and artistry of storytelling. Inevitably, the question of structure came up. And just as inevitably, the claim that structure is somehow an American idea was made (something I have always thought was strange - like David Lean or Hitchcock didn't use structure). Director Harry Kümel ("Malpertuis", "Eline Vere" and opera) rightly jumped in to point out that a lot of the early analysis of drama was done by a Frenchman. Janssens added a long list of writers stretching back to Shakespeare that used the 3-act structure.

Kümel was critical of the current reliance of the European movie sector on public support. "It's not with subsidies and commissions that that we'll create new European cinema. I dream of a European cinema that complements America's."

But how do you judge a film and its performance? Kümel: "A film must be seen by the number of people it is intended for." That's actually a neat definition if you think about it. An art-house drama could never compete with the tent-pole summer movies. But that does not mean that it is operating in a vacuum. There are still yardsticks for analysing its performance.

"...like becoming a doctor..."

On to writing itself: "It takes years, that's the problem," according to Janssens. "Scriptwriting is like becoming a doctor - it takes about the same amount of time to become a good one. It's not because you learn the rules that you are a writer... We looked at the number of schools and courses that are available in Europe for the moment and found over 300. But in my opinion, only a very few of them - including London and Rome - are worth anything." The problem is one of commitment, with many film-making courses not devoting enough time to the script.

Another question that cropped up was: "Who exactly is the author of the script?" Some writers complained about being considered as luxury typists by directors. The habit of directors and even producers demanding shares of the authors' rights was also discussed. "I don't accept that," said Janssens. "When I finish a script, I've done 80% of the directors job."

More about Luc Janssens

Song lyrics for Belgian hit movie "Vermist"

This summer, I got a call from composer Steve Willaert who was writing music for the Belgian thriller “Vermist/Missing” directed by Jan Verheyen. He was preparing a track for the end of the film and could I help with the lyrics? After a little coming and going, the result was “Waiting” breathlessly sung by Chantal Kashala. What I didn’t know at the time is that the film stars two of Flanders’ biggest new actors, Koen De Bouw and Kevin Janssens. So when I went to see it on the second night, I was surprised to find a capacity audience in one of the largest theatres (it opened in 29 cinemas in Flanders). “Waiting” plays over the final credits. I’ve had music used in movies before, but this is the first time I’ve written something from scratch for one. There are plans to turn “Vermist” into a TV series. Check Vermist here. Scriptwriters are Bas Adriaensen, Philippe De Schepper and Matt Witten.

Download the track from A-Lyric.

Rome festival: learning from documentaries

Big, glamorous and busy: I just got back from the Rome festival, where I didn't manage to see half the films I wanted. But two documentaries gave me some food for thought. The first was "The Gates", by Antonio Ferrera. This fly-on-the-wall documentary follows artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's two attempts to line Central Park with saffron-coloured patches. The film-makers followed them to the various production and administration meetings. So the film was not written or even planned in terms of a final structure. "600 hours of rushes, 2 years of editing into 98 minutes," as Ferrera explained in the bar. So the challenge was to make a coherent story out of a vast amount of material afterwards. "You never stop writing your film," he said. "When you pitch it, you're writing. Editing is re-writing. When you dub it or do subtitles, you're still writing. Basically, you only really stop writing when you start the next one."

The other revelation was "Natural Born Star", a brilliant documentary about the former Norwegian heartthrob Fred Robsahm (photo), who basically fell into superstardom in Italian B movies in the seventies by accident. I won't go into the details of his amazing yet tragic life, but it's one of the most moving stories I've seen in ages. What was interesting was the way the director Even G. Benestad and scriptwriter August B. Hanssen used the mountain of vintage material to tell the story, which itself has the feel of a B movie throughout the parts that deal with the seventies (including a great period soundtrack by Kaada - pronounced "coda"). Inevitably, when the reality kicks in, the effect is all the more moving. For a work of non-fiction, it is also remarkably true to the three-act structure. I strongly recommend this one. The film has its own site called Natural Born Star.net, but you'll find more info on the Rome Film fest page here.

Check the soundtrack on


Incidentally, the Rome festival doesn't have a script award. So the only reference to a screenplay came from director Jason Reitman, who insisted on bringing the scriptwriter Diablo Cody on stage with him to pick up an award for "Juno" as "it is her story". Spoken like a gentleman!

Rome festival kicks off

The 2nd edition of the Rome Festival kicked off yesterday, with 167 films on show, including 14 in competition. "Rome will be the biggest cinema in the world," claims Mayor Walter Veltroni. The festival aims at being one of the top international events, and has lined up a dozen avant-premieres to tempt the press along. The festival also has a market, called Business Street (centred around the once-electric Via Veneto). To find out about the festival, click the logo (right).

I'll be down there towards the end of the fest, with two projects with directors attached. If anyone is interested in hooking up, leave a message. It will be interesting, as I'm a big fan of Italian cinema old and new but only get to see a tiny part of what is happening. The other reason I'm looking forward to going is that I lived for a few months in Rome back in the eighties. It'll be good to be back there.

RaiSat are doing live broadcasts and reports from the event. Check out the programme here.

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) picks up main award at Ghent festival

The Ghent Film festival has just wrapped up, with the main award going to the German movie "Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)". Directed and adapted from a book by Stefan Ruzowitzky, the film details one of the biggest counterfeit schemes in history. Germany used Jewish counterfeits during the war to churn out Allied currency in an attempt to sabotage their economies. Inevitably, the suckers doing the counterfeiting had some choices to make: living relatively well while working for the Germans or dying. If you think about it, that's not much of a choice really. In fact, it's not a choice at all. It's only later that it might be perceived as an issue.

The film is based on the memoirs of Adolf Burger, "Des Teufels Werkstatt/The Devil’s Workshop". In a comment on European-Films.net, another author, Lawrence Malkin, makes some interesting comments about the choices being made by these people at the time.

"Die Fälscher" was released in the UK on October 12. It received four stars from Empire.