BRIDPORT FILM FESTIVAL
TAKES THE PAGES TO SCREEN

Festival organisers busy preparing for the 6-day page screen extravaganza - from left to right Steven Horner, Lesley Brooks, Philiy Page, 
back row Nic Jeune.

From Page To Screen
Bridport 3-9 April 2010 

FAMOUS for its literary prize, Bridport is back with a unique, ground-breaking literary film festival, From Page To Screen which celebrates excellence in film adaptations of new and classic books.

From Page To Screen was inspired by the organisers’ discovery that six out of ten Bafta and Oscar winning films were book adaptations, and yet, among the hundreds of film and book festivals which take place in Britain every year, none celebrated the art of adapting books for the silver screen.

The festival will be showing the very best adaptations including challenging dramas such as A Clockwork Orange and Paranoid Park, visual beauties such as A Room with a View and Bright Star, forgotten gems such as The Queen of Spades and The Lady Vanishes and stellar performances including Carey Mulligan, Colin Firth and Michael Sheen.

A key part of the festival is the talks by award winning authors, screenplay writers directors and unusually for a film festival – academics. Highlights include appearances by Lynn Barber (An Education), Julian Kemp (My Last Five Girlfriends), Alan Cubitt (The Boys are Back), Daisy Allsop and emerging local talent Natasha Solomons (Mr Rosenblum’s List). A Clockwork Orange will be introduced by Dr Ian Hunter, director of the international Centre for Adaptations at DeMonfort University and author of a forthcoming book on Stanley Kubrick.

Festival spokesman Steven Horner said, ‘It’s exciting to have so many talented speakers to put the films in context, give us their insights into the production process and share their views on the art of successful book adaptation. This year we’re challenging ourselves, by doubling the size of the programme and screening more films to appeal to young people. There’s something for every taste, from chair-gripping dramas to family-friendly films and beautiful classics.’

From Page To Screen runs from 3 – 9 April with screenings and talks at Bridport Arts Centre and The Electric Palace cinema. To book, call 01308 424204 or visit www.frompagetoscreen.org.uk or www.bridport-arts-com or book in person at the Bridport Arts Centre Box Office.

Film highlights:

• A Clockwork Orange opens the festival. Rarely seen in British since director Stanley Kubrick withdrew it from general release, it still shocks today.

• My Last Five Girlfriends (unreleased) is a laugh out loud exploration of falling in love, using a mix of drama, animation, puppetry and fantasy sequences. Post film Q&A with screenwriter and director Julian Kemp.

• The Queen of Spades, a lost gem has been virtually lost to British cinema since its release in 1949. Originally a novella by Pushkin written in 1834, the story is a gothic drama set in St Petersburg, a city in the grip of gambling fever.

• KES, stars David Bradley who had never acted before and was the film that projected Ken Loach to the forefront of British filmmaking. Based in Yorkshire it tells of the unlikely relationship between a boy and a bird.

• Paranoid Park tells of a skateboarder caught up in an accidental killing and its consequences. Written by Blake Nelson, the film was cast entirely via social networking sites.

Stellar performances:

• Carey Mulligan makes an extraordinary major debut as the young Lynn Barber in her autobiographical story An Education

• Colin Firth achieves the universal recognition he deserves with a superb performance in Tom Ford’s A Single Man

• Helena Bonham-Carter is still perfect as the passionate ingénue Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, the queen of adaptations, now celebrating 25 years