Racism was the last taboo, these type of show had never tackled. While class war, sexism, etc…had already been through the big brother machine… Having said that…Isn’t it the very function of CBB and his ‘brother’ show BB to higlight the ills of our society and to somehow weather the storm…?

And my point is…although I feel for the poor Shilpa….she is actually – bless her – bearing the brunt of what a lot of us are experiencing on a daily basis whether at work or at school or while being stopped and searched in the streets….She is almost a martyr for a just cause….

If a stunning ‘princess’ out of Bollywood’s finest can suffer racism …then it says a lot about what ordinary Asians (and others by proxy) are going through on a daily basis….
If people are ready to behave in such a way on National Tv…then it says a lot about our society…and I am not only talking about Jade who has been made the ‘EscapeGoat’ (To use a Goodysm) but also Danielle and Jo, who often were more plain in their speech, albeit behind closed doors and far away from Shilpa….

If people can reach the level of ‘fame’ and income reached by the three Witches and still behave so appallingly against a particular individual while displaying a level of ignorance and miseducation seldom seen on National Tv.. it does say a lot about the society we are living in…

Rather than brushing it under the carpet let’s expose the ills of our society in prime time TV. And yes (poor Shilpa) thank you for your grace and dignity in such a horrid time…

I also applaud the 30 000 peoples whichever background they are hailing from who complained about her treatment. Ultimately, the producers are rubbing their hands and seemed to be willing to keep that storyline alive…Although I was for the show to be kept on-air, they also have a duty of care for the people they do invite on the show and if their livelihood or safety might be at risk by appearing on a Tv Show, then they should take their responsibility of course and inform the ‘contestants’ properly.

Next? The ‘storm’ will hopefully go away, new standards of behaviors and etiquette will be introduced on national Tv…As for our daily lives? Do not expect much I suspect, although Gordon Brown must have just been able to salvage the Anglo-British trade relations. As for Jade, who is said to be on ‘suicide-watch’… I suspect her camp has hired the PR machine that got Kate Moss off the hook and turned cocaine addiction to ‘Cocaine Chic’….What will be the PR Buzz word for that: ‘Goby Chic’ …’Chavy Chic’…? But I’m just an old cynical…

Tags

Related Articles

• TERROR IN THE UK – Survey on Muslim Communities
• TOM HUNTER – Living in Hell and Other Stories
• THE RISING – Aamir Khan’s Influences & Politics
• SHOW ME THE MONEY – Who’s the Daddy?
• LOIN DU VIETNAM – Far From Vietnam

The survey published by Channel 4′s Jon Snow on the 7th of August, highlighted what a certain section of the Muslim community made of the last events in Heathrow on the 10th of August. Coincidence, coincidence on the 07/8, three days before the incidents, John Snow of Channel 4, (The 3rd TV channel in the land) was publishing the results of that now famous survey on the Muslim community.

http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/D/dispatches2006/

The Channel 4 survey showed that some sections of that particular community felt angered by the UK foreign policy and that it was only a matter of time before the terror alert of the 10th happened.

When they say first generation Muslim, read Muslims from the Indian sub-continent (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis…). Second and third generations, although hailing in majority from the same lands also includes an increasing numbers of members of the Africans Diasporas (North Africans from Algeria, Morocco … and Black Africans from Somalia, Nigeria…)

It is interesting to notice that one of the 10/08 plotters is said to be a young middle-class white man who converted to Islam 6 months ago. Albeit an interesting one, it is more than anything, a sensationalist fact, which implies that individuals on the fringe of society could have been ‘easily’ brainwashed and pushed to do such an act. But when one is glaring upon the calm and quiet suburban semi-detached houses, raided by the police forces on the 10th and bring to the mix what the C4 survey do reveal. One has to hammer home some alarming truths.

The results published, although predictable, highlighted again the chiasm between young Muslims and the older law-abiding generation who were simply in a broad sense happy to be offered entry to the country and a fairly comfortable way of life. It also showed an even wider chiasm with British society and its way of life as a whole, with some calling for the implementation of Shariaa (or Islamic law) in what they see as a godless land.

The younger ones have turned to a more orthodox approach to Islam than their elders with a minority of them turning to radical ideas and an even smaller one to direct action.

• A majority of those young people for example, thought that Lady Di was eliminated because she was bearing a potential heir to the UK crown of Muslim descent.
• Again, in their views 9/11 was an ‘inside job’ involving US security forces themselves.
• Iraq, Kosovo, Chechnya, Lebanon, Palestine, Are all seen as proof of a greater conspiracy against their faith and they seem to see little or no compassion from the rest of the population.

John Snow stresses that he had spoken to devout Muslim, but no real extremists, despite their strong views. They were all articulate, educated and in touch with their community.

This last alert although disruptive, can not be analyzed without the middle-east sub-plot at its core and on a more local level the Forest Gate security forces fiasco which saw 200 police officers arresting 2 Muslim men, destroyed their houses, injured one of them at gunpoint and released them a week or so later without charge. Or the unnecessary killing of a peaceful but scared Brazilian worker in the tube who was said to have connections with the 7/7 bombers.

Intelligence gathering within that community is a major issue and security forces trained to combat enemy-states from the old ‘iron curtain’ in Eastern Europe have not been able to adapt to this new kind of asymmetric warfare. Security forces have tried to recruit within that particular community, but last reports lately showed that the recruitment drive allegedly made them opened to infiltrations or maybe it was just internal resistance from organizations not inclined to be opened to broader section of the community.

Another survey about what the British public at large, think of the Muslim community will be quite interesting. You can easily predict a north-south divide on that issue. As Muslim communities in the north are on average, less integrated and less prosperous than their southern counterpart. Half or more of the 7/7 bombers came from up north where they literally live parallel lives with other communities. Whether there will be public or more subtle forms of backlash remain to be seen.

The battle-front is multiple, diverse and shifting all the time. Sensitivity is at its peak as shown by the ‘cartoon’ episode earlier this year throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Even a misplaced head butt at the world cup final took another signification when enlarged to the head butters origins and the words ‘terrorist (?)’ uttered or not…. Another proof of that sensitivity was screened when George Galloway MP and leader of the Respect movement went on live TV, the day after the survey was published and before the 10th of August, to defend his pro-Arabs views on SKY TV: http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-galloway_060806,00.html

An amazing outburst it was and definitely not the last on the subject. Whether one conflict fed the anger for the other one, the Channel 4 survey seems to agree. Whether one is firmly linked on the ground, to the other remains to be proven. However, in the global age we are living in, it is difficult to believe that events can stand alone without any connections to other events happening right now and involving fellow Muslims conclude the survey and as we know, the survey was published BEFORE the foiled plot. Cautiousness and fore thinking are required in these dark hours and a fair advice would be to give the last events a week or two to simmer, before drawing any definitive conclusions.

The dividing lines are cultural, generational, religious and ultimately racial. It is indeed, the biggest challenge faced by secular, tolerant Europe for this century and maybe the next to come.

Tags

Related Articles

• LOIN DU VIETNAM – Far From Vietnam
• BIG BROTHER – Cruelty TV As We Knew It
• WIRED WOMEN OF SPITALFIELDS – Old Spitalfields Market Festival
• VISIONS OF UTOPIA – Utopianism & Post-Ideological Art
• TOM HUNTER – Living in Hell and Other Stories

Written by David D’Alessandro, John Heffernan, Sheldon Turner, directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. The film finished filming principal photography in September of 2005 including five days of additional re-shooting to raise the MPAA film rating system rating from a PG-13 to an R[1]. It is now unofficially the biggest buzzed film of all time with tremors going back as early, as the Blair Witch Project era in 99. Buzzed is the right word and for once, it is not down to cast, crew or script,…and has anyone approaching the phenomenon quite taken aback by the way it all started. SOAP, as it is now known, started as a quirky little film on a plane, post 9/11. It was difficult for any respectable producer to think about green lighting a high-profile project involving planes flying.

Sam was brought into the picture – ‘because of the title’ – and all of sudden, the producers (Craig Berenson, Gary Levinsohn and Don Granger), realized that they were sitting on a good film. The film’s working title was then changed to ‘Pacific Air flight 121′

Perceptive fans – Hollywood insiders? Outsiders? – picked up on this change of name and started writing poems, songs, bloggs, trailers,…to ‘protect’ the title? Revive it? It started a cult followed by many and like the great men once said ‘Never was so much owed by so many to so few’
How and why it started will remain a webmystery. However, the title has now became in Internet-lingo an explanation for fatalistic feelings ranging from ‘c’est la vie’ to “shit happens.” …

Here is one of those poem by SuperMatricks:

Snake On A Plane or SOAP…

Internet aphorism…
Sentence precluded of any serious meaning
If only the very serious…meaning of life….
Over-reaching the foremost tentacles
Down the deep end of the wide web
Cruising like the riding zeitgeist.

For this is the Google age, we enter a new page
Clicking away at every turning point.
We are mere mortals and should not be on a plane
For this is the moment when running from the joint

The only ghost moved on the femme fatale
She, bless her, decided to refuse the rascal

Fixing up and looking sharp
Holding the mirror like a true lady
I unleashed my lyrics in a welcoming park
I have your snake down in my plane.
I never said it would be so easy
Her smile made you feel alive
Is it possible for a snake to be on two different planes?
Was my opening chat-up line…
I could never see the reality sign
Will Hoxton ever, ever, ever be cool again?
And my head never felt so much pain
I could never, never, see, she was a real dame

And she replies: Are you always so sneaky?
Maybe cheeky, never monkey!

She smirked….almost…
Am I in?
At any cost
Magic grin…I am the boss
Think…positive like a butterfly

She gazes…Make a move?
She oozes…should I fade

I start campaigning…for my own party:
Word flowing like a proper arty..

You are the candidate, of my heart…
I’ll fly your colors to the other end of the earth
…..
.
It’s alright I’ll stay on the plane, for the rest of the flight.
She replied
Tough cookie I thought…
Browne sausage she replied
D’you know a Chinese bookie? I uttered
‘My favorite dish’ she smiled

Like I said, the snake was not for turning…hmmm just maybe for fuming
First the snake then the plane…how did it get sooo lame?
She asked.
My cover was blown ‘pff’ confetti-style…
My pride? Down the sink… ‘Sssh’ Linguini style
I’ve been plucking chicken like you all my life.
I’ve been staring at you all the flight
‘Get your snake out of here!’
The plane was still full …of other Snakes…
END.
As published on the official fanblogg: http://www.snakesonablog.com/Soooo.

Green Light

You saw the movie…liked it? Enjoyed the theater or your home cinema…? Not yet! The only problem is you haven’t seen a single frame of the film so far. The problem is the film has started a bizarre internet fever never seen before in the Google age. The problem is chat rooms, news rooms, blogg, super-community website, fansites alike…are full of it. Full of stories about the filming, the press is at it, and the growing legions of fans as well…to the point where they’ve actually been able to reorder the shooting of a few scenes and the addition of dialogues of their choice to satisfy their browsing egos. To add to the insult, I will therefore write the first review of a movie I have never seen!

Before you asked yourself, is he mad? Remember that some even made a movie of how the audition was conducted, without being there! … So let me now do my mo#*#* fu#*#*#** review!

First let’s command the fine and subtle acting genius that is Samuel Lee Jackson the first, who in his inimitable fashion has been able to deliver a performance of the highest caliber for his legions of admiring fans. Second let us remember the premises of the film: There is a plane full of snake, Samuel Lee Jackson has to save the world, and will he do it? Sure he will, but before that he will have to deliver pin-point sharp one-liners, kick some a#*#* and stutter the sentence: Get the mo#*#*#* snakes out of my m#*#*# plane!
All in the name of poetry then….

What started as a movie made for popcorn lovers – The lead should have been younger; Think Fast and Furious – made in September 2005 in Canada, is now the biggest buzzed film of all time with tremors going back as early, as Blair Witch Project era in 99(post web 2.0 then) Sam was brought in and all of sudden, the producers (Craig Berenson, Gary Levinsohn and Don Granger), realized that they were sitting on a good film. The film’s working title was then changed to ‘Pacific Air flight 121′.

erceptive fans – Hollywood insiders? Outsiders? – picked up on this change of name and started writing poems, songs, bloggs, trailers,…to ‘protect’ the title? Revive it? It started a cult followed by many and like the great men once said ‘Never was so much owed by so many to so few’
How and why it started will remain a web-mystery. However, the title has now became in Internet-lingo an explanation speak for fatalistic sentiments that range from c’est la vie to “shit happens.”

Cut to the chase….
Sam is flying a key witness from Hawaii to LA on a plane. He is an FBI agent. Sam obviously enjoy playing law-enforcement character from Jedi knights, to SWAT team leader, to private eye, to simple cop,…His character is coming straight from the Die Hard book of widow and orphan rescuer, but where Nelville Flynn has the edge on John McLane it is in his ability to deliver badaaasss one-liners while remaining ultra-cool. A ‘tour-de-force’ done effortlessly thanks to the quiet and unassuming action-packed direction of David R. Ellis. D.R.E is known to be a surf enthusiast and was in a previous life stunt coordinator on ‘cult’ films like ‘Invasions of the body snatchers’ (1978) or action 2nd unit director on ‘Patriot games’ and ‘Clear and present danger’ (1994), both with Harrison Ford…

Have you said coincidence?
Woody Allen he ain’t. But that’s exactly the point, for he is well too aware of the danger of letting angst-ridden dialogues taking over the film’s subconscious message: ‘Kill all the muthaf#*#*#*#*# snakes’. A few additional characters complete the casting, sometimes as snakes-fodder like -Tyler (Kennan Thompson) and Ashley, a married couple; Cowboy Rick (David Koechner) from Texas; Cash Money, a gangsta rapper, his bodyguards Big Leroy (Keith Dallas) and Two-Ton; Mercedes, Rachel Blanchard as a Paris Hilton look-alike…some air hostesses, puppeteer (Adam Behr)…etc. And of course the snakes, stars of the films hissing their way through the cockpit with evocative names like Scarface or Hannibal with 20 foot long Kong stealing the show.
We leave you with a few lines dropped from the trailer and hope to hear from you soon:

Nelville Flynn: It’s my job to handle life and death situations on a daily basis. It’s what I do, and I’m very good at it. Now you can stand there and be the panicked, angry mob and blame him, me and the government for getting you into this, but if you want to survive tonight, you need to save your energy and start working together.
Or the most memorable one: I’ve had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!

Tags

Related Articles

• THE RISING – Aamir Khan’s Influences & Politics
• SAYLES TECHNIQUE – A Social, Political & Emotional Travelogue
• RAHMANIAN RHAPSODY – Letting his Work do the Talking
• LOIN DU VIETNAM – Far From Vietnam
• HITCHCOCK’S EMD CINEMA – Injustice in Art & History

However, what I have to say was that some organizations like Ligali, who I want to stress, usually do a good job, were quick to do the intellectual jump stating that the author Sharon Foster had engineered the whole story to get a gig at the BBC. Or was implying that unless you are willing to portray your community in a negative way you will not find employment at the BBC. Some might have divergent views on those points but I actually disagree. You can not hijack an author’s work and lay all the sins of the world on her shoulders. Her track records show that she has always focused her work on the ills of her community and society at large via Babyfathers for example, undeservedly axed from BBC’s schedule a few years ago.

The Sopranos in the US, was lambasted by some intellectual circles in the Italian-American community as a piece of anti-Italian propaganda trying to portray all Italians as outfit-related. However, in most circles and those circles are called viewers who simply enjoy good drama, it is revered as one of the best TV shows ever. The Babyfathers series never got the opportunity of a deserved second season and it was a shame. It was probably down to bad scheduling and those rumors coming from the sidelines asking for the show to be axed. Most of the talent on display, luckily found opportunities on other shows.

Reading the available news dispatches about ‘Shoot the Messenger’ the same voices do seem to be at work again and are ready to bury the show and scare the schedulers by creating negative vibes around Sharon Foster’s last outing. One aspect worth noticing, is the absence of any mention of the plot, the acting, the art direction, etc..

I believe ‘The Crouches’ was just plain bad TV, and did not deserve to see the light of day. ‘Three non-blondes’ (BBC 3 or 2 sometimes) was good comedy with three talented comedians doing what they do best: entertain. In ‘Shoot the Messenger’ we end-up with just one amazing negative reaction focusing on representation or message sent to the rest of the world, as opposed to self-reflection on whether the program is depicting some existing reality or might be of any good value. Sure, I might agree with some that she has been courting controversy and is reaping what she sowed. As did the authors of Jerry Springer the Opera’, ‘The passion of Christ’, ‘Behzti’ (dishonour) …lately. Are we in danger of reaching a stage where ‘He who turns the camera against his community will end-up excommunicated’? I hope not.

The first question I want to be answered when reading a review on any show is: WAS IT A DAMN GOOD DRAMA? If yes, then it is worth talking about representation and the consequences or its impact on a community. If it is BAD DRAMA, then we shouldn’t bother giving the project, the column inches it doesn’t DESERVE.

Ref:
Coming up tv
Babyfather

Tags

Related Articles

• LEIGH LIGHTING – My Aqueous Resonance
• THE WHITBREAD BOOK AWARDS 2005
• JAZZ IN THE CITY – Exploration of Jazz & Art
• FOLK BRITANNIA AT BARBICAN – 21st Century Folk Music
• FLIRTING AT CANNES 2006

On England:
I am a big fan of Franck Lampard and to see him being lambasted around chat rooms is painful, but he knows that by his high standard he has performed below anything I have seen from him in the last two years. A big let down, sure. Yes, the English players were not only over-hyped, but failed to perform when it mattered and showed a certain lack of erm…bottle in key moments. The big money players have to deliver in the money time and they didn’t: Three miss-kicked penalties…On that evidence, it should tell you that something wasn’t together in the mental and psychological department. I have heard that France and Italy for example had blocked all intrusion from the press and family before reaching the second round, where they were allowed a day of rest and visit before going back into siege/bunker mood.
We now know who went to the finals.

The whole WAGS business/phenomenon was a real joke as well. Having your WAG making front page of the papers partying till dawn is not ideal preparation. A back to basics policy is required here. A real one that is! As for Mr Mc Laren, hopefully he will establish a more strict and austere regime, where players will think about football first and not about partying at Beckingham before the W-Cup. I hate to do that, because I really wished England would reach the semis. They did not and it is now soooo easy to throw bricks at them. But sometimes, they seem to present us with the right stick to beat them with …

Enough!

Team of the Tournament
I will agree with the proposed line-up and complaint about the Makelele omission. I would not put Viera in the first eleven, but the second. Makelele has played the whole tournament and has been a stalwart at the heart of France midfield. I can only be frightened at the sight of a defense made of Cannavaro and Thuram. Those two were truly the best performers at the final in my opinion.

Best 11
Buffon- Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Thuram, Lamm – C Ronaldo, Ballack, Makelele, Zidane- Henry, Klose
Materazzi
Just have a look at this authentic DIARY of a Dirty player:
No comment.

Zidane
Best player of the tournament? I don’t know…We will never know to be honest. Yes against Spain and Brazil he was walking on water. What is the legacy left by a man who suffered racial abuse on such a day and could not keep his cool? You may need to suffer racial abuse yourself to understand what went through his head. Some lip-readers helped us decipher what was said:
Z: “Ordinanza de tirare il costume!!”
(Stop pulling my shirt)

M: “Taciti, enculo, hai solamente cio che merite…”
(Shut-up wanker you only get what you deserve)

Z: “si e cio…”
(Yeah right…)

M: “meritate tutti ciò, voi gli enculato di musulmani, sporchi terroristici”
(That’s all you deserve, you muslim arse-holes! Bloody terrorists! )

Make up your own mind. Others publications are already handling the matter now. The war on terror was also present on the pitch somehow….
Going back to the football, ZZ was less efficient against Portugal who found a way to isolate him, however in the final he scored that incredible penalty a la ‘Panenka’ and in the second half of the final he was pulling the strings in midfield. Overall, the tournament has been poor in offensive bravado and his sight brought all the lovers of the ‘beautiful game’ together. Italy could have played Del Pierro…to give us a clash between two ‘fuoriclasse’ (exceptional players) but all Italy wanted was to reach the penalties…sad.

Footie & Politics
Well, we have seen everything. From the non-event: Iran was expected to have its president arrested or summoned to court. To the non-threat from Germans, Dutch, eastern Europeans and English hooligans: Fantastic!
To the amazing efficiency of German organization: Germany probably had one of the best organizations ever seen, although I was told that Japan’s in 2002 was excellent too. And positive results for the economy too from what I have gathered. A. Merkel ridding the ‘Klinsi’ horse and jumping on the feel-good bandwagon, linking herself as Chirac did in 98 in France to a successful World-Cup campaign: re-election beckon…Who’s to bet against her now?

The Italians are still master at the dark art of ‘combinazione’. (Corruption, bribery,…) You would have thought that after the pre-1982 World-Cup season which saw Paolo Rossi among others being suspended for a year, that they would have learnt their lesson. Obviously not. I was still glad to see their president in Englsih talk about the country’s pride in victory… They face another ordeal in their own courts now. Call me cynical, but I will be surprised if anyone’s of substance get indicted. They will be remembered though, for their amazing performance in the semis against Germany. Probably the game of the tournament with France vs Brasil…

Ach Zidaaaane….

Tags

Related Articles

• SLAVERY – 500 YEARS LATER
• VISIONS OF UTOPIA – Utopianism & Post-Ideological Art
• THE WHITBREAD BOOK AWARDS 2005
• THE RISING – Aamir Khan’s Influences & Politics
• FOLK BRITANNIA AT BARBICAN – 21st Century Folk Music

Those events just showed us that words can be as hurtful as actions. From Aragones the Spanish coach calling T. Henry a ‘N…r’ on a training pitch, to R. Atkinson leaving a mike opened at half-time of a game and delivering the ‘N…’ word again…to Matterazzi saying whatever he said, probably in the heat of the moment and ZZ reacting probably in the heat of the moment, the way he did…

Football and its rulers are not under scrutiny. The racists and closet racists are not safe anymore. What was tolerated decades ago is no longer and the son of immigrants will not accept any tampering with their rights and pride. Having said that, I don’t like the press game, which is trying to stir a story not out of the two main men, who both seem to regret what they respectively did, but through relatives, friends, lip-readers, anti-racists campaigners, far right so-called ‘leaders’ etc…

Yes Italy plays dirty but so did Portugal and other nations and France wasn’t that clean either. This World Cup will be remembered as a ‘morally dirty’ World-Cup from the negative tactics, to the poor refereeing and now racism…

FIFA has not been able to restore its dwindling image and proactive attitude in all those areas, as it is done in US sport on a regular basis.

The football authorities have to seriously start clamping down on racist behaviors or I can guarantee you that this is not the last incident of such nature we have seen on a football pitch, parole!

Tags

Related Articles

• WORLD CUP 2006 – Diary of a Dirty World Cup
• WIRED WOMEN OF SPITALFIELDS – Old Spitalfields Market Festival
• VISIONS OF UTOPIA – Utopianism & Post-Ideological Art
• VICTOR SALVETTI – Fashion Feminism Factories
• TOM HUNTER – Living in Hell and Other Stories

You know the guys seating atop of the balcony during the Muppet show. True legends like ‘Wrighty’, ‘Shearo’ should know better… and Gary ‘crisp’ Lineker should have moderated their outburst suggesting that Wayne ‘Rooo’ Rooney should scythe Ronaldo when they are both back in training ground at Carington is ridiculous:

1. It’s just a game
2. If W. Rooney wants to lift that cup he will have to learn one thing or two about behaving in front of millions of viewers, or embrace a Gazza-like destiny.
3. Ronaldo is a cheat…so what? Ronaldo was with Heargreaves the man of the match without a doubt. But his reaction is I’m afraid justified…although I didn’t link the wink…and the jury is still out on that one…

We all love the premier league, its swashbuckling cavalier attitude, high-tempo and that almost old-fashioned code of chivalry that really ensure that the game is played in the right mindset. But international football is not played that way. In European cups competitions, deficiencies are hidden by high-priced and high-quality foreign import both at manager and player’s level…(When was the last time an Englishman won the P-League? )
However, if we want it to continue, then we should also forget about winning anything at world cup or European level…
.If flair players like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Maradona, Henry, …or the whole Italian team are ready to do it and actually win trophies at the highest level, then to use that code as an argument become a cope-out and nothing else…
An excuse for the looser or an item in the chicken rule book…

ou either want to win at all-cost because you are a winner or are ready to loose by your idea and principles.
In that case, no needs to build false expectations as you know roughly how it will end-up anyway…
You get me?

However, just reverse the situation one minute and have Ronaldo towering over English’s player crown jewels. Would you not react similarly if your teammate was hit so low? Club-mate or not…

ABOUT SVEN…

And the millions of excuses invented by everybody. Yes he made bad squad choices…Yes his relax approach was detrimental to the squad, with the WAGS making more headlines than the players…Physically? England lacked a second gear throughout the tournament, that’s a fact…although at ten against eleven they finished stronger than Portugal…You can’t help but still believe that physical preparation was not thorough…If you compare it to running teams like Spain, Ghana, South Korea, Germany,…Mentally? See below…Tactically? He had to make-do with his choices and cope with injuries, hence the tinkering.

ULTIMATELY…

The big players never lived up to their expectations and reputations…Rooney got a Red card…Albeit a dubious one…Lampard, Gerrard, Carragher missed penalties at a world-cup quarter finals. I had never seen that before….and that is not down to ability. Steven Gerrard almost won the C-League in 2005 on his own. As for Lampard, he is by a mile the best midfielder in the second best league in the world (After Spain’s La Ligua of course) and third RANKED FIFA’s PLAYER OF THE YEAR!

Those two ain’t no mug! And ‘Carra’ neither…
What happened then? It was all in the head. Mental preparation was lacking and mental preparation was probably ‘Big Phil’ Scolari’s first weapon. A dedicated student of Sun Tzu with the ability to show raw passion and emotion on the touchline and humble Luis Figo. The man has now entered world cup’s folklore as a touchline legend. Maybe just maybe the FA did their best move in the last five years, in trying to bring him to Soho Square. Pity it didn’t go through though…

Tags

Related Articles

• ZINEDINE ZIDANE – Head Case
• WORLD CUP 2006 – The Mistake, the Genius & the Penalty
• WORLD CUP 2006 – Diary of a Dirty World Cup
• Who Can Use Crowdfunding to Get the Money They Need?
• LEIGH LIGHTING – My Aqueous Resonance

A fitting triumvirate for what was a…

…MISTAKE
Poor Ronaldo. Again one of the best player yesterday and probably the best youngster we have seen on show at the world-cup. To be hated, jeered and heckled around the ground by everyone must have been tough. But he’ll learn and will rise to become the next Figo. Portugal will need another two like him.

…THE GENIUSES
Ballack, Kaka, Fabregas, Torres, Zokora, Klose, Essien, Apiah, Cannavaro, Pirlo, Marqez, Robben, Henry, Viera, Makelele, Figo, Ronaldo, Maniche, Frings, Metesecher, Thuram., J. Klinsmann for coaching an impressive German team, able to break away from his dour image. A short-sleeved manager on his way to become a football guru and a man who gave us a much nicer image of Germany in the 21st century….Gerrard, A. Cole, Lehman, Buffon,…
Those are my geniuses for this W-Cup…and yours?

..AND THE PENALTY
…Taker…Well, I almost forgot the genius to top them all: ZINEDINE ZIDANE. Nerve of steel…eagle-like look…dropped shoulders, bag of tricks, wizzardry aplenty,..aching back and tigh..bald patch…economy of smile and words..No Wags allowed…the beauttiful game as it should be played, with class, instinct and balance in the air….sit down and enjoy a maestro at work…unique sight on a football pitch…’The Zizou code’ might never be broken again…He will now be remembered in the same breath as one of the true great of the game, fellow number 10, main driving force behind a team’s revival and inspiration to a nation: Diego Armando Maradona…

Bonsoir!

Tags

Related Articles

• ZINEDINE ZIDANE – Head Case
• WORLD CUP 2006 – The Blame Game
• WORLD CUP 2006 – Diary of a Dirty World Cup
• VICTOR SALVETTI – Fashion Feminism Factories
• TOM HUNTER – Living in Hell and Other Stories

Meeting at the UK Pavilion. Dealing with passes and accreditations. Sorting out the usual mumbo-jumbo required to cruise through the festival.

‘Volver’ from eternal ‘enfant-terrible’ Pedro Almodovar is on show and has the usual red-carpet treatment. Penelope Cruz – gorgeous in a white Balanciagga dress, or is it? – and Carmen Maura, the co-stars are with him. Penelope returns to our first director and says: “There is one and only one Pedro, he is my priority in all fields. He writes for women who are 14, 35, 50 or 80 years old, this film is perfect example; there are lots of female characters of all ages in his films. I’m sure that my career wouldn’t have been the same without Pedro, my life wouldn’t have been the same without him. I hope that in the future that this will continue. I am very grateful to possibilities given to me somewhere else, it is interesting, one can learn a lot, but I worked in the United States for seven years, and in Europe for about fifteen, but Pedro still remains truly exceptional for me.

As for Pedro Almodovar. You can’t help but feel that each film is a complex description of his obsession for his mother…A bit like Woody Allen and his New-York or Spike Lee and…well New-York too… This is what the master had to say: In Volver, I speak of the women around me when I was a child. I was brought up by women, the men being in fields, whom I practically never saw. Volver speaks of the way I grew up, listening to these women. I would hear them singing whenever I went along the riverbanks with my mother; I accompanied her from my very earliest age. That’s how I learnt a lot about dramatic art, there are many roles that I have written which were inspired by my sisters or my mother, by characters firmly anchored in reality, even if they belong to the realm of fiction. They are characters who spin extraordinary tales, which has always immensely impressed me.”

Another Palme d’or favorite is: Fast Food Nation which casts a critical eye on the fast food industry in the US, via the destinies of three main characters: a marketing executive of a fast food chain, an employee of the same chain, and a clandestine immigrant working for slaughterhouse. For this movie, Richard Linklater has been able to recruit A-list cast with Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Patricia Arquette and Bruce Willis.

Apparatchiks aplenty in sight for the tribute paid to Russian filmmaker Sergei M. Eisenstein yesterday with the screening of two of his films – Bezhin Meadow and October – Headed by the Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob, the director of the Russian State Archives for Literature and the Arts Tatiana Goriaeva, the director of the Eisenstein Memorial Naum Kleiman, and the vice-president of the Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Igor Tolstounov, a stellar night devoted to the director of the masterpieces The Battleship Potemkin and Ivan The Terrible.

20th & 21st May

We have been given a lot of business cards and collected a more impressive number. As always in Cannes, during the festival, we have late, late nights and early mornings (12:00 AM). The mix of sleep depravation, the crowd, the expectation, open the floodgate to a huge array of emotions from fascinating to scary, to fun, dull, exciting all in one. The mood changes minute by minute. Survival is the key here.
Samuel L. Jackson was dining in the Majestic on a table next to us. Al Gore on the red carpet… Otherwise you do see lots of people you think might be someone but you can never really be too sure. But that is not why we are here: We have to sell our projects and establish contacts/bridges with the industry.

The first French Film in the running for this year Palme d’Or, was Charlie Says It does re-introduce us to the films of filmmaker-actress Nicole Garcia, who was a Jury Member in 2000. Nicole Garcia returns to an essentially male world, twelve years after having directed the trio Gérard Lanvin/Bernard Giraudeau/Jean-Marc Barr in The Favourite Son. This time, the film revolves around a quartet of actors – Benoît Magimel, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Benoît Poelvoorde and Vincent Lindon – and a child – the famous Charlie embodied by the young Ferdinand Martin – whose destinies appear to criss-cross on screen. Not in a ‘crash’ way as Benoit Poelvoorde will put it: “This film is so ‘Nicole’. She is the one who entirely carries the film, the actors are relieved of any pressure. That’s why we clown around!” – Benoit stole a few grins with that one.

Nicole has made over the years, her business of filming complex male interactions and stories. Charlie Says could be another stone brought to her body of work:

“Men have this photo genius, this blend of robustness and fragility which fascinates me. They bear in them contradictions which make us wonder what they are going to become. It is these contrary tendencies which interest me. In Charlie Says, it is a question of variations on various kinds of men, about corpulences and various psychologies. This is a territory which I wanted to explore.”

After Wesh, Wesh (2002), a highly remarked debut feature film, Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche introduces us to ‘Bled number One’ in the section Un Certain Regard, the “follow-up” (or prologue) entitled Bled Number One. “The end of Wesh, Wesh,” he explains, “ends with a shot of a pond after a car chase between a cop and Kamel. We then hear a gunshot but we don’t know if Kamel has been killed or not. The only thing which I do know is that Kamel was a victim of the double punishment, therefore we could make a second film: double punishment, double film! We already foresaw a follow-up by making Wesh, Wesh. Whether it takes place before or after is of little importance. Why always consider time as something purely chronological?” Kamel is barely out of prison and is expelled to his country of origin, Algeria. This forced exile obliges him to cast a critical eye upon a country in full effervescence, transformation, torn between a youthful desire for modernity and tradition.

Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche wanted to show: “The energetic manner of filming can recall that of documentary cinema, but it is true that we aren’t for all that dealing with current events. It is another relationship with time, when it isn’t necessarily a question of filming some immediate reality, in realistic way. It is simply a proposal, just to present things, not to bear judgment. (…) To write Bled Number One, I didn’t return at all to Algeria to capture something about today’s youth there. I wrote this story based my holiday memories. But it is also because I felt that things hadn’t really changed, that time passes differently there. You have the time to reflect and be, faced with the elements. (…) A film is a gesture, a burst, a job, an enterprise, an action. An action in life, a pure lesson of life. It is here that we seize something alive. For it is necessary to remain alive, no matter what happens.”

Which leads us to what Cannes, has been famous for the world over; Parties…’Snooty’ French can do parties too: The Cannes Mix program has a DJ set headed by Fred Elalouf at the Beach Cinema.

The Menu? :

- Soundtracks of French films of the 60s and 70s
- Made in Bollywood

This didn’t give us enough opportunity to find our beds. We swapped showers for after-shaves and headed the next day. – After a brunch at the Majestic….always Brunch there if you can afford it! – for the international village, where we crossed the borders from Maroc to the Netherlands and back again. It reminded to some of us, the town of Basel in Switzerland where you can cross three borders within walking distances (France, Germany, and Switzerland). We also saw a film by Daft Punk. Very interesting.

We were also moved by Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman…Great filmmaker always seem to have that obsession, they tend to film time and time again. Nanni is no different. He again speaks about politic and democracy, but avoid acting in it, which is a first, five years after having won the Palme d’Or for The Son’s Room. It’s his 10th feature film, and the 5th presented in the Official Selection. Released in Italy in the middle of the controversial elections, a few days before Romano Prodi’s victory, The Caiman is the story of a young filmmaker (played by Jasmine Trinca, also in The Son’s Room) who wants to make a film about Silvio Berlusconi, and appeals to a producer in crisis of serie “Z” movies (Silvio Orlando, Moretti’s old buddy) to finance her movie. Moretti says: “The Caiman is a love story, a homage to cinema and a political films,” resumes the director, who clarifies his intentions: “I tried to tell, using the means of the motion pictures, a reality which we are no longer able to see or perceive. I think that our problem is one of habit: we’ve become used to characters and situations however truly incredible for the sake of democracy.’

Another particular highlight of the day was the last piece of a trilogy about China The Orphan of Anyang (2001) and Night and Day (2005). This time, the filmmaker allows his camera in the life of a schoolteacher close to retirement, who set out to search for his son. His wife, gravely ill, would like to see their son one last time before dying. He hasn’t given any news for a long time. The father will be welcomed by his daughter who does shifts as a hostess in a nightclub…Brace yourself for a solid family drama with confrontations aplenty.

“Luxury Car,” explains Wang Chao, “falls within the continuance of the reflections and criticisms already expressed in my first two films, on the reality and historic and political allegories of contemporary China. Here, the gap between the rich and poor, the distance which separates people from happiness, the contradictions between the social system inherited from past and the burden of the present are so many problems which I myself, as a full-fledged member of the people, feel all the weight and intensity. That’s why it made me decide to shoot the picture.”

On the party radar, at the Cannes Mix. The new wave soundtracks are honored. Can’t wait for my suit and sunglasses and rehearse my JL Godard ‘A Band apart’ moves…Which implies another night without sleep. I know, I know…

22nd & 23rd May

The ‘babe’s battle’, Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn: Sublime visions of nature’s most famous achievement on the red carpet. For your eyes only…Their presence allegedly being required for the promotion of the third X-Men movie… As for the film, wait for the DVD release, or PSP, or Podcast, or Palm, or…On a more serious note, ‘Bamako’ by Abderrahmane Sissako. Born in Mauritania, raised in Mali, read film at the prestigious VGIK in Moscow before releasing his first work in 1990 (Le Jeu). After string of international awards (Fespaco, Perugia,…) Cannes awaited to be seduced in 2002 by Waiting for Happiness. ‘Bamako’ is out of competition…As is the seminal film about French ‘demi-god’ Zinedine Zidane. Helmed by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, acted by none other than double Z or ‘ZZ’ himself. The film celebrates the bizarre cult of Zidanemania, shot in real time during a Madrid game supported by no less than 17 high-tech HD cameras, aimed solely at the artist Thierry Henry refers to as ‘the man who do stuff with his foot, you could only dream of doing with your hands’…It’s a pity the film didn’t really try to develop a narrative we would follow but rather lays on the technological foundations pitched to us beforehand. But if you enjoy seeing master at work, be my guest!
To the International village and another trip to Germany and Canada, then South Korea…That’s where the buzz is at the moment…
Kidulthood by Menjah Huda from the UK was also screened over there at 12:00 PM…Couldn’t make it, but should be up for DVD viewing, back in London…

ON THE PARTY RADAR: For two nights, the Didier Riey Group, a gypsy jazz collective will take over the Cannes Mix programme opening for the outdoors screening, made of a selection of twelve animation-shorts by Canadian Norman McLaren, featuring Horizontal Lines, Stars and Stripes, and The Grey Hen. On Wednesday, The Holy Mountain a tale about a quest for immortality by Chilean director/artist Alejandro Jodorowsky. A student of the mime Marcel Marceau (other prestigious alumni include Michael Jackson….), friend of the surrealists Topor & Arrabal. ‘El Topo’ his first mainstream movie, became a cult classic in 1970. When work dried out in films for the Chilean director, he went into comic books, working with fellow cult author Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud – Lieutenant Blueberry, adapted for the silver screen by Jan Koonen of ‘Doberman’ fame in 2004 – Van Hamme, Gal,…achieving cult-status within the comic book fraternity when releasing l’Incal and working on its follow-up: ‘The Meta-Barons saga’. If you want to grasp his influence in modern western comic-books, you would have to speak of him in the same breath as a Hayao Miyazaki(Nausicaa), Akira Toriyama (Dragonball), Katsuhiro Otomo, (Akira) or a Chris Claremont (X-men)…

24th & 25th May

TELEGRAM:

Was in Monaco. /Stop/ couldn’t be bothered to be in Cannes. /Stop/ had a few business dealings to handle. /Stop/. Didn’t have time to blog lately, sorry. /Full Stop/

Telegram, heh? What a funny thing…How many of you remember what it was to send a telegram at the other end of the world? Here we are taking this world for granted. Anyone who’s been on the French Riviera during that period of the year is aware of the fact that we are reaching the high points of the season with the Monte-Carlo tennis tournament, the Cannes festival, the Monaco grand prix, then Avignon festival in Provence, (equivalent to the Edinburgh theater festival…) and so on…We stopped in Grace and St-Tropez too…bumped into Michael Stipe, Robin Aubert, the director and lost our lawyer inside a casino…in Monaco…also known as the ‘Millionaire’s playground’ …
Formula One is the toy here…The noise, the smell, the gas, the sheer pollution it creates and with the little amount of overtaking opportunities, due to the tight confines of the roads, the Monaco Grand Prix must be an ecologist idea of hell.

With preparations in full swing it is quite difficult to drive through the city. Remember, the Monaco grand prix is the last of its kind, as the race track is made of the principality’s own streets. It’s the world’s most famous street track…

An open city as was Rome in January 1945 when the remnants of the German army occupying the ‘eternal city’ are about to surrender …A priest and a communist worker, the two pillars of post-war anti-fascism in Italy will join together to defeat Nazism. The movie buffs among you will recognize the pitch for ‘Rome, open city’ and the birth of Italian neo-realism. Black and white movies, with strong ‘real’ characters shot in the streets, as Cinecitta the babylonesque studios built by Mussolini had been bombed during the war. Serge July, editor of left-wing daily newspaper Liberation, directed a short-documentary called ‘Once upon a time…Rome open city’ showing in Cannes…

Another graceful vision, Barbie Hsu. Her sensual and timeless interpretation left very few moviegoers untouched. The actress is the lead in ‘Silk’ by Taiwanese director, Chao Pin Su: “We tried to make the best possible feature film on all levels,” explains the director. “Usually, in all Taiwanese films, the action is relatively slow and the atmosphere rather dark. I believe that we impose limits on ourselves due to various points of view, even when due to creative talent. This time, we had the good fortune of securing solid financing, which allowed us to develop our ideas with complete serenity. The entire crew is very satisfied with it. This picture is really different from the rest of Taiwanese productions.”
As for Barbie: “It was a true challenge to take on this character, I had a lot of fun playing her. Furthermore, there are terrible deaths in the film, which I greatly enjoyed from this point of view. Not to mention the end, it really touched me.”

Another timeless vision, but this one celebrates a movie dynasty. Like the Douglas, the Van Peebles, etc…Here come the Coppolas! Sofia, the daughter of Francis is back in Cannes with Marie-Antoinette (Her third movie after ‘Virgin Suicides’ – Director’s fortnight – and ‘Lost in translation’). The film charts the life of. ..’Marie-Antoinette’, queen of France during the 1789 revolution and famous for answering to a starving crowd asking for bread: ‘Let them eat cake!’
For me, Marie Antoinette has remained, first and foremost, the symbol of a totally decadent style. I didn’t realize to what point these people, who were called upon to govern a country, were in point of fact no more than teenagers. Daily life in the Château de Versailles is also, for these adolescents, a form of apprenticeship set in a tense, difficult environment. It is this position and the complexity of the character of Marie Antoinette which interested me.” (Sofia C.)
A few recognizable faces in the casting like Steve Coogan (yes…I know!), Marianne Faithfull, Kirsten Dunst and Aurore Clement…However, Sofia is adamant she never tried to make a political statement: ‘I wasn’t making a political movie about the French Revolution, I was doing a portrait of the character Marie Antoinette and my themes are in the film. She was a symbol of decadence. It was very interesting to read and research more about Marie Antoinette, more about the human experience of this young girl who went to Versailles when she was 14 and how she developed in the Cour de Versailles. I thought she was an interesting character. I have always been attracted to the 18th century in France. I knew so little about the personal side of her. The story is about teenagers in Versailles so I wanted it to have the energy of youth, a teenage feeling to it.” I am making one if I tell you that the movie is adapted from a book written by Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham also known as CBE lady Antonia Fraser…?

Anyone who’s been on the French Riviera during that period of the year is aware of the fact that we are reaching the high points of the season with the Monte-Carlo tennis tournament, the Cannes festival, the Monaco grand prix, then Avignon festival in Provence, (equivalent to the Edinburgh theater festival…) and so on…We stopped in Grace and St-Tropez too…bumped into Michael Stipe, Robin Aubert, the director and lost our lawyer inside a casino…in Monaco…also known as the ‘Millionaire’s playground’ … Formula One is the toy here…The noise, the smell, the gas, the sheer pollution it creates and with the little amount of overtaking opportunities, due to the tight confines of the roads, the Monaco Grand Prix must be an ecologist idea of hell.

With preparations in full swing it is quite difficult to drive through the city. Remember, the Monaco grand prix is the last of its kind, as the race track is made of the principality’s own streets. It’s the world’s most famous street track…

An open city as was Rome in January 1945 when the remnants of the German army occupying the ‘eternal city’ are about to surrender …A priest and a communist worker, the two pillars of post-war anti-fascism in Italy will join together to defeat Nazism. The movie buffs among you will recognize the pitch for ‘Rome, open city’ and the birth of Italian neo-realism. Black and white movies, with strong ‘real’ characters shot in the streets, as Cinecitta the babylonesque studios built by Mussolini had been bombed during the war. Serge July, editor of left-wing daily newspaper Liberation, directed a short-documentary called ‘Once upon a time…Rome open city’ showing in Cannes…

Another graceful vision, Barbie Hsu. Her sensual and timeless interpretation left very few moviegoers untouched. The actress is the lead in ‘Silk’ by Taiwanese director, Chao Pin Su: “We tried to make the best possible feature film on all levels,” explains the director. “Usually, in all Taiwanese films, the action is relatively slow and the atmosphere rather dark. I believe that we impose limits on ourselves due to various points of view, even when due to creative talent. This time, we had the good fortune of securing solid financing, which allowed us to develop our ideas with complete serenity. The entire crew is very satisfied with it. This picture is really different from the rest of Taiwanese productions.” As for Barbie: “It was a true challenge to take on this character, I had a lot of fun playing her. Furthermore, there are terrible deaths in the film, which I greatly enjoyed from this point of view. Not to mention the end, it really touched me.”

Another timeless vision, but this one celebrates a movie dynasty. Like the Douglas, the Van Peebles, etc…Here come the Coppolas! Sofia, the daughter of Francis is back in Cannes with Marie-Antoinette (Her third movie after ‘Virgin Suicides’ – Director’s fortnight – and ‘Lost in translation’). The film charts the life of. ..’Marie-Antoinette’, queen of France during the 1789 revolution and famous for answering to a starving crowd asking for bread: ‘Let them eat cake!’ For me, Marie Antoinette has remained, first and foremost, the symbol of a totally decadent style. I didn’t realize to what point these people, who were called upon to govern a country, were in point of fact no more than teenagers. Daily life in the Château de Versailles is also, for these adolescents, a form of apprenticeship set in a tense, difficult environment. It is this position and the complexity of the character of Marie Antoinette which interested me.” (Sofia C.) A few recognizable faces in the casting like Steve Coogan (yes…I know!), Marianne Faithfull, Kirsten Dunst and Aurore Clement…However, Sofia is adamant she never tried to make a political statement: ‘I wasn’t making a political movie about the French Revolution, I was doing a portrait of the character Marie Antoinette and my themes are in the film. She was a symbol of decadence. It was very interesting to read and research more about Marie Antoinette, more about the human experience of this young girl who went to Versailles when she was 14 and how she developed in the Cour de Versailles. I thought she was an interesting character. I have always been attracted to the 18th century in France. I knew so little about the personal side of her. The story is about teenagers in Versailles so I wanted it to have the energy of youth, a teenage feeling to it.” I am making one if I tell you that the movie is adapted from a book written by Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham also known as CBE lady Antonia Fraser…?

Left the sea, s… and sun…for gritty, rainy London. But Cannes is not over yet. I have to give you a few tips for the ‘Palme d’Or’ …This year’s festival has been very ‘serious’ and has featured movies with ‘gravitas’. The president of the jury is Wong-Kar-Wai filmmaker renown for his uncompromising style. Two films spring to mind, when thinking about the Palme d’or or Jury’s prize. The two have wars at their core: ‘The wind that shakes the barley’ by Ken Loach and the excellent ‘Day of glory’…

The movie is about the Algerian, Moroccans, and Tunisians, Senegalese soldiers or goumiers dead and forgotten during the Second World War, who liberated France from Nazism. The director, Rachid Bouchareb, has assembled a stellar ensemble cast, made of some of France’s finest actors: Sami Bouajila, Rochdy Zem, and the two icons of French’s suburbs youth culture, Sami Naceri (Taxi 1 to 3) and Djamel Debbouze (Amelie…).

Rachid Bouchared, the director knew straight from the get-go what would be the major stumbling block for such a movie and forecasted it in his approach: the cinema is a vehicle for encounters and emotions, perceived by audiences first as feelings, even if it gives them more to discover. It was only in this way that I could carry the story and creates a tie with the audience,” he adds. “I didn’t want to be didactic, which serves nothing. We developed the screenplay over two and a half years. We needed 25 versions to be able to step beyond history and concentrate on the human subject matter, on all the tiny details of daily life which reflect life far better than any speech.”

Sami Naceri as always very intense, took the bait with hesitation first, before putting ‘a lot into this film, to the point of even learning Arabic. I literally charged into the story. It isn’t a vindictive picture, nor political. But those in school should learn that these North Africans were the first to fall under German bullets for the liberation of Marseilles, Toulon and Corsica.” Djamel Debbouze, who is considered as one – if not the one – of the most bankable actor in France at the moment had to chip in to get the project going: ‘On the one hand, we come up with budgets in the several million euros to produce comedies where audiences want to see me slipping on banana peels, and on the other hand, I see that a project such as Rachid’s which was non-stop revised downwards. France still has difficulty in coping with its own past.”

Djamel Debbouze, the actor has fulfilled most of his dreams emerging as a disabled kid from the suburbs to one of France’s most recognizable face but the producer was looking for a strong project to sink his teeth in, refusing the usual farces, he is now renowned for: ‘ After Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, I received a multitude of scripts of the kind Asterix vs. the North Africans or Rabin Hood, and I was extremely skeptical. While Rachid’s film presented pleasant and noble challenges to be defended. It was therefore perfectly normal and logical to go all the way for such a film. As co-producer, I am proud that Days of Glory is presented at Cannes, it’s all the better for us. To put together funds for this film, I was even compelled to go meet Sarkozy, which really taught me a lesson!”

R. Bouchardeb went one step further, by asking rai icon Khaled (worldwide hit, ‘Didi’) to score the music for the film, despite early reservations: ‘in normal times, I sing of love and peace, so I was somewhat taken aback when Rachid suggested to me working on the music of a film about war. He then explained to me that it wasn’t really a war picture, its goal was rather to honor those people who helped lead to the Liberation and who brought us the joy of doing certain things. It is out of respect for his people who died for us that I joined Rachid.”

From one master to another: Sydney Pollack, the American director and actor with more than 40 years in the trade and 20 films under his belt. His filmography includes ‘Out of Africa’, ‘Three days of the condor’ and as an actor, the last Kubrick’s work ‘Eyes wide shut’. The night is called ‘A Film master class with Sydney Pollack’. His first words were: ‘I just have to say that anything I am presenting that has the name” master class ” is enough to ring every alarm bell in my brain,”. A master-raconteur, Sydney Pollack cruise through the night dispensing words of wisdom like: To be absolutely honest, I don’t think of myself as a visual director. That’s an area that I work very hard in because it’s my weaker muscle. My stronger muscles are with performance. Because I feel that I am stronger in performance, I try to concentrate as hard as I can on the visual aspects of the movie because it isn’t my forte. There are great visual styles that I admire immensely like Bertolucci. The danger with somebody like me who comes from the theatre as an actor is to follow along with two-people talk scenes and I like to do those. My films are full of them.” Sydney Pollack was also presenting out of competition ‘Sketches of Frank Gehry’, the patron of the arts and founder of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao among other things…

Tags

Related Articles

• THE RISING – Aamir Khan’s Influences & Politics
• SHANGHAI ON SCREEN – Film Festival 2006
• JAZZ IN THE CITY – Exploration of Jazz & Art
• SPICE FESTIVAL 2005 – Music, Painting, Poetry & Drama
• SAYLES TECHNIQUE – A Social, Political & Emotional Travelogue