05/10/2006

The 17th Dinard British Film Festival opened today with The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] by Stephen Frears (see article). Until Saturday, the event held in the Breton seaside town will host the French premieres of 20 features. A jury presided over by actor François Berléand, and including producer Dominique Besnehard as well as directors Charles Dance and Radu Mihaileanu, will award the Golden Hitchcock to one of six films in competition: Cashback [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sean Ellis, Almost Adult by Yousaf Ali Khan, Kidulthood by Menhaj Huda, London To Brighton by Paul Andrew Williams, Pierrepoint by Adrian Shergold and Small Engine Repair [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Niall Heery.

The programme also features a gala evening dedicated to Red Road by Andrea Arnold (Jury Prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival – see news).

Fourteen preview screenings will give an opportunity to decipher the trends of contemporary British cinema, taking a "keen look at current societal problems, in particular amongst young people" according to festival artistic director Hussam Hindi, who also pointed out that "for over 15 years, between 30 and 40 British films have been shown in France, which makes them the third most popular after US and French and well ahead of Spanish, Italian and German films.”

The 2006 festival’s line-up includes: Snow Cake [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marc Evans (in competition at Berlin this year, see news), Severance [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Christopher Smith, Confetti [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Debbie Isitt, Glastonbury by Julien Temple, Driving Lessons [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jeremy Brock, Life & Lyrics by Richard Laxton, Middletown by Brian Kirk, The Gigolos by Richard Bracewell, Infinite Justice by Jamil Dehlavil, Lie Still by Sean Hogan and Neil Jordan: Portrait by Philippe Pilard.

The Dinard festival – supported amongst others by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) and the UK Film Council – will be devoting a special screening to Désaccord Parfait (lit. “Perfect Disagreement”) by Antoine de Caunes and hosting retrospectives on Brian Cox, Leslie Phillips and Michael Grigsby.

For the third year running, the festival will also be screening shorts produced by two well-known film schools, the NFTS (National Film and Television School) and the Fémis.

(Translated from French)