Christopher Bruce directs Wogan's return to Ireland

Christopher Bruce has directed both episodes of Terry Wogan's Ireland, which begins on Sun 23rd January at 9pm on BBC1.



It's been 40 years since Sir Terry Wogan decided to leave Ireland and to seek his fortune in England. In that time Ireland has changed out of all recognition. And so has Terry. Now, in the wake of his retirement from Radio 2, Terry’s going ‘home’ to make the autobiographical journey of a lifetime...

Kristiene Clarke directs films on HIV for UN

Kristiene Clarke has just completed a 90 second commercial, Criminalize Hate Not HIV, for the United Nations and International Planned Parenthood Federation. The film was produced in 18 languages, and can be viewed here). It's to be shown theatrically and on television in 62 countries on World Aids Day.

She also made Give Stigma the Index Finger for the UN/IPPF, a 52 minute film about the illness, featuring Annie Lennox. It had its world premiere at the World Aids Conference in Vienna, and since then has been screening at film festivals around the world. She is currently making Verdict On a Virus, an accompanying documentary about the same subject.

Mike Christie directs a "Little Cracker"

Mike Christie directed Jo Brand's episode of Sky's anthology of short films Little Crackers, entitled "Goodbye Fluff".

Watch it on Sky 1 and Sky 1 HD, Wednesday Dec 22nd at 9pm.

Hunt down Mark Radice's WW2 doc this Saturday

Mark Radice's film Headhunters of World War II is showing on Channel 4 on Saturday 09 October at 8:15pm.

In 1945, as war rages across the world, an incredible drama is unfolding in the remote jungles of Borneo. It involves a group of stranded US airmen, the local tribe of Dayaks and Major Tom Harrisson – one of the most eccentric officers in the British Army, who revives the ancient custom of headhunting against the Japanese. What follows is a gripping and improbable tale of cat and mouse – as World War Two crashes headfirst into the isolated world of Borneo’s interior, where tribespeople still hunt with blowpipes and poison made from tree bark.

Thrown together in extraordinary circumstances, these ordinary people from diverse cultures will all be tested: the airmen – who must survive in dense inhospitable jungle for months; the Dayaks, who risk their lives to help and protect the airmen; and Harrisson – the anthropologist living out his fantasies, who commits what many consider to be a war crime but is decorated as a hero on his return to Britain.

An Idiot Abroad on Thursday 23rd September

An Idiot Abroad premieres on Sky1 HD on Thursday 23rd September at 9.30pm.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send their mate Karl Pilkington to see the Seven Wonders of the World. Krishnendu Majumdar is the series director and has directed episodes 1,5,6 and 8 (China, Egypt, Brazil and London). Richard Yee is the series producer and has directed episode 7 (Peru). Luke Campbell has directed episodes 2 and 3 (India and Jordan). Jamie Jay Johnson has directed episode 4 (Mexico). Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are executive producers on the series.

Ricky Gervais described it as "the funniest documentary I've ever seen". View the trailer here.

Dancing with the Devil to screen at Riverside Studios

Jon Blair's Grierson short-listed feature documentary Dancing with the Devil will get a special screening at the Riverside in Hammersmith at 7pm on October 5th, as part of More4's fifth anniversary celebrations.

The filmmakers had unprecedented access to both Rio de Janeiro's heavily armed gangsters as well as the specialist police units that hunt down and kill them, offering an intimate look at one of the bloodiest urban conflicts on earth.

The Guardian called it "a harrowing documentary, filled with harrowing, unforgettable images", whilst the Times said it was "exceptional" and The Telegraph called it "a fine cinematic documentary".

For more, click here.

London Film Festival unveils line-up for 2010

The BFI London Film Festival has announced details of its programme for this year’s festival, with 11 world premieres and a host of hotly-anticipated pictures amongst its 197 films.

Opening with Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, a European premiere, and closing with 127 Hours, Danny Boyle’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, the festival will showcase movies from a multitude of genres, nations and eras from October 13-28th.

To read more, visit our website.

Clive Donner passes away aged 84

British director Clive Donner, most renowned for his work in the sixties, has died at the age of 84.

Clive will be best remembered for his work on comedies such as Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1965) and What’s New Pussycat? (1968). He also directed a memorable adaptation of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, and worked with such esteemed actors as Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Sir Ian McKellen and Peter O’Toole.

For more, click here.

Mike Christie takes a look Inside Incredible Athletes

Mike Christie has directed Inside Incredible Athletes for Channel 4.

A feature-length documentary which focuses on five paralympic sports as you’ve never seen them before, the show broadcasts on Sunday, August 29th at 9pm.

For more, click here.

Manchevski's Mothers makes Toronto programme

Milcho Manchevski’s new film, Mothers, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, on September 12, in the Special Presentations program.

The film is a genre-bending look at the nature of truth. A Macedonian-French-Bulgarian co-production, it was written and directed by Manchevski and produced by Christina Kallas.

Remember: if you're a Directors UK member and would like to inform us of your recent project, please get in touch.

Another year, another Robinson at NYC Film Fest

Two British directors will screen work at this year’s New York City Film Festival, the 48th to date.

From September 24th – October 10th 28 films will appear at the festival, with Mike Leigh’s Another Year and Patrick Keiller’s Robinson in Ruins amongst them. Another Year, which premiered at Cannes this May, features regular Leigh collaborators Lesley Manville and Jim Broadbent as a married couple who accept a struggling friend into their home. Meanwhile, Robinson in Ruins sees director Patrick Keiller reprise the titular Robinson from past films Robinson in Space and London, both of which were praised upon release.

Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, of which parts were shot in London, will close the festival, whilst David Fincher’s The Social Network will open it.For more, click here.

Boyle’s finest Hours to close the London Film Festival

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s latest film 127 Hours, which stars James Franco, has been announced as the picture to close this year’s London Film Festival.

127 Hours recounts the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, played by Franco, who became trapped under a boulder for five days. Incredibly, in order to free himself, Ralston amputated his own arm.

In a statement, Boyle said: "LFF played a vital role in the journey of Slumdog Millionaire in 2008 and it's great to be bringing new work here and renewing a happy partnership.” Sandra Hebron, the festival's artistic director, said, “127 Hours was the obvious choice for us”.

127 Hours opens in the UK in January 2011. For more, click here.

Dinard Festival going Nowhere with Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor Wood’s Nowhere Boy will open this year’s Dinard Film Festival, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of subject John Lennon’s birth.

Held on the 6th – 10th October, the 21st Dinard Film Festival will once again celebrate British cinema, hosting a number of French premieres of recent UK movies. This year’s titles include Four Lions by Chris Morris, Mike Leigh’s Another Year and Neds, directed by Peter Mullan.

For more, click here.

Toronto announces line-up for 2010 festival

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced its line-up for next month’s event, and a number of British directors are set to screen their films.

John Madden’s The Debt, which tells the story of three young Israeli Mossad agents on a secret mission to capture and kill a notorious Nazi war criminal in the Sixties, will premiere, alongside Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, the real-life tale of how King George VI's attempted to overcome his nervous stammer upon taking to the throne. Mike Leigh’s Another Year and Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe, which both screened at Cannes, will have their North American premieres.

Richard Ayoade’s feature debut Submarine, a coming-of-age comedy drama, will be screened in the Special Presentations category, as will Rowan Joffe’s own first film, an adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock. Nigel Cole’s Made in Dagenham, a dramatization of the 1968 strike by female workers at the Ford Dagenham car plant, and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, will also screen, as will Kim Longinotto’s documentary Pink Saris.

Toronto Film Festival runs from 9 – 19 September 2010. For more, click here.

A Life in the Day for Kevin Macdonald

Published just before the date of filming, director Kevin Macdonald speaks to Cinematical about his role and expectations of Life in a Day, a user-generated film which will combine footage filmed on the same day from across the globe.

Read the interview here.

UK Film Council review shows record year for box office

The UK Film Council published its annual Statistical Yearbook today, with news that 2009 had been a record year at the box office. £944 million was taken across British cinemas, with 174 million visits overall, the highest number since 2002. As the review states, 2009 was the year cinema bucked the recession.

The rise of 3D and, in particular, Avatar were widely responsible for the unparalleled level of income generated, with James Cameron’s film generating more in 3D takings alone than the total gross of any other 2009 film. Closer to home, three UK films in particular enjoyed success last year, with David Yates’ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes coming second, fifth and eighth respectively in a list of the highest-grossing films in the UK and Ireland.

Regarding film production, the UK spend of inward investment films reached £753 million, the highest on record, while the total UK spend of £957 million was, after 2003, the second best year on record. However, the median budget of UK domestic films fell slightly, from £1.7 million to £1.5 million, whilst the number of domestic features released reduced from 77 in 2008 to 71.

"Low budget independent production is a tough business - it always has been," said UK Film Council Chief Executive John Woodward. But he also conceded that getting smaller, independent films off the ground here in the UK was becoming increasingly difficult, due both to the global economic problems and the "the increasingly tough transition from the analogue to the digital age".

After tax relief, the biggest public contributions to the British film industry came from Lottery funding and grant-in-aid from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. With public spending very much in the spotlight at present and a spending review expected in October, the film industry will hope these sources continue to invest at a similar level.

To read the UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook, click here.

Horror helmers give new life to the genre

British horror is making something of a comeback it seems, a fact not missed by the Guardian website this morning.

Joe Cornish, one half of comedy duo Adam and Joe, is directing his first feature Attack the Block, which will share producers with horror hit Shaun of the Dead. Meanwhile Hammer Films, the studio synonymous with British horror in the Sixties and Seventies, is on the comeback trail after a thirty year break from the genre, with a slate of productions that includes a 3D version of The Woman in Black.

The adaptation of the hit West End play will be directed by James Watkins, whose previous credits include the similarly chilling My Little Eye and Eden Lake. The Guardian credits Watkins’ work in the genre as key to its renewed success, along with the likes of Danny Boyle (28 Days Later), Neil Marshall (The Descent) and Christopher Smith (Creep).

To read the article, click here.

DCMS announces Structural Reform Plan

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced provisional details of the DCMS Structural Reform Plan, which will set out the department’s priorities from now until 2013.

Amongst the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s plans include a new Communications Bill – although not until 2012 at the earliest – and a reduced role for the regulating body Ofcom. Also included was the proposed launch of new local television stations in the summer of 2012, and the implementation of Europe’s leading universal and superfast broadband.

The government will also begin negotiating the terms of a new licence fee for the BBC, which is due to occur between July 2011-April 2012.

For more click here and here.

Directors UK at the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival

Directors UK is hosting a panel session at this year's Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, which takes place from 21-31st July.

The session is entitled The Future of Short Film – are shorts becoming longer?, and will see a panel discuss what's next for the short film. The discussion will be chaired by Directors UK Board member Tim Sullivan, and the panel includes Tom Harper, director of Scouting Book for Boys, BAFTA nominated director Corinna Faith and BBC New Directors Award winner Martin Gooch.

It's being held at the Apple Store on Regent Street on Wednesday 28th July, from 5-6pm. It's free to attend, so why not come along?

Bruce Webb's Film The Be All and End All for Karlovy Vary judges

Director/Producer Bruce Webb's film The Be All and End All was selected for the Variety Critics Choice at Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2010. With a shooting budget of only £120,000 the feature was the only film from the UK to be selected by Variety.

For more information on the film go here and here.