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Better Things (film)
''Better Things'' is a 2008 film written and directed by Duane Hopkins. Set in present-day rural England, the film presents a multi-narrative tale following the young and old on their journeys of withdrawal and commitment to each other. Production Hopkins began work on the screenplay for ''Better Things'' in 2003, and in 2004 was awarded the MEDIA New Talent Award for Best Screenplay by an under 35-year-old at the Cannes Film Festival. An intensive casting process then started in and around the West Midlands where the film was set. Hopkins built on the real-world casting techniques he had employed in his earlier short films, concentrating on ordinary people whose experiences were similar to those of his written characters, and whom he also found photographically compelling. As the film explores the issue of heroin addiction and the physical and emotional functions of drugs for the user, Hopkins cast several young people who themselves had been addicted to heroin. Shooting was con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Socha
Michael Robert Socha (born 13 December 1987) is an English actor, known for his roles in the films ''This Is England'' and ''Summer'', and the television series ''This Is England '86'', '' '88'', '' '90'', '' Being Human'', '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'' and the BBC Three miniseries ''Our World War''. Early life Socha was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, to Kathleen Lyons ("Kath") and Robert Socha, on 13 December 1987. He is the older brother of actress Lauren Socha, star of the Channel 4 comedy-drama ''Misfits''. Socha was brought up in Littleover, a suburb of Derby, and attended St Benedict Catholic School. Socha was a rebellious pupil. He often skipped school, but when forced to attend he tried to make it fun by doing the things he was most interested in. When Socha was 12, his mother read in a local newspaper about a play being cast by the Chellaston Youth Players. She asked her son and daughter if they wanted to try out for it, and both did. Socha's motivation for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Clarke
Alan John Clarke (28 October 1935 – 24 July 1990) was an English television and film director, producer and writer. Life and career Clarke was born in Wallasey, Wirral, England. Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands ''The Wednesday Play'' and ''Play for Today''. His subject matter tended towards social realism, with deprived or oppressed communities as a frequent setting. As Dave Rolinson's book details, between 1962 and 1966 Clarke directed several plays at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, London. Between 1967 and 1969 he directed various ITV (network), ITV productions including plays by Alun Owen (''Shelter'', ''George's Room'', ''Stella'', ''Thief'', ''Gareth''), Edna O'Brien (''Which of These Two Ladies Is He Married To?'' and ''Nothing's Ever Over'') and Roy Minton (''The Gentleman Caller'', ''Goodnight Albert'', ''Stand By Your Screen''). He also worked on the series ''The Informer (TV series), The Info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in Brussels, Belgium. At present it has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIPRESCI announced that it will not participate in festivals and other events organized by the Russian government and its offices, and canceled a colloquium in St. Petersburg, that was to make it familiar with new Russian films. FIPRESCI Award The FIPRESCI often gives out awards during film festivals (such as at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, Vienna International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Venice Film Festiva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company (from 1 January 1927, the British Broadcasting Corporation), it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937 until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into Immediate Media Company. On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the German media group Hubert Burda. The magazine is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the week from Saturday to Friday. Originally, listings ran from Sunday to Saturday: the changeover meant 8 October 1960 was listed twice, in successive issues. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-sized issue has been published each December containing schedule ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrea Arnold
Andrea Arnold, OBE (born 5 April 1961) is an English filmmaker and former actor. She won an Academy Award for her short film ''Wasp'' in 2005. Her feature films include ''Red Road'' (2006), ''Fish Tank'' (2009), and ''American Honey'' (2016), all of which have won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Arnold has also directed four episodes of the Amazon Prime Video series ''Transparent'', as well as all seven episodes of the second season of the HBO series '' Big Little Lies''. Her documentary ''Cow'' premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and played at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival. Early life Arnold was born in Dartford, Kent, the eldest of four children. She was born when her mother was only 16 years old and her father was 17, and they separated when she was very young. Growing up on a council estate, she spent her youth days constantly exploring the "chalk pits, fields, woods and motorways" of Dartford. Her mother had to bring up all four children alone, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve McQueen (director)
Sir Steve Rodney McQueen (born 9 October 1969) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist. He is known for his award-winning film ''12 Years a Slave'' (2013), an adaptation of Solomon Northup's 1853 slave narrative memoir. He also directed and co-wrote ''Hunger'' (2008), a historical drama about the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ''Shame'' (2011), a drama about an executive struggling with sex addiction, and '' Widows'' (2018), an adaptation of the British television series of the same name set in contemporary Chicago. In 2020, he released '' Small Axe'', a collection of five films "set within London's West Indian community from the late 1960s to the early '80s". For his artwork, McQueen has received the Turner Prize, the highest award given to a British visual artist. In 2006, he produced '' Queen and Country'', which commemorates the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq by presenting their portraits as a sheet of stamps. For services to the visual a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design and the London School of Film Technique. He began his career as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s, before transitioning to making televised plays and films for BBC Television in the 1970s and '80s. Leigh is known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques with actors to build characters and narrative for his films. His purpose is to capture reality and present "emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films." His films and stage plays, according to critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Leigh's most notable works include the black comedy-drama ''Naked'' (1993), for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessness ('' Cathy Come Home'', 1966), and labour rights ('' Riff-Raff'', 1991, and '' The Navigators'', 2001). Loach's film '' Kes'' (1969) was voted the seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2006) and ''I, Daniel Blake'' (2016), received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice. Early life Kenneth Charles Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (née Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and at the age of 19 went to serve in the Royal Air Force. He read law at St Peter's College, Oxford< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Wallis
Henry Wallis (21 February 1830 – 20 December 1916) was a British Pre-Raphaelite painter, writer and collector. Wallis was born in London on 21 February 1830, but his father's name and occupation are unknown. When in 1845 his mother, Mary Anne Thomas, married Andrew Wallis, a prosperous London architect, Henry took his stepfather's surname. His artistic training was thorough and influential. He was admitted as a probationer to the RA and enrolled in the Painting School in March 1848. He also studied in Paris at Charles Gleyre's atelier and at the Academie des Beaux Arts, sometime between 1849 and 1853. Wallis is best remembered for his first great success, ''The Death of Chatterton'', which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856. The painting depicted the impoverished late 18th-century poet Thomas Chatterton, who poisoned himself in despair at the age of seventeen, and was considered a Romantic hero for many young and struggling artists in Wallis's day. His method and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vilhelm Hammershøi
Vilhelm Hammershøi (), often anglicised as Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 186413 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, subdued portraits and interiors.Souren Melikian,Hammershoi's decade of brilliance, before banality set in, ''International Herald Tribune,'' 15 August 2008. Life Vilhelm Hammershøi was born in 1864 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The son of a merchant, Christian Hammershøi, and his wealthy wife, Frederikke (née Rentzmann), Hammershøi studied drawing from the age of eight with Niels Christian Kierkegaard and Holger Grønvold, as well as painting with Vilhelm Kyhn, before embarking on studies with Frederik Vermehren and others at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. From 1883 to 1885, he studied with Peder Severin Krøyer at the Independent Study Schools, then debuted in the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in 1885 with ''Portrait of a Young Girl'' (showing his sister, Anna). Pierre-Auguste Renoir is reported to have admired this painting. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romantics
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, clandestine literature, paganism, idealization of nature, suspicion of science and industrialization, and glorification of the past with a strong preference for the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education, chess, social sciences, and the natural sciences. It had a significant and complex effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing conservatism, liber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes, which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti- classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension". Friedrich was born in the town of Greifswald on the Baltic Sea in what was at the time Swedish Pomerania. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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