1– 30 October
To coincide with three new releases directed by actors Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris), Paddy Considine (Tyrannosaur) and George Clooney (The Ides of March); the IFI is examining the rich history of stars behind the camera that stretches back to D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille and Charlie Chaplin.
The motivations for taking the creative reigns of film production may vary but the result has often made for riveting cinema. An established actor often enters the craft of film direction with to develop personal projects and brings with them an unmatchable understanding of their performers. Others like Chaplin, Tati and Allen have based the greater part of their careers around starring and directing in films that bear their personal stamp.
Highlights of the season include Woody Allen’s hugely popular The Purple Rose of Cairo and George Clooney’s stylish liberal homage to journalistic courage during McCarthyism, Good Night, and Good Luck. Check out two classic silent comedies The General by Buster Keaton and City Lights by Charlie Chaplain, the two comic masters of the silent era, and Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, their equally accomplished visual comedian from the 1950s. Gary Oldman’s current triumph as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy provides the perfect excuse to revisit his one foray into direction, the gritty semi-autobiographical Nil by Mouth. And if you’ve never seen it, don’t pass up this opportunity to see Orson Welles’ iconic and astonishing continuous tracking shot that opens Touch of Evil.
