Channel 5 drama The Teacher has left viewers stunned with a last-minute twist in its final episode.
The episode saw teacher Jenna Garvey (Sheridan Smith) discover who had framed her for having an affair with a pupil.
It was revealed that the culprit was in fact Brian, the partner of her friend Pauline – who was a former colleague known as Arnold Cleary.
Cleary had served time in prison after Jenna reported him for having sex with a student, losing his family in the process.
He therefore set out to frame Jenna as an act of revenge.
In a final, shocking twist, Arnold is seen walking into the path of oncoming traffic during a confrontation with Jenna, and is hit by a car.
Fans are not shown whether or not Jenna was able to clear her name, or what happened in the aftermath of Arnold’s death.
Viewers shared their thoughts...
The episode saw teacher Jenna Garvey (Sheridan Smith) discover who had framed her for having an affair with a pupil.
It was revealed that the culprit was in fact Brian, the partner of her friend Pauline – who was a former colleague known as Arnold Cleary.
Cleary had served time in prison after Jenna reported him for having sex with a student, losing his family in the process.
He therefore set out to frame Jenna as an act of revenge.
In a final, shocking twist, Arnold is seen walking into the path of oncoming traffic during a confrontation with Jenna, and is hit by a car.
Fans are not shown whether or not Jenna was able to clear her name, or what happened in the aftermath of Arnold’s death.
Viewers shared their thoughts...
- 12/28/2022
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - TV
British actor and satirist John Bird has died aged 86.
The Bremner, Bird and Fortune star passed away “peacefully” on Christmas Eve at a care home in West Sussex, UK, according to his representatives.
Bremner, Bird and Fortune, which was from Vera Productions, ran for 16 seasons in the UK on Channel 4, ending in 2008.
His long-time comedy partner Rory Bremner led the tributes, writing on Twitter he was “deeply saddened to hear that the great John Bird has left us. One of the most modest of men and most brilliant of satirists. And one of the last surviving pillars of the anti-establishment.”
Bremner urged people to view Bird and John Fortunes’ ‘Long Johns’ comedy sketch interviews, in which they played members of the establishment, “and ask yourself if it’s ever been more beautifully done.
Bird (left)on stage with Rory Bremner and John Fortune. Credit: Chris Young – Pa Images/Pa Images via Getty Images
“I used to watch from the wings and marvel at how the two friends made it look so effortless, so blissfully funny, their skill and enjoyment in the moment making light of the seriously detailed research that went into each piece.”
Bird also worked with Fortune and Bremner on Rory Bremner, Who Else? for Channel 4 and the BBC’s Now Something Else.
Fortune died aged 74 on New Year’s Eve 2013.
“Lord knows, satire has missed them this last decade and now that loss is permanent,” said Bremner. “John may not have felt he got his life right, but by god he got it written.”
Bird met Fortune at Cambridge University, where he was part of the famous Cambridge Footlights Revue, where his contemporaries included Peter Cook.
His career included spells at the Royal Court Theatre and acted in fantasy comedy film Jabberwocky, UK comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and One Foot in the Grave, and also played Professor Plum in a TV adaptation of board game Cluedo. He also appeared in popular British detective shows Jonathan Creek, Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders.
He is survived by wife Libby and two stepsons.
The Bremner, Bird and Fortune star passed away “peacefully” on Christmas Eve at a care home in West Sussex, UK, according to his representatives.
Bremner, Bird and Fortune, which was from Vera Productions, ran for 16 seasons in the UK on Channel 4, ending in 2008.
His long-time comedy partner Rory Bremner led the tributes, writing on Twitter he was “deeply saddened to hear that the great John Bird has left us. One of the most modest of men and most brilliant of satirists. And one of the last surviving pillars of the anti-establishment.”
Bremner urged people to view Bird and John Fortunes’ ‘Long Johns’ comedy sketch interviews, in which they played members of the establishment, “and ask yourself if it’s ever been more beautifully done.
Bird (left)on stage with Rory Bremner and John Fortune. Credit: Chris Young – Pa Images/Pa Images via Getty Images
“I used to watch from the wings and marvel at how the two friends made it look so effortless, so blissfully funny, their skill and enjoyment in the moment making light of the seriously detailed research that went into each piece.”
Bird also worked with Fortune and Bremner on Rory Bremner, Who Else? for Channel 4 and the BBC’s Now Something Else.
Fortune died aged 74 on New Year’s Eve 2013.
“Lord knows, satire has missed them this last decade and now that loss is permanent,” said Bremner. “John may not have felt he got his life right, but by god he got it written.”
Bird met Fortune at Cambridge University, where he was part of the famous Cambridge Footlights Revue, where his contemporaries included Peter Cook.
His career included spells at the Royal Court Theatre and acted in fantasy comedy film Jabberwocky, UK comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and One Foot in the Grave, and also played Professor Plum in a TV adaptation of board game Cluedo. He also appeared in popular British detective shows Jonathan Creek, Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders.
He is survived by wife Libby and two stepsons.
- 12/28/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
The actor and comedian John Bird has died aged 86.
Bird died peacefully on Christmas Eve, his representatives have confirmed.
Following news of his death, fellow comedian Rory Bremner paid tribute to “one of the greatest satirists”.
Together with the late John Fortune, Bird and Remner made up the trio of the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
The satirical show ran between 1999 and 2009. Across its 16 seasons, it was nominated for numerous Bafta TV Awards.
In the Sixties, Bird was part of the satire boom. He appeared reguarly in shows such as BBC’s That Was The Week That Was, which was presented by David Frost, and was one of the first BBC programmes to mock politicians.
The Nottingham-born comedian’s death follows almost nine years to the day after his co-star Fortune died at 74 years old (on New Year’s Eve 2013).
In a 2004 appearance on Desert Island Discs, Fortune described...
Bird died peacefully on Christmas Eve, his representatives have confirmed.
Following news of his death, fellow comedian Rory Bremner paid tribute to “one of the greatest satirists”.
Together with the late John Fortune, Bird and Remner made up the trio of the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
The satirical show ran between 1999 and 2009. Across its 16 seasons, it was nominated for numerous Bafta TV Awards.
In the Sixties, Bird was part of the satire boom. He appeared reguarly in shows such as BBC’s That Was The Week That Was, which was presented by David Frost, and was one of the first BBC programmes to mock politicians.
The Nottingham-born comedian’s death follows almost nine years to the day after his co-star Fortune died at 74 years old (on New Year’s Eve 2013).
In a 2004 appearance on Desert Island Discs, Fortune described...
- 12/28/2022
- by Annabel Nugent
- The Independent - TV
Turbine is run by Andrew Eaton, Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner and Justin Thomson.
UK directors Sharon Maguire and Mat Whitecross are set to direct new projects with London-based Turbine Studios, the nascent film and TV production company run by Andrew Eaton, Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner and Justin Thomson.
Maguire is directing The Breakaway, an adaptation of the autobiography of Nicole Cooke, the first British cyclist to be ranked number one in the world. The project is in development with Ffilm Cymru Wales and Turbine hopes to shoot the film in Wales next year. Maguire’s credits include two of the...
UK directors Sharon Maguire and Mat Whitecross are set to direct new projects with London-based Turbine Studios, the nascent film and TV production company run by Andrew Eaton, Tracey Scoffield, David Tanner and Justin Thomson.
Maguire is directing The Breakaway, an adaptation of the autobiography of Nicole Cooke, the first British cyclist to be ranked number one in the world. The project is in development with Ffilm Cymru Wales and Turbine hopes to shoot the film in Wales next year. Maguire’s credits include two of the...
- 10/23/2018
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
It’s a Brit sex comedy that addresses the basic facts about boy-girl petting — and not much else. A noted ‘adult’ role for Hayley Mills, it pairs her with an unlikable Oliver Reed, trying his damnedest to affect natural charm. Was Reed the reason Hayley chose as her next picture a story about a lady studying penguins?
Take a Girl Like You
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Hayley Mills, Oliver Reed, Noel Harrison, John Bird, Sheila Hancock, Ronald Lacey, Penelope Keith, Imogen Hassall, Pippa Steel, George Woodbridge.
Cinematography: Dick Bush
Film Editor: Jack Harris, Rex Pyke
Original Music: Stanley Myers
Written by George Melly
Produced by Hal E. Chester
Directed by Jonathan Miller
Wait a minute — when exactly did they finally stop calling young women, ‘birds?’
When the Hollywood studios all but collapsed at the end of the 1960s,...
Take a Girl Like You
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Hayley Mills, Oliver Reed, Noel Harrison, John Bird, Sheila Hancock, Ronald Lacey, Penelope Keith, Imogen Hassall, Pippa Steel, George Woodbridge.
Cinematography: Dick Bush
Film Editor: Jack Harris, Rex Pyke
Original Music: Stanley Myers
Written by George Melly
Produced by Hal E. Chester
Directed by Jonathan Miller
Wait a minute — when exactly did they finally stop calling young women, ‘birds?’
When the Hollywood studios all but collapsed at the end of the 1960s,...
- 6/30/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Born in London to a Nigerian couple, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was given up to a white, middle-class family at just 6 weeks old. When his birth parents decided to take him back to Nigeria at age 8, Akinnuoye-Agbaje wasn’t accepted because he only spoke English.
So Akinnuoye-Agbaje returned to London, where he struggled with his identity. He joined a local skinhead gang and turned to a life of violence before a suicide attempt at age 16 served as a wakeup call. The actor, now 50, went on to graduate law school and discover modeling before landing in Hollywood.
Now as the star of ABC...
So Akinnuoye-Agbaje returned to London, where he struggled with his identity. He joined a local skinhead gang and turned to a life of violence before a suicide attempt at age 16 served as a wakeup call. The actor, now 50, went on to graduate law school and discover modeling before landing in Hollywood.
Now as the star of ABC...
- 10/27/2017
- by Dana Rose Falcone
- PEOPLE.com
A young girl goes missing in ABC’s new thriller Ten Days in the Valley, but the real mystery isn’t who had a motive to take her — it’s who didn‘t?
In a moment, we want to hear what you thought of Kyra Sedgwick’s new series. But first, a brief recap of “Day 1: Fade In”:
The episode begins with Sedgwick’s character, documentarian-turned-tv-showrunner Jane Sadler, trying to meditate. Every time she tries to center herself, scenes from her traumatic childhood flash into her mind. When her daughter arrives home after a weekend with her father,...
In a moment, we want to hear what you thought of Kyra Sedgwick’s new series. But first, a brief recap of “Day 1: Fade In”:
The episode begins with Sedgwick’s character, documentarian-turned-tv-showrunner Jane Sadler, trying to meditate. Every time she tries to center herself, scenes from her traumatic childhood flash into her mind. When her daughter arrives home after a weekend with her father,...
- 10/2/2017
- TVLine.com
Exclusive: Kyra Sedgwick Is Distraught Over Her Missing Child in 'Ten Days in the Valley' Sneak Peek
Ten Days in the Valley could be your newest fall obsession.
In ABC's 10-episode freshman drama, Kyra Sedgwick plays Jane Sadler, a television writer who burns the midnight oil one evening to meet an early morning script deadline, only to discover her daughter has been abducted from her own home.
Et exclusively debuts a sneak peek from Sunday's debut episode, in which Jane is hysterically crying over the sudden disappearance of her child.
Crumbled to the floor and sobbing uncontrollably the morning after her daughter's abduction, lead detective on the missing person's case, John Bird (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), arrives to update Jane on the status of the search.
Related: Kyra Sedgwick Stars in Heart-Stopping First Look at ABC's 'Ten Days in the Valley'
"Look, I'm going to have to drive you in," Detective Bird tells Jane, after breaking the news that her ex-husband -- whom she believed to be responsible for her daughter's disappearance -- was no longer...
In ABC's 10-episode freshman drama, Kyra Sedgwick plays Jane Sadler, a television writer who burns the midnight oil one evening to meet an early morning script deadline, only to discover her daughter has been abducted from her own home.
Et exclusively debuts a sneak peek from Sunday's debut episode, in which Jane is hysterically crying over the sudden disappearance of her child.
Crumbled to the floor and sobbing uncontrollably the morning after her daughter's abduction, lead detective on the missing person's case, John Bird (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), arrives to update Jane on the status of the search.
Related: Kyra Sedgwick Stars in Heart-Stopping First Look at ABC's 'Ten Days in the Valley'
"Look, I'm going to have to drive you in," Detective Bird tells Jane, after breaking the news that her ex-husband -- whom she believed to be responsible for her daughter's disappearance -- was no longer...
- 9/28/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Gillian Armstrong's 1971 student film The Roof Needs Mowing.
Secret City director Emma Freeman remembers Vca Film and Television School, where she studied for three years in the early 2000.s, .as a place where .a lot of people were really scraping things together to make their movie..
.That's what I loved about that school., Freeman says..
.It taught me about being a storyteller and it also taught me to be resourceful. Never to be limited by what you have..
Vca Film and TV is celebrating 50 years of scraping things together this year, from its opening at Swinburne in 1966 to the jump to the Vca in 1992 and beyond.
Cinematographer Ian Baker (Japanese Story, Words and Pictures) was one of the first, in 1968..
..I had no idea what I wanted to do when I completed the course,. Baker says.
.I didn't really know that I wanted to be a cinematographer, even though...
Secret City director Emma Freeman remembers Vca Film and Television School, where she studied for three years in the early 2000.s, .as a place where .a lot of people were really scraping things together to make their movie..
.That's what I loved about that school., Freeman says..
.It taught me about being a storyteller and it also taught me to be resourceful. Never to be limited by what you have..
Vca Film and TV is celebrating 50 years of scraping things together this year, from its opening at Swinburne in 1966 to the jump to the Vca in 1992 and beyond.
Cinematographer Ian Baker (Japanese Story, Words and Pictures) was one of the first, in 1968..
..I had no idea what I wanted to do when I completed the course,. Baker says.
.I didn't really know that I wanted to be a cinematographer, even though...
- 8/4/2016
- by Harry Windsor
- IF.com.au
Announcing the end of the Cold War in Europe and representing the long-awaited reunification of Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall became a moment in history engraved on the world’s memory as a symbol of regained freedom and the end of oppression. But while the physical division no longer exists, the fears and unaddressed violations of privacy continue to be a delicate subject 25 years after. Both sides had their own assumptions about the other. For those living on the Stasi-controlled state, the West was perceived a mythical land of prosperity and life out of the shadows. Evidently, for those in the capitalist side, the East was a gloomy house of horrors in which everything you did or said could be used against. But as with most situations, things weren't as clear cut as popular belief made out to be.
As someone who lived on both sides of the wall, German filmmaker Christian Schwochow can testify of these stereotypical assumptions. To him, Germany is still a country quietly divided by an invisible wall built on the notion that most people don't have any interest in revisiting this time period. At the same time, he is concerned about the unquestioning compliance and passiveness most citizens show. He believes we talk about the infiltration of secret organizations in people's lives as if this was a thing of the past, when it's more aggressively present today than ever before.
In his latest film "West," Nelly (Jördis Triebel), a strong-willed mother, and her son Alexej (Tristan Göbel) leave the East and arrive in the West to become refugees. Their new home offers more challenges than benefits. Nelly is constantly interrogated by an American intelligence agent John Bird (Jacky Ido) about her partner's whereabouts. In their eyes she is a criminal by default, and her every move is analyzed for any trace of subservient defiance. Meanwhile young Alexej is humiliated and mistreated based on the place he was born, even if that is simply on the other side of the infamous concrete border. Suddenly the land that promised endless wonders doesn't seen so different from the image of what the East is supposed to be like.
Schwochow talked to us from Ireland where he is working on his next film.
Carlos Aguilar : As a German filmmaker why was it important for you to make a film about this dark period in your country’s history? Was it because you felt compelled by the source material? Was it the political implications of it?
Christian Schwochow: With her novel Lagerfeuer (Campfire), upon which the film is based, Julian Franck became one of the first young writers to have a different perspective on this time period. When I read it, what she described felt, on one hand, very strange because I didn’t know about these places, these refugee centers. On the other hand, it felt very familiar because I grew up with parents who always discussed the state of the country we lived in. They were always reflecting on “Should we stay? Or should we leave?” My dad was 18-years-old when he went to prison because he tried to escape from East to West.
When I read the book for the fist time I was in first year of film school, so it was totally out of reach to get rights for a novel like that. It took me almost 10 years to come back to this story. There are so many things that people, East Germans included, experience when they have hopes for a new life somewhere else. They take a big risk to leave their country and start in a new place. Most of them succeed in starting a new life, but many have a very hard time in the process.
I feel this is a subject that becomes more and more important nowadays because we have millions of refugees all over the world who come to Western Europe or the U.S. and in many cases they are just not welcome. This combined with the special atmosphere of the Cold War years in West Berlin struck me in a way. There are so many things in this story that relate to my personal family history that once I read this novel it just never left my heart.
Aguilar: Tell me about the social mechanics in Germany today regarding the legacy of the East and the West. It's only been 25 years, relatively a short time, since Germanay became a unified country once again. Is there still a sense of separation, of families divided by this border even if it's no longer there physically?
Christian Schwochow: I think there were quiet many families who were divided. However, there are also people who lived in either side of Germany, but who never had or have any relationship with the other side whether it was former East or former West Germany. There are people who are still not very curious about how people lived on the other side of the wall. Therefore, there are still so many stereotypes and misguided ideas about both sides.
It’s still very common for someone from the West to believe that a former Eastern person or a former Eastern family must have been unhappy living in East Germany. There is also the common assumption that a family or a person who left the East and moved to the West must have found happiness right away, which was far more difficult in most cases.
Aguilar: In your film, East and West don't seem to be so different. When Nelly and Alexej arrive in West Germany they immediately become suspects by the mere fact that they came from the East. They were running from the Stasi and came to find a similarly invasive system in the West. They find another group in control that wants to know everything and hide it away.
Christian Schwochow: It’s a historical fact that the Stasi did horrible things and that they monitored a lot of people in East Germany, but I find it very interesting to think about the importance of the Western secret services back then and still working today. Since what happened with Edward Snowden we know that there is still so much going on. Secret Services are everywhere. They are part of out daily life. We just don’t really care. We are not concerned at all.
I’m not sure how it is in America, but for what I can say about Germany, most people give their information willingly to anyone who asks for it such as companies like Google. We just don’t question it anymore. When it we learned that our chancellor’s phone was being monitored there was very little debate or outcry. I can’t understand that. It’s a bit of a coincidence that my film was released in Germany just a bit after Edward Snowden share all these details with the public. Still, people don’t really discuss it for some reason.
Aguilar: In order to support the information on the novel with more historical accuracy, what kind of research did you do? Were you able to find reliable information on such a secretive time period for both sides of Germany, and most of Europe for that matter?
Christian Schwochow: There was quiet a lot of research from my part. I’m lucky to have parents who were very involved in political issues during the Cold War. I wrote this script together with my mother. In their work as journalists they always dealt with these issues related to the country’s separation. We had many friends we could talk to about this, including Julian Franck, the author of the novel.
She spent many months in a refugee center in Berlin when she was a child. I also spoke with people who worked in these camps. I spoke with an American Secret Service agent. I talked to a former headmaster of the refugee center. This was the historical and political research I did, but I also tried to get a sense of how it felt to live in a place like this.
For weeks I kept going back to this big refugee center in Berlin for people from Syria, Iraq, and other countries. I also spent time in a center for homeless people to get a sense of the physical and psychological experience these people had to go through. There are refugee and homeless centers all over the world, and it hasn’t really changed much.
Aguilar: Writing a script about a mother and a son with your mother must have been a rather interesting experience. How is your relationship with her as a creative partner? Did you infuse this work in particular with the personal experiences you share with her?
Christian Schwochow: We’ve written the scripts for my three features together, “West” included. We are already a team and it has always worked out pretty well because we share a similar sense of humor. We have a similar curiosity about the world. We have our own great way of discussing things and even fighting. There are no egos between us. Things that usually can get difficult while collaborating with another artist are not difficult between us. We left East Germany right after the fall of the wall.
My parents had submitted an application to East German government so we could leave to the West, the application was accepted on the morning of November 9 th, the historic date. We left East Germany and we move to the West. Many of the things that Nelly and her son Alexej experience in the film come from what we experienced, mostly details. My mother was always a person who wouldn’t just say what people wanted her to say. She would always question things, and she would always stand for her own opinions and ideas.
The situation Alexej experiences at the day care when he talks about his red neckerchief and what people thought it mean, it was exactly what I experienced at school. People didn’t really know how to deal with us coming from the East. Our personal experiences were of crucial help when writing this script.
Aguilar: As you mention, it seems that as time goes by young people have less and less interest in looking back at the past. In those terms, was it challenging to work with Tristan, who plays Alexej, and explain to him the historical context in which the story takes place?
Christian Schwochow: As you can imagine for a 10- year-old boy - which is how old Tristan was when we shot the film - the whole historical background is very theoretical. Working with him on certain scenes I tried to find things that he can relate to from his personal life. He lives with his mother and four siblings. Therefore, he understand that sometimes a mother can’t concentrate only on one child and she has difficulties spending time with each one as much as they need it. I tried to find ideas that he, as a 10-year-old living today, could connect with.
We taught him Russian for the part. He did pretty well. I had great adult actors like Alexander Scheer, who plays Hans, took good care of Tristan. The same goes for Jördis Triebel. She has two small children of her own, and it was very easy for her to create the mother and son relationship with him. We tried to act very professionally with the young actor. We didn’t want to treat him too much like a child.
What also helped was that we had numerous extras in this film. We had many people, adults and children, from Eastern European countries that had gone through similar experiences. Many of them share with us what they had gone through, sometimes just a few weeks before we met them to make the film together. I tried to help him create his own truth with his character by showing him as much as possible about the historical details and searching for those things that he could relate to today.
Aguilar: The character that I found the most intriguing was Hans. He becomes a target for people at this center to express their resentment and anger towards the repression they experienced in the East. Why was it important for you to include an ambiguous character like in the story?
Christian Schwochow: He is very important for me because it’s a fact that there are many people that left their lives behind and tried to start a new life in the West but didn’t succeed for many reasons. They probably were too scared, too overwhelmed, they were shocked by what they found or by how they were treated, or they just developed certain fears. Hans is one of them. I needed a character like him in the film because these people never really spoke about their experience. Still now, people assume that those who lived in the East where unhappy and once they escaped everything turned into something wonderful and free. They believe in that cliché of the “Golden West.”
The ones who didn’t succeed couldn’t tell success stories. Even today they don’t talk about it because it’s just too difficult for them to speak about plans that failed. You will hardly ever find this kind of people in the media doing interviews or mentioned in books. Hans is a voice for these people. It was also important that the man who everyone suspects of being a villain is in the end the person who carries hope for Nelly and Alexej. She decides to trust this man even though she probably will never find out what’s the truth about him.
Something very unique about Germany these days is that once you are suspected or accused of having worked for the Stassi, it doesn’t matter if you were 18-years-old, or a child, or an adult back then. Even if you deny it you won’t get rid of this suspicion. It doesn’t matter what you do, this stigma will stick with you. In some cases it’s true because there are many people who collaborated with them, but there are many other cases in which someone suspected them without proof. These people will never get rid of this.
Aguilar: Nelly is a determined woman with a strong personality. Besides what's on the novel, did any qualities from your mother or other people in your life influence you while writing this character?
Christian Schwochow: I grew up with very strong women who would have their own strong opinions and who would speak their minds. My mother is like this. My grandmother was like this. They were women who tool the risk not to fit in because they were strong characters. In East Germany it was very normal for a woman to go out and work even if she had children. A few weeks after giving birth women would return to their normal working life. We never had housewives in East Germany. Nelly is a very familiar person for me because I think I know quiet many “Nellies. ”
Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective one could say, “She is stubborn,” “She could have cooperated with them,” “She could just say what they want to hear from her,” but she is not like that. She is a woman with characteristics we usually attribute to a male protagonist. She defies this.
There is also the fact that she has a secret. I feel like we can believe everything she says in this film. I believe everything she says, but I know that for the audience she might be a character that you can’t really see through in the beginning. I hope that eventually people can feel her emotions, her trauma, and her fears. I just thought it was more interesting for her not to be nice or understandable right from the start.
Aguilar: 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall where do things stand?
Christian Schwochow: In Germany we have started to make many films about our own history. However, we tend to make the stories as simple as possible in order to find very simple truths. I made this film to provide another perspective and to show people something they have probably never heard about.
On the other hand, the secret services still play such a prominent role on our daily life and we seem not to care anymore. This has nothing to do with East and West. It’s so easy to look back and say, “There were two different countries, one was the free country and in the other people weren’t free,” but it was so much more complicated. Looking back at this time I’ve realized why it’s still so difficult for German people to communicate with each other.
At the same time I wanted to make a film about what it means to be a refugee today. I believe this will become an increasingly bigger issue for the Western World. We are still desperately trying to find answers for this problem.
For a list of screenings and events where the film will play visit Here...
As someone who lived on both sides of the wall, German filmmaker Christian Schwochow can testify of these stereotypical assumptions. To him, Germany is still a country quietly divided by an invisible wall built on the notion that most people don't have any interest in revisiting this time period. At the same time, he is concerned about the unquestioning compliance and passiveness most citizens show. He believes we talk about the infiltration of secret organizations in people's lives as if this was a thing of the past, when it's more aggressively present today than ever before.
In his latest film "West," Nelly (Jördis Triebel), a strong-willed mother, and her son Alexej (Tristan Göbel) leave the East and arrive in the West to become refugees. Their new home offers more challenges than benefits. Nelly is constantly interrogated by an American intelligence agent John Bird (Jacky Ido) about her partner's whereabouts. In their eyes she is a criminal by default, and her every move is analyzed for any trace of subservient defiance. Meanwhile young Alexej is humiliated and mistreated based on the place he was born, even if that is simply on the other side of the infamous concrete border. Suddenly the land that promised endless wonders doesn't seen so different from the image of what the East is supposed to be like.
Schwochow talked to us from Ireland where he is working on his next film.
Carlos Aguilar : As a German filmmaker why was it important for you to make a film about this dark period in your country’s history? Was it because you felt compelled by the source material? Was it the political implications of it?
Christian Schwochow: With her novel Lagerfeuer (Campfire), upon which the film is based, Julian Franck became one of the first young writers to have a different perspective on this time period. When I read it, what she described felt, on one hand, very strange because I didn’t know about these places, these refugee centers. On the other hand, it felt very familiar because I grew up with parents who always discussed the state of the country we lived in. They were always reflecting on “Should we stay? Or should we leave?” My dad was 18-years-old when he went to prison because he tried to escape from East to West.
When I read the book for the fist time I was in first year of film school, so it was totally out of reach to get rights for a novel like that. It took me almost 10 years to come back to this story. There are so many things that people, East Germans included, experience when they have hopes for a new life somewhere else. They take a big risk to leave their country and start in a new place. Most of them succeed in starting a new life, but many have a very hard time in the process.
I feel this is a subject that becomes more and more important nowadays because we have millions of refugees all over the world who come to Western Europe or the U.S. and in many cases they are just not welcome. This combined with the special atmosphere of the Cold War years in West Berlin struck me in a way. There are so many things in this story that relate to my personal family history that once I read this novel it just never left my heart.
Aguilar: Tell me about the social mechanics in Germany today regarding the legacy of the East and the West. It's only been 25 years, relatively a short time, since Germanay became a unified country once again. Is there still a sense of separation, of families divided by this border even if it's no longer there physically?
Christian Schwochow: I think there were quiet many families who were divided. However, there are also people who lived in either side of Germany, but who never had or have any relationship with the other side whether it was former East or former West Germany. There are people who are still not very curious about how people lived on the other side of the wall. Therefore, there are still so many stereotypes and misguided ideas about both sides.
It’s still very common for someone from the West to believe that a former Eastern person or a former Eastern family must have been unhappy living in East Germany. There is also the common assumption that a family or a person who left the East and moved to the West must have found happiness right away, which was far more difficult in most cases.
Aguilar: In your film, East and West don't seem to be so different. When Nelly and Alexej arrive in West Germany they immediately become suspects by the mere fact that they came from the East. They were running from the Stasi and came to find a similarly invasive system in the West. They find another group in control that wants to know everything and hide it away.
Christian Schwochow: It’s a historical fact that the Stasi did horrible things and that they monitored a lot of people in East Germany, but I find it very interesting to think about the importance of the Western secret services back then and still working today. Since what happened with Edward Snowden we know that there is still so much going on. Secret Services are everywhere. They are part of out daily life. We just don’t really care. We are not concerned at all.
I’m not sure how it is in America, but for what I can say about Germany, most people give their information willingly to anyone who asks for it such as companies like Google. We just don’t question it anymore. When it we learned that our chancellor’s phone was being monitored there was very little debate or outcry. I can’t understand that. It’s a bit of a coincidence that my film was released in Germany just a bit after Edward Snowden share all these details with the public. Still, people don’t really discuss it for some reason.
Aguilar: In order to support the information on the novel with more historical accuracy, what kind of research did you do? Were you able to find reliable information on such a secretive time period for both sides of Germany, and most of Europe for that matter?
Christian Schwochow: There was quiet a lot of research from my part. I’m lucky to have parents who were very involved in political issues during the Cold War. I wrote this script together with my mother. In their work as journalists they always dealt with these issues related to the country’s separation. We had many friends we could talk to about this, including Julian Franck, the author of the novel.
She spent many months in a refugee center in Berlin when she was a child. I also spoke with people who worked in these camps. I spoke with an American Secret Service agent. I talked to a former headmaster of the refugee center. This was the historical and political research I did, but I also tried to get a sense of how it felt to live in a place like this.
For weeks I kept going back to this big refugee center in Berlin for people from Syria, Iraq, and other countries. I also spent time in a center for homeless people to get a sense of the physical and psychological experience these people had to go through. There are refugee and homeless centers all over the world, and it hasn’t really changed much.
Aguilar: Writing a script about a mother and a son with your mother must have been a rather interesting experience. How is your relationship with her as a creative partner? Did you infuse this work in particular with the personal experiences you share with her?
Christian Schwochow: We’ve written the scripts for my three features together, “West” included. We are already a team and it has always worked out pretty well because we share a similar sense of humor. We have a similar curiosity about the world. We have our own great way of discussing things and even fighting. There are no egos between us. Things that usually can get difficult while collaborating with another artist are not difficult between us. We left East Germany right after the fall of the wall.
My parents had submitted an application to East German government so we could leave to the West, the application was accepted on the morning of November 9 th, the historic date. We left East Germany and we move to the West. Many of the things that Nelly and her son Alexej experience in the film come from what we experienced, mostly details. My mother was always a person who wouldn’t just say what people wanted her to say. She would always question things, and she would always stand for her own opinions and ideas.
The situation Alexej experiences at the day care when he talks about his red neckerchief and what people thought it mean, it was exactly what I experienced at school. People didn’t really know how to deal with us coming from the East. Our personal experiences were of crucial help when writing this script.
Aguilar: As you mention, it seems that as time goes by young people have less and less interest in looking back at the past. In those terms, was it challenging to work with Tristan, who plays Alexej, and explain to him the historical context in which the story takes place?
Christian Schwochow: As you can imagine for a 10- year-old boy - which is how old Tristan was when we shot the film - the whole historical background is very theoretical. Working with him on certain scenes I tried to find things that he can relate to from his personal life. He lives with his mother and four siblings. Therefore, he understand that sometimes a mother can’t concentrate only on one child and she has difficulties spending time with each one as much as they need it. I tried to find ideas that he, as a 10-year-old living today, could connect with.
We taught him Russian for the part. He did pretty well. I had great adult actors like Alexander Scheer, who plays Hans, took good care of Tristan. The same goes for Jördis Triebel. She has two small children of her own, and it was very easy for her to create the mother and son relationship with him. We tried to act very professionally with the young actor. We didn’t want to treat him too much like a child.
What also helped was that we had numerous extras in this film. We had many people, adults and children, from Eastern European countries that had gone through similar experiences. Many of them share with us what they had gone through, sometimes just a few weeks before we met them to make the film together. I tried to help him create his own truth with his character by showing him as much as possible about the historical details and searching for those things that he could relate to today.
Aguilar: The character that I found the most intriguing was Hans. He becomes a target for people at this center to express their resentment and anger towards the repression they experienced in the East. Why was it important for you to include an ambiguous character like in the story?
Christian Schwochow: He is very important for me because it’s a fact that there are many people that left their lives behind and tried to start a new life in the West but didn’t succeed for many reasons. They probably were too scared, too overwhelmed, they were shocked by what they found or by how they were treated, or they just developed certain fears. Hans is one of them. I needed a character like him in the film because these people never really spoke about their experience. Still now, people assume that those who lived in the East where unhappy and once they escaped everything turned into something wonderful and free. They believe in that cliché of the “Golden West.”
The ones who didn’t succeed couldn’t tell success stories. Even today they don’t talk about it because it’s just too difficult for them to speak about plans that failed. You will hardly ever find this kind of people in the media doing interviews or mentioned in books. Hans is a voice for these people. It was also important that the man who everyone suspects of being a villain is in the end the person who carries hope for Nelly and Alexej. She decides to trust this man even though she probably will never find out what’s the truth about him.
Something very unique about Germany these days is that once you are suspected or accused of having worked for the Stassi, it doesn’t matter if you were 18-years-old, or a child, or an adult back then. Even if you deny it you won’t get rid of this suspicion. It doesn’t matter what you do, this stigma will stick with you. In some cases it’s true because there are many people who collaborated with them, but there are many other cases in which someone suspected them without proof. These people will never get rid of this.
Aguilar: Nelly is a determined woman with a strong personality. Besides what's on the novel, did any qualities from your mother or other people in your life influence you while writing this character?
Christian Schwochow: I grew up with very strong women who would have their own strong opinions and who would speak their minds. My mother is like this. My grandmother was like this. They were women who tool the risk not to fit in because they were strong characters. In East Germany it was very normal for a woman to go out and work even if she had children. A few weeks after giving birth women would return to their normal working life. We never had housewives in East Germany. Nelly is a very familiar person for me because I think I know quiet many “Nellies. ”
Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective one could say, “She is stubborn,” “She could have cooperated with them,” “She could just say what they want to hear from her,” but she is not like that. She is a woman with characteristics we usually attribute to a male protagonist. She defies this.
There is also the fact that she has a secret. I feel like we can believe everything she says in this film. I believe everything she says, but I know that for the audience she might be a character that you can’t really see through in the beginning. I hope that eventually people can feel her emotions, her trauma, and her fears. I just thought it was more interesting for her not to be nice or understandable right from the start.
Aguilar: 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall where do things stand?
Christian Schwochow: In Germany we have started to make many films about our own history. However, we tend to make the stories as simple as possible in order to find very simple truths. I made this film to provide another perspective and to show people something they have probably never heard about.
On the other hand, the secret services still play such a prominent role on our daily life and we seem not to care anymore. This has nothing to do with East and West. It’s so easy to look back and say, “There were two different countries, one was the free country and in the other people weren’t free,” but it was so much more complicated. Looking back at this time I’ve realized why it’s still so difficult for German people to communicate with each other.
At the same time I wanted to make a film about what it means to be a refugee today. I believe this will become an increasingly bigger issue for the Western World. We are still desperately trying to find answers for this problem.
For a list of screenings and events where the film will play visit Here...
- 11/18/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
The list of celebrities taking part in the latest Pointless specials has been announced.
Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman will be joined by famous faces for six new primetime episodes of the hit game show, kicking off on Saturday, April 12.
The first special will have a 1970s theme, with Wizzard and Yes stars Roy Wood and Rick Wakeman facing actors Paul Henry and Madeleine Smith, and Sally Thomsett and Anna Karen, and children's television stars Ed Stewart and Sally James.
Elsewhere, Sir Geoff Hurst and George Cohen MBE will team up in the World Cup special, facing Peter Shilton and Steve Bull, Hope Powell and Casey Stoney, and Graeme Le Saux and commentator Jonathan Pearce.
The Eurovision Pointless special is a thing to behold, with Bucks Fizz's Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan trying to prove their wits against Martin Lee and Sonia Evans, Dana and Johnny Logan, and Jemini's Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey.
Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman will be joined by famous faces for six new primetime episodes of the hit game show, kicking off on Saturday, April 12.
The first special will have a 1970s theme, with Wizzard and Yes stars Roy Wood and Rick Wakeman facing actors Paul Henry and Madeleine Smith, and Sally Thomsett and Anna Karen, and children's television stars Ed Stewart and Sally James.
Elsewhere, Sir Geoff Hurst and George Cohen MBE will team up in the World Cup special, facing Peter Shilton and Steve Bull, Hope Powell and Casey Stoney, and Graeme Le Saux and commentator Jonathan Pearce.
The Eurovision Pointless special is a thing to behold, with Bucks Fizz's Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan trying to prove their wits against Martin Lee and Sonia Evans, Dana and Johnny Logan, and Jemini's Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey.
- 4/2/2014
- Digital Spy
Review Rachel Bowles 15 Mar 2014 - 18:44
Jonathan Creek concludes its fifth series with a satisfying, comic noodle-scratcher...
This review contains spoilers.
5.3 The Curse Of The Bronze Lamp
After a disappointing start to the new series, Jonathan Creek seemed to return to form last week in The Sinner And The Sandman with a much more recognisable setup with one key mystery to solve. Despite not being the most exciting of mysteries, nor one of the most bloodthirsty; The Sinner and The Sandman certainly turned in some great performances, notably from John Bird. Alan Davies seemed more enthusiastic in the role as the eponymous hero and the whole setup felt a lot less perilous with far fewer contrived jokes or plot points.
Despite a more positive start to the episode, The Curse Of The Bronze Lamp still lacked pace and excitement. It has often been the case with previous series of Jonathan Creek...
Jonathan Creek concludes its fifth series with a satisfying, comic noodle-scratcher...
This review contains spoilers.
5.3 The Curse Of The Bronze Lamp
After a disappointing start to the new series, Jonathan Creek seemed to return to form last week in The Sinner And The Sandman with a much more recognisable setup with one key mystery to solve. Despite not being the most exciting of mysteries, nor one of the most bloodthirsty; The Sinner and The Sandman certainly turned in some great performances, notably from John Bird. Alan Davies seemed more enthusiastic in the role as the eponymous hero and the whole setup felt a lot less perilous with far fewer contrived jokes or plot points.
Despite a more positive start to the episode, The Curse Of The Bronze Lamp still lacked pace and excitement. It has often been the case with previous series of Jonathan Creek...
- 3/15/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The first trailer for the fifth series of Jonathan Creek has been released online.
The 30-second clip teases a number of cases and characters set to feature in forthcoming episodes of the BBC murder mystery drama.
Jonathan Creek: Tube Talk Gold
Alan Davies will resume his role as the magician's-assistant-turned-crime-solving-sleuth when the programme returns to screens in the coming weeks, with Sarah Alexander starring as Creek's wife Polly.
The trailer also confirms that June Whitfield and John Bird will appear in guest roles.
Davies first announced his and Alexander's involvement on Twitter last October.
Last summer, the 47-year-old admitted that the latest run of the show had been hit by budget cuts, meaning a number of sets needed to be scaled back.
The 30-second clip teases a number of cases and characters set to feature in forthcoming episodes of the BBC murder mystery drama.
Jonathan Creek: Tube Talk Gold
Alan Davies will resume his role as the magician's-assistant-turned-crime-solving-sleuth when the programme returns to screens in the coming weeks, with Sarah Alexander starring as Creek's wife Polly.
The trailer also confirms that June Whitfield and John Bird will appear in guest roles.
Davies first announced his and Alexander's involvement on Twitter last October.
Last summer, the 47-year-old admitted that the latest run of the show had been hit by budget cuts, meaning a number of sets needed to be scaled back.
- 2/14/2014
- Digital Spy
Comedian and actor best known for the satirical television show Bremner, Bird and Fortune
John Fortune, who has died aged 74 after a long illness, was a distinguished member of the Oxbridge generation of brainy comedians who turned British entertainment inside out in the early 1960s, along with his friend, college contemporary and writing partner, John Bird, as well as Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and John Wells.
From his earliest days on Ned Sherrin's Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, the successor in 1964-65 to the satirical television magazine That Was the Week That Was, through to the comedy shows with Rory Bremner in the 1990s and beyond, he was a fixture of barely surprised indifference, with a wonderful line in deflationary, logical understatement. Tall and gangly, with a warm and ready smile but a performance default mode of aghast,...
John Fortune, who has died aged 74 after a long illness, was a distinguished member of the Oxbridge generation of brainy comedians who turned British entertainment inside out in the early 1960s, along with his friend, college contemporary and writing partner, John Bird, as well as Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and John Wells.
From his earliest days on Ned Sherrin's Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, the successor in 1964-65 to the satirical television magazine That Was the Week That Was, through to the comedy shows with Rory Bremner in the 1990s and beyond, he was a fixture of barely surprised indifference, with a wonderful line in deflationary, logical understatement. Tall and gangly, with a warm and ready smile but a performance default mode of aghast,...
- 1/2/2014
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
John Fortune has died at the age of 74.
The comedian - who found fame through his TV collaborations with John Bird and Rory Bremner - died peacefully with his wife by his side earlier today (December 31).
Fortune's agent Vivienne Clore said: "It is with great sadness that I write of the death of John Fortune this morning aged 74.
"He died peacefully with his wife, Emma and dog Grizelle, at his bedside.
"A renowned satirist, early work included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment club and more latterly his work with long-term collaborator John Bird and Rory Bremner.
"He is survived by his adored wife, Emma and three children."
Rory Bremner paid tribute to the star on Twitter, saying: "I'm so sorry to let you know that my friend John Fortune died this morning. Lovely man, dear friend, brilliant & fearless satirist."
Fortune met Bird while studying at King's College, Cambridge and...
The comedian - who found fame through his TV collaborations with John Bird and Rory Bremner - died peacefully with his wife by his side earlier today (December 31).
Fortune's agent Vivienne Clore said: "It is with great sadness that I write of the death of John Fortune this morning aged 74.
"He died peacefully with his wife, Emma and dog Grizelle, at his bedside.
"A renowned satirist, early work included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment club and more latterly his work with long-term collaborator John Bird and Rory Bremner.
"He is survived by his adored wife, Emma and three children."
Rory Bremner paid tribute to the star on Twitter, saying: "I'm so sorry to let you know that my friend John Fortune died this morning. Lovely man, dear friend, brilliant & fearless satirist."
Fortune met Bird while studying at King's College, Cambridge and...
- 12/31/2013
- Digital Spy
Sir David Frost died yesterday (August 31) after suffering a suspected heart attack on board the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship.
Frost was born in Kent in 1939, the son of a minister. A keen footballer, he was offered a contract with Nottingham Forest Fc while at school, but chose to study English at Cambridge University instead.
It was here that he started out in journalism, editing the student newspaper Varsity and literary magazine Granta. He also became secretary of the Footlights club, where he met future comedy stars such as Peter Cook, Graham Chapman and John Bird.
Upon graduating, Frost became a trainee at ITV and was soon asked to host satirical show That Was The Week That Was in 1962. He went on to front a Us version of the programme for NBC, before presenting The Frost Report from 1966 to 1967, helping to launch the careers of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
Frost was born in Kent in 1939, the son of a minister. A keen footballer, he was offered a contract with Nottingham Forest Fc while at school, but chose to study English at Cambridge University instead.
It was here that he started out in journalism, editing the student newspaper Varsity and literary magazine Granta. He also became secretary of the Footlights club, where he met future comedy stars such as Peter Cook, Graham Chapman and John Bird.
Upon graduating, Frost became a trainee at ITV and was soon asked to host satirical show That Was The Week That Was in 1962. He went on to front a Us version of the programme for NBC, before presenting The Frost Report from 1966 to 1967, helping to launch the careers of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
- 9/1/2013
- Digital Spy
Student revue group helped launch careers of Peter Cook, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson
Considering how successful Cambridge has been as a theatrical training ground for writers and performers, outsiders may be surprised to find that the university has no drama school.
The whole thing, Marlowe Society and Adc (Amateur Dramatic Club) presenting the classics, and Footlights tickling the comic muse, is kept going by the initiative of generation after generation of undergraduates. There are of course senior members of the university to advise and guide, but the various clubs lurch from flop to triumph with only ticket sales and members' enthusiasm and talent to sustain them.
Next week Cambridge celebrates the centenary of the Footlights, which came into existence on June 9, 1883. The Footlights has certainly lived off its wits. And what wits they have been. Skimming through Robert Hewison's centennial history of the club, the eye catches names like Ian Hay,...
Considering how successful Cambridge has been as a theatrical training ground for writers and performers, outsiders may be surprised to find that the university has no drama school.
The whole thing, Marlowe Society and Adc (Amateur Dramatic Club) presenting the classics, and Footlights tickling the comic muse, is kept going by the initiative of generation after generation of undergraduates. There are of course senior members of the university to advise and guide, but the various clubs lurch from flop to triumph with only ticket sales and members' enthusiasm and talent to sustain them.
Next week Cambridge celebrates the centenary of the Footlights, which came into existence on June 9, 1883. The Footlights has certainly lived off its wits. And what wits they have been. Skimming through Robert Hewison's centennial history of the club, the eye catches names like Ian Hay,...
- 6/3/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
Any time we can get fully remastered editions of the Studio Ghibli films, color me delighted - and that’s just we’ve got with new 2-disc special editions of Castle In The Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, & My Neighbor Totoro (Walt Disney, Rated PG/G/G, DVD-$29.99 Srp each). Each release features a behind-the-scenes exploration of the film, an introduction by John Lasseter, and a storyboard presentation of the film.
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
Any time we can get fully remastered editions of the Studio Ghibli films, color me delighted - and that’s just we’ve got with new 2-disc special editions of Castle In The Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, & My Neighbor Totoro (Walt Disney, Rated PG/G/G, DVD-$29.99 Srp each). Each release features a behind-the-scenes exploration of the film, an introduction by John Lasseter, and a storyboard presentation of the film.
- 3/5/2010
- by UncaScroogeMcD
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