Lighthouse and Creative Skillset have confirmed a number of top filmmakers in mentoring scheme Guiding Lights.
The 2013 directing mentors include Oliver Parker, John Madden [pictured], Joanna Hogg and Lenny Abrahamson,
Writing mentors include Will Davies, Peter Straughan and Lucinda Coxon.
Producing mentors are Nira Park, Andrea Calderwood and Robyn Slovo.
This year’s participants are directors Afarin Eghbal, Laura Smith, Andrew Lang, Henry Darke and Carmel Winters, writers Andy Yerlett, Lucy Moore, Martin Wallace and Thomas Martin, and producers Jessica Levick, Rob Watson and Alexa Seligman.
Each mentor is paired with a mentee they work with over nine months. Some mentorships extend beyond this scheme — for instance producer Nicky Bentham was mentored by Eon’s Barbara Broccoli, who is now executive producing Bentham’s The Silent Storm.
Guiding Lights patron Alison Thompson, co-president of Focus Features International (Ffi), said, “During the four years that I’ve been involved with Guiding Lights, first as a mentor...
The 2013 directing mentors include Oliver Parker, John Madden [pictured], Joanna Hogg and Lenny Abrahamson,
Writing mentors include Will Davies, Peter Straughan and Lucinda Coxon.
Producing mentors are Nira Park, Andrea Calderwood and Robyn Slovo.
This year’s participants are directors Afarin Eghbal, Laura Smith, Andrew Lang, Henry Darke and Carmel Winters, writers Andy Yerlett, Lucy Moore, Martin Wallace and Thomas Martin, and producers Jessica Levick, Rob Watson and Alexa Seligman.
Each mentor is paired with a mentee they work with over nine months. Some mentorships extend beyond this scheme — for instance producer Nicky Bentham was mentored by Eon’s Barbara Broccoli, who is now executive producing Bentham’s The Silent Storm.
Guiding Lights patron Alison Thompson, co-president of Focus Features International (Ffi), said, “During the four years that I’ve been involved with Guiding Lights, first as a mentor...
- 7/23/2013
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The story goes… Despite being a poverty stricken, isolated island of 11 million, Cuba is the world superpower of amateur boxing. In the past 40 years it has won a staggering 63 Olympic medals in the sport, 32 of them gold. But little was known about how these results were achieved until Andrew Lang and his team became the first film crew ever to be given access to the Havana Boxing Academy.
Here, a hand-picked group of 10-year old boys rise at 4am, six days a week to begin an excruciating routine of boxing training. Chanting “Victory is our duty! Fatherland or death!” as they shadow box in the dead of night, these are boys Fidel Castro has called “the standard bearers of the Revolution.”
Sons of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through eight months of training as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba’s...
Here, a hand-picked group of 10-year old boys rise at 4am, six days a week to begin an excruciating routine of boxing training. Chanting “Victory is our duty! Fatherland or death!” as they shadow box in the dead of night, these are boys Fidel Castro has called “the standard bearers of the Revolution.”
Sons of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through eight months of training as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba’s...
- 3/5/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Sheffield Doc/Fest
8-12 June 2011
Sheffield Doc/Fest is looking for five talented 16-21 year olds from around the UK, to make up this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest Youth Jury. The successful applicants will form the judging panel for the Sheffield Youth Jury Award, which will be presented at the Awards ceremony during the festival in June 2011. The five members of the Youth Jury will select the documentary that is deemed most engaging for young audiences.
The young people chosen to be part of the Youth Jury will be new voices for the world of documentary. Heather Croall, Director of Sheffield Doc/Fest, says:
"We are looking for people with the confidence to stand up and make themselves heard, and who aren't afraid to shout about what they think. You don't need experience, you don't need a media background but you do need to be keen to find out...
8-12 June 2011
Sheffield Doc/Fest is looking for five talented 16-21 year olds from around the UK, to make up this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest Youth Jury. The successful applicants will form the judging panel for the Sheffield Youth Jury Award, which will be presented at the Awards ceremony during the festival in June 2011. The five members of the Youth Jury will select the documentary that is deemed most engaging for young audiences.
The young people chosen to be part of the Youth Jury will be new voices for the world of documentary. Heather Croall, Director of Sheffield Doc/Fest, says:
"We are looking for people with the confidence to stand up and make themselves heard, and who aren't afraid to shout about what they think. You don't need experience, you don't need a media background but you do need to be keen to find out...
- 2/2/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
I Love You Phillip Morris (15)
(Glen Ficarra, John Requa, 2009, Us) Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor. 97 mins
Jim Carrey doesn't just play gay here, he plays flaming, in-your-face, heels-and-hotpants gay. And it kind of suits him. A police officer-turned-con man, his character is led even further astray when he falls for a fellow prison inmate (McGregor), and their courtship is treated like a traditional Hollywood love affair – albeit one full of prison breaks, audacious deceptions and outrageous accessorising. Gleefully trashy, at times exhaustingly unpredictable, it's certainly a brave move.
The Scouting Book For Boys (15)
(Tom Harper, 2009, UK) Thomas Turgoose, Holly Grainger, Rafe Spall. 93 mins
High hopes have been pinned on this, with Skins scribe Jack Thorne and plenty of young talent on board. Set in a Norfolk caravan camp, it's the tale of a boy-girl friendship developing into something else – quite what is up for grabs when they hatch a fake-kidnapping plan.
(Glen Ficarra, John Requa, 2009, Us) Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor. 97 mins
Jim Carrey doesn't just play gay here, he plays flaming, in-your-face, heels-and-hotpants gay. And it kind of suits him. A police officer-turned-con man, his character is led even further astray when he falls for a fellow prison inmate (McGregor), and their courtship is treated like a traditional Hollywood love affair – albeit one full of prison breaks, audacious deceptions and outrageous accessorising. Gleefully trashy, at times exhaustingly unpredictable, it's certainly a brave move.
The Scouting Book For Boys (15)
(Tom Harper, 2009, UK) Thomas Turgoose, Holly Grainger, Rafe Spall. 93 mins
High hopes have been pinned on this, with Skins scribe Jack Thorne and plenty of young talent on board. Set in a Norfolk caravan camp, it's the tale of a boy-girl friendship developing into something else – quite what is up for grabs when they hatch a fake-kidnapping plan.
- 3/20/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Moving documentary about nine-year-olds at the Havana boxing academy. By Peter Bradshaw
There is almost unbearable pathos in Andrew Lang's documentary about the Havana boxing academy. This is a boarding-school boot camp where dozens of nine-year-old boys are taken away from their families to train fiercely for the honour of competing in the national under-12 boxing championships and perhaps even for the Olympics, where Cuban boxers always do very well. The brutally hard training – and brutal activity in the ring – look an awful lot like formalised abuse. These are some pretty scared and upset children we're talking about, but often their trainers look like scared children themselves. The father of one infant boxer, a one-time champ, now lives in poverty, and the kids are shown thoughtfully digesting the news that three Cuban boxing stars and former role models have defected to the United States. A spectacle of yearning and heartbreak.
There is almost unbearable pathos in Andrew Lang's documentary about the Havana boxing academy. This is a boarding-school boot camp where dozens of nine-year-old boys are taken away from their families to train fiercely for the honour of competing in the national under-12 boxing championships and perhaps even for the Olympics, where Cuban boxers always do very well. The brutally hard training – and brutal activity in the ring – look an awful lot like formalised abuse. These are some pretty scared and upset children we're talking about, but often their trainers look like scared children themselves. The father of one infant boxer, a one-time champ, now lives in poverty, and the kids are shown thoughtfully digesting the news that three Cuban boxing stars and former role models have defected to the United States. A spectacle of yearning and heartbreak.
- 3/18/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
This week's podcast gets down with the kids, talking to the newcomers behind British coming-of-age story The Scouting Book for Boys and the director of Sons of Cuba, a hard-hitting documentary following three young boxing hopefuls in Havana.
Written by Jack Thorne of Skins and Shameless fame, The Scouting Book for Boys is the feature debut from director Tom Harper. Starring Thomas Turgoose and Holly Grainger as two kids who hatch a plot to stay together, this is an English coastal caravan caper with a dark edge. Thorne and Harper tell Jason Solomons about how they came to work together, how they got indie folkies Noah and the Whale to soundtrack the film and how work is progressing on their miniseries spin-off of Shane Meadows's This Is England.
Sons of Cuba director Andrew Lang then reveals the lengths he had to go to to shoot his documentary in the Havana Boxing Academy,...
Written by Jack Thorne of Skins and Shameless fame, The Scouting Book for Boys is the feature debut from director Tom Harper. Starring Thomas Turgoose and Holly Grainger as two kids who hatch a plot to stay together, this is an English coastal caravan caper with a dark edge. Thorne and Harper tell Jason Solomons about how they came to work together, how they got indie folkies Noah and the Whale to soundtrack the film and how work is progressing on their miniseries spin-off of Shane Meadows's This Is England.
Sons of Cuba director Andrew Lang then reveals the lengths he had to go to to shoot his documentary in the Havana Boxing Academy,...
- 3/18/2010
- by Jason Solomons, Iain Chambers, Xan Brooks, Observer
- The Guardian - Film News
Synopsis: Despite being a poverty stricken, isolated island of 11 million, Cuba is the world superpower of amateur boxing. In the past 40 years it has won a staggering 63 Olympic medals in the sport, 32 of them gold. But little was known about how these results were achieved until Andrew Lang and his team became the first film crew ever to be given access to the Havana Boxing Academy.
Here, a hand-picked group of 10-year old boys rise at 4am, six days a week to begin an excruciating routine of boxing training. Chanting “Victory is our duty! Fatherland or death!” as they shadow box in the dead of night, these are the boys Fidel Castro has called “the standard bearers of the Revolution.”
Sons of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through eight months of training as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba’s national boxing championship for under 12s.
Here, a hand-picked group of 10-year old boys rise at 4am, six days a week to begin an excruciating routine of boxing training. Chanting “Victory is our duty! Fatherland or death!” as they shadow box in the dead of night, these are the boys Fidel Castro has called “the standard bearers of the Revolution.”
Sons of Cuba follows the stories of three young hopefuls through eight months of training as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba’s national boxing championship for under 12s.
- 2/5/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
A sterling year has wrapped with a raft of new trophies – the finest of the winners amply demonstrate what documentaries can do better than anything else
This year, Sheffield Doc/Fest beefed up its awards schedule with a raft of well thought out new trophies. The choices made suggest that this decision is definitely paying off.
Perhaps the most useful of the new categories is the Green award. Environmental film-making is a field in which some fine work needs to be separated from a lot of routine special pleading. Thankfully, this year's award went to a far from preachy film. The Blood of the Rose, produced and directed by Henry Singer (who gave us 9/11: The Falling Man), examines the mysterious murder in Kenya of the conservationist Jane Root, herself a one-time film-maker. The jury said the film offered "a well-balanced perspective on a compelling crime story", and no one could argue with that.
This year, Sheffield Doc/Fest beefed up its awards schedule with a raft of well thought out new trophies. The choices made suggest that this decision is definitely paying off.
Perhaps the most useful of the new categories is the Green award. Environmental film-making is a field in which some fine work needs to be separated from a lot of routine special pleading. Thankfully, this year's award went to a far from preachy film. The Blood of the Rose, produced and directed by Henry Singer (who gave us 9/11: The Falling Man), examines the mysterious murder in Kenya of the conservationist Jane Root, herself a one-time film-maker. The jury said the film offered "a well-balanced perspective on a compelling crime story", and no one could argue with that.
- 11/10/2009
- by David Cox
- The Guardian - Film News
I spent the weekend in North Carolina at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and had the great pleasure of getting to see many inspiring and thought provoking films. Sons of Cuba was one of the highlights. It is a film about child boxers, who are training to be Olympic fighters in the last years of Fidel Castro's reign. The boys are in the under 12 league, their weights have to stay below 32kg (70 pounds) and they live at a state sponsored boxing academy. A boarding school for the poor, the boys eat, sleep and sometimes starve to box. Yet, the relationships that are portrayed within the film are extremely loving. The young men have a pronounced expression of camaraderie and a very sweet, respectful and reverent attitude towards their mothers. In this film grown men also often cry...
- 4/7/2009
- by Robyn Hillman-Harrigan
- Huffington Post
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