By Julian Wood
Given the enduring historic links between Australia and Britain (or can we still call it The United Kingdom?), it is not surprising that British films continue to find an audience out here. For many years, British films would just pop up regularly without there being a sense of a unified film culture. We had The French Film Festival, The Italian Film Festival, The Spanish Film Festival, and so on, but not the British one.
Given that many of these foreign language festivals are run by Palace Cinemas, it was not surprising that they should move into this opportunity. The British Film Festival (BFF) is now in its fourth year, and looks set to bed down as a feature of the Australian screen culture calendar.
FilmInk caught up with Chief Programmer for Palace and curator of the BFF, Kim Petalas, who has a strong commitment to British films. He’s happy to get the event launched with another eclectic selection of new features and revivals. “It’s a really strong programme this year,” he says. “I am really pleased with it. This is our fourth year, and it’s the fastest growing festival on the circuit. Last year we got 41,000 admissions, and we hope that it’s now firmly entrenched in the Australian exhibition landscape. We’ve built a strong audience following.”
How does Kim fit the job in among his other duties? Does he have a large team of volunteers and part time workers? “No, we more or less staff it all ourselves,” he replies. “I have to work 12 months ahead on assembling the programme and just keep an eye out for the best British films coming up. We are actually lucky – in a calendar sense – that our festival is positioned post Toronto and The London Film Festival. We’ve got the new Ken Loach for example [the searing socialist-realist comedy drama, I, Daniel Blake, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year]. I like films that have an edge to them.”
The opening night film, A United Kingdom, should also challenge and entertain. It’s a costume drama with a political edge about interracial marriage in the 1940s. It stars David Oyelowo (Selma) and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl). There are not many documentaries in the programme this year, but one that looks interesting is Oasis: Supersonic, which tracks the rise (and fall) of the hugely popular British band, Oasis. “I found the documentary absolutely fascinating,” says Petalas. “There is just so much going on between Noel and Liam Gallagher, and it is extraordinary just peering into their lives.”
No festival would be complete without a retro or revival season, and The British Film Festival of course has a treasure trove to go back to. There will be popular dramas such as the 1985 James Ivory film, A Room With A View “which hasn’t been available on screen for so many years,” says Petalas. The festival also includes a couple of examples of the famous Carry On series. These films are so broad and utterly silly in one way, but they somehow retain an indefinable element of charm for many. They may be daft and non-PC, but Petalas reminds us that “Carry On was the most popular British franchise of all time.” It will be interesting to see how they stack up.
There is also a real treat for Bowie fans. Petalas wanted to honour the recently-deceased legend, and the festival has acquired a brand new print of The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). British director, Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, Don’t Look Now), was then at the height of his powers, and the sight of Bowie as the lugubrious alien from a dry planet has to be seen to believed. That alone would justify the festival.
The British Film Festival runs October 25-November 16 (Sydney, Canberra), October 26-November 16 (Melbourne), October 27-November 16 (Perth, Brisbane) and November 3-23 (Adelaide). For more information, head to the official website.
