- Title: FRANCE: NEW FILM "WONDERLAND" AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
- Date: 18th May 1999
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 15, 1999) (RTN) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WINTERBOTTOM SAYING: "My idea was that in a way that these people because of the nature of the lives they lead they are not going to express what's going on inside their head. You know the dialogue that the surface of their life is to deal with the situation. It's quite confrontational, it's very matter-of-fact and
- Embargoed: 2nd June 1999 13:00
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- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVAERFEIXGYRMG0U9Z9CGS2MJ3DZ
- Story Text: British director Michael Winterbottom, has put aside his penchant for dark dramas and opted for a poignant story of real London life in his new film, "Wonderland".In competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the film was the first of the two British entries to be screened.
While fervour has heightened for films competing in the festival, the importance of the Cannes film market, has not been lost on the British film industry.
As competition grows for the prestigious Palme d'Or award, Winterbottom's offering, an ensemble drama on the quest for happiness of three sisters living in London, was screened on Friday (May 14).
Set in London during Bonfire Night weekend, "Wonderland"
follows three generations of one family, as their separate paths cross each other.
Nadia (Gina McKee) takes out lonely hearts ads in search of true love, Debbie (Shirley Henderson) lives alone with her nine-year-old son but prefers one-night stands, and Molly (Molly Parker) is pregnant and in crisis with her boyfriend.
Winterbottom shot his film with a hand-held camera, no extra lighting and real people instead of extras.He shot one of the first scenes in a bar in London's Soho."We had to wait until 10 at night until everyone was drunk, and then we had to shoot the scene with our characters very quickly," the 38-year-old British director told Reuters.
The characters in the film are 'the people you see every day on the train, the bus and at work', he said.Their problems are the mundane and the eternal and their quest is finding contentment with their lives."Wonderland"'s only added effect was an uplifting score written by Michael Nyman.
It plays an integral part in the film.
"My idea was that in a way that these people because of the nature of the lives they lead they are not going to express what's going on inside their head.You know the dialogue that the surface of their life is to deal with the situation.It's quite confrontational, it's very matter-of-fact and I wanted to show that just because people are like that doesn't mean to say that people don't have desires, doesn't mean to say they don't have hopes they don't have their dreams and so I really wanted Michael's music to provide that, to be very rich and lyrical," he said.
But while the stars and the director of the film are in Cannes gaining publicity, behind closed doors, British movie moguls have been at work trying to sell it.The President of Universal pictures explains the significance of the festival.
"Cannes is incredibly useful on a number of fronts.The festival is very useful, we have a film in competition in "Wonderland" about three sisters and a weekend in their lives in London and if the film does well in competition, it will really help us market it around the world and then around the festival virtually anyone who is anyone in the European and even the worldwide film industry is here so I mean all those cliched wheeling, dealing meetings really do happen so it is a really efficient way to cover the whole film industry in a week."
A well known mover and shaker of the film world concurs.
Alan Parker, the highly acclaimed British director famous for his recent huge hit with his adaptation of the musical "Evita"
arrived in Cannes last week to talk about his latest project, "Angela's Ashes".The film was due to enter this year's competition at the festival but due to a delay in editing, it won't be completed until the summer.
Despite his obvious disappointment in failing to make the festival however, Parker believes festivals have their advantages, but directors need to be aware of the pitfalls.
"I don't really believe in film festivals with regards to a film that's going to be marketed by an American company.I don't really need it as such.If you're a small film from Iran or Lithuania or somewhere then great, you should come here because it is probably the only place you're going to get discovered.It's wonderful for us filmmakers to be able to discover the person who made that film.But with regards to it - it's a vanity trip for a director it's very risky and you expose your film to all of the press probably sometimes too soon which as you know always a big risk.And with regards to the marketing, it's irrelevant, unless you open in Paris.If you come to Cannes for instance you've got to open in Paris next week, and you do pretty good because Cannes only means anything really in France and a little bit in Europe but not anywhere else in the world.So you have to be a little bit disciplined about this because the vanity thing sometimes walking up that red carpet can take over," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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