News

Doug Sheehan, who portrayed the reporter Ben Gibson for four seasons of Knots Landing and the father of Cher Horowitz on the ABC adaptation of Clueless for two more, has died. He was 75.

Sheehan died June 29 at his home in Big Horn, Wyoming, a local funeral home announced. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Sheehan first came to viewers’ attention with his 1979-82 stint as Joe Kelly on the ABC daytime soap General Hospital. A member of the Baldwin & Baldwin law firm, his character had rocky romances with Heather Webber (Robin Mattson) and Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman).

After receiving a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1982, Sheehan departed for the CBS primetime soap Knots Landing for the start of its fifth season in 1983. Ben winds up marrying Val Ewing (Joan Van Ark) and leads everyone in town to believe that her twins are his, when in reality they were...

General Hospital spoilers and updates report Gh vet Doug Sheehan has passed away at the age of 75 in Big Horn, Wyoming with wife Cate Albert at his side.

No cause of death has been announced, but according to the obituary from Kane Funeral Home in Big Horn, he passed away peacefully at home.

General Hospital Spoilers: Sheehan Played Joe Kelly

Sheehan’s career took off after making appearances in Charlie’s Angels and Kaz, along with a role in the Blake Edwards movie 10. However, it was his role as Joe Kelly in Gh that truly catapulted him to stardom in 1979.

Portraying the detective-turned-lawyer who romanced Anne Logan (Susan Pratt) and Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) led to a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actor in 1982.

Rose Kelly (Loanne Bishop), Joe’s stepmother, was the owner of Kelly’s in Port Charles, and the name “Kelly’s” was derived from the Kelly family.

Doug Sheehan, known for his breakout role as Joe Kelly on General Hospital and as Ben Gibson on Knots Landing, among many other credits, has died. Sheehan “passed away peacefully” June 29 at his home in Big Horn, Wyoming, with his wife his side, according to a Kane Funeral Home announcement. He was 75. A cause of death was not revealed.

Born on April 27, 1949, in Santa Monica, Sheehan’s first screen role came in a 1978 episode of Charlie’s Angels. He went on to join the cast of daytime soap General Hospital as a series regular in his first major role, appearing in 205 episodes as lawyer Joe Kelly from 1979-82. He earned a supporting actor Daytime Emmy nomination for his work.

He segued from General Hospital to the role of reporter Ben Gibson on Knots Landing, appearing in 115 episodes from 1983 to 1988.

He also starred as Brian Harper on comedy series Day by Day,...

Soap opera star Doug Sheehan has died at the age of 75. The actor died “peacefully at his home on Saturday morning, June 29, 2024, with his loving wife at his side,” according to an announcement published by the Kane Funeral Home in Big Horn, Wyoming. A cause of death was not revealed. Sheehan made his onscreen debut in a 1978 episode of Charlie’s Angels. A year later, he joined the cast of General Hospital as Joe Kelly, who was romantically involved with Heather Webber and Bobbie Spencer. He was a series regular from 1979 to 1982 and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series. Following his run on Gh, Sheehan joined the cast of Knots Landing as Ben Gibson, a reporter who moved to the coastal Los Angeles suburb and became Val’s second husband. He appeared in over 100 episodes from 1983 to 1988. He went on...

Actor Doug Sheehan, best known to TV fans for his work on soap operas General Hospital and Knots Landing, has died. He was 75.

News of Sheehan’s death was made public by the Wyoming-based Kane Funeral Home, where memorial services are being arranged. Per the announcement, Sheehan passed away “peacefully at his home on Saturday morning, June 29, 2024, with his loving wife at his side.” A cause of death was not disclosed.

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Doug Sheehan has died at the age of 75. Sheenan was an established American actor who was probably best known for his unforgettable run as Ben Gibson in the primetime drama Knots Landing from 1983 – 1987. Douglas Sheehan was born on April 27, 1949 in Santa Monica, California. His performance as Joe Kelly on General […]

The post General Hospital Alum Doug Sheehan Dies at 75 appeared first on Soap Opera News.

Sir Elton John played the final concert of his long-running farewell tour at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday night.

John’s final show featured a 23-song career-spanning setlist, including greatest hits “Bennie and the Jets,” “Rocket Man,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Philadelphia Freedom,” as well as a three-song encore of “Cold Heart,” “Your Song,” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

“When we set off on my final tour in 2018, I couldn’t have foreseen in my wildest dreams the twists and turns and the highs and lows this tour – and the whole world – would have experienced in the next five years,” John said in a statement following the concert. “And every step of the way, my fans have been there. They have stuck with me, they have supported me, they have been patient, and they have kept turning out for every single last show. Tonight has been magical. I’m trying to process it,...

For Elton John, quarantine wasn’t just about collaborating with fellow artists on new music — it was also a chance to work on a longtime passion project of his. The result is Elton John Eyewear, a new line of accessible glasses launching this week at Sam’s Club and at Walmart.

Each pair in the eyewear line is inspired by the singer’s iconic style, alongside different eras of his music career. Elton collaborated closely with the design team on product development, and on the branding. Each frame is given a cheeky name,...

Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke join as managing director and artistic director, respectively.

The German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb) has appointed Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke as its new executive management team, the first time in the institution’s 55-year history that it will be headed up by two women.

Berger joins as managing director and Wilke as artistic director, with their five-year contracts starting on August 1.

The Dffb’s advisory board, whose members include Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg CEO Kirsten Niehuus and DETAiLFILM’s Fabian Gasmia, co-producer of Cannes opener Annette, signed off on the duo last...

Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke join as managing director and artistic director, respectively.

The German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb) has appointed Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke as its new executive management team, the first time in the institution’s 55-year history that it will be headed up by two women.

Berger joins as managing director and Wilke as artistic director, with their five-year contracts starting on August 1.

The Dffb’s Advisory Board, whose members include Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg CEO Kirsten Niehuus and DETAiLFILM’s Fabian Gasmia, co-producer of Cannes opener Annette, signed off on the duo last...

Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke join as managing director and artistic director, respectively.

The German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb) has appointed Catherine Ann Berger and Marie Wilke as its new executive management team, the first time in the institution’s 55-year history that it will be headed up by two women.

Berger joins as managing director and Wilke as artistic director, with their five-year contracts starting on August 1.

The Dffb’s Advisory Board, whose members include Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg CEO Kirsten Niehuus and DETAiLFILM’s Fabian Gasmia, co-producer of Cannes opener Annette, signed off on the duo last...

Rod Webb.

Former Sydney Film Festival, Australian Film Institute, Sbs and ABC executive Rod Webb died on Friday after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 76.

Among the numerous tributes on social media, former Aftrs director, degree programs, Ben Gibson said: “Rod was a great mate around the festival circuit back in the 80s when I was a distributor and he was doing Sff. Fondly remember his very definite opinions and style of argument – and a certain dandyish.”

Documentary maker Tom Zubrycki observed: “Rod and I were friends for a long time. He was a keen judge and critic of film and a sharp wit. Loved a good party. Was always very supportive to filmmakers trying out new ideas. Will be much missed.”

Antidote Films’ Gil Scrine said: “I knew him as a great curator and film buff but also as someone who challenged some of my Orthodox leftist beliefs.

Granted, The Berlinale and Efm seem like a thousand years ago, but look, what have we got to look forward to? Not much right now, as everything is being cancelled, so let’s talk about the past Berlinale.

I was just going through my Berlin trades and just discovered that Ben Gibson, all of our favorite leftist renegade, crazy but good educator, producer of I don’t know how many films.”

That the trade press could write such reports about a friend to hang out with at parties at least, without first fact checking and interviewing their longtime colleague/ friend Ben or an actual witness is reprehensible because with a care–less stroke of their pen, they seem to have blocked any academic institution from ever interviewing Ben again. At first Google, the Screen article will appear. The article was next picked up by Variety who later corrected the reported...

The account relates his version of events around an incident that took place on February 21.

Film school director Ben Gibson has released a statement addressing his departure from Berlin’s German Film and Television Academy (Dffb).

The account – which he released on March 10 – relates his version of events surrounding an incident that took place on February 21 during the Berlinale and has resulted in what he has described as his “separation” from the Dffb, “amicably by mutual agreement”.

Gibson states that both he and the school had agreed not to make any comment about the incident before a meeting with the...

“Respectfully, it is time to step up and come out of the shadows,” open letter asks New York state attorney general.

Zelda Perkins, the British former assistant to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, is one of seven women who have branded as “insulting” a proposed $25m global settlement in a class action lawsuit and called upon the New York state attorney general to renegotiate terms.

Weinstein, who currently resides in Rikers Island prison awaiting sentencing on Wednesday after he was convicted of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape, was said to be nearing a deal with his accusers last December.

Under the terms of the agreement,...

“Respectfully, it is time to step up and come out of the shadows,” open letter asks New York state attorney general.

Zelda Perkins, the British former assistant to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, is one of seven women who have branded as “insulting” a proposed $25m global settlement in a class action lawsuit and called upon the New York state attorney general to renegotiate terms.

Weinstein, who currently resides in Rikers Island prison awaiting sentencing on Wednesday after he was convicted of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape, was said to be near a deal with his accusers last December.

Under the terms of the agreement,...

Move follows complaint by female student.

Ben Gibson has been formally “relieved of his duties“ as director of Berlin’s German Film and Television Academy (Dffb) with immediate effect.

The decision was taken by the film school’s board of trustees at a sitting last Friday in response to an incident involving a student from Babelsberg’s University of Film & Television following a “mooning“ incident during the Berlinale.

Christian Gaebler, head of the Berlin Senate’s Chancellery and chairman of the board of trustees, confirmed the employment contract with Gibson had been “terminated by mutual agreement”.

Gibson had served as...

The British director of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB), one of Germany’s most prestigious film schools, has stepped down following an incident during the Berlin Film Festival in which he exposed his backside to a woman during a heated argument. The DFFB’s board of trustees and Ben Gibson, a veteran film producer, agreed to end their relationship by mutual consent “for various reasons,” the DFFB said in a statement. Sandra Braun, the DFFB’s administrative manager, will head the academy until further notice. Gibson, whose credits include the 1998 Daniel Craig starrer “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon,” by John Maybury, and Lech Majewski’s 2004 “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” reportedly dropped his pants in anger during an argument with a woman at the DFFB facilities, located in the Sony Center at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, on Feb. 21. In an email to DFFB students cited by Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Gibson wrote that he had allowed himself to be provoked and then “exposed” himself. He described his behavior as a “serious mistake” and apologized for the incident, the paper reported, citing his email. Before taking on the DFFB gig in 2016, Gibson worked at the Australian National Film School from 2014 to 2016 and served as director of the London Film School from 2001 to 2014. He also produced such works as Terrence Davies’ 1992 gay classic “The Long Day Closes,” Derek Jarman’s 1993’s “Wittgenstein,” Carine Adler’s 1997 “Under the Skin” and Jasmin Dizdar’s 1999 “Beautiful People.” The DFFB’s board of trustees, whose members include Chairman Christian Gaebler, head of Berlin’s Senate Chancellery, Vice Chairman Eberhard Junkersdorf of Bioskop Film and Kirsten Niehuus, head of regional funder Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, is to meet soon to consider its next course of action. The board’s members also include Claudia Tronnier of ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel film division, producer Regina Ziegler of Ziegler Film, Detailfilm’s Fabian Gasmia, regional pubcaster RBB’s Martina Zöllner and Iris Brockmann of the Berlin Senate Department of Finance.

The incident took place on Friday.

Ben Gibson, the UK director of Berlin’s prestigious German Film & Television Academy (Dffb), is reported to have been “suspended until further notice“ following an incident involving a female student during the Berlinale.

In a statement to Germany’s dpa news agency on Tuesday, Christian Gaebler, head of the Berlin State Chancellery, confirmed: “Following an incident on Friday, which was brought to our attention on Monday, the Director was suspended by me in my capacity as Chairman of the Board of Trustees until further notice.”

According to a report in the local Berlin newspaper...

Aside from their Berlinale Panel on the Perspectives of Young Filmmakers, Dffb had one of the most fun parties of the festival as the school’s director Ben Gibson and the staff mingled with film students and young filmmakers from around the world.

Berlinale Panel on the perspectives of young filmmakers covered such issues as:

What are the possibilities for up-and-coming producers to establish themselves independently on the market beyond the first and second films? What are the biggest obstacles? What do the young people’s promotion strategies of the different actors do? Which changes are necessary? And last but not least: How important is the offspring for the future of the German film industry and for German film?

The panel engaged in dialogue about the current status quo and exchanged perspectives, and also developed ideas that could give young talent the opportunities to shape the industry in the future creatively.

The German Film and Television Academy Berlin behind new initiative.

The German Film and Television Academy Berlin (Dffb) is launching a new professional training programme focussed on 21st century film markets.

Titled Next Wave, the initiative is partnering with film schools to deliver a course that will train up participants to work on future models for sales and distribution.

The programme will focus on building business knowledge, practical expertise, strategic skills and international networks. It will involve international research and study trips that will take participants of the programme to festivals, markets, conferences and partner schools.

The Berlin based initiative...

1972: Jingles the clown scared Andrea on Somerset.

1986: Robert S. Woods debuted as Paul on Days of our Lives.

1986: James Stenbeck returned from the dead with, "Hello, Barbara"

1995: All My Children's Julia found a surprise in her closet."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Roger (Allen Nourse) worried about Mary.

1972: On Somerset, Andrea Moore (Harriet Hall) was terrified when she was woken up in her bedroom by Jingles the Clown. When Carter Matson (Jay Gregory) ran into the room after hearing her screams, he didn't see anything and told...

Dozens of European and German film industry reps gathered for a vigil Tuesday outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin to protest the imprisonment of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and demand his immediate release.

Sentsov, a vocal opponent of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government and of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has been held by Russia for more than four years. He was convicted by a military court of terrorism in a trial described by Amnesty International as unfair.

Attendees at the vigil in Berlin held yellow signs saying “Free Oleg Sentsov.” The European Film Academy, which organized the event, issued a grave appeal: “Do not let Oleg die!”, alluding to the fact that the filmmaker has been on a hunger strike in prison since May 14.

Sentsov participated in the 2013 protests in Kiev that brought down the pro-Russian government of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Several months later, in May 2014, he...

1973: Nancy Pinkerton debuted as Dorian Lord on One Life to Live.

1978: Dallas' Pam revealed her pregnancy but later lost the baby.

1996: All My Children's Marian played a revealing tape to hurt Tad.

2001: General Hospital's Skye announced she was a Quartermaine."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1968: On Dark Shadows, Jeff (Roger Davis) dozed off in a chair in the living room of the...

Other ideas include government-subsidised tickets for youngsters and an ‘online film festival’.

Source: Iffr / Melanie Lemahieu

Four working groups at Rotterdam’s Reality Check conference came up with a list of actions that can improve content and audience diversity and engagement.

The closed working groups, each with up to 9 experts, presented their ideas in a public session that closed Reality Check, Iffr’s new distribution conference.

One especially popular suggested action point was creating a code of conduct for film festivals to have more diverse and inclusive juries, panel speakers and selection committees.

It was noted that festivals can do this immediately, on their own terms, without waiting for a global guideline to be established. Film experts were also encouraged to have their own personal code of conduct as well.

The other suggestions were:

A card for young people to watch arthouse films in cinemas, at specific times of day, for a nearly-free...

The appointment.of Dutch archivist Jan Müller as CEO of the National Film and Sound Archive (Nfsa), the third non-Australian to occupy the post in 12 years, has raised hackles in sections of the industry.

While no one is questioning the qualifications of Müller, who has served as CEO of Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision since 2009, many are asking why no Australian resident, born here or overseas, was deemed suitable for the role of safeguarding Australia.s audio-visual history.

And some are critical that it took the federal government so long to fill the vacancy since former CEO Michael Loebenstein announced his resignation last November and in January returned to his native Austria as head of the Austrian Film Museum.

Producer Tony Buckley, a co-founder of the Industry Activity Group which has been campaigning for a new, purpose-built Nfsa that would be an archive and conservation and research facility, is...

As the film-business-crowds move through meetings designed to meet all sorts of movie-related objectives in this vast mix of people, and the movie-going public lines up for films in the Competition, Out-of-Competition, Panorama, Forum and Retrospectives; and families attend the Generation series, some for kindergarteners and others for preteens and some for those 14 and up, and as the constant exchange of ideas continues, there is lots of buzz, mostly positive about the Hungarian Competition film “On Body and Soul”.“On Body and Soul” by Ildikó Enyedi

Buzz continues the next day both pro and con about Oren Moverman’s Competition film, “The Dinner” which is definitely a must-see for each to decide on one’s own response to it. As Scott Roxborough in The Hollywood Reporter says, it “looks like just the political dish the times demand.” Produced by Caldecot Chubb, the script was originally to be written by Moverman for Cate Blanchett to direct.

In cooperation with Berlinale Panorama, Berlinale Special and dffb: A conversation between Raoul Peck and Ben Gibson.Raoul Peck and Ben Gibson

Acclaimed Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck has created a body of work in documentary and fiction distinguished by its critical engagement and intellectual courage. Taking on such specters of postcolonial injustice as underdevelopment, racism and communal violence, Peck’s films illuminate the personal stories and contradictory experiences of those individuals often treated by history and cinema as faceless, invisible, silent. This year’s Berlinale features two new Peck films: the fictional “The Young Karl Marx” in Berlinale Special and the Academy Award-nominated “I Am Not Your Negro,” a documentary based on an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin in Panorama. In the 50th year of the dffb, Peck, a graduate of the Berlin film school, reflects on his cinematic journey with Ben Gibson dffb’s first non-German director of the school.

Festival’s industry strand crowns work-in-progress winners from Macedonia and Ukraine.

The Grand Prix of FilmFestival Cottbus (8-13 November) went to Russia for the fourth time in the last six years, with filmmaker Ivan I. Tverdovsky taking the top award for his second feature Zoology after also winning top honours for his debut Corrections Class in 2014.

The other previous winners from Russia had been Angelina Nikonova in 2011 with Twilight Portrait and Alexander Veledinsky in 2013 with The Geographer Who Drank His Globe Away.

Moreover, Tverdovsky is the third film-maker to win Cottbus’s top prize twice in the festival’s 26-year history following Slovakia’s Martin Sulik (1993: Everything I Like and 1995: The Garden) and Serbia’s Oleg Novkovic (2006: Tomorrow Morning and 2010: White White World).

The international jury, which included veteran Israeli producer Marek Rosenbaum and Serbian actress-director Mirjana Karanovic, described Zoology as ¨an original and emotional story about loneliness, love, hope and...

Applications are now open for the third round of the Asia Pacific Screen Lab (Apsl), a development lab aimed at screenwriters, directors and producers from the Asia Pacific region..

The Apsl focuses on stories exploring an Asia Pacific identity to be developed into feature length films of fiction, documentary or animation..

The submission deadline is September 30, with the selected projects to be announced for the first time during the Busan International Film Festival in October 2016.

The year-long development incubator program for emerging filmmakers is an initiative of Griffith Film School (Gfs), the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema), in collaboration with the Sun Foundation and Temenggong Artists in Residence, Singapore..

At its core the Apsl is a vehicle for enabling film co-productions by early career feature filmmakers from across the Asia Pacific, typically those who have made at least one feature film...

Ben Gibson, former director, degree programs at Aftrs, has been named director and manager of the Berlin Film Academy.

The director of the London Film School from 2001 until 2014, he will take up the new post in February.

Gibson stepped down from Aftrs in September and has spent the last few months on a research project for Aftrs Council documenting the nature and use of screen Master of Fine Arts degrees.

He will also lead a co-production workshop for Griffith Film School during the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival conference.

Neil Peplow, the former chief operating officer of the Met Film School in West London's Ealing Studios, has since succeeded Sandra Levy as Aftrs CEO..

Gibson has declined to discuss his abbreviated tenure at Aftrs but it is instructive to note the Berlin Film Academy caters for adults who generally study for five years and graduate with a feature co-produced by state funds and television.

Ben Gibson, former director of the London Film School (Lfs), is set to become the first non-German director of Berlin’s German Film & Television Academy (dffb).

Gibson was selected by the appointments committee over rival applications by filmmakers Bela Tarr and Romuald Karmakar, producer Dagmar Jacobsen and Pavel Jech, currently Dean of Prague’s Famu, as the successor to the previous director Jan Schütte.

Gibson left the Lfs last year after 13 years as director to become director of degree programmes at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (Aftrs) in Sydney.

Gibson is no stranger to the dffb having recruited the Berlin academy as one of the European partners in the Making Waves distribution and marketing workshop with Paris’ La Fémis, Barcelona’s Ecac, and Romania’s Unatc.

During his time at Lfs, Gibson collaborated with the dffb on the Serial Eyes postgraduate high-level TV series writing and producing programme, launched in January 2013.

Funded by the EU’s Creative...

Ben Gibson, the departing Director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as Director, Degree Programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.

Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.

“Ben is eminently qualified for this pivotal new role at Aftrs, and I’m thrilled that he could be persuaded to bring his considerable skills, experience and academic rigor to Australia. His 14 years as Director of the very successful London Film School are notable for his work in building up the school’s reputation in the UK and abroad and expanding and accrediting its prestigious postgraduate degrees. Ben has also been a very successful and original independent producer and production executive, and has previously worked in distribution and exhibition, so he comes with a deep knowledge of the international screen industry at all levels,” said Sandra Levy, CEO of the Aftrs.

Prior to joining the London Film School in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute from 1988 to 1998. His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies' " The Long Day Closes," Derek Jarman's "Wittgenstein," John Maybury's "Love is the Devil," Carine Adler's "Under the Skin"and Jasmin Dizdar's "Beautiful People," as well as 20 other low budget features and many shorts by UK directors including Patrick Keiller, Gurinder Chadha, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Kwietniowski and Andrew Kotting. As a partner in distributors The Other Cinema/Metro Pictures he acquired and promoted films by Pedro Almodovar, Chris Marker, Chantal Akerman and Jean-Luc Godard as well as opening the West End’s Metro Cinema in 1986. He has also been a theater director, a repertory film programmer and a film critic and journalist. He leaves Lfs at the end of July.

Ben Gibson said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to Sandra Levy’s vision of Aftrs as a complete screen school -- and to get the chance to work in the Australian film industry, one I’ve hugely admired and followed -- so far from a great distance. Aftrs offers a special combination of good things: self-confidence, an extraordinary heritage, great creative ambition, exceptional resources, a wide educational scope and a central mission in a dynamic and productive screen industry. It’s rightly considered to be one of the great film schools of the world. I can’t wait to join the team and get started there.”

Gibson’s final year at Lfs has been attended by great creative success. The school won 35 festival prizes and mentions in 2013-14, including a BAFTA nomination. Ms Levy pointed out that this year’s Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival was won by Leidi, the Lfs graduation film of Simón Mesa Soto. Also at Cannes, amongst seven graduates featured in the 2014 selection, "The Salt of the Earth," co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders, was awarded the Un Certain Regard’s Special Jury Prize.

Director Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors at the London Film School, in announcing Ben’s departure earlier this year, said: “Ben Gibson has led Lfs from strength to strength over his fourteen years of outstanding service, and we will be sad to see him go.”

Aftrs is Australia’s national screen arts and broadcasting school and has been named as one of the Top 20 film schools in the world by industry journal, The Hollywood Reporter. As an elite specialist institution, Aftrs provides excellence in education through its practice based model, and aspires to deliver a dynamic educational offering that prepares the most talented and creative students – novice, experienced, fully fledged professional specialists – to be platform agnostic, creative and resilient in an industry subject to constant changes in knowledge and technology. The new BA Screen is a 3-year program offering a strong base in the understanding of story and screen history alongside a comprehensive introduction to the skills of screen production.

Outgoing director of the London Film School to join Australian Film School.

Ben Gibson, the departing director of the London Film School, has been appointed to a new senior role at Aftrs, the Australian Film Television & Radio School, as director, degree programs. He will start work in Sydney in September.

Gibson will play a key leadership role in ensuring the successful delivery and development of a new three-year Aftrs Bachelor of Arts (Screen) degree and Aftrs Screen and Screen Business Masters degrees, which are being restructured and relaunched for 2015.

Prior to joining the Lfs in 2001, Gibson worked as a film distributor and independent producer, and as head of production at the British Film Institute (BFI) from 1988 to 1998.

His production and executive production credits include Terence Davies’ The Long Day Closes, Derek Jarman’s Wittgenstein, John Maybury’s Love is the Devil, Carine Adler’s Under the Skin and Jasmin Dizdar’s Beautiful People, as well as...

Dr. Jane Roscoe has been recently appointed as the new Director of The London Film School. She will take over from current Director Ben Gibson in August.

Jane Roscoe comes to The London Film School with over 20 years experience as an academic and broadcaster in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. At the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, she launched the Centre for Screen Studies & Research, and led a number of large-scale industry-focussed research projects. She has been Network Programmer at Australia's Sbs Television, and was responsible for launching Sbs Two. More recently, as the UK-based Head of International Content at Sbs, she acquired world feature films in a wide variety of languages, and brokered an impressive slate of international co-productions. She is a regular industry and academic commentator, and has published extensively on screen audiences, documentary and mock documentary.

Mike Leigh, Chair of Governors, said, “Jane is passionate about film education and innovation, and we are delighted that she is to join us to lead Lfs into our exciting new phase."

Jane Roscoe said, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead Lfs as it approaches its 60th anniversary. The move to the Barbican will further enhance the School's ability to educate for creativity, and stay connected to a fast changing film industry. It's going to be an exciting and challenging journey .”

The London Film School combines its status as a major international conservatoire with its role as one of the two leading British graduate film schools supported by Creative Skillset and the BFI.

At the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, films by Lfs graduates are represented in all the official sections – in Competition, Mr Turner, written and directed by Mike Leigh; In Un Certain Regard, Xenia, directed by Panos H. Koutras and The Salt of the Earth, co-directed by Lfs graduate Juliano Ribeiro Salgado with Wim Wenders; in Shorts Competition, Lfs graduation film Leidi, directed by Simón Mesa Soto, one of only nine films chosen from 3,450 short films to compete for the Short Film Palme d’Or. Newton I. Aduaka is one of fifteen directors selected for the tenth edition of the Cinefondation Atelier co-production showcase, with his latest feature Oil on Water. Lfs graduate Aygul Bakanova, who was a participant on the Cannes Residence programme, is screening in Directors’ Fortnight, with the Nordic Film Factory short film Void, co-directed with Milad Alami.

In December, Lfs announced its first major funding from Creative Skillset towards the development of its plans to transfer its operations from Covent Garden to a new site within the Barbican Centre in the City of London. The move is planned for 2016, when the school will also celebrate its 60th birthday.

The London Film School

Founded in 1956, Lfs is one of the world's longest established graduate filmmaking schools. It is constituted as an international conservatoire with 70% of its Ma Filmmaking students coming from outside the UK. The School offers a core 2-year Ma Filmmaking , a 1-year Ma Screenwriting , a 1-year Ma International Film Business and a PhD Film by Practice with the University of Exeter, plus around 50 Continuous Professional Development courses each year as Lfs Workshops .

Lfs has been selected by Creative Skillset, the UK government agency for audio-visual training, as one of three ‘Film Academies’, accredited as a centre of excellence.

Lfs graduates are established in film and television production in more than eighty countries and include Mike Leigh, Michael Mann, Duncan Jones, Tak Fujimoto, Roger Pratt, Ueli Steiger, Iain Smith, Horace Ove, Ho Yim, Danny Huston, Franc Roddam, Brad Anderson, Ann Hui, Marius Holst and Bill Douglas.

In 2013, Lfs films had 232 festival entries across 179 events, winning 43 prizes, nominations or special mentions. The tally breaks Lfs records for global visibility and graduate success. The list covers Toronto, Venice, Tribeca, San Sebastian, Clermont Ferrand, The London Film Festival, San Francisco, the BAFTAs and the Student Academy Awards.

More info at www.lfs.org.uk

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Exclusive: Former Sbs exec takes over from Ben Gibson at London Film School.

Former Sbs executive Jane Roscoe is to become director of the London Film School, taking over from current director Ben Gibson in August.

Roscoe, a published academic who launched the Centre for Screen Studies and Research while working at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, was most recently the UK-based head of International content at Australian network Sbs, where she acquired features and brokered international co-productions.

The Australian executive was formerly network programmer at Sbs, where she spearheaded the launch of channel Sbs Two.

Roscoe, who takes over from out-going director Ben Gibson after his 14-year stint at the school, said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the Lfs as it approaches its 60th anniversary. The move to the Barbican will further enhance the School’s ability to educate for creativity, and stay connected to a fast changing film industry. It’s going...

Though the market seemed slow on the surface, the usual sales got made: the larger companies selling almost out, the smaller ones busily speaking with others, selling here and there, worrying if this would get better, worse, or stay the same.

Meanwhile fascinating and energizing conversations were carried on with friends, newcomers, keepers of funds, representatives of countries and their needs to internationalize, to join forces with one another to create new models, internationalize, form cross cultural competent and cooperative ways of working together. We know the past model is failing to keep up with the technology and its fast spawning product. Some would say the old model is old and frail, sucking its old teeth as it pretends to carry on, but in reality, it is carrying its own corpse upon its shoulders. I would never go so far as to say this; the model will be changed, refined and redesigned, but it will survive because some people enjoy theatrical settings and that helps further other sales

FBI Casting Director Beatrice Kruger (now working on Fatih Akin¹s The Cut) spoke to us over dinner at Einsteins about her experience on Woody Allen¹s To Rome With Love, how he got involved in the real life politics of Italy as he attempted to cast real newscasters in the roles they play in real life. He didn't want the right wingers. He didn't like them, but he was told he had to hire them if he wanted to access the government monies, ...besides, how could he cast a left wing newscaster into the role off a right wing commentator? The experience of Italian politics did not make him happy.

Frank Cox, the founder of the Australian arthouse distributor Hopscotch which has been sold to eOne Entertainment, was in the Scandinavian Pavilion and told me he is still carrying on though on a smaller scale with his original company, New Vision Distribution. He recently acquired We¹re The Best by Lucas Moodyson, a darling film that showed in Cannes and Toronto and totally endeared me to its 13 year old girls as they searched for ways to get into trouble. (Magnolia has U.S.)

Robbie Little and Elie Mechoulam, Director of Sales and Marketing of The Little Film Company tallying up that $30,000,000 at the box office at $11 per ticket is only 3 million admissions, or 300,000 tickets sold...TV would be failure if it had such numbers. TV makes $46 million in ad sales on one episode of a great series...

Andrea Kaul, the EFM¹s new Co-Director who comes from Rtl TV and ad sales was not at that conversation, but when we spoke after the market was finished, such a topic as episodic content and online ad sales was also on her mind. The Berlinale screening of Netflix¹s second installment of Houses of Cards was a great success in the last days of the Berlinale, which was in itself food for thought. Even Dieter Kosslick, in his interview with Indiewire¹s Eric Kohn (Read Here) said, "We showed, for the first time in history, House of Cards. We have never done such a thing before. Heads were turning last night. Last year, we had [Jane Campion¹s TV series] Top of the Lake (in its entirety),so we are starting this new whole world."

Ted Hope of Fandor pointed out, "Research company Markets and Markets predicts global video-on-demand (VOD) revenue will grow from $21 billion last year to $45 billion in 2018. They define this as the combined revenues of all VOD outlets, worldwide ‹ essentially digital (online) VOD plus cable & satellite VOD. Huge numbers, but actually not a particularly high compound annual growth rate (16%) to get to the $45b number in years. Figure roughly half of this revenue flows to content owners and half to the VOD outlets."

To see the excitement of young people just beginning...everything to gain and little to lose, learning to like what they are doing to further their aims at telling stories their way. When I spoke with Wafa Tajdin, a founding partner and lead producer at Seven Thirty Films, an Africa based indie production company she runs with her sister, artist and film maker Amirah Tajdin. This Arab Indian pair of sisters is working to tell their stories of growing up in Kenya and living in Dubai...I asked which parent was what and was told that each parent was also half Arab, half Indian, the same sexes too...I should have told them about Peter, whose Italian Jewish parents also lived in such a ghetto of mixed marriages in east Harlem in the 1910s and 1920s. These are the stories which are forming in world cinema today. You can see her work Here

True cross-culture creation is taking place in the Talents section of the Efm. Eleven films of former Talent Campus participants are showing in the festival this year

One talent, Sompot Chidgasornpongse has formed a new international sales agency (and distribution company) called Mosquito. Thailand¹s leading independent filmmakers ­ Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), Soros Sukhum (Wonderful Town), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), and Lee Chatametikool ­ have joined hands to open Mosquito Films Distribution. The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the partners¹ films as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers. - See more Here

Ben Gibson of London Film School,Ira Deutchman of Colombia Film School, German film school dffb, Frances La Femis, Fescac the Romanian Film and Theater University are continuing their initiative Making Waves, bringing in students to work collaboratively to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent movies in the Efm.

Also exciting was the search for new models, not only in the film world of funding by government organizations, but of society as discussed in such films as Göran Hugo Olsson¹s (Black Mix Tapes) Concerning Violence and Hubert Sauper¹s We Come as Friends , and of women in society. 50% of public funds should be made available for women who not only constitute 50% of the public as moviegoers and should represent 50% of the cinephiles (those working in the film business) but 50% of all societies and therefore should have 50% of the voice of public policy.

In its second year, the Dortmund Women's Film Festival drew even more women to hear and discuss the status of women in the film business and gender parity. Speakers such as Heike Meyer-Döring of the Creative Europe Desk of Film and Medienstiftung Nrw, Bosnian filmmaker and Golden Bear Winner in 2006 Jasmila Zbanic, So-in Hong of the Seoul International Womens Film Festival speaking on aims and projects of the Asian Women Film Network, Melissa Silverstein of the Athena Film Festival and blogger on Women and Hollywood updating on the status of women filmmakers in the U.S., Mariel Macia of Mica/ Cima, Spain speaking of the proposal for the EU Commission regarding gender equality on state aid for film - all these and more, like Claudia Landsberger head of Eye International, Film Institute Netherlands hosting a panel of Susana de la Sierra, General Director of Icaa, Spanish Film Institute noting that 7% of the leading roles were women and the 2007 Law for Gender Equality, Cornelia Hammelmann, Project Director of the German Federal Fund, Sanja Ravlic, President of the Gender Equality Study Group of Eurimages, Croatia -- all spoke of what seems as obvious as the noses on our faces, but which has made little impact on the reality of policies yet... We had so many more conversations, I wish I could put them all here.

With all the ideas circulating, one could hardly say that the Berlinale and the European Film Market were not busy.

Exclusive: Mike Leigh praises London Film School director Ben Gibson for “outstanding” service.

London Film School director Ben Gibson has stepped down from the post he held for 14 years.

The Lfs board is now looking to appoint a new director who will likely assume the role from next autumn.

Gibson will remain active at the school until the transition to the new director.

Gibson has been instrumental in raising the profile of the Lfs in the UK and abroad and has also overseen the school’s long-gestating transition from Covent Garden to the Barbican.

In December 2013, the school announced its first major funding towards the transfer, with a move planned for 2016, the same year the school celebrates its 60th birthday.

Gibson told ScreenDaily: “It has been an engrossing pleasure to lead this dynamic and important institution since 2000. Lfs is a wonderful place to work and learn, and the privilege of teaching and supporting talented, collaborative and clear-eyed...

During Afm I was privileged to interview Beki Probst, Director of the European Film Market, one of the three top international film markets in the world and Wieland Speck, Director of the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama. Both are innovators of what have become the standard features of film markets and festivals. Beki and Wieland speak about their roles live-on-video filmed during Afm by doc filmmaker Robert Ball.

The Berlin International Film Festival began in 1951 at the height of the Cold War as a signal to East Germany that West Berlin was still in the Avant Garde. It is now one of the world’s leading film festivals selling something more than 300,000 tickets to the public.

When the festival moved from West Berlin to Potsdamer Platz in time for its 50th anniversary in 2000, its name was changed and trademarked as the Berlinale.

The European Film Market (Efm) was created by the Berlin International Film Festival somewhere in the mid 1980s because those whose films were screening in the Festival also needed a place where distributors around the world could meet to acquire the rights to license the burgeoning home video rights along with the theatrical and TV rights. Other festivals scouting films to program also began attending in greater numbers. Today about 20,000 industry visitors attend along with some 4,000 journalists from a total of 130 countries. Trade alone purchases some 175,000 additional tickets to screenings.

Beki thus took a leading role in how markets operate, although hers was originally a market strictly for festival art films. This is in contrast to the American Film Market which had no affiliation to a festival and offered genre films as well which were being licensed for home video. At that time in the 80s, there was also the Cannes Market which ran alongside the Cannes Film Festival but was pretty chaotic. There was also the now defunct Mifed, a market in Milan Italy for international films.

When Mifed went out of existence, the Efm expanded its role by popular demand and became an equal on “The Film Circuit “ as a Must-Attend Market for most of the world’s 400 + international sales agents. In spite of its growth, Beki has retained the jewel-like quality of the market.

When the Berlin Wall fell and the wasteland which had been Potsdamer Platz was reclaimed and rebuilt by the united Germany, “Her Market” (she is still very much the elegant grand dame of the international film business), retained its artful demeanor by relocating to the Martin Gropius Bau.

It remains the unique trait of Efm that the Berlin Market was developed by the festival programmers. The festival programmers are still influential for the market offerings. The market and the festival are symbiotic and are also symbolic of more than the former cold war challenge it threw down to the Eastern European Soviet block. It remains a beacon for discussion of art, culture, politics and international coproductions which reflect countries’ unique points of views.

While the larger international sales agents like Im Global, The Weinstein Company, FilmNation and others are located in the nearby Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt or Marriot Hotels, the originators of the market, the German entities, the Italians, French, Latino, Spanish, Scandinavian and other international sales companies, along with some U.S. companies, are housed in the Martin Gropius Bau, one of Berlin’s top museums except for the 10 days of the Efm in February.

The Martin Gropius Bau was built by Martin Gropius who was the father of Walter Gropius, one of the original architects who gave Los Angeles, California its modern look.

Parenthetically, as I write this from Havana, I must remark on how the Walter Gropius signature seems to appear on many of the houses and apartment buildings here as well. Bauhaus architects brought their ideas to Cuba as well as to L.A. In Havana, I visited the Swiss Embassy which is in a house by Richard Neutra, another of the German/ Austrian modernists.

The Efm maintains its jewel museum quality even with the larger sales agents selling out their slates. As you enter the Martin Gropius Bau, you are greeted during the first days by guards, dressed in quite beautiful red and gold uniforms wearing white gloves. I get great pleasure from the gorgeous red carpet awards ceremony where I can see the sort of films winning the top awards which then go on to win Oscars like the Golden Bear winning A Separation which later won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2011, or Child’s Pose which should have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Academy Award. On the last two days after the Awards, going to Friedrichs Palast, another jewel of a theater in the old East Berlin to see the best of the films I missed, seeing filmmakers there doing the same is a rare treat, one that I count on having every year.

Beki and Wieland present themselves as active but also the “memory” of the festival. Knowledge of the past is important even while they are choosing the best of new films. It is important for the market that the public audience of more than 300,000 (plus another 175,000 professionals) also attend the festival, unlike in Cannes where the public is not included at all, or Afm where there is no festival or public participation. Likewise, the market is important as part of support for the big city audiences in on the five continents as the buyers are encouraged to take films which will play well in big cities. Professionals need to experience public reactions to films and the public enjoys its ability to view with a critical eye the films selected for the festival.

Festival audiences are not exactly like normal year round moviegoers, even though Berliners are spoiled by cultural events galore and therefore are a very critical audience. Berlin is also a very historical city with its own special memories with a politicizing effect.

Afm, Efm and Cannes are all very collegial and each one is quite different. Afm’s nature is different – ocean, sun, it is in a beautiful setting. Efm is cold, it forces the people to watch movies — both art and mainstream. Small films still have a place in the sun. They get attention at Efm which is very important. Press is not allowed unless the producers want to Ok their presence in their screenings.

The Place of Documentaries

Beki recently developed The Doc Corner, but docs have a long history in Berlin. The Forum was begun in 1971 as a sort of counter-program to the Berlinale and from day one docs had a strong role. In 1980 the Panorama began as a different sort of counter programming, including Glbt programming and docs. Out the 50 films shown, ⅓ are docs. In 1990 the docs changed because television had shortened the doc form and the audiences wanted something more substantive to chew on. Cinema took over the documentaries with in depth subject being covered. Panorama Dokumente showed premieres during the festival at 5pm. Earlier in the day were market films, later in the evening were the larger gala and competitive films.

Beki saw the market as including docs of course since there are lots of docs in the festival sections. A woman at the Jerusalem Film Festival said to Beki it would be good if Berlin had a place doc producers, buyers and sellers could meet up, and so Beki set up The Doc Corner. This year in partnership with the Leipzig Doc Festival and Visions du Reel from Nyon, there will be a strong place for documentaries to attract attention.

A Place for First Timers

Last year an introductory session, “Shortcuts for First Timers” to the market was held in the Mirror Restaurant for some 300 to 400 newcomers. This year it will continue, perhaps with some changes. If I might suggest some changes, I would recommend that the names of those explaining how to navigate within the market and all its sidebars and attractions have their names posted visibly on the screen behind them, where maps and other graphics could also be displayed. It would helpful to know the audience makeup - are they filmmakers? journalists? actors? It was a surprise to hear such a question as “How do I meet financiers for my film?” asked last year. I would also love to post a replay of the panel to help my students learn about what to expect at a film market.

The new Berlinale Residency Program for writer/ directors to stay four months in Berlin working on their fiction, doc or cross-media projects with professional mentors in September to December, followed by the February presentations at the Co-Produciton Market was introduced last year.

The Talent Campus which has now changed its name to Berlin Talents and the tours I give are also briefly explained at the First Times event. This program was one of Dieter Kosslick’s best ideas when he took over the festival from Moritz de Hadlin so many years ago.

And the use of Wi-Fi and the password written on our badges needs a bit of explanation along with the red-lighted paths which direct participants to screening venues are other innovations. Also there is a new educational innovation called Making Waves in which five film schools participate by making business plans for the sales and distribution of films in the market. Making Waves includes the London Film School under the leadership of Ben Gibson and Columbia University Film School under the leadership of Ira Deutchman, Le Femis from France, the dffb from Germany and l’Escac, the Romanian Film and Theatre University.

Structural Changes in 2014

This year will be remarkable in a shift back to West Berlin which will evoke memories of those who recall the old market. The festival returns to the newly restored 800 seat Zoo Palast where the festival was originally held. Panorama Specials and Generations will show there along with market films in the smaller theaters.

This is a shift back to the west of Berlin which will evoke memories of those who recall the old glamorous West. The Kempinski and Savoy Hotels are very hot there as well. So the Berlinale is regaining the past in some ways.

For more info on the European Film Market visit Here...

The new home of the London Film School has secured its first tranche of funding from Creative Skillset.

The London Film School has secured a significant award from Creative Skillset towards its capital campaign for the relocation to the Barbican Centre.

Creative Skillset is looking to invest $3m (£1.82m) in Lfs and has awarded the school up to $768,000 (£468,596) towards the development of its plans to transfer the school and its operations to the new site. A stage two application for construction works will be made in 2014.

The funding is part of Creative Skillset’s four-year film skills strategy which supports the BFI’s strategic priorities.

In a deal with the City of London Corporation, in space currently occupied by Barbican Exhibition Hall 1, the new location in Golden Lane will provide state of the art filmmaking facilities, extended accommodation, public outreach and space for industry screenings and events.

MIke Leigh, Lfs chairman and 1964 graduate, said: “Creative...

Many creative and media postgraduate courses are open to all graduates, regardless of their first degree

Creative industries – from advertising and fashion to film and video games – employ 2 million people in the UK, according to the Confederation of British Industry, which says it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country.

Career opportunities in media and the arts have never been better, and universities have been quick to seize the moment, adding hundreds of new courses.

The good news is you don't have to have studied a creative subject for your first degree to be accepted on a postgraduate course. The National Film and Television School (Nfts) actively seeks graduates from different academic backgrounds for its range of two-year master's degrees, which includes cinematography, directing animation, sound design and screenwriting.

The aim is to encourage innovators who will do interesting things, says Jon Weinbren, the Nfts's head of games design and development.

Exclusive: Lfs outlines £14m relocation and upgrade to Barbican site by 2016.

After many years of searching, the London Film School has finally found a new home in London’s Barbican.

The Corporation of London has offered the Lfs a 50-year lease on Exhibition Hall 1, a 32,000ft2 space in Golden Lane, currently controlled by the Barbican Arts Centre.

The school, currently based in London’s Covent Garden, is hoping to move to the new venue in autumn 2015 or early 2016.

The Lfs’ proposed Barbican move has been well-known within the industry but has recently gained traction with Lfs director Ben Gibson recently speaking to ScreenDaily about the plans.

“This move is one of the worst kept secrets in the industry,” admitted Gibson. “We have been trying to re-house for six or seven years but this is the first time we have found the right deal in the right place.”

The estimated cost of the move is around $21m (£14m...

League Two Accrington Stanley condemned Middlesbrough to their second defeat in four days as they beat last year’s quarter finalists 2-1 at The Riverside.

Lukas Jutkiewicz’s ninth minute strike was cancelled out by Marcus Carver just before half time.

Piero Mingoia sealed the cupset in the 79th minute. But Boro will be frustrated by the amount of chances they wasted as they were the only side who looked like winning for the first 80 minutes.

The Teessiders were playing their first home game in the League Cup since they beat Yeovil 5-1 back in 2008. A run that has seen them clock up in excess of 3,500 midweek miles.

Their opponents Stanley were looking to avoid going out in the 1st round for the second year running.

It was the first time these two teams had met in any fixture and it was Stanley who came out on top in a very one sided game.

For those headed to the South of France this week, Filmmaker has polled our friends and colleagues for their advice on attending the Cannes Film Festival. Even if you are not a first-timer there’s something here for you, ranging from day-trip suggestions to business etiquette to restaurant tips. If you are a first-time attendee, take these especially to heart, and if you’re a returning veteran and have tips, feel free to post them below. See you on the Croisette. Ben Gibson (director, London Film School, and producer): Been doing this advice for many years: Have a meal with someone you’ve …...

Deaffest | Lars von Trier | Holmfirth Film festival | Trainspotting: The Reunion

Deaffest, Wolverhampton

Sadly, the UK's premier festival for the deaf lost its patron this year, the estimable Richard Griffiths. But before he died, the actor recorded an onstage interview at London's Savoy Theatre (which premieres here), during which he spoke, and signed, about his career, growing up with deaf parents and the future possibilities for deaf film-making. Those possibilities are further revealed in the film programme, which brings together deafness-related films from the UK and around the world, with awards up for grabs as well. Many of the stories, factual and fictional, use deafness to offer a fresh insight into everything from Islam to cage fighting, to exploring aspects of deaf culture and to laugh at hearing society's stupidity.

Light House, Fri to 19 May

Lars von Trier, London

What a boring place the movies would be without Von Trier.

This is a very cursory look at where I spent two weeks in February. It is by no means complete, but it gives you some idea about how I spend so much of my time.

The Berlinale is an A-festival, founded in 1951 at the height of the Cold War. It accredits about 20,000 industry visitors and about 4,000 journalists each year with a total of 130 countries. It is one of the largest public festivals, selling about 300,000 tickets. The actual figure is 303,077 up 1.2% from last year’s 299,362). Aside from the Competition, it has 10 other sections and series, from children’s films to retrospectives. This year The Weimar Touch and also an homage to Claude Lanzmann were especially appealing to me. See more on the Efm website.

The Berlinale, which ran Feb. 7 to 17 includes the Festival, the European Film Market, the second largest market after Cannes, Talent Campus, Meet the Docs, The Co-Production Market and possibly other sections I am missing here. Efm registered a greater number of exhibitors than last year and they saw brisk sales for competition films including Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Chilean Sebastian Lelio’s Gloria (which won a Silver Bear for actress Paulina Garcia), as well as films from other sections and from the market itself. I am offering a report called Winter Rights Roundup which lists all the buying activity, not only for the Berlinale but also for Sundance. It includes links to the companies.

While around 400 films screened in thefestival (out of about 7,000 applications), 890 films screened in the market (600 were market premieres) to more than 8,000 participants from 95 countries. 1,690 of those were distributors in Berlin to buy rights from 172 international sales agents.

The Efm offered a new introduction to the market, “Shortcuts for First-Timers” on the first day of the Market, It was held in the Mirror Restaurant and 300 or 400 people attended. Thursday February 7 from 3.00 - 4.30 pm. I attended since I participate in the Cannes First-Timers event. The panelists were quite clear but I wished their names were in front of them. And I wondered who was in the audience. There is also possibly a replay of the panel but I don’t know where to find it for reference. There was a back screen which might have been used by showing a map of the market, or the names of those speaking or other graphics to help illustrate their points. They pointed out that red lights served to point out all the paths and venues used by the festival and market. That was very clever and once I knew to look for them, they helped me find new places.

They announced a new Berlinale Residency Program for writers/ directors who will have a four month stay in Berlin to work on their fiction, doc or cross-media project with the help of script consultants and industry experts from September to December. In February the residents return to present their projects at the Berlinale Co-Production Market to find further co-producers and financiers. This year 6 filmmakers were invited.

They didn’t mention the free WiFi for every registrant and the password written on the badges themselves.

I myself gave tours around the Martin Gropius Bau where most of the market takes place to participants at the Talent Campus and Deutsche Welle Akademie where I also taught about the international film business to Asian, African, Latin American and Caribbean film festival organizers. The tours are a great way to understand how the market works, who the people are, what company cultures are and how to understand them in order to operate optimally. I do the same thing for first timers in Cannes.

My partner Peter and I also had two clients there; one had his film in the market already and the other was following up with meetings with interested international sales agents. As it was their first time in Berlin, we were very pleased to see them take to it so easily.

It was only in the last two days I could actually see movies. But I caught up on lots of gossip along the way. For instance, I had not realized that Turner Broadcasting had bought a Norwegian sales agent and distributor for Scandinavia until Michael Werner who headed sales for NonStop told me that two years after their buyout they were now letting go of 400 people and Michael Werner and the international sales division were included.

I also heard about a new educational program called Making Waves. Five film schools including including the London Film School under the leadership of Ben Gibson and Columbia Film School under the leadership of Ira Deutchman brought students to Berlin and the students were making business plans for the sales and distribution of films in the market. Making Waves is a new week long distribution and marketing workshop devised by the London Film School in partnership with La fémis, the dffb, l'escac, the Romanian Film and Theatre University and New York's Columbia University of the Arts Film Department. Held in parallel to the Berlinale, 30 participants from the 6 film training institutions are immersed in all areas of the Berlinale: the European Film Market, the Festival and the Talent Campus where they work collaboratively in teams to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent films in the European Film Market. They are joined by experienced industry professionals working in the independent distribution sector who offer in-depth case studies. This hands-on workshop is for graduating students to gain understanding in emerging strategies in independent film distribution.

Venice seems to be working on student initiatives as well with a call for entries to the Biennale College. Unlike festivals that call for finished films, the Biennale College asked for up-and-comers to submit their ideas. The best proposals get 150,000 euros in seed money and the filmmakers are matched with some of the industry's finest practitioners who would help turn their treatments into reality, with a guaranteed screening at Venice in the summer. After narrowing it down to 15 semifinalists out of hundreds of submissions from around the globe, organizers this month announced three winners, each from a different continent. From the United States, director Tim Sutton and producer John Baker have won a spot with their yet-to-be-made film called Memphis, which follows the transformation of Ezra Jack, 'from beloved soul singer to ecstatic contemplator,' said judges in their review. From Thailand, director Nawapol Thanrongratanarit and producer Aditya Assarat won with their submission The Year of June, which follows a year in the life of an anonymous female student in Bangkok through her Twitter status. And from Italy, director Alessio Fava and producer Max Chicco won the last spot with Yuri Esposito, about a documentary film crew who follows a man who lives in a state of perennial sluggishness, whose wife all of a sudden gets pregnant. Buzz around the competition, which has the potential to launch unknowns into stardom, has been mounting for months. “To me the promise of a Venice debut is even a bigger deal than the money, because it's one thing to make a movie and quite another to have a chance for the entire international press to see it,” said San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick Lasalle. “In fact, it's quite a big deal to make a movie, as an unknown, knowing that international exposure is guaranteed. The whole question mark - even if this turns out great, will anybody ever see it? - is eliminated”. Ensuring a fresh batch of talent, competition rules stipulated that the submission must be the applicant's first or second film endeavor. Earlier this month, semifinalists took part in a 10-day workshop with veteran filmmakers and cinema experts in Venice. “The key is that masters in cinema were present here during the workshop to help participants along,” says Paolo Baratta, president of the Biennale, the festival body that oversees the annual film fest. Organizers then narrowed it down to the three winners, who will receive funding thanks in part to Italian luxury fashion designer Gucci. In just 15 days the filmmakers will get a jumpstart on making micro-budget feature films before screening them at Venice August 28 through September 7. The winners will also get online distribution, adding to their much-needed visibility at the dawn of their careers. Organizers of the Venice Film Festival, the oldest in the world, say mixing veteran mentors with young blood is key to sustaining cinema as an art as well as keeping the festival relevant. “It is an initiative whose constant development will be continued for years to come,” Baratta says. See Variety Feb 11 – 17, 2013. You know this is in response and attests to the success of the the Berlinale Talent Campus which just completed its 11th year.

And in France, Cinefondation has brought U.S. director Barney Elliott to its six month residence program in Paris where he wrote the first draft of Oliver's Deal and later developed it at Amsterdam’s Binger Filmlab. It is now set to star Edward Burns and Spain’s Alberto Ammann. Marina Fuentes of Dreamcatches will bring the film to the market. Christine Vachon is exec producing. It will start shooting in May in New York and will travel to Lima, Peru and Huarez in the Anders.

Other notes gathered during this intense 10 day experience were Russian filmmaker Andrey Khvostov made a summer love story called Saint Petersburg which is being sold by Aktis Film International. Of course I want to see this especially because Rosskino hosted a trip last year to St. Petersburg for distributors after holding screenings of current films on offer. St. Peterburg of one of the most beautiful cities in the world; and the film has an original score by Sergei Yetushenko (The Last Station, Russian Ark).

Also Alberto Antonio Dandolo whom I met in Havana, was in his new home town Berlin continuing to sell The Cuban Wives about the wives of the Cuban 5 who are imprisoned in the United States.

Other news of interest includes The Match Factory’s Distribution 2.0 VOD initiative which will release its first film, Postcards from the Zoo. Partnering with Euro VoD platforms in France, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Peccadillo Pictures in U.K. and Eye Film Institute in the Netherlands, The Match Factory will coordinate marketing activities. This exploration of new marketing and distribution avenues for international arthouse features has the support of the EU’s Media Mundus.

BackUp, the Paris based financier is launching a new rights management software Movie Chainer on April 30, two weeks ahead of the Cannes Film Festival. This cloud based app enables Av rights holders to track contracts, generate exploitation and availability reports and calculate revenue splits and repayment schedules in a clear and visual style. The Cannes March’s database and networking platform Cinando will host and support the launch. The first live version of Movie Chainer will be available free to all industry professionals for a maximum of three projects and a demo version and presentation of the software is available here.

Former Arte Cinema chief Michel Reilhac has reactivated his production company Melange with a $6.7 million multi-platform project exploring the world of high endurance sport ultra-trailing. The work will revolve around six blocks or storylines, unfolding on several platforms – the web, the real world, tv. over six months in the second half of 2014.

New international sales agent out of Poland, New Europe, which picked up two Us in Progress films, Now Forager and I Used to be Darker, has also picked up Papusza, the story of the first published Romany Gypsy woman poet, whose work enraged her patriarchal community. Poland is also coming out with films by up and coming female directors two of which are in the official selection: 39 year old Malgorzata Szumowska has In the Name Of about homosexuality within the Polish Catholic Church (picked up for U.S by Film Movement) in the Main Competition, and Baby Blues, a story about teenage parents by Katarzyna Roslaniec in Generation. Izabela Kiszka, head of international relations at the Polish Film Institute, the country’s major public film funder, says both films are “daring, important, modern and up-to-date Eruopean cinema”. Both films are produced by Agnieszka Kurzydlo of Mental Disorder 4 and Szumowska is co-producer of both. Zentropa Poland is also a co-producer.

International sales agent We Pictures of China is producing a $9 million film called American Dreams in China, to be directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan and photographed by Christopher Doyle. One of the protagonists teaches English in a Kentucky Fried Chicken store in China and invites his two other friends to partake in his “New Vision” where thousands of students wanting to go to the U.S. to follow their “American Dream” flock to the class.

David Castellanos formerly of Latido, has found success in his own international sales company, Cinema Republic. Their film The Clown was the Brazilian entry for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and has wracked up 1.5 million admissions in Brazil. At Efm he is premiering Camina o Revienta which features first time director Paco Leon and stars a top Spanish TV actor and his real-life mother. It was the first day & date release in Spain and worked quite well. The Dumbass (Muro Mula) is also by a first time director and was filmed on a low $30K budget. It comes from Guaemala and features great music and is an example of the new wave of Latin American comedy. 18 Meals is the actor Luis Tozar’s first production and is directed by first timer Jorge Coira. It sold to Argentina and Japan, won for Best Director in Taorima Iff, the Audience Award and Jury Special Mention at Ourense Iff, and won Best Film and Audience Award at La Laguna Gastronomic Iff. Yummy: six seemingly unconnected stories in which food is the common demominator make up a romantic comedy set in Santiago de Compostela. It is available for viewing at Cinando as is The Clown and Carmina or Blow Up.

The London Film School honors actress Gillian Anderson and director Jack Gold as honorary associates at the school's annual graduation ceremony at the National Gallery on Friday 10 December, 2010.They join previous recipients - directors Stephen Frears, Lynne Ramsay, Pawel Pawlikowski, Mike Figgis, Abbas Kiarostami and Amma Asante, producers Jeremy Thomas and Tessa Ross, actors Samantha Morton and Jim Broadbent. Lfs chairman and graduate Mike Leigh and director Ben Gibson will present the awards.Anderson and Gold will then award Associateships ...

Philip French speaks to Ridley Scott, Ken Russell, Gurinder Chadha, Shane Meadows and Stephen Frears about their debut pictures and detects the styles of the then-fledgling auteurs

Do artists discover a personal style and develop their themes gradually or are these to be found in embryonic form in their earliest works? There's no easy answer to this dual question. Take, for example, Ken Russell's Amelia and the Angel (1957), Ridley Scott's Boy and Bicycle (1965), Stephen Frears's The Burning (1967), Gurinder Chadha's I'm British But… (1989) and Shane Meadows's Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1995). All were made on shoestring budgets and each lasts less than half an hour.

First, presented with the directors' names and the credits concealed, would you be able to match up film and film-maker? I think most moviegoers could, which suggests there is something in these first movies that we would now recognise as characteristic. Second,...

Beer has quickly become the bearded nerd's equivalent of wine: Something about it inspires passionate arguments about nerdy arcana such as the shape of brewing vats and hops growing seasons. The pursuit of perfect suds can be seen blossoming at your local grocery store, where beer aisles are bursting at the seams with mind-numbing levels of variety.

So here, we present you with something perfect for lazy beer nerds: An infographic to tell you the best beers, according to category:

[Click to enlarge]

The infographic was the brainchild of designer Ben Gibson and book editor Patrick Mulligan -- the same people behind this fabulous chart of rapper names.

The two of them met at a publishing house, where Gibson was designing covers for books that Mulligan was editing. (Sounds -- and looks -- a heck of a lot like the story of Co favorite Doogie Horner.) Just a couple weeks ago, they launched...

London -- Actor and one-time director Samantha Morton was named an honorary associate of The London Film School.

Morton picked up the accolade at the School's annual graduation ceremony at the National Gallery Monday.

She's in good company with previous recipients including directors Stephen Frears, Lynne Ramsay, Pawel Pawlikowski, Mike Figgis, Abbas Kiarostami and Amma Asante, producers Jeremy Thomas and Tessa Ross, and actor Jim Broadbent.

She was awarded her degree by Lfs chairman and associate Mike Leigh and director Ben Gibson.