News

Now that the final DVD has been released, we look back through our diary at six months of Pottermania and talk to three of the franchise's stars – David Thewlis, Michael Gambon and Jason Isaacs

Sunday 4 December 9:30 2011

Mum runs full-pelt into the brickwork. Then her boy pushes the luggage trolley into the wall. Click, flash – he's gone, replaced by five French teenagers, arguing over who gets to hold the handle. They vanish and a middle-aged man steps up to snap the "Platform 9 3/4" sign. The queue behind him is 15 people long. Click: Harry Potter did this 10 years ago. Flash: we can too.

This is one of the weirder ways that Jk Rowling's story endures. Half a baggage cart bracketed sloppily on to a brick wall, protected by a small green shed tucked to one side of King's Cross station. There's a security camera and a No Smoking sign. A McDonald's across the road.

MADRID -- A pair of thrillers from two internationally acclaimed directors, David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" and Michael Radford's "Flawless", will bookend the 55th annual San Sebastian International Film Festival, festival organizers announced Tuesday.

Cronenberg's "Promises", his follow-up to "A History of Violence", will open the festival's main competition. Set in London's organized crime world, "Promises'" tale of a Mafioso and an innocent but determined woman stars Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts.

"Flawless", starring Demi Moore and Michael Caine, will close the festival in an out of competition slot. Radford's heist pic centers on the attempted robbery of the world's biggest diamond corporation.

Natural history documentary "Earth", from the makers of the documentary hit "Deep Blue" (BBC and Germany's Greenlight Media), will screen out of competition as part of San Sebastian's Official Section.

Directed by Alasair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the film follows the seasonal migration of certain animals, highlighting contrasts between different parts of the planet. Lionsgate holds U.S., U.K. and Australian rights.

Previously announced out of competition title "The Inner Life of Martin Frost", directed by jury member and novelist Paul Auster, will screen in the festival's Official Section.

NEW YORK -- Novelist-turned-director Paul Auster's fantasy The Inner Life of Martin Frost and Argentinean director Alexis Dos Santos' coming-of-age feature Glue will open the 36th annual New Directors/New Films festival, hosted by the Museum of Modern Art's film department and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The 26-feature lineup for the fest, which runs March 21-April 1, also includes recent Sundance Film Festival prizewinners from directors John Carney (Once) and Christopher Zalla (Padre Nuestro).

Other recent Sundance entries set to be screened at the festival are Andrea Arnold's Scottish thriller Red Road, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine's Ugandan conflict documentary War/Dance and Craig Zobel's music biz scam exam The Great World of Sound.

Frost, based on a character in Auster's 2002 novel The Book of Illusions, stars David Thewlis as a writer haunted by bizarre characters who appear during his much-needed vacation at a country house. Irene Jacob, Michael Imperioli and Sophie Auster co-star.

Paul Auster is a slightly odd choice for a fest showcasing "new or emerging international directors" given that he helmed 1998's Lulu on the Bridge and co-directed 1995's Blue in the Face with Wayne Wang.