Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

"Akadimia Platonos, Die Fremde and Illégal were the three films shortlisted on Tuesday for the European Parliament's 2010 LUX film prize, during an event at the Venice International Film Festival. Like past LUX Prize contenders, these films speak to Europeans' hearts and identities, forcing us to ask ourselves about our cultural and family relations, and the rules by which we live....

As with previous winners the 2010 LUX Prize winning film will receive European Parliament financial support for subtitling the film into all the 23 official languages of the European Union (EU), (So it will be inflicted on the Maltese, inter alia.  C) an adaptation of the original version for the visually- or hearing-impaired, and the production of a 35 mm print per EU member state.

Akadimia Platonos (Plato's Academy)

Every day Stavros raises the metal shutters of his cigarette store, puts out the newspapers in front and then sets out the chairs where he and his friends sit all day, looking out on the dusty intersection and surrounding grey buildings that shelter their businesses. They’re all very proud of the way their dog Patriot, on the opposite pavement, barks at every passing Albanian. Stavros and his friends don’t like these foreigners even though they’re willing to do the jobs the Greeks won’t do, nor do they like the recently arrived Chinese. By the store’s entrance, Stavros’ increasingly senile mother mopes in an armchair, regardless of the affectionate care lavished on her by her devoted son. Then one day she suddenly falls upon an Albanian worker, embracing him and calling him «my son» in Albanian. In fact, what does Stavros really know about his parents? His mother has always told him that after his father died up north, she moved to Athens, when he was but a year old. Now Stavros’ pals start looking askance at him: is he Greek or Albanian? Does he really have the right to sing the racist little ditty: «Albanian, Albanian, you’ll never become a Greek…»?

Die Fremde (When we leave)

What would you sacrifice for your family’s love? Your values? Your freedom? Your independence? German-born Umay flees her oppressive marriage in Istanbul, taking her young son Cem with her. She is hoping to find a better life with her family in Berlin, but her unexpected arrival creates intense conflict. Her family is trapped in their conventions, torn between their love for her and the values of their community. Ultimately they decide to return Cem to his father in Turkey. To keep her son, Umay is forced to move again. She finds the inner strength to build a new life for her and Cem, but her need for her family’s love drives her to a series of ill-fated attempts at reconciliation. What Umay doesn’t realize is just how deep the wounds have gone and how dangerous her struggle for self- determination has become.

Labels: EU fun and games, The arts

Mr. James Watts  (Manchester, Moss Side)  ".....All of us who live in the area have from time to time witnessed the whole of the Wagnerian sequence of operas— "The Ring", and so on—and we have heard all the Italian operas in these theatres in Manchester".

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Sir Edward Boyle)   "For example, I am told that the cast for the current production of what are popularly known as "Cav and Pag", or "I Pagliacci" and Cavalleria Rusticana", includes 106 men, 68 women, 25 small boys, 13 small girls, and a pony, quite apart from the orchestra; and a whole battery of green rooms, wardrobe rooms, bathrooms and workshops is needed backstage to keep the cast and their settings and accessories in good order".

Mr. Charles A. Howell (Birmingham, Perry Barr) And the pony.

Sir E. Boyle Yes, indeed.

Labels: 1960, The arts

Labels: EU fun and games, The arts

Labels: EU fun and games, The arts

Labels: The arts

Labels: The arts

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what methodology was used to reach the decision to refresh his Department's logo in April 2006; which (a) Ministers and (b) officials were involved in that process; and what steps have been taken to monitor the effectiveness of the refreshment.

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department decided there was a need for a brand refresh as non-specialist audiences did not recognise our logo and it did not clearly communicate our role. Creative solutions were required to address issues around brand recognition, explaining the responsibilities of the department, and to ensure visual consistency across all applications....
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what expenditure his Department incurred in refreshing its logo in April 2006.
Mr. Sutcliffe: The costs were as follows:

Initial design concepts: £3,055

Identity design development: £10,460

Identity guidelines: £10,800

Total: £24,315.

Mr. Sanders:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how his Department assesses value for money achieved in the consistency and distinctiveness of its communications.
Mr. Sutcliffe: Value for money is achieved by using consistent design templates wherever possible, for communications material based on the DCMS brand guidelines in order to reduce design costs.
Due to limited budgets, the Department does not have resources for any wider evaluation.

Labels: logos, The arts, Where your money goes

"Health officials in a city are considering plans to impose 18 certificates on cinema films which show people smoking, it was announced today.

Liverpool City Council said the measure would mean films which include images of tobacco smoking would only be regarded as suitable for adult viewing.

The 18 rating would not apply to films which portray historical figures who actually smoked or those which provide a "clear and unambiguous portrayal of the dangers of smoking, other tobacco use, or second-hand smoke", the council said".

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example,aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence

any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals.

Labels: idiots, Smoke gets in your eyes, The arts

"A BBC source said that executives believed that their casting of Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, in an episode of EastEnders, proved that they did not have a left-wing bias".

Labels: Boris the Great, Media, The arts, the Left

Labels: Blears, The arts

Mr. Mike O'Brien: No Minister within this Department has currently selected any works of art from the Government Art Collection for any private office".

So Miliband minor, O'Brien hisself, 'Lord' Hunt and Joan Ruddock work in offices with no adornments bar, presumably, date planners festooned with pink stars, yellow circles etc and maybe a clock or two. Or maybe there is that Reagan / Thatcher 'Gone with the Wind' parody above Ruddock's desk? A sorry state of affairs, and it denies me further harmless pleasure in dissecting their tastes. Mind you, I am beginning to wonder whether inveterate quizzer Shalesh Vara is asking these questions as the various makeover TV programmes are failing to provide inspiration for his own office.

Labels: Parliament, The arts

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department does not employ public relations or media advisers.

However, the Department employs press officers and communication officers. These are listed in the White Book, as well as civil servants working on media policy in line with the Department’s remit.

Labels: Parliament, The arts

Labels: Parliament, The arts, the Ministry of the Interior

Gillian Merron: Works of art currently in display in Private Offices within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are as follows:

Foreign Secretary's Office Joseph Nollekens: William Pitt (1759-1806) Prime Minister—marble bust

He's one of *ours*, David.

And here it is:

The case for the defence rests upon Miliband also having the following:

Edwin Whitney-Smith: Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) trade unionist and politician—bronze sculpture

No photograph, alas. He also has paintings of former colonial governors of Honkers (not Chris Patten) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Meanwhile, La Flint has this:

John Everett Millais: Hubert von Herkomer—Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-81) Prime Minister

The answer caveats that these are 'works inherited from predecessor', in this case Jim Murphy. The reshuffle was in October, so this suggests that either Flint does not expect to be there long, or else is one of those dullards who seeks to buy a pre-furnished decorated etc show house. Perhaps she also has photo frames chez elle with the display print still inside. Gillian Merron is guilty of the same crime against the imagination.

Labels: Parliament, The arts

Labels: Parliament, The arts

Mr. Kevan Jones: I have four works of art from the Government Art Collection (GAC) on display in my private office. They are:

'Gunner Paul March (Canadian Forces)' by Henry Lamb

'A Merchantman at Catania' by Bernard Hailstone

'Dust in Normandy, August 1944' by Stephen Bone

'The Southwest Prospect of the City of Durham' by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck

And this is what they look like:




None of them are especially heart stopping pieces of work, but pleasant enough and doubtless they decorate the office to good effect. Three have military connections - the Normandy scene was painted just after D-Day, so some credit to Jones for that. As an MP for the north of county Durham, he is admiring the city of Durham from the wrong angle, but no matter.

Moving swiftly on, Jones also commented 'No other Ministers have art from the GAC on display in their private offices'.

Hmm, the people in question are Hutton, Ainsworth, the lantern-jawed 'Baroness' Taylor, and the odious turncoat Quentin Davies. So, if they could not find anything to their tastes in the extensive Government Art Collection, this begs the question whether they just make do with flock wallpaper, a couple of spider plants and a 'You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps' poster. Alternatively, maybe they have all taken a trip to Athena and variously have the tennis girl, a gaudy poster of a 70s Lamborghini, that one of a waxed-chested pretty boy cradling a baby and 'the Vicar of Bray' written out in cursive script.

A further question reveals what Geoff Hoon and his minions decorate their walls with, and both Fitzpatrick and Clark go for transport-related works. "Building the Stationery Engine House, Camden Town 26 April 1837. Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway" is a pretty clear pointer, but who would have thought that "Cyber Series 1 and 2" were digital prints of the concourse of London Victoria station? Hoon goes for the less than figurative, and Lord Adonis has shunned the possibility to raid the vaults. Maybe he has prints of his his namesake by Titian or Rubens.

Labels: arms and the man, Parliament, The arts

Labels: Reding, The arts

Labels: Belgium, The arts

Labels: crime and punishment, Parliament, The arts

Labels: The arts