Raindance: Get up and go

The 29th Raindance Film Festival heads into its first weekend with a packed programme of independent movies. There's a strong festival vibe at the House of Raindance hub at Charing Cross, with nightly gatherings for filmmakers and press and industry delegates. And the programme of offbeat films always includes some real gems if you look for them. Here are some from the first couple of days, starting with the opening night film...

Best Sellers
dir Lina Roessler; with Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza 20/Can ***
A snappy comedy centred on a generation gap, this movie is brisk enough to hold the interest, layering bigger ideas under a silly situation. Director Lina Roessler tells the story with a jaunty sensibility that plays on character eccentricities and narrative gimmicks. Little about the plot is unpredictable, but the tension between the characters touches a few nerves. It's also a gentle celebration of the power of literature... FULL REVIEW >

Hating Peter Tatchell
dir-scr Christopher Amos; with Peter Tatchell, Ian McKellen 21/Aus ****
Quick-paced and packed with terrific footage, this documentary traces the life and work of someone who's been called the most disliked man in Britain. Australian-born Peter Tatchell has unapologetically pursued justice on human rights issues, using civil disobedience to protest against wars, oppressive regimes and inequality based on race, gender and sexuality. This is a riveting, intimate, remarkably balanced film that carries a series of urgent kicks... FULL REVIEW >

The Man With the Answers
dir-scr Stelios Kammitsis; with Vasilis Magouliotis, Anton Weil 21/Gr ****
With an understated storytelling style, writer-director Stelios Kammitsis takes the audience on a road trip that meanders engagingly while exploring an unexpected connection between two young men. With its gently loping pace and warm comical touches, film is beautifully shot in lovely locations, sharply capturing the characters' personalities and physicality. And it has a lot to say about the freedom that comes from being honest with yourself and others... FULL REVIEW >

Father of Flies
dir-scr Ben Charles Edwards; with Keaton Tetlow, Page Ruth 21/US ***
Building a queasy sense of unease with disjointed imagery, writer-director Ben Charles Edwards further augments this horror film with cheap filmmaking tricks using music to create jump scares. While the tone is effectively nasty, and there are quite a few superbly chilling moments along the way, the film as a whole feels like a somewhat thin variation on the solid freak-out concept of the wicked stepmother.

Beans
dir Tracey Deer; with Kiawentiio, Rainbow Dickerson 20/Can ****
Recounting an involving story that's set during a 78-day land rights stand-off in 1990 Canada, this involving film skilfully mixes dramatic and documentary elements. Seen through the eyes of an alert child, the story has an earthy resonance that has strong echoes in current conflicts on a range of issues. In addition, writer-director Tracey Deer  infuses the film with autobiographical elements that add insight and unexpected emotions.

Full reviews of festival films will be linked at Shadows' RAINDANCE HOMEPAGE 
For full festival information, visit RAINDANCE FILM FEST 

Critical Week: Bafta with beards! On ice!

The British Academy Film Awards - better known as the Baftas - were held last night at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, a gorgeously glamorous venue even on a grisly night in which the driving rain turned to sleet and then snow. A-listers bravely made their way up the icy red carpet under umbrellas and heavy coats, with the odd instance of a starlet visibly shivering in the cold while trying to show some flesh. And as predicted, it was Argo's night in the spotlight, as Ben Affleck won two of his three nominations - for Director and Film (produced with George Clooney and Grant Heslov, above). He missed out on Actor to, unsurprisingly, Daniel Day-Lewis. Bafta voters also showed their love for Django Unchained, giving Original Screenplay to Quentin Tarantino and Supporting Actor to Christoph Waltz, essentially making this category a two-horse race at the Oscars in two weeks between Waltz and SAG winner Tommy Lee Jones.

Anne Hathaway continued her romp through the Supporting Actress category this awards season. And in a not-so-surprising upset Emmanuelle Riva won Actress, considerably boosting her chances of taking the Oscar. The nicest surprise was David O Russell winning Adapted Screenplay and delivering a genuinely unexpected thank-you. In the British categories, Skyfall was the predicted winner of British Film; British-produced docs The Imposter and Searching for Sugar Man both won awards; despite the fact that no one saw Killer Joe, Juno Temple won the public vote for Rising Star; and the two awards for venerable Brits went to filmmaker Alan Parker (Bafta Fellowship) and Film Four veteran Tessa Ross (Outstanding Contribution). Pictured at right (clockwise from top-left): Hathaway, Waltz, Temple, Tarantino, Mendes and Broccoli, and Day-Lewis.

Speaking of venerable, Stephen Fry was simply terrific as the ceremony's host, with his smart, hilarious banter, most of which probably went over the heads of the Americans in the audience, for a variety of reasons. Mixing absurd silliness with pithy commentary on recent headlines, he kept things moving impeccably as always, eliciting a kiss-to-camera this year from Jennifer Lawrence and flirting shamelessly with a slightly perplexed Jeremy Irvine. The Best Presenter-Pairing Award goes to Bradley Cooper and Affleck - there were audible "woofs" from the audience as they strode manfully tot he podium. The Best Acceptance Speech Award goes to Waltz, for a warm, snappy thank you, with Day-Lewis as a witty runner-up.

All the winners...

• Film: Argo - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
• Film Not in the English Language: Amour - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
• Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
• Outstanding British Film: Skyfall - Sam Mendes, Michael G Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
• Animated Film: Brave - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
• Director: Ben Affleck - Argo
• Original Screenplay: Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino
• Adapted Screenplay: Silver Linings Playbook - David O Russell
• Leading Actress: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
• Leading Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
• Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
• Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis - The Imposter
• Rising Star: Juno Temple
• Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema: Tessa Ross
• Bafta Fellowship: Sir Alan Parker
• Cinematography: Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
• Original Film Music: Skyfall - Thomas Newman
• Production Design: Les Misérables - Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
• Costume Design: Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran
• Editing: Argo - William Goldenberg
• Make-Up And Hair: Les Misérables - Lisa Westcott
• Sound: Les Misérables - Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst
• Visual Effects: Life of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer, Donald R Elliott
• Short Film: Swimmer - Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
• Short Animation: The Making of Longbird - Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

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CRITICAL WEEK:

Meanwhile, films screened for London critics this past week included the gonzo guilty pleasure Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a violent fairy tale starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton (who both presented awards at the Baftas). Elijah Wood stars in the first-person remake of the grisly serial killer horror Maniac; Danny Dyer stars in the dire film adaptation of the British farce Run for Your Wife; Romain Duris stars in the charming, slightly too-quirky French romantic-comedy Populaire; and Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda won the week with his drop-dead gorgeous childhood adventure I Wish.

This coming week's titles include late screenings of Bruce Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard and Alice Englert in the teen-franchise launcher Beautiful Creatures. We also have James McAvoy in a film of Irvine Welsh's Filth, Viggo Mortensen in Everybody Has a Plan, Brady Corbet in Simon Killer, Joss Whedon's take on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Mathieu Kassovitz's thriller Rebellion, the New York gang drama Gimme the Loot, the Oscar-nominated Israeli doc The Gatekeepers, and the Snoop Dogg/Snoop Lion doc Reincarnated.