Film and Events Highlights for August-September

We've some unmissable screenings and events coming your way in our August - September film programme.

To coincide with the release of Tamara Drewe, we will be welcoming her creator, Posy Simmonds, on Tuesday 28 September. Posy will be sitting in conversation with comics expert, Paul Gravett. A must for any comic strip fans.

If you love animation, you'll be delighted with The Illusionist, based on a script by Jacques Tati, and directed by Sylvain Chromet of Belleville Rendezvous fame. I asked our Film Programmer, Tom Vincent, to tell me his highlights for the month - and here's his expert opinion:

"The Illusionist is one of the loveliest films you'll see all year. An animated tale of an outmoded French entertainer in the Scotland of 1959, the film reminds us of one of the most enduring pleasures of cinema, of entertaining without words (and those who remember the same director's 2002 film Belleville Rendezvous will know what to expect). There aren't many films around currently that have the confidence to use image and sound so effectively in their storytelling, and it's always a refreshing delight to be enthralled in this way. The film opened this June's Edinburgh International Film Festival, with the Festival organisers laying on street performance outside the theatre that recreated characters, magicians and trapeze artists, from the film, which conjured up the pleasures of a bygone age.

"At an interview event in which he explained the process of making the film, director Sylvain Chomet spoke about his love for, and artistic debt to, Jacques Tati. It's Tati's unfilmed script from which the film was developed, and his influence is all over both of Chomet's features to date. The illusionist of the title was modelled on Monsieur Hulot, Tati's most famous creation, the script was written, poignantly, for Tati's own daughter, and in one glorious episode Chomet's character comes face to face with the ever-polite, ever-bumbling, celluloid Hulot in an Edinburgh cinema. In offering pleasures alternative to 99% of all new cinema, The Illusionist seems like an affirmation of the past, nostalgia made relevant.

"The Illusionist is also made with precisely the same comedic DNA as Tati's films. Tati's humour was pretty unusual (ITV's Mr. Bean offered an anaemic version of it); absurd visual gags were set up and left hanging, the humour coming not from punch lines but from the delicious situations themselves. An incident from Tati's schooling planted a seed for all this: In Tati's English class an enthusiastic teacher would encourage students to act out commands while repeating target phrases, in this case "I open the door, I close the door". Spotting the chance to make the class laugh, Tati volunteered, wandered over to the door, opened it ("I open the door"), stepped through and, ("I close the door") shut it behind him. Outside the classroom Tati wondered for a moment which would be funnier; to go back in and meet his peers' applause, or to hide in the toilets until the end of the class. In the end he simply snuck out of school entirely and spent the rest of the day at home, leaving his improvised joke hanging absurdly forever."

Speaking of animation, Bradford Animation Festival 2010 is upon us - find out more by visiting www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/baf/.

To celebrate the centenary of his birth, we bring you a season of Akira Kurosawa films, which begins with the epic Seven Samurai on Friday 20 August. See for yourself why he is known around the world as a master of his art.

And if that wasn't enough, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan will be in our midst, we look at the career of Sean Connery as the Scottish superstar turns 80, and Stephen Fry will appear live via satellite broadcast in The Fry Chronices.

Phew - it's going to be a busy month!

Find out more by visiting www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/filmandimax or downloading our new Film Guide (PDF 2.4MB).

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The National Media Museum Breaks a World Record

On Wednesday we broke the World Record for the number of people playing Nintendo DS games simultaneously in the same place for 10 minutes. The record was previously held by the MCM Expo in London with 586 DS players. We beat their record with an impressive 659 gamers. Here's the video to prove it.

We opened the doors for registration at 10.00 and saw hundreds of people flock to the Museum throughout the day to enjoy a barbeque, have their face painted, try their hand at big screen gaming in our cinema, join in with family events, and watch Toy Story 3D in our IMAX theatre. But most importantly, they were there to sign up for the World Record attempt that evening.

We were joined by Real Radio who pumped out the latest chart hits from the balcony above the Media Wall. Presenter Dixie was our compère for the day, and he did a grand job of rallying up the crowd and telling them where to go and when to be there.

Super Mario himself arrived at around 15.00 to the delight of all the kids who converged upon the Nintendo icon for hugs and photographs as soon as they caught sight of him.

We also welcomed some of the Bradford Bulls and local PCSOs to help us supervise the event, Bulls' Chief Executive Ryan Ducket and gaming guru Charles Cecil who were official invigilators, and Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor of Guinness World Records, who was there to make sure everything was above board, and of course, to present us with our certificate when we claimed victory.

It was fantastic to see so many people come down to the Museum to be part of the attempt - so many that they spilled out to the front of the building - but that's not to say it was easy to pull together. Our event coordinators Kat Martin, Elaine Richmond and Sophie Choudry certainly had one or two sleepless nights in the run up to the event, but I daresay they would agree that it was all worth it in the end.

Sarah Mumford, Learning Manager, who originally conceived the idea describes the moment of truth:

"The atmosphere was electric and the excitement was palpable. We didn’t know 'til immediately after the attempt whether we had broken the record or not and when the man from Guinness announced we had broken it everyone cheered. And what a relief that was!"

I was stood in the crowd when Gaz announced that we had broken the record, and it certainly was exciting - I don't know what we would have done had we not taken the record, but no doubt everyone would have held their consoles in the air to celebrate a good try.

When it was all over, the proud participants collected a badge and certificate, but some remained for the Street Fighter 2 tournament in our Games Lounge. I had escaped back to the office to upload my photographs so I missed it, but I asked organiser Foz Bano for a quick report:

"The [tournament] went really well with 32 players competing and Tom (Woolley - New Media Curator) got Mario to join in! It was a tightly fought contest and over the course of an hour 31 games were played. All ages got involved and Gaz Deaves from Guinness got through to the semi final but was beaten by Dhaood who went on to win."

Congratulations, Dhaood - and well done to everyone who came down on the day to support or take part in the World Record attem... no, VICTORY!

If you want to see Tom's video of Mario playing in the Street Fighter 2 tournament, I've selected it as a favourite on our YouTube channel.

Photographs from the day can be found on our Flickr channel, and you can upload your photographs to our DS World Record Breakers group.

Don't forget to check out our programme of Summer Fun, and if you would like to receive news about events, films and the latest IMAX blockbusters, sign up to our e-newsletter online.

Leslie Grantham Visits the EastEnders25 Display in TV Heaven

Leslie Grantham, most famous for playing Dirty Den in EastEnders, is currently starring as Pte. Walker in Dad's Army at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford. He took a break between rehearsals and performing to visit the National Media Museum today.

We invited Leslie to view our EastEnders25 display in TV Heaven, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of one of Britain's best-loved television programmes, and is part of our year-long Soap Season, dedicated to examining the impact, popularity and longevity of British soap opera.

Looking casual, Leslie arrived in the TV Heaven gallery accompanied by Claire Thomas, Assistant Curator of Television. The Museum's Photographer, Media Developers and I ran around with cameras while Leslie chatted to Claire about the EastEnders props on display.

The opportunity to photograph Leslie on the 'bench of tears', holding the dog doorstop which killed Dirty Den, or sitting next to Den's gravestone, was too good to miss. We were joined by a photographer from the Telegraph & Argus and a reporter from Pulse Radio.

View some of the photographs taken on the National Media Museum's Flickr channel.

Soap Season began in February with the launch of the EastEnders25 display, and is set to continue throughout the summer months with an exciting programme of events and activities.

For more information, please visit Soap Season on our website.

As part of our summer programme for families, this coming weekend (10 - 11 July) and next month (9 - 15 August) we will be hosting some special events to tie in with our soap celebration.

Highlights include Soap Comes to Life in which you can help us produce a scene from EastEnders, Animated Soaps Workshop in which you can use stop-motion techniques to create an animated soap scene, Create a Soap Soundtrack, and the chance to test your knowledge in our Super Soap Quiz.

For more information about family friendly activities at the National Media Museum, please visit our Family Events page.

Hussain Currimbhoy Introduces Errol Morris Documentary The Fog of War

Last week, Hussain Currimbhoy from Sheffield Doc/Fest visited the National Media Museum to introduce Academy Award® winning documentary The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.

The Fog of War, directed by Errol Morris, is the story of American foreign policy as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. It was selected to complement our current Gallery Two exhibition - Robbie Cooper: Immersion.

Immersion considers the many ways in which people choose to engage with screen media and disengage from everyday life, and to present this concept, Cooper adopted the same Interrotron technique used by Errol Morris in his groundbreaking film.

This method enables the subject to retain eye contact with the camera and the audience, which results in emotionally powerful footage.

Find out more about the Immersion exhibition by visiting our website, or follow the Immersion Project on Robbie Cooper's blog.

You can listen to a podcast of this event by visiting the National Media Museum Podcasts page.

Simon Roberts in Conversation with Greg Hobson

Simon Roberts, whose We English exhibition is currently running in Gallery One, returned to the Museum yesterday to sit in conversation with Greg Hobson, curator of photographs.

The event is one of many organised by the Museum to complement our temporary exhibitions, and yesterday began with Greg asking Simon why he took up photography.

When he was 14, Simon went on a family holiday to Yosemite National Park, California and during their stay visited the Ansel Adams Gallery. Simon described the ‘extraordinary experience’ of viewing YNP through the eyes of Adams, which opened up the landscape and revealed elements which Simon hadn’t previously observed.

Simon studied Human Geography, at Sheffield University - a useful framework for documentary photography. He described himself as a ‘transient person’ interested in exploring social issues; photography enabled him to adopt his preferred lifestyle.

Simon explained that he didn’t enjoy the ‘quick turnaround’ nature of newspaper photography, so he began working on his own project, following the career of a young boxer from Sheffield. This earned him the Sunday Times Magazine Young Photographer of the Year Award in 1998.

After a bad experience with a John Prescott photograph, Simon decided to take a departure from magazine work and produce his first major project, Motherland. Simon and his wife travelled across the country for a year, cataloguing the landscapes and people they came across, trying to capture the spirit of ‘Russianness’.

Simon had preconceived ideas of what the experience would be, but wanted to challenge these stereotypes. Published images of Russia tend to focus on the despondent, and Simon wanted to move away from this, without trying to paint a ‘rosy picture’. “I was trying to make the person complicit in the act of representation.”

During the event, Simon described his technical choices, logistical planning, and the obstacles he met along the way, including an undesirable camping trip, and several short stays in prison!

Find out more about the Motherland project by visiting www.motherlandbook.com

Experiencing the ‘unbelievable sense of patriotism’ which exists in Russia led Simon to begin questioning his own sense of belonging, and this influenced Simon’s decision to being a similar project back home, We English.

Currently on display in Gallery One of the National Media Museum, We English is a very personal exploration of the English at leisure, which opens up a dialogue between people and the landscapes in which they choose to spend their free time.

Simon and Greg discussed technical aspects of the project, including the decision to photograph from an elevated position, and revisited the notion of representation. During his tour of England, Simon encouraged people to invite him to events all over the country, which helped build an audience, and acts as an archival document in its own right.

Simon presented a selection of the images, explained how he is fascinated by the editing process, and talked about the framing decisions he made for some of the photographs.

“We’re so saturated with images all the time so I try to create images where you’re rewarded the more you look at it.”

You can find out more about We English by visiting our exhibition website www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/simonroberts.

Simon was selected as the official election artist for 2010, the results of which will be exhibited in the House of Commons this summer.

With this project, Simon took the idea of representation even further, by inviting people to produce their own images of what the election process means to them. These pictures will be displayed alongside Simon’s own work.

Simon used social media to generate as many photographs as possible in a short space of time, the results of which can be seen at www.theelectionproject.co.uk. Simon feels that this process helped generate an archive of the political landscape created by the public.

After the discussion, Simon and Greg led the audience on a tour of We English to further discuss his work, and the images he drew on for inspiration.

You can download or listen to a podcast of the event on the National Media Museum Podcasts page.

Today, Simon returned to the Museum for a Portfolio Review Session, which gives aspiring photographers the opportunity to have their work reviewed by a panel of experts who offer guidance, a personal perspective, and advice on how to succeed in the field.

To find out about forthcoming events at the National Media Museum, sign up to our newsletter and tell us what you’re interested in by visiting http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/TalkToUs.