Movie mania at British Council

From this month the British Council Arts team is offering a month of movie madness. From their Film Club, to the EU and Colombo International film festivals as well as their James Bond retrospective known as the ‘Bond Binge’, British Council Arts is celebrating cinema in a big way.

Many of the British Council’s older members wistfully recollect watching their first English movie at the British Council offices. The newly resurrected British Council Film Club opened in July this year to an audience of over a hundred when it screened Hitchcock’s ‘The 39 Steps’ and has just completed its first quarter.

This month on Wednesday 28 October at 6:45 p.m. in commemoration of the International Day of Older Persons, the film club will screen the critically acclaimed film ‘Philomena’ which is based on the book ‘The Lost Child of Philomena Lee’ by writer and journalist Martin Sixsmith.

The movie is based on the true story of Philomena, an elderly Irish lady forced to give up her baby for adoption, who spends the next 50 years searching for him. Helped on her quest by Martin Sixsmith, a jaded, cynical journalist, the story describes their journey and how these two unlikely companions become firm friends. 

The film was nominated for a host of international awards including four Academy Awards. It stars Dame Judi Dench whose touching portrayal of this elderly lady won her the Oscar for Best Actress.   

The British Council has also contributed to the two major film festivals happening in Colombo in early November.  For younger audiences the movie Paddington on 31 October at the National Film Corporation Cinema, is not to be missed. It tells the tale of a young bear from darkest Peru who travels to London in search of a new home, and the adventures he has with his new family.

For the Colombo International Film Festival, as part of the Bond Binge celebration of James Bond, the British Council will be bringing to Sri Lanka the former Head of Development of EON Productions, the company that makes the Bond movies, to conduct a Master Class on 10 November.  

Alby James will be talking about how to pitch films to the international film industry and will also be talking at a separate British Council event about the ‘Enduring Franchise of the James Bond movies’.

The Bond Binge will kick off with a week’s screening of old Bond movies from Friday 30 October to 4 November at 7:30 p.m. at the new Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Liberty Plaza.  

More information about these and other events can be found at http://www.britishcouncil.lk/programmes/arts.