U2 film to open Toronto festival

27 July 2011 Last updated at 11:51 GMT The U2 film is the first documentary to open the Canadian movie gala A documentary about rock band U2 will open this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

The festival also features the world premieres of films by Luc Besson, Terence Davies, Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Winterbottom.

Davis Guggenheim's From The Sky Down, which charts the release of U2's Achtung Baby in 1991, is the first documentary to open the festival.

The gala, opening on 8 September, is a key event ahead of the Oscars.

Last year Toronto's top audience prize went to The King's Speech which went on to win the Academy Award for best picture.

Among the world premieres are Luc Besson's The Lady, which tells the story of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband Michael Aris. The film stars Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis.

Clooney drama

Thewlis also appears alongside Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave in Roland Emmerich's Anonymous, which premieres in Toronto.

Set in Elizabethan England, the film speculates that William Shakespeare may not have been the true author of his plays.

Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea will also be unveiled, starring Rachel Weisz as a wife who walks out on her High Court judge husband (Simon Russell Beale) to be with her lover, a young ex-RAF pilot played by Tom Hiddleston.

Festival-goers will also get a first look at The Descendants, starring George Clooney and Lasse Hallstrom's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Ewan McGregor, and Michael Winterbottom's Trishna.

Based on Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Trishna is set in contemporary India and tells the tragic love story between the son of a wealthy businessman and the daughter of a rickshaw driver.

The film stars Slumdog Millionaire actress Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed.

Francis Ford Coppola - the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now - will premiere Twixt, a murder mystery with Val Kilmer.

Of his opening U2 documentary, Guggenheim said: "In the terrain of rock bands - implosion or explosion is seemingly inevitable.

"U2 has defied the gravitational pull towards destruction, this band has endured and thrived. The movie From The Sky Down asks the question why."

Guggenheim won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary on climate change featuring former US vice-president Al Gore.

A second rock documentary, Pearl Jam Twenty by director Cameron Crowe, will also have its world premiere at the 10-day festival, which was founded in 1976.

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Bands rock Sonisphere festival

By Del Crookes
Newsbeat reporter at Sonisphere Festival Slipknot, Biffy Clyro and Metallica have headlined this year's Sonisphere festival held in the grounds of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.

60,000 fans watched the bands at this year's three-day event.

Now in its third year, the festival also saw appearances from the likes of Limp Bizkit, Weezer, All Time Low, Kids in Glass Houses and You Me At Six.

Two minutes silence was held across the site on Sunday afternoon in memory of former Slipknot bassist Paul Gray.

The 38-year-old died of an accidental morphine overdose last May.

The band played their only UK concert of 2011 at Sonisphere and thanked the crowd for paying tribute to their former bandmate.

Lead singer Corey Taylor said: "This is not a night for negativity, it's a night for positivity. It's a celebration."

Downpours

Saturday night was headlined by Kilmarnock rockers Biffy Clyro, who won over the metal audience with a set that included chart hits Many of Horror and That Golden Rule.

They rounded off a typically energetic performance with Mountains and played the opening riff of a Slayer track.

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Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers are two that we're talking to [about next year] among a whole list of others. But it characterises the type of band that we're happy to have. We want to be as broad as we possibly can

Stuart Galbraith Sonisphere festival organiser

Festival organiser Stuart Galbraith defended the band's headline slot, saying the Saturday had a softer rock edge to it.

"We've always made a point of describing Sonisphere as a rock festival," he said. "It's great that we have metal, it's great that we have thrash but we've always said we're a rock festival.

"We would welcome bands of the genre of Biffy at Knebworth any day."

On the main stage before Biffy Clyro, US emo band Weezer played a crowd-friendly set including hits like Beverly Hills, Buddy Holly and a cover of Wheatus track Teenage Dirtbag.

All Time Low, You Me At Six and Kids in Glass Houses all played through heavy rain.

Sell-out

The main attraction on Friday was "The Big Four", made up of 80s thrash veterans Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and headliners Metallica.

Sonisphere is a touring festival and has visited 12 countries this year including Spain, Sweden, Poland and France.

Metallica played ahead of Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax on Friday

Next year's UK event will again take place at Knebworth House between 6-8 July.

A limited number of "early bird tickets" going on sale on Wednesday (13 July) at this year's prices.

The festival was a sell-out for the first time this year.

Festival organiser Stuart Galbraith confirmed that the capacity would stay at 60,000 and revealed they were already talking to possible headliners for the 2012 festival including Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"They're two that we're talking to among a whole list of others," he said. "But it characterises the type of band that we're happy to have. We want to be as broad as we possibly can."

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Dench honoured at Czech festival

1 July 2011 Last updated at 16:10 GMT Dame Judi Dench with Karlovy Vary film festival president Jiri Bartoska. Photo © KVIFF Veteran British actress Dame Judi Dench is to be honoured by the Karlovy Vary film festival as the annual event gets underway in the Czech Republic.

The 76-year-old Oscar winner is in the picturesque spa city to introduce the opening night film, a new adaptation of Jane Eyre, in which she appears.

Dench will receive the Crystal Globe award for her outstanding contribution to world cinema at a ceremony later.

John Turturro will also be feted at the festival, which runs until 9 July.

The US actor, star of Barton Fink and the Transformers films, will receive the event's President award.

A jury, led by Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, will decide which of 12 movies will receive a Crystal Globe next week.

The festival, renowned for its relaxed atmosphere, has been running since 1946.

This latest honour is one of several that Dame Judi - known to millions for her role as M in the James Bond films - has accepted recently.

Last month, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute and was given the Freedom of the City of London.

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Bjork opens Manchester festival

1 July 2011 Last updated at 07:18 GMT By Ian Youngs Arts reporter, BBC News Bjork gave the first full performance of the songs from her nature-themed concept album Biophilia A musical lightning generator and four harp-playing pendulums were among the custom-made instruments unveiled by Bjork as she opened her world tour.

The Icelandic singer performed the first date of her Biophilia tour on Thursday to launch the Manchester International Festival.

The festival specialises in staging music, theatre and art premieres.

Bjork's concert also involved a 24-piece all-female Icelandic choir and a voice-over from Sir David Attenborough.

With voluminous ginger hair and a purple robe, Bjork gave the first full performance of songs from her forthcoming album Biophilia.

It is a concept album about nature with songs inspired by such themes as DNA, tectonic plates and crystals.

The concert's opening song Thunderbolt featured two Tesla coils - electrical columns that shoot out small bolts of lightning to generate musical notes.

The "sharpsichord" was among the bespoke instruments made for the tour

Four "gravity harps" were made from 10ft (3m) pendulums that plucked strings as they swung back and forth during a song about gravity.

Other newly-invented instruments included a "sharpsichord", a large cylinder with protruding pins that played a harpsichord as they were turned, and a "gameleste", a kind of piano that had been adapted so glockenspiel-style bronze bars were struck as notes were played.

Bjork approached Sir David Attenborough to take part after drawing inspiration for the album from his natural history programmes. She recently said he was her "rock star" when she was growing up.

The singer watched hundreds of video clips from his landmark shows to get inspiration for her songs and concert visuals.

The story of so-called zombie snails, which are invaded by parasites and were seen in Sir David's Trials Of Life series, has been incorporated into one song.

The Graduale Nobili choir accompanied Bjork on stage

Footage of three-foot worms and carnivorous starfish feasting on a seal carcass at the bottom of the Antarctic, from the Life series, was shown on screens during the show.

Sir David recorded his introductory voice-over hours before the concert on Thursday. "He's been a constant source of inspiration for the project," the Biophilia project co-ordinator James Merry said.

The concert took place in front of 1,800 fans in a Victorian former fruit and vegetable market, which has more recently been used to store a Spitfire aeroplane and other items from the Museum of Science and Industry.

Bjork has said she wants Biophilia to be a multi-media experience combining music, technology and nature.

As well as a standard album and tour, the project involves a series of iPad and iPhone applications that let fans play with and create their own versions of the songs.

The apps also include a brand new system of musical notation devised by Bjork as well as academic essays explaining the ideas behind the tracks.

She will now play two shows a week at Campfield Market Hall for the next three weeks before taking the show to eight cities around the world over the coming two years.

Thursday's concert opened the third Manchester International Festival, which aims to put the city on the global cultural map by hosting new works by respected performers.

The festival began in 2007 and takes place every two years.

This year's other highlights include an opera by Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. Dr Dee, which tells the story of 16th Century alchemist, astrologer and spy John Dee, opens on Friday.

Victoria Wood is staging a new musical play about a 1920s Manchester children's choir, while performance artist Marina Abramovic and theatre company Punchdrunk are also showcasing original productions.

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'Rebooted' film festival begins

14 June 2011 Last updated at 23:23 GMT Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall stars in Meet Monica Velour The revamped Edinburgh International Film Festival is beginning its 11-day run in the Scottish capital.

At 65, it is the oldest continually-running film festival in the world but it has had a difficult year.

Since last June the festival has lost its artistic director and a large proportion of its funding.

New director James Mullighan wants to rebrand the festival as "the brain" of the UK film industry, dispensing with red carpets, photocalls and awards.

The film festival runs from 15 to 26 June.

It will feature more than 60 international, European and UK premieres.

Highlights include the European premiere of David Mackenzie's Glasgow-set sci-fi thriller Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.

The film, to be shown on Saturday, has been moved from The Cameo to the 1,500-seater Edinburgh Festival Theatre venue due to a sell-out of advance tickets.

Perfect Sense stars Ewan McGregor and Eva Green

Another highlight will be Keith Bearden's new film Meet Monica Velour, starring Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall, who is expected to appear at the screening.

Actor Bill Nighy will also be in the city, for the Bafta Scotland interview.

He will be visiting with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sir David Hare for the premiere of political thriller Page Eight.

Rock stars Kings of Leon will be premiering their new documentary, Talihina Sky, at the festival on 25 June.

The band said the film charts their rise to success from a strict Pentecostal upbringing in Oklahoma and Tennessee to their transformation into one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

The Edinburgh film festival was first held in 1947, the same year as the Edinburgh International Festival.

That year the film festival showed 12 documentaries in response to the arts festival's refusal to show films.

'Controversial and provocative'

At the launch of this year's programme, Mr Mullighan said he was trying to recapture the edge of its youth.

"This festival was controversial and provocative. Not any more," he said.

He said the festival would return to traditional venues such as the Cameo and the Filmhouse and there would be more discussions and debates.

The festival's final day will include a screening of a critically-acclaimed Afghanistan war documentary, Hell and Back Again, to an audience of British soldiers and their families.

The documentary strand was being curated in collaboration with the Sheffield international documentary festival.

It also includes a portrait of chess legend Bobby Fischer, a biographical film of Bob Marley and a "powerful" study of climate change, Burning Ice, featuring Marcus Brigstocke, Jarvis Cocker and Martha Wainwright.

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