"Grease" is the word for the 2008 Portsmouth Film Festival

For September, 2008, "Grease" is the word! Hundreds of film fans will head for Southsea Common to watch the big screen from the comfort of their own cars on Saturday, September 27, from 7:30pm-10:30pm. The film was selected by the readers of The News, and the choice was the classic Rock'n'Roll musical Grease (1978), a fitting choice, harking back to the fifties, the heyday of drive-in movies.

The screen, to be put up at the same place on the common where the FA Cup final was shown, is a huge 18.5 metres wide, suspended 4 metres above the ground. Sound will be transmitted directly to in-car radios n FM stereo. Tune to 87.9. Wave 105's Mark Collins will be getting you in the mood with music and competitions.

The event will be part of the fourth Portsmouth Film Festival. Tickets for "Grease" are available from Portsmouth Guildhall box office (023) 92824355.

Portsmouth Guildhall
Guildhall Square
Portsmouth
PO1 2AB
Tickets cost £10 (plus booking fee) per car.

The drive in is being arranged for the festival by Pyjama Pictures and Film Air

News Portsmouth Film Festival Website

The Portsmouth Film festival has launched its new website at http://www.portsmouthfilmfestival.org.uk

This site will host information regarding the Southsea Common Drive-in, this year showing the classic Rock'n'Roll Musical Grease, the gala opening film, and the many other events running as part of the festival and as part of the ever expanding festival fringe.

Film events this week

A reminder that this week there are two events film you should look out for.

Thursday 26th June. For Film makers, Portsmouth Filmmakers Unite is holding its second monthly meeting at The Lodge, on Victoria Park, Portsmouth. The meeting starts at 6pm, anyone with an interest in local film making is welcome; there will be wine and nibbles. The agenda includes September's Film festival, youth filmmaking, and involving actors in local film projects.

Saturday 28th June. For film lovers, as part of Portsmouth Festivities, No 6 Cinema is showing classic 1925 silent version of The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney, with live music from Cipher. - 8:30pm, tickets £6.00 (£4.50 concessions).

Portsmouth Film Festival 2008

This year's Portsmouth Film Festivalis happening from the 26th to the 28th of September.

Following on from last year's Gala Screening of the Michael Caine movie Sleuth, this year the festival will also open with a major motion picture. The Gala screening will be held at No6 Cinema, Portsmouth's only independent cinema.

There will be drive in cinema on Southsea Common on the evening of Saturday 27 September. To get local people involved in the festival, Portsmouth's local newspaper, The News, the media sponsor for the festival, is running a poll to ask readers which film they want to see. click here to vote for the film of your choice. The drive in is is being arranged by Pyjama Pictures for Portsmouth Screen.

In association with the Portsmouth Comedy Festival, No 6 Cinema will be screening Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy from 1963, Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The movie stars comedy legend Peter Sellers, who was born in Portsmouth.

Sunday afternoon will see a screening of Disney's The Jungle Book, based on Rudyard Kipling's classic stories. This open air screening will take place on Albert Road as part of Love Albert Road Day.

The big screenings will also be accompanied by short films by local filmmakers.

Aspex Gallery will be investigating the role of Japanese drawings animated drawings in contemporary art, focusing on artist Takashi Ishida, with the artist producing the work live work live at the event.

On Sunday Night the fesival will close with a screening of films by the regions filmakers as part of the Shorts::Cut series. Shorts::Cut has been showcasing the work of local filmmakers since 2005 and is in it's fourth year. The screening is planned to take place at No 6 cinema, Action Stations. If you have a film you would like enter for be considered please visit the Shorts Cut wesbite at www.portsmouthscreen.org.uk/shorts/

As well as these events, a range of fringe events will be taking place at venues throughout the city, including other screenings by local filmmakers, international films screening in restaurants, workshops and other participatory events, screenings of films by young people.

Keep checking here at www.portsmouthscreen.org.uk for news on the Festival.

Cameraless Film at Aspex Gallery

Monday 30th June 2008

Led by no.w.here lab. On this one day course participants explore the hands-on artistic possibilities of painting, drawing, and scratching directly onto celluloid. The workshop begins with films by some of the greatest exponents of this extremely economical and expressive form of artist’s cinema (Stan Brakhage, Len Lye, and Man Ray) drawing out the ideas and possibilities inherent in this powerful art form.

Participants then engage directly with the film material to make cameraless films, which are screened at the conclusion of the workshop.

Cost including all materials is £25 (Usual cost of workshop in London at “no.w.here lab” is £65, but this has been subsidised by Aspex). A few places are left but are limited, for more information contact Aspex Gallery.

e-mail: info@aspex.org.uk
tel: 023 9277 8080

www.nowhere-lab.org

DV Mission 2008

From Jinx Prowse, DVMISSION Organiser

"Yes it’s that time of year again; The DVMISSION 48-Hour Film Challenge 2008 is now open for applications.

We are very grateful to Screen South, Film Hampshire and Chichester University for their support. This means we have been able to book the New Theatre Royal for this year’s Premier Night. Application forms and a copy of the rules are available online at www.dvmission.co.uk The deadline for applications is October 10th 2008.

The teams who have entered previous challenges will be delighted to hear we have a bigger venue, bigger trophies and as requested coffee, food and booze available on the Premier Night. For teams who have never entered a 48-Hour Film Challenge before, we offer the DVMISSION briefing 2008. This is a two-hour session, just before the launch, where 48-Hour veterans can offer advice, answer questions and give tips.

If the idea of writing, storyboarding, filming, editing, adding sound and rendering a whole movie in 48-hours sounds crazy, then you're right. This is an endurance test for both human and machine.

You have been warned!!

Launch - Friday 7.00pm 31st October 2008 (spooky)
Deadline - Sunday 7.00pm 2nd November 2008
The Premier Night – Sunday 8.30pm 2nd November 2008

Free to enter
Premier Night is free, but ticketed"

See last year's entries at the DVmission Youtube page.

Portsmouth Filmmakers Unite

The next meeting for the Portsmouth Filmmakers Unite forum is on Thursday 26 June, from 6pm till 9pm at the Lodge, Victoria park.

On the agenda are:

• Young people, and getting them involved in film and video making...
• Actors for short films. If you're a local actor keen to get involved in local short films , please come along...
• Portsmouth Screen and September's Portsmouth Film Festival.
• Music.
• And anything anyone else wants to add, please contact Trash Arts via email, or on the Portsmouth Filmmakers Unite facebook page.