British Films

A forgotten film canister discovered in a South Yorkshire loft has been found to contain an original 35mm copy of Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes.

It is thought to be one of only two original copies still in existence, the other held by British Film Institute.

Rob Younger, who will screen the movie at his Barnsley Parkway Cinema next month, said the film was in "amazingly good condition for its age".

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Based on Barnsley author Barry Hines' novel A Kestrel for a Knave, the film won two Bafta awards and was nominated for a further three.

Mr Younger said: "To find something that's over 50 years old and the print hasn't run in most of that time, it's fantastic.

"And the fact it's a Barnsley-based film, it's Kes, everyone in Barnsley loves Kes."

Contained on seven separate reels of film the recently discovered version is thought to have been put into storage after being was shown on the big screen in 1970.

The reels had sat undiscovered for decades before being passed to Ronnie Steele from a local fan group - the Kes Group.

Mr Steele said he then approached Mr Younger to ask about showing it in the town.

"[The film] made me feel proud, that not only did I belong to Barnsley, but I knew the author of the book, Mr Barry Hines. He taught me in secondary school," Mr Steele said.

"[It is] a snapshot of Barnsley as it really was at that time. People were really proud that the characters were ordinary, working-class people, but at the same time, they were clever, smart, witty."

28 Years Later, the hot package from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, has landed at Sony.

The Culver City-based studio has come out on top after a protracted bidding war to win the rights to the sequel package to the 2002 horror classic 28 Days Later.

Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have reunited to write and direct the sequel, which also comes with a Part 2, to be written by Garland. Boyle would only direct the first project, with the sequel’s director to be determined at a later stage. Cillian Murphy, whose career was launched thanks to the original movie, is also returning, as an executive producer. The Oppenheimer star could also possibly act in the project, although details are being quarantined.

Talking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the John Wick director suggested his approach to the new film in development will be to launch a potential series of films. He says the idea is to not rush the first movie to the original film’s conclusion — which crowned MacLeod the sole survivor of a group of dueling immortals following their climactic Gathering.

“I think we have some very good elements now,” he said. “The trick is when you have the tagline, ‘There can only be one,’ you can’t just kill everybody the first time.”

Stahelski also said the film will incorporate elements of the 1992 syndicated Highlander TV series, which ran for six seasons.

“Our story engages a lot of the same characters, but we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows,” Stahelski said. “We’re trying to do a bit of a prequel — a setup to The Gathering — so we have room to grow the property.”

He noted he hasn’t thought of John Wick as a franchise (despite that Continental TV show coming) but he does see Highlander as a potential franchise.

“We have ideas for days for the coolest characters [that could make for] an epic TV show,” he said. “I just think that’s rich mythology when you can pick any period of time, any nationality, any culture, any type of person and make them an immortal that have to duel and deal with the burden of immortality — that’s fucking cool.”

Been go the cinema this week? Caught a movie on the telly? Dusted off an old VHS? Then tell us about it.

This genuinely put the shits up a few generations of Brits back at the tail end of the Cold War. Still gives me chills today.

An Irish-British co-production, out today on physical media.

Described as:

Andrew Legge’s found-footage sci-fi feature debut portrays sisterly love and independence in an alternative, ever potentially fascist Britain

The Observer reviewed it saying:

The debut film from Irish director Andrew Legge is a pacy, thrillingly inventive found-footage mockumentary that purports to show the invention, in 1940, of a machine that can intercept television and radio broadcasts from the future. The device is named Lola in honour of the mother of the machine’s creators: two sisters, Thomasina (Emma Appleton) and Mars (Stefanie Martini). And at first, Lola is a portal to new artistic and cultural frontiers. But then, as the second world war escalates, the machine becomes part of the war effort, at considerable cost to future generations: an alternative fascist reality swallows the future that the women had glimpsed.

Information:

• Wikipedia
• IMDb
• Letterboxd
• Trakt
• Rotten Tomatoes

Buy at:

• Amazon UK
• HMV

So what films did you see in the last week?