Getting iD'd
Posted on Thursday May 24, 2012, 16:03 by Chris Hewitt in Empire States
So, I’m off to Derby on Saturday. Why? Well, I’m attending the iD Fest at QUAD in that fair city, where I’ll be hosting a Directing Actors seminar with the great Paddy Considine. Should be a cracking Q&A session – Paddy is always great value in the flesh, and there’s no shortage of stuff to talk about with him, from his experiences with the likes of Shane Meadows, Pawel Pawlikowski, Edgar Wright, Ron Howard and more, to Paddy’s own time behind the camera on last year’s stunning Tyrannosaur. It’ll be interesting to glean some insights from one of our greatest actors and, now, directors.
Sadly, tickets for that have already sold out, but seats are available for some of the fest’s standout events and programmes. The iD Fest is a wonderful celebration of British film, and cinema in general, with a ton of fantastic events and screenings of cracking films spread over its four days. It kicks off tonight at 7pm with Mike Hodges: In Conversation, followed by a screening of the great British director’s classic film, Get Carter.
Hodges, who’ll be sticking around to present a Directing Masterclass tomorrow (his Clive Owen flick, Croupier, will also be shown), isn’t the only British cinematic great stalking the corridors of QUAD over the weekend. Brian Blessed will be in town on Saturday night for an In Conversation with… panel, followed by a screening of Flash Gordon (and yes, he will probably bellow, "GORDON'S ALIVE!" at the top of his voice), while Sir Christopher Frayling will present a screening of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West on Sunday night.
And I haven’t even mentioned the various workshops (How Do I Get Through An Audition?, Production Design With Eve Stewart) that will give any interested parties a great grounding in the technical aspects of this business we call show. It’s a cracking festival – its list of screenings, from Danger: Diabolik to Night Of The Comet essentially feels like Alex Cox and Mark Cousins’ old movie show, Moviedrome, has come to life and invaded Derby – and I’m proud to play even a small part in it.
If you have some spare time, and you fancy popping along, visit http://www.idfest.co.uk. See you there!
