The images on this website are protected by copyright and may not be
used without the permission of the copyright holders.
|
Is That All There is? An exhibition of Archive Material from the Lindsay Anderson Collection 31 January-5 March 2008 James Hockey & Foyer Galleries, Farnham, Surrey
'Is That All There Is?', the first public exhibition of material from the extensive Lindsay Anderson Collection held by University of Stirling, represents a unique and idiosyncratic overview of the life and career of one of Britain's greatest filmmakers. The exhibition includes letters, memorabilia, storyboards, diaries and other objects from the collection to provide insights into particular aspects of Anderson's work. Not a straight biographical display, it uses the artefacts as interesting items in their own right and, when viewed as a whole, provides a wider context for Anderson's life and career. Anderson's extensive correspondence testifies to influences on his own work, for instance from the Hollywood director John Ford, while illustrating in turn Anderson's influence on subsequent generations of filmmakers, writers and actors. The selection was constructed through conversations between archivist Karl Magee, curator Kirsteen Macdonald and artist Stephen Sutcliffe. For the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries additional material was selected by Christine Kapteijn.
http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/index.cfm?articleid=17090
16 February 2008. About Lindsay Anderson a day event dedicated to Lindsay Anderson at Queen Mary, University of London
On Saturday 16 February the Film Department of Queen Mary, University of London will host a day devoted to the life and work of Lindsay Anderson. Contributors include Charles Drazin, editor of screenwriter David Sherwin’s Going Mad in Hollywood and Life with Lindsay Anderson; Christophe Dupin, film historian and producer of the 3-volume Free Cinema DVD collection; documentary film-maker Mike Grigsby, whose career began with his Free Cinema film, Enginemen; Karl Magee, archivist of the Anderson Collection at Stirling University; Paul Ryan, editor of Never Apologize: The Collected Writings of Lindsay Anderson; and theatre critic Tom Sutcliffe. The day will end with a screening of Lindsay Anderson’s suppressed documentary, If You Were There, in Anderson’s own words ‘an enjoyable, informative, entertaining and even at times beautiful film’. The event will take place in the Arts Building, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Nearest tube stations: Mile End (Central and District); Stepney Green (District). If you would like to attend, please RSVP by Friday 8 February to
Never Apologise released in Britain. First Screenings in London Introduced by Malcolm McDowell
Following its successful world premiere at Cannes (see below), Never Apologise (Mike Kaplan, 2007) has now been given a London release. The film will be introduced by Malcolm McDowell at Screen on the Hill on Sunday 11 November at 5pm and at the NFT on Monday 12 November at 8pm.
Please see: http://www.screencinemas.co.uk:80/specialevents.php and http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/southbank/film/8211
A Season of Lindsay's Films at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
Opening with If.... and an introduction by archivist Karl Magee on 14 October. For more information see http://www.web-link.co.uk/rbc/
D+C Film: Documentary Shorts Competition Inspired by Free Cinema
'It’s the 50th anniversary of the Free Cinema movement and to celebrate, D+CFilm, in association with the People’s Republic of South Devon, has launched a new competition encouraging local lensers to pick up a camera and document life as it is today.
Free Cinema saw UK filmmakers like Lindsay Anderson making documentary films outside the framework of the film industry. The movies all had a very low budget and featured ordinary, mostly working-class people at work and play.
The best short documentary films submitted to D+CFree will be edited together and shown in cinemas around the region for free - cinema shot by the people, for the people.
See website for more details: http://www.devon-cornwall-film.co.uk/2007/05/27/dcfree-competition/
Rare Screening of The Singing Lesson in London on 13 June
Light Reading¹s 2007 series continues with a conversation between filmmaker
and artist Matthew Noel-Tod and writer and curator William Fowler. Work by
Matthew Noel-Tod will be screened alongside a rare viewing of Lindsay
Lindsay's Raz Dwa Trzy (The Singing Lesson, 1967).
Tickets are £4 if pre-booked or £5 on the door, places are limited so
booking is essential.
Please RSVP to James at courses@nowhere-lab.org or call 0207 372 3925.
Light Reading is held at:
3rd Floor
316 318 Bethnal Green Road
London
E2
Britannia Hostpital at Glasgow Film Theatre in June
Lindsay's satirical Britannia Hospital is being screened as part of the 'What If...' season at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday 24 June. http://www.gft.org.uk
World Premiere of Never Apologise at Cannes
Never Apologise a documentary film about Lindsay and Malcolm McDowell directed by Mike Kaplan and starring McDowell is having its premiere in Cannes on Friday 25 May. http://www.neverapologize.com Read an article by the director (in the Guardian on 19 May): http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2007/story/0,,2083144,00.html#article_continue
DVD of If.... Released by Criterion
This is a special edition double disc featuring a newly-restored print of If….. Special features include an audio commentary by film historian David Robinson and actor Malcolm McDowell; Cast and Crew (2003) featuring interviews with film personnel and stars of the film; a new interview with Graham Crowden; Thursday’s Children and a booklet featuring pieces by Lindsay and David Sherwin. http://www.criterion.com
The Work of Chris Shepherd and The White Bus at at the NFT (or BFI Southbank if you prefer?) in June
The co-founder of Slinky Pictures, the animation company, will talk about his influences including Lindsay on 6 June in NFT3. http://www.bfi.org.uk
An exhibition showcasing items from the University of
Stirling’s Lindsay Anderson Collection will be held in The Changing
Room, Stirling's Contemporary Art Space, from 17 Feb - 31 March. http://www.stirling.gov.uk/index/leisure/changingroom/cr-current_exhibition.htm
The basic idea for the exhibition is to use items from
the collection to provide insights into particular aspects of Lindsay’s
work. It is not intended to be a straight biographical / educational
display. Instead the objects in the exhibition will be interesting items
in their own right and when viewed as a whole they will hopefully provide
a fuller picture of Lindsay’s life and career.
To tie in with the exhibition Karl Magee, the archivist
of the collection, will be introducing a screening of The White
Bus and the rarely screened documentary about the making of the
film About the White Bus at the Glasgow Film Festival on Friday
23 February. http://www.glasgowfilmfestival.org.uk/programme/show/56
Archive News:
Lindsay Anderson Archive at The Changing Room Galley, Stirling in
November
The exhibition will also include weekend screenings of a selection
of material from Lindsay’s own video collection and films made
by, or about, him. The programmes will be selected by the video artist
Stephen Sutcliffe, who viewed the video collection when it was held
by Scottish Screen and has used it as inspiration for his own work.
See
www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/lightbox/novdec05/sutcliffe.shtm
‘From Prague to Hollywood, The Cinematography of Miroslav Ondricek’
10 – 12 October
Organized by the Czech Centre London in collaboration with the Riverside
Studios.
Supported by Czech Airlines and The Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation.
See http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/cinemalist.pl
A cinematic homage to Miroslav Ondricek, Director of Photography, which
explores his career in the Czech Republic, England and Hollywood as
well as celebrating his exquisite camera work uniting such gems as Amadeus,
A Blonde in Love (Milos Forman), If…., The White Bus (Lindsay
Anderson), Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill), Intimate Lighting
(Ivan Passer) and F/X - Murder by Illusion (Robert Mandel). Miroslav
Ondricek will be present to introduce and discuss his films. See http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/cinemalist.pl
The White Bus will be screened at 15:30 and If…. at 20:10 on
11 Oct. If…. will be followed by a Q&A with Miroslav Ondricek,
Stephen Frears and David Wood and chaired by Paul Ryan.
Free Cinema at the French Institute
14 November
The French Institute are doing a special Free Cinema event on 14 November.
The event will be considering the influence of Free Cinema on French
cinema. More information to follow…
If You Were There - Wham! In China screening
CANCELLED
‘We’re sorry to announce that the screening
of If You Were There: Wham in China on Fri 28 April has been cancelled.
This follows Sony Music withdrawing their permission for Stirling University
to screen the film. Unfortunately, it will have to remain unseen for
now...’
http://www.library.stir.ac.uk/lindsayanderson/WhamFilm.htm
Wakefield Express DVD
The Yorkshire Weekly Newspaper Group Ltd are currently
running a promotion where members of the public can purchase the Lindsay
Anderson 'Wakefield Express' on DVD
http://www.wakefieldtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=702&ArticleID=1375951
FREE CINEMA: 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION/LINDSAY ANDERSON RETROSPECTIVE
We’re very happy to announce two fantastic events coming up in
2006 for your diaries. In February the NFT is celebrating the 50th anniversary
of Free Cinema by screening some of its key films, including Lindsay’s
wry look at a bustling fairground in Margate - the classic short O Dreamland.
If this taster isn’t enough then in March the Bradford Film Festival
is running a Lindsay Anderson retrospective. All Lindsay’s feature
films will be screened along with the majority of the shorts and documentaries.
There will be special Lindsay events over the opening weekend of March
4 & 5 including a ‘Screentalk’ interview with Malcolm
McDowell who is attending the festival as guest of honour. He will receive
the festival's lifetime achievement award. We will let you know more
details about the event as they become available.
Coming soon, at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television
in Bradford, is a Lindsay exhibition arranged by Karl Magee, archivist
at the Lindsay Anderson archive in Stirling. Amongst the memorabilia
which includes photos and posters will be Lindsay's famous leather jacket
as worn by Paul Ryan at the event in Southend last year! This will be
running from February, paving the way for the retrospective in March.
You may want to join the mailing list for updates on the festival’s
programme. If you are on ours then we’ll keep you updated this
way if you would prefer.
Free Cinema: 50th Anniversary Celebration
Sunday 5 February 6pm NFT 2
O Dreamland (Lindsay Anderson, 1953) 12mins
Momma Don't Allow (Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, 1956) 22 mins
Nice Time (Alain Tanner, Claude Goretta, 1957) 17 mins
Enginemen (Michael Grigsby, 1959) 21 mins
Food for a Blush (Elizabeth Russell, 1955) 30 mins
The evening will be introduced by (and followed by a Q&A with) Michael
Grigsby.
Lindsay Anderson Retrospective
12th Bradford Film Festival
3rd-18th March 2006
Details to be confirmed
http://www.nmpft.org.uk/bff/2006/
Gavin Lambert. Born East Grinstead, 23 July 1924. Died Barlow Respiratory
Hospital, Los Angeles, 17 July 2005
Gavin Lambert by David Robinson (Printed in The Independent)
Though Gavin Lambert will be remembered as a classic commentator on
the glories and follies of Hollywood, his origins were solidly British.
The California vowels he acquired during his fifty year expatriation
could never quite eradicate the classic Oxford diction.
He was born in 1924 to a well-to-do middle-class family in East Grinstead,
and attended St George’s Preparatory School, Windsor, before going
on to Cheltenham College. Here he met Lindsay Anderson, a year older
than himself, and formed a friendship was to last until Anderson’s
death in 1994.
From the start their rapport seems to have been intellectual rather
than sentimental.
Both were homosexual, but while Anderson was permanently tormented by
his sexuality (“Lindsay always changed the subject”, wrote
Lambert), the young Gavin joyously flaunted his, in a manner that was
as brave as it was exceptional at that time. He gratefully attributed
his sexual initiation at 11 to a preparatory school teacher, and boasted
that at Cheltenham he was a “tart” for the other boys: “This
talent for entertaining, as well as a senior Tough who considered me
fair sexual game and played the role of protector, saved me from persecution
as a Wet.” Though Anderson must have deplored such goings-on (in
his diary the 18-year-old ponders “I think I do not trust Lambert”)
they were drawn together by their shared artistic interests, especially
a precocious passion for cinema. They invented Parthenon Films and wrote
a couple of scripts which were rejected “by almost every production
company in the land”.
In 1943 Lambert went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he shared
rooms with Peter Brook, whom he assisted on his first experimental short
film, A Sentimental Journey, even playing the bit part of a drunken
slut. He left Oxford in 1944 without taking his degree - it was said
because of his dislike of his tutor, C.S.Lewis, though his own explanation
was reluctance to learn mediaeval English. He found a job scripting
2-minute commercials made by Gaumont-British, and meanwhile published
short stories in The Windmill, New Writing and English Story.
In Spring 1947 Lindsay Anderson (having returned to Wadham after army
service), together with Peter Ericsson and Penelope Houston, took over
the Oxford Film Society’s newly-established magazine, Sequence.
They were in a very short time to revolutionise British film writing,
castigating a weary post-war British cinema, and asserting the auteurist
values of popular Hollywood cinema, traditionally dismissed by British
critics as inferior to European “art” films. With issue
5 the editorial offices were moved to London, to a flat near Regents
Park shared by Anderson, Ericsson and Lambert, who now replaced Penelope
Houston on the editorial team.
Sequence achieved fifteen issues and such a reputation that its editors
were photographed by Lee Miller for Vogue, captioned “Wise, Witty
and Courageous” In late 1949, Denis Forman, the inspirational
new director of the British Film Institute invited Lambert to transform
the Institute’s venerable and stolid journal Sight and Sound.
He gave it the stylish design and rigorous critical stance of Sequence,
secured Penelope Houston as assistant, and recruited friends like Anderson,
Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson as contributors.
In 1954 Lambert took leave of absence to direct a film, Another Sky,
from his own script about a puritanical young woman who discovers her
sexuality in North Africa. One of the few who ever saw the film was
the American director Nicholas Ray, who had just made Rebel Without
a Cause, and whom Lambert now met in London. A brief love affair ensued
and Lambert moved to Hollywood to became Ray’s assistant and writer
on Bigger than Life (uncredited) and Bitter Victory. He went on to collaborate
with the veteran Ealing writer T.E.B.Clarke on the script for Jack Cardiff’s
Sons and Lovers (1960). This script was nominated for an Oscar, and
was followed by The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961).
Meanwhile Lambert had completed the first two books of his eventual
“Hollywood Quartet”. The Slide Area (1960) is a collection
of short stories; Inside Daisy Clover relates the breakdown of a 30s
child star: it was effectively filmed by Robert Mullitgan from Lambert’s
script, with Natalie Wood in the title role...
In 1978 he was to receive another joint Oscar nomination for the adaptation,
with Lewis John Carlino of the script of Tony Page’s I Never Promised
You a Rose Garden. After this his screen-writing activity ceased, apart
from a couple of teleplays at the end of the 80s and occasional uncredited
script doctoring.
In 1964 Lambert had taken on American citizenship and in time his Oxford
accent was overlaid with a touch of Californian. Between 1974 and 1989
he spent a large part of his time in North Africa, and his longest-lasting
love affair was with a Moroccan. In Morocco, too, he formed a close
friendship with Paul Bowles.
Increasingly and assiduously he worked on books. The Hollywood Quartet
was completed by The Goodbye People (1971) and Running Time (1983),
again about a child star. Other fiction included Norman's Letter (1966)
which received the Thomas R. Coward Memorial Award for Fiction, A Case
for the Angels (1968) and In the Night All Cats Are Grey (1976).
Of his non-fiction writing, The Dangerous Edge (1975) is a study of
nine suspense writers. Lambert’s first Hollywood biography, On
Cukor (1972), which took the form of an extended interview, was compromised
by George Cukor’s (ineffectual) secrecy about his own sexuality.
Much better were the meticulously if fast-researched biographies Norma
Shearer: A Life (1990), Nazimova: A Biography (1997) and Natalie Wood:
A Life in Seven Takes (2002). His last book, The Ivan Moffat File: Life
Among the Beautiful and Damned in London, Paris, New York and Hollywood
(2004) chronicled a colourful but less celebrated Hollywood figure.
Lambert’s most controversial biography however was Mainly about
Lindsay Anderson (2000) which traced his own and Anderson’s parallel
lives, on opposite sides of the Atlantic. It recorded a friendship which
was mutually supportive and admiring, even if it often collapsed into
irritation and acrimony. Anderson’s friends generally disliked
the book for Lambert’s celebration of his own liberated sexuality
while deploring Anderson’s neuroses.
Lambert combined phenomenal knowledge of the cinema and its history
with the qualities of a fine stylist. Everything he wrote and most of
what he said was elegant, precise and incorrigibly witty. In person
he grew ever leaner and more etherial. Though he was an indispensable
figure at Hollywood parties, he never exuded warmth: there was a touch
of sneer in the quizzical smile that rarely left his thin lips. He had
an unusual capacity for spite, most notably in his unaccountable treatment
of his early comrade Penelope Houston, whom he persistently endeavoured
to write out of the history of Sequence and Sight and Sound. As recently
as three years ago he contributed to Sight and Sound his recollections
of the magazine without mentioning her name, writing off her remarkable
35-year career as editor as a few anonymous years when the magazine
lost its way.
Gavin Lambert’s last public appearance was in April, when, along
with Gore Vidal, he took part in a panel organised by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to mark the centenary of Greta Garbo.
Buy tickets on-line now! Lindsay Anderson Tribute in
Southend-on-Sea: 21st May 2005
The Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation is pleased to
announce a special tribute event to Lindsay Anderson to take place on
Saturday 21 May 2005 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
The LAMF has teamed up with the Leigh Film Society and South East Essex
College to arrange an exciting one-off afternoon event which will include
If…, the short O Dreamland and the documentary Is That All There
Is? There will also be a panel discussion and Q&A with members of
the Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation which will be chaired by Paul
Ryan editor of Anderson’s Collected Writings and a guest appearance
by the actor David Wood (Knightly in If…. ).
The college is next to Southend Central station which is on a direct
line just fifty mintues from Fenchurch Street.
We hope to see you all there!
Please see the following websites for more information on the Leigh
Film Society and South East Essex College. You can buy your tickets
on the door but because of availability we recommend ordering them in
advance from the Leigh Film Society's website. Paul Ryan's book, as
reviewed below, will be available to buy at the event:
www.leighfilmsociety.org.uk
/www.southend.ac.uk
Never Apologise: Lindsay Anderson Publications reviewed.
There have been two recent publications of Lindsay Anderson's
writing. One is a collection of Linday's writings edited by Paul Ryan
and the other is the Diaries edited by Paul Sutton. Here are a few reviews.
'The
fechter who fought for life' by Mamoun Hassan
Review of Never Apologise: The Collected Writings Lindsay Anderson
edited by Paul Ryan andThe Diaries, edited by Paul Sutton.
It is almost impossible to take a detached view of Lindsay Anderson
or his work. Everything he did - his films, his theatre productions,
his writings - and, equally important, everything he was, challenges
one to take sides or, as he would have preferred to put it, to "commit".
But this was often the beginning, not the end, of the journey. He considered
himself - and he was - a political and social film-maker, but he never
articulated a clear political philosophy. Exactly what to commit to
was never straightforward...
'O difficult
man!' by Philip French
Sunday December 5, 2004. The Observer.
Review of Never Apologise: The Collected Writings Lindsay Anderson
edited by Paul Ryan andThe Diaries, edited by Paul Sutton.
Lindsay Anderson, who died 10 years ago at the age of 71, was a
major figure on the British cultural scene for much of the second half
of the twentieth century, as film critic (beginning with the influential
magazine Sequence he edited for five years after the Second World War),
as director of documentaries, feature films and commercials and as theatre
director in the West End and on Broadway...
'Telling
it straight' by David Storey
Saturday December 11, 2004. The Guardian.
Review of Never Apologise: The Collected Writings Lindsay Anderson
edited by Paul Ryan.
The artist must always bite the hand that feeds him. He must always
aim beyond the limits of tolerance. His duty is to be a monster"
(1963). Lindsay Anderson certainly had a flair - some would say a genius
- for making enemies ("always the right ones"), and an even
greater flair, if not genius, for making friends and sustaining friendships:
the fact that "love was not enough" was part of the pain that
characterised much of his estrangement from the world by which he found
himself surrounded...
Previous Events and Press.
Never
Apologise: The Collected Writing of Lindsay Anderson. Published
by Plexus, Edited by Paul Ryan (November 2004)
If.... "Lindsay
Anderson on the making of his masterpiece". Extract from Never
Apologise. (Independent Review, Friday 5th November 2004)
Lindsay
Anderson: A Critical Conscience season at the National Film Theatre
(November 2004)
Malcolm
McDowell's Lindsay Anderson: A Personal Remembrance (Edinburgh
2004 and November 2004 at the National Theatre)
|
