Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 4 - 12, 2008

Of Time and the City
Of Time and the City

Colour, DIGIBETA
United Kingdom, 2008, 74 min
Section: Open Eyes
http://www.oftimeandthecity.com

Film screenings:
1C6 - 4.7., 18:30, Čas Cinema
2K5 - 5.7., 22:00, Panasonic Cinema
8K3 - 11.7., 16:00, Panasonic Cinema

Director: Terence Davies
Screenplay: Terence Davies
Dir. of Photography: Tim Pollard
Editor: Liza Ryan-Carter
Producer: Roy Boulter, Solon Papadopoulos
Production: Hurricane Films
Sales: Hanway Films

Synopsis

On the outside, Liverpool is the city that gave the world the Beatles and the home of the most successful club in the history of the English football league. On closer inspection, however, it’s an unattractive place full of Functionalistic architecture in a pitiable state. But most importantly, it’s a city full of people. In the optic of Terence Davies’s poetic documentary, it is not the monuments and illustrious families that matter, but rather the city’s inhabitants. Like Guy Maddin in the film My Winnipeg (KVIFF, 2008), Davies’ portrait of his hometown also betrays a personal obsession that gives the film its unmistakable structure. This structure is created through chronological narration enhanced by the contrapuntal integration of the music and themes that recall the director’s feature work. The latter is also evoked in the serene atmosphere of the film as a whole, disturbed only by sporadic angry comments from the director himself. Davies introduces his hometown with a kind of enchantment, but at the same time strictly avoids any form of idealisation.

About the director

Terence Davies (b. 1945, Liverpool, United Kingdom) has been setting his films in his home town since the very beginning of his career. His trilogy of short films Children (1976), Madonna and Child (1980) and Death and Transfiguration (1983) is set in Liverpool, as is his pioneering Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), which won the festival in Locarno, was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes IFF and was nominated for five European Film Awards. Davies has also competed in Cannes with the films The Long Day Closes (1992) and The Neon Bible (1995), in which actress Gena Rowlands gives a stunning performance. The main role in the film House of Mirth (2000) was played by American actress Gillian Anderson.

Contacts

Hanway Films
24 Hanway Str., W1T 1UH London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 290 0750
Fax: +44 207 290 0751
E-mail: info@hanwayfilms.com
www: www.hanwayfilms.com