Tuesday 11 November 2008

GUY FAWKES AND ALL THAT...

So Guy Fawkes had his day... well, he didn't really. And we spend a lot of time and effort celebrating the fact that he crashed and burned on his big day out.

Right, October seemed to sail past very quickly. We had some terrific events, not least the visit of author Candace Allen. Her insight into Barack Obama and the possibilities for election night in the Presidential race was very enlightening and so proved to be 100% accurate in the turnout, the suspected queues, the poise of the man... even her assessment of John McCain was bang on the ball... i.e, "... an OK politician, but it's Barack time!"


November also saw the London Film Festival's annual feast of silver dreams come to an end. I only managed to catch The Baader Meinhof Complex and 1, 2, 3, 4; the former, brilliantly realised by German director Uli Edel, wonderful art direction and performances, though the movie, overlong, ran out of steam towards the end, leaving you with questions such as 'Ok, I know what they did, but why? A bunch of middle class rich kids becoming terrorists... what's the director's take on it? It's not suffice to say, "We are the Children of the Nazi generation and we won't let Government do that again... so we'll go out and kill innocent people."'
The other film 1, 2, 3, 4 directed by Giles Borg left me with a question too, 'Why?'
Only kidding. Well, only slightly. The performances were great, the film was....
I guess I should intercede here and let you all know that my film Crossing Bridges was in competition in Greece at the Corinthian International Film Festival at the tail-end of October. It was a fantastic festival, I met some great filmmakers and the Greek hosts were brilliant. And the audience turned out for my film and we won the Audience Award which was great. The fact that we can't get any kind of theatrical distribution in the UK where the film was made speaks volumes... however upon my return to these damp shores, enquiries were made of me while I was away and tere is a slim chance that.... [oops! Don't wanna jinx it, do I?]

Now then, we've got a couple of great free workshops in store this month in Newham. On Wednesday 19th at 7pm accomplished poet, novelist and playwright, Maureen Duffy comes to Stratford Library, where she will read some of her prose and from her latest poetry collection. Maureen lived and spent a lot of time in Stratford over the years and much of this time has influenced her work. I for one am looking forward to welcoming her back to the borough and hearing her thoughts.

And then at 6.30pm on Thursday 20th November at The Gate Library in Forest Gate, sees compelling contemporary playwright Georgia Fitch discussing her work on radio, stage and television.
Georgia was born and brought up in Newham and her work has always fascinated me. There is an earthiness laced with a strong and incisive psychological aspect to her narratives which lifts her work above the norm.
so, that's November, but that's not all. You've got to keep your eyes on the prize as we've a whole series of other workshops coming over the next few weeks and months and of course, there's going to be the announcment of an all new creative writing initiative in the borough for 2009.
So for now it's adieu, until we meet again!
Peace