Monty Python, dark comedy and new British films will be the focus at the much anticipated British Film Festival from January 31 – February 10, 2013 – so mark your calendars!
Most intriguing is A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman (UK, 85 min, 2012, English). The 3D animated film is based on Chapman’s fictional autobiography, originally published in 1980 and, somewhat unusually for an autobiography, co-authored with David Sherlock, Alex Martin, Douglas Adams and David A. Yallop. A Liar’s Autobiography is an ambitious artistic collaboration, directed by Bill Jones (son of Terry Jones), Jeff Simpson and Ben Timlett, with animation created by 14 different animation studios employing 17 different animation styles.
Graham Chapman (1941 – 1989) made a recording on tape in 1981, reading from his autobiography, this recording was used in the film, as well as the voices of John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. A 45 minute segment of Chapman reading may be found here. Other familiar voices in the film include Cameron Diaz as the voice of Sigmund Freud:
If the Liar’s Autobiography Official Website is any indication, this is going a really fun film in the traditionally inappropriate Pythonesque style.
British Council Arts Manager Naomi Michaeli notes that the festival’s offerings span a wide spectrum of styles and genres, and will include Martin McDonagh’s (In Bruges) Seven Psychopaths starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, and Christopher Walken and Ben Wheatley’s dark comedy thriller Sightseers. The full festival line-up will be announced soon, and the films will be shown at the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Sderot, Holon, Rosh Pina and Herzliya cinematheques.
Enjoy a winter season of British cultural offerings in January and February: the British design team Boudicca is featured in the exhibition Fashioning the Body, read more about it in Angela Levine’s Pushing Out the Boundaries of Fashion; John Stezaker opening on January 18th; and a major solo exhibition of Douglas Gordon opening on January 25th – all at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art; British author Naomi Alderman (Disobedience, The Lessons, The Liars’ Gospel) is planning to attend the Jerusalem International Book Fair, taking place from February 10 – 15, 2013.
