Chichester Cinema at New Park

Thank you all, for a record year.










THE 20TH CHICHESTER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES AWARDS

'In a Better World' and 'The Help' tie for honours




The 20th Chichester International Film Festival, the biggest and most prestigious of its kind on the South Coast, ended its 18 days of celebration of global films with the closing Gala of Jack Goes Boating with Philip Seymour Hoffman on Sept 4.


50 premieres, previews and new releases from over 100 films representing 20 countries were voted on by audiences. Tying in first place for the Audience Award was the Opening Gala film, In a Better World, the Danish Oscar foreign film winner and The Help, the UK Premiere of the American film starring Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain.


Tying in second place was The Hedgehog from France and China’s Finding Shangri La. The yet-to-be-released eagerly awaited Jane Eyre, the festival’s Surprise Film, came third alongside Tomboy, the French film also a Berlin Film Festival winner.


The Documentary Award was scooped by Spitfire Sisters, the incredible story of women WW2 pilots made by a Horsham-based film company, beating Senna and Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.


The festival, which ran from August 18 to September 4 at Chichester Cinema at New Park and Cineworld where Horrors at the Multiplex were held, gave the Horror Award to Tucker & Dale vs Evil, a hilariously good-spirited horror comedy which eclipsed Norway’s The Trollhunter, second of five of Best of FrightFest fims.


Attendances rose by an increase of 10%, up again on last year’s remarkable 18%, audiences from many parts of the UK, America and Europe also flocking to see guest speakers David Hare, Michael Winner, Ken Russell, other directors, writers, actors, producers and biographers giving insight into the lives and works of playwright Terence Rattigan, actors Dirk Bogarde, Pete Postlethwaite and others.


Roger Gibson, the artistic director, comments: ‘This was our strongest ever line-up of films, events and guests to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival and I am delighted so many people took advantage of the eclectic choices. Our next challenge is to fund digital equipment which is rapidly becoming the only way of distributing films. Otherwise we cannot continue to offer such choice. With this is mind, the cinema is launching a Major Digital Fundraising Scheme to obtain £50,000 of equipment.’


Premieres, previews and new releases included Almovodar’s The Skin I Live In, Albatross, Perfect Sense, One Day, You Instead, The Debt with Helen Mirren, Beautiful Lies, Inspector Bellamy, The Big Picture, Mademoiselle Chambon, Pulsar, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Art of Getting By, Post Mortem and others.



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