First up, two important Gabriel appearances: one in September in Spain (just a few days away now) and one in November in New York City. Then, a reappearance, in digital form, just in time for Halloween!
San Sebastian Film Festival (September 22 – 30)
The festival report from the official website:
Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West have confirmed their presence at the San Sebastian Festival
Hayao Miyazaki will receive a Donostia Award at the 71st edition
The filmmaker Claire Denis will chair the Official Jury, on which she will serve alongside the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, the Colombian producer, moviemaker and writer Cristina Gallego, the French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, the Hungarian producer Robert Lantos, the Spanish actress Vicky Luengo and the German director Christian Petzold.
Filmmakers and actors from all over the world have confirmed their presence in San Sebastian for the Festival’s 71st edition. Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West will accompany their films and appear in the Festival galas. In addition to Víctor Erice, who will receive his Donostia Award on the 29th, and Javier Bardem, who will do the same at the next edition in view of the limits imposed under the strike called by the US Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA), the Festival will also recognise the career of the Japanese master of animation, Hayao Miyazaki, director of the opening film: Kimitachi wa do ikiru ka / The Boy and the Heron.Miyazaki will receive the Donostia Award virtually during the opening gala. . .
The closing film, Dance First, will have extensive representation: in addition to Marsh (James Marsh, the director) Byrne and (Aiden) Gillen, other members of the cast such as Fionn O’Shea will travel to the event.
Festival Schedule for Dance First
Dance First is the festival’s Closing Film, to be screened six times during the festival, as well as at the Closing Night Gala, on Saturday, September 30.
In addition, there is a Press Conference scheduled for Saturday, September 30, according to the festival website, and VIDEO of this press conference is planned—in four different languages (I think). So check these links on the day and see what’s happening!
I will, of course, capture and share all that I can for future swooning. It will be lovely to see Gabriel again after so much time has passed.
Please note: there is a fake trailer available on the Internet, made by Aidan Gillen fans, so be aware of that. As far as I can determine, there are no official posters or trailers or teasers out yet. If you find something, do let me know!
IMDB says the film is completed and is expected to be available in April, 2024. WAH! But that’s good to know, yes? Yes. heart
Honoree Hayao Miyazaki, Juliette Binoche, our man Gabriel,
and Claire Denis, the chair of this year’s jury.
Oh, and that’s Emmanuelle Devos in the row below. Swoon!
Narrative4
On Monday, November 6, at Symphony Space in New York City, Narrative4 will celebrate “10 Years of Yes!” According to this link:
Enjoy performances by Sting, Terry Tempest Williams, Gabriel Byrne, Lila Azam Zanganeh, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Colum McCann, Ishmael Beah and many more N4 world-renowned artists (not to mention our superstar students and educators!).
Has it been ten years already? Colum McCann’s project to nurture the art of story-telling on a global scale started up in 2013, with some famous writers and friends to get things going.
Remember?
Stories are the one common bond every person shares.
The ultimate democracy
— but with a touch of magic.Stories champion our differences,
Mend our divisions,
Make us think less about our kind,
And more about being kinder.
Sounds just like Gabriel, doesn’t it? I love it. And now it is time to celebrate this program’s successes and to think about ways story-telling matters to us all.
If you can be there, then go! And if pics and/or video from the event become available, you will see them here, of course.
Congratulations, Colum and Gabriel and all who have been involved in this amazing project all these years! heart
Gothic on Blu-Ray
Just in time for Halloween!
The British Film Institute has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Ken Russell’s Gothic (1986), starring Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Myriam Cyr, and Timothy Spall. The release will be available for purchase on September 18.
WHAT?! You’ve never seen it? Well, then. Here’s what you need to know:
As a wild storm rages over Lord Byron’s literary house party, the poet suggests that his famous guests concoct a ghost story. But after deciding a séance would liven up the evening, they soon conjure up their deepest fears and are plunged into a surreal horror. Is it merely the power of their own intense lust and vivid imaginations that is tormenting them or have they, in fact, raised the dead?
Directed by cult favourite Ken Russell (The Devils ) and starring Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary), Julian Sands (A Room With a View), Natasha Richardson (The Comfort of Strangers) and Timothy Spall (Mr Turner), Gothic delves into the erotic and terrifying night on the shores of Lake Geneva that ultimately gave birth to Mary Shelley’s classic horror story Frankenstein.
Over at the British Film Institute, a list of extras (an amazing set of features, truly) raises the level of excitement, doesn’t it?
Special Features and Technical Specs
- Presented in High Definition
- Feature commentary by film historian Matthew Melia and Lisi Russell (2018)
- The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002, 83 mins): Ken Russell returns to gothic themes in this legendarily lurid late video work starring both the director and his wife, Lisi Russell
- A Haunted Evening (2023, 35 mins): Stephen Volk, the writer of Gothic, revisits his earliest feature script
- The Sound of Shelley with Julian Sands (2017, 18 mins): the actor reflects upon the making of Gothic
- Amelia and the Angel (1958, 27 mins): in this charming early Russell short, a young girl, cast as an angel in the school play, is distraught when her brother damages her treasured wings. Pocket money in hand, Amelia traverses London on the hunt for a new pair in time for the play
- The Guardian Lecture: Ken Russell in conversation with Derek Malcolm (1987, 88 mins, audio only): the director reflects upon his career, at the time of Gothic
- Original trailer
- First pressing only: Illustrated booklet featuring new essays by Ellen Cheshire, Jon Dear, and Matthew Melia and full film credits
And here is the updated trailer to celebrate the event!
This lovely new offering of a favorite Byrne-ing film from the past is bittersweet. We lost the director, Ken Russell, in 2011, after a long life of filmmaking, challenging his audiences with movies like Women in Love, just one gem from a vast output. Tragic accidents took two of Gabriel’s co-stars: Natasha Richardson, back in 2009, and just recently, Julian Sands. Seeing them in their youth, running about with our favorite Irishman, wreaking havoc, conjuring unique stories, and writing timeless poetry, evokes that special combination of pleasure and grief that only the passage of time can create.
So, watch this gorgeous version of the film in honor of all of those glorious creative people and be thankful for story-tellers, past and present.
(Photo by Murray Close/Sygma/via Getty Images)
Click to enlarge, but be prepared for a LOT of starpower!
I’ll close with an Autumnal Gabriel from the past, photographed by David Turner and made colorful by me, with wishes for a lovely Fall, if that is what is happening outside your window, or Spring, if you are elsewhere! heart
Recent Comments