Showing posts with label Welsh Films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Welsh Films. Show all posts

Monday, 9 November 2009

International Conference on Welsh Studies July 22- 24, 2010


North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History
(NAASWCH)



National Celtic Heritage Center at Marymount University

International Conference on Welsh Studies

Call for Papers

July 22- 24, 2010

Marymount University

Arlington, Virginia/Washington D.C.

The NAASWCH Program Committee seeks diverse perspectives on Wales and Welsh culture -- as well as proposals focused on the Welsh in North America -- from many disciplines including: history, literature, languages, art, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, philosophy, music, and religion.

NAASWCH invites participation from faculty, postgraduate/graduate students and independent scholars from North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Those wishing to present a paper suitable for a 20 minute reading may submit an abstract (maximum one-page).

Proposals for thematic sessions, panel presentations, or other formats are also welcome.

Please include a brief (one-page) vita with your submission.

The abstract – proposal deadline is Dec. 21, 2009; but early proposals are encouraged.

Participants will be notified by mid-February.

E-mail submissions are welcome and will be acknowledged promptly.

If you have not received confirmation of your electronic submission within one week, please resend the document.

NAASWCH works to promote scholarship on all aspects of Welsh culture and history; to develop connections between teachers and scholars in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom who are committed to the study of Welsh culture, history, language, and literature; to provide an intellectual forum in which scholars and teachers of Welsh culture may share their research and teaching experience, and to provide support for the study of Welsh-North American history and culture.

See the NAASWCH website for additional information:

http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~ellisjs/naaswch.html



Please submit abstracts or session proposals by no later than Friday, Dec. 21, 2009 to:

Dr. John Ellis, History Department, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI 48502 USA;

ellisjs@umflint.edu

Those who are not submitting proposals but would like to receive conference information should contact: Dr. Melinda Gray, NAASWCH Secretary, 15 Woodbridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA; mgrayk@comcast.net.

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media


Study Abroad in Britain, Europe and the U.S.A. / Canada Website.



Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Courage 2 Create, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Grace-filled Empty Spaces, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2009 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Monday, 18 February 2008

Celtic Youth Film 'Hip Hedonism' and Justin Kerrigan According to Martin McLoone and Steve Blandford

Justin Kerrigan is shooting a new Welsh film in South Wales, and he's best known worldwide for his 'global youth party culture' film Human Traffic, set in Cardiff, Wales.


[Pictured above: Emmy nominee Robert Carlyle stars in Justin Kerrigan's newest film currently being shoot in South Wales.]

Emmy nominee Robert Carlyle, who found fame in 'The Full Monty' and 'Trainspotting' and whose credits have since included 'Carla's Song', 'The World is Not Enough' and '28 weeks later' is currently filming Cardiff born, Justin Kerrigan's new feature film 'I Know you Know' in Bridgend, and Port Talbot.

Kerrigan is often lumped together with similar directors who seem to be exploiting this transnational popular culture craze, making films that are loaded with codes and signifiers that 'only the kids' can understand.

Kerrigan is best known for his 1999 hit 'Human Traffic' for which, amidst several other awards, he won a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Director and was nominated for a Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer at the BAFTA 2000 awards in London.

Human Traffic Trailer -- Miramax Films



How does Kerrigan fit into the pantheon of Welsh filmmakers who have overcome the odds to make a film and get it out of Wales?

How does Kerrigan fit into the array of recent 'Celtic Periphery' filmmakers, i.e., coming out of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales?

The Twang - Two Lovers -- Also directed by Justin Kerrigan




I've written about this elsewhere, and I include this excerpt of my new book on the National Cinema of Wales (not yet published) called, 'A Welsh New Wave?'

A Welsh ‘new wave’?

Blandford notes that the quartet he is describing created rumours of the beginnings of a new Welsh film ‘wave’ of production and freer expression, while they managed to offend the government, the tourist boards, the local communities where the films were shot, the Welsh religious establishment, and just about everyone else inclined to be offended.



Blandford alludes to a general weariness in Welsh society, surrounding the cultural controversy, and longs for a respite from the ‘dead-end arguments’

"During the next decade it will be interesting to see whether a film culture develops with the confidence to make films without even the ironic reference to traditional Welsh iconography that this latest wave has made" (Blandford 2000: 20)



Blandford seems to perceive that this ‘wave’ is related to a larger cultural malaise within a post-modern British and trans-national milieu, as he compares the quartet of Welsh films to similar films set in Scotland, Trainspotting (1996) and Wickerman (1973).



Martin McLoone identifies the same type of films becoming popular in the emerging economic and cultural ‘Celtic Tiger’ ascendancy of Ireland, and coins the name ‘hip hedonism’ to describe and explain the film waves’ meaning and impetus

"This might well explain the preponderance, in recent years, of another kind of urban-based film — what might be called a cinema of ‘hip hedonism’. This is a cinema that celebrates, even glorifies, an urban lifestyle dressed in the signifiers of contemporary global youth culture and populated by the beautiful people of Celtic Tiger Ireland" (McLoone 2006: 97)



Ruth Barton frames the films of post World War II Ireland in a chapter entitled ‘Negotiating Modernism’ (Barton 2004: 65), and one has to wonder if in some way, McLoone and Blandford are not describing Irish and Welsh cinemas, respectively, which are representing a new generation’s negotiation with the problems of trans-national post-modernism, including the paradox of rapidly rising incomes of younger professionals in Cardiff and Dublin paralleling the fatalism and political detachment implicit in the music and lifestyles of the nightclub, pub and ‘Rave Culture’, and its various cultural cousins.



Either way, the films of Scotland, Ireland and Wales in this period seem to be tapping the same vein of ‘I can’t be bothered’ attitudes endemic to the Celtic up-and-coming

"They are Irish, certainly, but they epitomize a kind of trans-global ‘cool’. Drugs and crime still form part of the background, but they are presented as lifestyle choices or get-rich schemes removed from any social consequences."



"Most importantly, these films are lighter in tone than the more political films, as well as being driven by a deliberately irreverent humour" (McLoone 2006: 97).



In the quartet of Welsh films that Blandford describes, which we will assert form the backbone of a Welsh version of McLoone’s designated Irish cinema of ‘hip hedonism,’ we need to ask what values are being challenged, and what social and cultural tensions are being transgressed or offended, and what possible meaning this might have.

Barton, R. (2004). Irish National Cinema. London, Routledge.

Berry, D. (1994). Wales and Cinema, The First Hundred Years. Cardiff, University of Wales Press.



Blandford, S., Ed. (2000). Wales on Screen. Bridgend, Wales, Seren, Poetry Wales Press Ltd.

Blandford, S. (2003). “Old Wales is Dead”, Film, Theatre and TV Drama in Contemporary Wales.” New Welsh Review, Theatre in Wales Supplement Autumn.

Blandford, S. (2003a). “Film, Theatre, and TV Drama in Contemporary Wales.” Culture+the State James Gifford & Gabrielle Zezulka-Mailloux, Editors (Culture+State Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).



Blandford, S. (2005). Film, Drama and the Break-Up of Britain. Inaugural Professorial Lecture, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Wales, University of Glamorgan.

Blandford, S. (2005a). “Wales at the Oscars: ‘heritage’ cinema and Welshness in the 1990s.” Cyfrwng: Wales Media Journal 2.



Blandford, S. (2005b). Dramatic Fictions in a Postcolonial Wales. Postcolonial Wales. J. Aaron and C. Williams. Cardiff, University of Wales Press.

Blandford, S. (2007). Film, Drama and the Break Up of Britain. Bristol, England, Intellect Books.

Blandford, S., B. K. Grant, et al. (2001). The Film Studies Dictionary. London and New York, Arnold Publishers and Oxford University Press.



Hannan, P. (1999). The Welsh Illusion. Bridgend, Wales, Seren, Poetry Wales Press Ltd.

Hannan, P. (2002). 2001, A Year in Wales. Bridgend, Wales, Seren, Poetry Wales Press Ltd.



McLoone, M. (2001). ‘Internal Decolonisation? British Cinema in the Celtic Fringe.’ The British Cinema Book. R. Murphy.

McLoone, M. (2006). National Cinema in Ireland. Theorising National Cinema. V. Vitali and P. Willemen. London, British Film Institute: 88-99.



The Phrase Hip Hedonism was coined by Martin McLoone. Read more about his newest work here:


Film, Media and Popular Culture in Ireland
Cityscapes, Landscapes, Soundscapes
by Martin McLoone



This collection of essays from Martin McLoone takes a new look at
contemporary culture in Ireland through the filter of three main
developments – the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy in the South, the peace
process in the North and the general rise in Ireland of ‘diasporan
awareness’.



The book considers the impact of these three factors on
the film, television, and music produced in Ireland, mostly since the
1990s, and speculates on how this popular culture reflects both what
has been gained in the new Ireland but also what has been lost.



Specific concerns of the book are the secularisation of Ireland and
popular culture’s assault on the Church generally (and the priest in
particular); the changing cityscapes and landscapes of the new Ireland;

the ‘death’ of politics; sexual freedom and personal liberation; the problem of representing unionist culture in the North; Van Morrison’s Belfast and the rise of ‘possessive individualism’ in Ireland.



The book celebrates the new Ireland but also raises issues about the loss of aspects of Irish identity that were valuable and suggests the need for a new ‘collective imaginary’ that might reinvigorate Irish identity in the new millennium.

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase





© 2008 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2008 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Saturday, 26 January 2008

Minority Language Media, Cultural Diversity and Development in Europe: Barcelona ECREA's 2nd European Communication Conference 2008


[Pictured above: View of Barcelona; The conference will take place at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB) on the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th of November 2008.]

ECREA's 2nd EUROPEAN COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE
CALL FOR RESEARCH PANELS, PAPERS AND POSTERS

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15th February 2008

This call for papers, panels and posters opens 1st December 2007 and the deadline for submission of Proposals is Friday 15th February 2008

The broad theme of this major international congress, Communication policies and culture in Europe, refers to the confluence that can be established between the media and the different interpretations of culture in Europe nowadays.

This confluence refers to the globalization effects on a diversity of spaces (multinational, national, local) with all its political implications.

It moreover refers to the different mediations and interactions that configure the current European society with respect to migrations, new forms of political participation, the dialectics of identity and diversity, new cultural consumptions, etc.

The broad title aims to emphasize the importance of politics and culture, but also refers to new ways of regulation and de-regulation, the technology and the management of convergence within the cultural industries the new public service remit, and the variety of communication policies that aim to guarantee cultural diversity and development in Europe.


[Pictured above: PhD. François Heinderyckx, President of Ecrea]

This invitation for proposals is both for individual papers and posters and for pre-organised panels, from established academics, young scholars, practitioners and postgraduate research students.

Individual paper proposals, individual poster proposals and panel proposals can be submitted here.

All proposals will have to be submitted to one of ECREA's 15 thematic sections, and will be reviewed by one of the 15 section selection committees (the section focus can be found below) Notifications of acceptance will be sent out in mid-April 2008, and the registration will open after December 1, 2007.



Paper-presenters and panellists will be asked to confirm their intention to attend by registering before 24 October 2008, in order to be able to finalise the conference programme.

The 2nd European Communication Conference aims to bring together specialists studying the role of communications and media in society, with a special emphasis on European challenges.

The conference will deal with a broad range of topics, from philosophy, history, the economics of communication and innovations in reception studies to research into the relationship between media and society, such as its impact on democracy, migrations, sustainable development, identities and cultural diversity.



The main focus of the conference, Communication Policies and Culture in Europe, is one of great importance. By focusing on this theme, the conference aims to contribute to questions surrounding the development of communication policies (regulation, impulse, etc) for European culture in the face of the new globalisation challenges.

In addition, the local committee will seek to address a range of topics of general interest in Europe by inviting contributions of Spanish academics. This will include matters of education and communication, local media and communication, and academic collaboration between Europe and Latin America.



Catalan (English to follow): La conferència Europea de comunicació agruparà prop d'un miler d'especialistes que analitzaran el paper dels mitjans de comunicació al món actual, amb especial referència als reptes europeus.

La conferència s'ocuparà dels temes mes pròpiament teòrics, com ara la filosofia de la comunicació, la història, la economia de la comunicació o les innovacions en la recerca sobre la recepció, però també tractarà dels temes cabdals que afecten a la relació entre mitjans de comunicació i societat, com ara la seva incidència en la democràcia, en les migracions, en el desenvolupament sostenible, en les identitats i en la diversitat cultural, etc.

Considerant els temes que interessen de manera més especial a Catalunya i a Espanya en el marc europeu, la conferencia ha triat un tema central de gran importància: les polítiques de comunicació i la cultura a Europa. Amb la tria d'aquest tema central la conferència es proposa aportar coneixements sobre la importància de les polítiques de comunicació (regulació, impuls, etc.) per a la cultura europea, davant dels nous reptes que representa la globalització.

Complementàriament el comitè local, promourà el tractament específic de diversos temes d'interès general per a Europa i que es plantejaran com aportació dels investigadors catalans i espanyols al Congrés, amb sessions especials dedicades, entre altres temes a la formació de comunicadors, les relacions entre educació i comunicació, la comunicació local i la cooperació científica entre Europa i Amèrica llatina.



PAPER PROPOSALS

Candidates are asked to include an abstract of minimum 400 and maximum 500 words, which should contain a clear outline of his/her arguments, theoretical framework, methodology and results.

Candidates can submit their abstract in English, in Spanish AND English, or in Catalan AND English. Only one proposal as first author will be accepted, although more proposals can be submitted as co-author (second, …), as chair, or as respondent of a panel - but a participant will be allowed only one paper presentation.



For this reason, paper proposals should be submitted by the person who is planning to present the paper at the conference. Co-authors will be mentioned in the conference programme.


POSTER PROPOSALS
Candidates are asked to include an abstract of minimum 400 and maximum 500 words, which should contain a clear outline of his/her arguments, theoretical framework, methodology and results.

Candidates can submit their abstract in English, in Spanish AND English, or in Catalan AND English. Only one proposal as first author is allowed, although others could be submitted as co-author.



PANEL PROPOSALS
We expect panel proposals to comprise six participants: either six presenters or five presenters and a respondent/discussant for a 105-minutes session.

In addition, one Chair can be nominated. This Chair should not be presenting one of the papers, although s/he may be a co-author.

Panels proposals should include:
- A panel abstract of minimum 400 and maximum 500 words
- Abstracts (400-500 words) and personal information of each of the presenters
- The proposal can be submitted in English, in Spanish AND English, or in Catalan AND English



TIMELINE

The key dates for the conference are as follows:
1st December 2007: Open call for paper, poster and panel proposals
15th February 2008: Deadline for the on-line submission of paper, poster and panel proposals
Mid april: Notification of acceptance
24th October 2008: Deadline for the submission of full papers
24th October 2008: Deadline for registration of presenters
25-28 November 2008: The ECC08 conference


ECREA's Thematic Sections

Audience and Reception Studies
The Audience and Reception Studies section is about how people interpret and use media, and with what consequences on the micro - and macro-level.

The section welcomes various approaches (theoretical/critical works, empirical studies, methodological discussions) and methods (quantitative or qualitative research, or both) and encourages works that cross disciplines (social sciences, humanities and arts, life sciences) and traditional boundaries (between "old media" and "new media"; between mass communication and group communication; between content/production and audience/reception/effects).



Communication and Democracy

The ECREA Communication and Democracy section invites you to send in abstracts for papers as well as panel proposals focussing on the relationship between media, communication and democracy.

Democracy is being defined here in a broad sense and is not merely limited to the procedural elements in political systems.

Likewise, media and communication relates to both more traditional media as well as the internet and newer media opportunities.

The section-theme for 2008 Barcelona conference is "Media and Communication for a Democratic and Culturally Diverse Europe".



Abstracts and panel proposals should ideally address one of these rather general sub-themes: challenges to public sphere theory; social mobilizations, activism and protest cultures; the future of community media (in a digital age); citizen and public journalism in defence of democracy; EU media&communication policy: does public participation matter?; the political significance of media literacies; and web 2.0: changing politics through digital networks?

Communication Law and Policy

The recently launched Communication Law and Policy Section provides a forum for the debate and analysis of past and current national and EU legal, regulatory and policy directions in the field of European media and communication.

The field is interpreted broadly to include political, social, cultural, anthropological and economic questions. The section invites contributions (proposals for papers, posters or panels) in any area of European media and communication law, regulation and policy.



Diaspora, Migration and the Media

Transnational and diasporic communications have brought a number of theoretical and methodological challenges for European communication research, such as those relating to the significance of the national public spheres, national broadcasting, multicultural media and the cultural and communication practices of people living in culturally diverse societies.

The section invites and encourages theoretical and empirical explorations of European communications and diversity from across Europe and beyond. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and innovative studies in all areas of media and communication research (media production; media texts; consumption of media and communications technologies; national and transnational policy; media ethics and the representation of difference)



Digital Culture and Communication

The digital culture and communication section aims at exchanging and developing research at the European level in the developing field of digital media and informational culture as this is broadly defined.

We welcome work that crosses disciplines and that operates at the boundaries of what might generally be allowed to constitute media/communication systems. The section actively seeks both empirical and theoretical/critical work.

It therefore welcomes work that questions the general specificity of 'the digital' and/or uses 'the digital' to rethink existing media and communication theories and approaches (as well as research methods).



Film Studies

Ranging from early cinema experiences in European metropolis, to the contemporary blockbuster multiplexes, film has always been at the forefront of European popular culture.

The film studies section invites for contributions that deal with film in a broad variety of aspects: film as content, as cultural artefact, as commercial product, as lived experience, as cultural and economic institution, as symbolic field of cultural production, as media technology, etc.

We strive towards methodological openness and multilevel approaches on the study of historical and contemporary cinema: film text, context, production, representation and reception. Cultural studies perspectives, historical approaches, political economy, textual analysis, audience research all find its place within the section.



Gender and communication

The Section Gender and Communication invites contributions which stress issues within the field of communication with a specific interest in gender, conceptualised in a broad sense. The section specifically seeks inclusivity in relation to gender studies issues on the part of media research.

Amongst gender-related issues are ethnicity, identity politics, queer studies, media industries, feminist media studies, popular culture studies, post-structural theory, as well as a host of philosophical questions. Aiming to bridge the gap between communication and gender studies, this section welcomes interdisciplinary approaches that combine a focus on gender with media research, namely media production, content analysis of media texts and media use and/or reception.



International and Intercultural Communication

The field of International and Intercultural Communication has changed considerably over the last years. Globalisation and its consequences have forced the field to broaden its scope considerably.

Furthermore the field is challenged from the outside by other disciplines engaging in the debate on the role of communication in globalisation processes.

In this section we welcome contributions that take a broad view on cross-border communication in all its forms. We define cross-border communication in terms of communication crossing national or/and cultural borders. We will both focus on mediated and personal forms of communication.



Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction

The Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction section welcomes contributions that focus on the study of human interaction and human communicative behaviour.

The core is constituted of contacts and bonds between people, whether in private or public contexts, whether face-to-face or through various communication technologies. The research fields and theory development areas of interpersonal communication and social interaction are wide-ranging.

They include interpersonal relationships, relationship formation, development and termination, group and team communication, conversational organisation, verbal and nonverbal communication, public speaking, radio and television performance, rhetoric, argumentation, persuasion and mutual influence, communicative competence and interpersonal skills, ethnography of speaking, and other related approaches to human social interaction.

All kinds of contexts are welcome (e.g., family, work, instructional, political, health), as are all methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed).



Journalism Studies

The ECREA Journalism Studies Section is concerned with cultural, political, economic, social and professional aspects of journalism and news work.

The Section accordingly invites for consideration papers of high quality across the range of journalism studies, focussing on occupational, participatory, regulatory, ethical, social, technological, political, commercial, cultural, educational, historical and other dimensions, with particular reference to the European and/or global context.



Organisational and Strategic Communication

The ECREA section for Organizational and Strategic Communication promotes an active and critical dialogue among scholars in view of consolidating an interdisciplinary field of debate, applications and complex projects.

Its aim is to approach and to debate on the fundamentals of corporate communication and to encourage the development of research topics and input concepts by different scholars in various European countries or elsewhere.

The overall objective of the Section is therefore to enhance the European research within the field of organizational and strategic communications as well as to refine the conceptual and methodological background of the correlated practice.



The participation rules of the Section allow contributions from researchers, professors, master and doctoral students, as well from corporate representatives whose aim is to develop the internal research portfolios of their own organizations.

The Section also allows contributions of independent specialists and consultants in marketing, public communication or related fields, as the very field of organizational communication is difficult to observe unless part of the organizational systems.



Philosophy of Communication

The Philosophy of Communication Section in particular sets out to consolidate a European forum for the philosophy of communication.

Guided by the ideal of a free, rational, diverse, engaged and socially just Europe, the Section is explicitly oriented to reflect the cultural variety and the variety of traditions in the history of thought, scholarship and science.

The philosophy of communication encompasses a variety of concerns including reflective, theoretical, analytical, normative and historical questions relating to communication as a phenomenon, a dialectical process, a social reality, a form of expression, a theoretical construct or last but not at least a paradox.



What distinguishes Philosophy of Communication from other approaches is the foundational dimension embodied by the Section. The Philosophy of Communication section welcomes contributions that deal with questions regarding theory formation and methodology in communication scholarship, and with fundamental questions regarding the place of communication in human existence.



Political Communication

The Political Communication Section of ECREA invites contributions dealing with: critical approaches on press and media coverage of public affairs in a democratically adequate way both empirically and / or theoretically grounded; new media emerging as political communication vectors, i.e. community and citizens media or as challenging forces of the political status quo;

issues on political communication as a contestable social capital and as symbolic means in the service of diverse community and social forces;

agenda-settting issues between the political and the media system, but also, inter- and intra-media agenda-setting and control practices;

and analyses on specific topical aspects of the 'European Political Communication Deficit' or, conversely, on best practices of coverage of Europolitics across the Union, either as case or as comparative studies.



Radio Research

The Radio Studies Section invites abstracts to be presented from across as wide a range of interests as possible.

We do not wish to limit the focus and scope of members' research in the medium and the panels will be organized thematically once the abstracts have been received. However, based on the discussion at the recent meeting of the section in Lincoln in July 2007, panels in at least the following areas are anticipated: Audience studies; community radio; content (programming and genre); digitization; new or revised research methodologies.



Science and Environment Communication

The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and science fields. The Science and Environment Communication section seeks to foster a strong and dynamic research network and welcomes work that crosses a range of disciplinary and methodological boundaries.

Examples of topic areas include - but are far from restricted to: media representations of science and the environment; political and commercial discourse on the environment; communication, democracy and scientific governance; public engagement with science and the environment; the dialogic, interactive communication of research-based knowledge.



The 2nd European Communication Conference is focusing on Communication Policies and Culture in Europe.
In this website you'll find more details about the event.



For additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

AIM -- ATRiuM Intelligent Media, Cardiff, Wales, U.K. on Face Book

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Welsh Audiences Line Up to See Scottish Gaelic Film Rejected in Oscar Language Controversy



Searchd Opens in Cardiff, a Scottish Galeic film at the heart of a language controversy with the Oscars . . .

"SOME OSCAR CONTROVERSY!"

"Seachd has not been put forward by BAFTA as the UK's official non-English language Oscar nominee."

See more here:

Forget Highlander and see Seachd, the first REAL Scottish Gaelic film



Searchd opens at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff this weekend:

Fri 21 - Sun 30 Dec
Gwe 21 - Sul 30 Rhag

Friday, 21 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Saturday, 22 December 2007 15:00 Cinema 1

Saturday, 22 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Sunday, 23 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Thursday, 27 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Friday, 28 December 2007 11:00 Cinema 1

Friday, 28 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Saturday, 29 December 2007 15:00 Cinema 1

Saturday, 29 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1

Sunday, 30 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1



{Pictured above: publicity still from the Gaelic Language feature film, Searchd: The Impossible Pinnacle (2007).]

Scottish film director Simon Miller has put out an appeal for help, as it's been reported to Celtic Cult Cinema that the Scottish Parliament is poised to debate BAFTA Oscar Controversy over the alleged snub of the Gaelic Feature Film 'serachd: The Impossible Pinnacle (2007).

Simon Miller's Gaelic language feature film opens across Scotland this week, just as the BAFTA Oscar nomination controversy has caught fire.



It’s a film specifically about storytelling, and about the firm location of old stories in particular landscapes."

"A fitting theme for the first ever feature film in Scottish Gaelic."

[Quoted above from the programme book of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2007]

What the critics are saying:

"Gorgeously-realised blend of magic realism and family drama" THE HERALD
"Dramatic, funny, spectacular and steeped in Gaelic mythology" THE LIST
"Glows with warmth and humanity" THE OBSERVER
"Visually breathtaking" BBC



Simon Miller writes:

"As you may have seen in the Seachd group blurb on facebook BAFTA (The UK's film academy) has failed to put forward any non-English language films for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year's Oscars - which includes Seachd."



"THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP, PARTICULARLY THOSE OF YOU FROM OUTSIDE THE UK..."

"Of 18 Western European countries invited by the Academy to put non-English language films forward for the Oscars, the UK is the only one to fail to do so."



"BAFTAs decision is sensless and really could not have been made on some measure of the "quality" of the film, given the strong early reviews we have had (“excellent” The Sunday Times, “breathtaking” BBC, “tender, graceful…gorgeously-realised” The Herald, “worth shouting about” The Scotsman, “dramatic, funny and spectacular” The List, and “an astonishing production” Eye For Film). And surely they wouldn't have put forward such obviously English language turkeys as they have in recent years if quality really was the issue?"





"BAFTA is an institution designed to promote British film - in whatever language - and their decision feels dangerously close to censorship and it will mean - ultimately - that less people will get to see the film in the UK internationally."

"YOU CAN HELP CHANGE THAT..."

"We have been able to gather a great deal of support to help overturn their decision within the film industry in the UK, and also from the Academy who have written to BAFTA asking for an explanation. And we have just learned that this issue is on the agenda to be debated in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday this week."

"HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP..."

Read the entire story here:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2177934,00.html

Searchd: The official Website




Read more here:

A CALL FOR HELP TO OVERTURN OUR GAELIC FILM'S OSCAR SNUB!







UK/2007/100 mins/subtitled/ctba. Dir: Simon Miller. With Aonghas Padruig Caimbeul, Padruig Morrison, Coll MacDonald.

This delightful Scottish Gaelic film features stunning scenery and powerful performances. Angus travels to Skye to say a final farewell to his grandfather and find out the truth about his parents.

"a poignant ode to storytelling" - BBCi

www.seachd.com




Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle is the first feature film in Scottish Gaelic.

It is a film from the Scottish Gaelic community starring local Gaelic-speaking actors from the Highlands and Isles and was filmed entirely on the Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgitheanach) off the West Coast of Scotland.

Seachd is not a Hollywood film. The film was shot across just 25 days on a tiny budget, but it is a film with a big heart and it represents the lives of people living in a part of the world that has yet to be shown on the big screen.

The soundtrack to Seachd features some of Gaeldom's greatest living vocalists and musicians - and ancient Gaelic instruments such as the Carnyx (Celtic battle horn), the metal strung Clàrsach (Gaelic harp) and the triplepipes (the predecessor of the bagpipes).

As it's said in Gaelic: Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil -- The truth is in the story. When a young man, Angus, visits his dying Grandfather in hospital he cannot hold back his boyhood quest for the truth - the truth behind the death of his parents and the truth behind his Grandfather's ancient, incredible, fearful stories.

Stories from the whole swathe of Gaelic history of poisoned lovers, bloody revenge, water-horses and Spanish gold.

His Grandfather hijacks Angus' life for one last time leading him to one of Scotland's most treacherous mountains, The Inaccessible Pinnacle on the Isle of Skye, and an ancient truth he never expected to find.

Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil. Tha Aonghas air a bhith air tòir na fìrinn o òige, miann a tha a' teannachadh na inntinn 's na chorp nuair a thuigeas e gu bheil am bàs gu laighe air a Sheanar.

Tha fios aig Aonghas gu bheil an t-àm dha eòlas a chur air an fhìrinn mu bhàs a phàrantan 's cuideachd mu sgeulachdan a Sheanair. Sgeulachdan iongantach, eagalach a thug air cuairt tro eachdraidh nan Gaidheal iad le gaol, sabaid, eich-uisge agus òr Spàinnteach nam measg.

Tha Aonghas 's a Sheanair a' gabhail aon chuairt eile còmhla, cuairt a tha gan toirt gu mullach Sgùrr Dearg 's gu fìrinn ris nach robh dùil sam bith.

Simon Miller's Searchd Official Website

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Friday, 5 October 2007

Channel Four Online Documentary Broadband Channel Offers Unique Venue To Launch New Welsh Film Talent


FOURDOCS

FourDocs is a broadband channel from Channel 4 that is THE place to watch and upload four-minute documentaries.

This is the first time a major broadcaster has offered this kind of opportunity to everyone, and for free. Make your film and upload it. It's as simple as that.

The FourDocs Guides to Documentary Making - 1. Get Thinking



What you get:

Step-by-step guides on how to plan, shoot, edit and compress your fact-based documentary.

Access to an archive of documentary greats and interviews for inspiration and the chance to have your film uploaded for the whole world to view.



Then what?

Apart from a great opportunity for any filmmakers to get their work out there, other FourDocs users can review your film, offering their comments and constructive criticism.



And Channel 4's very own Kate Vogel - commissioning editor for 3 Minute Wonder - keeps a close eye on all uploaded films to spot talented filmmakers she can commission for this innovative strand.

FourDocs filmmaker Tomas Leach has recently been commissioned to make a series for 3 Minute Wonder after he showcased his film, The Glass-Eye Maker on the site.



Deadline:

There is no deadline. You can upload and view films whenever you want.

So what are you waiting for?

For more information about Channel4 on FACEBOOK go to

4Talent

For more information go to

channel4.com/fourdocs




For additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

AIM -- ATRiuM Intelligent Media, Cardiff, Wales, U.K. on Face Book

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Tuesday, 2 October 2007

Fflics - Wales Screen Classics Festival Offers 4-Day Autumnal Retrospective in Aberystwyth from 25 -28 October 2007


Fflics - Wales Screen Classics festival launched!

A major new film festival has been launched, taking place in Aberystwyth from 25 -28 October 2007. Fflics - Wales Screen Classics is a four-day film festival showcasing the history of both Welsh cinema and the Welsh on the big screen; from the earliest cinematic pioneers until the end of the nitrate film era.

Gwyl Ffilm Fflics Film Festival



Fflics is a joint project between The National Library of Wales and Aberystwyth Arts Centre, and will include over 25 films filmed in the first half of the 20th century, together with a series of discussions, live musical performances and special events.

Cinematic highlights include a restoration print screening of 'How Green Was My Valley' the premier screening of the newly restored 'Y Chwarelwr', a gala screening of 'The Life Story of David Lloyd George', plus many, many more films from a classic era.



Andrew Green, Librarian, The National Library of Wales said:

'Fflics is a wonderful opportunity to mark Wales' early contributions to the world of cinema, and to see the films on the big screen where they belong.

We are sure that the festival will appeal to a wide range of people - from cinema buffs keen to see work that is rarely screened, to those keen to gain an historical perspective of Wales in the first half of the century.



Its going to be a fascinating four days.'

Fflics offers a unique opportunity of seeing and discussing rarely seen classics on the big screen. Cinematic classics will include:

How Green Was My Valley * Proud Valley * Silent Village * Corn is Green * Jerry The Tyke * Blue Scar * Valley of Song * The Citadel * Fame is the Spur* Dead of Night * Y Chwarelwr (The Quarryman) * Run for your Money * The Rat * Shop at Sly Corner * Stars Look Down * Call of the Blood * The Life Story of David Lloyd George * Next of Kin * David * The Last Days of Dolwyn* The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp * Plus Shorts by Arthur Cheetham



The festival's website is now live, and will be regularly updated over the next few months as additional events are confirmed. Gold Passes, which provide entry to every event over the four days will be on sale from 8th June, with early bird booking discounts on offer.

For the latest information please visit

Fflics - Wales Screen Classics Festival

More information please contact the following:
For Fflics festival - Llinos Medi Jones, 01970 632 534, lmj@llgc.org.uk
For National Library - Aberystwyth Arts Centre: Louise Amery 01970 6222889, lla@aber.ac.uk



Aberystwyth Arts Centre is a Department of the

University of Wales Aberystwyth



AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.



Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Dr. Mark Leslie Woods

Saturday, 29 September 2007

Oxfam's Oxjam Cardiff 2007 at The Gate Roath Oct. 19, Chapter Arts Centre Oct. 23


Oxjam Cardiff Chill is taking place at The Gate Arts Centre in Roath, Cardiff on Friday 19 October.

The gig starts at 8pm and tickets are £4. The line-up features: Skafunkle, sleepgoodfeelgood, Lunar Saxophone Quartet and Johnny & the bandits.

I can now confirm that a second Oxjam Cardiff Chill will be taking place at Chapter Arts Centre on Tuesday 23 October.

It will be an acoustic show featuring the Winter & Williams Band, The Dirty Looks and Lucky Delucci.

It will be £4 on the door but if you bring the ticket from The Gate gig with you then it's just £2!

The Gate. Roath, Cardiff

Cardiff Oxjam 2007

AIM: ATRiuM Intelligent Media

Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff

Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Long-Delayed Construction of Dragon International Studios 'Valleywood' Finally Moves Ahead


[Pictured above: Welsh Mountain scenery and new state-of-the-art film and television studios are expected to lure productions to Wales.]

The BBC is reporting that the long-delayed Welsh film and television studios project in South Wales started last week, after almost six frustrating years of set-backs and delays.

'Valleywood' building work begins -- Building work at the so-called "Valleywood" film studios near Bridgend has begun.

"The first stage of the £330m development will be built at Llanilid, near Llanharan, following delays caused by sewerage problems and bad weather."

"Developers said the initial phase of the Dragon International Ltd plan would feature four film stages and work on a major access road."

"Construction on the first stage of the plan is set to finish by June 2008."

"Oscar-winning actor and director Richard Attenborough, who has been the project chairman, said in January 2006 the scheme would "build studios that have not been seen for decades throughout the world"."

"Organisers claim the sound stages and TV studios will make south Wales a centre of the UK film industry.'

A well-made short report on You Tube Video asks, "What happened to the Valleywood project? Six years ago, a consortium announced plans to build a major film studio in the Welsh Valleys, but things haven't quite gone to plan. Chris Doidge reports on the project's problems and its future":

Valleywood


The studio itself and it's related complex are expected to generate at least 1,700 new jobs at the site. Film studios and the film industry rely upon an enormous number of support vendors and suppliers and craftsmen, so there is also an anticipated positive economic impact expected over time on the entire region.

For example, the lengthy film credits at the end of every feature film, which a lot of audiences ignore, show a list of support workers, including everything from caterers, to florists to publicists to carpenters, needed to produce feature films and television products.

Wales's close proximity to London already gives it a competitive position in the UK media production market, and the lower costs in Wales when compared to southern England make Wales a logical choice for film and TV production managers.

Ultimately, the film and TV industry needs highly qualified and experienced workers in many support fields, but the bottom line of the production budget drives the choice of production studio location.

For years, U.S. and European film productions have been 'running away' to studios like Barrandov Studios (Prague) in the Czech Republic, because the costs are lower and scenery is splendid.

Wales's stands to challenge English and other European studios in their competition for film and TV productions for similar reasons.

Also, English studios are aging, built decades ago with now-obsolete technology, and are being threatened by other real estate encroachments in land-pricey southern England.

This is not the case in many parts of the South Wales Valleys, where former mining communities boost plenty of land for such development.

The Rhondda-Cynon-Taff official website also described the progress of the developers:

"The Council has worked with developers to help facilitate a start on site on 13th August."

"Four film stages for Dragon International Ltd and the provision of the western end of the major access road planned to run through the site, are the particular developments starting now."

"These form part of the major strategic development site based on the film studio's development, for which planning permission has already been granted by the Council."

"Considerable work has been completed over the past few months, with the Council working with Cofton Wales and Dragon International to make sure that all the planning conditions have been properly dealt with. Progress has been good."

"It is anticipated that the work on site will run through until next year with an expected substantial completion in June 2008."

Cllr Russell Roberts says “ I am delighted that we will soon see buildings coming out of the ground at Llanilid. The Council granted planning permission some time ago for this site, but it will be great to see the development kick started now with the Silent Stages and the other major infrastructure works.”

This is an unofficial Dragon International Studios website owned by two enthusiasts of "Valleywood" since 2000.

"Extraordinary plans were unveiled by executive chairman Lord Attenborough in 2001 a world class ultra-large state of the art movie studio complex as part of a development including movie-based leisure attractions and an international film academy, some parts to be completed by 2006 (now early 2008 and overall finish hopefully by 2010)."

Official contact information can be attained through the Twickenham Film Studios website by clicking here.

The Cofton Group of Developers has more news here:

According to the Cofton Group website:

"Cofton Wales, specialists in large-scale brownfield land regeneration, has announced that construction work will start at Llanilid, near Llanharan, on Monday 13th August."

"The planned work comprises two separate projects; the first is the construction of four film stages for Dragon International Studios and the second project is an artery road to service the first phase of a mixed-use commercial development."

"The scheme was granted outline planning permission by local authority Rhondda Cynon Taff in December 2003 and includes consent for a business park, hotel and leisure facilities in addition to the film studios."

mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Queer Advantage, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai Razing Ziggurats, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Mordechai's Post-Evangelical-Granola on the World Wide Web.

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Tuesday, 31 July 2007

Why Do Many Small Nations 'Specialize' in Film Adaptations?



It has been estimated that an overwhelming percentage of Welsh films and television dramas are intentionally based upon other literary sources.

This overwhelming dependence upon literary adaptation is primarily from important Welsh literary or cultural sources. This suggests an attempt to ‘recall and recollect’ and to re-‘write the nation’, after a period of suppressed or neglected representations of Welsh-ness.

While Dave Berry’s book and other studies have attributed this Welsh dependence upon literary adaptation as ‘laziness’ (Berry 1994: 234), we see it as being related to issues of post-colonial ‘re-telling’ of a national story, or more related to the economics of production.



For example, Stephen Bayly directed Joni Jones (1982) as a well-received television series for S4C, an adaptation based upon the well-known children’s stories by R. Garallt Jones entitled Gwared y Gwirion or ‘Redemption of the Innocents’.

It is often the case in Wales, that directors will create a series which is actually suited to be converted into a feature film at a later date, should the funding and political will be present to effect the re-formatting.

Additionally, one of Wales's most famous sons is Andrew Davies, who is known around the world as the 'Prince of Adaptation'.

Andrew Wynford Davies (born September 20, 1936 in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales) is a British screenwriter.

He is the creator of the children's Marmalade Atkins television series and A Very Peculiar Practice, and is also well known for his adaptations of classic works of literature, including the 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and the 1998 adaptation of Vanity Fair.



Literary and stage adaptations have added clout with film production investors, who assume that a successful novel or stage play will naturally make a successful film.

Some screenwriters have been known to 'invent' a novel AFTER writing a film script, for purposes of marketing the film, and for raising venture capital.

In small nations, broadcasting drama department Commissioning Editors often opt for an adaptation. This satisfies several remits: nationalistic and cultural agendas are fulfilled, while it's assumed that an established audience exists for the new film or TV series.

My favorite book on film and literature in general is Tom Corrigan's 'Film & Literature' (1999, Prentic Hall Inc / Simon & Schuster).

Here's a pleasant Youtube tribute to Colin Firth in Pride & Prejudice:









'Adaptation: Studying Film and Literature' (Paperback) by John Desmond (Author), Peter Hawkes (Author) is concise and readable new text for courses in Film Adaptation or Film and Literature introduces students to the art of adapting works of literature for film.

'Adaptation' describes the interwoven histories of literature and film, presents key analytical approaches to adaptation, and provides an in-depth overview of adaptations of novels, short stories, plays, nonfiction, and animation.

The book concludes with an analysis of why adaptations sometimes fail.



mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!

Thursday, 21 June 2007

Sexy Welsh God Again Tops America's Summer Weekend Hollywood Boxoffice



Pictured above: Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd, star of the Fantastic Four (2007)

Welsh actors dominate as Hollywood's Libido Lifeblood for four decades . . .

Is there ever a time when the 'Land of Song' doesn't dominate and control the starring roles of Hollywood?

Ifor Novello, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Bale, Siân Phillips, Emlyn Williams, Catherine Zeta Jones -- I'm running out of breath!

And now Ioan Gruffudd's sexy comic book character is 'stretching' across America!

According to the Hollywood Reporter

'Fantastic Four' scores with $57.4 million debut weekend
By Gregg Kilday
June 18, 2007

"20th Century Fox's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" rode a commanding wave to the top of the North American boxoffice during the weekend, finding a broad-based audience with the help of a family-friendly PG rating."

"The original "Fantastic Four," with a PG-13 rating, opened to $56.1 million in 2005, and its sequel didn't lose any momentum and outgrossed its predecessor with an estimated bow of $57.4 million."

Didn't anyone see Ioan Gruffudd speaking Welsh on the Graham Norton Show a couple months ago?

More on the sexy Welshman later . . .

Here's one for your summer reading list: Professor Peter Stead's "Acting Wales, Stars of Stage & Screen" (2002) University of Wales Press.



Gyda bob hwyl i bawb, Mark

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh Music, Film, and Books Symposium, on the World Wide Web.

Click here to go directly to my personal blog page called Celtic Cult Cinema on the World Wide Web.

Visit the UK Film Studies and World Cinema and Music Import Showcase

© 2007 Mark Leslie Woods

Smart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!