Shine on

About Entertainment – Magazine –

Top names from the world of cinema are converging on Park City in Utah for the 10-day Sundance Film Festival – widely regarded as one of the world’s premier showcase for independent films.

Twilight star Kristen Stewart stars as singer Joan Jett in The Runaways

Ben Affleck, Orlando Bloom, Dakota Fanning, 50 Cent, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Katie Holmes, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Stewart are among the stars with films at the festival which will run until 31 January.

Presiding over Sundance will be its guiding light Robert Redford who’s been at the forefront of Sundance for more than two decades from the time of its inception.

Reporting to Redford is the festival’s new director John Cooper who boasts that this year’s line-up is excellent.

For him Sundance’s brand of independent cinema is important because what it offers is quite different from mainstream film-making.

He says Sundance is "telling the story of the ‘other’, really making sure that we’re serving that community of story-tellers that are telling more personal stories".

More than one hundred full-length features are being screened. There are few clear recurring themes in the large range of narrative films.

The independent industry is in terrible shape, it’s not a good time – people are frightened Terry Gilliam

The documentaries run the gamut – there are films on education, abortion and the war in Afghanistan – and profiles of some very different public figures from Benazir Bhutto to Joan Rivers.

But film-makers arriving at Sundance this year face a sobering reality. The recession and structural changes in the industry mean these are tough times for independent cinema.

As an outside observer, director Terry Gilliam, who often makes films in the independent sector says, "the independent industry is in terrible shape, it’s not a good time. People are frightened".

‘Breeds talent’

Giving film-makers some hope is that two of last year’s Sundance movies – the British 1960s period film An Education and Precious backed by Oprah Winfrey – have both been very successful and both have been picking up awards in pre-Oscar contests.

Lee Daniels, who directed Precious, has no doubts over Sundance’s significance.

Chris Morris is notorious for the controversial series Brass Eye

"It’s certainly where my career was launched as a producer and as a director, so I think it’s very important, I’m just very fond of Sundance. It breeds talent," he says.

This year, the films with high-profile casts include The Company Men – which has been described as a corporate downsizing drama – starring Ben Affleck and Kevin Costner.

The Runaways – a portrait of the rocker Joan Jett – is piquing interest because its cast includes Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning.

Kiefer Sutherland appears in the crime drama Twelve which is directed by Joel Schumacher. Philip Seymour Hoffman will also be at Sundance with Jack Goes Boating – his first film as director.

Among the British features being screened are Four Lions which may prove controversial. The film from satirist Chris Morris’s is being described as a comedy about aspiring jihadists.

Spreading the word

The festival has introduced a new section, called Next, showcasing micro-budgeted films made by lesser known actors and directors for under $500,000.

Carey Mulligan is nominated for a Bafta for An Education

In the wake of the success of the horror film Paranormal Activity small micro-budgeted films are seen as having great potential.

To maintain its primacy in independent cinema Sundance is exploiting its brand on a host of other platforms this year.

Some selected Sundance films will be screened in eight US cities. Three of the films premiering at the festival will be made available via on-demand services through home cable TV.

Despite the challenges, and the lack of a solid business model for independent cinema, Sundance nearly always yields a success story. Last year it was Carey Mulligan for her starring role in An Education.

Mulligan is widely tipped for an Oscar nomination. She sees the festival as a career benchmark for her and fellow cast members.

"Since we were at Sundance it’s been a great year," she says. Over the next 10 days some of the 40,000 festival-goers will be trying to find out who will be following in her footsteps.

The Sundance Film Festival runs from 21-31 January in Park City, Utah, USA.

About Entertainment – Magazine – Shine on

About Entertainment – Magazine –

Take That launched their new album The Circus in spectacular style with a lavish themed party in a hip Paris nightclub.

In the depths of the swanky VIP Room, international media gathered with lucky competition-winning fans to witness a show fully in keeping with the album’s title.

Stilt-walkers, trapeze artists, jugglers and aerial acrobats were laid on to delight the audience ahead of the main event, a six-song set of new and less new material by the foursome.

The Circus, the group’s second comeback album, looks set to top its best-selling predecessor Beautiful World, with an estimated 50,000 copies sold purely on pre-order ahead of the 1 December release.

On top of that, Greatest Day – the first single from the new album – went straight in at number one this past weekend.

‘Still nervous’

Yet despite Take That’s seemingly untarnishable Midas touch, they clearly still feel the need to go hell for leather on promotion.

The party was just the culmination of day of media and fan courting that began at St Pancras station on Monday morning and continued on the Eurostar to Paris.

We’ve always said that it’s like a circus coming to town when we tour – last time we had 36 trucks. Mark Owen

And though mobbed by screaming fans at the Gare du Nord – reminiscent of their 90s heyday – the group maintain an endearing unwillingness to take their success for granted.

“We’re still nervous about everything we do and still feel the need to give everything we’ve got,” said Mark Owen ahead of the Paris gig.

Owen also explained why the group went with The Circus as the title of their new work, even though Britney Spears was to release an album of the same name – and on the same day.

“We wanted to make something that was big and extravagant which would relay to the live shows quite easily.

“And we’ve always said that it’s like a circus coming to town when we tour. Last time we had 36 trucks.

“There are many ways of looking at it but for me it’s more about entertainment than celebrity, to cheer people up.”

Toffee apples

And cheer up the crowd at the VIP Room they certainly did.

Yes, the boys were fashionably late on stage but there was candy floss, popcorn and toffee apples in free supply plus the Moulin Rougesque performers.

This rather bizarrely included a woman clad in a giant wedding dress raised some 20ft from the stage and singing an opera version of Could It Be Magic.

The Circus looks set to take the number one spot

Just when the audience seemed to be getting tetchy, Take That made their entrance onto the tiny stage, all slickly clad in black and Owen sporting the trilby that now seems never to leave his head.

“Are you ready for the greatest day right here and now?” boomed the master of ceremonies. Of course, they were.

Cameras and mobiles aloft (check out You Tube today), the crowd let out their pent-up excitement in a deafening united scream as the guys launched into Greatest Day.

Whipped up into a frenzy, the crowd sang at such a level the stars on stage could barely be heard.

New direction

But with the last chorus fading, Owen stepped forward to announce the first of what turned out to be three songs fronted by him on the night.

“It’s the first time we’ve been in Paris in 12 years and it’s an absolute pleasure to be here. And this next song is for all you guys,” he said as he dived into the Ivor Novello-winning Shine from Beautiful World (and the Morrisons ads!).

The foursome greeted fans at St Pancras station before heading to Paris

Owen has always been the most exuberant of the foursome and tonight he seemed to be truly revelling in his lead status in front of an adoring crowd.

But if Owen gains a more prominent place on the new album, then so do Jason Orange and Howard Donald. Both get to sing leads, Orange on one track and Donald on two.

And overall The Circus marks a new direction for Take That, for whom Barlow has traditionally been the driving force in the song-writing and vocals.

This time the process was a fully collaborative effort, and one the group took a lot of time over compared with the relatively fast turn around of Beautiful World.

Orange, for whom celebrity still does not appear to sit comfortably on his shoulders, almost cowers on stage next to his more vivacious group mates.

Camaraderie

So when he stepped out of the shadows the reception was rapturous.

“Thank you so much for coming,” he said. “This is a big, big day. It’s been long and arduous [writing the album] but we’re proud of it. It’s very special.

“It’s amazing you all know the words when it’s only out today. And those of you who don’t know them, why not? Go out and buy it.”

The other songs of the night were the sweeping We Can Rule The World and emotional Patience, throughout which the guys’ camaraderie and united status as a group were obviously still very much intact.

As the final song ended, confetti rained down upon the delighted fans, all of whom seemed to have had a ball.

“It was brilliant,” said Emma Lonsdale from Gainsborough. “I’ve been so excited for days but this was definitely worth all the waiting. I am so happy.”