Film screening and discussions – ‘England, my England’ at 19:00

BCI London will be screening ‘England, my England’ directed by the famous English Director Tony Palmer. Special guests for the night include Stefan Kitanov and Tony Palmer.

England, My England
UK, 1995, 153 min, color

Director: Tony Palmer
Script: John Osborne, Charles Wood
Camera: Nicholas D. Knowland
Music: Henry Purcell
Cast: Simon Callow, Michael Ball, Rebecca Front, Lucy Speed, Letitia Dean, Nina Young
Producer: Mike Bluett
Assosiate producers: Stefan Kitanov, Radoslav Spassov
Production: Channel Four Films, Ladbroke Films
World Sales: NVC Arts

Considered one of the finest composers in English history, Henry Purcell (1659-1695) remains a shadowy figure despite innumerable attempts to know him better. Indeed, Purcell has become something of an obscure object of desire for the English. He is honored with a burial plot near the organ inside Westminster Abbey, his grave adorned with a fawning epitaph claiming that he has gone to the only place where „his harmony can be exceeded”. He earned the admiration and praise of poets, and his music continues to exert influence over composers such as Benjamin Britten, and is even presented in modern cinema (Wendy Carlos adapted „Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” for use as the title music in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange).
Tony Palmer’s film sets out with the goal to paint a more comprehensive portrait of Purcell with the script launching a group of actors in the 1960s on a voyage of discovery into the 1660s & late-17th century England, the extraordinary period in which the composer lived.

TONY PALMER

Tony Palmer is one of the leading directors of music documentaries and historical drama films in the world. His filmography of over one hundred films ranges from early works with The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, to the famous portraits with and about Walton, Britten, Stravinsky, Maria Callas, John Osborne, Margot Fonteyn and Menuhin. His 7 hour 45 minutes film on Wagner, starring Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier and Vanessa Redgrave, was described by the Los Angeles Times as „one of the most beautiful films ever made”. Among over 40 international prizes for his work are 12 Gold Medals at the New York Film & Television Festival, as well as numerous BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television) and EMMY nominations and awards. He is the only person to have won the Prix Italia twice. Tony Palmer was awarded the Sofia Municipality award for outstanding achievements in world cinema in 2010.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
1968-1969 Omnibus – Cream’s Farewell Concert and All My Loving
1971 200 Motels
1981 Death in Venice
1983 Wagner – TV mini series
1987 Maria Callas: La Divina – A Portrait – TV
1991 Menuhin: A Family Portrait – TV
1993 The Harvest of Sorrow – TV
1995 England, My England
1999 The Strange Case of Delphina Potocka or The Mystery of Chopin
2002 Renée Fleming – TV
2008 O, Fortuna! – TV
2008 Fairport Convention: Maidstone 1970
2012 Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard – TV doc.
2013 Nocturne: Benjamin Britten – TV doc.

 

Stefan Kitanov

Stefan Kitanov holds degrees in economics from the University for Bulgarian and World Economics, Sofia (1984), and in film criticism from the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts, Sofia (1991). In 1993-1994 he lived and studied in Britain arts management at the De Monfort University, Leicester. From 1992 through 1999, Kitanov was director and programmer of Cinema House, the most important art house cinema in Bulgaria. After establishing his production companies RFF International (1994) and Art Fest (2001), he began to organize annual film festivals in Bulgaria. He organized as director and producer Music Film Fest (1997 and 1998), Sofia Music & Film Fest (1999 and 2000), and Sofia International Film Festival (since 2001), as well as several smaller film events. Sofia International Film Festival is the only Bulgarian film festival member of the European Coordination of Film Festivals and is considered as the biggest and most successful film festival in Bulgaria. In 2003 Kitanov was invited as member of the Opera Prima Jury in Venice. In 2004 he was president of the Europa Cinemas Jury at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes and member of the Main Jury in Wiesbaden. He is a member of the European Film Academy. Stefan Kitanov is also involved in distribution. Since November 2003 he has being managing a Cinema House.