Spanish Movie Posters

“Volver.”
For lovers of world cinema memorabilia and ephemera, Spanish movie posters are a great addition to any collection. This list gathers five titles that any fan would find compelling, but with such a rich tradition of great cinema, dashing actors, and achingly beautiful actresses, Spain offers movie poster collectors an endless array of choices.

“El Espinazo Del Diablo.”
Talented director Pedro Almodóvar crafted this 2006 film and received wide acclaim. Collectors will enjoy this Spanish movie poster for its vibrant colors, interesting typography, and its stunning depiction of the lovely Penelope Cruz. 


“Pan's Labyrinth.”
Audiences know director Guillermo del Toro for films like “Hell Boy” and “The Mimic,” but not nearly as many viewers are familiar with this creepy tale of life at an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. Several different posters exist for this title and all are worth seeking out. The best features a dark brooding aesthetic and an eerie picture of Santi, a ghostly boy who haunts the orphanage. 


“Proyecto Dos.”
Guillermo del Toro also directed this film which explores the fantasy world which a young girl uses to escape the reality of living with her cruel father in fascist Spain. A critical success, the film has a dark and surreal feel that comes through well on the amazing movie poster that greeted moviegoers before its release.


“Rivales.”
Nothing could be more Spanish than soccer, the subject of this film. Critics may have been ambivalent about the film's merits, but the cinema collector can easily see why the poster is such a great item. Cleverly depicting the film's stars as players on a foosball table, it conveys a fun, comic tone and promises viewers a great experience.

Top Second Weeks ALL TIME

The top second weeks in the history of Hindi film industry in terms of nett collections are listed below.

1. Three Idiots (2009) - 56.84 crore

2. Dabangg (2010) - 35.97 crore

3. Ready (2011) - 32.68 crore

4. Golmaal 3 (2010) - 31.92 crore

5. Don 2* (2011) - 27.17 crore

6. Ghajini (2008) - 26.50 crore

7. Singham (2011) - 24.95 crore

8. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) - 24.56 crore

9. Raajneeti (2010) - 23.92 crore

10. Om Shanti Om (2007) - 22.18 crore

11. Dhoom 2 (2006) - 21.07 crore

12. Bodyguard (2011) - 20.55 crore

13. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) - 19.53 crore

14. Welcome (2007) - 19.44 crore

15. Jaane Tu... Yan Jaane Na (2008) - 18.34 crore

16. Partner (2007) - 18.30 crore

17. My Name Is Khan (2010) - 17.55 crore

18. The Dirty Picture* (2011) - 17.49 crore

19. Krissh (2006) - 17.48 crore

20. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009) - 17.37 crore

21. Wanted (2009) - 17.33 crore

22. Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011) - 16.59 crore

23. Love Aaj Kal (2009) - 16.39 crore

24. Chak De India (2007) - 16.31 crore

25. Singh Is Kinng (2008) - 16.12 crore

26. Rockstar (2011) - 15.85 crore

27. Ra.One* (2011) - 15.29 crore

28. Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) - 15.08 crore

29. Race (2008) - 14.89 crore

30. Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011) - 14.73 crore

Film industry awaits direction

David Cameron’s visit to Pinewood studios this week to promote British film has cast him in the role of both hero and villain. His comments on the future shape of the industry polarised opinion among film makers.
The prime minister, striding around studio sets and surrounded by anxious-looking industry representatives, said public funding of film production should be rebalanced towards mainstream commercial movies.
Ken Loach, the acclaimed British director of the Palme d’Or winner The Wind that Shakes the Barley, called the remarks a “travesty” and accused Mr Cameron of leaking his own government’s review of policy on the film industry, due to be published on Monday.
Commercial success was “hard to predict”, Mr Loach said, arguing that film makers were not entrepreneurs and measured themselves by creativity and originality.
“David Cameron has made a mistake. He has dived into the pool but doesn’t understand the water,” said Rebecca O’Brien, an independent film producer at Sixteen Films, the company set up by Mr Loach.
“He has hijacked this review with a sound bite and demeaned what is a complex report that has been worked on long and hard.”
The review by Lord Smith, the former Labour culture secretary, is expected to recommend that profits made from films be returned to production companies for reinvestment, as opposed to the original funding bodies.
Lottery funding used to be apportioned by the now-defunct UK Film Council but the money was considered a loan and was expected to be repaid from the film’s income.
Andrew Eaton, film producer behind A Mighty Heart and Junkhearts, said: “If you have kids and you give them pocket money, at some point you have to get them to take responsibility for it. The same applies here, otherwise the industry cannot mature into a grown-up business.”
The question of how to nurture UK film has taxed successive British governments. Should the industry, which straddles the commercial and cultural worlds, be subsidised for its artistic value or be left to commercial ­producers?
Film making contributes more than £4.2bn a year to the economy and more than £1.2bn to the exchequer, according to a report by Oxford Economics.
The UK has notched up some notable box office successes in recent years, including Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech.
“I would be supportive of anything that does more to encourage UK producers to think about mainstream commercial success. Film is a global business with a worldwide audience. UK producers have to up their game,” said James Clayton, chief executive of Ingenious Media, which specialises in film finance.
“I argue that making commercial films is less risky than making art house films. Take the film St Trinians 2: it cost the same as a Mike Leigh movie, roughly £5m. The key point is making films for the right price.”
But a Financial Times review of 10 years of UK Film Council annual accounts shows that many of the so-called “mainstream” production companies that received significant public funding had fairly poor product ­performance.
Ecosse Films, which produced Wuthering Heights and Brideshead Revisited, was awarded a total of £6.2m in Lottery funding between 2001 and 2010 but recouped just £2.4m, or 39 per cent.
Number 9 Films, producers of Made in Dagenham and Intermission, recouped only £1.5m, or 21 per cent, of the £7.2m it was rewarded; Ruby Films, which produced Chatroom and Tamara Drew, was awarded £4.1m but recouped a mere 8 per cent, or £348,184. These figures involve Lottery awards from the Film Council, which was axed last year as part of the government’s “bonfire of the quangos”, and exclude regional or other grants.
Film producers are hopeful that Monday’s report will provide relief for the sector. But one person familiar with Lord Smith’s review said it was unlikely to tackle the need to give film companies incentives to become more international – by shooting more movies in Europe, for example.
The film tax regime, introduced in 2007, largely restricts relief to money spent in the UK by British production companies. It was not extended for UK actors or crew working abroad.
“As an industry we are still immature about running our business ... Every year people go to to Cannes and get drunk. It’s like an immature office outing. But we are getting better and more consistent, as seen this past year with our successes, “ said Mr Eaton.

3d Video Production London UK

3D Experience filmed their first experimental 3D Video Pop Promo in the winter of 1985. This was captured & edited on VHS tape using a pair of low resolution security cameras, using a simple slide bar mount. 25 years and 3 government grants later, 3D Experience were demonstrating to a select audience, two 3D theatre technologies, where viewers did not need 3D glasses at all. On the 3rd January 2008, 3DE showed that it was possible for 3DHD to be captured economically with their 3D rigs, transmitted via 1 HD Channel and viewed at home on an inexpensive 3D Ready TV – nearly 2 years later Satellite and Cable Channels are following.

Along the way, 25 3D cinemas have been fitted with 3D Experience polarized 3D systems in Spain, the USA, the Czech Republic and the UK. These have been supplied with 3D Experience produced movies such as Battle For Treasure Castle, SeaSpace 2000, Living In VR and more recently, The Witch Way, a fully animated 3D movie in High Definition using 3DE’s fully interactive software 3D camera rig. Besides the entertainment sector, 3D Experience manufacture 3D capture & viewing technology for the military, medicine and space sectors and over two decade in the business, have built up an impressive client list.

The Company’s 3D knowledge base is vast and they will usually find a solution for even the most challenging technical problem. Equipment for hire and for sale range from miniature stereo camera mounts to 300mm rigs for steadycam or un-manned aircraft. Their popular larger pro-mounts are being used for 3D feature films and were used for the BBC’s rugby 3D trials and even Channel 4 used a Pro-mount for recording Her Majesty the Queen.

3D Experience’s revolutionary 3D CamBuddy Dual-view monitor, essential, in the alignment of stereo cameras, has matured from a low powered 4:3 ratio monitor to the ever popular 16:9 version. Two further models are in development - a 1,000 lumen Hi resolution sunlight readable version and a Pro 2D/3D version. These, being part of the ever growing treasure trove of know-how, skills, techniques and patents of future capture & display 3D technology products.
 

Aretha Franklin announces engagement

The 69-year-old soul legend and Grammy award-winner said she was hoping to marry over the summer.
She told AP that she and Mr Wilkerson were considering Miami Beach, Florida, as a possible location, followed by a reception on a private yacht.
Franklin, whose latest album is called Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, has been married twice before.
"We're looking at June or July for our date, and no, I'm not pregnant, LOL!," she said in a statement.
The singer returned to performing in May last year after being admitted to hospital for an undisclosed ailment.

Aretha Franklin has become engaged to her long-term friend William "Willie" Wilkerson.

St Trinian's cartoonist Ronald Searle dies

David Sillito looks back at Ronald Searle's career. Courtesy of the estate of the artist and the Sayle Literary Agency.British cartoonist Ronald Searle, best known for creating the fictional girls' school St Trinian's, has died aged 91.

His daughter Kate Searle said in a statement that he "passed away peacefully in his sleep" in a hospital in France.

Searle's spindly cartoons of the naughty schoolgirls first appeared in 1941, before the idea was adapted for film.

The first movie version, The Belles of St Trinian's, was released in 1954.

Joyce Grenfell and George Cole starred in the film, along with Alastair Sim, who appeared in drag as headmistress Millicent Fritton.

Searle also provided illustrations the Molesworth series, written by Geoffrey Willans.

The gothic, line-drawn cartoons breathed life into the gruesome pupils of St Custard's school, in particular the outspoken, but functionally-illiterate Nigel Molesworth "the goriller of 3B".

Searle's work regularly appeared in magazines and newspapers, including Punch and The New Yorker.

'Unabashed ambition'

Aside from his schoolday stories, he was a savage satirist, and some of his darker material was informed by his time as a prisoner of war during World War II.
There, he worked on the infamous "Railway of Death" - a Japanese project to create a rail link between Thailand and Burma, the construction of which led to the death of more than 100,000 labourers, including 16,000 Allied prisoners.

Some of the work he created whilst being held captive is displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Cartoonist Gerald Scarfe paid tribute to Searle, whom he described as his "hero".

He said: "He was clever and he was funny and he could draw. A lot of cartoonists come up with an idea first but Ronald could really draw."

However, he added that Searle's most famous creations were a "millstone around his neck".

He told the BBC: "He created St Trinian's, which we all loved, and he despised it because he couldn't get away from it and of course he did many, many other things."

Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell said Searle's work stood out for its "genuine wit, intelligence and unabashed ambition".

Anita O'Brien, curator at the Cartoon Museum, said Searle was "absolutely unique".

She added: "He really was one of the most important cartoonists, not just in Britain, but in the rest of the world.

"Many people were influenced by his work. He did so many things, he was so versatile, so talented, so prolific. He will be incredibly missed and there was no one else like him."

Chris Beetles, who held several exhibitions of Searle's work at his gallery, said: "He had become the yardstick by which all those professionals in his trade judged themselves, and his witty draughtsmanship was the standard to which they aspired.

"Over my 40-year collecting and art dealing lifetime, I have never encountered a cartoonist with his consistency of drawing ability, and such an inventive range of humour from burlesque to surrealism."

'Comic anarchism'

Across his career, Searle won a number of awards, including prizes from America's National Cartoonists' Society and France's prestigious Legion d'Honneur in 2007.
But St Trinian's was his most enduring work - spawning five films between 1954 and 1980.

After a 27-year hiatus, the series was revived in 2007, with Rupert Everett in the headmistress role.

The movie also starred Talulah Riley, Jodie Whittaker and Gemma Arterton, making her film debut.

A sequel, St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, was released two years later.

Simon Winder, from Penguin the company that published St Trinian's said: "We are all extremely sad to hear of Ronald's death. He was a marvellous, remarkable man and a great artist.

"I can think of nobody who did more to ridicule and undermine 1950s Britain and St Trinian's and Molesworth will endure forever as masterpieces of comic anarchism."

A full statement from Searle's family read as follows: "Ronald William Fordham Searle, born 3 March 1920, passed away peacefully in his sleep, after a short illness, with his children, Kate and John, and his grandson, Daniel, beside him, on 30 December 2011 in Draguignan, France.

"He requested a private cremation with no fuss and no flowers."