FAITHS FILM FESTIVAL FINAL FIVE

This morning the schedule for the film festival at Phoenix Square during Inter Faith Week is made public. Phoenix Square’s November brochure is published online (printed version to follow in two days). I've been particularly keen to see the finalised programme, so that I can get the details into the flyer that we’re having printed this week, listing our main activities during Inter Faith Week.

So, how does the final programme for Leicester's first Faiths Film Festival shape up against what I've been hoping for? At first sight, the result could be thought disappointing. But it ain't necessarily so.

When I first enquired about the possibility of Phoenix Square screening a short season of faith-related films at the same time last year, it was just a wish - and rather formless, as wishes tend to be. A couple of months ago, when making a more formal approach to Phoenix Square, I would have considered it a triumph to get five films on. At one point, I as discussing with Andy Jones (Programme Manager at Phoenix Square) the viability of showing as many as 14 titles: two per day throughout the week. As is the way with Leicester Council of Faiths, we were trying to represent each of our member communities equally. But as you can imagine, faithful reader, it's harder to find movies about, by or from some of those communities than others. I put out an APB, by email, social media and word of mouth, seeking recommendations for titles. Some of the suggestions were innovative, inventive, inspired – although some left me wondering if the respondents had ever been to the movies themselves or even knew what a feature film was. Sifting through a considerable amount of dross, there were a few nuggets of gold.

The ideal situation (from our point of view) would have seen two movies screened per day (half of them in Screen 2, which seats 120 and half in the Screen Room, which seats 30; half of them in English and half in another language with English sub-titles; half of them commercially proven and the other half more of a risk). Phoenix Square has whittled this down to a final five, as listed in the brochure.

I've learned a lot about how a cinema like Phoenix Square goes about its business. It's certainly not a matter of simply presenting a wishlist and expecting to get everything you want. The eventual choice was based on several factors, e.g.

• availability in suitable format for projection;
• having been passed by the British Board of Film Classification and granted an age certificate;
• ownership of current screening rights in the UK by a trading distributor (some of the proposed films have never been licensed for public screening in the UK, while screening rights for others have long lapsed).

So after all that, here's the final selection of films:

Sun 20: Little Buddha (Buddhist - obviously) 

Mon 21: A Serious Man (Jewish) 

Thu 24: Life in a Day (illustrating the Bahá'í principle of world unity) 

Fri 25: My Name is Khan (Muslim - with Hindu connections too) 

Sat 26: Lourdes (Christian)

I should stress here that the final choice was made by Phoenix Square – and in the end, they’ve gone with those films most likely to get patrons out of their homes on a cold dark November evening and parting with £7 for their ticket. Three of the five have been shown at Phoenix Square and deserve another go-round there.

I saw two of these films during their theatrical release (A Serious Man and Lourdes). I've already blogged about the latter.

We’ve been asked to write copy for the A4 cribsheets that are available free at the time of screening. On these we can say something about the relevance of the film to the respective faith communities, something about Inter Faith Week and something about the Council of Faiths. We were also offered, initially, the opportunity for an introductory talk about each film, of no more than three minutes in length. I haven't pursued this - so far.

I would like to find out if we can get a slide shown before each of the films, saying something like:

This film is being screened as part of Phoenix Square's Faiths Film Festival, presented in association with Leicester Council of Faiths, during Inter Faith Week.

A few too many "Faiths" in there? I'll work on it.

Phoenix Square's online brochure has a page devoted to the Faiths Film Festival. This web page has a slide show of still from four of the  movies, each with Leicester Council of Faiths logo added in the bottom right hand corner. That looks very nice. And there’s a paragraph of copy, written by me, linking the Faiths Film Festival with the Council of Faiths 25^th anniversary:

The third national Inter Faith Week is being celebrated from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 November. Leicester has a positive and widespread reputation for the diverse and cohesive nature of its faith and cultural communities, so when Leicester Council of Faiths asked if Phoenix Square would host the first Faiths Film Festival – of course we said yes! This varied selection of movies showcasing faith, religion and belief also marks the 25th anniversary of Leicester Council of Faiths – which has been working to promote trust, understanding and cooperation among the city’s communities since 1986.

I hope that this is a success and that we get to do it again next year. Now it’s up to you, faithful reader. If you’re within the catchment area of Phoenix Square, then come along to one or more of these screenings during Inter Faith Week, show your support and enjoy a good film with our blessing!