CHRISTIE BOOKS:
TWO NEWS FILMS AVAILABLE FROM CHRISTIE BOOKS/BRIGHTCOVE SITE:
The Christie Books Brightcove site has two new films available for downloading from their site. The site contains over 400 documentaries, shorts and feature films, all available for free downloading from their site. Two new items are:
'Z' by Costa Garves:
'Z' is a french language political thriller directed by Costa Garvas, with a screenplay by Garvas and Jorge Semprun, based on the novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek politician Gregoris Lambrakis in 1963. With its satirical view of Greek politics, its dark sense of humour and its chilling ending, the film captures the sense of outrage about the military dictatorship that ruled Greece at the time of its making.
'Privilege' (1967- Peter Watkins Feature)
After directing several extraordinary documentaries for the BBC, peter Watkins made his first dramatic feature with this flawed but striking film about Steven shorter (Paul Jones), a pop singer in a future society where entertainment is controlled by a totalitarian government. Shorter's music and image is used to channel the impulses of rebellious youth; in one concert sequence, the crowd watches him sing a plaintive plea for love and understanding while locked in a cage surrounded by police officers armed with clubs. While Shorter is remarkably popular he is also living a life created for him by the government, which Steven knows is a sham. When Shorter's handlers decide to revise his image into that of an obedient, religious boy he rebels, to his peril. Model Jean Shrimpton made her film debut here as an artist commissioned to paint a portrait of Shorter. Privilege later became something of a cult film. One of the film's admirers was rock poet Patti Smith who recorded one of 'Steven Shorter's' songs, 'Set me Free' on her 1978 album 'Easter'.
