Do you remember Ainslie Henderson from the first series of Fame Academy? He was the slightly intense, jumpy Scottish singer songwriter who was tipped the win the contest but ended up finishing 4th. He went on to enjoy a mildy successful music career throughout his twenties before deciding that the life of a pop star was not for him. He then studied animation at Edinburgh College of Art and has
Have you discovered the Odeon Culture Programme yet? This brilliant initiative is bringing the best in live theatre, opera, ballet, entertainment and sport to Odeon cinemas around the country making some of the top cultural experiences available to people for whom the west end is too expensive and too far. As well top theatre productions such as Warhorse and – coming up next week – The Curious Incident of the Dog
We were very excited back in 2012 to bring you the fascinating story of Vivian Maier, the reclusive street photographer whose previously unseen work was discovered in a Chicago auctionhouse by John Maloof. The lifetime’s worth of stunning pictures are these days celebrated the world over and now a brilliant new documentary made by Maloof charts Maier’s life and work as well as his own journey of discovery. The film
Highly recommended viewing is From Scotland with Love, a brilliant and inventive film project made by Virginia Heath using only Scottish film archive. The film, which was commissioned to mark the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer, features an orginal – and stunningly evocative – soundtrack by Fife’s Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote. With neither voiceover nor subtitles, the perfectly edited footage covers themes of love, loss, family, work, politics, romance and fun
Drambuie and Filmhouse Edinburgh are offering 2 lucky Avocado Sweet readers the chance to win tickets to a screening of Tunes of Glory starring Alec Guinness. The screening is on the 30th of April. Drambuie is supporting a series of film seasons over 2014 to bring ‘A Taste of the Extraordinary’ to Edinburgh cinema audiences. Winners will be entitled to a free Drambuie cocktail at the Filmhouse Bar. Tweet ‘Tunes
Among the many wonderful things about True Detective, the HBO series in which two troubled detectives pick their way through a bleak swampy Louisiana littered with chemical refineries, trailers and serial killers, is its opening title sequence. Backed by the Handsome Family’s Far From Any Road, it perfectly capture’s Rust Cohle’s (Matthew McConaughey) line, ‘this place is like someone’s memory of a town – and the memory is fading.’ The
The Happy Lands is a feature length film about the 1926 Coal Miners Strike. It was filmed in West Fife using local people instead of professional actors and premiered last year at The Alhambra in Dunfermline. It will be screened next on 22 October at Beath High School in Cowdenbeath. In this exclusive interview the film’s director Robert Rae talks to Fife artist Ian Moir and testifies to the community
Did Sir Norman Foster get as much pleasure from designing The Gherkin as architect Robin Baker did from designing Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy? It seems unlikely. ‘It’s been such a privilege to work on this project and now that it’s finished it will feel like a bereavement. For the past 18 months it’s been my life.’ But Robin, who lives in Aberfeldy, will soon be able to watch movies at
Lavish seven minutes of your Friday on this final scene from Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata – you won’t regret it. The films tells the story of a Japanese family whose lives unravel after the father loses his job. In this scene the parents arrive at a prestigious music school to see their son audition. Unaware that he has been using his lunch money to pay for piano lessons, they anxiously take their