Hello, Rosy fans. Rosy here. I am proud to be the Editor-In-Chief of Take One, which delivers the Cambridge Film Festival Review each year.
The Review started as a daily newsletter and has evolved under my tenure into an exquisite suite of print magazines, supported by top-quality daily review coverage online. Today we released our final print copy of Take One, and you’ll find at least half a dozen new articles at takeonecff.com every day. Previous copies of our print publication can be found here. By the end of the Festival our website will offer approximately 125 substantial, illustrated reviews of films from the CFF programme. Take One runs all year round so we’ve been able to offer previews of films and filmmakers who we’ve encountered at other film festivals before welcoming them to Cambridge. As well as the previews and reviews you will find several features and interviews – so far we have interviews with Leah Meyerhoff (I Believe In Unicorns), S J Watson (Before I Go To Sleep), Andrew Sinclair (Under Milk Wood); and eager introductions to the cinematic icons Gerhard Lamprecht and Lionel Rogosin. In collaboration with our friend Toby Miller of Bums on Seats (Cambridge 105) we have also recorded several Festival interviews and Q&As for posterity.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors at ARU we were able to offer print copies of Take One this year. Victoire print each issue on recycled paper, and all four editions offer preview material showcasing the diversity of the programme, from Short Fusion and New German to the Family Film Fest via oddities such as Nekromantik.
Feisty brunette Edd Elliott has been writing for Take One ever since it first began in 2011. This year he’s our Deputy Editor which means that he’s the one getting his friendly face and hands dirty while I pull the strings. We are determined to offer our readers consistently original and thoughtful material, and it takes a keen eye to check our copy for Forbidden Words such as “unflinching” and “ultimately” (and that’s just from the U list). We don’t want to offend any of your sensibilities, and so our fonts are chosen carefully and each image which illustrates our articles follows the rule of thirds.
Edd and I are supported by Take One’s Managing Editor Jim Ross and our Associate Editor Gavin Midgley, as well as a dedicated team of sub-editors who help us to keep up appearances: Hannah Clarkson, Ben Dalton, Mark Liversidge and Stephen Watson are working hard behind the scenes. We also have two excellent photographers working for us in harmony on those days when the official Festival photographer Tom Catchesides isn’t available: Phil Yates (sniper) and Dave Riley (guerrilla).
We have learned over the years that it’s important for our editorial team to balance productivity with sociability, whilst still allowing time to go and see films for fun. I have seen one film so far: the opening film, “The Kidnapping of Michel Houellbecq“. I like to go in blind, but this was possibly not the best approach for a mockumentary about a French celebrity with whom I have n0 familiarity. My companion Gil Kofman (whose film “The White City” screened twice at the festival) indulged in a jet-lagged nap during the film. Setting aside the conceit of the kidnapping, I found the Doubtful Guest’s situation increasingly engaging, amusing and often poignant. The subtleties of the orchestrated conflict, though, were lost on me until I researched the subject post-screening and learned of Houellbecq’s notorious reputation as a bigot and a womaniser. In France, it’s not just tanned primadonnas but often ugly old intellectuals who are the subject of media gossip and sensation – there’s no shame in buying a Gallic version of Heat Magazine.
Well, I’ve held your attention for long enough, Rosy fans who have made it this far. The tl;dr version of this Editor Blog is: we love you and we hope we’re helping you enjoy your voyage of discovery through the festival programme as much as we are.
WATCH THE SHORT FUSION PROGRAMMES. They are the best.
Rosy
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHtjl8V483A