891 Filmhouse

The Notebooks of Cornelius Crow Available for Rental & Download

2012-01-28T16:24:00.001-08:00

Our 2005 feature, The Notebooks of Cornelius Crow, is finally available for download and rental. You can access the movie here. Enjoy!

Druids - Screening for Druids

2011-11-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Druids: Travels in Deep England will be screening in Glastonbury on 10 December 2011 for OBOD's Midwinter Gathering. This screening will be open to members of OBOD only, so if you want to come along, please contact them via their website. The film begins at 1530 or thereabouts. Louise & Sean will introduce the film and do a Q&A afterwards.

A Boat Retold - Inverness Screenings

2011-11-22T02:53:00.000-08:00

A Boat Retold is screening at the Highland Print Studio in Inverness as part of the highland run of the show Is a Thing Lost....? Admission is free, and the show and film run until January 28th 2012.

Folie a Deux - Fundraising Campaign

2011-10-12T05:23:00.000-07:00

There is now a second Sponsume campaign up and running to help raise the final £500 needed to finish the film. More info - and the chance to donate to the project - can be done by going to: http://www.sponsume.com/project/folie-deux
If funds come in - and surely £500 is raisable, even in "austerity Britain" - then the film will finally be finished before the end of the year.

Druids Screening: Alchemy Film Festival 22.10.11.

2011-10-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Druids: Travels in Deep England will screen at this year's Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival in the Borders town of Hawick. The screening is on Saturday 22 October at 2 pm at the Heart of Hawick -Tower Mill. Louise Milne will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards.

The following morning, at 11am, Alchemy will be screening Tarkovsky's Mirror. This will be introduced by Sean Martin, whose book on Tarkovsky is now available in an updated edition.

More more on the Alchemy Film Festival, go here.

Druids on Facebook

2011-10-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Druids: Travels in Deep England now has its own Facebook Page.

Folie à Deux | Sponsume

2011-08-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

We now have a campaign on Sponsume to get Folie finished:

Folie à Deux | Sponsume

The amount we need has just fallen by 50%, courtesy of some unexpected funding coming in. Please help with the remaining half if you can. Thanks.

Indie Go Go Funding Campaign Now On

2011-08-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Please take a moment to check our our campaign on Indie Go Go to raise the small amount of money needed to complete Sean's feature film Folie a Deux:

http://www.indiegogo.com/folieadeuxmovie?a=205331&i=addr

If you are able to make a small contribution, that would be even better! Thanks in advance.

Druids screening in Boston tonight.

2011-07-26T08:57:00.001-07:00

Northeastern University
Holmes Hall
Room 400 B
39-41 Leon St

1800 start.

Druids US Premiere Sells Out

2011-07-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Druids: Travels in Deep England premiered at the Maine International Film Festival last night to a sell-out house. The film screens again tonight, and also next Tuesday at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

The Waterville Morning Sentinel also ran an article yesterday on Louise and Sean. Read it here.

Druids US Premiere 21 July 2011

2011-06-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

The Druids: Travels in Deep England receives its US premiere on 21 July, when it screens as part of the 2011 Maine International Film Festival. Louise and Sean will introduce the film, and will be doing a Q&A afterwards. More information can be found at MIFF's website.

A Boat Retold- Screenings in North Uist, June 2011

2011-05-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

A Boat Retold will be screening at Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre on North Uist on Friday, as part of the Is a thing lost? exhibition that opened in Stornoway in March. More info here.

Reissue of Andrei Tarkvosky

2011-05-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sean Martin's book Andrei Tarkovsky has just been reissued by Kamera Books. This is a larger format paperback than the original edition, and comes with colour illustrations and a revised and updated bibliography, filmography and notes. Copies can be obtained by clicking the image below.

A short article, "Why Tarkovsky Matters" is also published this month in the Curzon Cinema magazine.

Druids in Maine

2011-05-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Louise Milne's feature-length documentary, The Druids: Travels in Deep England, will receive its North American premiere in July, when it will be screened at the 2011 Maine International Film Festival in Waterville, ME (dates TBC). The festival last year screened Lanterna Magicka, and Louise and Sean are delighted that they will have a chance to return. See you in Railroad Square!

Ishbel on Radio 4's Last Word

2011-04-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ishbel MacAskill featured in last week's Last Word on BBC Radio 4. You can listen to the programme again here.

Ishbel MacAskill

2011-04-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

All at 891 Filmhouse are greatly saddened and shocked to hear of the death of the Gaelic singer Ishbel MacAskill, who has died at her home in Inverness. Sean and Louise filmed Ishbel at a gig in Harris last summer, and she graciously agreed to some of the music recorded that night being used in A Boat Retold, which premiereed in Stornoway only last weekend. We send our condolences and symapthies to her family and friends. She will be very much missed.

A Boat Retold - Screening until 7 May

2011-03-29T07:06:00.001-07:00

A Boat Retold will be screening at an Lanntair in Stornoway until 7th May, as part of the exhibition Is A Thing Lost... If You Know Where it is?

A Boat Retold - Premieres this Saturday

2011-03-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

www.lanntair.com

Druids Screening

2011-03-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

There will be a sneak preview of Louise Milne's The Druids: Travels in Deep England tonight in Edinburgh, at the School of Scottish Studies, 27 George Square at 1900. All welcome. Louise will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards. The film features Professor Ronald Hutton, sci-fi author Liz Williams, screenwriter and author Nicholas Mark Harding, amongst others.

A Boat Retold - Premiere Details

2011-03-06T12:13:00.001-08:00

A Boat Retold will be premiered at an Lanntair in Stornoway on Saturday 26th March. More details can be found on an Lanntair's website. Louise and Sean will introduce the film.

A Boat Retold to premiere in Stornoway

2011-02-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

A Boat Retold, the new film by Sean Martin & Louise Milne, featuring the writer Robert Macfarlane and the writer, artist and poet Ian Stephen, will receive its world premiere at An Lanntair in Stornoway on 26 March. More details to follow...

All News that's Fit to Blog - An Update

2010-11-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Louise Milne's The Druids: Travels in Deep England, featuring various druids, pagans, authors and cavers, is nearing the end of postproduction.

Louise and Sean have collaborated on a second film (after the acclaimed Lanterna Magicka: Bill Douglas & the Secret History of Cinema), titled A Boat Retold. This is a short documentary about boats, stories and sea routes and features author, poet, sailor and storyteller Ian Stephen and author Robert Macfarlane. The film was shot on and around Lewis and the Shiants in August, and is due to premiere at an Lanntair in Stornoway in March 2011, where it will be screened as part of an exhibition featuring work by Ian. The film is now in postproduction.

Finally, Sean's feature film, Folie à Deux is once again in postproduction after a lengthy lay-off due to adverse astrological alignments. The film's sound design and mix are in the very capable hands of Julien Pearly and Jake Clark-Darby. We hope the film will be finished in early 2011.

Date of US Lanterna Magicka Premiere

2010-06-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

... has yet to be annouced, although we can now tell you that the date(s) will be posted on the Maine Film Festival's site in mid-late June. We'll post again once we know ourselves when the film is being screened. We - Sean and Louise - will be introducing the film, and also Bill Douglas's Comrades, which will be screened in its new 35mm print (which looks fantastic, btw!).

Lanterna Magicka - US Premiere Upcoming

2010-05-04T08:27:00.001-07:00

Lanterna Magicka will receive its US premiere in July 2010. More details soon.

Lanterna Magicka - English and International Premieres

2010-04-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lanterna Magicka had its English premiere at the Flatpack Festival in Birmingham on 27 March, and receieves its international premiere on 8 April 2010 at the Buneos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema. More information can be found here. The film screens again on 13 April.

Lanterna Magicka Flatpack Festival Screening Details

2010-03-05T07:13:00.001-08:00

Lantera Magicka will receive its English premiere at the Flatpack Festival in Birmingham on 27 March. The screening will start at 4 pm, and go on until 6. (Please note the revised time - it was originally scheduled to start at 3.)

The film will play as a double bill with a magic lantern show by Mike Simkin, who not only appears in Lanterna, but also did the original magic lantern work on Comrades. This is a unique, one-off event not to be missed!

Both myself and Louise will be there to introduce the film.

More info and ticket details can be found here.

Lanterna Magicka - English Premiere Screening Details

2010-02-07T06:26:00.000-08:00

We now have the details of Lanterna's English premiere. The film will screen as part of the Flatpack Festival in Birmingham on Saturday 27 March, 3-5pm at Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5SE. The film will be followed by a magic lantern show. Lu and I will be there to introduce the film and meet fellow lanternists. See you there!

Cornelius Crow on IMDB

2010-01-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

You can now watch our 2005 psychogeographic thriller, The Notebooks of Cornelius Crow, on IMDB. Go here - and it's free!

The Druids

2010-01-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

Louise Milne's film The Druids is heading towards the final stages of post. We've just added the music and it's looking (and sounding) very good indeed. It's by Somerset lad, and now resident of Stockholm, Jack Richold. You can hear more of Jack's stuff here.

Films of the Decade (?)

2009-12-28T03:54:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year when newspapers etc are full of 'best of year' lists, and, as it's also the end of the decade, 'best of decade' lists as well. I must say, it doesn't feel like the end of a decade. And what a piss-poor 'decade' at that - 10 years of mediocrity, greed and evil.

I have seriously had to wrack my brains to try and come up with 10 worthy films for my own list. I'm sure the 1990s were easier. Anyway, for want of something better to do, here is my list, in chronological order:

Kimono (Hal Hartley, 2000)

Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, 2000)

The Man Who Wasn’t There (Coen Brothers, 2001)

Va Savoir (Jacques Rivette, 2001)

Être et Avoir (Nicholas Philibert, 2002)

The White Balloon (Werner Herzog, 2004)

Into Great Silence (Philip Gröning, 2005)

Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)

The Man from London (Béla Tarr, 2007)

Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, 2008)

Today is, incidentally, the anniversary of the first public film show, in Paris in 1895, by the Lumiere brothers. They later remarked that the cinema was 'an invention without a future'. On the basis of how bad most films are, I'm tempted to agree.

The Druids: Travels in Deep England

2009-11-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Just back from Somerset, where we shot another interview with the great Ronald Hutton for Louise Milne's documentary The Druids: Travels in Deep England. We hope to have a cut of the film ready in spring 2010. More info coming soon...

Lanterna Magicka Screening 14/11/09

2009-11-02T04:47:00.000-08:00

Lanterna Magicka screens on 14th November 2009 as part of the Inverness Film Festival's Bill Douglas retrospective. More details can be found here.

The Trilogy will screen that afternoon, and Comrades on the Sunday morning at 1130.

Louise and Sean should be there for all of it, so see you there!

Lanterna Magicka UK Première

2009-10-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Lanterna Magicka will receive its first UK screening at the Inverness Film Festival next month. The festival's programme is still being finalised, but we understand that Lanterna will be screened on 14th November as part of a Bill Douglas retrospective. Directors Sean Martin and Louise Milne will be attending the screening. More details to follow.

Meanwhile, investors are still being sought to help complete Sean Martin's feature Folie à Deux, which is now in the final stages of postproduction. Funds are needed to complete the sound mix. Should anyone be interested in boarding the project as an investor, please email us. We are hoping that the film will be completed before the end of 2009.

News and Reviews

2009-08-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

The Comrades DVD continues to get good reviews. Please see the Lanterna Blog for links.

Meanwhile, new projects include The Druids: Travels in Deep England, directed by Lanterna's co-director, Louise Milne, which Sean is shooting, and a possible short derived from some of the same material. Both of these projects are documentaries. The Druids starts post this week.

Lanterna Magicka/Comrades DVD

2009-07-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Douglas's long-lost 1987 masterpiece, Comrades, is finally released on DVD and Blu-Ray next week. We have seen the disc, and it is a very fine thing indeed. Superb transfer, and some great extras in addition to our own film, Lanterna Magicka: Bill Douglas & the Secret History of Cinema, about which DVD Beaver have said:

"Supplements are found on a second Blu-ray disc with featurettes in HD (except one). The highlight being a 2009 documentary by Sean Martin & Louise Milne on Douglas' life and work - running approximately 1 hour - and entitled Lanterna Magicka - Bill Douglas & the Secret History of Cinema. This is pretty much golden for fans of Douglas and a fabulous inclusion - it's not to be missed."

Fassbinder

2009-06-10T05:34:00.001-07:00

Today is the 27th anniversary of Rainer Werner Fassbinder vacating his director's chair. It was front page news, I remember (I saw it on the front page of the Daily Telegraph). I shall be devoting space to RWF in my forthcoming book, New Waves in Cinema, due out next year. In the meantime, raise a glass in the great man's honour. (Or, perhaps more in keeping with his own predilictions, do something else:-))

Lanterna Magicka DVD details

2009-06-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

Lanterna Magicka will be released on DVD/BluRay on 27 July. Details of the other features of the DVD can found in the latest post on the Lanterna Magicka blog.

Tarkovsky: Cinema of Dreams

2009-06-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

A page has been set up for our documentary Tarkovsky: Cinema of Dreams. You can visit it by clicking here. The photo shows Tarkovsky and Domiziana Giordano on the set of Nostalghia. We'll be uploading a trailer soon, so check back or wait for directorial ruminations and announcements here.

Caves and Wells

2009-06-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

The weekend has been spent dashing around the Mendip Hills in Somerset shooting the landscape for an in-progress documentary on Druids and the landscape. After one interview fell through, we had to hastily arrange another, and filmed the ever-obliging Gordon Strong at a sacred well near - of all places - Bristol Airport. It's a great place - and you'd never know it was there. A secret well-kept, methinks (and no pun intended!).

Today's agenda: another documentary, on the great Russian auteur, Tarkovsky.