And so it all begins! Months of planning and ground work and now it’s all really happening - DAY 1 of FPTS 2012.

 First, great excitement as our main decoration, the beautiful banner designed by Claire Shilton finally goes up in the BAC auditorium. No one falls from the balcony as we try to get it straight….

A beautiful day in Bridport, and we begin with Forbidden Planet. After some confusion with people popping in through different doors and giving conflicting advice, Francine is on stage giving a brilliant introduction, and then the film is rolling. Next, it’s My Fair Lady at the Electric Palace, a heaving audience of mum’s and babies, before a pause for lunch.

An afternoon of running around before finally getting to sit down and actually see a film – the quite brilliant and engrossing Women in Love, which I am blown away by (though I most say, never has a fig seemed less appealing). Nic Jeune and our first guest, Corinna Wagner then have a fascinating discussion about DH Lawrence, Ken Russell and the film, taking questions from the floor.

Next, it’s our LAUNCH PARTY, and the Red Carpet makes it’s next move – out on to the forecourt of the BAC – again, it’s not quite the Oscars, but Committee members Paul Marshall and Nic Jeune are taking this red carpet very seriously (and rightly so!). Tomorrow the carpet will be off back down the street to the Electric Palace, so we will chronicle that too.

It’s our first ever opening night party for From Page to Screen and what a success. Our sponsors, friends, wonderful supporters and patrons spills out into the BAC garden and the burble of film chat and gossip is wonderful to hear.

Polly Gifford, Nic Jeune and Francine make our welcoming speeches before we make our way to the auditorium for our official opener – a full house, La Bete Humaine, and Francine’s opening introduction.

What a brilliant first day!

Arriving at the Bridport Arts Centre at 12, everything looks amazing and there really is an air of palpable excitement - first, the films we are showing here (DVD and Blu-Ray as opposed to 35mm at the Electric Palace) have all arrived and are ready and waiting on Director Polly Gifford’s desk….

Next, we spend some amusing hours unpacking and then pinning up film posters (due to too much chat we frequently put them up back to front). And where to put the floor-to-ceiling banner of Daniel Radclifffe for maximum impact?!

 Once up, the posters look completely brilliant and transform the Arts Centre auditorium into Festival Central. Combined with the Waterstone’s stall outside and the gorgeous archive of past posters and photos from last year (all thanks to Spike Golding at 3 Hours West who pops in to see them), the BAC is ready to go….

Next, we have the volunteers briefing. Around 30 keen smiley faces ready to act as the “face of the festival” – brilliantly briefed by volunteer co-ordinator Katy Starr-Stocker. They are all told not to run screaming if there is a fire, and to try to avoid eating too many of the delicious cakes provided by Leakers Bakery for the screenings, when they are meant to be handing them out. Our enormous thanks go to all thesse volunteers who are really at the coal face of the festival, and will do a fantastic job.

 Then a tour of both venues including the always miraculous and unchanging backstage of our art deco cinema, The Electric Palace.

Then a glimpse of something special backstage – the RED CARPET – which Nic Jeune, festival founder and committee member then glamorously wheels through the Bridport streets like a mobile awards ceremony. We deposit it at the Arts Centre to be unfurled in time for tomorrow night’s launch party.

Guest Director Francine Stock is currently winging her way down the A303; this time tomorrow she’ll be on stage introducing La Bete Humaine at our gala opening. Time for an early night….

Follow us @pagetoscreen for the blow by blow action as the festival begins tomorrow!

On this, the day before the festival kicks off, two of our VIPs, without whom none of this would be happening, highlight their special picks for the next five days.

Francine Stock, Guest Director 2012

One of the films our Guest Director is most looking forward to….

“I am really looking forward to….breakfast with Rashomon, as it
dazzles the eye and teases the brain. Strong coffee or green tea advised!”

(both provided by Clipper Teas, luckily! Ed)

Sunday 15th April 11am, Bridport Arts Centre, followed by the Film Buffs Brunch.

Steven Horner, festival founder and committee chairman 2009-2011

Which film are you most looking forward to?

Favourite? Most looking forward too? Life’s too complex to boil down to such an essence…. So I’ll expand the interpretation a bit into multiple categories.

‘What am I thrilled to be able to see?’ From Page To Screen’s first ‘preview’ (a film screening at a festival that is not yet on general release), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a real accomplishment for the festival which is very rewarding after years of hard work building the festivals reputation and identity nationally. I haven’t read the book but am keen to be part of the buzz of the new and celebrate Britain’s talent for re-interpreting visually the written word (the author and adaptor are both British). I’m also looking forward to The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which I’ve never seen but have heard so much about.

The second category is the ‘films/events I’m gutted to miss because I’ll either be on the train or in a car‘ (which I do more of than watching films these days): La Bête Humaine, again one I haven’t seen, the Flash Film award (some of the entries are very accomplished and use inventive imagery to communicate ideas) and Resistance as I’m always keen to see how current filmmakers approach the craft of both adaptation and filmmaking.

Finally, in the’ I’ve already seen but highly recommend it category’ is Wuthering Heights, a very unusual take on a over-familiar classic. The wind, the mud, the colour, the class seep from the screen into your being, often without a word being spoken. A perfect example of how letters on a page can be transformed to pixels on a screen.
And, of course, I’m excited to be seeing the committee, the volunteers and the audience who I’ve missed over the past year! A festival should be social and From Page To Screen has always excelled at this”

(Festival Committee 2011, including Katherine Locke and Philiy Page)

Follow us on twitter @pagetoscreen for the blow-by-blow action of the festival!

The From Page to Screen committee tell us which films they are looking forward to at this year’s festival… 

 Jess Grimshaw, representing The Electric Palace, committee member since 2010

 

 

Which film are you most looking forward to?

For me, it has to be Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. I have always hoped to be able to bring a sneak preview to Bridport and to get this blockbuster two weeks ahead of it’s UK release date is really exciting.  It is also a realisation of another aim of mine for the festival to bring the novelist and adaptor on the stage together. I’m really looking forward to speaking to Simon Beaufoy and Paul Torday to discuss how a book goes from an author’s conception to a finished film, which is really at the core of the festival. It should be a great night!

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” Electric Palace, Saturday 14th April, 7.30pm