Today marks the bicentennary of Charles Dickens. This snapshot of  a few of the many hundreds of films from his books marks the BFI’s Dickens season through January and February. Enjoy!

Go to the BFI website to see the other ways they are marking the bicentennary

And we too will be marking this at From Page to Screen 2012…..

One grey day in January, Jonathan Coe, guest director and hero of the 2011 festival, met Francine Stock to hand over the reins of power and the mantle of responsibility to her as Guest Director 2012. Their conversation flowed over the festival itself, the nature of adaptation and what Francine hopes to achieve with the festival this year. The complete and unmissable conversation will be on the blog next week, but here as a little tease, are The Best Bits.

With many thanks to Adrien Munden for the beautiful filming, editing and music.

When Joe Dunthorne came to Bridport as part of the Bridport Arts Centre Open Book Festival, he marked the unofficial launch of From Page to Screen 2012 with a screening of the film of his award winning novel, Submarine. Sarah Thompson met him after his event.

Interview by Sarah Thompson

Hi Joe, it was great to see you at the screening of Submarine at Bridport Arts Centre recently. The Bridport Literatti: a tough crowd?
Not at all, I thought everyone was very friendly. I was surprised to see such a large crowd—it was probably one of the biggest readings I’ve done—so that was a bit intimidating but I really enjoyed it.

You’ve become something of a celebrity since Submarine’s success – how do cope with public appearances like tonight and what’s the biggest crowd you’ve had to face so far?
I’m quite a sociable person so I’ve enjoyed doing the readings and meeting people— it’s always been a real perk of the job. After a long promotional tour when Submarine first came out I did begin to feel like I was repeating myself at times and going through the motions a little bit so I stepped back from some of the public appearances slightly, just to get my freshness back. The biggest and best reading I did was at the South Bank for World Book Day— I read with Margaret Atwood in front of over a thousand people; terrifying but fun.

When you wrote Submarine did you have a film somewhere in the back of your mind or was it always a book?
It was always a book. I love film and a lot of the writing I had done before Submarine had been quite film-influenced and, as a result, felt pretty derivative! So with Submarine I tried really hard to seek out pleasures that are unique to reading a book.

How did the film come about?
I was living in Norwich with a good friend from university (I studied English at the University of East Anglia) who had been a film studies student but was working at the Halifax while he was trying to find a job in the film industry. I’m a big fan of Warp Records who had recently set up a film arm and noticed they were advertising for an intern, so I told him about it, he went for it and got it. By that stage I’d just finished Submarine and my friend read it one day, liked it and showed it to his boss, who optioned it straight away. So it was kind of strange in that the book and the film happened almost at the same time.

As a writer it must be hard to see all the cuts and plot-changes that make your book a film. How do you deal with that?
I had been warned to expect the worst so I was steeling myself for the horror, but to be honest it was a lot less painful than I was expecting. Once I had accepted that at least a third of the book would be lost it was kind of liberating to see the real core of the novel coming through.

Oliver Tate is a great character in the vein of Adrian Mole and Gregory Underwood – what is it, do you think, about teenage boys and ‘coming of age’ stories that makes us laugh so much?
I think all teenagers have a great sense of self-belief and determination—they are motivated and truly believe their behaviour can change things— so in that way they are fun to write, and fun to laugh at. I think boys in particular can be pleasingly pompous and self-promoting, so maybe that’s what makes them especially good value.

From Page To Screen celebrates the art of adaptation. What are the adaptations that have influenced you? Which book would you most like to see adapted for the screen?
I loved A Clockwork Orange, Trainspotting, The Squid and the Whale and Flirting, which is a film with a really young Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Noah Taylor (who, many years later, would play Oliver’s dad in Submarine). Noah Taylor’s performance in that film was a template for Oliver. Like many people I have a fear of seeing my favourite books turned into films. I dare not watch The Road or Revolutionary Road for fear of destroying my perfect memories of the books. Having said that, there are loads of books I’d like to see adapted — NumberNineDream by David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) would make a great film, I think.

You were the script-editor on Submarine. Was this the first script you’ve been involved with and how is it different to writing a book?
Yes it was the first script I’d worked on and it was a completely different experience, largely because I was no longer autonomous; I had to listen to other people, be less egotistical. There were also fewer tools at my disposal, I couldn’t wriggle my way from one scene to another with flowery language or a nice turn of phrase, I only had dialogue to work with so I really admire scriptwriters, it is a much more restricted discipline.

What was the most surprising thing about the making of the film, something you hadn’t realised would happen?
Going to the set first the first time and taking in the scale of it. I went on a day when they were shooting at a school in Swansea where I grew up and seeing all the extras in their 1980s uniforms was when it really began to sink in. I watched a scene — the bullying scene in the film — that was a pretty close replica to how I’d imagined it. It was thrilling — like being a ghost in my own imagination.

Submarine’s screening was the un-official launch of From Page To Screen 2012 – a small independent film festival. What part do you think events like this have to play in today’s multi-media entertainment world?
In a culture dominated by downloads, where any of us could watch anything we choose online at any time, it’s important that we still meet and experience and discuss film together, in an old fashioned, human way. Festivals like From Page To Screen are important because they help us do just that.

On the 28th November, award winning novelist Joe Dunthorne came to the Bridport Arts Centre as part of the Open Book Festival, to speak before a screening of the book of his film, Submarine. Tomorrow we will have an exclusive interview on the blog, in which he speaks about his experiences in the process of adaptation, as well as his favourite adaptations. In Novemeber however, year 12 student Nidhi Rao wrote this review of his event.

“A new writer has just come into the literary scene called Joe Dunthorne. He is a young writer, who has accomplished a great deal. He has recently released his second novel, Wild Abandon, after his rapid rise in popularity from Submarine, which has now been made into a film directed by Richard Ayoade. For those who are unfamiliar with Submarine, it is a novel about Oliver Tate – an eccentric, troubled teenager facing problems such as relationships and school. The protagonist is a very strange, unique character as he uses phrases such as “my body has been replaced by a shell”. I recommend this book, as it is a hilarious comedy with an enormous amount of adolescent awkwardness and uncertainty.

When Dunthorne took to the stage in Bridport Art Centre, the set was atmospheric with dark lights and draped in cloth of various colours. Joe first read from Submarine, which resulted in frequent bouts of laughter from the audience. For example, when he read, “I recently discovered that my mother has being typing the names of as-yet-uninvented mental conditions into Yahoo’s search engine” the audience could see that this clearly demonstrates the unusualness of Oliver. The story is set in late 90’s in South Wales so incorporates many aspects of this time as a “dial up modem” instead of broadband, and telephones rather than mobile phones. This coming of age novel shows the world in Oliver’s perspective, which is very different from a regular person’s, as his vocabulary is extremely vast; the first chapter is entitled “triskaidekaphobia”. Not only this, but the way Oliver thinks is very distinctive “ I also discovered that my father suffers from bouts of depression: I found an empty bottle of tricyclic antidepressants that were in a wicker bin under his bedside table” This style of language continues throughout the novel, which sets the tone.

Joe then continued by reading a few poems from the Faber poets collection. The most influential poem (according to the audience’s response) was a poem about a scene from Apocolypto; when a man is decapitated and the head’s last thoughts. Other poems include Experiential, which was about the experience of an experiential theatre group following you around all day.

Joe then went on to read from his new book, Wild Abandon. This is about a Welsh commune, set in the present day. It explores the lives of many characters but mainly, Kate, who is a seventeen-year-old girl and rebels by escaping to the outside world. Her younger brother; Albert, however, is hoping for an apocalypse and being the only human being (along with his sister) to survive. Everyone in the commune have their own individual story, which is explored throughout the novel.

Dunthorne’s writing style is unique, as his novels don’t have a specific genre. They are generally about the characters’ lives as opposed to an actual plot. All of his work is extremely entertaining and distinctive and would advise anyone to read them”.

Nidhi Rao, Year 12

Tomorrow, Joe Dunthorne on the book to the film, From Page to Screen. “Like many people I have a fear of seeing my favourite books turned into films. I dare not watch The Road or Revolutionary Road for fear of destroying my perfect memories of the books. Having said that, there are loads of books I’d like to see adapted….”.

Come back tomorrow to find out what!

And so with the aims and ambitions of the festival gradually taking root and fuelling enthusiasm for innovative programming, 2010 approached. With the addition of an advisory panel of industry experts (which by 2012 includes Daisy Allsop, Fred Hogge, Olivia Hetreed , Simon Relph and Jonathan Coe) putting their support and backing to the festival, things were rolling. As with all festivals, the dream was to create something that would bring people together “… to make film fun and memorable, rather than sitting in front of your DVD player at home” as Steven says. There are many festivals doing this now – Secret Cinema, Nomad Screenings and other festivals over the country – but at the beginning it was Tilda Swinton’s film festival in Scotland, Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams.

In a ballroom in Nairn, Scotland, s he held a miniature film festival, deck chairs, bean bags, fish finger sandwiches and home baking. Tilda Swinton said they were aiming to “reinject some romance into the film festival circuit” which chimed exactly with how Steven and Nic were thinking in another little town at the opposite end of the British Isles; not just the” film for films sake” as Nic says, but the whole experience from food (in From Page to Screen’s case, often provided by incredible local baker Leakers) to music to decoration, creating a magical atmosphere.

For From Page to Screen, all these ideas and influences came together in 2010, the first proper festival and a much bigger affair with… number of events…. It also marked the first year of collaboration between Bridport’s two venues, the Arts Centre and the Electric Palace – for Steven, the sell-out showing of A Single Man at the Palace was his best moment of the festival; the combination of the film, the subject matter, and the speaker, Katherine Bucknell. For Nic, the lassoing of Lynn Barber to close the festival with a screening of the film of her autobiography, An Education, was his greatest coup; hearing her talking on a BBC breakfast show, he emailed in an invitation and moments later had the satisfaction of hearing the invitation read out live on air. “That sounds lovely” said Lynn Barber “let’s talk later”. Some talk later, and Lynn was secured as a guest at what would go on to be a sell out screening of this Oscar winning film.

And from there, we moved on to 2011, the biggest festival so far. The greatest addition here was the concept of a Guest Director, something that many literary and film festivals have embraced (most famously with Port Eliot’s addition of Martin Scorsese to programme a few films at their festival in Cornwall). Steven had heard Jonathan Coe speaking about They Were Sisters on Francine Stock’s Radio 4 show The Film Programme (the synchronicity of this not to be lost on us) and invited him to speak at the 2010 festival. To Jonathan’s disappointment, he’d been unable to attend ‘I was very regretful about that because it sounded like a wonderful idea for a festival and I did want to be involved and I assumed as you do when you turn something down that they’re never going to ask you again….”. So when Steven got in touch and asked him to guest direct the whole thing, he was more than happy to oblige. “He was probably the best person we could have got to be the first curator” says Nic “he didn’t see it as a token post but absolutely threw himself into the whole idea of planning a season and having very ambitious ideas which he said probably wouldn’t come off…. what was fantastic was he DID it!”. His ambitious ideas included Kazuo Ishiguro, Bill Forsyth, Nicholas Mosely and many others. (More about the 2011 Festival in a later entry – and keep your eye on the blog for the filmed interview between Jonathan Coe and Francine Stock as Jonathan passes over the mantle…).

To the sadness of all, Steven stepped down from the festival after 2011 to progress to pastures new. The work that he did in establishing the festival never went unappreciated, and his good humour, enthusiasm and boundless good ideas made the festival a pleasure to work on. A good time to sing his praises and THANK HIM from everyone on the committee, past and present. So with 2011 a bright and burning success, and 2012 looming on us under the brilliant guidance of Francine Stock, what does Nic, as only surviving member of the original team, see as the future of the festival? “It’s all about growing the festival bigger and more significant as a place to consider this art form; adaptation” he says “There’s no reason why it can’t become a very important opportunity and an endless exploration of it, thanks to the endless supply of adaptations. Adaptation has always been here and always will be”. With the Flash Film competition making a name for itself among young film makers (250 words of winning fiction from the Bridport Prize turned into 60 seconds of film) and more emphasis on craft and the secrets of film-making this year, the festival will continue to embrace new ideas.

And who would be their dream curators for Francine to pass the baton on to? For Nic, it’s festival hero and friend, Kazuo Ishiguro. For Steven? Because of her heartfelt belief that non-mainstream filmmaking is important, Tilda Swinton herself. Here’s hoping.

Programme Details the 2012 Festival to be announced soon!

And next on the blog, an exclusive interview with Joe Dunthorne!