Film4 channel highlights
12 Jul, 2012Head of Film4 Channel Julia Wrigley shares some upcoming TV highlights – and would love to hear your thoughts and feedback…
We often get asked about what is coming up on Film4, particularly regarding foreign language films, and here are some highlights, plus a quick recap of what we have shown already. We would love to get your feedback about what you have enjoyed, want to see more of, and what you haven’t cared for…
We have a real commitment on the channel to showing the best of British, independent and world cinema, whether as individual titles or as part of curated seasons. This year has seen premieres ranging from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Che, and A Prophet through to Confessions, Cold Weather, Bal and Le Quattro Volte. We are looking forward to showcasing films of the calibre of Las Acacias, Poetry, Mother, Paprika, Tekkonkinkreet, Carlos and Uncle Boonmee, all of which will feature this year on Film4. In addition to the season of African films we showed back in May, and our Kelly Reichardt season – which featured all of her films, including her little-seen debut film River of Grass – we will be celebrating C4’s 30th anniversary with a thrilling season of British films later in the year – The British Connection will contain recent outstanding Film4 Productions as Submarine, Kill List, Tyrannosaur and Attack the Block, as well as the UK premiere of Weekend.
This year also saw Mark Kermode return to the channel to host an Extreme season with titles ranging from Antichrist, to Bug, from Mark’s favourite director William Friedkin, and Love Exposure.
Our annual FrightFest season is nearly upon us, and this year’s line-up is particularly exciting – there will be full details soon on the website, but it contains premieres, classics, cult films and discoveries, including Frozen, Audition, Curse of the Demon, and Hansel and Gretel.
There is plenty more to come, but hopefully that gives a flavour of what to look forward to over the next few months.
As ever, you can reach us on Twitter as well as by commenting below.
I’m guessing that by “Paprika” you mean the anime film.
My only wish was that Film Four publicised their upcoming premieres with more vigour and a sense of pride, rather than humbly announcing it on a blog, never to see the light of day elsewhere.
I think the world and his wife knew that Attack The Block was being screened on Channel 4, but I seriously doubt that the same fanfare will be extended to great British premieres like Tyrannosaur, Kill List – shudder the thought over boundary-breaking indies like Weekend.
We make good films – Film Four supports those – let’s take the bull by the horns and start singing about them – trailers on primetime Channel 4, Film Four, 4Seven and More4.
It was also a shame to see the Extreme season pushed so far back into the schedule – yes, we know they’re contentious films, but you are no longer governed by the iTC. OFCOM pretty much should leave you alone if you just brought them forward to at least 11pm when any Mary Whitehouse-wannabes are safely tucked up with their right-wing paper of choice.
I wouldn’t have minded seeing Le Quatre Volte as well… but alas, as with the majority of Film Four’s output, I was simply not aware…
Neil, I suggest you buy a tv guide or watch Film 4 more often.
@ally
I do, unfortunately – the majority of prime-time that I’m able to catch seems to consist of G.I. Joe and the ilk.
You’re circumventing my point with the sarcastic TV Guide suggestion (and you actually purchase a TV guide still?! Come on, this is 2012….)
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where the ‘build it and they will come’ mantra works any more, if people (and I’ll include myself in that vague demographic) aren’t made aware of these fantastic films being shown on terrestrial, then viewing figures would reflect this.
I do concede, that I haven’t quite adjusted to films premiering on Free-To-Air platforms within 12 months of cinematic release – I’m very much of the old school mindset, where it would take at least 4 years before it saw the light of day on free TV.
I guess the bottom line is: I’m passionate about indies and arthouse. I wish they were publicised more.
Hi Neil,
Thanks very much for the feedback.
We play trailers an average of around 1400 times a month on Film4 publicising our premieres and highlights, which will absolutely include Tyrannosaur, Kill List and Weekend come November, and did include Le Quattro Volte and other films mentioned above. These trails are also hosted on our website Film4.com, and publicised on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. The website has hosted over 1000 individual videos, mostly related directly to Film4 programming, since 2010, and we average twelve tweets a day, the majority of which focus on channel highlights.
With regards to the timing of Extreme Season, Ofcom guidelines (which you can see in full here: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2012/05/what-is-the-watershed/) are very clear: “Can TV channels show whatever they like after 9pm? No. The transition to more adult material must not be unduly abrupt and the strongest material should appear later in the evening. [...] Since 2003 Ofcom has taken action on more than 300 occasions when broadcasters have scheduled unsuitable content before or immediately after the watershed.” Extreme Season began at around 11pm each night, the earliest responsible timeslot for this season of films. You can see the full schedule with times here: http://www.film4.com/features/article/film4-extreme-season-schedule
We take a great deal of pride in our programming; this blog is just one of myriad ways that we publicise our work.
Hope this information helps you in finding the films that you’re looking for.
Catherine
Editor Film4.com
Thanks for the response Catherine.
Ha. Looking back on this I sound like a right old moaning Myrtle.
Hopefully films like We Need To Talk About Kevin, Kid With The Bike, Le Havre, A Separation & The Skin I Live In will also get a look-in at some point too.
Nevertheless, I look forward to the premieres in the coming months and will resolve to stop more often on FilmFour’s blog and social media!
Ta.