If you are studying the 1961 film of West Side Story with your LLCER 1ère students, our Reading Guide will help them analyse key scenes, explore the background and inspiration to the work, and different iterations of this story of star-crossed lovers. West Side Story is a 20th century retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set … Continue reading “Our West Side Story Reading Guide Has Arrived”
Most pupils will be familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its main character: Willy Wonka. Yet, how much do we know about him? This new film by Paddington director Paul King– starring Timothée Chalamet as Wonka – explores Willy Wonka’s young adult life, his wishes and how he started his chocolate empire with … Continue reading “Wonka”
Everyone has at least heard of Bollywood but how many of us really know how huge and culturally-loaded this industry is? This is what this A2+-B1 article explores! You and your students will get to understand how powerful Bollywood is and how it hinges on both tradition and modernity to appeal to its audience. As … Continue reading “Celebrating Bollywood”
Hollywood is often used as a synonym for the cinema industry but Bollywood in India actually releases more films. The Indian film industry makes 2000 films every year, about three times as many as Hollywood. Cinema came very early to India. The Lumière Brothers’ pioneering films were shown soon after their European release in 1896. … Continue reading “Bollywood Superstars”
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is a film that will plunge you into the thrilling world of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the complex man who risked the lives of the world to save it. The film is inspired by the Pulitzer prizewinning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by … Continue reading “The Day We Pressed the Button”
There are a few changes in the LLCER 1ère set texts list for 2023-2026 and lots of you have been asking if we are going to publish a Reading Guide for Fahrenheit 451. The answer is yes, and we’re also going to publish our first Film Guide for 1ère: West Side Story. The updated list … Continue reading “LLCER Update and Two Upcoming Reading Guides”
Tim Burton has a quirky vision of the world and his films like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland and the TV series Wednesday are full of intriguing visual details. A new exhibition invites visitors into his visual world. Rather than going through the looking glass, visitors plunge into a labyrinth that ensures … Continue reading “Welcome to Tim Burton’s World”
Everybody knows Steven Spielberg’s films, but nobody really knows about his private life and above all, what made him become a multi-awarded film director. This file will enable the students to learn more about him, his early life and his family – more precisely his mom, who he credits with his artistic side – thanks … Continue reading “Steven Spielberg: The Fabelmans”
This A1+ worksheet is based on the trailer of the new Matilda musical, directed by Matthew Warchus and released on Netflix on 25 December 2022. It was adapted from Roald Dahl’s famous story and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Matilda the Musical. The story is faithful to Dahl’s orginal: Matilda Wormwood is an extraordinarly … Continue reading “Matilda the Musical”
A chance meeting between novelist Kazuo Ishiguro and actor Bill Nighy led to Ishiguro remaking Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Living, setting it in post-WWII London. Nighy plays a buttoned up English civil servant who changes his attitude to life when he is told he is dying. It may not sound like it but it’s a … Continue reading “When a Nobel Laureate Remakes a Cinema Masterpiece”