“This is England” is a great festival of British short films based in Rouen and the surrounding region with a special programme of screenings and teaching materials for primary, collège and lycée classes. The 2023 edition will take place from 11 to 19 November. The selection for this year is now on their website and … Continue reading “Save the Date This is England Short Films Festival in Normandy”
We are gradually publishing an 8-part analysis of the 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Here are parts 4 and 5. We’ll be publishing further parts during the autumn so you can study the film with A2-level pupils in class. The film, directed by Henry Selick and written by Tim Burton, focuses on the … Continue reading “Analysing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Parts 4 and 5”
At age 87, veteran British filmmaker Ken Loach says The Old Oak will be his last film and it closes the trilogy set in the north-east of England after I, Daniel Blake (Cannes Palme d’or 2016) and Sorry We Missed You (2019). It looks at the arrival of a group of Syrian refugees to be … Continue reading “Ken Loach Trying to See the Hope”
Although he is most famous for his children’s stories, Roald Dahl wrote intriguing short stories for adults too. Director Wes Anderson, who already adapted Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox as an animated film, has now made four short films for Netflix based on four of the adult short stories. The first to be released, on 27 … Continue reading “Roald Dahl’s Henry Sugar on Film”
We published the first part of an analysis of the 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas in July. Here are parts 2 and 3 out of 8. We’ll be publishing further parts during the autumn so you can study the film with A2-level pupils in class. The film, directed by Henry Selick and written … Continue reading “Analysing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Parts 2 and 3”
The annual Dinard Festival celebrates British film production. This year’s edition takes place from 27 September to 1 October. There are six films in competition as well as a short film section come on an Irish film section and special events: such as a homage to Jane Birkin and a preview screening of Ken Loach’s … Continue reading “Dinard British Film Festival 2023”
If you’re working on detective stories, or scary stories, these two trailers for the new Agatha Christie film A Haunting in Venice would work well in class depending on context. The first one immediately identifies Poirot and that there is a mystery. If you have already worked on detective stories, pupils could be asked to … Continue reading “Teaching with Trailers: Hercule Poirot A Haunting in Venice”
The 34th edition of the Dinard British Film Festival will take place in Brittany from 27 September to 1 October. We’ll be writing about the films in competition shortly, but you can get ready to sign up your classes to see some great British films at special schools showings. You need to register between 1 … Continue reading “Films for Schools in Dinard!”
After Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot, in the shape of Kenneth Branagh, continues to travel across the world solving crimes. A Haunting in Venice is based on Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, and is suitably spooky to work on at this time of year. Poirot, officially retired, is … Continue reading “Hercule Poirot in Venice”
This is the first part of an analysis of the 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas. We’ll be publishing further parts in the coming months so you can study the film with A2-level pupils in class. The film, directed by Henry Selick and written by Tim Burton, focuses on the King of Halloween Town, … Continue reading “Analysing Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”
