Four Lions to premiere at Sundance

[pavemental]

Sundance Film Festival announced its slate today. Four Lions will have its world premiere in the world cinema narrative competition lineup. That means it could win a prize.

The festival notes:

Four Lions / UK (Director: Chris Morris and screenwriters: Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain)—A comedy tour de force about a bunch of self styled British jihadis. Cast: Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak. World Premiere.

[vrailaine]

Not surprised in the slightest, had assumed it to such a level that I thought it'd already been announced.


http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance_2010_world_cinema_narrative_competition/


Google's last 24 hours of results for it and sundance

[Peru]

That's really big news. Sundance picks about 12 films from well over 1,000 submissions, and I'm not aware of any recent UK comedy film having a high profile premiere like this. Strengthens my hopes for it big time.

[vrailaine]

In The Loop was at Sundance, no?

[pavemental]

Yes, In the Loop also premiered at Sundance.

Above notes blurb is from hitfix, Variety and indiewire mention slightly different players:

"Four Lions" (U.K.) - Directed by Chris Morris, written by Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, a comedy about some self-styled British jihadis. With Chris Wilson, Kevin Eldon. World premiere.

Eldon at the expense of the ethnics!

[Clint Hollow]

What point during the year is Sundance?

If this is the World Premier then we will have an idea when we may see it.

Riz should be on the bill there, though.

[pavemental]

Sundance runs Jan 21-31.

[Clint Hollow]

Beautiful, thanks babe. Looking so forward to this I think I briefly time-travelled.

We must be looking at an early Summer release here, I guess.

[Marvin]

Worth remembering it can be months after Sundance before films that premiere there go on general release. In The Loop was out mid-April after being at Sundance last Jan.

[Clint Hollow]

Do you think it's subject matter will help or hinder it's release?

That and how it's recieved obviously.

[vrailaine]

Has it got a distributor yet? I presume In The Loop had one for over here before Sundance?

[pavemental]

Sorry, no idea about In the Loop's UK distribution. It was picked up by IFC for US distribution a few days before it premiered at Sundance.

[Rev]

Exciting stuff, but the real news for me is that 'Four Lions' is the actual title of the thing, rather than a working/cover one.  Wasn't expecting that, for some reason.

[An tSaoi]

I'm glad it's not Boiler House, or Funding Mentalism, or whatever other rumoured names people were throwing about.

[Marvin]

Funding Mentalism was never a provisional title, it was a nice pun used for the email for those that signed up to fund the film before it got proper backing.

[confettiinmyhair]

If Riz Ahmed tops this perfomance MC Riz - Post 911 Blues then we are looking at a good film.

[Neil]

If Riz Ahmed tops this perfomance MC Riz - Post 911 Blues then we are looking at a good film.

Ooh that's great!  Very enjoyable indeed - the little synth refrain has had me scratching me head for ten minutes, but it's Delia Derbyshire's Mattachin innit.

Is Fonejacker actually any good, by the way?  I must admit that I was always put off by the appalling, unimaginative animation - thank Christ the meeja finally seem to have lost their boner for rubbishly animated Joel Veitch-style nonsense.

Thanks for the news, Pavemental.

[An tSaoi]

If you've seen one episode you've seen them all. There were a few laughs to be had though. I actually liked the animation though...

[mobias]

Worth remembering it can be months after Sundance before films that premiere there go on general release.

Or indeed years. Some films don't get picked up until long long after debuting at Sundance. Blair Witch Project was first shown there in 1996. Didn't get released until 1999. The film business is being notriously conservative at the moment because of the economic climate as well as other things. A number of good films aren't being distributed at the moment.  I'm not holding my breath for Four Lions, it could be this time next year or even later before it gets picked up. May even go straight to DVD.

[Ambient Sheep]

If Riz Ahmed tops this perfomance MC Riz - Post 911 Blues then we are looking at a good film.

Wow, that's excellent!  How come I've never seen or heard that before?  OK, so no airplay, but I'm surprised I've not been sent it by link before.  Will duly spread it around.  :-)

...the little synth refrain has had me scratching me head for ten minutes, but it's Delia Derbyshire's Mattachin innit.

Oooh good spot, you!  And, if I strain my ears to the Post 911 Blues, I think it might be an actual sample of it rather than just the same notes.

As for Fonejacker, I've only seen it a couple of times, and for the most part I thought the phone calls were quite funny, but hated most (but not all) of the animation.


Also, thanks to Pavemental from me as well for the news.

[mobias]

And the BBC have picked the story up http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8393736.stm

[Neil]

Oooh good spot, you!  And, if I strain my ears to the Post 911 Blues, I think it might be an actual sample of it rather than just the same notes.

Yeah, I'm sure he sampled her - at first I was thinking 'is it the Picture Box theme?!?' till I realised.  It IS a really brill song and vid, isn't it?  Watched it lots today, and love it more each time.  Quite heartening, not only in terms of his performance, but also in terms of my wilful ignorance of politics, and how that may effect my enjoyment of Four Lions. 

Particularly like the following bit:  "Israeli fighters are soldiers, Irish are paramilatary, and darkie ones are terrorists, how simple can it be?"  Do we reckon this is where Morris first saw the guy, then? 

EDIT:  Haha, Santa arrested for beardiness!

[funstuie]

I wonder if this will pick up a distributor in the states?

Greenzone is expected to tank even with Damon and Greengrass attached. I can't imagine a comedy movie about jihadism is going to go down to well the other side of the pond.

It will at least get word of mouth based on the press it's going to pick up over the next few months.

[JPA]

He was in Dead Set wasn't he, so there's an Eldon connection there. I thought he was decent enough in Britz and the parts of Road to Guantanamo that I saw too.

[Desi Rascal]

His follow up track Sour Times is more Melancholic but still fucking awsome

Riz MC - Sour Times

[non capisco]

He was in Dead Set wasn't he, so there's an Eldon connection there. I thought he was decent enough in Britz and the parts of Road to Guantanamo that I saw too.

He also played the title role in 'Shifty', a pretty good little low-budget British film out earlier in the year in which he co-starred with Daniel Mays. The film flirted with cliche a bit at times but the two leads were both excellent. The film seemed to come and go within a week and really deserved to be talked up a bit more, not least for Ahmed and Mays' performances.

[An tSaoi]

Finally got round to watching/listening to that 9/11 song. Some very good bits in there. This bodes very well. Looks like Morris was really on the ball with his casting.

Edit: Wow, that second one is something else; I wasn't expecting that. I'm very confident about this film now.

[weekender]

That guy's electric.

I don't quite know how to put this, but I'm going to try.  Having worked with some young British Asians, or whatever the fuck the current terminology is for them (does it matter?), nearly all of them are fucking sound people.  I get the sense that some of their forefathers had a difficult life, and put up with a lot of shit, but the youngsters see themselves as British but with their own identity.  I read about Amir Khan earlier today, who said that if he was white he'd have a lot more support, and I think he's got a point.  But do you know what he's done?  Carried on with it anyway, and has set out to prove that he has talent.  That's what MC Riz appears to be doing - the 'Sour Times' video is excellent not just for the political points a young person is trying to make but the video which puts the arguments into the points of other people other than young Asians.

I live near Birmingham, as some of you know, and it feels sometimes like there's a movement from young Asian people now, which is NOT that they want to stamp Islam on Britain, or condone the terrorists, it's that they just want to be accepted for the people they are and in fact want to be disassociated from the terrorists.  Constructive ways of making that point - such as engaging me in discussion like the people I've talked to, making good music, making good music videos, being proud of being a Bolton-based boxing champion etc - are all tremendously exciting in my view.

I don't know if I'm conveying this correctly, I have a cold and am not thinking as clearly as I usually do.  My point is that seeing those videos from MC Riz has made me excited, and if he is collaborating with Morris then that makes me excited too. 

[Dusty Gozongas]

Black man's got his problems and his way to deal with it,
So don't fool yourself you're helping with your white liberal shit.
If you care to take a closer look at the way things really stand,
You'd see we're all just n**gers to the rulers of this land.

- Crass. "White Punks On Hope"

[weekender]

Yeah, that's the gist of it :)