A Private Function
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A Private Function
''A Private Function'' is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley, and Ben Rhydding in West Yorkshire. The film was also screened in the section of Un Certain Regard at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Synopsis In a small town in Northern England in 1947, the citizens endure continuing food rationing. Some local businessmen want to hold a party to celebrate the royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip and illegally decide to raise a pig for that occasion. However, the pig is stolen by Gilbert Chilvers, who was encouraged to do so by his wife Joyce. Meanwhile, the local food inspector is determined to stop activities circumventing the food rationing. Cast Production Three pigs were used in the filming of ''A Private Function'' which were all named Betty. Producer Mark Shivas was advised by Intellectual Animals UK that the pigs used should be female and six months old so as to not be too large o ...
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Malcolm Mowbray
Malcolm Mowbray (born 1949) is a British screenwriter and television and film director. Mowbray began his career in television, directing episodes of ''Premiere'', ''BBC2 Playhouse'', and ''Objects of Affection''. In 1984 he turned to feature films with ''A Private Function'', which he directed and co-wrote with Alan Bennett, with whom he shared the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay. Additional credits include '' Crocodile Shoes'', '' Out Cold'', '' Cadfael'', '' Pie in the Sky'', '' Don't Tell Her It's Me'', '' Sweet Revenge'', and ''Monsignor Renard ''Monsignor Renard'' was a four-part ITV television drama set in occupied France during World War II. It starred John Thaw as Monsignor Augustin Renard, a French priest who is drawn into the Resistance movement. The series was later shown in th ...''. References External links * British film directors British male screenwriters British television directors 1949 births Living people {{UK- ...
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Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" ar ...
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London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shorts from approximately 50 countries. History At a dinner party in 1953 at the home of film critic Dilys Powell of '' The Sunday Times'' and at which film administrator James Quinn attended, the notion of a film festival for London was raised. Quinn went on to start the first London Film Festival which took place at the new National Film Theatre (now renamed BFI Southbank) from 16–26 October 1957. The first festival screened 15–20 films from a selection of directors to show films successful at other festivals, including Akira Kurosawa's ''Throne of Blood'' (which opened the festival), Satyajit Ray's '' Aparajito'', Andrzej Wajda's '' Kanał'', Luchino Visconti's ''White Nights'', Ingmar Bergman's ''The Seventh Seal'', Federico Fell ...
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Don Estelle
Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was an English actor and singer, best known as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum''. Early life Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester (historically part of Lancashire), he was brought up in a house on Russell Street in the area. During the Second World War, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire to escape the Manchester Blitz. It was there he found his voice as a Boy soprano at the local Holy Trinity Parish Church, and on returning home after the war, he continued singing at St Mary's Church, Crumpsall. He later joined a charity group, the Manchester Kentucky Minstrels, and with them, performed " Granada" in the 1954 talent show ''What Makes a Star?'' at BBC Radio's northern studios in Manchester. Career Estelle gained experience by singing one song 12 times a week in the show ''The Backyard Kids'' at the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester. He met the actor Windsor Davies in 1962 at the Garr ...
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Reece Dinsdale
Reece Dinsdale (born 6 August 1959) is an English actor and director of stage, film and television. He is a Huddersfield Town fan. In 2017 he became a patron of the Square Chapel, an arts centre in Halifax. He is also an honorary patron of The Old Courts multi-arts centre in Wigan Acting career Dinsdale trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1977 until 1980. After initially working in theatre in Exeter, Nottingham, Birmingham and at the Edinburgh Festival, Dinsdale got his first TV role in the Granada thriller ''Knife Edge'' in 1981. He followed this up by appearing in ''Out on the Floor'' a single drama for the BBC in 1982. This led to him being cast as Albert in ''Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime'' series for ITV in 1982. More theatre followed with ''Beethoven's Tenth'' with Peter Ustinov at the Vaudeville Theatre, London and the highly acclaimed ''Red Saturday'' at the Royal Court. He played Jimmy Kemp in '' Threads'' (1984), a-soon-to-be-father and hu ...
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Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical film '' Distant Voices, Still Lives'' (1988). He had a transatlantic breakthrough when he portrayed David in ''Alien 3'' (1992), and his international reputation was further solidified when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' In the Name of the Father''. Following this role, he portrayed the mysterious lawyer Mr. Kobayashi in ''The Usual Suspects,'' and went on to appear in a wide variety of films. On television, Postlethwaite played Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill on '' Sharpe''. He trained as a teacher and taught drama before training as an actor. Director Steven Spielberg called him "the best actor in the world" after working with him on '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' (1997). He was made an Officer of th ...
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Jim Carter (actor)
James Edward Carter (born 19 August 1948) is an English actor, best known for his role as Mr Carson in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015), which earned him four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2012–2015). He reprised the role in the feature films ''Downton Abbey'' (2019) and '' Downton Abbey: A New Era'' (2022) and starred as the main villain Rookery in '' The Little Vampire'' and its 2017 remake. Carter's films include '' A Private Function'' (1984), '' The Company of Wolves'' (1984), '' A Month in the Country'' (1987), '' The Witches'' (1990), '' A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'' (1992), '' Stalin'' (1992), ''The Madness of King George'' (1994), ''Richard III'' (1995), ''Brassed Off'' (1996), ''Shakespeare in Love'' (1998), ''Ella Enchanted'' (2004), ''The Thief Lord'' (2006), ''The Golden Compass'' (2007), Tim Burton's ''Alice in Wonderland'' (2010), ''My Week with Marilyn'' ...
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Wedding Of Princess Elizabeth And Philip Mountbatten
The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten took place on Thursday 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. The bride was the elder daughter of King George VI and heir presumptive to the British throne. The groom was born a Greek and Danish prince; he abandoned these titles on his adoption of British nationality four months before the announcement of their marriage and was made Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich on the morning of the wedding. Engagement Elizabeth and Philip were second cousins once removed (by descent from Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel) and third cousins (by descent from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert). Princess Elizabeth met Prince Philip in 1934, at the wedding of Philip's cousin Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark to Prince George, Duke of Kent, paternal uncle of Elizabeth, and again in 1937. After another meeting at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939 ...
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Rationing In The United Kingdom
Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, the United Kingdom was importing 20 million long tons of food per year, including about 70% of its cheese and sugar, almost 80% of fruit and about 70% of cereals and fats. The UK also imported more than half of its meat and relied on imported feed to support its domestic meat production. The civilian population of the country was about 50 million. It was one of the principal strategies of the Germans in the Battle of the Atlantic to attack shipping bound for Britain, restricting British industry and potentially starving the nation into submission. To deal with sometimes extreme shortages, the Ministry of Food instituted a system of rationing. To buy most rationed items, each person had to register at chosen shops and was provided with a ration book containing coupons. The shopkeeper was provid ...
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Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the Celt Britonic Yr Hen Ogledd Kingdoms. The common governmental definition of the North is a grouping of three statistical regions: the North East, the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber. These had a combined population of 14.9 million at the 2011 census, an area of and 17 cities. Northern England is culturally and economically distinct from both the Midlands and the South of England. The area's northern boundary is the border with Scotland, its western the border with Wales, and its eastern the North Sea; there are varying interpretations of where the southern border with the Midlands lies culturally; the Midlands is often also split by closeness to the North and the South. Many Industrial Revolution innovations began ...
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1985 Cannes Film Festival
The 38th Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 20 May 1985. The Palme d'Or went to the ''When Father Was Away on Business'' by Emir Kusturica. The festival opened with ''Witness'', directed by Peter Weir and closed with ''The Emerald Forest'', directed by John Boorman. The festival paid a tribute to American actor James Stewart and screened a restored version of his 1954 film '' The Glenn Miller Story'', directed by Anthony Mann. Juries Main competition The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1985 feature film competition: *Miloš Forman (Czechoslovakia) Jury President *Claude Imbert (France) (journalist) *Edwin Zbonek (Austria) *Francis Veber (France) *Jorge Amado (Brazil) * Mauro Bolognini (Italy) *Michel Perez (France) *Mo Rothman (USA) *Néstor Almendros (Spain) * Sarah Miles (UK) Camera d'Or The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1985 Camera d'Or: *Bernard Jubard *Bertrand Van Effenterre (director) *Joël Magny (critic) *Jose Vieira Marques ...
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Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusual styles and non-traditional stories seeking international recognition. winners In 1998, the was introduced to the section to recognize young talent and to encourage innovative and daring works by presenting one of the films with a grant to aid its distribution in France. Since 2005, the prize consists of € The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...30,000 financed by the Groupama GAN Foundation.
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