Little Angel Theatre Announces PUPPET FILM FESTIVAL Mar. 25-27

Little Angel Theatre and Reel Islington announce London's first ever puppet film festival from 25-27 March 2011. As part of the ongoing 50th birthday celebrations of Little Angel, its intimate 100 seat theatre will be transformed into a cinema for this one weekend and the films shown will appeal to all ages.
 
The Festival's joint Directors are Peter Glanville, Artistic Director of Little Angel, and Louise Radinger, co-chair of Reel Islington. Louise, an award-winning short filmmaker and shadow theatre practitioner was drawn to puppetry when her daughter joined Puppet Club at Little Angel. She suggested a collaboration to Peter Glanville, who was happy to join her in creating this festival.
 
The Festival opens on Friday, 25 March at 7.30 pm with three films for adults: FAR AWAY FROM URAL (Finland, 2008) directed by Katariina Lillqvist; PROMISED PARADISE (Netherlands/Indonesia, 2006) by Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich and THE MUSIC OF REGRET (USA, 2006) by celebrated artist, photographer and filmmaker Laurie Simmons.
 
On Saturday, 26 March, at 2 pm The Paper Cinema perform their new show ROCK CHARMER followed by a workshop for young people and adults age 10+.
 
Later on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm the famous toy theatre film DANTE'S INFERNO (USA, 2007), written and directed by Sean Meredith and Paul Zaloom is a must for all graphic novel and paper cinema fans.
 
This is followed at 6.15 pm by a rare screening of the haunting and beautiful feature length film from Japanese puppet animation master Kihachiro Kawamoto, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD (Japan, 2005).
 
Saturday night at 8 pm is PUPPET SHORTS NIGHT. Our screening of some wonderful new short films contributed by a wide range of interested filmmakers and puppeteers from London and further afield. There will be a jury prize for the best short film at the end of the evening. Some of the films may have adult content.
 
Sunday morning, 27 March, at 11 am sees the screening of the rarely seen cult classic LABYRINTH (USA; 1986/suitable for all ages) followed by Q and A with Ronnie le Drew and Sue Dacre, two puppeteers who worked on the film.
 
What is a puppet film? At 2.30 pm on Sunday, 27 March Fozzie Bear, Elmo, Lamb Chop, Art Cat and many more puppets gather together in Carnegie Hall to hold a PUPPET CONFERENCE to discuss their role on television. A marvelous and inventive film by artist Christian Jankowski is followed directly by the human version! Dr. Dan North, film lecturer and specialist on puppetry and animatronics in film, will take us on a whistlestop tour of amazing puppet films and their themes from early film to the present day.
 
On Sunday at 5 pm we have a screening of Lotte Reiniger's masterpiece THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (1926) with live music from the unique Sawchestra, who will be handing out instruments for you to join in with the soundtrack creation. This is suitable for all ages (PG).
 
And, finally, the Festival closes at 8 pm with the UK Premiere of REHEARSAL FOR A SICILIAN TRAGEDY (USA, 2009) written by the Italian American actor John Turturro and noted puppeteer Roman Paska, who also directed the film. A love letter to Turturro's roots in Sicily, it explores the essence of that country through puppet theatre.  We are delighted to have Roman Paska joining us in person to introduce his film and talk about it afterwards with the audience.
Please check the Little Angel website for details of times and titles - www.littleangeltheatre.com - or ring the Box Office on 020 7226 1787.