London 2006

Waiting for Lola...

"The London Film Festival — under the expert guidance of Sandra Hebron — is probably the most brilliant example of a Festival taking place in a big town and providing its audiences with the crème de la crème from the major artistic events of the year (Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam, Locarno, San Sebastian) as well as some little seen gems", writes Michel Ciment in his overview on the 50th edition of the event organized by the British Film Institute and sponsored by "The Times".
Our jurors saw an interesting selection of first and second features, among them Nick Broomfield's Ghosts, Reprise by Joachim Trier and the prize-winning Lola (Lo que se de Lola), the Spanish director Javier Rebollo's first feature about a loner who gets obsessed by a young woman in his neighborhood, and who follows her through her life without ever getting to know her.

Details of the FIPRESCI Prize
London Film Festival: October 18 — November 2, 2006. Web: www.lff.org.uk

Reports
The Love of Cinema. More selective than the Toronto Film Festival and less aristocratic than New York, London is able to provide not only the screening of more than 160 current films with additional projections of shorts and experimental works, but also masterclasses and talk shows by luminaries such as, this year, Dustin Hoffman, Tim Burton, Richard Linklater and Paul Verhoeven, as well as revivals of classics in restored prints from the major archives. Michel Ciment reports. More
Provocative Tale of a Loner. Marianne Gray reviews Javier Rebollo's first feature Lola, about a young man who develops a fascination for Lola, a young Spanish woman next door, "who, without ever getting to know her, has becomes the acute object of his desire". More
The Eye of the Beholder. An essay by Rachael Turk, on "Intimacy in the age of surveillance". She refers to Michel Foucault who noted that "the most powerful form of control over a person was the mere possibility that he might be under surveillance at any given time", and points out that several films reflect this concern. More

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