By Ray Bennett
KRAKOW – U.S. orchestral rock outfit Critical Hit showed how infectious music from videogames can be with a 90-minute high-energy concert here last night that featured an ensemble of highly talented and glamorous performers. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
KRAKOW – The 8th Krakow Film Music Festival kicked off today with morning masterclasses and a noon media conference in which artistic director Robert Piaskowski welcomed around 800 artists who will play at 10 concerts during the event. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
KRAKOW – The 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival announced today that it will screen 164 feature films from 36 nations including 24 world premieres, 8 international, 16 European, 84 U.K. and two Scottish premieres. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Miss Peggy Lee, who was born 95 years ago today and died on Jan. 21 2002 aged 81, had come close to death in 1985 and she laughed when she told me, “Don’t you know that people tried to avoid playing ‘Is That All There Is?’ during that time. I was prepared to go if it was necessary. You know, ‘Is this trip really necessary?’” Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – The 8th Krakow Film Music Festival (KFMF) gets under way on Wednesday and on Friday there, I will moderate a Q&A session with top composers on the topic of history and politics in screen music. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – With a sparkling new 4K digital restoration, “Only Angels Have Wings”, directed in 1939 by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Rita Hayworth, is back in UK cinemas thanks to distributor Park Circus. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Timothy Ackroyd said he is in discussions to adapt for television his production of the courtroom drama “The Fuse”, which he wrote with the late Beryl Bainbridge.
The sardonic and gripping play, which was presented recently as a Radio Theatre Production at the National Liberal Club, deals with the Old Bailey murder trial of Brian Donald Hume in 1950. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – Oscar-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal (pictured above) has been named as the first winner of the new Wojciech Kilar Award to be presented at the Krakow Film Music Festival on May 28. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – I never spoke to Orson Welles – who was born 100 years ago today and will be the subject of a two-month season at the BFI Southbank – but he did respond with a nod and sometimes a smile when I signalled respect with a slight tip of the head as I passed him at lunch. Continue reading
By Ray Bennett
LONDON – The first baseball game I ever saw was at Tiger Stadium in Detroit in 1970 and a bonus of living across the river in Windsor, Ontario, was that I was able to hear the club’s longtime radio play-by-play man Ernie Harwell, who died five years ago today at 92. Continue reading
