Derby ID Fest 2013 - Preview

Following on from my visit to last year's festival, next week I will be returning to the Derby Quad for their annual ID Fest, which this year is looking at the theme of family in film.

Kicking off on Thursday with the UK premiere of Michael Shannon's thriller The Iceman, the festival (which runs for the whole weekend) will be screening films old and new, but all with the overarching theme of family. There's also a retrospective of the career of Derby native Alan Bates, with his family and colleagues in attendance to talk about some of his roles.

Friday's programme includes Bates in Whistle Down the Wind, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Peter Mullan's Orphans and an interesting double bill of Carrie and Shogun Assassin closing the night; but the centre-piece of the day has to be the Adam Batty (hopelies.com) introduced screening of The Wizard of Oz which comes with optional Dark Side of the Moon audio for those who want to see if the rumours of Pink Floyd's album working as an alternative soundtrack are true. Personally, I'm quite sceptical about this sort of thing, but I suppose the only way to get a definitive answer is to try it out.

Saturday starts off with a screening of Pixar's The Incredibles before moving onto a number of panel discussions, the highlight for me being the Directing British Independent Feature Films panel with some rising British directorial stars in attendance. No one ever said that directing low budget British films was easy, so I'm quite keen to hear what Jake West, Johannes Roberts, Dominic Burns and Paul Andrew Williams have to say about their chosen profession.

Saturday also includes a screening of Wes Anderson's Royal Tenenbaums introduced by friend of Slacker Cinema, Tom Grater (tomscinema.com), which I'm going to do my best to attend, schedule permitting; and a screening of what might be the ultimate film about family dysfunction, The Godfather, also introduced by Tom. Why aren't I introducing any films, I hear you not ask? Well, a) I wasn't asked to, and b) given last year's failed attempts to get me to contribute something meaningful to a podcast, I think it's best if I leave the public speaking to others. The day ends with back to back showings of The Warriors and Clerks, billed as "Alternative Families". Given The Warriors tribal leanings and Jay and Silent Bob's status as "hetero life partners", they seem to fit the billing.

Sunday sees short films take centre stage as the Eat My Shorts showcase begins followed in the evening by a panel discussion with Derby locals, Five Lamps Films and a ceremony to crown the winners of this year's 24 Hour Film Challenge. The day also features screenings of classics such as Forbidden Planet, Bicycle Thieves and A Night at the Opera and a preview of Girl Shaped Love Drug followed by a Q+A with the director and executive producer.

The whole weekend features a number of "honoured guests" from all walks of the movie industry, with highlights including Empire Magazine's Chris Hewitt talking to Terry Jones before a screening of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life on Friday, former Skins actor Jack O'Connell previewing his new film The Liability on Sunday and former scary child Martin Stephens talking about his role in The Innocents, accompanied by a screening of the film on Saturday.

Just like last year's festival, the whole weekend is going to be documented by a number of blogs, including some friends of Slacker Cinema, so I recommend you check out their coverage by following the handy links the festival have given us on their website. Keep checking here for updates on my time at the festival as I plan on covering as much as I can. 

Tickets are on sale now and the entire programme can be viewed as a virtual brochure here.