Chichester International Film Festival returns this August under new artistic director Walter Francisco who is promising to bring “a fresh and dynamic vision” to the annual event.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Griep Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, really
00:06exciting times for the Chichester International Film Festival, because after years and years
00:11and years, Roger Gibson has stepped down, and stepping in is someone we all know already,
00:16who's been at the cinema for 21 years, the new Artistic Director for the Chichester
00:21International Film Festival, Walter Francisco. Now, exciting times because you have the history
00:27here, don't you? But the chance to do new things. Hello, Phil. Yes, nice to be here. Nice to see
00:32you. Yeah, so it's very exciting. As you say, I've been here 21 years, so I've watched, I've
00:38picked one or two things that Roger done very well, and stolen them, obviously, and then I've
00:44recorded my ideas. Yeah, so hopefully we can create, you know, us, the whole team here at
00:50Chichester Cinema at New Park, we can create an amazing festival that, you know, do the South
00:55of England proud. And do you think this year we will sense it's a different festival, or will we
01:00have a kind of reassuring continuation? I feel it will be mainly reassuring, but people
01:08who know where to look, who will look, they'll say, oh yeah, that's definitely Walter, that's
01:12definitely Walter. We'll see your taste coming in, won't we? Absolutely, absolutely. So, I've
01:19kept the structure of the festival pretty much the same. And by that I mean, we're a festival
01:26that shows about 50% of brand new films, like some, well, maybe half of those. So, 25% of the
01:34festival will never be shown in the UK. So, you know, take your chance while you get it. And the
01:39other 50% are retrospectives. So, I'll choose something, well, as an example, we've got the
01:45Brando centenary. He would have been 100 years this year, Marlon Brando. So, we've got, I think,
01:51seven or eight films, plus a talk. And we've also got a retrospective on MGM and Columbia,
02:00who also turn 100. So, we've got some real classics there. We got a retrospective on
02:07Greta Gerwig, yeah. So, five of her films and a talk as well. I mean, she's
02:13very talented, very new, something, bringing something new to cinema. So, we want to champion
02:19her. I mean, Cannes Film Festival put her as the president of the jury this year. So, everyone's
02:25noticing what she's doing. And you've got a start in great style with the open air screenings,
02:31haven't you? Oh, yes. We're always excited about the open air screenings. So, slight change this
02:36year where instead of just the three late screenings, we've got the three late screenings,
02:41which are Barbie, Dirty Dancing, and Stop Making Sense. I mean, that's a Talking Heads film. I'm
02:46so excited for that. See, that's a real Walter touch. But we've also added earlier screenings
02:56in the late afternoon, mainly for the families. And we've got Lego Movie, which turns 10 years,
03:02would you believe? And Wonka. And Wonka, we're doing in aid of Stonepillow. We're
03:07working with Stonepillow to put that on. And Wonka's been one of the best films of the past
03:12year, hasn't it? Wonderful film. Sorry, what was that? Wonka has been one of the best films of the
03:16past year, hasn't it? Fantastic film. I remember it was like sort of 20 weeks in a row, it was in
03:21the top 20. I mean, that's unheard of nowadays. I mean, that's like the olden days when a film
03:27would stay around for much longer, less films released. Nowadays, you know, a film stays four,
03:32five weeks, and it's gone. So yeah, a lot of longevity there.
03:36Absolutely. And the other really exciting thing you're doing for the festival this year is you
03:40are moving out a little bit, aren't you? While still doing as much as ever at the Chichester
03:44Cinema at New Park, you're bringing in other venues.
03:47Yeah, so we're using our three venues that we have here at the New Park Centre,
03:52which is the main auditorium, the studio and the Picture Palace. So we're doing what we normally
03:56do. And then, well, I've mentioned Priory Park, but we've also always used St John's Chapel for
04:03silent film with live music. But we're moving out and going to new venues. We're using St
04:09Paul's Church for a concert, a 100 Years of Film Music concert. We're going to Littlehampton and
04:17using the Windmill Cinema for five screenings. We're going the other way to Havant, where at
04:21the Spring Centre, we're doing Buster Plays Buster, which is a jazz quartet, and they play
04:28to Buster Keaton silent film. They're doing Sherlock Junior this year. Yeah, so we're
04:34trying to spread our wings. Fantastic. With the thinking that you spread that
04:39love of cinema. Absolutely. I mean, I'm going to steal that.
04:43We're spreading the love of cinema. My gift to you.
04:47Thank you, Bill. Yeah, honestly, we are trying to spread that love of cinema, because
04:52if we can spread that love, then people will enjoy going to the cinema more. And that'll be
04:57better for Chichester cinema throughout the year, and for every other cinema and just the whole
05:02industry. I mean, I absolutely love this art. And I keep telling everybody, it's the most
05:06collaborative of all art forms. So why not put that into practice and collaborate?
05:11Absolutely. Well, the Film Festival is always a fabulous thing, always a truly exciting thing.
05:16And all good wishes for your takeover as the new Artistic Director.
05:21Hope it grows brilliantly. It's been great to speak to you. Thanks.
05:24Thank you, Bill. Bye-bye.