Headed up by festival director Tony Davis, the first day of the four-day (31 May to 3 June 2022) industry and public event that serves as a guide through the new world of streaming, was well visited.
Among the highlights of the opening day was a conversation with human rights lawyer Cherie Blair and British director and producer John Deery about The Rock Pile, a Joejack Entertainment film that’s in production, written by W. David McBrayer. The conversation, hosted by Steven Adams (Alta Global Media), touched upon the gender divide in the media and film industry and Deery’s movie. The Rock Pile is a story set in today’s Jerusalem about three boys of different faiths – taking out their frustrations of the ongoing conflict in Israel – and a disillusioned war correspondent, Erin Carter, who finds healing and peace by writing about the conflict through the perspective of the boys.
During the talk, John Deery mentioned, “I was approached by the writer through a mutual friend and given 10 or 15 pages of the screenplay. It was about the boys, throwing stones at each other and going back to their houses. I’ve always been interested in politics and religion.”
Photo by Simone Kussatz
“There’s also an element of the story that’s about female friendship,” added Cherie Blair, Executive Producer of The Rock Pile and the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “Because why would a middle-aged male journalist have any sort of a friendship with a female, especially in Jerusalem? But you know, females?! Both women have lost a child in different circumstances, the affinity that women have, that mothers, even grandmothers have! That adds to the authenticity of the story.”
The first day ended with a special screening of A Bird Flew In by Kirsty Bell from Goldfinch Entertainment. A multiple film festival award-winner, the black and white film features six interlinked narratives in which a cast and crew, including Jeff Fahey, Sadie Frost, Frances Barber and Derek Jacobi, are sent home during a lockdown.
A producer up until now, this was Kirsty Bell’s directorial debut, a job that she wasn’t pursuing consciously, but kind of fell into it as a result of her artistic ambitions in her younger years and the pandemic. “It wasn’t like I came up with an idea and wanted to make a movie,” she said. “I was just doodling and watching people on Zoom and wondering what their situation is like at home. I was creating characters and then my producer Ben Charles Edwards gave me the wings to fly!”
The screening was followed by a Q&A with Jeff Fahey and Kirsty Bell, as well as producers Ben Charles Edwards and Phil McKenzie, hosted by Theo Dumont (Alta Global Media).
Head to the Monaco Streaming Film Festival to find out more.
Source : https://www.filmink.com.au/monaco-hosts-its-second-edition-of-the-streaming-film-festival/