It's been a good one to say goodbye on,' said outgoing LFF director Sheila Whitaker. Indeed, with net box-office revenues hitting the US$850,000 mark, and admissions reaching the 107,000 mark, with audiences clearly responding to the films on offer, and with a real festival spirit in evidence at the new base in the Berners Hotel, the 40th London Film Festival (7-24 November) has been both a cultural and commercial success. 'The audiences have been fantastic, and so have the filmmakers,' said Whitaker, 'and everybody's had a great time.'
This year's list of buzz titles was a refreshingly eclectic one - not just Cronenberg's Crash, which continued to hog the headlines, but Deepa Mehta's Fire, the Australian films Shine and Cosi, Takeshi Kitano's Kids Return, the Czech film Kolya, Didier Le Pêcheur's eccentric Good News from the Lord, and from the popular Spanish selection, Agustin Diaz Yanes' Nobody Will Speak About Us When We're Dead.
Among the British films that were eligible for the Audience Award, standouts included Small Time, Gallivant, Swann, Stella Does Tricks and Fetishes. The Award finally went to Nancy Meckler's Indian Summer. It is now to be hoped that the UK's moribund independent distribution sector will be able to capitalise on the audience the LFF has created for new and exciting work.
After tidying up LFF loose ends, Whitaker will, she said, be 'open to offers.'
'We have all been inspired by Sheila's leadership, courage, determination and stamina,' deputy director Tim Cole, speaking for all festival staff past and present, told Moving Pictures. Nick Thomas
