Something in our skies…
Back in June of last year, I had the privilege and good fortune to be invited to the premier of Duncan Z H Jones‘ short film, Whistle. I was enjoying a chat with Duncan before the intimate screening in London’s West End, when we were joined by his father, fresh from a journey up from Portsmouth and in town for some TV stuff and a show…or something or other he was doing.
Time passed too quickly and we were ushered into the cinema for a brief pre-screening introduction by Duncan. I was forced to sit next to his proud father, who kept humming along to a soundtrack that included Grandaddy and even some instrumental track from an album called Low. Anyway, that’s enough name-dropping for one news story. I’ll be sensible for a moment….
Here’s some great news about the film from Duncan himself:
Whistle is going to screen as part of the Luxembourg International Film Festival on Friday the 4th of April at 7pm. I’ll be introducing it. It will also be showing at something called the 19th Festival Van de Fantastische Film in Amsterdam between the 10th and the 16th of April.
Click on the relevant links to find out more, and if you can get along tomorrow, I’m sure Duncan would be more than happy for any support from all of you BowieNetters in Luxembourg.
Whistle was written and directed by Duncan, and it’s a great debut from a talent we’re clearly going to hear a lot more of in the future. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from a review when the film was screened at last year’s Frightfest:
…Far better was the aforementioned Whistle which we finally got to see when the digital projection system came back on line. Jones’ confident and assured debut is a science fiction thriller about a hi-tech assassin who uses satellites to target his victims in London from his home in Switzerland. But when a mission goes tragically wrong, the assassin is so consumed by guilt that he abandons his family to travel to London only to find that he has become the next target…
One of the hallmarks of this year’s Frightfest has been the generally high standard of the shorts on offer and Whistle proved to be the best so far, boasting a strong cast, an intriguing story and a fantastic closing shot. Jones is another director whose future could well be bright and rewarding – here’s hoping that someone bankrolls his debut feature very soon.
Let us know if you do get along to see the film at either of these festivals, it really is worth the effort if you can make it. We’ll hopefully be doing a more in-depth piece about Whistle and Duncan’s burgeoning film career in the near future. Good luck Duncan, hope it goes well.