UFO Info Week-End

They looked at me again mocking me

They looked at me again, mocking me.The first step was to get acquainted with the territory. The second step, was for the lead actor, Fabián Stratas to search for women, the ultimate step being “the conquest”. The only instruction I gave was that it was absolutely forbidden to confront the Islanders. The idea was not to reveal the Islanders, but to reveal certain Argentinian attitudes.The film crew developed a system of clandestine night meetings. One of us would let the rest of the group into their hotel room, making sure nobody had seen anything. There, I looked at the dailies and discussed (in a low voice) our steps for the next day.

If something unexpected changed our plans, I rewrote certain ideas which I handed out on small pieces of paper at breakfast the following morning.Even though the Falklands War was not the subject of the film, we all ended up touring the battle fields. The conditions in which our soldiers had fought were as poor and distressing as the landscape. Some tourists consider the battle fields as the highlight of their visit. This commercial aspect created a feeling of anger towards the Islanders in Fabián.

Such feeling finally fitted perfectly well in the story.The treatment we received from the Islanders was polite But we could feel they did not trust us. One evening at the pub, Fabián had a friendly talk with a local guy. After a couple of beers and a lot of laughs, the Falklander told him he had fought in the war against Argentina and made it clear he would fight a war again if necessary.Before visiting Malvinas, we had imagined a typical small rural town. We were surprised that many cosmopolitan features were present in the Islands’ capital, Port Stanley: Dutch people, Polynesians, even some individuals from other British colonies. It also became clear that severe cases of alcoholism and sexual promiscuity hide under the community’s orderly appearance.I had arrived in Malvinas with a sceptical opinion regarding the sovereignty issue. But, as time passed, I realised that for the Islanders the war was the foundation on which they were able to start developing: the economic support given by Britain; the creation of their own constitution and the settlement of a military base with the same number of soldiers as the rest of the Islands. The war, which I believed to be absurd,was the the most important event in the Islanders’ history.’Fuckland’ will be screened at the London Film Festival on Wed at 9pm and Fri at 6.30 pm (020 7928 3232 for box office and venue).

Film Studies

Film Studies
James Caan is looking good again – and a touch younger than the actual 62. In interviews, he starts to say something and then lets the thought trail off into a private chuckle where he’s reminded of how he set them – the guys – straight No one puts anything over on Jimmy Caan Except for Caan himself, of course. There was a sad time, in the 1980s, when he wandered onto a TV talk show and you had to ask someone who’d been paying more attention, “Is that Jimmy Caan?” His laugh had gone; his great chest was shrivelled. Then, next time, he’d be overweight and slowed by painful thoughts that never cohered.

Whatever happened to Caan, he was the idiot and the champ.There was a time when he reckoned he could do anything. In 1971, he was in an exceptional TV movie, Brian’s Song, where he played a footballer, Brian Piccolo, whose forlorn struggle with cancer was helped by friendship with another player, Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). This was a long time ago, when real-life dramas were less common on TV. But it was well done, and Caan was nominated for an Emmy (he lost to Keith Michell as Henry VIII).Then he got the role of Sonny Corleone – losing his temper, beating up his brother-in-law and having that virtuoso tollbooth death scene – in The Godfather. The performance was as thick as his chest hair, and there were guys who complained that the film lost its heart and energy when Jimmy was butchered. He was nominated for the supporting actor Oscar, but he lost again – to Joel Grey in Cabaret.It looked as if Caan was going to become a real star.