Berlin: Day 3

Our last full day in Berlin was devoted to press interviews in the morning before we visited the Holocaust Memorial (left) in the centre of Berlin, next to the Brandenburg Gate, for a television recording. An extraordinary public installation of concrete slabs through which visitors can walk, the memorial plays with your sense of perspective and space; inside it’s very quiet. One of the most fascinating works of public art/memorial I have ever seen.

Germany is the last country to release the film adaptation of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS and the premiere took place later in the evening as the opening night film in the 15th Berlin Jewish Film Festival. We also got a chance to see ‘Toyland’, this year’s Oscar-winning short film, which was presented by director Jochen-Alexander Freydank.

Thanks to everyone involved in the festival for making our stay so enjoyable.

BAFTA longlists

The BAFTA longlists were announced yesterday and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS has been longlisted for 8 awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Make-Up, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. The shortlists will be announced in a week or so.

You can see the full list of longlisted films on Variety’s website.

British Independent Film Award Winners!

Great news from Old Billinsgate Market in London on Sunday night where the film adaptation of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS was up for 3 awards. Vera Farmiga, who plays Elsa, Bruno’s mother, in the film won the award for Best Actress, while David Thewlis, who plays Rolf, Bruno’s father, was given a career achievement award for his exemplary work in cinema. Congratulations to both.

US Box Office

This weekend, the film adaptation of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS has moved into the Top 10 at the US Box Office in its third weekend of release.

Combined with the fact that the book is at #1 in the New York Times Bestseller list it’s been a good weekend all round Stateside!

Film times for the next week in the States are all available on Fandango.

U.S. Opening

On set in Budapest last year

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS opens today in selected cities around the USA.

There’s already been some great reviews for the film from the American press: USA Today calls is “poignant… reminiscent of Au Revoir Les Enfants… a notably faithful rendition of John Boyne’s novel”. The Los Angeles Times calls it “an affecting drama that refuses to soft-pedal its harrowing conclusion”, while Newsday calls it “compelling.”

For local times and listings you can check out Fandango.

Chicago Film Festival Award

Great news from the Chicago International Film Festival, which I attended during October along with director Mark Herman. THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS has won the Audience Choice Award (shared with “Slumdog Millionaire”) voted for over the 14 days of the festival. In a nice coincidence, both BOY and Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A (on which Slumdog Millionaire is based) are both published in the UK by Transworld.

The film opens in Chicago (and about 11 other US cities) this coming Friday.

Video Interview

One of the many interviews recorded in the States with Mark and I. Hard to know where it’s from though… I think maybe Dallas!

New York… and home

The US movie tour has come to an end at last. The final few days were spent in New York where we attended various screenings and Q&As and did some more press. We’ve probably done everything we can now to increase awareness of the film, which opens next Friday in selected cities across America.

It’s been a fantastic opportunity to visit 9 cities across America, 7 of which I’d never been to before. I may not have actually seen very much of those cities, but at least I know which ones I’d like to revisit on a holiday sometime and which ones I’d probably ignore! And to be there in the run-up to the election only made things better; we certainly met some very strongly opinionated people along the way and were faced with some bizarre questions – most memorably the lady who tried (unsuccessfully) to draw parallels between Bruno, Hitler and Barack Obama.

It was great to have one last night out with the Pyjamas gang though before leaving the States. The picture above includes producer David Heyman, director Mark Herman and actor David Thewlis. But it’s good to be home too… for a few weeks anyway.

British Independent Film Awards

Our last day in the States coincides with some great news from back home where the film has been nominated for 3 British Independent Film Awards. Mark Herman has been nominated for Best Director, Vera Farmiga for Best Actress and Asa Butterfield, who plays Bruno, as Best Newcomer. In addition to this David Thewlis has been awarded the Richard Harris prize for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema. The winners will be announced in late November.

Washington DC, Philadelphia

2 more cities on the US tour… only 1 left after this.

We spent the weekend in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, which is already getting spruced up for the inauguration in January. I’m fascinated by American politics but had only been here once before, and that was about 2 weeks after 9/11 when everything was shut for obvious reasons. Not that I got to see too much more of the city this time around but it was nice to be back.

On stage in Philadelphia

Then on to Philadelphia for more press – also bad timing as they were playing the fourth and potentially winning game in the World Series last night, although it was eventually postponed due to rain.

In both DC and Philadelphia we held more screenings and Q&A sessions and I got to catch up with some friends before we head today to New York for the last couple of days of screenings, interviews and press with the whole Striped Pyjamas gang gathered together before we go…. home!