Why Lift-Off Programmed this Film: It's rare we find a film of this nature that we feel works in every way. The solitude of the character mixes so well with the film language. It is a middle class, middle aged, post divorce, coming of age poetic tale that we couldn't refuse to screen.
Our global audiences responses: Our audiences connected with the character and loved the photography. One of the comments on the scorecard at London Lift-Off 2015 said "I never thought a lady simply doing the dishes would make me cry."
BE NOW Won a special mention at London Lift-Off Film Festival 2015 where the films prize is an Official Selection at Amsterdam Lift-Off this October.
Our Review of BE NOW...
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Graham Atkins- Hughes might have a lot of empathy, or maybe there is a different story here. When we review the work of the filmmakers we screen, we're always finding ourselves investigating the inspiration behind the purpose of the narrative we're viewing.
In this instance BE NOW is an exploration of the poetic/romantic/vulnerable trauma of starting again. Getting back into the mode of romance - after an obvious absence. I can't help it, but I feel that this is possibly a gender replaced semi-autobiographical account from the filmmakers own life. Why do I think this, because the pain feels very real. From the cold setting of the kitchen, the empty space of the protagonists home, through to the apparent warmth of the evening into retrospect: the candle lit excitement...
The filmmaker has been here before - but haven't all of us?
The vulnerability Atkins-Hughes creates seems 60% director, 20% photography, 20% actor. A weight of the pain feels so well balanced and communicated that one wouldn't be surprised if the very poem narrated was indeed written during an extremely similar time.
Whether I'm right or wrong, the fact is that the story delivers, I am on-board with her and I feel how she feels when she feels it. So many times our film festival has tended to stay away from these types of poetically narrated memoir-esq music videos, but for all the right reasons we knew that BE NOW was special.
Watch it yourself and give us your review, we'd love to know your thoughts...
