The ICA presents ‘The Booker at the Movies’
Does a good book make a good film?
8, 15, 22 and 29 June 2008
In 2008 the Institute of Contemporary Arts and The Booker Prize celebrate their 60th and 40th anniversaries respectively. As part of a special series of events to mark these occasions and to support cinematICA, a vital fundraising initiative to secure the future of ICA cinemas, the ICA presents a distinctive season of films adapted from Booker prize-winning and shortlisted books and authors.
The Booker Prize is the most celebrated literary prize in the UK and in the English speaking world. In total, 39 winning and shortlisted Booker books have been made into films or are currently in production; but does a good book necessarily make a good film or is something inevitably lost in translation?
More than just a run of films, The Booker at the Movies is a platform for debate around the translation of books to film. It is an opportunity for authors to talk about the experience of seeing their work made in to film and for directors to discuss the process and challenges they faced. Writers, directors, screenwriters and critics will discuss the complex process of turning winning words into winning cinema in panel discussions and Q&A's as part of this illuminating season.
Booker at the Movies will run each Sunday afternoon at 4.00pm from Sunday 8th and the programme includes:
Sunday 8 June - screening of Possession with AS Byatt in conversation with Tibor Fischer
Sunday 15 June - screening of The Van with Roddy Doyle in conversation with Lynda Myles and Claire Armitstead
Sunday 22 June - screening of A Month in the Country with Simon Gray in conversation with Deborah Moggach and John Mullan
Sunday 29 June - screening of Atonement with Christopher Hampton in conversation with Rosie Goldsmith
‘We are delighted to be presenting The Booker at the Movies season,' says Ekow Eshun, ICA Artistic Director. ‘Not only does it give us the opportunity to show some great films, but also to explore the fascinating and complex process of turning literature into cinema. Stimulating dialogue is a central aspect of the ICA's mission and so it feels particularly appropriate to further a conversation between film-makers, writers and audiences about whether that abstract, ‘intangible dimension' - as Ingmar Bergman called it - which lies at the heart of writing translates to the screen."
Ion Trewin, Administrator for the Man Booker Prizes, adds: 'More than a quarter of all Booker prizewinners have been turned into films, and some great ones, The English Patient and Schindler's Ark - both Academy Award winners - among them. And another 25 shortlisted novels have been filmed too. Atonement, Notes on a Scandal and Empire of the Sun stand out in my mind. The prize has acted as an invaluable catalyst for some of the most imaginative film-making of the past four decades.'
~ends~
For Further information contact:
Jill Cotton / Jane Acton at Colman Getty
Tel: 020 7631 2666
Email: jill@colmangetty.co.uk or jane@colmangetty.co.uk
Natasha Plowright, Head of Press, ICA Press Office
Tel: 020 7766 1404
Email: natashap@ica.org.uk
Notes to editors:
- Booker at the Movies runs throughout June at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
- Tickets are priced £10, £9 conc, £8 ICA members and are on sale from Monday 12 May 2008
- Call the ICA on 020 7930 3647 or visit www.ica.org.uk/booker for further information about the season
- For a full list of Booker Prize winning books and authors contact Colman Getty
- For interview opportunities contact Colman Getty
- 2008 is the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize).To mark the occasion, a range of events and initiatives are planned throughout the year including the Best of the Booker, a campaign to directly involve the reading public. More information is available at the website http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
- 41 authors have won the prize since it launched in 1969 because in 1974 and 1992 there were two winners. From 1993 onwards the rules stipulated that there could only be one winner every year.
- The Booker Prize for Fiction was first awarded in 1969, and Man Group plc was announced as the sponsor of the prize in April 2002, with a five year extension agreed in 2006. For a full history of the prize including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/. The site features the rules of entry, background information and breaking news and is the quickest way for the prize's worldwide audience to access information
- The Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all sides of the book world. Its members are: Ion Trewin (Administrator, Man Booker Prizes); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Company Secretary, Booker Ltd; Peter Clarke, Chief Executive, Man Group plc; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Victoria Glendinning, writer; Basil Comely, BBC TV; Derek Johns, literary agent; Gerry Johnson, Managing Director, Waterstone's; Nigel Newton, publisher; Fiammetta Rocco, literary editor, The Economist (Man Booker International Prize administrator); Eve Smith (Company Secretary, the Booker Prize Foundation); Robert Topping, Topping & Company Booksellers and Erica Wagner, literary editor, The Times
- The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity (no 1090049) which, since 2002, has been responsible for the award of the prize. The trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chair); Lord Baker of Dorking CH; former Man Booker Prize administrator, Martyn Goff CBE; playwright and President of the Royal Literary Fund, Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; writer, Baroness Neuberger DBE; MEP Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne; and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce
- Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions for private and institutional investors worldwide, designed to deliver absolute returns with low correlation to equity and bond market benchmarks. Man has a 20-year track record in this field supported by strong product development and structuring skills, and an extensive investor service and global distribution network. The Group employs 1,600 people in 13 countries, with key centres in London and Pfäffikon (Switzerland), and offices in Chicago, Dubai, Hong Kong, Montevideo, Nassau, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EMG) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Further information on the Man Group can be found at http://www.mangroupplc.com/ and http://www.maninvestments.com/
- Booker is the UK's leading food wholesaler with over 170 branches nationwide. It serves over 350,000 independent businesses
- The Booker Prize archive was given on loan in 2003 to Oxford Brookes University.
- 2007-2008 marks the ICA's 6oth anniversary and as the institution prepares not only to celebrate its past but to consider its future, it continues to challenge traditional notions and boundaries of art forms essentially by working with artists, curators, musicians, directors and thinkers who share a desire to investigate issues relevant to the wider concerns of today's world. Vital to the ICA is the discovery and nurture of a community of cultural exploration and this emphasis guarantees that it remains at the forefront of contemporary arts activity. Contributing to its history have been artists and luminaries such as T.S Eliot, Stravinsky, Elizabeth Lutyens, Jean Tinguley, Ronnie Scott, Jackson Pollock, Cartier-Bresson, Yves Klein, Jacques Derrida, Michael Foucault, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Nan Goldin, Peter Blake, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, Yoko Ono, John Maybury, Don Letts, Horace Ové, Wong Kar Wai, Lars von Trier, Takeshi Kitano, Abbas Kiarostami, Michael Winterbottom, Jeff Wall, Bill Viola, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren, Ian McEwan, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Slavoj Zizek. The ICA has played host to debut solos shows from some of today's highest profile artists including Damien Hirst, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Luc Tuymans and Steve McQueen. It was one of the first venues to present The Clash in 1976, the Stone Roses in 1989 and more recently debut London gigs by Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, Gogol Bordello and KT Tunstall. Legendary club nights, Blacktronica and Batmacumba were born at the ICA and more recently the much heralded grime and dubstep night, Dirty Canvas has taken up residence. Groundbreaking films such as In this World, Kandahar, Osama, and Turtles can Fly have all lent credence to the reputation of the ICA as one of the first venues to screen significant social and political from the middle-east. ICA offsite projects have included the infamous Intruders at the Palace musical benefit in 1988 featuring David Bowie amongst many others whilst The Pet Shop Boys present Battleship Potempkin live event on Trafalgar Square in 2004 was one of the most ambitious projects ever to be staged in that arena and drew crowds of 35,000. 2007 saw a return to that politically charged arena for Beck's Fusions, a series of specially commissioned artist/music collaborations which climaxed with an explosive live performance from the Chemical Brothers and United Visual Artists following a three day residency in a purpose built pod on the Square from artists Jane and Louise Wilson, Doug Fishbone and Erik van Lieshout amongst others. The last few years have seen a dazzling array of opinion formers, cultural leaders, established and emergent artists including: Paul Abbot, Gerry Adams, Monica Ali, John Berger, David Blunkett, Enrico David, Beth Ditto, Brian Eno, Sophie Fiennes, Xiaolu Guo, Mona Hatoum, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Shere Hite, Hot Chip, Alison Jackson, Christopher Kane, Hanif Kureishi, Jonathan Monk, Lukas Moodysson, Alan Moore, Favela Rising, Martha Rosler, Marjane Satrapi, Tino Seghal, Amartya Sen, Raqib Shaw, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Patti Smith, Morgan Spurlock, Wolfgang Tillmans, Vivienne Westwood, Naomi Wolf, Cerith Wyn Evans, and cinematic highlights, Blame it on Fidel, Candy, I for India, Jesus Camp, and The Yacoubian Building.
- cinematICA
The ICA has supported and championed independent film-making since its inception in the late 40's. Following the creation of a permanent cinema space at the Mall Venue in 1968, the film programme has been a dynamic and essential part of the institution, respected internationally for its bold and imaginative presentations, which seek not only to give space to new voices and visions from across the world but also to provide a context in which to better understand the films and film-makers. cinematICA is a dedicated fundraising initiative with the goal of raising essential funds to refurbish the ICA cinemas and support the future of independent and world cinema at the ICA. cinematICA encourages both public and private investment through special film seasons, gala events, public donations, private sponsorship and the opportunity to sit alongside cinematic greats through the ICA adopt-a-seat scheme.
