TOO MANY GHOSTS
Directed, filmed and edited by Ian Woodward.
Cast: Petros Koukoulomatis, David Sutherland, Mandy Carr, Eva Woodward.
Screenplay and Verse by Ian Woodward.
Music by Sir Edward Elgar.
Narrated by Beth Mayoh.
“Too Many Ghosts” is a fictionalised commentary on the folly of war set in Europe between the last five days of the Second World War and a few days after the end of hostilities.
Joe Franklin, a young corporal in Britain’s illustrious 350-year-old East Yorkshire Regiment, is reminiscing about the horrors of war and the mental scars it inflicts on the physically and mentally injured.
He is filled with remorse at the memories of those very close to his heart that have perished. Many are missing but some have been returned home to be buried in towns and villages up and down the British Isles.
Joe’s story is told against the musical backdrop of England’s great national composer, Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Master of the King’s Musick, with poetry by some of the country’s great war poets, including Rupert Brooke and Laurence Binyon, and specially-composed verse by the film-maker.
Website: http://encorefilms.co.uk/
AWARDS
AUSTRALIA
Best Camera Craft
Newcastle International Video Festival
New South Wales
2013
ARMENIA
Best Script
The NOFI International Film Festival
Yerevan
2013
UNITED KINGDOM
Nominated for award
Best Imaginative Response to the Subject of War
The Imperial War Museum Film Festival
London
2012
BULGARIA
Best Direction
The International Historical Film Festival
Shumen
2012
CZECH REPUBLIC
UNICA Gold Medal
Union Internationale du Cinéma (UNICA)
The Moravian SeniorForum Film Festival
2011
ESTONIA
Special Prize
The Tallinn International Festival of Film Makers
2011
SCREENINGS
UNITED KINGDOM
The Imperial War Museum Film Festival
London
2011
“Too Many Ghosts” screened 13 times at the Museum’s cinema in London on:
5 and 13 December 2011;
2, 13, 20 and 26 January 2012;
2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 23;
24 February 2012
RUSSIA
The NOFI International Festival
Moscow
2013
UNITED STATES
The NOFI International Festival
Los Angeles
2013
CANADA
The Christian Life International Film Festival
Ontario
2013
AUSTRALIA
Newcastle International Video Festival
New South Wales
2013
ARMENIA
The NOFI International Festival
Yerevan
2013
POLAND
The International Film Festival “Love a Man”
Oswiecim (formerly Auschwitz)
2012
UKRAINE
The International Film Festival “Steps”
2012
AUSTRALIA
The Melbourne International Movie Festival
Melbourne
2012
SOUTH KOREA
The Seoul International Film Festival
Seoul
2012
BULGARIA
The International Historical Film Festival
Shumen
2012
AUSTRIA
The Golden Diana Festival
Klopeiner See
2012
CZECH REPUBLIC
The Moravian ARSfilm Festival
Kroměříž
2011
ENGLAND
The London Portobello Film Festival
2011
CZECH REPUBLIC
The Moravian Senior Forum Film Festival
Kroměříž
2011
ESTONIA
The Tallinn International Festival of Film Makers
Tallinn
2011
MUSIC used in TOO MANY GHOSTS:
Sir Edward Elgar
Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 in D major
(“Land of Hope and Glory”)
Sir Edward Elgar
Dream Children
Sir Edward Elgar
“Nimrod” from Enigma Variations
Sir Edward Elgar
Symphony No 1 (1st Movement)
ROLES/CAST
Joe Franklin
PETROS KOUKOULOMATIS
The voice of Albert Franklin
IRVING THOMAS
Parents of Joe and Albert
DAVID SUTHERLAND
MANDY CARR
Child of Hope
EVA WOODWARD
Narration and Verse Reading
BETH MAYOH
CREW/DESIGN/ASSISTANCE:
Location Manager
JOHN CARPOZI
Costumes and Design
DAISY OGILVY
Wardrobe
ZENKA WOODWARD
Carpenter
HARRY MALTIN
Technical Associate
PHILIP WOODWARD
Hair and Make-up
HEIDI SCHEUER
DVD Cover Design
STEFANIE WOODWARD
Thanks to:
The Imperial War Museum, London
The Royal British Legion
The Haslemere Wardrobe
June Parker (Vice Chairman, Abbots Langley Gilbert and Sullivan Society)
The War Poetry Website – www.warpoetry.co.uk
The Diocese of St Albans and St Paul’s Church, Langleybury, Hertfordshire
Filmed on location - in England - in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire, and in Sir Edward Elgar’s beloved Malvern Hills in Worcestershire
An ENCORE film © Ian Woodward 2011
REVIEWS
THE INSTITUTE OF AMATEUR CINEMATOGRAPHERS, UK, WRITES:
"The International Film Festival 'Love a Man' takes place in Oswiecim (better known under its WW2 German name Auschwitz), in Poland, which means the festival’s title is not implying what you might otherwise have thought. It deals with the way people deal with other people. Only one British film was selected for screening, Ian Woodward’s 'Too Many Ghosts'. This film has had success at several festivals and is being shown 13 times between 5 December and 24 February at the Imperial War Museum in London. Ian commented: 'Never in a million years, when I was making the film, did I expect that audiences would be watching it in both a London war museum and in the former Auschwitz. The thought of it is quite spine-numbing."
DAVID ROBERTS, EDITOR, THE WAR POETRY WEBSITE, WRITES:
"I found 'Too Many Ghosts' very interesting to watch. The early montages of warfare were particularly well done, very professional. Another highlight was the reading of the poem with the film-maker’s granddaughter, Eva, as the Child of Hope. The cast did very well."
MAXINE KENDALL, ENGLISH-BORN, CANADA-BASED POET WHOSE POEM, A WISH, FEATURES IN THE FILM, WRITES:
"'Too Many Ghosts' is a truly wonderful film. So creative and well thought out. I love how the colour film is interspersed with old black-and-white footage. Ian Woodward has given us a look at war in quite a unique way. I love everything about the film: the actors, the voice-overs, the music, the cinematography. The way everything has been woven together with poetry too is beautiful – as is the film-maker’s little show-stealer of a granddaughter, Eva, who plays my Child of Hope just as I imagined her when writing my poem A Wish. That Eva actually looks at her hand when those words of the poem referring to hands are spoken gave me goosebumps. Bravo!"
UK NEWS REPORT, 26 JANUARY 2012:
"On the very day that German chancellor Angela Merkel was seen on worldwide TV laying a wreath at a ceremony in Berlin to commemorate the closing of the Nazi death- camp Auschwitz, Ian Woodward’s film 'Too Many Ghosts' was being screened at the Imperial War Museum in London and at Auschwitz in Poland to commemorate the very same thing."
DAVID ROBERTS, EDITOR, THE WAR POETRY WEBSITE, WRITES:
"Congratulations on 'Too Many Ghosts' receiving its London and UK premiere last Monday, 5 December, at the 11th Annual Imperial War Museum Film Festival. That’s fantastic success. To be shown at the Imperial War Museum is a real honour. It must make producing films even more irresistible."
|
