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Sweet Sixteen (2002/I)

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7 articles from 2002

7 October 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

British director Ken Loach is urging teenagers to defy an 18 rating of his latest film, Sweet Sixteen, and see the movie anyway. The U.K. censor board, the British Board of Film Classification, gave it the rating -- which bars anyone under the age of 18 from seeing it -- because it reportedly contains more than 200 swear words. But Loach, who claims that teenagers hear that language every day of their lives, told the London Daily Telegraph: "I wonder what message the BBFC sends to the people in the film by telling them they are fit only to be rated with the work of pornographers. ... The problem is that the censors live in their own little ivory tower and are playing to their own middle class gallery." The film, which earned Loach a best screenplay award at Cannes in May, opened in Britain on Friday.

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30 September 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

British director Ken Loach (My Name Is Joe) has accused the powers-that-be in his country of boosting "violent, aggressive, pro-American" movies, while slighting homegrown product. In an interview with BBC News, Loach, whose latest film, Sweet Sixteen is due to open in the U.K. next weekend, notes that it is being given little promotion and marketing compared with Hollywood fare. "You're always having to struggle to get attention because of some trashy American product," he said. Loach also complained about the decision of the British Board of Film Classification to slap an 18 certificate on Sweet Sixteen because of the "aggressive use" of four-letter words in the movie. "Now, what are we saying to those 15-, 16-, 17-year-olds who know all the words and hear them every day of their lives? I think the censors have made asses of themselves."

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27 September 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Award-winning Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty (My Name Is Joe, Bread and Roses) has denounced the British Board of Film Classification after the censor board handed his latest film, Sweet Sixteen, directed by Ken Loach, an 18 certificate. The rating prevents anyone under 18 from seeing it. The restriction was issued, the BBFC indicated, because of "aggressive use" of four-letter words in the movie. "I'm furious about it," Laverty told today's (Friday) London Independent. "It's nothing but censorship and class prejudice. It's OK to give Black Hawk Down a 15 [certificate], with its exploding body parts and virulent racism, but we get an 18 because ... we let the kids [in the movie] speak the way they actually speak."

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23 July 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

In a move likely to be welcomed by English-speaking audiences who find some regional accents impenetrable, Sweet Sixteen, a new film by director Ken Loach (Ladybird Ladybird, My Name Is Joe) set in Glasgow, Scotland, is likely to be released with subtitles. "Subtitles would give a non-Scottish audience a chance to adjust to the language without missing any of the story at an early stage," Zak Brilliant, a spokesman for Icon Films, told today's (Tuesday) London Independent. "We are still testing the idea on sample audiences and hope to have made a final decision by the end of the week." One of the stars of the film, newcomer Martin Compston, who was nominated for Best Actor at Cannes this year for his role in the film, said he had no objection: "If subtitles help people understand the film and enjoy it more, then fair enough," he said.

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27 May 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The Cannes Film Festival Winners: Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): The Pianist, Roman Polanski, Poland-France; Grand Prize: The Man Without a Past, Aki Kaurismäki, Finland; Jury Prize: Divine Intervention, Elia Suleiman, Palestinian; Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, United States, Punch-Drunk Love; Im Kwon-taek, South Korea, Chihwaseon; Special 55th Anniversary Prize: Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore, United States; Best Actor: Olivier Gourmet, Belgium, The Son; Best Actress: Kati Outinen, Finland, The Man Without a Past; Best Screenplay: Sweet Sixteen, Paul Laverty, Britain; Golden Camera (first-time director): Bord de Mer, Julie Lopes-Curval, France; Best short film: Eso Utan, Peter Meszaros, Hungary.

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22 May 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Martin Compston, the 17-year-old star of Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen was being hailed in Cannes Tuesday as the next Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), with several critics predicting that he could win the film festival's best actor award. "I don't think that I have ever seen a more gut-wrenching performance," David Thompson, head of BBC Films, which produced the film, told Britain's Guardian newspaper. In an interview with the newspaper, Compston, who had no previous acting experience, indicated that Sweet Sixteen may be his first and last film, saying that he intends to pursue a career as a professional soccer player. "Maybe in an ideal world I can blend acting and football. But I know really that you have to go one way or the other. I'm not saying that if someone came along and offered me 10 million pounds to do a film that I'd say no, but that's not going to happen, is it?" Compston remarked.

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25 April 2002 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

A preponderance of English-language films will dominate the competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year, according to the list of 22 movies that will vie for the Palme d'Or that was released Wednesday by festival organizers. Three of the films come from the U.S.: Punchdrunk Love, starring Adam Sandler and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Alexander Payne; and the Michael Moore gun-control documentary Bowling for Columbine. Canadian director David Cronenberg's Spider, starring Ralph Fiennes, Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson and Lynn Redgrave has also been selected. So have the British films All or Nothing by Mike Leigh, 24-Hour Party People by Michael Winterbottom, and Sweet Sixteen by Ken Loach.

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7 articles from 2002