... and here are some of our favourite
PAUL LEONARD-MORGAN, EMMY/IVOR NOVELLONOMINATED AND BAFTAWINNING COMPOSER FORREST GUMP
PICKING a favourite doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best film of them. But Forrest Gump for me is a classic. Tom Hanks is just the actor of his generation and the beautiful story, combined with Alan Silvestri’s phenomenal soundtrack (it’s always about the music), manages to make me cry every time, when he goes and meets his son for the first time sitting in front of the TV. From a music perspective, it’s very rare that we composers get to write melodies that can drive the narrative so much. Just such a classic movie.
KAREN GUTHRIE, DIRECTOR OF THE CLOSER WE GET 12 YEARS A SLAVE
AS an artist turned filmmaker myself, director Steve McQueen is an inspiration and a role model. He shows what is possible when we ignore boundaries and follow our creative instincts, pulling off a big, Hollywood-flavour Oscar-tastic movie while holding onto all his integrity. McQueen renders every shot in this film exquisite, with his gift for beautiful composition and lighting, and the performances of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender are mesmerising. The script, being based on a documentary source (an 1853 account by Solomon Northup, a free-born African American who was kidnapped into slavery) intensifies the film for me too. I wonder how many other unrecorded lives suffered the same fate.
HOPE DICKSON LEACH, DIRECTOR, THE LEVELLING ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
THERE are a few pivotal movies in everyone’s life. Films that change the way you see the world, or what you understand cinema to be, or how you figure you fit into the universe – and very rarely a film is all three. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is one. Winning the Academy Award in 1975, the year before I was born, I was introduced to it in a film studies class when I was 16 and never looked back. Staggering performances, exquisite storytelling and a devastating critique of society, it showcases director Milos Forman’s enormous talent at its best.
ROSIE ELLISON, FILM EDINBURGH CHARIOTS OF FIRE SO many great Oscar winners over the years: The Godfather I and II, The Last Emperor, American Beauty, Birdman, Crash – but it’s my job to promote Edinburgh as a film-friendly destination so there can only be one, Hugh Hudson’s 1981 classic Chariots Of Fire, much of which filmed in Edinburgh. It’s a stunningly beautiful film that captures the essence of a bygone era and yet resonates today with its enduring themes of class and personal dignity. RODGE GLASS, AUTHOR, ACADEMIC, ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR AT FREIGHT BOOKS, FILM FAN SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
SOME wonderful films have won Best Picture – but none with the energy, vibrancy and sheer joyfulness of Slumdog Millionaire. I’m a huge fan of Danny Boyle’s work. Partly that’s because of his variety of focus – one minute he’s in the clubs of Edinburgh, next it’s a journey to the sun, then the Juhu slums – but I also love it because Boyle transmits such compassion for his underdog characters. Slumdog Millionaire has vivacity in spades, and is that rare thing, a film that is somehow “feelgood” without telling too many lies about the world’s vast injustices.
ALLISON GARDNER, CODIRECTOR GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL MIDNIGHT COWBOY
MY favourite winner of Best Picture Oscar is Midnight Cowboy, the 1969 winner. It was shot on location in