Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Ha ha. Do you know what VentnorBlog is called by the inner circle of the ruling Conservative council? Not VentnorBlog, the blog, or even that bloody blog as you might expect, but we hear on good authority, VB is simply referred to as ‘The Communists’.

Makes you laugh doesn’t it? Anything slightly to the left of Attila the Hun = Communists.

Oh well, what can you do?

Well if some of the lovely Tories weren’t already concerned about our lack of enthusiasm for Capitalism, they’ll be chocking on their dry sherries when they hear what John Hurt has to say when we chatted to him at the recent Minghella Film Festival.

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More acts announced today for the 2010 Bestival.

Joining the already bumper list of music talent will be Jonsi from Icelandic post-rock giants Sigur Ros.

He’s described as one of the most inventive and evocative artists around and we hear that this year he’ll only be appearing at two UK festivals, so make sure you catch him at Bestival.

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If you’re a fan of the Ryde Regatta, or perhaps you feel it could be improved, read on for this message from Ryde Councillor, Brian Harris. Ed

Ryde Town Council has set up a Regatta steering group to organise the event, which will run from Friday evening to Sunday evening, 2nd – 4th July, on the Eastern Gardens.

It will be family-orientated fun, especially in the daytime.

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At the end of the Minghella Film Festival we caught up with Gioia Minghella, the founder of the Minghella Film festival.

Gioia told VB how thrilled she was that the festival was once again, a huge success.

Gioia played tribute to her daughter Sophie, who was prolific in programming the festival and working all hours for weeks running up to the festival. She also thanked the businesses who have supported the festival, particular the Quay Arts Centre for playing host to the weekend.

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It’s amazing to hear that the annual Speed Dating Walk, which is part of the Isle of Wight Walking Festival, is now in its fifth year.

The previous walks have been hugely successful in bringing together like minded people and have even resulted in three marriages as well as long lasting friendships.

This year the walk starts from the Fisherman’s Cottage on Shanklin Esplanade at the foot of Shanklin Chine.

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A Jim Henson family fantasy for television seems an unlikely contender at a film festival, but at its screening in the Anthony Minghella theatre, The Storyteller drew heartfelt appreciation.

The series starred John Hurt, prematurely aged, rushing from one Grimm’s fairytale to the next in a pair of prosthetic ears and a false nose. He insists this was ‘nothing, really’, given his previous transformations.

Do children like ‘Art’?
According to Hurt, people are surprised when they find out who the series’ writer was. “When you say Anthony Minghella, they say, what?”

Initially, even Henson had his doubts about bringing Minghella into the project.

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Great to receive this review from Lois, who was so moved by this events at the Minghella Film Festival, that she felt compelled to put pen to paper / finger to keyboard and submitted this so soon after the event. There’s a chance to witness another radio play today, ‘Eyes Down Looking‘ at 3pm today as well as other Minghella activities.

Watching the actors perform live Anthony Minghella’s radio play, ‘Cigarettes and Chocolate’ this afternoon at Quay Arts, I now fully realise why only very few among us can claim to be ‘professional actors’. With just two hours rehearsal, the cast of seven, many from the original performance back in 1988, gave the play the justification it deserved with their outstanding performances.

Being a lover of radio drama and the mental images it conjures, being able to watch the performance live added an extra colour to the experience, and I was soon lost in Anthony’s world of frustration, sadness and humour, a rich tapestry that was created from his own life experiences.

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The Minghella Film festival comes to an end tomorrow, but there is a great lineup of events throughout the day to enjoy.

The morning kicks off with screenings of The Storyteller in Quay Arts and Cineworld. John Hurt and Duncan Kenworthy will be attending the screening at Quay and taking part in a discussion following the film.

Lunchtime sees the Big Italian Brunch at Quay Arts hosted by Gloria and Eddie Minghella.

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Tickets are still available for tonight’s concert at Quay Arts.

Barrington Pheloung wrote and performed the original music for much of Anthony’s early work, from the BAFTA-nominated soundtrack to Inspector Morse to Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Since then, he has gone on to become one of the most prolific composers for television and film in the UK.

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We caught up with the actor Alan Rickman, who had worked with Anthony on this first major film, Truly, Madly, Deeply where he acted opposite Juliet Stevenson.

Have a listen …

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Very flattering and kind words about Anthony Minghella from Patsy Puttnam and her husband, Baron Puttnam, or David Puttnam as he introduced himself.

Have a listen …

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Up next is another in the series of Vox Pops from the launch of last year’s Minghella Movie Marathon.

It was a great evening, with hundreds of people gathered to celebrate Anthony Minghella’s life.

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At the launch of the Minghella Movie Marathon last year, we made our way through the crowds of Minghella fans and asked for their memories of Anthony.

Anthony’s great sensitivity seemed to strike a chord with many of the festival goers that night.

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Tonight sees the launch of the 2010 Minghella Film Festival.

The event kicks off with the UK premiere of ‘The Be All and End All’.

The feature length film written by Steve Lewis and Tony Owen tells the story of fifteen year old Robbie who has only one thing on his mind – losing his virginity. The problem is that he’s in hospital with a fatal heart condition.

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If you were at the Minghella Movie Marathon last year, you might have spotted this avid Minghella fan (in the middle) who attended all the screenings throughout the weekend.

Robbi Holman could quite easily be defined as a Minghella Super Fan (in fact she was by the CP).

Why you might ask? Well, because Robbi flew all the way from Texas to attend the festival and flew straight back home again afterwards. That’s some devotion!

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This year’s Isle of Wight Jazz Festival will not be going ahead, VentnorBlog has learnt.

We hear from one of the directors that the decision was made after what they cite as, “a number of difficulties and delays in response to the request to hire the Salisbury Gardens so that it is now too late to complete plans.”

When the Isle of Wight Jazz Festival was cancelled last year, punters who had already bought tickets were encouraged to keep hold of them to use at this year’s festival.

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Along with the bands, there’s a few more DJs announced today.

From the old school there is the legend that is Arthur Baker – Originally a New York DJ and record producer, he was the man that helped New Order discover dance, by taking them around the NY club scene and producing the all-time classic track Confusion.

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Bestival have been holding off announcing their Sunday night headliner for this year’s Bestival over the past few weeks, but reveal today that it will be none other than those bad boys of punk, The Prodigy.

Rob tells us that The Prodigy have been an important part of his record collection over the years, so securing them to play at Bestival must have been a highlight for his scheduling this year.

Apparently this is the last gig the band are planning for sometime, so catch them while you can.

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During our quest of capturing vox pops at the Minghella Film Festival last year (more to come tomorrow), we caught up with actor Michael Maloney.

He came across as a really lovely guy, oozing warmth and charisma as he chatted about his friendship with Anthony.

He told us how as they worked together on a number of projects, he became closer to Anthony’s family and fondly remembers watching two world cups with them, going on to say that those who knew Anthony will remember his love of football, always willing to give his tactical opinions.

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The Minghella Film Festival returns to Newport this weekend, but the Festival is not just about screening Anthony Minghella’s TV programmes and films. There’s a great range of film/writing related workshops taking place too.

Make a Film in A Day
Kicking off on Saturday morning, the first workshop is a full day course being run in association with the Young Film Academy.

The hands-on Make a Film in A Day workshop will be led by award-winning trainers helping young people aged 13 – 19 to make a ten shot digital film, from planning through to post-production in seven hours.

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This coming weekend, as part of the Minghella Film Festival, the BFI will be back at Quay Arts with their Family Fun Days.

Last year, the workshops proved hugely popular with the Island’s young creatives.

A whole host of activities were on offer, all set around the theme of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (the last film Anthony worked on), from painting and drawing on a large mural, to creating plasticine models, animating and filming them, or face painting and making masks.

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Continuing our series of videos and podcasts from the 2009 Minghella Movie Marathon, up next is a chat we had with Reg Poerscout-Edgerton.

Reg was born and educated on the Island before heading off to develop his career in the film business.

His most recent work has included a role as casting director for Sherlock Holmes and RocknRolla.

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Rob da Bank tells us this morning that news of Howard Jones being confirmed to play Bestival 2010 has been leaked through the musician’s Website.

Hailing from Southampton, Howard Jones may be best remembered by many for his work in the 1980s, but his discography reveals that he’s been busy creating music through each of the decades since, most recently releasing his Ordinary Heroes album in 2009.

As revealed on his official Website, he’ll join the likes of Gil Scott Heron, Roxy Music, and Echo and the Bunnymen at the festival in Robin Hill Country Park in September.

As we reported last week, once again, the Earl Mountbatten Hospice will be auctioning off registration numbers 1 and 2 for Walk the Wight.

The annual walk across the Island raises much needed cash for the Hospice, one of the worthiest causes on the Island.

The auction opened this morning but as of this afternoon, the highest bid so far is just 99p for ‘number 2′.

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News reaches us that a Facebook group has been created following news of the mixup surrounding heat two of the Live Wired competition.

The CP had reported (article not available online now) that Golden Strands, who had competed in the live heats on Friday, would be joining Damien Paul at the final, giving them a chance to win a slot at the 2010 Isle of Wight Festival.

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